Danny Garvin Bitchin' Broccoli Soup

This meal is named in honor of a LGBT Hero, Danny Garvin. Read more about him in a short article after the recipe. 

 

This healthy soup gets most of its creaminess from potato not cream. A few cans from the pantry and some frozen vegetables come together in a wonderful bowl of comfort. 

 Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup non fat half-n-half

1 onion, chopped

1 can diced potato

Nutmeg, to taste

4 cups chicken stock, warmed

Salt + Pepper

1 bag chopped broccoli florets and stems (3 cups) thawed

Directions:

Cut up the onion.

In a large pot, melt butter and cook onion until tender over medium high heat. Add potato and toss to coat with butter.

Add hot stock and bring to a simmer. Let cook for about 40 minutes.

Stir in ¾ths of the broccoli and return to a simmer for 20 minutes.

Make sure blender is completely submerged. 

When potato and broccoli are tender, carefully puree with an immersion blender or food processor. Return to heat along with last of the broccoli and the half & half. 

 

Let simmer for 5 – 10 minutes, Season to taste and serve warm. 

Note if you wish a mild cheesy flavor, mix in ½ cup of cream cheese when you are blending.

What a wonderful bowl of hugs!

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFjjO_lhf9c

Happy to be serving my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White 

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTMvia @amazon

========================

Danny Garvin 

 

One of the few remaining verified Stonewall riot participants, Danny Garvin sadly passed away at the age of 65 in December four years ago. 

Danny and Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt have been noted as “the two most knowledgeable sources” on the historic riots by fellow LGBT historian David Carter.

Danny was there the night the bar opened (on his birthday in 1967) and became a regular customer of the Stonewall Inn,” David Carter said. “He met his first love there by dancing with him, dated the main doorman (Blonde Frankie), and was roommates with one of the men who worked in the coat check. Danny’s knowledge of the club has contributed a lot to a better understanding of the Stonewall Inn.

Fortunately, Danny also happened to walk up the street soon after the June 1969 raid began, and his detailed memories of that night significantly add to our knowledge about the Uprising,” Carter added.

“Danny’s life story is all the more remarkable and historically relevant because his experiences mirrored those of his generation,” Carter said. 

 

Danny was in the Navy and 17 years old when he realized his homosexuality. At that time, that was a dishonorable discharge. You could never find a job afterwards. He saw his world and everything he worked for crumbling away. Danny attempted suicide by cutting his wrists.

Even during the mid to late Sixties, there were no role models for being a gay man. At least no positive ones. Garvin knew he wasn't one of those super effeminate men. He wasn't a child molester or an old man who hung out in the balcony of the porn theaters.

Some of the most homophobic news reports: like CBS “Homosexuals” in 1967, “Perversion for Profit”, or “The Homosexual” WTVJ Miami 1966 were designed to paint a repulsive picture of these monsters.

“Danny was in a gay hippie commune before Stonewall and he was roommates with gay activist Morty Manford after Stonewall. Morty Manford’s introduction of Danny Garvin and another gay friend to Manford’s parents precipitated Manford’s coming out to his parents. Morty’s mother Jeanne Manford later founded what became Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, now PFLAG. He hung out with Andy Warhol’s crowd, and he founded the recovery contingent of LGBT marchers in the LGBT Pride March each June.”

Gay men like Danny Garvin are our true heroes of the riots. They have received little or no recognition while others have been given the glory. 

 Without gay men like Danny Garvin we would not be where we are today.

You can see Danny tell in his own words what happened that night 50 years ago on June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn.

A great resource is “Stonewall Uprising” PBS

https://www.amazon.com/American-Experience-Stonewall-Uprising/dp/B004AR4W4O/ref=sr_1_1?crid=177BP2E1V4PDB&keywords=stonewall+uprising+dvd&qid=1553359135&s=gateway&sprefix=stonewall+uprising%2Cdigital-text%2C150&sr=8-1https://www.amazon.com/American-Experience-Stonewall-Uprising/dp/B004AR4W4O/ref=sr_1_1?crid=177BP2E1V4PDB&keywords=stonewall+uprising+dvd&qid=1553359135&s=gateway&sprefix=stonewall+uprising%2Cdigital-text%2C150&sr=8-1

At the time, Danny was a homeless youth. Many of the warriors who ignited our movement that night were homeless LGBT youths, who then, as now, made the West Village their home.

Danny once said, “Maybe I would sell myself for 8 dollars to have a bed to sleep to in and a place to shower. Just some place to be hidden from the world until the next day when it would all start all over again. I know I would have robbed less food from stores just to get something to eat”.

