What’s top of my mind – Getting my licenses renewed, for several of them expire today. There is no legitimate reason they have to be renewed every two years as is required other than the villains in charge know I have no choice. The license that allows me to prescribe medicines costs 900$; the APA membership is 800$. Stirges.
Where I’ve been – Last weekend I went to Home Depot. An employee spontaneously approached me to ask if I wanted help. She led me about the store in my scavenger hunt for items, and afterwards thanked me for coming in. I was so touched by this proper service I sent an email to the store manager to tell her how good I was treated. I hope this trickles down to said employee.
Where I’m going – Next Monday I get vaccine #2 (Pfizer) and the following Tuesday I go to the dentist for a new filling for the back molar.
What I’m watching – Last weekend we initiated “Sunday night with Dr. Who”. Someone is very fond of Mr. Tenant, so we started with the transformation of The Ninth doctor into The Tenth Doctor. I was briefly thought about starting with The Fourth Doctor, but I did not have any Jelly Babies.
What I’m reading – “Guards, Guards!” by Terry Prachett. This jolly good read is part of the Discworld series, which take place on a flat earth disc resting on top of four elephants who are standing on a cosmic space turtle. He peppers his parodies of fantasy novels with thoughtful prose such as:
‘Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom? ‘
What I’m listening to –The podcast “Ologies with Alie Ward”. She is a fantastic. This week she is interviewing a science fellow on the topic of eggs; last week it was about cicadas.
What I’m eating – Russian Chicken. I found the recipe in my paternal grandmother’s recipe collection. It consists of mixing Russian dressing, a package of dried onion soup mix, and apricot jam. Pour the trinity over 3-4 chicken breasts or thighs or whatever suits your people, and bake it at 350 for up to an hour until chicken is cooked. Serve with rice. Father has no memory of his mother making this, so perhaps it was one on those ‘some day try’ recipes that seem to exist in everyone’s recipe card collection.
Who I’m paying attention to – Ivar Gunnarsson on YouTube. He went out the the volcano that recently erupted on Iceland to take some video. He is a dear. Please don’t feed him Þorramatur and things.
What I’m planning – a final clean up of the place, prior to the arrival of the relations from Michigan. Floors need sweeping and mopping and bathrooms need a make over. There are a few items probably best to put away for the duration of the visit, starting with the statue in the foyer of “Hercules and Cacus”. For the sake of propriety I will not post a picture but Spo-fans can look it up if they are curious.
47 comments
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March 31, 2021 at 1:52 AM
Mistress Borghese
It’s great you got service like that. It seems every time I go into Home Depot, it’s like pulling teeth to get any service from someone. Except in paints.
March 31, 2021 at 6:40 AM
Urspo
Indeed. My usual experience of Home Depot is wandering around, visibly bewildered, with no one helping me and when I ask someone I usually get a pained expression as if I have interrupted something important.
April 6, 2021 at 10:30 PM
Richard Portman
They don’t care. Probably they have no idea about the products they are selling. They are worried about the rent and the bills. They need their paycheck. Those places are hellish. Fukkin slave factories. Those poor employees are not to blame.
I try to avoid them.
March 31, 2021 at 3:30 AM
David Godfrey
Enjoy the visit from family, really no need to “straighten up the house,”
March 31, 2021 at 6:40 AM
Urspo
Any advice about the leather?
March 31, 2021 at 3:37 PM
Will Jay
Reference to the Romanovsky and Phillips song?
March 31, 2021 at 4:32 PM
Urspo
Hey! I know that song too!
March 31, 2021 at 4:05 AM
Sam
Ooh, a pod cast suggestion. I need to get into a good Saturday abd evening cleaning routine and like listening to theses. I suspect tour place is a safe travel destination for spring break for your family. Enjoy the fruits of your labour with joyful family time. The chicken dish sounds pretty good-your verdict?
March 31, 2021 at 6:41 AM
Urspo
The chicken dish (Russian chicken; it’s on line) was rawther sweet for out taste, given the jam. Next time, more onion mix and less apricot preserves.
March 31, 2021 at 4:35 AM
Lori
It is ridiculous what they charge physicians for all of the license renewals. I hope you have a wonderful time with your family.
March 31, 2021 at 6:42 AM
Urspo
Yes it is ridiculous. They do that because they can. No doctor is going to say ‘well screw you I ain’t paying for it. I will not renew my prescription license”
March 31, 2021 at 4:39 AM
Linda Practical Parsimony
Recipe, please? Have a great time with your guests,
March 31, 2021 at 6:45 AM
Urspo
There are a lot of variations, I see them on line. Here is mine:
1 package onion soup mix; 12 ounce bottle of Russian dressing; 8 oz. apricot jam. Combine the three ingredients and pour over 3-4 chicken breasts in a glass cooking pan. Bake uncovered 350F about 45-60 minutes until the chicken is done. Serve with rice.
