Beginning in the early fifties I have had to endure thousands of unsolicited commercials whenever I decided to relax and take in a little television – as has the entire world population I suppose. But every now and then a commercial comes along which in many cases will upstage the actual program I may be watching.

Recently the “Ally Bank”has been airing several commercials and I immediately had to add a couple of them to my “Favorite All-Time Commercials” life list. And thanks to “YouTube” I am able to archive and share those two latest gems….

(The Pony)

(The Red Truck)

But the commercial that has been in the Number 1 position on that favorite’s list of mine will be very difficult to topple, even given the two above. The commercial I refer to was a Wendy’s hamburger commercial and it first aired on television January 10th of 1984. A catch phrase from that commercial, “Where’s the beef?”, was to be born and find its way into American culture and enjoyed immense popularity. Even politicians were hurling the phrase at their opponents and associated agendas. The actor who played the part of the old lady concerned with the beef was named Clara Peller. Clara passed away in August of 1987. Clara was absolutely wonderful in her portrayal and the commercial never fails to bring a smile to my face when I watch it. Watch Clara in all her glory in the video below….

(Where’s The Beef)

Even today, some 25 years later, I find myself uttering that phrase from time to time at a seemingly appropriate moment. Of course, if you weren’t around or aware of that commercial the comment will make little or no sense.

Thanks Clara….

NOTE: Previously published in my journal, Writing To Myself, on 09/14/2009

To those not familiar with tailgating, I’d like to explain that it is a pre-game ritual that typically revolves around barbeque, a little loud music, flying frisbees, and some very enthusiastic sports fans. Traditionally this activity also involves the consumption of alcoholic beverages such as beer or mixed drinks and the grilling of various meat products.

These festivities, along with delicious food and a vast sea of friends in beautiful team colors all turn a large otherwise empty parking lot into a big, fun-loving neighborhood. Around here, most tailgating begins at Giants Stadium and continues to other venues. Except for the “The Hunt” that used to be held in Middletown, Monmouth County, where people did consume wine, wine lovers were definitely in the minority at tailgating events. There was always a lot of beer. Non-beer drinkers like me had to “settle for” soda or water or nothing. Those were dark days for wine drinkers. Thankfully, there’s been a big turnaround and we wine drinkers aren’t subjected to going without a beverage of choice for lack of a corkscrew.

Today, more and more tailgating fans are raising a glass, proudly toasting the team with burly Zins and strapping Cabs. I like to think it’s the new perfect pairing: wine and tailgating.
But pairing wine with tailgating means we need to be certain our wine complements the traditional tailgate party staples: hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, cole slaw and potato salad, or foie gras, roasted quail, caviar and salad nicoise…or whatever dish you find easy to prepare and eat on site.

Be Guided by the Weather

Choosing wines for tailgating should be guided by the weather. As the weather turns nippier nothing feels better than to sip a big heart-warming red. Besides, the food is more robust and the dark red complexity is perfect for good food and friendly gatherings. I know, most of the foods you might choose to serve at your tailgating party, such a burgers, hot dogs or sausages, might go better with a red wine than a white.
When I provide the wine, I take both red and white. It never hurts to serve crisp, brightly flavored whites for refreshing results (and your favorite white wine drinker). For the red, I look for something easy to drink, affordable, and something that will go with a variety of foods.

Here’s a helpful hint: red wines also benefit from chilling. Softer varieties like Zinfandel, Grenache or Tempranillo taste delicious cooler and even more tannic reds like Cabernet Sauvignons need a light chill to reduce the temperature to a more civilized “room temperature” (56°).  Just don’t over chill, as the tannins will turn the wine bitter.

Make it Flavorful
Whether your wine is full-, light-, or medium-bodied, the wine should be well concentrated. Wimpy wines will disappear when paired with strong-flavored and smoky dishes. Wonderfully tasting grilled foods allow complex wines to shine, but can easily overshadow a less powerful one. Definitely go for the rich and complex, with a long finish, to go with a powerful BBQ ribs dish.

