Ground Meat
15 oz can of Red Kidney Beans
Can of Tomatoes
8oz Can o f Tomato Sauce
Onion
Garlic
Tube Pasta (Penne Pasta for example)
Italian Seasoning
Oregano
Parmesan Cheese
Brown down the ground meat in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. If you want to add Italian seasoning to the meat go right ahead, try and make it your own a little. While the meat is cooking go ahead and get the cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce open and also open the can of kidney beans but pour the beans into a colander to drain. You may need to rinse the beans as well, just put some cold water in the can a couple of times and pour over them. Next put water onto boil for the pasta. I put salt and olive oil in my water when I cook pasta, but however you usually do it is the way to go. Parboil the pasta.
Put the drained kidney beans in a bowl and use the colander to drain the meat. Wipe with some paper towels some of the excess grease that may be at the bottom of the skillet (try and keep things relatively healthy). Put the stove on medium heat and put a Tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet to heat.Chop some onion and garlic, amount If you don not have fresh garlic or the kind that comes in a jar, rehydrate some granulated garlic in a bowl or a small jar. http://mishasblue.blogspot.com/2011/04/quick-tip-1.html
Add onion to the skillet and turn temperature down to medium-low. When the onion is just tender add the garlic and keep stirring them because garlic can burn quickly. You can stop stirring long enough to reintroduce the ground meat. Stir until ingredients are pretty well mixed together and then add the can of tomatoes, red kidney beans and tomato sauce. Hopefully, at some point, you have been able to get the pasta off the stove and drained and rinsed with warm water. Rinsing the pasta helps get some of the starch out of the pasta plus some of the taste of the starch. Either that or I'm just overly sensitive to the taste. Anyway, add the pasta, the Italian seasoning, the Parmesan cheese and oregano. Let cook until pasta is tender. If there is tomato sauce that has not been absorbed, let the Pasta Fazool stand in the skillet while you finish getting anything else you need together.
And there you have Pasta Fazool. My way at least. Some people will put it in a baking dish with some mozzarella cheese on top and put it in a 350 degree oven until the cheese melts. just another option if you would like to try it.
In hindsight I really do wish I had said something about the riots that took place in England over the last week, but I was so stunned by it and it's intensity that I must admit that I am still a bit baffled. I understand that it was a peaceful demonstration for a man that was killed by police and then a bunch of idiots that needed their hides tanned and that probably live in video game la-la land, who may have thought no one would REALLY die, went off their rockers, desecrating the dead man's memory and insulting his family. I had heard that the riots were started by young men who do not have job and were/are upset by the lack of employment.
I have something to say to them about that... SO FRIGGIN' WHAT!! Are you so daft in the head that you ACTUALLY think that you are in a special predicament? GUESS WHAT TOOTS? YOU'RE NOT. The economic situation that Britain and the rest of the world is in has been going on for generations and they will continue to go on into the future when we are no longer here on this Earth. When it comes to sharing financially that is, equally sharing thank you very much, I am extremely pessimistic and it would also seem to be an unreal expectation. That is a crazy thought. I wonder if they have heard of the devil and going to hell. (God protect us)
Today I think I heard it mentioned that 12 and 13 year old BOYS were involved as well. Where, in everything that is sacred, were the friggin' adults that are supposed to be taking care of these children? Or is teaching them to riot and steal their way of taking care of the children? It is so mind-blowing how negligent some people can be towards children. If the children were to be taken from their guardian and put into a foster care system, would that really help or would it cause more harm for the children? I do not have children of my own but I do have enough common sense that you just don't let them run wild on the streets at night. You set a curfew for them and punish them with extra chores for missing it. Be the adult in the relationship, as it should be and don't let the child run over you. Set boundaries and stick to them. Don't be your child's best friend. Okay a friend to your child to where they can come to you with a problem but not a best friend. Please NO mollycoddling! Guidethe,help them, but please DO NOT PAMPER THEM. That could also be a cause (one of many) that contributed to the rioting and looting in England, the children feel they are ENTITLED to whatever they want and if they don't get what they want all HELL breaks loose! What is it that The Stones sang? "You can't always get what you want/ But if you try sometimes well you might find/ You get what you need". In my humble opinion that is a very good mantra not just to raise children with but to live by. Yes it is difficult but that's life.
Now for the innocent citizens of England during this horrible ordeal, God Bless them. May they or you become stronger because of this and not let evil get the better of you for, in my opinion, you/they are better than that. The fear and uncertainty is undoubtedly still there but do not let them get the best of you. There are more than likely people and places that you can receive help, if you feel this way after a while promise yourself to seek the help. In the meantime, you have world community and mainly your local community and friends to lean on for support. My prayers are with you all.
