Today the rental agents were supposed to come around to the Longhill Pointe Apartments with a “mortgage” inspection. I decided to leave my apartment for the day, read more of “The Black Ice” at the Main Cumberland County Library in the morning, then go across town for lunch at Pharaoh’s Legacy for a Lamb Gyro Pita and Greek Salad, come back across town to the parking lot, for my cardiologist appointment, and then read some more until my 2:15 pm appointment.
I had been up early most of the morning before having breakfast at home, showering, dressing and leaving for the day, so when I went to the library and started reading, I was sleepy.
I was at the restaurant a little before noon and ordered soon after entering and being seated at a table directly in front of the entrance door. Unfortunately, the Greek Salad wasn’t as good as it normally is. The red onion was thin, the Pepperoncini skin was tough and there wasn’t much Italian dressing. Several previous visits to the restaurant, had delicious salads and the Kalamata olives especially had good flavor. *I even learned how to make the Italian dressing at home satisfactorily. There are things I don’t like in my Greek Salad… cucumber and sweet bell pepper. The basic dressing is easy to make at home: red wine vinegar, olive oil, Italian herbs, S&P, Dijon mustard and some sweetener. I’ve started using Romaine Lettuce (I buy the whole head because it lasts much longer than prepared, chopped Hearts of Romaine, which turns brown quickly.). I have several jars of Pepperoncini, and just bought more Kalamata olives from the Olive Bar at Fresh Market in Fayetteville.
I ate most of the salad, except for some of the tough Pepperoncini, and a bit of Romaine. I ate just a little of the pita bread, and then got a box for the remaining Lamb Gyro in the pita. I was in the doctor’s office parking lot about an hour and a half early, but eventually backed into a spot and started to read my book again. I went in to the office a little after 2pm, and at around 2:15 a nurse came out and directed me back, for a weigh-in, and some other tests. She commented on my loss of weight, as did the doctor later. He set up an appointment for another year from now. *I’m feeling good, but know that at my age, 70, a serious illness (even terminal) might jump out at me, unannounced. And, although I currently am healthy and able to easily take care of myself, cooking, bathing, grocery shopping, etc., if I lose my mobility that would seriously affect my lifestyle.
I don’t really want to move back to Jacksonville, Hubert or Swansboro, NC even though Mary Ann and her family are in Hubert. I am alone in Fayetteville, but I would be pretty much alone wherever I went now.
[NOTE 01/09/25]: When I remember, I take a sandwich baggy with me, to the restaurant, that has some pepperoncini, grape tomatoes & sliced sweet onion, and I now ask my waiter/ess for an extra cup of their Italian dressing. Usually, the restaurant’s pepperoncini has a tougher skin but their Kalamata olives, which I normally can’t find in my refrigerator, have a better taste.
I’m currently reading “Magic Foods For Better Blood Sugar.” Three of the ingredients they suggest for lowering blood sugar include: red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil. These are all included in the Italian dressing.
I haven’t been making many salads for my meals, and most of those are not Greek salads, but I do have some Romaine lettuce in the fridge.
Well, Friday started off with a visit to the cardiologist’s office to have an echocardiogram. I had forgotten that I had this scheduled at 9:30 am on Friday. I originally was planning to get up a little earlier and make it to Greenville, NC by 9:00 am to be one of the first in the Library Book Sale at the Greenville Convention Center. But, no, I knew the doctor’s appointment was more important, and I hadn’t remembered that visit until the 24 hours advanced notice time was past. But, the echocardiogram went quickly and I was on the road to Greenville before 10 am.
I had decided to take Hwy. 13 all the way to Greenville instead of going up I95 and then taking I264 from Wilson to Greenville. The Wilson to Greenville route was a few minutes quicker, but I have driven that route many times through the years, and wanted a more “scenic” trip.
You turn onto Hwy. 13 at Berkley Blvd. to head to Greenville. The Berkley Mall is within sight of this traffic light. I had driven this route at least once before, because I remembered Snow Hill and had taken a picture of a string of old buildings in downtown Snow Hill on a previous “pass through.” Hwy. 258 intersects Hwy. 13 at Snow Hill. I know Hwy. 258 from my old stomping grounds in Jacksonville & Onslow County years ago. I also recall my NC Driver’s License number because part of it has the number 258 in it. I was 24 in ’88 and there is a Hwy. 258.
Even though I had gotten a late start on my trip because of the echocardiogram, I knew I needed to stop and take a “walk around” break from driving. When I was younger it was nothing for me to drive for four hours straight, and stop only to refuel my vehicle. I might not even have to take a “pee” break back then. Now it is the opposite, I usually have to plan for a pee break, whether I need to or not, because I at least feel like I need to. *But, this was the first time that I came up with the idea to go into a grocery story and walk around there. I saw a Piggly Wiggly and drove into the parking lot, got out and went into the store.
I walked through the store, first looking at a spice section, and eventually around to their meat section. The meat section had good looking cuts of meat, and I noted that some of the pork chops appeared to have a good price, per pound. Didn’t really plan to come back to this store on my way back to Fayetteville, but that is what I did do, and I bought a package of pork chops for $1.59 / pound. **I may have even bought the same package of pork chops that I had taken a picture of on my first visit of the day that morning.
The book sale was a little disappointing. I did end up buying two Michael Connelly novels that I didn’t already have, “City of Bones” and “The Lincoln Lawyer.” “City of Bones” is an earlier Bosch novel. Although I like the “Lincoln Lawyer” TV series, I wasn’t enamored with the Haller story I started to read, so I put it down. A note on the book cover for “City of Bones,” is that I have seen that cover before. Probably at one of the book sale visits somewhere. Part of the cover has a raised letter grid that was memorable. Don’t know why I didn’t buy this novel when I saw it at the earlier sale. Also don’t know what happened to “The Overlook” novel that I recorded as having bought in Little Washington, but couldn’t find when I got home, still… to this day.
I bought the two Connelly novels and about 4 other, German Language, books. One of those language books was a novel with a title, in German, meaning something like “The Snowmaiden’s Secret.” Another larger book has a title meaning something like, “First Men” or “People.” And, the check-out woman said my total was $6, so I gave her a $20 and told her to “keep the change as a donation.” She asked me if I was sure, and I said, “Yes.” After all, a donation to most libraries is “a good cause,” and where else can you buy a book for a dollar, or three, or even @$10 for a book that probably originally cost $35?
So, I’ve read eleven of the Bosch novels so far and am currently reading the first, “The Black Echo.” Definitely hadn’t planned on reading any of them, but have enjoyed most of them, and really like the characters and story line differences from the TV series. ****e.g. Irvin S. Irving is white in the novels and black ( played by Lance Reddick ) on TV. It is necessary for him to be white and prejudiced in the book, “The Closers,” for the comment, “Irving is a Jewish name, isn’t it,” to make any sense. I never really noticed the animosity between Irving & Bosch in the TV series, although I do recall an office scene between the two where Bosch has realized that Irving “planted evidence,” shows him the archived photo that proves it, and Irving shreds the evidence in front of him. It is a shame that Lance Reddick died. I liked him in whatever I saw him in, especially “Fringe.”
