Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader must remember that this list of alcohol spirits of which he can consume heroic quantities does not contain sake. The list does contain scotch and bourbon.
Sake is dangerous because you drink it in those little cups. You never figure that 15 or 16 cups later you might have a problem.
That is all.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is a pathetic excuse of an American of Scottish ancestry. Why you may ask? Well allow him to explain…
As you may know, tonight, January 25th, is Burns Night. The night when Scots and those of Scottish ancestry around the world celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns. Often the night is accompanied with feasting and toasting and poetry reading… It is not uncommon for your Maximum Leader to try and have a fancy dinner and a wee dram with his family (and perhaps a few close friends). Burns would be read and a great time would be had by all…
But tonight…
There was no feasting. Indeed the dinner consisted of the remains of a pan-fried round steak, powdered mashed potatoes, and some re-heated frozen veggies (a carrot, broccoli and colliflower mix). It was eaten in about 20 minutes. There was no toasting, there was no poetry. There was no dram.
It was pathetic.
There is only one promising thing to say about the evening… That is that there is still a chance that your Maximum Leader will have himself a little dram of uisge beatha.
For those of you reading this blog closely you may recall that last 4th of July your Maximum Leader swore off alcoholic beverages of foreign make. (There was one exception - he had a Guinness on Arthur Guinness’ birthday in October.) His promise to himself to forego foreign alcohol expired on January 1. But since January 1 he has consumed two Guinness’, one Chimay Ale, and a few glasses of Italian wine. He’s not had any of the greatest drink in the world, Scotch whisky. That should change a few minutes after he finishes this post…
Cheers.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader couldn’t wait until tomorrow to post this. Although he’d turned off the computer he had to fire it back up to report this.
He just finished smoking 6 pounds of his own home-cured bacon.
Oh dear God in Heaven. It is sooooooooooooooo friggin good.
About 14 days ago he put the pork bellies he’d gotten from his hog (Thanks Smallholder!) into the cure. Villainette #2 dutifully turned the bacon in the cure every day. Time got away from us and we were overtaken by events so we didn’t smoke the bacon last week as intended, but had to do it today. Rather than taking 2-2.5 hours, it took nearly 4 and a half hours to smoke the bacon. Your Maximum Leader belives that this was mostly due to the fact that his smoker was sitting in 34 degree temperatures and it was hard to keep it hot without over-doing the coals.
After letting the bacon cool for a few minutes (perhaps 5) after coming out of the smoker, he cut off a little slice. Oh it was good. Then Villainette #2 got a slice. Then Villainette #1 got a slice. Then Mrs Villain. Then before you knew it, we’d all had two or three slices. Then we had to stop. We couldn’t just eat it all right there. Well, we could have, but we resisted.
Your Maximum Leader can already tell that he will have to buy more pork bellies and make more bacon when this runs out. He only had about 6 pounds to start with. (Now he has about 5 and a half…)
Thank you Michael Ruhlman for your wonderful book, Charcuterie, without which your Maximum Leader may not have ever had the guts to try this. Also thank you Smallholder for raising such an awesome and tasty hog. Oh this is good stuff… Your Maximum Leader (almost) wishes all of his long-time readers could be here with him to try it… (Almost.)
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that in this down economy at least one new job has been created. Well… To be honest… It isn’t really a new job created, it is more like an old job is recreated. Or even better, one old worker is coming out of retirement.
Yes Virginia, the Noid is back.
Dominos pizza is changing their recipe to make a tastier pizza, and they are bringing back the Noid. As best your Maximum Leader can remember, he’s been avoiding the Noid since about 1990. Indeed, he’s been avoiding Dominos since about the same time. He’s never been a fan of Dominos pizza. He’s prefered Papa Johns. That is until he discovered a local mom & pop place nearby that has great pizza - Miones. So, he gets is take-out pizza from Miones (and sometimes Wegmans if the mood strikes him when he is in the store).
Good luck on the recipe change Dominos. Your Maximum Leader still likely will not buy your pizza, but he hopes that it does wind up tasting better.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is going to go and get his freshly slaughtered and butchered hog tomorrow AM. He will likely leave the Villainschloss around 5am to make the best of his day.
One ham and all the bacon will remain unfrozen. Your Maximum Leader will have to get to curing on Saturday afternoon or Sunday.
Yummmmm… Ham… Bacon…
He’ll try and photo the process for you… No guarantees however. If he does it all wrong he will not want to have to bask in his defeat photographically.
