Happiness is a headlamp for aging eyes

 The warm light of this headlamp, as opposed to the white light of so many comparable LEDs, is very natural. I get so much more done so quickly wearing this in the winter mornings and evenings. A wonderful gift!

Happiness is a very young John Anderson, singing "1959" released in November 1980

Happiness is Johnny Horton singing 1960's North to Alaska with a Dwight Yoakam cover

Happiness is John Anderson singing "Chicken Truck" in February 2014 at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, Texas

 

Norm Crosby has died: May he wrest in piece

 His many happy conflagrations to the English languidage will never be forgotten.

Happiness is a martial birthday

A birthday happens not by chance,

it's not at all in our control.

Each a marker on a mission,

one by one they call, they beckon.

Every year makes its advance,

another checkpoint on patrol.

Take five to pause and to inspect

your kit to see if it's complete,

to get you through to duty's end

with what you need or must amend,

a time to rest and to reject

every thought of sad retreat.

We cannot know the outcome now,

but only that our part we play.

And when at last our task is done, 

and we our final course have run,

we trust our Captain will endow

the vict'ry ribbon to repay.

-- Johnny (For Monica, 4 October 2020)

Happiness is homemade tincture of lavender

Homemade tincture of lavender

2 cups vodka

1/2 cup culinary lavender flower buds (e.g. Folgate or Royal Velvet, aka English)

parchment paper

large clean canning jar with a secure lid (I use an old 48oz honey jar)

1) Add the buds to the jar.

The best culinary lavender buds are well sifted, with hardly any brown bracts or stems remaining. Fresh means the buds are bright and not faded.

Don't even THINK about using sachet-grade lavender. If you use e.g. Grosso, it will turn out . . . gross, perhaps even toxic.  

2) Pour the vodka into the jar.

3) Cut a generous piece of parchment paper for a lid liner. Wrap the parchment over the opening and screw on the lid over that. The parchment helps prevent any reaction between the contents and the lid's rubber and metal components.

4) Give the contents a whirl and store in a pantry away from light and heat for a month or so. At least weekly give it whirl to keep it mixed up.

5) Strain the contents through a sieve after a month and return the liquid to the same jar with the parchment between the lid and the jar for indefinite keeping on the shelf.

6) The tincture makes a refreshing cocktail in the summers over ice with some added sweetener and water, and is reminiscent of Ouzo or Anisette. Or jazz up your fresh-squeezed lemonade by adding some lavender tincture to it.

7) But mainly I use a tablespoon or two in hot tea made with honey and lemon in the colder months when I feel a cold or flu coming on. It usually stops the cold dead in its tracks if you begin with the tincture immediately on symptom onset, in my experience.  This is not medical advice. 

Happiness is David Seville and The Chipmunks from 1958 (you probably remember them as Alvin and The Chipmunks)

 

Happiness is the 1951 pro-police film . . . The Day the Earth Stood Still

Yes, Gort is actually a cop:

"There must be security for all -- or no one is secure... This does not mean giving up any freedom except the freedom to act irresponsibly. Your ancestors knew this when they made laws to govern themselves -- and hired policemen to enforce them. We of the other planets have long accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets -- and for the complete elimination of aggression. A sort of United Nations on the Planetary level... The test of any such higher authority, of course, is the police force that supports it. For our policemen, we created a race of robots-- Their function is to patrol the planets -- in space ships like this one -- and preserve the peace. In matters of aggression we have given them absolute power over us. At the first sign of violence they act automatically against the aggressor. And the penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk."

Happiness is Mediterranean Tomato Sauce from Rosso and Lukins' THE NEW BASICS

Mediterranean Tomato Sauce, adapted

1/2 c extra virgin olive oil

1 2oz can anchovies in oil

4 cloves garlic

2 28oz cans San Marzano tomatoes

3 T capers in salt, rinsed

1/2 c pitted Kalamata olives

ground black pepper

1) Combine EVOO, anchovies and all their oil, and garlic in a ceramic-coated dutch oven, mash gently and saute over medium heat a couple of minutes. To speed this up I just throw it all in the food processor first to chop it up, then add it to the dutch oven.

2) Add the tomatoes and crush, then add the capers and olives, bring up to heat, then simmer on low covered about an hour, stirring frequently.

3) Before using or storing, grind over some black pepper to taste.

4) Rosso and Lukins use only 35oz of tomatoes but triple the olives, 1.5 c.

We use this on Rosso and Lukins' Mediterranean Hero sandwich from the same cookbook, which is, in my opinion, absolutely fabulous, but is sort of a cheater's Pan Bagnat. We stir together canned atlantic salmon, chopped tomato, and red onion, and place this mixture in a hollowed-out side of an oiled french baguette cut lengthwise (stale is best). You top that with this sauce, then top that with sliced hard-boiled eggs and the other half of the baguette. Then we toast it in the oven at 350F for 15 minutes or so. Before serving we add romaine lettuce, and even avocado. The thing is glorious warm, room temperature, or cold. But this might be more glorious:

You haven't lived until you've tasted a FatBoy Ice Cream Sandwich

Easily the best ice cream sandwich I have ever had. And why not? Look at all that saturated fat in there.

I found an 18-pack for $9.98 at Sam's Club.

Happiness is The Reflections singing 1964's Just Like Romeo and Juliet

Happiness is just a state of mind

Happiness is . . . loving it!

Happiness is the 102 year old woman who says "Jesus did not change water into wine so that I could look at it"

Advice from a woman who survived covid-19, the 1918 flu - and cancer:

But when she's being introspective, she credits a strong immune system, avoidance of excessive worry and even her love of red wine. She was known to say, "Jesus did not change water into wine so that I could look at it."

