Positively Monday and Some Musings

Another week has come and gone and now I am getting down to some serious prep for the coming week. I have a big project looming and the only way I know to get it done quickly is to just take one item at a time, finish it and mark it off the list. So this week is going to be pretty much a nose to the grindstone week. If I don't comment on you blogs it is because I am busy sanding, staining and painting, but I will be reading them as always but it might be at night, in bed, on the Ipad, with one eye open.

Musings:
This week was a low Mom week, even though I did see her multi times. The emergencies were minimal and she really did not keep me hopping every day.
Wednesday after class I had run by the grocery store and noticed my wedding ring was gone from my hand.  I retraced my steps everywhere I had been, leaving my name and phone number just in case anyone found it and turned it in. No dice.
Friday afternoon TheHub came home from work a little early and we headed to the lake. On the way we stopped at the Publix nearest the lake place to stock up on a few things. Before we left the house I grabbed my credit card from the kitchen counter (placed there after some Christmas online ordering) and put it in my pants pocket. After we shopped I was walking to the car and put my hands in my pocket. No credit card! TheHub paid with his card so I had not needed mine. I decided I might have stuffed it in my back pack without thinking so I stood outside the car and dumped the contents of the bag into the passenger seat while looking through everything. While I was searching my bag TheHub retraced our steps in the store. No credit card, but I did find my wedding ring which must have slipped off when I grabbed my billfold at the grocery store Wednesday. TheHub came back to the car and a good Samaritan had found my credit card by the car. (it must have fallen from my pocket when I got out of the car to go into the store). It turns out it was the same woman who was bagging our groceries at the check out. She argued with me about accepting a reward for her honesty, but eventually did. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It is wonderful to find honest people still live on the planet.
Son2 and Girlfriend2 came to the lake too and the rest of the weekend was uneventful, chilly, wet and filled with good food, football and board games.

Positives:
Both my ring and credit card were found.
The weekend was fun and restful
I spent little at the grocery store until we did the lake place stock up.
All Christmas presents purchased are wrapped.
The weather is finally cool (but it is supposed to go back to summer temps later this week)
1/2 of one project is done, with the Big Kahuna project waiting in the wings.

Menu Possibilities:
Mexican chicken pasta, brussels sprouts, salad
Chili, coleslaw, cornbread
Hot dogs, coleslaw, corn chips (our traditional Halloween dinner)
Vegetable soup, cornbread
Baked chicken, rice, green beans
Peas, collards, cornbread, sliced tomatoes
Leftovers or sandwich (Football night and TheHub goes to home games with Son2 so I am home alone)

Hope everyone has a great and happy week and a Happy Halloween.

Plantscape

I was contacted by Plantscape Inc recently and was offered artificial plants in exchange for an completely unbiased review.  They are a commercial landscaping business doing both interior and exterior foliage, plants and trees. They must had heard about my notorious black thumb because artificial plants are one of the few things I can't kill. It sounded like a winning proposition to me, so I selected the Echeveria. 

The lake place has a screened porch that never gets any rain. I have planted several plants for the baker's rack there, but something always comes up and we don't go there in time for me to water.  Even some of the succulents I have planted have withered and died. I had already decided to "plant" artificial succulents there so this was a no brainer.

The box came with six plants (all the same size). The picture on the left shows one plant sitting on a standard dinner plate for reference. It is a high quality plant, such high quality that Mom thought they were real

Since we have been notoriously lax about going to the lake and I wanted to get this review underway, I decided to create an arrangement using the echeveria here at the house instead of waiting any longer.

Close up of the leaf detail. The plants are very detailed and lifelike

The finished arrangement on the dining room table. It would have been much nicer if I had an actual barn wood box, instead of faux painted cardboard one.

Tight shot of the "plantings" with some additional Michael's faux succulents

Since I am a total amateur this is about the best I can do, but take a look at at the Plantscape web page for some photos of what people with talent and an eye for design can do using these quality plants.

Again this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

I Win!

My Beloved Sister and I have this little informal competition at Christmas called "Who can find the most regrettable food." The object is to look through the grocery store and find something that will totally gross the other out, buy it and wrap said food so the other will think it is just a random run of the mill gift. Thus far, I am winning with the gift of canned sausage patties.

