Iron "Earthshare Gardens" Chef

Today was our scheduled pick-up at the local Community Supported Agriculture garden, Earthshare Gardens, which happens every other week. It's always a pot luck type event. You never know what kind of crop you are gonna get. This is actually one of the reasons that we really enjoy these weekends since the random crop always challenges us as far as figuring out new things to cook. Today was no different and the dinner on the table tonight was a veritable feast:

• Fresh caught cedar plank grilled drum (not from the coop but from a friend of ours) topped with thyme, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon.
• Tomato, mozzarella and purple basil salad.
• Sauteed eggplant with garlic and banana and pimento peppers
• Lemongrass and cucumber water
• Broiled pears with rosemary
• Pear jam/honey with french bread

These were all small portions so the amount of food was not as crazy as it sounds especially since the pear dishes were more or less small sides made for storage...but still. Crazy assortment. We got about 10-12 cooking pears so I made a jam that turned into honey and the broiled pear dish just for fun. Carlee ad libbed the eggplant dish and the grilled fish has become my favorite dish as of late (regardless of the fish type, the cedar plank and seasoning is an excellent combination). Here's a few photos from the culinary adventure.

Figuring out what all these things are is sometimes hard. Figuring out what to do with them is sometimes even harder. Check out the look of concentration on Carlee's face.

The cajun/creole herb garden area. Based on our recent walks through the garden, I think there are at least 3-4 different herb areas. the purple basil (not even sure if that is the right name) was found somewhere out there.

If I knew what to do with okra...I'd do it.


Lemongrass and cucumber water - artistic and refreshing...

Drum all dressed up and ready for the grill.

I'm trying to figure out how to throw our own Iron chef-like party using the Earthshare Gardens ingredients. Maybe invite a few people over, divvy up the garden spoils in some way, and see what sort of magic happens. That might be kinda fun.

Scooter Bruce

Scooter Bruce in Lafayette, LA.

John Cleese: Soccer vs. Football

This is the Dick Cheney version of creativity, otherwise known as...doing exactly what you are told.

The Original Winger had a John Cleese (British writer, actor and tall person) clip on the other day about offsides which was pretty funny and led me to this Cleese clip that compares Soccer to Football. Pretty funny stuff.

MLS All Star Game Slideshow

Here's some other photos taken from the game - there are a few more action shots and some some pregame sights.

Also, in case you hadn't noticed - any time I upload photos to Flickr, you'll now find the latest ones on the Photos tab. Wish I could figure out how to display more than the last 10...any tips appreciated.

All Star Monkey

For some reason, someone came up with the great idea that selling All Star monkey mascots was the way to go.

Chicharito's First Manchester United Goal

Here's a few scenes from Chicharito's first Manchester United goal ever - against the MLS All Star team. It was pretty cool when he was subbed in because the crowd ramped up the noise level big time. When he scored, the stadium was rocking. All in all, it was a great game to go and watch, lots of goals and some prety open and entertaining soccer.

The shot.

(I got really lucky with the timing of that photo above)

The jumbotron.

The MLS fan (our friend Tim).

Human Foosball

The All Star game had some cool an activities at the fan fest outside the stadium. Here is the human foosball court in action.

MLS All Star Game: The Stage

Reliant Stadium

Just pulled up to Reliant Stadium for the All Star game. Go MLS!

Joshua James - Coal War

I ain't open my eyes till we all walk free- till the colour of our skin it don't mean a damn thing.
I ain't open my eyes, open till we all walk free.
I ain't pickin' up a paper till the wild wind blows
...
If we don't walk free with hand in heart, it's time.
If we cannot see all we destroy, we're blind.

View from a bus...

Just scrolling through South African pictures and came across this one, taken with a cell phone camera on a bus ride. Pretty amazing despite the technology used for the photo. It was a beautiful country.

MLS 2010 All Star Game vs Manchester United

Headed to Houston tomorrow to watch the All Star game. Pretty excited.

Murphy Family Benefit

I stole these pictures from my friend Mark's blog and you should go here to see the rest of them along with a slide show. These are photos from the benefit concert held to help raise money for the Murphy family who were the victims of a tragic accident while traveling to the World Cup this summer. We volunteered at drink tent number#1 with a group of friends at this benefit about a week or so ago. Great music, cause and company.

