Uncle Joe's 80th

A very successful party for Joe, was held on Saturday last, to celebrate his 80th birthday. Liam and David as well as Anne and my Dad, made up his sibs. Childers, grandun's and relatives galore trekked up to Cold Spring for the party, organized by his kids.
Some pics are shown below

Nikki + Tara (Kevin behind them)

Nikki and Steve, with Liam and Sean behind

Niall and Joe (opening birthday card "Facebook my Arse")

Trevor and Don

Kyle, Liam, Shannon, Annie, Denis, Joanne

Sean and Kevin monkeying around

Sean and Pauline

Liam and Danny with Trevor, Pete, MK and Caitlin in the background

Pauline, mise agus Nikki

Kyle, Shannon, Danny and MK

Nikki and Liz

Last but not least, for those absent in far off lands ... the speeches (beware - 20 minutes long)

a little tour of nyc

Went touring around nyc with my parents. We had fun. Went to Soho, with b'fast at b'thzar, and then up to F'iron for lunch at Eat'illy
Started off @ Wash Sq Pk early early ...

Then some hardware stores on Spring street for Dad

Then breakfast @ B'th'Zar

Then a look at britain's best selling butter :-)

Rear of Dean and DeLuca building, while flowers were being delivered, and prepped for resale at outrageous prices inside Dn'DL

Then typical Soho interaction, without the air kissing

Then a look for some greeting cards @ Kate's Paperie

Eataly ended up as being our last stop

Drinking some nice Tuscan stuff

The address is one block away from here and well worth a visit

Reza's Chapulin Grun

My friend Reza, recently completed a build of his SWB hotrod in Chapulin Grun or Cricket Green. Very tastefully done. He put it through its paces in Monterrey at Rennsport 4, with the help of buddies Lewis and Gytis. Enjoy Reza, and bring her out East so we can all drool.

 

1,850 miles to bring a '71 SiiA home before the fury of Irene

Well, no posts in a while, so here goes, to make up for it. I drove back from Boulder, CO to bring home a new member of the family. The moose (328xi) is gone, and replaced by this 71 Series ii A.

Here is a better pic, looking out the front, taken from either Colorado or Nebraska

The weather was glorious .... hi 90's leaving Denver area, 5200 ft above sea level.

Encountered some strange beasts on my travels. I guess with 1,850 miles, my ass is like leather. Well I thought that something sharp touched me at some point. When I got out to get gas, i see that i had squashed a bee. I fought the bee and the bee lost.

And later on, while traveling on I-80, I came across this strange dude. Admittedly I neglected to bring a proper camera, and all these shots are taken with my blackberry, and I missed a front shot of this guy who had crazy goggles on him, but still ... you get the idea ...

Some nice shots too, came from this little phone camera .... and this was Allegheny countryside ... in western PA ..

Almost came a cropper, but AAA came to the rescue with 5 gallons of gas. I now know when the tank empties on the dial :-)

So, here is what she/he (needs a name ... perhaps Felix or Sid, or Archie or something like that or Ella ... who knows) looks like at night ... again the best that a BB camera can do, methinks ..

and in full sunlight .... drives like a dream ... 25mpg ... should be able to get almost anywhere on the planet.

Baby, it's cold outside

A while back, after snowstorm number 72 this winter, when we had megatons of snow dumped on us, there was a truck that became stuck in the white muck outside my work. The truck proceeded to take its time, blocking 55th street for about an hour. The driver, realizing the futility of the situation, called for help which came in the form of another truck from his company. Funny thing was, the NYC Sanitation Department truck immediately behind him, could not help in any way, shape, form or manner. Here are the best bits as we saw it from our office, that lunchtime.

Porsche Flip out over the mundane

I got a nice surprise in the mail yesterday

What was Porsche sending me? A Flip camera? What's up here?

The letter would explain all ... they want me to take video's of Porsche's being used in everyday situations ... you know ... taking the pets to the vets, running out for a bottle of milk, driving to jury duty, etc. etc.

So open the box i did, hoping that they had branded it ... yipeee ... they did.

The trouble is, I'm actually not on speaking terms with my Porschy buddies right now after they closed down my selling of a calendar, which was made on zizzle (i won't honor them by spelling their name correctly even if mighty Porsche lawyers threatened them probably with fire and brimstone). The calendar was of my car and my buddies cars, but Porsche objected to my use of their intellectual property. I quote from the zizzler owners "Unfortunately, due to Porsche SE's intellectual property claims we are unable to carry or produce products which violate their rights. All elements including names, car models, logos, and actual cars violate their rights."
Since when can I not sell a calendar of objects that I own and have purchased? My "actual car" is owned by me, but I do not own the intellectual property rights? I don't remember seeing that one on Porsche's website. Buy your car here, but if you take pictures of you car and try to sell it, you cannot.
And the kicker? The calendar's profits all go to raise funds for a life time porsche owner, who worked for Porsche Motorsports in the past, Roger Grago. Roger is battling brain tumors and any (and all) funds can only help.
By the way, Rogers wife set up a site here, and funds info is here "If you would like to donate monetarily, please make checks payable to Calvary Church. In the memo line of the check write,“For Roger Grago”. These should all be mailed to: Roger Non-Profit, 25422 Trabuco Road 105-513, Lake Forest, CA 92630"

So I shall be trying to convince Porsche that the calendar does not violate their intellectual property, and perhaps they will volunteer some little donation to a good cause.

