Here’s how it works: Tell us why you deserve free tickets for a night at the 97X Next Big Thing show with Rise Against in the comments section below, then email us your contact information. We’ll announce our winner on Thurs., Dec. 3!
SERVES 4
Wild hog country rib ragù
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 wild hog country ribs
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 rib celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, sliced paper-thin
1 tablespoon freshly chopped rosemary
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup dry white wine
1½ cups canned whole peeled tomatoes, with juice
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1. Rinse ribs, pat them dry, then season well with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy-bottomed enamel pot. Brown ribs thoroughly on all sides, working in batches. Remove ribs and reserve, with juice. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic (and more oil if necessary). Sauté till the vegetables are soft and translucent. Add rosemary, red pepper flakes (if desired), wine and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then gently place the ribs back in the liquid. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer, and cook until the meat pulls away cleanly from the bones (about 2 hours). Add cool water (not more wine) if the sauce becomes too thick.
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— I’m sure you’ve heard by now City Manager Robert Bartolotta’s decision on the fate of Police Chief Peter Abbott and the Sarasota Police Department officers involved in the Juan G. Perez case (short version: Chief stays, and the cop caught on camera gets fired), but did you know you can download PDFs of all 3,000 pages of documents the Hillsborough Sheriff’s office delivered to Bartolotta as part of their investigation into the SPD’s handling of the case, all right from the city’s homepage? Cancel your plans, and settle in for a thrilling read!
— Last week saw an intensification of the offshore oil drilling debate. Supporters and opponents clashed at the Tiger Bay Club luncheon, and one expert (who spent 15 years with Shell) says there ain’t much out there anyway, at least around the Suncoast.
Cliff Roles interviews Jeff Shaara
From our boy Cliff Roles:
Jeff Shaara, a descendant of Italian immigrants, was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey (”Shaara” was originally spelled “Sciarra”). He grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, and graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Criminology. From age 16, Jeff operated a rare coin business, first out of his home, then in a retail store. After moving to Tampa, Jeff became one of the most widely known coin and precious-metals dealers in Florida. In 1988, Jeff’s father, Michael Shaara, died, and Jeff made the decision to sell his business, and take over the management of his father’s estate.
In 1993, the film “Gettysburg” was released, which was based on his father’s classic novel, The Killer Angels. After the critical and commercial success of the film, Jeff was approached about the possibility of continuing the story, finding someone to write a prequel and sequel to The Killer Angels. After some considerable soul-searching, Jeff decided to try to tackle the project himself. The decision was difficult in many ways, but most challenging because Jeff had no previous experience as a writer.
In February, 2003, the major motion picture “GODS AND GENERALS”, based on Jeff’s first book, was released by Warner Brothers.
Here’s how it works: Tell us why you deserve free tickets for a night with Lisa Williams in the comments section below, then email us your contact information. We’ll announce our winner on Wed., Dec. 2!
I’ve written a few times in this space about the strange and convoluted ways books arrive on my shelf, but this week it’s time to own up to a method I have yet to acknowledge: outright theft.
That’s right. I steal books. Whew. It feels good to get that out there.
I can trace my history of literary thievery back to the one novel that probably did more than any other to warp my adolescent mind in the direction of reading: Stephen King’s It. I stole that volume while on an extended fly-fishing trip with my father in Argentina around age 12 or 13. We were staying at a small bed-and-breakfast-like home that catered to American tourists, and I casually picked out It from the house’s large living-room bookshelf, innocently intending to keep myself entertained for a few hours during the TV-less evenings. But, hooked on the book almost immediately, I packed it/It away in my bag, and smuggled it back into the States. The paperback still sits on my bookshelf, the cover by now in tatters.
And while I’ve grown up a lot in the past 17 or so years, my rarely exercised habit of stealing novels remains intact. But before you think me a knave and scoundrel, and refuse to invite me over for dinner, I need to add that I do indeed have rules.
— After five months on administrative leave, Sarasota Police Chief Peter Abbott will learn whether or not he will keep his job today, as the City of Sarasota prepares to release all 3,000 pages of the Hillsborough Sheriff’s investigation into the Sarasota Police Department.
— The man who will make the decision on Abbott’s future, City Manager Robert Bartolotta, gets mostly positive marks during his annual review before the Sarasota City Commission.
— As all that happens, the citizen review board created to oversee SPD actions in the wake of the Juan G. Perez fiasco receives its mandate and finalizes its membership.
— And in amazingly non-Sarasota-Police-Department-related news, Erin Murphy (aka Maid Mosephine, of Maid Mosephine and the Equines — who just happen to have a new EP out, by the way) has a guest blog post up on CL Contributing Writer Michael Hamad’s new music site, 4GBs. Check ‘er out.
— Venice T.J. Maxx staffers who suffered through Tuesday night’s insane hostage crisis in the store talk more about their harrowing experiences. Other fallout? Turns out the police still don’t know who they’re looking for: “Hours later, Venice police had few leads, saying only that they were pursuing two white suspects. Witnesses could provide little information because the intruders were masked and wore gloves.”
— Community leaders in Newtown — including City Commissioner Fredd “Glossie” Atkins — say a recent uptick in murders in the neighborhood is due to a decreased number of cops on the beat.
— The Tallevast Community Center begins work on a community “wall” garden. Planting in the ground remains off-limits due to the neighborhood’s poisoned groundwater.
— The topic for today’s Tiger Bay Club get-together? Offshore oil drilling. Sure to be lively.
— Richard Swier at Red County Sarasota looks at Sarasota County schools’ FCAT numbers, and wonders if money spent teaching to the test is worth it.
Really only one story this morning, and it’s a still-developing one: Two gunmen in ski masks storm a Venice T.J. Maxx and take eight employees hostage around 9:30 p.m. last night. At 12:30 a.m., a Sarasota County SWAT team storms the building, rescues the hostages, but (as of 2 a.m.) the gunmen are nowhere to be found. More information will surely be forthcoming as the day rolls on.
