Sunday Morning Concert

Welcome to the Weekend and Your Sunday Morning Concert.  It is a 3 day weekend for most in the US with tomorrow being the last official day of the Summer season as we celebrate Labor Day.  Rather than feature a single composer's works in today's concert performances, we are celebrating the 'labors' of Dutch Violinist Janine Jansen.  Janine began to study the violin at age 6. Her father and both her brothers are also musicians. Her mother is a classical singer and is a sister of the bass Peter Kooy. Jansen studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philippe Hirschhorn, and Boris Belkin. She is married to Swedish conductor Daniel Blendulf. 

She has eschewed tradition by recording with only five solo strings rather than an orchestra, including her brother as cellist and father playing continuo. In live concerts, she has received standing ovations from enthusiastic audiences, for example at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra 2006 concert at Berlin's Waldbühne, with a full attendance of 25,000, and in Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008 to a sold-out audience. Jansen has performed on the 1727 Stradivari "Barrere" violin, which was on loan from the Stradivari Society of Chicago.  She currently plays on the "Baron Deurbroucq", also crafted in 1727 by Stradivari, which is owned by the Beare's International Violin Society.  She has begun her own chamber music festival in Utrecht. She has been a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin since 1998.

Earlier this summer, the 2015  International Chamber Music Festival was held in Utrecht, Netherlands in the comfortably intimate confines of the TivoliVerendenberg Theater.  Janine is joined by a great number of her musical friends to celebrate Chamber Music in June of each year.  The Opening Concert from this year's Festival, recorded on June 24 at the TivioliVrendenberg Theater is posted below.  Janine is joined by friends Gregory Ahss [Violin], Nimrod Guez [Viola], Nicolas Alstaedt [Cello], Rick Stotijn [Double Bass], Andreas Ottensamer [Clarinet], Fredrik Ekdahl [Bassoon] and Radek Barborák [Horn] for a superb performance of Franz Shubert's Octet in F Major.  Over on my tumblr, Janine is joined by Denis Kozhukhin [Piano], Boris Brovtsyn [Violin], Amihai Grosz [Viola] and Julian Steckel [Cello] for their performance of Bela Bartók's Piano Quintet in C, Sz23 recorded on June 26.  

Finally for this Sunday morning, this week's celebration of the au natural beauty of the male form, Naked or Nearly So!, is posted down below for your visual appreciation.  Meanwhile over on my tumblr, your Hottie of the Day! is one hot 'Art Deco Adonis'.  Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with me, see you again tomorrow as we begin another week of Music, Men & More! here on Nichevo.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

On The Menu!

I have spent a healthy chunk of change lately upgrading the equipment in my kitchen in order to improve the culinary experience for Will and I.  In the past month I have purchased an Aroma Rice Cooker/Food Steamer, a cast iron reversible griddle/grill that covers two burners on my stove thus expanding its capabilities, new cooking utensils and of course my most recent purchase of the NuWave Oven.  Yesterday was payday and now that I have my Thursdays off again, I can take care of all my chores and errands thus leaving my weekend free for recreation and recuperation.  

So yesterday I planned the weekly menu to take advantage of all the new tools at my disposal along with healthier meal choices for us.  Last night was the kick off of the new menu and the first use of my NuWave Oven.  I must say it was a complete success with lots of deliciousness to fill our tummies.  On the Menu:  Baked Chicken, Rosemary Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Corn, Cornbread Stuffing and a Creamy Chicken Gravy.   Including prep time this delicious meal went from package to table in under 2 hours, the kitchen was not heated up, and cleanup was a snap.  Not bad for a first attempt.  Here is what I did:

I took a Trader Joe's minimally processed free range 5 pound frying chicken rinsed and drained, then rubbed a small amount of olive oil on the outside.  On the inside I put chopped garlic, onion powder and half a lemon, squeezed.  I then rubbed onion powder and poultry seasoning into the skin, tied the legs and placed it on the 1 inch grill, breast down, in the NuWave Oven.  Placing the dome on top, I set it for 350 F and the timer for 40 minutes.  When that timer went off, I flipped the bird breast side up, removed the lemon and squeezed the remaining juices over the breast, then cooked for an additional 35 minutes.  I added foil for the last 5 minutes to prevent over browning.  The chicken was cooked to perfection (internal temperature 165.4 F measured with my new digital meat thermometer), tender juicy and delicious!

While the Chicken was cooking I steamed some Trader Joe's gold potatoes with some salt and Rosemary for 25 minutes in the Aroma steamer.  I removed the potatoes then steamed some Trader Joe's organic sweet corn for 10 minutes.  I mashed the potatoes with butter and milk, reheating them in the microwave for 2 minutes just before serving. On the stove, I prepared some Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing using chicken broth instead of the water in the recipe and made the gravy.  The gravy is simple, take a can of cream of chicken soup, add onion powder, poultry seasoning and a little chicken broth, heat and voila instant gravy!  Every thing came together at the same time for a wonderfully delicious, hassle free meal!

Clean up was easy, the juices from the chicken were gathered in the liner pan of the oven, so I just poured them in a jar for disposal, and every thing else disassembles and is dishwasher safe (except for the power head on the oven), so in it went and I was done.   A very successful beginning to our grand experiment. 

Now getting to the Music and the Men, I was in a mood for some Boccherini today, so I found a great video (posted below) of 3 Boccherini Quintets for Piano and Strings Opus 56, Number 1 and Opus 57, Numbers 3 & 4.  That performance is by Roberto Panuzzo on Piano and members of the Stumentisti del Teatro alla Scala.  Over on my tumblr, I have my favorite among Boccherini’s Cello Concerti, the Cello Concerto in B Flat Major.  That marveleous performance is by the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic under the baton of Philip Greenberg and features Xavier Philipps as the Cello Soloist.  His performance is on  a Cello  crafted by Matteo Goffriller Venedig in 1710, was recorded live at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.

Then since it is Friday, it is time to indulge in a little phantasie fantastique with some gorgeous guys in compromising or suggestive situations that are sure to delight one and all.  You will find your Friday Fantasy Fuel posted down below.  Over on my tumblr, your Hottie of the Day! is there offering his 'Open Invitation...'.  Thanks for the visit, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

On The Run!

Your Musical Moment for today features the Grand Quintetteo in A Minor, Opus 81 by Friedrich Kalkbrenner.  Today's performance is by Consortium Classicum featuring Claudius Tanski as your Piano Soloist.  You may catch Kalkbrenner's Piano Concerto Number 2 in E Minor, Opus 85 over on my tumblr along with your Hottie of the Day!  Thanks for the visit, I am on the run so I gotta go.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

NFSS Exposed as Fraudulent

Before I get into today's topic of conversation, I would like to mention a new source for desktop wallpapers that Will turned me on to.  It is a site called nik.bot.nu which seem to have an almost endless supply of all sorts of wallpaper for your computer's desktop.  You can customize your search parameters to your display's resolution or take random selections or search by tag from their cloud format tag list.  I will be sharing some of the more fascinating ones that I have found starting with the one at the top of this post which is the one I am currently using as my desktop wallpaper.  The site is frequently updated and what is there today may not be there tomorrow, so a daily visit to add to your collection may be something you would like to do.  Once you have built a list of wallpapers, click on the selected counter at the top of the page and it will download a zip file to your computer which you can then extract to the folder of your choice.  Have fun exploring all the various options available to you at this most enjoyable site.  

In an article posted Sunday at the Huffington Post, the recent New Family Structures Survey by University of Texas Associate Sociology Professor Mark Regnerus was thoroughly debunked with documents acquired through the public records requests by The American Independent and published in collaboration with the Huffington Post.  These public records show that the conclusions drawn by this so called 'study' were predetermined before the data was gathered by the arch conservative organizations who are opposed to marriage equality who financed this sham study.  The purpose of the NFSS was and is designed to manipulate public policy, specifically any decision rendered by SCOTUS in the cases before it regarding Marriage Equality.  After the results were determined, then data was gathered and distorted to 'prove' the desired results.  As is the case with most of our opponents in this matter, reason and logic do not have the least bit of an effect on them or their vociferous blathering of lies, distortions and outlandish accusations spewed forth in the name of protecting the institution of marriage and religious freedom.  I will not reiterate all that is in the article as you can read that for yourselves, however I will state that our well funded adversaries have been exposed for the bigoted, lying assholes that they are.  Most of them claim to be doing the work of God and spreading the 'love of Jesus' to us heathen sinners.  I am afraid they will find when their time to approach the pearly gates comes, Jesus will say unto them "I know ye not" and they will be cast into whatever hell they most deserve.  Are you listening to me Tony Perkins, Peter Sprigg, Maggie Galagher, et al?  Repent and be saved or carry on as you currently are and be damned by your own tongues. 

For your Monday Musical Moment, I have an all star live performance of the Piano Quintet in A Major, 'The Trout' by Franz Schubert.  Performing are Daniel Berenboim on Piano, Itzhak Perlman on Violin, Pinchas Zukerman on Viola, Jacqueline Du Pre on Cello and Zubin Mehta on Bass.  I would be hard pressed to find a more stellar cast for a Piano Quintet than this one.  

Then for your visual appreciation I have a marvelous selection of muscly men in their Monday's Undies lounging about the page below the video.  Thanks for choosing to spend part of your Monday with me, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caught Napping

In what could be considered a minor miracle in the annals of our store's history, both parties belonging to the day shift actually showed up on time this morning.  So having been relieved on time I made my way to the home front to begin the process of putting together this post.  I was impeded somewhat when after selecting and uploading today's photographs, the interface between Blogger and Picasa Web Albums decided to be a bit of a bitch again this morning.  After an half hour struggle, I was finally able to get the photos posted in the editor as I wanted them.  I kicked back for just a minute in satisfaction to ponder what it was I was going to expound upon when the Sand Man sneaked up on me and I was overtaken by a nap while sitting at the keyboard.  The next thing I knew it was 10 o'clock and nary a word had been written.  This is really not a problem per se, however, as it is pay day, I have a jillion chores and errands on my list which I should already be out taking care of at this moment.  So I must be brief this morning and leave you with the music and the men and be about my business before it gets too much later in the day and I totally disrupt my sleep schedule.  

For your Musical Moment play list for today, I have some more Boccherini for you with three of his Piano and String Quintets.  His Opus 56, Number 1 and his Opus 57, Numbers 3 and 4 are beautifully performed by Roberto Panuzzo on Piano and the Instrumentisti del Teatro alla Scala providing the String Quartet.  The play list is followed by scrumptious set of muscly Men in Jeans lounging about the page to entice and inspire you.  Thanks for stopping in once again, see you all once more on the morrow.  Now I am off to do my chores and errands.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!