When all else fails, cat blog, I say. Forthwith, our big boy W00t:



His medium-sized fellow male cat Beeper:



And the Babiest Baby, Trixie:



Enjoy the weekend, y'all.

No, really? 130 cats???

Our cats. So easily amused...

Remember our cute little cat, Trixie? Where did we go wrong?



No, really. I didn't Photoshop that image at all.

With the acquisition today of the state quarter for Hawaii, my kids and I have successfully completed a project that began in 1999, the year after our daughter was born. Pretty cool.

Our son was born in 2000, and as they both grew they became involved in the hunt for the five quarters that were released at roughly 10-week intervals every year, year after year. With today's addition, we put this project to rest. (Quarters were released in the order in which the states joined the union -- the legend is on the exteme left-hand side and not visible in the photo.)

Official info on the program is here.

I've got invites to two dinners tomorrow, and I am also preparing some munchies for the weekend of Wild Pig hunting to which I've been invited starting Friday AM.

I made a classic cold side dish that the Polish side of my family always makes-- Cucumbers and Onions with Dill, Black Pepper, scrunch it all up, with your hands for a bit, and then add Sour Creme, and blend with a spoon until well mixed, and the Sour Creme is liquidity. I add a little splash of Cider Vinegar for a bit of flavor. My "old" family would usually side this with some pickled Herring. Me? Not so much.

I cooked a small Ham, which I studded with cloves, glazed with Honey, and then made a broth to keep it moist, of Orange Juice and Vernor's Ginger Ale. To that, I added fresh-ground Nutmeg, Ginger, and a stick of Cinnamon. YUMMY!!!

Right now, I am making stuffing for a Duck that I will cut up, and take to Pig Camp on Friday.

I boiled the giblets in some chicken broth and ~2/3 cup Beaujolais Nouveau, with fresh Sage and Thyme from the garden. I'm saving the liquids for the rest of the stuffing. Right now, everything just went into the pan, and is slowly cooking.

Here's the recipe:

Monkeyfister's Amazing Stuffing: Sautee Celery and Sweet Onion (mine is from the garden), Sage, Parsley, and Thyme from the garden, a handful of Dried Cranberries, 1/2 a Pomegranate of seeds, diced Apple, Shitake, and other Wild Mushrooms, some shaved Carrot from the garden for color, and the Duck Giblets. Cook until mostly soft, and then finish with a splash of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau (or any red wine), and put together with the bread mixture (or pre-cooked Wild Rice). Use the liquid from the boiled Giblets to moisten the bread stuffing. I'm going to put the stuffing into the fridge overnight, and then finish cooking it with the Duck in the morning. One can easily swap the bread stuffing for a Wild Rice mix, but cook it thoroughly, first.

The house is smelling AWESOMELY good right now! You might want to make this as your "private stuffing stash." You won't want this all eated up at the end of the day!

To Pig Camp, I'm also bringing some smoked Trout and Whitefish that I ordered from a company in Michigan's U.P., and some good cheeses; and a chunk of Venison backstrap from a Doe I took three weeks ago, bacon; and onions, Rosemary, and potatoes from the garden for breakfast on Saturday-- ooooh MAN!

Actually, it arrived in the US last Thursday, I always buy a case, as a bottle makes a great gift at this time of year. Now, when I first started drinking the Beaujolais Nouveau, back in the early 1990s, it was priced at $6 per bottle, and stayed that price for a decade. Three years ago, it went up to $8 per bottle; two years ago, it went up to $11 per bottle; last year it was $14 per bottle; but I was not prepared to see it at $18.50 per bottle this year. This may be my last year of buying it, as, lets face it-- it is just "cheap" red table wine, and I can get GREAT reds for even less.

At any rate, this year's offering is a delight. As I tip up the glass, I am hit with a sparkling frontal assault of fruit and sour-- like Granny Smith Apple, and a quick bite of Crab-Apple, WOO!, and then, as the wine washes over the tongue, mild pear and almost buttery flavors take over... and the finish is tinged with hints of soft, strawberry and banana undertones. The wine is leggy, and full-bodied, and leaves the palate dry and clean, ready for more.

Hmmm.... lemme take another sip of that... Oh, yeah-- that's good.

It is certainly very palatable, and I know my friends will enjoy it as a gift. I'm just not going to pay this price again next year. As I said-- for $18, I can get two fantastic bottles of Chilean Cabernet, and will enjoy them much more.

Here is the producer's write-up, via Georges Duboeuf

Beaujolais nouveau is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. It is the most popular vin de primeur, fermented for just a few weeks then officially released for sale on the third Thursday of November. This "Beaujolais Day", or "Beaujolais Nouveau Day" sees heavy marketing from the producers, with races to get the first bottles of the vintage to different markets.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a purple-pink wine that is particularly lightweight, even by the standards of Beaujolais. The method of production means that there is very little tannin, and the wine can be dominated by fruity, ester flavours of bananas and pear drops. These are enhanced by the frequent recommendation to serve the wine lightly chilled, at approximately 13°C (55°F).

And the bottle itself is a wonderfully seasonal piece of art!

