Ingredients:

• 1 large onion
• Fresh Basil
• 10-12 Roma Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Dried oregano, rosemary, and thyme
• 2 large cans crushed tomatoes.
• 2 small cans tomato paste
• Heavy Cream
• Red wine (Cheap is a-okay)
• Salt and Black Pepper
• Sugar
• Olive Oil

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375. Halve, and seed 7 Roma tomatoes. (To seed them most easily, just cut out the little seed pockets. I used a paring knife.) Lay them out on a sheet pan, and coat with olive oil, oregano, rosemary, salt, and some black pepper. Roast for 6-7 minutes, turn them, and roast for another 6-7 minutes. Time may vary based on size/ripeness. Just watch for the skins to pull away from the flesh.

Step 2: Chop a large onion, 6-7 cloves of garlic, and some basil. Heat some oil in the bottom of your big stock pot, and sweat the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent. Lower the heat and add the basil, two cans crushed tomatoes, and about 2 tablespoons of sugar (this helps cut the acid). quarter the remaining romas, and add those too. Bring to a simmer.

Step 3: Remove and skin the roasting Roma tomatoes. They’ll be hot, but the skins should pull right off. Discard the skins, and let the roasted tomatoes rest.

Step 4: Add red wine, and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes, covered. This will let the flavors marry, and it’ll keep it from reducing too much.

Step 5: Add two cans of tomato paste, to thicken the mixture and add cream. You can add as much or as little cream as you like. It’s really about taste here. Stir it in, and let it simmer some more.

Step 6: Add the roasted tomatoes to the sauce, and use your trusty immersion blender (you’ve got one, right?) or your trusty regular blender and blend the whole mixture until it’s smooth.

This whole thing should make quite a bit of sauce. Use what you want now, and freeze the rest. It’s freezes really well, and to thaw it out, just cut some off the frozen block and cover it over low heat. Stir it around until it thaws, and you’re good to go.

Enjoy!

People, politics, civilizations, poems, philosophies POOF! They came and went like will-o-wisps. Like Jude, he began to feel obscure. Outdated and outmoded in a society of quickly rising, fast burning stars. Throw-away beauties and throw-away politics, and throw-away philosophy. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. But, that’s never how it went, not in the world according to Thomas. Hell, not in the world according to anybody. There was never reduction. Only production, and not even by the people who promoted the whole thing. It was shipped off, shipped out. Made cheaper, Made in China ®. Leaden toys, oil spills. Produce. Produce. Produce. It wasn’t a triangle, just a line. No starting, no stopping. Then what?

Then he’d move on. POOF! Another throw-away thought, another throw-away philosophy. It isn’t quite cynicism, though, he imagined. No, the cynics just say everything sucks. And it doesn’t all suck. There’s just no changing anything. Some new bills here, a new president there, but it’s all really the same. It’s not cynicism, but helplessness. Confusion. POOF! Another freedom gone, another Facebook private message made public. Another judge taking kickbacks for imprisoning children. His friends and coworkers branded him with a big scarlet A. Not that “A.” That one was for adultery, which had become another throw-away philosophy, another throw-away marriage, another throw-away wife POOF! No, this “A” was for apathy. But that wasn’t quite it either. The world according to Thomas had problems! The apathetic don’t admit to problems, why bother? No, not apathy. Something else. Then what?

Then he’d move on. POOF! Another throw-away debate. Another throw-away hung parliament. Another throw-away pundit. Pundits sure aren’t very punny. Another throw-away joke. The problem in the world according to Thomas was that people thought too much. Well, sort of. People thought about which angle would be best for Facebook and which friends could see what, and OH MY GOD, did you see what happened to Tiger Woods? Another throw-away news story. Another throw-away anchor. Take a swim with Edna, take a deep breath. Then what?

Then he’d move on. POOF! See, the will-o-wisps weren’t always so bad, just sometimes there were more, sometimes less. It’s their way, he supposed. Some of them true, some of them not. Everybody had them, he figured. Figured that’s what made him human. Somewhere deep, he felt it all would work out someway or other. Maybe never be the same as it used to be, but figured that’s okay too. The world according to Thomas had changed quite a bit as his memories flashed in and out of existence. Figured it always had. Always wood. Then POOF! He’d move on. Another throw-away blog. Another throw-away idea. Another throw-away story. POOF! There goes the world according to Thomas.

