BRob Baseball
BRob didn’t play.  You can find the recap here.  Blogs, blogs everywhere!  I’m glad there is broohaha regarding the BRob trade.  If I couldn’t look for trade rumors, I’d have to pay more attention to the games   First, I would read the Orioles MLB Fan Forum page, then find a Pearl Jam fan who is a baseball fan, who can educate me on the good the bad, and the Are You for Real of baseball.  I was a Yankees fan when they won the World Series in 1977.  What else is there?

Biscotti
I couldn’t wait to try out this Parmesan Black-Pepper biscotti.  It just SOUNDS great, doesn’t it.  Just like something you want to put on the side of a salad, or use to sop up extra spaghetti sauce from a holiday meal.  The recipe did not disappoint.

First, the black peppercorns.  It sounds kindof elitist to include a step to process black peppercorns when it’s easier to buy black pepper.  I did it anyway.  I put the 1.5 TBL of black peppercorns in the food processor and next to nothing happened.  The blade kept missing most of the peppercorns.  Then I put in a handful, and I got a bingo!  Even though many of the peppercorns were not processed, I just put what was in the food processor through a strainer and ended up with very nice black pepper spice; uniform in color, pungent, and fresh.  When you add the butter to the dry ingredients, just use your entire hands to mix it up.  It’s like playing in the sand box.  I thought that to make the ingredients into the coarse meal size that I should only use my fingertips, and work them very fast.  Eh, what’s the rush?  Try the whole hand, and make sure it is a distance from you that will not hurt your wrists.  Just go at it and have fun.  The entire hand will melt the butter.  I would recommend these.

Pearl Jam Bootleg
Philadelphia, October 3, 2005 aka Philly 05.  Download from post #2, and expect greatness!  This bootleg is brought to you by the letters M and E as in ME!  This concert blew my mind!  It was the 9th Pearl Jam show I’d seen, and it was the first time that I realized that Pearl Jam is a truly exceptional concert band.  Before this show I would wait for the albums more than the concert tours.  The first 6 shows I saw were in Seattle and not very remarkable.  Remember Seattle is NOT the Gorge at George.  Then I saw a couple in St. John’s Newfoundland which were enjoyable, but there you go.  During this entire time my favorite concerts were a Bruce Springsteen concert and a Paul Simon concert.  Then there was Philly ’05, and it was truly life altering – a baptism of sorts. 

The setlist started with Wash.  Wash is a Lost Dog.  Again, what was the setlist creater thinking?  He knew that the crowd was comprised of dedicated Pearl Jam fans that would be loyal enough to buy a Bsides Rarities album like Lost Dogs.  Have you heard of Lost Dogs?  I suggest you try it out, it’s a great addition to the Pearl Jam CD catalog.  It’s apparent the show would be different from others just by starting with a Lost Dog.  Brain of J was incredible!  Eddie saying later We were waiting for you, too when they went into Given to Fly.  As I was listening to the bootleg it was hard not to shout Yes! or Oh Yes! or Ohmygawd!, you know stuff like that.  I don’t remember most of the concert, but I remember that it was excellent.  This will probably be the only bootleg I transfer to my iPod shuffle. 

EvenFlow had some crowd noise Yeah, and Eddie saying Red Rover Red Rover Let Mike McCready Take Over, and Mike flowed into fire.  Yea crowd, go crowd go!  More Eddie talk Well, that’s the Philadelphia we know and love right there.  Also, We’re picking songs tonight that we don’t play every night.  We’re just wondering if that’s what you want to hear.  Answer YES!  The men were present:  Leatherman, Better Man, Nothingman.  I don’t see  how this concert couldn’t stand up to European concerts.  I remember not knowing Bleed for Me either during the show or while listening to the bootleg.  It was a gap in understanding then and now.  The relationship between the band and the crowd could be explained with a metaphor:  Say, you drive 3 states north for the summer home you bought a few years ago.  You stay at this home for at least a month maybe 2 every summer.  A few years before you moved in another person bought their summer home 2 doors down from you.  They drive 3 states east to get there.  Since the homes are relatively close together when there is a nice sunset, and you see the neighbor the next day on your daily walk you both bring it up.  You don’t mix like relatives, but it’s a trust in the season, the time.  This neighbor sees you and knows that summer has begun.  This neighbor has been waiting all year for this time.  You see your neighbor and you know that summer has began; it’s what you have been waiting for all year.  That’s like the relationship I saw between Pearl Jam and Philadelphia that night.