This was a poster or a series of posters that the British government had made in 1939 at the beginning of World War II. This just seems like a good time in the world for all of us to do.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 4,1901 Thursday will mark the 110th Anniversary of Louis Armstrong's birth. Lois Armstrong grew up in Uptown, New Orleans in poverty, abandoned by his father as an infant, for another woman and his mother, who was a prostitute, left him and his younger sister in the care of his paternal grandmother and sometimes his Uncle Isaac. When he was five Louis Armstrong once again lived with his mother and her family and only saw his father at parades.
In hopes of getting his mother out of prostitution and while going to Fisk School for Boys,where he is surmised to have been first exposed to Creole music, Louis Armstrong started working as a paperboy, cleaning graves, hauling coal to New Orleans famed red-light district, Storyville and doing odd jobs for the Karnofsky family. They were Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants who owned a junk hauling business. But even with all of these jobs there was not enough money to get his mother out of prostitution. While hauling coal around Storyville he would listen to the bands that performed at brothels and dance halls, especially Pete Lala's, where Joe Oliver performed and other famous musicians would drop in to jam. of course he was also exposed to the brass bands that accompany New Orleans funerals and parades. All of the music that surrounded Armstrong was a source of great inspiration for him. When he was 11 years old Armstrong dropped out of school to join a quartet of boys that sang on the streets to earn money. And even though Armstrong credited "King Oliver with teaching Armstrong to play the horn, cornet player Buck Johnson had said he was the one who taught an 11 year old Armstrong to play the cornet.
The Karnofsky family not only gave him a job,but took him in and treated him as a member of their family because they knew Armstrong's father was out of the picture and would feed and nurture him. While living with the family Armstrong was exposed to the discrimination that Jewish families experienced by other white people. Because of this Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life.
Even with help from the Karnofsky's Armstrong could not stay out of trouble, usually for general delinquency but one time it was a more serious case, in which he was sent to New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, for firing his step-father's pistol in the air while celebrating New Year's Eve. While at the home, Armstrong, started taking his cornet playing seriously, because Prof. Peter Davis, at the request of the Homes administrator, instilled discipline in and provided musical training in the primarily self-taught Louis Armstrong.Davis eventually made him bandleader. The Home band played around New Orleans and at age 13, Louis Armstrong began to receive attention for his cornet plying. This would be the starting point of his career. When he was 14 he was released from the Home and was back with his father and new stepmother and then right back with his mother and also the streets with its temptations. Armstrong was able to find a job at a dance hall where Black Benny, a new Orleans- based bass drummer of legendary importance, became Armstrong's protector and guide.
Later on Armstrong began to perform with pick-up bands in clubs and to play at funerals and parades. He captured the attention and respect of some of the older musicians,mainly "King " Oliver, who played in Kid Ory's band, became Armstrong's mentor. When Joe "King" Oliver decided to quit Ory's band and to go north, in 1919, Armstrong was his replacement. A year later Armstrong was hired to work on riverboats that traveled the Mississippi. This enabled him to work with many prominent jazz musicians, such as Fate Marable, which gave Armstrong a broader experience working with written arrangements.
In 1922 Oliver invited Armstrong to play second cornet in his Creole Jazz Band. as a member of the band, Armstrong began his lifetime of touring and recording. Plus as his reputation grew, Armstrong would be challenged to "cutting contest"by hornmen trying to displace the new phenom, who could blow 200 high C's in a row. He moved to New York, in 1924, to play in the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra at the Roseland Ballroom. When he went to play with Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, Armstrong switched to the trumpet in order to blend in with the other musicians in his section. Armstrong quickly adapted to the more tightly controlled style of Henderson, even experimenting with the trombone. other members quickly took up Armstrong's emotional, expressive pulse. Soon Armstrong's act included singing and telling stories of New Orleans characters. In 1925 Louis Armstrong returned to Chicago, due mainly to Lil's urging who wanted to pump up her husband's career and income. He wasn't to thrilled with going back to Chicago, because Armstrong liked New York, but he latter admitted that his wife was right that the Orchestra was limiting his artistic growth. He made his first recordings as the bandleader of his own band, which included Kid Ory on trombone, Johnny St. Cyr on banjo, Johnny Dodds on clarinet and Lil Hardin on piano, known as Hot Five ( later Hot Seven).St. Cyr stated "One felt so relaxed working with him and he was very broad-minded...always did his best to feature each individual." From'25 to'28, Armstrong continued his rigorous schedule of recording and performing, which included Heebie Jeebies the song that introduced the world to scat singing and also to West End Blues one of the most famous recordings of jazz.
