Thursday, February 9, 2023

Three Beautiful Things 02-08-2023: My Amos McCoy Day, I Follow Shaq's Lead, A TV Detour

 1. As I write this post on Thursday morning, my back has loosened up significantly and I'm going to take a walk later and see how it feels. But, on Wednesday, as happens on occasion, my lower back was tight, seized up, stiff (pick your adjective) and when I got up from the chair, I walked like Amos McCoy for several steps and then I gradually straightened up. Luckily, I'm not in pain. Luckily, applying heat to the offended area felt good and seemed to help. And, luckily, I was able to get household chores done -- kitchen clean up, laundry, litter pan scooping, and cooking dinner.

I also read quite a bit! 

2. Speaking of dinner, I remembered we had a chunk of ground beef in the freezer and it brought to mind an afternoon I spent watching television with Mom. Shaquille O'Neal was a guest on Rachael Ray's cooking show and he demonstrated how he combines ground beef with egg and hot sauce and I don't remember what else to make something akin to hamburger steaks.

So, I got out a bowl, sautéed leftover chopped onions from our family dinner, and combined ground beef, an egg, some Frank's hot sauce, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. At the same time, I boiled a handful of baby Yukon gold potatoes. 

Once the hamburger "steaks" were almost cooked through, I topped them with shredded sharp cheddar cheese, also left over from family dinner. 

This simple dinner turned out to be perfect. It was delicious, comforting, and satisfying. 

Thanks, Shaq.

3. Debbie and I veered off the Columbo highway this evening and randomly decided to give the George Peppard vehicle, Banacek, a try. The episode we watched featured a handful of NFL players from the late 60s and early 70s, including John Brodie, Deacon Jones, Ben Davidson, Gene Washington, Tom Mack, and Clancy Williams. When Banacek was watching the football game during which the episode's crime was committed, Curt Gowdy and Charlie Jones were at the mic. 

We agreed it was fun giving Banacek a whirl, but I doubt we'll return to it.

Next up, The Rockford Files. I enjoyed watching James Garner at work, but I really got a kick out of seeing John McMartin (he's the Washington Post's Foreign Editor in the movie, All the President's Men ["It's a dangerous story for this paper, Ben."] play a professional assassin. McMartin is solid character actor and even if this was not a great Rockford episode, I enjoyed watching McMartin in a role way different than what he plays in All the President's Men

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