All through my adult “working” life, I never read much for entertainment. I read a great deal for work, and enjoyed much of that, but I wasn’t interested in “wasting my time” reading fiction, sci-fi or detective novels. I wasn’t interested in historical fiction. If it’s history, I want it to be historically accurate. But, from my historical research on the Cape Fear River steamboats, I do realize that sometimes the researcher/writer has to draw items together, when there is no written evidence as proof. You have to do this just to make the story “come together.”
When I got home, I took one of the pork chops out of the package. They looked good, and they were cut a little thicker, but not actually a thick cut chop. I decided to dice up some onion, jalapeno, poblano, red bell pepper & a couple of small tomatoes and fry the pork chop up on the stove-top. I also added some cayenne pepper and a chipotle pepper and some of the adobo sauce, with sweetener & a little agave nectar. I didn’t fix anything else with the pork chop. No rice, or sweet potato, or even tortilla chips. No slaw or cucumber & onion salad. Any of these extras would have been good with this spicy hot pork chop. It did turn out very well. ***Part of no sides with this meal was because I had eaten a bunch at lunch time. I had a Shrimp Po’Boy sandwich with coleslaw and a side of fried okra. The sandwich and the okra were “good again,” and this time I noted that they had put extra fried shrimp on my plate around the sandwich, and there was a very generous portion of okra. There were so many okra, that I asked for a “to go” box, and a “to go” cup of water with ice. In retrospect, I may have gotten a few extra shrimp and a bunch more fried okra because it was “late” lunch-time and maybe the chef was trying to get rid of these items so as not to have any left (or perhaps not enough for one more plate).
Looking out the back door of Down on Main Street.
I was seated at a slightly different angle my last visit to Down on Main Street, and I think the black throw rug was in a slightly different position, but here was the kitchen door where the waitress came out of and did her dance with the woman customer coming out of the nearby Women’s Bathroom, and spilling some items. But note the man sweeping. Several of the men were in what I would call “a cleaning mode” which is definitely something I don’t have. I’m nasty, but it doesn’t mean I don’t recognize “clean” people, and even appreciate them.
As I am getting ready to pay my bill, and I had already taken my VISA card out (as I normally do), I looked at the ticket and noted that there was an extra charge (less than a dollar) if you didn’t pay by cash. I realized what this meant, but I did verify the meaning with my waitress a short time later. Yes, an extra charge if you paid with a credit card. So I fished around for enough cash and only included a $2 tip. The meal and unsweet tea were about $16. $1.60 would have been a 10% tip, so is that a 12.5 % tip? I think so. This waitress got the job done, but I didn’t really feel that she had “invested” enough in our brief relationship for me to be generous and give her a $3 tip. $2 felt cheap, but cheap I am, and I wasn’t going to pay a credit surcharge if I had enough cash.
This seafood chowder was good, and would be repeatable, but just not as good, this time. However, adding the polenta waffles to it was a definite plus. I placed the polenta cakes on top of the chowder. And, it went well with the cabbage slaw I had made, but the slaw would have been better if it was fresher. The slaw had cabbage, sweet onion, red bell pepper, Dukes mayo, Half-n-Half, S&P and some sweetener.
[NOTE 06/09/24]: I buy polenta that comes in a tubular plastic package, shaped like “Jimmy Dean Sausage” pack. It is already cooked and apparently does not need refrigeration, because it is on display on one of the regular Walmart isles. I can cut off about a half inch thick slice and I think that is about an ounce. For a time, I would place a couple of polenta “rounds” in a waffle iron that I had coated the surface of the iron with cooking oil. They heat up, but do not brown up, but the waffle indentations make a good place of gravy to pool up.
But, having said the above, I haven’t been using a waffle iron to heat up my polenta. I have started putting the polenta in the microwave for about a minute to heat it up and soften it up.
I have put a couple of slices of polenta in my seafood chowder lately. It is almost like adding a cornmeal dumpling to the soup. [end NOTE]
I haven’t made spaghetti sauce in a long time, but in the past, I made it quite often, probably every two or three weeks, and each time I made it there would be at least enough for three meals. I just haven’t needed the extra carbs of the spaghetti noodles, and I can’t imagine substituting zucchini noodles for actual pasta. *I do think I had some zucchini pasta with chicken at the Olive Garden, and wasn’t too thrilled when I found that the cheap special came with the zucchini noodles.
Olive Garden is one of those restaurants that I’ve completely stopped going to, although since my last visit to Dr. Norem (quarterly checkup), I haven’t been eating at very many restaurants. I’ve even pared my weekly visits to Taco Bell down to almost none. A day or so ago when I was preparing my schedule for meals for the next week, I thought of stopping by Taco Bell to buy either a Beef Burrito Supreme or a Crunchy Taco, but when I looked at the calories in just one taco, I decided to not go there,… and I love the flavors of their burrito supremes & tacos & bean burritos.
I haven’t been to the Rainbo in many, many months. Nor have I visited R.K.’s, or Zorbas. I’ve even made my lunch and took it with me twice when I was going up to Cary, Morrisville & Raleigh shopping. Ate twice in the Wegman’s parking lot and think I had a Greek Salad both times. The sesame crackers had become stale the second time, and they keep their crunch a long time. Probably should have put them in a plastic bag instead of actually on top of the salad, in the Tupperware container. Haven’t been to Golden Corral in way more than a year. I had been to the Pizza Hut in Lillington (just across the Cape Fear River) for their lunch buffet several times, but since my doctor’s visit, not once. I will have to say that their pizza and salad needed something, but I’m not sure what.
But this time I started with the intent of making only enough for one, or two meals. Quickly, I realized that you almost have to prepare spaghetti sauce for at least two meals. I had 4 oz. of ground beef, and diced a very small onion, some chopped red bell pepper, added half a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes to about a third of a jar of Rao’s Marinara Sauce, and a small can of mushroom bits & pieces. Italian seasoning, marjoram, bay leaves, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, onion flakes, garlic powder, ground Indian pepper, some dried parsley flakes, S&P, very little chicken stock, Agave Nectar and Splenda. I can see that this is going to provide me with two generous portions of spaghetti sauce, and I am planning to sauté some zucchini and add that to the pasta & spaghetti sauce (at the end). *Recall that fennel seeds are in some Italian sausage and provide a licorice flavor.
