SKY

Sky Saxon of '60s rock band the Seeds dies
By JIM VERTUNO – 18 hours ago

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sky Saxon, lead singer and founder of the 1960s band the "Seeds," who had a Top 40 hit in 1967 with "Pushin' Too Hard," has died after a brief illness.

Publicist Jen Marchand said Saxon died Thursday but did not have other details. He was in his 60s.

The Seeds sprang up in California, and their garage-band sound with Saxon's distinctive vocals became a favorite of the flower power generation. Another hit single of 1967 was "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" and their song "Mr. Farmer" was included in the soundtrack for the movie "Almost Famous."

The Mick Jagger-influenced vocals by Saxon (born Richard Marsh) dominated the sound and in turn influenced later punk rockers.

"All the bikers around San Diego thought the Seeds were apocalypse, then," famed rock critic Lester Bangs wrote in "The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll." "I recall one hog-ridin' couple ... who didn't take the Seeds' first album off their turntable for three solid months."

Saxon had recently moved to Austin, where he played with his new band, Shapes Have Fangs.

He had been planning to perform this summer with the California '66 Revue, a tour featuring a lineup of California bands from the 1960s.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Legacy Grows

So, i'm really unhappy with the picture quality from my camera/phone as opposed to the images I get from my actual Digital Camera. Problem is it's really handy and cheap. Plus I can utilize it for video and not care too much if I encounter an accident. So we could be looking at a scenario where I use the Phone for video and the Digicam for the still shots. It's getting really complicated to do this. Plus having more than one tool means that i've moved on to actually needing "equipment".

Grilled Chicken/Garden update

I usually like to marinate before I cook it, but it's presently hard as a rock.
Oh well, there's always a dry rub, and the liquor cabinet will at least allow me to marinate MYSELF.
My rosemary plants contracted something called white mildew powder. So, I had to pull them out, rinse off all the dirt, and re pot them in new soil. They need more air circulation, apparently. Cant use the same container either, unless it's cleaned with warm soapy water and a touch of bleach. I used a different pot instead and chucked the contaminated one out back. Did'nt have any bleach. Hopefully the fresh air and new dirt will work out.

The Overhead Video Cam!

Yes, I know i'm using a bread knife. That's what I had handy.
This is mainly a test run for the video, to see if it actually works.
Future videos will focus on technique and proper tools for all you purists. But then again, you should'nt be listening to me anyway.

No Recipes

I try to refrain from posting actual recipes. I instead try to give rough guidelines. Recipes can be too restrictive, unless of course you're baking. I also prefer not to convey the illusion that I know what i'm doing.

Hamburgers

There was ground beef in the freezer, so we're thawing it out. Real complicated stuff. I might sautee some onions and peppers since they're lying around. Pepperidge Farm makes these things called deli flats that have only 100 calories and something like 5 grams of fiber. If you've sworn off white bread like me, check them out. They make for an effective alternative delivery system (aka bun).

Found this cool idea online where you line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, throw on the ground beef, cover it with plastic wrap, and then roll it out with a rolling pin so it's nice and thin. Remove plastic wrap. Then pull up the parchment paper to fold beef in half, pressing down. Now you can cut perfectly square burgers that are not too thick. Groovalicious.

No time these days....

Bought a rotisserie chicken from the Stop,Shop and Roll. Boring but effective. I could have sworn I saw a recipe on TV for a sauce to go over the chicken that had cilantro, honey, and jalepeno pepper. Sounds good right? Well, I couldn't find it so I had to make one up. All I really managed to do though was to get the food processor dirty. Will try to upload photos tonight.

Steak n' Salad

Pretty boring fare. Although these filets were cut from a beef tenderloin I had intended to photograph but decided the task was too messy to bother.
I typically don't season the beef until it comes off the grill.
It's my understanding that salt particularly will draw out the moisture from the beef, so I usually season the finished product at the table.

