Author: bgibson135

I am a retired Web Developer, Blackboard & Canvas Administrator at Fayetteville State University, which is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina.

Finally.

bgibson135

Through the years, I bought many cookbooks, most of them purchased at J.R.s in Smithfield, NC. But, after many years, J.R.s went out of business and the only section that remained from the original business was the tobacco shop. I don’t recall if it is still called J.R.s, but the tobacco shop is still there, and I buy RamRod cigars every so often.

Cookbooks at J.R.s were relatively cheap, from as low as $3 for a small pamphlet, to $10 – $25 each (I don’t actually recall the high end of the price range.) Many of the books I bought were in the $10 and $15 range. I bought cookbooks for myself, for Mary Ann, and eventually for Jacqueline (Ray’s wife). I would buy duplicate copies often as presents.

I might have already given Jacqueline about 100 cookbooks. I carried 45 down a few months ago, and left them at Mary Ann’s. But, Mary Ann is supposed to read through them, and then let Jacqueline have them.

I drove to Hamlet, NC today for lunch at the Seaboard Station Restaurant.

After lunch, I drove a short distance to the Hamlet Public Library. I went in and asked if they accepted donations of movie DVDs and/or books. The clerk said they only were accepting DVDs at this time. I went back to the car and got a couple of DVDs. *I had six DVDs and planned to give two to each of the 3 libraries I was planning to visit today.

So now I head down to Society Hill, SC. I’ve been through Society Hill a few times in my life. I’ve even stopped into the Library at least once several years ago. I go inside and ask if they are accepting movie DVDs and/or books. The clerk went to check and came back saying that they were only accepting DVDs at this time. I went back to the car, got another 2 DVDs and brought them in. DVDs: “Casino Royal”… But, I also asked if I could speak with the Librarian. I went back to her office (she is retiring after 18 years in early September). I asked the reasoning for not accepting books at this time. Basically, it was lack of room… I think.

Now I head back up to North Carolina and end up going through Bennettsville, SC and detoured down the main part of town and then out of town, and eventually ended up going through Gibson, NC (just across the NC/SC border). I didn’t see a library there, although I thought I had once.

This is familiar territory and I soon was back up in Laurinburg, NC and ended up on Church Street, on which the Scotland County Memorial Library is located. I parked near the main entrance and went in to ask about the donations they were currently taking. There was a quiet young woman at the desk who asked me if she could help. She went back to the Librarian and came back saying that he said he had moved some stuff around and would accept the books & DVDs.

I went back out to my car, pulled my portable red wagon out and started putting the books & DVDs into it. I rolled the wagon inside and the quiet young woman was just rolling out an empty book cart by her counter. She quickly placed the DVDs and books onto her cart. *DVDs: “Prometheus” and “Avatar.” I thanked her and left. *I may think it a little weird that none of the 3 libraries asked my name. But, I was happy to have gotten rid of all those books & the few DVDs. *I have kept a couple of original Outer Limits anthologies on DVD. *The books included a couple of large volumes, one “Culinaria Italy” and another “Culinaria France”. **Interesting. I just looked for images for these two volumes. Both were probably almost 600 pp., and they are selling on eBay for about $7 each. I am surprised! I would have thought they would be at least $15 each.

I drove onto the St. Andrews College Campus and made it to the lake where I turned around… but, I looked across the lake expecting to see the white bell tower, and it wasn’t there! I asked myself if I had imagined the tower. Fortunately, I googled for this later and saw where the Belk Bell Tower had been severely damaged in 2019 due to a hurricane and was demolished because it was dangerous. They do plan to rebuild the tower. If they are still having money issues as they did some time ago, it may be a while.

NOTE [ 05/18/25]: Many years ago I hired someone that had worked at St. Andrews College. Even back then they were having money issues. Earlier this month I saw something on TV that said the college was closing that day, and I ended up driving down there and doing a quick tour of the campus. They never rebuilt the bell tower, but they have a pretty lake setting on campus. And seems that a few years ago I was looking around campus and saw what I thought to be Equine (horse) students. Not sure if they had an equestrian degree or if it was just a summer program.

I see their last day was on May 5, 2025. [end NOTE]

As I drove back off St. Andrews Campus, I had to turn right and then loop back around through the shopping area. There is a TSC Tractor Supply store on the corner and I saw a small lawn tractor out front and it was under $10K. I took a few pictures to remind me and something to send to Mary Ann because she has been looking for a golf cart for Jim to get around the yard and to the mailbox.

NOTE [ 11/18/23 ]: I had taken a couple of pictures that I sent to Mary Ann, but she didn’t like the quality of the carts. I have since deleted them from this posting. Jim died in March 2023.

