Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for March 13, 2013

Hooray for me! I finished my comics before change over!

People always say “tuna fish”, but you never hear anyone say “salmon fish” or “halibut fish”.

I love them, I want one!!

House guests are like fish. After three days, they begin to stink !

Those fish would make the perfect Florida lawn ornament. Much better than those stinking pink flamingos !!

I love the patterns and colors! Email me.

I will be most happy to accept. I’ll be slipping a few Irish CD’s on the ole juke box this week. Probably, some of me old pals from my Dublin days like Ronnie Drew and Luke Kelly from the Dubliners, and maybe some Pogues for the more modern Irish tastes. But I definitely will put on some music by my dear friend, Pecker Dunne, who passed away this past December. He was one of the Traveling People ( Tinkers or Gypsies, if you like ) and aside from being one of the best damned fiddle and banjo player I knew in Ireland, he was also one of The Best – period !

Slante Red. I’m downing this, then I’m to get a few hours sleep.Oíche mhaith agus Dia beannaigh!( Good night and God bless ! )

Oh goodness….I know most everybody’s gone home….

Except… MIss Julie’s still over there in the corner… Shh! Don’t let her see me! She stays up till all hours just looking for someone to talk to…

Hi little monkeys… everything all right?He did? Oh, thank you Red!Hope you don’t mind if I make it a hot chocolate.

I had a long afternoon and evening….then when I got back, I stopped in on another strip on my way here and fell asleep!Now I’m groggy and I need to go to bed soon.

Tomorrow I have to take my poor little car to the doctor…(not Elvis… he’s fine…it’s my California car, the Saturn.)

Nothing major, they say…. and I hope!Tonight a friend took me shopping so I wouldn’t have to drive…and then I took the bus all the way to Ballard Street so I could check on the Tiki.

Sure wish I’d driven Elvis home, but I don’t take him every time.I like to let him stay and play with his car friends here sometimes.

Oh Bev!I am SO glad you’re back!

I’ve started making Stel a big pot of coffee every morning, well, setting up the coffee pot the night before, cos I’m still asleep when she gets there….

>(I think she needs it…. we can all talk about it later…)

Maybe you could come with her tomorrow and you guys could wake me up….and you could tell us all about your trip….

Any of you other ladies, don’t feel left out…you all come too….

I’ve got pie and banana bread and blueberry muffins.

I’ll use the big coffee urn.

Just don’t let me be late getting back to California for the car doctor…I’ll drive Elvis, then he can rest while I take the other car in….then he can pick me up, though he’s really not supposed to drive alone.

Hmmm 2 AM…. is it crazy in here, or is it me?

Forgot to say…Marg….as soon as you said you wanted a fish I thought of Dogsniff.

Glad you saw it, Dog….

Must be fishing for compliments on his yard.

Let your fish flag fly…

Python sketch about Fishy Fishy where is the Fish“Meaning of Life” Chapman killed me in his get up.I mean Faucets placed where they were?And this fish he put up has LIPS.Lips on a fish? Fishy kisses anyone? Eh? Eh?

Why does Tony do this? Just for the halibut.

I prefer Phish on Wenesday and Hootie and the Blowfish on Thursday.

I didn’t even know fish wore diapers.

Before he retired… management allowed Tony to hang his LARGE fishies out his orfice window when he worked at teh Ballard Street Sock Exchange and Fish Tank Emporium….

Tony could really spiff up his yard, if he made a fake fishing pole to hang those fish on, and put a sign under it saying: Catch of the Day !

Hello and goodbye, neighbors… I’ll be back as soon as I can…help yourself to the banana bread…. Just had to say, not really quite apropos eyesight and tuna fish…

but almost…I had a boyfriend who always railed about “hot water heater.”

(Cos, of course, it heats cold water. Or any water…. except already hot water. )

In older British cookbooks they always say “tunny fish” which may have been derived from something that explains it…except in Spanish it’s “atun,” so I dunno….no time to google it right now…ciao…

Wednesday is clean out the Fridge Day ! I have an almost traditional Irish Slumgullion Stew going for dinner tonight.

Here’s the recipe:

IRISH SLUMGULLION STEW

1 1/2 # Beef Stew Meat, cubed1 large onion, chopped3-5 medium carrots, sliced3 red potatoes, diced1 bell pepper, chopped (optional)1 can black eyed peas(optional)1 can tomatoes, chopped4-6 cups water1 tsp. thyme*salt and pepper to taste

Brown the meat over high heat with 1-2 TB olive oil in a dutch oven. Saute onion with meat. Add carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and water and simmer for at least 1-2 hours or until the vegetables are tender. Add seasonings to taste. You can add leftover veggies such as cabbage, corn, green beans, etc.