Spirit Family Reunion - I'll Find a Way

Perfect song as I stare down a Tuesday and try to tell myself that the weekend is not that far away. If you're not singing along with me by the end of this song, check your pulse. It's a small revival at a club in Brooklyn by a band named Spirit Family Reunion. Can't find any way to buy their music so I dropped them an email last night. Fingers crossed that something can be worked out.

Spirit Family Reunion - "I'll Find a Way" from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

Here's a bonus video since it isn't even hump day yet.

Spirit Family Reunion - "Woody Guthrie's America" from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

"If you sing it then it's true!"

Letter of Recommendation

So do you think Alex Ferguson is a good coach? If he recommended you for a coaching job, do you think you would get it? I'll take that letter of recommendation any day of the week. Check it out.

"I like Bob, I like his approach, I think he has a steely determination about him and he goes into a lot of detail in his coaching."

Ferguson was surprised that the United States national team have not offered Bradley a new deal with his current contract set to expire in December.

"I think he did a fantastic job (at the World Cup) and I am surprised the USA have not sprinted to his house and given him a new contract, I must say that.”

I know opinions are split on this one...but unless Sir Alex is trying to tank the US' chance at the next World Cup, I'd have to say that is one strong endorsement.

Ezequiel "Plant Foot" Calvente vs. Italy

Awesome PK technique (given away just slightly by my title of the post). This is from the U-19 World Cup, Spain vs. Italy and the kicker's name is Ezequiel Calvente.

These United States - Conquest And Consequence (A Take Away Show)

This was the second or third song I ever heard from these guys. I might be spoiled as I may like this better than the studio version, although they both are really good. Will definitely be checking out more at this point. These United States are from Washington DC and Lexington, KY.

These United States | A Take Away Show | Conquest And Consequence from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Chain

Jozy's newest toy is a large rubber chain with three link - perfect for a little game of tug. And of course, all toys need to be balanced on Jozy with the "Leave It" command. Here is a photo of her waiting for the "Take It" command.

Cajun Signs: Lift the Moratorium

These signs are not strictly Cajun but they illustrate a concern that is at the heart of Lafayette at the moment, the economic effect of the drilling moratorium in the gulf. No doubt, the disaster in the gulf is catastrophic to the ecosystem, fishing industry and tourism in our area. Couple that with the moratorium that is impacting 33 rigs within the gulf and the economic impact to our area is potentially devastating (between 29,000-46,000 jobs according to some sources that may or may not be biased for all I know).

I am far from an expert on this and am not going to comment one way or the other if the current scope of the moratorium is appropriate. What I know is that the ripple affect in the community has been substantial. This past week there was a rally in our city and these signs were seen all over town. The top one greeted you at the airport as you flew in. The crane was one that I saw today on the morning drive for coffee and donuts.

• Here is a link to a Wall Street Journal article that discusses the rally held this past week.
• According to this article, the parish I live in boasts Louisiana's highest concentration of workers who are dependent on oil- and gas-related businesses. In addition, oil and related industries account for 40% of the parish's economy and about a third of its jobs. That should give you an understanding of why this is such a big deal here.

The 1-2-7 vs the 2-2-6

"Fortunate is he who understands the causes of things."
Virgil, Georgics, no 2, 1 490

I just started reading Jonathan Wilson's Inverting the Pyramid this weekend, a book about to history of soccer tactics leading up to the modern game.

These were the lineups of Scotland (depicted in white, 2-2-6) and England (1-2-7) in the first international soccer game played on November 30, 1872. The score ended 0-0, with Scotland as heavy underdogs. They were able to overcome a severe size and strength disadvantage because they were one of the first teams to embrace passing over dribbling. Apparently, when soccer was in its infancy, passing was considered unmanly. Not only that, but early "offside" rules did not allow a forward pass, thus dribbling used to be the primary tactic to get forward.

Time for Change

Time for some changes around BOB. I'm playing with templates, CSS, etc. Just because. Thinking about having a background that I change on a relatively frequent basis from various photos and updating the color scheme to correspond with each one. Might have some bigger changes coming when I have more time to play with this stuff.

The Referee

Martin Hansson is one of the best referees in the world and as luck would have it, he did everything right and still missed a crucial handball that propelled the French team into the 2010 World Cup. In an additional stroke of fate, a Swedish TV show was filming a documentary on the life of Hansson and they have some great footage of what life is like behind the whistle.

