Winner Winner - Chicken Dinner!

Pregame Thanksgiving feast for the two of us.

Clockwise from the top: mixed veggies, baked yam, homemade stuffing, breast and drumstick.  Gravy over-all.

Did a roaster chicken in the bottom oven low and slow and finished it on convection roast setting to crisp it up.  Yams and dressing in the upper oven. Nuked the veggies.

I’m really digging the new GE Profile range. And, no. I’ve not paired it with my iPhone. Yet.

Pro Tip:  if you’re baking yams, taters or some other tubers; rub them in bacon drippings beforehand for a flavor enhancement.

Happy Thanksgiving Friends.

Go Pack!

 

You Are What You Eat

Dinner yesterday featured all-organic, locally-sourced, charcoal-grilled and hand-carved venison.  Rare to medium-rare.

Home fried taters and mixed veggies on the side.

Today is Packer Game Day. 

If I had to hazard a guess there will be leftover venison on sourdough rolls with Düsseldorf mustard.

Frosty Canadian Lagers too........

Post Season

What a season for Jordan Love and the Packers in what was potentially a rebuilding year.

Started the season 3-6, finished 7-3

6.3% chance of making the playoffs after Week 8

Jordan Love - Best QBR since Week 11 

Beat the Number 2 seed Dallas Cowboys in the Super Wild Card Round

Not bad for the youngest team in the league

Bright future for Love and the franchise....

Game Day

 

Game Day brat fry this evening. 

If you are a regular reader you can probably guess who made the principle contribution to this juicy deliciousness...

Go Pack

There is a NFL Wild Card game tomorrow that you might not want to miss.

Sure, the Cowboys are seven-point favorites, while the over/under, or total points Vegas thinks will be scored is 50.5 in the latest Packers v. Cowboys odds from SportsLine consensus.

Of course, there's no denying these numbers.....

 

Real Soup

Last week I made soup.  Homemade potato soup.

Start a half-pound of smoke bacon - diced - and fry until brown.  

Assemble your taters (cut with skins on), stock and the drained bacon.

Sweat a chopped sweet onion along with a couple of minced garlic cloves in a bit of the bacon fat.

Add the potatoes and chicken stock, cover and simmer 40 minutes or until the taters are al dente.

Add your dairy and thicken with a slurry of corn or potato starch.  Add-back the bacon.

I scored a fistful of fresh chives from beneath the snow in the kitchen garden.  Cut those into the soup immediately before serving to add a wee bit of fresh brightness.

Good chow if you  can get it on a snowy-wet, dank day.  Serve by fireside and Sunday football.....

The Bears Still Suck

 Go Pack!

Game Day

Even the bear has skin in the game today....

Game Day

The House of Lambeau

Our House

 

Irish Packer Backer

 

Traveling around the world you're never far from the cultural influence of professional sports - especially the Green Bay Packers.

October of 2019 found us traveling in western Ireland and there was this in the city of Galway.

The backstory of the street performance artist was that he snared the Packer hat on a visit to Milwaukee to perform at Irish Fest.  

The reach of the Pack is global......

A Taste of Home

 

There is a saying that no matter where you are on the planet you're never far from a Packer bar where you can wet your whistle with a refreshing adult beverage and watch the game with like-minded individuals - even if you don't speak the local language.

From our first trip to France in 2012 we made a point to visit this joint...

Located at 184 Rue Saint-Jacques in the Latin Quarter of Paris - is the WOS (Wide Open Spaces) Bar.  

We've paid a call with each of the next two following trips and even made plans to watch the Super Bowl there if the Pack made it that far on our last trip in 2017.

Alas, like many other watering holes across all over the world they closed in October.  Another victim of the pandemic.  Regrettably, their Facebook page remains up but informs the visitor that the establishment is permanently closed. 

Battle of the Bays

The staff here at The Platz is going to take-on a decidedly Green and Gold Packer theme in the run-up to game time next weekend.

I was hopeful that it would be the Saints going-up against The Pack as it is more appropriate to have 'saints' involved in a righteous football game instead of a low-life, cheater like Tom Brady and his collection of penalty-prone cheaters from Tampa Bay.