This year, thanks to our wonderful blogging community, I came home one afternoon and found a package on the front porch. I did not think I had ordered anything but was unsure so I began to unwrap it. This is what I found inside compliments of 1st Man and 2nd Man over at Two Men and a Little Farm. If you have not visited the farm before hop over here. They always have something posted that interests me. What can I say except thank you over and over for assuring I will win again this year. I don't ever think I am a  competitive person until I remember a conversation MBS and I had. She told me I was winning at something. (I truly don't remember what she thought I was winning, probably something like having my Christmas presents wrapped mostly before Thanksgiving but I do remember my response)
It's not a competition, (Insert her real name here)___as long as I'm winning.

And what do you do once you have this wonderful canned haggis to surprise her with on Christmas Day! Why you get shiny paper, wrap it, tie it with fluffy ribbon and stick shiny things in the bow. All my adult life I have wrapped in unconventional containers, so the fact that it is a can means nothing. I have one of those weird can openers that opens cans without leaving any sharp edges and the top will fit back on it. For years I have used cans as "box" for small odd shaped items or gift cards. I am pretty sure  before she opens this she won't think "Gee Thanks, Canned Haggis"!


So once again, Thank so so much 1st Man and 2nd Man for helping my sinister side blossom again!

Almost Sweet and Sour Chicken

Are any of you old enough to remember Rocky and Bullwinkle? At the end of the episode they had an announcement telling all the kiddies to come back and see the next episode. The narrator would entice us to watch "Avalanche is Better than None or Snows your Old Man" It was always one title followed by an or with another title. (The avalanche thing is actually one of the narrations from a real Rocky and Bullwinkle episode)  If I were following the same pattern here I would name this post "Almost Sweet and Sour Chicken or Why You Shouldn't Menu Plan Right Before Cleaning the Refrigerator", but if I named it that it would just be too long of a title. So I did it here in the body of text instead.

Shortly after posting the Monday blog I decided I needed to clean the refrigerator and found several things that had no shelf life beyond dinner.  As much as I tried I could not get 1 1/2 boneless chicken breasts cooked in a vinegar based bbq sauce, 1/2 head of cauliflower, 1/2 of a red pepper, a few chunks of pineapple, the bottom of a jar of General Tso's sauce, about a cup and a quarter of cooked rice, and a slightly old piece of an onion to form into anything remotely resembling my menu plan. Instead I did as I said I would and use the menu as a possibility and nothing there was possible to transform.

Punt time! I chopped the chicken into chunks and set it aside Then I cut off the mushy edge of the red pepper  and cut the remainder into strips, julienned the onion, cut the cauliflower into florets, cut a hunk out of both an orange and a green pepper and cut that into strips, minced a clove of garlic, and sautéed everything in a pan coated with olive oil until it was wilted. Next the General Tso sauce went in followed by about a tablespoon of ketchup, a dash or 3 of hot sauce, and the juice that surrounded the pineapple chunks. When I added the chicken and pineapple chucks everything was stirred together well, and I did add about 1/2 cup of the bbq sauce that the chicken was in because it seemed a little thick. (remember this was a thin sauce). I tasted it and found it lacking just a bit so I threw some powdered ginger in the pan and gave it a quick stir. The really thin bbq sauce left it a little too watery so I made a slurry of a couple of tablespoons of water with about 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch and popped it in the pan to tighten every thing up. All that needed to be done was to nuke the rice.  The chicken was served over the rice and we had what might fondly be called a salvaged meal.

And now I have learned my lesson and will clean the fridge either Sunday night of early Monday morning so any leftovers can be rescued and incorporated into the weeks menu, maybe. Or I might forget about this entirely and start next week having to adjust again to keep from tossing nearly dead leftovers.

                                                  And this is just for kicks and giggles

Positively Monday and Some Musings

I just noticed I have posted nothing since my last Positively Monday post. Either I am a seriously bad blogger or I am the most boring person on the face of the earth, or perhaps it's a combination of both. Apologies to all! I might do a little better this week, or I might not.

