Category: Books

Peter Ganine Gothic Sculpted Chess Set

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I’m currently reading the Dick Van Dyke biography, “My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir.”

I am enjoying it and am a little over a third of the way through at about 100+ pages. I’ve put the book in the little basket next to my toilet. That almost assures that I will read through it at a fairly fast pace since I read a few pages each time I go to the bathroom, and with my prostate, that is quite often during a day and night;-)

I’ve read several biographies/memoirs this past year since I started by reading the Matthew Perry memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.” Recall that I had come across this memoir in one of the “Little Lending Libraries” and took it to pollinate another lending library location.

Not sure why I came up with the idea to go from one “LLLs” to another, taking one or two books from one location and then leaving each of them at other locations. Sort of playing “a Book Bee.” And, I’ve picked up and taken quite a few books to different locations both in Fayetteville and to other cities, towns and even a different state. I think it was Bennettsville, South Carolina where I stopped by several “LLLs” both taking and leaving various books, some children’s and some adult books.

So, I came across the Matthew Perry book about the 25th of October, 2023. I saw his face through the glass, which filled the cover of his book, and thought that someone, not me, would like to read about one of the recognizable “Friends.”

Less than a week later, I was at home on my laptop and happened upon one of those memorial web sites that lists, both names & photos of, the famous people who have died during the current year. The end of October is usually a little early to be looking for one of these sites. I might see a program on TV at the end of December and then will go to one or more of these websites to get a more complete list of the deaths. I started to scroll down the list and the third photo down the page was the picture of Matthew Perry, the same one that appears on the cover of his memoir. I said to myself, “I didn’t know that he was dead,” and then I went elsewhere to find out when he had died. To my surprise, he had died a few days after I had gotten his memoir, on October 28, 2023. I then said to myself, “That’s hinkey. I guess I’ll have to read his book.” And a few days later I started reading it.

I think it was about the third page into the Matthew Perry book that he stated, “I should be dead by now.” I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually think that his death would be as soon, but he was being honest about how his life long drug addiction (“The Big Terrible Thing“) had created several drastic events from which he could have easily died. He even had to wear a colostomy bag, which collects human waste, for a while due to his addiction.

Perry’s mom and dad had divorced when he was still a child. His father was an actor and his mother, for a while, was the Press Secretary for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada. Later she would marry Keith Morrison, a very recognizable Canadian broadcast journalist, who Matthew Perry said treated him respectfully.

Perry never got control and although others may have provided him with the drugs that actually killed him, he obviously went looking for those drugs and was not innocent in his own death. I would classify his death as more of “an assisted suicide.” He made a lot of money from his part in the “Friends” franchise, and he spent a bunch of money on drugs. e.g. He once traveled by private jet from Europe to America and when he found that American doctors would not supply his drug needs, immediately returned by private jet to Europe.

I finished the Perry book and then I came across a memoir about John F. Kennedy, Jr. written by Robert T. Littell, his long time friend, called “The Men We Became, My Friendship with John F. Kennedy, Jr.” This was the first memoir that I absolutely enjoyed. There were both places and people mentioned in the memoir that I knew, or knew of. Kennedy, Jr. was married on one of the Georgia islands below St. Simons Island. An island only accessible via boat and not by bridge and auto. And, Christiane Amanpour, a journalist and television host for CNN, was a college roommate (several students, both men & women sharing a house) of JFK, Jr. for a couple of years.

It was probably while reading this memoir that I started googling for images of people, places and things mentioned in the book. This extra information deepened the reading experience and my understanding of the man.

I’ve attended several of the book sales sponsored by “Friends of the Cumberland County Library,” in the last couple of years. It was almost an afterthought at one of these sales that I walked along an isle that had various biographies.

Nothing much interested me until I saw the smiling face of Tim Russert on a book. I bought it.

Tim Russert was the moderator for “Meet the Press,” a long time, maybe “the longest running show,” on the air. A weekly political news show, that aired each Sunday morning, and provided interviews with various famous & not so famous politicians of the day. Russert was always well prepared and fair in his in-depth interviews. And he was a life long fan of the Buffalo Bills, and a faithful Catholic.

This memoir was more of a lauding of the life of Tim Russert by family, friends, fellow employees and acquaintences that Russert had worked with, loved and befriended throughout his years. He died on June 13, 2008 at the age of 58 years.

The next memoir I came across at an LLL in North Raleigh, well probably the outskirts of North Raleigh. I had stopped at the “Savory Spice Shop” located in the “Lafayette Village” which is a European-styled village in North Raleigh. It offers gourmet restaurants and upscale shopping. I decided to take an unfamiliar route and then detoured through an older upscale residential area. I’m not sure if I could find it again, but on that day I was driving through this neighborhood and had turned around to head back out the way I had entered. I noted an “LLL” off from one of the homes so I stopped and walked over to it. It was here that I found the memoir by Michelle Obama called “Becoming.” Another large smiling face prominently displayed on the cover of the book.

I really enjoyed reading this memoir! And more than the other biographies/memoirs that I had just read, I started googling for illustrations of people, places, things and events that had occurred in the life of Michelle & Barak Obama.

I recall that she likes smoked oysters. I must have known, but didn’t recall that she was a Harvard educated lawyer. And I listened to several speeches by her husband Barak Obama from which I came to respect him even more. He was the difference between night and day between an educated President of the United States, and a Presidential businessman. And Obama was “the day.”

I neither felt sorry for her nor envious of her good fortune because much of it was based upon her hard work, and being fortunate to have a loving and supportive family. And that she had a loving and supportive husband, and that she was a loving and supportive wife and mother. I like her.

And now I’ve come to be reading the memoir of Dick Van Dyke and am enjoying that also. Not quite as much as Michelle Obama’s, but Dick Van Dyke seems to be an honorable man. I seem to recall that he might have had a problem with alcohol, but I haven’t gotten to that part in his book yet.

I now realize that I had forgotten one other bio that I read, and now do not recall in which order I read it. I know it was after the Matthew Perry memoir (the first I read) and that’s about it. The biography I had forgotten was by Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, “Highest Duty, My Search for What Really Matters.“

He knew he wanted to fly from an early age.

His meticulous preparation, throughout his entire life led him to be the “right person at the right time” for landing a commercial jet filled with passengers safely on a river and not a runway.

The jet he landed on the river is now in a museum in Charlotte, North Carolina which is named after him, “The Sullenberger Aviation Museum.” I was planning a brief trip to Asheville in August and one of my thoughts had been to stop by this museum on the way to Asheville, but it happened to be closed on Mondays, and I went through Charlotte on Monday, August 19th. I only stayed a night in Asheville and then returned home on Tuesday, August 20th (2024). My last stop in Asheville before leaving, was to the New Morning Gallery in the Biltmore Village District. This is one of the areas that would be devastated by the 100 Years Flooding caused when Hurricane Helene passed through about five weeks later on September 24th – 27th. And I see that this gallery is still closed as of December 17th, 2024.

Perhaps I am not worthy of making the following comment, but my impression from reading his bio is that he hasn’t found “What Really Matters,” at least not yet. He has a wife and two daughters.

Now back to my current read, the Dick Van Dyke memoir, and why I named the title of this blog posting, “Peter Ganine Gothic Sculpted Chess Set.” I watched the Dick Van Dyke Show when I was a boy. I even recall a haunting episode in which (I think it was a dream sequence on the show.) there is a living room closet full of walnuts, and when the door was opened all the walnuts fell out onto the living room floor. I think there were aliens involved and missing thumbs. And I hope to re-watch this episode either later today or in the next couple of days. But that is the advantage I have of reading this memoir, and all the references to memorable people, places & events. I can google for more info, and I can even re-watch the episodes that Dick Van Dyke mentions in his book. I can google for photos of Maureen Stapleton and Jean Stapleton. I’ve watch the pilot episode of the show, and the two part episodes which included Jerry Van Dyke, Dick’s actual brother. *Jerry died a few years ago, but Dick is still alive as of a few days ago, an old man, but still with a sense of humor and a clear mind. I just heard him tell someone on a video that he was 12 years old in his mind, but 99 years old in real life. I even can re-watch some of his movies, “Mary Poppins,” or “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” or “Fritzwilli” (which I enjoyed watchin some years ago which includes Barbara Feldon (from “Get Smart” fame). *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was an Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame) children’s novel.

I just saw an online item that Dick Van Dyke was rescued by neighbors and good Samaritans from the recent Franklin Fire in Malibu where his current home is located. They also rescued his cat, Bobo. And Van Dyke celebrated his 99th Birthday on Friday, December 13th.

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But, in re-watching several episodes of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” my eyes immediately were drawn to a chess set displayed on a table in the set’s living room.

My favorite chess set was styled exactly like the one displayed in the show, and it is a “Peter Ganine Gothic Sculpted Chess Set.” I’m not sure if this set was first sold in 1957, but my set would have probably been sold & bought by me in the late 1960’s. I no longer have this set and I have played with quite a few other styles of sets through the years. Now I mostly play online, almost daily between myself and “the computer.” I win some I lose more.

The Ganine set was my favorite long ago, and I still favor it some, but in the last couple of years I have begun to favor a more minimalist style, both in metal, plastic and wood. About a year ago I even made a set and painted it from simple square blocks of wood. I glued some of them together, and pasted googly eyes on some and even used colored thumbtacks to represent the shields of the pawn warriors. The rooks include little colored flag thumbtacks as if a flag was flying from the castle turret (Turm).

Tubular Minimalist Chess Set
Isle of Lewis Chess Set

The “tubular minimalist” chess set to the left above is my current favorite, but I also like the “Isle of Lewis” chess set on the right. I’m not sure if I had a dream, or if I actually saw an example of a pregnant queen (chess set piece), but I have since thought that a pregnant queen is the ultimate ruler. Who could be more vicious that a pregnant queen seeking to not only protect her king, but her child and the kingdom? I even cut some PVC piping to make a minimalist tubular chess set and thought of adding a large marble as symbolic of a pregnant queen’s stomach.

I’m in the process of having read six biographies during the past twelve months, but I’ve also read 30 of the Michael Connelly detective novels in about the same amount of time. I’ve read all of the Harry Bosch novels and several of the John McAvoy (journalist/detective) novels.

I watched the six seasons of “BOSCH,” and since, three seasons of “Bosch Legacy,” and during that time I liked the Harry Bosch character played by actor, Titus Welliver. But, I found as I read more of the Connelly novels that I came to hate Harry Bosch as he was writtern. Beyond hate, I despised him. Why?

It started during the second published Bosch novel, “Black Ice.” I did not read these novels in the order they were published. Some I did, but there was some jumping around. In the second novel Harry becomes involved in a case in which another L.A. detective has apparently committed suicide. Blown most of his head off in a cheap L.A. motel.

The Interim Medical Examiner examines the remains of the dead detective and from a frontal portion of the skull realizes that the dead detective was hit in the head from behind, shortly before his head was blown off.

Harry and the Interim Medical Examiner are “friends with benefits,” and while together Harry is pumping her also for information about the autopsy she has recently performed. She resists telling Harry what she has found (that it was murder and not suicide), and tells him he can’t tell anyone her findings because it would jeopardize her becoming the permanent Medical Examiner, which is the position she wants. Harry assures her that he won’t share the information she give him and eventually she agrees and tells Harry her findings. A little later she asks Harry if she can shower and he agrees. No sooner has she walked into the bathroom and started to shower, than Harry picks up his phone and calls a journalist acquaintance and gives the journalist a “heads up” that he journalist should check more closely into whether the detective’s death was suicide or murder. Harry then gets dressed and heads off to Mexico on the trail of a murderer.

This betrayal of trust by Harry toward the Medical Examiner was the start of my disrespect and hatred toward the character of detective Harry Bosch. She hadn’t even gotten the Bosch stink off of her in the shower before he had betrayed his word to her.

The next Bosch novel, or perhaps the second to next novel I read was published about eight years after “Black Ice,” and was called “City of Bones.” It’s in this novel that Harry once again contacts the Medical Examiner (now permanent) because he needs her to verify whether a bone that was found on a hill, was a human bone. He contacts the examiner on a Saturday late and she has a scheduled date, so she tells Harry to come over, but… and when Harry knocks at her front door, she take the bone, shuts the door and leaves Harry outside. Shortly she returns and verifies to Harry that it is a human bone and it also belonged to a child.

Now Connelly steps in to make commentary about how shamefully she treated Harry. But, in my mind, and because of having just read about Harry’s earlier betrayal, I’m thinking that if Harry had betrayed my trust, I wouldn’t be helping him out by having him come over to my house at all. I would have told him, Harry you need to wait until Monday and get in line first thing. After all the child that the bone belonged to had been dead several years, not just recently murdered.

Caldo Gallego & Other Things…

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Caldo Gallego, South Florida Style is a recipe in the Nancie McDermott cookbook, “Southern Soups & Stews.” I bought this book at one of the Friends of the Cumberland County Library book sales for a dollar or maybe two. At some point, I put this book in the basket in my bathroom as reading material, and then forgot about it as it was pushed back behind several old issues of “Our State” Magazine. Today, I was pulling out the Our State Magazines and found that I had an old Bible beneath them. As I pulled out the Bible, I realized that I also had another book, and then I saw it was a cookbook.

I looked through the cookbook again and on many pages the name of the person who provided the soup recipe was also listed in the recipe’s title. So, when I came to the page with the heading, “Caldo Gallego, South Florida Style,” I mistakenly thought that the recipe’s author was a man named Caldo Gallego. It was only after making my version of this soup that I noted the title didn’t actually mention what kind of soup this was, so I googled for “Caldo Gallego,” and to my surprise Caldo Gallego isn’t a person, but a well known Galician stew and that “Caldo Gallego” actually means “Galician broth.”

The recipe in the book does allow for substitutions such as Andouille or Smokey Kielbasa for Chorizo, and even Spanish Chorizo for the Mexican version (they don’t mention that the regular Chorizo wasn’t from Mexico). I like the Spanish Chorizo with it’s dark reddish color caused by the massive amount of Smoked Paprika in it. The Spanish Chorizo that I have tried comes in a hard link form. The Mexican Chorizo is a fresh sausage and I don’t think it includes any Paprika, smoked or otherwise. I usually have some of the Hillshire Farms Beef Polska Kielbasa in my refrigerator (for my Zucchini/Shrimp/Kielbasa dish) so that is what I used for this soup. I also used cheap bacon.

I also substituted Cannellini beans for the listed Navy beans, more of a case of those beans being easier to find in my larder. Using the word “larder” is an inside joke just to me, because not too long ago I was watching an episode of “The Kitchen” and one of the chefs, Geoffrey Zakarian, used the word “larder” and then had to explain what it was to the rest of the chefs. I think there was some mention that the name larder probably came from the place being where you stored your “lard.”

As I often do, this reminds me of something else, the old smoke house that was located behind the house I grew up in. The house was located on the corner of Highway 24 and Queens Creek Road, and diagonally across from the old Swansboro High School (or at least the old high school that I attended and graduated from in 1972).

The old house, a two story was moved a short distance down Queens Creek Road, when Highway 24 was widened (1970s?). The current Swansboro Burger King is located on that corner now, and when I sit in a booth beside the drive thru, I am sitting about where the old smoke house was located.

The smoke house was small and tall, about the size of a large outhouse. The outside walls were covered with a sandy grained asphalt “tar paper,” and the inside was wood that had been seasoned with the smoke that had seasoned many country hams. It had a good smell, and the wood was dark, even though it might have been originally a light pine. The floor instead of dirt was covered by salt, which I guess had also covered the outside of those hams.

I never attended “a hog killing,” but there was a large black cast iron pot (a cauldron) that was probably used to cook down the fat or meat. It was beside the smokehouse, near it’s door. Actually, I don’t know what was put in the pot.

My version of Caldo Gallego turned out really well. I would definitely make it again. I waited until the soup was almost done before adding the large chunks of Russet potatoes. I don’t like my potatoes mushy and if you add them too soon that is what they become.

3 Bean Salad from Wegman’s.

I wanted to remind myself that I would like to bring a 3 bean (+) salad for Christmas to Mary Ann’s. I am supposing that I will go there at some point for Christmas dinner. Now that I know she likes the Peppadew peppers (red ones from Farm Fresh) and I think she mentioned the roasted garlic also, I have another idea. I might add a Black bean to this mix along with the peppadews and the Red Biquinho peppers. *As an aside, I didn’t connect the fresh Biquinho peppers I bought at the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh two years ago with the little pickled peppers that I get at the olive/pickle bar at Farm Fresh.

Fava beans from Walmart.

I’m not sure why I’ve included Fava beans in my list. I think I may have thought they were equivalent to the Edamame (young green soy bean) beans that go in the Quinoa salad that I originally got at Publix. The Fayetteville Publix no longer has their deli salad bar. Recall I also liked their Wakami salad (seaweed) but have since found the basic seaweed salad at Hex in Cary, and am able to “doctor it up” to make it just like Publix offered.

I just noticed at how much the two photos (fava beans, marcona almonds) look alike. They are not and would not be use to replace each other in ANY recipe… unless you go nuts.

Oh, I do eventually want to take a strong run at replicating the Dolce K Olive & Fruit Mix which is found on the Olive/Pickle Bar at Whole Foods. This has the blanched Marcona almonds which look a lot like peeled garlic, but are slightly crunchy and taste nothing like garlic. The olives take on the sweet vinegary flavor but I think it is the orange and lemon zest that flavors them interestingly.

There are cranberries, mustard seeds, orange & lemon zest, marcona almonds and olives (not sure which kind??) in a sweet vinegary liquid. The almonds are slightly crunchy, so they aren’t roasted beforehand.

Later Note: I have since made this Mediterranean Olive Mix (Dolce “K” Olive Mix) at home successfully. The white raisins I used rehydrated to almost their original size and some were almost the size of the olives I had used.

I zested my own orange rind successfully. Here is the zester I bought to try to make the zesting process faster.

Tilapia

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I spent about 11 months in rural Alabama in 1984. This was the time just after I had attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky but left after two and a half years. The S.I.F.A.T. farm was located between Lineville and Wedowee Alabama.

S.I.F.A.T. = Southern Institute for Appropriate Technology – or – Servants in Faith and Technology.

While there, we visited Auburn University which was about an hour south of us. I wasn’t interested, but they were just beginning to research growing Tilapia, a fast growing fish, in farms. I’m not sure when the first time was that I tasted Tilapia, but I think my impression was that it was rather tasteless. *The above link to S.I.F.A.T farm is actually a link to the videos I took back in 1984, when I was 30 years old. They were created with a VHS camera and later digitized and then posted to YouTube.

Now, forty years later, (and I am surprised by counting the number of years since I was down there) I am starting to buy, prepare and eat Tilapia at home. And, today I fixed a small fillet (about 3.5 ounces) which I had bought at Harris Teeter for only $1.8X. This had a slightly pinkish flesh which surprised me. I even asked the fish monger about this color and he said that the fish was “wild caught” and the color was probably due to what the fish had eaten. *The Tilapia fillets I have been buying at Fresh Market are much larger, and they have a distinctly whitish flesh. I took them to be much like the flesh of a flounder.

Today I fixed this filet by baking it in the oven at about 405 degrees for about 10 minutes. I first soaked the filet in some homemade buttermilk (regular milk with a little vinegar added) for about 10 minutes. While it was soaking I put some Panko bread crumbs in a shallow dish, added some grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, dried cilantro, marjoram, cayenne powder and S&P. I then put the soaked filet in the plate and flipped it adding some more of the flavored crumbs, patting them down so they would stick. At the last, I put a few tiny dollops of the Spicy Chili Crisp. I then put the filet on the wire rack that Mary Ann had given me some time ago and put it all in the heated oven. I set the timer for 10 minutes and went to play a game online.

It seemed like it took almost no time before I started hearing the timer’s beeper start. I got up and checked the filet. There was some slight browning on some of the bread crumbs. *Oh, I had also steamed about six or seven thin asparagus spears to have with the fish.

Oh my… it was so good! There are few things I have made, for the first time, that actually are so pleasantly surprising. I wanted to add the Spicy Chili Crisp to this fish and it turned out great. I can’t imagine adding fish to my regular diet, but this may be a game changer. And, because this fillet was so inexpensive, I’ll be returning to Harris Teeter. *I may fix some cabbage slaw and also some baked beans. I may have to leave off the baked beans for dietary reasons, but the slaw & beans are perfect for fish.

I just checked online and you can freeze fish that have been marinated in buttermilk. My thought is that I can buy three filets at HT for about $6, and freeze two of them after marinading them in buttermilk first. Doing this would mean that slipping fish into my meal rotation would be super easy. Hamburger, pork chop, lamb chop and chicken and now fish. I haven’t wanted to fry fish and baking it has worked twice already.

[NOTE 02/17/25]: It has been a while since I baked a tilapia at home, but I took a frozen, buttermilk marinated filet out of my freezer yesterday and thawed it. It still had good flavor, and I coated it in the flavored Panko/Parmesan coating with a few dollops of Hot Chili Crisp on top and baked it for about 10 minutes. Turned out good again. I had fixed some Asian Cucumber Salad and also did some Stir Fry Green Beans. It all worked together for a light meal. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 07/27/25]: A tilapia filet from Publix. I did the same breading as above, but baked at 450 because I couldn’t find the temp in my previous writing. This time I had corn on the cob and steamed cauliflower. I seasoned the cauliflower with Spicy Chili Crisp and some toasted sesame oil. Once again this was a delicious meal combination. I should fix it more often. [end NOTE]

I don’t want to forget to write about my trip to Asheboro, NC yesterday. I had breakfast at David’s again (second time) and their special was less than $6 before tax, but this also included your drink (coffee). This breakfast came with two pancakes (sugar free syrup) a couple of eggs (over medium) two small sausage links (I forgot to ask for patty.) and hash brown potatoes. Not sure how they can afford to make any profit while only charging less than $6 for this meal. *The David’s Breakfast Special(s) have gone up, but they are still delicious.

I went to the Asheboro Public Library afterwards and looked through a cookbook, taking pictures with my phone as I did. The Library was going under extreme renovation and even part of the inside was taped off limits. There was a tall crane but I didn’t see what they were lifting. It might have been heating/air equipment replacement.

I went to lunch about 2:00 pm and was looking to waste some time so that I could visit a nearby Ice Cream Creamery that opened at 3 pm. I guess they open the ice cream shop about the time school is letting out.

I first looked for a restaurant that served a Lamb Gyro (Mediterranean) but only found a food truck so I didn’t want to eat there. I then just decided to drive around town and stop somewhere that caught my eye. Eventually I came to a shopping area and saw a Chinese restaurant.

I really enjoyed my meal, a buffet, there. The food was reminiscent of several other Chinese places I had frequented through the years. I even had a banana, some jello and a chunk of cantaloupe. The cantaloupe was perfectly ripe and with a little salt so delicious. I had an egg roll and they had the hot mustard which almost blew my brain apart. Just the way I like it. I had some soup, egg drop mixed with the wonton soup and a few chopped spring onions. I had the chicken on a stick, and the jalapeno chicken, etc. I was so full after the buffet that I decided not to go for ice cream.

I am looking for the Hershey’s Raspberry ice cream like I had at the little ice cream parlour that is in the back of the Pharmacy in Newton Grove. They only charge $2 for a scoop of ice cream on a cone, but they discontinued the Raspberry which had little chocolate cups filled with raspberry gel. Not sure if the Hershey’s Company stopped making it, or if the shop just wanted another flavor. *I just found the name of this ice cream online: Roadrunner Raspberry – White chocolate ice cream with raspberry swirls and raspberry filled chocolate cups. **I finally bought a half gallon of the Roadrunner Raspberry ice cream from Publix. It was good, but I ate the whole thing in a few days. Not good.

IRONY: I just used the the online Hershey’s Ice Cream Store Locator to try and find the nearest grocery that carries the Hershey’s Roadrunner Raspberry ice cream, and ironically… it is the Kinlaws Grocery Store. The joke is that this store burned down a month or so ago. *It is 07/27/25 and the Kinlaws lot has been cleared, but nothing has been rebuilt yet.

I was looking for Hershey’s Ice Cream sources, but then just a day or so ago, I was googling and found that Publix carries a “Roadrunner Raspberry” flavor of ice cream, that’s not the Hershey’s brand, but their own brand. Today I was in Publix waiting for extremely fresh Sourdough Bread to cool and walking around the store and thought to look for the ice cream. Sure enough, there it was. The price is a little over $6 for the Half Gallon size container.

But, the problem isn’t the price, it’s the half gallon container of ice cream. It has been a long time since I bought any ice cream to bring home and put in my freezer, and currently, there isn’t enough space for a half gallon of ice cream. Still, I am probably going to buy this and either put some in small containers, that will fit, or throw some away. This is a splurge, and I don’t need the great amount of sugar, nor the calories. *It would be better if the ice cream shop in the Newton Grove Drug Store just brought back the Roadrunner Raspberry ice cream, and charged the $2 for a single scoop in a regular cone. That was a deal! But they discontinued it some time ago.

[06/25/25]: So I was in Publix this morning, and it’s promising to be a really hot day. Looks like we may have a week’s worth of days with the temperature reaching 100 or higher. I wasn’t planning on buying anything in Publix, but I just wanted to “touch base” with a familiar place for shopping. I looked at breads, rolls and muffins in their bakery. I took some pictures of a lot of their wines, thinking I would try to have Gemini (AI) give me an extensive inventory from the photos I had taken. There were no “round bone lamb chops.” And then I was closed enough to their Ice Cream aisle that I thought to see if their Roadrunner Raspberry had returned. It had. It was less than $7 for a half gallon and that was the only thing I bought, going through the self-checkout quickly and thinking that I had bought ice cream on one of the hottest days this year. I also was thinking that I didn’t have any room for a half gallon container in my freezer. I moved stuff around and it did fit, but the freezer is packed.

Harris Teeter “Roadrunner Raspberry” Ice Cream
Mini Chocolate Cup w/ Raspberry Jam Filling

I scooped out a small bowl of Roadrunner Raspberry and even took a picture of what it looked like in the container. You could see a couple of those mini sized chocolate cups in which is supposed to be raspberry jam. There were swirls of raspberry going through the vanilla ice cream. It was good. I missed it.

*I had a couple more egg rolls today. Bought them out and brought them back home and made my own hot mustard. I had them before I fixed my Tilapia.

If I could just flavor my eggplant fritters in a way that pleasantly surprises me like the Tilapia did today, oh boy. *As I was re-reading the previous sentence it came to me, why not flavor the eggplant fritters like I did the tilapia, except for the Spicy Chili Crisp… maybe even with the Spicy Chili Crisp.

I drove to Benson today and bought some thick cut pork chops (two 2 paks) and bacon (2 of the cheap bacon & 1 of the peppered bacon) at Lee’s Fresh Market. The chops were “on special” again, and were less than $2 per pound. When I came back to town I stopped at Harris Teeter and bought 3 small Tilapia fillets, took them home, marinated them in homemade butter milk (regular milk & vinegar mixed). I then packaged two of the fish fillets in sandwich bags and put them in the freezer. The third fillet I coated with the seasoned Panko crumbs and baked it at 405 degrees for about 15 minutes. I also put some of the Spicy Chili Crisp on the fillet. Once again the Tilapia fixed this way was delicious! For dinner I heated a portion of the thick cut pork chop that I had bought previously (not today) and I fixed a helping of mashed potatoes from a very small Russett potato. I put just a tad of the Spicy Chili Crisp on the mashed potatoes and it made them even better.

Eggplant? No eggplant at the IGA in Benson, or the Food Lion near the Mall. Harris Teeter had a few very large eggplants, but I didn’t need them that big. The eggplant was the only thing on my grocery list that I didn’t come home with. Recall I’m going to try and season an eggplant fritter like I did the Tilapia. I’ve never had good fortune in making eggplant at home. *I’ve had delicious eggplant at a few restaurants throughout the years, and go home with the intent of repeating those flavors at home… but no. I liked the texture of the eggplant fritter I made a few weeks ago, but they were a little heavy, and the flavor was okay, but not great. Also, what sauce am I going to put on them? I’ve put marinara sauce on fried eggplant before, and that would probably be good.

I actually could bring the seasoned Panko encrusted Tilapia into my meal rotation, and took those first steps today. Two in the freezer, and I know what to mix with the Panko: add some grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, dried cilantro, marjoram, thyme, cayenne powder and S&P and a little Spicy Chili Crisp.

I had ordered a VinChef wok today, and it arrived TODAY, before 10 pm! That is amazing to me but I am guessing that since we now have a working Amazon distribution center a few miles away that “Black Friday Specials” are already stored locally, and can be delivered that quickly. I had seen a YouTube video where a chef was cooking something in a very nice looking pan. This got me looking for the vendor that sold those pans. I noted that there was a hexagonal pattern in the bottom of the pan, and around the inside border was an ornate repeating flame pattern. This looked really elegant to me. I wanted a pan that I could put in the oven, and hopefully in the dishwasher.

Above: The new Amazon Distribution Center in Fayetteville, NC.

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Let me say that “out of the box” this wok looked great! It is a good look all around. It has a glass lid and the handle came unattached, but had an odd shaped wrench to finish the job of attaching the handle to the wok body. *I haven’t tried it yet, but have already placed another order for the same wok to use as a present for Chad and his bride to be. I checked and the “Black Friday” special price was still on so I pushed through Checkout quickly and it should arrive by Monday. I was planning on getting them an electric wok, but this may fit the bill, AND it was inexpensive. Only $43 and some change. *I have a book that gives ideas on how to do stir fry. I’ll need a couple of utensils and I still may try to get them a nice knife because having a good knife (the right tool) makes things so much easier. **It is amazing how my mom and me never had a large kitchen knife, or at least I don’t recall one that we ever used. Even on a large, tough ham bone, or some other tough cut of meat we would use a little kitchen knife. I have quite a few good knives from WÜSTHOF, but rarely use them except for the small tomato knife. I might not buy WÜSTHOF if I was starting out again. I might have preferred a different handle style.

  • Hot Mustard
  • Sesame Seeds (white)
  • Sesame Oil – Toasted
  • Soy Sauce – Kikoman
  • Spicy Chili Crisp
  • Stir Fry Vegetables – canned (Walmart)

I think it odd that both Hershey’s Ice Cream and Publix both have a version of “Roadrunner Raspberry” ice cream. But even stranger, is that there currently are two TV shows based upon a French detective series. One show is called “HIP” (High Intellectual Potential) on HULU, and the other is called “High Potential,” an ABC show. For both shows to be on at the same time, is amazing to me. Very many years ago, I was watching a Police show which had an ensemble cast. At some point, I realized that I had heard most if not all of the dialogue in the episode, but I had heard it from different actors in another Police show on a different network. That was strange and I found that the two shows had used the same script.

Still it’s not unheard of for a popular movie or TV show to be remade years later, with a more Hip cast. I watched an episode of “Elsbeth” and realized that it reminded me of “Columbo,” which I haven’t watched or re-watched in years. The current detective hounds the perps just like Peter Falk’s character did back then. And while watching “Will Trent” I realized that the ensemble cast in this show reminded me of “The Mentalist.” I still love the first 10 minutes of the first episode of “The Mentalist.” The classic line said by the main character to his fellow officers as they rush into the room, as he stands in the kitchen where the wife has just put four bullets in her husband’s chest (bright white shirt and all), “Honest, It’s not as bad as it looks.” And they cut to commercial, and I said to myself, “Now that’s great writing. I’m going to love this show.” And I did until, they killed Red John, and then later revealed, it wasn’t the “real” Red John. Once they did that I told myself that they could do that over and over and just keep the audience hanging on forever. But, not me. Several years later I did watch the last episode of the show.

For great writing, I recall the opening sequence in “Diagnosis Murder” the Dick Van Dyke series, where a man has fallen over dead in the aisle of a city bus. His body is blocking the other riders, and someone has bent over him and turns to the others and says, “This man’s dead,” to which one of the other impatient riders, a young male professional says, “So’s my career, but you don’t see it laying in the aisle blocking traffic.” I would love to see that sequence again, and I’ve looked, but haven’t found it yet.

And for something that I’ve looked for, but just can’t remember enough about the classic actors to track down the movie… It was a movie, probably from the 1960s. There is a Psychologist, or Psychiatrist, and he is having a group session with several women. One of the women arrives late to the group. They are sitting around in a circle. The woman starts explaining that her husband likes for her to hum “Show Tunes” while she is giving him head. But, she doesn’t state it as plainly, but the whole audience knows what she is talking about as she describes looking for the sheet music (either at the library or music store). And you, meaning me, sort of goes, “Wow, I don’t believe she just told us that.” *What classic male actor from the 1960s could play that kind of role. I think I’ve seen this movie at least twice, but it has been a long time ago. The doctor might have even been working at a Clinic or facility that had large grounds, and athletic activities, and inside the classic torture equipment that was once thought to help “crazy” people get better… shock therapy, ice baths, etc. And, it wasn’t “One Flew Over the Cuckcoo’s Nest.”

Maybe an actor like Cliff Robertson, or Warren Beatty, John Cassavetes, or Bradford Dillman, or maybe even Frank Sinatra. Maybe I should go for the actress, someone like Maureen Stapleton

An Eggplant Fritter with Marinara Sauce…

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I had a hankering (something less than a hankering) for some homemade spaghetti sauce and pasta. I happened to be in Wegman’s in Raleigh about a week ago and they had their own brand of spaghetti sauce starters for only about $1.19 a jar. I decided to try it, but currently I like RAO’s starter sauces, but they are about $9 a jar. RAOs is a glass jar and the Wegman’s jar was plastic. That doesn’t matter.

I found the flavor of the Wegman’s sauce to be like the $1 a can starters I had bought repeatedly through the years. Delmonte was one company that made these starters. At some point, one of the companies started canning their sauce in a smaller can. Like what happened to the single serving sizes of Yogurt. I think the single serving size of yogurt is currently about 3.5 ounces. But maybe 20 years ago the sizes were maybe 5.5 or 6 oz. plastic containers. Of course you can continue to sell your product at the same price, if you actually provide less product to the customer. As long as the customer doesn’t realize the portion size has been reduced, everybody is a happy camper. And, not too long ago, maybe a couple of years now, Food Lion started selling a smaller size of sweet bell pepper (yellows, oranges, reds) for $1.48. It’s been $1.48 for several years now, but if you paid attention, the produce is now considerably smaller in size. If you want to buy a sweet bell pepper that was the size it was, maybe 3 or 4 years ago, you wouldn’t pay $1.48 but probably over $2 per pepper. *Price fixing? Well a sweet bell pepper at Food Lion and Walmart costs the same, $1.48 and both veggies are sized about the same (the smaller version).

So I used half a jar of the Wegman’s sauce, and added about half a can of the Fire Roasted Tomatoes from Hunts. It’s here where I mention again that it is difficult to cook for one when you are making homemade spaghetti sauce, or several types of soups (especially vegetable). For the vegetable soup you open a 15 oz. can each of green beans, corn, garden peas, tomatoes, chop some carrots, dice an onion and brown some ground beef (I like ground beef rather than stew beef chunks in my vegetable-beef soup.) add some Chicken Broth & water, and several seasonings like garlic powder, ground pepper & salt. Maybe even throw in a little margarine or even bacon grease for more flavor. But adding all of those makes the final product enough for maybe six servings, and unless you freeze some of that, you end up throwing half of it away. And that’s even if your soup was especially delicious. *I have also tried only using half a can of each of the above veggies and freezing the rest all mixed together in a Rubbermaid container. Still the frozen veggies usually get lost over time and I open a new can of each item when I start to make another helping of soup.

And the thought just came to me. If in season, I chop up some okra and add them in. And I add some orzo.

For the homemade spaghetti sauce I brown some ground beef, chop up some onion (regular not sweet, because… “any onion is sweet once it hits the heat.”) and add a can of Hunt’s Fire Roasted Tomatoes and some Chicken Broth. Garlic powder, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, sweetener (maybe Agave Nectar), and fennel seeds (licorice flavor as in Italian Sausage). If I am in the mood, I may add a small can of mushroom bits. *Chicken Broth? I’ve found (as has been mentioned on Americas Test Kitchen) that even if the recipe calls for a beef product, Chicken Broth provides a more rounded flavor than Beef Broth. **I have in the past (maybe only once) tried using three different meats: ground beef, Italian sausage and pork sausage (or ground lamb). I couldn’t tell enough difference to justify the extra cost of three meats, so ground beef is my usual.

Instead of using Angel Hair pasta, as I normally do, this time I bought a good sized eggplant and shredded it. Salted it and then squeezed out the moisture. Sauteed the shredded eggplant, let it cool and then mixed the eggplant with flour (Bisquick), an egg, and some spices like thyme, savory, garlic powder, etc. I normally do not like to fry anything in a large amount of oil, but I had some long-time unused Canola oil and I poured about a quarter inch of oil, heated it up in a frying pan and after it was hot put several large patties of the eggplant mixture in to cook. They browned fairly quickly, and I turned them over and viola. This turned out pretty well. The eggplant fritters had enough flavor to be pleasantly delicious with the homemade spaghetti sauce. *Through the years I’ve repeatedly failed at fixing delicious fried eggplant at home. But shredding it, and making a fritter worked.

I use the Hunt’s Fire Roasted Tomatoes when I am making homemade salsa also. I put a can of the tomatoes in my chopper, add some onion and sweet bell & jalapeno & pablano peppers (sometimes roasting them first for more flavor). If I have more exotic peppers such as a Biquinho, Brazillian Starfish, or Trinidad Perfume they will go in also. *I tried these three peppers a couple of years ago and added them to my seafood chowder and they were great. But, this past season I couldn’t get some of them at the State Farmer’s Market in Raleigh. Maybe next year. **I asked repeatedly about these.

A “kick” I am currently on is the Spicy Chili Crisp that I originally bought for my stir fry concoctions. I buy this from Walmart locally: Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp Hot Chili Oil (also available at Amazon.com) It only costs about $4 for a small jar. It is crunchy but adds a bunch of flavor to a stir fry.

I hadn’t made a stir fry in a while but added some of this oil mixture to my latest. And, while I was eating the stir fry, which turned out really well, I noticed a few peanuts in the mix. I wondered where they came from because I knew I didn’t add them. I even questioned if they weren’t peanuts but maybe the peas from the Sugar Snap peas I had also added. Eventually, I found these peanuts had come from the Spicy Chili Crisp, and a little of that is addictive. I’ve even added some to some Dukes Mayo and put it on a pastrami sandwich, with a slice of sweet onion, and it worked! It was different, delicious and a keeper.

A note. I finished off a previous version of the Spicy Chili Crisp, but had already bought some more. I noticed that the flavor between the two was different. Still enjoyable, but different, so maybe the peppers they use, or how long they cook the mix causes some flavor variations.

[NOTE 11/10/24]: Tried a few different flavors together for breakfast this morning: 1 egg in microwave, seasoned with some of the Spicy Chili Crisp, some chopped onion & sweet bell pepper and some shredded Mexican blend cheese. A couple of slices of polenta, heated in the microwave. Half of a small avocado. Three slices of bacon. [end NOTE]

The Cat’s Meow

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This is a doctored image of a book cover that I saw in Michael’s (I think that is the hobby shop.). There was no color on the front cover, just black & white, and the ink was raised. You could feel it to the touch. On the back was the same image, but the ink […]

Audien Return & Replacment

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I got online on the Cumberland County (NC) Public Library website and found that I could upload a document for printing, then go and print it at the Library. I had a shipping label for my return to Audien but I didn’t have my printer hooked up at home.

I went to the Main Library on Maiden Lane.

I just noted that the next “Friends of the Library” Book Sale is on November 22, 2024 (a little over a month from now). The book sale is held on the lower level of the Main Library. There is a large adult section and also a separate children’s section. I have bought quite a few cheap books. Some I’ve read, but I’ve also given them to various Little Lending Libraries (from South Carolina and all the way to Raleigh, and points in between). *I was just reminded that I bought a hardcover copy of Michael Connelly’s “The Poet.” This story was the introduction of the Jack McAvoy character. I purchased a couple of novels at “New To You” in Lillington, NC.

Usually when I am passing through Lillington, I will stop at their new Library. It is very nice! They have a small section for books that they are selling. Prices are from a donation up to about $2. This facility also has a nice bathroom, and I’ve also read in the upstairs adult area where they have comfortable, cubby holes.

The Google Street View above is where the new Harnett County Library building now exists.

I bought a 6×10 shipping envelope at the Post Office over on Oakridge Ave. on Friday.

I see according to the Tracking site that my Audien Hearing Aid replacement is now in Butner, NC. It is being returned with UPS. *My hearing aid replacements have been listed in Butner for at least a couple of days. I thought I might get them by Wednesday, but the arrival date is still showing Friday, October 25th. I have no idea why it is taking so long to travel the hour and a half from Butner to Fayetteville. Looks like the delivery service may be switching from UPS to USPS. What? Can’t they work together more efficiently?

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this elsewhere, but the Audien 2 Pro hearing aids that I had and just returned because one stopped working completely, have only been really effective while watching TV. These hearing aids have 4 modes and one of those (#3) is for TV. It works pretty well and I can reduce the TV volume noticeably, but the other three modes are pretty ineffective. One mode is supposed to be for being in a restaurant setting, one for having discussion with someone, and the other for outside. The outside mode is pretty much like turning the whole thing off. I was hoping that one of the modes would work well for responding to those persons handling the checkout counter/register say at the grocery store or WalMart, but I didn’t find the hearing aids useful for those situations. *I need to go online and see what feedback there is. I’m guessing I’m not the only one, or maybe I’ll find some hacks or ways to make these aids successful in those situations.

**Well, I am finding it very difficult to find any customer reviews from sources other than on the Audien web site. I find that unusual. I want to read some reviews from customers who aren’t posting to the Audien site. I will now try Facebook, although I rarely go to Facebook directly.

NIXE by LIDL – Smoked Oysters

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[NOTE]: I hadn’t thought to mention this, mainly because I don’t think anyone else besides myself is actually reading what I write here but, the reason why I’m not illustrating my postings with images is that I’ve run out of free space on WordPress, and I haven’t chosen to buy more storage space. That is unfortunate because I like to take a lot of pictures with my phone so that I can illustrate what I write about. And, I like to write first to visualize my point, and then check the photo(s) to see if the image matches up with what I’ve written. *As a temporary solution, I’ve started linking to my images on Amazon.

This reminded me that as much as I would like to think that I’ve never been wrong in my memory, I have had many examples brought to the fore that were irrefutable. I don’t always remember or perceive things as they are. **In high school, for my Senior picture I had an outfit that I had put together. It may have started because I had bought a pair of Converse Blue Suede tennis shoes. I paired these shoes with white “Mess” pants (the Navy bell bottoms with button fly), a red terry cloth short sleeved shirt (with a few narrow white accents around the sleeves) and Red, White & Blue suspenders on which I had glued a small white star on the front of each suspender. Oh yeah, I think I also had red socks. I astill have a black & white picture of this outfit where I am sitting on a table top, with the female version of me. I was “Most Studious,” although I would have preferred to be “Wittiest.” But the point is that for years I remembered my blue suede tennis shoes as having a white star on the side of each. I did look online at some point and see that these Converse Blue Suede tennis shoes did have white stars (on some), but the pair I had only had white stripes. And, this was one example of where I had remembered something incorrectly. Not a big thing, but important to the overall image of my past. [end NOTE]

Fancy Whole Smoked Oysters (front) (back)

I noticed these smoked oysters on a shelf in Lidl. They were only $1.29 a can, and although I had never tried this brand, that was a good price if they were any good. And, when I tried them, “they were good.” Good flavor and there were fewer of them in the can, but that was because they were slightly larger than those in the other brands I’ve tried. I see they are 140 calories for the whole 3 oz. can.

When I think of smoked oysters, I usually think of making hummus at home. I like the flavor of hummus made with garbanzo beans, whole cumin seeds, lime juice and some avocado oil (olive will do). A little water if needed to make it a little smoother. The problem with hummus is that it is high calorie.

I think the only other meat that I like with my hummus is the hard salami, like the Wegman’s Black Pepper Sopressata Salami. *Wegman’s no longer sells the pepper salami. I like olives with my hummus: Castelvetrano or the Ripe Green Olives that come in a can at Whole Foods.

I like to make an “Almost Vegetarian” Meal out of my hummus. I’ve mentioned salami and the smoked oysters above, but the rest of things that I pare with my hummus include: sweet onion, carrot, tomato and sweet (colorful) bell pepper and I might even want to add a few pickles (either Ranch Dill spears or the Sweet Bread & Butter Chips).

I don’t recall the exact results, but I think my hummus meal affects both my blood sugar level and my weight. I could probably eat less hummus, with all the other good stuff.

Oh yeah, making hummus is relatively inexpensive. A can of garbanzo (chickpeas) beans, a little lime juice, some oil and a few cumin seeds (you could also use ground cumin). Looks like a 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans cost anywhere from $.85 to $1.69. I could make two or three helpings of hummus from the one can.

This is where I could type about the Braun Kitchen Multi-Tool (stick blender, chopper, wisk) that I have. For several years I had the smaller version of this tool and it just wasn’t powerful enough to blend a whole can of garbanzo beans into hummus. I had to blend half a can at a time. Finally I bought the larger version and now can easily blend a whole can of beans at a time. *This chopper also works great for making salsa and guacamole.

And as I’ve written previously, I would suggest buying this kitchen multi-tool for a “growing boy” going off to college. It does so much without having to cook anything, although if you can roast some poblanos or jalapenos to go in your salsa and guacamole that adds greatly to their flavor. But, filling a growing boy, cheaply can be done with this. Veggies to go with homemade hummus. Chips for all the salsa or guac he makes. And he could become the hub of his dorm with others supplying the veggies or the chips and he making the hummus and/or salsa. Now that I think about it, making guacamole is relatively cheap if you can get medium avocados at WalMart for about a dollar.

[NOTE 10/19/24]: I was in an IGA yesterday and was passing by the chicken section when I saw a container of chicken gizzards. I stopped and picked them up, and noticed that they were quite large and fresh looking. I bought them.

So good that I went back for more.

Later at home, I googled for how to season chicken gizzards. This isn’t the first time I’ve fixed chicken gizzards, and I have enjoyed them in the past. I know that they need to be cooked a long time in order to tenderize them sufficiently to eat. And normally, I would cook them with rice, but I always end up with too much rice, and I don’t need the extra starch to mess with my blood sugar. *I happened upon a cooking web site and the authoress focused on how to make “dirty” rice, a New Orleans staple. I love the flavor of dirty rice, but I haven’t had it in several years. For some reason I am reminded that I had dirty rice at Clark’s Inn and Restaurant in Santee, South Carolina. I even stayed once for a night at Clark’s Inn, but have eaten at the restaurant a few more times.

I think the food is overpriced, but you are paying for ambiance. I do recall having an experience there in which I thought my waitress was incredibly rude. Rude, how? Well, I was looking at the menu, and holding it in both my hands. The waitress came to the table and put my drink down in front of me. But, when I say in front of me, she reached inside my arms to place the drink between me and the menu I was reading. It’s one of those things where, when it happens, I am immediately flabbergasted. And then as she walks away, I am left to ruminate upon the experience and ask myself if she intended to be purposefully rude. She wasn’t a young waitress, older, and she didn’t seem inexperienced, but I definitely thought “rude.” So rude, that I still, to this day, and this day is maybe 10 years later, think of her rudeness.

Interestingly, to me at least, I’ve come to Santee, SC from at least three directions and one of them from Columbia, SC, the State Capital. And several years ago, I enjoyed a visit to the South Carolina State Museum when they were hosting the Titanic Exhibition.

**Santee is not too far from the smaller town of Bowman, and the first time I passed through Bowman, I must have been on Hwy. 178. I was passing an intersection and looked to my right and to my surprise I thought I saw a shiny flying saucer. I was so sure that I had, that I drove about another block and turned right to come back around, and after the third right, I was now passing a shiny UFO, the Bowman UFO Welcome Center. I admire people who think “outside the box” and even if they are considered crazy or eccentric, hats off. I’ve been back to Bowman at least once and the UFO hasn’t worn well, and I see from Google Street View that it may be in even worse condition in the present day.

As I was looking over this page again I noted that the UFO was missing in the Google Street View. Sure enough, it is gone. I just read online that it was destroyed by fire in 2024. The owner was 73 then, and may or may not rebuild the UFO. *It was a fun thought.

I put some bacon grease in a pot and then the chicken gizzards. I had some celery (normally I don’t have any on hand) and chopped up a stalk for seasoning, and added some chicken stock also. Garlic powder, savory, ground long pepper, and later some chopped onion. I didn’t add rice directly to the pot, but had a small amount left over from breakfast. I later mixed the rice and cooked gizzards just before eating.

Let me say this, “Those gizzards were delicious!” And, I just had some more of those gizzards for dinner tonight, and “they were still delicious.” But, instead of fixing some more rice, I had a small white potato that I diced, boiled and then mashed into mashed potatoes. I added some margarine, sour cream and garlic powder to these. I reheated some of the gizzards and there was a little a gravy produced. I used just a little of this on the mashed potatoes. The gizzards were once again delicious, with the mashed potatoes. And later when I noticed that there was still some gravy in the small plate on the stove, I reheated an end piece of rye bread in the microwave. And the warm rye bread was excellent for sopping the gizzard gravy… D E L I C I O U S again!

As I was moving items around in the fridge, I found the container of seafood chowder that I had made recently. This chowder has bay scallops (which look like little mini marshmallows), chopped clams, shrimp and some cod fish. I only added one small Campari tomato, diced, and some celery chopped. I didn’t add any Half-n-Half or Cream of Celery soup as I often have in the past. I wanted to keep this chowder a little lighter. I think I also chopped some red jalapeno pepper, and added some powdered cayenne to the mix. This chowder turned out well also.

These had been reduced to $1.39 per pound and so I bought 4 chops for about $5 total.

And today I drove up to Lillington, to the Harnett County Library and bought a couple of books. I then went back into town and looked around the used stuff store. Then on to Campbell University and drove a residential section that I hadn’t gone through before (I think.). Then on to Lee’s Fresh Market. It was after 1 pm and there were many customers inside so I went around directly to the Pork section and bought a couple of thick cut pork chops. They were only $1.99 a pound (A few weeks ago they were less, $1.79 a pound.) and I fixed one for lunch after I got back home. A late lunch. They are so big that I only need about 1/3 of the cooked meat per meal, so I have enough for two more meals. They were very good once again. ***My current political comment, which I made to the check out woman, was that when I hear the ads on TV that say we have such a bad economy, I say, “Well, I know where I can buy pork chops for $1.99 a pound, and I bought some a few weeks ago for $1.79.” I also bought a package of their Pepper Bacon. The flavor of the last I bought there wasn’t completely pleasing, so I started cooking some regular bacon.

[end NOTE]

[NOTE 10/22/24]: And finally, I finished the chicken livers tonight for dinner, with another small mashed potato. If I could fix chicken livers as good as I did this mess, I would mess every week. The flavor was so good that I would actually say they were as good as any that Mary Ann has fixed, and that is a great compliment, both to me and to her.

I drove to Goldsboro today for lunch at LongHorn Restaurant. On the way, I made a detour to Nature’s Way Farm, Inc. which is listed as being in Faison, NC. I had already been there online using Google Street View, which definitely gives a feel for how things are laid out. I gave them a donation check to use as they saw fit. They have said that they make a weekly delivery to the NC Food Bank and that some of that would probably go to the Asheville area for Hurricane Helene Relief. Maybe they could use it for gas to make their delivery.

I cut a couple of slices of sweet onion and added 4 or 5 small slices of sweet Bread & Butter pickles to add to my lunch. I ordered their cheeseburger with a side of Shrimp & Lobster Chowder. My sweet onion was much better than the tough slice of onion that came on their burger, and I didn’t even try the slices of dill pickle that they provided. I cut the appetizer bread in half (I normally eat the whole thing at lunch, but leave off the burger bun that comes with the meal. I brought the half of loaf of bread home with me and ate just a little for dinner with some margarine.

Oh, forgot to mention that before I left Fayetteville this morning I went over and “early voted.” There was no one in front of me in line and I breezed through the process in just a few minutes. I think I voted for 3 Republican candidates and the rest except for maybe one Libertarian were Democrats. I don’t necessarily agree with Democratic philosophy, but until Republicans get some sense and get rid of this overpowering Trump mentality, I’ll continue to disrespect them as much as they are disrespecting our Country. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 10/23/24]: I told you I voted yesterday, and I had heard on TV that several people had reported getting unsolicited emails regarding the validity of their vote shortly after they voted. This got me to thinking so I checked the voting history web site later yesterday and it already had recorded that I early voted on that same day. I think that’s pretty neat, but I tried to check on a few other persons to see if they had already voted and couldn’t find them. But, I actually have to enter my first name as “Billie” which is my name on my birth certificate. I did see Jim Sharpe’s record but noted that his history has been disabled. I guess that is what happens once they know you are dead. *I wonder what logic Jim would have for voting for Donald Trump, if he were still alive. I’m pretty sure the logic would involve voting for the candidate that would provide the most support for the policies and beliefs that I hold dear, but the problem I have is that I don’t want a man in office that might bring America down while nixing Roe v. Wade. I don’t need Donald Trump telling me that I can’t trust our Electoral System (he still says he was cheated, and I heard him on TV just about a week ago saying it again) when it has been repeatedly proven that significant cheating didn’t occur last time. Donald is just a sorry assed, poor loser and I wouldn’t go to him to provide me with “the news and truth.” How gullible can people be to trust this guy over the long established news system? I’m not saying they don’t color their news in various ways, but if you listen to enough, different news sources you can begin to think for yourself and determine what the probable truth is.

When the Trump ads are telling me how bad our economy is, I just “look out the window to see if it is actually raining.” What do I mean? Well I don’t see the signs of a bad economy. I see two new WAWAs opening recently in Wilson, NC. I see a new SHEETZ open where I40 and Hwy. 24 cross and I bought gas for under $3 there. And I’ve been paying less that $3 a gallon for gas for over two months. *Not saying it won’t go up after the Election, because it usually does. I heard on TV about three weeks ago that the Rooms to Go Super Center (located on I95 above Dunn) was planning to expand their facility next year. And, I have bought thick cut, bone in pork chops at a local (Benson, NC) butcher for under $2 a pound twice in the last month, and these chops were delicious. Having said all of the above I question how bad the Economy currently is. All these businesses aren’t acting as if it is a bad Economy, or as if the Economy is going to worsen. Stick your head out and see for yourself. It’s a damned good time to be living in America and not the “gloom and doom” vision that Donald Trump is dishing out in an attempt to defeat Harris [end NOTE]

I see that I have a tendency to say or write “chicken livers” when I am actually thinking, “chicken gizzards.” I like livers & gizzards, but currently love the flavor of the gizzards.

Seared Scallops with Green Peas, Mint and Shallots

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I was looking online for things to serve with polenta and found the following:

Wondering What to Serve with Polenta? Here Are 27 Ideas, from Hearty to Healthy on the Pure Wow web site. As I scrolled down the page, I came to Idea #9 Seared Scallops with Green Peas, Mint and Shallots. The photo for this dish immediately captured my eye. This recipe was originally in Amanda Frederickson‘s cookbook, “Simple Beautiful Food.” The scallops had that beautiful brown crust, the peas were vibrant green and what’s that, “bacon?” “Yes, bacon, although the shallots are a little hard to see. And, I see no polenta anywhere in sight, but I can imagine adding a little dollop (okay, a little more than a dollop) of polenta or a couple of polenta waffles to soak up all those other flavors.

I looked at several images of dishes that were made from her book, and I decided to order the book from Amazon. I’ll try to turn the pages gingerly so I do not damage them, and this will become a gift at some point. The book was 240 pp. at about $18. *I did see that one reviewer of her book found reading some of it difficult because of the choice of text color on the pages’ background color. I’ve found that problem on some packaging too, and I don’t like really small text either.

I’m getting to an age where “this old dog ain’t gonna be learning too many new tricks,” and those few people that I know, who love food and cooking, are now older also and another cookbook isn’t as special a gift as in years earlier. But, the images of the food were captivating. I could actually prepare this scallops & peas dish. *In fact, I made some delicious peas & pastry with country ham recently and it was very pleasing. Now I know a photo of my peas, ham & pastry would not appear as beautiful as Amanda Frederickson’s photos, but my food was good. And, my pastry wasn’t hand made at home either.

Why was I looking for things to serve with polenta? Simple. I cut a few rounds of already prepared polenta, sometimes for breakfast with an egg, and sometimes for adding to green beans, bacon and potatoes. The polenta reminds me of when my Aunt Sis would add some cornmeal dumplings to her green beans. I’m not sure if she was adding them as filler or just as an interesting aside.

I made some homemade Pizza Sauce (about six simple ingredients and it tastes like Pizza Inn’s) for my Ciabatta Roll Pizzas and had some left over in a small jar in the refrigerator. So as I’m fixing a breakfast of scrambled egg, pepper bacon and some halved yellow grape tomatoes, I think to add a couple of slices of polenta. And then the thought comes to me to add some of the pizza sauce as a topping for the polenta. It was good, but it still needed something else. I’m thinking of trying fresh basil, and/or shredded cheese, and/or even a few slices of pepperoni. But, adding the pepperoni would begin to overpower the pepper bacon. But that’s why I was looking for things to go with polenta. Some extra flavors for my polenta at breakfast. *The idea for adding the pizza sauce to my polenta rounds was my own. I came upon the above “pizza rounds” afterwards.

Those Creamy White Beans look pretty good too! Cannellini beans, spinach, rosemary and chilies… hmmm?

I had made some cabbage (with a little chopped onion) slaw, with mayo, half-n-half and sweetener and put it in the refrigerator before I went out shopping this morning. I still had one of those tiny Tupperware containers with the remaining guacamole from yesterday in the fridge also.

I started some lentil soup on the stove top. I first added andouille sausage to the pot after stripping the sausage casing from it. I added a small amount of olive oil. I had about a half of a small onion which I diced finely and added to the pot with some chicken & beef broth and some brown and red lentils. I then diced one carrot, and several types of mild peppers and one small jalapeno pepper minus the seeds. The spice which I think is cumin I added it with some other spices, and a little more water. After this I let it all cook for a while and then I added a little orzo. I noticed that I had some steamed cabbage that had cooled and I tried a little cabbage with the lentil soup. It tasted good. Eventually I added the left-over steamed cabbage to the bowl of lentil soup. These two combined very well. It probably would go well even if I just added the cabbage to the soup and let it cook together. *The cold cabbage slaw went well with the spicy andouille & lentil soup, and I added a few of the white corn chips (Mission) and this just brought it all together.

I can make really good andouille & lentil soup, and I can make the same thing that doesn’t work. It’s the spices I add, but I can’t always remember what I put in the last good batch of soup. I had planned to put in some frozen chopped spinach, but just didn’t want to wait to unfreeze it, and it definitely didn’t need it to taste really good.

[NOTE 09/15/24]: Well, I just finished eating my scallops with green peas, shallots, bacon, and mint. And, I also added a dollop of polenta, which was the cause of my original online search. I was searching for things that go with polenta. I think this meal was better with the polenta than it would not have been. The photo is more appealing than the flavors in the meal, but the flavors are pleasant. After all, I like scallops, and bacon, and shallots, and garden peas and polenta.

I bought a mint plant at Publix instead of buying already pulled mint leaves in a pouch. I don’t think I had 1/4 cup of mint leaves, but perhaps half that. I’m thinking that I would like to see if tarragon instead of mint would fit my palate better. *I have been making Tarragon & Split Pea Soup for several years, but haven’t made it recently mainly because that soup and my Curried Apple Soup both affect my blood sugar levels negatively. But, I really do love the flavor of the Curried Apple Soup and I like it either warm or cold.

**I just googled for it and tarragon may be the more traditional flavoring with garden peas and scallops.

I’ve already put the mint in the pureed garden peas so I can’t see what adding just tarragon would do, but I might try a little tarragon with the mint. I may fix this again either tomorrow or within a couple of days as I have the left over pureed garden peas and the bacon/garden pea/shallot mixture. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 09/17/24]:

Quick Cabbage Slaw

  • 1/2 red cabbage (shredded or chopped)
  • 2 cups defrosted corn
  • 2 shallots (sliced thin)
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 4 tablspoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 handful mint (chopped)

I was looking for something to go with the Sea Scallops & Garden Peas and found the above recipe for Cabbage Slaw (using red cabbage). I already had the shallots and mint that are both in the Scallops & Garden Peas recipe, so there will be an echo of flavors. Not sure, but I may add some sweetener to this. And, I may add some dried Tarragon to the Garden Pea mixture.

Recall that today is my first day for my Ozempic injection. Since I didn’t have to take my Rybelsus tablet after midnight, I was able to have a cup of hot tea (Earl Grey) with some half-n-half. *A late note: The Ozempic has worked wonderfully. It has brought my resting blood sugar level down and my weight has remained steady within about 4 lbs. up/down.

I finished my second helping of my lentils & andouille soup (to which I also added some orzo) yesterday and I had some cabbage slaw left over. Because the lentils were spicy, the soothing nature of the slaw was very welcome. I like spicy, but not too hot, and when I get the spicy and physically hot soup just right, there are few things more pleasing.

I just finished my second helping of seared scallops & garden peas, and with sides of polenta and a red cabbage slaw with corn & mint. The only sweetness of this meal was from the garden peas. This was the most “savory” meal I’ve eaten in a long time. I normally add some sort of sweetener to either my slaw or on the meat I am cooking. There was only S&P and apple cider vinegar on the red cabbage slaw with corn. I’m not sure I would make this repeatedly, but it was a pleasant change from my norm. *The cookbook I ordered, “Simple Beautiful Food” arrived this afternoon before I had my lunch. It doesn’t appear that there are recipe ingredients listed as in most cook books. The web page had the standard layout for a recipe with a list of ingredients . **Oh, I did cut up some small grape tomatoes to go with the red cabbage slaw.

[end NOTE]

Michael Connelly – The Wrong Side of Goodbye

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I’ve read that there is another Harry Bosch novel* coming out in November of this year (2024), but for now, I have started to read, “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” which I started reading several novels ago. When I realized the storyline, I just didn’t feel like reading that story, which I had seen on the Bosch TV Series. Now I have read all the other Bosch novels, and several others in which Harry Bosch may or may not appear, including “The Poet,” “Blood Work,” and “The Late Show.” “The Wrong Side of Goodbye” is my last Bosch novel. I’ve read all the others, but not in published order. *”The Waiting” a Ballard/Bosch novel.

If I had read the Bosch novels in the order in which they were published, I probably would have stopped by the 4th or 5th novel. I learned to hate Harry Bosch from the written character, not the character played by Titus Welliver during the several years of Amazon Original BOSCH. The dislike started in “The Black Ice,” when Harry is about to sleep with the Interim Medical Examiner, who has just that day performed an autopsy on an apparent suicide by another LAPD detective. But, she finds evidence that this wasn’t a suicide and Harry presses her for her findings. She tells Harry that she can’t share her findings with him because she is the only source for this alternate finding and she doesn’t want to jeopardize her possibility of becoming the Chief Medical Examiner. Harry assures her that he won’t share what she tells him. After they have sex, she asks if she can take a shower. And, she hasn’t even had a chance to wash the Bosch stink off of her before Harry has picked up his phone and called a newspaper journalist giving the journalist the heads up to determine whether the dead detective’s demise was due to a suicide or a murder. Bosch then zips off the Mexico.

When I read this vignette I said to myself, “If I was a co-worker with Harry Bosch, and he did this to me, I would form a lasting opinion about Harry Bosch.” And that opinion would be that “Harry Bosch is a lying sack of dog shit that can’t be trusted.” And, I would never give Harry Bosch a “free ride” or “cut in line” card again. This was even more obvious, because I read “City of Bones” immediately after reading “The Black Ice.” The novels weren’t written in that order (about an 8 years difference), but Harry’s mistreatment of the Interim Medical Examiner, that slight, was fresh in my mind when Harry calls the now Chief Medical Examiner asking her to take a look at a bone to see if it is human or not. And, she tells him to come over and she will do it. She doesn’t invite Harry into her home as she has an event she is planning to attend later that night, but she does verify that it is indeed a human bone and sends him on his way. She should have told him to “fuck off.”

So the slam bang conclusion of “The Burning Room” is that Harry has just been ordered to give up his badge and gun pending an investigation regarding his breaking into a locked room with his lock pick skills & a paper clip.

**I think it was the Burning Room where Harry once again interacts with the now “former Chief Medical Examiner,” who has been demoted due to politics. Connelly seems to relish that this character has fallen from her high point, but if I were the character, I would still tell Harry to “fuck off.”

Oh, and could Harry have ever had a successful relationship with a woman? Well, I don’t think he ever told his high school English teacher, “Oh, by the way, I killed your former husband when he attacked me. But, it’s okay because he had murdered his half-brother.”

Harry is an awful parent. Maddie Bosch is second or third fiddle to her dad’s detective work.

U.S. Bank Tower (Downtown)

San Fernando Police Headquarters

Los Angeles County Public Health Building

St. Helen’s Home for Unwed Mothers (St. Annes)

Maternity home’s 100-year evolution (latimes 2008 article)

Poquito Mas

Poquito Mas at 3701 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Studio City CA 91604

Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation

Hotel del Coronado

CellRight

Giamela’s Submarine Sandwiches

Giamela’s website

I guess it was early this morning, July 20th, 2024, that I finished reading “The Wrong Side of Goodbye.” Until another Bosch novel is published, I have now read all the Harry Bosch novels. I did not read them in the order in which they were published. I have also read “The Poet,” Jack McAvoy, “Blood Work,” Terry McCaleb, and “The Late Show.” Renée Ballard.

Thanks to Connelly’s placing his fictional characters in real life locations, I now have a working familiarity with a lot of Los Angeles and surrounding areas. I know that Avalon is the only incorporated town on Catalina Island. I already knew the Wilmington area of the Port of Los Angeles because of my familiarity with the cargo vessel, YM Warranty, which had visited this area several times. I got to know the Cabrillo Marina area, and recognized the nearby Warehouse #1 in a Dodge car commercial.

I can take you along 1st Street pointing out Mariachi Plaza all the way to City Hall, LAPD HQ, the LA Times Building and the CCB. I know if you go one way on Broadway, you will pass the CCB, the Hall of Justice and come to the ornate Dragon Gate to Chinatown. Dodger Stadium and the LAPD Police Academy are located on further. And Echo Lake Park and Silver Lake are just, “over there.” Down Broadway in the opposite direction will take you past the Bradbury Building and Grand Central Market. On the other side of Grand Central Market across Hill Street is the Angel’s Flight funicular.

Another Trip to Goldsboro, NC

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I had googled for different restaurants in Goldsboro because I had come to the conclusion that I couldn’t justify going to my old standby, the Longhorn Steakhouse Restaurant and having my old standard, a hamburger with lobster/crab soup and eating a whole loaf of the bread they give you as an appetizer. Even if you don’t eat any of the hamburger bun and justify the whole loaf of bread in that way. Longhorn is in front of the Berkley Mall and I have the shortest route to it from Fayetteville tattooed on my psyche.

I have even taken some sweet pickles (because they only serve dill slices) and extra slices of sweet onion because they only put on a single ring of onion on the burger. The Goldsboro restaurant seems to consistently have the best tasting soup, although I have tried the soup in Fayetteville and Southern Pines.

But after I looked at the nutritional value and calorie totals, this meal would have easily been over 1K. The loaf of bread alone would have probably totaled 500 calories. And, I consider 700 calories for a meal to be very high.

So, the initial google listed several local diners that looked like they had the good country breakfasts like I had at the Rainbow for years. In the end, I pulled over shortly before entering the Goldsboro city limits and found the Laughing Owl. One of the photos looked extremely delicious. It looked like an oriental chicken dish, with hot peppers, and it was served with some rice. When I got there, my waitress was new (I don’t know how new.) and I showed her a picture of the dish I wanted. She wasn’t sure of what dish this was on the menu so she went back and asked the chef. I think the suggestion was that it was a Garlic Kang Pow Chicken dish that had peanuts. *I don’t like peanuts in my Asian dishes, but I do like peanuts in all their various forms, and I’m not allergic to them, except for one time several years ago, at Russ & Deborah’s when Jeff Mitchell have me some peanut butter candy. I think it had “turkey” in it’s name and it was like a brittle toffee. I ate a bite and was watching TV by myself in the living room. At some point, I realized that my throat was beginning to close up so I stopped eating the candy and sat there quietly hoping my throat would stop closing. It did stop closing and I didn’t eat any more and I haven’t had any problem with an allergic reaction to any peanut variations since.

I ordered a cucumber salad with the meal. The meal was disappointing. The peanuts were a distraction and the entree wasn’t spicy although there were a couple of red hot peppers (hard even after being cooked). The rice was good. The chicken was tender with a sweet sauce. I ate half and asked for a “to go” box. I ate the rest at home before dinner, when I had a pared down liver & onions, with steamed cabbage & cauliflower and one disk of polenta which I heated in the microwave.

After lunch I drove out to my favorite location to watch the jets take off and land at SJAFB. There is a road that “dead ends” at a fence that runs along one side of the runway. In the winter and as long as the summer crops aren’t tall enough to block the view, it is a good place to be self-entertaining.

There is a Little Lending Library in a nearby neighborhood, from Berkley Mall, that I have left a few books there before. I may have even taken one from there, but don’t actually recall, but today I just left one, “Two Kinds of Truth.”

I didn’t drive directly back to Fayetteville along Hwy. 13, but took a circuitous route that included Pikeville and Smithfield.

Here was the Pikeville Book Exchange.

I even turned into this “Gander Lake” housing development. The sign says these homes start at the high $200K range. This is funny because near Fuquay Varina there is one development I pass that says their homes start at the low $500K range, and they don’t look any different from these (to me). Don’t know what kind of jobs these people are going to have to be able to actually afford to live in these homes. May be like the mortgage loans fiasco several years ago where people were given loans that they really were never going to be able to afford. But who cares as long as the Developers and Bankers make their money up front. *I never actually saw a lake from the ground, but there may be one at the back of the development. Not sure if anyone living in the development actually has access to this small body of water.

I was trying to find a new business in Benson that I had seen advertised on TV. Seems like it was a man & woman, maybe married and it was either a produce or meat business. I couldn’t remember their business name (was their first names I think), or exactly what kind of business (probably a butcher with various types of meat). I ended up stopping at Lee’s Produce, and they had tomatoes, various onions and some potted flowers. I bought some cheap heirloom tomatoes and have had one at home, at its not the worst or the best tomato I have ever had. A Campari or some of those grape tomatoes from Wegman’s have better flavor, still I could make a palatable tomato & bacon sandwich, which I might do tomorrow.

This was Lee’s Produce, but this Street View as taken when they weren’t “in season.” The woman that waited on me told me they had a place at the Raleigh State Farmers’ Market. I recalled the Lee’s name, and also Tarts. I think I’ve bought peppers & other veggies at both.

I’m thinking the business might have been Lee’s Fresh Market which has all sorts of good looking meats.

I bought this peppered bacon at Lee’s and finally cooked some of it this morning (95/30/24). It was very flavorful. Delicious! *But I had also bought some pork chops there, and they had “boar taint,” and were just unpleasant to eat. They weren’t poisoned, but just smelled “off.”