All posts by frank

Dining

Homemade Chicken Soup

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  • 3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

  • 3 Carrots
  • 1 Celery Stalk and Several Celery Tops (Leaves)
  • 1 Yellow / Spanish Onion Quartered.
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Pepper
  • 1/4 cup Parsley Flakes
  • Simmer (a light boiling roll) on Medium Low Heat for 2 hours. Cover soup cooking pot with lid but tilt the lid to allow some vapor to escape while simmering.
  • Boil in water some Ditalini in a separate pot (or prepare some pastina, crushed angel hair pasta, acini di pepe, or even white rise) to add to each bowl serving of soup
  • Recommended:  Sprinkle each serving with freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese to taste.  Also, shred some of the cooked chicken and add it to each serving.

2014-04-17 21.08.47

Dining

Recipe for Beef Brisket in the Crockpot

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  • 4 lb. Beef Brisket (trim fat, sprinkle black pepper, kosher salt, and then brown the brisket 5 minutes on each side in a frying pan using coconut oil or olive oil)
  • 10 Small Red Potatoes (first in the crockpot)
  • 4 carrots (cut in 2 inch pieces)
  • 2 Celery Stalks (cut in 2 inch pieces)
  • 1 large Spanish Yellow Onion (cut in eighths)
  • 1/2 lb. Mushrooms (thick sliced)
  • 1 cup Beef Broth
  • Add all vegetable ingredients to the crockpot and place the browned Brisket on top of the vegetables (last)
  • Cook covered in Crockpot on high for 5 hours
  • Remove some of the cooked broth to make gravy by stirring in either some corn starch or flour over low heat in a small sauce pan. Add a little and stir to dissolve and until gravy is desired consistency.

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Uncategorized

Full Moon on the Ides of March

2014-03-15 22.39.33

Per Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martii or Idus Martiae) is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to 15 March. It was marked by several religious observances, and became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.[1]

Although March (Martius) was the third month of the Julian calendar, in the oldest Roman calendar it was the first month of the year. The holidays observed by the Romans from the first through the Ides often reflect their origin as new year celebrations.

The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the first through the last day. Instead, they counted back from three fixed points of the month: the Nones (5th or 7th, depending on the length of the month), the Ides (13th or 15th), and the Kalends (1st) of the following month. The Ides occurred near the midpoint, on the 13th for most months, but on the 15th for March, May, July, and October. The Ides were supposed to be determined by the full moon, reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman calendar. On the earliest calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.[2]

[1] ^ “Forum in Rome” entry in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome (Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 215.

[2] ^ H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), pp. 42–43.