I am a retired Web Developer, Blackboard & Canvas Administrator at Fayetteville State University, which is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina.
I just came across a picture of Lucy Boynton and recognized her as being an extremely pretty woman that I had seen in some British detective movie… and googling was reminded that she was in “Murder on the Orient Express.” But this time, as I was looking at her face I realized there was some resemblance to Kate Beckinsale that many years ago, now, I first watched along with John Cusack as he traveled that serendipitous journey to find his lost love in “Serendipity.” I was much younger then, and so much in love with Kate Beckinsale by the end of that movie. And then life took over and through the years, I learned to like Kate Beckinsale less each time that I saw her on screen, or read about her online and finally decided that I had been so wrong to find her attractive at all.
BeckinsaleAfter Lip Surgery?Boynton
I have the haunting feeling that I’ve also seen Lucy Boynton in something else Agatha Christie, where she played off another young man as they travel across country on an amateur detective spiel. *And googling it, “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans,” one of my favorites.
Yes, I learned to think of Kate Beckinsale as a hard assed bitch.
And why didn’t they ask Evans? Of course, Evans, having been a maid or housekeeper in the previous household, would have known that someone was an imposter.
Just started reading “The Black Box” and do not know what the title references yet. But this Bosch novel was published in 2012 which was twenty years after the L.A. Riots (of 1992). *Funny that I recall so little about the riots, although I think there were riots elsewhere, especially in Miami where my cousin, Yvonne, suggested I not come down for a visit because there were unsafe areas. I think she mentioned that if you go to the right, you’ll be okay, but if you go to the left you could be in serious trouble.
But, just a few years ago, after George Floyd, the Fayetteville Police did little to nothing regarding the looting in the Fayetteville Mall (J.C. Penny’s entrance had to be boarded up afterwards.) or I think there was video evidence of looters (white & black) in Walmart.
Brian Mims with WRAL, reporting on Fayetteville Walmart looting.
So Harry says something to Chu to the effect, “If you need to be thanked all the time for just doing your job, then maybe you got into the wrong profession.” And Chu doesn’t respond. Now I think the immediate response by Chu could have been to tell Harry, “Well Harry, you condescending piece of shit. I should know not to come to you for support or encouragement.” But rather than an immediate response, if I had a “partner” that had that “lone wolf” attitude, and repeatedly directed condescending barbs toward me… first I would be looking to get as far away from being “his partner” as I could, and I would also know that at some point in the future, Harry Bosch would go fishing for an “undeserved” compliment and I would feed his exact words back to him, with a wry smile, “Well Harry, if you always need to be thanked for just doing your job, then maybe you got into the wrong profession… and if I haven’t told you, I’m transferring next week to a different division. See ya, Bosch.”
Art Pepper “Patricia” (YouTube) So I just listened to the entire song on YouTube, and see that most of the comments for this are regarding Bosch & Connelly… just years before my introduction. *If you enjoyed “Morse” and his finer things, wine & opera, then you could probably see the similarities between the two fictional detectives. I tried listening to opera, but just could never get into it. And, I went through my jazz phase years ago, probably the 1970s & 80s, part of the time when I was living & going to school in Louisville, KY. John Klemmer’s sax was a fav then. John Klemmer “Touch” 1970s (maybe early 80s). For me it was 1982-4, mom had died in December of 1980. Loved Al Jarreau back then also. *Art Pepper on Art Pepper from this he says he grew up in San Pedro (pee-droh) , so Harry Bosch & Terry McCaleb at Cabrillo Marina, Vincent Thomas Bridge & Avalon, Catalina Island all in the mix.
Just read the part where Harry becomes aware that he may have been unintentionally disrespecting his partner by just calling him Chu. Harry has been so much more disrespectful to his partner than just this. In fact I am surprised that Harry didn’t just shrug it off and keep calling him Chu. But, recall that Chu had given case info to one of his newspaper journalist friends and Harry wanted “him gone.” Wasn’t right for Chu to do it, but understandable since Harry had repeatedly cut Chu out of the loop, keeping him like a mushroom in the basement, in the dark and shoveling shit on top. **Chu should have called Harry a “whore spawn” and wiped the dust off his (Chu’s) feet as he walked out the door.
I found “The DROP” at B.J.’s Bookstore in Fayetteville, NC last week. Unfortunately, it was a paperback edition, on medium greyish paper, and although I am about 70 pages into it, the smaller print & darker background makes the reading less pleasant. *I’ve been looking, this morning, to see if I can find an online copy that won’t cost an “arm and a leg” to read, but if not will muddle through the paperback. (Also bought hardback copies of “The Burning Room” and “The Black Box.”) All three were $3 each, and I had a good long talk with the male owner of the book store (I guess he owns it, and the woman, might be his wife.) “The Burning Room” is another Bosch story that I have already seen on TV, and like “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” I don’t feel like reading this since the TV version is still strong in my mind, and also from a Bosch period that I don’t much want to revisit.
Having said that, I am now reading “The DROP,” and Harry’s partner is Chu.
Harry is called in at the special request of Councilman Irvin Irving, because Irving’s 40 something years old son has dropped from the 7th floor of the Chateau Marmont hotel. George Irving has made a big splash, but Harry isn’t sure if Irving has committed suicide, or if he had assistance by someone else in making his final leap. And there is a play on the word “drop.” Harry is going to be forced to retire, according to the DROP and George Irving lying dead at the northwest corner of the Marmont, has made the drop. Truly nothing yet has been revealed to make anyone think that George has done anything other than commit suicide, for what reason or reasons we do not know, but the bed in his room is untouched, his clothing neatly hung on hangers in the closet, a black button off his white dress shirt on the floor, a white robe on the back of his balcony chair, and a digital clock lying on the floor. Harry doesn’t think “accident” even though the balcony has a low lying railing.
The Chateau Marmont may have been mentioned in some other Bosch novel, or TV episode, because maybe a couple of years ago, I went online and viewed the area where this hotel is located. And, from another Bosch story, I recognized the commercial complex in which “The Crush,” an exercise business is located a short distance down Sunset Blvd.
Chateau Marmont
There are great pictures of the Chateau Marmont online and especially of the side of the hotel in which this story has started. Oh, John Belushi died in this hotel, and Led Zepplin were raucous in one of the bungalows.
LAPD Police Academy Elysian Park
LAPD Headquarters – Downtown LA
The Bradbury Building on 3rd St.
Charlie Chaplin Statue in Bradbury Building, Los Angeles, CA
Charlie Chaplin, “the Tramp” StatueRobert Culp, Outer Limits “Demon with a Glass Hand”
Harry and Kiz have a clandestine meeting at the Charlie Chaplin Statue in the Bradbury Building. *”The Night Strangler” film, from 1973, a precursor to the series, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (only 1 season) was filmed partially in the Bradbury Building, although the character’s situ was supposed to be Chicago.
The LA Times Building. Across the street, to the left, is LAPD Headquarters. Behind this view is The City Hall.
Chinatown Entrance on Broadway
Harry has just found out that his partner, Chu, may have shared private case info with “GoGo,” an LA Times reporter. Not something a detective should be doing for any reason. But, I can see where “lone wolf” Harry Bosch doesn’t inspire loyalty with his partner, especially this partner. Harry has treated Chu like a mushroom… keeping him in the dark and shoveling shit on top. *But, should Harry have shared private case info, regarding autopsy results, with a reporter friend of his, in “The Black Ice?”
I enjoyed watching the “Morse” episodes, and there are parallels between Endeavor Morse and Hieronymus Bosch. Morse kept his partners, like Lewis, “in the dark” but I guess that goes with being the more intuitive & experienced partner in a relationship. Neither Morse nor Bosch have any real success with women. I look forward to reading the early Bosch novels to see where Bosch marries Eleanor Wish (post FBI and prison for her). I know the marriage doesn’t take place in the first two novels because I’ve read those. I know Eleanor dies in “The Nine Dragons.” And I don’t recall the novel where Harry actually figures out that he has a four year old daughter, Mads, that Eleanor hasn’t even told him about. Not a great relationship or commitment by either Harry or Eleanor. Definitely not something to be copied to have success in a “good” marriage.
Maybe Morse and Bosch are “idiot savants” regarding their insights into solving cases. But, they are idiots at relationships, especially with women. And being that way, no wonder they spend inordinate amounts of time on cases, and not developing outside, intimate relationships.
The Standard on W. Sunset Blvd.
I guess the Standard is no more, because the signage is turned upside down (see below).
