Fathers Day

Dear Dad,

Yeah I know. I'm supposed to be an atheist so why am I talking to you? Well, it is "Father's Day," I'm actually an agnostic not an atheist ( don't give me crap I'll commit to something eventually), and I needed someone to talk to who leaves the nonsense out of the conversation and no, talking to you is not nonsense just because you're gone. Remember what Father Clark used to say, "Just because you don't believe in leprechauns doesn't mean it's not a good idea to leave a saucer of tea out on the lawn once and awhile". Well, I need to chat once and awhile, no harm no foul right?

 I'm sorry I got tied up last night but there was a birthday and partying and well, you know. It ended up being late, the reservation was closed so I didn't make it out to the end of the island to meet the sunrise this morning. I did the next best thing though and brought a pole and a chair out by the mouth on the Salisbury side of the river. It was cold and you know I can't fish worth a damn but it felt good to be there. Find the right place and time and the universe just stuns you doesn't it?

So what's the news? Well, I am still the same old agnostic you raised from a pup.

I know Dad, I'll do some push-ups. I promise.

I'm not as crusty as I pretend to be though. I still get involved with the democratic party even though they are a bunch of timid weasels. Heck I was even a delegate to the convention this year. Yeah, it was mostly a pep rally but what the hell, at my age I can use all the pep I can get. By the way Mitt Romney nailed down the Republican nomination for president. I know Mom finally wore you down on the whole conservative thing, but you must be a little pleased right? You would have been all Mitt all the way back in 85. Yeah, I understand that the Republicans have gone batshit crazy which had at least as much to do with your shift in viewpoint as Mom, but I'm sure she wore you down too.

As for your second oldest son he is still a pointy-headed eastern elite collage professor. Still a serious stoic too. All your kids are. We could have been the worse street gang ever, no fighting but boy could we all take a beating. Funny since you never laid a hand on any of us. Teach by example I guess.

...and now we will deconstruct the poetry of John Donne

He's writing a book on ethics ( a real page turner I'm sure), going to England to give a paper, riding his bike 100 miles at a pop just for fun, just generally doing the kinds of things Bill O'Rielly knows will ruin America. I'll bet he even sent a check to the ALCU. Why not? I did.

So I guess I have to say I'm jealous. While I was doing my faux James Dean thing in the 70's he was laying the ground work for a meaningful life. What a dope. Who ever told him that hard work and persistence would pay off? Oh wait, that would be you wouldn't it?

You're third son is still the massive world traveler. I think he just got back from Mexico. Mom's going out to visit him in September. I wonder if having two older sibs that were screaming lefties had anything to do with his conservative turn, or maybe it was you again. I'm guessing both.

He does do his homework though.

We wore him down though. He never argues from the hip anymore. Always with the facts to back himself up. Doesn't he know the new right isn't about facts they are about winning? Yeah, I know the left gets it wrong too, but when they do they at least have the decsency to look embarassed and they definitely don't keep on repeating the BS they just got called out on. Well maybe Oberman but he was banished to god knows what channel while the FOX gang still pulls in 2,000,000 viewers a night. People like the world to be the way they think it is even if it isn't.

Your youngest has had a rotten three years. To start things off his father died, but you definitely knew that. Then came the divorce, which you saw coming. Finally he is trying to get a life  going for himself again but his kids need him all the time and he's working himself to death, and he's looking after Mom's, your, house and the ex still plays games and he doesn't want to be ruled by money but this is America in 2012 after all and...and and and and...

Fortunately he has the right kind of personality.

 I don't understand why conservatives think gay marriage is a threat to the family. Modern life is a threat to the family. Consumer culture is a threat to the family. Narssism as a way of life is a threat to the family. I'll go out on a limb here for my friends that just had their first children these past months. Kudos by the way if you are reading this.  The only material thing I "remember" from my childhood is my first bike. Everything I "cherish" from my childhood was you teaching me how to ride that bike, throwing me the football, helping me hit the baseball, taking me to the Thanksgiving game every year, hiking us through the woods, making the monsters go away when I was little, and making me realize there were no monsters when I was bigger, always taking the high road, always cutting to the chase, standing by me when I was right, getting me to man up when I was wrong, setting boundries for me and living by them yourself. Oh yeah, and being proud of me even when I wasn't proud of myself. When the best guy you ever met is proud of you that counts for a lot. Thanks.

Keeping that in mind I wanted to grill up a couple of blue fish in your honor for fathers day but my lack of fishing talent and the fact that it is still early in the season left me empty handed. Thank God for the local fishmonger... only they didn't have any bluefish either. Oh well, if you think about it things taste better in your memory than they do in real life anyway so imaginary grilled bluefish it is.

Everyone knows the heads and bones is where the flavor lies.

So you will need either a couple of 2 pound bluefish fillets or a 5 or 6 pound whole bluefish cleaned. If you caught it yourself call me and I will explan the cleaning process.

1. Blue fish is oily so we are going to make a sort of wet rub that will draw off some of the oil and sharpen the flavor.
2. If you have a cool grill basket like in the picture we will let the fire do most of the work so take a large dollop of dijon mustard and mix it with a half cup of orange juice, a quarter cup of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a sirrachi squirt according to your own heat tolerance (Sirrachi is my current crush. If you want to use something different this is America and recipes, except when baking, are suggestions not laws. Ha, Martha Stewart). 
3. Smear it all over the fish. Inside too if the fish is whole.
4. If it's whole toss some sprigs of fresh thyme into the cavity while you're at it Rosemary would be nice too. Don't do both though. It's not a law, but they will clash.
5. Stick the fish in the grill basket. 8 minutes a side for fillets 10 to 12 for a whole fish.
6. Now if you don't have a grill basket break out the heavy duty aluminum foil. Non-stick if you can get it.
7. You will need enough foil to make a pouch that will contain the fish while forming a dome over the fish that will not touch the fish itself. 
8. Add mayonnaise in double the amount of the mustard to our rub.
9. Place the fillets skin side down on the bottom piece of foil.
10. Slather on the rub, use a lot. If you have a whole fish go inside and out.
11. Add the herbage, some tomato slices would be nice, 3 or 4 thick slices of onion couldn't hurt either.
12. Seal and throw the whole thing on the grill for 15 minutes.
13. Don't touch it. It doesn't look particularly wet, but there is now a lot of moisture in the packet from the vegetables, fish, and rub. Which is currently poaching the heck out of our blue fish.
14. After 15 minutes use a chopstick or one of those big scary kitchen forks to poke a bunch of holes in the pouch. Slap the lid on the grill for maximum effect but it really doesn't matter, that bad boy is going to start smoking like a house on fire.
15. After another 5 to 10 minutes you have supper. The fish will flake easily

Hey Dad, I did a whole recipe without using butter, Mmmm! Butter, or beacon, Mmmm! Beacon. Plus, Mom is doing better even  though it's never going to be the same for her. She's a trooper in her own way though, but I guess you knew that too. Now I have some imaginary fish to eat, Ciao!

Convention

• 1a way in which something is usually done, especially within a particular area or activity:the woman who overturned so many conventions of children’s literature
• behavior that is considered acceptable or polite to most members of a society:he was an upholder of convention and correct formsocial conventions
• Bridge an artificial bid by which a bidder tries to convey specific information about the hand to their partner.

• 2an agreement between countries covering particular matters, especially one less formal than a treaty.

• 3a large meeting or conference, especially of members of a political party or a particular profession:a convention of retail merchants
• (in the US) an assembly of the delegates of a political party to select candidates for office.
• an organized meeting of enthusiasts for a television program, movie, or literary genre:a Star Trek convention

a body set up by agreement to deal with a particular issue:the convention is a UN body responsible for the regulation of sea dumping.
I went to the Democratic State convention last Saturday. I was a delegate for Elizabeth Warren. This was a huge problem for me. First off the Convention, but  I'm guessing every Convention since this was my first one, struck me as a strange land of sharks and sheep. The sharks show up with an agenda that includes obtaining power, status, and benefits with in the shell of a political event. The sheep show up as good citizens intent on doing their civic duty and maybe feeling like they have some control over the way things work. Almost everybody there had taken a good healthy swig of the kool-aid. I hate kool-aid.

Red State? Blue State? Doesn't matter; Kool Aid sucks!

 Chanting? What is this, Cub Scouts? Hand claps? Yep, Cub Scouts. Flattery? For showing up? For participating? Do I get a massage with a happy ending if I actually do something, or will a hefty campaign contribution suffice? Meet the stars? Over greasy eggs in a hall full of other people that "showed up" ? Stand in line, I guess a handshake is better than a pat on the head. You get the gist, yet for all the moments I rejected as cheese-ball, corrupt, or corruptly cheesy I still tip my hat to the folks that at least try to get in the fight. As sad as the process got, and trust me sometimes it was killing Old Yeller sad, at least all of the people in that hall have picked a team, taken a position, supported a side. I imagine the same is true at a Republican convention only with more blazers and a side serving of KKK. What bothers me is most registered voters in this country self identify as having no identity. Independent? WTF? Pick a team people. Do the research. Convention is good, convention is how society holds together, convention is how things get done. More importantly you aren't unconventional by refusing to choose. You are conceding the fight to those that do.

Yeah Fat man, maybe you have time for politics but I have important things to do.

Rich sociopaths run our country. They bath in babies tears. They pay $20,000 dollars for a court-side ticket to tonights Celtic game then don't bother to go because they're tired. They feed porterhouse to their dogs while they rail against food-stamps. They hate welfare but put their hand in your pocket when their too big to fail schemes actually fail. They own factories full of illegal aliens unless their factory is in Bangladesh avoiding our environmental and safety laws. They have spent literally billions of dollars over the last 30 years to convince you that freedom and them bending you over a chair are the same thing. (billions) 

Oh no! He's going for the sports metaphor!

Convention has it that a team, instilled with the fundamentals, working together, with a singular goal, can beat a crap load of money, privileged behavior and a loaded deck. Game 6 of the Celtics/Heat series is still a couple of hours away so that theory is still in flux right now, which is how I want it to always be. I want the working people of this country to rejoin the process. I want you to join a team and out work the sociopaths.
 If you are a right winger who thinks that corporations should run free and unchecked, that social security and medicare are a scam, that illegal aliens are horrible unless you need a nanny or a gardner or cheap factory labor, that health care isn't a right, that banks should be able to play roulette with your savings, that poor people deserve to be poor, and that Obama was born in Kenya I want you to go down to the local registry and sign up as a republican.

...but I'm a liberal!

Well that makes 4 of us. So if you are a left winger who believes that if only everyone had a collage degree toilets would start cleaning themselves, that the money that Clinton, Bush, and Obama stole from the the social security fund to make their budgets look better doesn't matter because social security is fine dammit! that instead of the worlds biggest military we don't need any military at all, that you can wallow in consumer goods and still be a good lefty, that unions didn't abandon the rest of us these last 30 years while they tried desperately to "keep theirs", that there is no difference between a public and private union, I want you to go down to the local registry and sign up as a democrat.
Neither of you is going to get exactly what you want, because you're both bat-shit crazy, but at least if you participate you might learn a little more about how thing work than Rush or the Kardashians have been telling you. Maybe I won't have to go to a convention and rubber stamp a bunch of candidates the got picked in back rooms by party hacks, and maybe when you step into the voting booth you won't have to hold your nose and vote for your "side", but rather pull a lever for your choice. There are only two parties in this country with serious power; decide, pick, and get on with it. Join the convention and maybe it won't be so lame anymore.
When I got back from the convention I went right to G-girls house for Greek food. If you are going to be unconventional that is a great place to start. Hell I wasn't there 20 minutes and I was stuffing my face with carp eggs and taboli, and hummus and chickpea salad and fresh feta, and olives and that was just the crudites. By the time I was on my second plate of pastichio (greek mac and cheese) I had a full bore food coma coming on. G-girl was relentless though and rolled out the galaktoboureko.

The next time I hire a hooker, after I've paid for my hour and done my business, I'm going to use the other 57 minutes to have her make galaktoboureko.

I'm not even going to give you a recipe for this stuff. I've never made it myself so I don't know what pitfalls you might run in to so I'll just say find a recipe and give it a try. I've never seen this in any store and it is way to good to not eat all the time. A party in my mouth sums it up. What I will tell you to make since the fresh mint is already in season is mojitos.

Sunshine in a glass.

Muddle that thing into submission

You will need fresh mint, limes, light rum, simple syrup, and sparkling water. A muddler can be obtained from you better stocked liquor stores.

1. Put 5 or 10 mint leave in a Collins glass.
2. Add a hefty wedge of lime, but not that hefty. You want to perfume the drink not overwhelm it.
3. Add a squirt of simple syrup. 
4. Muddle. Downward pressure with a twist. Torture that stuff. Don't break the glass!
5. Add a couple of shots of rum, maybe 3.
6. Ice. Crushed if you have it cubes if you don't.
7. Top it with sparking water or club soda.
8. Drink, repeat.

Go Celtics! I'm a conventional guy, confirm my world view.