OMG! I think this is my big chance!
Hi I'm Sean Reiser, this is my Personal Blog
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Friends,
If you're ever posing for a photo and you're back lit (eg, the sun is setting behind your head). Please consider turning on the flash, otherwise you will be in shadow. if you can set your flash to 2/3 power, fine. Otherwise just shoot with the flash on.
Love,
Me
This is how I often feel talking to folks who are on either end of the left / right political divide.
Can anything think of a word to describe someone who uses intimation and physical violence to get what they want? Not quite a bully, who intimidates for the sake of violence. Someone who uses intimidation and violence as a means towards a larger goal. Think of The Sopranos. The word used to be “thug” but that now carries a racial implication that doesn't need to be part of this thing I'm writing.
Making a Pie (or a Pan Dowdy) on an Outdoor Grill
At the apartment building where we live, Anne and I have a number of friends who get together once a month over the summer, throw some meats on the grill and hang out. I tend to play grillmaster. Someone brings burgers, someone else brings some dogs. Joyce brings a tray of ribs which are always excellent. I spend the time at the grill cooking things (or heating things up). Salads are brought. As is beer. A good time is had by all. Now I’ll be honest, I enjoy cooking, but making burgers, dogs and the like really isn’t a challenge so sometimes I like to make something that’s different.
This past weekend we had one of our gatherings (now with Social Distancing) and the night before I had a hankering for an apple pie. I know it’s not apple pie season but I was in a mood. So I decided I was going to make one on the grill. I know that might sound odd to some folks, but one thing I learned is that if you cover your grill and control your temperature, your grill becomes an oven. I know that on my grill. If I keep 2 of the 4 burners on medium and avoid any grease flare ups, once it gets to temperature, my grill maintains 375 degree heat.
I have to be honest, bakers will be offended how I did this, it’s store bought pie crust and canned pie filling. But that this article is more about thinking of different ways to use your grill, not the actually recipe. Use your best pie filling recipe if you like. Spend hours making your best scratch puff pastry.
I just decided to be lazier still and do a pan dowdy. Instead pf a nice uniform crust, pieces of the puff pastry are mixed in. There’s no reason your can’t cut and a proper crust to the pie, but this is a BBQ, not Thanksgiving dinner. People are slopping themselves up and eating charred meat with their hands, no need to get fancy.
Ingredients
- 2 cans Apple Pie Filling.
- Butter
- 1 roll refrigerated puff-pastry
Steps
Setup the pan dowdy.
- Grease the inside of a #10 cast iron skillet with butter (or crisco).
- Add the cans of pie filling to the pan
- Take the puff pastry and tore it into 1” or so pieces and scattered them over the pie filling.
Grilling
- Make sure your grill is clean. Grease flare up can cause the temperature to spike and drop which won’t be good for the baking process.
- Setup your gill to cook at 425 degrees. This is going to take experimentation on your part. On my grill if I set 2 of the 4 burners to between medium and high I can get the temperature to be a constant 425. But your grill will probably be different.
- Cover the skillet put it on the grill close the top and bake for 40 mins.
- Remove from the grill
- Optional - sprinkle some confectioner's sugar.
- Share and Enjoy!
Although not the fanciest dessert, I felt like it was enjoyed, here is the after photo.
This is how rumors get started
I posted a shorter version of this, commenting on a friend’s post about replacing the Star Spangled Banner because Francis Scott Key was a slave owner.
I can separate an artists' background from their creations. It’s why I can still read Harry Potter without thinking of transrights or watch The Usual Suspects without thinking of Kevin Spacey’s crimes. In my heart I know that every beautiful thing, every funny thing, everything that makes us feel something has been created by an imperfect person who has done something in their life that would disgust me.
All that said the problem with the Star Spangled Banner isn’t Francis Scott Key. The song itself celebrates slavery. It starts off fine enough…”we made it through the battle! the flag is still there, ain’t we great!!!” Then in the third stanza it takes a rather dark turn:
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
You might say to me “I didn’t know there was a third stanza, we don’t sing that part”. Yeah I know, but it’s part of the song and a little too close. I mean it is an accurate representation of the pre-civil war south, but doesn't represent what I want 2020 America to be. And with both "America, the Beautiful" and "God Bless America" just sitting there, waiting to be used.
The article my friend posted suggested John Lennon’s Imagine. I can’t sign off on that. Honestly, right now, I think the world would be better if most people imagined there was a hell below us.
Plus as far as the SSB is concerned, let’s be honest no one can hit that High F at the end.
Spent a half hour this morning reading the competing conspiracy theories about the rouge firework displays we’ve been seeing across the country. I have to admit that sometimes the conspiracy theories are better than the actual fireworks. If I have my tin foil lined conspiracy hat on, I think it might be Shapeshifting Lesbian Reptoid Nuns from Planet-X. But as I remove that hat let me lay out a more realistic scenario:
- Fireworks celebration planning begins a year in advance. In order to produce the explosives they need, fireworks companies begin producing fireworks on July 5.
- Fireworks have a limited lifespan. The longer any piece of ammo exists, the more likely it is to have a failure due to physical damage or moisture. So holding onto fireworks for an additional year is probably less than safe.
- Due to Covid-19 a lot of firework shows have been cancelled. I’m not talking the super-professional shows that are televised, but the smaller shows that are in our town squares and over our ponds across the country. The ones that use middle tier ordnance.
- Fireworks manufactures across the county have a glut of inventory, which they need to liquidate. So they are selling it for pennies on the dollar in legal, quasi-legal and maybe underground markets
- Heck it might not the companies pushing it to the underground market. Many people fled the cities at the beginning of Covid and might be just heading back now…. Buying fireworks from states where they are legal and brining them home for fun and profit.
- People, especially teens and young adults have been cooped up for months, are looking to get into trouble and have access to cheaper fireworks. Kids in that age group always know somebody who knows somebody who can get get fireworks.
I know some people are blaming the Cops, BLM, The CIA, The Shadow Government, The Chinese or Shapeshifting Lesbian Reptoid Nuns from Planet-X. But I prefer to blame basic supply and demand economics.
Just saw the remake of the Taking of Pelham 123 and would like everyone to know that a 6 train from 33rd st to Coney Island would never have passed Shea Stadium.
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The opinions expressed in this blog are mine and not those of my employers, clients, friends, or family. If you agree with everything I say you should seek professional help.
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| Sean Reiser