Musings:
Ok for those of you keeping count there are 30 days until Thanksgiving and 62 days until Christmas. If I want to get a little more nerdy, that is 720 hours (as of midnight tonight) until the bird is served and 1,488 until the fat man comes. Wow, I just depressed myself, but I am making steady progress with the deep cleaning and I have managed to get a few gifts this week, but they are hidden and not wrapped. I will have to take care of that tomorrow because prying eyes were around all weekend.(Kudos to Canada for allowing more time between being thankful)

This week was dedicated to Mom and she pretty much took as much time as I could/would offer. The upside is her cardiologist visit was good, her dentist appointment was fine and I took her to a small speciality fabric store where she found fabric she wanted so she could make my granddaughter a dress. (It seems to not register with her that Pip wears pants every single day to day care even though I have told her repeatedly) In addition to that I made sure the bed in her front lawn was replanted with azaleas. All of her bills were taken care of as was all of her banking for the month. I ate 3 meals with her  this week, then Girlfriend2 and I even had a tea party with her Saturday afternoon.

I tried to let My Beloved Sister have a minimal Mom involvement week and a free weekend  because on Friday I am headed to the lake. I don't care if we have floods of Noah proportions, my rear is headed to the lake midday Friday and I am staying until late Sunday, so MBS will have to do all the heavy lifting.

Other than doing Mom things and binge watching (which really means listening while I work) some Netflix, this week was pretty boring.

Positives:
Mom had a great cardio check up
Mom's front yard bed is done (But before the last shrub was planted she was telling me the hedge in her side yard is too tall and her gutters need to be cleaned, plus the roses look bad and she has 2 possibly 3 trees that need to be taken down
TheHub had a shorter than expected trip but it was fine and mostly uneventful.
I had a great Facetime visit with my granddaughter
I talked with Son3 a couple of times this week (Unusual because we generally talk about every 10 or so days)
Alabama won their football game.

Menu Possibilities:
I use the term possibilities in the most literal way possible. Last week I only cooked 2 of the meals, and all the rest were free styling meals, but no one complained.
White chili (if the weather will ever cool down and stay down instead of climbing back up)
Chicken scaloppine, salad, rolls
Meat rolls, coleslaw, green beans, roasted cauliflower
Pork tenderloin, grilled pineapple, asparagus, rice, fruit salad
Grilled chicken in citrus marinade, broccoli, couscous
10 bean soup (if the weather cools), cornbread
Tater tot casserole (we still have not eaten this) tomato slices, cukes,  bell pepper strips, radishes, leftover green beans

Extras to make this week:
Turmeric Chai concentrate, pumpkin custard, dinner rolls, Levain cookies, football snacks

Additional things I want to accomplish this week:
Finish deep cleaning the laundry room,
Deep clean pool bath and dressing room
Deep clean music room
Clean corner cabinets in the dining room.
Take Mom out to lunch
Oh yeah, Halloween decorations.

Hope all of you have a glorious week and get what you want to do done, but hope there is also a lot of joy and fun in your week.

p.s. If you have Netflix try Mind Hunter. It was great.

Positively Monday and some Musings

This past week was a fun week even though we had no real plans or events. Because TheHub has been working exceptionally long hours he would come home ready to "do something". The something turned into going out for drinks and some nibbles or picking up some take out instead of staying at home and cooking. It was not financially frugal, but was worth every penny for the stress reduction and change of pace for him. Fortunately we live in a area with many options we could use to our advantage. This week should be the last week of this intensive push at work so maybe next week we can get back to normal. (Because he has had this job a long time  and I know how it goes, read the prior sentence with the emphasis on the word "should")

Positives:
TheHub can see the light at the end of the tunnel at work. (Maybe)
Mom had a relatively good week with just a few emergencies.
BIL had great news regarding a recent CT scan
Today the weather is cooler___finally!
I am still able to use items from our food storage and have only shopped once in 2 weeks.
Alabama won their game. Roll Tide!

Musings:
There are 5 weeks until Thanksgiving. I managed to get the upstairs clean with the exception of the music room and I just did not have it in me to clean it. Hopefully it will be done this week. I also started on the hovel laundry room/studio. I am not exactly sure how it became so disorganized but it did and now I am paying for the lack of upkeep. My good friend, Cindy, has a wonderful method of attacking a job that seems impossible. She starts in one corner and works from left to right in timed increments. I decided to follow her plan with one minor adjustment. I took my laptop into the room and set it up on the desk, turned on Netflix and for every hour I worked in the room I got to "watch" (mainly listen) to "Mind Hunter". As soon as I finish this post I am going to hit the laundry room again because I need to know what happens next!

