The musings of a madman...

This will be my shortest one of these ever, but it really was just as easy as I will make it out to be. 1 - go to Grocery store with daughter, buy boneless/skinless chicken breasts, bread crumbs (regular OR panko, I used both), and parmesan. (pictured: cute baby and none of the ingredients) 2 - cut chicken into strips and dip into all-purpose flour, set aside 3 - set out an eggwash (mine consists of 2 beaten eggs and one dash each apple cider vinegar and olive oil and some seasonings), and a 3-to-1 mixture of seasoned bread crumbs and parmesan. (additional option: add some crushed sunflower kernels and/or cashews - use the mini chopper to dust them up nicely) 4 - dip floured chicken in egg wash, then roll in bred crumb mixture, then place onto a foiled/sprayed cookie sheet 5 - pre-heated 375° oven for 45 minutes or until the fattest part of your thickest one is 165° with the meat thermometer Enjoy! I warn that these will be crispy the first time you have them,

1: Humble Beginnings      We all know the story of basketball’s beginnings. Dr. Naismith was commissioned with the creation of an indoor activity to keep kids in his YMCA busy on rainy days or in the harsh New England winters in Springfield, MA.  In a dearth of seed money or other outside resources, a peach basket was nailed to a wall ten feet in the air and the objective was to throw the ball (then a soccer ball – specifically-designed basketballs  wouldn't  come until later) into the basket within the constraints of a set of rules he had written out prior to nailing the baskets up. Compared to what “basket-ball” – as a then-skeptical Dr. Naismith called the game in his diaries – would become, it really doesn’t seem feasible that beginnings get more humble than that.  From his brainchild, the activity became sport played in YMCAs throughout the US, spreading through the rest of North America as well and eventually into high schools and colleges en route to taking hold

     Allow me a moment to explain what it is we’re about to embark on… Back in May, I had this idea that I would write a book that would detail the connected histories of Hip Hop and Professional Basketball.  In June I got married, then had the week leading up to my birthday off of work.  In that time, I got a lot of work done on it, but it was not shaping up to be voluminous to be worth attempting to pursue a whole book’s worth of writing on.  As of the date that I type this (10/15/2012), I was a hair over 10,000 words into the project and running out of steam enough to carry it any further.  I mean that to say that I was almost “done,” and would need an amount of input up to about four times the amount of words I had put into it.      Given the length of what I DID have, though, I would not be willing to let it go to waste, and that is what brings me here today.  Instead of a book, I will publish the presentation as a series of blogs to be posted every Tuesday until I h

A repost of mammarial proportions ... (yes, I know that "mammarial" is not a word, or was not until now) I'd originally posted this blog in October 2007, and as the date draws near again my mind has not changed one little bit, nor has the importance of the subject at hand, so here goes... Do you know what this week is? According to   NYC Cancer Prevention , the 3rd Friday in every October is "National Mammography Day." I know what you're thinking, "But Phillip, you don't have titties," and the jokes of my man-boobs are damn near moot, as they are just about gone now. I DO have a sense of humor about myself and I know that I am     still not a small person by any stretch of the imagination, but I digress... I have taken on the vigil to make sure that no woman misses out on their mammogram this coming Friday. I work for a company in the healthcare industry, so I am 100% sure and clear of the shortcomings in availability an

Meatballs, that is. Warning, there might be gratuitous innuendousness in this post. Every Tuesday for the past 5 (going on 6) weeks now, I have made meatballs from ground chicken/turkey sausage.  These were the ones I made two weeks ago.  Each time I have come up with a different sauce to cook them in, only once has that sauce been a standard red spaghetti sauce. Ground Chicken/turkey meatballs in a cheese sauce Cast of characters: Cream of Chicken and Cheddar Cheese soups, cheese of your choice and chicken broth Diced peppers/onions One pound of ground chicken, one pound of turkey sausage, you can use beef and pork if you eat those.  I do not And dice up some turkey bacon in your chopper (optional).  Naturally, you can use regular bacon if you eat red meat Toss in the pepper mixture... ... and some bread crumbs grate a little of that Gouda you had in the fridge and need to use (optional) Two eggs (or one egg for every pound of meat) get your hands REALL