I doubt if I have anyone with this blog still on their feed lists, but maybe I can coax a few old internet friends into trying to follow along again as I update sporadically and usually fail to come up with anything interesting to say, but it seemed to make a few people happy before, and for the love of all things good and decent, my job is sucking my soul from me. It’s not that I dislike my job, or I’m ungrateful for it. Rather, quite the opposite. I usually have a pretty good time while I’m at work, and having been unemployed for nearly 10 months, I appreciate beyond words the real blessing it is that I even am employed. But, there’s something missing from this whole Corporate America thing that I had while I was in college, and I guess that’s what really kept me from blogging before. I had release.

I had a few professors who welcomed me into their offices to shoot the shit and discuss various and sundry topics for hours, from our high-and-mighty academic pedestals. We were the academic elite. And, let us be honest here, the academic pandering that goes on in the college world is extremely nice to one such as me who needs the ego stroked. But, even more than that, it often challenged me. I had to think quickly and respond intelligently to questions to which I did not always have ready answers. My mind was nimble, and I could dart and weave around nearly any rhetorical obstacle. Nowadays? I feel slow, sluggish. I’ve grown fat and lazy in the year since graduation because there hasn’t been much of a reason to continue exercising. TV has really become a staple instead of books, and that’s really a shame.

I figure if maybe I start writing again, writing anything, then maybe I’ll at least get to exercise a little bit. Maybe throw out a little philosophy, or a few observations. Analyze some causation here or there. I think I’ll start with a critique / analysis of Avatar, and I’ll kick the people who say it’s about how humans destroy the environment squarely in the throats, because that’s a minor point, and you should be ashamed of yourself for stopping there.

Stay tuned. I might just get snippy.

By gavatron, click for Flickr Photostream

The way we often view poverty is represented almost perfectly by the photograph above. It’s there, and we’re standing off, just watching it. We see it, and we move along. The man on the corner, making his cardboard plea for work or money or booze. The man sitting on the street, too tired to even ask, but with a tattered cup or swiss-cheese hat sitting there, screaming silently, “Please. Spare a dime, quarter, nickle. Anything.”

But what happens whenever it’s not just on the street, where you can pass by without thinking twice about it. Tonight, my wife and I decided to go out to the local installment of a major Tex-Mex restaurant chain for dinner. This restaurant is only a few minutes from our house, and when we eat out, it’s a frequent choice. Tonight, though, was a little different than most. Shortly after we were seated and received our never-ending bowl of chips and bowls of salsa, a man walked in who immediately drew gazes from every table there. He was seated nearby.

While no book should ever be judged by its cover, I will admit that I immediately made my assumptions about this camouflage clad, greasy-haired, clearly weathered hardback which sat nervously at the table. He fidgeted in his pockets, stood up and looked around every few minutes, and it seemed he felt as out of place as he looked. He ordered a glass of water, and began perusing the menu. As his eyes flitted across the brightly colored pages, I could see there were two distinct, radically different, reactions. My best guess is the first was a result of reading the item descriptions. It was pure ecstasy. The second was a result of seeing the prices. It was utter disappointment.

His roller coaster facial expressions weren’t, however, my first indication that this man would likely be going without dinner tonight. As soon as he was seated, he removed his coat, by pulling out his arms and letting it drop to the floor. He looked around to make sure no one who worked there was watching him, and he carefully slid the knife out of its paper napkin sheath. The drawstrings of the top of the coat had become knotted together, so it couldn’t be opened properly. He used the knife as a surgeon might, carefully trying to undo the knot without breaking either of the precious cotton-cord tendons. In the end, he just sawed through it, both because he was unable to break the knot, but also because the wait staff was beginning its parade. In a gesture which made clear his inability to pay for a meal, he carefully resheathed the knife, so the bundle looked as undisturbed as he could make it.

It was clear the wait staff was unsure how to handle the situation. There was a steady stream of aprons walking past his table, saying hello and asking if they could get him anything. He talked with any of them who would listen. I could only hear bits and pieces over the din of the restaurant, but I heard enough. He didn’t have much money. His mother recently died. How much just for a taco? In the midst of all this, he nervously nibbled at the basket of chips and salsa brought to him, and the look on his face said he was just waiting for someone to ask him to leave.

The manager walked by and said hello to the man. Her grey pantsuit sharply contrasted his black hoody beneath black shirt beneath newly-sutured camouflage. That was the end of his warmth, his meager meal, and his water, I thought. I felt sorry for him. While the low 40s may not be cold to some, for anyone around Texas it certainly is. For anyone who spends all day every day outside it is. She smiled and kept walking, then something amazing happened.

Another couple sat at the table just behind ours. Apparently, the man sitting there was just as nosy as I was. he got up, and got the manager. They were close enough to our table I could hear what he was saying. “Excuse me, miss. That man there at the end of the row. I want you to give him whatever he wants for dinner and put it on my bill.” The manager looked shocked. “That’s very, err, cool of you. Where are you sitting?” The man motioned to his table, they separated.

The parade of wait staff hadn’t ended, and one waiter was talking prices with the man, who was clearly on the verge of tears. The waiter told him he could get him just a taco, but it would be 4.95. The man pulled a fistfull of change and began counting it on the table. Both of them realized it wouldn’t be enough, and the man hung his head while the waiter said, let me just go check on something. Near the back, the manager had gathered the wait staff, spoke with them briefly, and they all went back to their sections, casting knowing glances at each other as they went. Shortly, our waiter went to the man’s table, and asked him what he’d like to eat. The man, clearly ashamed, admitted he couldn’t afford it, but the waiter told him not to worry about it, it had been taken care of. Anything there on the menu he could have.

Even in the soft light of the restaurant, the tear that began running down the man’s cheek was unmistakable. He ordered, and, like a child, asked if it would be okay if he got a coke, too. The waiter gave a jovial laugh and told him sure.

I kept an eye on the man throughout the rest of our meal, and I couldn’t quite place the emotion I saw on his face. It wasn’t exactly happiness; it was more akin to that deep joy you feel. Not the giddy pleasure, but that overwhelming feeling you get when everything finally seems like it’s on your side. The couple who offered to pay also had their left-overs boxed up and given to the man. They also made a deal with the waiter, that while they didn’t have cash, they’d make an extra-large tip if he could give the man some money on his way out. They just had one request. They wanted to know the man’s name.

The waiter was more than happy to oblige, and he went and sat down across from the man. They talked for several minutes, and he told how he had spent 8 years in prison, but he’s out now and has put away that lifestyle. He talked about how his mother recently died, after he’d been taking care of her. The waiter went to get him some more coke and make his rounds. He stopped at the other couple’s table, told them the man’s name was Doug.

Doug got the best meal he probably had in days. He was able to come in from the cold for a while, and he even got what was to him a delicacy, a coke. What a sight. I’m young, but I’ve managed to turn into quite the cynic, but despite all that, watching that couple give that man something he so obviously desired but couldn’t have got for himself made me realize a couple of things.

First, people aren’t just a complete loss. In these days of litigiousness and self-absorption, it was a refreshing to see someone who cared for another human being. Second, it showed me how even though I view a single meal at a restaurant as so insignificant, to someone, it’s a magic salve.

I didn’t see if the waiter actually passed on a portion of the tip like he said he would. Typically, I would be prone to believe he didn’t. But tonight? I’d be willing to bet he did.

Often, in class, we students would find ways to keep ourselves entertained. During Shakespeare, someone came up with the idea to play a game, seeing who could get him to say any of a given set or words. Each word had a different point value, with the top-most being “platypus.”

One day, nearing the end of the semester, I went to the professor and asked if I could lead the devotional thought that day. “Sure,” he said, “Any reason?” “Well, yes! Today is national platypus day!” Not wanting to look like he didn’t know already, “Oh, right! I must have forgot!”

We got to class, and he began by asking me to come to the front, and have everybody pay attention for today’s special “Platypus Day” devotional. The other players stared daggers at me, while I continued with the devo, sat down, and enjoyed my victory.

+100 points for me.

We got up Friday, intending to go do our souvenir shopping, which I wasn’t too pumped about, but she wanted to do, so you know how it goes. We went out, grabbed a cab to Bryant Park, where we had some delicious food from a place called ‘Wichcraft, and ate in the park while it snowed. While this may sound romantic, it was more cold than anything else, so we quickly finished and headed on our way.

We got stopped by a guy selling tickets to a comedy club, and we figured since it was our last night, why the hell not. We got the tickets, and went on our way. Shopping was pretty uneventful, too. There’s lots of stuff, most of it just utter crap. Lots of stuff that costs too much. Just lots of stuff, period. We got her siblings some “I <3 NY” shirts, got her mom a spiffy Statue of Liberty shirt. Then we got some cool gifts.

We went to the giant M&M’s store in Times Square, where they’ve got nearly every color M&M you can imagine. My dad’s a Baylor alum, so we got him some dark green and gold M&Ms. We also got him a shirt that says “I need a bailout” since he’s been so outspokenly against them. Next, we crossed the street to the giant Hershey’s store. There, we got my mom a large hershey’s bar, with our picture on the wrapper. We also got a souvenir bucket filled with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for her dad.

Those were the gifts I liked getting, because they were more than just a T-shirt. They actually meant something. In any case, we had fun, spent too much money, and that was that.

