Tag: food

Reader’s Digest: Magic Foods for Better Blood Sugar

bgibson135

Reader’s Digest: Magic Foods for Better Blood Sugar

One of those books that I must have found at a library book sale for a buck or two. It’s re-enforcing that my choices, for the most part are good and in line with eating better. There is a test on pp. 60-61 regarding my current eating habits, and I think I did pretty well… Yeah, I did. I just checked and I scored a 27 which was pretty good.

But I just read that Agave Nectar is terrible because it causes blood sugar spikes, and a quick google has found nothing positive about using it. But, somewhere inside, I feel that there is something special about AN. If nothing more, that it causes chocolate syrup or honey to dissolve in cold milk. *If you’ve ever tried putting either of those in cold milk you know that they don’t mix well. They fall to the bottom of the glass, but if you add a little Agave Nectar, and stir, they completely dissolve.

I’ve been enjoying the Greek Gods Yogurt with various fruits or fruit purees that I have made. I pureed some raspberries and added a little Splenda, or I pureed a persimmon and had that with the yogurt. And the other night I added some walnuts to the mix. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries. Loved it all.

I’ve been eating more oranges. Found the Cara Cara orange at Pate’s to be really flavorful. I bought a zester on Amazon and have actually zested several oranges before eating them. I put some of the zest in a sandwich bag and put it in the freezer, and some in a baggie just for current use. The current use is to add it to my Constant Comment hot tea for added citrus flavor.

*But, my goal was to have plenty of orange zest to go into the Dolce “K” Sweet Olive & Fruit Mix (Whole Foods) that I’ve learned to make at home. I haven’t gone back to my test batch that has been in the fridge for several weeks now. I don’t expect it to go bad, but who knows.

Recently, I’ve made some good Chorizo & Lentil Soup, and a good Seafood Chowder. I added more smoked paprika and regular paprika to some Spanish Chorizo (without the skin). I’ve got a basic ingredients list for the Seafood Chowder. The four seafood items currently include: cod fish, chopped clams, bay scallops and shrimp. I also include okra (fresh when I can or frozen), onion, potato, tomato & zucchini.

Since seeing Lee’s Fresh Market ad on TV, and then tracking them down just a couple of miles outside of Benson, North Carolina, I have shopped there repeatedly. It only takes me about 37 minutes one way, back through Erwin to get there. The two things I’ve bought the most there have been their Pepper Bacon and their Thick Cut Pork Chops. As long as the pork chops are on sale, what a deal! I can make at least 3 meals out of each pork chop. If they are a pound each, and even with the bone, you are still going to get a 3.5 or 4 ounce chunk of meat, and they are delicious when broiled in the oven.

[02/08/25]: And, I just broiled one tonight. I found two packages like the one shown above in my freezer and took one out to thaw. I only cooked one for dinner, but yes they still make about 3 meals. Amazing to me how quickly it cooks, being as thick as it is. I think it took about 10 minutes on the first site and then I flipped it for maybe another 4 or 5 minutes and it was done. The meat is still tender & moist on the inside with just a few charred edges, and it’s not raw, but just slightly pink on the inside. I’m now in my Asian seasonings era, so the English cucumber had some Spicy Chili Crisp Oil, Toasted Sesame Oil, Red Wine Vinegar, Splenda Sweetener & Soy Sauce. The Stir Fried Green Beans had Toasted Sesame Oil, Ground Ginger, Red Pepper Flakes and some Soy Sauce.

I look at the image below of the chicken gizzards and yes, they were good. But, I was thinking of buying some chicken livers and Stir Frying them along with some of the green beans. I had a couple of helpings of the Stir Fry Green Beans at the “No. 1 China Buffet” in Asheboro, North Carolina last week.

I picked up a container of chicken livers at the IGA across town this afternoon, but the outside of the container had bloody smears and I couldn’t make out whether the livers were fresh. I put them back thinking I would stop at the IGA in Eutah Shopping Center. That is where I had taken the picture below, previously, of the gizzards. Eggs and chicken prices have gone up, although ALDI’s still has a dozen eggs for under $5, but livers & gizzards are still reasonably priced. [end]

I’ve also bought a bunch of the Sanderson Farms Chicken Gizzards at IGA. They looked good in the store and they translated well in the pot. An earthy flavored delight, that goes well with blackeyed peas and well seasoned collards.

I wanted some collards and blackeyed peas for New Years Day. A little bacon grease starts either, but then I added a white potato to the canned collards. I don’t need to buy a large bunch of collards and cook them down for just one person. The blackeyed peas just need time to morf into something delicious with some chopped sweet onion. The onion goes good on the collards also.

I do eat a bunch of nuts, and some dried fruit. I don’t eat a bunch of dried fruit because of the extra sugars, but I like a couple of pitted prunes (the really moist, shiny dark ones), a pitted date every so often, a few raisins with some roasted pumpkin and walnut pieces. I like the wasabi/soy powder on the pumpkins seeds. I like almonds and cashews, and I love raw peanuts in the shell from Pate’s. I ate them repeatedly for about 3 months until they were no longer available.

I’ve been drinking “Bill’s Drink Mix & Some Real Juice” for months now, and almost every day finishing off a 1 Litre carafe. There are four ingredients in this drink and it doesn’t work for me if any one of them is missing. They include: orange juice, cranberry juice, Pomegranate Lemonade Mix, and Sweet Tea Mix, with water. The majority of this drink is water in which to dissolve the two flavor packets from WalMart.

I bought a new electric wok (Aroma from Amazon) recently, one as a test, and the other as a wedding gift. When I saw the quality of this purchase, I ordered the second one. I go through stages of eating a lot of stir-fries, and then none for a long time, but once I’m into it, they are so easy to prepare the basic ingredients, quick to cook, delicious to eat, and finally cleanup is a breeze.

