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.
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.
You have reduced the size of the plastic cap on the box and this makes it hard to open at times. You are saving money by using less plastic to make the cap, but it also makes opening the container difficult. *I heard about this on TV and up until then, I thought I was losing strength in my hands. If you absolutely can’t go back to the slightly larger cap, just don’t have a cap at all. Not having a cap would save you even more money. In the past, when I couldn’t get the cap twisted off the first time, I’ve opened the container like we used to open the little half pints of milk in Elementary school. Open one end of the cardboard container. That still works. Thanks.
So, I go online, sign into my WalMart account and try to post feedback about this product. I get everything in correctly and then the form won’t let me keep the phone number I have entered. I have entered it correctly, checked it again and again, and the simple format should be XXX-XXX-XXXX with the first set of numbers being the Area Code. *Well, one site showed the above format for the telephone number but I finally found that you just enter the ten numbers without any hyphens or other special characters XXXXXXXXXX.
I have started transferring my Half-n-Half creamer to a glass bottle because I like the feel of the cold glass when I am pouring the creamer into my coffee or tea. I am reusing an Egg Nog bottle, that is shaped like the old glass milk bottles that the milkman, in the past, delivered milk to your home. But this bottle is slightly smaller, but still the same shape.
I just recalled that I have another example of how a money saving idea makes something almost useless. I bought a nail clipper at Dollar Tree a few months ago. When I first removed it from it’s plastic package, I thought it was great because it was small and I found I could attach it to my key ring. So, I would have my nail clipper with me wherever I went with my keys, and I would also have my “John Wayne.”
At least that is what I was told it was called by the Marines that had them in the field to open their K-Rations (dark green metal cans of food). A P38 Military Issue. I probably got the one I have more than 50 years ago, and mine is made of steel, not the aluminum version. But the nail clipper proved to be almost useless because it wasn’t the standard size that has been around probably since before I was born. This was smaller, and that reduction in size makes it difficult to use. It just doesn’t fit the hand.
This simple can opener works. I’ve had a problem with some metal cans in the last several years. It may be the strength of the metal in the can. My conventional can opener won’t “catch” and start cutting into the metal can, or it will cut part of the can top, stop working for a little and then start back. The result is a can that is almost open, but not open enough to remove the contents.
I just thought of a joke about John Wayne. Well, it was about the rough toilet paper that has little resemblance to the soft white textured paper in the bathrooms of many homes. They call it “John Wayne” toilet paper because “It’s rough, and tough and it doesn’t take crap off of anybody.”
The Publix I usually go to, just down from Harris Teeter in the Tallywood Shopping Center, discontinued their Deli salads a few years ago. I enjoyed this Quinoa Salad, but also they had a Wakame Seaweed Salad that I liked. I found a jar of Seaweed Salad at Hex in Cary but it has to be “doctored” to take on the flavors that I liked from the Publix salad. Add: soy sauce, red wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes. This reminds me of of the Dolce K Sweet Olive Mix at Whole Foods. Not because of the flavors but because of the complexity that makes up the mix.
I was just on the Publix web site and here are the listed ingredients for their Quinoa Salad.
Ingredients
Quinoa Salad {Quinoa, Lime juice, Canola Oil And Extra Virgin Olive oil Blend, Water, Lemon Juice, Sugar, Contains 2% Or Less Of The Following: Orange puree (Orange Pulp Cells, Concentrated orange Juice, Water, Orange Peel, Orange oil) Sea Salt, Sesame Oil, Spices}, Dried fruit And Nut Mix (Cranberries{Cranberries, sugar, Glycerin, Sunflower Oil}, Peanuts (Peanuts, Canola Oil), Roasted Pumpkin Seed {Pumpkin Seeds, Canola Oil}) Spinach, Edamame {Soy Beans}.
Edamame and soybeans are from the same plant but edamame is picked from the immature soy plant in July and August before it is fully mature. “It’s like picking a tomato that’s still green.” Green edamame is harvested from a still-ripening soy plant.
*I have made this Quinoa Salad at home successfully, but not it quite a while,
As I read the first paragraph I think on how diverse my palate is. Seaweed salad, Quinoa salad, Dolce K Sweet Olive Mix, smoked oysters with homemade hummus, turmeric & vinegar added to tomatoes, sweet bell pepper and sweet onion. Chicken livers & gizzards. Beef/calf liver. Souse and liver pudding. Goat & cow cheeses.
I’m also reminded of the changes that have occurred to the Tallywood Shopping Center since I first came to Fayetteville about 30 years ago.
On the corner was a small garage that I went to for basic maintenance. I don’t recall the name of the place, but the building, after several years of being vacant, was torn down and a drive-thru coffee shop built. Next to the coffee shop location is Biscuitville, which recently (is that one or two years now) replaced the Hardees. And a MiCasita which had been next to a carpet store. But in the back where the new Publix was built were several smaller shops and a (was that?) Belks. One of the smaller shops was School Tools Of Fayetteville NC, which moved for a few years over on Robeson Street, but now is just down from the Harris Teeter and the Post Office.
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The first Publix I recall visiting was in Georgia some years ago when I was visiting either my dad, or my half-sister Donna. Don’t recall what I bought, but after visiting another Publix, elsewhere, I noted that they were a “cut above” and with greater choices. I like this Publix and have a good rapport with the bakery. They will half a loaf with no grumbling. I like the Round Bone Lamb Chops that they have imported from New Zealand.
I also like the frozen shrimp that I use for my Zucchini/Kielbasa/Shrimp dish, but more than once have found that they either don’t have a clue that they sell this product, or can’t manage to put it on the shelf (in a timely manner). And “on the shelf” is rhetorical because the shrimp are in a freezer with a see-thru door. After asking about these, I found myself in a Cary Publix where I had no problem getting the frozen shrimp. *The shrimp come in a resealable bag, but sometimes I divide these into about 15 shrimp in smaller bags and then put them all back in the big reseal bag. Then I just have to put the smaller bag into the microwave under the “2.0” defrost setting. It takes less than 15 minutes to thaw the shrimp, and that allows for the time to cook the pasta (the small shells) . And both of those happen as the kielbasa, onions, and zucchini (with a little tomato to color the sauce) are cooking. *This process reminds me of the precise process I use to make my Pastrami Reubens (Rachels) which turn out perfectly almost every time.
Butter the outsides of the two slices of seeded rye bread and toast’em. Flip them over after the butter and bread are browned and put on a slice of Swiss on each and melt the cheese. Squeeze out the moisture in the sauerkraut to be put on the sandwich, but also put some more sauerkraut on a plate to be mixed with the homemade Thousand Island dressing. *It came to me that if the sauerkraut and dressing were good on the sandwich, they would be good together as a side dish, and they were/are.
The Thousand Island dressing consists of: Dukes Mayo, Heinz Ketchup, Relish, finely diced sweet onion (Vidalia), some hot sauce (Texas Pete not Frank’s), S&P.
I don’t heat the Pastrami but place a slice or two on each toasted slice of the rye bread. The idea being that the melted Swiss and the Pastrami will both keep any extra moisture from leeching out from the sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing and making the bread soggy. And, this works!
The sandwich has a lot of flavor and it isn’t messy, although it could be. Add some chips and a Ranch Dill pickle and maybe a side of the sauerkraut & dressing, and you have a good lunch.
And the Ranch Dill (spear) is easily made. Buy a cheap jar of the Dill Spears at WalMart. Buy a cheap package of the Ranch Dressing powder (about 50 cents at Food Lion) or the Hidden Valley packet for about $1.50. You can drain the juice to mix with the powder and then pour it all back into the pickle jar. Seal it, and put it in the fridge for a day and then enjoy, as needed.
IGA currently has a small, but not single serving size, bag of Wavy potato chips that only costs about $1.48.
The rye bread and the chips are a “splurge” for a Type 2 diabetic, and the salt and fat in the Pastrami…
Did I mention that the plastic container that the Hillshire Farms Pastrami comes in is reusable? If you can buy the Pastrami at WalMart for less than $5, then that makes the reusable container “a deal.” And the company has intentionally made this container easily reusable. Their advertising is printed on a cardboard sheet which is attached to the red “see thru” lid with some of that stretchy gluey stuff. Peels off easily. I have quite a few of the Rubbermaid Easy Find storage containers, but the Hillshire Farms tubs work well for many other things. I recently put some homemade hummus and black bean hummus in a single container. The differences in color of the two hummi (I’ve never used the plural of hummus before, and am not sure if there is a plural… but I know that it ain’t “shrimps,” but “shrimp” looked good in the container. But these smaller containers also work for leftovers, and now that I think of it, I put my bacon (uncooked) in one of the Hillshire Farms tubs. I slice the bacon in half and both halves then fit easily in the small tub.
I have made a quinoa salad before and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. But, it wasn’t something that I included in my regular foods rotation.
This Couscous Salad looked good and I could either create it as is, or modify it to my liking:
I think the basic ingredients shown above include:
couscous
seedless cucumber
tomatoes
walnuts
raisins
coarsely chopped fresh herbs ( any combination of )
fresh parsley
cilantro
basil
dill
mint
S&P
And the dressing was something simple like:
lemon juice
Dijon mustard
honey
I would probably substitute Agave Nectar for the honey and have already.