Paringa Sparkling Shiraz isn’t a high-brow wine, but it still tastes very good and more importantly it’s a lot of fun. It is truly a different wine that is a great conversation starter and will be remembered. The wine itself is a bit sweet (20% residual sugar), but it doesn’t seem to be overly sweet. It tickles your palate with bubbles that burst with raspberry and blueberry flavors. The tannins are creamy and smooth, giving this wine a and your toasts bit more sophistication.

Make it Fruity
Fruity and even off-dry wines can taste very dry and succulent when paired with savory smoky dishes like grilled meats and hotdogs. Just be sure that the wine you are serving is sweeter than the entree, condiments, or any added flavoring. Sweet food will make a dry wine taste sour and unappealing.
Try Louis Jadot Beaujolais—a fruity red. This French wine has a musky bouquet of strawberries and salt-water taffy, along with a pleasant weedy scent. Light on the tongue, it has higher acidity than most red wines and for those who like a fruitier wine, this would be a nice choice.
Maybe, you want to impress a few friends with your wine knowledge and try Schlink Haus Red a 100% Dornfelder from Germany. Yes, this semi-sweet red wine is made from the little-known Dornfelder grape. This is a delightfully full-bodied fruity red wine with flavors of blackberries, cherries and chocolate with a hint of citrus. This is a good wine for non-wine drinkers with enough complexity to satisfy the old pro.
This is also where a good fruity white can come into play, like a good riesling. I do like to bring along a riesling or two to any event, basically because they are usually light, fruity, go with anything and are generally lower in alcohol making them, for me at least, the perfect party drink. Hoffman Simon Kabinett Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling 2007 (I know, easy for you to say) is a case in point, at 9% alcohol it provides a focused beam of mineral, along with crunchy apple, peach and citrus. It’s a racy white with good length making it an entirely attractive and characteristic Mosel wine.
Another unique wine that’s extraordinarily food-friendly, especially with spicy foods and the hard to match flavors of ginger, cilantro, chile peppers, mint, and wasabi is Sokol Blosser’s Evolution 9 a blend of nine grapes: Müller-Thurgau, White Riesling, Semillon, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Muscat Canelli, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, and Sylvaner. The nine grapes tie together perfectly, creating a smooth, layered white wine that can hold its own or stand up to just about any food pairing you dare to serve. It pairs well, with anything from light salads to the hottest fusion-style cuisine.

Make it Red
White wines are great with many grilled foods, but when in doubt, always reach for red. A good rule of thumb is the darker the food, then the darker the wine, the richer the food then the richer the wine and when in doubt, drink Beaujolais. Chances are the red or black fruit character of these wines will give some punch to a smoky dish, and even the modest tannins of a red can work wonderfully in counteracting the mild bitterness that comes from charring food on the grill.

If you’re not in the mood for Beaujolais, Snap Dragon Red, 2007 from California is a good choice. The aromas include dark scents of spiced plums, coffee, leather, dark chocolate and sweet tobacco. When I drink this, I taste everything from the aroma, especially sweet cherries and tobacco and it is really easy drinking and a great value. I often recommend this wine for burgers or sausage.

Red Truck, 2007 also from California is another red blend favorite for outdoor drinking. The nose is full of dusty scents of black cherries, saddle leather, baby powder, unsweetened chocolate and a hint of cassis.This red blend is dusty and dry, round and smooth, soft and fruity sweet. perfect for grilling. Other good barbecue choices are Malbec, Tempranillo, Grenache, and Zinfandel.

The key thing to remember is that the requirements for a tailgating wine are simple: inexpensive, easy to drink, no major flaws, and save your best wine for a more elegant occasion.

See you at the stadium!

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An interesting article from the Dallas Morning News:

By CHARLES SCUDDER / The Dallas Morning News

Sterling Biegert’s first car is kind of a clunker. It has no air conditioning and no radio, and there’s a large dent in the rear bumper.

But to the Flower Mound teen, a huge fan of the widely popular Twilight vampire books and movie series, the Chevrolet pickup is a Hollywood star. Driven by one of the main characters, Bella Swan, the truck appears prominently in several scenes of the Twilight movie.

“If you ask any Twilight fan, it’s probably one of the biggest characters throughout the series,” said the 17-year-old, who will be a senior at Willow Bend Academy in Lewisville.

The truck came as a birthday present after Sterling saw it advertised on eBay by a Lubbock dealer who had purchased the vehicle from a Los Angeles company that customizes cars for movies.

Sterling’s parents declined to say how much they paid for the truck but said they purchased it with the understanding that their daughter would use it to help others.

Sterling said she plans to rent out the truck for parties and donate the money earned to charities such as CASA of Denton County, which provides assistance to abused and neglected children.

“I feel this is my way I can make a difference by using something I love and other people love to help other people,” she said.

Along with confirmed prop numbers on the vehicle and a certificate of authenticity, Sterling can rattle off the details she has learned from the previous owners and the movie:

The truck, originally a bright red, was painted with rust to appear older. Only half of the truck’s interior is painted to look old for close-up shots.

The dent above the left rear tire is from when Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson, saves Bella, played by Kristen Stewart, from an accident in the school parking lot.

There are drilled holes where a camera was mounted and where handlebars were added so actors could stand in the moving vehicle.

The truck in the Twilight books is a 1953 Chevrolet, according to a Web site for the series’ author, Stephenie Meyer. The vehicle in the Twilight movie passes for an early ’60s model. Sterling said a second truck was used in the movie for long-distance shots.

The teen’s Twilight collection doesn’t end with the truck. She has other memorabilia, including a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses signed by Pattinson and autographed copies of the four Twilight books.

Sterling and her father, Doug Biegert, even took a trip to Forks, Wash., the setting for the story, and picked up souvenirs such as a visitor’s pass from Forks High School and a keychain from the Forks Police Department.

“I don’t just buy random things,” Sterling said. “Each thing I have bought has a purpose to it because it will remind me of something special to me or one of my favorite parts in the book.”

Click here to view a video from this interview!

OMG, I can’t believe she has a pair of my boyfriend’s sunglasses.  That is totally not cool.  I’m gonna have to give her a phone call and see if I can rent THOSE.  Forget the truck!!  ROFL

- Ashley :O)

View Source.

Rating:4/5

In this picture book for ages 4-8, we read about a bright red tow truck that is called to help a school bus in trouble. Along the way the road becomes increasingly difficult, but with perseverance, the red truck saves the day.

The clever use of color in this book helps each character leap out of the page and invites the reader to continue engaging with the story. The red tow truck never gives up even though the road ahead is difficult.

I recommend this story to any kid who loves stories about trucks and helping others. A word of warning to all parents: have a red toy truck on standby! Your child will want to re-enact the story after reading.

__________________________________________________________

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Red Truck

I Love Trucks

Literacy info to adults:

aside #1:  Today in storytime we’ll talk about the early literacy skill phonological awareness. This is the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words, including rhyming and beginning sounds.

aside #2:  Having your children hear and make the sounds of vehicles or of animals is a fun way to help them develop phonological awareness.

aside #3:  Rhyming is one way that children learn to hear that words are made up of smaller parts. By saying, reading, and singing rhymes with your children, you are supporting phonological awareness. This skill helps them when they start to sound out words to read.

Lane Library book  information

Red Truck

I Love Trucks

This kid is allllllll boy.  Meet sweet Bryce!  We had a visit to the Freedom Park here in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and had a blast.  His mother brought all his toys, but the thing he loved the most was the work crew and trucks we saw in Freedom Park.  He was mesmerized! 

Bryce was so fun to shoot.  While I was sitting in the grass to shoot he would just run over to me and give me hugs (just make me want to melt)!  Shoot….hug…..shoot….hug…….not bad for a day’s work.  : )  Enjoy the pictures below of Bryce.

Amanda moved into a new place way far from her old place, causing one huge rift in her space/time continuum: she has to become accustomed to a new liquor store. And for the two of us, that’s a big deal. We went to her new booze shoppe to get the normal white and champy order, when I noticed the Red Truck Barrel ($30). Thing’s effin rad….if it were white wine. I don’t do reds anymore. But I do still listen to Bright Eyes.

Employment is down, but liquor sales are up!  On Wednesday’s Martha Stewart, CNBC”s (Mad Money) Jim Cramer said that sales for the cheap liquors are actually up right now. It’s not surprising that many have been drawn to the bottle. I mean, I couldn’t possibly be the only unemployed college graduate, living with her parents. Ah well, let’s have a drink, what do we have to loose?… Definitely not our jobs. 

Some of the Best Booze for Your Buck:

Red Truck Wines from Sonoma retail for around $11 a bottle. They produce about 13 varietals including 3 organic bottles (Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Sauvignon Blanc).

I’m just going to risk some of you looking down upon me for my desire to drink White   Zinfandel, but I have to say this is my favorite Red Truck Wine. Despite your pre-conceived notions about the varietal, this one is really really good. Summer just isn’t as fun without it. 

If you need good, cheap, wine for a party or a really bad day, Red Truck makes       mini-barrels of their top-selling Red wine ($29.99). You’ll look so much classier with a barrel of wine opposed to a box of it…

Cheers.

checklist continues…

i wanted to make the bench…thought i could do it using Lilly’s stroller as a walker of sorts. i wanted to make the bench and gaze across the street i am too late to cross.

(too scared to cross…idk…i just dont know)

it had to be Paige’s last day. insurance isnt settled

(they’re still arm wrestling i suppose…why do i feel so guilty? it’s different i know. he told me it was different…there is a difference in degrees…i see something scarier…he would tell me not to.)

Paige’s last day b/c i dont have cash to pay her beyond. i lift Lilly for short bits and have tried to convince her that i can do by myself. we’ll just stay on this floor since i cannot see the depth of the stairs.

it’ll be ok… Lilly and i have $106 to get through to next Saturday…and then i have two cakes…i WILL have more eyesight by then…i just have to b/c i have no choice. we need to make it a week and half on $106 and i will tell RGE i lost the bill again.

it’s ok.

the bank put a 14 day hold on the money. they assured me it was standard procedure for the amount.

i put it in the wrong bank.

paid the drs and Paige and Tara…put $$ on the phone (though i dont think i’ll use it afterall) need taxi money to take Lilly to her drs for shots next week and will need to pay that…or pay some and tell them i left my other purse at home.

i wanted to make the bench.

i caught his red truck out of the corner of my good eye the other day…but wasnt close enough.

he’s out there. it is reason enough to smile.

i wanted to make the bench.

but i’m pretty sure i felt sprinkles… i told Lilly they were sprinkles anyhow. (she wants to be “out”). the bench was too far afterall.

(everything always is…though i do try…they dont realize, but i do try!)

i cannot look at her b/c she will cry too.

PS:  Mother’s day is Sunday… i sat down to have Lilly make a card…we weren’t actually gonna send it…but as much as it makes some people cringe…i do have an actual mother. (just sometimes i wish…)

i wish i had made it to the bench (to watch the traffic cross the street)

every promise needs to be kept…!!!

… Overheards.

SF Chronicle wine editor Jon Bonne is a kindred spirit. Check out what he snuck into a blog post on California wines and Rhone varietals:

Just because someone would buy Red Truck for home doesn’t mean they’d dine out on it. (This excludes the flip-flop-wearing group we recently spotted at Pizzeria Delfina drinking a bottle of Barefoot Merlot and paying $15 corkage, betraying a horrible misunderstanding of restaurant economics.)

Ground up restoration, “torch” red , original flathead V8 engine.
Runs excellent , driven daily in the summer. Call anytime.

Appraised at $18,000 CA. Serious inquiries only!

Call: 905-714-2181

Trades ACCEPTED: Possible trade for Pro Street or Drag Race Car

“Of all the cities of the ancient world, none was more opulent than Sybaris, which was settled by Greek colonists on the instep of the Italian boot near the Ionian coast. Wealthy Sybarites had wine piped from vineyards to their homes…” reports Time Magazine.

I was born too late and in the wrong country to have wine piped to my Sybarite home. Darn. But I can now buy it in a mini barrel (if I lived in the States. Darn again). Meet the Red Truck mini barrel.

“The new Mini-Barrel by Red Truck Wines, available at Sam’s Club stores nationwide beginning in March, 2009, offers high quality wine in a ground-breaking 3L package which keeps wine fresh for up to 40 days. Holding the equivalent of four 750ml bottles, this convenient, eye-catching and environmentally-friendly package offers consumers a terrific wine value.”

These notes are compiled over several evenings of eating.  V and a great friend (she comments as “hater”, because she is very sweet) helped me out with the tastings- no, mom, I did not drink four bottles of wine myself this week, it’s cool.  Here is:

Wines

Red Truck Petite Syrah, 2006 (CA, $10.99) at Whole Foods)- Spicy and fruity, nicely drinkable on it’s own.

Yellow and Blue Malbec Mendoza, 2007 (Argentina, 11.99 for a liter at Whole Foods, as opposed to normal 750ml bottle)- Fairly typical red wine. Clean berryish flavor, but nothing too exciting.  Better with food. Comes in a Tetra Pack.

Natura Carmenere, 2007 (Chile, $10ish at Shoppers in Potomac Yard)- Dark and deep and Plummy, and spicy at the end.  “Unassuming”, according to my second tasting partner- it’s not overtly fancy, but it is quality.  “Would probably go well with chocolate…oh wait…” she continued.

Orleans Hill Cote Zero, 2007 (CA, $10ish at Shopper in Potomac Yard)- Blegh.  Unsatisfying mouthful, sharp aftertaste.  Perhaps this bottle has been skunked already?  But it doesn’t taste musty or completely wrong, just sour.  Suitable for mulling, perhaps.

Of those, the Natura Carmenere is the classiest, and the Red Truck was the spiciest.  Off the top of my head, the Vida Organica Malbec at Whole Foods is pretty good, and the Rabbit something Cabernet Sauvignon in a Tetra Pack at MOM’s on Mt. Vernon is quite solid.

Chocolate

Divine 70% Dark (Fair Trade): Very creamy with a slightly chocolate powder finish.  Brings out the cherry flavor in the Natura Camenere.  Definitely our favorite.

Green and Black’s 70% Dark (organic) : Slightly oily, bitter.  It’s not bad, per say.  Maybe we shouldn’t have had the one we really liked first.

Equal Exchange 71% Dark (Fair Trade and Organic AND Kosher)- Unannounced raspberryesque taste.  I would have appreciated it if I had been expecting it.  Without a warning, it was disturbing.  Slightly oily, powdery finish.

Whole Food 365 Brand Organic- Tasted a lot like the Equal Exchange, but creamier and sweet, with a little, entirely pleasing raspberry at the end, wand less oil in the finish.  So, like the EE, but a lot better.  Top 3, depending on how you like surprise raspberry.

Vivani 72% Dark (Organic)-  Good.  Very balanced.  Not exquisite.  Top 3, though.

If you’d like some other V-day advice, try the post I wrote last year- I re-read it, and I still heartily agree with it.

Much Love, call your grandma, and have a great weekend!

