The next time Spinelli and his better half is in Brooklyn....

We will be going to Red Rose. It is old school Italian. The type of red checkered tablecloth joint that they show in "Big Night." Totally different than Marco Polo which is the "ritzy" joint in the neighborhood. The owner Tony is the same guy who had the candy store when I was a kid where I would get the potato and sauce heroes for 25 cents. He is about 80 but is still making the rice balls. My friend Santo his son is running it these days and he is another 50 year old dude running his business and trying to get by.

We will start off with the appetizers:

We have from the top clockwise: eggplant balls, rice balls with rice and peas and a Caesar salad. The eggplant ball is eggplant rolled up with fresh mozzarella in the middle battered and deep fried. The rice ball is the traditional rice, peas, meat and mozzarella deep fried. The Caesar is the traditional with cheese and a leech.

Then the main course:

We had three people but two of us got the same. One had the classic ravioli in marinara sauce. But the wife and I had penne with sweet Italian sausage, garlic, oil and broccoli rabe. Add some cheese and man you are in heaven.

Then we have desert:

So from left to right clockwise we have a hazelnut creme brulee, lemoncello gelato, and chocolate chip gelato which is the wife's favorite. I bet Spinelli will order that.

Of course we will get a great wine in a carafe. The house sangiovese is particularly fine.

The table is set.

Hey Spinelli's back!

Welcome back from you Mexican vacation.

I think Inga missed you. A lot. Just sayn'

No worries. He just emailed me.

He is at a party with the locals. At the Spa in Puerto Vallarta!

Nick is next on line for the pedicure.

I am worried about Nick...he hasn't posted at Turley's in quite a while!

I mean I know he is on vacation but how could he kick the habit cold turkey?

Inga doesn't know to do with herself.

I wonder if he got abducted by Aliens? Ya never know. Ya know?

Yo tengo la pistola pequeño! Hola!

 ndspinelli said...

Early flight to Mexico this morning for 10 days in Puerto Vallarta. We're staying @ the Marriott resort. Weather will be mid 80's. I'm not bringing my computer so only be commenting from the biz center. Been to Mexico many times, but never Puerto Vallarta. Any suggestions are welcomed. I know there's a gay beach. NTTAWWT.

¡Ay Chihuahua!

Grubering at TOP

My erstwhile email informant sent me this comment posted at some thread about Leisure Suit Larry being bullied at Ithmus:

 SamanthaHill said...

Meade knows of what I speak. He gets bullied to no end over at Lem's Levity. It's ugly there, it's ugly at the Isthmus and it's ugly here. It happened many times over the years here and was ignored by Althouse. The fact that someone needs to ask about the bullying and doxing here is laughable.

I don't know who Samantha Hill is as I do not recognize the name. I think it is a sockpuppet for someone like Inga although it seem a little too well spoken for that nitwit. 

The "doxing" thing is new. I didn't even know what that was until the recent dust up about the shirt guy where Instapundit was accused of doxing the simpleton who made the original tweet. I thought doxing was when Capitan Aubrey caught a dose of the clap from a waterfront trollop. Who knew?

This is just further confirmation of Michael Haz's origninal formulation. While Professor Turley is called on to defend the Constitution......the evil blogger lady is fighting in the comments section about people being mean to Lawnboy. Just goes to show you!

Hat tip to Spinelli. He was right about Turley. I am not someone to not admit when they are wrong. I still think that Turley is a liberal weenie but his heart is in the right place. At least he realizes that Obama is treating the Constitution like it was a liquor store in Ferguson, Mo.

I told you Hockey sucks!

New York Post November 15, 2014

BRAINERD, Minn. — Authorities have identified a 14-year-old Minnesota boy who died after collapsing while playing hockey.

The Star Tribune reported Saturday that the player was Patrick Schoonover. He collapsed Friday afternoon while playing for an Eastview Youth Hockey team against Wayzata during a tournament in Brainerd. He was transported to a hospital but attempts to revive him there failed.

A message The Associated Press left at the Brainerd Police Department seeking more details wasn’t immediately returned.

Schoonover’s family issued a statement saying they appreciate the outpouring of support from the Eastview and Minnesota hockey communities. The family said Schoonover loved to play hockey and loved all his teammates.

The Minnesota Wild issued a statement Friday evening offering condolences to Schoonover’s family, friends and teammates.

Nick gets pensive

When people dis him. Especially when he is offering to help someone.

Nick is the real deal and anybody who has a problem with him has a problem with me.

Well except for his wife. She is always right. Like my wife.

But other than that I won't stand for any crap from busybody internet nutjobs. Just sayn'

I felt like the "Responsorial Psalm" was in repsonse to my musing.

"The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him"

It was pretty funny that was the psalm this Sunday. I had described the scene I witnessed on Friday on my way to the store. There was the hipster tattooed mom with a seven year old son who refused to do whatever she wanted him to do. It looked like he wanted to dash across Court St. She had a hold of him and they were struggling. She lifted him up in her arms and started to carry him down the street. He hauled off and started punching her. Really hard. In the back. In the head. It must of hurt but he was still a scrawny kid so she just kept walking. How in any universe is it ok to put your hands on your mother?

I mused that we have gone to much to one side of the spectrum. All love all the time without any fear. There has to be a healthy fear of consequences for bad behavior. I think the Church went away from that starting in the sixties. Once they dropped the Latin Mass and started playing guitars and all of that nonsense more and more people started leaving the church. Everyone who thinks they are smarter then me is saying that the old way was the wrong way. That it is much better to have this new way (well not so new way of doing things since it is fifty years old now) is so much better. So what has it meant? Many fewer people in church. Fewer priests and nuns. The end of Catholic education. People saying that they don't have to find God by going to church. That they only had to show up for marriages, funerals, Christmas and Easter.

