Random view from the strip

Shopping Roman style

Hotel fire

Scary fire nearby hotel

Good Morning Las Vegas

Puppy Santorini

Just doing some spring cleaning on the computer and found this clip of Santorini when he was a puppy. He still "talks back" to me in exactly the same way, except with now "grown up" voice.

Kids...what are you going to do with them?

She should get hostile fire pay for this

Is there ever a day she doesn't exaggerate or just outright lie? If she was in such extreme danger, why did she take her daughter? Or is she simply just pumping herself up with another exaggeration to make herself look good? Speaking as one who actually has been shot at while flying, I don't think she was in much danger...after all, she had a couple of "hollywood stars" left to jettison as chaff.

Hillary says she risked life on White House trips

VINTON, Iowa - Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's looked for an opening to strike back.

On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced, arguing she risked her life on White House missions in the 1990s, including a hair-raising flight into Bosnia that ended in a "corkscrew" landing and a sprint off the tarmac to dodge snipers.

"I don't remember anyone offering me tea," she quipped.

The dictum around the Oval Office in the '90s, she added, was: "If a place was too dangerous, too poor or too small, send the first lady."

It turns out that Clinton wasn't quite flying solo into harm's way that day.

She was, in fact, leading a goodwill entourage that included baggy-pants funnyman Sinbad, singer Sheryl Crow and Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, then 15, according to an account of the March 1995 trip in her autobiography "Living History."

As the plane approached the runway, the pilot ordered the Clintons into the armored front of the plane, Clinton writes.

What's not clear is whether Sinbad or Crow were invited to the cockpit or had to brave it out in the unprotected rear.

Happy New Year...Wassail! Drinkhail!

We went to a pub in Williamsburg last night to start the New Year's Eve festivities. While we were there, one of the entertainers sang a song about wassailing on Christmas Eve. I knew about the tradition drinking wassail during the holidays, but didn't know it could be used as a verb. Evidently, in the ye olden days, wassailers went about on Christmas eve getting looped on wassail then going door to door singing Christmas songs and demanding even more wassail for their efforts. What a great idea!

So today's recommendation (and history lesson) is about Wassail and wassailing.






wassail |ˈwäsəl; -ˌsāl| archaic

noun:
spiced ale or mulled wine drunk during celebrations for Twelfth Night and Christmas Eve. Lively and noisy festivities involving the drinking of plentiful amounts of alcohol; revelry.

verb:
1 [ intrans. ] drink plentiful amounts of alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way.
2 go from house to house at Christmas singing carols : here we go a-wassailing.

DERIVATIVES
wassailer |ˈwɑsələr| |ˈwɑˈseɪlər| noun

ORIGIN Middle English wæs hæil [be in (good) health!] : from Old Norse ves heill (compare with hail 2 ).

The drinking formula wassail (and the reply drinkhail [drink good health] ) were probably introduced by Danish-speaking inhabitants of England, and then spread, so that by the 12th cent. the usage was considered by the Normans to be characteristic of Englishmen.

Spiced Ale:
Ingredients:
1 Quart Ale
Nutmeg (to taste)
Ginger (to taste)
Grated Lemon Peel (to taste)
3 eggs
4 oz. Powdered sugar
1 Quart Rum or brandy

1. Heat ale to almost boiling with spices
2. Beat eggs with sugar while ale is heating up. Combine both into a large pitcher.
3. Put Rum or Brandy into another large pitcher & turn from one to another until mixed well. Then pour into a holiday wreathed wassail bowl (or punch bowl). Best served hot!

Mulled Wine Version:
Ingredients:
4 cups apple cider
4 cinnamon sticks
1 lemon, sliced
1 tsp. whole allspice
1 tsp. whole cloves
4 cups pineapple or orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups dry red wine


1. Place apple cider, cinnamon sticks, lemon slices, allspice, and clove in large saucepan and heat over
medium high heat for 20 minutes.
2. Add pineapple/orange juice, sugar, and red wine and heat thoroughly.
3. Remove lemon slices, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice before serving.