Music Friday: "Third Stone from the Sun/If You Love Me Like You Say"

Gary Clark Jr. has to be one of the finest musicians plying their trade right now. 

Here's one two from his Blak and Blu album.  

Random Notes from a Crank

 

I saw this sign through my high school wrestling team's FB page. I really like it as a question and slogan. 

If any of you readers are moving from Twitter to Bluesky, I'm on that platform: @quintilianbnasty.

I was saddened to see that legendary broadcaster Bob Uecker passed away. Here's some an article by USA Today about "Major League Bob Uecker Quotes." 

I'm excited to see that there is going to be a new Daredevil series. Here's an article from a site called RadioTimes: "Daredevil: Born Again."

The Disney+ trailer is intriguing. 

I might have to watch the third season of the Netflix show to remind myself what happened at the end. Of course, there was also The Defenders series too that came after that third season. 

What Marvel needs to do a Power-Man and Iron Fist show (or Heroes for Hire), which might bring some levity to the MCU. 

Because I'm a frugal person, I'm astounded by people who don't return their shopping carts for their quarters. My usual spots for shopping for groceries are Aldi and Ruler Foods. Both places require you to put in a quarter to get a cart. 

However, there are some folks who don't return the carts, and I'm making money by returning their carts. I bet over the course of a year I probably make about 10 bucks doing this. 

I chalk up this frugality of mine to being a son of two parents who were children during the Great Depression. You don't waste money. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Dill Pickle Egg Salad

For me, plain old egg salad can get kind of bland, so when I was home for lunch today, I made a version with some personality to it. 

Ingredients

• 6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons of pickle juice (I used Clausen's)
• 3-4 tablespoons of mayo (I prefer Duke's)
• 1 teaspoon of Penzey's Justice seasoning
• 1 teaspoon of fresh dill, chopped finely
• Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Process

Chop up the eggs, dump them into a bowl, and add the pickle juice, mayo, and seasonings. Mix well and apply to a sandwich. 

I initially put in three tablespoons of pickle juice, but next time I might amp it up by using four. 

Random Notes from a Crank

What you see above is my dog when he and I ventured out to walk by our local lake. With all the snow we've gotten, no one has shoveled their sidewalks, so Mac and I are relegated to walking on campus because it has been plowed and shoveled. 

I'm tired of walking on campus though, so we ventured out to feel the icy wind in our faces. 

Mrs. Nasty and I were in Springfield Sunday, and we took the opportunity to dine at Darcy's Pint. That's the only place I know of around these here parts that has a muffuletta on its menu. 

It's one of best sandwiches of all time. When I'm there, I always think about getting a reuben, one of my favorites, but I can get those lots of places. 

This is the time of the year when I browse Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog and think about the possibilities this spring and summer. 

Usually every growing season I try out at least one new plant or variety of plant. This coming season I'm thinking of growing broccoli rabe, Italian eggplant, and some Bibb lettuce.

I made some spicy beef lettuce wraps a while back, and I really liked Bibb lettuce, which I've never grown. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Ranch Dressing

Mrs. Nasty doesn't like buttermilk ranch dressing. If I use ranch dressing, I prefer it to be buttermilk ranch, but for the purpose of making a ranch dressing from scratch without buttermilk and without all the chemicals, I happened upon this recipe by chance. 

I tape episodes of Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen, the cooking show you can find on your local PBS station. The most recent episode I watched had a recipe for fried cheese curds with ranch dressing. 

That's the base for this recipe, which I tweaked a little bit. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of fresh chives, chopped finely
• 2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro, chopped finely
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped finely
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1/3 cup of mayo
• 3 tablespoons of sour cream
• 1 small clove of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon of Penzey's roasted garlic
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

Process

It's pretty simple. Put it all into a big bowl and whisk vigorously. Put in enough salt and pepper to your taste. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Someone should do a documentary on the actors who were in the High School Musicals. Because I've seen all of them multiple times because of my kids, I'd be interested to see what those folks are up to. 

That thought reminds me of my daughter playing Sharpay in High School Musical Jr. in middle school. It was quite a treat. 

I'm a frustrated Dad up in the stands this basketball season. My son dresses varsity but rarely gets to play. The head coach is playing guys ahead of him who are clearly not as good as him. Those players are seniors and/or are sons of people who work in the school district. 

As a coach I would be committed to playing the guys who give me the best chance to win. Small town bullshit. 

As much as these basketball teams want to chuck up threes all the time, if you're not going to play good defense, you're going to get beat. 

I saw the image below online on Bluesky. It's a good image to reflect what Project 2025, Moscow Don, and his goons are going to try to do. 

I have not read The Handmaid's Tale, but I get the general premise of the novel: men wanting to control women. I recently ordered a copy and then cancelled the order because I'll just get a copy from my local library when I feel like reading some fiction. I'm more of a non-fiction reader. 

Today's my birthday, and two of my presents are the following: Tottenham won 3-0 in extra time in their FA Cup match, and Manchester United beat Arsenal on penalty kicks in that FA Cup match.  

Music Friday: "I Am One"

One of the bands of the 90s alternative rock scene that I listened to a lot was the Smashing Pumpkins. 

For me, their first album Gish is my favorite. They gained quite a bit of success with later albums, but I was in on this band from the start. 

