THE WEISS CHRONICLES

 

This happened on 25 January

The romaine lettuce had some spots that, from my previous experience, indicate a potential insect issue.

I used extra detergent for the first wash because of this observation.  The executive chef saw this and cringed.  He said, "Do you have your laundry in there too?"

I sympathize with him. For the first several thousand years of kosher inspection, lettuce wasn't washed with detergent, only water.  The kosher agency of course says, "Well we use organic detergent".  

As I've pointed out to them, "You know what else is organic; cobra venom and botulism toxin". This gets laughs but no change in policy.

Fortunately, romaine lettuce is quite hardy and can not only stand up to this but can endure 15 minutes of spin drying and still be fresh looking and tasting. Other produce, e.g., basil, requires a lot more delicacy.

 
I was on duty at a caterer yesterday.

The Sous Chef said that his car, which he does not lock at night and sits on the street, was entered the previous night.  

He said the glove compartment was open and the contents of various side pockets, etc. were scattered on the front seats.

He noted that nothing seemed to have been stolen.

This happened to my vehicle back in November.  

He asked at me whether anything valuable had been in the car.

I said, "no."

He asked me if I had any thoughts on what items were being sought by the potential thieves.

 

I said, "well since we live in Potomac, they probably thought we had gold bullion and premium caviar in the vehicle."

 

This got a lot of laughs so I thought I'd put it into the chronicles.

 

Yesterday we had a cholent with beef. It was pretty good but off course the beef wasn't cooked like a steak.

Last night I had a dream in which I was in charge of a supper (perhaps working as the Mashgiach) and the waiters were bringing steak to all the guests.

The image is a rib eye but I'm not sure what the cut was in my dream.  I think I could actually smell the steak.

Unfortunately, in my waking life I have a limit of about 6 ounces a week of beef (and limits on wine and whiskey and beer) because of my gout.

 

The Red Cross wanted platelets again and so I went.  Metrics: HR=80, BP=120/80, Hg=15.9, Covid19=negative.

I viewed the Mystery Science Theater version of 1960 movie

"The Loves of Hercules". It is an interesting movie for several reasons.

 First, Jayne Mansfield was 2 to 4 months pregnant during the filming which made her breasts even larger than they usually were. Second, the part

of Hercules is played by her real life 2nd husband Mickey Hargitay (Mariska Hargitay one of their children, born in 1964 plays the part of NYPD Capt. Olivia Benson on Law and Order). A third is that, although known as a bottle blond, in this movie, Jayne has a red wig or a brunette wig (one scene had a purple-ish wig but I couldn't find an image of that).  The fourth is the interesting props. In the third image, the good Jayne, is tied up under a mask bigger but similar to one called, "the mask of Agamemnon" that was found in 1876 by Heinrich Schliemann.

The plot involves two kingdoms. Both are ruled by queens.  In one there is a red head Jayne, an evil queen turned into a look alike of the good Jayne by magic. The evil redhead Jayne plots to have her agents kill the brunette Jayne who is queen of a different kingdom.  There are other plots which I couldn't follow very well.

In the first image, the red head Jayne dies strangled by a tree that was formerly a man bewitched and turned into a tree by the same magic that created the red headed Jayne. In the second image, brunette Jayne is shown with her assistant Aleia (Rossella Como). Aleia is pronounced "Leia" in the movie and in one scene, bends over to give someone a scroll like Leia in SW A New Hope.

Elsewhere in the movie, Hercules kills a Hydra (fourth image) and a hairy giant. 

Some good lines,

After a slave is whipped and led off, a robot says,

"You realize this will result in a really devastating Yelp review".

When Hercules meets the hairy giant, a robot says, 

"I must have missed the class in mythology where the ancient Greeks had a Sasquatch."

Oz was officially (at the doctor's office) weighed last week.

 

He came in at 13.8 kg which is about 30 pounds. His previous weigh in that I recorded was back in July 2019 when he was only 10 pounds.

 

The top picture is from December 2020.

 

The bottom picture from January 2021.

 Both smiling. 

 

He doesn't smile all day every day. He has teeth coming in and occasional gastrointestinal issues like other kids that age but he does smile a lot. More that I remember our kids smiling.  More than I remember myself smiling. 

This is because Beth lives in Israel.  

For some years I would do Beth's USA taxes and she would hire someone in Israel to do her Israel taxes. 2018 was like this (now her Israel accountant does both).

In 2018, with the estimate that accompanies her request for an extension of tax filing for the USA, I sent the IRS a check for several thousand dollars.  The IRS ended up cashing the check but not attributing it to Beth's tax pre-payments (I put her name and SSN on the check but whatever). 

