bowling trophy

The temperature’s been hovering around -30º C all week and it’s not warming up anytime soon. To the kitchen - it’s time for old fashioned comfort food!

First up: meatloaf. I used beef and pork and added sauted onions, grated carrot, breadcrumbs, chili sauce, parsley, worcestershire sauce, eggs and seasonings.

Baked mac & cheese. I started with a a roux of butter and flour, whisked in milk, added seasonings and sharp cheddar cheese.

Instead of macaroni, this time I used a spiral pasta called sedani ritorti that has lots of ridges to trap the delicious cheese sauce.

Sprinkle with bread crumbs and grated cheese; its ready for the oven.

For dessert, an apple crumble - butter, demerara sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, rolled oats.

I always leave the skins on the apples.

Ready for the oven. Everything bakes together at the same time at 350º F.

Voilà (in the upper left corner is a head of garlic that I baked to put into my mashed potatoes later in the week).

Supper.

Dessert.

I don’t feel so cold anymore.

cutieland

house of bags

Buddy Rich Big Band: Mercy, Mercy

Love the mind blowing display of lysergically inspired posters behind drummer/bandleader Buddy Rich. His threads are pretty heavy too. From 1968.

So much for my dream of having the first website devoted to comic foregrounds (which, as I found out when I made this post, is the name for these things). Angelica at Swapatorium has a delightful album of them here - she calls them “head props.” Angelica collects vintage photos (and other stuff) and is an amazing collage artist. Swapatorium (”a journey through junkland”) has been sending traffic this way for some time now and it’s about time I returned the favour.

Not mine, mind you - I didn’t buy any records this week. Gary hipped me to this post from Yadogg. Best thing I’ve seen on the interweb all year.

Shorty Rogers: The Swingin’ Nutcracker

Like nutty! I love the cartoony illustrations on the front and back covers. The artist isn’t credited but the signature appears to be F. Page. Anyone know who this is? (I haven’t had any luck googling). A nice companion to this record.

I also love the way RCA used to have short descriptive phrases above the “Nipper” logo, I guess to hip you to what kind of musical experience to expect:

Also:

The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood

Another fun cartoony cover (by “Bentz”). Soundtrack from a 1965 TV musical version of Red Riding Hood by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill (Funny Girl) with Liza Minnelli, Cyril Ritchard, Vic Damone and The Animals (with Eric Burdon) as “The Wolf Pack”!