I think I bought the Chorizo at Whole Foods in Raleigh although that shown below is from the Harris Teeter web site.
The Spanish Chorizo already has a lot of smoked paprika in it, but I wanted to add more, of the smoked paprika and the regular paprika. Mexican Chorizo is more anemic. I add onion to most of my dishes. Regular onion if I am cooking it, and sweet or Vidalia onion if I am eating it raw, as in a salad or on a hamburger. And, I don’t want too much tomato. Just enough to add a smidge of acidity.
The other recipe where I add just enough tomato to give the sauce a slightly reddish tint is my Kielbasa/Shrimp/Zucchini Dish. I didn’t want the tomato to overpower the sauce as if I am making a spaghetti sauce.
I just remembered, I added just a little red wine vinegar. I think I’ve read, and Mary Ann has told me she adds a little vinegar to all of her beans. Although I think carrot would go well in this soup, looking at the picture of what I made, I see no carrot in it. Just little red chunks of tomato.
It may not look very inviting, but it is so delicious. A good flavored soup.
I was in Publix and was about to buy some dark, whole grain bread, and while at the counter, I noticed a package of Sourdough English Muffins. I quickly checked online asking, “Is sourdough diabetic friendly.” The answer came back, “Yes.” So, I took half a loaf of the dark, whole grain bread, and a package of 4 (I think.) sourdough English Muffins and headed to the checkout.
I fixed a homemade Egg McMuffin yesterday using one of the sourdough muffins and it was okay, but I didn’t toast the bread. I may have put the muffins in the microwave and melted the cheese slightly, but the sandwich was “lacking.” But I made a mental note that I should toast the bread in the oven.
I made another Egg McMuffin, at home this morning, and this time I toasted the Sourdough English Muffin in the oven first. I used the copper colored wire rack that Mary Ann had given me some time ago. After I got a little char on the bread, I added a slice, on each half of the muffin, of Wegman’s White American Cheese and let it melt a little while I was cooking the egg in the microwave. It takes about a minute and a half to get the egg just right. One minute and there might still be a little runniness, and add another 30 seconds and the egg is cooked, but not dry.
Somewhere late in the process, I put a slice of the fresh ham, that I had bought at HT (across town), in the microwave but because it started popping, I stopped the heating at only about 30 seconds. I rarely buy “fresh” ham and I did check the package before I bought this to see how much sugar was included and it said only 1% which I thought was very good. I didn’t think to check the salt content. This ham was already cooked and sliced just a little thicker than sandwich thickness. *I thought of using two slices, but then decided not to, and one slice was enough for this breakfast sandwich.
So, the sandwich was: top of sourdough English muffin, slice of White American cheese, slice of fresh ham, microwaved egg, slice of White American cheese and the bottom of the sourdough English muffin. I think I had some garlic powder, Dulse, and S&P on the egg, and a little olive oil, in the egg, and on the bottom of the microwave onion cooker.
This toasted egg, ham & cheese sandwich was delicious. It “hit the spot,” and I would definitely want to have this again.
The fresh ham I bought was a pretty good sized chunk of meat so I divided it up and froze two chunks in the freezer and had a small amount in a sandwich bag in the fridge. I already know that the dark, wheat bread I bought, even though I only bought a half loaf, is too much for me to finish before it goes bad. I still had a little of the French Baguette (LaFarm Bakery, but purchased at Whole Foods) left in a plastic bag but noticed it had become moldy so I threw it out. The Sourdough English Muffins are in the fridge. *And, I’ve just decided to half the half loaf of wheat bread and put half in the fridge also.
Hatfield Ham @ LIDL
*I see that online this 1.5 lbs. (24 oz.) ham is only $3.99. This seems like an excellent price to me. You could get six 4 oz. servings from this ham. *When I couldn’t get the Hatfield ham at HT I went looking elsewhere. I think I paid about $11 for the same sized package of ham (not Hatfield), but then I realized that the $3.99 price I quoted was probably NOT for the whole ham, but was a per pound amount. **And, I just checked and now HT is showing the 1.5 lbs. ham for $7.99 and that appears to be the total cost. It doesn’t say “per pound.” ***I liked the flavor and texture of the Hatfield ham better that what I bought at Walmart.
[NOTE 02/14/25]: Surprise, surprise! I was shopping in LIDL today and while looking across the meat section I saw that they sold Hatfield Ham. I saw what I wanted, and bought it. I want to see if the ham makes the difference when I am making my “Bill McMuffin.” [end NOTE]
SproutsHarris Teeter
While in the new HT, I also checked the availability and price of the Plain Greek Gods Yogurt (see above – 01/04/25). *And because HT has been out of the Plain Greek Gods Yogurt a couple of times, I went looking for another vendor. Sprouts has the Plain for about 20 cents more, but they have it.
I just had some of the plain Greek Gods Yogurt with some blackberry puree that I made. I added a few walnuts to this and it was even better.
Something I started yesterday was taking a small “shot” of red wine vinegar, turmeric, fenugreek powder, Splenda sweetener and a little water if needed, to thin this drink out. I’ve read before and in the “Magic Foods” book I’m currently reading, that vinegar can help regulate blood sugar. Feungreek may also have this sugar regulating control, and I don’t recall why advantages turmeric has, but I think the term is “Golden Milk,” when you mix a little turmeric powder with milk. When I add a little sweetener to that it reminds me of egg nog. Not exactly, but “on the road to.”
It seems that the mixture of vinegar, turmeric and fenugreek causes the mixture to coagulate. Maybe the fenugreek does this because I haven’t noticed that result when adding just turmeric to milk.