Marathons have nothing on team red truck

Originally uploaded by juplife

Members Beth Poz, Jimmy Hoben, Danielle Briones and Scott Jones
www.jupmode.com

Back in July we walked past the Red Truck Beer Truck & took some great photos. Had them on my lap top but couldn’t seem to find them when I decided to give Red Truck Beer an official plugging! Red Truck Beer is a local Vancouver beer company & has full bodied beer with a lot of class. You need a Keg for your party? Red Truck Beer has all the bottom less kegs you can handle. Red Truck Beer is a real class act beer company. Its not just one of the most stylist trucks parked in kits. Red Truck beer is the number the UBC kids call when the keg partying are a poppin. The Red Truck will continue to brighten up are beautiful streets with its 1940s Vintage car flair. Are you having a party? Need a keg or 2 or 3? Red Truck Beer has good your back. Summers not over until we say its over & the party don’t stop until we say its going to stop. Lets keep the good times going until the kegs are all empty & then we drink the foam! Red Truck beer serving one of the finest and most respected brews in town.

February 5, 2008 (RALEIGH, NC) — Each year, in cities across the nation, special services are held to remember the Holocaust, honor its survivors, and raise awareness so that this atrocity will never happen again.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, a film director and the son of a 78-year-old survivor who has carried the number the Nazis tattooed on his arm for 65 years, has conceived of a way to support the effort through a public service announcement (PSA) that focuses on those haunting numbers.

Allen Weiss, whose father Harry managed to survive the Nazi death camps in Landesberg, Dachau and Aucshwitz, is working with Trailblazers production company in Raleigh to create “Remember,” a 30-second PSA that features survivors and their progeny – children, grandchildren – including his own father and his two daughters, Emily and Natalie Weiss. Trailblazers is donating time, equipment and crew to produce the spot, which should air throughout North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) if local television stations pick it up.

Coming up with the concept of “Remember” was just a matter of time, Weiss said.

“Being the child of a survivor, doing something to keep the Holocaust in the mind of the public was, to me, a given.

“The central concept of this piece is this: There is no better way to assert the fact that people are individuals and not numbers, than to assign numbers to people. That’s exactly what the Nazi machine did. So this concept is simple — have Survivors, and their progeny, appear on camera and simply, bluntly, state their number.”

After putting the idea on paper, he sought the approval of the person most responsible for it — his father.

“After he gave it his blessing, I brought it before the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust,” Weiss said. “They fully endorsed and approved the idea, but there is no money for production. So I called upon everyone I knew in the production community, and the support was overwhelming. The biggest endorsement and commitment came from Trailblazer Studios/Red Truck Films, right here in Raleigh. I have had an excellent relationship with them for many years, and their commitment was immediate and comprehensive.”

With the Council’s help, Weiss sought out other survivors. “This is at once the toughest and easiest casting job I’ve ever had,” Weiss said. “Easy because, well, they are who they are. And tough for the same reason.”

Two other survivors – Robert Spitz and Peter Leonard, both of Raleigh – agreed and showed up at Trailblazers’ studios recently to commit their faces and stories to film.

Three children of survivors also made themselves available to the production — Anya Gordon (of Irregardless restaurant), Mike Abramson (chairman of the NC Council on he Holocaust) and Maureen Werthheimer. Weithheimer’s two daughters — Kaylyn & Ariana Siporin – joined Harry Weiss’ granddaughters on film as grandchildren of survivors.

Allen Weiss and Trailblazers are editing the PSA now and hope to have it ready to present to area television stations within the month.

“In the wake of such a global catastrophe, this project is nothing more than a pebble tossed in the ocean,” Weiss said. “But the ripples that those pebbles create can be huge — as long as people keep tossing the pebbles, nobody will forget what they mean or where they came from.”

For more information on Remember, contact Allen Weiss at allwss@earthlink.net or call 919-272-8834.

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