Fifty years ago, like today, to be open about being LGBT put youths at terrible risk of homelessness. Then, as now, LGBT kids were suffering on the streets. Then, as now, many had to turn, like Danny, to hustling in order to survive.

As we approach the 50^th anniversary of that event we must reflect in awe and wonder of the street kids who put their bodies on the line that night. Consider Danny, or his good friend and co-rioter Martin Boyce, or Miss New Orleans, the homeless trans girl who uprooted a parking meter and used it as a battering ram to destroy the door of the Stonewall Inn, behind which the police had retreated in fear. Remember both Marsha Jonson and Sylvia Rivera.

The homeless LGBT youths of the Village had lost almost everything; many had been driven from their homes and left destitute in the streets. Because they were far and away the most visible LGBT people to be found at that time, they were targets for abuse; beating up on them was a city sport.

That night LGBT's became a “people”, a “tribe”, a cohesiveness that was slow to develop but DID!

Danny said “ When we got kicked out of a bar before, we never came together. That night we did!”

The Stonewall uprising was the birth of our LGBT movement. That night the street kids and hustlers and drag queens helped create the space for the rest of us to be out, to be proud. We owe them our lives.

According to a statement from David Carter, author of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution:

"In addition to sharing his life story so generously with me, Danny became a friend. He was always a selfless person. Like most authentic Stonewall witnesses, he did not seek the limelight or recognition. Of all the persons I met working on the book, he was the sweetest. I will always miss him and consider myself blessed and honored to have been his friend."

 

Sir Ian McKellen: Serena's Stew

Stews are perfect for changeable weather like we are having. This meal is to honor a true LGBT hero who has fought for decades! Please read a quick article about this brave and talented man after the recipe.

A stew based on a minestrone. With just enough stew beef to flavor this hearty, healthy meal. While I gather Sir Ian McKellen prefers a fish cuisine, I hope he will still recognize the spirit this is offered in. 

 

Ingredients:

½ lbs stew meat

2 Tbs oil

1 onion, chopped

2 stalks celery diced

3 carrots peeled and sliced

28oz can diced tomatoes (no slat added)

1 15oz can stewed tomatoes

3 cups low sodium vegetable broth

15 oz can Navy Beans, drained and rinsed

Fresh parsley, chopped

Directions: 

 

Do Your cutting: chop the onion, dice the celery, slice the carrots.

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent, about four minutes.

  

Stir in the stew meat and brown on all sides, about 7 minutes.

Add carrots and celery and cook for about five minutes.

Add the vegetable broth, bring to boil then lower to a simmer for about an hour.

Next the cans of tomatoes. Taste test for seasonings. Add any salt & pepper, or Italian seasonings if you wish. Let continue to simmer for 40 minutes and add the navy beans.

 

 

Cook for approximately ten minutes or they are tender.

Serve with parsley & Parmesan, maybe a hot bread.

 For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHDeOHFHG0&feature=share

So honored to be serving my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

--------

Ian McKellen

Our hero honored here is known world wide as one of the finest actors of our time. McKellen's career spans doing Shakespeare and modern theater to popular fantasy and science fiction. The BBC states that his "performances have guaranteed him a place in the canon of English stage and film actors". A recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK, McKellen is regarded as a British cultural icon. What's more he is a hero because he has continually used his success to champion LGBT rights.

Born in 1939, his father was a civil engineer and lay preacher. Both of McKellen's grandfathers were preachers, and his great-great-grandfather, James McKellen, was a "strict, evangelical Protestant minister" His home environment was strongly Christian, but non-orthodox. When he was 12, his mother died of breast cancer; his father died when he was 24. 

After his coming out as gay to his stepmother, Gladys McKellen, who was a member of the Religious Society of Friends, Ian said, "Not only was she not fazed, but as a member of a society which declared its indifference to people's sexuality years back, I think she was just glad for my sake that I wasn't lying anymore."

In 1958, McKellen, at the age of 18, won a scholarship to St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he studied English literature. He appeared in 23 plays over the course of 3 years. He was already giving performances that have since become legendary at the school.

McKellen had taken film roles throughout his career—beginning in 1969 with his role of George Matthews in A Touch of Love, and his first leading role was in 1980 as D. H. Lawrence in Priest of Love, but it was not until the 1990s that he became more widely recognized in the industry.