*I was “talking” with an AI, ChatGpt the other day about this drink and “out of the blue” it asked me if I had to shake up the jar when I took it out of the fridge. I didn’t prod it for this observation. From it’s vast databank, it knew that Turmeric did not mix with vinegar or water, and would settle in the bottom of that kind of mix. Sort of like when Gemini realized that I was setting up my 2001: A Space Odyssey HAL 9000 scenario. The can be sharp, and they can be an “Idiot Savant.”
I was driving over in another part of town, Fayetteville, North Carolina, last evening and saw something that I liked, a lot. I’ve known that an old service station facility, at least the outside where the gas pumps used to be, was being used for food trucks to park and sell their goods. There were seats outside with awnings & umbrellas for those who wanted to eat nearby. That was all well and good during the spring and summer months, but what I saw last night “warmed my heart.”
Okay, it would take a lot more to warm MY heart, but I looked over at this old gas station and realized that the lights were on inside, and I saw people sitting inside eating. Oh, my gosh! What a brilliant idea to not only provide seating during the warm months, but also provide comfortable seating, inside, during the cold months, or rainy days. Excellent!
I’m not sure what policies and restrictions apply to offer this indoor seating, when the actual cooking is going on outside in the trucks. But, what a way to use, unused buildings.
Posted comment in a Greater Fayetteville Business Journal article:
I lived over in this area for about 15 years, and have lived almost 30 years in Fayetteville since arriving in 1995. I banked just down the block with First Citizens since coming to town, and until Covid had my haircut regularly around the corner. There was a burger chain on the corner across the street, that’s been a pharmacy for quite a while now. All that to say, “I’ve passed this corner many times through the years, and I’ve seen the various changes.” I saw the various food trucks parked out front during the summer months, and noted the shaded seating. But last evening, I drove by and saw the lights on inside and people sitting down eating. I thought this was an excellent use of this facility. Customers could have a choice from the various trucks, and then if it was cold, or rainy, I guess, could sit comfortably inside. And, it has turned cold!
I knew Guy Fieri had ties to North Carolina, and that he was a “good guy,” but I didn’t expect to feel this good about him until this morning. I happened to start watching his 2nd Family Reunion which occurred at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, but I haven’t checked to see how long ago. And not too far into this show, he became “family.” Not related by blood, but related by the love and memories of a special place.
It didn’t take long before he was reminiscing about his trips to Morehead City and how excited it made him feel when he saw the name “Morehead City” on a sign. I might not get that excited about seeing the name “Morehead City,” but I know those warm, homey feelings that I get when I think of all the good times my mother & I had down that way.
We would visit the old Civil War fort, “Fort Macon,” and I would be allowed to roam those grounds by myself. This was before certain areas of the Fort were restricted to the public, because they were dangerous. Pitch black rooms and corners, and uneven broken & worn floor bricks. No electric lights in those dank, dark rooms. Looking through the small gun port holes across the muddy moat. This was long before several rooms were renovated with wooden plank floors, the windows encased in plastic, and air conditioning added. But still long after the Civil War ended.
The reunion group visited Guy’s grandparent’s old house. Someone else owns it now, but Guy had a picture from years ago, and I know where the house is located because you go near or past it, if you are either going over the bridge to Atlantic Beach from the Morehead City side, or heading on to the business district of Morehead City and on over the bridge, and the new bridge to Beaufort. “Bow”fort is North Carolina, and “Bew”fert is South Carolina.
I love ice cream. How about visiting “El’s” Drive-In for a banana split? So many years ago, it seems like it was a Sunday afternoon and mom and I might have just come from Fort Macon. We stopped at “El’s” and I ordered a Banana Split, but it seems by the time I started to eat the split, I must have had a hamburger or hotdog because I was already full.
I see that the first reunion was in 2012 so the second must have been in 2022, a couple of years ago now. Morgan is buried in California.
I went down to Jacksonville/Hubert on Saturday, January 18, 2025 to celebrate Mary Ann’s & my birthday. I was born on her 16th birthday, so she is now 87 years old and I am 71. Amazing!
After breakfast at Helen’s Kitchen and a quick stop by the Onslow County Library on Doris Avenue, I headed up to New Bern with the intention of going on to Minnesott Beach and taking the ferry across to Cherry Branch. I have done this numerous times and it is a short (maybe 20 minutes total, one way) trip. But this time, as I approached New Bern, I decided instead of making the ferry trip, I would head down to Morehead City and drive by Guy Fieri’s grandparent’s home, near the Atlantic Beach bridge.
As I drove through Havelock, I looked over at the abandoned Lidl Grocery building. It’s claim to fame is that I once bought a gallon of milk more cheaply than the jar of dill pickles I purchased at the same time. I think the pickles cost $1.37.
I think eventually they will complete a Havelock By-Pass for US Hwy. 70.That might cut from 15 to 20 minutes off the trip between New Bern and Morehead City. *I just checked Google Maps and sure enough the new by-pass is under construction. I am not sure how long ago the aerial view was made, but many of the overpass bridges were already built, just very little pavement laid.
As I neared the off ramp to the Atlantic Beach bridge, I knew the street I wanted to turn on was probably the last street before the ramp, and it was. The possibility was always that I might pass the right street and have to do a U-Turn, but I didn’t. There it was, just to my left as I turned and slowed down. There was a bunch of “stuff” around the house. Sure enough the street next to the Waterway was a dead end as it neared the bridge on ramp.
It is Friday, January 3rd, 2025. This year seems to be starting off fast.
I just tried mixing fenugreek, turmeric, red wine vinegar and some Splenda sweetener. The taste is pleasant and the fenugreek adds a little quirkiness. I’ve seen a warning of using fenugreek with those who are also using a blood thinner. But fenugreek is supposed to help with maintaining blood sugar levels.
