Looks like the ingredients for a Greek Salad, but also includes the dressing ingredients, and then they are listed separately. I realized that Romaine Lettuce was missing from the list so I’ve added it below.

• Olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Red Wine vinegar
• Mustard
• Oregano
• Basil
• Majorham
• Ground Pepper
• Salt
• Agave Nectar
• Sweetner

• Spring Greens
• Vidalia Onion
• Yellow Bell Pepper
• Romaine Lettuce
• Kalamata Olives
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Feta Cheese

Greek Salad Dressing

• 6 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (1 large clove)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp finely minced fresh parsley
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 3/4 tsp honey
• Salt, to taste

A few years ago the road in front of Sherefe, is that Green Street, was torn up and being repaired. This hindered the number of customers and the owner closed this location and I think I heard he was focused at his other restaurant across town. They had a lunch special on the lamb and I tried it. I’m not sure I had ever had lamb, or cooked in this way, and when I tasted it, I was wowed. It tasted great! The Publix lamb shoulder, right below, looked good. I just cooked it in a pan on the stove top and it turned out great. I had cooked one about a week ago, and browned it on the stove top and then put it in the oven for a short time. Didn’t think I needed that the next time.

The Publix lamb was packaged more like it was local, and it was about $1.30 per pound less.

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[01/04/25]: I have no clue why I entitled the above posting “My Funny Valentine.” The posting date isn’t February 14th, and there seems to be nothing about those song lyrics in the post. The soup shown was from Sherefe. I think it was sweet potato soup and it was seasoned wonderfully. But, after quite a while they offered it again, and this time it wasn’t flavored as it had been that one time. Oh, well…

I’ve bought a new wok recently. Actually, I bought a new electric wok, and a new stove-top VinChef wok (not electric, but oven safe). I’ve used the oven-safe wok a couple of times to broil a couple of pork chops, and maybe a steak. It worked well. *I love the patina that’s formed on the Vinchef pan. [end]

[08/11/25]: I’ve mentioned previously how I eat in cycles. I might eat the same breakfast at the Rainbow for 200 days, and then for an unexplained reason (at least to me) I want something different. The Rainbow breakfast was probably pretty close to this each morning: “Two eggs over medium, with bacon (later patty sausage) and potatoes (later grits) and whole wheat toast (sometimes buttered, sometimes not). And, coffee with creamer and sweetener (the sweetener was after years of sugar, and then being diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic).

*Unfortunately, over the years the Rainbow “dumbed down” their ingredients and the eggs weren’t “as good,” and the bacon “sucked” and the coffee might or might not be good. And the coffee they use is the same, day after day, and also the same as that used over at JK’s Restaurant. I don’t know if it is the person that makes the coffee that morning or not, but it can be good and it can suck. Even a metallic taste on some mornings. I think the dumbing was mainly due to being able to maintain their low prices, but even those prices crept up over the years and I seem to recall one morning coming to the realization that a cup of coffee cost about $2.65 plus tax. And then I made some sort of joke about “That and $2.65 will buy you a cup of coffee at the Rainbow.” The phrase some reference to a funny line in a movie or TV show. Probably a 1930s or 40s Black & White movie, Film Noir… but the character would have said, “That and a dime will buy you a cup of coffee.”

Well, I rarely eat at the Rainbow for breakfast any more. When I worked, and the Rainbow was just about half way between where I lived for many years, and my work at Fayetteville State University, it was a perfect “stop off” for breakfast instead of me cooking at home. Quick in, quick out.

COVID was a major game changer, and I started eating almost entirely at home, but since COVID, I have begun to eat out more. But Taco Bell, which was a once or twice a week meal has become a rarely over a year visit. *I’ve stopped Taco Bell (they had a crew at their Ramsey Street location that were excellent at their efficiency – take the order, prepare it correctly and quickly, take your money, give you the bag of food and you’re gone) because of the calories [920 total] in my favorite meal (a Beef Burrito Supreme [390], a Bean Burrito [360] and a Crunchy Taco [170]). Shortly before I stopped, I would only choose two of the items, instead of three, but then even that became a stretch when I became more committed to eating better. I couldn’t afford the calorie count in a day and still eat all the nutrition that I needed. **And that is why I’ve sworn off Smithfield’s Chicken -n- BBQ.” I just checked online, “1960” calories for a “Combo Dark” Meal. Heck, my whole daily calorie goal is only 1880 calories. I rarely hit the 1880 goal, but I’m closer than I would be if I had one meal at SCNB. And their “unsweet tea” sucks! Sweet tea delicious but I’m a Type 2 and don’t need the sugar.