I have been to Helen’s Kitchen for breakfast a couple of times, when I visit Hubert & Jacksonville and Mary Ann. And on January 19th, I ate at both Helen’s Kitchen and at Down on Main Street, in “little” Washington, NC. I really, really, really enjoyed the shrimp burger with coleslaw, fried okra and cocktail sauce. Now, these are exceptions to my current eating patterns. And, if I am successful at getting my A1C below 7 this next doctor’s office visit, I might take a quick trip up to Greensboro, NC to “Sticks -n- Stones” Pizza. I love their Margherita Pizza with some jalapenos. The only other restaurant treat might be a visit to Pharaoh’s Legacy for their Lamb Gyro and Greek Salad, and my last visit there (about January 17th) I even carried my own Greek Salad and at the meal out in my car. But, this did throw my resting blood sugar level way high on January 18th, my & Mary Ann’s birthdays.
My change in eating patterns since shortly before my last checkup have greatly reduced my resting Bgl. And that only went up when I couldn’t refill my Trulicity prescription in a timely manner. I went up about 20 points on average until I got on Rybelsus, and then got Trulicity and started back on it. *I only used about 15 tablets of the Rybelsus because I had started to see things about extreme side effects, and then a commercial about another like product that was including Rybelsus in a law suit.
I left the spaghetti sauce cooking on low on the stove-top as I wrote the above, and when I went to it just now, most of the liquid had cooked out and I had enough for two 2-cup containers (only filling each about 2/3rds full). Fortunately, the sauce was just about perfect, and none of it had burned on the bottom of the pot. Sometimes, especially when I am cooking beans, and specifically those large white butter beans, I leave them and at some point realize that the water has cooked out of the pot and the beans on the bottom have become “scorched.” Although not inedible, the overcooked flavor is not my usual goal.
Both the YM Warranty and the BBC Volga appear to be in port at this time. The Warranty is at the Port of LA, and the Volga is at Douala, Cameroon. You know I am enamoured of the vessel Volga and her vast travels around the World since I first became aware of her, as she pulled into the Port of Morehead City in late November of 2022. If I were ever going to teach World Geography, I would hope to incorporate the travels of such a vessel because, and greatly to my surprise, the Volga, in a year almost completely travelled around the World in both directions. She did travel completely from West to East, and then turned around and almost completed the entire journey for East to West. And since, she has also gone through the Panama Canal, travelling completely down the western coast of South America, and then back up the entire eastern coast of South America, going to the Port of Houston, and then Panama City (USA) and then Jamaica and from there across the Atlantic to Cameroon. When you figure that she has been up to Norway, and over to Gdansk, Poland, and then to the UK, and around past the Straits of Gibraltar, across the Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, down and across to Singapore, up to China and all the way to Japan, I think you should be impresses with this “little” vessel. A Handysize container vessel literally travelling the World.
[NOTE 05/04/24]: Well, I was successful in getting my A1C down to 6.7 for my last visit to Dr. Norem, and I had also lost about 15 lbs. during that time. And I think it was the following week that I took a trip up to Greensboro, NC and had a pizza at Sticks-n-Stones. “I love their Margherita Pizza with some jalapenos.” That pizza was good, but it wasn’t the best I have had there. After looking at this picture, the colors are vibrant, and the ingredients look tasty (and they were), but I noticed that the crust was uneven and gigantic around the edges. I began to think that the chef wasn’t really “into” making my pizza, this time. Different chef, maybe?
After Greensboro, I drove to Burlington, then through Gibsonville, and finally to Mebane before heading back south and home. I stopped at the library and a bookstore in Burlington. I found the downtown section of Gibsonville and they had a neat little small toy train setup, and finally I stopped at a used book store just out of Mebane and the the library in Mebane. I had just missed the used book sale at the Burlington Library, and then was told that the Mebane Library is part of the Burlington system.
I’ve stopped going to Taco Bell altogether, and before I got serious about my A1C & weight, I probably would visit at least once or twice a week. Haven’t been to Golden Corral in many months, and for years when I was working, I would probably visit Golden Corral at least once or twice a week. Covid shut down most buffet restaurants, and I don’t have any buffets that I go out to now. I would visit Mi Casita at least once a week, but haven’t been there in a long while. I still will make a special visit to Pharaoh’s Legacy for a Lamb Gyro, but I now order out and eat in my car. I make a Greek Salad at home and bring it along with me for this lunch.
The last time I went down to Jacksonville to see Mary Ann, I didn’t eat at Helen’s Kitchen. And, at the moment, I can’t remember where I did choose to eat, or maybe, now that I think about it, I ate at home before driving down and then had lunch out at Marakesh with Mary Ann.
When I got over to Walmart and started to walk inside I noticed an old man carrying a bouquet of flowers, and I thought, “better late than never.” I thought this because I was actually thinking that yesterday was Valentine’s Day and that he was trying to make up for forgetting the flowers yesterday. As I was walking out of Walmart, there was a young soldier carrying out some flowers, but this time the Walmart Greeter wished him a Happy Valentine’s Day… and then it sunk in, today is Valentine’s Day, not yesterday. I said as much to her as I walked by.
Now a while later, I am eating a pear in my car, about lunchtime, having just come out of a Food Lion. In front of me, several rows ahead in the parking lot I saw a man get out of his truck. He was fiddling, but eventually, he went back to his rear door and opened it, appearing to be ready to reach in for something. But, as he opened the door, the vacuum of air pulled a bunch (about six, shiny red, heart shaped balloons) of balloons from his back seat and out, quickly above his truck. He tried to grab the string dangling down from the balloons, but they were too quick. And once they are out of reach, they are out of reach. He looked briefly, but it was obvious they were gone.
I finally thought to take a couple of pictures with my phone of his truck, and the balloons (already far away). And, here they are.
After I finished eating my pear, the man was still standing by his truck (not still looking at the escaped balloons), and so I drove over, and rolled down my window and told him, “You can tell her that I know you bought the balloons and I saw them float away.” I didn’t know him, but he smiled, and it added to the humor of the moment. *I just went online and see that six balloons aren’t that expensive. It’s not like buying red roses.
[NOTE 02/14/24]: While out today, I got a few new potatoes & small white potatoes at Pate’s Farm Market. Got a couple of cans of Cut Green Beans at Walmart and already had some bacon at home. I had made some cabbage slaw earlier and put it in the refrigerator. I included cabbage, orange bell pepper & sweet onion with some Dukes Mayo and sweetener, S&P. I pan fried a thin, bone-in, pork chop and at the end after removing the cooked pork chop from the pan, I sifted in some Wondra fine flour and added a little water (didn’t have an open box of chicken stock). Made a thick gravy. Also had a slice of White Mountain Bread. Here it is, and it was delicious.
Forgot that I also added a slice of polenta cut into quarters to the green beans, potatoes & bacon. The polenta stayed together and was reminiscent of a corn meal dumpling.
