2021 Music Royalty Crowned

Fire.

A Cog in the Muse's Machinery

A deserving slate of inductees in this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Congrats to:

Tina Turner

The Foo Fighters

Jay-Z

The Go Go’s

Carole King

Todd Rundgren

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Congrats to the Composers, this year. The winner of the prize for best “non-preforming music industry professional”

Clarence Avant

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Then, you got’s your “Musical Excellence Award” winners:

LL Cool J

Billy Preston

Randy Rhodes

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And, last, never least, the winners of the “Early Influence Award.”

Kraftwerk

Gil Scott-Heron

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What Time is it?

I know, everyday 2020 has been called ‘blurday’ ‘cos, 2020. Shock and awe.

It’s still possible to feel warm and fuzzy, to spread cheer.

To discover your best you.

To cry when you feel like crying.

To take stock of life — ones inner life — and design days that go exactly with one’s chi.

Surprise yourself! You are filled with wisdom!

It’s all about how we respond to the ride.

Drive Mulholland

A nice drive over Mulholland, returning via Topanga Canyon. Delicious.

Spend some time soaking up eclectic spots in LA – like this one:

Imagine an inviting and electric yet refined space where people gather to imbibe, socialize, and feel at home. That’s exactly what actor Walton Goggins and cinematic cameraman Matthew Alper had in mind when creating the Mulholland Room, a place that embodies their love for Los Angeles and the very spirits they’ve cultivated for their own company, Mulholland Distilling.

What started as a passion project for founder Alper about five years ago has turned into a modern-day salon that’s garnering attention. Goggins partnered with long-time friend Alper shortly after he set out on his endeavor and the two have since created a whiskey, gin, and vodka under the Mulholland Distilling label. Now, their space in the historic L.A. Arts District acts as a hub for cocktail creation and their extended network. Ahead, take a tour of the eclectic L.A. space as Goggins and Alper share their story of friendship and spirits (plus, get a sneak peek at some of their finest cocktail recipes).

The other photos are the drive over Mulholland, and Topanga.

 

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valley side of mulholland

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photo by wasim

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All the President’s Mess

A brisk walk or time with family always puts things in perspective.  The daily barrage of news is enough to get one down in the mud. On the other hand, one really needs to know when is the exact moment to change plans.

These are upside-down days, but stay connected.

Just Desserts

Here’s one.  I think this is fabulous!  Here’s the recipe from alaskafromscratch.com

http://www.alaskafromscratch.com/2013/06/17/grilled-brie-with-figs-thyme-honey/

Grilled Brie with Figs & Thyme Honey

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Food bloggers are notorious for their prop collections. We use props of all kinds for food styling and photography, for serving and entertaining. I find props at the farmer’s market, Alaska antique or second hand stores, garage sales, fabric stores, gift shops and specialty food shops. I have fabric cuts for every season and burlap in several colors hanging in my hall closet next to the coats. I have wood boards stacked under the console in the living room fashioned out of pallets. That same console is full of cake plates, pitchers, and glassware I’ve collected. Compared to most bloggers, my collection is still pretty modest, but it’s growing all the time.

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I was thrilled to hear about the Food Blogger Prop Swap, hosted by Alyssa of www.EverydayMaven.com and Faith of www.AnEdibleMosaic.com; I sent a box of my props to a food blogger and received a box in return from another blogger’s collection. I had so much fun going through my stash and deciding which items to send. I sent a box of goodies all the way to Minnesota to Hayley from Cheap Recipe Blog. Then, a couple of days later, I received a fantastically fun box of props from the wonderful Alyssa at Everyday Maven (one of the coordinators of the Prop Swap). She sent me an impressive mix of dishes, placemats, accessories (how did she know I’d been dying to have some striped paper straws? They’re so difficult to find up here!), and useful kitchen utensils. You can view the whole collection of props she sent me here. The prop that I’m highlighting in this post is the beautifully textured cream-colored plate in these photos, which I thought was the perfect color and size to showcase this recipe. Thank you ever so much, Alyssa! I had an absolute blast doing this and I’m looking forward to what you and Faith have planned for future swaps. Stay tuned to see more of the props I received from Alyssa in future blog posts.

