Believe in Bacon

Bacon is definitely one of Price's favorite things! If he had it his way, he'd have bacon with every meal. (Am I right here, P?) But of course, in our healthy household, that is just not the case. However, we did stumble upon a great meal, courtesy of Rachael Ray, and it's definitely blog-worthy. This is a yet another great way to enjoy bacon!

Salt
1 pound whole-wheat cassarecci, rigatoni or penne pasta
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
6 slices lean peppered bacon, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 cup chicken stock
1 (28-ounce) can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
Black pepper
A handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Shredded sharp white Cheddar, to pass at tableHeat water to boil for pasta, season with salt and cook pasta to al dente.

Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat with extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan. Add bacon and crisp 4 to 5 minutes then add onions and garlic cook to soften, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in stock then tomatoes and season with pepper to taste. Simmer sauce 15 minutes. Toss pasta with sauce and parsley. Serve with grated sharp white Cheddar.

To have along with this meal is a terrific slaw salad with fennel! If you haven't tried fennel, it's delicious, low-calorie, and very refreshing in the warmer months. It has a anisette flavor, but very light, so don't be afraid. I also like having it in tuna salad, in place of celery, and it's great in soups and stews. Try this slaw in place of your regular cookout coleslaw - it's a winner.

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound shredded slaw salad mix
1 bulb fennel, trimmed, reserve a handful of fronds
4 ribs celery from the heart, thinly sliced on an angle
10 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepperMix vinegar and sugar in the bottom of a bowl and whisk in oil. Add slaw to bowl. Chop fennel fronds and add to cabbage. Quarter the fennel bulb, cut away the core and thinly slice, add to cabbage. Add the celery and basil to the salad, toss to combine, season liberally with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Is it just me, or should Rachael Ray hire me as her PR rep? :-)

Psycho T in fine form...

Okay, so it may not be the smartest thing he's ever done (dude could lose a lot of $$$ in the future if he was to injure himself), but I applaud Tyler Hansbrough for having some good old-fashioned college fun. If you're the reigning player of the year and you forego the NBA because you love your school and you love college life (who didn't?), you deserve to get a little "fratty" sometimes. Besides, do you notice what fraternity house he's partying at? No, not Chi Psi. Maybe Tyler's just trying to channel the UNC/SAE spirit of Brantley Blair. TOGA!

Freebie Alert

Don't know if anyone's a fan, but Nine Inch Nails is currently offering their next album, The Slip (due out on CD in July) as a free download. Just go to their website (www.nin.com), enter your email address, and they'll send you download instructions. You have to love it when musicians give the proverbial finger to the record label. Nice going, Trent Reznor.

Yet Another Reason....

Senator Obama should get your vote. He scrimmages with UNC and it looks like he's got some game (although Psycho T is about to block his shot).

No More War

Bev and I have really taken a liking to Eddie Vedder recently. His soundtrack for Into the Wild has been on constant repeat in the Blair household...during cocktails, during dinner, during short drives in the Jeep. Love the lyrics, love the haunting music. Take my word for it...it's just about the best 30 minutes of music you can imagine. I really can't remember a time when a soundtrack fit a movie so closely (we absolutely loved the movie too, by the way, and librarian Bev also recommends the book). Anyway, I noticed on iTunes the other day that they're selling a "deluxe" version of the soundtrack which contains a couple of anti-war songs which Eddie Vedder has been playing on his solo tour. They're awesome songs, so this should give you even more incentive to buy it. My favorite song is "No More", which also appears in the soundtrack for Body of War. Very powerful song, and this movie looks very good also. Check it out below:



"Nothing's too good for a veteran, yeah this is what they say / So nothing is what they will get in this new American way."

Sad Day for E Street Fans

I was saddened to read this morning that Danny Federici, long time keyboardist in the E Street Band, passed away from melanoma. The Boston Globe ran a nice obituary, which you can read here. It's hard to believe that Danny played with Bruce for over 40 years. In fact, he was one of the original E Streeters who asked Bruce to join their band as a lead singer. My favorite instrumental of his was the organ piece in "You're Missing". Great stuff if you haven't heard it. I've always thought it was the contributions from keyboard and piano which partly distinguished Bruce's music. I'm sure the E Street Band will never be the same.