Large white lima beans and black eyed peas with ham hock or other seasoning meat are two of the classic “country cooking” sides in addition to the green beans, potatoes & bacon that might go well with the cabbage slaw. You can add potatoes to black eyed peas to extend the number of servings. Pastry goes well in the lima beans.
My “Aunt Sis” my mother’s sister, Carrie Kellum, cooked well. My mother and I lived with her for a while, and then I lived with her for a few more years, after mom moved to Portsmouth, Virginia to live with another sister, “Aunt Pete,” (Zeta Littleton) until I graduated from Swansboro High School in 1972.
Sis’ home was in Hubert and it was about an hour, each way, by school bus, to Swansboro High. So, in the afternoon it would be a few minutes past 4 pm before I made it home. All through the week, Sis would have a couple of meats cooked on the stove along with about three different sides and good homemade biscuits. I don’t recall how much sugar she put in her iced tea, but it was well over two cups full.
I would rush in from the bus, maybe getting something on a plate from the stove, and then go back to my room to watch TV. And it was Barnabas Collins, a vampire, and “Dark Shadows” that I wanted to see.
I was a fat kid most of my life, but probably during my Junior year in high school, I started drinking a bunch of lemonade without any sugar or sweetener. I had a large roundish, orange pitcher with a looping handle. The pitcher might have been an advertising gimmick from a company like Hi-C. But the lemon juice would have come from “Real Lemon.” I think Real Lemon has been around for that long. I don’t think I cut back on my eating, although I might have, but I began to lose weight. Not sure of what weight I got down to, but by the end of the weight loss, I was able to do one handed pull-ups and chin-ups on an old swing set beside the house. And, I thought of playing college football, although I hadn’t played any sport in high school. I intentionally started to “bulk up.” But, I don’t want to be physically roughed up, and I really wasn’t built to play football.
So, my love of food and riding around for entertainment both came from my Aunt Sis. Mom wasn’t a good cook, but she did fix one meal that was good and that was fried chicken. I think the meal included “store bought” dinner rolls, and whole kernel corn or garden peas from a can, maybe sliced tomatoes or corn on the cob in season. This was long before there were sweet Vidalia onions.
But after Vidalia onions became readily available, my favorite side would be some chopped sweet onion with a mess of black eyed peas & ham hock. In fact for several years I said that black eyed peas would be what I would want for my last meal before dying. And then a few years ago, I cooked some large white lima beans with seasoning meat and they were so good. But now I’m not sure of what meal I would like for my last. Not even sure if I will be able to prepare my last supper, or have the taste buds to enjoy it.
Now I use a bunch of various spices & herbs in my cooking, but growing up there were only two flavorings, Morton’s Iodized Salt, and McCormick’s Ground Black Pepper. We didn’t throw out the ground black pepper, and so the metal tin might begin to rust along the connected edges. I grind most of my pepper freshly as I cook or after the food is done. I found the Indian Pepper a year or so ago, and had to buy a special grinder because it isn’t a little round grain, but curly and hard, but the ground pepper is very pungent.
I think mom was the first, and maybe only person to fry apples for breakfast and with bacon. After they were fried, she would add some sugar and cinnamon. These were delicious! Didn’t have them often, but they were good. Now I fix a fried apple & bacon breakfast at least once a week. I now slice the apple (usually a Gala apple) in half and then use an apple corer to scoop out the hard seedy area. I then slice the halves and add them to the heated & greased pan.
I think mom cored the apple and then sliced it so that each slice was a whole apple slice, and this is what I continued to do when I was making fried apples through the years. I didn’t make them often. But some time ago, probably not more than a year, I decided that I wanted some fried apples for breakfast, and some bacon with them. Now mom only put sugar and cinnamon on her fried apples, and so did I through the years… until I started frying apples pretty regularly for breakfast. I might fry apples at least twice a week, alternating with liver pudding, a scrambled egg & polenta waffles, or egg salad, bacon & whole wheat bread, or a waffle, Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup and bacon, and finally, oatmeal with raisins or dried cranberries, Splenda sweetener.
So, once I started frying apples on a regular basis, I found that I couldn’t consistently core through the apple so that I always got the whole hard seeded part. Finally, I decided to first half the apple, from top to bottom, and then use the apple corer at a slight angle from each end to get the hard seeded part. For each half, this took two “pokes” of the corer, one from each end, and slightly heading downward to get all seeds. I then slice each half in half and then make all the necessary slices.
Once the apples are done, I don’t use sugar, but rather Splenda sweetener, and then I add all the “warm” spices: cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mace, and nutmeg. And recall it only takes about 4 minutes to cook my bacon to perfection in the microwave, saving the bacon grease for more apples or flavoring other things like pork chops, or soup.
Another meal that I enjoyed, but was probably only fixed a couple of times a year, in cold weather, was corned beef, with potatoes & onions in a broth. The broth would only be water. I think I’ve added cabbage to the mix, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. I fixed this for quite a few years, but have fallen out of love with it as much. It still has good flavor, but just not as good to me.
Mom would fix a hard corn bread, fried up in a pan (I guess.) and this might go with fried fish (Spots, Flounder) or with oysters or crabs. Of course, you could bake flounder in the oven adding onions & potatoes.
I recall mom and me going down to the Queens Creek Bridge, during the summer, and walking under it. There were large odd shaped granite stones used to shore up this area. We would have a “dip” net for catching crabs, and a bucket. Probably a 5 gallon plastic bucket for our catch of crabs. We would tie chicken necks to thick twine and throw them into the creek, and then pull the twine in slowly so as not to scare a crab, if it was on the line. You might see bubbles coming to the surface if a crab was feeding on the chicken neck.
I recall eating a “mess of” crabs one day in the little dining room at 204 Johnson Blvd. in Jacksonville, NC. There were only the two of us, mom & me, and she put newspaper down on the table top, and then a plate for each of us, with some steamed crabs on the plate. You just crack the claw shells to get to some of the meat and peel the back shell off the crab, get rid of some of the inedible guts and crack the bottom shell or pull off the little legs to get a small amount of sweet meat on the ends. Takes forever to eat crabs this way, and it is almost not worth the effort, but the meat is good. You end up with a bunch of crab shells spread around your plate on the newspaper, but this makes it easier for cleanup.
Egg salad was simple, with mayo, S&P and maybe some sweet relish. But there was only white bread. Merita. A BLT was of course on white bread, with bacon, sliced tomato, mayo and Ice Berg Lettuce. I don’t recall their being flavorless tomatoes when I was growing up. Today, there are few good flavored large tomatoes. I am guessing that making a tomato that looks good and transports well without rotting has taken precedents over a flavorful tomato.
On one end of Selma Avenue in Los Angeles is Hollywood High School
The only bungalows on Selma Ave. are on the opposite end, where Selma Ave. does a slight “S” crossing N. Gower Street. It was at the “shooting” location of one of these bungalows that “the shootout” occurred during the $2 Mill robbery.
In some ways, Los Angeles seems quite navigable. You begin to build your layout on the main routes, you add some notes of interest, and you learn the freeways that get you from point A to point B more quickly… except during rush hour.
Echo Park is just off the 101, as is the Hollywood Bowl. And you can get off the 101 onto Hollywood Blvd., or below it, Sunset Blvd. and a little further below those Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica Blvd. parallels Hollywood and Sunset Blvds. until it does a dog leg and heads to the Pacific Ocean. And just before you get to the Ocean, there was “Little Ruby.” But, you wouldn’t take Santa Monica Blvd. if you wanted to get from downtown. There are faster routes.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Federal Building – FBI Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Gessler heads up S. Sepulveda Blvd. from the Federal Building, buys gas, and isn’t seen again.
Los Angeles Central Library
Nat’s
Not sure where or if there actually was a Nat’s Bar, but this is the approximate location, “about a half block, south of Hollywood Blvd.” Musso & Frank Grill is behind us and to the right from here, on Hollywood Blvd. To our left if we turn around from this view.
Kate Mantilini’s Restaurant (permanently closed)
Branch Bank
Okay, I do not wear caps. Never have, or never have for very long, and rarely trying them on to see that I really don’t want to wear a cap. But, I bought this one as a test, to try and solve a problem with me reading from my easy chair. I have the floor lamp shown above which is just to the left of my easy chair. I can reach over and pull it to me to turn it on, or turn it off, but when I am reading, the light hits me “directly” at an angle;-) It’s just irritating to try to read for too long with this light glaring at me. So I’ve tried sitting up, or holding the book at a different angle, but all of that is uncomfortable also. At some point I thought that wearing a cap, and having the brim shade my eyes might work… I thought about it for a time. And, I asked Jeff about how much a cap should cost. I think he said it’s about $25. Now, at one point I might have thought $25 was too expensive for a cap, and that $12.95 plus tax was the more reasonable, but this time I went on to Amazon.com and found a cap, a “Port of Los Angeles” cap, black, adjustable (aren’t they all, and this one with a velcro adjuster), and added it to my Cart, but I didn’t complete the purchase. I left for a day or a couple and then came back to it, in a buying mood, and finished the process. Now this cap didn’t include free shipping. That was another $4 or so. And it said delivery would take about 10 days (It didn’t in reality.).
This afternoon, I decided to take a drive, and go grocery shopping for steak and a red bell pepper up toward Lillington. Lillington is about 25 minutes, one way and I’ve shopped at the Food Lion and IGA there quite a few times. As I walked out my front door, I noted a small square box (my new cap) just outside. I brought it in, and sliced it open. Looked in real life as it had in the online photos. I put it on, had to readjust the fit, and then put it back on, and then on backwards, and then on sideways. I took the cap into the bathroom before I left and put it above the Bosch novel I’m currently reading.
After I got back home, I went and got the cap and the volume of “Lost Light” from the bathroom and brought them both back into the living room to test the reading. Works fine in shading my eyes from the floor lamp light. I decide to take a few pictures to illustrate me & my new cap. Oh, and I don’t have any other caps in my apartment or in my car. As I said, I don’t feel comfortable wearing one, and except for reading, I probably won’t wear this one much.
Why did I get a “Port of Los Angeles” cap? Well, as written elsewhere, I had just finished reading “A Darkness More Than Night,” which has a good deal of it’s time spent down near the Port of LA, and Catalina Island. But also, I was watching an episode of Perry Mason and some of that show was down near the Port of LA (but probably late 50s or early 60s), with much fewer cargo cranes, and an LA Fire Station which is probably near where the current one is located very near to the Vincent Thomas Bridge and the Battleship Iowa. *And ironically, a short time after this episode of Perry Mason ended, I was watching a commercial, a Dodge car commercial with Dodge Darts (I think.) from 2023 (just last year), and they were driving across a bridge, but I recognized the bridge, or thought I did. And, later in the commercial, several cars are speeding away from a tall building with the label “Port of LA – Warehouse #1.” I went to Google Maps Street View and found that this warehouse was located right next to the Cabrillo Marina (a setting in the Bosch novel), and a building that the large container ships have to pass when entering or leaving the Port of LA. *And the YM Warranty passed it coming into port just a few days ago, and will pass it again on it’s way out in a day or so. On the opposite end of this warehouse is a large lettering saying something to the effect, “Welcome to the Port of Los Angeles.”
I think my current moustache & beard remind me of those of Michael Connelly. Not intentionally grown for that likeness, but just noted by me. I think Connelly is about three years younger than I am.
Before I forget it, I happened to look at the book cover for the current novel, “Lost Light” and realized what it was showing. I recognized it because I had just read a short time earlier in the novel where Harry, feeling paranoid, and sensing he might be, “being followed,” cuts his car sharply across traffic and into a tunnel, and Connelly through Bosch describes how the car lights, of a following car would show up in the tunnel. *Makes me wonder if the tunnel may have greater meaning that will be revealed later. Otherwise, it would be strange to choose this image for the cover of this novel. Still, I don’t see how it could have greater significance. We will see, or at least I will;-)
NOTE [02/18/24]: This is just a navigational reference that I noticed recently. I was looking at an old posting, and had made note of where the old motel was located in Pulp Fiction, where the Bruce Willis character & his wife stay, just before leaving LA for the last time. By the time I had pulled up the location on Google Maps, the motel had been torn down and a new storage warehouse built there. But I happened to see that you could head in an almost southerly direction to Silver Lake and then on to Echo Park, and then to downtown LA (with all the skyscrapers), but here’s the thing, you now have a straight line all the way to the Port of LA. It’s a long way from Silver Lake to the Pacific, but it is a straight line. And, you could come close to following that line out to Catalina Island and Avalon.[end NOTE]
I originally combined these three ingredients to make a new condiment for my deli sandwiches (ham, turkey). I really enjoyed their flavors together, but have not been eating any sandwiches with deli ham for a couple of months.
But, for lunch today, I decided to mix up a little of this sweet horseradish mustard and I put it on some steamed cabbage, and it was very good. I’m pretty sure it would also be good on steamed cauliflower. I like Toasted Sesame Oil on both of these steamed vegetables, and/or bacon fat, and/or butter.
I had some left-over steak with this cabbage, but I’m thinking the mustard & cabbage would go really well with a pan fried pork chop, and maybe some garden peas.
In November of last year I made some Cabbage with Mustard Sauce and hated it. And I see that I tried doctoring up that mustard sauce recipe, and horseradish and sweetener didn’t work. I think it may have been the flour that ruined everything because the creamy horseradish, yellow mustard and Splenda worked great today. I would make this again.