In 1993, he appeared in minor roles in the television miniseries Tales of the City, based on the novel by his friend Armistead Maupin. Latter that year, McKellen appeared in the television film And the Band Played On about the discovery of the AIDS virus for which McKellen won a CableACE Award for Supporting Actor, and was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries.

McKellen was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by Cambridge University in 2014. He was made a Freeman of the city of London also that year. The ceremony took place at Guildhall in London. McKellen was nominated by London's Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf, who said he was chosen as he was an "exceptional actor" and "tireless campaigner for equality". He is also a Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford.

While McKellen had made his sexual orientation known to fellow actors early on in his stage career, it was not until 1988 that he came out to the general public, in a program on BBC Radio.

McKellen has continued to be very active in LGBT rights efforts. In a statement on his website regarding his activism, the actor commented that:

“I have been reluctant to lobby on other issues I most care about – nuclear weapons (against), religion (atheist), capital punishment (anti), AIDS (fund-raiser) because I never want to be forever spouting, diluting the impact of addressing my most urgent concern; legal and social equality for gay people worldwide.” 

 

McKellen is a co-founder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots. McKellen is also patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GAY-GLOS, The Lesbian & Gay Foundation, and FFLAG where he appears in their video "Parents Talking".

In 1994, at the closing ceremony of the Gay Games, he briefly took the stage to address the crowd, saying, "I'm Sir Ian McKellen, but you can call me Serena": This nickname, given to him by Stephen Fry, had been circulating within the gay community since McKellen's knighthood was conferred.

So tonight we honor him with “Serena Stew”. Generations continue to be in your debt!

Fasola księcia (Beans & Pork)

We are naming this hearty dish after Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig The Prince and general 

that many wanted to be the King of America! Read more about this LGBT hero after the recipe. 

A wonderful dish for this changeable weather. Basic beans with pork. A homemade dish that has been presented in an easy to handle format. Yet the taste and aroma will enchant you.

• Ingredients:
• 40 ounce jar of northern beans or caned
• 1 lbs can of cooked pork, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• ¼ cup brown sugar

• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp steak seasoning
• 2 carrots shredded
• 1 stalks celery, diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups water

Directions:

 

Do your cutting:

Chop the onion, peel & shred the carrots, fine dice the celery, chop the parsley.

In a dutch oven on stove top, melt 2 tbs butter or margarine. Add the onions and stir. Add carrots and celery. Let saute until onions turn transparent.

Add the pork and the beans. Stir in the chicken broth and water and spoon in the brown sugar and steak seasonings. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer and sprinkle in the parsley. Let simmer for about an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Taste test and add salt & pepper.

To make a smoother, creamier soup. Use an immersion blender a couple of quick strokes, not enough to blend smooth, just to add a softer texture.

Serve with cornbread!

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N2aEmcEbyg

So happy to be serving my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

--------------------------------------------------

 

A gay man as King of America?

Prince Henry 1769

In 1786, as our Continental Congress was thrashing out ideas for this new country, Prince Henry of Prussia was backed by Alexander Hamilton, Baron von Steuben and other disgruntled American politicians as a cultured and liberal-minded candidate for “king” of the United States. The offer was withdrawn before the prince could respond.

Prince Henry was 60 years old at the time. Even so, there had been a real possibility that our fledgling nation’s first leader could have been a gay Prussian royal.

While it might seem far-fetched that a Prussian man would be accepted by the American people as their leader, it must be recalled that without the military leadership of the Prussian Baron von Steuben, our continental army would likely not have prevailed against the British.

Benjamin Franklin, while based in Paris, recommended Baron von Steuben to General George Washington. Franklin was well aware of von Steuben’s love for young men but did not tell. In fact the general was about to be run out of France for his “immoral” acts, which von Steuben never denied.

Fellow countryman Prince Henry was also brazenly open about his sexual interest in young men. Both Prussians had advanced military skills, and Prince Henry led Prussia’s troops so successfully during the Seven Years' War that he never lost a battle. Baron von Steuben never married, but Prince Henry entered into a childless marriage of convenience, as was the custom of high-born homosexuals of the time.

Prince Henry (childless), Frederick the Great (childless): Alexander Hamilton and Baron von Steuben (never married) all had one thing in common, and that is sexual relations with men. It was also reported that Henry often chose the officers in his regiment for their handsomeness rather than for their military competence.

Who was this prince who could be King?

Born Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig in Berlin, Prince Henry of Prussia (1726-1802) was the younger brother of Frederick the Great.

Henry resented being in Frederick's shadow. Nonetheless, he loyally served as his brother's top general throughout Frederick's reign. He was never defeated on the battlefield.

