here’s my prep man, shon, with his new baby shon jr. isn’t this what it’s all about? thanksgiving i mean. we all have parents or kids or friends. some of us even have all 3…. it’s great that there is a holiday which allows us to 1. reflect and be thankful for all we have and 2. eat some really good casseroles and pies.
we’ve been slammed at work. danny came up with the idea to put some plastic up at the back of the lounge and when the heaters are on and he rolls down the tarps and now with the new plastic in the back, well, it’s down right nice back there, even when it’s cold outside. it’s hard to know why we never thought of it before. i guess i’m just not back there enough on cold nights to have figured it out. but now we have this nice warm place for people to wait and listen to music or to have a drink or a to-go pie…. even in cold weather.
i have been very pleased with the reaction to the fountain-o-junk. people stand and stare at it for much longer than they usually stand in front of a museum painting or sculpture. the moving wheels make it mesmerizing. not only that, but people have been commenting to me about how much they like it and i’ve had adults tell me how much their kid likes it. now that makes me really happy, to think that kids are into it and notice it. anyway, i have truly been encouraged by the positive feedback.
i am really excited about this meal coming up tomorrow. my mom has been cooking for days. she is the best cook in the world. last time she made chicken pot pie it was the best chicken pot pie i ever ate, maybe the best single meal i ever had. last time she made an apple pie it was the best apple pie i ever ate, actually the best dessert i ever had. she’s got a new house with a kitchen she designed herself and it seems like the more she cooks in that kitchen the better she gets. this is the first thanksgiving in her new house and she’s got a long table that’s been set since monday. i’ll be sure to get a photo for the blog.
i’m a happy man, maybe the happiest of any man.

lennie lended me 2 sculptures he made to display in the back parking lot. i’m going to fix up this back corner as a place to eat to-go pizza and enjoy these large metal sculptures. business has been on the slow side lately, at least on weekdays. you don’t even have to wait for a table and the pizza is just as good as ever.
i’ve been dealing with a host of little problems that culminated in a big headache yesterday. i won’t go into it all but i will tell you that there’s a huge sign on the back door, “tie up your trash bag before putting in the dumpster” and then i open the dumpster to put something in and there’s a huge bag untied, with food scraps falling out. these kind of things will take me to an early grave.
we’re growing some shitake mushrooms out back so that’s been our new topping lately. they are very expensive, even though we’re growing them, we still had to buy the logs. so they cost 2 toppings. anyway, they are good. we sautee them in garlic and olive oil.

so the wetland plant guy is not named matt but kevin and he showed up today. not as a result of my blog but as a result of just timing i guess. he showed up with some plants and the f-o-j is getting closer and closer to completion. in fact, tonight i will work on menu back 6 in the series of 7 that will be about the f-o-j.
i also plan to work on the 6th menu back about LSE. it’s been over 2 years since i wrote a LSE menu back and it’s long overdo, especially when the F-O-J is getting all the attention. the f-o-j is, after all, only a part of lse…

pictured is an image of our latest guest collection of pez. there’s about a million up there to see but it’s not even half the collection. we could have (and should have) filled all of our cases with these pez dispensers. it’s worth seeing, very nice.

the lower 13th street jazz band played tonight at lightnin’ and they blew everyone away. seriously, it was amazing. anyone who was back there tonight will agree. i only caught a few minutes of the show but it was nuts. who’s the bossa shared the stage with these newcomers that impressed the hell out of me.

thanks to kevin for bringing by plants. thanks to all of our great customers.

these fellas come in every thursday for pie… sometimes they get a deep dish but this time they got a thin. it’s people like this that make our business hum along. lord knows i love the regulars.

the fountain-o-junk has been driving me nuts. i get soaking wet daily trying to adjust the water flow. i had a wetland plant guy that was going to bring us some plants but i lost touch with him and i lost his number. i had kept this slip of paper with his number for 6 months, waiting for the fountain to be ready for plants, and then we talk briefly and then i lose his number. i think his name was matt. if any of you know a guy named matt who is a wetland plant specialist, please tell him to call me. anyway, i’m pretty bummed that i lost his number and i keep hoping he will just show up one day…
anyway, today ken figured out the f-o-j.
i couldn’t get it tweaked and ken came up with the idea of cups to keep the wheels moving because the spoons, ladles, and ashtrays were working but the water pressure was on so high that we lost too much water daily. i came home and was telling my 7 year old son about the problems i was having with it and i started in on the long list of things i had done to try and make the wheels move properly, and i had just finished telling him about these metal plates that had been attached to the spokes and then he says, “what about cups?” well, i was just fixing to tell him that cups had solved the problem and i was explaining all this to him because he’s an inventor and he likes figuring these things out, and well, as i’ve explained, he figured it out on his own and i kept trying things that didn’t work. so, the colored (orange) lights are supposed to be hooked up by next week and the plant guy is awol but the turning of the wheels is currently solved (although i won’t really believe it until i see it work for a week.)

veteran’s day was crazy but wednesday and thursday have been on the slower side. things aren’t as busy as it used to be up there. at 7:30 tonight we had plenty of empty tables.