I like both chicken & shrimp as my protein, but then I want sweet bell pepper, onion, carrots, and a little pineapple. Add some soy sauce and toasted sesame oil, some spicy chili crisp & a little Splenda. If you have the Stir Fry Vegetables great, and Sugar Snap or Snow Peas are icing on the stir fry. And I try to finish off with a slurry of corn starch. Although I love rice, I rarely have rice with my stir fry. I might include a few Angel Hair noodles in the stir fry to soak up some of the juices. *I have stopped by the local Chinese restaurant and picked up a couple of egg rolls to go with my stir fry. These are one of the few fried items I still eat, although some good fried chicken from the Seaboard Station in Hamlet is always appreciated.

I so want tortilla chips to be healthier because I can just imagine that all the ingredients I put in my homemade salsa are healthy: roasted garlic tomatoes, onion, roasted jalapeno & poblanos, some chipotle peppers, some Salsa Ranchera (Herdez) and a little Splenda.

I like making hummus at home. The basic ingredients include: garbanzo beans, tahini, cumin seeds, lemon juice (lime), olive oil and maybe some water to thin it out, if necessary. I like to eat hummus with carrot sticks, some sweet onion & sweet colorful bell pepper. I especially like eating smoked oysters with hummus. The problem is that hummus is high in calories.

I was getting a half loaf of whole wheat, multi-grain bread sliced at Publix and happened to look down and see a bag of Sourdough English Muffins. They looked good, but I knew that regular English muffins were horrible for blood sugar spikes. So, I quickly googled to see if sourdough was diabetic friendly. The AI said, “Yes,” so I bought both items. It has a lower GL than other breads.

I had bought some fresh ham at the Harris Teeter near Pharaoh’s Legacy across town. This ham was pre-sliced and I checked the price online and it was 1.5 lbs. @ $3.99. That’s a great deal. *I have found this ham also at LIDL, but currently it is about $6 for the 1.5 lbs. I divided the ham up when I got home and froze half. I then made an Egg McBill (like an Egg McMuffin, but at my home) using the sourdough muffin. I toasted the bread first, then added a slice on each side of Wegman’s White American Cheese. I heated a slice of the fresh ham, but because it started to “pop,” I only microwaved it for about 25 seconds. I also took a large egg and beat it in a bowl adding, Dulse, ground Long Pepper, salt, and garlic powder. I microwaved the egg for about a minute and a half. **I’ve now tried the Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain English Muffin and it was good, but I prefer the “Knock Your Sprouts Off” – Reduced Sodium, sprouted grain bread from Aldi’s.

I had already put half of the ham on each toasted, melted cheese side of the muffin and I dumped the cooked egg on one of those slices. I put the two halves together and went and ate a delicious Egg McBill. Or is that Bill McMuffin?

Forgive the messy look of this sandwich. The muffin started off distorted and I had to make all the other items fit, but take my word, “This was a very satisfying breakfast.”

I mentioned that the fresh ham was an excellent buy, as was the thick cut pork chops on sale, but another “good buy” is the whole rotisserie chicken at Harris Teeter. I like the meat better at HT than Publix, which tastes a little mealy, and costs about a dollar more. The HT Rotisserie Chicken costs about $7.99, but I can make from four to five meals from the one chicken. The last meal is probably a chicken salad.

*I can also use the chicken carcass & skin to make homemade chicken broth. I freeze some onion tops & bottoms, carrot ends & celery ends (stalk and tips). When I buy a rotisserie chicken I pull off the different meals and then pull off the remaining meat to make a chicken salad, but then I am left with the chicken skeleton. I put that along with any skin I have saved in my stock pot and add the frozen veggie leftovers, along with any fresh carrots, onions and/or celery that I might think is needed. Add some S&P, some garlic or garlic powder and any other seasonings and let it simmer for at least a couple of hours. Strain the broth into containers. I use empty Greek Gods Yogurt containers that have a good snap on lid. I think I filled about 4 containers full with a little left over last time. What’s left in the bottom of the stock pot looks like the refuse that gets caught in a flood.

I have found this Hatfield Ham at LIDL, I think, but I haven’t bought any in a long while because I think the sodium & fat are prohibitive.

Nutrition Facts

SERVING SIZE 3 OZ (84G)
SERV. PER CONTAINER 8
AMOUNT PER SERVING
CALORIES 110
CALORIES FROM FAT 35
% DAILY VALUE†
TOTAL FAT3.5G5
FAT FREE0
SATURATED FAT1G5
TRANS FAT0G
CHOLESTEROL30MG10
SODIUM700MG29
TOTAL CARB3G1
DIETARY FIBER0G0
SUGARS3G
PROTEIN14G
VITAMIN A0
VITAMIN C0
CALCIUM0
IRON2
†PERCENT DAILY VALUES ARE BASED ON A 2,000 CALORIE DIET.