In 1752 Henry married Princess Wilhelmina in Charlottenburg, but they had no children. Despite the marriage, he scarcely concealed his passion for other men and developed intimate friendships with the actor Blainville and the French emigre Count La Roche-Aymon. One favorite, Major von Kaphengst, exploited the prince's interest in him to spend his time at Schloss Meseberg, an estate not far from Rheinsberg which Henry had given to him.

The prince proved to be an excellent general and politician.

Henry successfully led Prussian armies as a general during the Third Silesian War. He greatly distinguished himself during his brother's victory at the Battle of Prague. It was Prince Henry who reorganized the routed Prussian forces after his brothers defeat at Kolin. That loss ended with a virtually destroyed Prussian army, a virtually defenseless Kingdom of Prussia, and a complete victory by the Russo-Austrian force. Henry later won his most famous victory at Freiberg in 1762, the final battle of the war between Austria and Prussia.

After the Seven Years' War, Henry worked as a shrewd diplomat.

Henry attempted to secure a principality for himself and twice tried to become King of Poland, but was opposed by his brother. The king frustrated Henry's attempt to become ruler of a kingdom Catherine II of Russia planned to create in Wallachia.

Last years

After the death of his brother in 1786, Henry hoped to become more influential in the Prussian government. Although he was less influential than he hoped, Prince Henry was more important during the last years of his life in advising King Frederick William III, who began his reign in 1797.

Voltaire had seen in Frederick the embodiment of his "Philosopher King". Arguably, Henry was by deed the man Voltaire had hoped the "Age of Reason" would produce.

Prince Henry's grave in Rheinsberg Palace.

Billy Jack update!

An Alabama inmate convicted of killing Billy Jack Gaither during a brutal hate crime over two decades ago has been murdered in prison. The incident happened just days after the 20^th anniversary of Gaither’s death.

Steven Eric Mullins was found unresponsive with multiple stab wounds on February 26 at the St. Clair Correctional Facility. He was transported to an area hospital, where he died last week. 

Mullins was serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for the kidnapping and murder of Gaither, a hate crime that shocked the state and nation.

The story that Mullins and his accomplice, Charles Butler, told investigators at the time that Billy Jack previously made a pass at Butler. 
 
A week later, the men lured Gaither from a bar to a dock, stabbed and beat him to death with an ax handle. The two men then took Gaither to a creek and beat him again before putting him on kerosene-drenched tires.

Mullins confessed to the crime in video broadcast a year later by PBS Frontline.
“I was still beating him and when I gave out of energy and couldn’t do it anymore, um, the fire got to going and the tires started burning real well and I drug him into the flame and uh, we stood there for a few minutes and then we left,” Mullins told investigators.

Just a few days ago we posted Billy Jack's story on this blog. This news is shocking coming so close to our post.

Billy Jack Chops

Tonight's dinner is to honor Billy Jack Gaither, please read about him after the recipe. Wanted to make this a comfort meal. When you start with thick pork chops and cook them low and slow, you get the closest to a hug a main dish can be!

 

Really thick cut pork, brined for 2 hours then simmered in a creamy fresh spinach sauce with mustard! This will cure your spots! 

 

Ingredients

For The meat:

2 lbs thick pork chops

3 slices bacon

Brine:

3 Tbs brown sugar

3 Tbs salt

For The Sauce:

2 Tbs butter

1 onion chopped

1 Tbs minced garlic

1 Tbs chopped parsley

1 teaspoon each of dried thyme and dried rosemary

½ cup low-sodium chicken stock

1½ cups non fat evaporated milk

2 Tbs honey mustard

½ tsp pepper, to taste

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

2 cups baby spinach leaves

Instructions

Mix the brine with hot tap water, just enough to cover the pork. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

While that works, do your cutting: chop the onion and mince the garlic. Chop the parsley, cut stems from spinach.

Remove the chops, rinse and pat dry.

Season pork with salt and pepper.

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat and brown the chops for about about 4 minutes each side. This is just to brown. Transfer to a plate; cover with foil and set aside.

To the same pan or skillet, add the bacon and fry until crispy. Transfer to plate, set aside. Drain some of the bacon fat, leaving about

2 tablespoons.

Add butter in the pan and sauté onion until transparent. (about 5 minutes) Sauté garlic, parsley, thyme and rosemary for about 1 minute until fragrant.

Add in the chicken stock to deglaze the pan while scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan; simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Pour in evaporated milk and mustard, mix through and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook gently for a further minute to allow the sauce to thicken.

