Okay, so our friend INDCent Bill has got the corner on GOP Convention politico-blogging. But that doesn't mean that we Llamas can't find a niche in the hurly-burly that is opening up in New York this week!
A good friend of ours is the DC office manager of one of the major media corporations. She is off to the Show this week and, in a moment of weakness, has agreed to sign on as our Llama Convention Correspondent. While she won't be in a position to provide the same high-test bloviating you'd get from other Convention Bloggers, she has agreed to send along personal observations about what you might call the nuts and bolts of the gig. We'll be sure to post them as they come in.
Well, tomorrow is the first day of my new gig working for the Dept. of Justice. Wish me luck! If someone had come to me five years ago and said, "Tom, you'll be a Civil Rights Lawyer some day soon," I'd have laughed uproariously. Not that I think there is anything inherently ridiculous in a staunch conservative practicing this kind of law. Rather, I had never dreamed that I would ever become a Gen-U-Ine Beltway Lawyer, and a Gov'mint one to boot. (I keep an active membership in the Virginia Bar, much to the annoyance of the Missus, largely because I am not yet psychologically prepared to admit that I have become assimilated by the Beltway Borg. This gets to be an issue round about October, when I am frantically cramming in Continueing Legal Education hours in order to make Virginia's yearly requirement.)
Anyway, I thought it would be entertaining for our readers if I instigated a new category of posts. I'm calling it The Adventures of Justice Boy. Obviously, I can't go on in detail about the cases I have to deal with. But I thought it might be amusing to the three or four of you who read this site if I tracked the day to day biffing that is working for Uncle. (Ten points to anyone who gets the literary allusion.)
Although I am going to be tied up in orientation for the next couple days and posting might be a bit lite, I will try very hard to keep you abreast of what's going on. Just think of me as a Llama Explorer sending back dispatches from terra incognita. I'll try to make them as interesting and entertaining as possible.
I know a few of our friends have been following my battle against the wee furry little bastards that have spent much of the summer snacking on my flowers. Well, touching wood, I believe I have finally won the battle. Before we set out for vacation, I spent several days tacking up nylon mesh netting along the bottom of the garden fence. Upon our return Thursday, practically the first thing I did was run out to see if the puff-tailed rats had been at it again. No sign of them having done so whatsoever! Yessssssss!
In a way, it's a bit of a come down, though, especially after I had given so much thought to getting a Daisy air rifle and shooting the varmints. Hell, I might do it anyway......
We had some friends from Church over for dinner last night. They are really nice folks with daughters approximately the same age as ours, so everyone had a very good time.
As we sat down to dinner, one of the first things Mrs. Friend said to me was that she had visited the Butcher's Shop and enjoyed my little essays on domestic life. Such praise, and from such a source, was so unexpected and pleasing to me that she could have asked me for anything there and then and I probably would have given it to her. Fortunately for her (and whoever else likes them), I have now (I think) created a category reserved for this kind of post, named (originally enough) "Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM)". Thank you the Gods of Movable Type for this new feature.
Well. What I really wanted to mention in this post that I decided I was going to cook for us all last night. I enjoy cooking, although I don't get to do it very often. For this occassion, I pulled out my copy of "Cooking With Pops", a collection of Italian recipes put together by my father, and went to one of my favorite (and very easy) dishes: Shrimp, Scallops and Proscuitto with Pasta.
Here's what you need:
12 sea scallops
18 shrimp, pealed
Dry Sherry (about 6 tbs.)
2 whole shallots, finely minced
basil (to taste)
1/4 lb. proscuitto cut into thin, 1 inch strips
5 cloves garlic, finely minced
juice of 1 lemon
thyme (to taste)
12 oz. Half & Half or cream
1 cup grated parmagiano cheese
pasta (angel hair or linguini fini)
Here's what you do:
Saute the shrimp and scallops in olive oil on medium heat. When firm, add proscuitto, shallots, garlic and herbs and increase heat. Add the sherry, lemon juice and cream. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Add the cheese. Put the pasta (that you've been cooking in the meantime) into the serving bowl and then mix in the sauce.
The portions in this recipe feed four, so adjust accordingly for more or fewer people.
Friends, this is a seriously delicious dish. Tell all those Adkins Acolytes to go to hell and give it a try some time. I think you won't regret it.
Yip! Yip! Yip!