Oh my! The above Couscous Salad was delicious. I did add some olives but I don’t think they added anything to the overall flavor. I had this salad with baked tilapia, which was very good, again. The panko breading is “spot on,” and adding the Spicy Chili Crisp to the fish just highlights the coolness of the salad. But, I also tried a variation on the salad by using the Jalapeno Lime Dressing which I had tried some time ago. This dressing is much more savory.
The couscous took about 10 minutes to cook. A cup and a half of water brought to a boil, then add a cup of couscous and half teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil again and then lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. While I was preparing the couscous, I chopped up some English cucumber, Campari tomatoes, sweet onion, chopped cilantro and added walnut pieces and raisins and S&P. When the couscous was done, I added it warm to the other ingredients and then in this case put some of the mixture on two different plates. On the one I used the suggested dressing and on the other the Jalapeno Lime dressing. *Forgot, but I couldn’t find the fresh garlic so I used the powdered garlic for the JL dressing. I think I still have enough salad for another meal.
As I was reading I asked myself what category couscous would be put under and the AI suggested that couscous was like pasta, a small pasta also like orzo. And in reading the recipe I think I saw that the chef suggested that you could also use small pasta (maybe pasta shells) instead of the couscous.
I might also add the following, which I consider as having Mediterranean influence: Sweet Onion, Tomato, Sweet Bell Pepper and flavor with vinegar, cumin and turmeric. And I think I’ve also added olives to this mix. The turmeric gives a strong acrid taste. I’ve also added sweetener to this. I think I also added turmeric to some dill pickles.
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 CreamMini 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.
Version 1.0.0
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
“Knock Your Sprouts Off” Bread (there is a low sodium version)
This is a delicious sprouted bread.
AMAZON.COM
Wasabi Soy Sauce Powder
This is the nearest flavor powder to the Wasabi-Soy cashews that I had at Farm Fresh. Great on roasted pumpkin seeds.
AMAZON.COM
S&B Oriental Hot Mustard
This is the hot mustard served in Chinese restaurants to put on egg rolls. It is a powder that has to be mixed with water.
COMPARE
Herdez Salsa Ranchera
Takes the same chicken/veggie dish in a hispanic direction. Patak’s Hot Curry Paste goes toward India Indian flavors.
FARM FRESH
Scottisch Breakfast Tea
Didn’t like it the first time I tried it, but after the second & third times, I love it. Heavy flavor.
FOOD LION
FOOD LION
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
WALMART GOLDEN HEX
Seaweed Salad (Wakame)
Just found this at Walmart in the refrigerated section. It is exellent.
The Golden Hex product needs to be doctored up to make it taste like the Wakame Salad that Publix once sold in their Deli Section. The Zip Group out of New Jersey sells this through Golden Hex in Cary. Add: soy sauce, red wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes
HARRIS TEETER
HARRIS TEETER
Ingelhoffers Cream Style Horseradish
Mix this with some Dijon mustard and add a little sweetener and you have a good sandwich spread for ham/turkey.
IGA
Chicken Gizzards
Simple to fix (bacon grease, onion, celery, chicken stock, S&P) and delicious with either rice or mashed potatoes.
LIDL
Nixe Smoked Oysters
Under $1.50 and has a good flavor.
PATES FARM MARKET
PUBLIX
PUBLIX
SPROUTS
WALMART
Coconut Sugar
This sugar is brown like a raw sugar, but it doesn’t have any coconut flavor. I like it in my coffee. *Sprouts stopped providing this.
WALMART
Hillshire Farms Deli-Style Pastrami
Good pastrami for a Reuben. Comes in an awesome reusable package. Good price under $5. *Recall that these containers are made to be reused. Freezer & microwave friendly, ad on top peels off easily.
WALMART
Hillshire Farms Beef Polska Kielbasa
Great price under $4. This is a main ingredient for my Shrimp/Kielbasa/Zucchini/Pasta dish.
WALMART
Spicy Chili Crisp
I originally bought this as additional flavoring for my stir fries, but am now addicted just out of the jar, or with eggs. Includes peanuts.
WALMART
San Gennaro Traditional Italian Polenta
This brand of ready-made polenta doesn’t require refrigeration until opened.
WEGMAN’S
Agave Nectar (Wholesome)
I like this as an alternative sweetener but it is probably no better for you than honey. Wegman’s has a good price per bottle ($12.99).
WEGMAN’S
White American Cheese
I like the flavor and texture of this cheese. Goes well on sandwiches.
WEGMAN’S
Intense Brie Cheese
I like this Brie. They have recently changed their packaging label. *This got a little expensive and I’ve stopped buying it.
WEGMAN’S
Old Chatham Bucheron Goat Cheese
One of two goat cheeses that I really like. I had a version of this a long time ago when I lived in Jacksonville, NC.
WHOLE FOODS
Capricho de Cabra
Probably my favorite goat cheese. Soft & tart. Good with crackers & raspberry jam.
???
Patak’s Hot Curry Paste
I originally bought this at Harris Teeter, but don’t know who has the best price currently. Mix curry paste/mayo/small capers and you have a good sandwich spread for fried shrimp/ham.
WALMART
Cary’s Sugar Free Low Calorie Syrup
Good on waffles, but can also be used to make a glaze for carrots. Does not thicken on the heat.
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]
They are little things, but still they are so important as first steps toward a more organized life.
I like the idea of compartmentalizing things according to their use, but I rarely, or consistently do this type of organizing. But when I do, I feel a minor, but definite sense of accomplishment.
I’ve recently bought 48 clean, new, glass spice jars, with shiny aluminum screw lids and translucent white plastic filters that snap snuggly on the mouths of the jars. They are squared off, and I kept one of the packing trays (there was a tray for both the top and bottom of these jars to fit into snuggly so that the glass wouldn’t “tink” into an adjacent bottle and break. I’ve filled almost all of these jars with either existing spices that I already had, or recently purchased spices that I thought I might like to try.
I’ve moved a bunch of stuff around on the countertop next to the stove on the side where the spices and a small plastic cutting board lie. Most importantly, I moved the paper towel dispenser away from the stove top (and potential fire hazard) and put it next to the side of my refrigerator and next to that I moved the plastic sandwich bag dispenser. This dispenser is indispensable. I use these bags to store food items both after and before cooking.
Oh, and something I’ve just started using for a different purpose is small colored plastic salsa bowls. The kind with the little plastic legs to steady the bowl. I’ve used a few of these (a bright green and a bright yellow one) for many years for when I make homemade salsa, hummus, or guacamole, but now I am also using one for my Greek God’s Yogurt (plain flavored) to which I’m adding fresh fruit that I have blended in my chopper. The raw (not sure how fresh) raspberries that I pureed turned out extremely flavorful, and were a very pleasant addition to this yogurt. *I recently bought (at the exorbitant price of $4.99) a 3-pak of assorted berries: blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. I plan to blend them and put them in the little plastic Rubbermaid containers, in the fridge, until use.
So first I bought, at separate times, a few more of these plastic salsa bowls and then came up with the idea to use them like monkey dishes. I have some dark blue (outside) and white (inside) ceramic muffin cups that I’ve used for years as monkey dishes putting in various liquid and dry ingredients. I have one of these cups in which I put my olive oil brush. This is to brush oil onto a pan surface or my waffle iron before baking a waffle, so that it won’t stick to the surface.
My salt dispenser sits beside the sandwich bag dispenser.
One of the items I have on the other side of my stove is a large ceramic container in which I put an assortment of kitchen tools. But tonight, very early morning, I decided to clear out some of the unneeded items in this horribly cramped container. Surprisingly, to me, I actually took several items out of this and actually threw them away. I did throw away a shiny melon baller, but I don’t think I will actually miss it. I found a cup sized tea ball, which I actually might use now that I know where it is. But I also plan to move this tea ball to a more visible location as a reminder. I do have a coffee, tea and flavored drink packet area on the corner of my kitchen counter.
The other thing I found was a dark metal pair of scissors. My mother had used them, and they are still a really good pair of scissors, and I’ve just used some olive oil on them for protecting their surface, which I see can rust, but hasn’t much. *Sometime in the last couple of years I recall asking myself, “What ever happened to those black scissors.” And the scissors are what started me writing this particular blog entry. I plan to put them in one of my plastic shoe boxes (for organizational purposes) and then put other “like minded” items in that same shoe box. *I do have a small sewing kit, but the scissors might also be used for cutting paper, which I did just a few minutes ago and they still do a fine job of cutting.
I mentioned the spice jars above, but I still haven’t quite got how I want them laid out. I have tried to come up with a 3 letter code to go on top of each jar, but I still have a few jars that I don’t quite recall what the 3 letters stand for, and a jar or two of spices/herbs that I don’t really recall which ingredient it is. But first I had all the jars alphabetically organized from A to Z. But now I’ve put the most used ingredients in the first two rows nearest my cutting board. It seems vaguely that I might want to categorize these spices/herbs even more. “Most Used,” “Warm Spices” for frying apples, and “Peppery Spices.” For a long time, I would sift each of the warm spices from their separate jars onto the fried apples (on top of the Splenda I had already sifted on them), but then I finally mixed all of these spices and put them in a separate glass jar with a sift lid. It just makes it so much easier to sift from just one jar.