Add the Parmesan and allow to melt through the sauce. Season with pepper, to taste.

Add the spinach by handfuls and allow to wilt down. 

Return chops to the skillet. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

 

Top with the crispy bacon. 

 

Serve over a bed of white rice. If you wish, heat some brown and serve rolls.

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HazfFQqOTyg&index=2&list=RD3OBvnOpUI44

So happy to serve my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

 

========================================

Murder of Billy Jack Gaither 

 

Twenty years ago in a small Sylacauga, Alabama, a horrible murder was discovered. It shocked the whole state. The burned body of Billy Jack Gaither was found on a smoldering pile of tires. He died because he was gay! It had not been 4 months since the nation had heard of the savage killing of Mathew Shepard. That young student had been beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die.

Much was made of the Shepard case, but after twenty years many have forgotten Billy Jack. You might not think of him as a hero but he did not deserve to die and in such a brutal way.

On February 19, 1999, Billy Jack went to The Tavern, a Sylacauga, Alabama nightclub, where he had been friends with the owner, Marion Hammond, for twenty years. Gaither was a regular there. Hammond remembered that he was nonchalant about his sexuality. ” If they walked over to Billy Jack and they say, ‘Are you gay?’ he’d say, ‘Yes, and I love it.’ Everyone liked him.”

The 39-year-old was one of four sons. He lived with his ailing parents and faithfully provided for their care. Although neither of them knew that their son was gay, they figured that he was an adult and that was his business.

“He was a good person. He didn’t deserve this,” said Donna McKee, a waitress at a bar Gaither frequented on weekends.

Steven Mullins, 25, and Charles Butler Jr., 21, were arrested and charged with murder. The two apparently knew Gaither from going to the same bars, claimed the textile mill worker made a pass at them in early February. They then plotted his murder, according to court records.

Mullins telephoned Gaither and the two picked up Butler at a nightclub where he was participating in a pool tournament.

The men went to a secluded boat ramp, where Gaither was beaten and thrown in the trunk of his own car. Gaither was taken to the banks of Peckerwood Creek.

Bradley said they poured kerosene on the tires and set them ablaze. Then the two pulled Gaither out of the trunk of his car. He tried to stand up and they beat him with the ax handle, cut his throat, and threw him onto the pile of burning tires.

Gaither’s burned-out car was found the next day on a country road.

Butler’s stepmother testified that Butler had told family members he was involved in the killing. But Butler placed much of the blame on Mullins,

saying he believed they were only going to beat up Gaither, Terry Butler said.

Butler went to police to tell them about the murder,claiming the gay panic defense. He told the police, “Well, sir, he started talking, you know, queer stuff, you know, and I just didn’t want no part of it.” Mullins also confessed, with the two blaming each other for taking the lead in the killing, but neither expressing remorse. In June, Mullins pled guilty to capital murder to avoid the death penalty and agreed to testify against Butler, who was also found guilty.

Friends of Gaither’s said they did not believe he would make a sexual advance on the men.

Marion Hammond, the bar owner described the affect Gaither’s death had on both herself and her small town:

“Well, I think the loss of Billy Jack has opened a lot of people’s eyes. Any town you live in, there is a gay person here, there, and yonder. And they didn’t realize it. It’s like there was no gays nowhere but in the big cities. They’re everywhere. They’re all over this country. And until then, I don’t think it was ever realized that they were in a small town.

I have two sons. I remember thinking whenever they was so little, “Please, never be gay.” But now it’s like a part of nature. . . . He taught me that it just happens. It’s nothing you do. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just the way you are.”

When news first broke, 300 people attended a Birmingham, Alabama vigil for the gay-bashing murder victim.

Gaither's death also sparked a candlelight march by about 200 people far from Alabama in West Hollywood, California that March. California Governor Gray Davis said: "Today, I am deeply grieved by the senseless murder of Billy Jack Gaither because it strikes at the very heart of what it means to be an American," said the governor. "Our nation was built on a foundation of inalienable rights and freedoms. If any man or woman cannot walk safely down our streets for fear of violence simply because of his or her sexual orientation, then none of us are truly free.... I join my fellow Californians and Americans in expressing outrage for this act of cowardice. And I reaffirm my commitment to keeping California a zero-tolerance state for crimes of hate based on sexual orientation."

For the past 20 years there has been an annual vigil to celebrate Billy Jack Gaither’s life, mourn his death, and remember all the victims of hate & violence on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol.