Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Matthew's School Evacuated Today
Colleen called me today around 1:45 and said she heard there was a gas leak at Parkville Middle School - Nelson, Patrick and Matthew's school. She said some kid had told their mom and the mom called Colleen. She couldn't thru to Nelson or Patrick on their cell phones and there was no answer at the school's office. I got on the computer and the only thing I could find was a small breaking news blurb about a gas leak at the school on WMAR's website. I called Natalie and told her, probably a mistake, because her and Colleen were really worried. We finally heard from Nelson and Patrick, and Matthew's friend Jeremy that they were letting them back into the school to get their stuff for the bus ride home. Matthew was an hour late but he made it, safe and sound. It probably had something to do with the record-breaking pollen count today. It was the highest ever recorded. Below are some links to local news stories about the incident.
WBAL
WJZ
Shuffle Playlist On iPods
Make sure the iPod is set to shuffle. Navigate to your playlist but DO NOT go into the playlist on the iPod, just highlight the name. Then hit play. This will shuffle the playlist. Same thing applies to artists, albums, etc.
A little reminder to myself. I'm old, I'm confused!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
HCC vs Dundalk
I went to Joc's game at Dundalk Community College today. It was a double-header. Mike, Rita and Mom and Dad went too. They split the games - Dundalk won the first game, 9 - 1, and HCC won the second, 6 - 4. Jocelyn went 1 for 2 with a single in the first game and 2 for 4 with two singles in the second game. Her batting average was .373 after this game. It was perfect baseball weather - about 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The umpires were less than perfect. In the first game, they called a Harford base runner out at third who looked safe from where we were sitting. The umpire must have had an obstructed view. Or he's blind. Then Harford was hitting with two outs when the umpire suddenly called three outs. Apparently, the opposing coach had made a mistake filling out his line-up card, he swapped the numbers 6 and 9, and said that Harford had batted out of turn. I don't know what happened but it seemed like Harford was cheated out of an at bat. And then later, the other coach wanted the same batter called out ever time her turn at bat rolled around. That's when the crowd started getting restless. Anyway, the whole thing was bullshit. Jocelyn was not a happy camper.
Slideshow of photos from the game - HCC vs. Dundalk
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Gorezone's Video Watch Dog
Another old document pain-stakingly typed in by yours truly in the days of yore. This is a column from Gorezone, a short-lived sister magazine to Fangoria. It's pretty interesting but hopelessly out of date unless you collect VHS tapes.
Link to article - http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddgtgcjs_15czwvswdj&invite=hhrgwsm
The Modern Incarnation of the Video Watchdog
Sunday, April 20, 2008
SPCA's Walk For The Animals
Today was the SPCA's Walk For The Animals at Druid Park. We all went. The dogs were really well behaved and there were a lot of them of all shapes and sizes. I saw two three-legged dogs. Natalie raised a hundred dollars in contributions.We lucked out with the weather. It was overcast and gloomy but we managed to register and do the walk around the lake before it started pouring. And it really came down. We were all soaked, so we just went home. It was kind of shame because they had a lot of things planned - live music, food, all kinds of things for dogs to do. We'll probably go next year but we should do a little homework before we go. Getting in and out of that place is a nightmare when it's that crowded. We took East Street to get out instead of going back the way we came in.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Polenta
I'm going to make this stuff one of these days. Maybe I should buy some premade first and try it before spending all that time stirring.
Link to Polenta article stored online at Google Docs
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Baltimore Museum Of Art Photography Exhibit
I went to the Baltimore Museum Of Art's Photography exhibit today. Really interesting. The majority of the prints were from before WWII. Mostly experimental stuff, with some celebrity and documentary photos mixed in. Vintage photography magazines and books were on display in cases scattered throughout the hall. Lots of nudes - always a plus. At the end of this post is a slideshow of some of the photos that were in the exhibit.
from the BMA
Looking Through the Lens: Photography 1900–1960
March 16–June 8, 2008
Discover more than 150 striking vintage prints in this extraordinary exhibition showcasing groundbreaking modern photography. Peruse some of the world’s best-known 20th century photographers including iconic images by European and American artists such as Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks. Drawn from the BMA’s outstanding collection, these rarely shown photographs were produced during a pivotal period in the history of the medium—when photography became fully recognized as an art form.