The setup and attack by Pell on Hardy in the Sheriff’s transport is reminiscent of someone else who manipulated their arrest and then stabbed (???) someone to death in a holding cell, although I don’t recall which other novel in which that scenario was included. Also, it was a little bit of a stretch to think that Pell would have been strategically placed directly behind Hardy on the transport.
[NOTE 04/08/24]: I was watching an episode of “the Rookie” yesterday and there was a prisoner bus accident where the bus went over an embankment. I immediately recognized the location as being very near the LAPD Police Academy at Elysian Park. They also have a drone fly-over at Echo Park that is iconic.
I am pleased regarding my geographic education of Los Angeles which has resulted from my reading of the Bosch novels, and my follow-up online of the area of Google Maps and Street View. As much of the layout that I now know, I still don’t think I would want to live in L.A… or New York, Chicago or even Atlanta… Dallas or D.C. [end NOTE]
Sesmark makes at least two different Sesame Rice Crackers, and I like the flavor of them both. But, a short time ago, I found some Black Sesame Rice Crackers at Whole Foods in Raleigh, and bought a bag of them. They had an even more distinct flavor that went really well with the Wegman’s Intense Brie. The Capricho de Cabra and the Bucheron Goat Cheeses are semi-soft and mildly tart and these would go well with either of these rice crackers. They also go well with raspberry jam.
Now I like liver, liver pudding/mush, liver pate, beef/calf liver, chicken livers, all types of liver. I especially like the flavor of Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate. This will go good with the rice crackers also.
I’m about a hundred pages into the “Desert Star” novel and Renee Ballard is limping along as the head of a volunteer “cold case” unit. One person, whom she did not choose, is channeling info back to a wealthy, powerful councilman, so Renee has already intentionally “cut him out of the loop” for an update meeting. She has to keep the councilman happy because he is a possible major source of funding for this volunteer unit.
Harry has already ignored Renee’s “do not copy” policy and she has had to wink at that. But, Harry is uncontrollable, and even though Renee wants all of her staff to focus on one case, Harry just refuses and keeps spending his time & energy on another case. After all, how can you ignore the death of a family of four? Well, it’s not like the family just got killed. And, if it was THAT important, maybe Harry shouldn’t have retired and left that case to someone else several years before. He could have solved that case years ago and be focused on this other case now.
And Renee has hired a “psychic” for her other abilities in researching, but now the psychic has tainted evidence because she had to “touch” items in the evidence box without gloves.
So with all these dysfunctional people on this volunteer unit, Renee can’t last long. In fact, if you can’t control the people either you shouldn’t be their boss, or they shouldn’t be on the “team”.
Renee: “Oh Harry, I didn’t think you would have a problem with the “psychic” trying to get a feel for the case by touching the evidence in your boxes.” “Yes, I know you said something about tainting evidence that might affect your case later, but we’re all just here to work together, aren’t we?”
So, the way it has been written thus far, I don’t see this unit lasting past the end of “Desert Star.”
So now Harry is planning on flying to Chicago, for a day, to pick up a campaign badge for evidence in a case. He agrees to do the trip, “on his dime” but if the department comes through later, he’ll get reimbursed. The mother doesn’t remember touching the button and Harry is trying to preserve any fingerprints or DNA that might be on the badge. I guess the parents didn’t touch the button when they packed up their dead daughter’s things in L.A., to send them back to Chicago. And, that would be possible if they just took the drawer that the campaign button was in and dumped the whole thing in a box. Don’t waste the tax payer’s money on a “hail Mary” ornament. Everyone doesn’t attain the excellence of maintaining the viability of evidence that the Great Harry Bosch does, but surely there must be some adult in Chicago that can package the campaign button up, without touching it, and mail it to L.A. Expedite the transfer, and even if you pay extra for shipping, it’s got to be less than a round trip ticket between L.A. and Chicago. What a waste, for a baby that can’t wait.
[NOTE]: What will be the end of Harry Bosch? Well, “Morse” ends his days as an impotent, sickly human being, and the roles between Morse and Robbie Lewis have switched. Morse is no longer the aficionado of wine & opera, but is stumped when trying to identify a common bird. So Morse dies at the hospital, alone, while Lewis is out solving a case. Just realized that Morse has opera and Bosch has jazz.
I’ve said elsewhere that Harry Bosch has done for L.A. what Morse did for Oxford, England. I noticed early that the street signs in Bosch were always in focus. If you stopped the video and read the street sign, you could go to Google Maps and Street View and find the exact location. Later, much later, once I started reading the Bosch novels I realized that Connelly put his fictional characters in “real” locations. This was fun to get a better feel for what Connelly was describing. *One problem is that the Bosch novels span a 30 year period, and if you are reading the early books, those actual locations may no longer exist to be viewed online. [end NOTE]
So Harry wants to know what she has learned from her autopsy that she performed on Calexico Moore. She tells him she can’t, or that if she does, he can’t repeat it because she is currently an “interim” Chief Medical Examiner, and that might jeopardize her becoming permanent. Harry eagerly agrees to not relay the info she is about to give him. She tells him, the Moore case may not be a suicide. They make love and later she goes to take a shower. She hasn’t even finished washing his stink off of her when he has the phone calling a reporter friend of his, to let the reporter know that he, the reporter, should look into the Moore autopsy as to whether it is a suicide or a homocide. And, without telling her, Harry heads off to Mexico. *When I read that, my first thought was that if Harry and I worked together, and I had gotten a promise from him not to share info, and that he knew it might jeopardize me getting or keeping a job that was very important to me, I would never trust that “lying sack of shit” ever again. And, Bosch could call me up at all hours of the day looking for favors, and if I had caller ID, I wouldn’t answer his calls until “normal working hours & days” and when he finally did talk to me, I would put his request “in the queue” and not give him a damned thing more advantage than anyone else.
Now, I didn’t read the Bosch novels in the order they were published. I actually read “The Black Ice” just before I read “City of Bones” and these books were eight years apart. In “City of Bones” Harry calls up Teresa asking for a favor, not during regular business hours. It is New Years and Teresa is preparing to go to an event, but she agrees to let Harry come over to show her a bone. She meets him at the door, inspects the bone and identifies it as human, and she abruptly brushes him off to go through other channels. And she tells Harry not to call her again, but to go through channels. Having read the two books so close together, my memory and Teresa’s memory would probably be very close to what a “wronged” person would remember, even eight years later.
Harry Bosch is a lying sack of dog shit. Not to be trusted. And definitely not someone that is owed anything. No cutting in line. No, “you know Harry.” Yes, I know Harry. “That lying sack of dog shit, Harry Bosch,” can’t be trusted.
In “City of Bones” there is a young police detective, partnered with Kiz, that released confidential info to a reporter friend of his. This info is published, and as a direct result a man commits suicide. Now Harry can become incensed at this action. The only problem is that Harry doesn’t remember that he did the same thing to Teresa just eight years ago. She kept her job, but that doesn’t make Harry any more trustworthy. Because remember, Harry Bosch is a “lying sack of dog shit.”
I forget how easy it is to fix a stir fry using my electric wok. The prep time is relatively short, just chopping up some veggies and a little chicken (maybe beef or shrimp sometime). I have added zucchini and grape tomatoes this time. I chop up some onion, carrots, and sweet bell pepper (yellow or red). I’ve added some avocado oil & toasted sesame oil to the wok first and then let it heat up, which occurs very quickly. Add the chicken chunks first and toss them. They probably cook in two minutes or less. Then add all the other veggies, some sesame seeds, soy sauce, ground ginger, ground pepper, red pepper flakes and S&P. And perhaps some agave nectar and even some pineapple chunks.
The above is an electric wok by Breville which costs about $180. I’ve seen some electric woks for as little as $29, and probably about $60 would probably get a nice one. You need a heat proof spatula that won’t scratch the wok’s surface when you are stirring the assorted veggies & meat.
Clean-up, a breeze.Chicken Stir-Fry 03/26/24
And after cooking, cleanup is a breeze. You just need to spray in some water and add a little Dawn Dishwashing Detergent and swish it about. Scrape with the spatula any burnt-on fragments on the wok’s surface, and then dry with a paper towel.
Something like this would be a great gift for a guy going off to college. That is if he was allowed to cook in his dorm room. The other gift might be a Braun Multiquik Tool, which includes a whisk, stick blender & food chopper. Make sure you buy a powerful enough motor so that it can blend a full can of garbanzo beans for making hummus. This blender setup is also good for making salsa. Throw in a can of diced Fire Roasted tomatoes, add a few chipotle peppers, some sweet colorful bell pepper, some sweet onion and maybe some cilantro leaves. Add ground cumin, some ground cayenne pepper, some sweetener and/or agave nectar, and some lime juice. Oh, I also like to add some Salsa Ranchera sauce by Herdez. Get a bag of tortilla chips and have at it.
Hummus is ground garbanzo beans, lemon/lime juice, some ground cumin and/or whole cumin seeds, S&P and some olive oil. Add water if necessary to thin the hummus. You can add tahini which is fermented sesame seeds. Once you have your homemade hummus, you can chop up some sweet bell pepper, some sweet onion, slice some carrots, and some grape tomatoes. I especially like smoked oysters with my hummus, and sometimes add the oil that the oysters come in, into the hummus.
Do we need a rice cooker? I don’t because of my Type 2 Diabetes, but rice with the stir fry would be great, and even more filling.
Now that I think about it, the Braun Multiquik blender requires no heating or cooking to make salsa or hummus.
Need a set of Tupperware w/ Easy Find Lids, a cutting board for on top of the small fridge. Prep the food on the cutting board, place in Tupperware containers, clean the cutting board and put the food chopper on the cutting board.
[NOTE 03/26/24]: This has nothing to do with the above article. I fried one of the pork chops I bought at the IGA in Snow Hill. When it was done, I cut it in half (one half had the bone in) and ate the half with the bone, saving the rest. I had some grits left over, so I put some on the plate, mashed them down flat, and put them in the microwave. I also added some cold cabbage slaw to the plate. Oh, almost forgot. I had fixed some giant lima beans previously, with some country ham bits. Heated the beans and they were delicious. This all worked really well.
The chicken stir-fry above had just a little hot pepper, cauliflower and pineapple. Of these three, I think the pineapple was the only good choice. This had toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, agave nectar, a little Splenda and some sesame seeds. I did have some asparagus, sweet red bell pepper, onion and carrots. I like broccoli, but didn’t add it here. I think either broccoli or asparagus, but not both. The agave nectar may have caused some of the veggies to stick to the bottom. I am soaking the wok with a little water and some Dawn Dishwashing Soap.
I was just watching a muted commercial and there were two videos playing side by side in small windows. A girl in one video steps out of that video, reaches around and steps back into the other video… and they are playing basketball, and she takes a shot. This was done so smoothly that I immediately thought, “that was slick.”
Not sure how this would be done without a lot of precise planning. The girl has to come up to the screen in one video, the middle video (when she is outside of both of the current videos) has to look like she is stepping out of a window, reaching around, and then stepping into the next window.
[NOTE 08/06/24]: I think it is an AT&T commercial. A young girl is in a dentist’s chair, and the dentist is sitting nearby with a dental instrument in his hand. Nearby is his dental assistant. I think she is a light skinned black woman, with freckles. But, the little girl’s father is in the room, and he is playing with his new phone, and he is sitting on a horse. The little girl says something about since he got his new phone, he “has been sitting on his high horse.” The doctors says something to about the father sitting in the waiting room. (It is a small dental operating room.) The father then says something about, “I guess I’ll sit in the waiting room,” as the horses black tail swishes the girl in the face. The man then guides the horse to turn and he leans down to open the door. After the door swings open, the man turns the horse in a tight turn so that they can head out through the now opened door. *I may have seen an extended scene where the man bends down to make it through the door, while riding his horse. [end NOTE]
Today the rental agents were supposed to come around to the Longhill Pointe Apartments with a “mortgage” inspection. I decided to leave my apartment for the day, read more of “The Black Ice” at the Main Cumberland County Library in the morning, then go across town for lunch at Pharaoh’s Legacy for a Lamb Gyro Pita and Greek Salad, come back across town to the parking lot, for my cardiologist appointment, and then read some more until my 2:15 pm appointment.
I had been up early most of the morning before having breakfast at home, showering, dressing and leaving for the day, so when I went to the library and started reading, I was sleepy.
I was at the restaurant a little before noon and ordered soon after entering and being seated at a table directly in front of the entrance door. Unfortunately, the Greek Salad wasn’t as good as it normally is. The red onion was thin, the Pepperoncini skin was tough and there wasn’t much Italian dressing. Several previous visits to the restaurant, had delicious salads and the Kalamata olives especially had good flavor. *I even learned how to make the Italian dressing at home satisfactorily. There are things I don’t like in my Greek Salad… cucumber and sweet bell pepper. The basic dressing is easy to make at home: red wine vinegar, olive oil, Italian herbs, S&P, Dijon mustard and some sweetener. I’ve started using Romaine Lettuce (I buy the whole head because it lasts much longer than prepared, chopped Hearts of Romaine, which turns brown quickly.). I have several jars of Pepperoncini, and just bought more Kalamata olives from the Olive Bar at Fresh Market in Fayetteville.
I ate most of the salad, except for some of the tough Pepperoncini, and a bit of Romaine. I ate just a little of the pita bread, and then got a box for the remaining Lamb Gyro in the pita. I was in the doctor’s office parking lot about an hour and a half early, but eventually backed into a spot and started to read my book again. I went in to the office a little after 2pm, and at around 2:15 a nurse came out and directed me back, for a weigh-in, and some other tests. She commented on my loss of weight, as did the doctor later. He set up an appointment for another year from now. *I’m feeling good, but know that at my age, 70, a serious illness (even terminal) might jump out at me, unannounced. And, although I currently am healthy and able to easily take care of myself, cooking, bathing, grocery shopping, etc., if I lose my mobility that would seriously affect my lifestyle.
I don’t really want to move back to Jacksonville, Hubert or Swansboro, NC even though Mary Ann and her family are in Hubert. I am alone in Fayetteville, but I would be pretty much alone wherever I went now.
[NOTE 01/09/25]: When I remember, I take a sandwich baggy with me, to the restaurant, that has some pepperoncini, grape tomatoes & sliced sweet onion, and I now ask my waiter/ess for an extra cup of their Italian dressing. Usually, the restaurant’s pepperoncini has a tougher skin but their Kalamata olives, which I normally can’t find in my refrigerator, have a better taste.
I’m currently reading “Magic Foods For Better Blood Sugar.” Three of the ingredients they suggest for lowering blood sugar include: red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil. These are all included in the Italian dressing.
I haven’t been making many salads for my meals, and most of those are not Greek salads, but I do have some Romaine lettuce in the fridge.
I decided to re-watch the movie, “Hannibal” this morning, early this morning. It’s 3:32 am on Saturday, March 9th, 2024.
I didn’t remember all the interaction between Ray Liotta’s character and Clarice at the start of the movie. But, one thing I noticed right away was how Biltmore looked as Clarice was driving up to the front door. There were large, old trees lining both sides of the front driveway. When I first visited Biltmore in spring of 2004, those trees no longer existed. I have seen another old movie where these trees were still prominent. I think I read that there was some type of “tree disease” and they had to be removed.
I just looked and “Hannibal” was released in 2001, so just three years later those impressive trees would be gone. They change out the garden at least four times a year, and on my first visit the garden was mainly freshly tilled soil (reddish clay maybe, no, fortunately I had a photo, see below). I don’t recall, but it seems like a grounds keeper told me I had just missed the Spring flowers by about four days. I guess I felt cheated. I think my Biltmore ticket cost about $65, although that may have been for a year’s ticket (unlimited visits, but extra for the Christmas tour). Whatever the cost, I decided to pay an extra $35 on top of my daily ticket price with the plan that I would come back to see the different seasonal plantings. And, I did, for summer, fall, winter and then the next spring 2005 to see the flowers I had first missed. I also paid extra for the Christmas tour, but really didn’t think that was worth the cost.
1st Spring Visit2nd Spring Visit
Oh, seems like I bought six extra yearly tickets as presents and gave two to Jim Kelley, Ray Sharpe and Jeff Mitchell. Jeff and Robin Mitchell may have been the only couple that took advantage of these tickets, and Robin was pregnant and the visit apparently more harried than you would like. So, these gifts in my mind, go down as one of the worst presents I ever tried to give my friends. Peppermint Bark was a good gift I gave to another family.
Now, it is March of 2024, and I just realized that I have not revisited Biltmore in twenty years, although I did visit it 5 times in 2004. I have been to Asheville several times since 2004, but never to Biltmore again. But, I haven’t been to Asheville in several years, probably since before Covid. I’m 70 years old, but seem relatively healthy and have been losing weight and keeping my Blood Glucose Levels down.
I also enjoyed Asheville for “Trillium a Bistro” where I enjoyed “Curried Apple” soup, and alligator sausage, gravy and polenta. Not sure if I had ever tried polenta before that time. Trillium didn’t last that long, but I did end up making my version of the apple soup, which is pleasing, both hot and cold, and vegetarian or with chicken. I had a good experience at Dobra Tea where I enjoyed a pot of Assam Bhramaputra without any sugar or cream. I still have a couple of cakes of Pu-Erh tea that I bought there years ago. But, this tea is an acquired taste and something entirely different from the black teas I grew up with. I have visited the WNC Farmers Market in Asheville quite a few times. I first became aware of ramps on one of my early visits. But I also tried various cheeses from another vendor, and eventually tried three different beans from Cara’s Corner Market (also facebook). I wrote about my beans excursion. All three looked delicious in the pictures I took, but the truth was that all three fell short in taste. It made me realize that the popular beans, butter and black eyed peas, had proved “the survival of the fittest.” These less popular bean varieties had failed to be as good flavored as the more popular ones. I bought some “gumbo file” powder there, which I added to some soup and I enjoyed some clove hard candy, which I later found online and still have a good sized jar. I just don’t eat this candy because of the high sugar content, but I do like the flavor. I’ve enjoyed my visits to “New Morning Gallery” in Biltmore Village. I think I’ve bought at least a couple of pottery mugs or bowls there. I’ve enjoyed my visits to the “Southern Highland Craft Guild Center” and getting there from “the back way” along the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Weaverville. I think I may have bought my special “alien” mug there, but I’ve also bought mugs at Mangum Pottery.
I enjoyed eating at the eclectic Stony Knob Cafe about three times. I think I first saw a booth upholstered in Ostrich Skin there and thought of having one of my chairs done maybe in red dyed Ostrich.
The Stony Knob Cafe
The “Back Way” from Weaverville to the Blue Ridge Parkway (take a right here)
Walking up to the Southern Highland Craft Guild Center
If you come down the Blue Ridge Parkway (not from Hwy. 70) and turn into the Guild Center you may think you are deep in the forest but in fact you are very near the Veteran’s Hospital, and there is even a nursing home right next to the Center, but you can’t drive around to get to it. Come off the Parkway onto Hwy. 70/Tunnel Rd. and head back toward Asheville, you will quickly come to the VA Hospital and across the street, the East Village Grille.
East Village Grille on the left and the VA Hospital on the right.
I’ve enjoyed several visits to the East Village Grille and had a very good Philly Cheesesteak with fries, and another time, a good Pastrami on Rye and fries. With the Cheesesteak, I noticed another customer had a ruby red sauce, and I asked for some. I think it cost me about 35 cents extra, but they brought out a small black plastic cup of “Tiger Sauce.” It was delicious and I ended up buying some from Amazon, both for myself and for Christmas presents one year. Tiger Sauce had an “original” flavor but later they had a “Habanero – Lime” flavor which I liked even better. I think they discontinued the new flavor, but may have brought it back eventually. I still have several bottles of Tiger Sauce but just don’t use it because of the sugar content. But, if I remember, I may open a bottle for my next hamburger, steak or chicken dish. **Elsewhere I have recorded the VA Hospital “lawnmower man” incident.
50 Year Old Bill @BiltmoreLike the VA Hospital LawnmowerTiger Sauce Original FlavorBeans from Cara’s CornerBeans from Cara’s CornerI now use this bag for grocery shopping at Wegmans, etc.WNC Farmers Market Delicious Grape TomatoesWNC Farmers Market RampsAlien MugOther Side of Alien MugBiltmore First Visit Garden Dug UpBiltmore w/o Large TreesDobra Teas Assam Bhramaputra Tea VisitState Arboretum
I visited Asheville for a one day trip, staying overnight at a Quality Inn about a month before Hurricane Helene came through and devastated the place. It was a wonderful visit. The motel rooms had been renovated and I even had a quiet flush toilet. I saw black bears on the Blue Ridge Parkway and wild turkeys almost in downtown Asheville the next morning and the morning air was cool which was a welcome change from what it had been back in Fayetteville. And, the last place I visited before leaving town about noon the next day was the New Morning Gallery which is in the Biltmore Village District and where a bunch of water and mud came through five weeks later. What a gift that visit was!
I’ve written about this elsewhere, but I made a leisurely detour up to Asheville and also on the way back. It definitely wasn’t all Interstate. I guess as much of a “leisurely detour” as one can make going from Fayetteville to Asheville in a day, and then then the next day from Asheville back to Fayetteville. I saw a parachute team coming down in Maxton that morning.
Bill Gibson, II 