Nuts: Marcona Almonds
Beans: Baked Beans Original 28 oz-Bush’s WAL
Beans: Black
Beans: Chia Seeds SPR
Beans: Edamame WAL
Beans: Fava – Broad WAL
Beans: Garbanzo
Beans: Green
Beans: Green Split Pea
Beans: Refried
Beans: Wax (Yellow)
Beans: White Chili Beans – Bush’s
Bread: Bagel Blueberry – WGM
Bread: Bisquick
Bread: Cereal FL
Bread: Ciabata Roll WGM PUB
Bread: Crackers Wheat Snacks PUB
Bread: Deli Rolls HT
Bread: English Sourdough Muffins ⁷PUB
Bread: French Baguette WF
Bread: Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
Bread: Oats Quaker Quick 1-Min.
Bread: Onion rolls – WEG
Bread: Panko Bread Crumbs
Bread: Polenta – HT/WAL
Bread: Rice Thins Black Sesame 365 WF
Bread: Savory Rice Thins Sesmark HT
Bread: Seeded Rye
Bread: Tortilla White Corn WAL/GV
Bread: Tuscan Boule Loaf – PUB
Bread: White Mountain Bread – PUB
Bread: Yeast
Broth Beef
Broth Chicken WAL
Chocolate Dark, No Sugar Added Lily’s WF
Clean: Ammonia
Clean: Bug Spray WAL
Clean: Cleaner Carpet Resolve
Clean: Drain Cleaner
Clean: Hand Towels
Clean: Laundry Detergent All WAL
Clean: PineSol
Clean: Soap Dish Detergent Dawn Platinum WAL
Clean: Soap Dishwasher Detergent Cascade WAL
Clean: Toilet Bowl Cleaner WAL
Clean: Trash Bags Hefty 30 gal. 6n1
Condiment: Chili Texas Tail Gate
Condiment: Curry Paste, Hot Pataks
Condiment: Dressing Ranch Hidden Valley WAL
Condiment: Dressing Ranch Packet: 4Dip
Condiment: Garlic Powder IGA
Condiment: Green Chilies
Condiment: Horseradish Cream Style Inglehoffer WAL
Condiment: Ketchup
Condiment: Mayo Dukes
Condiment: Mustard
Condiment: Mustard Stone Ground French’s HT
Condiment: Oil Avocado
Condiment: Oil Coconut
Condiment: Oil Olive
Condiment: Pepper Indian Long
Condiment: Peppercorns Black
Condiment: Peppercorns White
Condiment: Pesto Mix Knorr HT
Condiment: Salt
Condiment: Salt Pink
Condiment: Salza Ranchera Sauce
Condiment: Sesame Oil Toasted
Condiment: Soy Sauce Kikoman
Condiment: Spicy Chili Crisp WAL
Condiment: Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
Condiment: Tahini
Condiment: Tomato Paste
Condiment: Vinegar Apple Cider
Condiment: Vinegar Red Wine
Condiment: Vinegar White
Dairy: Butter Grass Fed
Dairy: Buttermilk
Dairy: Cheese 4 Italian Blend
Dairy: Cheese 4 Mexican Blend LIDL
Dairy: Cheese Baby Swiss WEG
Dairy: Cheese Bucheron WEG
Dairy: Cheese Capricho de Cabra WF
Dairy: Cheese Cream
Dairy: Cheese Feta Athenos
Dairy: Cheese Feta WEG
Dairy: Cheese Grated Italian Mix
Dairy: Cheese Grated Parmesean
Dairy: Cheese Intense Brie WEG
Dairy: Cheese White American WEG
Dairy: Cream Heavy
Dairy: Half n Half Creamer FL IGA WAL
Dairy: Margarine IGA
Condiment: Chipotle Peppers
Dairy: Milk FL WAL
Dairy: Sour Cream Breakstone FL WAL
Dairy: Yogurt Greek God’s Plain HT
Drink: Coffee Starbucks Breakfast Blend WAL
Drink: Iced Tea Mix WAL
Drink: Juice – Cranberry
Drink: Juice – Orange IGA WAL
Drink: Juice – Pomegranate SPR
Drink: Juice – Real Lime
Drink: Juice Muscadine/Scuppernong – Hinnant Vin.
Drink: Pomegranate Lemonade Mix WAL
Drink: Tea – Constant Comment Bigelow
Drink: Tea – Earl Grey Bigelow
Drink: Tea – Raspberry Royale WEG
Drink: Tea – Roobios HT
Drink: Tea – Scottish Breakfast Taylors FF HT
Eggs IGA ALDI
Fruit: Apples Gala WAL
Fruit: Apples Granny Smith
Fruit: Bananas
Fruit: Blueberries
Fruit: Cranberries Dried SPR
Fruit: Currants Zante – Sun-Maid HT
Fruit: Dates Medjoul
Fruit: Figs Raw
Fruit: Guava
Fruit: Limes
Fruit: Mandarin Oranges
Fruit: Olive Castelvetrano WF
Fruit: Olive Kalamata
Fruit: Oranges – Cara Cara PATES
Fruit: Pear Raw
Fruit: Pineapple (canned)
Fruit: Raisins SPR
Fruit: Raspberry Fruit Spread 365 WF
Fruit: Strawberries
Health: Baking Soda
Health: Band Aids
Health: Cotton Swabs
Health: Cotton Swabs Alcohol CVS
Health: Deodorant
Health: Disposal Sharps WAL
Health: Drugs CVS
Health: Multivitamins Mens 50+ WAL
Health: Nail Clippers
Health: Peptobismal
Health: Rasors Disposable
Health: Test Strips
Health: Toilet Paper
Health: Toothpaste Colgate
Herbs: Mint
Kitchen: Bags Plastic Sandwich WAL
Kitchen: Bags Plastic Trash 30 Gal WAL
Kitchen: Coffee Pot Glass TAR
Meat: Bacon IGA
Meat: Bacon Pepper LEES
Meat: Beef/Calf Liver SKYLARK – FL
Meat: Chicken Canned WAL
Meat: Chicken Gizzards IGA
Meat: Chicken Livers IGA
Meat: Chicken Raw
Meat: Chicken Roasted HT
Meat: Chicken Tenders
Meat: Chorizo WF
Meat: Deli Estonskaya (Groezinger) 1/3 lb. Hex
Meat: Deli Kabanosy Podsuszane 8 links Hex
Meat: Ground Beef / Hamburger IGA
Meat: Kielbasa Hillshire Farm Beef Polska – WAL
Meat: Lamb chop, round bone PUB
Meat: Liver Pudding PATES IGA FL
Meat: Liver Smoked Pate Nueske’s FF
Meat: Pastrami Deli Hillshire Farm WAL/WEG
Meat: Pepperoni sliced IGA
Meat: Pork Chop LFM
Meat: Pork Tenderloin
Meat: Sausage FRSHMKT WAL
Meat: Sausage Salami Pepper WEG
Meat: Steak
Nuts: Sesame Seeds
Nuts: Almonds SPR
Nuts: Cashews FL
Nuts: Peanuts Raw PATES
Nuts: Peanuts SPR
Nuts: Pistachios – SPR
Nuts: Pumpkin Seeds – FL SPR
Nuts: Walnuts – SPR
Olives: Castelvetrano
Olives: Green California WF
Olives: Kalamata
Other: Glue Super
Other: Strainer for Canned Beans
Other: Bath Rug
Other: Batteries Rechargable AAA
Other: BIC Lighters
Other: Cigars JRs
Other: Flour Jar
Other: Ice Trays
Other: Kitchen Stove Lamp
Other: Light Bulbs Overhead
Other: Organizers Shoe Boxes
Other: Placemat Round 15″
Other: Thyme & Table Dishes WAL
Other: Trash Sm Plastic Personal WAL
Other: USB Charging Cable $Tree
Other: USB Wall Charger – $Tree
Other: Wall Tape
Pasta: Angel Hair
Pasta: Couscous
Pasta: Shells Small WAL
PIckles: Dill
Pickles: Sweet Bread & Butter
Prepared: Egg Roll
Quinoa SPR
Seafood: Salmon
Seafood: Clams Chopped WAL
Seafood: Cod Fish PUB
Seafood: Crabmeat
Seafood: Oysters Smoked – LIDL ALDI
Seafood: Scallops Bay PUB
Seafood: Sea Scallops PUB
Seafood: Seaweed Salad HEX
Seafood: Shrimp deveined, peeled, tail-off PUB
Seafood: Tilapia HT
Snack: Chocolate Chips Ghiradelli
Snack: Chocolate Chips Sugar Free – SPR
Snack: Popcorn
Snack: Potato Chips Wavy Small Bag – IGA
Snack: Tortilla Corn Chips – Mission
Soup: Cream of Celery
Soup: Cream of Mushroom
Spice: Ajwain
Spice: Bay Leaf
Spice: Cayenne Pepper
Spice: Celery Seeds TAR
Spice: Chives
Spice: Cinnamon
Spice: Curry Leaves
Spice: Dulse EARTHFR FOOMTR
Spice: Garlic Powder
Spice: Ginger Minced WAL EARTHF
Spice: Mace
Spice: Marjoram
Spice: Oregano
Spice: Parsley
Spice: Pepper Whole Black
Spice: Pepper Whole White
Spice: Thyme Dried
Spice: Turmeric Ground
Sweetener: Agave Nectar Wholesome⁸ WEG
Sweetener: Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup WAL
Sweetener: Splenda
Sweetener: Sugar Coconut WAL
Sweetener: Sweet’N Low
Veg: Arugula
Veg: Asparagus
Veg: Avocado WAL
Veg: Beets WAL
Veg: Broccoli FL WAL
Veg: Brussels Sprouts PATES
Veg: Cabbage – Green
Veg: Cabbage – Red
Veg: Carrots
Veg: Cauliflower
Veg: Celery
Veg: Cilantro
Veg: Collard Greens Canned
Veg: Corn – Frozen
Veg: Corn Creamed
Veg: Corn Mexican Style FL
Veg: Corn on Cob WAL
Veg: Corn White Canned
Veg: Cucumber
Veg: Cucumber Seedless
Veg: Eggplant
Veg: Garden Peas Frozen
Veg: Garlic Raw
Veg: Green Peas – Frozen
Veg: Leeks
Veg: Lettuce Ice Berg
Veg: Lettuce Romaine WAL FL
Veg: Mushroom Pieces
Veg: Okra
Veg: Okra Frozen WAL
Veg: Onions Regular FL
Veg: Onions Spring
Veg: Onions Vidalia FL
Veg: Peas – Sugar Snap
Veg: Peperoncini WAL
Veg: Pepper Braz. Starfish/Trinidad Perfum/Biquinho SFM
Veg: Pepper Jalapeños
Veg: Pepper Poblanos WAL COM FL
Veg: Pepper Sweet Bell FL WAL
Veg: Pickles Dill WAL
Veg: Pickles Sweet No Sugar
Veg: Potato Sweet Fresh
Veg: Potatoes Russet
Veg: Potatoes White/Yukon Sm
Veg: Sauerkraut -WM Silver Floss
Veg: Shallot
Veg: Spinach Fresh
Veg: Spinach Frozen
Veg: Stir Fry Vegetables Polar WAL
Veg: Sweet Potato Canned
Veg: Swiss Chard Red FRESHMKT
Veg: Tomatoes Campari
Veg: Tomatoes Diced Fire Roasted
Veg: Tomatoes Flavor Bombs
Veg: Tomatoes Roma
Veg: Tomatoes Sundried California
Veg: Water Chestnuts Sliced
Veg: Zucchini

Round Bone Lamb Chop & …

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I find it difficult to imagine that I’ve not got a page dedicated solely to the Round Bone Lamb Chop. Well, I find it difficult to imagine that I could write a whole posting dedicated solely to anything, as my mind goes off on one tangent after another. I will write something and it will remind me of something else, and something else, and something else…

But, here goes.

I now have a brand new “non-electric” wok from VinChef. It is beautiful on the inside and on her bottom.

Vinchef wok

I mentioned the “oven safe” wok first because it is perfect for broiling a couple of round bone lamb chops in the oven.

I’m not sure of the first time I ate a round bone lamb chop, but I definitely had several pleasant experiences eating a lunch special at Sherefe in downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina. They are no longer located there but they seared the lamb chop very well.

I do remember going to Sherefe for their round bone lamb chop lunch special one time. It must have been a long time since they had last offered this special, because I order it and when it arrived at my table I saw the char it had on the lamb chop and realized that it was exactly what I wanted. I guess I was expecting it to be boiled.

Sprouts – Australia

I saw a good looking lamb chop at Sprouts recently and took this picture of it. It’s not a “round bone” chop, and it’s from Australia and not New Zealand (as is Publix).

I may have even bought a round bone lamb chop at Sprouts, but normally I buy from Publix because they seem to have the freshest presentation, even though their Greewise brand is imported from New Zealand.