Tonight's Fare

Will be a boneless chicken breast that is currently marinating in a dijon mustard and rice wine vinegar marinade. Go with about a 3 tablespoon to 1 mustard to vinegar ratio. This should coat about three servings. After marinating for about 8 hours or longer, coat with panko bread crumbs mixed with a bit of freshly chopped sage and black pepper. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Our side dish will be a sauteed asparagus creation that will kind of evolve on the fly, as a type of improvisation. If the stalks are thick, i'll be removing the skin with a vegetable peeler. After snapping off the woody ends, dot a hot pan with olive oil and toss in the victims with the obligatory salt and pepper. Once it gets going, about 3-4 minutes, i'll probably toss in some freshly grated ginger, garlic, and perhaps a little soy sauce depending on how much liquid is still in the pan. Key thing is to not burn the ginger or the garlic, but to keep tossing or mixing so that everything gets infused. After it's deemed ready, i'll pull the pan off the heat and top with a fresh herb(s) to be determined. The heat from the pan will wilt the herbs nicely.
Paul Gonsalves would have been proud.

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chop With Cold Cauliflower Salad.

Another culinary feast completed.

Assembly Line

Right to left-First the cheese, then the egg, then the bread crumbs and into a hot pan with about a tablespoon of canola oil.

Pork Chops

Turned over in a medium high heat pan after about 4 minutes. Dip in the cheese, then the beaten egg, and finally bread crumbs, preferrably Panko. I had to make do with regular bread crumbs this time 'round. After frying on both sides, finish in a 400 degree oven for about 6-8 minutes, or till done. If you use boneless chops, you could probably skip the oven step, depending on how thick they are.

Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing, Baby.

Authentic Parmegiano Reggiano is worth every penny. The flavour simply cannot be duplicated by any type of domestic Wisconsin knock off. Forget about the shit in the green can. In a word, inferior.

Cold Cauliflower Salad

Steam the Cauliflower whole, then cut it away from the core. I have one of those little expandable collander thingys that works well here. Add the italian dressing, salt, pepper,fresh dill and parsley. Toss lightly to coat. Try to keep the florets from crumbling. Be sure not to steam too long. Just a few minutes should do it. You can always keep the pan covered off the heat for a while if need be.

Green Herbs

These got chopped into a cold Cauliflower salad with italian dressing. Can you believe how green these are?

mmmmmmm...dead cow

These are some of the tools you'll need

Expensive crane shot

Beef Sirloin Tips with Asian Orange Glaze

Don't forget to slice up a couple of scallions. Throw them on as soon as you pull them off the grill and let the meat rest for a few minutes.

The glaze is simmering

1/3 cup each soy sauce, honey, orange marmelade. Two tablespoons rice vinegar. Pinch of red pepper flake. Bring it up to a low simmer and cool to room temp.

After the meat cooks for 2.5 mins per side on high heat, turn gas grill to low and use about half the glaze to cover the beef. Reserve some to use as a condiment of sorts. After glazing cook another 5 minutes or so.

Sanitized for your protection

Classic movie roles portrayed by vegetables #2

"Nobody gets in to see the wizard, not nobody, not no how!"

Classic Movie Roles Portrayed By Vegetables #1

It's the hard-knock life for us!

It's the hard-knock life for us!

Eat Cherries, Shoot Tequila

Italian Parsley

Old hanging flower plants are being used here with the hook cut off.

They have a nice little drainage system built in so that the roots don't get over soaked which could lead to root rot. Bottom line is that over watering is just as bad as not watering at all.

Dill on the sill

Also from seed.

Fresh Kill

Brought in these herbs from the porch garden today. The tomato was added to the shot due to a flash of inspiration.

The sirloin tips were still frozen, so I

Chopped some onions for a wickedly good jazz-up of an otherwise boring jar of red sauce. Fresh marjoram goes with tomato like peanut butter to jelly. Seriously good. Some fresh basil too, of course along with some thyme and very little red pepper flake. A pinch. I should have added about a quarter cup of wine. Damn.

Basil, Sage, Rosemary and Marjoram

The herbs are doing pretty well. Last year I had them closer to the windows and the sun burned them pretty bad, especially the leafy stuff like Parsley, Cilantro, and Dill.

I'm getting good afternoon sun for the sage and the rosemary with this set up too.

The marjoram is practically begging me for more sun by growing at a 45 degree angle, so I will have to make an adjustment there.

Thyme is on my porch, yes it is.

This was grown from seed, so it's doing very well.