There are 11 weeks until Christmas. This week I got a few more gifts wrapped, found 5 more I had stashed in the guest room dresser (ah, the benefits of deep cleaning) worked on my Christmas organizer, and started looking at our calendar so I can tentatively plan some entertaining events.

We are trying to work a short trip to Portland into our November schedule, and a weekend in NYC at the end of November. (Girlfriend3 has the lead in a musical and we would like to see her perform)

This week is filled with Mom stuff,  and where Mom stuff goes, there goes my time, so I am planning little other than being accommodating/

Meun:
TheHub is going to be out of town most of this week so my meal planning is sparse.
1. Chicken divan, rice, salad
2. Leftover chicken divan, grapes
3. Soup or maybe just popcorn
4. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, apple
5. White bbq chicken, salad, french bread
6. Peas, okra, and cornbread
7. Chicken fried rice
8. Spaghetti with bolognese, salad
These are only suggestions and what happens could be entirely different, except for the chicken divan which is on the menu for tonight and probably tomorrow.

Hope y'all all have a wonderful week filled with adventures.

Positively Monday and Some Musings

This past week was an unusual week for me. I had no outside appointments, didn't have to take Mom to any doctor's appointments, and had no guests. So the week was filled with some humdrum comings and goings with less actually accomplished that I should have gotten done, but things are coming along.

Musings:
There are 6 weeks until Thanksgiving and 11 until Christmas, so I have begun getting the house in order for those holidays. I actually don't think Thanksgiving will be a very big holiday around here this year. Son1 and his family will be in Portland, Son3 is staying in New York and Son2 is a wildcard. He might be here or he might not, but TheHub, Mom, My Beloved Sister, BIL, and I will have a celebration of sorts anyway..

Christmas, this year, will be a horse of a different color. The Portland crew is coming and Sons2 and 3 and both going to be here, so I will have a full house for at least a few days. I figure if I have the house ready by Thanksgiving I can kill two birds with one stone, then the Friday afterward I can do the Christmas decorating and be finished with everything but touchups and cookie baking.

In fact, today I began wrapping presents. I shop for Christmas throughout the year and when I was cleaning my closet I found about 10 presents I had stashed in there. Instead of hiding them somewhere else I decided to go ahead and wrap them. Nothing wrapped this early gets bowed or tagged, I just wrap it in paper and write the recipients name (in Sharpie) on the bottom of the package. For the time being they will live in a big black garbage bag in the laundry room. Unattractive? Yes, but safe from any prying eyes.

Positives:
1. I talked with a former neighbor who moved to Tennessee years ago. I have always loved being around her, but we had lost touch over the years. It was wonderful to reconnect!
2. Mom had a pretty decent and basically non-demanding week.
3. Saturday My Beloved Sister and I had gone to Mom's to clean out her basement refrigerator (which was on her "it need to be done right this minute list") Before we got started cleaning it Son2 and Girlfriend2 showed up at Mom's with Sneaky Pete's Hot Dogs. Instead of cleaning out the fridge we had an impromptu "tea party". Mom was thrilled.
4. Rain__we have been very dry lately and the rain was much needed and appreciated. I thought the rain might bring cooler temps and it has. It is raining right now and about 83 degrees. I don't guess fall is here yet.
5. Son2 Girlfriend2 TheHub and I watched Alabama win the ball game Saturday, complete with a quickie halftime bbq rib dinner.

Menu Suggestions:
I am still cooking primarily from food storage
1. Out to eat at Highlands celebrating our birthdays and anniversary
2. Chicken croquettes, broccoli, mashed potatoes, salad
3. Chicken pot pie, coleslaw
4. Peas, okra, tomato slices, and cornbread
5. Hamburger patties, saffron rice, green beans
6. Potato leek tart, cuke/tomato/basil salad
7. Pasta salad
8. Pork tenderloin, roasted carrots and cauliflower

Hope everyone has a great week.

Chicken Koobideh

Saturday I had taken a pound of ground chicken out of the freezer specifically to make Chicken Koobideh. I order it nearly every time we go to a neighborhood Persian restaurant. It is delicious and tender and moist and almost sings in my mouth with flavor. The last time I bought it I performed food forensics on it to try and isolate the seasonings.  After finding about 10 recipes online I combined bits and pieces of each of them and am close to the restaurants recipe.