Sourdough English Muffin – Publix

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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]

Sprouts
Harris 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.”

Aldi’s: Oatmeal Cranberry Cookie

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Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies from Aldi's

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.

[end]

2024: A Small Present on Christmas Morning.

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— present day —

I was visiting Mary Ann and family down in Hubert, North Carolina for Christmas 2024. There is only one other person in the household that likes to get up and have breakfast. I’ve always loved eating breakfast and basically go by the adage that “a good breakfast is necessary to have the energy to start every day.” You don’t need a large meal at dinnertime, although I might not have faithfully adhered to that suggestion most of my life.

So, I found myself on Christmas morning, up early with no place to go… to get a good breakfast. Since Mary Ann doesn’t eat breakfast, there usually are no breakfast foods in the fridge. There usually are “left overs” from a previous meal, and sometimes that works for me. But I decided to go out for an early Christmas morning drive. Every breakfast restaurant was closed, except for a Starbucks over in Cape Carteret. I did have a hot cup of Taylor’s Scottish Breakfast tea before I left Mary Ann’s.

Looking out the Swansboro Burger King at the old farm place.

I did a brief tour around the family cemetery (QC Elementary) and then drove around the Burger King, and then on to Swansboro for a brief drive down the waterfront. Then I went through Cape Carteret, over the bridge, and on to Bogue Island.

— a memory —

Sometimes when I am crossing this bridge I think back to one of my high school proms. I think John Sharp had his dad’s truck that had a camper on the back. John, Steve Cooper and myself went down to “The Point” after our prom and spent the night, drinking “Boone’s Farm Apple” and “Strawberry” wine. I had bought brand new shiny black shoes to go with my rented tux, but they were too tight to wear for very long.

Anyway, next morning, I was planning to go see Debbie, who lived on the other side of the Waterway across the “not yet opened” bridge. The bridge was completed but it hadn’t been opened to traffic yet, so I had John drive me up to the bridge and let me out. He would have to drive all the way back to Morehead City to cross the bridge there, and then all the way back down Hwy. 24 past Cape Carteret, thru Swansboro and on even past Hubert to where he lived at Piney Green.

I was wearing my new black dress shoes, the only ones I had with me. I don’t think I even had socks on, but I started walking across the bridge. I’m not sure if I made it all the way over the bridge before I had worn blisters on the back of each of my heels. I took the shoes off and continued to walk beside the road.

They hadn’t opened the bridge yet, but they had planted grass seeds beside the road and spread straw over it and sprayed black tar on the straw to keep it from blowing away. A great idea unless you are walking barefoot, with blisters on your heels. As I walked the tar stuck to the bottoms of my feet, and then the straw stuck to my tar coated feet. After a short distance, I had a wonderful shoe made of my straw & tar coated foot. I would have walked past the Cape “C” Shopworth convenience store on my travels. This was the only store along Hwy. 24 here, nothing else but woods. I think the Circle K convenience store is either built on or on top of where the Cape “C” Shopworth was located.

I must have been a sight as I walked up the driveway to Debbie’s house. If you had only looked at my feet you might have thought of me as a perverted version of the Scarecrow from “The Wizard of OZ.” They took pity on me, but I couldn’t go inside with my tar covered feet. And, it was no easy matter to remove the tar & straw mixture. I think Debbie eventually drove me in the little Blue AMC Gremlin back to Sis’s house in Hubert. I manually pulled off some of the straw and tar, but I think we also tried to use something like paint thinner or some other solvent to remove the tar. Eventually I got the straw & tar off my feet, and could wear shoes again, but not the black dress shoes anytime soon.

— present day —

I decided to drive down to the end of the island, where an old Coast Guard Station had been located.

— another memory —

Along this route is where, long ago, when I was back in high school, I went riding with John Sharp & maybe Steve Cooper. John had a small light grey/blue VW station wagon. A nice little car for a student, but not as nice as the 1971 Pontiac LeMans mom got me for my Senior Year present. But John found himself racing someone he knew down this road. John was slightly behind whomever he was racing when he came to a sharp curve. It was here that John decided to drift to the right, around the outside of his fellow racer, instead of the inside, where he should have tried to pass. Well, the guy ahead must have looked back for John, but was looking inside to his left, and he began to drift to the right, where John was actually going. Yep. He hit John, not bad, but they hit each other. John was going to have to explain the damage to his car to his dad, but the car was still very drivable and we went on.

— present day —

So 2024, and I am driving down this road, past various colorful beach houses, and almost to the end of the road, either a turn around, or drive onto the beach. I saw a couple of people, a man and woman, walking beside the road. I saw they were each carrying some kind of “walking stick.” But, I had never seen a walking stick like these.

The one stick that I could describe from only a few moments as I passed the man, was it had a small round shiny metal head, with what appeared to be a large chain link net. I had never seen something like this before and I looked in my rearview mirror before I turned the corner to see if they were carrying any bags. My quick thought was that maybe these sticks were actually used for scooping up dog manure, but if that was the case the couple would have had a “doggy bag” to put the feces in, and they didn’t have a bag, that I could see.

I was near a turn around and this was surrounded by several beach homes. I stopped by an uninhabited house and took my phone to google for “walking stick with a shiny metal net on one end.” I had no clue what to call it so I just tried to describe all the distinguishing features I had seen. Nope, what came up looked nothing like what I had briefly seen. They were all normal looking walking sticks. I said to myself, “I will be wondering about this all day. What were those sticks.”

I turned around to retrace my route, and kept looking for the couple with the strange walking sticks, but they were no where to be seen. I figured they either lived or were renting one of these beach homes and had already made it back home. I did a circuitous round through the neighborhood and forgetting them turned to continue back the way I had come. It was then that I saw the couple, about to get into their parked silver colored Dodge Ram extended cab truck. *I’ve owned a blue & silver, Dodge Ram 1500 extended cab truck, so I know what they look like.