Last Thanksgiving I was visiting my favorite cousin, Mary Ann in Hubert. Her daughter was also visiting, with her husband, and she had brought several things to eat. One of those items was “Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies” from Aldi’s.
I’m a Type 2 Diabetic, so I shouldn’t be trying a sweet cookie, like this, but I did. And, “boy oh boy,” the cookie was delicious. I love a soft cookie, usually not chocolate or pecan, and this cookie was just about perfect. I like the flavor of cranberries and I knew I liked the flavor of an oatmeal cookie.
So, after Thanksgiving I am back in Fayetteville and I decide to go to the nearest Aldi’s to see about buying a “Stolen” Cake to give as a gift to a good friend for Christmas. The friend had introduced me to this German “fruit cake” several years ago, and she had bought hers at Aldi’s. The two flavors that are common are almond and cherry flavored fruit fillings. *Stollen is mostly a cake, in the shape of a baguette, and sprinkled profusely with powdered sugar, and down the center of this cake is a pureed fruit or nut filling. Only one flavor of either a fruit or a nut.
*When you mention a “fruit cake,” I always think of the Claxton Fruit Cakes that we always had at Christmas time when I was growing up. A Claxton (Claxton Bakery, Inc., Claxton, Georgia) fruit cake is a densely packed dried fruit & nut cake, with not much cake between the various fruits & nuts: California raisins, pineapple, papaya, pecans, cherries, walnuts, almonds, and lemon and orange peel.
Several years ago I made a pilgrimage through Georgia just below Interstate 16, on State Road 280. The two towns that I was interested in visiting were Claxton and Vidalia. Claxton for their fruitcake fame and Vidalia for their “sweet onion” fame. I did buy Claxton Fruit Cake in the Claxton Bakery, in Claxton, Georgia. And later, I also bought Vidalia onions in a grocery in Vidalia, Georgia. The heads up: I found when I returned to Fayetteville, that I could buy a bag of Vidalia Onions for the same price in my local WalMart as I had in downtown Vidalia. And a couple of years ago, Harris Teeter had a special on Claxton Fruit Cakes for about $2.99 each. I recognized that price as being noteworthy, and bought several and gave them away as Christmas presents. *I think the Claxton Fruitcake this past Christmas season was selling for $4.99 each.
[03/26/25]: On Monday I drove to Hamlet, North Carolina to have lunch at Seaboard Station Restaurant. They have consistently great fried chicken, and their thin cut pork chops are pretty good too. After lunch I drove past the regional airport and a short distance away was a small, IGA, local grocery.
A glass door freezer, without the Hershey’s advertising all over it.
I’ve visited there once before, and stopped in to see if they had the Hershey’s Roadrunner Raspberry ice cream I like. No, but I bought a small container of their Black Cherry, and the checkout clerk, wrote down the name of the ice cream so she could ask the Hershey’s delivery guy if they could get it. Her wedding buffet was supplied by Seaboard Station. *Beside the Hershey’s “Glass Door Ice Cream Freezer” were Claxton Fruit Cakes on special. They were listed as 2 for $4. So, I bought 4 of them and I’ve already given away two, before I made it back home. [end]
I haven’t done it in a while, but I like to freeze my Claxton Fruit Cakes and slice off a chunk and have it with either cold milk, or hot tea or coffee. **And, when talking about freezing cakes, I also liked to freeze the pound cakes that Bill Korver’s wife, Marcia, made quite a few years ago.
As I was driving along State Highway 280 in Georgia, it must have been harvest season for those Vidalia onions because I passed a large, long field that had been plowed and had several rows, side by side. But, the unusual thing for me was that there were large bags of Vidalia onions (possibly 50 lbs. each) stacked beside each other along each row, and as if each was propping up the next. A string of bags of onions like falling dominos.
… I always thought he was German.
As I mentioned the bags of onions lined up like falling dominoes, I realized that this was one of those rare events that a person can only experience “by being there.” And, I recalled the android character in “Blade Runner” (the original movie, and played by the Dutch actor, Rutger Hauer) as he is dying and waxing philosophical about the things he had seen in faraway galaxies. I too have seen things that only I or a select few have seen.
So, I was in Aldi’s looking for Stollen, but they didn’t have any. I went looking for the Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies and found them. I bought a package and when I got them home and tried one, the cookie was just as delicious as the one I had back at Thanksgiving. I would definitely recommend these Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies from Aldi’s! A soft, sweet, oatmeal cookie and I like cold milk with mine.
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A Heads Up: After a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas, there are certain items at your local grocer that may be temporarily “out of stock.” I’ll mention only a few: milk, eggs, bread, and orange juice. I usually forget about these shortages until, just after the holiday when I am in the store and come to the milk section, and there is a gaping hole where the half gallon of regular milk should be. My first thoughts are, “Why can’t the store plan better? They know that there is going to be a ‘run’ on these items. It’s not like this doesn’t happen every year.” And then the other awareness comes, “Why can’t I plan better? You know there is going to be a ‘run’ on some of these items. It’s not like it doesn’t happen every year.” From me to me, “Just plan better Bill.“
And a further note for next year: “If you want to buy Stolen at Aldi’s next year, you should buy it early and not wait until it is completely out at two different Aldi’s locations in Fayetteville.” Does that sound like I am speaking from experience? Recent experience? “Yes I am!” *Now, I did get a ‘heads up’ from someone that “World Market,” which I had not visited in Fayetteville until a short time ago, also sold Stolen, and they might still have some. *I did go to World Market, and found the rack on which they had their Stolen for sale. But, I was disappointed on two levels: The size of their Stolen cake seemed much smaller than what I had purchased a couple of years ago at Aldi’s. And, the price for this extremely small looking cake seemed a little too expensive. They did have a much smaller Stolen cake, but it was priced at about what I thought the “full sized” Stolen cake should have been priced. But recall, that I don’t currently want to pay $7.49 for a single Country Ham Biscuit for breakfast, either.
[01/05/25]: I was talking with someone in Fresh Market yesterday and they gave me a “heads up” for next Christmas. Check in a day or so before Christmas and you should be able to get a good deal on those Christmas items, like Egg Nog.
I bought some of this Homestead Creamery egg nog at Fresh Market a year ago, and I kept the bottle & cap after I was through. Not too long ago, I poured my Half-n-Half into this container and put it in the fridge. I like the feel of the cold glass on my hand when I get it out of the refrigerator and pour it into my hot coffee or tea.
I didn’t have any egg nog this year, and then just yesterday (01/04/25) I got the urge to have some egg nog. It may be that I’ve been writing about the Christmas presents I received as a child & boy over the years. I knew that most grocery stores don’t have any egg nog as soon as Christmas is over, but I went searching anyway. That was one reason I stopped by the HT across town, but they had none. And, later last night I stopped in the Fresh Market hoping they might still have some of the Homestead Creamery egg nog I had seen in the store earlier in the season. But no, there was none there. The clerk said they usually put egg nog on special just before Christmas so that there will be none to return to the milk supplier. [end].
[ADDENDUM 03/01/25]: I just wanted to add a few photos from the LIDL (near the Mall) in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I have found several items worth buying. I’ve highlighted green beans, bagged carrots, Camembert cheese and half gallons of 2% Milk (@$1.29 a half gallon/limit 6), but recall that they have a good price on Hillshire Farms Beef Polska Kielbasa and Smoked Oysters.
I was just watching the morning news and they mentioned a extremely high priced woman’s hand bag, a Birkin bag. Apparently the real ones cost about $28,000 each. I immediately thought of Jane Birkin and went searching to see if Birkin Bags were named after Jane Birkin. And the Google AI answer was, “Yes.”
Jane Birkin died last year but not too long ago, I saw her in a 1969 movie, “The Swimming Pool,” with Alain Delon, a French actor who died earlier this year. An odd little film in which Delon’s character drowns his “drunk” friend in a swimming pool by repeatedly keeping the friend from getting out of the pool. And Birkin was the “drunk’s” supposed daughter. I didn’t watch until the end of the film, and I was never sure if she was the drunk’s mistress playing his daughter, or really his daughter. Anyway, she was a very young Jane Birkin.
My first memory of Jane Birkin was after I had watched two movies she acted in, “Evil Under the Sun (1982),” and “Death on the Nile (1978).” Both of these movies were made from stories written by Agatha Christie featuring her hero sleuth, Hercule Poirot and played by the actor, Peter Ustinov. Birkin’s name appeared just after Peter Ustinov’s name on the opening credits. Now maybe alphabetical credits, after the star’s name, would be one explanation, but of all the other ensemble actors & actresses, why was Birkin even in those films? Peter Ustinov, Diana Rigg, Maggie Smith, Roddy McDowell, etc.
Up to that point, I never recalled seeing Jane Birkin in any other movies. I wondered who she was screwing to get such name recognition in these two movies. And, in one of the movies she played one of the murderers, having killed the character played by Diana Rigg (the Avengers, Game of Thrones). “Evil Under the Sun” had an ensemble cast which also included Maggie Smith (the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Downton Abbey) & Roddy McDowell.
Within the past three days, I was watching a segment of a film, and I recognized Jane Birkin as she got on the back of a motorcycle. I said to myself, “That was Jane Birkin,” and googling it, yes, she was credited as “motorcycle girl.”
I just read online that Jane Birkin was briefly married to the movie composer, John Barry, until she became pregnant with their child, Kate. I love many of the musical scores Barry has created, “Out of Africa,” 11 of the James Bond movie themes, “Somewhere in Time,” and “Dances with Wolves,” etc.
In 2013, at age of 46, Kate Barry died from a four story fall from her apartment. Her father had died in January of 2011.
My mother about 1971 and no, that’s not a Birkin bag she has on her arm. That bag probably cost her no more than $5 and if we could see her shoes, they might have cost even less, and the dress, although not by a designer, was probably sewn by mom on her Singer “Zig-Zag” sewing machine. She learned how to “read” and layout fabric on dress patterns. She probably made the dress she is wearing in this picture. *Nothing fancy, but hey, not “store bought” either.
And it only took me 55 years to realize that the money she saved on cheap handbags & shoes and handmade dresses, probably went to providing for “little Billie. All the Christmas toys, the new clothes for each school year, and the blue & white, 1971 Pontiac LeMans. *Yes, my name on my birth certificate (created by some “dip shit” at the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital) is spelled “Billie Gene Gibson, II.” On my dad’s last driver’s license he spells his name as “Billy Gibson.”
I saw this breakfast meal in a list of diabetic friendly alternatives. I liked the looks of it, and I had just bought some Romaine lettuce hearts a few days ago, and I knew I had an avocado that was very ripe already. As I read through the ingredient list there was nothing that I would need to substitute or leave out completely. Jalapeno, I had bought several bright red ones yesterday at Compare. The eggs came from Aldi’s because they had a very good price on them . Sweet onion and grape tomatoes (I like the Campari tomatoes.).
I put a little olive oil in my small Guy Fieri frying pan and turned the heat on low on a small top electric burner. Doing without meat is usually not pleasant, but I’ve got to say that this breakfast was delicious and I would definitely like to have it repeatedly. I still like bacon for breakfast, but this was delicious. I think the little bit of jalapeno, with a bite of sweet onion, and then some avocado, and a bit of lettuce and some scrambled egg all worked well together.
06/05/25 pic shown above: Without the Romaine Lettuce (because I didn’t have any), cilantro (because I forgot it) or the lime juice (forgot that too).
Spiffing Up Canned Collard Greens
I had bought a cheap can of Great Value Collard Greens from Walmart the other day in anticipation of fixing some for New Years’ Day. Since it is just myself that I am cooking for, there is no need for me to buy a large bunch of fresh collards, chop them up and cook them down.
I googled for ways to “spiff up” ( my words, not the search words I used ) canned collards. One suggestion was to add a little Toasted Sesame Oil. I like the flavor of TSO, but didn’t try that this time. I have put TSO on steamed cabbage and steamed cauliflower, and it does change their flavors positively.
I still had a shallot that I had bought at Whole Foods last week. I diced the shallot in a small dice. I had a small Russet Potato, that I peeled and diced in a small dice, and
I used two slices of bacon that I put in the bottom of a small pot on my stove top. I added a little bacon grease, some garlic powder, Splenda sweetener, and some S&P. I just wanted the bacon to begin to become tender and the shallot to sweeten with a little heat.
I added a little GV Chicken Broth to the bacon and potatoes and cooked the potatoes until they started to get tender. I then added about half the Collard Greens to the pot and continued to cook.
For the quickness that I used to prepare the ingredients and cook them, this side dish worked very well.
For New Years Day dinner, I heated up some chicken gizzards that I had prepared a few days ago. I had fixed some black eyed peas early this morning to make up for those I had ruined a few days ago by burning them on the stove. They were still edible, but a little scorch just sets everything to “wrong.” But this mornings’ peas were delicious. And with the gizzards and peas I had the spiffed up collard greens. It all worked well together.
For lunch today I had some pork chop, pickled beets, red cabbage slaw and butterbeans (that I had fixed early this morning at the same time I was cooking the black eyed peas). That meal was “okay,” but it didn’t quite float my boat. And breakfast this morning wasn’t quite as good as it was yesterday. Not sure if the avocado wasn’t quite ripe enough, or what. One note is that both mornings the scrambled eggs looked grayish. Not sure why.
CHICKEN GIZZARDS:
Bacon grease
Onion
Celery
Chicken broth
Chicken gizzards
Dulse
Marjoram
Savory
Thyme
S&P
Butter
I think the Savory might be the one ingredient that makes all the rest work. They are all necessary. Not sure if thyme or marjoram are essentials, but they don’t seem to hurt either.
I listed the ingredients in the order that I think they should be added to the pot. The bacon grease flavors the onion & celery and when they become translucent, then either the gizzards or the chicken broth should go it pretty close to each other.
When I grew older as a child, mom and I stopped giving presents on Christmas. If we wanted something we usually got it as soon as we could afford it. We? As soon as mom could afford to buy it, whatever it was. But I want to try to remember some of the special Christmas presents I received and put them in order, if I can. I am guessing that the more cerebral presents came later.
One story I was told was that when I was very young, they (my mom or someone) had asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I had told them I wanted a “Turden Tation.” They didn’t understand what I was saying and kept asking me, and I kept repeating “a Turden Tation” and becoming more frustrated each time. I don’t know how they figured it out, but at some point they came to understand that I was asking for a “Service Station.” I’m not sure if I got a Service Station for Christmas, but I don’t recall it.
We had a long staircase in the old house which went straight upstairs from just inside the front door along the right hallway wall. The Slinky did work as far as walking down the stairs, but not as well as you would see on TV.
I recall getting a football at least once, and probably a Slinky, a couple of Duncan tops and probably a checkerboard. I had the Duncan tops in the 4th Grade because someone stole one of them, but they may not have been Christmas presents. *I just googled for “Christmas toys for children during the 1960s” and was reminded of several toys that I had forgotten.
An interesting aside regarding the stolen Duncan top (I think it was wooden & purple.) was that 30 years later, the person who stole the top admitted it to me at one of our class reunions. His act had worried him for all those years until he finally got it off his chest. I admired him for this admission, and said to myself that if I needed to trust anyone I would choose him because if that one dishonest act worried him for that long, he surely wouldn’t do anything worse. An honest man learns from his mistakes, and does not repeat them.
WIND UP TIN TOY BOAT
This may be the earliest toy I remember having and I was living at 204 Johnson Blvd., in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
The only memory I have of this boat was that I was playing on the porch and mom was out there also doing something else. I wound the boat up and then went over to her and said something like, “Let me show you something.” She bent over and I stuck the boat, aft first, in her hair and turned the propeller on. Her hair immediately wound around the propeller and she was caught fast. She jumped back but the boat went with her and was hanging beside her face dangling from her tangled hair. At some point I think she said something like, “I’m going to have to cut it out of my hair.” I don’t recall if she did have to cut it out, but that might have been the case.
TONKA CEMENT MIXER
The Tonka Cement Mixer was one of the earliest toys I remember getting for Christmas. I think my mom bought it at the store at Palo Alto, which was on the road between Belgrade and Swansboro.
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Palo Alto was the name of the plantation owned by David W. Sanders, the maternal grandfather of Daniel L. Russell, later a Governor of the State of North Carolina. Governor Russell and his wife are both buried a few miles further up the Swansboro-Belgrade Road from the Palo Alto Plantation house shown here.
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TINKER TOYS
I loved building things with Tinker Toys. I never had Lincoln Logs, nor wanted them.