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My sister and her family are visiting from California and they were gracious enough to bring some fresh California produce up with them on the plane. I was beside myself with all the ripe, colorful produce covering my counter tops and filling my fridge. I was over the moon that she brought some fresh figs because they can be extremely hard to come by in our part of Alaska. Then my sister told me about a recipe that she and her friend had made using figs with brie. Brie is my favorite cheese and I was immediately sold as soon as the words came out of her mouth. What a stunning, yet simple way to highlight these fresh figs. I was also keen to try this new method of warming brie by using a panini press. Genius. Wish I had come up with it. I heated my press on the low setting and placed my whole wheel of brie in there for 5-6 minutes or until soft and warm to the touch. It came out with beautiful golden grill marks.

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This recipe takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and only requires 5 ingredients, yet it is incredibly delicious and elegant. You just simply must make this for company and enjoy the oohs and ahhs that follow.

Grilled Brie with Figs & Thyme Honey

A stunning and elegant brie appetizer with fresh figs and thyme honey that takes less than ten minutes to prepare and only five ingredients. Adapted from [Not Without Salt|http://notwithoutsalt.com/2011/07/25/grilled-soft-cheese-thyme-honey-and-fresh-figs/].

Yields: 4-6 servings

  • 1/4 cup honey (I used local homestead honey)
  • 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, plus more for garnish
  • 1 (19.6 ounce) wheel of brie cheese
  • 4-5 fresh, ripe figs, quartered
  • water crackers or French bread

To a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the honey and thyme. Bring to a simmer, then turn down heat and keep warm.

Heat a panini press on the low setting. Unwrap the wheel of brie and place it in the preheated press. Close the lid and heat until soft and warm to the touch, with golden grill marks, watching carefully (if you go too long, the cheese will burst through the rind and ooze out), mine took about 5-6 minutes.

Carefully transfer the warm brie to a serving plate. Top with quartered figs, drizzle with honey, and garnish with fresh thyme. Serve immediately with water crackers or sliced french bread.

 

 

Hey, You — we all read “The Emperor’s New Clothes!”

Jeff Sessions just announced that “they” (this Administration) did not mean to “go so far.”  Baby detention camps.  Melania Trump visits a safe “children’s place”, a photo op for 45 to keep mentioning as he blames his actions – his policy – on everyone but himself.

Where are the lost children?  Bused in the night. Dispersed all over the States. Lost.

No one is allowed inside the baby camps, but it is heartbreaking to learn that workers have orders not to pick up crying babies.

The Admin requested JAG to prosecute those who were trying to cross the border legally, but a set of regular lawyers are helping victims for free — if they can find them.

Can I get an Amen?

Elijah Cummings Blasts Republicans For Condoning “Child Internment Camps” At The Border: “What Country Is This?”

Elijah Eugene Cummings  is an American politician and the U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 7th congressional district, serving since 1996. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Gandhi once observed, “Suffering can open the human heart to understanding.”

Cummings introduced the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014, a bipartisan bill signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2014.The bill, which Cummings cosponsored with Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, modernizes the definition of a federal record to expressly include electronic documents.

“We should be able to agree that we will not keep kids in child internment camps indefinitely and hidden away from public view,” he said. “What country is that? This is the United States of America.”

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, D-MD: Republicans in Congress are only willing to use their full arsenal of constitutional weapons to attack Hillary Clinton or protect Donald Trump. Neither the Oversight Committee nor the Judiciary Committee has issued a single subpoena to investigate President Donald Trump or any other topic related to his administration, including to a key moral and ethical issue of the day, which is the president’s new policy to separate children from their families.

“And so I ask a question, and it is a simple question. Are we really going to sit here, 70 members of the Congress of the United States of America, in 2018, and have a hearing that just repeats the hearings the Senate had yesterday on Hillary Clinton’s e-mails?”

Shock and Awe

I remember hearing that phrase associated with Rumsfeld/Cheney during the Bush years. (*Hehe*)

We had no idea.  The habit of biting off bird’s heads seems mildly eccentric compared to the mental lashing that this country takes daily.

Strong, people, we stay strong.

When Good Lawyers Arise!

Do we ever think of Lawyers as angels?  Think Superman and Clark Kent.

Now that JAG has been called in to prosecute innocent people, lawyers are showing up nationwide!