Happiness is good instant coffee when you're up early and need to be quiet because no one else is

Yes, happiness is being "closer, and closer, and closer, like we used to be"

Happiness is making the morning coffee and suddenly this song pops into your head for no good reason

Happiness is super easy side-dish "Southwestern Rice" made with RO-TEL

1 can "original" RO-TEL, undrained

4 oz. prepared black beans, fully rinsed

4 oz. frozen sweet corn kernels, steamed and warm

1 cup already prepared Basmati rice, warm

Mix everything together in a heat-proof covered casserole dish and pop it in the oven on "warm" 20 minutes or so before serving. The tomatoes in the recipe prepared this way remain perkier than cooking the RO-TEL together with the rice.

You don't have to make your beans from scratch, but I did. Took about 3 hours. Rinse, cover with water in a heavy pot, boil, turn off heat & cover 1 hour. Return to boil, then to low, simmer 2 hours covered. Drain and rinse well. Ba-da-bing.

Happiness is Uncle Kracker, who can't wait for this to be over

Happiness is Don Williams singing "Tulsa Time", first released in October 1978

Happiness is a refreshing glass of vodka lemonade

Vodka lemonade

1 lemon

2 t sugar

1/4 c water

1/4 c vodka

ice

1) Juice the lemon and add juice to a high ball glass

2) Add the water, vodka and sugar

3) Stir vigorously to dissolve sugar

4) Add ice and serve

Happiness is the juice of the lemon in the summertime

 

 

 

 

  The juice of the lemon is more cooling and astringent than that of oranges.

-- John Arbuthnot (1667-1735)

Happiness is Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers singing "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" in 1956

Happiness is to know how always to choose the mean and shun the excess in either direction

. . . know how always to choose in such things the life that is seated in the mean and shun the excess in either direction, both in this world so far as may be and in all the life to come; for this is the greatest happiness for man.

-- Plato, Republic, Book X, 619

Happiness is when Dudley Do-Right shows up when you can't pay the rent

Happiness is the eastern redbud tree in bloom

Happiness is crop rotation

 

 

If you sow one ground with the same kind of grain, it will produce but poorly.

-- Francis Bacon

Happiness is a tender Italian turkey meatball "shell" during the pandemic

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground turkey

1/2 c milk

1 egg

3/4 c Panko bread crumbs

Seasoning:

1 t salt

1/2 t granulated garlic

1/2 t dried thyme leaves

1/2 t dried oregano leaves

1/2 t whole black peppercorns, or 1/4 t ground

1 t fennel seeds

1 t crushed red pepper flakes

1 T sweet Hungarian paprika

Method:

1) Whisk together the egg and the milk in a large mixing bowl

2) Grind the seasonings in a coffee grinder until fine-ish

3) Whisk the seasonings into the egg/milk mixture

4) Add the meat to the bowl and mix together using a fork or a potato masher

5) Add the bread crumbs and mix together

6) Form "meatball shells" using a fork and a nonstick ice cream scoop, which releases them easily 

7) Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat and add enough canola oil to cover the bottom

8) Fry "shells" in batches about twelve minutes in the oil, flat side first, flipping them half way through

9) Serve with pasta "Orecchiette" if you can find them, for fun, and your favorite sauce

Happiness is being one of the lucky dogs who snagged one of these at Sam's Club this week

And I paid only $1.98, which actually reflects a recent price increase. Once in a while you've got to splurge on the creamy, fatty goodness of half-n-half in your coffee. Like during a pandemic, for example.

Milk, however, was CLEANED OUT. First time that's ever happened to me at Sam's Club.

Butter also was unavailable again at Sam's.

So far, though, I'm still able to get milk and butter either at the corner gas station, or at the grocery stores. Mind you, at those places it costs more, even a lot more, than I routinely pay at Sam's.

Meanwhile, the shelves are actually appearing better-stocked at Sam's than I've seen them in the last four weeks.

And more of the shoppers are wearing masks now, as am I. 

Happiness is the big mother bag of bread flour purchased at Sam's Club to get us through the lock down

Happiness is COVID-19 (Come on Eileen)

Happiness is being secure from fortune's blows

Secure from fortune's blows,

Secure of what I cannot lose,

In my small pinnace I can sail.

-- John Dryden

Happiness is Comrade Jeeves explaining Stalin's socialism to Comrade Butt

Here.

Happiness is fruit so fresh out of the bag the attached leaf is still green

Happiness is BelGioioso pre-sliced fresh mozzarella for pizza night

It's more expensive than shredded part-skim mozzarella by about $1.23/lb, but tastes far better.

It's worth it.

We can still make five pizzas with a pound of it as before, and just as conveniently because it is pre-sliced.

Happy is he who is kind to the poor

-- Proverbs 14:21

It is more blessed to give than to receive. -- Acts 20:35

It was 21 years ago today, the final game for John Elway

All things considered, I prefer the hammsvirus

Happiness is 36-year-old Aaron Rodgers leading the Packers to San Fran for the NFC Championship game on Jan 19th

Cheeky sports girl announcer called him "old man" after last night's victory over Seattle.

Happiness is visiting the junkyard on a 47 degree day in January and saving big bucks on tires and wheels

It was like winning the lotto. 

There she was, a 2003 Pontiac Bonneville with black steel wheels and tires, not in the yard yet two weeks. Junked probably for a failed tranny. The tires were just over two years old and still had a tread depth of 8. Wheels and tires fit my 1997 Oldsmobile with ten year old rubber needing replacement. Extra set of wheels will get my snow tires.

Who could have predicted? Out the door for $108 plus tax.

Total savings over retail: At least $675. 

Happiness is the best answer ever to the interview question "What would be your ideal job?"

Happiness is 1965's "Wooly Bully" by Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs

Video.