I still have several books that focus on Paddlewheel Steamboats from various locations, but all trying to tie back to those vessels on the Cape Fear River in NC. I also have about 15 cookbooks that I chose that seemed to be the best, well illustrated with color photos and interesting recipes.

ADDENDUM [05/18/25]: I love collecting cookbooks, but I still wish I had a cooking school or somewhere to donate them after I’ve looked through them. If I see a good looking cookbook, lots of colorful pictures and easy to read recipes, then I just might buy it for a dollar or two. The family I have has gotten older and the gift of a cookbook is no longer a rewarding gift, for me or them. And some friends have little interest in cooking. That’s sort of a minor “curse.” [end]

Bringing It Home.

bgibson135

Thai Basil Chicken from Maguro’s in Southern Pines…

I have taken a few things with me when I am going to Maguro’s to have lunch, and I have since after my first visit only eaten “Thai Basil Chicken”.

Russ and Deborah took me there to celebrate my birthday and Russ had the Thai Basil Chicken. I had something else, which was “okay” but looking at Russ’ meal from across the table, I thought it looked especially tasty. At some point, Russ asked if there were hot peppers in the dish. I recall that both Deborah and I looked and I think we found what appeared to be a sliced Jalapeno. Now, I would guess that hot is not what Russ wanted.

I’m sure that Russ and Deborah had “cut out a swath of time” for me for my birthday celebration, but after lunch as we are standing in the Maguro’s parking lot talking, I realized that I had an upset stomach. My way of saying that I felt I needed to go to the bathroom. I told them I was going home and left my celebration early.

But, the next day I drove up to Southern Pines again to have lunch at Maguro’s, and to order the “Thai Basil Chicken” for myself. Making back to back trips to Southern Pines from Fayetteville would be highly unusual for me, but at this time, our gas prices had not started to rise drastically.

The Thai Basil Chicken was delicious! During the Pandemic, I would normally drive to Southern Pines on Thursdays and order the lunch special, which for sometime was still only $7 with water to drink.

The few things I took included:

— Hot Mustard which I would dip my egg roll (more like an egg roll instead of a spring roll) in and their sweet sauce. This mustard will take your breath away if you eat too much, and too much might just be a very little.

— Toasted Sesame Oil which I add to the fried rice. I had found that the flavor of the Toasted Sesame Oil was what “meant” fried rice to me. This does make the rice flavor better.

Many times I have eaten the entire meal at the restaurant, but a few times, I have brought a “doggy” box home with me. And, what I found is that adding extra peppers and onion to the left overs works well. I had some hot peppers including Habaneros, a poblano and some onion which I cooked up on the stove top. I added the peppers & onion to the left overs and microwaved for a couple of minutes. This worked excellently!

Andouille Lentil Soup

I knew that I wanted to make some lentil soup before I left for lunch in Southern Pines. I was going to look for some Andouille sausage at Fresh Market in Southern Pines. Not all sausages are the same, and I have had bland Andouille. But, I have also used Polska Kielbasa which was a failure. Not spicy.

I went into the Fresh Market and sauntered through apples, carrots, nuts and olives before making it to the meat counter in the back. You can only get to the meat counter from two directions, and I realized after walking along the counter that there was a “proper” direction, and there was a large sign for “the next customer”. I had not asked a butcher for assistance, and after finding the head of the line took my place behind an elderly couple that had just been called up to the counter by a butcher. I saw sausages and one of those was labelled ‘Andouille’. Another butcher, a black man, came to the counter and asked if I needed assistance. I asked him if the Andouille was spicy. He said he had not tried it personally and did not know. I asked if a pound of the Andouille was about two links. I ended up getting 3 links for a pound. The white butcher didn’t know if the Andouille was spicy, but knew that Andouille should be.

I had a 3 quart pot, and put a couple of links of the Andouille in the bottom and cut the casings from end to end. I tried to scrape the meat from the casings. I then added some red & brown lentils, some chopped onion and some chicken broth, S&P, and garlic powder. At some point I added some Poblano, and hot peppers, including a Habanero.

I was finishing off my Maguro’s Thai Basil Chicken as I was cooking the Andouille Lentil soup. But, I was tasting the soup broth, and it was obvious that it was spicy hot. The Andouille was ground chunkily (which is how it should be) and had good flavor, although I honestly cannot say if this Andouille was spicy because of the overpowering heat from the hot peppers I had added. But, this was really good soup, especially because it was spicy hot, and had good meat flavor!

So, I am sitting on the toilet the next morning, and it comes to me that my stomach feels like someone had punched it. It is slightly sore, and I smile thinking that the cause of it was all the spicy, hot peppers I had eaten the day before.

After lunch, I drove over to Ken Chappell’s fruit stand near Candor. This is a regular practice during peach season. Peaches & apples are the main produce, but they also have okra, tomatoes, cantaloupe & watermelons in season.

I bought a watermelon ($7 maybe $5), three small tomatoes, some Gala apples (small & hard) and a small bag of peaches (Flame Prince). I drove back to the Fresh Market.

I drove over to the Mitchell’s after I had bought the Andouille. No one was home, no cars in front, and no one answered the door bell. I left a few apples & peaches on the table under the patio.

I drove back to Fayetteville. I left the watermelon in the car, but brought the rest of my purchases & the left-over Thai Basil Chicken inside.

Not sure how soon afterwards that I went to bed, but I awoke about 8:45 pm. I started wandering through the apartment. I see that I left the left over Thai Basil Chicken in the little white plastic box, on the table, not the refrigerator. And also on the table was the package of Andouille Sausage, unrefrigerated. I got the bag of peppers out of the refrigerator, grabbed an onion, and started chopping dividing it out by eye, some in the Andouille Lentil soup pot, and some in a small fry pan (for the left overs).

Just before I got home, I stopped at the Food Lion. I bought a bag of carrots (for the lentil soup), a few Gala apples (for fried apples), a sweet bell pepper, roasted cashews, and supposedly “Sweet Bites” tomatoes. I was surprised to see the Sweet Bites, because they haven’t been available for over a year (maybe longer). But see my concern, because although the “Sweet Bites” package has returned, the small tomatoes inside are not the same variety (or flavor) as previously sold under this name by Sunset Company.

ADDENDUM [ 08/12/22 ]: Boy! I just had another helping of the Andouille Lentil soup I made last night, and there is just one more helping left in the fridge. This soup turned out to be really good, and addictive. It is so spicy hot, and the Andouille sausage has enough distinctive flavor (although I still can’t judge whether it is spicy, hot, or not), and the Poblano peppers offer their distinctive, earthy flavor and the carrots provide a cooling effect. I like lentil soup and have made several versions of it in the past. But, they are not always winners. I remember adding Texas Pete hot sauce to it in the past. I think that I had forgotten which type of sausage to use, and Polska Kielbasa doesn’t work here. *So, I would add this version of Andouille Lentil soup to my three other favorites, Curried Apple, Tarragon Leek, or Avocado Chipotle soup.

I currently think that they would be ordered in this order, as to my favorite:

  1. Curried Apple (hot or cold)
  2. Andouille Lentil (hot liquid, and spicy hot)
  3. Tarragon Leek (hot or cold)
  4. Avocado Chipotle (hot)

Damned, I didn’t expect that!

bgibson135

I was in my local grocery store this afternoon [08/11/22] and I happened to see the “Sweet Bites” tomatoes by Sunset. I almost “jumped for joy” but quickly saw that the tomatoes inside the package were obviously (to me) different from the old type. The new “Sweet Bites” tomatoes are slightly larger and have sort of an oval (olive) shape. They have a good tomato flavor, but not quite as I remember the old Sweet Bites. However, this is the one time of the year that the old Sweet Bites failed to have their most delicious flavor,… so, I am hoping that this different type of small tomato will recover the good tomato flavor that the old tomatoes had.

Damn, I had sent several emails to the Sunset Company, and had gotten no reply as to why the Sweet Bites had been discontinued. I did get a couple of replies that said they were forwarding my email to company HQ. But no HQ reply.

Damn! I didn’t count on the old “Sweet Bites” clear plastic packaging to return to the shelves, but a different type of tomato being sold in the familiar package. A rose by any other name, eh? A different type of tomato, named “Sweet Bites” will still not be as good, or flavorful.

And the new type of tomato, in the old Sweet Bites package:

I think you can see the difference from the two sets of photos. The new tomatoes are slightly larger and have an oblong (olive) shape, while the old ones were smaller and rounder.

Only once, before they were discontinued, did I note any change in the tomato type. I bought a package of Sweet Bites and when I got them home, I noted that they had a slightly different shape. Each one had a small nipple on the side of the tomato opposite the stem end. They were not as flavorful. At least these new type of Sweet Bites, are close to the good tomato flavor. Not sure they are close enough to keep me buying them regularly, as I did the old Sweet Bites.

A Gift for You.

bgibson135
  • Dips, Dressings & Sauces
    • Avocado/Mango/Chipotle Salsa
      • Avocado. Chipotle, Mango, Pineapple, Vidalia Onion, & Lime Juice
      • The avocado breaks down over time to provide a cooling sauce for the chipotle, which is the surprise to this sweet almost dessert.
    • Basic Pizza Sauce (homemade)
      • This is a good, basic flavored pizza sauce, with a few ingredients & using tomato paste.
    • Catalina Dressing (homemade)
      • Ketchup, Avocado Oil (Grapeseed), Honey / Agave Nectar, Worcestershire Sauce, Red Wine Vinegar, Soy Sauce, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Smoked Paprika, S & P
      • I made this dressing from scratch and was very surprised at how good it both looked & tasted. It was as good as any “store bought” or restaurant version I have had. It is a beautiful reddish color.
    • Spinach Dip
      • Chopped Spinach, Cream Cheese, Sour Cream, Hidden Valley Ranch Dips Mix, Red Bell Pepper, Vidalia Onion, Diced Water Chestnuts
      • I found that this dip goes really well with wavy potato chips.
    • Thousand Island Dressing (homemade)
      • I made this to go on my homemade Pastrami Reuben (Rachel). This dressing “turns” the Sauerkraut on the sandwich.
    • Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing
    • Homemade Buttermilk
      • Add a little vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk. After a short while the milk will thicken and have a slightly tart taste. I used some of this to make a homemade Ranch dressing.
  • Soups
    • Andouille/Lentil (hot)
      • Andouille sausage, onion, Poblano, Habnero, other hot or mild peppers, lentils (brown, red, etc.) carrots, chicken broth, S&P
      • I actually put this on the list before realizing how good it was.
    • Avocado/Chipotle (hot)
      • Cubed/Shredded Chicken, Chicken Broth, Chipotle Peppers (could add chopped Cilantro)
      • Just three ingredients make this a simple, but elegant soup. Heat from the Chipotle, Cooling from the Avocado.
    • Curried Apple (cold/hot)
      • This soup is good either hot or cold. It is pureed, and you can even add cubed or shredded chicken to it for a non-vegetarian version. It is sweet, and the curry burns, but the heat does not stay as from peppers.
    • Tarragon/Pea (cold/hot)
      • Frozen Garden Peas, Leeks, Dry Tarragon
      • This soup is pureed, and is good either hot or cold.
  • Salads
    • Napa Cabbage, Ramen Noodles & Soy
      • Napa Cabbage, Ramen Noodles, Sliced Almonds, Soy Flavor, Vinegar
      • Using a flavor packet from a Soy Flavored Ramen Noodle Package
    • Cornbread Salad
      • I have never made this salad, and the ingredients & images have changed. Originally they used black beans and not black eyed peas. Now that I know how to make Buttermilk at home, I will be more likely to make this using Jiffy Cornbread Mix.
  • Sides
    • Tomato/Tomatillo Chutney
      • Tomato, Vidalia Onion, Tomatillo, Red Wine Vinegar, Sweetener (Agave Nectar, Equal, Sugar)
    • Glazed Carrots (Maple Flavor)
      • Using Sugar Free Maple Syrup to flavor the carrots.

Entrees

  • Clam & Pesto Pasta Shells
  • Pizza (homemade, ciabatta rolls)
    • Basic Pizza Sauce (homemade)
  • Pastrami Rachel (homemade)
    • Thousand Island Dressing (homemade)
  • Zucchini/Kielbasa/Shrimp
    • Zucchini, Kielbasa, Onion, Shrimp, Tomato, Pasta Shells, Cayenne (ground), Red Pepper Flakes, S&P

  • 1924 Bleu (cheese, Whole Foods)
  • Agave Nectar (sweetener)
  • Capricho de Cabra (cheese)
  • Hot Mustard (S&B)
    • This is the really hot mustard used on egg rolls. It is a dry mustard powder, to which you add water. You have to get the correct proportion of mustard powder & water.
  • Knorr Pesto Sauce Mix
    • Add this dry Pesto Mix to cooked pasta shells & add chopped clams.
  • Lamb (round bone chop)
  • Medium Ripe Green Olives (pitted, 365 Whole Foods)
  • Patak’s Hot Curry (wet curry paste)
  • Salsa Ranchera (Herdez)
    • This is the basic, Chipotle flavor for homemade salsas & for Mexican chicken or ground beef & peppers.
  • Spicy Pickles (Dills, Walmart)
    • These pickles are served best “iced cold”.
  • Toasted Sesame Oil
    • The toasted sesame oil provides the basic flavor for fried rice.
This one wasn’t that flavorful, as several previous ones.
Original Cornbread Salad
w/ Black Beans

[NOTE]: I made the Cornbread Salad some time ago, and surprise… it wasn’t that good, and not worth repeating in my mind. I’m not sure why because it has a bunch of ingredients that would seem to work well together. I just didn’t have that unique flavor punch. [end NOTE]

Zebulon, NC

bgibson135

Zebulon Community Park

Just past the Zebulon Community Center, I turned into the Community Park. There was a children’s play area in the woods. Then there were walking paths, and a couple of ball fields.

Wake County Public Library Zebulon Branch

One of the librarians was friendly enough. I told her that there were two places that revealed alot about a town: their library and their grocery stores. She added “their restaurants.” This led me to ask if “McLean’s” was a good place to eat. She said, in the past, she had eaten there regularly, and it was good for “country cooking”. My impression from her wording, was that she didn’t eat there much currently, but I don’t know if that meant she ate at other restaurants or that she cooked at home.

I sat in one of the blue chairs at the back, where the window are located. I think I pulled out my cellphone, but I don’t recall exactly what I searched for.

McLean’s Old Time Cafe

I was planning to eat about 4pm in Zebulon at McLean’s Cafe, but about 3:30 pm, I decided to go in and eat dinner. I think I saw the last few lunch diners leaving as I pulled into a parking space. This was an odd time to be eating, and it appeared that this was their daily “down” time. I did get seated however, way in the back and next to the salad bar.

There was nothing special about the salad bar. The best item, I think, was the raw strawberries. Everything else was “normal”. Didn’t enjoy either of their soups: Broccoli/Cheese and Vegetable. Lots of veggies in the soup, but I didn’t see or taste any meat, and it therefore was relatively flavorless.

Old Mercury Cougar Advertising Gimmick

I don’t know how many of these were made, but I know I have seen one like this in the past (many years ago).

I had visited Louisburg, NC in the morning, and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant while there. By the time I got to Zebulon, I was a little tired. I had taken a great number of photos in Louisburg, but took relatively few in Zebulon. Later I googled for the populations of both towns and Zebulon was almost twice the size in population.

I thought I had missed a lot in Zebulon, but when I got home, I used Google Maps, and see that I didn’t miss much. There was a shopping center, with Food Lion, Belk & Roses and several fast food restaurants on one side of Hwy. 64. On the other side of Hwy. 64 there was the Public Library.

I also looked at my Timeline route around Zebulon and see that I pretty much hit all the hot spots.

Louisburg, NC

bgibson135

After I finished lunch I went to the Franklin County Library and asked if I could donate some books & DVDs. I was told I could, and I brought in a small box with my donations. There were 3 books on introductory Italian. A couple of these had either CDs or DVDs with additional content. There was also a book about 501 “must see” movies. I also had several DVDs which included: 8 Andy Griffith episodes, Alfred Hitchcock episodes, “Once Upon a Time in the West”, “I Am Legend”, and an anthology of B Sci Fi movies.

I walked back into the library “stacks” (it’s a small library), taking a picture of my car, parked outside. I found a language section, in Non-Fiction, and was surprised at how many different languages they had on the shelves. They had at least 5 books on German, and I didn’t see any on Italian.

I did a quick pass through of the Vance Granville Community College campus in Louisburg. I loved the “Hire Education” phrase on their signage.

Mariah Parham Franklin Hospital in Lousiburg, NC.

Franklin County reports 1st monkeypox case (August 5th). Hope s/he didn’t sit on the commode at the Public Library or in my booth at El Perico.

The Chelsea Detective on AcornTV

bgibson135

“The Chelsea Detective” on AcornTV is one of those UK crime dramas perhaps in the same ilk as “Morse” or “Lewis”. Both of those shows did alot to introduce their audience to Oxford. This is where I first started using Google StreetView to get a feel for walking the streets and alleyways of Oxford, England and the different colleges & libraries of Oxford University. I don’t remember all of the colleges, but I know the Radcliff Camera and Brasenose, which is just off from Radcliff.

Then came “BOSCH” which followed the life & work of Harry Bosch, an L.A. detective. Early on, I realized that the filming of Bosch was very different from most other television programs. Most programs hide the actual names of streets and often rename familiar businesses or locations, but Bosch wasted no time on this. Street signs and most building names were not blurred out, so you could pause the video, and easily read a street sign in the current scene.

I came to know where the Hollywood Division of the L.A.P.D. was located. I found the location where Harry Bosch lived, which looked much better on camera and not from the StreetView. Restaurants, bars and surveillance locations were easily recognizable and locations that were near the HOLLYWOOD sign were easily referenced. And, I even found a restaurant, near a McDonald’s fast food restaurant, that had been turned into a bank, for an important “bank shootout” scene.

So, as I start to watch “the Chelsea Detective,” I realize that there are very recognizable locations acting as backgrounds for the characters. The “Albert” Bridge is very distinctive.

Finding the actual houseboat that the main character lives on, was easy to find, near the Battersea Bridge.

The black houseboat was used for filming.

So, I was on the Google StreetView working my way down the street past the moored houseboats and I came to a fork in the road.

It is here that I looked and saw a Wood’s truck caught by the StreetView cam.

This is what it looked like:

So I googled for “Woods Purveyors of the finest produce Chelsea location” and found the business web site. Woods Food Service which was located at 5 Riverside Way, Uxbridge, UB8 2YF (maybe the only location and not actually in Chelsea).

I took a look at the websites for the Beefeater Restaurant and the Premier Inn, all three businesses: restaurant, inn and food service huddled together.

Beefeater Uxbridge web site. The food choices appeared to be good and the prices not too expensive. But, now that I think of it, were the prices in dollars or pounds?

Premier Inn web site. Nothing extravagant, nor expensive. But those prices were in pounds, so £97.00 would be $117.97 US dollars. Heathrow Airport only 15 minutes away via A4020. Brunel University only six minutes away. Oxford University about 46 minutes further west from this West London location.

Brunel University web site. I enjoyed the virtual campus tour and visited quite a number of locations on campus. The whole campus appeared to be neat and clean and modern, such as the Eastern Gateway Auditorium.

More than likely, at my age (68), I will never visit London, Chelsea, Uxbridge or Oxford University. I will never set foot on a houseboat moored along a river in England. But, I do like living vicariously through the characters I see on TV and using Google StreetView to “walk or ride” on foot, by car or on a boat down the Thames.

NOTE: I have been studying German for almost two years now. Have used several online sites, most free, some for pay. I even spent a little extra to learn some German grammar, as most of the free sites do not have an organized means of teaching German grammar. I created “noun cards” which helped me learn over 750 German nouns and their assigned definite articles (der, die, das).

All definite articles on this card are neuter “das”.

Each noun card was a visual collage of images of nouns, but all of the nouns on one card had to have the same gender of the definite article. e.g. A card might have a picture of a cat, an oyster, a scale and several other nouns, all using the feminine definite article of “die”. Surprisingly, these cards helped me learn about 762 nouns, their assigned definite articles, and by the visual elements a remarkable memory for the definite articles. die Katze, die Auster, die Scala, die Zitrone, die Garnale, die Schubkarre, die Axt, etc. I visually see in my mind this card and the path I used to remember all the nouns on that card.

So, all the above has nothing to do with what I actually wanted to point to. Another learning tool I came to use was Google StreetView. I focused upon Berlin and StreetView would show icons representing motels, restaurants, museums and other categories of businesses. I focused mainly on restaurants and would visit their website, if they had one. I would look at the menus, and then Google for an interesting dish. Often I would find several beautiful photos online of the meal combinations for which I had googled. This helped me learn German words for various foods, and cooking items: der Spargel, der Topf, das Messer, die Gabel, Zutaten (ingredients), etc. And, I also might visit a grocer website, such as LIDL and learn how a food shopper in Germany might interact online. But, I also became familiar with the Spree River, some train stations (Bahnhofs), iconic elements such as the Molecule Man, and where the German Secret Service was located. *Interesting about that was a very tall smoke stack nearby. The new building is shown in various stages from StreetView. I even recognized this building recently while watching a current movie. The image in the movie was supposed to be of the Secret Service complex in Berlin, and I realized IT WAS.

Oh, nothing to do with the original topic, but I also turn on Closed Captioning when I am watching TV and have the captioning in Deutsche. I am not totally fluent, but I do see much progress in recognizing many German words as they appear in sentences on the TV screen. I am still weak on putting whole sentences together, correctly, or even in the correct word order for German… where does “bitte” go in a sentence?

I was reminded this morning that I had originally seen a picture of “A Young Girl Reading” on a wall in my Aunt Sis’ house (before they moved it down on the other side of Swansboro). I definitely had the “hots” for the young girl, and her nubile bod which should excite any pre-pubescent ‘straight’ male. My Aunt also had a picture of “Little Boy Blue” another iconic image (for which I had no sexual undercurrent):

[ NOTE 12/23/23 ]: I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but after the first episode of the second season of “the Chelsea Detective,” which I liked even with a different actress portraying his partner, I “fell out of love with this series.” I didn’t renew my subscription to Britbox, and although I see “the Chelsea Detective” stills, I have no desire to view any new content. **Not sure, but I have noted in several other shows, in this new age of Cable TV, that with fewer seasonal episodes, and the longer time between seasons, I have repeatedly lost interest in shows that had captured my attention. It is probably because the emotional attachment I have, dissipates because of the lack of repetition, during a season of fewer shows, and the long time before seeing new episodes, next season.

Two shows that have weathered the “new age problem” for me include the new season of “Fargo,” and “Reacher” and to a lesser degree, “Bosch: Legacy.” I’m enjoying the new season of Reacher. 

I read “The Crossing” a Bosch novel, and started “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” but quickly realized I had seen this story already on TV, so I stopped about 30 pages into that and picked up another novel. 

Actually, I had already seen the story of “the Crossing,” but enjoyed the written word over the acted word. On TV, Bosch and his half-brother, Haller, “the Lincoln Lawyer,” are NOT. Haller doesn’t appear in the TV episodes, but Honey Chandler becomes the lawyer character interacting with Harry. And, in my determination, this isn’t better. I also noted that the incarcerated Accused is white, on TV, but is black & a former gang member in the Book. The dynamics of the characters in the book are so much more intricate, and better.

I am now about 70 pages into “Two Kinds of Truth,” which I have already seen portrayed on TV, but I don’t recall the ending. So when I am reading of “Jose” and “Junior” having been shot and killed in their Pharmacy (farmacia familia – sp), I already have a mental image, from TV, and a vague hint of why & how they were killed.

Oh, and as I enjoyed Tom Selleck as the police chief of Paradise, he eventually grew too old, in real life, to be believable on the screen. And I see this in Bosch: Legacy. Honey Chandler is too old, and Harry is getting there also. And although I like Lintz and Chang (he has that special charisma through his character) they won’t carry the show.

Time Passes…

bgibson135

I don’t recall how many years after I came to Fayetteville to work, in August 1995 at Fayetteville State University, that the second Golden Corral location in Fayetteville was built on Ramsey Street. This Golden Corral location was a favorite of mine, often visiting at least twice a week. The staff were friendly and DeWayne was a good waiter for many years. After they closed this location, DeWayne and others were moved over to the newly built Golden Corral, located at the same location near the Mall.

Is that my Honda Civic?
DeWayne
Old GC Torn Down for New
Main GC Torn Down for New
Last Visit
Last Plate @ the Golden Corral Ramsey Street

A slide presentation and brief notes on a GC Ramsey Street visit in 2014.

The new Golden Corral was not necessarily better, or even as good as the old. The serpentine, undulating serving areas of the old locations provided a more friendly, less frenzied approach for customers to fill their plates. The new serving line was long, very long, almost spanning the entire length of the building and straight. The problem with this long straight line was that other customers were always “coming at you” from both sides and sometimes even behind you. Another negative aspect of the new Golden Corral was that the environment was incredibly “LOUD”. Sound bounced off the walls easily and became almost deafening. Oh, and there were certain sections of the restaurant where there was not enough room between the tables, on each side. Few want to have people and waiters/waitresses brushing against you to “get by” while you are eating.

Another negative was that DeWayne was never quite the same “happy” self in the new GC as he had been for years at the GC on Ramsey. I think the new was a more harried pace.

After Golden Corral moved out of this location, it was taken over by a Chinese restaurant. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant. Might have been “Supreme Buffet Hibachi”. I do recall before they actually opened, I was thinking that they didn’t need another Oriental restaurant in this area. I was a regular customer of the “Little China” restaurant which was just a few steps away, next to Ollies. But, the new buffet was good and I almost stopped going to Little China. Finally, when I did return to Little China, they had discontinued their buffet and I didn’t go back afterward.

After the Oriental restaurant left, “Fred Chaisson’s Grandsons Buffet” opened. I became a regular here also.

I include the two pictures below, because they look like the Ramsey Street location of Chaissons. The corrugated tin siding, and the neon pig on the red wall were familiar.

“Fred Chaisson’s Grandsons Buffet” on 3901 Ramsey Street fell prey to COVID. They closed when other restaurants were closing their buffets, and never opened again. And after a couple of years, I was riding by the other day and looked over to see that they had torn down most of the building. And by later that day, they finished the building demolish. Today as I rode past, it looks like they have cleaned up the rest of the parking area.

Not too long before I saw that they were demolishing the Ramsey Street location of Chaissons, I had heard/seen a report on WRAL about a shooting that had occurred at the Chaisson’s location in Hope Mills. The positive of this was that I didn’t know they had a Chaissons there, and I will probably visit at some point.

In writing the last paragraph, I was reminded of the Chaissons location which was down in Lumberton, NC. I’m not sure if there was a fire, but at some point the location stopped being a restaurant and fell into disrepair. The problem might have been the flooding in 2016 and not fire. *And, I correct myself. I just did a Google StreetView of the location down in Lumberton and see that it was a Fuller’s Restaurant and not a Chaissons.

The Agri Supply store is just about a mile, up the road, to the right of this picture, but on the left side of the road.

Fuller’s has the same “country cooking” type buffet as Chaissons. I know I visited the above location in Lumberton at least once before the fire. It has been a long time since I ate at Fullers in Fayetteville, on Eastern Blvd. Most times when I go past it, it appears to be closed.

Pasta Noodle

bgibson135

I bought this pasta at Publix. I was surprised by how quickly it seems to cook.

I fixed browned, ground beef, assorted peppers (hot & mild), onion, carrot and Salsa Ranchera and added some sweetener. Goes well with the noodles.

ADDENDUM [ 07/25/22 }: I’ve had a sweet ground beef with Salsa Ranchera sauce a couple of days in a row. I still had some ground beef to finish up (or freeze) so I opted for another ground beef and pasta (shells) dish again tonight. But, I was going to try and not add sweetener or Agave Nectar to this dish.

I decided to add some Green Olives (pitted), onion, tomato, peppers (one hot and one not), to some ground beef and pasta shells. Cumin, celery seeds, freshly ground pepper & salt, some marjoram & garlic powder and Grapeseed Oil.

This turned out really well. Not sweet, except for maybe the onion. Capers might have added to the saltiness of the olives. One of the peppers was relatively hot.

After having this dish with the Pastaribbons a couple of times, I think I like the pasta shells better. The reason being is that the Pastaribbons do not hang on the fork well with the other ingredients. And, it is difficult to get more than one ribbon on the fork at a time. I also like the whole, pitted olives better than halved olives. I think the olive flavor is more pronounced with the whole olive.

NOTE: I googled for recipes that included: ground beef, green olives, onion, hot peppers, tomato and cumin. The primary recipes that I found with these ingredients were for “Cuban Picadillo”. But, the Cuban Picadillo included potatoes or were served with rice, might include raisins, and may or may not have cilantro and may have included tomato paste.

I did not create my recipe by starting with the ingredients for Cuban Picadillo and that is why my recipe headed in a different direction but with most of the same ingredients. The key ingredient for my recipe started with the green pitted olives. I also eliminated sweetness (other than from the onion) for this recipe because I normally add Splenda and/or Agave Nectar, diced tomatoes and Salsa Ranchera sauce. The other dominate ingredient was assorted peppers, which I had purchased at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh last week. I used several peppers, not knowing if they were hot or not. I’m thinking that Poblano and Jalapenos should be the primary peppers, but not necessarily limiting the peppers to those two. Maybe a colorful sweet bell pepper. Not sure if a bit of Habanero might not work.

Although peppers have had my attention this week, I am still enjoying the pan fried, round bone lamb chops from Publix. I’ve had several meals with microwaved corn on the cob. Walmart has some good sweet corn. I’ve also enjoyed some tomatoes that I bought at a local farmers market, and some fried okra. Some of the okra I purchased at the State Farmers Market. They had just put out some okra, and I was the first to get at it.

I think the okra were from the vendor near the American flag.

I thought about bringing my red wagon, but didn’t. Yes, it was in the car. If I plan on getting a watermelon, I definitely would think about bringing the wagon. According to this flyer, it is okay to bring your own containers, including a “cart” for shopping.

A TIP: Here is a trick I use when shopping at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh. The retail section includes two (maybe three) long straight covered areas. During corn season, I normally will walk along from vendor to vendor, down one side of the shelter, and then come back on the other side. As I go from vendor to vendor, I taste the samples (not all vendors offer samples) of corn. I make a note of which corn is the sweetest and when I’ve made my first circuit, the second time is when I go directly to the vendor that had the sweetest corn and make my purchase.

A few years ago, pre-COVID, there was a farmer, named Farmer, who was selling sweet corn, on the cob. I seem to recall that he had an old white pickup truck with the truck bed full of ears of corn (unshucked). He did not offer samples, but he did have the sweetest corn. I think he would have sold more corn, or sold what he had more quickly if he had offered samples. Break a single ear of corn into four samples, or maybe cut it smaller. *The last time I saw the old white truck, the old Farmer (grandpa) wasn’t there, but had sent his grandson to sell the corn. This was probably three years ago, now.

I normally buy unshucked corn on the cob. I take it home and when ready to cook it in the microwave, I cut off both ends of an ear, but leave the shuck on the cob. On my microwave, I set the timer to 5 minutes for one or two ears. At the end of the cooking time, the corn has been steamed in it’s husk. It is hot, often too hot to hold for very long, but I start my kitchen sink, cold water, and put it on spray. I then put the hot corn under the cold water spray and shuck it, also pulling off the corn silk. The corn is able to be handled, and is still warm, and then is when I add butter/margarine to each ear, and some salt.

I’ve also used this trick if I can’t get unshucked corn on the cob. If they have already shucked the corn and maybe put it in plastic bags, go ahead and buy it if it is the “sweetest.” At home, you can take each ear of corn and wrap it a few times in a paper towel and then wet the paper towel around the corn. When you start to heat it in the microwave, the wet paper towel will hold the water in against the corn, and you will get the necessary “steaming” to cook the corn. Re-use the wet paper towels when possible.