1. Today I connected our television to a web browser and watched more segments of "Chopped After Hours" on YouTube. In one episode, Amanda Freitag made chilaquiles, a traditional and very flexible Mexican dish. Aaron Sanchez was particularly excited about Freitag's chilaquiles and it made me wonder if it were something I could make at home. So, I searched for recipes and videos at www.americastestkitchen.com and, sure enough, I found both and watched and watched again a video demonstrating how to make chicken chilaquiles. I could do it and it will open up a new world for me when I do: cooking with dried peppers.
2. Tim O'Reilly is in town until Friday and I knew that I could see him again if I went to his brother Jim's weekly get together in his spacious garage this afternoon. It was a lot of fun. Tim and Jim told stories about being kids at St. Rita's church, about some nuns in the parish, and paid loving tribute to Father Coleman King. Until Sharon recently posted a picture of the old St. Rita's building a couple weeks ago, I had forgotten it burned and Jim and Tim talked about the fire and about their dad's efforts, as a Kellogg fireman, to rescue the building. It was a very good session at Jim's garage and my hope is that I'll travel to the DC area sometime in the next year to see Molly, Hiram, and our grandchildren and see Tim again in McLean.
3. I've been wondering over the last several years about how, when I was younger, I kept my love for baseball alive year after year. I've concluded my love was fueled and informed by baseball cards, the daily newspaper, television, and talking baseball with friends. I loved watching the Saturday baseball game of the week, I often watched the Monday night game, and I have great memories of watching the program, "This Week in Baseball". As I entered my thirties, I watched less and less television and lived many years without it. I continued to follow baseball in the newspapers, but not as ravenously as when I was younger. For some reason, I've not been very successful at following baseball on the World Wide Web.
Well, this smart new television and Fire Stick we bought recently gives me access to an MLB.TV app. By logging into MLB.com, the app provides a free baseball game every day, not of my choice, but as chosen by MLB.TV. So, tonight, the app offered me a telecast of the Toronto Blue Jays playing the Oakland Athletics in Oakland.
I immediately thought of my three friends who are Oakland A's fans: Don Knott, Rich Brock, and Rick Taylor. I got kind of fired up that if I watched this game, I'd learn more about the A's and I could also form some impressions of what kind of team I think they have.
The A's impressed me. Khris Davis looked powerful when he homered to center field; Matt Chapman made two brilliant plays at third base, the second reminiscent of Brooks Robinson and Graig Nettles; in the third inning, Marcus Semien and Mark Canha executed a double steal, with Canha stealing home, a rare and thrilling play I've rarely witnessed in the majors; and, lastly, the A's bullpen was fierce as Yusmeiro Petit, Jeurys Familia, and Blake Treinen closed out the Blue Jays over the last three innings. Oakland is surging and this win moved them to within a game of a playoff spot as a wild card team and, from what I saw tonight, it looks like they have a solid chance of earning that spot over the last two months of the season.
If I'm around the television this afternoon, MLB.TV is making the Angels v Tampa Bay available. I might just check it out.
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