Some time ago, I started organizing a few reusable items in some plastic sandwich bags. These items are rarely needed, but nice to have on hand if and when the need arises: assorted rubber bands (different colors, sizes and widths), various plastic bottle tops (My Agave Nectar dispenser has had a couple of broken bottle tops that it was nice to have an extra unbroken one to replace with.), twist ties (both from bread bags or label ties from Sprouts), and I also keep my yellow plastic “Dukes Mayonnaise” jar lids because they fit perfectly on regular sized canning jars.
One drawer beside my stove includes the most used utensils: apple corer, can opener, vegetable peeler, box cutter, etc. I think it was just a couple of years ago that I bought a 4 pack of the box cutters. They came in 4 separate colors and they have proven to be very handy. I keep one cutter beside my easy chair (for opening various plastic bags and Amazon packages). One cutter is in the drawer beside my stove (for slicing open the plastic bacon package, or slicing off the top of a resealable shredded cheese bag). I have one cutter in my car. And, I don’t recall where the fourth cutter is, but I have a suspicion that I gave it away as a present. These are really useful. *How about for slicing through those annoying thick plastic protective seals. The ones that snuggly protect a new tooth brush, or batteries, or…
Oh, every so often my can opener doesn’t work on a can. I think most times it is the design of the can rim, or the softness of the metal that causes the old standard can opener not to take and slice the metal apart as it travels around the can lid. *For those extraordinary times, I have my “John Wayne,” which I have probably had for more than 40 years. Perhaps even more than 50 years. I might have still been in high school when I found and kept the little steel can opener that was supplied to soldiers for opening their C or K Rations in the field. It has been on my key chain for many years, and when the big opener won’t start or finish the job, that little can opener works “every time.” Yes, it takes longer to open a can with this little tool, but it gets the job done.
This reminds me that I’ve recently bought a new pair of nail clippers. But the problem with these clippers is that they are a smidge too small to be comfortable in the hand when in use. And, I’ve checked at a different store and their clippers were also in this slightly smaller size. The smaller size works for adding them to your key chain, but they are an irritation that I plan to find a solution to… Another pair, slightly larger as they were for many years.
Which reminds me. Yesterday when I left home, my phone wasn’t sufficiently charged up for the day, and I didn’t have a charging cable in the car. I had used the short white charging cable that came with my hearing aids in the car to charge my phone. In the apartment, I used the black charging cable that I switch from hearing aids, phone and Chromebook in a round robin match that works. But, I sent the white cable back in the return of my hearing aids.
So, I’m in Goldsboro with my phone around 25% and falling fast. I don’t want to be without a phone, in case my car “acts up,” or I need to get navigation or an online map, or to check for a product, or location or time of an event, etc. I check for the nearest Dollar Tree and see one. I’m not sure if I’ve been to this exact location before, but I had a slight awareness of where it was located even before using the navigation to drive there. I think it is next to a Walmart, because I saw the Walmart Blue color on the side of an adjacent building, but never actually saw the Walmart name on the building. I was parked askew of that building, and had no need to get a better view. I go into this Dollar Tree and start looking for the USB cables. And they don’t have any. What? The USB cables are always with the assorted smartphone protectors, and the other little, cheap electronic thingys. I look and then I go to the register and ask and the clerk sends me back to where I had been looking. I go back, and they don’t have any, any, any USB cables. How can this be? I go back to the car and google for another Dollar Tree. It can’t be that ALL Dollar Trees in the area are devoid of USB cables. The other Dollar Tree is across town, past Wilbers BBQ. But, this is not an unfamiliar location as I go by it quite often when visiting Goldsboro. There is a dead end road that butts up against the chain link fence next to the Seymour Johnson Airforce Base runway. There are fields on either side of this road and most of the year, except when the crops are tall in the summer, this is a perfect location to come watch the take offs and landings of the fighter jets and the refueling tankers. I’m not the only one who knows of this location and I’ve been there when several others are watching also. Most of the time it is deserted. You might see a white security/maintenance truck in the distance traversing around the runway. I think it may be looking for debris that is on the runway, more than checking on possible intruders.