To sum up: Good wine this year-- not ever a great wine-- but, excellent for what it is. It MUST be un-corked and drunk before mid-January, and cannot be aged. But, still-- It makes a great gift for drinking right away, perfect for a Turkey dinner (or Duck, Goose, Venison or Rabbit), but, at $18.50, I simply won't be buying any more after this year, and instead, gifting less-expensive, better reds this time of year. I'm going to be cooking with a couple of bottles of this wine-- excellent to cook with.

This year's wine will MULL very, very nicely, the more that I think about it.

Pick some up on the way to your family or friends' Thanksgiving Dinner. Everyone will certainly give thanks!

Welp, things sure is quiet around B3 Land. In my own case, it's the yearly madness of preparing an over the top Thanksgiving. I've been doing prep work all week and have got a long day ahead. So for those of you who are smart enough to delegate out a few dishes, here's what I've been putting together on my lonesome:

Appetizers:
Olive plate
Homemade Pimiento Cheese on celery sticks
Butter bean canapes (via Jacques Pepin) on homemade baguettes
Homemade mozzarella cheese with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Main:
Truffled turkey with white wine and shallot gravy (via Gourmet Mag)

Sides:
Mashed root vegetables (via epicurious.com)
Stuffing with apples and pecans
Steamed broccoli
Cranberry and pear relish (via the Washington Post food page)

Rolls:
Butter popovers (see The Bread Bible)

Dessert:
Watermelon, Lime and Mint Granita (see Ellie Kreiger's cookbook)
Apple and cranberry turnovers (likewise)

Yeah, I'm nuts. Especially since this is for a grand total of 5 people. So if you've got some favorite recipes, drop 'em in comments. Or if the hints above for the source of mine aren't enough, leave a question and I'll either find the link or post it. It took me at least an hour just to figure out the strategy of what to put into which of my 2 ovens and at what time for tomorrow. Hell, I think I could invade Normandy if need be at this point. But much good cheer and good wine will be the result of all this, and here's hoping your Not Pardoned By Palin Day goes well. Gabba Gabba Gabble, y'all.

So, K and I often visit a web site called woot.com. If you've never heard of it, it's a site that sells things - usually one item per day until their stock of that item is gone. but every once in a while they stage what they call a 'Woot-Off,' where they just keep posting odds and ends, everything from MP3 players to DVD recorders, whatever they have laying around in the warehouse.

We've bought a lot of stuff from them in the past (the laptop I'm posting this from is a product of Woot) - a phone set, memory cards, an MP3 player, small stuff. But just now we got in on the final Woot item of the day:



It's a Magnavox 37” LCD 720p HDTV - we've been talking about getting a new TV for a while in order to take advantage of our nifty HD channels, and the price was right, so we went for it. Kewl. (Jimmy and Robert optional...)

Our cat, Beeper.



For an explanation as to why he's slightly less dopey than the Republican candidate for president, view the video below.

We're off to a Labor Day BBQ. Here's hoping everyone enjoys the rest of the holiday weekend. I'll be back later tonight.

Check the links in the 'B3 Preferred' column to your right for holiday bloggy goodness. Catch y'all later.

My wife asked me last night why I haven't cat blogged for a while. Good question. So without further delay, here are the animals.

Here's King Kitty W00t lounging as only he can lounge.



Here's Sullen Teen Cat Beeper, bein' all emo and stuff.



Here's Trixie, stopping everyone from taking a shower by sleeping on the bath towels.



And here's the token dog, Cody, trying to blend in among the patio furniture.



And since y'all been so nice lately, here's a bonus shot of a Snow Monkey that I took on our recent trip to the Riverhead Aquarium. Why they have monkeys at an aquarium is still beyond me.



There. Everyone have a great weekend, and be sure to celebrate the first day of Summer.

My 16 year old border terrier, McGuffin, took a sudden turn for the worst on Monday, and we had to send him on to Squirrel Hell, where he gets to chase as many of those varmints as much as he wants, maybe even catching them on occasion. I know all pet owners say this sort of thing, but dammit, it's true: he was just the best, and he made life a little--make that a lot--more fun. So before I get too dang maudlin, here's the boy doing his best to support B3:

Miss ya, goofy Guffin...

The boys...

Last year Stranger blogged about a scumbag appliance repair company that took him for a ride. And in August, he wrote this post reporting that the crook had been arrested and the Suffolk County Consumer Affairs office called him "the worst of the worst."

Well, your story isn't just local, dude. I just got my copy of the Angie's List Magazine, with a cover story on The Best & Worst Contractors in the whole country. And there in the Top 5 Worst, you'll find Douglas Cass, the creep that ripped you off. Sorry there's no online edition I can point you to, as there's a lovely mugshot of the slackjawed dimwit in there as well. Takin' it nationwide!

Don't know if any of you folks out there subscribe to Angie's List, but I've found it quite helpful over the past year as I've had to have windows replaced, a new roof, new garage doors and so on. Haven't gotten a bum tip from the member reviews yet, so consider that as an endorsement of sorts--for what that's worth.

Update: In comments, Anon. has come up with an online version of the story, complete with aforementioned mug shot. Thanks mucho!