Saturday, November 24, 2018

Three Beautiful Things 11/23/18: Larry Legend, Intense Chili, Transported by the Tedeschi Trucks Band

1. After breakfast at Sam's with Ed, Jerry, and Scott, I dashed over to Carol and Paul's and gave Toby his food and and his insulin shot. I also thought I'd do some harmless snooping and perused Carol and Paul's DVD collection. One disc jumped out at me: Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend. No single basketball player has ever thrilled me like Larry Bird and so, being in the mood for an hour of thrills and goose bumps, I brought this DVD home and popped it right into the machine. It worked. Larry Bird highlights thrilled me, moved me to tears a couple of times, and helped me relive some of my favorite of all sports memories.

2. Back in the good old days of vegetarian grad school cooking, I used to make chili that featured bulgur as a substitute for ground beef. I scoured the World Wide Web today and found an interesting recipe and was startled when I read that it called for a half cup of chili powder. I decided to go for it and see what such a chili would taste like. I popped over to Yoke's and bought what I needed and the chili was ready to eat by about 4:30. I'm not sure I'll ever use this much chili powder again in a pot of chili, but I like it. Yes, I dolloped my bowl with sour cream just to tame it down a bit, but I like strong flavors and this chili is aggressive. If you'd like to look over the recipe, it's right here.

3. Ed and I met at the Lounge around 5:30 and I hung out with him and Eddie Joe and Cas until about half time of the Apple Cup. The Huskies and Cougars had to play this game in a blizzard and I by the time I returned home by about 7:00 or so, I'd lost interest in the game.

I've been playing different playlists from Amazon and Pandora lately and one song has popped up a couple of times and, when I hear it, I can't do anything but listen. It makes me float. It's so lovely. It's by the Tedeschi Trucks Band and it's entitled, "Midnight in Harlem". As happens so often with so much music in the world, I wondered why I hadn't paid closer attention over the years to Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks (aside from his work with the Allman Brothers). They've got my attention now. I did a little YouTube searching and discovered the Tedeschi Trucks Band's live version of "Keep on Growing", a cover of the superb song from Derek and Dominoes, and it enchanted and uplifted me. So, I instructed Alexa to play a Tedeschi Trucks Band shuffle and I went to sleep with Susan Tedeschi's gorgeous singing and Derek Truck's firey and slow hand blues guitar work filling the house with beauty.

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