NOTE [02/19/24]: I just wanted to make a note of this, and didn’t want to start a new posting. Instead of buying a whole roasted chicken from Publix, as I have several times in the past, today I bought a Rotisserie Chicken at Harris Teeter for $6.99 plus tax. I had gone online and found that HT sells whole chickens, and the price was a little less than what Publix offers.
I had begun to dislike the fatty/mealy flavor of the white meat of the chickens from Publix and wanted to see if a chicken for a different store might taste better, or even different. *I know that there is a difference in the amount of meat between a chicken from Smithfield’s Chicken -n- Barbeque and KFC, but those are both fried, not baked. The flavor is different, and the amount of meat is less, not to mention the breading. Oh, I guess I just mentioned the breading.
I haven’t actually tried the chicken from HT, but that is scheduled for lunch tomorrow.
Another note: This morning I weighed the least I had weighed in several, if not 5 or more years. I weighed 249.4 lbs. I surprising to me, had weighed the same amount for three days straight before my weight today, at 249.8. And, my resting blood glucose level was also 101. I think my A1C is going to be below 7.0 my next visit to Dr. Norem. I made a deal with her that if my A1C wasn’t below 7, that I would do as she suggested and start taking insulin. And, I really don’t want to start taking insulin. [end NOTE]
Oneida Golden Julliard FlatwareOneida Stafford Satin FlatwareHampton Forge Zephyr Mirror FlatwareEgg with cheeses, liver pudding & polenta.
This is a satisfying breakfast that is easy to prepare. Use a small skillet on the stove-top and put some bacon grease & some other oil (grapeseed, olive, avocado) in the pan. Slice the casing and remove it from the mush and press the mush down onto the skillet. If desired, slice some onion and put it in the pan with the liver mush. Depending upon how hot the pan is, the mush may begin to form a fine burnt (not to taste) skin that sticks to the skillet but can be scraped up. *Freddy’s hamburgers have a similar skin around the edge of their burgers.
Paint some oil on the surfaces of a waffle iron, and put a couple of slices of polenta on the hot iron surface and close the lid, and press it down and leave it to heat through. **Without the oil, the polenta may stick to some of the waffle iron surface when you try to remove them.
Prepare an egg (maybe two) in a bowl, with S&P, and various spices (marjoram, celery seed, dulse, garlic powder). Put a little oil & water in the egg mixture and beat with a spoon. Put a little oil in the microwave onion cooker, to keep the egg from sticking to the bottom of the plastic container. Cook the egg for perhaps 30 seconds and then add shredded cheese(s), and then finish cooking the egg. A minute or a minute & a half is usually sufficient to melt the cheese and cook the egg thoroughly.
When the egg is cooked, you can just flip the container upside down and slap it on a plate. The oils should cause the egg to release without a problem. ***Without the oil, some of the egg may stick to the bottom of the plastic egg cooker. You now have a perfectly formed & cooked egg, in a round flat shape that you could also put on an English muffin. Add some sliced deli ham and you have an Egg McGibson.
Without an English muffin, open the waffle iron and using a fork, remove the two polenta waffle cakes to your plate. ****You choose whether you want polenta or other bread with this breakfast.
Scrape the liver pudding & onion from the pan making sure to get the burnt bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet.
Add some small grape tomatoes. Slicing the tomatoes will allow you to add salt to the halves/quarters.
[NOTE 02/08/24]: I’ve mentioned cooking this breakfast elsewhere but I’m not sure I’ve ever stated the brand of “liver pudding”. This is “Pender’s Pudding” and I originally bought some at Pate’s Farmers Market (across town, in Fayetteville). But, I have since realized that there are other grocers that sell this. I think I bought some in the Carlie C’s and here is the simple process I used to figure it out.
20240122_111200.JPGGoogle Timeline for January 22, 2024
Note that the file name of the image of the Pender’s Pudding was showing as January 22, 2024 at 11:12 am. I went to my Google Timeline and pulled up that date. Timeline wasn’t sure of where I was visiting at that specific time, but the outlined path made it clear, to me, that I was in the Carlie C’s IGA at that shopping center. *Not sure if I just saw it there, or actually bought it there, but I know the last time I bought it, I didn’t drive across town to Pate’s.
You may also notice that the Pender’s Pudding is vacuum packed, but once the seal is broken you don’t have an endless shelf life in your refrigerator. I know from experience that some has gone bad and had to be thrown out, or almost gone bad (beginning to get a slimy texture to the casing). So, this last time, after I sliced the plastic package open, I cut a slice of liver pudding for breakfast, but I cut the remaining into breakfast portions and put each in an individual re-sealable sandwich wrapper and put these in my freezer. I figure I can take one out a day or so in advance to thaw and hopefully won’t waste the rest.
The problem with this or any meat is that you don’t want to eat it every morning until it is all gone. And, when you rotate through waffles & bacon, oatmeal, eggs & bacon, fried apples & bacon, etc., you might not finish off the liver pudding before almost three weeks (too long, unless you freeze some of it). I do eat a lot of bacon, but it is packaged in 12 oz. sealed packages, and when I open one of these, I slice the bacon in half and then put all of it in a plastic container for my fridge. *I use the re-usable plastic containers that I have bought deli meats from Hillshire Farms in. They have clear plastic bottoms and a red see-through top. The Hillshire Farms advertising is meant to be easily removed from the red plastic top. It is a flat cardboard sheet that is attached to the red plastic top by a few daps of sticky glue. Just pull off the cardboard sheet, and roll the glue up into a ball & throw away. Depending upon where & how much you pay for the Hillshire Farms Deli Meat, it may or may not be cost effective to get these re-usable plastic tubs.
***I haven’t bought deli meat (honey turkey, honey ham, black forest ham, pastrami, corned beef) in quite a while. Actually since I started paying attention to my weight & Bgl, I realized that I didn’t need a deli meat sliced, to go on a bunch of bread. Now, I might buy some pastrami with the intention of making my Pastrami Rachels at home, but this would be an intentional act, knowing I was going to use more bread, buttered & toasted with melted Swiss cheese than usual. A “splurge” eating event. As might be going up to Greensboro to “Sticks n Stones” for their Margarita Pizza (jalapenos extra). Or perhaps going across town to Pharaoh’s Legacy to have their Lamb Gyro, with a Greek Salad. And this reminds me that I haven’t been up to Maguro’s for their lunch special (all the rice, I like but don’t need) in quite a while. At one time I was going weekly up to Southern Pines to eat at Maguro’s.