But I digress.

From the photo archives here at The Platz there is this gem featuring a rookie back-up quarterback taken at a practice on August, 2, 2007 - thirteen and a half years ago.

Who knew?

Green and Gold

Saturday brought the return of the green and gold lighting for the duration of the Green Bay Packer playoff season.

Go Pack!

If Only The Dead Could Talk

We began our recognition of the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) with a wee bit of extra sleep and a yummy egg and sausage casserole with garden tomatoes on the side. 

A year ago today Jill and I had returned to the Old Sod of Ireland and were privileged to enjoy a pint of Mothers Milk every day (and almost within the shadow of the Guinness brewery).  This stuff out of the can is an acceptable substitute under the circumstances.   

 

 

Today is not a day of mourning.  Nor is it a Mexican Halloween celebration.  Halloween is a celebration of darkness, fear and the macabre - in contrast this is a joyous celebration.  

Besides, it is Packer game day and brats are on deck later. 

Raising a glass to celebrate the lives of all of my dead ancestors.   

 Maybe they have an Irish Blessing to share? 

Cheers!

Packer Nation

Jill found this display of various holiday cookie decorations at a grocery in Green Bay recently.

Only in Green Bay will you find Green and Gold colored sugar sprinkles.

Packers Rules.  Vikings Drool....

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Football Game

The Green Bay Packers picked LeRoy Butler in the second round of the 1990 NFL draft.  As a safety Butler played his entire career with the Packers until retiring in 2001. 

He has always been one of Jill’s favorite Packer stars and yesterday I happened to be wearing a jersey sporting his name and number to the game at Lambeau. 

Wouldn’t you know it – Butler was signing autographs at the Igloo tent before kick-off and he happily signed the throw-back jersey and posed for photos.  I even managed a couple of signed 8x10 glossy player photographs from his playing career. 

It is strange to think that there some remote possibility that I was the only person to happen-upon him yesterday wearing that shirt. 

Who knew?
 

Packers Say to Eat More Deer

Not really.

Seriously.

Although, if the No Fun League made a stink over that observation they would be in deep doo-doo with just about everyone in northeast Wisconsin.

If it is Sunday night Packer football it also is Door County venison custom nachos for dinner.  Tortilla chips topped with yummy deer taco filling, shredded cheese and broiled.  Avocado and sour cream too.  Frijoles, olives, jalapenos and onions are optional.  But always welcome.

Eat more deer.....

Cheers!

Some Traditions Never Change

Green Bay Packer training camp has commenced and it is a time-honored tradition that kids will queue-up with their bicycles at Lambeau Field waiting for a player to ride their bike to practice across the street.  This started with Coach Lombardi and like anything with the history and tradition of the Green Bay Packers the institution continues.     

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dozens of Packers participated this year - including Haha Clinton-Dix, Blake Martinez, Brett Hundley, Davon House (wearing a Minions mask) and many others.      

click on images to enlarge

Five Dream Fleet bikes provided by the Packers and American Family Insurance returned for another year.  Children from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Green Bay have the opportunity to ride the special bikes with the players.      

Also featured was an adaptive bike with a specially designed wheel that uses the rider’s hands and arms to pedal.  The player was joined by Francis Kahle, a 4-year-old from Wauwatosa .  Thanks to Variety and Brent Emery - Francis joined the player in riding his own special adaptive bike.  

Here are some additional photos from Thursday….

 

Game Day

Terrific day for football today - scattered rains and 53 degrees at the House of Lambeau. 

 
Our pals Tom and Karen invited us to join them and witness the Saints over the Packers 26 to 17.

click on images to enlarge



We also learned of another most excellent burger joint - Kroll's West (one of two) that serves an American Heart Association approved game day lunch of deep fried cheese curds and an original butter burger.

Yum!

Packer Sunday

Packers 17 - Seahawks 9.  Woot Woot!

Great defensive game and terrific weather.  Never had to don the sweatshirt I dragged-along in case of a chill.  Nice start to what will hopefully be a play-off bound season.

click on images to enlarge

Thanks to my pal Lawyer who had a couple of extra tickets we could purchase from him.

Go Pack!