33, rue de Poissy, 75005 Paris FRANCE

Has anyone else booked here? Has anyone stayed here before? If so, kindly shoot me an email to 4kevinblack@gmail.com.

Thanks

Retour à l'expéditeur

A family member found this letter while going through some old items. While my French has become a bit rusty over the years, I believe this is a letter written to an unknown penpal.

Briefly the letter describes a technical school in Voiron, France. Worth noting is the author's description of the cafeteria and the dormitories. He says that the cafeteria is very very [his emhasis; not mine]well organized with approximately 60 marble tables arranged in two rows with a 150-meter aisle going down the middle of them. The dormitories he describes as having between 50 and 55 beds a piece.


Now check out the archival photos I found on the net of the very thing he was describing by clicking here and cyber-visiting the Lycee scientifique at technologique.

Wild.

Anyone know who Leon Berus is?

Margaritas made simple

Many apologies to those who ventured over to my new and free spot on the innerwebs hoping to find flashy banner ads, free giveaways and material worth reading. Worry not kind reader because as soon as my schedule opens up and I am allotted more time to blog, I will happily do so. As far as the free giveaways, don't hold your breath. Anyone is welcome to venture through my trash though.

I also offer sincere apologies to those who came looking to find nekkid photos of yours truly. For that, you'll simply have to check out my pay site at www.brad-pitt-only-wishes-he-could-look-like-this.com.

Just kidding. I don't really have a pay site, and if I did, I don't know that it would generate much money. Alas.

How about I just share with you a simple margarita recipe that I'm using today to serve to guests? Sound good? Okay, here goes:

1 750 ml bottle of tequila (how much you spend here depends on how much you like the guests)
1 1/2 cups bottled lime juice such as Angostura or Rose's
2 cups triple sec or Cointreau
1 cup of water
several dashes of bitters, some simple syrup and fresh squeezed lime juice to taste

If you didn't figure it out yet this makes a pitcher of boozy goodness, a little heavy on the booze. LaineyB had the brilliant idea of blending together some sugar, lime zest and Kosher salt (our Hasidic Mexican friends love this!) to use to coat the rims of our glasses. Isn't she something else?

I'll let you know how these go over.

cocktailswithkevin is closing its doors . . . kinda

Well, not exactly.

Basically I've just come to the conclusion that forking out $80 a year to have my own domain name just ain't worth it when I only use the site for blogging, which frankly I could do for the everyday-low-price of free. For that reason, beginning Friday, July 18, 2008 the blog will be coming to you live from www.cocktailswithkevin.blogspot.com

Mark your calendars, wake the kids, and phone the neighbors. The next rendition of the blog promises to be new and exciting and fun for the whole family. Until then, I'm gonna cash out my bar tab for this domain.

I look forward to seeing y'all on the flip side.

Dad's Bars recipe

Because it's been a while since I posted a recipe, and I know you people are waiting on pins an needles for me to do so, I've decided to post my famous Dad's Bars recipe. These are so called because I make them and I'm a dad. Should you make them, you can refer to them however you like. Regardless you'll find them to be a yummy substitute for store-bought cereal slash breakfast slash MSG preservative bars.

In a large mixing bowl, blend together:

2 cups oats (quick or instant or whatever)
1 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup puffed wheat cereal (or puffed rice but don't splurge on a cartoon variety; get the big-ass bag of generic for a dollar)

In a saucepan melt one stick of butter with 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of honey and at least 1/4 cup of raisins. Just melt it. Don't let it simmer.

Pour the gooey sweetness into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix throughly. I cheat and use the mixer with the batter paddle attachment but your hands work just as well.

Dump this into a 9"x9" baking dish and cover it with wax paper or aluminum foil. Now press it down good and firm as hard as you can. If necessary, ask a portly person to step on it, being sure to keep the wax paper intact of course.

Put it in the freezer for two hours to set. Then pull it out and cut it into bars. I find this is most easily accomplished with one of those rocking style pizza cutters but do what you like. Alternatively we sometimes cut these into small cubes and call them Dad's Petits Fours.

Good for constipated toddlers. And daddies too!

Y2K+ Parenting

This morning Meryl was sitting in my lap rolling a toy car around my shoulders and over my head.

Meryl: (bringing the car to a stop) Here we are at the library.

Me: Who works at the library?


Meryl: Mommy.

Me: What does Mommy do at the library?

Meryl: Pick out books.

Me: What else does she do?

Meryl: Type on the computer.

Me: What does she type?

Meryl: Dot org.

What had happened was . . .

There are those who like to apologize for their absence from the innerwebs by prefacing their buhterial with some long diatribe as to why they haven't blogged in so long. Then there's me.

Movin' on.

I have recently begun taking the local movie theater up on their offer of a free kids' movie once a week. At two years of age, Meryl is limited in the amount of time she can successfully spend in a dark room crowded with half-eaten tubs of popcorn and sugar-laden daycare kids, so we've yet to make it through an entire film. Fine with me. Somehow neither Evan Almighty nor Doogal really managed to keep me on the edge of my seat for very long.

You see, the movie is free but pickings are slim. On our most recent trip, we could have seen Shrek 3, but since I haven't seen the first two episodes in the Shrek trilogy, I'm sure I'd be lost. The other option was a Veggie Tales flick.

I'm sorry, but I just don't understand the allure of proselytizing legumes that want me to accept them as my personal lord an savior. That's wrong an that's ig'nant. Don't get me started.

Another new local diversion for us has been the Goodwill store. I have written about the Goodwill before. Readers can learn more about my experiences with this charity-driven bargain barn by clicking here. But remember! Kevin is a monkey so he can do things you can't do.

Goodwill is nice because I don't have to worry about Meryl breaking things anymore than they're already broken. Plus the store's not that big so I can usually find a comfy spot on a dusty couch while she runs around or tries out the circa-1984 treadmill. The thing's not turned on so for some reason she likes to jump on it like a trampoline. Sure, we get a few stares from fellow shoppers, but who cares? They're not the boss of me.

One granola looking grandma in a pink tanktop and faded camo pants (both of which looked like she had bought them on a previous visit to the store I might add) did rub me the wrong way by asking if I was "babysitting today." God, how I hate that. I responded with my usual No, I'm parenting. I do it everyday to which she replied Let me get back there and check out that sewing machine, wouldya? I think she was one of those ebay people.

Anyway, parenting is good, marriage is good, and life is good.

It's all good.