Chicken Koobideh (No idea if the spelling is correct but that is how the restaurant spells it)

1 pound ground chicken
1 onion, finely grated and all the juice pressed out
1 clove garlic minced
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley (2 tablespoons if using fresh)
1 teaspoons dried mint
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground sumac (I used 1 teaspoon ground lemon peel)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Mix the first 5 ingredients together with a paddle or spoon. When everything is blended well add the spices. Now comes the part some of you will hate, but you just have to get in there with your hands and mix everything really well. (I have some disposable gloves from a bakery that I use. Once at Publix I had a very full cart and asked the woman in the bakery if she would sell me some. She gave me about 15 gloves. When these are gone I will go to Costco and buy some more. This is a hands on project so you might as well get some before you start.) Once everything is mixed very very well put it in an airtight container and stick it in the refrigerator for several hours (overnight is suggested, but I only chilled mine for about 4 hours)

I am linking the following YouTube video to show you how to put them on the skewers. I read the directions in the recipes I used several times and could not make sense of it. Then I watched this video below and wouldn't you know it, it was a pretty simple process. I do not own any flat kebab skewers and used regulation bamboo ones. It worked fine, but I am ordering these from Amazon* to make it a little easier.

Watch the video (I suggest turning the volume down because the music is a little annoying) and you can see  how to put it on the skewers.

I wound up baking/broiling (baked first them broiled to get a little color on them) mine in the oven, which worked fine, but next time I will fire up the grill just to get a little of the smoky flavor. The finished kebab is incredibly moist and delicious. Give it a try! It's much easier than it appears and well worth the effort!

*This is not an affiliate post, just showing what I ordered. I have no idea how well they will work, but they might be easier to use on the grill than the bamboo ones.

Lightness After the Weight of Yesterday

I felt like after the news coming from Las Vegas, we could all use a smile. I love this kind of humor.

Positively Monday and the End of Shelftember

From now on (or as often as I remember) Monday postings will be about musings and menus. The musing category will be any little odd things I saw or did the prior week along with 5 positive things that happened during the week. The menu? From now on I am going to be more like Sam and use the menu as a suggestion. I might or might not stay on track, and am not going to beat myself up if things change or I feel totally uninspired to make what is on the menu. But, I will not be posting the changes I make or the meals we eat. I experimented and found I can mostly stick to a menu but I really get a little testy about feeling obligated to follow it.  I am also going to continue with my food storage meals for a couple of weeks. I still have a lot of food in the freezer that needs to be eaten before I begin my holiday season cooking,

Musings:
This past week we attended 2 events at night and took a friend of Son3's out to dinner after one of them.
Alabama won their football game, Roll Tide!
Began the hunt for a new dishwasher. My rack is currently held together with zip ties and the mesh from an orange bag. I think I have had this dishwasher about 15 years so I am not terribly upset.

Positives:
1. I found a great deal on pineapples which means pineapple infused vodka for some holiday gifts.
2. I used a $20 off $20 purchase Wrapsody birthday coupon to buy My Beloved Sister a               Christmas gift.
3.The weather has cooled ever so slightly.
4. Mom had her quarterly eye shots and is free and clear until January.
5. Found a pair of earrings I thought were lost

Last week's menu plan:
1. Chicken koobeidah, rice, broiled tomatoes
2, Tater tot casserole, (yes it sounds awful)   marinated onion, cukes, and tomatoes
3 Peas, fried okra, cornbread
4 Bbq chicken, cole slaw, mashed potatoes
5. Bottega for dinner
6. Chicken scallopini, salad, grilled asparagus
7. Leftovers
8. Black and blue salad, dinner rolls

What happened and why:
Monday: Early in the day I had planned for the tater tot casserole. I had a bag of tots living in the freezer and had taken out my last bag of browned ground chuck to thaw. About 2 in the afternoon TheHub called and asked if we could have something not quite as heavy. I was bound to the ground chuck, so I ditched the plan, sautéed some onions, mushrooms and bell peppers, heated up the ground chuck, added some herbs and spices and served it as an open faced sandwich. Since it had about a 1 1/2 times veggie to beef ratio I didn't bother with any sides.
Used:  3/4 cups ground chuck, spices, 1 1/2 onions, 1 carton mushrooms, 1 gigantic bell pepper, 2 hot dog buns, 2 beers