I remember listening to that album for the first time, and I was instantly hooked to the guitar-focused rock that flew in the face of the years of hair-metal I had to endure on MTV and the radio. 

And here's the leadoff song from that album. 

Music Friday: "Man on the Moon"

The holidays have got me all discombobulated, so I'm doing this post a day late. 

I'm getting close to finishing the fine biography of R.E.M. written by Peter Ames Carlin: The Name of This Band is R.E.M.  

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I think it's hard to find a set of three songs to end an album like you find on Automatic for the People. 

The album ends with this trio:

• Man on the Moon
• Nightswimming
• Find the River

Here's the most popular song of the triad. 

Sunday Hangover: Michigan

It's not Sunday, but I was a bit hungover this morning. 

Yesterday's game was a major disappointment. 

The Tide had three turnovers in the first quarter. A team is not likely to win with such results. 

The Alabama defense did play well though under terrible conditions. 

However, the offense was inept. It had flashes, but there is no reason why the Tide cannot put up more points than they did. 

I would assume Milroe is going to announce for the draft. I don't blame him. He already has both a B.A. and an M.A., and I would think he'd be drafted in the first round somewhere. His athletic ability is unparalleled. 

One point that the commentators didn't bring up is that because of the transfer portal, the Tide only had two starting wide receivers left: Williams and Bernard. And I didn't recognize a number of players on defense. 

However, what Milroe put on tape in the bowl game yesterday would have to concern some GMs. He needs to go to a team that will develop a quarterback. 

Regardless, I'm interested to see what next season brings and who wins the QB1 competition. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on Simpson. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Slow Cooker Cubed Steak with Mushroom Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

This is my third version of this recipe, and I think I got it to exactly the way I like it. There was a recipe in 2022 and another in 2017. 

So here goes. I liked using the cream of mushroom soup better.

Ingredients

2 lbs. of cubed steak

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can of French onion soup

Water

1-2 cups of beef stock

1 package of mushrooms, sliced

Healthy smidge of Penzey's Beef Roast seasoning

Very healthy smidge of Penzey's Northwoods seasoning

Freshly cracked black pepper

Kosher salt to taste

Roughly 6-8 tablespoons of AP flour (depends on how thick you want the gravy)

Process

In the past when I worked with cubed steak, it was just too thick, so I trimmed off any excess fat and tenderized it even more with a mallet, so the steak was super thin and tenderized. 

In the slow cooker on low, add the cans of soup and cup of beef stock. I added some water to the can of cream of mushroom soup and poured it in. I added beef stock to the French onion soup can and pour it in. Add in the seasonings and add them throughout the process as needed. 

Whisk it all together and then place the cubed steak into the gravy. Cook on low for roughly eight hours. 

When it's around the last hour of cooking, make your mashed potatoes. And then put in your sliced mushrooms. Liberally apply cracked black pepper and salt as needed. 

As you're making the mashed potatoes, pull out the cubed steak. 

I ditched the corn starch in the previous version and just went old school with flour. Turn up the heat to high and add in two tablespoons of flour at a time and whisk vigorously. Add as much flour from time to time to get the thickness you like. 

Serve the steak and gravy over mashed potatoes. 

Musing of the Moment: Changes in Football to be Considered

I would like to propose a few changes to the game of football, two of which are related to scoring. 

Proposal 1: Make the Safety Worth More Points

The safety has worth two points forever. However, it's more rare than a field goal, so why not make it at least as much as field goal or maybe even more? A bold proposal would be a safety scoring 4 points. 

Proposal 2: Make Field Goals Over 50 yards Worth Four Points

People are familiar with fantasy football scoring system that give different points based on how long the field goal is. For example, in the fantasy league I am part of, a field goal from 0-39 yards is worth 3 points, 40-49 yards is worth 4 points, 50-59 points is worth 5 points, and over 60 yards is worth 6 points. 

But let's keep it simple. Any field goal over 50 yards scores 4 points, not 3. 

Proposal 3: In the NFL, Change the Kickoff Rules for More Returns

This season in the NFL the kickoff rules were changed for safety reasons, which I agree with. However, teams are still mainly just kicking it into the end zone for no returns and just touchbacks. 

If the NFL wants to really get kickers getting it into the "landing zone," they need to spot touchbacks not at the 30-yard line. Instead, touchbacks should be spotted at the 40-yard line to penalize touchbacks. 

Be bold. 

Music Friday: "Radio Free Europe" & "So. Central Rain"

For the holidays, I received a couple of books, one of which is The Name of This Band is R.E.M. by Peter Ames Carlin.

I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm enjoying it so far. 

In the Introduction, the author talks about the band's TV debut on Late Night with David Letterman, and they played these songs during their appearance. 

Music Friday: "Pictures of You"

The Cure came out with a new album this year, and I'm told it's quite good. 

I had the album Disintegration at one time, but I lost it somewhere along the way of life. So I bought it agin this week. 

Here's one of the "hits" from that opus. 

Music Friday: "Time & Place"

I can't remember if I have featured a tune from 2023 album In Times New Roman... by Queens of the Stone Age, but I'm doing so today. 

Here's "Time & Place" 

Music Friday: "I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All"

I didn't realize Father John Misty had a new album out this month until this video came across my recommendations when I went to YouTube. 

I haven't bought the album yet, but I'm likely to do so soon.