WARRIOR

 

Yes, it's 1973 Wishbone Ash time and WARRIOR. Awesome, but why is the bassist wearing some kind of silk kimono... tabard?  Huh, shades of #BobWeirsShorts but whatever, have a look and turn it up.

It's all good,

LSP

Adoro Te

 

St. Thomas Aquinas is rightly known as the Angelic Doctor, perhaps the greatest of theologians, and the sanctity of his thought and devotion comes through in his hymnody, not least Adoro Te, composed for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Here:

Anglo-Catholics, that rare breed, are familiar with this translation:

Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen,

Who thy glory hiddest ‘neath these shadows mean;

Lo, to thee surrendered, my whole heart is bowed,

Tranced as it beholds thee, shrined within the cloud.

Taste and touch and vision to discern thee fail;

Faith, that comes by hearing, pierces through the veil.

I believe whate’er the Son of God hath told;

What the Truth hath spoken, that for truth I hold.

O memorial wondrous of the Lord’s own death;

Living Bread that givest all thy creatures breath,

Grant my spirit ever by thy life may live,

To my taste thy sweetness never failing give.

Jesus, whom now hidden, I by faith behold,

What my soul doth long for, that thy word foretold:

Face to face thy splendor, I at last shall see,

In the glorious vision, blessed Lord, of thee.

And in the military Latin original, so beautifully moving in the singing:

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,

Quae sub his figuris vere latitas;

Tibi se cor meum totum subiicit,

Quia te contemplans, totum deficit.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,

Sed auditu solo tuto creditur;

Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius,

Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius.

In Cruce latebat sola Deitas.

At hic latet simul et humanitas:

Ambo tamen credens, atque confitens,

Peto quod petivit latro paenitens.

Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor,

Deum tamen meum te confiteor:

Fac me tibi semper magis credere,

In te spem habere, te diligere.

O memoriale mortis Domini,

Panis vivus vitam praestans homini:

Praesta meae menti de te vivere,

Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

Pie pellicane Iesu Domine,

Me immundum munda tuo Sanguine:

Cuius una stilla salvum facere

Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

Iesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,

Oro, fiat illud, quod tam sitio,

Ut te revelata cernens facie,

Visu sim beatus tuae gloriae.

Amen.

Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274 A.D.) was  born into a noble family in northern Italy. His Father, Count Landulph of Aquino, was of Lombard descent and his Mother, Theodora, was Norman.

Unsurprisingly, the men of his family were knights and warriors but Thomas chose the religious life and joined the newly formed Domincan Order, much to the annoyance of his brothers and doubtless Father. But if he declined the offer of a temporal sword he most definitely took up its spiritual equivalent.

His writing, like light cast on a darkened city, like a flare of sanctity and truth, illumines and drives back error, evil and disbelief today.

Iesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio, Oro, fiat illud, quod tam sitio.

Yes,

LSP

WARRIOR

 

Pan to Bell Harry and rock on,

LSP

Cooking With LSP - Striper

Yeah, 'cooking with LSP.' Some kind of joke? On the contrary, here's how it's done. Today's the Feast of St. John Chrysostom but it's also a Friday, which means you can't eat meat. Problem. Solution? Cook up some fish, obviously. Watch my tracer.

Boat

First step, catch the fish. Get in a boat and surge out into the lake, then put your rod over the side and haul in amazing Striper. Keep doing that till you've caught your limit and head back to shore, job well done. Watch in amazement as the guide cleans the fish in a fraction of the time it'd take you to do. 

News

Second step, cook the fish. How? Here's one method and it's as easy as the DNC blocking Tulsi Gabbard. Wash a monster Striper filet in the sink, pat it dry, salt the fish, and congratulate yourself on sticking to mission while you have a glass of the right stuff. 

Shoot the Fish?

Maybe that's water, maybe it's not, your call. Whatever, don't waste time, cut the filet in half with a sharp knife, sharp as a clean Brexit from the EU.

Pan Sear

Well done, you've gone far, but there's still a way to go. Put some olive oil and butter in a frying pan and heat it up, medium high. As the oil begins to smoke like an Inspector General's report ready to go critical, add the fish to the pan. Listen in wonder as it sizzles.