The thing is there might come a time when they want to go to the church and it won't be there anymore. 

I am not saying we should go back to the nuns beating the crap out of you for your transgression. Necessarily.  Although there are many, many kids that need a ruler across the head now and again. But the way things are now is too far the other way. Every kid and every transgression is fine and dandy. Everybody gets a trophy and a ribbon no matter what they do or how badly the behave. There is no accountability for anything. Without a healthy fear of the consequences it will all go to crap. The President will break the law with impunity. Legislators will get into phony marriages to become resident aliens so they can run for office so they can give their tribe more free stuff. Nobody would pay their taxes. People love their country but they fear the IRS.

Aridog said much better than me: "I think when Trooper refers to "fear" he is really referring to an imbued sense of consequences. Failing to respect others may one day find you face to face in battle, trying to kill each other. Consequences. Failing to be reliable, from a kid's perspective, usually means they won't find adults reliable either. The STFU lesson in discretion is best learned on the block IMO, among your peers. Consequences...trust is a two way exchange. A reliable adult will more easily influence a kid to be the see way...they see positive consequences."

That is the nub of it I think. There is no fear of consequences anymore. So haul off and punch your mother in the face. Nobody is going to say anything. Nobody is going to do anything. Nobody is going to think it is anything out of the ordinary.  It is all of a piece with these couples I see every night sitting in front of the bar with one kid in the stroller and another in papoose sack with their dog tied to the table while they drink beer.  

This is going to be a really messed up place when these kids are in their teens.

Because those precious darlings will have been loved to pieces. But soon enough they will be feared.

Just a little musing on a Sunday afternoon.

I took care of that thing you asked me for Spinellli

I know it gets really cold in Madison in the winter so I got you some coverage.

Other wise you would look like a little girl in the cold box of Costco. Just sayn'

The best Elvis song ever according to Spinelli

It helps if you imagine that Betty is naked. Just sayn'

Nick and his bride need our help!

ndspinelli said...

Folks, My bride needs help. Inga[Mary] has posted a negative review. Now, the last time she posted a backhanded couple of positive reviews. And, it linked to her Ingeberg Dietrich acct. This is still listed as Mary but it's a new acct. Please report it as abuse. Thanks!

I already reported it as inappropriate so if youse guys get a chance please log on at Amazon and protest as well.

The belly to belly summit

It's pretty funny when you meet someone in person because they often are totally different than what you expected. When Nick Spinelli walked in I was expecting Lou Costello but he had more of a Sean Connery vibe. Nick and his lovely wife Leslyn joined us for dinner at Marco Polo.

We met at the store and we showed our sizzle reel so they could get an idea of the show we wanted to do instead of what we ended up doing. Then we closed up the store and walked across the street to Marco Polo.

We hadn't been back since our vacation so everybody in the joint had to come over and say hello at one time or another during the night.

We stated with cocktails before dinner as we perused the menu. I did what I normally do which is order off the menu. We ordered a mixed platter of meats and cheeses. Soppressata, prosciutto and speck with grana panda, ricotta salada and provolone. Figs, olives, walnuts and honey.

 

 



Then we did a mixed hot appetizer. Mozzarella en carozza , eggplant rollatini and stuffed mushrooms.

 

Of course we switched to wine and enjoyed a nice Malbac with went down very smoothly with all of the food. The girls enjoyed the wine. It made everything nice and blurry.  Heh.

 

I like to order the appetizers because I want what I want so we can go off the menu. But everyone picked their own main courses.  I recommended the wine fettuccine made in the cheese wheel and Leslyn decided to give that a shot. They do a big presentation where the cook the pasta on a little cart. They shave cheese out of the giant cheese wheel making a bunch of shredded pieces. Then they put the cooked pasta in the wheel and mush it around until it as cheesy as Wisconsin on a summer day. I told our favorite waiter Jay to not let me down and do it right. I think he did a good job.

Now the veal chop is very tasty but Lisa loves it parmigiana style with sauce and mozzarella. Nick opted to try it as he said he had not had veal for a while. Both dishes came out and just looked delicious.

I went for the tried and true cavatelli with the hot spicy sausages and roasted tomato. Good stuff.

We sat and talked and laughed and told stories as people came and went. We closed the joint. Off course we went off to the bar for a nightcap and to say hello to Tony the Bartender who was back from his vacation in Brazil.  We said goodbye in the cold air outside because somehow the weather had turned a little chilly.

Nick and Lesyln were back on the road the next day and Lisa and I were back in the store.

The belly to belly summit was a great success. We missed youse guys. Hopefully someday we can all get together and share some veal parmigiana.

 



Only 24 hours or so until the Belly to Belly summit.

The only question is who gets to be the fat guy and who gets to be the old guy?

The belly to belly summit is on!

The great back to back and belly to belly summit is on. Mr. Nick Spinelli and his lovely bride will be joining my wife and I at Marco Polo for some of the dishes they only know through blurry photos.

A full report and photo's will be posted if Mr. Spinelli agrees to  be photographed.

(He is undercover in Wisconsin as a conservative so we don't want to screw it up for him)

Trooper York Commenter Meet Up Dates Set

The Trooper York Commenter Meet Up for 2013 will be at the Seatuck Inn on Labor Day weekend. This was a photo of last years meet up at Fort Lauderdale's dog track (courtesy of Cody Jarret).

I hope I see all of you there.

Even you Spinelli.