Bean lent me his new hat. I have to say, I’m rocking this new look.
Day: October 13, 2015
Professor Sad Cat
[recipe] Chili bourbon meatballs
Everyone knows (and loves) this classic recipe for slow cooker meatballs simmered with chili sauce and grape jelly. I’m certain you’ve had these at a party, served right out of a slow cooker or on a heated tray, speared on toothpicks and dripping with their sweet, tangy, peppery sauce.
For the meatballs:
2 slices fresh white bread
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons clarified butter, divided
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
A pinch plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 pound ground beef
3/4 pound ground pork
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
For the sauce:
2 cups bottled chili sauce
1 cup grape jelly
1-2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
Tear the bread into pieces and place in a small mixing bowl along with the milk. Set aside.
In a 12-inch straight sided saute pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until the onions are soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the bread and milk mixture, beef, pork, egg yolks, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and onions. Mix well.
Using a scale, weigh meatballs into 1-ounce portions and place on a sheet pan. Using your hands, shape the meatballs into rounds.
Heat the remaining butter in the saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the meatballs and saute until golden brown on all sides, about 7 to 10 minutes.
In the bowl of a slow cooker, combine chili sauce, grape jelly and bourbon. Heat on high until sauce is heated through, about 5 minutes, and whisk to combine thoroughly.
Add meatballs to slow cooker and stir to coat evenly with sauce. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Serve immediately.
[gallery] Leonid Afremov
Leonid Afremov (born 12 July 1955 in Vitebsk, Belarus) is a Russian–Israeli modern impressionistic artist who works mainly with a palette knife and oils. He developed his own unique technique and style which is unmistakable and cannot be confused with other artists. He paints mainly landscape, city scenes, seascapes, flowers and portraits. Most of his work is considered very colorful and politically neutral.
In 1973 Leonid Afremov graduated with honor from high school in Vitebsk and was admitted to the Vitebsk Education Institute where he studied in the arts and graphics department. During his years in college, Afremov was introduced to the work of March Chagall, Picasso, Dali, Modigliani and the 19th century French Impressionism. His early artistic work was very influenced by Chagall and Modigliani.
In May 1990, a few weeks after moving to Israel, Leonid Afremov found a job in an advertisement agency making signs and posters. After working in an advertisement agency, he worked in a gallery shop where he learned to make frames, being introduced to the palette knife for the first time. During the early 1990s, Leonid Afremov was mainly working with watercolors and acrylic. He was experimenting very little with usage of the palette knife. He was painting what people were buying, with very little artistic freedom.
During the late 1990s, Leonid was constantly holding exhibitions in Russian community centers around Israel; everywhere else the doors were closed because he was a Russian immigrant. During this time he already worked mainly with a palette knife and oils, he began establishing a unique artistic identity, however it was difficult to paint what he wanted because of the financial obligations and the picky customers. Around 1999, Leonid became friends with Russian-speaking Israeli jazz musician Leonid Ptashka, who inspired Afremov to paint a collection of portraits of popular jazz musicians and helped him secure a successful exhibition in the International Jazz Festival in Ashdod. Since then, Leonid Afremov has painted dozens of his favorite musicians. In March 2001, Afremov’s gallery was completely vandalized. Dozens of paintings were destroyed, the artistic equipment stolen and the facility turned into rubble. Then Leonid decided it was time to move somewhere else where he could be treated with deserved respect, eventually moving to the USA in January 2002.
Leonid Afremov was preparing his move to USA very carefully. For several months he did not sell any paintings, everything he painted he sent to his sister in Brooklyn. When he arrived in the US in January 2002, he had more than one hundred paintings at his disposal. Him and his son were systematically going from one gallery to another in New York. They found galleries that liked and purchased paintings, however they only took what kind of judaic themes and musician portraits. Afremov found himself forced to paint only limited themes and subjects for living.
In 2004, after graduating high school, Leonid’s son Boris was introduced to ebay by his friends. They tried to sell a couple of paintings by auction and immediately received positive approval. Paintings were sold for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars and everything sold without exception. For the first time Afremov was given the opportunity to paint what he really wanted. At this point the real artistic journey began. He began painting what he really wanted from his personal inspirations and finally was able to explore his artistic vision and abilities all the way.
The exposure on eBay gave him opportunities for commission orders and access to different galleries. However, because of negative experiences with galleries, Leonid preferred to sell directly to the collector. In 2007 with the help of his sons Leonid lunched his own personal site where he began selling giclees, prints and original painting, eventually moving all the business and attantion to his personal site.
Leonid Afremov keeps the majority of his art politically neutral. His paintings are not offensive to anyone nor send any hidden messages. The paintings usually reflect certain personal memories and emotions. Leonid Afremov tries to draw the viewer to have a certain feeling rather than tell a story via the painting, or have the viewer see the world how he sees it. The neutral attributes of Afremov’s art make the paintings appealing to almost any social, ethnic and age group. Almost every painting he painted has a very personal inspiration. His art can be reflected as very positive through the bright colors he uses.
Some recent conversations at work sound like these
End of an era
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