Afterwards, we went to drop all the stuff off at the Hotel, where we proceeded to nap for a few hours, instead of just a few minutes as we’d planned. At that point, we still needed to run by the Gershwin theater to get Kreestone a Wicked hoodie, go eat at Mars 2112, and get ourselves to the comedy club. Well, the Gershwin wasn’t selling merchandise, and there was too long of a wait at Mars 2112, so we ended up eating at Cosi, which had some amazing sandwiches and pizza.

After that, it was off to the Broadway Comedy Club. We ended up being a few minutes early, so we had to wait a bit before being seated. We learned something then: If you do not want to be right up on the stage, where the comedians can, and will, pick on you, don’t get to the comedy club early. We were, literally, front and center. I could have reached out and touched the comedians.

We heard 4 comedians there. There was the emcee, who was pretty funny, and 3 “mainline” acts. Of the three, there really was only one who wasn’t funny. While there’s a good deal of room for crudity and whatnot in comedy, his was just over the top. Often, what makes something funny is that it’s right there on the line, often a little past. That’s why it’s funny. Neither something too far over, nor not close enough, is funny, and he fell into the former category.

I should mention that per the stipulations of the ticket, we had to purchase two drinks per person during the show. This is, undeniably, how they make their money, since admission for two people was only $20.00. The drinks were expensive, but believe-you-me, they weren’t watered down. No, no. Strong drinks, (mostly) good comedy, and front-row seats made for a great last hurrah in New York.

We got to bed, packed up, and the next morning we caught our flight home. Home. Here in Texas, things work a lot differently than they do in New York. First of all, you can get Dr. Pepper in every restaurant. This was not so there. In fact, we only found two. Secondly, you can go get a meal in Texas ridiculously cheaply. I mean, we stopped in for dinner on our drive from the airport, and we both got entrees (not something we did in NYC We split nearly every meal). For about half the cost of most of our meals in NYC, we had soda and two entrees. Now, really, what’s up with that?

In any event, it was a great trip, but we were glad to be home once we made it. I’ve only got one more NYC post, and it’s about the restaurants, so stay tuned!

NYC Aquarium!

Weird fish!

Seahorses!

Fur Seal!

Sea Lion Show! His name is Osbourne

Dancing!

Jumping!

Face!

Cyclone! This was a ride at Astroland, near Coney Island.

Kristen, on an escalator at the MoMA!

The Iris Exhibit! This was a HUGE 3-walled video with relaxing images and sounds, with a HUGE eye-shaped couch in the middle. You were invited to sit down, lie down, stretch out, sing, dance, whatever.

Same exhibit.

These are the pictures. I hope you enjoyed them. All in all, the trip was great, also, in the future, expect a post about restaurants, and the Honeymoon Day 6 post.

We wandered around for a while, eventually sort of just running into tons of signs with writing we couldn’t read that looked vaguely Asian in origin, so we figured that was the place. We walked around, looked in some shops at fake Louis Vuiton, Coach, Gucci, etc etc. It was all well and good. We found a little sketchy looking restaurant, went in, and discovered that nearly everything was written in Chinese. Well, there were some English names on the menu too, but it was, by far, the minority language. We ordered a couple things we recognized, Chicken Lo Mein, and Sweet and Sour Chicken, and waited for the food. It came, and we both decided it was the best we’d ever had. P.F. Chang’s, eat your heart out.

We bundled up again, and went to find this store we’d heard about. It’s called YunHong, and they sell Chopsticks. That’s all. Chopsticks. It sounded lovely, so we set out to find it. It would be an understatement to say we did a poor job. We walked all over, went the wrong way down the streets, etc etc. Then, I panicked. I realized I left my camera bag at the restaurant. We were next to a small courtyard, so Kreestone sat down while I rushed back to the store. I walked back to our table, interrupted the conversation of the people sitting there, and asked about my bag. Fortunately, the waitress saw me come in, and came and got my to tell me they had it at the front desk. *whew* As soon as I realized I wasn’t carrying it, I figured it was gone, but thanks to the wait staff there, I got it back. Cynicism: 0, Humankind: 1.

We continued on our way, on our quest to find the shop, and while we ended up walking about 10 blocks more than we needed to (with all the wrong-waying), we finally found it, and it was amazing! There were some absolutely beautiful chopsticks in there, ebony with silver gilding, mahogany, etc etc. They were absolutely beautiful. We ended up getting a set of 6, bamboo with jade ends. They’re beautiful. (Again, pictures and such later. No camera cable.)