Tuesday: Another late dinner! They are tiresome because it means the kitchen has to be cleaned well after 9. This was one a pretty basic meals. We had crowder peans, fried okra and cornbread.  TheHub drank wine and I had water. I am sorry but wine just does not go with peas and okra.  According to my plan I should have also sliced some tomatoes but I forgot about them. Oh well!
Used: 1 pack frozen crowder pean, okra, corn meal, oil, egg, kefir, salt and baking powder

Wednesday: We went to a local watering hole to have a couple of drinks and hear TheHub's cousin preform with a group she belongs to. Brenda has a beautiful voice and we try to catch them whenever they are in town. This meant another late night dinner, but this time I used the crock pot so we could walk in the house to an almost done dinner. I bought some farm stand bbq sauce that we did not like and will never use just as a sauce. I added some vinegar and some additional spices  and pepper (yes I had to get the heat level up) I poured it over chicken and started cooking it on low then made a bowl of cole slaw and stuck it in the fridge. When we got home all I had to do was make (term used loosely) some instant mashed potatoes. Don't judge. I keep them for nights like this!
Used: Chicken thighs from the freezer, 1/2 jar bbq sauce 1/2 head cabbage 2 carrots 2 scallions 1/2 c (maybe) instant potato flakes.

Thursday: We went to hear Joey Alexander, and took the bass player out to eat after the concert. He was a school friend of Son3 and is currently touring with Joey. So we heard great music and took Dan to eat a very traditional southern meal: bbq ribs, fried okra, mac and cheese, baked beans, coleslaw and banana pudding. It was the best the south on a single plate. In case any of you want to taste the same, you can order them here; yes right here! Just be ready to drop some coins!
Used: Money only and time well spent.

Friday: Had a wonderful day with Mom. I was with her from 1-4:30 for a doctor's appointment and called back to her house twice for "emergencies".  Any dinner plans flew out the window so I grabbed us a couple of spinach pies and we ate them between mother needs. Does anyone else have a parent who is a worse patient than a 2 year old child? When she gets her next shot for macular degeneration I am hiring someone to sit with her for 24 hours. I know she will pitch a hissy fit but it is the price she will have to pay to remain in her own house. And yes I know I am a horrible daughter, but I am not going to go to her house, watch her moan and groan, but when asked what I can do to help her, get "Nothing" or "I don't know". Then when I do something like get ice packs or try and put artificial tears in her eyes (both Dr. recommended) she screams that I am doing everything the wrong way.
Used: Every ounce of patience I possess and bandages for the tongue I was biting.

Saturday: Just me for dinner, as expected, so I ate leftover spaghetti and bolognese. I also had some celery and cucumbers (and some potato chips because they were there)
Used: Leftovers and too many additional calories (thanks chips)

Sunday: We were in a quandary about what to have for dinner. Black and Blue salad or chicken. Neither of us really wanted to fire up the grill so I tried a new to us recipe. Chicken Koobiedah, jasmine rice, broiled tomato. cucumber slices. Technically I should have cooked this on the grill but I decided to try it in the oven since that was simpler. This was a seriously tasty way to eat chicken! I will make this again, soon.
Used: 1 pound ground chicken from freezer, 1 onion,  assorted seasonings, 1 cup rice, tomato, cucumber

This week's meal possibilities:
1. Pasta salad
2. Ham with cheese ravioli, mixed greens
3. Chicken croquettes, green beans, tossed salad
4. BLT Pizza
5. Out to eat
6. Tater tot casserole, broccoli
7  Black and Blue salad
8. Peas, squash, sliced tomatoes with cornbread.

Since TheHub and I decided we need to cut back on our sugar consumption the only thing I am planning on making is some sugar free pudding. It is a fine enough dessert (I guess) plus I have a lot of milk that needs to be used. It might be possible probable that some chocolate chip cookies will be baked this weekend, after all it's game day.

Music curtesy of The Joey Alexander Trio. That is the very talented Dan Chmieilinski on bass. If you get a chance, go see Joey. He is a 14 year old  phenomenon! Talented well past his years both as a pianist, composer and arranger.  The bassist and drummer aren't anything to sneeze at either!

This Is So Me