Andy's Clam Chowdah

4th of Jiuly ..,. Clam Chowdah Season:

Here is my recipe:

Monday, July 5, 2010

For friends whom have asked for my Clam Chowder Recipe:

1 large onion, chopped
4 slices meaty bacon diced (or meaty salt pork)
3 stalks celery chopped
2 leeks thinly sliced
2 cups chopped or minced clams
1 cup If available, minced quahaugs, don't forget to save steaming liquor
2 quarts clam juice (canned or bottled if necessary)
(if you steam your clams prior to mincing, use the clam liquor strained)
4 large potatoes diced
1 can cream of celery soup condensed
1 pint of light cream or half and half
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
2 bay leaves
tbsp thyme

Render bacon until crisp, remove the cracklings
slowly cook onions, celery and leeks until translucent
add about 2 tablespoons of flour, mix well for about a minute or two
add clam broth
add clams
add potatoes
add bay leaves and thyme
simmer for 2 hours
Salt and pepper to taste
add cream of celery soup
simmer for an hour or so until potatoes are thoroughly cooked

**** AT THIS POINT YOU MAY STOP AND COOL AND REFRIGERATE FOR A DAY OR
SO, CHOWDER DOES TASTE BEST THE "NEXT DAY" AFTER ALL THE FLAVORS HAVE
DEVELOPED ****
If cold, reheat chowder to
just below the boiling point.
Add cream and pat of butter
Add the bacon or salt pork cracklings from Step #1

Serve with oyster crackers

ENJOY !!!!!!

Joe Bastardi leaves Accuweather

Well, after a somewhat tumultuous relationship with Accuweather,
Word is Joe Bastardi has resigned from them sometime last evening from
Reports.
Found his profile gone this AM on the site.
Joe was “upgraded” to the pricey, or rather very very pricey Accuweather
“pro” site a few years ago.
Rather than having his somewhat uncanningly correct long range prognostications
Available to the millions, he was relegated to a select few subscribers.
I was lucky to be able to get the occasional tweet from his fan club.
Never the household name with his limited role, perhaps that led to
The separation.
Or perhaps AW had something else in store.
Whether we really ever find the actual events is a mystery.
I believe he will eventually form his own company, perhaps for the stock and
Futures market type crowd.
FYI, there is an ongoing conflict in the weather world. The private companies
Sort of believe disseminating weather info should be a “private” company function and
That the NWS should be relegated to gathering and presenting information such as
Radar and satellite and data observations. This will continue for the coming decades.
And with the Obama Administration trying to cut vital funding to the NWS, it is not
Hard to envision a slow evolution toward a more limited NWS role
as the next several years pass. That will be a sad, sad day.
OK, off the soapbox !!!

In any event,

Best of Luck Joe

Remembering JFK

Today marks the anniversary of the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy as President of the USA back in 1961.
I remember that day well. Remember the disagreement with my mother about shoveling the driveway as we had almost a foot of snow.
At the same time, going to a Catholic Grammar School, Assumption in Bellingham, MA, the nun's made it clear to us that we HAD to listen to the speech by JFK !!!
Such a dilemma at such a young age, LOL

What a Winter

Well, another storm tonight should dump 4 to 8 inches of snow in Woonsocket. Outside chance of a bit more.
Another Storm Tuesday or Wednesday.
When will it end ???
Not soon enought.
Between La Nina and the storm pattern coming in from the Pacific then the energy mingling along the east coast, looks like the cold along with a couple of storms per week will be with us for most of February into March.
UGGHHH !!!!!

Rebecca St. Fire

Firefighter's are braving the cold temps trying to contain this structure fire on Rebecca St, which is off of North Main St.

Older and wiser?

Seems the older I get, the greater my disdain for chain supermarkets owned by conglomerates both in the USA and abroad. I find myself shopping very frequently at the local butcher, (Shaws, Lil General), baker (Par X), Dairy Farm (Wrights), Fruit and Vegetable vendor (Fernandes) Fishmonger (Wilfred's, the last remaining in the City after R&D burned last month). Though times are changing, I feel sometimes I am going back in time, LOL

One final wrambling on the hurricane of 38

While reading many, many sites and related matter from the ’38 Hurricane,
One interesting observation was that in Woonsocket, the windows were encrusted
With sea salt.
Being a good 50 miles from the open ocean, I have no doubt the winds exceeded
120 mph up here as reported in some articles.
I dread even thinking what the effects of a similar storm would be in the “modern”
World. Just repairs to the electrical distribution infrastructure would certainly be
On the order of months not to mention structural damage. With communications,
Computers, television and our primary source of energy
all connected to utility poles, life as we know it would be interrupted
For a considerable period of time.