Pat Shortt

My brother Aidan, sent me this one.
Hilarious. As Aidan would put it, succinctly ;-)

Christmas Concert @ Starlight

We went to the local Christmas/New Year's concert in Starlight. All I had was the regular camera to record this, and only audio for a short snippet. It's Strauss ---- "Also sprach Zarathustra". Or 2001 A Space Odyssey to you Kubrick fans ...
Enjoy ....

Italian Christmas Eve, part 2

For the last three courses .... grilled squid .... a little salt pepper olive oil - throw on grill for one, to one and a half minutes each side. Sooo good. Reminds us of great calamari we have had in the past such as at Miss Williamsburg Diner a few years back (highly recommend).

Then some grilled Tuna, following Giorgio Locatelli's advice on keeping it simple.

And lastly was some red snapper, pan seared. Simple. Tasty. Healthy.

Overall, we both felt that the sardines were the highlight. Thanks to Giorgio for the inspiration, and Aidan for the cookbook. It goes to show how much you can get from a good cookbook. For those looking to find it, here it is on Amazon.

Italian Christmas Eve, part one

So, we arrive at Christmas Eve, once more. A great custom that a friend introduced me to (Joel) is the Seven Fish Italian Christmas Eve meal. We take our own twist, and cook or eat seven fish over the course of the day.
This year we have
1. Smoked salmon with avocado and parmesan chips, a caper or 2, some olive oil and a drop of lemon juice

Next up was a Giorgio Locatelli recipe (thanks to the Locanda Locatelli chef's cookbook we received a few years back from our brother Aidan --- good job Aidan!!)
Sardines on Panzanella. Equally delish!

After that was an old faithful, Scallops cooked in a skillet with some butter and served with a white herb sauce.

Next up were some bluepoint oysters .... mmm ... taste the ocean ...

The beer was not Duvel, but Labatt's (the last of the Duvel was devoured a few days ago). The wines are courtesy of Chambers St Wines. Chablis was green, a little mineraly, but still quite fat or filling for a Chablis. The Puligny was marshmallow meets butterscotch/caramel and they all have their wicked way over and over again !!! mmmm !!!

Last but not least, is the newest addition .... McNulty.
All our male cats are named after Wire characters. And true to his name, what a handful the little rascal is ....
Here he is with his 2 sisters ... he's the little mite at the bottom center of the screen ...

Rubberbandits for Xmas #1 in IRL

Looks like RB will be #1 in IRL for Xmas. Funny, irreverant, crude video that was filmed in UL. Now of course UL (my ULma mater;-) and Milford parish are objecting.

"Following the massive success of the video for “Horse Outside” the Reverend Koenraad Van Guucht, the chaplain of the contemplative centre in University of the Limerick has said they are “less than happy” about the use of the space in filming the video. He said he “wasn't clear at the time of as to exactly the nature of filming". The video was also raised in the Milford parish newsletter which objected to the filmed of the video outside Milford Church. The parishioners and members of the community are said to be “hurt and offended by the video.” A spokesperson for the ‘Bandits said that no one had been misled about the video shoot. They explained that filming for the video have been carried out by a RTE (Ireland’s national broadcaster) and both the University of Limerick and Milford parish had given permission."

What's it about? That a horse is more of a chick magnet than some of the boyo's cars such as honda or subie. You see, there is car content here after all ;-)
According to IrishCentral (diaspora website), "A CNBCblogger seemed to pick the story up all wrong. They seem to think that due to the financial crisis we’ve all reverted to riding horses. Here’s what they said below:
“Are the Irish already getting accustomed to a more austere life? One of the most popular songs in Ireland at this very moment is about how owning a horse is superior to owning a fancy automobile. It may be that the message is resonating with the Irish people.”
Purrleeeeze. Stop the lights!

Ha Le Lu Ya

Ok, to get us into the christmas spirit, here is a good start

Pretty cool gift from my darling wife

I got a cool gift from Nikki, a few months back, and wanted to post it. She found this ceramic artist and asked her to do a custom job ---- integrate my car into a bowl. She sent a pic of my car, and the woman produced this bowl. I now use it to keep my keys etc when I arrive home in the evening. Cool, huh?

The reverse is also cool

Porsche Family Tree

Remember that I posted several months back about a porsche family tree promo?
Well porsche made a book, and gave it to the family, and send me a copy as they chose my story to be part of the promo. Pretty cool, no?
This was the letter from the VP of marketing

 This is the book

 A snapshot of the images in the book -- cool to see 356 super carrera with 917

 My story also found here