Armstrong returned to New York City in 1929 and played in the pit orchestra of the successful musical "Hot Chocolate", an all black review written by Andy RazafenRazaf and piano/composer, Fats Waller. Armstrong also made a cameo as a vocalist,regularly stealing the show with his rendition of "Ain't Misbehavin'". The recording of "Ain;t Misbehavin'" introduced the use of a pop song as material for jazz interpretation, helping set the stage for popular acceptance of jazz that would come.
The Great Depression of the early 1930's was especially hard on the jazz scene causing a lot of jazz clubs, including the famous Cotton Club, to shut down. Because of the evaporation of club gigs many musicians stopped playing all together.But Armstrong was smart and in 1930 moved to Los Angeles to find new opportunities There he played in the new Cotton Club with Lionel Hampton on drums. The band brought in the Hollywood crowd,because they were the ones that still had money, while radio broadcast from the club gave him a greater exposer to people in their homes. Armstrong made his first movie appearance in1931's Ex-Flame. It was also in 1931 that he recorded, what became his theme song, "Sleepytime Down South". In late '31 he returned to Chicago to play in bands more in the line of Guy Lombardo and record more standards. But because of past involvement with the mob, they suggested that Armstrong leave Chicago. So he payed a visit to new Orleans whee he got a hero's welcome and caught up with old friends. He also sponsored a local baseball team and had a cigar named after him. But he was soon back on the road touring America and when he was done here he went on a European tour.
When he came back to the U.S. in 1935 Joe Glaser, a tough mob-connected wheeler-dealer, became Armstrong's manager.He was able to take care of Armstrong's mob trouble, his debt and his legal troubles.Glaser remained his manager for the duration of Armstrong's career and help make him an international star. Armstrong branched out developing his vocals style and and making his first theatrical appearance because his unorthodox way of playing the trumpet was causing him problems with his lips and fingers. In 1937, he substituted for Rudy Valee on the CBS radio network, making him the first African-American to host a sponsored,national broadcast.
After spending many years on the road, he settled down in Queens,New York in 1943, with his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson, who had been a dancer at the Cotton Club. In 1947, Armstrong formed a small ensemble known as the All-Stars, a group of extraordinary players whose success revitalized mainstream jazz. Throughout the 1950's and '60's he continued to appear in popular films and made many international tours. During a trip to West Africa he was greeted by more than one hundred thousand people. In the early '60's he recorded two albums with Duke Ellington and in 1964 . At the age of 63, Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the #1 spot on the music charts with, what would become his biggest hit, "Hello Dolly!"
Armstrong would perform regularly until recurring health problems gradually curtailed his singing and trumpet playing. Even in the last years of his life, Armstrong went to London twice, appeared in more than a dozen television shows and performed at the Newport Jazz Festival to celebrate his 70th birthday. Up until his death, of a heart attack in his sleep, on July 6,1971, he was setting up band rehearsals in preparation to perform.
Little bit more information about his marriages and other things below.
While he was busy trying to get his start Louis Armstrong did find time to get married he married Daisy Parker from Gretna, Louisiana on March 19, 1918 ( St. Joseph's Feast Day). They adopted a 3 year old boy,Clarence, whose mother, Louis' cousin Flora, had died in childbirth. As a result of a head injury at an early age, Clarence was mentally disabled and Louis spent the rest of his life taking care of his son. Maybe the strain of having a disabled child was too much for his marriage for Daisy and his marriage quickly fell apart and they divorced. Sadly though Daisy died shortly after their divorce. He married his second wife Lil Hardin, a jazz composer, arranger, singer, bandleader and jazz pianist in her own right, on February 4,1924. When they first met she thought that his clothes and hair were "too country" so she set about to "take the country out of him". Lil also had her husband play classical music in church concerts to broaden his skill and improve his solo performance. In the late '20's Armstrong and Hardin grew apart finally resulting in a separation because Armstrong had begun an affair with Alpha Smith. They finally divorced in 1938 letting Armstrong marry Alpha. I don't know when Alpha And he divorced but in 1942 he had married Lucille Watson a dancer at the Cotton Club where his band had a running engagement.
An unbilled Louis Armstrong on horn appeared on Jimmie Rodgers "Standing On the Corner (Blue Yodel #9) July 16.1930.
First jazz musician to appear on the cove of Time Magazine on February 21,1949. "What A Wonderful World" was released in 1968. It reaced #1 on the UK Singles Cart but only made it to #116 in America.
