"The Life of Riley"

 Again, a free-form, scattered mind is at work today.

As my mind is very often wont to do.... I have a very strong tendency to form associations with damn near everything.  So as to keep people on board and not listing off the starboard side of the vessel, I shall try the valuable bullet points to try to maintain some semblance of order:

• "Life of Riley" - Chosen as the title today because I felt it encapsulated my thoughts of the lesiurely pace I was able to have today as I did not have a scheduled final exam today.  I allowed myself to sleep in to the damn near hedonistic time of 8:00am! I then rousted myself out of bed and had a much more enjoyable "zillion loops" around the indoor track to get in a full 11 miles (~18 km).  Not feeling "under the gun" about getting the damn miles in before a deadline time to get to work sure makes the miles far more enjoyable.  
  
• But in thinking about the title of my post, I also began to wander back in the recesses of my mind to remember the television show, "The Life of Riley".  This was a comedy that was in the 1950s and featured the ever affable William Bendix in the lead role.  
• Yet, that also lead to some incongruencey in my mind, for the meaning of "The Life of Riley" is suggestive of a carefree and/or luxurious sort of lifestyle.... which was the meaning I had meant regarding my waking and running routine today.  BUT, the show was was actually more of an ironic play on the phrase.... as much of the comedy of the show was a result of all the various comedic troubles and hardships Riley (Bendix) inadvertently ended up creating for himself.  

So, after running, I returned home and tossed together all the various ingredients for the dish I offered to bring to the Department Christmas Potluck today.  I had gotten all the materials ready last night to make the final jostling of ingredients together easier.  I ended up making a Pesto Pasta Salad.  In my variant of this (like pretty much anything I make), I sort of "free-form" the dish from what seems interesting to me.  I have a basic pesto recipe that I found (and then proceeded to considerably modify) back in August so as to use the more than ample basil from our garden this year.  I have several containers of frozen "pesto" that I will pull out, thaw and use.  I had a container of that thaw in the refrigerator over night.  I had also pre-boiled the pasta last night (choice - tri-color swirled pasta) and it was also in the refrigerator along with small cubes of sharp cheddar cheese, sliced black olive rings, some chopped walnuts, and some small, diced bell peppers.  I threw everything into a big mixing bowl, tossed on ~ 1 teaspoon of coarse ground pepper, ~1/4 teaspoon of salt.... folded everything into a fairly even distribution, and then poured as much of the contents into the "party bowl" that I use for every damn Department potluck, and then poured the rest into one of my wife's Tupperware bowls with a good lid, and slid this bowl into the refrigerator for us to eat later.  I covered it with Saran Wrap, grabbed the serving "party spoon" that I had engraved on the underside my last name.  I had done this with an engraver tool my wife had given me as a gift long ago. I engraved that spoon at LEAST 20 years ago... probably far closer to 30 years ago.  At the Department Potlucks, serving spoons have a tendency to "travel" and I wanted to make sure I got it back. 

And my foolish Pesto Pasta Salad wasn't meant to be my focus today either, but my mind just wandered into talking about that too, I guess.  

* * * * * 

What I wanted to talk about was how different than expected the cube cut burley pipe tobacco I bought at Iwan Ries was!  Cube cut pipe tobaccos are.... as the name suggests.... tobacco that is cut into cube shaped pieces.  Sir Walter Raleigh, the very first pipe tobacco I "borrowed" from my Dad and joyfully indulged in when I was a young pup.... was a classic cube cut pipe tobacco.  These days, there are not many cube cut pipe tobaccos anymore as most pipe tobaccos are "ribbon cut" or "shag cut" these days.  When I opened the pouch of this cube cut burley from Iwan Ries, I was rather surprised.  Most cube cut pipe tobaccos I have had over the years were roughly cubes a bit bigger than 1/8 of an inch on each side.  But, the cube cut from Iwan Ries was distinctly smaller.  To me, when opening the pouch, it almost looked like a pile of "Grape Nuts" cereal.... it had that sort of look to it.  I was quite intrigued and felt pretty excited to try it.  

So.... at the cemetery, I first added the cube cut burley to fill about 2/3 of the bowl and then for the top 1/3, I added "Three Star Blue".  And, as I had mentioned before.... it was wonderful to be out there and able to talk about memories at my parent's grave site.  The time out there and the time smoking my pipe out there while focusing on memories of my wonderful Dad.... I am so very glad I did this.  It was wonderful 

But... also from a purely pipe only perspective..... it too was a beautiful gift.  The gentle aromatic flavors of the "Three Star Blue" opened the "symphony" so-to-speak.  It was just as smooth, flavorful, and utterly delightful in all ways... as I had experienced in Chicago itself.  It created an immediate sense of joy.  

But, as I slowly worked the ember deeper into the bowl, the ember began to also combust some of the cube cut burley as well.  The symphony became more intensive, with more robust, deeper tones and fewer "flourishes"... but more substance.  Its flavor was considerably deeper and a bit darker.  The texture of the smoke began to feel even more dense and beautifully chalky.  Yet, a "lilting" quality to the symphony continued as well.  As I have typically found with burleys.... the burley leaf almost always imparts a gently sweet "edge" to the flavor of the pipe smoke as well...... which added an extra layer of richness that was so purely delightful.  In my opinion, the smaller cubes of this cube cut pipe tobacco were wonderful!  The smaller cube cut seemed to imbue a FLOOD of intensely beautiful flavor.... or perhaps in a more symphonic analogy.... it felt as if it moved the experience to fortissimo!

Neurally, I could feel tension wash out of my mind like an exiting tide, and the new returning tide offered a beautiful blanket of tranquility.  I could literally feel my facial muscles relax comfortably.  I am not doing the experience proper justice here.  I wish I could better discern the correct words.  I will have to think about it some more.

* * * * *

I had better go and get back to grading.  But, one last thing I need to try to get out of my head, is a phrase that I consider rather obnoxious.  Not in normal day-to-day usage, but as a term used in some of the "fancier" pipe circles:    

I am going to tell you a rather "hoity-toity" word that I dislike.  But, I mention it because on a Pipe Tobacco online group I have read for years.... some of the "hoity-toity" folks use this word.... "Parfait".  Technically, a "parfait" in pipe smoking is the act of layering different types of pipe tobaccos in the bowl of a pipe.  

But, the word "Parfait" sounds too "frou-frou" and "hoity-toity" to me.  To me, it is just the mixing of two or more different pipe tobaccos in the bowl of your pipe.  

My beard and mustache bristle at the thought or mention of  a pipe "parfait".  And unfortunately, because I was talking about the mixing of the two pipe tobaccos above....  that unpleasant term kept popping into my mind.... and probably was the culprit regarding my writers block in what I wanted to better describe.

PipeTobacco