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Notes for the Day

bgibson135

I boiled a couple of eggs this morning (9 minutes). Cooked some bacon in the microwave (about 4 minutes). Made some egg salad with a little margarine, some Dukes mayo, a little ground Long Pepper… salt, regular pepper, powdered garlic. Warmed a slice of bread in the microwave for 12 seconds. I think I warmed left over coffee, from yesterday, with a little Half-n-Half, some Splenda, Agave Nectar and a little Coconut Sugar. *The coconut sugar doesn’t have a coconut flavor, to me, but a cocoa flavor which I like with the coffee.

I’ve written about this type of breakfast before, but what I don’t understand is that this morning, when I sat down in my easy chair and took my first bite of the egg salad… it was delicious! And the bacon was delicious! And the bread went well with the egg salad and bacon. From the first bite, I knew this was special, but I couldn’t tell you why. I’ve used the same steps above on many mornings, but everything came together today. A real “comfort food” meal!

I continued to organize my Christmas presents for Mary Ann, Jamie, Raymond and Lawrence (and Jeff Mitchell) and decided to use the little glass jars for the replacement nib for the Everlasting Pencils. I saw advertising on one website that said one of these pens is equivalent to 22 No. 2 pencils. You don’t have to sharpen them. They never grow shorter with use. So, a pen, with a replacement nib would be equivalent of 44 No. 2 pencils.

I’ve got just enough Murray River Salt and Long Peppers to give all a good sampling, if they want to sample (or just throw them away). The Murray River Salt is in small flakes, so you might use some of this as a “finishing touch” on some food. The Indian Long Peppers have to be ground, and I have a nice little “mortar -n- pestle” and I grind just one pepper piece at a time. Of course, if you have a little coffee grinder, that should work well for grinding the Long Pepper. I’ve included a small amount of the Coconut Sugar, if someone wants to try it with their coffee or Egg Nog.

I’ve included “Lady Cream Peas”, Green Split Peas, and a little Country Ham bits. If they want to try, then it won’t cost them anything… a little onion, chicken stock, a carrot and/or leek (maybe).

I had noted to myself earlier in the day, that I might not want to drive to Southern Pines to Maguro’s since I would be driving up tomorrow (Saturday) for Christmas dinner with the Mitchells. Planning on Christmas dinner, on Christmas, in Hubert this year. And, later it came to me that I could go down to Lumberton, NC to Pier 41 (seafood restaurant) and I wouldn’t have to prepare any Hot Mustard (for the egg rolls) or Toasted Sesame Oil (for their fried rice).

So, in the afternoon, I headed out to I95 and south toward Lumberton. It was windy, and the Interstate had digital signage warning about the wind. A lot of traffic heading south, which began to periodically grind to almost a halt. No accidents, but just some many people that I guess someone would slow down unexpectedly and that would cause a chair reaction for all. I decided early on to try and get on Hwy. 301 as soon as I could… but that ended up being the off ramp to St. Pauls. But, that was perfect. It took about 15 minutes to get on the other side of St. Pauls past the traffic light for their “Main” Street. *I asked my phone to show me the “fastest route to Pier 41 Restaurant” and it didn’t direct me back to I95. I actually think it took into account the unusually high traffic on I95 which was causing major slow downs. I was to stay on Hwy. 301 for a short distance and then veer off on a road, with “Siding” in it’s name. I was hoping that the app was directing me to the restaurant, and not something else with 41 in it’s title.

And, sure enough, after a few turns… and I actually ran a Stop sign. I can’t remember ever running a Stop sign but I was on it so quickly, and the actual Stop sign was low and in the shadows before I saw it. If someone had been crossing the intersection, I could not have stopped, and did not stop before I was mostly across the intersection and fading to the left. Very glad the intersection was in the ‘country’ and no one in sight on the cross road.

I finally came to a section of the country road with which I was familiar. I was coming from the opposite direction, but this was the route that I had used many times to go to the Mitchell’s house when they lived in Lumberton. And, sure enough, I had been directed in the fastest route, even coming up on Pier 41 from the opposite direction on Hwy. 41.

The Google Timeline segment above shows that I came through St. Pauls on the way down, but because there was a lot of traffic on Hwy. 301 heading north through St. Pauls, I decided to check I95 on the app after lunch and saw that heading north on I95 there was only a little section at St. Pauls where the route showed “red” for warning. And, sure enough, heading north on I95, it only became really congested at St. Pauls.