Not Perfect But Tasty As You Like

Fry for about four minutes a side depending on the thickness of the filet, your goal is a crispy, golden brown exterior and firm, succulent, flaky interior. That achieved or approximated to, crack some pepper over the fish and serve with lemon and some kind of vegetable. Don't say Beto.

Third step. Fall on your scoff like a warrior.

Fish on,

LSP

Cooking With LSP -- Cyber Monday Pie

"Oh, cooking with LSP, where's that on the spectrum?" Good question. First things first, get a gun and put it on the table, I use a Glock 21 but that's just me. You might prefer a revolver, a Sig, a CZ or a Beretta. Up to you.

Next, boil up leftover beef bones or beef ends, the fatty, gristly stuff you don't want to eat. Add salt and pepper, you're making stock. Let it boil then reduce to a simmer for around an hour or so until the fat's rendering. You'll want around 2 cups worth.

While the stock's doing its thing, chop up an onion, a leek, a carrot or two and peel 4 or 5 cloves of garlic. Don't crush or mince the garlic, this isn't some kind of Macronite, faux Napoleon, globalist assault on traditional value. 

No, throw the whole cloves into the tin with the rest of the veg. Add olive oil and a few tablespoons of butter. Pour a cup+ of beef stock over the veg, then put that bad boy in the oven at 400* to roast. Why?

Because it'll taste good, trust me. Let the veg roast for around an hour, 'til it's starting to char, In the meanwhile, cube up some leftover roast beef, as much as you like, set it aside. 

Boil up a couple of carrots and set them aside, slice some mushrooms in half or leave 'em whole if they're small. Set them aside too. Well done, you're nearly there, so have a glass of wine or seltzer water, your choice. I chose wine.

Thirst assuaged, make a poor man's roux. I use 4 tbls of butter, flour, salt and pepper and a cup of milk+. Cook it up and behold the roux magically thicken, then pour in 1 1/2 cups of stock. Add more stock if needed, up to you.

Stir it 'round like a champion. Add the roast veg, beef, and mushrooms, stir and let simmer for a good 30 minutes. You'll see the roux change color from cream to brown. Such is cooking.

While the beast's simmering away and consolidating like a battle group about to go over the start line, roll out some pasty. I cheat and use pre-made and here's the orthodoxy; don't use puff pastry in a beef pie, use the other sort. But I like the rainbow riding puff, it tastes better. Whatever, your call.

Pastry rolled, pour the simmering awesomeness of beef and veg into a deep pie dish. Stand back and consider the completion of this phase of the advance. Perhaps play some baroque fanfares, up to you. Chivalric reverie over, don't say Agincourt, place the rolled out dough over the mix.

Decorate the in potentia pie crust with leftover dough, then glaze with egg white and put the whole thing in the oven at 375* for as long as it takes, around an hour.

Take it out, let it rest, and eat your scoff like...

A King,

LSP

Cooking With LSP, Venison Backstrap

Excuse me? You snort indignantly. You can't cook with LSP. Not so fast, tiger. You can and here's how. First step, go out and shoot a deer or get someone to do it for you. 

Next step, get a slab of the deer's backstrap, maybe some tenderloin too, and behold its glory; season with salt and pepper, then marinade in a mixture of soy sauce and brown sugar, about a 1/4 cup of the one and a couple of tablespoons of the other.

Put it in the fridge. Well done, you've successfully completed the first evolution of this training program and you've earned a break. Take it, go fishing, sharpen your knives, clean guns, whatever, it's up to you.

As the sun begins to set, take the venison out of the fridge, cut it into thick slices (1.5/2" or so), wrap in bacon, skewer with a toothpick and marvel at the genius of it all. 

When you've recovered from that, put those bacon wrapped chunks of awesome on a rack in a tin in the center of a 350* preheated oven.

Relax, you're nearly there. Have a glass of wine if you like, have several; there's no rush because the meat has to cook for around 20 minutes, until the bacon's on the go. But be careful, don't overcook, you're after medium rare or at least I am. So know the heat of your oven.

Oven done, finish the beasts off on a heavy metal hot skillet. Please don't, in your enthusiasm, grasp the handle of the red hot skillet. Trust me, it hurts. 

Then serve with vegetables if you want and eat your scoff...

Like a Warrior,

LSP