Carry on.
UPDATE: As excited as your Maximum Leader is to get the hog, Mrs Villain is probably just as (if not more) excited to get fresh hamburger from the steer that will also be picked up…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been out there. By “out there” he means “on the interwebs.” Lurking. He’s been reading and ruminating. Occasionally he’ll comment.
All in all he’s not had much that he feels warrants a comment. That is one of the problems of blogging isn’t it. One might read a post (or a tweet or a newspaper/journal article) and say to oneself, “My self, that perfectly encapusates my thoughts on this subject.” But if you don’t actually write a post of your own linking the article/piece in question who the hell knows? Frankly, even if you did write a post and provide a link, who the hell cares?
Meh.
So hows about a post about nothing? Indeed… Lets…
Your Maximum Leader has been spending his free time watching hockey and football. He’s tried reading a few different books to see if something grabs him. He’s been sorely disappointed in his choices. What makes his disappointment more… disappointing is that all the books he’s chosen are recent additions to his library that he’s not gotten around to reading yet. Sadly, your Maximum Leader figures that he’s suffering from some sort of short-attention-span disorder.
Speaking of hockey… This Washington Post piece about the NHL “war room” in Toronto was interesting. The room is much smaller than he imagined. Although he does like the little detail of how the room smells of pepperoni pizza. That makes it all so real. So real. In a way knowing that the room is as small as it is makes your Maximum Leader sort of sad. He was hoping for a “mission control at NASA” feel. Or even better… Dr Strangelove… Alas, it looks like a production room at a secondary studio at a big city TV station…
Anyhooo…
Your Maximum Leader got word from his good friend, Smallholder, to let him know that the hog and steer raised for his consumption have been slaughtered and are going to be butchered this week. Today in fact. Your Maximum Leader has made three calls to the butcher to adjust his cutting instructions. Your Maximum Leader has decided that he needs to get the bacon and one ham fresh from the butcher. (Normally, the cut pieces are frozen for him.) Your Maximum Leader is going to try and make his own bacon and cure a ham this year. He’s got his pink salt in hand and will have to get to curing this weekend if he is going try his hand at ham and bacon. The bacon should be pretty easy to cure. It can be done in a large bag in the fridge. The ham is going to be more of a challenge. He needs more space and time. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how he’s going to manage the ham, but he’s working on it.
Actually, your Maximum Leader trying to figure out the curing of the ham at the Villainschloss has been a mentally taxing exercise.
Moving along…
Your Maximum Leader is disturbed by his use of the DVR. He feels that he is watching more tv as a result of having more control over his viewing choices and times. He records a fair number of programs. By his count he has three shows recorded daily (Pardon the Interruption, The Late Late Show and his guilty pleasure Chelsea Lately). In addition to the dailies, he records only new episodes of 8 other shows. Then there are movies as he finds them on HBO. In his defence, if he doesn’t watch one of the dailies within a day or two of broadcast he deletes them. As they are topical there is nothing like watching old news… But he has a few movies that have been on the DVR for months… Almost half of the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm remains on the DVR. (NB - Your Maximum Leader loves Curb Your Enthusiasm; but finds he can’t watch more than one episode at a time. The humor is uncomfortable at times and has to be doled out in measured doses.)
It would likely do him well to cut down (or out) a significant portion of tv time. Your Maximum Leader supposes that compared to “regular” Americans he might watch less tv than most. But it is starting to feel like too much.
Sooo…
What the hell is up with Tiger Woods? Your Maximum Leader doesn’t get it. If you are going to be a world famous personality and you know that you like to mix it up when it comes to female company; then why do you even consider marriage? Your Maximum Leader has a certain amount of regard for George Clooney in this regard. Clooney gives off the vibe that he knows he is going to have trouble in a long-term relationship; so he doesn’t enter into one. That is a good thing in your Maximum Leader’s opinion. Know yourself and save yourself (and others) lots of heartache. Your Maximum Leader is at one level shocked and at another amazed by the scope of Tiger’s affairs. Shocked by the numbers and amazed by the efforts that went into meeting/maintaining/hiding the affairs in his schedule. One wonders if he has an assistant helping him in this… Then again, if he had an assistant to help him with these things he might not be in the mess he’s in now.