Oh, and during my 24 years of work life in Fayetteville, I would go to Golden Corral for maybe one or two lunches a week, and across town to the GC across from the Mall for a Saturday or Sunday morning breakfast buffet. No telling how many calories I got from eating there. But I didn’t stop going their because of the calorie count. No, they both built and then closed the location nearest me on Ramsey Street, and finally it is now a 7-11 Convenience Store. They tore down the old Mall location and rebuilt it, but the layout was different (a negative) and the acoustics were horrible (sound bouncing off the bare walls) and the seating a little too close together. Originally they had an undulating pattern to their various food type locations. There was a little alcove for the salad bar, an alcove for the veggies and I think one for the drinks & dessert section. The new layout was one long, straight bar, and this meant that when you went to get an item, you were being confronted either from the left or right by other customers.

COVID killed Golden Corral for me and another favorite buffet, the Hibachi Grill.” When the Hibachi Grill came to town it killed a favorite small Chinese restaurant, “China II.” China II had a “Jalapeno Pork” dish on their buffet that was soooo good. But, you suffered at about 2 am after having that lunch. But the night pain always seemed to be worth the deliciousness at lunch time.

I loved a bunch of items on the Hibachi Grill, but COVID meant I stopped going there as I also stopped going to the Cracker Barrell for Sunday breakfast. For several years, I ate almost every Sunday, at the Cracker Barrell Restaurant over off of I95. Even with the “metallic or chemical” flavor of some of their breakfast items, I enjoyed that breakfast each morning. But, I did hate their coffee and got into the habit of ordering their hot tea which I enjoyed. *Ironically, and I’ve written about it elsewhere, during COVID I ran out of my favorite bagged coffee beans at home and had to scrounge, and found a bag of ground Cracker Barrell coffee in the back of one of my shelves. I’m thinking it was a present from maybe Deborah Savage, because I wouldn’t have bought coffee from CB and if I had I would have wanted the whole bean so I could grind it at home periodically.

But I made a cup of coffee from the Cracker Barrell bag. It was delicious. I didn’t think about my hatred of the CB coffee in their restaurant. The next morning I made some more and it was good again. And I didn’t think about my hatred of their coffee when ordered in the restaurant. Finally on the third day I made and drank another good cup of coffee and I then realized, “I hate Cracker Barrell coffee!” But this was good coffee. It was also during COVID and I wasn’t going out to eat anywhere. So I drank myself through the bag and just about the time that COVID restrictions were beginning to be dropped, and I had my second follow-up vaccination, I went out for a haircut and a first visit after a long time to CB.

I had breakfast at CB and then looked for a bag of their coffee. They only sell their coffee as regular or as decaffeinated ground coffee. No whole bean. The bag color had also changed from a shiny bronze theme to a light shiny blue. But, and I didn’t find this out until I got home and made my first cup from the new bag… the coffee from the new bag, sucked. They had changed the recipe and it wasn’t the coffee I had enjoyed repeatedly from that old bronzy bag. Damn.

And now to end this pain because it is almost 7 am and time for me to check my blood glucose level and weigh before fixing breakfast. I haven’t had a stir-fry meal in quite a while. I enjoy fixing stir-fry. It is quick to prepare the various ingredients, quick to cook in the electric wok, and clean-up is a breeze. But as with other food cycles this is one for the present time. I also haven’t broiled a round bone lamb chop in a long while although I do have at least one package in my freezer. They cook really well on HI in the oven Broiler (20 minutes on one side and then about 5-7 minutes on the other side. The Vinchef wok goes in the oven, and I just have to be careful when checking it and taking it out because the handle becomes quite hot.

Seems like I am forgetting one other item I haven’t fixed in a while, but it will come to me later. I hope.

[end]