GrinningBandit's blog: "My Blogs"

Many of you know that I like to cook. With winter fast approaching I thought I'd share one of my favorites. This one gets me rave compliments when I make a batch... enjoy!

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Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque

1 whole butternut squash (about 3 pounds)

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium sweet onion-minced

2 cloves garlic-minced

3 stalks celery-minced

3 tablespoons butter

32-48 ounces vegetable stock or broth

1 ½ cups half and half (or whole milk… but I use 1% and it seems to be fine)

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon honey

Optional: for garnish – sour cream or crème fraiche, aged (syrup-like) balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Prepare squash by cutting open and removing seeds. Do not peel. Cut squash into approximately 3-inch wedges. Arrange squash (skin side down) on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil; roast for 30 to 40 minutes or until squash is tender when pierced with a fork and starting to brown around the edges. When cool enough to handle, scrape squash flesh from skin and set aside.

In a 6-quart stockpot over medium heat, sauté minced onion, garlic and celery in butter until golden. Add roasted squash to pot. Add 32 ounces of vegetable stock, reserving the remainder to adjust thickness of soup. Cook over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up squash pieces.

Add sea salt, celery salt, pepper, cumin and cloves. Blend with immersion blender or sturdy counter-top blender until smooth. Fill blender only half way with soup and process in batches if necessary. Add some of the reserved vegetable stock if needed, to assist with blending.

To the smoothly blended soup in the stockpot, add honey and half-and-half.   Taste and adjust seasoning.  Additional half-and-half and/or vegetable stock can be used to get the exact consistency you prefer.  Remember to adjust seasoning after each addition.  Serve with a dollop of cool sour cream or crème fraiche.   Drizzle ever so slightly with syrupy balsamic vinegar.  Enjoy!

People ask me what my after tattoo care is so I thought I'd post it here. This is the after tattoo care that I swear by. I always heal up in 4-5 days and I NEVER scab up. Mind you, this is subject to if your artist has a rough hand and scars you and the way that your body heals.

First off, the physiology behind this is fairly sound. It keeps the blood plasma from pooling on the surface of your skin and ultimately forming a scab.

After you have had your tattoo for 2-3 hours remove the dressing (my artist uses plastic wrap, it doesn’t stick and is a good barrier that won’t let a scab form in, on or around it).

1) Run your water (either shower or faucet) to a temperature just below as hot as you can stand it. I know this sounds crazy, but it does 2 things: the heat sort of numbs the area effectively taking the burn away and the heat also draws the blood plasma up and washes it away. Run the water over your tattoo for no more than 3-4 minutes and wash the area with a fragrance free soap.

2) Pat the tattoo dry with a clean, dry towel.

3) (Optional step recommended to me by my artist that I do) Take a cotton ball and saturate it with Witch Hazel and gently clean the tattoo. (Witch Hazel is a natural astringent that will help clean the area as well as keep the itch of a healing tattoo to a minimum. I bought mine at the local grocery store. It looks like a bottle of rubbing alcohol.)

4) Cover the tattoo with a thin layer of A&D ointment… rub it in (not triple antibiotic… the skin has good bacteria in it that will help it heal naturally... only use the antibiotic stuff if you develop an infection for some reason).

Repeat steps 1-4 three to five times per day (I do it when I get up in the morning, at lunch, when I get home from work and before I go to bed).

Continue this process until you start to peel (really thin layer of skin, no scabs… It takes me 4-5 days).

Once you start to peel, switch to lotion.

Big no-no’s are soaking in a tub or swimming. Not until the skin is healed or you are inviting infection. No going in the sun with it either. One thing to remember: by using this method you are thwarting the bodies natural healing process and disallowing a scab to form. You are leaving your body open to infection with basically an open wound on your body so keep it clean!

Old man or not if this guy ever tried this shit with my children it would be the last time he ever attempted it and I'd be in jail.

I wrote this back in '06 when I was a little bigger, had hair down to the middle of my back, a goatee that was 8 inches long.. both hair and goat were board straight... when I had my shirt off people would see all of my tattoos and from a single look, assume that I was a bad person. I wrote this because of that.

Snap Judgment

6'5", 245. long hair, long goatee 

one look, snap judgment 

you think you know me 

you think "trouble", "fighter"..... monster 

look away, walk away, keep away 

you'd think different if you took the time 

but you don't take the time 

one look, snap judgment, 

closed mind 

spiraling down, the world cries 

opportunity lost

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