So I go to the other Dollar Tree and go to the electronics section and here they have at least three different styles of “Fast Charging” USB cables (Type A to Type C). The price on the package is $1.25. I buy one of the fancier looking cables, but would like to buy a couple more and have them about, just in case. My phone was down to 17% by this time, but having the phone hooked up only a brief time, I saw the percentage of charge begin to climb and by the time I was back home I think the charge was close to 60%. I think ALL USB cables should be “fast charging” and cost only $1.25. Why pay $10 or more for this basic cable? *I don’t understand what the difference is between a fast charging cable and a regular (slow charging) one, but it is probably just one extra wire or some such. **Just checked and the fast charging cable is thicker with more insulation which provides a higher delivery voltage, and therefore quicker charging.
On the way back home, I stopped at the drug store in Newton Grove and had a Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, regular cone, for $2 total (including tax). It is $2 for one scoop, but they put what I call one scoop in the cone, and then add another scoop (sometimes it might be half a scoop), but I definitely would call it more than one scoop for the price. Unfortunately for me they discontinued the “Super” Raspberry flavor sometime ago, but they still have enough flavors (probably 20 or a few more) to satisfy. The raspberry ice cream had little chocolate candies filled with raspberry jam. I make this description of the ice cream after having gone online and researched the raspberry flavor. I might be able to get this elsewhere, either in an ice cream shop or in a small container to take home.
Bags of Nature’s Way Farms, Inc. potatoes @ Harris Teeter in Fayetteville
And something else. In the morning, I wanted to go to Nature’s Way Farm near Faison, NC. I checked my phone navigation and turned off Hwy. 13 to head toward the business. It’s out in the country. But this detour took me a different way to a familiar route. I’m not sure if it is a shorter route, but it almost seemed to be. Instead of going into Newton Grove (and circling the round-a-bout a full rotation), I can go this different way and end up on the “on ramp” to I40.
[NOTE 10/29/24]: And so, I guess it continues. I had the desire to have a Lamb Gyro Pita at Pharaoh’s Legacy Restaurant. I normally like to also order the house Greek Salad with this meal. Previously I’ve even made my own version of a Greek Salad, and even made the Italian Dressing at home, and taken it with me to eat in the car, outside of the restaurant. So this time I prepared a sandwich baggy with a few items meant to enhance the flavor of their Greek Salad: an extra Peperoncini, some chopped sweet onion, a Campari tomato, diced, and a few green pitted olives (because I just can’t find any Kalamata olives in my fridge).
From a previous visit, and all the inside fixtures were gone when I poked my head inside the front door a couple of days ago.
I drive clear across town, and park in front of the restaurant and start to go to the front door. I do note that there are no cars parked in front except for some utility trucks away from the front. I pulled the front door open, and there, to my surprise is no restaurant. It has been gutted, and as I start to step back outside, I do see a construction worker come around the corner in the far back. *I should have at least stopped to ask if the restaurant was just being remodeled, or if it was closed permanently. **And, I still don’t know if it is permanently closed because I see nothing regarding their closing on their web site. Maybe a fire, but the place was just gutted and I didn’t smell any smoke.
I decided to drive over to the old, other location. This was the first place I had visited some time before I had my heart surgery. I pull up in front of the other restaurant and another car pulls in ahead of me near the front door. I walk past this person, who is getting out of his car, and open the door. They are open.
I walk up to the counter and get a menu and go over and sit down at one of the dining tables. I already know what I want: Lamb Gyro Pita with a Greek Salad. But, I note that the Greek Salad is more expensive and apparently isn’t available with the Pita as it is at the other location. *I do ask the waitress if the Greek Salad is the full price with the sandwich, and then the waitress explains that this restaurant has different ownership than Pharaoh’s Legacy. I tell her this wasn’t always the case and that when I first visited this restaurant, it had the same owner.
**I do want to mention another thing that I am quite proud of, but not related to this story of Pharaoh’s Legacy. In a moment of insight, I thought about using the old Lazy Susan that I had previously used for my spices. But with the new spice bottles and the matrix that I’ve chosen to use to organize the bottles, I no longer needed the Lazy Susan. The insight was that if it would fit, I could use the Lazy Susan, and place the kitchen tool jar (with my assortment of various kitchen tools: spatulas, juice squeezer, spoons, etc.) in the middle and put some other items: Splenda jar, Sweet-n-Low packet jar, Coconut Sugar jar, corn starch jar, etc. around the outside. This worked excellently! And now all I have to do is spin the Lazy Susan to select what I need to use. [end NOTE]
[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]
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.
Well, I came up with a meal that works well together. It started with me fixing a version of Jalapeno Pork. I had chunks of pork that were large diced like you do beef for stew beef. To this I added several mild peppers that I sliced and diced in various sizes, and one jalapeno. I think I added some chopped onion to this also and put it all in a pot on the stove top along with a little chicken stock, S&P and probably some garlic powder. This turned out relatively good.