Concerning Mrs Woods. She is a very attractive woman. That said… Your Maximum Leader finds something disturbing and off-putting about her eyes in most photos he’s seen of her. He’s not saying she has “crazy eyes” or “googly eyes” or anything. There is just something wrong about her eyes to him.
In real news…
Your Maximum Leader reads that the Senate seems to be stripping the “public option” out of the Heath Care Bill. He hopes that soon the “Health Care” part will also be stripped from the bill…
This bill is a mess and just continues to linger on getting worse. One would hope that at some point the Senate would just throw up their hands and say collectively “Fuck this… Let’s pass some stimulus bills, an anti-flag-burning amendment, and declare it National Cocktail Party Month.” After putting the health care measures out of our national misery they could go home for “Winter” holidays and raise money for their re-election. That’s a good plan right? Of course it is.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has survived the holiday and he hopes you have as well. He feels particularly fat and slothlike. He’ll need to get out and exercise or something to try and counteract the urge to remain idle…
Apparently the sloth affecting your Maximum Leader is keeping him from writing a full blog post. So he’ll give you some banalities to occupy this space…
With some of the oysters left over from Thanksgiving your Maximum Leader made “angels on horseback” to have with dinner last night. They were a big hit. The kids kept trying to figure out if the oysters were the angels or if the bacon was. Tough call that one.
Your Maximum Leader must admit a certain fascination with the whole State Dinner crasher story. He’s not interested in the couple per se. Indeed, he couldn’t care at all about them personally. He is interested to know how exactly they got in. It continues to boggle your Maximum Leader’s mind. He’s attended presidential functions both at the White House and away from the White House. He knows that security isn’t perfect (certainly not away from the White House). But you figure that one would have to do more than just show up in a tux and act upset when your name isn’t on the guest list and act your way in. Your Maxium Leader is curious to learn how this happened and who is going to lose their job over it…
Your Maximum Leader thinks that Mrs Villain got him a Blu-Ray player for Christmas… That is a very exciting prospect. But it also means that he may have to get a new tv. His 46″ Sony HDTV is a rear projection job and doesn’t have an HDMI jack on the back. He suspects that he’ll live with the standard component connection for a while… But the urge to upgrade will be strong…
A close friend of your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain will be getting married in March. It is likely that they will be celebrating the joyous day in Key West, FL. Your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain are excited to go. But last night your Maximum Leader realized that March in Key West is sort of spring break time… Hummm… That adds an interesting (and often drunken) wrinkle to this trip.
Your Maximum Leader has been getting headaches with some regularity over the past 10 days. He thinks that the problem are his glasses. It has been about two years since his prescription has been adjusted… It might be time.
Your Maximum Leader wonders if a healthcare bill will actually get passed before the 2010 elections. He is beginning to doubt it. That is a good think all in all. If some bill must be passed he hopes it will be a stripped down one containing some insurance company reform and perhaps some minor tort reform. He realizes that such a bill is highly unlikely; but he hopes nonetheless.
What is up with Dubai? Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure if he should be concerned, worried, really worried or start to go crazy over what is going on with Dubai missing their loan payments. It seems like it isn’t a good thing no matter how you look at it.
Your Maximum Leader is also thinking about buying another turkey and cooking it up this weekend. He has left over gravy and needs to put it on something…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader might not get a chance to post anything between now and Saturday so he figured it would be best to wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving. As an American, Thanksgiving is the second best holiday on the calendar (after the 4th of July.) It is a great secular event that in which all Americans can be thankful for the bounty that is our land and remain mindful of the liberties we continue to enjoy.
At the Villainschloss today there will be a lot of pre-Thanksgiving prep going on. Already this morning a mincemeat pie and a peach pie have been made. Two pumpkin pies are in the offing now. After that there will be chestnut roasting. We will also get the dressing (with sausage, mushrooms and the aforementioned roasted chestnuts) done along with the creamed onions. Your Maximum Leader will (with the help of Villainette #2) boil the Smithfield Ham and get it ready. If the plan works well we should only have the turkey, mashed ‘taters, and brussel sprouts to complete tomorrow. That is a managable load.
Your Maximum Leader wishes you all the best. Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, near and abroad. And a special Happy Thanksgiving to his cousins (Ryan and Cindy), and their comrades, who are serving in Iraq this Thanksgiving. We miss you both and pray for your safe return.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain have settled on the Thanksgiving Day feast. For those of you interested, here tis:
Fried and raw oysters - fresh Rappahannock River/Chesapeake Bay oysters supplied by Capt’n Red on Tuesday.
Smithfield Ham - not Darden’s ham, but Smithfield. (This is the “other” ham procured during the Quest for Ham.)
Roast Turkey & gravy - to get perfect skin your Maximum Leader covers the bird with cheesecloth and basts it in a wine/butter/herb mixture every 20 mins or so.
Mashed potatos.
Dressing with sausage, mushrooms and roasted chestnuts - new dish this year.
Grated brussel sprouts with radicchio and bacon.
Creamed onions - a colonial recipe and one of George Washington’s favorites.
Asparagus & heart of palm salad.
Pumpkin pie.
Blueberry pie.
Mincemeat pie.
Stilton & Port.
For the gentlemen (and ladies if they care to partake) there will be various whiskys available before, during and after the meal (exluding Port time of course). We also have a beautiful bottle of French wine (a 2007 sauvingon from Tourraine) for the ladies.
There you have it. The ham is soaking now. Pies will be made Wednesday morning. Ham boiled Wednesday night and reheated Thursday. The creamed onions will also be made Wednesday. Feasting will commence after the Packers game on Thanksgiving.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minons. Your Maximum Leader was just experiementing in the kitchen. Before you get sidetracked wondering just what was he experimenting on in the kitchen… To satisfy your curiosity… He is boiling a pork roast in pickling spices and salts to see if he can get the effect of a corned beef only with pork… He’ll fill you in later on how that turns out…
Anyhoo…
While he was gathering together spices he noticed something and started to think…
When your Maximum Leader was a young boy he remembers that we always had French’s Yellow Mustard in the house. Sometimes, very rarely, we might have a small jar of Grey Poupon in the house. Insofar as mustard went, that was it. French’s and GP.
Today he was noticing that he has many mustard choices available at his fingertips. He has French’s and Grey Poupon. He also has a polish mustard with big old chunks of mustard seeds. He has a spicy brown mustard from the midwest somewhere. Two different “german style” mustards that go well with sausages of various sorts. He also has a horseradish infused mustard. He also has a large tin of Coleman’s mustard powder and a small jar of whole mustard seeds.
That is a lot of mustard choices for you. What is crazy is that we all (your Maximum Leader, Mrs Villain, and the villainous offspring) all love mustard. Hardly any sandwich is complete without mustard.
In the too much information category… Did you know that there is only one “hot” sandwich upon which your Maximum Leader will put mayonaise? Just one… If he makes himself a cheesesteak sandwich (at the Villainschloss) and uses provolone cheese, he will put lots of mayo on the roll (in addition to the steak, provolone, onions and peppers). If he makes himself a cheesesteak sandwich and doesn’t use provolone he also doesn’t use mayo… Crazy huh?
Anyhoo…
Your Maximum Leader will take a moment to thanks American consumerism, foodie-ism, and global trade for opening up the world of mustards to all…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to report that it appears as though the various renovations to the Villainschloss are completed. It is now just a question of moving some stuff around and getting everything back to normal. The renovations have caused the summer to be a bit tense among the whole family. So we are looking forward to a quiet long weekend to get our wa back.
Your Maximum Leader has, for the past few weeks, been storing up items upon which he wanted to comment at length. Alas, he couldn’t find time to do so. Rather than just discarding these items he’s decided to just dump some ideas in one post.
First up… Have any of you been following the abomination that has become the America’s Cup? Your Maximum Leader had some links that he’d planned on sharing. Alas, many of them are no longer functioning as the pieces have moved or changed or expired. To hit the high points… Basically the America’s Cup will be held in the Persian Gulf. The yachts will be trimarans. TRIMARANS! They will also allow motorized winches to be used on board. WTF? Really now… WTF? Your Maximum Leader thought that the requirements for the boats were determined a long time ago - and called for monhulled boats. Your Maximum Leader has only been marginally interested in the America’s Cup at best… And now all these changes have just set him off. It is crap.
