February 14th: Two Cultures, Two Celebrations

I have been telling people for years that February 14th. was Chinese New Year, and they have always told me I was crazy ... They might be Right, but Chinese New Year shares the Calendar with Bacchus, the Greek god of Party Down, whom the vatican finally renamed, Saint Valentine, in about the Third Century ... Contrary to some Myths, Saint Valentine, or Valentinus is not a Hungarian Midget Acrobat who became the Patron Saint of Lovers and Competitors in the Annual Saint Vitus Dance .......

I always thought Bacchus played Lovie's husband on Gilligans Island and did the voice over for Mr. McGoo? I've only been on these pages for a couple of days now and already many misconceptions have been cleared up. The 'Eye" is a good place for cultural and informative updates. My life has just reached another rung on the ladder...

BTW...thanks to all who have made me feel welcome to these pages. I only hope my misguided comments don't wear that welcome out.

KY CURMUD:  You are an absolute RIOT !!!   Your Quick Wit will help you survive the pummeling you could receive for not being pooped out of a Cookie-Cutter ... take it from a Veteran ...  Your Post is Funny, especially for someone old enough to remember Gilligan and the Krewe ...

Jalopkin: Thank You Sir for the kind words and insights..."pooped out of a cookie-cutter". Most folks I know don't realize my intentions are harmless and usually find offense in what emits from my pie hole. I think I may have found a home...

I knew it was Vietnamese New Year (I live in Houston!) but I didn't realize that Chinese New Year is the same as Vietnamese New Year.  So... gotta check about eating out today (being Valentine's Day).  Betcha Mai's, my fav pho shop, and half of the dim-sum joints in town are closed....  Oh, and as usual, I'm learning.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

Doc  Nolan:  If  you  are  eating  out  in  the  spirit  of  the  day,   be  discreet  with  your  selections.   Remember:   dog  is  considered  a  delicacy  in  Vietnam.....lol

Happy V day to all

Jalopkin & KYetc.---------a day without a pun is like a day.....hmmm..well, it's not really a day, is it?  Thanks for the big smile you put on my face today!  I look forward to the war of the wits.  (Yes, wits, not twits--before someone gets the wrong idea.) Happy Chinese New Year to all!

Carol:   Without  more  dark  roast,   you  will  have  a  war  of  wits  with  an  unarmed  man.....lol   Welcome!
 
Had  one  of  my  cars  refuse  to  start  Thursday,   on  the  way  to  work.    I  figured  the  battery  simply  gave  up  the  ghost,  it  was  after  all  12  degrees  outside.  Had  an  emergency  battery  encased  in  plastic  with  handles  and  jumper  cables  in  the  trunk....I'm  a  "belt  &  suspenders"  guy,  my  time  is  valuable.    That  didn't  work  either,  so  I  humbly  had  to  call  a  truck,  the  kind  with  the  tilting  platform  on  the  chassis,  less  likely  to  damage  the  drivetrain.   Got  to  my  favorite  garage,  still  on  time  for  court,  dropped  it  off.   "Lugnut  Larry"  called,  said  "Mr.  ______ ,   once  they  get  over  50  {thousand  miles},   it  gets  impossible  to  rely  on  starting  &  performing  on  command."    I  started  laughing,  I'm  still  laughing,  as  I  comb  my  silver  hair  before  attempting  the  Herculean  task  of  getting  my  daughter  out  of  bed,  so  we  can  make  it  to  church.....lol       Sorry,  off  topic.

Excellent, Bert - I love your mechanic!! Maybe he can be on call to fill in , should one of the Magliozi (sp) brothers call in sick....

Aside from Valentines Day, Chinese New Year and Vietnamese New Year it is also Carnival Time!  Marti Gras in Mexico is a real hoot.  Parades with dancing horses, floats drawn by broken down pickup trucks, guys in fishnet stockings and wigs and music and more music. The mixing of many cultures at this time of the year is a real experience.  Enjoy them all or just pick one and go for it!!!

Bert: Thanks for the warning :-)  I discovered that the only thing Vietnamese that I can't handle (so far) is coagulated pig's blood soup.  The waitress warned me not to order it, but I decided to give it a try.  Once in my life; never again.  And so it goes.... 

There's are reason that instead of celebrating Vietnamese New Year, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, President's Day Eve (a holiday for those who don't get Monday off) -- I'm going to do my 2009 income tax return.  The reason is that I haven't done it yet and I have several 'hiking weekends' between now and April 15th..... I'm not sure if I should return to the intercessors of my past or not.  Both St. Jude, patron saint of hopeless causes, and St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers seem appropriate.  (Now, where the heck is that 1099 from MLPFS?)

As Bette Middler sings, Some like it hot I like it red. New Year or Old Love. Both are a reason to celebrate. 

Kentucky Curmudgeon - Welcome good sir, your thoughts and good wit fit right in with all the other fine ingredients of this great stew we have simmering.....

Doc  Nolan:   Good  grief,  virtual  friend....."trying  anything  once"  begs  the  question  of  whether  you  survive  the  stunt,  dare,  challenge.    Russian  roulette  comes  to  mind.....
Hey,  how  do  we  know  that  the   REAL   St.  Valentine  was  actuallly  just  an  inept  guy,  who  came  up  with  a  really  great  scam,   thereby  allowing  him  to  snag  women  with 
superstars?   Inquiring  minds  want  to  know.....

It you can get up in the morning and make yourself a pot of coffee then its a reason to celebrate. ( Since this computer does not have Chinese characters I'll write in English letters) Gung Hay Fat Choy - May you have a prosperous year.
Bing  - Double happiness!
Happy St. Valentine's Day and Happy World Marriage Day.
 
   
 

Bert- The old saying is "men are like buses," not men are like cars.  Men start rolling after 50 thousand miles,,  jmo.  

JULIA:  My Friend Li Huang told me once that the Standard Chinese Greeting, Translates into English as, May Your Mother-in-Law Move Home Soon ... The idea, I guess, being that if your Mother-in-Law finally moves out of your house and back home, its the harbinger of a very good year ... I was dining at The Dirty Duck on February 14th. at the time, and Li was a great little kidder, so who knows ???  The Dirty Duck is a place Nolan should try ... Great Food, Huge Portions, Great Prices, and it is the only Chinese Restaurant in Houston that Marvin Zindler never had on the Rat & Roach Report ... On Bissonette, right at Rice Avenue, two doors over from the Gas Station ... in a Strip Center with an HEB Foodstore, that was an A&P for thirty years ... Worth the drive from wherever you are ... The Appellation , "Dirty Duck" is a sixty year old Private Joke, and bears no reflection on the Quality of the Food or the spotlessness of the place itself ... It came about from a circle of Dentists and Doctors sitting around a large table, sharing Dinner and discussing the lot of them moving out of their office building and building their own ... The Waiter at that time was a marvelous fellow named, Chancey Greenleaf ... a seven foot tall Black man, straight out of the Bayou in Louisiana, who had been working around Chinese for so long that he spoke both English and Pigeon French with a Chinese Accent ... He was also bent in half constantly, from having to lean down to talk to the Chinese, closely enough that he could make out what they were trying to say ... He would line his long arms with plates, and with deft and fluid motion, deal the plates out to the very people that had ordered whatever was on them ... as he gracefull went for the last plate, War Shew Duck, for a Dentist named Bill Lumb, a Busboy flitted past him from behind, bumped him, and Chancey caught the plate ....... The War Shew Duck, however, shot straight to the floor and landed on Chancey's shoe, and he plucked it up, wiped it off on his apron and put it back on the plate sitting infront of Bill, and politely told  him that he would get him some more Subgum and Sauce ... At which point Bill exclaimed, "You don't expect me to eat that damned dirty Duck, do you !!! ... and the entire place broke up laughing ... One of the Group did a faux Commercial , with an excellent Radio Voice, reminding Patrons to "Come Again to The Dirty Duck, and Bring Your Mother-in-Law ..." ... Truth is, Chancey was going to get Bill another Order, but Bill exploded before he got the word, DUCK, out of his mouth, and had set the Dirty  Duck down in order to wipe off his sleeve and his shoe before slopping the stuff all over the floor, so as to avoid someone's slipping on the spill ... but after the laughter erupted, there was no explanation that could be heard or could have helped ...
 
Still a Great Place for Chinese ... Too Bad they don't Deliver ...

DOC NOLAN:
 
Some things are an aquired taste so you have to try them several times before you know you will like it.
 
There were a few things my Mother-in-law made that I had to try several times, then I loved them and now even make them on occasion.
 
Try that pig blood soup again, I double dog dare you.
 
I hope each of the Eyesters can pick there own holiday to celebrate.
 
Personnaly, if there is a gift involved I'm all over it. Greedy b---h!!

In a week, over a BILLION people will realize they are a year older. That is a tradition. I am just glad I don't have to lick stamps on birthday cards for them all

Julia~re: your 'men are like buses..' I hope that does not mean rolling down hill,and picking up speed as they go...and if you miss one, don't worry,there will be another along in a while

Hey, Bert, I didn't mean I'd try ANYTHING once... I refused a hooker's offer (in Las Vegas) to pay me $1,000 if I'd marry her and take her along to Thailand (true story), and I turned down the offer my some outlaw bikers to attend an orgy they were on their way to (also true story), and I'm sure I could come up with some others.  I DO however describe my life -- and I think accurately -- as dancing along the edge of a cliff, peering over the precepice, but always being very careful to stay at least two feet from the dropoff.  As with many of us, I look back at my survival as a miracle (non-theological sense), and attribute my continued existence to sheer luck.  Stupidity is not always punished; I'm a shining example!  Now... who is the idiot who is going to light the match to all the fireworks on Chinese New Year?  I wonder if he'd do it blindfolded after drinking a few moutai toasts.... 

Doc  Nolan:    I  have  lotsa  trouble,   queezy  feeling,  thinking  about  why  otherwise  intelligent  men  would  want  to  jump  out   of  a  perfectly  good  airplane.    Perhaps  the  morale  would  improve,   if  they  served  a  nice  double  shot  of  cognac  prior  to  hooking  up...

As for trying new things...a wise person once said..."if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room". As for me and mine...today we are celebrating with equal parts NASCAR and Olympic Ski Jumping. Talk about clashing cultures...

 
Aah, the bard:

Who is Silvia? what is she,

Who is Silvia? what is she,
   That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she:
   The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.

Is she kind as she is fair?
   For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair,
   To help him of his blindness;
And, being help'd, inhabits there.

Then to Silvia let us sing,
   That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
   Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring.


                                            ~ pour les filles ~

Simply substitute your own fair name and if you possess those qualities and you know you do, then assume that the sender stands behind the words because you know he does.

Valentine's Day: I have had exactly sixty-six of them... today and wish a warm one to you all.

 

Stoney:  The measure of the man in this game of love is how long he's kept the heart of one lady, and she his, that delicate balance.  You've done that well.  A gold medal to you...the poem and sentiment are both lovely and thank you.
 
Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours.
 
 
 

RY:  From one of my all time favorite books, comes a line to the effect that "any man who is good enough to be loved is going to be loved by more than one woman" and that's as true as true gets.
 
And you are, and you will.
When it's right.
 
Meanwhile, it might be cold comfort, but I'm thinking of you and wishing you only good memories, today. 
 
with a hug,
p.

Happy valentine's day and happy new year. Roger is cooking us lobster for dinner tonight... and got me an ovre the door rack for my shoes (one that holds thirty-six pair)...bless him!
 
So while he wrestles with the two sizeable crustaceans in the kitchen I'm sorting through footwear and keeping the cats from fighting with each other over who gets the spot near the heat register with breaks to check in here on the Eye and my friends.
 
Yesterday we drove down to Valley Vineyards in Morrow, OH and did their dry to medium tasting tray with a generous bread, cheese, and pepperoni plate onthe side. I came home with a bottle of their honey mead and will be getting a bottle of their award-winning Traminette next pay day along with a bottle of their 2007 ice wine. It was a lovely drive down Rt. 48 under blue skies and we had a nice peaceful evening.
 
The night before (Friday) we attended the Habitat for Humanity Valentine's Day at the Schuster Center in downtown Dayton. I bid on a couple of item in the silent auction but didn't get them, danced with Roger and some other people from the dance studio to the music of the Gem City Jazz Band, and ate far too much chocolate and strawberries (they had a chocolate fountain and I couldn't resist). So this Valentine's weekend has been quite lovely.
 
Good luck to everyone and I hope that you're weekend was as nice as mine has been.

Okay, DANCINGKATZ:
 
That's cruel.
 
Lobster, chocolate, strawberries, wine, bread, cheese, etc.
 
All in one weekend?
 
I'm so jealous but I hope you are happy with yourself and Roger.
 
Enjoy the rest of this, for you, fabulous weekend! 