            Two years ago, 10/30/2010, I emailed two friends with an idea I had knocking around in my head.  Both told me that it seemed like a good idea at the time and that I should pursue it. Well in the months that followed, I would find out that another member of my family was coming and all of the panicked planning that comes with such things and I had kind of forgotten about the idea.             Operative words: “kind of,” as no idea is ever fully killed.  Fast forward to 9/10/2012, I was in a conversation with a third friend (mutual to the first two) about something totally unrelated.  The conversation turned to books we might write, and I explained to him my idea and how I had been basically sitting on it.  His first response was “that kinda sounds like a movie,” and when I lamented that I knew not where I would take the story, as in how to present everything that happens after the conflict (really trying to talk myself out of it), I was more or less told that I am

            Listen to some sects of society and people like me might be considered a “perve” because I happen to make a point of NOT missing a chance to appreciate a nice pair of boobies.  Well, I happen to think that fact makes me a “connoisseur,” and not a pervert.  My brother and a couple of good friends agree with that sentiment.  Well, today, I am adding “humanitarian” to my list of duties.             Today, I present a solution to the problem that is violence throughout the nation these days, and I call it “titties for peace.” No, stay with me, here. Have you EVER met a (straight) man and a lot of women too who could stay on their chosen topic when he happened to encounter some “surprise” titties?  See, using that nugget of information we would be able to reasonably stop crime right at their respective sources.  Hell,  this SHOULD be wildly effective, since titties come in all sizes and shapes, and so abundant that there is literally a pair fitting to EVERY man’s ta

            Wow, looks like a ghost town around these parts, huh? I saw the tumbleweed and heard the eerie music too, not to mention it seems that Blogger has changed things quite a bit in the dashboard as well. I haven’t left the two of you and my intentions have not been to let you down. but… I’ve been BUSY!!! One full-time job (the one that pays my mortgage) One semi-part time job (beer doesn’t pay for itself) Got married back in June A 1 year-old (a SECOND full-time in itself) Working on TWO books at the same damned time (tired of sitting on my dream) Sometimes posting on two other higher-profile sites; rippdemup.com and thetonygrands.com We won’t even MENTION Tumblr (well, not again after that) Yeah, suffice it to say that my hands have been VERY full of late, to the tune of an average of less than a post per month this year. Unfortunately, other than what I have mentioned above, nothing of particular interest has happened to me this year.  Beyond

June 15, 2003… I stared death in the eye and duly told it to eat a dick and decided to continue living my life. Many people know this story and most of its elements but what people usually don't know is that on the 21 st  of that same month - the following weekend, I intended to be in attendance at a job fair in Atlanta. Coinciding with that job fair, I would have been in school 2 more weeks in a technical school then completing some testing, then relocating for the job I'd hoped to be securing. Needless to say, 16 days short of my 24 th  birthday, I was on the road to fixing the credit I had so happily messed up and finally making my granddaddy proud. Well, with a hospital room full of people I (and my mother, apparently) didn’t quite know loved me as well as they showed up to display, my plans had been severely derailed. With that in mind, I spent SEVERAL years angry with myself over what the accident had apparently done to my plans. Then 2008 happened... My job allo

Not gonna keep you long, tonight... Step 1 - thaw and rub down chicken with vegetable (or olive) oil Step 2 - dry rub: (quantities are inexact, I just toss em in on a gamble, no measure) ground ginger, ground mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, sage, parsley, Jamaican curry and saigon cinnamon. rub it down liberally as seen, cover and place in fridge for AT LEAST 1, up to about 24 hours. I opted for 24 hours. Next day... Step 3 - bake (covered) at 275º for 2 hours, remove from oven: Step 4 - crank the oven to 425º, place chicken BACK in the oven uncovered for 15-20 minutes. This will create a crispy skin on it, like so: Allow to cool long enough to handle comfortably and enjoy! To those looking to attempt this at home, you can use pretty much any piece of the chicken, methinks wings would be GLORIOUS in this rub, but I was out. Now for the cooking part (applicable to the legs you see, times would naturally be shorter for wings) to