Organized thematically, Looking through the Lens both showcases the work of great artists and illuminates some of the most significant movements and techniques of the first half of the century. Highlights of the exhibition include soft-focus Pictorialist-style photogravures published in Alfred Stieglitz’s ground-breaking journal Camera Work (1903–17), a rare print of Paul Strand’s Bottle, Book and Orange (1916); and brilliant experimental images produced between the wars such as Max Burchartz’s Lotte’s Eye (c. 1928) and Edward Weston’s Pepper (1929). A large selection of works by Man Ray demonstrates the influence of Surrealism, while Edward Steichen’s dramatic images of movie stars and Paul Outerbridge’s vivid carbro color prints of cropped nudes and festive still lifes show the cross-fertilization between art, film, and advertising.
Compelling documentary photographs and examples of photojournalism from the late 1930s include Dorothea Lange’s images of migrant farmers in California and Aaron Siskind’s Photo League chronicles of Harlem, as well as works commissioned for Life magazine by Margaret Bourke-White and Gordon Parks. Post-war images by New York School photographers Robert Frank and William Klein capture fleeting moments in America—from parade-goers in Hoboken, New Jersey, to a group of teenagers on the run. The exhibition concludes with Harry Callahan and other teachers at the progressive Institute of Design in Chicago whose work extended the influence of European modernism and anticipated some of the new directions photography would take in the second half of the century.
This exhibition is curated by Rena Hoisington, BMA Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Recapturing Coddie Memories
Nowadays, it is a rare treat to see the word coddies on a menu, but not so long ago this uniquely Baltimore food was as close as your corner store, malt shop or confectionery.
Coddies are not to be confused with cod cakes. While recipes for coddies vary, a coddie can be best described as a hand-formed, gently seasoned mashed-potato-and-cracker mixture that is always deep-fried and traditionally served between two saltine crackers topped with yellow mustard. It contains little or no cod. Served at room temperature, today’s coddies are made slightly larger than in the past, hanging over the sides of the saltines by one-half inch all around.
Ask a Baltimore native to describe what eating a coddie is like and a rush of adjectives is likely to come flying out - words like golden, scrumptious, crispy, poofy, light, delicious, addictive and cheap.
Coddies are an inexpensive snack to be eaten at any hour of the day. Many Baltimore natives fondly recall how a mere nickel could buy the perfect after-school snack - a coddie and a chocolate soda. Some teenagers didn’t even have to wait until after school to enjoy a coddie. Sylvan Goldstick, a docent at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, remembers Miss Hockhelmer, who used to work in the cafeteria at Garrison Junior High in the 1940s. “She had this thing ... a little tray that she pushed. Sold coddies everyday at school. Boy, did we ever look forward to seeing Miss Hockheimer!”
Many of Baltimore’s ethnic groups have tried to claim the coddie, but its true origins remain unknown. The parishioners of St. Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church in Southwest Baltimore have been making and selling coddies for many years, describing them as “Baltimore’s Best Coddies,” to raise money for the church. “During Lent, coddies are a natural choice,” says the Rev. Paschal Morlino, the church’s priest. “They’re meat-free and easy to prepare.” The recipe the church uses has been handed down for many years from parishioner to parishioner, he says.
Josie Ticer, 93, of Parkvllle has a coddie recipe that comes from Bohemia, in the area now called the Czech Republic. “I’ve been making coddies since my mother gave me the recipe when I got married in 1925. She got the recipe from her mother, who came to Baltimore from Bohemia in the 1800s. My family has been making them ever since.” Sid Mintz, an anthropologist who studies connections between food and cultures, has yet another explanation. “If anyone would have invented cod cakes, it sounds to me like something that would have come out of the African-American kitchen of the South. Cod was a favorite food of slave owners. ... It was cheap and generally considered a substandard fish.” Another possibility, Mintz says, is that it came here “from the islands, where people, like Haitians, had access to both cod and potatoes. The cooking method of making a cake and frying it - much like fritters - seems to fit.”
