Cubby-Blue

Go outside right now and barbeque in the snow.

 

There's only one way to deal with this kind of winter - tell it to bugger.

Go outside in it and show it who is boss by barbecuing something sunny.

Instead of steak, lets go a little lighter with a recipe called "Dandy Little Hens" from the excellent "Smoke and Spice" cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison.

(I will assume that once you've tried this you'll go get the book - it's amazing.)

"Dandy Little Hens" are cornish game hens basically marinated in a margarita.

You might want to go ahead and make one for yourself -  shake 'em just like a martini, and pour into a frosty martini glass rimmed with sea or kosher salt.

Okay...

Mix this marinade together: 1 1/2 Cup tequila (don't go expensive for marinade tequila, but don't go bottom shelf either), 1 Cup freshly squeezed lime juice, 1/4 Cup Triple Sec, 1/4 Cup canola oil, 2 Tablespoons of Lea&Perrins Worcestershire, 1/4 Cup minced onion, and then a dash or two of chile powder.

Put that in a garbage bag (you can save some if you want to baste, but I never have) along with your four 1 1/2 lb Cornish game hens.

Let 'em soak for at least 4 hours in the fridge.

Make a fire on each side of your grill (20 - 30 briquets) so you've got a big space in the middle for indirect heat for your hens.

The fire takes about a half hour - 40 minutes to get ready.

Soak some wood chips.

With about 20 minutes to go, pull the bag of hens out of the fridge, take the birds out and let em sit in room temp.

Let the fire burn til the coals are covered with white ash, throw on the wood chips and hens and let 'em smoke breast side down for an hour and a quarter, flip 'em and smoke for another hour and a quarter.

When their little legs move real easy in the sockets, and you've GOT A TEMPERATURE READING OF 180 - 185 degrees, they're ready.

Let 'em sit for 10 minutes, then put 'em on a plate with some sauteed spinach and a baker on the side.

Yum.

 I'm on an extended business trip, so I'm putting up some of my fav older posts while I'm gone. Please keep comments coming as I'm gonna depend on you for what's REALLY going on, and I'll do my best to answer.

More Cubs sooner, please.

Yes, it was a wonderful Happy Pitchers and Catchers Report Day. 

But now I want more.

It'll be a dozen more days til that first Spring Training game against the A's on March 4th.

That'll be a dozen more days of me with the nervous twitches, the anxiety, the anticipation.

What are you guys doing to pass the time?

You gettin' out the charcoal and firing up that grill? Have you taken the opportunity to get outside with that freshly shaken martini and flip off the sky when the snow starts falling? Maybe I'm gonna have to remind you in a day or so, which is a nice little segue...

I've got a big business trip starting tomorrow that's gonna last well into April. It'll involve alot of jet lag, and I'm unsure about posting as often as normal. So I pre-scheduled a bunch of old favs to come up each day just in case I can't get here. 

Please please please keep the conversation going, before long I will have figured out how to comment from my i-phone even.

The other day my daughter came in and gave me this little 3" tall furry blue thing she made with the kind of twisted face that makes me a proud parent. 

I say, "What's this?" 

She says, "It's a Hug."

So I'm taking it along with me, of course.

In the meantime, GO CUBS.

Cubs, Theriot go to arbitration

 

Man when it comes to this, when management thinks a player is worth A, and the player thinks he's worth B, and neither side will budge any more, and you know ugly things are going to be said in the actual arbitration hearing... what's the shame in just flippin' a freaking coin?

That way you could televise it. 

Seriously.

It would last about the same amount of time as the Kentucky Derby, and all us bloggers and fans would have something fresh to talk about when there's nothing going on except Big Z's hair and the promise of pie-in-the-face hilarity from Kevin Millar.

It could take place on a pitching mound made of the money the player would either win or lose, and there'd be a Brinks Truck or two and armed guards in tuxes...

On the jumbo-tron they could show highlights (and low-lights) of the player's career.

You could have guest coin-flippers so if it was a V.I.P. type player like A-Rod or somebody you'd see maybe Beyonce or George Clooney flip. Or if you're Ryan Theriot it might be Alex Trebek or The Who, but still... it would make for MUST-see tv.

And when it was over, Ryan could shake hands with Jim Hendry and there'd really be no hard feelings.

He'd go join the rest of the team, try his hand at being the next scrappy lead off guy.

Ahhh, just a buncha yakkin' going on here today, but I do believe when it gets to this point a coin toss would do the job just as well and nobody gets their nose bent out of joint.

I guess we'll find out about The Riot's contract later today.

What else?

Had the major breath-holding going on yesterday waiting to hear about Terrible Ted's knee. So it's nothing but I REALLY hope they watch him carefully as he comes back. Ted's said all the right stuff about not coming back too soon, but he's the kinda competitor who wants to get back out there NOW. 

And I do like the fact that Carlos didn't show up with golden hair or whatever. It's a good year to get down to business.

Lastly, I'd like you all to note that I didn't stoop to doing a Tiger Woods boner joke.

That took... restraint.

Cub Fans, welcome to the Virtual Waiting Room

Chicago Cubs single game tickets go on sale tomorrow (Fri the 19th) morning at 10 am.

I'm not doing it this year, thank you. 

I tried it a couple times before, and it's never pleasant. 

You get a certain rush when you successfully get into the virtual waiting room - it's like some kind of victory. You try not to think that there are maybe 50 million people waiting in that same room with you. But then hours go by, and you realize the only person in the room is you: the Crazy Clown.

I actually got some tix in 2008. That was hours of my life just to get a couple bleacher seats on a weekday.

I also know one time I had the flu - a giant fever - and couldn't sleep. I got into the virtual waiting room about 3 am and got right in to where the schedule shows up and you can actually buy something. Thought I was hallucinating. In the morning I didn't even really remember buying anything. Thank God they send you a confirmation email! 

Unfortunately my wife found it.

She goes, "Honey, did you spend $400 on Cubs tickets last night?"

That was a fun conversation.

Anyway the odd thing about this "crazy" drawing is, as I was doing it, an ad came on tv saying that you can get tix to Marty Scorsese's "Shutter Island" starting tomorrow too!

Have you seen the preview?

Just like the virtual waiting room - it's TOTALLY insane!

So if you're feeling kinda crazy tomorrow and want to go spend a couple hours in a dark room, you have a choice.

I'd recommend the theatre.

ps: I read "Shutter Island". It's by Dennis Lehane. Since then I've read 4 other books of his. Can't say enough good things about that guy.

Cubs Pitchers and Catchers, report a miracle please.

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS ARE REPORTING TODAY!

SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

Naturally gotta start thinking about the garden, right? 

What are you gonna plant for us this year, Lou? 

Certainly not another weed patch we had to watch grow in 2009.

I'm expecting a little more than marigolds and radishes and your basic petunias.

Something more imaginative than impatiens or daisies.

Right now it's time to get down and work that soil so the roots can take hold, and once the sprouts come up keep that Miracle Gro coming, because in 2010 that's what it's gonna take.

A miracle.

But I don't mean to downplay how awesome today is - HAPPY PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT DAY!!!