i would tell you about whirligigs but i’m too tired now. maybe another day.

here’s strummer lore, a fan of LSE from birth. pam and danny sure make a cute kid. danny had the night off and you know what he did? he came up to eat at satchel’s.
it was a busy weekend. friday night had a few mistakes. i won’t dwell on them now but i woke up way too early this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep thinking about the mistakes i made. i wish i had time to talk to the customers when i mess up but we’re just too slammed for me to walk away for even a minute or two. anyway, saturday night went well, busier than i expected and i made some gorgeous pies. i know i probably talk too much about how nice the pies are but i’m pretty excited about them. there was a couple tonight who said the pizza was too spicy. they told the manager they wanted to get a deep dish instead and she explained that it would have more of the same sauce on it so it wouldn’t be any less spicy. they said our pizza wasn’t for them and left. i am baffled when things like this happen. i tried the pizza that they left behind and it was awesome. but i guess it’s true how you can’t please all the people all the time.

anyway, the gators won, the fountain of junk is still there, the pizzas are super crispy and perfect, obama is figuring out what to do about everything… it’s a good life.

well, i am breathing fully again. sigh sigh sigh. what a relief i feel that the election is finally over. i started following it waay too early and waaay too closely. i don’t even feel a need to follow the news currently. i am taking a break. as happy as i am at how this election turned out, i know that the long process of repairs are just beginning. america loves instant gratification and with the mounting problems of our country and world, one man can only do so much so fast. obama has already changed our image around the world. i think that trend will continue. all over the world people now see that we want a different direction and that anyone can become president in this democracy, (anyone but ralph nader that is)… and can obama really deliver some aid to our ills? only time will tell. i, for one, am glad that america is giving the man a chance to live up to his inspiring speech. i believe that the things obama says is a manifestation of the things he honestly believes. but there are those who think he is a socialist, there are some i have talked to who think he will whittle away at our freedoms, and i have heard it said that he will make big government that does not work. i like to hear those opposing points of view because it gives us words to measure progress by. in other words, in 4 or 8 years we can dig up these quotes from hannity or limbaugh, or even our friends, and ask the questions again: “are we less free?” “are we living in a socialist society?” “has our health care system gotten even worse?” and honestly i don’t think it could get worse. i know many would argue with me and say that if there is universal, government run health care it would be worse than it is now and that i guess is to be seen. i, personally, do not believe obama is going to initiate government run health care, and if he did i think it might help a lot of people who have no health care now, but i don’t want to get any deeper into all this… i should probably avoid talking politics because i know it is such a touchy subject. and i’m not here to wax on about obama and my predictions on the future, but i am here to tell you about the next place you need to go for lunch…
east end eatery. located on NE 8th ave, a few blocks east of 9th street. this cozy little lunchery has only been open about a week and i’ve only been once but i love it. the woman who owns the place is a caterer and it is obvious when you walk in. hanging from the ceiling are lots of baskets, cabinets fill the walls and you know that behind the doors are linens and chafing dishes and platters… vases line one shelf, cookbooks fill another wall. the place is packed and clean and cozy. the prices are right and the food i had was perfect. i’m going back for a vegie quesadilla soon. they are open mon – fri 11am -3. i should probably try a few more of the items before i talk them up so much but i really like the feel of the place and the location and i want them to do well.
what else? … oh, the hoodies have arrived so stop by lse and check them out. navy blue. the employees seem to be liking them at least. the fountain is still underway. i’ve ordered lights, the plant guy is bringing plants soon. i’m still tweaking the flow, seems that i’ll be working on that a while. you see, i want the motion of the wheels without the extra overspray of lost water to the system. it’s a very long process, trust me.
pictured above is our beloved tim on halloween. i love these costumes that really bring out the inner being of the wearer.
i’m so happy that florida went for obama. i am so proud of florida.

here’s another great costume from the lovely lauren:

i gotta say it… i hope obama can pull this off. i have never followed politics so closely, read so many blogs, kept up with so much information, all relating to this election. i know it can go either way, i know it can. can this country elect a black man as president? lord i hope we can.

this art is made from 3510 pennies… how bout that for some real change?
art by jim kelly.

you see that guy 2 pictures down doing a karate kid pose? well, here he is again on the right. he’s wacked.

i tried to make an appointment at the story corps booth but was too late so i got on the waiting list. then they called and i took the appointment even though i had planned to go with my mom and since she was working that day i had to figure out another partner. i asked my wife and she said she didn’t really want to do it. so i went and woke up lennie kesl the next day and he and i went to the booth. that was fun. i gotta tell you, i love npr.

i must admit, i like the gator games better when the score is closer. i get bored with these blowouts. if they just would have beat ole miss!

can’t wait for this election to be over, just can’t wait. i can finally get on with my life and stop feeling so anxious all the time. and, well, so far the sewage lines seems to be working and the alarm system too, but the cooler is down again and next week will start either week 7 or 8 but we’ve got a plan… an now one of our ice machines is down, and the part is close to $250.

still have some tweaking to do on the fountain too. (hoodies may arrive by friday… yeah)