April 3, 2021 at 7:36 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
Thanks. I have all three here in the house.
March 31, 2021 at 5:00 AM
Moving with Mitchell
That Russian chicken sounds so good my mouth is watering. I think I’m overdue for lunch!
March 31, 2021 at 6:46 AM
Urspo
It is hardly ‘gourmet’ but three ingredient dump and cook and serve with rice.
I suppose the 3 ingredients amounts can be altered to suit your people.
March 31, 2021 at 5:16 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
The Russian Chicken recipe sounds quite similar to one I have for meatballs which involves Russian dressing and cranberry sauce. Yummy once in awhile but can be overly sweet for some.
March 31, 2021 at 6:47 AM
Urspo
That makes sense viz. sweet jammy something and an oil-based marinade.
We thought it way too sweet so next time less jam/less dressing and more onion mix
March 31, 2021 at 5:39 AM
rjjs8878
The recipe sounds very midwest. Would you make it again?
March 31, 2021 at 6:48 AM
Urspo
Yes I would, with less dressing/jam to make it less sweet
March 31, 2021 at 5:50 AM
anne marie in philly
um, yeah, that statue – great for adults, not so much for the kids. have fun with brother #4!
March 31, 2021 at 6:49 AM
Urspo
I will put some small kilts on them and tell the niece it is a Scot wrestling match
March 31, 2021 at 6:25 AM
Bob Slatten
It’s funny. We were at Lowes the other day looking for a fluorescent tube for the garage, and we were helped in the very same way. The gentleman even took our old bulb to their recycling area for us and thanked us.
I asked to speak to a manager and told him about the service because, for me, that is a huge part of the business that often gets overlooked by management and customers alike.
March 31, 2021 at 6:50 AM
Urspo
Good for you! I think if more people ‘went on line’ to laud the positive rather than only when we are unhappy would do all of us a world of good.
March 31, 2021 at 6:40 AM
Ron
A very easy and nice recipe for chicken. Cut up two chicken breasts in small one inch chunks. Mix with one can cream of mushroom soup, one half cup white wine, one package Lipton onion soup mix. Place in crock pot and cook three hours on high and one hour on low. Serve over biscuits, rice or mashed potatoes (your preference). So easy yet so tasty and good (no grease, oil or butter).
March 31, 2021 at 6:51 AM
Urspo
Every one of my Midwest recipe cookbooks have a variation on this recipe. It is a comfort dish indeed.
March 31, 2021 at 6:56 AM
BadNoteB
Your post brought back long forgotten memories of what my former partner and I used to refer to as “sanitizing the house” prior to the arrival of family for a visit. Not focused on use of bleach or Lysol, the procedure involved out-of-sight stowage of all physical references that might raise suspicion of the lifestyle that dare not speak its name.
I have a 2’ tall plaster statue of M’s David that I purchased in high school and painstaking painted one summer to resemble something that might resemble marble if viewed from the house next door. The closest thing to art we owned at the time, it never occurred to me that this replica of such a famous masterpiece could be offensive or suggestive to anyone. Shortly after the birth of my first niece, my mother tactlessly suggested that I should “put that smutty statue away” before my sister’s family visited. My sister found that hilarious and to this day our entire family refers to all anatomical sculpture as “smutty statues.”
In a similar vein, I recall my father being unusually quiet and focused on what I assumed to be the Sunday newspaper during a particular visit sometime during the 80s. It wasn’t until the next day while tidying the living room that I discovered my partner’s current issues of Advocate Men and Blueboy magazines interspersed among the various sections of the local news. Interestingly, he never mentioned this literary adventure and I never had to question his obvious curiosity.
Enjoy the family visit… I’m sure they’re looking forward to an early thaw in the desert for a few days!
March 31, 2021 at 7:11 AM
Urspo
Thank you for sharing this
I am more concerned about the more obvious (and more graphic) pieces of art in the master bedroom walk-in closet. I fear 10 year olds may wander about and snoop. So, I will put away these for the duration of the visit at least.
March 31, 2021 at 10:51 AM
jefferyrn
Hercules Hercules!! – Eddie Murphy
March 31, 2021 at 10:59 AM
Urspo
Mr. Murphy is a silly-billy
March 31, 2021 at 11:08 AM
Old Lurker
People need to be more grateful about paying their exorbitant membership fees. If you did not pay the APA fee then there would be no APA Secret Police, and then where would we be?
March 31, 2021 at 4:26 PM
Urspo
The APA Secret Police always look like no one has changed their uniforms since the 80s, so the fees aren’t going there that’s certain. I suspect a lot of the fees go to funding lobbyists.