Also, the one “fast food” place that I had continued, Post-COVID to visit, Taco Bell, I haven’t been to in maybe a month now. I ate there every week, buying a Beef Burrito Supreme, a Bean Burrito & a Crunchy Taco, but sometimes leaving either the bean burrito or the crunchy taco out. I think the last time I stopped at Taco Bell, I only bought one item and don’t recall if it was the Burrito Supreme or the Crunchy Taco. You see, I can and do make/choose other items at home to go with this Mexican Meal. Homemade salsa, with roasted poblano & jalapeno peppers, some cumin & cayenne & Agave Nectar. Some chopped sweet onion, or maybe an avocado cut up. And some sour cream.
I’ve got an opened bag (probably gone stale by now) of Tortilla Chips on my dining table that may have been there a couple of months. I ate a few with some homemade salsa, and then they just haven’t fit into my current eating pattern since. You have a certain amount of calories in a day, but you also have to get all the nutritional value in that same day, so you can’t eat a whole bag of Tortilla Chips and then eat all the other stuff you need nutritionally for that day. **I tried 1 tortilla chip tonight, and they were still crisp & edible.
My Fitness Pal has helped me schedule and plan ahead the foods/meals that I am going to eat. The total calorie intake might not be exact for a certain day, but with a certain margin of error, they are close enough. So, I am eating with two main goals in mind. #1 is to keep my Blood Glucose Level down, and the 2nd is to cut calories to bring my weight down. I know that my Bgl will become more maintainable as my weight decreases.
I haven’t been able to decrease my weight (after having lost a little more than 10 lbs. in couple months period) below 250 lbs. and today was 252.6. I’ve also had a problem with keeping my Bgl down because I wasn’t able to get my Trulicity refilled when needed and eventually switched (maybe just for 30 days) to Rybelsus. But during those couple of weeks what had been averaging around 135 resting Bgl, had kicked back up above 150 Bgl. I’m still not happy with it, and after reading some of the side effects of Rybelsus, I want to return to Trulicity, if possible.
[end NOTE]
I’ve said there are two versions of the Sesmark Rice Thin Crackers and one of the packages is about twice the size of the other, and for about the same price. I know I can get the single channel package at Harris Teeter, where I first bought them. I don’t recall the other store where I bought the four (or 3) channel package, but will be looking because I didn’t notice too much difference between the two crackers.
As I have mentioned elsewhere, I like that Michael Connelly uses real locations in many of his books. I understand that you can’t make a real location a “murder scene” but you can have Bosch, Ballard, or Haller meet in actual restaurants, or suggest a body was found near a public park, and have the school, streets and residence realistically real.
[NOTE 02/04/24]: I’ve read about six of the Harry Bosch or Bosch-Ballard novels, by Michael Connelly in quick succession. I just finished “The Night Fire” this morning and added the El Tinajon Cafe in Las Vegas entry to this posting. But, what I am wrestling with now, is that I have a mental image of a Google Maps “directions map” showing the route that a victim, a young college-age girl, might have taken, bicycling from Los Angeles City College where she was attending, to where she was living. And about half way between her residence and the campus is where they found her dead body, near Lemon Grove Recreation Center. *And, I cannot recall who killed her, or the ending to that story, or even in which Bosch novel the story was included.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Tyrone Power Memorial
But, as to why I even thought about the above geographical layout, is that I flipped back to the first page of The Night Fire in which Harry is limping his way to his mentor’s (John Jack Thompson) funeral and he sits to take a rest at the memorial of Tyrone Power. And the connections I place here is that the dead girl’s place of residence, on Romaine Street, was only a couple of blocks from Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where the funeral is being performed. And, without going back to the novel, I’m not absolutely sure that Romaine Street is the correct street. What I recall is that her street did not go the extra two blocks to get to the cemetery. [end NOTE]
The Night Fire came out in October of 2019. I’m almost three-quarters through the book and Ballard and a representative from the DA’s Office meet for a conference and breakfast at a cafe in Santa Monica, near Ocean Boulevard, called “Little Ruby.” From online this is a NY type restaurant that has an Aussie style. The two women meet briefly, discuss a case and have a breakfast of coffee and avocado toast, and Ballard brings along her dog Lola.
I see from Google Maps & Street View that “Little Ruby” in Santa Monica is now permanently closed, but there are still quite a few photos of what the location, atmosphere and food were actually like. And I now know what an Avo Toast at Little Ruby looks like, or perhaps where the two women might have sat during their talk.
Above is a basic Avocado Toast, but I see that you could top it with 1 or 2 poached, or a fried egg., and/or bacon, etc. And apparently Lola would have been quite at home there.
I must have researched this restaurant previously, seeing it referenced on the Bosch TV Series. I can’t quite tell if they are still in business at this location or not. I do have an image in my mind from maybe a couple of years ago. Seems it was a black couple eating at a small table. I did find their current web site for the Crenshaw location. But Ballard is in the large banquet hall “surveilling a couple of perps.” The web site has a couple of photos showing the banquet hall. There are also pictures of their fried chicken, collard greens and peach cobbler. She would have gotten a couple of cornbread muffins automatically with the meal. Not sure if she got their iced tea.
Harry meets his daughter Maddie “Mads” at Urth Caffé in Old Towne, Orange, CA for a late afternoon snack of Avocado Toast and coffee. He’s catching her just before she needs to go to an evening class. He feels the need to give her “a cancer update.” The cafe, located on Orange Circle, is just a few blocks from Chapman University where Mads is currently attending, but she’s thinking about law school, and going to the “D” (the District) after tonight’s class.
NOTE [04/17/24]: I turned on ABC 7 from LA (perhaps Long Beach, CA) this evening and while watching, I caught a police accident where a fleeing car ran through the circle and crashed into a fountain. Looking at the accident, the traffic circle seemed so familiar. I thought that this looked like one of the Google Street Views that I had recorded for where the fictional character, Maddie Bosch, was attending college and the Urth Caffe was nearby. Sure enough I found the article where the fountain was destroyed back in March. [end NOTE]
Is that an Almond Cheese topping with some micro cilantro? And for only $14.50 not including tax & coffee. Oh, and those heirloom tomatoes are extra…
So, Harry orders Sanddabs at the Musso & Frank Grill. It appeared to be lightly breaded & fried fish. At some point, I asked myself if this was like flounder. The images of prepared Sanddab didn’t appear to be wide enough to be flounder-like, but later I did find that the Pacific Sanddab was a form of flounder.
So I learned two new things. One, was that a Pacific Sanddab was a type of flounder. The other, was in looking at a picture of “Filet of Sanddabs” as served at the Musso & Frank Grill, I noted what appeared to be a covering for the lemon half served on the plate.
El Tinajon in Las Vegas, NV where the Black Widow may, or may not, have gotten her last café con leche with Cuban toast. Ballard and all were there to arrest her.
I’m watching an old British made movie called “Blind Spot,” and a woman just called a man, who was being forward to her, a “cheeky monkey.” This isn’t the first time I’ve heard the term, and I thought I understood the meaning because of how I had always seen it used. It’s sort of “a mild rebuff,” usually between acquaintances, but not necessarily friends. Maybe also being a little too familiar from someone that doesn’t know you well enough, yet, or maybe never will.
The only thing I’ve added to sauerkraut is homemade Thousand Island Dressing. Maybe that’s because the only time I eat sauerkraut is on a Pastrami Rachel sandwich, and as a side for that sandwich. *The short story about me and sauerkraut is as follows: When I was in 3rd or 4th Grade, at Swansboro Elementary School, about 1963/4, we would have sauerkraut as a side for our meal that we ate in the cafeteria. It was probably served with one of those big red sausages, and maybe some applesauce.
One day there was sauerkraut on our plates. I didn’t want to eat the sauerkraut, and I noticed several other boys stuffing their sauerkraut into their empty milk cartons (the little Half Pint size) and taking these up on their trays to the little window where everyone took their dishes when they were finished eating. There happened to be a couple of teachers standing near the window, talking, and checking to see if we had eaten our sauerkraut, and drank our milk. I had drank about half of my milk, before I had stuffed my sauerkraut into the carton and closed it up. *I normally would not do this, but it seemed like a good idea.
Well, a teacher stopped me, looked at my tray and lifted my milk up, and feeling that it was still full, she directed me back to finish my milk. **I now think she probably saw me stuffing my sauerkraut into my milk carton. I went back, sat down, and tried to drink my milk… my milk, mixed with sauerkraut. I gagged. So, for many years I never would even try sauerkraut again. The incident had left a “bad taste in my mouth.”
It may have been on my Spring Vacation 2017 through Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina that I had a Pastrami Reuben, with Swiss Cheese & Sauerkraut (about 50 years later) at Macado’s in Salem, Virginia. The sandwich and experience was so good that I tried a Pastrami Reuben at two other restaurants before returning home, and then got the fixin’s and made it at home a few weeks later. Over time, I learned that adding Thousand Island Dressing to the sauerkraut in the sandwich, “turned” it and made it pleasant. I eventually began to add sauerkraut, with some TI Dressing beside the sandwich, and liked it. I’m not sure I would have ever “really loved sauerkraut” but now I am thinking I may want to add sauerkraut to some of the meals I eat. Maybe add a little sweetener & spices to it and make a delicious side dish for maybe pork chops or Kielbasa sausages.
So, I thought I was finished writing this post, still watching “Blind Spot,” and what to my surprise, the main bad guy, who we’ve not seen until almost the end of the movie is played by a very young, curly haired blonde Michael Caine. I didn’t recognize him in a framed picture at the start of the movie. Oh, and he just drove off the road, the car caught fire, and Johnny is dead, or we hope so because the car is still in flames. The End.
“Blind Spot” has quite a few British actors & actresses that I have seen through the years. Well, I probably saw most of them in the series “Danger Man” with Patrick McGoohan and maybe even “The Saint” with Roger Moore.
I love the way the Saint (Moore) would sometimes, quite often, turn to the camera and talk personally to us, letting us in on some secret about what was occurring, or was about to occur. But, I also like the Saint, played by George Sanders from the 1940s.
I liked the actor George Sanders, even if he was playing a bad, very bad guy in something like “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” with Hurd Hatfield as Gray. And with a name like Hurd Hatfield, I recognize the actor when I see him in other shows, such as an episode of Perry Mason. And I’ve also watched much of the Alfred Hitchcock series and their are many, many actors that I recognize from these episodes.
I just heard a knock on my door. I rarely have a knock on my door, but I quickly recalled that I had an package arriving today. I had ordered a 28 piece silverware set from Oneida a couple of days ago.
Greek Chickpea SaladOneida – Zephyr Mirror 28 Piece Chopsticks Set
I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, that I especially enjoy the Bosch TV Series, and now the novels I have read. Connelly is probably responsible for both the location accuracy in his books and also on the TV series. Many locations can usually be found on Google Maps Street View. And, I like to go to Street View and get a better feel for the locations. So, I was retracing the steps that Harry, the serial killer, and the other police officers and technicians were riding along to get up to Sunset Ranch Hollywood, where the killer had supposedly buried the young woman’s body. Harry had been on the case for 13 years, and now… [This is from “Echo Park.”]
I happened to notice the Beachwood Cafe from Street View. I then went to their web site. Not sure if I saw the Greek Chickpea Salad on their menu, but something about their menu triggered me finding this salad online. For some reason, not the chickpeas, I was attracted to the long handled fork shown with the salad image above. I eventually found for sale online a set that looked “close enough” to the fork… and I ordered a set of four 5-piece place settings, which also came with two chopsticks for each setting (total of 28 piece set).
The Zephyr Mirror order arrived a short time ago. It remains to be seen if I actually enjoy using these utensils to eat my meals.
Beachwood Cafe on the way up to Sunset Ranch Hollywood
I checked out the Zephyr Mirror dinner knife & fork for my lunch today. The knife is shaped in some way to remind me of a doctor’s scalpel. I had a pork chop, bone in, some garden peas and zucchini & Italian tomatoes and a slice of White Mountain Bread. The knife easily cut close to the bone in the pork chop, and the fork handled the garden peas & zucchini.
At the last minute I changed the sides I was going to have with my pork chop. I was slated to have steamed cauliflower and steamed cabbage, but happened to see some garden peas and some zucchini & Italian tomatoes in the fridge. Trying to be better at portion size, I used a half-cup Tupperware container to portion out both the garden peas and the zucchini.
These half-cup plastic containers look small, but there were plenty of garden peas and enough zucchini, and I heated them up in the microwave and then dumped them out on a dinner plate. I saw that the pork chop, with bone, was .75 lbs. If 16 oz. makes a pound, then 3/4s of a pound would be 12 oz. I cut the pork chop in half, diagonally so that each portion was approximately 6 oz. But, one half of the pork chop had no bone and the other half had all of the included bone. **I ate the half of pork chop that had the bone, so now I am thinking that I could half the half and end up with two 3 oz. portions. Three ounces of pork chop with a generous portion of steamed veggies should work out just fine and reducing my calorie intake without leaving me hungry.
Now the half-cup container works for the above two items, but I couldn’t imagine measuring out my Greek Salad in these, or their equivalent. In fact 2 cups of the salad might seem a little small. Not sure if the steamed cabbage or cauliflower would be enough if measured out in half-cup sizes either. And, I think the calories in a lot of cabbage or cauliflower would be relatively low. I love the flavor of both the steamed cabbage & cauliflower. *I also like to flavor both of these veggies with margarine, or toasted sesame oil or bacon grease, or salt or a combination of it all. I’ve also enjoyed baked cauliflower seasoned with Smoked Paprika & Cumin.
Bill Gibson, II 