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It's March. Has it come in like a lion? Will it go out like a lamb? Will you be shoveling snow or watching crocus come up early? Will you get your Covid shot this month and FINALLY meet that smoldering love of your life for dinner in a secluded hideaway? Yeah, I've been in lock down too long.
This month we have a bit of this and a while bunch of that. All of it designed to help you escape for five minutes while the toast burns.
One thought to leave you with - and we want to do this each month - is to say thanks for being a Daniels Energy customer. We truly appreciate your business.
Have a great month and stay healthy.
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Pioneering black historian Carter Godwin Woodson made it his life's work to find and record African-Americans' history. He published multiple books on African-American history, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and began the scholarly Journal of Negro History, which has never missed an issue since 1916.
Woodson wanted African-Americans to have a history to be proud of, and correct the injustice of African-American contributions being "overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them." Woodson believed they contributed to racism by making it appear that "the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind."
But what Woodson is probably most famous for is creating "Negro History Week" in 1926. He placed it in February to honor Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who were both born in that month. His creation eventually became Black History Month as it is honored in the United States today.
(So, yes, I should have had this in last month's epistle. Better late?)
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Where did states names come from? Well, now you know!
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Hmmmm....
Bars vs. Grocery Stores
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20 Years Ago - Middletown Press
We were celebrating 50 Years in 2002! And we were already serving Connecticut for a quarter century - and David Daniels wasn't even born yet!
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Bobby Duke, a very talented woodcarver and artist in Fort Worth, crafted an amazing wooden floating coffee cup that's tipped over and spilling a rainbow of colored pencils that lands with a big splash onto its base. Duke sold it on eBay for $4,550 with 10% of the proceeds going to St. Jude's Hospital.
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Quiz #1
Yes, it's a rock. That will not win you the $25 Amazon gift card. Tell us its name and where it is located and you'll have a MUCH better chance of winning.
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Daniels Super Spring & Summer Sensational Saving Sale Spectacular!
(Too much?)
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A Crash Blossom is a sentence, often a news headline, that is subject to incorrect interpretation due to syntactic and/or lexical ambiguity. That's what she said. Here are some examples:
Patient At Death's Door - Doctors Pull Him Through
Queen Mary Having Bottom Scraped
Blind Woman Gets Kidney from Dad She Hasn't Seen in Years
Flaming Toilet Seat Causes Evacuation at High School
Collegians are Turning to Vegetables
Quarter of a Million Chinese Live on Water
Farmer Bill Dies in House
Eye Drops off Shelf
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter
Old School Pillars are Replaced by Alumni
4-H Girls Win Prizes for Fat Calves
British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
British Union Finds Dwarfs in Short Supply
Child's Death Ruins Couple's Holiday
Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
Heat Wave Linked to Temperatures
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Infertility Unlikely To Be Passed On
Lack of Brains Hinders Research
Legislator Wants Tougher Death Penalty
Man Jumps Off Bridge. Neither Jumper nor Body Found
Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
Messiah Climaxes In Chorus Of Hallelujahs
Official: Only Rain Will Cure Drought
Putting Mattress On Floor Prevents Fall From Bed
Some Pieces of Rock Hudson Sold at Auction
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
Study Finds Sex, Pregnancy Link
Teenage Girls Often Have Babies Fathered by Men
Two Convicts Evade Noose, Jury Hung
Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Woman Improving After Fatal Crash
No we didn't make these up.
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Too Much Time On Her Hands
The largest measures 1 ft 9.25 in (53.97 cm) in height, the smallest 0.125 in (0.31 cm) in height. The set was completed on 25 April 2003. When all 51 pieces are lined up together touching, they measure 11+ft. in length.
To break this record both the number of dolls in the set and the height of the tallest must be broken. I wonder if she painted each doll's face and the art on the torso, or does the latter represent an applique of commercially printed art? And each of them must be incredibly thin.
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March Wicked Easy Quiz
A chance to exercise those little grey cells. First person to identify this quiz wins a $25 Amazon gift card. Tell us here.
-..././.--/.-/.-./.// -/..../.// ../-.././...// ---/..-.// --/.-/.-./-.-./....//
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Maybe you are over binging. I understand. However, we propose these three shows to help get you through the dog days of winter. You will have to work hard to enjoy them - but they are worth it. Let us know of your favorites...after all the pandemic will be with us in April, too.
Call My Agent - French comedy about a talent agency dealing with the nightmares of clients and each other. And oh, so French.
Then there's something special from Italy...
Rocco Schiavone - a grizzled (aren't they always?) detective having worn out his welcome in warm Roma, gets exiled to the north of Italy - to Acosta - a cold, forbidding (can Italy really be described that way?) outpost where he has to solve crimes and make a new life.
You may need to listen carefully to the Irish accents but...
The Derry Girls is one of the best series on TV. Enjoy.
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Orange & Rosemary Crème Brulee
There is something about custard that produces eye-widening delight. Supple and silky, like the best pudding ever. This Crème Brûlée is made with duck egg yolks, richer and larger than those from chickens, and it is outrageously good. (Even if you cannot find duck eggs, this crème brûlée is worth making.)
Classic crème brûlée consists of just yolks, cream, sugar, and a choice of optional aromatics, like lemon or lavender, in case you desire a little extra nuance.
Here, I opted for orange zest and fresh rosemary, which impart bright notes to the rich custard. After the custard has set, seal it under a sheen of sugar-glass, then gleefully shatter it with the back of your spoon. Bonus, there's a built-in opportunity for another great creation, using the separated whites-meringue-two gifts in one!
| PREP TIME | COOK TIME | MAKES | | 45 minutes | 25 minutes | 4 custards |
Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus more for brûléeing
Finely grated zest from 1/2 orange (about 1 tablespoon)
1 sprig rosemary
4 duck eggs
1 pinch kosher salt
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1
| Grab four 3/4-cup ramekins, shallow porcelain bowls, or small gratin pans (all heatproof). Place on a rimmed sheet pan or baking dish large enough to hold them.
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2
| In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, sugar, and salt, stirring until the sugar dissolves and small bubbles appear around the edges of the cream, 4 to 5 minutes.
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3
| Remove from the heat and add the zest and rosemary. Allow the mixture to steep at room temperature for 45 minutes. The longer the mixture infuses, the more pronounced the flavor will be. Taste after 45 minutes and either allow the aromatics to infuse longer or strain the mixture through muslin draped inside a sieve, or a fine-mesh wire strainer into a bowl. While the cream infuses, heat the oven to 325°F.
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4
| Whisk the yolks in a medium bowl until thickened, about 1 minute or when your arm starts to ache.
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5
| Gradually whisk the cooled cream mixture into the beaten yolks and strain once more.
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6
| Move the sheet pan or baking dish with the ramekins next to the oven. Bring a pot of water to a boil, enough to fill the baking pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
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7
| Equally divide the custard between the four ramekins. Carefully transfer the pan with the custards into the oven. Gently but swiftly pour the hot water into the sheet pan or baking dish, until the water reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins, creating a bain-marie.
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8
| Close the oven door and bake until the custards are set but still tremble slightly in the centers if shaken. Depending on your vessel, this will take 20 to 35 minutes, so start checking at 5 minute intervals after 20 minutes.
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9
| Using tongs in one hand and a potholder in the other, carefully lift the custards out one at a time and place them on a wire rack. Let the custards cool on the rack for 25 minutes.
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10
| Wrap each tautly with cellophane and refrigerate until well chilled, 4 to 24 hours.
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11
| After removing the custards from the fridge, sprinkle a layer of sugar to coat the surfaces. Use a small kitchen torch to cook the sugar until bubbling and caramelized. Repeat with the remaining custards. Wait a few minutes for the sugar shell to harden, then eat.
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I know. But, c'mon, you're still in lockdown, no?
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March Quiz #2
One entry for each correct answer. We'll choose a lucky (clearly older/aging/obsessive Batman fan) winner and provide them with a $25 Amazon gift card!
127 of you recognized Grigori Rasputin last month - which kinda surprised us. Dan L and Margaret R were our winners, while only 38 of you correctly identified St. George's Church in Ethiopia - Patty C. knew and won!
Good luck this month...we have faith in you.
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We've all seen them and wondered, "what in the heck is going on up there?"
And your spouse will say, "It's a murmuration of starlings, dear," as though she had a Ph. D. in applied aeronautics and bird flocking.
Actually a murmuration refers to the phenomenon that results when hundreds, sometimes thousands, of starlings fly in swooping, intricately coordinated patterns through the sky. Yes, it's magnificent to watch - here are some others to enjoy.
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Sudden Snow, a wood block print by Kazuyuki Ohtsu
Born in a time of political and cultural turmoil for his homeland, Kazuyuki Ohtsu (Japanese, b. 1935) spent his formative years under the shadow of war. From this chaos and struggle, he took refuge in reading, and so began his love of the printed word.
This quiet, introspective man would ultimately gain renown for printed images that offer a visual escape and evoke a sense of peace.
Author Bob Hicks, in his monograph on the artist (Kazuyuki Ohtsu, Pomegranate 2016), remarked that despite Ohtsu's real-world experiences and the crush and thrum of life in modern-day Tokyo, the artist has created "a dream Japan."
Here are three more to enjoy.
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Daniels Energy, 8 High Street, Portland CT 06480
Daniels Energy: CT License S1-385517 HOD#19 /
Daniels Propane. LLC: #846 CT License S1-302857
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