March 31, 2021 at 12:22 PM
Parnassus
I looked up the Hercules and Cacus statue. It looks more like an écorché than a supposedly admiring sculpture of a demigod. If I had to pick a labor of Hercules, the Augean Stables would be a more apt subject for me–come to think of it, that would make a great fountain!
–Jim
March 31, 2021 at 4:28 PM
Urspo
Hot puppies! a new word for me! thanks
I thought of the Augean Stables last weekend as we cleaned off the porch. Oh the horror.
March 31, 2021 at 1:01 PM
Gigi Rambles
Odds are that manager (if he is any good) mentioned your praise to her and that, in turn, probably made her day.
March 31, 2021 at 4:28 PM
Urspo
Let us hope so. A small positive feedback often does wonders
March 31, 2021 at 1:20 PM
Kathy
I forgot all about Russian Chicken. My mother made this dish all the time. I’m going to have to make it soon….I wonder if I still like it?
March 31, 2021 at 4:29 PM
Urspo
I think next time I try a less sweet dressing; good luck with yours.
and thank you Kathy for the comment !
March 31, 2021 at 4:10 PM
larrymuffin
I think that Hercules and Cacus has a good moral story attached to it that your young relations will appreciate. Otherwise you will never be able to take them to the National Museum in Athens with all those statues by Praxiteles.
As for the Russian Chicken, I don’t remember that recipe being served at the table of Grand Duchess Xenia, even after the revolution. I think that Chicken a la Kraft dinner is more apt.
March 31, 2021 at 4:30 PM
Urspo
My midwestern grandmothers were big into Kraft products.
I am now curious how Russian dressing – or French or Italian – got their names.
April 2, 2021 at 11:36 AM
larrymuffin
I believe there is no link whatsoever. Italians only put olive oil and balsamic vinegar on salads and nothing else. The French may mix mustard and olive oil with lemon juice or add honey to olive oil but all in all it is nothing like Kraft. As for the Russians, I really do not know. In the case of the Russian it may have been a fashion from travelling in Old pre-1917 Russia when the cuisine was refined.
March 31, 2021 at 5:33 PM
Pipistrello
Your Russian Chicken is like the fabled Apricot Chicken in Australia where the apricot jam was subbed with a tin of apricot nectar (the only use ever for such a creature) and dried apricots. It was even part of my university-era-ed dinner-party repertoire when I left home with a clutch of fave recipes. Special occasions only, mind. If only it had been glorified with a more mystical name like Russian Chicken!
Ologists are great. I had an appointment with one of mine last week. Scoundrels, all, those who make ologists and ists from coughing up hard-earned $$ to ply their trade about the land.
March 31, 2021 at 11:45 PM
Bohemian
Renewing things that cost a lot seems to be a real racket, doesn’t it? My Bank forgot to send me my Dividend Tax Statement, which then meant I have to file an Amended Return with our Accountant, it’s gonna cost me Sixty Bucks for the Bank’s failure to provide what they should have! Not that they will reimburse me and when asked, they ‘claimed’ they mailed in in October! To which I immediately questioned the validity of that claim since the Dividends are paid Quarterly and October wasn’t end of Year, so I received a Dividend in December, so why would they or could they send End of Year Tax information out Three Months early? Exactly, they wouldn’t, it was BS and I called them out on it, I plan to complain to the Bank’s Corporate Office. I’m a Retired Bank Exec and nothing bugs me more than establishments assuming their consumers are Idiots and just making stuff up when they make a mistake, in a feeble attempt to justify their administrative errors or negligence. Anyway, glad you’re getting your Jabs, mine are done and No. 2 was easier than No. 1, nice surprise.
April 1, 2021 at 7:18 AM
Urspo
thank you for taking time to write this; it was a good read.
Getting ‘them’ to admit a mistake and correct it is indeed a ponderous task
April 1, 2021 at 4:07 AM
BadNoteB
I believe there is consensus that Russian Dressing was so named because oldest known (original?) recipes specified caviar as an ingredient. Oddly, many of the most widely recognized salad dressings in the US owe their origins to independent domestic restaurants and their namesakes to the marketing gurus at Kraft Foods rather than authentic recipes from exotic distant lands.
April 1, 2021 at 7:19 AM
Urspo
that makes sense.
Now I indeed want to learn the history of salad dressings
April 1, 2021 at 10:49 PM
Robzilla, Native of Slam Diego
I hope that letter reached that employee. You probably made their day if it did. Alas, today is the first day I’m eligible for the vaccine and yet I can’t score an appointment for the next two months.
I might have to road trip to Yuma soon.