Chef Ewald Scholz: Meeting a Legend

On March 31st, Chef Ewald Scholz saw his 86th birthday. With that, his pain and suffering of the past two years ended. His son Brian was able to be with him. Throughout this last great battle, even through the sickness of chemotherapy the pain in his bones and muscles were at times blinding. But he added a step to his gait and made his rounds. He would leave chemo to attend a chef's luncheon and stand straight and true as if he hadn't anything but joy and love.
Many didn't realize the struggle because he masked it so bravely. The great man was driven by a need to squeeze out every opportunity to pass on his spirit to the culinary world of Dallas. A world he gave all to.

Meeting a Legend 

 by J.B. Blocker

  Ewald Scholz brought elegance to the madness of perfection. Ask anyone. Perfectionist is always mentioned with his name. 

  He is energized and driven by the soul of hospitality. The great chef is 'Front of House', 'Back of House', and all points in between. He proved to be a mentor and guide from a young age. No detail escaped him. He lived his historic culinary carrier with a whip and a rose. I have seen it in the many ways. 

  He has traveled the world of cuisine like Marco Polo and then presented what he has learned with thoughtful elegance. He has influenced thousands and charmed thousands more.

A New Years Story

The possibly true story of Juan Valdez

Romancing the Bean 

A Series Of Short Stories

By J. B. Blocker
the Caffeine Cowboy

  

 
  In a little over 1000 years, coffee has been elevated to the second most traded commodity after oil and is the most prepared beverage in the world. 
  Kaldi the Ethiopian goat herder is said to have discovered coffees kick and introduced it to monks who were able to chant and pray longer. A French Lieutenant stole a kiss and two coffee plants from Napoleon's garden and brought it to the New World. Stories abound!

   I’ve got a long list of these stories if you’re interested. Most of them are true! At least parts of them are!

   The story I am about to share may or may not be true. No matter, it is close to my heart and carries a modern-day lesson somewhere inside.

   Our story begins on New Year’s Eve. In a small community hospital in South Texas, two young couples await their firstborns. All the while the hospital staff anxiously anticipate the race for the first birth of the New Year. Two expectant fathers pace into the midnight hour. As the town clocks strike midnight, simultaneous declarations of triumph announce two births!

   It is a tie! For the hospital and even the state of Texas, the firstborn pair of the new year are named Juan and Josephine. 

Jewel of Division Street

John Bucci and the 15-foot long replica Traveling Trevi

  A crowd milled around one large exhibit at the Houston Greater Southwest Food Festival as if it were a museum attraction. The Italian food section's centerpiece was a 50-foot long replica of the world-famous Trevi Fountain.

   With water flowing from the giant clam shell chariot seat of Oceanus and his trumpeting mermen atop powerful seahorses, the feature captivated the attendees and gave me the feeling of being at the Palazzo Poli in Rome.   
  Standing Greco/Roman statues and reliefs were being moved around by a spry, graying image of an Italian Formula One driver of the '60s. But this was the '90s, and I had to meet this man who was furiously arranging the Italian Exhibit. 
  By the end of the four-day event, John Bucci and I were friends. His art is just now being sold to private collections. I thought you’d like to know more. - jb 

FLIP THE SCRIPT! Vote from the bottom to the top.

NEWS UPDATE: November 4, 2020    Hot of the presses SNOOZE YOU LOOSE NEWS

Carrollton, Texas: In a stunning upset Zul Mirza Mohamed, the mayoral candidate recently charged with 105 counts of voter fraud squeaks out a 19-vote victory over incumbent mayor Kevin Falconer!

In his victory speech, Mohamed declares that his first act as the mayor is to fire the current city manager and bring in a more progressive city staff.

Mohamed has had an on-going contentious relationship with 1^st Responder services along with city maintenance and social services.

Although over 50,000 votes were cast for the Presidential candidates in the City of Carrollton, these votes were spread out over three different ballots. Carrollton city limits are included in Collin, Denton, and Dallas Counties. Each ballot included numerous National, State, County, and Municipal races.

In this unique COVID election, it is the first time that Municipal elections were on the same ballot as the Presidential election.

The apparent reason for the upset victory is blamed on VOTER FATIGUE.

Citywide, only 9,000 voters completed the extremely long ballots that ended with the race for Mayor and City Council.

Many other voter decisions were left blank especially in regard to State, County, City Officials, and Propositions.  

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

  Although in hindsight, Texas Governor Abbott might have allowed the Municipal elections to proceed with the May 2020 traditional date, his only legal alternative was the Nov. 3 date.

Several repercussions from this decision may haunt Texas elections for the next 4 years.

  This is the first time that all elections National, State, County, and Municipal appeared on the same ballot. Mayors will be elected on the same ballot as the President.

IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE!

  This is also the year that Straight Party voting has been eliminated. This could have created an even more disturbing outcome. 

  Because Municipal elections are non-partisan, if the past practice of CHECK R or D was in play, the bottom of the ballot could have easily been hugely ignored. This was fought in the courts to the bitter end with a final decision to disallow the Straight Party ballot.    

  The blowback to combining the Municipal ballot included spreading out campaign support funds during a financial depression, lack of personal and community debates and rallies, extreme voter information fatigue, and voter apathy.

  For targeted communities, the results could mean upset victories!

 HOW TO PREVENT THIS

  The entire list of voter decisions in Dallas County is 20 pages long. This is due to the many municipalities in the county. The City of Addison alone features so many minor propositions mainly to correct wording that the entire Alphabet was used. Who can be informed enough to make so many major and minor decisions?

  Carrollton includes Dallas, Denton, and Collin County. Each county has different races for State Reps, Judges, and Commissioners to name a few. And at the bottom of all three Carrollton ballots is your choice for the Mayor between the popular incumbent Falconer and Mohammed. There is one City Council race and the ISD which is also a Metrocrest ballot.

  My Carrollton in Denton County ballot is 2 pages with 29 decisions beginning with the President and ending with the ISD. And even though 12 are unchallenged, even I who tries to stay election savvy had to dig a little deeper to make informed decisions.

  I am constantly called on by people who know and follow me to guide them. They don't ask why they just ask who.

MY BALLOT

  I am including my completed ballot. I even checked the ones that have no opponent just in case there is an effort to infuse the election with Write-In candidates. You should consider that as a possibility. I pity the poor citizen voters who have the intention of faithfully executing their civic duty and are facing ballots with even more pages. One of my contacts reported 55 on their Harris County ballot!

  

- J.B. Blocker is a media consultant based in Collin County in North Texas. Advertise with J.B. by calling 469-334-9962.

Liver and Onions for Mom

  

jb blocker

  The Corona Virus has shut down buffet type restaurants. I won't be dining at Furr's Cafeteria today! It has been a regular stop for Mother's Day for many years.

Liver and Onions? 

  There was no escape when mom made liver and onions for dad. No excuses and no substitutions. I could smell them cooking before I stepped into the house. Back then, we had the windows and screen doors open whenever possible. You eat what you get or you don't eat is just assumed. The only thing I could do is make sure there was ketchup, lots of ketchup!  

  As an adult, I no longer hate a lot of items I tried to avoid back them.

  I have made a habit...a ritual... of eating at Furr's Cafeteria in Plano on I-75 on Mother’s Day weekends. For Mom! 

  I fill my plate with things my mom would have made. It's kinda like going to a Sunday potluck dinner. I fill my plate with some of my childhood least favorites like lima beans, boiled cabbage, turnip greens, broccoli salad, jello salad, etc.. If they had Salmon Patties, it would be complete. 

  The meal is saved by slices of roast beef, baked fish, and an average meatloaf. My mom's meatloaf became average when a former secretary Sheila Williams McClellan blew my mind.
  I make a point to get a nice helping of liver and onions smothered in the gravy. Some times throughout the year I go to Furr's with a friend, but at this time of year, I make a point to go on my own and take my time talking to my mother...And remember.

  Nancy Lea Kitson Blocker was raised in Geary, Oklahoma where the family persevered through the Dust Bowl. She left her body about 20 years ago but she continually rides on my right shoulder. She still encourages and admonishes me. I can feel her flick my ear often.

  To those who knew her she was a rural small-town Martha Stewart and Barbara Walters rolled into a dust bowl Okie, WWII Wave, author, and so much more.

  I was her adopted Japanese, Irish, German, Korean, French personal project. No racism existed in her world. Cultures did. She embraced the world. We had friends from around the world from nearly 30 years as a Naval family. They returned to America with two adopted children, for most of my childhood the only other 1/2 Asian I would know was my baby sister Eri.

I'll Never Forget 9-11

'the Red Zone' click to enlarge

 I took this shot from about the 20^th floor of the World Finance Center Building II on November the 1st, 2001. It's 'the Red Zone' inside Ground Zero. Smoke is still seeping out of deep pockets. The air is a fog of dust and will be for a few more weeks before the snow and rain bring the floating debris back to earth.

  Rising 400 feet above stands Big Red, the largest mobile crane in the U.S.A. It was perched on the spot that was once the World Trade Center I footprint.

  The Houston company that owns Big Red flew the American flag at its peak, just above the flag of Texas. Grapplers the size of semi-trailers worked 24/7 in the dust and haze that never goes away. In the background on the left, the skeleton that was World Trade Center 2 leans against the remains of buildings 8 and 9. From the back center to right are the burned shells of buildings 7, 6, and 5.

If you expand the photo and look closely you can see the billowing dust covering both vehicles and their operators as a grappler dumps its load into the waiting semis. 

Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter

from Lone Star Reporter: 
Gary Painter was a friend to me. Over the past decade, I have visited and called on him often... sometimes for opinion and sometimes for advice. I always felt his John Wayneness. His quiet thoughtfulness, His long tall frame, His long arms that swung like a slow pendulum when he walked like a determined man. He was always determined.
After he walked away from a 50 ft. fall in a gyrocopter, he told me the next day that he would do it again if I supplied a better pilot!
You should know something about him. His is a life worthy of statues, schools, and street signs.  jb

Sheriff Gary Painter’s legacy lives on in Midland 

Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter was photographed for USA Today standing with a portrait of Sgt. Mike Naylor in the William Alders Justice Center that houses the sheriff’s office. Naylor was killed Oct. 9,

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