Did you happen to notice this bit on the Washington Post concerning the possible discovery of a portrait of William Shakespeare done during the Bard’s lifetime? Fascinating stuff. Your Maximum Leader has seen the “forgery” portrait at the Folger Shakespeare Library and knew about it’s history. That said, these new researches and attempts to establish that the portrait actually shows Shakespeare are pretty interesting. Your Maximum Leader imagines that there is a National Geographic special in this story… Your Maximum Leader’s favorite passage from the article:
The hunt for a likeness of the bard in his heyday has turned up various candidates over the centuries, almost all of them illegitimate. Up to now, the painting with the most credible claim as a life image is the Chandos portrait, the star of London’s National Portrait Gallery. It shows a dusky, writerly-seeming man with receding hair and an earring. But its provenance is unclear. The search is complicated by the fact that a 1770s mania for Shakespeare souvenirs resulted in a spate of good forgeries. The Janssen portrait held by the Folger was thought to be one of those. The “Searching for Shakespeare” exhibit was therefore really a show about likely and, mostly, unlikely contenders. Cobbe and Laing wandered through the viewing, looking at bogus bards, until they arrived at a far wall, on which the Janssen portrait hung, on loan from the Folger. The oil-on-wood is legitimately dated to 1610, but it was discredited in 1937 when new X-ray technology showed the brow had been over-painted to make the sitter bald. It fell from grace under the supposition that it was altered to look more like the Droeshout. In 1988, the Folger restored the original hairline and exhibited it as an interesting mistake.The Janssen showed a close-bearded man in a scallop-edged lace collar — in almost every detail, a replica of the unnamed courtier on the Cobbe family’s wall. The one who was not Sir Walter Raleigh.
After a moment, Laing said, “Don’t you have one of those?”
“Yes,” Cobbe said, nonplussed. “Rather a better one, actually.”
Your Maximum Leader will have to get to the Folger and see what he can. Of course it would be better to travel to Stratford upon Avon and see the whole exhibit…
Did you see the piece on Yahoo news about more people making their own bacon? Nope? Your Maximum Leader saw it. You can clicky here to get it yourself. The money quote:
“There is nothing bacon does not improve. Bacon is the new black,” says [San Francisco Chef Ryan] Farr, whose charcuterie company produces 4505 Chicharrones, the pork snacks favored by several San Francisco bars and restaurants. “I have five vegan friends who close their eyes when they eat them and pretend they are potato chips,” Farr says. “Bacon is the gateway meat.”
Bacon is a gateway meat… Wonderful! From experience your Maximum Leader can assure you that it leads to ham. If the Lord hadn’t wanted us to eat pork he wouldn’t have made the pig so darned tasty and easy to domesticate…
Your Maximum Leader is growing more and more tired of the “health care debate.” He should put extra emphasis on the quotes around the word “debate.” As your Maximum Leader mused earlier, there is no debate. There is only shouting. There is no meaningful discussion. Normally at this point the ossified battle lines either decide to actually battle or just decided to forget to fight. Your Maximum Leader hopes that the battle will not be joined at all in Congress and the bills will just die off until some other time. Republicans could show some real leadership in promoting a market based solutions along with legal reforms. Tort reform for malpractice and allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines would be a nice start. Also, one might as well consider the plan that your Maximum Leader blogged about in June of 2004.
Those are the big items on your Maximum Leader’s mind right now. Alas, there were some other bits he thought might make interesting posts, but they were too topical and their time is past…
More later.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees (thanks to Fishersville Mike) a great piece on bacon. (Apparently the link came first from Ye Olde Instapundit, but your Maximum Leader saw Mike’s link first).
The piece is “To some a fad, to others an artisanal craft.”
If this excerpt doesn’t make your mouth water you are not the type of person with whom your Maximum Leader will sit down and break bread.
[Allan] Benton [of Madisonville, TN and the “undisputed king of artisanal bacon”], a former high-school guidance counselor, bought a smokehouse in 1973 from Albert Hicks and spent the next 30 years perfecting the art of bacon. Industrial, store-bought bacon is fast-cured in a day or less: injected with watery brine, flash-smoked, and packaged for shipping. Benton makes his the way his grandfather did. He dry-rubs the pork bellies with a mixture of salt and brown sugar and lets them rest for almost six weeks, switching midway through from a 38-degree cooler to a 45-degree one and finally to an aging room. Then, they spend 48 hours in a smokehouse, with the smoke generated from an old wood-burning stove.To the eye, the Benton’s product looks pretty much like any thick-sliced bacon. To the mouth, however, it’s completely unlike any bacon you’ve tasted before. Upon first bite there’s a very strong salty hit, then you notice the chewiness of the meat, and finally there’s a warm rush of hickory smokiness that lingers and lingers while you savor the whole bite.
