An Italian, a Frenchman and an Aussie were talking about screams of passion.
The Italian said: “Last night I massaged my wife all over her body with the finest extra virgin olive oil, then we made passionate love and I made her scream nonstop for five minutes.”
The Frenchman said: “Last night I massaged my wife all over her body with special aphrodisiac oil from Provence and then we made passionate love. I made her scream for fifteen minutes straight.”
The Aussie said: “That’s nothing! Last night I massaged me wife, y’know, all over her body with a special butter. I caressed her entire body with the butter and then made love. I made her scream for two long hours.”
The Italian and Frenchman, astonished, asked, “Two full hours? Wow! That’s phenomenal. How did you do it to make her scream for two hours?”
The Aussie replied, “I wiped my hands on the curtains.”
Ever wonder what happens when Chatter Master influences your daily life…
Lots. Just lots.
It started with a surprise from the reliable Chatter Master… delivered by the (usually unreliable) postal service.
What was in it?
A magic mug…made by Irish leprechauns, no doubt. Mischievous little buggers, they are!
So what did this leprechaun-made magic mug do for us this morning?
A brew of dark, just ground French roast coffee magically filled my magic mug…brewed at the perfect temperature of 195F, of course. Thank goodness they didn’t brew up a green smoothie. Miracle of miracles!
And the mug summoned Spring.
And a little visitor joined us – laden with delicious spring pollen. Achoo!
It made me make homemade waffles for the rug rats…with real maple syrup.
And the magic Chatter Master mug summoned our good neighbor Jake! He ate three! And the great kid he is, he took his plate to the sink.
The magic mug also compelled my son to work on his science project! (Of course, there was a bribe involved…that only partially worked.)
See what happens during a Chatter Master inspired morning??
Wait… What’s this? The yard looks the same… What’s up with that?
Gyoza anyone? I guess we call them “dumplings” here in the US of A…
Simple to make.
Tastes great (or at least that’s what my kids say).
And it’s FREEEEE at Chez Mustang.Koji’s! LOL
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Completed gyoza
Ingredients:
Ground pork (kurobuta type preferred!)
Green onions
Napa cabbage or regular cabbage is just as fine
Sesame oil
Crushed garlic (raw)
Sugar
Salt and pepper
Shredded ginger if you like
Chopped water chestnuts if you like
Do not press meat mixture.
Combine ingredients but do not press. Spoon about a tablespoon of mixture into gyoza skin. Fold. Add a touch of oil to coat bottom of cast iron skillet (non-stick does not work!), medium high heat. Cover, add about 2-3 tablespoons of water to steam. Remove when botton is browned.
Serve with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce, “ra-yu” or chili oil, and Japanese vinegar if you like.
Dad’s eyes got a teensy-weensy bit watery again today.
Perhaps its becoming a routine.
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Went to see Dad this morning. Took him his “bentou”, or Japanese lunch to-go, as a change of pace. They only serve America cuisine there.
Pork cutlet bento
Not that he complains. He doesn’t. But all the servers there know he WON’T eat fish. He makes sure of that.
Also took him “yokan”, “senbei”, “manjyuu”, and Morinaga caramel (his favorite from decades ago)… Oh. And “anpan”. Gotta feed his sweet tooth. Make him happy is all that matters now.
Another favorite of Dad’s – anpan
While he asked how “Sue-boh” is as usual (his favorite brother who was KIA), he – by coincidence – talked about how he broke his elbow again. 😉
But this time, I had the pictures I had taken last month with me! Blew his mind. He “kinda” remembered my son and I went to Japan, but he couldn’t comprehend how I got those pictures. Oh well. Anyways, the most important thing was that yes, that was the large stone he jumped from…but he asked, “Where’s the benjo? There was a benjo there behind the tree.” A “benjo” is kind of like an Japanese-style outhouse. 🙂 And that definitely was the (remnants of the) branch.
You should have seen his boyish smile.
I took along what vintage pages I dared to from Grandmother Kono’s album today. I was concerned as they were so fragile… but Dad handled them gingerly.
He said there was a butcher shop in the brick building in the background. That brick building at King and Maynard is still standing.
He particularly liked the photo of him, Mieko and Suetaro… He had a nice smile. I wonder what was going through his thoughts then but I wasn’t going to interrupt.
He is smiling while looking at the three of them. By the way, the stone bracelet he is wearing was from Masako and Izumi. He says he doesn’t take it off but doesn’t remember where it came from. 😉
I think his eyes got a bit watery.
He said, “That was a long time ago,” and “懐かしい”
Just a teensy-weensy bit.
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About an hour later, he remembered looking at the vintage pictures.
It was there at Grandfather Hisakichi’s feet… a Coleman stove! My guess is circa 1920 up near a Mt. Rainier campground… It’s just so…unexpected to see a Japanese family of the early 1900’s with such an “American” icon. I hope I am not a rascist but I sure didn’t expect it.
Grandfather Hisakichi at the right. Unretouched.
And amateurish-ly (is that a word?) retouched with free software. I’m El Cheapo:
As retouched.
Grandmother Kono is not pictured but I wonder who snapped the photo.
There was a photo of Mt. Rainier dated August 1920 on another page in the deteriorating album kept by Grandmother Kono.
Unretouched.
It is remotely possible the man on the right is also Grandfather Hisakichi but I doubt it. I feel this was at a separate outing from the campsite photo.
Julia Child in Kandy, Ceylon during WWII and as part of the OSS.
I am a bit of a World War II history buff. While primarily focusing on the Pacific War due to my family’s connections, I thought this may interest the foodies here.
Julia Child was a member of the OSS – Office of Strategic Services. Spying. Intelligence. James Bond. Well, maybe not James Bond. But she was in some dastardly conditions.
Masako and Spam Musubi 