RÄTTSKIPAREN / THE REFEREE [2010] from Freedom From Choice AB on Vimeo.

I can't help but watch this and feel...

• ...my heart break when I hear Martin describe his reaction in the dressing room after he finds out just what went wrong in the France vs. Ireland qualifying game.
• ...that the sooner FIFA embraces technology and/or additional referees as an official policy the better. It's just not fair to the teams or to the referee to hold them up to a level of perfection they cannot live up to.
• ...that I might want to move to a small village in Sweden and referee some of the best games in the world, spending my spare time fishing.
• ...that I'm not the only guy who wears capri sweat pants every once in a while.
  

Break Their Hearts, Steal Their Fans

I think I'm wearing Orange tomorrow, so I'm recruiting you with a couple of Nike spots.

This one just has a ton of cool one liners like the one in the title of this post.

This one was released in 2009 and shows the Dutch team's advancement through the brackets with the word "Bezet" in the final game, which means "Taken." This is a play on Dutch Queens Day celebrations, where people stake claims on street market spaces with tape the night before, marking their spot with the word "Bezet." Queen's day, or Koninginnedag is a national holiday in the Netherlands celebrating the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands and is supposed to be a day of national unity. The song in this commercial is by a band named Daily Bread called Shot the Picture.

Mani the Parakeet vs Paul the Octopus

The soccer teams have taken a back seat and I'm officially cheering for Mani, the psychic parakeet to win the World Cup tomorrow. That's right, Paul the octopus has competition and this bird is picking Netherlands to win it all. Hup Holland Hup!

NASA Proves that Jabulani has Issues

NASA has proven that it has no issues with focusing on its core mission and has officially proven that the Jabulani exhibits strange behavior when when it hits 45-50 mph. Watch the short video below to see some grainy footage of the tests and watch the trail of the ball. Pretty crazy.

Here is a link to the actual page on NASA's website (a different cut of this video is available there). To be fair to NASA, using something like the Jabulani to help educate students on aerodynamics is actually a pretty neat idea in my opinion.

Soccer Army

Here's an army of soccer players that we found in a mall in South Africa - didn't buy one of these guys and possibly regretting it a little... but not too much. The sheer number of them is what I thought was pretty cool. You could "knock them down" by unscrewing various parts and putting them in your carry-on. The US players are in the shot below.

Photos with Zakumi

Just starting to go through some of our photos from vacation and came across these two photos with Zakumi (the 2010 World Cup mascot). At some point during our trip, I developed a deep affinity for Zakumi. My wife just liked the fact that she was taller than him.

No backup plan needed...

Successful experiment with my wife supplying everything that is not grilled. Dry ribs on the left, wet ones on the right. Leftovers without a doubt.

What's wrong with my ear?

..Oh, and Happy 4th of July.

- Jozy

Pecan Smoked and Dry Rub Grilled Baby Back Ribs

This is our experiment for July 4th...not sure what the backup plan is so hopefully it works. Happy 4th of July!

Sergeant Fu - Vuvuzela

There have been some homes broken into in our neighborhood recently so this song just seemed kind of perfect...

You can break into my house if you want to
You can take all my clothes if you want to
Take my TV take my cat and my big outside umbrella
But just don't take my vuvuzela

...a fat kid in a track suit...

"To an untrained eye he looks like a fat kid in a tracksuit who’s won a competition. But then you see how, even now at touching 50, he commands the field. That charisma, that magnetism." - The Daily Mail

Today brought a farewell to one of the most controversial coaches of the World Cup and I was sad to see him go...but at the same time his team was not the better one. His passion on the sideline was great to watch, his tactics in question, his star power unquestionable...


...his quotes sometimes priceless, sometimes ridiculous, and sometimes baring the truth with no theater.

• My legitimate kids are Dalma and Giannina. The rest are a product of my money and mistakes.
• Pele has to go back to the museum.
• We all know what the French are like and Platini as a Frenchman thinks he knows it all.
• In the end, it is about whether God wants us to be in the final, but I know that is what God wants. This time we will not need the Hand of God, because it is the will of God.
• This loss is tougher (than any as a player). We had a chance to be one of the four best teams in the world, and we couldn't do it.