"Danny and I worked together for 40 years - he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much...we grew up together."
—Bruce Springsteen

Curse jersey

In case you did not get to see this in the news, here is the jersey a clever construction worker buried in the building of the new Yankee Stadium. Don't you just love how faithful Boston fans will do anything for their beloved Sox? Let's hope the jersey was in the ground long enough to haunt the new stadium!

The best part about this story, however, is what lies in store for this tattered #34. Steinbrenner and his family donated the jersey to Dana-Farber's Jimmy Fund, which plans to auction off the jersey. Say what you will about those damn Yankees, but this was once again, a classy move.

Spring at long last?

After 165 consecutive days, the temperature finally hit 70 degrees in Boston today. Needless to say, it felt unbelievable. When I went running along the Charles River, I almost felt like I was running on the beach. Then I passed a stinky pothole and came back to reality real fast. Anyway, a 70 degree day is as good as it gets for springtime in Boston, so we enjoyed it. Price officially turned in his paper to the registrar (insert cries of utter joy here) and I, as mentioned above, when on my first outdoor run since....geez, since November. I even had a fun new toy to accompany me along the way.

The iPod Shuffle - thanks again, Price :)

Tomorrow brings back cooler weather and we have another rainy weekend in sight. But at least we know spring does exist! Have a great weekend!

Countdown to Opening Day

Opening Day at Fenway is coming up next Tuesday! So exciting!! Price and I are happy to say we will be seeing a game in April, a game in May, and then 3 games in Cincinnati in June. I never realize how much I miss Remy and Orsillo until they're back and I'm on the couch with my G&T, happy as a clam. It looks like the management has once again kept busy this off season with new renovations inside Fenway. There really isn't much room to grow at America's oldest and smallest ballpark, but they have added a suprising 875 new seats and some additional standing room. The coke bottles have also been taken down and a new section, coca-cola corner now graces the upper left field deck. Even still, it's slightly depressing that tickets are near impossible to come by. I think I'm about over standing in line on game day, too, after our last experience. I might be more up for trying out the new Baseball Tavern on game day instead. They have an outdoor roof deck modeled after the green monster, with actual views of the park. Might be fun! Raine....are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Catching Up

We've had a very busy, but very fun past few weeks to catch you up on. Price has been in serious crunch mode over the past month, so our stream of visitors has been a welcome diversion. Raine started us off with a bang over St. Paddy's Day, which was a blast. Raine is one of our most favorite house guests and we hope she comes back soon!

Price's artistic shot.

Guess you had to be there for this one!

Sporting our green!

Next up, Mama A! We all had a great Easter weekend together. Mom was a trooper to put up with a very windy Boston. But we had lots of giggles and fun adventures.

Easter morning.

Waiting in line at Trinity Church. Cold, but beautiful.

Where is Mom looking? Willing the church doors to open, perhaps?

Onto Price's BIG DAY!

Price is now Dr. Blair! After 5 years of hard work and dedication, he could not be more relieved. Tuck, Dad and I had the fortune of attending Price's thesis defense and it was amazing. I have never really seen Price in his element before and it was a great thing to witness. Although a lot of the science lingo is hard to follow, Price has a very personal delivery that makes you want to understand. He also applied a lot of his other great qualities to his talk, like his sense of humor and his knack for visual display, which made his presentation really stand out. He talks as if he's been doing this for years and I know he has a great future ahead of him. The science community will no doubt welcome Dr. Blair with open arms!

Thanks to everyone who has been thinking of him, and us, over the last few months. Gosh, over the last few years, for that matter! Success really is sweet and it looks just like this...

Dr. Freedman and Dr. Blair

I'm so proud of this guy.

Tuck and Dad enjoying the festivities.

Congratulations, Price!