I first started to pull into the parking lot, but saw a Exit sign so I quickly whipped back onto the road and around to the Entrance. I was rushing to try and get to their truck before they were safely inside with their doors closed. If that had happened I wouldn’t have stopped to bother them.

But no, the man still had his driver’s side door open and I called out to him, “Excuse me sir, but I noticed that you and your wife were walking along the road and you had some unusual looking walking sticks that I’ve never seen before. One seemed to have a shiny round metal net on one end. I’ve never seen a walking stick like that.” He laughed and walked around to the rear passenger side door and brought out the two sticks they had been carrying and brought them up closer to my car window. He then explained that they were “shell scoops,” for digging shells. His wife’s scoop had an aqua colored plastic scoop that looked a lot like a large spaghetti fork. I said I had never seen anything like these, but I had grown up in the Swansboro area. I asked for clarification, “So you scoop into the sand to dig up the shells,” and he replied, “yes.” He told me these scoops were available at the local hardware store. I thanked the both of them, and said loudly, “Merry Christmas,” to which they both replied the same, “Merry Christmas,” and I heard them both laughing as I drove off. *This shell scoop has a telescoping handle, so you don’t have to bend over much to scoop.

What a pleasant interchange on a Christmas morning. Meeting a friendly couple willing to share their knowledge to satisfy my curiosity. A small present on Christmas morning.

After I left the couple, I drove on and down by the Islander Hotel that we had our 50th Swansboro High School Reunion a few years ago. Instead of driving through the hotel parking lot, I drove around the Public Beach Access parking lot next door.

Next I went down to the parking lot at Bogue Inlet Fishing Peer. *I’ve probably been down there several times through the years, and many times on cold Christmas mornings and I’m always reminded of a Christmas morning long ago.

— a memory —

My mother had gotten a co-worker of hers, “Rip” Jackson, to buy fishing “stuff” for my Christmas present. She was working at the Naval Medical Field Research Laboratory in Building 66 as a Clerk Typist. Rip Jackson lived in Sneads Ferry. He had also gotten my dog “Lassie” for me some years earlier. Mr. Jackson worked with the test animals at Building 66.

For my Christmas present, I had gotten a rod, and a No.9 Penn Peerless fishing reel, a copper colored fishing tackle box and several lures, hooks, weights, connectors, and even some fish bait oil (that smelled sweet & maybe like almonds).

The one lure I recall was a pearly white shrimp, that had two three pronged hooks attached. I’ve thought this lure would probably scare away more fish than it would attract. The lure shown to the right is close to the shrimp shape and the double three pronged hooks, but my lure was a solid pearly white with no other colors.

I still have the Penn Peerless rod in my bathroom, above the medicine cabinet.

Neither my mom nor I were fishermen. Not a clue. But we bundled up and drove down to the Bogue Inlet Fishing Peer on the cold, slightly windy Christmas morning. I might have been about 14 or 15 years old at the time. We got out and went onto the pier. There were just a few fishermen out that morning. There was one old fisherman, near where the waves were breaking far below the pier. He was pulling in one fish after another, and we were catching nothing. At some point, mom suggested that we move near this old fisherman. We did, and in a little while, he moved away from us. I think we moved close to him once again, and since we were probably scaring the fish away from him, he moved again. Eventually, we left, having caught no fish. But now that I think about it, “What a mother I had!” Maybe that is what mothers do. Get up on cold Christmas mornings and go out with their child onto a fishing pier in the Atlantic Ocean.

— present day —

After Bogue Inlet Pier, I drove back over the bridge that crosses the Intracoastal Waterway, and then turned to drive by the house where Debbie had lived. I think her address was 305R Holly Lane, Cape Carteret, North Carolina. The present day address shows as 305 without the “R.”

Where the current garage is located, was just an open car port when Debbie was living there. I think her bedroom was in the front right (facing the house) of the house, but I think I only went in there once.

If you look closely below at part of Holly Lane, you may be able to see that the street widens slightly, and there is a middle portion of discolored asphalt. When Debbie was still living down there, there was a tree growing in the middle of the street. It was there for many years.

Eventually, I drove back to Mary Ann’s in Hubert, but before I did I did a brief detour through the old part of Hwy. 24 that went through Hubert proper, glancing at where the Gurba’s used to live, and to my left as I passed where Rafe Williams’ barbershop was located.

— a memory —

The aside regarding Rafe’s barbering was that I had gone to Rafe for probably at least 15 years, and even while I was living down in Alabama (at age 29), I went without a hair cut for about three months. I came all the way back to Hubert, a very shaggy young man, and got another haircut from Rafe.

So, after I returned permanently and was living in Jacksonville again, I drove down one morning (probably a Friday) to Hubert and went in to have a haircut. Rafe didn’t even turn on the lights in his shop. I sat in his chair as I had so many times before, as he went through his barbering motions and finished, and I think I paid him $2 for the haircut. I walked out to my car, got in and as I began to back out, I looked in my mirror. I immediately saw that my right and left sideburns were very different. I put a finger at the base of each sideburn and realized that they were at least 2 inches different. One side I might call “high and tight” and the other was regular length (what I normally had). I turned around and drove back up to the front door of the barber shop.

I went inside and told Rafe that my two sideburns were very different and would need to be corrected. As we all know, or should, you can make a sideburn shorter, but you can’t make it longer. Rafe cut the regular sideburn shorter to match the other “high-n-tight.”

Later that morning, I had to go to the Baptist Association to have a meeting regarding the next year’s Youth Camp. All during the meeting I kept griping about how my barber had ruined my hair and I started saying that I was going to cut it all off. Rev. Jim Kelly, my best friend at the time, was also at the meeting. He told me not to cut my hair off because it would make him laugh, if he looked up while he was preaching and saw me bald.

It may have taken me a day of griping to finally get serious about it. But Saturday night about midnight I finally decided to get serious about removing my hair. Then you have to figure out how to do this. Do you shave it all off with a razor?