Damn! That reads good. Your Maximum Leader is salivating. Indeed, reading this short account of Allan Benton’s attention to bacon reminds your Maximum Leader of Tommy and Dee Dee Darden of Smithfield. (Remember your Maximum Leader’s Quest for Ham?) Your Maximum Leader is going to have to find himself a way to get some bacon from Mr Benton.
Of course, reading this peice also reminds your Maximum Leader that he has to get cracking with Polymath on the construction of a smokehouse so that we can cure and smoke some hog parts we get from Smallholder and make our own bacon and ham.
NB to Ham lovers everywhere! The Darden’s have a new home page! Here ’tis. Enjoy.
Hummm… Ham… Bacon…
Your Maximum Leader has some fresh tomatoes and was planning on making BLTs for dinner tonight… He wonders if it is still a BLT if he adds a few slices of ham to the mix… Gotta feed the cravings…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t have much to (intelligently) add to the converstation of the day… That said, he’ll opine anyway… Sort of like the President and the whole Henry Louis Gates, Jr. affair.
Speaking of which… Your Maximum Leader will admit to not knowing all the facts (more admitting that the facts seem to be in dispute). Having admitted that he doesn’t know (or isn’t sure of) the whole truth of the matter he feels that Professor Gates overreacted and acted poorly. He also feels that the police also acted poorly by arresting Professor Gates. Gates should have tried to be a bit more polite and civilized. The police should have been more calm and willing to walk away from an agitated man in his house. Your Maximum Leader thinks, from what he’s read, that Gates is the one who put race into the situation. The police, however, have to deal with these types of issues every day and should have handled it differently once the suspected break-in was no longer suspected. If you were to press your Maximum Leader and force him to try and lay blame on one side or the other he’d say (right now) that the preponderence of blame lays at the feet of the Cambridge MA police.
So your Maximum Leader will be joining his extended family for the Nationals/San Diego Padres contest tomorrow night at Nationals Park. Your Maximum Leader is hoping to see a win. In the back of his mind, however, is the dreaded “gremlin bogey” number of 54. Your Maximum Leader and his whole family have their red Nationals t-shirts ready for the game. We will root (root, root) for our beloved Nationals and hope for the best.
Your Maximum Leader got a political polling call on Tuesday night. It was odd. Normally your Maximum Leader doesn’t deign to answer the phone if he doesn’t recognize the number on the caller-id display. For some strange reason he went ahead and answered and chose to particpate in a 10 minute polling call. The topics covered in the questions were all political - and mostly local political questions. The opening salvo were demographic questions (which your Maximum Leader only answered if the choices were in his opinion sufficiently broad). Then came the name recognition for the various offices up for election this fall in Virginia. Your Maximum Leader was pleased to have identified all of the names except for the Democrat running for Virginia Attorney General, and an independent running for County Board of Supervisors. (Sadly, immediately after he indicated he had no idea who the independent was the young girl conducting the poll filled in the blanks and your Maximum Leader remembered that the fellow was a former member of the School Board - and an idiot. He wished for a re-do on that one.) The poll was remarkably comprehensive in scope. It sort of surprised your Maximum Leader by its length and detail. He can only imagine that it cost some serious money. At the end of the poll he learned that it was paid for by the campaign of Susan Stimpson, who is running for County Board of Supervisors. She wants to represent your Maximum Leader’s district on the Board. Frankly, she has his vote. He’s met her a few times and spoken with her. She is a good choice to be on the Board. She will be a great improvement over George Schwartz. Schwartz is a pompus ass. He’s done more to screw up the county than any other person in recent memory.
In case you care, your Maximum Leader will, this fall, vote thusly in the Virginia elections. Bob McDonnell for Governor. Bill Bolling for Lt Governor. Ken Cuccinelli for AG. Bill Howell for Delegate. Susan Stimpson for Board of Supervisors. There you go…
You know, if your Maximum Leader didn’t already have big plans for the whole weekend he’d be off to see the hardest working man in the blogosphere, Robert Stacy McCain at the Richmond Tea Party event this weekend in Richmond. Really. R.S. Mcain is the hardest working man in the blogosphere. He doesn’t just sit back and comment on crap (like your Maximum Leader) he actually goes out there and does the leg-work needed to DISCOVER THE STORY. Seriously. You need to go back and read some of his reporting on the case of fired I-G Gerald Walpin.
