Cup of Coffee

June 23, 2019: Unseasonal Precipitation

72 Comments

I mentioned listening to that Duff podcast awhile back which lead me to dusting off some G’n’R. I accidentally got the boy into “November Rain” and now every time he requests it, it gets stuck in my head for three days at a clip.

72 thoughts on “June 23, 2019: Unseasonal Precipitation”

  1. Former Twins great Joe Benson is playing for something called Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in the independent Atlantic League. In 17 game he is slashing .212/.224/.394/.618.

    1. Good for him for continuing to play. I feel bad about Joe Benson, for reasons I can't really pinpoint.* He was three times a Top 5 prospect in the organization, and made the BA Top 100 for two years. Through 2011 he'd hit well at every level through AA, often being a couple years younger than average for the level, but the wheels came off in 2012.

      I feel the same way about Rich Becker, for whatever reason, even though he made it to the majors. Both guys are from Chicagoland.

      1. Joe Benson is one that really hurts for me. Dude just looked like he should become a star. Toolsy and athletic. He was an A/AA star who could not make the leap to AAA. (Benson had a September call-up cuppa with the Twins in 2011, btw. He'll always have this game to look back on, wistfully)

        1. Yep. Toolsy guys who rip doubles and play center field are easy to dream on, and it's not like Benson was an 83rd-rounder.

          As for that game, looking at the box score, I experienced an intense sense of whatever the antonym of "nostalgia" is* — Tosoni, Dinkelman, Hughes, Tolbert, Butters...hard pass, man.

          * Wiktionary suggests "nostophobia", which doesn't feel quite right. It's not fear, it's loathing.

        2. I saw Benson play in a Rockcats game when on a trip out there. He absolutely stood out for all the right reasons. A real shame that didn't work out.

          1. I wonder if it would have worked out if he was drafted now. There's greater focus on developing players rather than letting attrition the minor leagues hone them.

      2. Oh yeah, its kind of cool he is still playing. I always felt the Twins didnt give him a fair shot (its an irrational take I know). As Doc said, he just looked like a baseball player.

        Also, former Twins standout pitcher Pat Dean is on that team.

  2. Home run Game Update/Rules

    Remember, anyone can join or play whenever. Clearly, the game is rigged, but there's always second place!

    Call 1 homer: 1 point
    Call 1 homer from bench player : 3 points *NEW RULE* can be called during game
    Call 2 homers (can be same player): 5 points
    Call 3 homers (can be same player or combo): 10 points

    You can make calls before game or during game. If you correctly get a point early in the game and want to let it ride, you can add another player at risk of losing point.

    Beau 6
    zoomx 5
    HJ 3
    Philo 3
    free 2
    rhubarb 2
    nibbish 2
    BrianS 2
    cheaptoy 1
    twayn 1
    DreadPirate 1
    geoff 1
    socal 1
    rowsdower 1

      1. I should have quit after my first two.

        with Homer Bailey on the mound today for KC, I'm tempted to say "everyone." But I'll go with Wahnsinnig Max.

  3. Is there an easy way to post a picture from my phone? I have a mystery I would like help solving.

    1. I usually go through the Dashboard and select Media—>Add New. That should allow you to select an image from your phone, regardless of the model.

      1. Thanks for the help; let's see if this works.

        We found this ball earlier today while cleaning. Sheenie thinks it was signed at TwinsFest in either 2005 or 2006, but has no idea who signed it. I can't figure it out either. Any help?

        Spoiler SelectShow

          2. He was someone I considered, but then I found his signature around here and realized it wasn't a match.

          1. Checking against that online and ... yup! The Rod is identical. The Carew is a little different from others I see online, but close enough. Thanks, RR!

  4. So facing Homer Bailey today. Should I pick 2 Homers today? Nah, I will just go with Kepler.

    I think a fun twist to Beau's game would be to give one bonus point for the first homer of the game. Just a thought. Might add another layer of fun.

  5. Biscuits and sausage gravy for Sunday brunch. Sometimes you have to feed your soul, too.

    1. I made a fajita chicken egg bake with roasted tomato sour cream. I took grape tomato halves and tossed with olive oil and a salsa seasoning we had in the back of the cupboard. Roast for 10 minutes, cool down, then in the processor with a dollop of ketchup and some sour cream. It was tasty. I have been making homemade roasted tomato ketchup using the same principle. Roasted tomato, ketchup, sriracha.

      1. The wife is making Parmesan chicken and fettuccine Alfredo for dinner, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

            1. Funny, when checking out the Joe Benson boxscore above, I saw Parmelee's name in the line up and laughed. How ironic.

      2. That sounds really good. I got a jar of roasted Calabrian peppers a couple weeks back and added them to many dishes - good find.

      3. Fancy, zoooms.

        Grilling burgers tonight. Pre-salted this morning, and I have some poblanos to roast for green chile cheeseburgers.

