Cousins Redux...

JPM Photography, Janusch abode, Detroit, MI - 12/27/11
Amira, Mav, Annie, Nicole

Amira joins her sis and two cousins in an updated version of
the legendary '87 Christmas portrait, seen just below.  It can be
reported, by the way, that at no time was Nicole observed
 chewing on her knuckles, much to everyone's relief (as we all
know that old habits die hard).


  

Steve and Michelle and the Magic of Christmas...

MJ sent this shot that he took on Christmas morning, 2011.

Astoundingly, when he looked at all of that day's images 

on his mac later that evening, this photo was among them.

Weird. Very Weird.

Young cousins at Christmas in days gone by...

(circa 1987) Mavourneen, Annie, Nicole (seen here enjoying a savory, spittle-laden
knuckle sandwich.  She would later become a vegetarian.)

A cheap Christmas thrill...

Chris Marion, seen here in this vintage holiday shot (circa 1990),

attempts to reattach a wayward pine needle.  Legend has it that he spent

 countless hours in this fruitless pursuit while his stash of carefully

 selected and purchased new toys, fresh out of their packaging, lay

 abandoned and forgotten hither and thither around the house....

Believe it.  Or not.

Some SMOKIN' gift ideas...

AND there's "...no unpleasant after-taste!"

Hey!  If Santa smokes 'em, they HAVE to good... AND no "throat-scratch"

(throat cancer, yes, but no annoying scratch)!

From the Norman Rockwell collection...

Roger and Rose, Char and Linda and Jerry Mathers as the Santa

THIS better not happen again this year...!

Christmas 2010

Even the poinsettias were feeling blue, stuck in a hospital for the

holidays.  Fortunately, Julie survived the ignominy of having to

wear an immodest gown with flimsy rear-closure and the uncertainty

 being in the clutches of a mysterious infection whose timing

 could not have been worse....

As for 2011?  Keep your fingers crossed, one and all!

A Merry (Late 50s) Christmas...

Dearborn, Michigan, circa 1959-1960



RJ, armed and dangerous (well, for a 4-year-old)...

Christmas, Detroit, Michigan, circa 1955

The good old days, when gun permits in the city were readily available,

and coonskin hats and ludicrous, animal-themed slippers were all the rage. 

Now that it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, we'll break out the

 nostalgia once again to kick start your holiday mood...

What would YOU do?

Take a seat?  Or take a hike?

(JP found this...inventive beer marketing from
 Carlsberg out of Copenhagen.)

  Click right HERE.

Sordid story out of A2...

BEFORE

AFTER

This guy was our pediatrican for years.  And an extremely good one, at that. 

 Very strange story.  The poor sod is accused of peeping on a 12-year-old

 girl-neighbor (also a life-long patient) while standing in his own home. 

(Blinds, shades, drapes, and curtain have not yet been introduced

to the residents of this side of the city, apparently.)

He is alleged by the girl's mother to have perpetrated this act some
four times, and the mother videotaped Dr. Weinblatt the final
time before going to the police with her proof.  Furthermore, the
good doctor is also accused of.... Well, better read all the seamy details
 HERE.

70 years ago...

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941

It was like just about any other early Sunday morning in paradise...
sunny, sleepy, splendid.  And then all hell broke loose....

Today's generations have 9/11, the unimaginable images and ramifications of
 which will  always be with us. Our parents and grandparents, on the other hand,
had their own such signal event:  Pearl Harbor, which forced an isolationist

  U.S. into WWII, a war that for the rest of the world had begun some two
 years earlier.

Before the conflict was finally over in September, 1945, an estimated

  60 million people had died in the most violent and horrific fighting in history.

 Let us never forget the people whose sacrifices carried us to victory over the

 Nazis and Japanese. Tom Brokaw calls them The Greatest Generation,

and who can dispute that?


Click to view FDR's inspiring "Date which will live in Infamy" speech.



Speaking of bread...

Amira passed this story along (and NO, it's not from The Onion -- it just
seems so -- it's actually a BBC News feature)...

Click here:  Toast sandwich is UK's 'cheapest meal'

Gone, but not forgotten...

R.I.P.

11/24/11 -  The aftermath of my Mexican-American Thanksgiving Dinner,

 including incredible jalapeño stuffing, La Casa Molina (AKA, Angie's House)

Note:  The tongue trails usually found on my plates are absent only because I

was on my best behavior.  When eating out, one must observe some semblance

of decorum in deference to one's hosts, at least that's what Emily Post claims.

(And I'm down with the Manners' Mistress....)

JP weighs in with a 'contenda'...



Right out of the Torry Ave. oven, 12/2/11

Got this email this morning: "I’ll be slicing into this hunka dough

 in a little while.  best one yet...."

An impressive performance, indeed, on JP's 3rd try (the other
two loaves were very good, mind you, but he said that there
 were some minor technical problems on them that have
clearly been surmounted as evidenced above).


Bottom line:  Once you get familiar with the process,
 kickass bread will always be on your menu....


PS  Just ran across a great post about this method with
 step-by-step photos and a recipe for parmesan-pepper
 bread (which I WILL be making this weekend). 
Click here:

PARMESAN-PEPPER BREAD