George was talking to the IRS tonight about another issue (this one involving required withdrawals from an inherited IRA) and the IRS person said, "You know there is another outstanding issue here in 2018". George said "What???" But then after getting into the substance it turns out Beth will be getting a significant refund (the 2018 payment plus interest). The 'fun' part of this was going into my credit union account and looking for the 2018 check while the IRS agent was on the line (but no pressure).
 

 

I had always thought that there was such a thing as naturally yellow rice.  Good restaurants frequently have it. Caterers have it. Ann says she likes it when I make it (I use white rice and tumeric).

Yesterday, the chef at a caterer (I was on duty there

that day) made some yellow rice for staff lunch. 

I asked him, "Is the rice naturally yellow or do you add Tumeric".

He answered, "Tumeric, but if it is an event and the customer specifies we will add Saffron". 

 

Tumeric costs about $10/pound wholesale, Saffron is over $1,000/pound (the image was from an ad with 2 grams of Saffron for $16.95).

Goya's Yellow Rice (in the image) adds "Yellow Dye #5 to white rice.

 

I was giving Platelets and Plasma again yesterday. I had to stop for a month after getting the vaccine for shingles.

Vitals: pulse 88, BP 120/80 Hg 15.8

 I didn't really understand the plot of this 1971 movie (which I watched with the Mystery Theater 3000 crew) but it seemed to be about a girl (third image) who sold her soul for youth and witch power and who ruled her family, intimidated the nearby village, and, seduced strangers.

 Somebody made a video of their favorite moments of the film. Apparently there was also a Spanish version of the movie (second image).

Some of my favorite dialogue:

As a long stretch of a car going through a rural area is shown at the beginning of the film (at this point we know the title of the movie but nothing else), one of the robots (first image shows Mike and robots watching movie) says,

"That driver must be Satan; did you notice his failure to use the turn signal." 

Another robot says, "Maybe, but shouldn't Satan have a better car than a Maverick" (the Maverick hasn't been made since 1977).

Later as the traveler is eating lunch near a pond and a girl (who we later learn is a witch) walks up to him. 

The traveler says, "Is this your pond?"

The girl doesn't answer for a minute or so as she eyes him and then gazes at the pond and then eyes him again. A robot says, "I realize this is a difficult question so just take your time."

Later the traveler encounters the father and mother of the witch watching TV. There is a lot of loud yelling coming from the TV show they are watching.

A robot says, "Wow, I didn't realize that in 1971 they already had a cable TV 'Shouting' Channel.

 

I was doing some work at the restaurant.  I put my glasses on the top of my head to get them out of the way when doing something with their oven.  Then it was time to leave. 

I forgot to readjust the glasses.

It was a cold day. I was wearing a tall fur hat and put it on and it covered up my glasses. When I got to the car I realized I wasn't wearing glasses and shouldn't drive. I went back to the restaurant to look for the glasses but take off the hat. Then back to the car to see if I left my glasses in the car. When I opened the door to the car the hat was jolted and I realized where the glasses were.

Arrggg.

 

I went to a Seven Eleven today.  They priced coffee different from another Seven Eleven I went to a few weeks ago.  The one today had coffee for 79 cents for 'club' members but only from noon to 7pm. The one last week had 99 cent coffee all day for 'club' members (yes I am a 7-11 club member, with an official card and I've 'earned' several free coffees).

 

Apparently, in early 2019, the corporation gave franchise owners more leeway on pricing while stores that were corporation owned did not have that leeway.

There are about 70,000 Seven Eleven stores world wide. There are about 20,000 in Japan. There are about 10,000 in Thailand, about 10,000 in South Korea and about 10,000 in the United States. 

I like Seven Eleven because you have a wide variety of gourmet additives (hazelnut, irish cream, french vanilla, chocolate, half and half, etc. and each of which is kosher). I especially like using the word 'gourmet' as an adjective modifying the noun 'additive'.

The Washington Football Team (which almost acronyms to WTF), won their final game of the season and, despite a losing record of 7-9 will go to the playoffs. They are the third team to go to the playoffs with a losing season record. Carolina was 7-8-1 in 2014 and Seattle was 7-9 in 2010.

The win in the final game was against a team with 10 starters out for various reasons (injuries or Covid 19. The WFT also had injuries, the starting QB has had 17 surgical interventions since an injury in 2018.

Two other teams in the NFL East had won only 6 games and one team won only four.  The Division finished 23-40-1 and was outscored by opponents by more than 200 points cumulatively.
 

 

I had a dream where I was going to a doctor to consult about my enlarged prostate (BPH).  For some reason, I was going to the veterinarian after so I

brought our cat (second image) to my medical consult. 

The doctor asked how long I have had symptoms. I said, "about 35 years".

Then the doctor asked how long I have had a cat. I said "about 35 years".

Then the doctor said that my symptoms are due to being near cats. 

Arrrgg.  

Based on an internet search I don't think this dream is good medical advise but in February when I see a doctor about this, I'll tell them about the dream.