Category: When?

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2006 Fall Family Reunion

What’ll it be?

East Coast?

PSU v. Notre Dame?

Other?

Here’s the beginning of a potentially long thread, so……

Remember, you can click the DAY & TIME text at the bottom to see all comments on their own page, it’s a bit more manageable than clicking the actual COMMENT link. And,

You can bookmark that page (the result of DAY & TIME described above), so you can go directly to it without having to navigate the blog as a whole. (You may want to change the default name given to the “Comments” page.)

I have mixed feelings about the 2 choices. I do know I don’t want to go to Hawaii.

Also, where are the spouses and 2nd gen’ers here? Whassup?!

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Bride of Chucky II

Chucky was out prowling Monday night looking for a new bride.

Some of the contenders were:

Chiquita Banana Aunt Jemima
Catwoman Pocahontas

Chucky even had to fight off the Burger King for this one:

For more photos of Chucky’s exploits, go here.

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One for the Thumb


No – I’m not referring to another female, I’m talking about winning my fifth Mondo Martini contest at Tony’s Big Easy Bar and Bistro here in State College. My trophy is being held by UncleLar “niece” Ashley Schlosser on my right, “neice” Susan Kim is on my left – I don’t know the other two but how could I say no when they wanted to get in the photo too.

Tony has held this martini making contest for the past nine years and I’ve won it five of the last six (I sat out one year when I had tickets to a concert the same night but like Michael Jordan I came out of my semiretirement to capture another trophy).

My winning entry this year was called “The Rose Bowl” (I was kind of counting on the football team beating Michigan last weekend and keeping the Rose Bowl front and foremost in people’s minds but I was still able to sell the concept anyway). Here’s the recipe for those who are interested:

Mix the ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker (stir do not shake – shaking will create a froth while stirring will maintain a creamy appearance). Pour the ingredients into a brandy snifter that has been rinsed with Rosewater. Add a rose petal as a garnish.

Unfortunately, I was so dazzled by the crowd at the contest that I forgot to actually get a photo of the winning drink.

Tony really does a wonderful job of hosting the contest. Numerous liquor companies come in and provide samples of their wares to the crowd. Each companies display is created around an ice sculpture which makes for a quite beautiful arrangement. Some of the ice displays are actually functional in that you pour the liquor through a channel that has been drilled into the ice and it drains into the patrons glass quite chilled.

Here are some of the sculptures:

From left to right:

  • a complete bar made out of ice
  • an interactive ice display with a drink being pour down a channel
  • an ice man chilling some shrimp

My previous winning concoctions were

  • The Midas Touch (2000) – a drink that actually changed colors from greenish yellow to gold with the addition of the final ingredient, a splash of cranberry juice.
  • Rally Round the Flag (2001) – a blatant appeal to patriotism when I created a white creamy drink sprinkled with red and blue sugar crystals and topped by clipping a star shaped figure holding a flag onto the glass edge.
  • The Nittini Lion (2002) – a blue colored (what else?) cocktail loosely based on a cosmopolitan. The drink is made with an apple flavored liquor using Blue Curacao and apple juice in place of a typical cosmo’s triple sec and cranberry.
  • (2003) – didn’t enter, went to see Matchbox 20 concert.
  • The Krispy Kreme (2004) – a golden colored vanila martini that tastes like a donut (now I don’t know who would like to drink a donut but once I planted the seed in the judges minds that the drink was supposed to taste like a donut and it actually did, I had the contest locked up. Tony markets the drink as a donut without the carbs (see the menu below).

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Franco Harris and Mondo Martinis

I was downtown last night at Tony’s Big Easy Bar & Bistro preparing for the ninth Annual Mondo Martini Contest (yours truly, UncleLar is a four time undefeated champions of the event – FYI, it’s a martini making not martini drinking contest – more on Mondo Martini tomorrow after I win my fifth title tonight) when in walked Franco Harris along with Gary Gray, whom I have mentioned on this blog before. Gary and Franco were teammates on Penn State’s teams from 69-71.

Gary and Franco joined me and helped taste some of my creative work. Franco won four Super Bowls while with the Steelers and ever since then the Steelers have used the rallying cry “One for the Thumb” during their annual chase for another ring. I jokingly told Franco I was planning on getting my own “one for the thumb” tonight.

After perfecting my cocktail, Gary, Franco and I went over to the Gingerbread Man (or G-Man as it’s affectionately called here). It’s amazing to watch how much recognition Franco gets. He hasn’t played ball in twenty years yet he is still adored by many fans. There were bunches of college kids coming up to us using their cell phones to get their picture taken (admittedly they just shoved me out of the way but still I was still part of scene).

I have had some minor celebrity incidents here in State College (I’ll explain some time) but I can’t imagine what it must be like to go through that everyday like Franco. I even asked him if it bothered him and he very graciously said no, that the fans had always been good to him and he was glad that he could make them happy by obliging them with a photo. I thought that was a huge contrast to what we see in many athletes today.

Have to leave now but more tomorrow on my Mondo Martini (hopefully) winning entry.

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Anybody paying attention?

It’s Friday night, the kids are watching Superman II, we’re waiting for pizza, and it’s raining for the 8th day in a row. Just remembered a picture I’ve been meaning to put up here in hopes of stimulating some conversation. Ron, you can contribute, too.

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Kevin Dare Memorial Concert

Just to let you know that all my time isn’t spent at sporting events. Last night, after the State College High School girls soccer game I went to a memorial concert to benefit the Kevin Dare Scholarship Fund.

Kevin was a PSU pole vaulter (and former Tavern employee) who tragically died in a vaulting accident at the 2002 Big Ten Track and Field Championships. His family has established the Dare Foundation which is dedicated to making pole vaulting a safer sport.

Kevin was a wonderful young man who truly has not died in vain. In just a few short years his father’s dedication has resulted in significant technology advances in pole vaulting safety. The next step is to get these technology advances adopted by the vaulting community. Toby Stevenson won an Olympic Silver Medal wearing one of the Dare helmets but in general most vaulters haven’t yet embraced them.

The technology of the KDMax helmet is also extending to other fields. The Penn State football team among others is now using helmets cushioned by the same material as pole vaulting helmet. It appears that Kevin’s tragic death will have a far reaching positive effect on the safety of others.

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UncleLar "Niece" named National VB Player of the Week

Sam Tortorello, one of my Penn State surrogate nieces (when my real nieces and nephews are so far away, someone has to fill in) was named college volleyball’s National Player of the Week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Sam is the girl immediately on my right in this photo that I use for my Blogger Profile.

Sam is only the second PSU VB player ever to be named the national POTW. The first was Syndie Nadeau, another niece and directly above me in the photo.

I like this photo so much that I actually use it for my Facebook profile too. Unfortunately, since Facebook is targeted for the college crowd, Elliot is the only extended Fall Family member who can actually see it (Chris – once you get to ISU, you will be able to join Facebook too – I’m looking forward to having you as one of my Facebook friends).