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HOWITZER CANNON
I think my little cast iron Howitzer toy was a cheaper version of the one shown here. I think it was painted army green. But, like the one shown, it originally had little projectiles that actually could be shot out of the cannon. I remember the projectiles as being red and wooden, but the ones here are yellow and look like plastic. I recall playing with this toy, on the floor, in the upstairs junk room.
The cannon had a little trigger that you pulled back, put a projectile in the barrel and then tripped the trigger, shooting the projectile out. *I remember taking a straight pin and sticking it in the barrel so that I could stick it in a plastic Army soldier. He looked like he had been hit by an arrow as I spun him around.
LARGE PLASTIC GREEN TOY SOLDIER
I had one of these large plastic soldiers. Perhaps they came in a set of two or three. It was probably five or six times larger than most other little green plastic soldiers. I don’t recall if my soldier had this same pose, but I do recall that the jagged base of the soldier was the same.
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BALSA WOOD GLIDER & RUBBERBAND PROPELLER PLANE
These toy airplanes were made of the extremely lite balsa wood. They flew, but broke easily. The glider had a metal nose because they often flew into things, or hit the ground hard, nose down.
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The propellered version had a rubber band that you tensioned by turning the propeller in one direction, letting go and as the rubber band lost it’s tension, the propeller turned causing the plane to fly. I don’t recall which parts of these toy airplanes lasted the shortest time, but wings and rubber bands were high on that list.
I just realized that I needed to add some non-present items to this posting in order to get a better feel for Christmas. This is a Christmas tree stand like the one we used for several years. With the live tree, we had the fancy glass ornaments, the colorful electric lights (old style), and loads of tinsel. I’m not sure we ever had the fancy glass tree topper, but I think we probably had a frilly angel to sit askew the top of our tree.
I liked eating the Claxton fruit cake, and drinking the seasonal egg nog from Maola Milk. And, there was plenty of Christmas candy. I liked those pure sugar candy canes, and if we could get some peanut brittle and orange slices, that would be good too.
Watching the story of Rudolph on a black & white TV, with his red nose, and listening to Burl Ives sing, “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” while Charlie Brown and his friends were running around, and then settling into the story of “A Christmas Carol.”
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MARX MYSTERY SPACESHIP
This was a fascinating toy because at the heart of the spaceship was a gyroscope. You would crank the gyro up and hear it hum. You could then do tricks with the spaceship, like balance the red top knob or bottom know on a string and the toy would stay without falling, until the gyro ran down. There were two control seats on the top of the spaceship that had clear plastic domes. You could sit one or both pilots in their seats and then close the clear dome above each. There were small plastic astronauts, like plastic soldiers, and space aliens along with rockets that could be fired.
I no longer have the original toy I got for Christmas, but I bought two of them online several years ago. Neither toy that I bought had a gyro that worked, and one had a broken dome. I would imagine that if you could cut the top from the bottom and reach the gyro mechanism, it would be simple to fix, but I don’t have a schematic of how it is supposed to work, nor do I know of a good way to cut the yellow plastic and then glue it back together.
I said it was fascinating. I remember thinking that you could actually build a full sized spaceship and send it into space with a similar but larger gyro motor.
ETCH A SKETCH
I did enjoy playing with an Etch A Sketch.
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AMF ROADMASTER JR. BICYCLE
I’m not sure if the Roadmaster bicycle was a Christmas or birthday present, but I think mom bought it down at the Western Auto Store in Swansboro.
This wasn’t the full sized bicycle but a smaller version. It was probably just like the bicycle shown in the advertising promo. It was green and off white, and had training wheels. The training wheels had been removed and I had asked my mother to remove the rear carrier shelf. When she tried to remove the rear carrier, a nut was loosened and that allowed the rear wheel to move slightly closer to the front. This caused the bicycle chain to become slack and fall off the gears, as shown in this picture.
This bicycle wasn’t made to ride through sandy soil and grass so I don’t recall using it very much. The tires were made of hard rubber, with no air in them.
FOOTBALL
I recall getting at least one football for Christmas. I know this because I remember going outside and throwing the ball to myself. It rarely snows for Christmas down near the coast. In fact I may only recall snow during the winter months a few times when I was a child.
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AURORA HO SCALE SLOT CAR SET
This was an HO Scale Slot Car Race Set from Aurora. The advertising featured the British Formula 1 race car driver, Stirling Moss. The track was a simple Figure 8 with plastic supports that raised one part of the track above the other to allow the cars to run beneath.
The “slot” part of the track was where a little plastic pin attached to each car fit. This kept the car from sliding too far either left or right, and that meant the metal brushes on the bottom of the car would be in the correct position to transfer electricity from the track up to the car’s little motor. The controller for each car had a little chrome plated steering wheel which actually controlled the speed of the cars. There was also a forward and reverse switch.
I set the track up on our kitchen dining table but one car did not last long. It went too fast around a curve and flew off the track, and then rolled off the table onto the floor below. When it hit the floor a little electrical connector popped out of the car and disappeared somewhere, perhaps in a crack in the floor or the baseboard. Without this little piece, called a commutator, the electricity wouldn’t be conducted to the motor and the car wouldn’t run.
HO Gauge Straight Track Section
GILBERT CHEMISTRY SET
The Gilbert Chemistry set had a bunch of bottles for various chemicals. I seem to recall the set having powdered yellow sulphur and a bunsen burner with a white wick. I think the bottles were square with metal lids. I think there were a few test tubes and maybe even a flask, but I’m not sure.
I don’t recall the “molecular models” item and I don’t recall how many bottles of chemicals, or which chemicals were included in the set. I recognize the metal test tube holder.