    2. I'm braising beef in chili sauce, and churning homemade ice cream. I'm also killing it.

      1. Today is leftovers and frozen pizza day, unfortunately, but yesterday was grilled shrimp tacos, so it's okay.

        1. My kids wanted pizza today and fortunately they told me early enough in the day that I could get some dough made. Cheese for them, chicken Alfredo for us.

    3. Sounds delicious!

      I’m making chicken tikka masala tonight. This is at least the fourth recipe I’ve tried in hopes of finding a really good version, but all the others end up too bland.

          1. I should have tripled the spices. It was good (crushed tomatoes and heavy cream is probably always going to be good...) but could have been better.

            My InstantPot attempts have been ok, but I think this one was better. I followed the recipe, except I grilled the chicken instead of using the broiler. Tripling the spices might have made it spot on.

            The naan from the refrigerated section of Costco was delicious though, so I’d definitely recommend that.

              1. I've made that a number of times and also have her book and both are awesome. I highly, highly recommend the Chicken Biryani recipe.

                1. co-sign. And an easy variation is shrimp biryani. But you have to make sure to soak the rice for ~20 minutes first.

                  #instantpotlyfe

                    1. Melissa Clark recipe for shrimp biryani. The curry leaves are not essential, but add considerably. I found them at an Indian grocery and keep some in my freezer.

                      Truth be told, I don't think I bothered with the boiling water. I just added room-temp water and it was fine. But boiling water would probably protect the shrimp from over-cooking by getting the pot up to pressure faster.

                      PREPARATION
                      Place the rice in a bowl and cover with 2 cups water. Let stand for 20 minutes, then drain and rinse.
                      Heat oil in the pot of an electric pressure cooker with the sauté function set on high, until oil is shimmering. Add onion; cook for about 4 minutes, until softened. Stir in Serrano chile, ginger, garlic, salt, chile powder, turmeric, paprika and curry leaves; cook for about 1 minute, until fragrant.
                      Stir in boiling water; using a wooden spoon, stir, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Stir in soaked rice, shrimp and tomatoes (with juice).
                      Secure the lid and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Quick-release the pressure, stir lime juice into the rice, then cover the pressure cooker with a kitchen towel and let it sit for 5 minutes.
                      Give rice a stir, then taste and add more salt, if needed. Transfer to a platter, garnish with cilantro and serve with lime wedges on the side.

                      INGREDIENTS
                      2 cups basmati rice
                      2 teaspoons vegetable oil
                      1 onion, chopped
                      1 Serrano chile, minced
                      2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
                      1 tablespoon minced garlic
                      2 teaspoons kosher salt
                      1 teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder
                      1 teaspoon ground turmeric
                      1 teaspoon smoked paprika
                      10 fresh curry leaves, torn into pieces
                      1 ½ cups boiling water
                      1 ½ pounds jumbo shrimp (16 to 20 or fewer per pound, see note), peeled and deveined
                      1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
                      2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice, plus more wedges for serving
                      ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

                    4. Okay. That makes more sense. I thought instant pots had a higher minimum number of minutes in order to function.

  6. Bought tickets for the Twins/Chisox game for Sunday, July 28th. Front row, a few sections past the visiting dugout. $35/seat seemed really reasonable. Day game. Still trying to figure out lodging. Most downtown hotels are around $200 + fees + $50-$70/night for parking. Any thoughts out there on this? Should we just bite the bullet and stay downtown, or any other ideas? I think we will stay in Chicago July 25th-29th. Planning on hitting Wisconsin family on the way there, and take a couple day drive through Michigan and UP of Michigan on the way back.

    1. haha, i'm not sure about the rest, but that just might be the day i scheduled our company's summer outing for. let's be sure to say hi.

      1. okay, i do have thoughts on the rest. depending on how you want to do it, if you get yourself on an el line, it's reasonably easy to get around, though it may take a little extra time. for example, i work right next to the rosemont stop on the blue line next to o'hare. weekend rates should be cheaper there. trains plus taxis/rideshares will cost you a little extra time, but a lot less money by the looks of it.

            1. Definitely, shoot me an email with your contact info and I will get it in my phone. If you don't have it, go to the joint's webpage: pikeandpint.com and the contact us feature goes to my personal email. Would love to meet up!

    2. We stayed in Hotel Essex several years ago -- south end of downtown area. Not sure how it is now, but it was more reasonable than some of the others

    3. Years ago, the O'hare Hilton was pretty reasonable on the weekends. The el line ran all night so pretty easy to get around.

      It's usually cheaper to just fly to Chicago than park. I know that might not work of you're swinging through Wisconsin

    4. I've had some good luck with Air BnB on northside. I bet you could find something decent in Hyde Park area (hello Obama) that is relatively close to GRF.

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