Accused of being an "Unlce Tom" from the late 1950's to the early 1970's. Because according to some other African-Americans he kowtowed to white people at the expense of the black community.
Was highly criticized by outsiders, who did not know or care to understand the history, for his acceptance of the title King of Zulu for 1949's Mardi Gras. In the New Orleans African-American community it is an honored role to head the leading black Carnival Krewe, but bewildering or offensive to outsiders with there traditional costume of grass skirts and blackface make-up satirizing southern white attitudes.
Armstrong called President Eisenhower gutless and two-faced because of Eisenhower's inaction over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. This made the news. As a protest, Armstrong canceled a plan tour of the U.S.S.R. on behalf of the State Department stating "The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell." and that he couldn't represent his government overseas when it was in conflict with its own people. Six days later Eisenhower ordered federal troops to Little Rock to escort the children into school.
The F.B.I. kept a file on Armstrong for his outspokenness on integration.
Here is the reason why my blog has the name it does, Spooky. Nicknames are Boo Boo, Spooky Baby, Boo Boo Kitty, Spooky Boo Boo and Spooky Boo Boo Kitty Baby Boy. Sometimes I think he should have been named Ivan, for Ivan the Terrible for the way he'll go after some of the other cats. But there is a spray bottle filled with water that is for him most of the time.He showed up on Labor Day 5 years ago as this tiny, fuzzy ball of blue fur and according to him I've been his mama ever since. Of all my cats he is the one that is always following me and rubbing against my legs. I love him dearly, but one of these days Spooky is going to trip me.
Yesterday the world lost a true musical talent in Amy Winehouse. Unfortunately like so many true musical we lost her too young talents to a possible drug overdose(no autopsy results yet), I'm just surmising the possibility of the cause of death. If that was the cause of death, yes it was stupid and a waste but it was also sad.Mainly for those that really knew her and loved her. So try and remember this and not judge Amy too harshly and keep her family and her in your prayers.
Yes I know I'm relatively late with this subject matter but I really haven't felt like doing too much blogging of late. I have just been a bit worn out it seems. Anyway, the NFL seems close to ending their lockout. It is being said that if the players agree to the propositions on Wednesday and the owners agree to the propositions on Thursday, then everyone will be allowed to show up at the different teams NFL facilities and formal team practices can begin on Monday. So this marks day 125 or 126 of the NFL Lockout.
Now for the NBA Lockout. This thing has been going on for about what, three weeks and already there are American players contemplating going overseas to play. Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets is going to Turkey to play, Amare Stoudemire has changed his mind and is said to be leaving his options open and Dwayne Wade is also a maybe. But right now the lockout is just too recent for American players to put too many plans into playing in Europe and possibly, China. Right now even foreign born players are taking a wait and see attitude with the lockout. Like the newest Maverick player Rudy Fernandez , who recently turned down what is described by some as a "historic offer" to play for Spain. I guess this means that some players actually do LOVE the game but the millions of dollars are a nice touch.
With that being said here are the issues that are facing both sides:
Salary Cap - This is the desire of the owners to bring the cost of players under control. With various descriptions of "hard", "soft" and "flex". The owners are adamant about having a "hard" cap that teams can't exceed. As you can imagine the Player's Union wants no part of a "hard" cap.
Salary Cap Exceptions: These are rules that let teams exceed the cap under certain circumstances. A new agreement could limit these, which would benefit the owners. Plus a new agreement could also bring a new exceptions such as a "franchise" tag on players.
Split of Basketball Income: The players get 57% of the income right now. The owners want them to have less.
Revenue Sharing: The owners and players actually AGREE on increased revenue sharing among teams in order to make more teams profitable and competitive.
Guaranteed Contracts: Supposedly, owners favor a system that would let owners cut their losses on so-called "bad" contracts for players who are not playing as well as they should. A bad player in other words. This could mean shorter-termed contracts and less guaranteed money.
Contraction: This simply means that there are teams who's heads are on the chopping block. This is supposed to enhance the league's bottom line and its on court product.
Now with that being said could there be damage done to the league to whatever gains have been made last season. I read an article about how this maybe could happen. It also made a point about how this lockout could affect and is affecting the rookies, who can't play in the summer leagues because they have been canceled and the free agency, especially those who were not drafted on June 23, I believe it was. These two groups I feel sorry for because these are the ones that are going to have to go out there and EARN their jobs, not have it handed to them like Kyrie Irving. But if we get a season this year he could be a bust. I mean after all he only played 11 games.
