Category: Food

Tuna Salad

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The other day I realized that I hadn’t fixed tuna salad in quite a while. The first thought on this was that I would need to buy some sweet bell pepper (any color, red, orange, yellow). For many years when I fixed a salad, I added some sweet bell pepper to it. And until not too many years ago, the only bell pepper that I used was a green one. That was probably because I don’t recall any but green bell peppers being sold in the grocery stores that I frequented. *Someone, probably Mary Ann, mentioned that the colored bell peppers were sweeter and more tender. I don’t think I had noticed this on my own, but after it was brought to my attention, I rarely bought a green bell pepper. 

**Also, the various colors of bell peppers go well in my Salsa Ranchera dishes (usually chicken or pork) which include onion and tomatoes. They go well when I fix spaghetti sauce, although the big change in my spaghetti sauce is using Rao’s Marinara “starter” sauce. But, I’ve also stopped adding mushroom bits & pieces to this sauce. So, between spaghetti sauce, the Mexican chicken dish or salads, I almost always had one or two colored bell peppers on hand. But now, I mainly fix a Greek Salad, in which I don’t use sweet bell pepper. And, I rarely fix spaghetti sauce, because of the high starch content in the spaghetti noodles, and I rarely fix the Mexican chicken dish.

So, I stopped by the nearest Food Lion in which the Green Grocer (vegetable) section has recently been remodeled, and bought a red (seemingly smaller than usual) bell pepper. I used about a quarter of this red bell pepper in my tuna salad.

Tuna Salad Ingredients:

Canned Tuna
Sweet Onion
Sweet Bell Pepper
Campari Tomato
Romaine Lettuce
Dukes Mayo
Capers
Celery
Mt. Olive Pickle Relish
Sun Dried Tomato
Lime Juice
Splenda Sweetener
S&P
Cayenne
Celery Seeds
Dulse

I think the only thing that I didn’t add to the tuna salad today was the sun dried tomatoes. And, I don’t actually recall whether I chopped up the Romaine Lettuce for this either. My first thought was to slather some of the tuna salad on a Romaine leaf, and some more on a slice of wheat bread.

For a long time, and especially since my last visit to Dr. Norem, I haven’t been eating any sandwiches or even a hamburger with two slices of bread. Only one slice, the hamburger patty, a couple of slices of sweet onion, a small tomato, relish, catchup and some yellow mustard on the plate. And yes, I do like a dill pickle spear with that.

Speaking of dill pickle spears, or slices. Walmart, until about three years ago, offered a Spicy Dill Pickle in addition to their regular dill pickles. I think I still have one unopened jar of the spicy dills from Walmart. I think the last jar that I opened, the pickles had begun to go a little mushy. But, I had learned that I could pour out the pickle juice from the regular dills or dill spears and pour in the spicy dill juice, and very shortly, the plain dills took on the extra spicy flavor.

Just a few days ago, and I wasn’t looking for this in particular, I came across a recipe for Ranch Dill Pickles. The first thing that caught my attention was that this recipe only had two ingredients: a 1 oz. package of Ranch Dressing, and a jar of dill pickles. Now, I know there are more ingredients in the package of Ranch Dressing, but I tried this, because I had an unopened jar of regular dill slices, and a package of off-brand Ranch Dressing mix. I used the whole package of dressing mix, pouring it into the dill pickle juice, which made the juice a milky color with flecks of herbs (from the dressing) floating in it.

I’m not sure that I can say that the Ranch Dill Pickles are exceptionally different, but there is nothing negative about the flavor, and I do plan to pour this modified pickle juice into another regular jar of dills after I’ve finished eating this first batch. Now, I have planned to eat one slice of the Ranch Dill Pickles three times today. One for lunch, one for dinner and one with my Bucheron cheese & Sesame Crackers snack for later tonight.

I really have fallen for the Sesmark Savory Rice Thins crackers. I eat them when I have a salad, and sometimes with soup or chowder. There are two different versions of these thin rice crackers from Sesmark. One comes in a package that has twice as many crackers for about the same price. 

Capricho de Cabra

These crackers go well with Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate, but they also go well with the Bucheron or Capricho de Cabra goat cheeses. The Capricho de Cabra cheese is extremely tart and combining it with a thick raspberry jam and a cracker works! *But, until I get my A1C under control, I don’t think I will buy any raspberry jam, or orange marmalade or blackberry jam.

Smoked Liver Pate

Now, I might add the above cracker choices with my homemade hummus choices for variety. I like having smoked oysters with my hummus, but also Vidalia onion, Campari tomatoes, assorted olives (Castelvetrano, Kalamata, Green), assorted colors of sweet bell peppers and maybe celery stalks or carrot spears. *I haven’t had them lately, but I seem to recall that I don’t actually like the celery stalks with hummus, and I’m not sure why.

The following I have used as a condiment with certain deli sandwiches: Inglehoffers Creamy Horseradish, Frenches Yellow Mustard & Equal Sweetener (and/or Agave Nectar). But, I haven’t been eating any homemade deli sandwiches lately because of the fatty/salty meat and the starchy bread. If I had a craving for the horseradish-mustard mix, I might buy a small package of sliced deli Turkey or Ham and eat the two together without any bread.

I haven’t been eating much cheese lately either. I like cheese, many different types, and I especially like fresh goat cheeses. There is also a blue cheese, “1924 Bleu,” that has exceptional flavor. 

Thinking about toasting bread for cheese, reminds me that I also like to slather a slice of wheat bread with margarine and then sift a generous portion of garlic powder (not salt) on the whole slice. This toasts up nicely in the oven.

Growing up there were only two main cheeses that we ate. Cracker Barrel Sharp or Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese was the old standard for toasting on white bread. I don’t know when the first time was that I had wheat bread, but I might have been in college. The other cheese was Kraft American Cheese, which went on a sliced ham sandwich, which might be slathered with Dukes Mayo. The American Cheese slices might be individually wrapped, or not. As a much older adult, I have enjoyed a sharp white Cheddar cheese from Cabot’s.

I’ve written about this elsewhere, but I think it was about 2017 when I was on one of my three day vacations and I had come across a restaurant chain online. The chain was called Macados and the locations are mostly in Virginia. I was looking to visit the location in Lexington, VA because Washington & Lee University is located there (VMI also there), and I had planned to stop by the university to meet with a staff person that had developed a “free” application for the Blackboard LMS that FSU was using. But, after driving through the Washington & Lee campus, I decided to not try and visit this person. And, that made the morning only about a little after 10 am, which was too early for lunch. I got online and saw that there was another Macado’s location in Roanoke, VA and decided that I would drive down there and have lunch. Only after I neared and drove into Roanoke, at 12 noon, did I realize that I didn’t want to fight the crowds for parking and eating at a restaurant during “rush hour.” I did drive in downtown Roanoke and past where their Macado’s was located. But then I got online and found that there was another location, a short distance away in Salem, VA. Now Salem and Roanoke are jammed up right next to one another, but Salem is much, much smaller. Ironically, Roanoke College is located next to downtown Salem, not in Roanoke.

So I made it to Salem, VA and managed to find the Macado’s parking lot behind the restaurant. The front of Macado’s faces East Main Street, but there is little or no parking there.

[NOTE]: Before making it to Lexington, VA, I had stayed the night before in Lynchburg at the Quality Inn. Just before leaving the motel for breakfast, I went up front to where they were offering a continental breakfast. I was planning to have breakfast at Famous Anthony’s (Google Street View), but I saw a selection of Bigelow teas on the counter and I chose the Raspberry Royale. Not sure why I did, but it became an excellent choice. I made a small cup of the tea in my room and took it with me. I hadn’t finished my tea before pulling up to the restaurant, but decided to keep it. After breakfast I went back to my car. The tea was now cold, but it had good flavor and I decided to keep it for something to drink as I drove that morning. It was good cold also. *After returning home, I ordered some Raspberry Royale tea and still enjoy it to this day. **I see from the Google Street View that Famous Anthony’s in Lynchburg is permanently closed. [end NOTE]

Macado’s is a college crowd restaurant, with stuff on the walls and ceilings. I looked at their menu and found that they offered a Pastrami on Rye sandwich, with rough cut fries. I hadn’t had a Pastrami sandwich in several years so I jumped at the chance, and boy it was worth it. The sandwich was flavorful, had lots of meat, was toasted with Swiss cheese and the fries & ketchup were all delicious. The ice cold Pepsi was a welcome addition. *Reading in an earlier post, I may have had iced tea instead of Pepsi. I do seem to recall that my waitress didn’t come back very often, but I did manage to get a refill of Pepsi and more ketchup to finish off my fries. The food was GREAT, and set the tone for the rest of my lunches on this vacation. I ate Pastrami sandwiches in Asheville, NC and in Florence, SC before returning home to Fayetteville.