Park4,  please  sanction  Stoney,  he's   monopolizing  all  the  women.   66  valentines,  OMG...lol

DancingAKatz:   I  KNOW  you  love  the  man,  so  give  us  the  verdict  on  the  wine!

You and me both, RoadYacht!!  I can barely stomach one envelope and stamp and am most grateful for the sticker-type stamp we have now come to.  Speaking of stamps...no, I'm not a philatelist, but here's a piece on the history of the British post which does speak of stamps and other bits of history..http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=33747&amid=30295027 .  (I hope that works....if not, I'm sorry...I tried..). And can you imagine such a large communal "birthday'"?  And here we go overboard to make sure the birthday boy/girl feels it's his/her "own" very special day!

STONEY- thank you, that is a beautiful sentiment.
 
RY- will you be my funny valentine today?
 
CAROL-- stamps are sooo cool. I order those stamps from the Mystic stamp company (the co. that advertises in the Sunday coupon circulars) & they are gorgeous. I put them on the back of my envelope when I write letters- my "seal"!!!
 
I had to stop by Wal- Mart Friday on the way home from school to get food items, etc & they had sooooooooo much valentine crap- it almost made one weep. I nicknamed it, "My petrochemical holiday" in honor of all the petrochemical pillows, bears, fake flowers, etc -- like my little pony, but the holiday version. I'm taking the holiday back next year- only homemade goods. Even if it's just a leaf on a string....
 
OLIVIA-- I'm sending a non petrochemical heart your way....
 

Bert: Here's the run down on the wine from Valley Vinyards: We tasted ten wines, all of which were made on the estate and all but the shiraz made from grapes grown on the estate if I remember what the gentleman who brought the tray out said.
 
In order: Chardonnay - citrusy with some melon and tropical fruit, very crisp and clean finish, slightly green but not grassy, nicely refreshing; Traminette - my favorite of the whites, very light peach/apricot and lots of white rose florals, the finish was long with spice and more rose; Seyval Blanc - fermented Sur-lee,  vanilla and buttery but slightly disappointing, almost dull after the Traminette; Vidal Blanc - I found this one rather acidy and couldn't taste much fruit though there was some pear and apple aroma, short finish; Hillside Red - a blend of French hybrid grapes, lots of cherry and strawberry with vanilla, think it would be nice with pasta or veal or pizza; Cabernet Franc - dark berries and cinnamon mostly, lingering finish; Shiraz - nice but not the best I've tasted, had a slight sourness to the finish; Cabernet Sauvignon - my favorite red,  black cherry, blackcurrant, and cocoa, velvety tannins, not so much that your mouth felt fuzzy, it demands to be accompanied by dark sea salt chocolate; Blue Eye - another favorite, a medium-dry rose, mostly strawberries in the aroma and taste, clean finish, almost peppery, went well with the munster cheese and whole wheat bread; Red Reflections - my second favorite red, the flavour of blueberries was predominate with black raspberries and black currants, nicely fruity and semi-sweet, stood up to the sharp cheddar beautifully, would be nice with a beef or venison based stew or soup, I think.
 
I'm saving the honey mead for a medieval feast I'm attending at the beginning of March.
 
Korthal: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you jealous. I really wish that everyone could be as happy as I am since Roger came into my life. I would have never thought that I'd find anybody like him, especially after the disaster that was my first marriage.
 
Bebe: I know what you mean re: Wal-Mart and other stores. It makes me want to cringe, knowing that whatever of the petro-chemical valentine stuff they don't manage to sell will end up in a landfill somewhere.
 
Hugs to everyone and there's a buffet including Lobster Thermidor, a crown roast, and butterflied roast chicken stuffed with riccota, spinach, pine nuts and garlic on the buffet in thesepia train's dining car. And don't forget to stop by the desert cart - chocolate covered strawberries, red velvet cake, wildberry pie, creme brulee and homemade ice cream. I've asked for the Dayton Jazz Band to play for a couple of hours and I'm sure there's enough room to dance. Now, I just need to have a word with the sommelier about some champagne.

A non petrochemical valentine to all the chicks on this site..... may kindness, humour, & love always be yours....

allrighty........ Fat Tuesday can't be too far away now . . . .  and better yet, pitchers and catchers report to spring training this week. . . . . . .                                                                                                                                                                                                                      but then just being in the now and sitting on the tail gate of the caboose is mighty fine too. Here's to being there!

PL- here's to Andy Pettitte....  the ultimate boy of summer.