Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Food & Dining

Cinco de Mayo —
  Southwestern Feast Day

Today, Cinco de Mayo, is the second of the two nearly concurrent feast days we tend to celebrate in early May. Like in yesterday’s post, the image above is an AI-generated picture with the suggestion of “Cinco de Mayo Buffet.” Also, as in yesterday’s image. I added the 3D text overlay. You may see the original AI image here.

Today’s feast consisted of a Southwestern New Mexican Pork Stew, which was very good. This is another of Damsel’s recently discovered recipes. At this hour, we’re all content with the feasting weekend now behind us.

As a disclaimer, we’re of Celtic ancestry, but not Latino. We celebrate because of the food and culture for both events. As for us, we are Christian, Patriotic Americans and celebrate the appropriate religious and patriotic events and feasting as they occur.

05 May 2024 by Food & Dining Holidays Notions

Beltane — Celtic Feast Day

This is the weekend in May where we celebrate two nearly concurrent feasts. Today is the first feast in celebration of the Celtic Cross-Quarter day of Beltane, or, the beginning of the summer season. I will post about the other feast we celebrate this weekend tomorrow.

The (clickable) image above is a scene generated by Microsoft’s Copilot AI image creator. I suggested a pastoral Irish Festival scene and this is what it came up with. I overlaid the Beltane text using an old 3D graphics program by Xara. The original AI-generated image without the overly can be seen here.

Our feast today consisted of “Guinness Meat Stew” from a recipe the Damsel found on-line. It was indeed a feast.

04 May 2024 by Ancestors Food & Dining Holidays Notions

Camping — Junction, TX

We’re camped in Junction, a little town just off of I-10. The town is located a hundred miles or so west of San Antonio. It’s a pleasant rural-ish RV park alongside the Llano River. We’re staying here for a couple of nights just to relax for the weekend. We have already had our dinner and are settled in watching TV and surfing on the internet.

The ride out of San Antonio was even more of a nightmare than the arrival last night. It took us a full hour to just get of the urban area and head west on I-10. Traffic was backed up horribly due to freeway and other construction. The departure was very annoying and tedious. I recommend staying out of San Antonio until they finish their road projects.

On Monday, we will continue west and probably stay another night in West Texas before heading back into New Mexico. We’re going to have to be home by late in the week to take care of some appointments, etc. there.

We thank the Lord that we have been safe thus far, and pray that He will continue to bless us.

13 Apr 2024 by Food & Dining Notions Retirement Wanderlust

Imbolc – 2024

Imbolc Cross-Quarter Day

Celtic Feast today: Irish Beef Stew with Soda Bread. The stew had low-carb vegetables (i.e. Turnips, not Potatoes, Butternut Squash, not yams, etc.). The Soda Bread was made with Keto-friendly ingredients. The feast was delicious and served with an Irish Coffee on a cool, windy day. Click on the image to open in the image viewer.

About Imbolc:

Celts celebrated Imbolc as the beginning of Spring. Imbolc corresponds more or less to Groundhog Day in the USA, February 2, when tradition has it that if a sleepy groundhog creeping out of its burrow at dawn sees its shadow, there are 6 more weeks of winter. (If not, we surmise, only 42 days remain.) Christians celebrate this holiday as St. Brigid’s Day.

Spam Filter

When we upgraded this blog to later versions of WordPress a couple of years back, we also upgraded our Spam Filter to Askimet. The package does a pretty good job of filtering spam while allowing normal comments. Thus far, (since the upgrade) Askimet has stopped over nineteen thousand spams. I note that most of the spam seems to be trying to sell pharmaceuticals. There are also some Russian-language spams and a few others promoting p0rn and such. Fortunately, none of that seems to get through.

04 Feb 2024 by Blogosphere Food & Dining Holidays Retirement Technobabble

Christmas 2023

Damsel and I wish each and everyone a joyous Christmas. We are celebrating quietly here at home with a planned feast in the afternoon of Chateaubriand, Braised Brussels Sprouts and Loaded Mashed Fauxtatoes (low-carb cauliflower masquerading as ‘taters).

The roast is from a whole beef tenderloin I recently butchered into several steaks and other beef goodies to be consumed later. We will be feasting on them for weeks to come.

Image above: The Virgin with Angels” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, oil on canvas, completed around 1900. The original painting is in a museum in Paris, France. I overlaid the scripture on the image. you can see the original here.

25 Dec 2023 by Food & Dining Holidays Religion

Happy Thanksgiving 2023

Happy Thanksgiving from our household to yours! We will be celebrating the day of thanks by feasting, as usual, serving traditional turkey and all the trimmings (tailored to our diets, of course). We wish for you a peaceful and enjoyable day of thanks.

In yesterday mornings reading, The Patriot Post included this Thanksgiving message given by President Ronald Reagan:

We Americans have so much for which to be thankful. … But prosperity is not an end in itself. It helps us pay attention to the more important things: raising our children as we want them to be raised, helping others in need, and bringing nations together in peace. … We will give thanks for these and one thing more: our freedom. Yes, in America, freedom seems like the air around us: It’s there; it’s sweet, though we rarely give it a thought. Yet as the air fills our lungs, freedom fills our souls. It gives breath to our laughter and joy. It gives voice to our songs. It gives us strength as we race for our dreams. Think of those around the world who cannot bow their heads in prayer without risking their lives. … And then think of how blessed we are to be Americans. Yes, as we gather together this Thanksgiving to ask the Lord’s blessings. … Let us thank Him for our peace, prosperity, and freedom.

We ask you to give prayerful thanks for our freedoms and pray for peace at home and elsewhere.

23 Nov 2023 by Food & Dining Holidays

Samhain Weekend

Most of you by now know that Damsel and I share ancestry originating from the Celtic tribes of ancient Ireland and Scotland. To that effect, we have come to celebrate some of the festivals and traditions of the Celts. This weekend, we decided to celebrate the festival of Samhain.

Samhain, (Celtic: “End of Summer”) in ancient Celtic religion, one of the most important and sinister calendar festivals of the year. At Samhain, held on November 1, the world of the gods was believed to be made visible to humankind, and the gods played many tricks on their mortal worshippers; it was a time fraught with danger, charged with fear, and full of supernatural episodes.

Sacrifices and propitiations of every kind were thought to be vital, for without them the Celts believed they could not prevail over the perils of the season or counteract the activities of the deities. Samhain was an important precursor to Halloween.

Of course, we are not Pagans and don’t believe in all the spooky stuff the Celts thought to be true. We are Christians and merely celebrate our heritage while being true to the One and Only God. We celebrate Samhain on the first Sunday of November with traditional Irish and/or Scottish feasting.

This weekend turned out to be atypical weather for November since it got up to 85°F on the patio today. We celebrated the Samhain cross-quarter event with an actual Feast – Corned Beef, Cabbage, Root Veggies (lo carb, of course) and an Irish Coffee.

We hope everyone enjoys the good weather while it lasts.

05 Nov 2023 by Ancestors Food & Dining Notions

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