And By Request

Oreo Dessert

40 oreo cookies crushed
1/4 cup butter melted
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream softened
1 cup sugar
5 oz can evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
4, 1 oz squares semi-sweet chocolate
6 tablespoons butter
8 oz cool whip
1 cup toasted chopped pecans

Combine oreos and butter. Press firmly in a 9x12 pan. Freeze until firm. Soften ice cream on kitchen counter, spread evenly, and freeze.

In medium sauce pan, combine sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla, chocolate, and 6 T butter. Heat until melted. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool completely. Poor over ice cream layer and freeze until firm.

Spread cool whip on each individual serving and sprinkle with nuts.

Approx. 10-12 servings!

Any Fruit Crisp

Over the weekend I made one our favorite summer desserts, fruit crisp! I started making this dish when Price and I first started living in Beantown. Ah, those hot summer nights in the Fenway - great memories. Our welcome return to Boston and the abundant fresh berries at our local farmer's market, enticed me to bake away. I hope you get a chance to enjoy some local produce and to try this classic Fannie Farmer recipe (gotta give credit where credit is due). As Price says, DISH UP :)

You can use most any ripe fruit in this recipe, such as apples, rhubarb, berries, peaches, plums, apricots, or nectarines. It is delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream or lightly whipped cream.

4 cups ripe berries or fresh fruit, sliced
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
1/4 pound butter, melted

Butter an 8-ince square baking dish. Put the fruit in the bottom of the dish. In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add the beaten egg and mix well with a fork or your fingertips until the flour is dampened and in small clumps. Scatter the flour mixture over the fruit. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top. Using the back of a spoon or your fingers, distribute the butter over all. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Serve warm. (serves 6)

Beer, Baseball, and Nanny

Mom and Raine recently came up here for their annual Beer and Baseball Bash. Mom, of course, would never stoop to calling the trip this, but it is what it is, right? After all, what's in a name -- that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I believe our buddy Willy Shakes said that. I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours. I said that. Actually, Bob Dylan did. ANYWAY, on Friday afternoon we started off the weekend by heading down to Fenway to wait in line for day-of-game tickets. Or rather, two of us waited. Raine and Bev wandered over to Boston Beer Works and enjoyed a cool Watermelon Ale while Mom and I withstood the the sweltering sun and sausage smoke. I guess some of us were just born to be martyrs. Apparently, even though we had waited nearly 4 hours, we didn't get the memo that each person in line absolutely had to have a numbered slip in order to buy a gameday ticket. We almost didn't get in, but alas, after heatedly arguing with a disgruntled Red Sox employee, "spitting in his face", and making him "infurious", they graciously let us fork over our $180. Once inside the park, we found beer quickly and began to have some fun.

The game itself was a stinker. Tavarez (why do we always get stuck seeing him pitch?) threw over 100 pitches in just 4 innings, Manny played too shallow in left and let in the the go-ahead runs, and our rally in the ninth fell just short when Ortiz whiffed and Manny popped up. Blue Jays 6-Red Sox 5. But as they say, a bad day at the ball park is better than a good day just about anywhere else. Just ask Bev.

On Saturday morning, we postponed (indefinitely) a morning run on the Harbor, and instead headed over to the Harpoon Brewery for their noon tasting. We've really started to enjoy going to the Harpoon Brewery instead of the Sam Adams Brewery in JP. For one, it's just a tasting, so you don't have to endure an hour of Sam Adams propaganda. You get right to the good part. For two, we like supporting the little guy. And for three -- dare I say it -- the beer is actually better. The Harpoon UFO and Harpoon Ale were unanimous favorites, but only Raine and I enjoyed the Peche style beer. Earthy undertones, peachy aftertaste. Delicious.

After the tasting, Mom and Raine tried sushi for the first time at our favorite sushi restaurant, Fugakyu. Raine's now a sushi fan for life and is probably dreaming of Amai Ocean Maki as we speak, but Mom gave it the proverbial Nanny face.

We enjoyed a night in on Saturday, and on Sunday, while Bev kept house,

I gave Mom and Raine the tour of Charlestown. We went to the new Bunker Hill Monument Museum, manned the deck on the USS Constitution,

then made it back in time to catch the 93 and head to the North End for some yummy Pizzeria Regina. How fitting that on the way we even saw Big Pussy filming a movie on the Charlestown Bridge! Pizzeria Regina was good as always, but the real highlight of the night might have been the cappucino, caffe mochas, and cannolis at Cafe Vittoria. MMMmm. Unfortunately, Raine had to leave on Monday, but not before she fulfilled her life-long dream of seeing Mandy Moore in concert. Mandy didn't sing "I Miss You Like Candy, Love Mandy", but the concert was free, you can't have it all.

The rest of the week, Mom spent a lot of quality time with her mother, something I know Nanny appreciated. We enjoyed more good times and good meals with Mom, even a dinner and dessert with Uncle Tuck at Warren Tavern, and Mom even helped us in our quest to find a patio furniture set. You never know what you're going to find at the Christmas Tree Shop. We saw Mom off on Thursday evening, albeit 5 hours after her scheduled departure time (gotta love the delays at Logan), and now Bev and I have decided to immediately enter a detox facility with Lindsey Lohan. All in a week's work for the Blairs. Over all, it was another fabulous visit with the family and we can't wait for our next visitors. Blake and Lauren are coming in 2 weeks, and we're hoping Banks and Jenne can join us soon. We'll keep you posted. Until then, drink up me mateys yo-ho!

Shots of VG for BBB

Gammons for President of RSN

I couldn't help but laugh at Jerry Remy's on-air verbal assault on Bill Simmons the other night. Apparently, the Sports Guy is in the running for President of Red Sox Nation, and the Rem-Dawg didn't take too kindly to Simmons's campaign platform, which includes potshots at Remy's chain-smoking habits. I've never personally seen Remy smoking his Marlboro Reds (he's obviously a smoker, though -- just listen to his wheezing laugh whenever he and Orsillo get into a giggling fit), but I have had the pleasure of seeing a glassy-eyed Remy stumble through a neighborhood Bertucci's. While wearing a nylon sweatsuit, I may add. In public. But that's neither here nor there. My point is, I think Jerry took The Sports Guy's tongue-in-cheek platform a little too seriously, and he's the one who came across looking petty.

There was once a time when I probably would have voted for Bill Simmons for President of RSN. His early stuff ("Why Roger Clemens is the Anti-Christ") was vintage partisan sports writing, and I still enjoy his occasional articles about the Bird-Era Celtics or Len Bias, or why Tom Brady is better than Peyton Manning, or who's more clutch -- Ortiz or Bird? Plus, Simmons's campaign platform has some merit for me. I, too, think Red Sox Nation should stop the love-affair with Mike O'Malley (and Lenny Clarke, Ben Affleck, and Denis Leary while we're at it). I, too, think Red Sox fans should have to pick Todd Benzinger and Dwight Evans out of a lineup (if you're like me. you can even pull out their autographs -- by the by, I'm eternally grateful to Marty Barrett, Joe Morgan, Todd Benzinger, Ellis Burks, and Dwight Evans for answering this little kid's letter). I also like Simmons's reference to his "Freddy Lynn" Halloween costume as a kid, as my most memorable Halloween was the time in 3rd grade I dressed as Spike Owen. Yes, you read that correctly. Not Roger Clemens, not Wade Boggs. Spike Owen. So anyway, the Sports Guy's platform is appealing to me...BUT...I'm not going to vote for him. Why? I really can't stand the guy. He's become too arrogant, too L.A. His articles are tired and formulaic. I'm tired of reading about his buddy Sully and his buddy Sal and his phone calls to his dad and his seats in the old Garden. I'm tired of people thinking that he represents the voice of the Boston sports fan. In short, I just can't vote for him.

So saying I was to vote (which I really won't, because the idea of an "official" RSN -- let alone an official President of RSN -- still infuriates me and insults my allegiance as a fan), who would get my hanging chad? Well, I can't vote for myself. I get too bitter about the Red Sox and a lot of my opinions are too heretical for these parts (I loathe "Sweet Caroline"; I think they need to build a new Fenway on the waterfront; In Theo I do not trust -- his track record is littered with high priced failures and cast-off successes). In all honesty, I'm more a fan of the old, pre-corporate Red Sox -- back when they were just the Old Towne Team and not a "Nation" or a brand -- so I don't think my opinions would go over too well with RSN. No, my vote's going to the best man for the job, Peter Gammons. He loves Boston sports. He's a UNC grad. He loves rock n' roll. He's a treasure trove of baseball history and knowledge. Plus, look at the fifth promise of his campaign platform below. He vows to make Thom Kennedy his Secretary of State. I've never met Mr. Kennedy, but I know he's a close friend of Trinity Church and both the Blairs and the Shattucks so, doggone it, that's good enough for me. Gammons for President!

If elected, I make 10 promises: 1. That I will get Luis Tiant, Jim Rice, Smokey Joe Wood and Janet Marie Smith into the Hall of Fame. Tip O'Neill made me promise I would fight for Smokey Joe to my deathbed. 2. That the Red Sox will provide every youngster in New England a video of Dwight Evans playing right field, so they can learn how to play that position correctly. 3. That all politicians have to pay their way into the park. 4. That, like Lyndon Johnson in 1960, Jerry Remy will be asked to be my running mate. After all, I was the first guy in Boston to discover him, at Somerset High School. And The Rev. Thomas Kennedy will be my Secretary of State, for the good of world peace, and rigging deals to get the best international players into the Red Sox farm system. 5. That the farthest west rest area on the Massachusetts Turnpike will be renamed "Wasdin Place." 6. That MIT will be renamed Matsuzaka Institute of Technology. 7. That we will built a seating section so that 1000 kids a game can get in--via a lottery--for $5 a head. 8. That if we can have cities and towns named after Red Sox like Wiilamstown, Lynn, Everett, Montgomery, Lee, the town of Westin will be renamed "Ortizton." 9. That Pearl Jam will play Fenway. 10. That every Opening Day, every school in New England will play Ken Coleman's call of Carl Yastrzemski's catch off Tom Tresh preseving Bill Rohr's no-hitter against the Yankees in 1967.

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,

For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
5
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
10
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

-- John Donne

Just because...

I love this picture...

Fridays at Fenway

We're hoping to see the game against the Blue Jays tomorrow night. Daisuke's pitching so it may be a hard ticket to get on the street. Fenway's always a highlight of the trip whenever Mom and Raine come up. Two years ago we waited outside the liquor store on a Sunday morning till they opened, then stuffed Mom's bottomless purse full of airplane bottles for the game. I'm sure something similar is in store for this trip. From what I hear, Raine's looking forward to seeing this guy:

Bev's looking forward to seeing this guy:

Mom's hoping to see this guy:

Sorry, this guy:

And me? I'm looking forward to seeing these guys:

Zucchini Bread

In honor of Mary and Raine's visit (they get in this afternoon), I tried a new recipe with a ginormous zucchini a coworker brought me from her garden. Don't think ginormous is a word? Think again! Merriam-Webster announced the nearly 100 new words to be included in the fall 2007 updated edition, and ginormous made the cut. Now, when will my other favorite word, peon, be added? Back to the bread, which turned out to be wicked tasty, so I think I'll pass it along. It's from the Cooking Light magazine, so it's pretty healthy for all that flavor, and makes a great breakfast snack.

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt object2
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups shredded zucchini (12 ounces)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
Cooking spray

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through baking soda) in a large bowl.

Combine egg substitute and next 4 ingredients (through egg) in a large bowl; add sugar, stirring until combined. Add zucchini; stir until well combined. Add flour mixture; stir just until combined. Stir in walnuts.

Divide batter evenly between 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield
2 loaves, 12 servings per loaf (serving size: 1 slice)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 150(26% from fat); FAT 4.3g (sat 0.4g,mono 2g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 2.7g; CHOLESTEROL 9mg; CALCIUM 21mg; SODIUM 96mg; FIBER 0.6g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 25.3g

Any Blairs Looking For a New Decorating Scheme?

How 'bout using the Blair tartan in either its ancient form

Or its modern form?

I love the color scheme!

Motivational Poster for Half-Ass Painters?

Many of you may not know that Banks and I formed our own company (Half-Ass Painters) as we painted Mom's back deck in Tennessee. This poster would go perfectly with our slogans:

"Half-Ass Painters: Half the quality, half the time, half the price."

"Half-Ass Painters: If you can find someone better, better use them."

Boston Taxi-Wiz

Cab fares are far too expensive in Boston. A ride that would cost you $5 in NYC is going to run you at least $10-15 here. Maybe it's the cowpath roads, maybe it's just the typical Mass-markup. Either way, it really stinks, because the T stops running at 12:30 a.m. -- just early enough that you're forced to take cabs on many weekend nights. We've been known to walk an extra block or five to avoid paying for a cab, but usually either the weather or Bev's shoes prevent us from doing that and we soon find ourselves sliding around the back seat of cab. (I'm always reminded of that Seinfeld skit -- "Everything's always slightly amusing in the back seat of a cab....[Chuckle, chuckle] I wouldn't try that in my car.") I also hate taking cabs because I always have this fear that the cabbie ("I don't even know what's required to be a cabdriver. Apparently, all you need is a license and a face. A name with about 5 consonants in a row helps too.") will take us on some death-defying, circuitous route and I won't have enough cash at the end. Is there anything worse than watching that meter slowly increase every 1/8 mile? Luckily, there's a great new website, Boston Taxi Fare Finder, that allows you to calculate the approximate cab fare for a trip. You just enter your starting point and destination and voila, you get an estimated cost. This won't make me any more amenable to taxis, but at least now I'll have an idea how much a ride will cost.

Movies By Moonlight: Vertigo

Last Friday night, Bev and I went down to the Boston Harbor Hotel and watched Alfred Hitchcock's 1957 classic, Vertigo. We had both seen the movie a dozen times before, but how many opportunities do you get to see a movie this great on the big screen with the beautiful Boston Harbor as the backdrop? To top it all off, the movie was free too. You've got to love Boston...always something fun and inexpensive going on if you know where to look. The "Movies By Moonlight" setting was really unique. Maybe a little too chaotic at first, with waitresses running around and pedestrians strolling the Harborwalk, but as the night wore on and everyone became more involved in the movie, the commotion faded to the background.

Vertigo is easily one of my top 5 favorite Hitchcock films, to go along with Psycho, Rear Window, Notorious, and The 39 Steps. Sorry, Rebecca and North by Northwest, you didn't quite make the top cut. I'm always amazed (and appalled) to think that Vertigo was such a box office flop. It may not have the harrowing suspense of other Hithcock films, but it's such a mature movie, the culmination of so many Hitchcock themes (obsession and voyeurism) and motifs (the Hitchcock Blonde). Here are just some of things I love about the movie:

• It's pure cinema. The movie could have been shot without dialogue and have been just as good. The camera shots are perfectly framed, and the camera itself follows the characters so fluidly and lovingly.


• Bernard Herrmann's score. Alternately haunting and beautiful.


• The colors. Madeleine's green cocktail dress. The red walls at Ernie's. The flower shop. The flashing neon signs outside Judy's hotel room. Scotty's nightmare.

• The setting. Who hasn't wanted to visit San Francisco after watching Vertigo? The Spanish mission, the park under the Golden Gate Bridge, the winding steep streets, the hazy California sunlight.





• The spectre of a spectre. Is Madeleine really haunted by Carlotta's spirit? The scene where a newly-madeover Judy steps out of the bathroom in a spectral haze is probably one of the best 2 minutes in film history.





• The makeover. "It can't matter to you, Judy!" Scotty obsessively remakes Judy into the image of Madeleine. The sequence is sometimes comic, always uncomfortable. You feel so bad for Kim Novak's character, and actually a little creeped out by Jimmy Stewart. Hithcock himself called the second half of the film "a striptease in reverse."


• The final scene. Jimmy Stewart on the brink of the abyss. Talk about an ambiguous ending. Eat your heart out, Sopranos.

I could go on and on. If you haven't seen Vertigo, go out and rent it tonight. Then give me a call afterwards and we'll talk about it for the rest of the night.

N7W

7-7-07 isn't just the most popular date for weddings of the past few decades. It's also the the date when the New 7 Wonders of the World are being announced. There are only ten hours left to vote, so if you plan to do so, better do it now. It could be the classicist in me, but I'm more a fan of the previous 7 Wonders (Great Pyramind of Giza; Hanging Gardens of Babylon; Temple of Artemis at Ephesus; Statue of Zeus at Olympia; Mausoleum of Maussollos at Helicarnassus; Colossus of Rhodes; Lighthouse of Alexandria). However, since only one of the originals still exists (Great Pyramid of Giza), here are my votes for the New 7 Wonders (note, you're not allowed to vote for the Great Pyramids -- they've already been designated official honorary members of the N7W ):

Roman Colosseum

Stonehenge

Taj Mahal

Great Wall of China

Chichen Itza

Neuschwanstein Castle

Statue of Liberty

And the winner is....

To follow up on our Chowderfest experience, Price's first favorite proved to be the best afterall! Christopher's of Maynard won this year, with Ned Devine's coming in second. We knew it would be close :)

In other Boston news...

• the heat wave may be returning? Yikes!

• the Sox will try for a sweep over the Devil Rays tonight, with Beckett on the mound.

• i made devil's food cupcakes with buttercream frosting yesterday. Price downed 4 in a row in honor of the 4th. that's about as fancy as things get around our house :)

• Hitchcock's Vertigo is playing tomorrow night on the harbor. we now have Friday night plans!

More Classic "Curb"

A continuation of the previous post. Looks like Larry's a romantic after all.

Classic "Curb"

"...I guess I had a different plan for eternity."

Robin's Big Date

I love this new trend of movie stars making funny video shorts (for some good laughs, visit Will Ferrell's new site, Funnyordie.com). Sam Rockwell and Justin Long have a new video called "Robin's Big Date." They must have raided Mom's basement for the costumes because they look eerily similar to Blair Halloween costumes of years past. Wouldn't it be great if superheroes were really this lame?

Chowdah-fest

Last week in Boston, it was over 90 degrees for 4 straight days. That may seem like nice fall temperatures to some of you, but up here that falls under the category of "wicked hot." As Bev remarked one humid evening while walking (dare I say, stumbling) back from Warren Tavern, "I feel like I'm swimming in a bowl of clam chowder." Ah, those English major types. So quick with their similes. Or is it metaphors. Who knows?

Anyway, it recently cooled down to a very pleasant 70 degrees, which was great weather for the 26th Annual Boston Chowderfest. Bev and I have kept close tabs on past winners, often making special trips to sample a cup here or there, but we had never actually participated in picking the winner. So yesterday Bev put on her best clam get-up, I threw on my chowdah bib, and we rode the 93 down to Government Center for an afternoon of clam chowder. I have to say we had a lot of fun! Christopher's of Maynard was my early favorite (nice creamy broth, hearty potato chunks, good seafood taste), while Bev liked The Fireplace in Brookline early on (creamy broth, bacon and onion to balance the clams, intangible fire-cooked flavor). Some places just didn't have it. The USS Wasp (ahoy, matey) served a hearty meal but it was too cold and was more of a seafood chowder. Great Bay's broth was too watery (disappointing for such an acclaimed restaurant), La Morra's broth had not so-subtle hints of fennil, and -- despite the best efforts of scantily-clad teenage girls trying to peddle their goods -- The Skipper's chowder was just forgettable. There were other vendors, of course, but they all tend to blend together in a clammy haze. As luck would have it, though, we saved the best for last -- Ned Devine's Irish Pub. Past winners in 2004 and 2005, Neddy D's -- not to be confuse with the Needl-D -- served up a delicious chowder. It had a creamy broth with just the right consistency, hearty chunks of potato to complement chewy pieces of clam, nice warm seafood taste, probably the perfect chowder to pair with a pint on a cold Boston night. They haven't announced an official winner yet (we'll keep you posted), but Ned Devine's -- along with our other favorite over the years, The Barking Crab -- gets a a ringing Blair endorsement.