A great Idea!

So before I was so rudely interrupted by three days of more work than I could handle ( sorry boss, I'll try to clean up the mess tomorrow), I was waxing poetic about my second favorite holiday. We have a seafood theme going he so I figured let's just go with it.

We already have the grill hot for the scallops from 2 posts ago so let's chug on ahead. It's the 4th, we're celebrating, so let's have a snack that is delicious and will help put a little lead in your pencil ( zinc is essential to proper pencil function ) .

1. Put a heavy pot on the grill.
2. Add a pound of butter. Mmmm, Butter!
3. While the butter melts chop some garlic fine, add it to the pot.
4. Shuck a bunch of oysters by putting a thick heavy blade into the opening by the back hinge and twisting. Or just throw them on the grill and close the lid, they'll open.
5. Lose the top shell, save the oyster and the nectar.
6. Sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese.
7. Close the lid for a couple of minutes till the cheese starts to melt.
8. Add a teaspoon of the garlic butter, Mmmm butter! to each oyster.
9. Give it another minute.
10. Serve with Tabasco and a squeeze of lemon

Still hungry? Add another pound of butter, Mmmm butter! to the pan. Time for turbo charged lobster rolls.

Now a good idea is a traditional lobster roll, lobster, mayo, hotdog bun. Perfect really. Still, why settle for perfect?

1. You needed to start a day early with 3 or 4 good sized lobsters.
2. Steam, do not boil, them.
3. After the first 3 minutes of steaming take the lobsters out and pull off all the legs. Return the rest to the pot and steam for 20 minutes.
4. We grabbed the legs because they are loaded with meat which you will never get to once the buggers are completely cooked.
5. In their current state you can lay the legs on a cutting board and using a rolling pin ( start at the claw end) you can roll the meat out of the shell.
6. Saute the meat in butter with lots of finely chopped shallots.
7. Clean the rest of the lobster meat from the shells, give it a rough chop, and save for the rolls.
8. Back to today: take a package of New England style hot dog buns. Brush one side with the garlic butter, Mmmm butter! and lay them on the grill. Brush the other side with more butter,Mmmm butter!
9. Dump the lobster meat into the remaining butter, Mmmm butter! add some fresh tarragon, and mix. Then get it away from the heat, you don't want any more cooking going on.
10. Flip the rolls when they get brown. They go from brown to burned really fast so be careful.
11. Load up the rolls with lobster.
12. Give it a squeeze of lemon and a grind of black pepper,

So while we are talking about good ideas.

My right wing friends think America is a religion, my left wing friends all too often think America is a problem, me, I think it's a good, no great, idea. Try this on for size.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883

Great stuff Huh? Suddenly it wasn't all about Kings and Queens. Heredity wasn't destiny anymore. We the people...     hell yeah! There were bumps in the road, misery and all the follies that humans bring to the table, but it is still a great idea. (Not as good as grilled oysters, but close). Not a religion, sometimes a problem, but always a growing changing positive in a world where victories don't have to go to the powerful as long as the rest of us stick together.

Now as the last fireworks fizzle out and the kids are ready for bed, take a moment with the one who brang you. It's hot, steamy, summer weather today. I hear thunder off in the distance. Get her a cold one, reach way down in the barrel so it's really frosty. Turn on the stereo, an old scratchy turntable would really sell the mood,and drop on something steamy. How about...

There's sex music just as good, but nothing better. Dance her around slow so she doesn't spill her beer, take your time, always take your time, hold her firm but not too tight, and by that last sharp note you should be ready for a second round of fireworks. Unless the kids wake up. Hey this is America, it's about opportunity not guarantees. In the end you are always on your own.