MICROSCOPE
I had a black microscope with some glass slides. It had a wooden carrying case with several slots for the slides. I think there were some already example slides with labels. The microscope didn’t have a lamp but had a dual mirror beneath the stage. It wasn’t that powerful of a magnifier. It did have a wooden carrying case with a metal latch.
I think the carrying case had some slots to stick glass slides into.
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MAGIC 8 BALL
Who didn’t have one? “It is unclear. Try again!”
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WALKIE-TALKIES
I almost forgot these. I didn’t have anyone to play with and these required batteries. I think sometimes I could hear Short Wave radio broadcasts, but to my frustration I almost never could understand what they were saying.
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BATTLESHIP NORTH CAROLINA MODEL
I put one of these together, but I don’t recall the red keel.
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CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
This was one of the monster models that I put together. I may have also had the Wolfman.
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THE VISIBLE MAN
I recall making this model of the male human body. It included the skeleton that you put together and eventually you put the see through plastic over the whole thing. I don’t recall if you had the circulatory system and various human organs, but I guess you did..
SKATEBOARD WITH METAL WHEELS
Another toy I almost forgot, the Skateboard (with metal wheels). The only place I could ride my skateboard was across Hwy. 24 at the old Swansboro High School. And really there was only one place over there that was suitable. The walkway leading from the Gymnasium to the Cafeteria and running along side of the Shop. The walkway was made of smooth concrete, and the double doors leading to the Gym were several feet above most of the walkway, so there was a considerable rise to the doors. There was also a railing for a short distance near the doors. This was ideal. You could take your board to the top of the rise, steady yourself by holding onto the railing, while you were “mounting” your board, and then let go. Gravity would start your downhill journey and you had a smooth, but narrow, path for quite some distance. *This never really caught on with me so years later when the equipment took an enormous jump forward, I didn’t jump at all.
I do recall that they had a skateboard race event at the Mullet Festival that year. The race was being held down a steep street, Spring Street (at the top was Chestnut Street and at the bottom was Walnut Street). The surprise was that Billy Owens won the race, I think. Billy was a “big boy” but that was to his advantage because his weight and gravity, and his dexterity to stay on the skateboard, all worked in his favor. And, it didn’t hurt that his house was just a long block away (literally). And as I look at the incline of Spring Street on Google Street View now, it doesn’t appear anywhere near as steep as it did when I was a boy.
COX THIMBLE DROME STUKA J-87 DIVE BOMBER AIRPLANE
I had completely forgotten about getting this gas powered airplane. I don’t recall ever getting it to start the engine. I was afraid of this toy. You would fill a small gas tank and then I think there was a spring with the propelle r and you would use your finger to prime the propeller and the engine should then start at a high spin speed with loud noise.
There was a simple hand controller that was connected to the plane by two thin strings which controlled the plane’s flaps and that would make it go up and down. Since the plane was attached to you by the controller handle, you would stand in the middle and the plane would fly in a circle around you. The tail fin was skew slightly to make the airplane always be trying to fly out and away from you.
I think I went over to the Swansboro High School once and found an empty field, maybe part of the baseball field to try and fly this, but I never got it started. I’m guessing I got this toy about 1966 or 1967. *I moved with my mother up to live with my Aunt Sis, in Hubert, after 8th Grade.
FISHING GEAR
This was the last Christmas present I recall getting as a child. I was probably fourteen or fifteen years old when I got this for Christmas. Mom and I went down to Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier that cold morning to try my new fishing gear. Neither one of us had a clue about fishing and needless to say I caught nothing that Christmas morning. The picture of the No. 9 Penn Peerless reel is the actual present I got that Christmas, but the copper colored tackle box was like the one I had, but no longer have.
GLOBAL STAMP ALBUM
I would suppose that I received this gift when I was older. I don’t recall if I got the fishing gear first or after I got this album. It was a thick multi-page book. Each page was double sided with large sized black & white pictures of each stamp that belonged at a certain position on the page. The pages were organized by country, so I guess the first pages would be Angola, Australia and Austria and toward the end, United States and perhaps Yemen. I don’t recall if their was a holding place for Qatar, but there were quite a few colorful, ornate stamps from the various countries. Some island countries had especially beautiful stamps.
I recall going to a Stamp Shop in downtown Norfolk, Virginia. I don’t remember if I bought any stamps that day, but downtown Norfolk is extremely cold during the winter. My album was stolen when I left it in the attic at 204 Johnson Blvd., in Jacksonville, North Carolina between the time I went off to Seminary (1981) and returned in 1984. There were many stamps in the pages, but quite a few empty spaces.
PETER GANINE GOTHIC SCULPTED CHESS SET
Once again I do not recall when, or if I got this chess set as a Christmas or birthday present, but I did like playing with it. I might have played with it in the 10th Grade. I don’t remember if I played in the Swansboro High School Chess Club my Senior year. The set was weighted with felt bases.
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TRANSISTOR RADIO
PORTABLE TAPE RECORDER
I don’t recall who made the little reel to reel tape recorder that I had. It had an external microphone with a cable. I think it was beige in color, and both reels were the same size and looked like those shown. The mike was similar to the one shown in this picture, and I think there was a little viewing window like the one shown. It was just a very simple tape recorder.
I do recall taping part of an episode of the original Star Trek from the TV so that would have been from 1966-69. This was when you would have to hold the microphone up to the TVs speaker. I must have recorded on the portable Zenith TV since my recollection was being in the master bedroom of the old house.
CASSETTE TAPE RECORDER
I’m not sure when I got my cassette recorder, but I do recall buying a new TDK tape in Jacksonville a few blocks away from my house on 204 Johnson Blvd. TDK was unknown at the time but they had a good price on the cassette and it ended up being a good buy because TDK went on to produce quality tapes.