I went to my bathroom, looked in the mirror and cut a very small portion of hair off about where my “cowlick” came to a point. I looked. I hadn’t gone so far that I couldn’t stop, and no one would notice. But after a short while I got serious about cutting it all off. I cut the long parts off with my scissors, and then when it was short enough, I finished the job with my razor. I went to bed bald, on a very cold January night, and woke up with my shaved head under the covers the next morning. Let me say this. A person loses a lot of heat without hair, so don’t cut your hair off in the winter.

I showered, and went to church and sat where I normally sat in church. After the service I came up to talk to a friend. He told me that his wife had kept telling him to look at Bill Gibson, and he kept looking around the bald guy to see where Bill was. Funny, huh? It took several months for my hair to grow back, but it did grow back, and I still have most of it, to this day, but strangely, I never went back again to have Rafe give me a haircut, and I’ve had several good barbers since… and another careless one too.

— present day —

When I got back to Mary Ann’s she was still the only other person downstairs.

Georgia & South Carolina Visits

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I don’t have the year, but I met Mary Ann down in Charleston, SC where she was attending an education conference and then we drove down to visit Yvonne at St. Simons Island, Georgia. Spivey was still alive.

It was extremely hot weather, both in Charleston and on St. Simons Island. The above photo was taken from the porch dining area of the Waterside Restaurant on Shem Creek, which is across the river from Charleston. I think I had a very good “Wilted Spinach Salad” this visit and came home and repeated the salad successfully. I think a little hot oil over the baby spinach leaves does the trick, and it also has a boiled egg chopped up in it.

It may have been my first visit to the Waterside that I had a “Shrimp Po’Boy” sandwich with fries. There were good fried shrimp and slaw on the sandwich, but the addition was a “curry remoulade” sauce. The word “sauce” may be redundant depending upon what “remoulade” actually means. As I recall, at the time, I couldn’t find a good definition of “remoulade” online. Definitions have gotten better since. The curry remoulade made this sandwich and I came home to try and make this curry remoulade. I came to the conclusion that all the ingredients I needed were: curry paste (Pataks), small capers, and mix those up in Duke’s Mayo. The flavor was close enough and I made a small jar and kept it in my fridge for various sandwiches. It was good on ham and chicken sandwiches also.

Mary Ann and Yvonne in Yvonne’s kitchen on St. Simons Island.

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On another visit to Georgia, I travelled to Thomasville which is near the Florida (Panhandle) border to visit Sweet Grass Dairy. At that time they had both goats and cows and made various types of cheeses from both animals. You could also actually visit the dairy where the goats were located and milked.

I don’t recall the dog’s name but I think the cool concrete walkway felt good to his belly.

Jessica’s parents owned the dairy at that time. This is Jeremy & Jessica. Jeremy is married to Jessica. They would take over the cheesemaking and open a restaurant that was located in Thomasville. They later got rid of the goats, and stopped the public visits to the dairy. But for a while they had a store located near the dairy where the public could buy their cheeses and other products. The dairy was several miles outside of town.

I bought a bunch of cheese my first visit, and packed it all up in some coolers I had brought along for the long trip back to North Carolina. On my second visit, I think I bought some Pecan Oil at their newly built store, and gave some away as gifts.

During my first visit to Thomasville, I ate at Liam’s Restaurant, but on another visit Liam’s was closed and I ate lunch next door at Jonah’s Fish & Grits Restaurant. The restaurant was crowded that afternoon. I enjoyed my meal at Jonah’s and I think I had a Lobster Bisque soup.

The food was good, but the special item for me that day was the size of the cutlery. The dinner knife, spoon and fork were all very large, and I liked the feel of these in my hand as I ate. I enjoyed them so much that when I came back home, some weeks later, I drove up to Smithfield, North Carolina to the Lenox Outlet and found an Oneida cutlery set that reminded me of Jonah’s cutlery. I bought them and they have been my main cutlery every day since.

The only negative about this Oneida cutlery is the dinner fork and the salad fork are so close in length that when I put it away from the dishwasher, I have to compare the sizes to figure out which is which.

The Lenox Outlet closed many years ago and there have been few other stores in the outlet that I want to visit. I may visit Carolina Pottery once a year, just to connect with the current holiday. It’s been a while but I also enjoyed shopping at the Pepper Palace.

I Love Hot Citrus.

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I’m sitting in my easy chair in my living room at 2:41-2-3 am starting to write this blog entry. I am awake at this time, most mornings. I reach over to a glass beer mug that has a hot citrus drink and take a sip. I really do like the flavor of “Bill’s Drink Mix,” hot or cold. I created this drink combination about a year and a half ago, and almost every day since, I’ve drank about one carafe, cold with ice. But I’ve also heated some up in the microwave, and found it delicious each time.

Neither the picture of the beer mug nor the glass carafe are my actual items, but they are quite accurate as to how each looks. I’ve had the glass beer mugs (6 of them) since Russ & Deborah Savage donated them to “The Hem of His Garment,” over 30 years ago. When I saw them, I priced them and then bought them and took them home. I had them before I moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina from Jacksonville, North Carolina in 1995. The beer mug is “microwave safe.” It better be as many times as I’ve used one of these to heat water for tea, or re-heat coffee. I bought three of the glass carafes (each with a tight fitting plastic cap) probably ten years ago at a specialty shop near Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. *I may be lying to you about where I bought them, but I do recall buying some glass containers at that store.

[02/18/25]

Well, I guess there comes a time for all.

