Let This Year Be THE Year!

Yesterday, all was well in the realm of sport. Purdue football won (albeit narrowly), IU and Notre Dame football lost, and most importantly, the Chicago Cubs clinched their division and made the playoffs inback-to-back years for the first time in 100 years! In case you didn't know, this year also commemorates the 100 year anniversary of the last Cubs world championship. Here's hoping for 11 wins in October!

Business Trip to St. Louis = Cubs Win!

One of the perks of having to travel to St. Louis last week for work was the opportunity to see the Cubs play (and beat!) the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. It was my first time there, and it is a very nice new stadium right in the heart of downtown St. Louis. Fortunately, the Cubs were victorious (although it got close at the end), and I got to revel in the win with the multitude of Cubs fans in attendance.

Go Cubs Go!

Fantasy Football Update

So Week 1 is in the books, and I narrowly edged my fantasy football opponent by 2 points (161-159) to log my first win of the season. It was a nail-biter as a third quarter touchdown catch by Darrell Jackson in the late Monday Night Football matchup almost did me in. Also, my men have been spared the injury bug so far as, thankfully, I didn't have Brady, Colston, Burleson, Merriman, et al. This week, be sure to root AGAINST Hasselback, Stephen Jackson, Hines Ward, Larry Johnson, and Braylon Edwards.

In other football notes...how about them Bears?! Yes, it was an awesome game, and despite having to hit the road really early on Monday morning for work, I watched the entire game. Poor, poor Colts fans. I guess I can proudly sport my NFC Champion Bears shirt this week (if only I were actually in Indy and not out of town).

Forte had a great game running the ball...can he keep it up, and how did our O-line get so good all of a sudden?

Alex Brown bringing down Mr. Manning. Will the D keep up the trend and resemble the Super Bowl team instead of the geriatric team of last season?

Labor Day Weekend in Michigan

Lynne and I spent Friday night through Monday afternoon with her dad and Marilyn in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was a very relaxing long weekend of loafing, hanging out, cooking, eating, playing croquet, eating some more, and watching some football and movies (nice game UofM, maybe Purdue can actually beat you this year). Otis enjoyed trying to play with Wesley, but overall, he behaved very well and got a great deal of loving from his grandma and grandpa.




One of the highlights was a great meal we cooked on Sunday night. The meal consisted of somked jamaican chicken using an electric smoker, corn on the cob, gazpacho, prosciutto wrapped melon, and chocolate brownies with rubarb compote. Below are some pictures and the recipe for the amazing gazpacho. I'm not a big tomato fan, but this soup was out of bounds (to use a Guy-ism).



Gazpacho with herbs and chiles:

Mix the following ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and chill until cold, at least 2 hours, and we recommend making it at least one day ahead of time to let the flavors marry.

4 cups tomato juice
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 cucumber, halved, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, finely chopped (you see a trend here? to chop all of these, feel free to use a food processor)
2 tomatoes, seeded, finely chopped
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped and seeded jalapenos
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablesppon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper