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September 21, 2008

Dive Right In

Filed under: Life's Trivia — Tags: , , — Cynthia @ 9:01 pm
The middle-agers got their rock on last night. (Middle-aged only if you expect to live to be 120.) Anyway, one of the talented group celebrated 60. I am saying the average age of the party goers was 34, but that’s because I’m averaging the ages of the birthday boy’s mom (91) and grandkids (7 and 5). But the guys did rock, and it was some fun!
Don’t you just love dives! The place they played has probably been around since at least the ‘50’s and sports tin ceilings and old wood floors and that alcohol aroma that’s penetrated the boards for decades.
 
The best dives are bars, although some are eateries. There was a great bar in West, TX.  LJ and I would visit when we needed a kolache fix. We’d go to the bakery for kolaches (apricot and sausage were my favorites) and then we go into the bar for a beer and an adventure. The place was a wooden Czech museum. The old Czech guys would tell stories of how their families settled in West. One of them gave me a baggie of saffron one time. SAFFRON! Today that would be like giving me $50. The sad part is, I didn’t know nearly as well how to put it to good use then as I do now.
 

Dallas used to have a great dive. It was called the Lion’s Pub and it was on Yale, just west of Central Expressway. The story is it was started by some SMU law students in the very early 60’s. It was just a shack with sofas that looked like they must have cost $5 at the Salvation Army and some rickety tables and chairs that did well to hold us up. Most people didn’t sit though. We played foosball or just stood around the bar. Pitchers were a buck and a draft was a quarter. There was so much beer spilled on the floor and on the furniture and never cleaned up that the place just reeked. But we didn’t care. I think we named the mouse that ran through every now and then. We must have stopped going when the bathrooms got treacherous. I think they tore the building down in the 80’s. They had to; it was about to spontaneously combust.

Well, that was a fun trip down memory lane.

September 17, 2008

Rock and Roll Forever

Filed under: Life's Trivia, Relationships — Tags: , , , — Cynthia @ 6:32 pm

 

 

LJ asked recently if it was a hint from mother nature that you are too old to be in a band when you have to take a break because one member is getting treated for prostate cancer and another had a stroke.  But no matter, they are still together and playing for one member’s 60th birthday party this weekend.  It’ll be great!

 

It’s been fun having LJ in a band.  Back in the good ole days, the band was playing at what was then Strictly Tabu.  (Boy, do I have stories about that place!) I was there admiring my hot looking guy with his bass strapped across his nether regions, gloriously decked out in wrap-around sunglasses and army boots.  At the end of the evening, I was in the ladies’ room when two young beauties walked in.  Imagine my surprise when one of them informed the other that she was taking home the bass player that night.  I just smiled sweetly and left the room.  It made me so proud.

 

I’m still proud.

 

In honor of birthdays, here’s a chocolate dessert that beats any birthday cake you EVER had.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

With Walnuts & Chocolate Chips

 

4 cups 1-inch cubes egg bread with crust

1 ¼ cups semi sweet or bitter sweet chocolate chips (divided)

½ cup walnuts, toasted and broken into pieces

 

1 cup heavy cream (divided)

1 cup half and half (divided)

5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

4 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

½ cup sugar

 

Lightly sweetened whipped cream for garnish.

 

Toss bread cubes, ½ cup chocolate chips, and toasted walnuts in a large bowl.

 

Whisk ½ cup cream, ½ cup half & half, and cocoa in a heavy medium saucepan to blend.  Add remaining ¾ cup chocolate chips; stir over low heat until melted and smooth.  Gradually whisk in remaining cream and half & half.  Whisk eggs, egg yolk and sugar in a medium bowl.  Whisk chocolate cream mixture into eggs.  Stir into bread mixture.  Let stand for 1 hour.

 

Preheat oven to 325°.  Butter 6 (1 to 1 ¼ cup) ramekins.  Divide pudding mixture among ramekins.  Bake puddings until set in centers, about 40 minutes.

 

Top warm puddings with whipped cream and serve.

 

6 servings.

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