While the culinary roots remain a matter of speculation, a Jewish merchant, Louis Cohen, claimed to be the first to have mass-market coddies in Baltimore. In 1970, shortly before he retired from the business of selling coddies, Cohen wrote on a sales slip that he had started selling coddies at an ice-cream stand in the Bel Air Market, which no longer exists. He even recorded the date: April 20, 1910.
Today, coddies are not as widely available as they once were. Since Cohen went out of business in the early 1970s there has not been another distributor to take his place. However, delis (like Attman’s on Lombard Street) and seafood markets (like Sterling’s in Hampden) continue to make their own coddies in-house. And recently, chefs like Spike Gjerde of Atlantic and Paul Lever of Red Brick Station have featured coddies on their menus.
Perhaps the best way to enjoy a coddie is in its natural habitat - the malt shop. Earl Gallon, who, along with his partner, Richard Hagen, owns the Olde Malt Shoppe on Fort Avenue In South Baltimore, sells coddies that are delivered to their shop on Fridays from St. Benedict’s Church. They keep the coddies in a soda box on the top of their ice-cream counter. “I’ve tasted a lot of coddies and these taste the most like the ones I remember from the 1940s, when there were soda fountains, malt shops and confectioneries on every corner,” Gallon says. And for a real taste of Baltimore, don’t forget the soda. “The combination of a coddie and a chocolate soda is unbeatable,” Gallon says.
Coddies are not to be confused with cod cakes. While recipes for coddies vary, a coddie can be best described as a hand-formed, gently seasoned mashed-potato-and-cracker mixture that is always deep-fried and traditionally served between two saltine crackers topped with yellow mustard. It contains little or no cod. Served at room temperature, today’s coddies are made slightly larger than in the past, hanging over the sides of the saltines by one-half inch all around.
Ask a Baltimore native to describe what eating a coddie is like and a rush of adjectives is likely to come flying out - words like golden, scrumptious, crispy, poofy, light, delicious, addictive and cheap.
Coddies are an inexpensive snack to be eaten at any hour of the day. Many Baltimore natives fondly recall how a mere nickel could buy the perfect after-school snack - a coddie and a chocolate soda. Some teenagers didn’t even have to wait until after school to enjoy a coddie. Sylvan Goldstick, a docent at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, remembers Miss Hockhelmer, who used to work in the cafeteria at Garrison Junior High in the 1940s. “She had this thing ... a little tray that she pushed. Sold coddies everyday at school. Boy, did we ever look forward to seeing Miss Hockheimer!”
Many of Baltimore’s ethnic groups have tried to claim the coddie, but its true origins remain unknown. The parishioners of St. Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church in Southwest Baltimore have been making and selling coddies for many years, describing them as “Baltimore’s Best Coddies,” to raise money for the church. “During Lent, coddies are a natural choice,” says the Rev. Paschal Morlino, the church’s priest. “They’re meat-free and easy to prepare.” The recipe the church uses has been handed down for many years from parishioner to parishioner, he says.
Josie Ticer, 93, of Parkvllle has a coddie recipe that comes from Bohemia, in the area now called the Czech Republic. “I’ve been making coddies since my mother gave me the recipe when I got married in 1925. She got the recipe from her mother, who came to Baltimore from Bohemia in the 1800s. My family has been making them ever since.” Sid Mintz, an anthropologist who studies connections between food and cultures, has yet another explanation. “If anyone would have invented cod cakes, it sounds to me like something that would have come out of the African-American kitchen of the South. Cod was a favorite food of slave owners. ... It was cheap and generally considered a substandard fish.” Another possibility, Mintz says, is that it came here “from the islands, where people, like Haitians, had access to both cod and potatoes. The cooking method of making a cake and frying it - much like fritters - seems to fit.”
While the culinary roots remain a matter of speculation, a Jewish merchant, Louis Cohen, claimed to be the first to have mass-market coddies in Baltimore. In 1970, shortly before he retired from the business of selling coddies, Cohen wrote on a sales slip that he had started selling coddies at an ice-cream stand in the Bel Air Market, which no longer exists. He even recorded the date: April 20, 1910.
Today, coddies are not as widely available as they once were. Since Cohen went out of business in the early 1970s there has not been another distributor to take his place. However, delis (like Attman’s on Lombard Street) and seafood markets (like Sterling’s in Hampden) continue to make their own coddies in-house. And recently, chefs like Spike Gjerde of Atlantic and Paul Lever of Red Brick Station have featured coddies on their menus.
Perhaps the best way to enjoy a coddie is in its natural habitat - the malt shop. Earl Gallon, who, along with his partner, Richard Hagen, owns the Olde Malt Shoppe on Fort Avenue In South Baltimore, sells coddies that are delivered to their shop on Fridays from St. Benedict’s Church. They keep the coddies in a soda box on the top of their ice-cream counter. “I’ve tasted a lot of coddies and these taste the most like the ones I remember from the 1940s, when there were soda fountains, malt shops and confectioneries on every corner,” Gallon says. And for a real taste of Baltimore, don’t forget the soda. “The combination of a coddie and a chocolate soda is unbeatable,” Gallon says.
By MEGAN H. RYAN
SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Coddie Recipes
Baltimore Coddies
Makes 16 to 20 coddies
¼ pound salt cod or 1 tablespoon cod paste or 1 tablespoon fish flakes
1 to 1 ¼ Pound potatoes
2 tablespoons milk
¼ cup crushed crackers
2 eggs
½ teaspoon black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
Saltine crackers
Yellow mustard
If you are using salt cod, soak the fish for 24 hours in a bowl of water. Change the water every 6 to 8 hours. Cover the fish with water in a pan and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and break with a fork; cool. Peel, dice and boil potatoes until cooked. Drain, mash with 2 tablespoons milk and cool. In a large bowl, combine salt cod (or cod paste or fish flakes), potatoes, crackers, eggs and black pepper and make into thin, palm-sized balls.
Flatten slightly and cook in a pan filled with 1 inch of vegetable oil. Brown cakes on each side and drain. Replace diminished oil between batches. To serve, place each coddie on a saltine cracker, top with yellow mustard, and place another saltine on the top. Serve either warm or at room temperature.
Source: Recipe based on interviews with coddie makers/Sunpapers
Baltimore Coddies II
Yield: 16 servings
1 lb Codfish, salted
1 lb Potatoes
2 Eggs
1/2 c Parsley
1 Onions
Preparation: Soak the fish for 24 hours in a bowl of water. Change the water every 6 to 8 hours. Peel and dice potatoes. Dice onion and parsley (if fresh).
Cover the fish with water and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, break with a fork and cool. Boil potatoes until cooked, then drain, mash and cool. Combine fish, potatoes and remaining ingredients and make into thin palm sized balls. Flatten slightly and cook in a pan filled with 1/4 inch of oil. Brown cakes on each side and drain. Replenish oil between batches.
Source: Kirk Kraft and The Baltimore Sun.
Makes 16 to 20 coddies
¼ pound salt cod or 1 tablespoon cod paste or 1 tablespoon fish flakes
1 to 1 ¼ Pound potatoes
2 tablespoons milk
¼ cup crushed crackers
2 eggs
½ teaspoon black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
Saltine crackers
Yellow mustard
If you are using salt cod, soak the fish for 24 hours in a bowl of water. Change the water every 6 to 8 hours. Cover the fish with water in a pan and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and break with a fork; cool. Peel, dice and boil potatoes until cooked. Drain, mash with 2 tablespoons milk and cool. In a large bowl, combine salt cod (or cod paste or fish flakes), potatoes, crackers, eggs and black pepper and make into thin, palm-sized balls.
Flatten slightly and cook in a pan filled with 1 inch of vegetable oil. Brown cakes on each side and drain. Replace diminished oil between batches. To serve, place each coddie on a saltine cracker, top with yellow mustard, and place another saltine on the top. Serve either warm or at room temperature.
Source: Recipe based on interviews with coddie makers/Sunpapers
Baltimore Coddies II
Yield: 16 servings
1 lb Codfish, salted
1 lb Potatoes
2 Eggs
1/2 c Parsley
1 Onions
Preparation: Soak the fish for 24 hours in a bowl of water. Change the water every 6 to 8 hours. Peel and dice potatoes. Dice onion and parsley (if fresh).
Cover the fish with water and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, break with a fork and cool. Boil potatoes until cooked, then drain, mash and cool. Combine fish, potatoes and remaining ingredients and make into thin palm sized balls. Flatten slightly and cook in a pan filled with 1/4 inch of oil. Brown cakes on each side and drain. Replenish oil between batches.
Source: Kirk Kraft and The Baltimore Sun.
Southland Tales & I Am Legend
Southland Tales - It's sci-fi, it's a musical, it's a comedy. It's Bizarre! But good - very good. There are a lot of comedians from SNL in it and also Mad TV's Will Sasso . See Jon Lovitz in a dramatic role - sort of. Go to the website and root around. 
I Am Legend - Is it better than "The Omega Man" - I guess, but I missed Charlton Heston spending his days watching "Woodstock". It had it's cool moments, like the whole dog thing, but the zombies, or whatever they were, were really fake looking. It was pretty depressing for a blockbuster-type action film. File along with "I, Robot". I guess I'll have to buy the video of "The Last Man On Earth" and see what Vincent Price did with the same story. Richard Matheson wrote the novel all these films are based on. He's a great author. And he was born on the greatest day of the year - February 20th.Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Glen Ellen: Castle On The Shores Of Loch Raven
Below is a link to an article about this place. I want to try and find what's left of it one these days. I'm sure you can't park as near to it now as you could when this article was written.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Chelsea's Christening
Natalie's newest grand-niece was christened today. Her name is Chelsea Sky Annas. She's Pam's daughter Melissa's little girl. Pam had a party afterwards at her house in Taneytown. We got there a little late because of excessive partying the day before (damn Howie), but we did make it. Natalie didn't think we would.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Howie's 60th Birthday Luau
Dolores and Cindy had a luau for Howie's 60th birthday today. It was great - tons of food and booze, fancy tropical drinks, leis, Hawaiian shirts - the whole nine yards. I really liked the shish kabobs. They had a pinata for the kids.
Howie looked like he was having a great time. He got a digital camera with all the extras - bag, batteries, memory cards, printer. We went in on a digital photo frame for him with Mike and Rita . I hope he's not overwhelmed by the whole thing.
Ray read out a proclamation from Governor O'Malley about Aunt Irene's 90th birthday . She was really touched by it. I hope I look that good when, and if, I make it to 90.
Even Tom had a good time, despite the complete lack of skateboarding.
Friday, April 04, 2008
2006 Photos Online
2006 Pt.1
2006 Pt.2
2006 Pt.3 Ocean City
2006 Pt.4 Daytona Beach
2006 Pt.5 Christmas
(2007 Photos coming in 2009)
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Easy As Cake!
Another old desktop publishing project uploaded to Google Docs. It's about making cakes from scratch. Click the link below.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddgtgcjs_7wzkcbccf&invite=gwz5tvp
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddgtgcjs_7wzkcbccf&invite=gwz5tvp
First Recorded Sound - From 1860
Click the "phonautograph" pictured below for the story and a clip of the recording made with this machine.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Link to Google Docs
A little test of Google Docs. It's an old desktop publishing thing. Click the link at the bottom.
8 TRACK Tapes.
The Origin of Bart's prank phone calls to Moe.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddgtgcjs_1cdwkx4d9&invite=cpdvpn8
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Dan Turns 18
Monkey Cake!
Mom and Dad had a birthday party for Dan last night. He's 18 now. Dan brought a friend of his to the party, Joe Fales. He's related to us. I think he's my 3rd cousin.
Joe Fales
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