Lobster or crab bisque

* 1 cup onion , minced
* 1 cup carrot , minced
* 1 cup celery , minced
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 tbs tomato paste
* 1 tsp thyme
* 2 (10 1/2 ounce) cans chicken broth
* 4 tablespoons flour
* 6 tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup cooking sherry
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* fresh chives , minced
* salt
* 1/2 lb raw lobsters, chopped or 1/2 lb lump crabmeat

Directions:

1. Saute mirepoix (thyme, onion, garlic, celery and carrot) in 2 tablespoons butter until soft. Set aside.
2. In 4 quart saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter and add flour, whisking constantly over medium heat until roux becomes light brown (about 5 minutes). DO NOT BURN!
3. Slowly add chicken broth, whisking constantly to ensure mixture stays smooth.
4. Add tomato paste and mirepoix, cover, and simmer for 1/2 hour.
5. Add cream, sherry, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, salt, and lobster or crab and simmer an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Garnish with fresh minced chives if desired.

Tricky Dicky liked dick

Did Nixon have a gay affair with a Mafia fixer?

A new biography by Don Fulsom, a veteran Washington reporter who covered the Nixon years, suggests the 37th U.S. President had a serious drink problem, beat his wife and — by the time he was inaugurated in 1969 — had links going back two decades to the Mafia, including with New Orleans godfather Carlos Marcello, then America's most powerful mobster.

Yet the most extraordinary claim is that the homophobic Nixon may have been gay himself. If true, it would provide a fascinating insight into the motivation and behaviour of a notoriously secretive politician.

Fulsom argues that Nixon may have had an affair with his best friend and confidant, a Mafia‑connected Florida wheeler-dealer named Charles 'Bebe' Rebozo who was even more crooked than Nixon.
...
Bebe Rebozo was a short, swarthy, good-looking Cuban-American businessman with a history of failed relationships with women and close alliances with Miami's Mafia chiefs.
...
He claims Nixon's relationship with Pat, his wife of 53 years, was little more than a sham. A heavy drinker whom his own staff dubbed 'Our Drunk', Nixon used to call his First Lady a 'f***ing bitch' and beat her before, during and after his presidency, says Fulsom.
...
Born two months before Nixon in 1912, Charles Gregory Rebozo was the son of a Cuban cigar-maker and, as the youngest of nine, was stuck with the nickname 'Bebe'.

He came from poverty but worked his way up through property speculation and then banking. According to the FBI, he had close links with Mob bosses such as Santo Trafficante, the Tampa Godfather, and Alfred 'Big Al' Polizzi, a stooge of Meyer Lansky, the Cosa Nostra's financial brains.
...
When Nixon became President, Rebozo got his own office and bedroom at the White House, and a security clearance that allowed him to go in and out without being logged by the secret service. Using a false name, says Fulsom, Rebozo even got into Nixon's hotel suite during a trip to Europe.

The President's closest colleagues complained at the way Rebozo monopolised Nixon's time. General Alexander Haig, his last chief of staff, is said to have imitated Rebozo's 'limp wrist' manner and joked that Rebozo and Nixon were lovers.

Nixon with Rebozo at Key Biscayne: