Weather ~ Picture of the Day ~ Kris Kristofferson ~ Better Baked Ziti ~ National Tempura Day

  

Good 32º morning.

 

 

Yesterday this was downtown Grants Pass.........

We warmed up to 41º and some snow melted....

Later the snow stopped and we got rain.  We topped at 41º.

 

 

Picture of the Day 😁

 

 

 

Interesting about Kris Kristofferson....

 

 

Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is an American retired country singer, songwriter, and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night", all of which were hits for other artists.

 

In 1985, Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in the country music super group The Highwaymen, which was a key creative force in the outlaw country music movement that eschewed the traditional Nashville country music machine in favor of independent songwriting and producing.

 

As an actor, Kristofferson is known for his roles in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Blume in Love (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), A Star Is Born (1976) (which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor), Convoy (1978), Heaven's Gate (1980), Lone Star (1996), Stagecoach (1986), and the Blade film trilogy (1998–2004).

 

In 2004, Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

Early life and education

Kristoffer Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (née Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson, a U.S. Army Air Corps officer (later a U.S. Air Force major general). His paternal grandparents emigrated from Sweden, while his mother had English, Ulster-Scots, German, Swiss-German, and Dutch ancestry. Kristofferson's paternal grandfather was an officer in the Swedish Army. While Kristofferson was a child, his father pushed him toward a military career.

 

San Mateo, California

Kristofferson moved around frequently as a youth because of his father's military service, and they settled in San Mateo, California. He graduated from San Mateo High School in 1954. An aspiring writer, Kristofferson immediately enrolled in Pomona College. His early writing included prize-winning essays, and "The Rock" and "Gone Are the Days" were published in The Atlantic Monthly. These early stories reveal the roots of Kristofferson's passions and concerns. "The Rock" is about a geographical feature resembling the form of a woman, while the latter was about a racial incident.

 

At the age of 17, Kristofferson took a summer job with a dredging contractor on Wake Island in the western Pacific Ocean. He called it "the hardest job I ever had".

Pomona College

Kristofferson attended Pomona College and experienced his first national exposure in 1958, appearing in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" on March 31 for his achievements in collegiate rugby union, American football, and track and field. He and his classmates revived the Claremont Colleges Rugby Club in 1958, and it remains a Southern California rugby institution. Kristofferson graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in literature. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year. In a 2004 interview with Pomona College Magazine, Kristofferson mentioned philosophy professor Frederick Sontag as an important influence in his life.

 

In 1973, Kristofferson received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Pomona College during Alumni Weekend, accompanied by fellow performers Johnny Cash and Rita Coolidge. His award was presented to him by his aforementioned mentor, Professor Sontag.

 

^{If you want to read a whole lot more, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kristofferson}

 

 

 

From Mr. Food

 

What makes this a Better Baked Ziti than your everyday easy pasta recipe? We think it has something to do with the three different cheeses that make this baked ziti recipe so ooey-gooey good, but we'll let you decide. One thing is for sure, this easy baked ziti recipe is going to be a hit come dinnertime!

 

• 1 pound ziti
• 1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 (28-ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Coat a 9- x 13-inch baking dish or 3-quart casserole with cooking spray.
    
2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook ziti until just barely tender; drain and place in a large bowl.
    
3. Add ricotta cheese, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, garlic, salt, and parsley to the ziti; mix well. Spread half the spaghetti sauce over bottom of prepared baking dish. Spoon ziti mixture into baking dish; cover with remaining spaghetti sauce, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
    
4. Bake 25 minutes, then top with remaining mozzarella cheese and bake 10 additional minutes, or until heated through.

5. serves 6

 

***Use your favorite type of flavored spaghetti sauce to add additional flavor to this ziti. And don't worry if you don't have ziti on hand -- just substitute any other equal-sized pasta shape.

 

 

Historically this date.......

1952 – President Harry S. Truman announces that the United States has developed the hydrogen bomb.

1980 – President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.

1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.

And births this date include....

1800 – Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)

1911 – Butterfly McQueen, American actress (d. 1995)

"I ain't birthin' no babies!"

 

 

1922 – Vincent Gardenia, Italian-born actor (d. 1992)

 

1929 – Terry Moore, American actress (only 5 husbands!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1941 – Frederick D. Gregory, NASA astronaut

1956 – David Caruso, American actor

 

1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor

The son of comparative literature professor August Coppola (a brother of director Francis Ford Coppola) and dancer/choreographer Joy Vogelsang, Cage changed his name early in his career to make his own reputation, succeeding brilliantly with a host of classic, quirky roles by the late 1980s. Initially studying theatre at Beverly Hills High (though he dropped out at 17)... and.... he's had 5 wives!

 

1966 – Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, American publicist (d. 1999)

 

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Have a good Sunday. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

On January 7th, National Tempura Day encourages us to celebrate with a dish made with a tempura batter. This Japanese fare is made up of either seafood or vegetables dipped in batter and deep-fried.

Portuguese Jesuit missionaries introduced the recipe for tempura to Japan during the sixteenth century (around 1549).  It is believed that Portuguese Jesuit Tokugawa Isyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, loved tempura. Since the Genroku era (September 1688 – March 1704), tempura was traditionally a very popular food eaten at street vendors called ‘yatai.’

Today, chefs all over the world include tempura dishes on their menus. They use a wide variety of different batters and ingredients, including the nontraditional broccoli, zucchini, and asparagus as well as dry fruits. Some meats, usually chicken and cheeses, particularly mozzarella, are known to be served tempura-style in some American restaurants.

For sushi lovers, a more recent variation of tempura sushi provides a new way of enjoying the delicacy. Entire pieces of sushi are dipped in batter and tempura-fried.