Your Maximum Leader recommends to you all FLG’s piece on Fair Trade. You should also very seriously consider the difference between “organic” and “regular” products. Mrs Villain was gobsmacked over the weekend when she actually did a serious comparison between an brand of organic peanut butter (8 oz for $4.00) and the regular Jif brand that your Maximum Leader prefers (16 oz for $2.99). Okay, that example didn’t really address Fair Trade products - but they are vaugely linked in your Maximum Leader’s brain.
Oh yeah… Thanks FLG for the link to Bacon Salt. Another product for which your Maximum Leader really has no need, but will buy anyway just to try… Smoked meat… Heh… (Click FLG’s link to get the joke.)
And in closing… With luck your Maximum Leader will be able to catch two episodes of “The Ascent of Money” tonight on the DVR. Yay!
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been meaning to write a little bit about his wonderful weekend with Mrs Villain. Alas, the minor flooding in the Villainschloss caused your Maximum Leader to write less than he wanted while taking care of the situation.
So…
Last weekend your Maximum Leader and his loving wife, Mrs Villain, had a great visit to the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa. This visit was to celebrate your Maximum Leader’s 40th birthday and our anniversary. Let your Maximum Leader tell you that Nemacolin is one of his favorite places. The accomodations are great. The food is great. The people who work there are superlative. There are so many things to do there that you’ll never be bored. He cannot commend it to you all enough. If you can, you should visit.
So, your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain arrived last Friday (mid-day). We settled into our room in the Chateau which was wonderful. (Mrs Villain booked rooms in the Lodge but thanks to a little Maximum Leaderly charm we got moved over to the Chateau.) Then we meandered over to the Shooting Academy.
Once we arrived at the Shooting Academy, we picked up our shotguns (Berretta 12 ga for your Maximum Leader and Berretta 20 ga for Mrs Villain) and went out and destroyed some clays. During a previous visit your Maximum Leader went after 100 clays and got 85 of them. He was hot that day. Alas, during this visit he was not as sharp. He did 50 clays this time and probably only got about 30. He had some real trouble at some of the stations. He didn’t hit one of the “mini” clays. (Which are, as the name suggests, about half the size of a regular clay and faster.) He also had trouble at the station with the “rabbits.” In case you do not know, when you shoot clays they are often released in a way that resembles the flight of an animal. Sometimes a pheasant, or pigeon, or even a rabbit. Your Maximum Leader had trouble picking up the rabbit as it skipped across his field of vision. It was disappointing. Perhaps it is a sign of age. Perhaps a sign of needing to check his eyeglass prescription.
After shooting clays we returned to the room and freshened up and dressed for dinner. We went to dinner at the one restaurant at the resort where we hadn’t eaten in our previous visits. We went to Aqueous. It is a steak and seafood place. We split a bowl of soup (a creamy mushroom soup that was a special that day) and some of their smoked salmon apetizer to get started. Then Mrs Villain had the Seasame Ahi Tuna (with shitake lo-mein, some tempura veggies, and yuzu). Your Maximum Leader had the New York Strip with a broiled lobster tail, with bearnase, aparagus, and their special Mac & Cheese.
Okay… Your Maximum Leader can absolutely hear Basil rolling his eyes from the midwest and declaring “Dear God! Mac & Cheese with dinner. What is Maxy now a four year old?” In his defence, your Maximum Leader wasn’t thinking of Mac & Cheese at first. But he remembered that during a previous visit he was told by a friend that the Mac & Cheese was fantastic and that if given the chance it should be gotten. Well… Your Maximum Leader can say for sure that this is the third best Mac & Cheese he’s ever had. The best is (of course) his own that he makes at the Villainschloss for the Villainettes upon request. The next best is the Mac & Cheese he’s had at both Nob Hill restaurants (the one in San Francisco and Las Vegas) The one at Aqueous was quite good. The chef used a mix of smoked cheeses that was very appetizing. So if you are dining at Aqueous, try the Mac & Cheese.
Oh yes… The view from our table across the golf course…
Clicken to embiggen in all cases…
The next day Mrs Villain awoke and got a spa treatment. Your Maximum Leader, not being much for spa treatments, went out for a little walk. He spoke to the tennis pro for a bit (about baseball actually) while passing by the lovely grass courts. Then your Maximum Leader went back to the room and waited for Mrs Villain to return. Upon her return we both went for a walk. We walked up to the menagerie and saw lions, elk, mountain goats, hyenas, and bison among others. In fact while we were walking by two of the bears decided to “get jiggy with it.” Photographic evidence:
The most interesting animal on the trip was the white Bison known as “Snowball.”
