Chuck’s World

flickr Photo Link

flickr Photo Link

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup shelled pistachio nuts (about 1/2 pound in shell)
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup dried, sweetened cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oven to 350° and lightly toast the pistachio nuts on a baking sheet, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let the nuts cool.

2. Melt the semisweet chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Or microwave it, in a dry microwave-safe bowl, uncovered, on medium power for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once. Remove the chocolate from the microwave and stir until smooth. Melt the white chocolate separately, following the same directions.

3. In a small bowl, combine the nuts and cranberries, then stir half of them into the semisweet chocolate. Using a spatula, spread the mixture to about a 1/2-inch thickness on a large cookie sheet. Drop the white chocolate by tablespoonfuls over the dark. With the tip of a butter knife, swirl the chocolates together to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle on the rest of the nuts and berries.

4. Refrigerate the bark for about 1 hour or until firm, then break it into pieces. Store the bark in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month. Makes about 1 3/4 pounds.

3 cans of buttermilk biscuits

½ cup of sugar

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

1 stick of butter

¾ cup of sugar

¾ teaspoon of cinnamon

Put ½ cup of sugar and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon into a paper grocery bag. Cut biscuits into quarters and shake them, adding a few at a time, in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Put the quartered biscuits into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Melt the butter; Add ¾ cup of sugar and ¾ teaspoon of cinnamon to the butter; Mix together and pour evenly over biscuits. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes and then invert onto a cake plate.

Enjoy!!!

We’re gathered today, just as we have gathered before, to remember those who served, those who fought, those still missing, and those who gave their last full measure of devotion for our country… One of those who fell wrote, shortly before his death, these words: ‘Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.’ Well, today, Veterans Day, as we do every year, we take that moment to embrace the gentle heroes of Vietnam and of all our wars. We remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice if it were demanded of them in the line of duty, though it never was. Most of all, we remember the devotion and gallantry with which all of them ennobled their nation as they became champions of a noble cause… Our liberties, our values, all for which America stands is safe today because brave men and women have been ready to face the fire at freedom’s front. And we thank God for them. – Ronald Reagan

flickr Photo Link

Photo Link

flickr Photo Link

MONROE, Wash. – In a move that could be right out of a Hollywood movie, a brazen crook apparently used a Craigslist ad to hire a dozen unsuspecting decoys to help him make his getaway following a robbery outside a bank on Tuesday. He then made his escape in an inner tube on the Skykomish River.

The robbery happened about 11 a.m. on an armored truck guard at a Bank of America branch.

“He was wearing a dust mask, a particle mask. At first I thought it might be a surgical mask. I still didn’t think anything was wrong, just unusual. Then I noticed he had a pump sprayer,” said Mitch Ruth, who had looked out his office window and noticed the man walking into the bank.

The robber sprayed the guard with pepper spray, grabbed a bag of money the guard was carrying and ran about 100 yards to the creek that runs into the Skykomish River, shedding clothes as he ran.

But apparently, the robber had planned ahead. In case anyone was hot on his trail, he had at least a dozen unsuspecting decoys waiting nearby, which he recruited on Craigslist.

“I came across the ad that was for a prevailing wage job for $28.50 an hour,” said Mike, who saw a Craigslist ad last week looking for workers for a road maintenance project in Monroe.

He said he inquired and was e-mailed back with instructions to meet near the Bank of America in Monroe at 11 a.m. Tuesday. He also was told to wear certain work clothing.

“Yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask… and, if possible, a blue shirt,” he said.

Mike showed up along with about a dozen other men dressed like him, but there was no contractor and no road work to be done. He thought they had been stood up until he heard about the bank robbery and the suspect who wore the same attire.

From there, the cook made his watery escape in a creek that dumps out into the Skykomish River. One witness said the robber swam away, but another said he used an inner tube to get away.

“We did get an inner tube that was about 200 yards from the place where he entered the water and took that for evidence,” said Debbie Willis, Monroe Police.

Investigators believe accomplices could have picked the robber up at a nearby boat launch or park.

The FBI is helping Monroe Police trace the ad and want to talk to anyone who responded.

“Any piece of information anyone has could be the piece of the puzzle we need to apprehend the suspects,” said Debbie Willis, Monroe Police.

Some Monroe residents, while not endorsing what the robber did, are somewhat amused.

“Creative. Not a right way of doing it, but creative,” said Monroe resident Byron Bevard.

“I grew up in LA and I never heard of anything so crazy in my life,” said resident Sarah Vazquez.

The suspect is described as a white man in his 20s, between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10, wearing a dark blue shirt, jean shorts and a mask.

KING 5’s Elisa Hahn and Linda Byron contributed to this report.

I took this shot one foggy morning in Saint Louis, Missouri.