Trying to think of something that might go with this, I decided upon fixing a tomato chutney, which might also be called spicy stewed tomatoes with some onion, garlic powder, red wine vinegar, a little Balsamic vinegar, Equal sweetener and some Agave Nectar.
Finally, I fixed a form of quacamole in which I included a half of a small avocado, one chopped tomatillo and a little diced sweet onion. For seasoning I added S&P, some ground cumin, celery seeds, Duke mayo, and sour cream. This became the perfect foil to the spicy jalapeno pork. Very cooling.
And, I also had some flat corn chips from Mission that were salty.
Jalapeno PepperAjicitos Dulces Peppers
I hope I can remember what all I put in this meal because it was “spot on.”
Jalapeno Pork
boneless pork chops cut into chunks
a jalapeno diced
a red cayenne type pepper, diced (frozen also)
a couple of the Ajicitos Dulces Peppers diced (these I bought at Compare & froze several)
diced onion
Green Chilies
Splenda & some Agave Nectar
S&P
Cabbage Slaw
Green cabbage shredded
Sweet Onion diced
Half-n-Half (just a smidge)
Garlic Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Dukes Mayo
Splenda
S&P
[04/13/25]: Tonight I added some Mung bean sprouts (I grew myself.), some sweet red bell pepper and a little Agave Nectar. And I had a few blue corn tortilla chips and this worked well also. [end]
[04/27/25]: Red cabbage works well as slaw. High is Vitamin C and antioxidants. More nutritious than green cabbage. I added Mung bean sprouts again, and they are crunchy like the cabbage, and their color looks good in the slaw with the red cabbage. [end]
Jalapeno Pork Recipe (Smaller Portion)
Ingredients:
0.75 lbs boneless pork chops, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced (remove seeds for less heat)
1 red cayenne pepper (or similar), diced (adjust amount to your spice preference)
2 Ajicitos Dulces peppers, diced
2 oz can of diced green chilies
1 tablespoon Splenda (or brown sugar for a richer flavor)
1 tablespoon Agave nectar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil (or your preferred cooking oil)
Optional: 1/4 cup chicken broth (or water)
Instructions:
Prepare the Pork:
Cut the boneless pork chops into 1-inch chunks.
Season the pork chunks with salt and pepper.
Sauté the Vegetables:
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Add the diced onion and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the diced jalapeno, cayenne pepper, and Ajicitos Dulces peppers. Sauté for another 2-3 minutes, until fragrant.
Brown the Pork:
Add the pork chunks to the skillet and brown on all sides.
Add Remaining Ingredients:
Add the diced green chilies, Splenda, and agave nectar to the skillet.
If the skillet seems dry, add a 1/4 cup of chicken broth or water to help create a sauce.
Stir everything to combine.
Simmer:
Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the pork is tender and cooked through.
Stir occasionally.
Taste and Adjust:
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed. Add more salt, pepper, Splenda, agave, or peppers to your preference.
Serve:
Serve the jalapeno pork hot, with rice, tortillas, or your favorite side dishes.
I was in the IGA and saw this pork chop on sale. I knew I had a couple of thick cut pork chops thawing in the refrigerator, but this looked so good and I knew it would make the jalapeno pork (without chunking it up) and it did. .69 lbs. would be a little over 11 oz. of meat (with bone) so even cutting it in half would yield about 4.5 oz. for two meals at about a dollar a meal.
Cabbage Slaw
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded green cabbage (about 1/4 of a medium head) Option: Red cabbage for green.
1/8 cup diced sweet onion (adjust to your preference)
1 tablespoon Half-n-Half (just a “smidge” for creaminess)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (adjust to your preference)
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek powder (start with 1/8 and add more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds (adjust to your preference)
Option: Mung bean sprouts
2-3 tablespoons Dukes Mayo (adjust to your desired creaminess)
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon Splenda (or other sweetener, adjust to your preference)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions:
Prepare the Vegetables:
Ensure the green cabbage is thinly shredded.
Finely dice the sweet onion.
Combine Ingredients:
In a small to medium bowl, combine the shredded green cabbage and diced sweet onion.
Make the Dressing:
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the Half-n-Half, garlic powder, fenugreek powder, celery seeds, Dukes Mayo, and Splenda.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Dress the Slaw:
Pour the dressing over the cabbage and onion mixture.
Toss everything thoroughly until the cabbage and onion are evenly coated with the dressing.
Chill (Recommended):
For the best flavor, cover the bowl and refrigerate the slaw for at least 20-30 minutes before serving. This allows the flavors to meld together.
Adjust Seasoning:
Before serving, taste the slaw and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Tips and Considerations:
Fenugreek: Since you mentioned fenugreek again, I’ve suggested a slightly broader range. Remember it has a distinct, slightly sweet and sometimes a little bitter flavor. Start with the smaller amount and add more if you enjoy it.
Celery Seeds: Celery seeds add a distinct aromatic and slightly bitter celery flavor. Adjust the amount based on how prominent you want this flavor to be.
Balance: Taste the dressing before adding it to the cabbage to ensure the flavors of the garlic powder, fenugreek, and celery seeds are balanced to your liking.
Makes 1-2 portions.
Approximate Nutritional Value per Serving:
Jalapeno Pork (estimated for roughly 1-2 servings):
Calories: 300-450 (This can vary significantly based on the fat content of the pork chops)
Protein: 30-45 grams
Fat: 15-30 grams (again, highly dependent on the pork)
Carbohydrates: 5-10 grams (mostly from onions, peppers, and the small amounts of sweetener)
Fiber: * Calories: 100-150 (primarily from mayonnaise and Half-n-Half)
Protein: 1-2 grams
Fat: 8-13 grams (mostly from mayonnaise)
Carbohydrates: 5-10 grams (from cabbage, onion, and sweetener)
Fiber: 2-3 grams (from the cabbage)
Combined Approximate Nutritional Value for One Serving of Jalapeno Pork and Cabbage Slaw:
Calories: 400-600
Protein: 31-47 grams
Fat: 23-43 grams
Carbohydrates: 10-20 grams
Fiber: 3-6 grams
Important Notes:
This is a rough estimate. To get a more accurate nutritional value, you would need to:
Weigh all your ingredients precisely.
Use a nutrition tracking app or website and input the exact quantities and brands of each ingredient.
Account for the cooking oil used.
The fat content of the pork chops will have the biggest impact on the calorie and fat estimates. Leaner cuts will result in lower values.
The amount of mayonnaise used in the slaw will significantly affect the calorie and fat content.
Adding blue corn tortilla chips will increase the overall calorie and carbohydrate count.
My Long Pepper grinder has stopped working and I don’t know how or why. *I figured it out. The microplane was rotating with the grinder handle, so no grinding was taking place. I used a small amount of Gorilla Glue on the outside of the grinder and it seated the microplane again, and now it is working once again. **I just did one drop of glue on the outside and not glue all around.
I was in the mood to fix some Jalapeno Pork today and found some boneless, center cut pork chops at IGA. I cut them in long strips and then crosswise to form small cubes. I ate some Blue Corn Tortilla Chips with the Jalapeno Pork I made today. I also ate some cold refried Black Beans and they were very good.
I drove to Lee’s Fresh Market near Benson today (06/25/25) in hopes that I could buy some of the thick cut pork chops I’ve bought there before. I hoped they would have some for sale, and that the price per pound would be low. It was probably about 10 am when I arrived and there were probably 10 customers around the store. I took a red plastic shopping basket and walked around to where the pork was located. I saw a package of thick cut pork chops, but I think the price was about $3+ a pound. Fortunately I continued to look and there was a package at $1.98 per pound, and then I found another at the same price. I think they said something like “Weekly Special” or “Manager’s Special.” But as I put the third package in my basket I noticed that they had another special sticker… “Buy One Get One Free.” Wow! Not only a good price per pound but a great price at half that amount. So I got four thick cut pork chops at about $4 total (plus tax) for the four. I bought 4 packages. I was planning to keep one. To take two packages down to Mary Ann’s and Ray’s tomorrow, and to see if Jeff wanted a pack. I’m not sure if Jeff or Robin eat pork chops, But when I got to Jeff’s and rang the bell and knocked on the front door, I couldn’t get anyone to come to the door. There were no automobiles visible, and although I heard the dog inside, Ashlyn never came to the door. She may have been away.
I ended up leaving a check, and a couple of bags of books for Ashlyn near the front door. I try to get her art related books that might give her ideas for when she becomes a graphic artist. One book was a small one on glass objects. One about brass doors. One about Indian (India) art, and one was a history of England during one or more of her periods of history. I also had a few of the advertising magazines that you find at the front of certain grocery stores like Wegman’s and or Whole Foods. But now that I think about it, I haven’t seen these magazines the last few times I’ve shopped at either store. Odd, I thought.
But, I’m not sure what Ashlyn expects to do as a graphic artist, but I think it would be an interesting profession to work for one of these local color magazines in some U.S. City. You would always be writing copy, or stories, and illustrating each in some way and creating other ads.
Bill Gibson, II 