Thicken the broth with flour. **Add 1/2 cup macaroni in last 1/2 hour cooking, if desired. Adjust seasonings if needed. If you are using stove top, be careful to not overcook. If you are preparing this dish in a dutch oven over coals, be careful that the heat isn’t too hot.Great if using a Slow Cooker or a Crock Pot !

I like to add Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning and a bit of cayenne pepper ( not Irish but it gives it a little kick! )Pasta is definitely not Irish and I think over-kill with the potatoes but suit yourself !

Enjoy!

Tony has teamed up with Chet to keep the fish narrative mainstream on The Street.

You might a wee drink after the Slumgullion:

Gaelic Coffee

The best Irish coffee recipes take into account the preference of the drinker. Irish Coffee or Gaelic coffee, as it is sometimes known abroad, is a perfect after dinner drink. Having made Irish coffees in Ireland, Spain and the States, I consider myself to be pretty good at it by this stage. I learnt how to make Irish Coffee in the late 60’s when I livedworking in Dun Laoghaiure, Ireland.

The art is in preventing the creamfrom sinking.

At the time, Ireland was more of a tea drinking nation and the coffee was instant and secondary to the experience. Since then things have changed.

In my recipe for Irish Coffee, I still consider the whiskey to be the most important ingredient but I am a lot more about taking into account the tastes of the drinkers. So if people don’t like strong coffee, I use less and add a little boiling water to the coffee. If it’s late in the evening, I often use good decaffinated coffee so that people aren’t awake all night. And if people are worried about the calories, I reduce the amount of cream.

You can buy all sorts of special glasses for Irish coffees but I use a medium size wine glass most of the time which is perfectly good.

Gaelic Coffee Recipe – Ingredients

1inch/2 cm of Irish whiskey at the bottom of the glass. (Don’t use your 100 year old whiskey- just a normal decent brand such as Jameson is fine). Do not heat the whiskey itself. While it might traumatize the purists, if you don’t have Irish whiskey, use Scotch whiskey instead. It will still be a Gaelic coffee!

Good coffee made to the strength preferred of the die-hards. (You can add boiling water to the rest to reduce strength in glass for others)

A little less than 1 inch or 2cm of whipped cream per person. The cream must be whipped lightly so that it can be poured. You don’t want it to be too thick.

1-2 teaspoons sugar per whiskey (My preference is for brown sugar)

Some boiling water

Step 1

Put a spoon in glass to prevent cracking and add a little boiling water to heat the glass. Dispose of the water once glass heated.

Step 2Put in whiskey with one-two spoons of sugar. Mix well.

Step 3Add the coffee to one inch (2cm) of top of glass. Stir well to make sure sugar is dissolved.

Step 4This is the only tricky part. Take a table spoon and put it with back turning up against the side of the glass, just at the top of the coffee. Pour the cream gently over the back of the spoon.

Well done. If your Irish coffee is well made, you will have a dark brown or black glass of coffee with some delicious whipped cream on top.

Irish Coffee Recipes – Do’s and Don’ts

The pleasure for the drinker should be to sip hot whiskeyed coffee through some cold whipped cream. I have seen some people mix the cream with the coffee as soon as they get it. This is sacrilege!

Never ever use sweetend cream or cream from a can. It’s awful.

It’s a good idea to give people a paper napkin or serviette when serving. I fold mine in a triangle and wrap it around the glass when serving.

It’s Lent. Shouldn’t Tony be changing his fish every Friday?

LOL Dry. Good one.

he’s just fishing for compliments.

My front yard has a little round fountain with a pair of swans surrounded by orange lantana and a metal bench with 2 roadrunners facing each other back under the window. There are also a pair of metal cranes on the stoop and hummingbird cutouts on the screen security door.

DAZZ, that sounds lovely. And looks lovely.

I love it StelBel! Bev’s new shop looks great.

Looks like I’m here at the wrong time.

susan, I’m glad you liked the cake. Would you like the recipe? It has just three ingredients.

Good Night Ballardeers.

Have a drink on me at the changeover.

It’s a pundemonium:

https://cleoandcompany.net/march-13-2023/

Good morning Balladeers and Tigressy!