After our walk we got an early lunch and then spent a little time by the pool. Then we took a little trip. Mrs Villain, knowing your Maximum Leader’s love of baseball took him away to Pittsburgh for the Pirates/Royals game at PNC park. Your Maximum Leader hadn’t seen a baseball game at PNC (although he had seen games at the old Three Rivers). We had great seats.
And not only that! The Pirates won the game. (Woo hoo! Way to stick it to the American League!) It was a great experience. Your Maximum Leader was reminded of how great the Pirates fans are. They know their team. They know the game. They were a great group of people to mingle with.
Since you might be thinking it… Your Maximum Leader has visited a number of ballparks. In his mind the ranking of the best ballparks goes something like this: 1) Wrigley; 2) Fenway; (both of these are highly ranked due to their history and atmosphere - if not the amenities of the park itself) 3) PNC Park; 4) Camden Yards; and finally 5) Nationals Park. (Okay… Your Maximum Leader admits that Nats Park only makes the top five because he is a fan and loves his team. If push came to shove he’d say that AT&T park is probably nicer… But Nationals Park is right up there.)
After the game there were fireworks fired off barges in the Ohio river. That was great. Then we drove back to the resort.
On Sunday after a wonderful breakfast we checked out and went to visit some of the local historical sites. This was your Maximum Leader’s fourth or fifth visit to Nemacolin; and he’d never stopped to see some of the very historical sites that are within 5 miles of the resort.
Robbo… Are you paying attention to this? Your Maximum Leader was thinking of you during these visits.
We first went to the grave of Maj-Gen Edward Braddock. We walked down the remains of Braddock’s road to the site were Braddock was buried by George Washington.
Seen here with Mrs Villain’s gams:
Then we walked up the hill to the current gravesite.
Some details of the plaques on the monument:
Here is a view from a distance away. You can see the current monument to the left of the photo. Your Maximum Leader is standing in the remains of Braddock’s road looking down the hill towards the site where Braddock was first buried. If you look carefully you can see the ruts of the road in the grass. Look to the bottom of the photo and you’ll see two wooden beams. These beams mark where the ruts were before they paved the path. If you follow them into the darkness you can pick up the roadway.
(NB to all embiggening clickers: Sorry for the crappy quality of photos. We forgot the good camera and were reduced to using your Maximum Leader’s cell phone camera.)
After the Braddock grave site visit we drove on down the road to Fort Necessity. We looked through the visitor’s center and then walked out to the reconstruction of the fort itself.
Your Maximum Leader was surprised during his visit. The fort was about as big as he’d always pictured it in his mind. He also remembers reading a letter of Washington’s describing the construction and size of the fort. What surprised him was the size of the meadow in which the fort was located. The US Park Service is has been kind enough to mark where the tree line was in 1754. In many cases the trees were a lot closer to the fort than he’d imagined. Thus, the meadow didn’t seem all that big. The Wiki article linked above says that the tree line was within 100 yards of the fort. This is a little tidbit that your Maximum Leader never remembers reading. He visualized that the tree line was well further than 100 yards from the fort. While the trees are now more than 100 yards from the fort, they weren’t in 1754. Now seeing the site your Maximum Leader has a better understanding of why Washington’s physical position in the fort was untenable (especially considering the rain and lack of supplies). Your Maximum Leader wouldn’t want to try and defend that position from attack…
Anyhoo…
After visiting Ft Necessity your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain returned home. It was a wonderful trip. Again, if you happen to be looking for a great place to spend a nice weekend, you should give Nemacolin and the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania a try.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader mentioned the other day that he went down to visit his friend the Smallholder. The purpose of the trip was to celebrate the baptism of the Smallholder’s youngest son. In addition to baptism there was the roasting of a whole pig and much feasting and drinking.
So… If you are going to roast a whole pig you might wonder what would one do with the head of said pig? You could have the butcher dispose of it if you wanted.
Or you could take the pig’s head and feet, sit them on your lap in the truck, and drive them over to your friend Polymath’s home where he will turn the pig’s head into head cheese.
Oh yeah… Your Maximum Leader should mention that he still hasn’t gotten all of the bloody stains off his jeans yet from the journey. How’s that for a mental image for ye? Your Maximum Leader covered in blood with a head as a trophy… Quite manly isn’t it?
Carry on.