We got back home, rested a little, and got ready to out to our second show of the week: Avenue Q. If you’re a fan of the off-color, non-politically correct, sarcastic humor, then this show is for you. I laughed more than I’ve laughed in quite a while. As with Wicked, if it comes your way, SEE THIS SHOW.

We went back to the Stardust for some shakes, then we turned in for the night. 5 excellent days, just a couple more to go before we return to real life.

We didn’t stay there long, not just because it was a little dark, but because, honestly, we didn’t get it. Her style was subtle, with hints of 6-year-old art project, and it finished with a bit of a vinegarish flavor.

We hopped an escalator to the next floor down, where we finally saw some stuff we liked! Cézzanne, Picaso, Van Gogh, and a few I’d not heard of before, like Henri Rousseau, Georges Braque, Yves Tanguy, and several others. (Again, I’ve got some great shots of these guys’ paintings, but I forgot my cable. I’ll post about them later) We were surrounded by cubism, impressionism, and all manners of Art modern. We finished perusing the floor and hopped down another one.

Now, I like Art, whether it be with words, pictures, movies, paint, sculpture, etc. I really do. But I think my definition of Art must be a little too narrow, or some painters are just a little too pretentious. For example. Barnett Newman is one of those painters who paints lines on a canvas. Just lines, vertical stripes. He calls these things fine art. The most pretentious, I think, was his painting called “The Wild” (Click the link, you can see it). If it’s unclear in the picture, the whole of the painting is a 1-inch by 6.5 foot strip of canvas painted red. Now, what on EARTH, could that do for anyone seeking truth, beauty, or the American way? I just don’t quite get it, I guess.

In any event, we wandered around, saw some neat stuff, saw some ridiculous stuff, and after we’d been there for about 4 hours, we decided to get some lunch and get some rest at the hotel. Well, we made a grave error in our lunch decision. Because we were so close to the hotel, we thought we’d just grab the lunch buffet at the restaurant here before we headed upstairs. Little did we know that by doing so, we were destined for a world of hurt. Or, at least, a world of ridiculously expensive lunches. We ate, it was delicious, then they brought us the receipt to sign to charge it to our room. $54 later, we were riding the elevator back to the room in shock and despair. It was rather unfortunate.

We got to the room, promptly fell alseep, and didn’t wake up until around 6. We went back out to times square, to see the things we hadn’t seen yet, and stopped in for dinner at what has now become my favorite place in New York City. The Stardust Diner. The wait staff takes turns serenading the patrons with show tunes, country, and myriad other genres. It was great fun. Oh, AND? Their chocolate shakes were just as good as Howard Johnson’s were before they closed, so that sealed the deal.

We walked around a bit more before packing it in for the evening. We’ve seen new things every day, and it’s been a lot of fun, but I’m realizing more and more every day that there’s so much more that we want to see that we won’t be able to. This city is just so big, there’s no way to see it all in a week, even if we didn’t take a nap in the middle of the day. Guess we’ll just have to come back sometime.

Closed on Tuesdays? Really? This is New York City, dammit, the city that never sleeps! Or closes! Right? RIGHT? In any event, we checked out the MoMA shop across the street and figured out what we were going to do instead. We decided to go see the New York City Aquarium, because, hey, fishes and things are cool. We figured out what trains we needed to take and set out to head there.

We got on the train, and waited. And waited and waited and waited. We were on that train for nearly an hour before we got to the stop we needed, but it was well worth it. The aquarium is close to Coney Island, and while this is the third time I’ve been to NYC, I’ve never been down to that area. Really, I was taken aback. There’s something very different walking down a boardwalk than walking down broadway. Rather than being surrounded by an ocean of people, we were more or less alone, with the city on one side and a beach on the other. I guess I should know better, but when I think about NYC, I don’t think beach.

In any event, we saw all sorts of cool fishes, and other marine life, but the best by far was the California Sea Lion show. I’ve got some pictures, but I don’t have my cable, so whenever I get back home, I’ll make one big photo post, (like Ree over at The Pioneer Woman does). The show consisted of a number of his tricks, and I don’t care if it was designed for kids, it was a hell of a lot of fun.

After that, we hopped the hour-long train back to the hotel, got ready, grabbed a pretzel, and saw Wicked at the Gershwin Theater. I’ve seen the show before, in Dallas, but let me tell you, the NYC company absolutely blew them away. The show was phenomenal, even if Galinda accidentally threw her wand off stage and Elphaba accidentally whacked Fiyero in the head with her broom. If you’re ever in New York, see this show. That’s really all there is to it.

Despite the fact that Kreestone and I were being a little cranky yesterday, it was yet another great day.