I think it may have been a couple of weeks before I got all the fixin’s to make a Pastrami Reuben (Rachel) at home. My first attempt wasn’t a complete failure, but I tried to toast the bread & cheese on the stove-top. What a mess, the bread ending up greasy and burnt. But since that first time I have honed my Pastrami Rachel skills to a fine art. I can make the sandwich quickly, and with little mess in my oven. I put margarine on one side of each slice of bread and toast that first. I then flip these toasted slices and add Swiss cheese to toast on both insides of the sandwich. I toast the cheese for the inside to help prevent any sogginess due to the Sauerkraut. And, I have learned to love Sauerkraut, and even add extra as a side, and on the sandwich. The Sauerkraut goes on one side and the Thousand Island Dressing on both sides and then the Pastrami slices in the middle. This makes a consistently good flavored sandwich. I don’t make french fries at home, or not in a long while. I do have a potato cutter for making french fries, but I’m a little wary of all the hot oil in the pot on the stove-top.

Oh, I do make my Thousand Island Dressing at home. I think there are only about 5 or 6 ingredients that go into this dressing: Dukes Mayo, ketchup, diced sweet onion, Mt. Olive relish, Texas Pete hot sauce and S&P. This makes a pinkish dressing with little bits of onion & pickle floating in it (thus the thousand islands).

I have made a delicious Catalina Dressing at home. The finished product had a ruby red color and had a good sweet flavor. Recently I made a Cilantro-Lime Dressing to use on a baked Salmon steak. The flavor was different but I think it was high in calories, which is something I don’t need. I do like Ranch Dressing, but I buy this at the store.

Great Value Classic Ranch Salad Dressing & Recipe Mix, 1 oz 54 cents per packet [06/28/24]. I think I bought a generic packet of this dressing at Food Lion for 50 cents. I removed some of the dill pickle juice and emptied the packet of dressing in the jar. Added back some of the juice and closed and shook up the jar, dispersing the salad dressing mix in the liquid.

Golden Juilliard by Oneida

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I don’t recall when I first started collecting this cutlery, but it was many years ago, and not having bought any in this pattern in several years, I now find that Oneida has discontinued the pattern. Golden Juilliard has a gold plated highlight but there was a Juilliard pattern, same design but without the gold highlight. I always thought this had a elegant look without being pretentious.

I have a “silverware chest” for storage. I haven’t looked at what I have in a long while, but I think I had most of the pattern, both serving and individual place settings, and maybe enough to serve 6.

I have a different pattern that I use for daily use, but the Golden Juilliard has a small “seafood/cocktail” fork that I like to use for olives and pickles. I also like the size of the soup spoon which has a large bowl, which is even bigger than the soup spoon in the pattern I use everyday. But, I only have one Golden Juilliard soup spoon out of the storage chest for daily use.  I don’t recall who made the pattern I use daily, but it is much different from the Golden Juilliard, less delicate and less elegant. I had eaten at a restaurant in Thomasville, Georgia on a visit there to the “Sweet Grass Dairy” (at the time they offered both goat and cow cheeses, but now only cow). The restaurant could have been Liams, but now that I think about it, it was probably Jonah’s (right next door). Their silverware was large, in the hand, and when I returned to Fayetteville, on my next visit up to the Oneida store in Smithfield, I saw and bought the pattern I currently use. [NOTE]: In writing the paragraph, I recalled that I had bought my current pattern at the Oneida Outlet Store in Smithfield. I don’t see the pattern on their web site, but haven’t looked at all their offerings. The Oneida Outlet Store left the Outlet Shopping Mall many years ago, now.

[ADDENDUM 02/06/24]: I thought that I might not be able to find the exact Oneida pattern that I use for daily use, but I finally saw four forks online that were for sale, and I immediately recognized them as the pattern I use. I believe it is called Oneida Stafford 18/10 Satin Flatware. There is a Stafford Mirror version which appears to be shinier.

 

I also have a sugar spoon, and a slotted serving spoon and serving fork. I lost my regular serving spoon by taking it to work one time to serve whatever dish I was taking, but then forgetting it and never seeing it again. Not often, but more often than you might think, I have needed a larger serving spoon (not slotted) to dip something, like soup, and the slotted spoon wouldn’t work. This flatware has a hefty feel and is a little larger in the hand, which is what I had liked about the flatware I used down at Jonah’s in Thomasville, GA. [end ADDENDUM]

On my first visit to Sweet Grass Dairy, and Thomasville, Georgia, I ate at Liam’s Restaurant. Jonah’s Restaurant didn’t exist yet. I think I’ve been to Thomasville three times, and I think because Liam’s was closed on one of those visits, I ate at Jonah’s which was right next door (with a little alcove between the two). I may have had a Lobster Bisque soup at Jonah’s and enjoyed it very much. And yes, I think it was Jonah’s that had the larger cutlery for dining. *And later when looking at the two restaurant web sites, I noted a “Christian” vs “Not Christian” vibe between the two establishments. At that time, Liam’s had named some of their menu items in a distinctly, “non-Christian” jibe at Jonah’s.

On my first visit to Thomasville, I was able to drive to the dairy where there were goats (not sure if the cows were there or elsewhere), and cheeses (both cow and goat cheese at the time), and a fat, old, white bulldog lounging on the cool concrete porch. I had come prepared and bought a bunch of different cheese and had an ice chest to bring it back to NC. I met the founding couple and a younger couple, that was son & daughter-in-law, or son-in-law & daughter. *On my next visit, you could no longer drive down to the dairy. There was a newly constructed store a short distance from the dairy. I think I bought some Pecan Oil, mostly as presents for friends & family. On my last visit to Thomasville, I think the only location was a restaurant in town, and now Sweet Grass Dairy was only producing cow cheeses, which appears to still be the case.

Oh, the other thing I collected was the Pfaltzgraff “Winterberry” pattern of Christmas dishes.

Garlic Cauliflower

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Beef Liver, Sweet Potato, Steamed Broccoli & White Mountain Bread
Roasted Chicken, Cabbage Slaw, Tomato Chutney & Sesame Crackers
Pork Chops, Steamed Cabbage, Tomato Chutney & Onion/Peppers
Liver Pudding, Polenta,
Scrambled Egg & Grape Tomatoes
Round Bone Lamb Chop, Garlic Cauliflower & Bread
Tarragon Peas & Grape Tomatoes

Garlic Cauliflower I steamed my cauliflower first and in a separate small skillet I made the Garlic Sauce with Avocado Oil, Red Wine Vinegar, chopped garlic, smoked paprika & some Equal sweetener. I normally will “turn” anything with vinegar with a little sweetener, and this worked well.

[NOTE 01/29/24]: I am making a note regarding the term “London Broil”. Somewhere online, not very long ago, I read an article that said that “London Broil” wasn’t a type of meat (steak) but a way of cooking on high heat and close to the burner. I explained this idea to Jeff Mitchell yesterday when I was visiting to watch the NFL Playoffs. But this morning, early, I am not finding that article and it seems that London Broil is steak that has little fat content and needs to be cooked on high heat, near the burner, to keep the meat tender. But, I may continue to use the term “London Broil” when describing how I cook the Round Bone Lamb Chops and the Pork Chops in the oven, on high and near the top burner. Cooking it this way provides an amount of “char” on the meat, which means “flavor.” [end NOTE]

I cooked the lamb in the oven as London Broil. The round bone lamb chops normally are sold in pairs (not always) and usually I eat one and put the remaining one in the fridge for another meal. This time, I cut the larger chop so that I should now have two meals remaining. I’m trying to eat a little less, because I know that less weight makes it easier to control my Blood Glucose Level. The Garlic Cauliflower was just mildly sweet but I could see this and German Potato Salad (both have vinegar & sweetener) as being interchangeable as sides. I added some dried tarragon to my garden peas, and a little sweetener. I think I also drained the original liquid from the canned peas, and added Chicken Stock back and maybe a dollop of margarine. *I also went to the extra trouble of making a slice of garlic bread (white mountain bread slathered with margarine, and sifted generously with garlic powder). This toasts in the oven quickly.

I don’t do this always, but sometimes I add lime juice & sweetener to my steamed broccoli. I first learned of how good the steamed broccoli could be with lemon juice & sweetener at Red Lobster. I would order the steamed broccoli with the blackened fish lunch special. At some point I wanted a different flavor for the broccoli than just salt & butter and found the citric & sweet combo worked well. 

[NOTE 01/29/24]: I just noted in the paragraph above, that I was writing the word “cauliflower” but actually talking about “broccoli.” And oddly enough, I had written “steamed cauliflower” three times, but the last sentence (without even noticing) said “broccoli.” [end NOTE]

I probably first had a baked sweet potato, with sour cream, cinnamon and sweetener at one of the steak restaurant chains. Maybe Longhorn. I think I first ordered it with a cheap steak and liked it. But, I also like a “loaded” baked potato (Russet) with sour cream and butter. *It was probably America’s Test Kitchen where I first learned of the trick to a tasty baked potato. You pierce the potato skin all around the potato and then roll the potato in a saline solution (salt & water). The salt in the water sticks to the skin of the potato and forms a salty skin.

I like steamed cabbage, but also like cabbage slaw (with mayo & half-n-half, sweetener, vinegar). *I don’t usually add carrots to my slaw, but I have added sweet onion before and like that. I’ve also played with slicing the cabbage into thin, long slivers but sometimes have put the chopped cabbage in a blender with plenty of water and blending the cabbage until it is all just little fine bits. The water keeps the blended cabbage from becoming total mush, and each little sliver of cabbage is a consistent size. **I do like using Duke’s Mayo and some Half-n-Half and sometimes either a little vinegar or lime juice to thin it out.

The Liver Pudding shown above is a breakfast dish for me. I heat the liver pudding up in a small fry pan, on the stove top, in a little bacon fat. I peel the skin off the liver pudding and mash it down. It softens quickly. I also slice a couple of half inch wide polenta slices and put them in my waffle iron & press them down. Sometimes the polenta waffles brown just a little, but usually they just get warmed through. Still, I like these polenta waffles with the liver pudding and with the chipotle/avocado/chicken soup I make often. The chipotle/chicken soup has Southwestern flavors, so polenta, which is corn, works well, as do adding chopped cilantro leaves, or some chili or cumin powder.

The round scrambled egg is made in the microwave in my onion cooker. Currently, I have a bag of shredded 4 Mexican cheeses and I like adding that to my egg as it cooks. The cheese melts inside the egg. *I bought the 4 Mexican Cheeses blend with the intention of making a Southwestern Salad, but haven’t gotten around to it yet, mainly because the simple salad has a lot of calories. It includes: black beans, romaine lettuce, onion, ranch dressing & the Mexican Cheese blend.

I made a Cilantro-Lime Dressing when I fixed a salmon steak about a month ago. The dressing was good, different, but pleasant, but the next day my weight & resting Bgl jumped way up. I attributed the jump in the wrong direction to the dressing, but also wasn’t sure if I had eaten a larger portion of salmon than needed. Oh, salmon is pleasant, but it’s not something that I would repeat often. I will stick to my meat rotation of ground beef, steak, pork chops, lamb and roasted chicken (which I get from Publix). I do make a delicious tasting Seafood Chowder, which I do like to repeat. But, I prefer a little heat to the chowder and the end of the summer is when I can get some delicious peppers up at the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh.

The savory rice thins crackers are delicious. They go good with salad and soups, and as a snack they take the Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate and the two goat cheeses I really like, Bucherondin and Capricio de Cabra (sp). I had forgotten about the Bucheron Goat Cheese until about 3 months ago when I saw some in Wegman’s. I took a hockey puck of the Bucheron cheese home and when I tried it I recalled that this was one of the special cheeses I had tried years ago and liked. It might have been more than 30 years ago when I first tried this cheese, while I was living down in Jacksonville, NC. I probably couldn’t find it after I moved to Fayetteville, almost 30 years ago, and so I forgot about it. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but these crackers do not get soggy quickly when moisture hits their surface, so they provide a nice crunch with either soup or salad veggies.

I’ve found that Sprouts sells a cheap bottle of Pomegranate Juice. It does have a lot of sugar, but this juice also is supposed to be good at controlling blood sugar levels. *It is difficult to find low-sugar dried cranberries, but I like these with chocolate drops & either cashews or walnut pieces. When you do find low or no-sugar dried cranberries, they are much more expensive than the sweetened dried cranberries.

I was just watching TV, as I normally am, even if I am reading or doing something else on the laptop, and I saw a phone commercial. I don’t recall which company (AT&T I think.), but they have the young woman that was rather chesty, but has toned that down. What I found exceptionally funny was that the two women were looking at wedding dresses, and there were three white dresses displayed on mannequins with a sign that said, “Buy Two, Get the Third Dress Free.” One woman asks the other woman, “Is that a good deal,” to which the reply is, “No.” I started replaying this in my mind and suddenly thought that whomever wrote this commercial was very humorous. Ludicrous to think about buying two wedding gowns, and then to offer a third gown, even more idiotic, but how funny!

Great Gravy? Maybe Not. Good Gravy? Yeah.

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Recently I have made pretty good gravy from hamburger, steak and pork chops. I pour out most of the grease from the meat I have cooked (in a pan on the stove-top), turn down the heat, and then sift in some Wondra fine flour. I scrape the bottom of the pan and remember TV chefs saying to make sure the flour is cooked long enough to lose it’s raw flour flavor. I then add some Chicken Stock and try to make a thick gravy. I may add some marjoram and/or thyme, and if the gravy is bland, some salt. Seems like the pork chops make the best gravy.

My cousin, Mary Ann, has always been a good cook, and she does make good gravy. One of her secrets to flavorful gravy was using some Morton’s Nature’s Seasons. I think she also used Morton’s Season All but I don’t recognize the current packaging for it. *But, one Thanksgiving it wasn’t the gravy but the mashed potatoes that she made that we both still remember to this day. She mashed them, and added some butter & cream, and mashed them some more, and some more butter & cream and blended them. At the end they were so silky smooth and flavorful that we had extra helpings and its something we mention on the holidays and agree those mashed potatoes were exceptionally good that year.

I heat up a slice of wheat bread (to soften it) in the microwave (about 10 seconds usually does it). 

I did make a slice of garlic bread the other day, slathering margarine on it first and then sifting a generous amount of garlic powder on top, and then toasting it in the oven. I don’t recall what I ate the garlic bread with, but I do recall that it was delicious and worth the extra effort. *Without looking back at what I’ve eaten recently, I know that I would have enjoyed garlic bread with spaghetti, but I haven’t had spaghetti in quite a while.

For years, I made my homemade spaghetti sauce by starting with the $1 can of starter sauce (Delmonte or Hunts). For a while I would add a small can of mushroom bits, and some ground beef. At some point, I had some Italian sausage, and read somewhere that fennel seeds were a flavoring spice, so I started adding fennel seeds to my sauce, even if I didn’t have Italian sausage.  Once I used ground beef, pork and lamb. The ground lamb was expensive. The end result was a little more flavorful, but I decided it wasn’t worth the extra money and effort so I went back to just ground beef. I do add oregano, thyme, bay leaf, S&P.

But about two years ago, I saw a chef on TV using Rao’s sauce as a starter, and not too long after that I bought a jar of Rao’s in Walmart. The jar of Rao’s was about $8. When it came time to use it, I only used half a jar, but the end result was definitely worth the extra price. I’m not sure what I like about Rao’s (and they do have an assortment of sauces) but the extra cost was worth it.

The Sesmark Savory Rice Thins Crackers go good with the Bucheron Goat Cheese and the Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate. I like them with my Greek Salad also. They are crispy and flavorful, and they stay crisp even when wet.

I had a really good pork chop, polenta, steamed asparagus and Greek salad.

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The truth is that the Shrimp Burger with coleslaw and a side of fried okra & a cold Diet Pepsi (and a small plastic cup of Cocktail Sauce), was really delicious and… I just made dinner with a pork chop fried in bacon grease, steamed asparagus, polenta & a Greek salad and it was really delicious also. So was the gravy I made from the little bit of grease in the pork chop pan mixed with some Wondra flour and chicken stock. The gravy went well with the polenta and a little slice of pork chop, each bite.

The Greek salad was delicious, and the homemade dressing (red wine vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, Italian herbs, and sweetener) is spot on. The salad is simple: romaine lettuce, sweet onion, assorted olives, grape tomatoes and Feta cheese. Simple, yet easily repeatable, and consistently delicious.

And this homemade Greek salad went really well with the Lamb Gyro sandwich that I got from Pharaoh’s Legacy in Fayetteville (other side of town) last Wednesday. The next day I drove to Jacksonville, NC and had lunch at Marakesh Restaurant, and I had another Lamb Gyro there, with their small Greek salad. That was delicious also, but just a hair below the flavors of the previous day. Celebrated our birthdays, I together. I was born on Mary Ann’s 16th birthday, so she is now 86 years old, and I am 70 years old.

As far as I know I am in good health. I do have the pacemaker, to keep my heart from beating too slowly, and am taking one or more drugs to make sure it doesn’t beat too fast. Both of those seem to be working. And my Type 2 Diabetes has been better kept in check, until just recently when my resting Bgl has started to inch upward, I think because I am having trouble getting a refill for my Trulicity 4.5. Seems Trulicity is on back order across the board, not just CVS, but several CVSs, both n town and out of town (Erwin & Lumberton), and Walgreens (who said they were told not to order before February 23rd). That’s a full month from today. I’ve lost about 10 pounds in a little over 2 months, and my average resting Bgl has dropped about 30 points. My lows were just hitting about 150 about three months ago and for the last two months, just a few highs have been above 150. Quite a jump.

So, I feel relatively good. I’m able to live without assistance. Able to drive myself wherever, and daily to at least a couple of grocery stores (Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Publix, Fresh Market, Sprouts, Lidl, IGA, Walmart & Pates Farmer’s Market), and plan, days in advance, and cook my meals, with a relative sense of control of what I am eating, and varying the meats & veggies enough to not tire of any of it.

On the fly, I can change what I have scheduled to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today, I replaced a salad for baked beans at dinnertime.

I’m enjoying reading the Connelly’ Bosch novels and am currently on my 5th, “9 Dragons.” 

Still wondering what happened to “the Overlook,” which I thought I had bought down in Washington at the Brown Library Book Sale last Friday. But, either I didn’t buy it, or I bought it and it has “magically” disappeared. I marked four novels (that I didn’t already have) on my phone as having been purchased in Washington. But, now I can only find 3 of them. I bought 10 Connelly hard backs in Washington. *Now, having mixed the books I had, with the new ones purchased, I can’t tell which is which, or even if one is missing.

From reading online, Eleanor Wish, Harry’s Ex, is murdered in “9 Dragons,” and Harry is exposed to radiation, which eventually leads to cancer, in “the Overlook.” I recall the Overlook story from the Bosch TV series. A woman’s husband is set up to steal radioactive material from a hospital, and then is killed by his wife’s lover (an FBI agent), which sets up the story to be told and the crime to be solved in that story. *The actress played a Princess of Mars (is that Barsoom) in the unsuccessful Disney movie. I liked the movie, but apparently the rest of the public did not, or at least not enough to pay for the exorbitant special effects. **The actress, Lynn Collins, who successfully played a “goddess” of Barsoom, is proof that movies can make “an ordinary looking woman” into a goddess, using makeup, wardrobe, lighting & camera angles.

So, at my age, I am facing, “the next moment” in which my life is severely changed, and in a negative way. I won’t be alive, or I won’t be able to live on my own, or cook for myself, or drive myself around (and that may be as few as five years more), or perhaps think clearly.

Sometimes I make homemade hummus (garbanzo beans, lime juice, olive oil, cumin seeds, S&P). I like to cut up some sweet bell pepper (assorted colors), a little sweet onion (Vidalia), halve a few grape tomatoes, add a few assorted olives and open a can of smoked oysters. I may even pour the oil from the smoked oysters into the hummus. I can make a meal off of this.

The replacement I bought.
Oneida Golden Julliard Cocktail/Seafood Fork.

I gave my whole Oneida Golden Julliard pattern away including the flatware box, and then I realized how dependent I had become using the above Cocktail/Seafood Fork, so I bought just one from the Replacements Showroom, just outside of Burlington. I use this fork a lot when eating olives, or the smoked oysters, pickles, or maybe even Spicy Chili Crisp out of the jar.

Birthdays, Bosch Books, Shrimp Burger & Moss Landing

bgibson135

I drove down to Jacksonville on Thursday morning to meet up with Mary Ann and Ray & Jacquelyn at Marrakesh Restaurant at 11 am. Mary Ann had said they open at 11 am, but I think I saw online that they normally open at 10:30 am, except on Sundays, which I think was 11 am.

On the way down, I stopped at the rest stop where NC 24 and I40 cross paths, to use the bathroom. There were a bunch of young children all being naturally loud, some in the bathrooms and some in lines against the hall walls. As I am coming back to my car, the children and their teachers had all migrated out near the church vans they were being transported in. A sign on the side of one of the vans was the name of a church, perhaps something like “Emmanuel XXX Church Rocky Mount, NC.”

Feeling playful and sensing their excitement of the whole experience, I asked, “Are you on a field trip, from Rocky Mount.” The nearest adult, I presume a teacher, responded that they were on a trip, and that they were from Rocky Mount. I did not find out where they were going, but I could surmise that they might be going down to Wilmington, NC. I waved at the children, who had now formed a line, with two children each side by side. Their teacher had grouped them in twos before they were to cross the street to get to their van. But, as I begin to get ready to back my car out of its spot, I see the last little girl in the line and she is looking at me and starts to wave. And, I am glad that I was still looking at these children, and so I make an animated wave back to her, as she joins her line-partner.

My thought on this waving to this child, and I’m not always attentive, is that she was the last child in the line of children I had been “playing” with and asking questions of. I probably didn’t even look directly at her while I was playing. But now “my playing” had been important enough to her that she was giving me a special wave goodbye. And that gift, unacknowledged, would have sent the wrong message to her. But the message I wanted to send to someone that had just given me a special wave, was that you are just as important to me as all those others were, maybe more so, because of you thinking enough of me to wave.

I had a picture book, on my passenger seat that was about “the Ocean.” Not just one ocean, but all oceans, and all the stuff and things that swim about and in these oceans. Something interesting for a child to look at, while physically holding a book. I wanted to roll down my window and hand this book, as a gift to the teacher, but I didn’t. That is a little regret. That would have made our interaction even more special & memorable. Oh well.

So, I had asked Mary Ann if I could stay the night (I normally just go down for the day and return home at night.), since I was planning to go to Wilmington for the Library Book Sale on Friday morning. She said okay. I wasn’t sure if I was going to both book sales, one in Wilmington and one in Washington, NC, but I thought that the Wilmington sale might have more books that I was looking for. *That actually turned out to be incorrect. There were 10 hardbacks in Washington and only 6 in Wilmington, but I went to both & bought 16 books for a total of about $45. ** Some of the extra money I gave, as a donation to the libraries above the $1 or $2 prices per book.

Up on Friday morning, read just a little of “Echo Park” and then had a very enjoyable warm shower. Short trip to Helen’s Kitchen for a country ham breakfast, with one egg over medium, grits, biscuits & coffee and water, with ice. *My routine is to save one biscuit (which I love how they’re made, really flat with little insides), slice it open with a knife and then put a good portion of the good portion of country ham that they bring out for my meal. I then ask for a sandwich wrapper, and in this case the waitress also brought out a small brown bag to put the wrapped country ham biscuit in. The breakfast was good, as usual.

It takes just a little over an hour to drive from Jacksonville to Wilmington, NC. Dixon, mostly unchanged, but most of the rest of the way (Highway 17) has become extremely developed, maybe even overdeveloped. Holly Ridge and Hampstead more development and then at some point there is only development on each side of the highway… endless stores, shops, conveniences, etc.

Made it to the library location in Wilmington shortly after 10 am. It was to open at 10 am. I walked through the front door and immediately there were all the books, on tables for sale. There was another room with books also, but there was no waiting in line to get inside, as there is at the Cumberland County Library Book Sale (Fire Department Limits). I was in, asked where Connelly books might be located, was directed and found a small box, on a table with Michael Connelly novels. I think I found two or three that I didn’t already have but ended up buying six hardbacks (at $1 each). Got a card with a 6/1 on it, which meant 6 @ $1 and 1 @ 50 cents, walked to the cashier, presented my card, was told that I owed $6.50 and I gave her a $20 and said keep the change for a donation. And, I was out the door, and in a brief time, once again on Highway 17, but this time heading back to Jacksonville, and then New Bern, and eventually Washington, NC.

So, I drove up to Little Washington to go to the Brown Library Book Sale (01/19/24 – Open to the Public) in the Washington Civic Center. I’m currently reading some of the Harry Bosch (LA detective), Michael Connelly novels, and have found I can buy them at library book sales for a dollar, or two. Brown Library was selling “hard backs” for $2@. I ended up finding 10 Connelly hardbacks, and paid $20 plus a small donation. Still, “what a deal” compared to spending $35 per book, when they are brand new, only paying $1 or $2 each.

Met a couple of women, friends of each other, going into the book sale. One was asking me about the yellow bag I was carrying in. I told her it was my grocery bag, and that I had forgotten my larger, heavy duty, light gray, bag that I had used for the Cumberland County Library Book Sales in Fayetteville. She went back to her car to get her own bag, and I talked with her friend briefly. The friend said she had become interested in “detective” novels, and I told her briefly about the L.A. detective, Harry Bosch, and that Michael Connelly was a very good writer. She repeated the last name, “Connelly” and we all made it to the front door and went in. I left them and went over to the “C” section for Connelly, and other authors with names beginning with C.

At first I couldn’t find any Connelly books, the name is usually prominently displayed on the colorful book jackets. I asked one of the staff whether there was a “Connelly” section. She wasn’t familiar with the name but she was putting a long string of another author’s books together. I then found about 4 Connelly novels grouped together. I already had a couple, and two I didn’t, but I bought all four. And then I found that there were others, not in the group, but there amidst the other authors if you looked, a Connelly here, a Connelly there, and eventually I found 10 Michael Connelly hardbacks (@$2). *Surprisingly finding more of these in Little Washington than I had at the book sale in Wilmington, NC. Only six of the Connelly novels I wanted in Wilmington that morning, but I did also buy a German Language softback for 50 cents also.

Before leaving the book sale, I looked around trying to find the two women I had talked to before coming inside. Since I had bought ALL of the Connelly books that I had seen, I had left none for the woman. I had a couple of duplicate books, and thought it would be a cheap present for someone I didn’t know to introduce her to Harry Bosch, and Michael Connelly. But, I didn’t see the women, but then thought they might have already left, and the next thought was that I might be looking at them and not remembering what they actually looked like. 

So, I left and drove the short distance around to “Down on Main Street“. I’ve been to the restaurant, “Down on Main Street” several times. Perhaps first with Leo Taylor, on one of our visits to Washington. I think I may have had their Spaghetti “lunch special” and immediately fell in love with their spaghetti sauce. Most restaurants, that I visit, “dumb down” their spaghetti sauces, trying to not offend anyone with distinctive ingredients, like onion, mushrooms, Italian spices, or maybe even some meat (ground beef). But this spaghetti sauce was DELICIOUS! It had distinctive flavor and the garlic bread was good with it. *The problem, was eventually “Down on Main Street” stopped offering the spaghetti special for lunch. I think they stopped serving spaghetti altogether, at least for a while.

But, yesterday, January 19th, 2024, I had a Shrimp Burger, with slaw, and a side of fried okra, with a cold, Diet Pepsi. The burger was delicious, the shrimp good, the slaw good, the Kaiser Roll (maybe just a burger bun) soft & moist. The fried okra were cooked well, and there was a little plastic cup of cocktail sauce. It all came together for a very pleasurable lunch. My waitress, Jo Jo (not sure of how she spells it), was very friendly and attentive to my drink refills, and at the last, my “to go” cup. In our banter, I asked about the spaghetti special, and she said they offered it on Tuesdays for lunch. I told her I had enjoyed it before they discontinued it, and was glad that they had started offering it again. 

While I was eating lunch, I think it was a waitress coming out from the kitchen, and a female customer, coming out from the bathroom awkwardly tried to occupy the same space briefly. And, the waitress, without really being at fault, contorting to try to avoid the customer, dropped a couple of small bowls and the food made a mess of a rug and the floor in that walkway area. Someone came out with a caution sign, and someone with a broom, and someone with a mop. These someone’s were all young men, not sure if they are all waiters also, but that the cleanup duty came to them, and they stepped efficiently into the fray, and the cleanup was, in a brief time, complete… except for on small dollop of perhaps mayo, left on one edge of the throw rug. And this, only something that someone, myself, that had witnessed the whole accident & cleanup, would even notice.

I mentioned the “accident & efficient clean-up” to Jo Jo, my waitress. I said that the young men reminded me of the Roomba Robots (there is a current commercial showing the imagined, behind the scenes, chorography controlling the cleaning robot). She said that her husband had also made a comment on how efficiently they cleaned up, when necessary. They are a good working team!

After my very pleasurable lunch experience at “Down on Main Street,” I decided to drive around the town. I wasn’t going to go far, but just wanted to see if there were any changes in the immediate area, and knew I wanted to “get on the road” back to Fayetteville. I had already been on the road for three hours that morning, from Jacksonville to Wilmington, and back through Jacksonville to New Bern and on to Washington, NC. 

Just a few blocks up from the restaurant, I came upon Moss Landing. I found this new neighborhood to be immediately captivating. The homes were colorful, mostly in pastels & whites, and very reminiscent of the nice “beach” homes, that you find, “on the beach.” I drove slowly through the new development and then came back taking several pictures of the homes with my phone. I liked this neighborhood immediately and thought that it was a very nice addition to “Little Washington.” Something positive and to be proud of. *I live a long distance from Washington, NC, rarely visit, but have had good experiences in Little Washington and as “Down on Main Street.” I miss my good friend, Leo Taylor. He was very good to me, as a friend, and a boss.

Moss Landing, a new community in “Little” Washington, North Carolina. Moss Landing – Google Street View

Bucheron Goat Cheese
from Wegmans
Nueske’s Liver Pate
from Fresh Market
Savory Rice Thins
from Harris Teeter

Bucheron Goat Cheese from Wegmans.

[NOTE 01/21/24]: Finished “Echo Park” early this morning. There was something about the Wait’s garage description, and the hole in the wall that jogged my memory. I must have seen this in the Bosch series, but don’t recall how many years ago. *[01/22/25 UPDATE]: This novel starts with a car being found in the small garages leading to the High Tower Apartments, and the High Tower is an icon from the 1973 movie, “The Long Goodbye,” in which Elliot Gould plays the fictional detective, Philip Marlowe. I love the “feeding the cat” sequence and now there is even a view from the tower looking down on the small garages. Brief, but if you know what you are looking at, rewarding. The High Tower (elevator) is located just over the hill from the Hollywood Bowl Amphitheater. I learned to despise Harry Bosch from reading the books, not from the TV series. [end UPDATE]

Not sure of what criteria I’m going to use to choose the next book to read. Go to the latest, well next to the last one, unless Connelly has published a new one for this year… or go to the earliest one I have, which is probably about 2001. **Not sure that I am really interested in the early Bosch, although at one time I would have enjoyed it. Sort of like all those Midsomer Murder mysteries I watched over the years (20+ seasons). I enjoyed most of them, but no longer have a desire to rewatch them and I actually began to dislike Barnaby. What a shit family man he was. 

NOTE [ 01/22/24 ]: Got around to writing to “Down on Main Street” Restaurant via email, complimenting them on my good experience there (again):

I first visited Down on Main Street several years ago with a friend, who had grown up in “little” Washington.  His name was Leo Taylor and his parents had managed the Trailways Bus Station for many years.  I think I had your “Spaghetti Special” and thought it was so good because you didn’t “dumb down” your spaghetti sauce.  There was a lot of flavor in your sauce!  And, I came back several times and enjoyed this special, until you stopped offering it.

I live out of town, but last Friday had come up from Jacksonville, NC and decided to have lunch with you.  My waitress was “Jo Jo” and she was excellent, friendly and attentive.  I had your Shrimp Burger, with coleslaw, and a side of fried okra, with a cold Diet Pepsi.  Let me say that was the BEST tasting lunch, from the first bite to the last.

While there, there was an accident between a waitress, coming out of the kitchen, and a woman, coming out of the bathroom.  They both tried to occupy the same space at the same time, and unfortunately the waitress dropped some of her order on the floor making a mess in the walkway.  It wasn’t her fault, by the way.  Here is the compliment… there were several young men who went into action, like the Roomba Robot, and cleaned up the area quickly and efficiently.  They acted as a team, one with a broom, one with a mop, etc.  Floor clean, viola.

So, you have really good food.  You have a really good waitress, and you have really good staff that are working as a team!

Thanks.

Bill

[end NOTE]

[NOTE 01/22/25]: As I was reading the Bosch novels, I would go online and use Google Street View to get a better feel for the Los Angeles area. It may have been “Echo Park” and I was looking at a cafe that the character might have passed in the novel. I visited the web site for this restaurant and saw their long handled silverware. This inspired me to buy some like them. Yes, it made no sense, but I did it.

However, there is something rewarding about having a set of stainless steel chop stix. Well four sets. One for each place setting. [end NOTE]

Original: Outer Limits – The Premonition

bgibson135

I’m watching a re-run of the old Outer Limits episode called, “the Premonition.” The intro to this episode included video clips from the actual X-15, and the B-52 used to lift it into the sky. I recall, at the time, that there were ice cream/popsicle trading cards which included airplanes, the X-15 and I think things like rockets such as the Nike Zeus. *Although the name “Nike Zeus” stuck in my mind, the image I recall was apparently called “Nike Hercules.”

But the realization I just had was that I never thought, as a boy, “I’d like to be a part of that, maybe fly that aircraft,” or, “help build that aircraft, or whatever the next best thing is.” I never thought, “I’d like to work for NASA.” And, that’s something that I think a boy should think, or be taught to think, whether they grow up to work for NASA, or become a ditch digger, or policeman. 

I understood many things, and thought of many things in a more “worldly” way, that I attribute to having watched a good deal of television when I was growing up. I didn’t think about being a farmer, or growing tobacco, although my family (mother) owned “the family farm,” and tobacco, corn & soy beans were grown on this land, by “the Fat Farmer,” Frank Howell. I came up with the name, “Fat Farmer” because he drove around in a big truck to the various farms he had leased from different people, and he had a big belly that flopped over his waist band. I think we received $3,000 a year for his leasing our farm, and the majority of that amount was due to the Tobacco Allotment. I’m guessing the Tobacco Allotment was determined by the Federal Government, and based upon the amount of tobacco that could be grown on our farm that year. The Fat Farmer would combine these tobacco allotments from the various farms, but would actually grow this combination of tobacco on one or more of these farms. That would make sense, to grow a crop on land that would produce the most. You could concentrate your equipment & workers, and raw products, seeds, fertilizer & pesticides on a few acres, not have to actually move them from small plot, to small plot on many farms.

El Catrin a previous visit.
El Catrin as it was last week.
The Rollator near me was Neldas.

[NOTE 10/31/24]: Last week when I was visiting Mary Ann we met at El Catrin. There were a couple of ladies from her group that were already there. I didn’t catch the name of the woman sitting next to me but we talked for quite a bit during lunch, but at the end she mentioned that Frank Howell was her father. I had never met her. She had moved from the area and worked as a Cooperative Extension Agent (I think.) for 30 years before retiring. This was down in South Carolina in the Clemson area. When she said that Frank Howell was her father I asked her name and it was Nelda Howell. Mary Ann said she never married. I told her we called him the “Fat Farmer” and she laughed because she had never heard that name before. I also told her the story of once they were hauling large bales of tobacco (the cured leaves packaged up like a big tobacco doughnut and tied up in a large square burlap sack) on the back of a small pick up truck. There was a young teenage black boy sitting atop about 5 bales which put him fairly high in the sky. There was nothing tying these bales to the truck, and it was moving slowly and turned up Hwy. 24 where Queens Creek Road meets 24. As the truck turned, the bales of tobacco swayed slightly. The boy on top would have been severely hurt if the bales had actually fell. [end NOTE]

For years, mom paid taxes on the family farm based upon the size being 70 acres. But, when the farm was finally transferred to the New River Baptist Association (many years after her death) and the land actually surveyed, the total acreage was 79 acres.

Mom worked as a Civil Service Clerk Typist for over 40 years, most of that time was aboard Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. She worked at Building 66 – Naval Medical Field Research Laboratory for a few years. I think two of her co-workers there were Barbara Brainerd and Robin Short. There was also a Robin Short, a daughter of mom’s co-worker, that attended Swansboro High School, and was a few years older than myself.

Not my tackle box, but exactly like the one I had.

At Building 66, mom had a co-worker named, Rip Jackson, who lived down in Sneads Ferry. One year, mom had him buy fishing gear that she gave to me as a Christmas present. I don’t recall, but there had to be a fishing rod, and I still have the Penn Peerless No. 9 reel. There was a copper colored tackle box and inside were some lures and fishing hooks & lead weights. I do recall one lure which appeared to be an ivory white hard plastic shrimp with a couple of 3 pronged hooks hanging down. I think there was also a bottle of fish ointment, meant to attract fish. You were supposed to put a little of this oil on a lure. I think it smelled like almonds, but maybe not.

My Penn Peerless No. 9 reel.

That Christmas, mom & I drove down to the Emerald Isle Fishing Pier. She nor I had any idea about how to fish, in the Atlantic Ocean, or anywhere else for that matter. This was way before the Internet, where I could now go online and watch YouTube videos and read about fishing, and then at least have some idea of how to fish. But, then, nada.

Rip Jackson was also the guy that got me Lassie, my dog, which was to be one of the test subjects at the Lab. *This time period would have been during the Vietnam War, and I recall some story about one of the tests at the lab being putting an actual cadaver foot in a combat boot and blowing it up to see the effects of the blast on a human foot. I never actually saw this, but that is a mental image that has stuck with me ever since I was told it, when a child.

Not sure if I was going fishing, but one time during cold weather, seems like it was also on the Emerald Isle Fishing Pier, the Atlantic Ocean was dead calm (no waves at all, glassy, unusual), but the steam was rising off the water, almost like smoke.

There were a few people on the fishing pier, Christmas day, that year. There was an old guy, near where the waves were breaking below, near shore, and he was pulling in fish, one after another. Mom and I would move close to him (probably causing the fish to move away from him also) trying to get some of his “luck”, but we didn’t catch anything. And, shortly after we moved close to him, he would move away from us. Not sure that I went fishing ever again with that equipment. Years later, I did go fishing with Ervin Wilkins (Aunt Pete’s long-time boyfriend.) in his small boat. He looked kindly on a fatherless boy, and we went out from Aunt Pete’s dock, in front of her house at 521 Riverside Drive in Portsmouth, VA. 

I recall that once, we left the dock almost too late. The tide was going out fast, and we came close to being stuck in the mud, a short distance from her dock. Not sure if we would have tried to walk back to shore, in the deep mud, or just wait for hours until the tide came back in. But, we got out. And, not sure if it was this time also, but we were in the James River, between Portsmouth & Norfolk, and both Ervin and I had our lines in the water. We both snagged something at about the same time, but on different sides of his boat. We started reeling our lines in, and after a while it became obvious that our lines had become tangled together. And then, our hooks had snagged the same Toad Fish, an extremely ugly fish, and not good for eating and the lines had wrapped around each other, to the point that Ervin just cut both lines, instead of trying to unwind them.

Lassie loved to chase cars, and one morning, she chased her last car. Seems like the car had those large fins on the back, maybe a Plymouth Fury. The car had turned down Queens Creek Road from Highway 24, and heading toward Queens Creek and Lassie chased it. I did not see this at first, but heard Lassie yelp as she was hit by the car. I think I looked out from our kitchen window, and maybe that is where I saw the car briefly, and saw Lassie as she ran from the side of the road, and past the kitchen and around the back of the house (where our smokehouse was located). I ran out of the kitchen and off the back porch and found her dead (I say her, but I honestly don’t recall if lassie were male or female.) in the back yard. Painful, but that’s what happens if you chase cars. *Oh, the car did not stop, and I didn’t expect it to. And, having seen the dog run a good distance around past the kitchen, the driver may have never known that they had killed my dog.

[NOTE]: The photo of my Penn Peerless No. 9 above also shows three carved wooden fishermen. I bought several, maybe 10 or 12, of these carved wooden figures more than 30 years ago. I think they were $1@ and I got them at the specialty store in New River Shopping Center. I was living at 204 Johnson Blvd. which was a short distance away.

Several times through the years, I’ve thought about trying to buy some extra carved figures in order to make a complete “fisherman” themed chess set. Haven’t found any figures that are about the same size, and each one is now too expensive to make a chess set. There would be a problem with how to color the two sides, but I like the shape of the fisherman in the yellow rain slicker & hat, to be used as a Bishop. There were no female carved characters. Last year, I came up with the idea of using carved pilings with a perched sea gull as a Rook. 

I was trying to recall the name of the specialty store, in New River Shopping Center, where I bought the carved figures. The store location was where the old Sears had been located. I also bought a set of dishes there, made by Gibson Company, and I have used them, and continue to use them to this day, for about 30 years. 

But, this reminded me of some of the other stores that had been in NRSC in my years growing up. There was the Colonial Store (they had Gold Bond Savings Stamps – equivalent to S&H Green Stamps) on one corner & the Center Theater was in the same block, on another corner. One Saturday, Rick Tash, a TV personality from a Wilmington, NC TV station came to the Colonial Store in Jacksonville and gave away Balsa wood airplanes. I don’t recall, but this little airplane glider might have had had a red plastic propeller and a rubber band set up that, once wound up, would propel the plane a short distance. *I show you the glider here because it seems so close to my memory of what I actually had (several times) as a child. The nose had a metal clasp to protect the nose of the toy when it hit something hard. And, the plastic wrapper seems so familiar, and only 10 cents.

There were also dishes with a wheat pattern. I think you could purchase a dish item (cup, saucer, dinner plate, bowl, etc.) if you had bought a certain amount of groceries, but I don’t recall how many groceries, or if you had to pay for the wheat patterned item.

There were also the Golden Book Encyclopedias. I think there was one volume available, not sure if it was every week, or every month, so you would purchase Volume 1 and take it home and wait until the next volume was available. There were 16 volumes total in the set. I bought a set of these, as an adult, that also included about 5 or 6 extra books that were geographical specific. I still have them. They were small volumes, but had lots of colorful pictures to illustrate the various topics, and the volume covers were each distinctive. Not sure how much each volume cost.

Roses Department Store was a favorite visit. Ron-Cor was a hobby store that at one point had a large slot car track. Bill Rollis’ Steakhouse was on the corner down from Ron-Cor, and across the parking lot from the Center Theater. I think I took a date (maybe even Debbie Sutton) there once, and we both had steak & lobster dinners for a total of $20 (not each, the two). *I had almost forgotten that next to Ron-Cor (or thereabouts) was Peck’s Bakery. I don’t know that I ever went in this bakery, but I always equated the phrase, “Peck’s bad boys,” with this business. Years later, and maybe from something online, I realized that the bad boys were sons of a different Peck, not this baker, in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

There was a “red-haired” girl that was interested in me, and her brother worked or managed the Center Theater. Seems like I/we went, for free, on a couple of Saturday mornings to the serials they were showing. Not sure if the serials were a Western or maybe Flash Gordon (SciFi). I think movies only cost 25 cents.

Down from the Center Theater, there was a jewelry store, and that may have become a Men’s Clothing Store, or was next to it at a later time. I bought a nice Herringbone “London Fog” Overcoat from this clothing store, when I was a college student. I kept this coat for over 20 years, maybe 30, and then when I looked closer, I saw moth holes in the sleeve. And then I threw it away, but it was a very nice, classic men’s overcoat.

Perhaps the men’s clothing store was around the corner from the jewelry store, or it seems that was the location of the entrance to the clothing store. And, the clothing store might have been owned by a Popkin (Jewish).

Formerly the Center Theater
Formerly Roses Department Store
Each year the corner became Santa’s Headquarters
To the left, near is where I bought the Herringbone London Fog Overcoat.
In front & across the way was Bill Rollis’ Steak House & Ron-Cor.

On the inside corner of the building, next to the men’s clothing store, was a little enclosure, with a cross-hatch wooden ribbing & I think it had some glass. I never went into this little cubicle, but each year, at Christmastime, Santa would make this place his connection to a long line of kids & their parents who waited to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. 

In later years, just around the corner from Santa’s hut, and facing (across a large parking area) the old Sears location, was a health foods store. I have a vague image of looking at a large plastic bottle of some kind of vitamin or supplement in the health foods store.

Down, and around the corner was a drug store. Don’t recall which one or if it was just local. And next to it was a small US Post Office location. Next to the Post Office was a Peebles, which I recall had clothing, and maybe some household goods. Not sure if Peebles had taken over the old Colonial Store (which had been closed a long time) location, or if it was next to it.

Oh, and across the street from the old Center Theater location, there was a local grocery store built (I think built years after the Center Theater was no longer a movie theater.). Not sure if it was an IGA grocery store location, could have been a Piggly Wiggly, but definitely had a “country” vibe to it.

There was a bank near where the old Sears location was, and across the parking lot from the Post Office was a building that was a washerette. And, this reminds me of a gas station & mechanic that was next to the washerette, on the corner. Just down the street, about a block away was the New River Baptist Church. I started attending NRBC about 1977 and mom started going there also. She eventually helped tend the children’s nursery. 

Southern Seasons & Chapel Hill Library

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[ 01/04/24 ]: I was looking for library book sales online yesterday and came across the online site for the Chapel Hill Library (friends) bookstore. I saw there was a pickup area where book purchasers could come to pick up the books they had bought online. *I did drive all the way to Chapel Hill and drove into the Staff Parking area, where there were a couple of “pickup” parking spots for the two days designated. I then drove around and parked in the Library parking area and made a call to the Publix in Fayetteville to reserve a “Roasted Chicken – Original.” I told them I would stop by to pick up the chicken at about 4:30 pm, and within a few minutes of that time, I was there. They were busy, but I saw what I wanted on the hot counter. I took the bag with the roasted chicken in it and went to the Service Desk, where I was able to pay and where I asked them to notify the “Prepared Foods” section that I had already picked up my order.

While looking online, Google Maps, for the Chapel Hill Library location, I viewed the aerial view of the location where the old Southern Seasons store was located. But, there was nothing there, or very little. The store was gone, or a good portion of it. I wasn’t sure if I was looking at a view from a long time ago, or something more recent. But, when I actually drove by this location later in the day, “Yup, it’s gone.” And, I just checked online and they started to demolish the Southern Seasons building back in March 2023.

I liked visiting & shopping at Southern Seasons. The store was large, had a cafe/restaurant section accessible from inside, but maybe not a part of Southern Seasons proper. There was a large coffees/teas section, cheeses & deli meats, a wall of candies, a wine and spices section and a large area of kitchen utensils. I think this is where I first purchased “Grains of Paradise.” They also had “tongue” baloney. They had the Hot “Chinese” Mustard that you could add water to, for egg rolls. 

Once, I seem to recall buying the various ingredients to make a sandwich lunch in my car. I had a tongue baloney sandwich and I think I bought a single serving bottle of special ginger ale.

As it was.
As it is.

On my way up to Chapel Hill, I stopped by Golden Hex in Cary, walked up and down the various isles, past the cheese and deli meats section, and only ended up buying some pickles. As I am watching more closely what I am eating, I know I don’t need the fatty sausages and deli meats. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy the different flavors, but I know at this time I don’t need to buy any more. I wish Golden Hex well though!

After Golden Hex, I drove over to the Cary Wegmans and went in. I had been thinking of buying a single Miami Onion Roll (@$1.10) but when there decided against it, and although a large blueberry bagel would have been delicious, I didn’t buy one of those either. I looked at the Andouille sausages, but didn’t buy those either, although an Andouille & Lentil soup would be good (today is much colder than yesterday).

I did buy a puck of Bucheron (semi-soft, tart, goat cheese) and also some yellow/orange grape tomatoes. I looked for unsweetened dried cranberries, but they only had sweetened ones. I did buy dried Currants that were supposedly unsweetened, but later noted that they had a bunch of natural sugar.

I walked out to my car and drove to a less crowded section of the Wegman’s parking lot and ate the lunch I had brought with me, along with a little of the Bucheron cheese. I had carried my homemade Greek Salad, with dressing, a cooked hamburger patty, a slice of sweet onion and a slice of wheat bread, cut in half and dressed with my mustard/horseradish/sweetener on one slice and Duke’s Mayo on the other. I had a couple of the rice crackers I like with my salad. They don’t become soggy, but these had become tougher to chew.

This Wegmans is in the flight path for RDU Airport and it is amazing how many large jets fly overhead in a twenty minutes period of time. There must be at least two runways, set slightly askew, because all the jets took one of two different angles toward the airport.

After going by the Chapel Hill Library, I headed back through the UNC Campus & Chapel Hill on a slight “scenic” tour. I drove past my old dorm (Aycock), who’s name was changed a few years ago because Charles B. Aycock was racist. But in his day, he was the next Governor of North Carolina after Lindsay Russell (Republican and distant relative). But, they had a mutual respect for each other, and Russell left the Governor’s Mansion better kept and stocked for his successor.

When I lived in Aycock Dorm in the early 1970s (1972-74) it was a standalone three level building (4 if you count the basement). I lived on the 3rd floor, 318 I think. But some years ago they built a connector to an adjacent dorm and completely got rid of the small courtyard and bicycle parking area at one end of these dorms. Oh, there was a Lewis Dorm at that time. Probably still is. But, I had a slightly younger roommate that would call out from our 3rd floor window and say, “Lewis. Leewisss…, Lewis.” And someone from Lewis Dorm would inevitably say, “What,” to which my roommate would reply, “Eat Shit!” *This roommate also taught me the art of cussing.” I think to that point my cursing vocabulary only consisted of “shit,” “damn,” and the occasional “fuck.” But this roommate would string together a bunch of dirty words in a quite artistic manner.

I don’t recall the name of this roommate (he wasn’t Keith Smith, my first roommate at Carolina, and Keith a Senior), but he was a very good tennis player and had nice rackets. I was never interested in tennis while there, but only a year or so later when attending Campbell College (it was a college then) did I take up the sport of tennis, and after several years was an okay player, and even taught both youth and adults (through Onslow County) tennis.

New Years Day 2024

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If I should live so long, I will be 70 years old in 17 days, January 18, 2024. I think I am supposed to live to be 82 years old, but that might not be correct. 

For about a month and a half, I have been paying a lot of attention to what I have been eating. The MyFitnessPal web site has made it easy for me to keep track of & to plan my food intake. I think FitDay provided more precise creation of food items, but MyFitnessPal has many items already, if you just search for them. But, it was nice to be able to enter the nutritional values for each food item.

I had Seafood Chowder for lunch today and some of the left over Grilled Salmon Salad (minus the salmon). The salad wasn’t as delectable as I had thought yesterday. I picked over the seedless cucumber slices. I fixed some blackeyed peas with seasoning meat, and white potatoes. I also doctored up some canned collards. Still, Mary Ann’s collards, from scratch, are much, much, much better. I made a meal off of her collards and slices of tomato the last time she fixed them.

This morning was a bump in the wrong direction for both my weight and my blood glucose level. My weight jumped from 251.8 up to 255.2. Not sure if it was the salmon, and/or the cilantro-lime dressing on the accompanying salad, and/or the “tasting” that I made while cooking for today’s meals early this morning. My Bgl jumped from 125 resting yesterday to 145 resting this morning. Now some of that might have been the “little tastings” that I made while cooking the blackeyed peas and the collards. Also, if I drink my “Bill’s Drink” after midnight, that has some real fruit juices (orange and cranberry) in addition to the artificial flavorings which affect my Bgl. *A note on my Bill’s Drink, is that it is also delicious when hot (microwave it). I have drank a bunch of this drink for several months and have not become tired of it yet.

I’ve lost about 10 lbs. although that jumped back up by about 3.5 lbs. this morning. I expect that to be an aberration, that I can correct. But I have also noted that my resting Bgl each morning has been averaging at lower levels. It is a little less than 140 Bgl.

The above graphics look very positive to me, even with today’s blip in the wrong direction. I wanted to add fish (salmon) to the meats I cook at home, but for whatever reason, either the salmon, or the salad dressing cause the negative reaction. I have been eating “right” and the above graphs are showing the positive numbers.

For years, I have said that if I had a choice for my last meal, I would have a “mess of” blackeyed peas, seasoned with ham hock and diced Vidalia (sweet) onion, at this was true until now. I had some good blackeyed peas for dinner today, but that’s not what I would want for my last meal. I’ve been enjoying a Greek Salad, with homemade dressing (simple: red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, Italian seasoning, sweetener). This dressing is deliciously tart. The salad ingredients include: Hearts of Romaine Lettuce, Kalamata olives, sweet onion, grape tomatoes, Feta cheese and Pepperoncini peppers. *I almost have a need to eat this salad at least every other day. Love the flavors. 

I like the Greek Salad at Pharoah’s Legacy along with the Lamb Gyro, but I am thinking that I may make my own Greek Salad with the homemade dressing and take it with me and order just the Lamb Gyro there, and eat it all together out in my car. I can’t do the shaved lamb, but the salad & dressing, hmmm. I’m especially loving the tartness of the Pepperoncini Peppers with this salad.

I found Hearts of Romaine lettuce at Walmart for less than $3. The package is small, but I haven’t been able to use it all before some of it turns brown… until this last time, when I wrapped the lettuce in a paper towel and rolled it up tight in a plastic bag & twist tie. I also found a deal on Pepperoncini Peppers at Food Lion and bought one, maybe two jars of those. Oh, and I’ve finally found a cracker (made of rice) at Harris Teeter that has good flavor, isn’t wheat based, and stays really crisp even when the surface becomes wet. I like these crackers with my salads. They provide a crunch.

[NOTE 02/16/24]: I was eating a Greek Salad at least every other day, and was using Romaine lettuce in it. But as I said above, the Romaine lettuce, even in the small packages, turned brown before I had finished using it. So, I happened to see a whole head of Romaine in Food Lion and decided to buy it. And, that has proven to be the answer. I pull off a leaf or two and chop it up for each salad, and the rest doesn’t turn brown, except for maybe the last little stalk end, and I get rid of the small amount of brown lettuce each time I chop a leaf or two. [end NOTE]

Library Book Sales

  • Wilmington, NC 1241 Military Cutoff Rd 01/19-20/24 Fri-Sat 10 AM – 5 PM
  • Washington, NC 110 Gladden Street 01/19-20/24 Fri-Sat 9 AM – 5 PM
  • Durham, NC

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/323+Foothill+Lane,+Fayetteville,+NC/1241+Military+Cutoff+Rd,+Wilmington,+NC/110+Gladden+St,+Washington,+NC+27889/@34.8844746,-78.6231736,9z/am=t/data=!4m20!4m19!1m5!1m1!1s0x89ab6e440ee35ec3:0xb99d4fca50e39953!2m2!1d-78.8674125!2d35.1666756!1m5!1m1!1s0x89a9f35d9d82d493:0x3d39b6e073f1411!2m2!1d-77.8282555!2d34.2329298!1m5!1m1!1s0x89af22604bf2dd53:0x4ed8a27ad1c9d474!2m2!1d-77.0579071!2d35.5443954!3e0?entry=ttu

[NOTE 01/21/24]: I ended up getting to both library book sales, first to the Wilmington location and then to the Washington location. I found more Connelly novels in Washington than Wilmington. I bought 10 hardbacks in Washington. I also ate lunch at “Down on Main Street” in Little Washington and it was extremely delicious. Shrimp burger with coleslaw on the sandwich, and fried okra, with a Diet Pepsi.

[NOTE 08/05/24]: Actually, I ate at Pharaoh’s Legacy for lunch today and had the Lamb Gyro Pita with their House Greek Salad. But as I have at least once before, I took a sandwich baggie with some sweet onion, a few Kalamata olives, a Pepperoncini pepper and a few yellow grape tomatoes.

I only have about 30 pages left to read of the Sully Sullenberger bio. And ironically, there was an Air Disaster episode on TV this afternoon featuring the “Miracle on the Hudson.” I understood a great deal more about this event by having freshly read the details in the bio. [end NOTE]

[01/01/25]: Another year has passed. If I should live so long, I will be 71 years old in 17 days, January 18, 2025. I was just down at Mary Ann’s over the Christmas holiday, but am already thinking that I will go back on our birthday, if she is feeling okay.

Oh my, my the changes

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I’m enjoying my retirement (about 4 years into it now), but I am aware that I am an old man, and even if you are good, changes, bad changes do occur. 

I love cooking, and trying new things but I just thought the other day that I could become incapacitated and lose all the wonderful freedom I currently enjoy. Two things: not to be able to cook for myself, and not to be able to get in my car and drive, where I want, when I want.

I got in my car yesterday and headed up toward Dunn, the back roads crossing over the Cape Fear River near Linden, and then instead of heading down to Dunn, I headed up toward Buies Creek and Campbell University. As I got there, Campbell, I drove past the dorm in which I lived in my only year there, 1975, Sauls Hall. Then past the new Student Union, around the traffic circle near the new gymnasium and past the running Camel statue. *I did think of an attractive student who had “smiled at me” shortly before (days) getting a new boyfriend. I went past the old Post Office building, and that sparked the memory of the day, in the Spring, I think, when several of us (in another student’s car) drove down to Fayetteville and went to the new Mall. It was so new that there were still a few businesses completing the construction work before they opened.

The other thought was that every day, at Campbell, I would go to the Post Office looking for a letter from Debbie. We weren’t a couple at the time, but I had such a hard time letting her go in my heart & mind. But on this day when we went to Fayetteville, it was a time where I forgot about my longing for Debbie and enjoyed the activities. We returned home late and I went to bed, and this was the first day in a long time in which I did not make it to the Post Office.

What do you know? Yup! The next morning I went to the Post Office and there was a letter from Debbie.

[ NOTE ]: Another thought was that I used the same Accounting Book (Intro to) at Campbell College as I had used at UNC-Chapel Hill, although my accounting professor at Chapel Hill had helped write the textbook. But, the mental image I just had was that at the end of the year, when I no longer needed the Accounting book, I tried to sell it to the Campbell Book Store. Whatever amount they offered me was so little that instead of selling it to them, I kept it and seems like I was outside, on campus, when I ripped the Accounting book apart.

But, that also reminds me of a little brown Bible that I owned. It had been given to me by Piney Grove Baptist Church as a Senior Graduation present, and because I wasn’t attending church much my Senior Year at Swansboro, the pastor stopped me and said something to the effect, “I think we have something for you.” He went up to the pulpit and the little Bible with my name imprinted on it in gold letters, was laying on a shelf there. He gave it to me. *I think I was near the end of my college life, at UNC-Wilmington, and I found myself standing next to a bookshelf in my bedroom, cleaning out my old books. I took the little brown Bible off the shelf, holding it above a trash can, and thinking whether I should throw it away or not. I said something to myself to the effect, “Well, I don’t believe this stuff, but I might be able to get a quarter for it, if I sell it.” I kept the Bible, and perhaps in six months was reading it, “in the Spirit.”

I stopped at the Harnett County Library, but the door was locked, and it was about 30 minutes before the listed closing time. I’m guessing it might be because of the holidays.

I then drove over the Cape Fear and went down to the IGA. I was actually looking for some of the canned Smoked Oysters (that I like with my homemade hummus), but didn’t find any. I did note how beautiful the vegetable section was displayed, and mentioned this to a girl who was working in another section. She said she would let the guy in charge of that area know. I did buy a cabbage, and I took several pictures of the veggies.

One thought was that a lot of joy would go when I am no longer able to drive myself around.

But, another thought came, and that would be when I could no longer cook for myself. And, I guess with the cooking comes the going out and buying all the ingredients. I currently visit about seven or eight different grocery chains/stores a week, and almost every day am going to a couple to pick up things that I specifically buy at that location. IGA, Food Lion, Walmart, Harris Teeter, Pate’s, Publix, Sprouts… and out of town maybe Whole Foods or Wegmans or the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh, in season. Publix has good bread and also imported lamb (round bone) chops. Sprouts has nuts & dried fruits, selected veggies and Pomegranate juice. Pate’s in season has fresh okra, corn on the cob and sometimes seasoning meats for flavoring beans, etc. I like the Campari Tomatoes, but also get some of the yellow or red grape tomatoes at several stores. 

I don’t know if I will lose my mind or my mobility first, if not both, before I die. But just sitting at home, or in a nursing home, not able to “get out” and galavant, or be able to get up and plan and prepare the daily meals will be extremely disheartening. Galavanting about the country is something that my Aunt Sis (my mother’s sister, Carrie Kellum) instilled the joy of, in me. Through the years, I often would prefer to get in the car and drive around, not necessarily stopping or going anywhere in particular, instead of watching a movie or TV. Although, I do love watching TV & movies.

MyFitnessPal is a web site that I found a little over a month ago, and it is replacing the FitDay site that I use for several years to track my weight, blood glucose readings, and list my meals & foods. FitDay eventually stopped doing its thing and I didn’t find a replacement immediately. But then I found the MyFitnessPal web site, and it had enough of the FitDay elements that I started religiously tracking my food intake again, and weight & Bgl resting levels. And, it’s working! I have lost about 10 lbs. in a little over a month, and my Bgl resting levels have dropped and are now averaging just below 140. This morning was exceptional at 125 but lately they have been in the mid-130s range. *If I can keep them where they are now, I shouldn’t have to go on Insulin, which I have agreed with my PCP Dr. Norem, that I would start taking the shots if she told me to, if I hadn’t brought my A1C down significantly.

But with me tracking my intake, and planning days in advance what I would be eating for each meal, both my weight and Bgl resting levels have begun to dive, downward.

Oh, and I have just started my 4th Harry Bosch (Michael Connelly) novel, “Dark Sacred Night.” I’ve put the books in the basket near my toilet and read a few pages each time I go. I did start to read, “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” but realized the storyline from having watched the Bosch series on TV, and stopped reading that because I just wasn’t interested in that story again.