I really don’t recall what my cassette recorder looked like. It probably was a Sony, and had the basic components as shown in this image.
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MONOPOLY
Did I actually have one of these, or just play the game on other people’s boards? I don’t know.
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It was not my original intention to wax philosophical regarding the Christmas presents I received through the years, but the question came to me, “what was the best present I ever got for Christmas.” Of all the presents listed above, I think the chess set might have been my favorite, and I’m not sure it was a Christmas present. It would have been the most used and I liked chess and played a lot in high school. Second would be the Global Stamp Album just because it was rewarding to collect the beautiful stamps.
Having gone through this list, which may or may not be complete, and how unthankful I seem to be, to the contrary. My mother was an amazing, quiet spoken (most of the time until sufficiently riled) divorced woman who worked diligently for over 40 years, most of those as a “Clerk Typist” aboard the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, and a few years at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. She provided for my food, clothing, shelter and almost all of my needs. She may have “done without,” but I rarely did, as you can see from the above stream of “Little Billie pleasing” presents.
She learned to sew most of her clothes, on a Singer “Zig-Zag” sewing machine. The different shaped disks were used to create different stitch patterns.
She bought several pairs of new shoes, at the twice a year “cheap shoe sale” at the Thom McAn’s Shoe Store. Those shoes may have been as cheap as a $1 a pair, but they hardly lasted six months until the next sale.
She bought a brand new 1964 1/2 Mustang 2+2 Fastback, Prairie Bronze in color and as a High School Senior present she bought me a brand new 1971 Blue & White Pontiac Lemans. The Mustang cost about $2,800 which, at the time, was about her year’s salary. *Amazing when automobile prices began to jump from about $3K to $30K and now on “to the Moon & beyond.”
Day before yesterday I took my Toyota Camry in to have scheduled maintenance. While there I walked around the showroom and looked at a mid-sized Toyota truck. I then looked at the price and it was around $53,000. A full-sized Toyota Tundra was close by, but the rear door window was so tinted that I couldn’t read the price on it. Oh, I think I knew the price. “Out of my reach, yeah that’s it.”
On a Saturday, just before school would start each year, we would either drive to Jacksonville or Kinston, North Carolina to buy my new clothes for the school year. In Kinston, we would go to H. Stadiem Men’s Store, in Vernon Park Mall, and to their “Hub” Department (Fine Men’s Section) and I would buy a couple of sweaters, several shirts and pants and normally I would buy at least one item that by the time school came around, I would be too embarrassed to ever wear to school. But we would never return those items to H.Stadiem.
Two examples of the unwearable items were: a silky white button shirt that had all sorts of colorful old style (a “penny farthing”) bicycles all over it — and another year — a short sleeved shirt, with a colorful African Dashiki design. I’m not sure why I ever thought that I would wear these to school, but my guess is that if I ever had, I would have been severely laughed at all day.
So mom, I know you’ve been dead almost 45 years, but I just want to thank you for loving me and providing for me in so many ways. I am an unthankful son, but I do thank you!
More than 30 years ago, I was eating a version of the Bucheron goat cheese. I don’t recall what store I was getting it from, but it was called “Bucherondin.” I forgot about this cheese when I moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1995 and did not recall it until about a year or so ago when I bought the Bucheron Goat Cheese produced by Old Chatham Creamery (FB) at Wegman’s in Raleigh, I think. It may have been their Cary location. When I got the cheese home and tasted it I immediately remembered that I had tasted this cheese a long time ago and even recalled the name it had gone under back then.
I like different cheeses for different reasons and I like both cow and goat cheeses but the goat cheeses seem to be more distinct in flavor. My current favorite goat cheese is the Capricho de Cabra that I have been buying at Whole Foods for quite a few years. It is tangy and crumbly, and I recently had some on a rice cracker along with some Raspberry Fruit Spread that I bought at Whole Foods.
I show the French Baguette above, baked by LaFarm, but sold at Whole Foods in Raleigh, North Carolina because a little over a week ago I bought a loaf, cut it in half and gave Jeff & Robin one half. I’ve not done that before, but hope someone there might enjoy it as much as I did the other half.
I cut small slices of this baguette off and heated it a short time in the microwave (about 10 seconds) and it came out warm and more pliable and then I spread some butter on it. It tasted good. But another time I just folded a piece of the Wegman’s White American Cheese and ate just that and a slice of the baguette, and it was fantastic! So much so that I marveled that just two ingredients could provide so much pleasure.
*I mean, if I have some black eyed peas, chopped sweet onion and seasoning meat, such as a ham hock, this can elicit the same response, but another item has been added.
**Recently I’ve bought several packages of Chicken Gizzards and cooked the gizzards with a little onion and some chopped celery and a little bacon grease in Chicken Broth. After they are done, and you do have to cook them a long time to get them tender, I eat them with some rice. They have such an earthy flavor and it is very rewarding on such few ingredients. Previously I would cook the gizzards with the rice, but I ended up with too much rice.
There is no good reason to mention the following observation under this posting, but I want to put it somewhere before I forget it.
Someone, and it might have been Ray, mentioned that he thought the dill pickle skins became tougher when you applied the Ranch Dressing powder to the pickle juice. I might have begun to agree with him. I had not eaten one of the dill pickle spears in a while. I had put the Ranch Dressing in the jar a long time ago, but just now the dill pickle skin did seem to be tougher. *And, I was just on another blog site and someone had a question about whether the dill pickle skins seemed tougher after the ranch dressing was applied.
Bill Gibson, II 