I wish I could hear Harvest Moon live again.  I remember that I disagreed with Eddie when he considered Mary in Crazy Mary crazy (she’s just misunderstood), but I forgot about the payback he received.  Stone, you trooper! 

There is a nice story from Eddie on how Philadelphia helped Last Kiss become famous, and consequently money was raised for Kosovo victims.  Eddie introduced Do the Evolution as Leash.  That funny man!  hahahahahahahaha.  I LoVE Rockin’ in the Free World and Yellow Ledbetter as endings.

If given the option of a last meal or a last listen to this bootleg before I deparated this life, I would take listening to this bootleg.  Me, the one who bakes, and loves to eat.  Yep, it’s that good!

BRob Baseball
Brian played!  Here’s a recap.  Here’s more.  I was listening to an audio clip from the Orioles site, and a MLB reporter assigned to the Orioles thinks Brian will definitely be traded before opening day.  Just go to this page, and then scroll down to multimedia, and listen to Fordin on O’s health, Roberts.

Biscotti
Almond Apricot Biscotti – as I baked this recipe I realized some of my downfalls.  One of which is that I give a recipe author the benefit of the doubt.  I questioned mixing those quarters of dried apricot going in the dough.  I thought they were too big, and as I folded over the dough I knew they were too big.  But NO, I kept with it!  I ended up throwing out the batch, because the chunks of apricots were too big, and I couldn’t in good conscience give them away.  As you can see by the biscotti next to the BRob Bobblehead, they did not mix evenly because of the folding, and the pieces were too big. 

This recipe had so much potential!  I loved most of the method until the apricot part.  It was so easy, but I would recommend that the apricots be processed, even until a goo.  Or process them with the almonds and some of the flour mixture.  Either way it’s has to be better than this way.  Then add them to the dough in a mixer, so that they are really incorporated.  I’m not a big fan of dried fruit chunks unless there’s a really good reason.  Dried cherries in the previous chocolate recipe worked, but these apricots should be more of a blend than a feature.  I still think it would have been a good taste, if the apricot taste was more evenly distributed.  Forget the wax paper step, just divide in two logs with sizes as noted in the recipe after taking out of the mixer.  It had a really nice secondary taste, like the aftertaste.

Pearl Jam Bootleg
Champaign, Illinois, April 23, 2003.  You can download it here in post #8.  Very interesting it started with Do the Evolution.  As I wrote previously, the first song is a reflection of the setlist maker’s feel towards the concert.  This was an quirky song to start with.  Oddly enough when the new record is mentioned, it’s Riot Act.  Oh my my this concert’s almost 5 years old!  Technology – it’s crazy!

Corduroy continues to be a beginning song, and is always a good concert song with a nice Mike solo.  In Dissident Eddie’s voice shines through very nicely.  In Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town there is a nice audience participation, and recognition of the wonderful small towns in Illinois.  EvenFlow rocks as always, nice audience participation at end of Jeremy.  You Are is a great concert song.  I like it better live.  On the album I could take or leave it sometimes, but live it really fits.  Eddie was sounding tired in I Am Mine.  Mike sounded like he was shot from a cannon for Habit.  Untitled is always a nice transition as if it’s time to drive down Lake Shore Drive.  Right into MFC and Given to Fly which are my favorite songs, not my favorite live versions, though.  Porch was on fire, with nice give and take between Eddie and the audience.  I’m a fan of the Police, but Pearl Jam gave a nice turn to Driven to Tears.  The Police sing the song like a statement, and Pearl Jam’s version is like a question, it’s enticing.  The crowd sound embrace that I referenced in Lisbon #2 ’06 can be heard in Betterman, not as prominent, but still a nice feature to the presentation of the bootleg.

Crazy Mary was too slow and lifeless UNTIL BOOM . . . and MIKE.  Boom was the wake-up and Mike was the soulfoul response.  I like EvenFlow solos, but Crazy Mary always has good Mike solos.  In fact the Mike solo rescued this song along with Boom.  This may be my favorite Mike solo.  The entire concert is brought to you by the letter M for Mike!  If you are big on Mike solos, download this boot.  Pearl Jam doesn’t seem to stray too much from originals by other artists.  I don’t know Know Your Rights, but I’m assuming I wouldn’t like it just based on Pearl Jam’s rendition.  Black is a little colorless, it sounds acoustic (?), but the crowd added mightily to it almost like a ghost wanting to feel again, and then there’s Mike adding the soul.  Crowd was still at it in Baba O’Reilly.