Note the packet shown below. Each packet is a single serving and they come in a box of 10 each, at WalMart. One of their GV – Great Value products. I normally just slice off one end of the packet with a knife and then pour the contents (a powder) into a carafe of water, and also adding the other juices.

walmart-gv-flavored-drink-mix-packet

“Bill’s Drink Mix” consists of four items: a little orange juice, a little cranberry juice, one packet of “Iced Tea” mix from WalMart, and one packet of “Pomegranate-Lemonade” mix from WalMart. And, I must have all four of these items included to make “Bill’s Drink Mix.” Any one of them left out, and I wouldn’t be a long-time fan. *I have however replaced the flavored tea packet with actual brewed tea, and the tea can be plain tea, or a more exotic flavored tea. Of course this substitution occurred as a result of me running out of the flavored tea packets. And it’s never certain that I will find both of the flavor packets when I go looking for them on the WalMart isles. **I still long for the “Lime” flavored packet to return to the shelf. The unadulterated version, not the “Lime&XXX” version, like “Watermelon Lime.” The lime flavor was excellent. It wasn’t a favorite at home, but often after lunch, I would enjoy a limeade made with one of these lime packets. I don’t know why.

And, before “Bill’s Drink Mix,” I had two flavors that I alternated back and forth between: “Fruit Punch,” and “Dragon Fruit,” but neither had that citrus punch that I came to appreciate in my mix.

As I started to re-read the above article I came upon the idea of several items that I have used for over 30 years, and still continue to use to this day (and hopefully several more days). The three items that first come to mind are the classic beer mugs that I bought at a thrift store in Jacksonville, NC perhaps a few years before I moved, in 1995, to Fayetteville to live & work. So that’s at least 30 years ago. As I said above, I have one of these beside me as I write, filled with “Bill’s Drink Mix” and served hot this morning.

The next item is the “Revere Ware” frying pan made in 1978. The company stamped the manufacture date on the bottom of each pan or pot that was made. Paul Revere, long dead, delegated the task of making this pan for me.

When I think of how much use this pan has had over the years, and I just roasted some Brussels Sprouts, walnuts & cranberries in it last night, it brings out the New Englander’s frugal nature in me. And I was born in North Carolina. Grew up in North Carolina. And, have only been to New England once that I recall. But I did enjoy my visit with my friend, Gary Golden, very much. It was winter, and snow was all around. I will say that the one shortcoming is the handle. Not that is has not weathered well since 1978, but that it’s not oven proof, so I can’t bake or broil something in the oven with this pan.

*I’ve been on Etsy and seen Revere Ware pots and pans on sale, and some going back to the 1940s. I might think about buying one of these as a present for a young man who is going off to college (and is allowed to cook),

Below is me fixing my Zucchini/Shrimp/Kielbasa dish. Several years ago I made this from scratch early one morning and liked it so much that I’ve repeated it a myriad of times. Six ingredients: beef Polska Kielbasa, shrimp, zucchini, onion, pasta shells & a small amount of tomato (I didn’t want a strong tomato sauce for this dish.). I usually only use a couple of Campari tomatoes, quartered and they disappear into the sauce, except for leaving a light hint of red. I add S&P and garlic powder, but I also add red pepper flakes and maybe even a little cayenne powder. It is a spicy dish, but each item is supposed to be a little island of flavor, with no one thing overpowering the others.

Before leaving the Revere Ware, I would like to mention that I also have a couple of 3 Qt. pots, a 2 Qt. pot & a 1 Qt. pot that I use quite often.

I noted that the pots did not have a manufacture date on their bottoms, and in reading online the logo was changed in 1968 and manufacture dates were no longer stamped on the utensils. Eventually the company was sold to Corning, and the headquarters moved to Indonesia.

I bought a “steamer” insert years ago, that is not Revere Ware, but was made to fit the pot perfectly. This insert has gotten a great deal of use throughout the years. I love steamed asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, and cauliflower. Anything that I need to steam goes into the insert which has worked faithfully for many years.

Several years ago, I bought a “cheap” set of Guy Fieri pots & pans at Belk’s and they each had glass lids. What was nice was that these glass lids also fit my Revere Ware pots (but not the skillet) perfectly. I like being able to put a lid on a pot and be able to look through the glass at what is cooking. However, most times I will leave the lid off. I said “cheap” set, but they look to be quality, and have lasted, and are oven safe so I use these when I am broiling a steak, pork chop, or lamb chop in the oven.

Since I’ve been a batchelor all my life, I have had the opportunity to use and reuse many items that if I had a wife, she would have had me “throw out those old things” long ago. I would have had new dishes instead of the “Gibson” restaurant blue stripe plates that I bought as a set at a store in Jacksonville, NC. They were factory “seconds” so some of the striping wasn’t up to par, and a plate might have a slight warp, but none of that has stopped me from using them almost daily since. The picture shows one of my actual plates, with a favorite meal that just happened to be a vegetarian delight: corn on the cob, fried okra, a tomatillo & onion chutney and sliced tomatoes.

I bought the dish set and then was surprised when I turned one of the dishes over at home and saw “Gibson” imprinted on its bottom. I had to do a double take, because of how the “G” and “i” run together, but no, it said “Gibson.” I went online and found that there was a Gibson Company that made dishes. So as a bonus I ended up with a set of monogramed dishes at no extra cost.

Tomatillos remind me of green tomatoes, but they have a different flesh than tomatoes. *”Chutney…” I’ve eaten at the “Blue Willow Inn,” in Social Circle, Georgia, several times since my sister Donna first introduced me to the place many years ago. In fact, and maybe it was my first visit, Donna treated me, my dad Bill (her & my dad), and his wife, Sara (Donna’s mother, but not mine.) to the crowded Sunday buffet. We sat together at a table on one of the side porches and enjoyed the meal and time together on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Georgia.

*I see from their web site that the restaurant must have been closed for a while but is about to reopen. I did think the buffet was a little pricey for what you had to choose from, especially since you could get most of those same items at other “country” restaurants and at a much lower price. And, the ambiance had changed greatly for me when the wooded area behind the restaurant was cut down and a small “strip mall” was built there. I don’t care how old and beautiful the home is if you plop it in the middle of a business district.

One time I was walking along the inner circle of the Blue Willow Inn buffet (it has a U shape so you can have customers walking on both sides of the food) and I took a couple of fried green tomatoes from the bar. I then noticed that they had “tomato chutney” in a small dish beside the fried tomatoes, so I put some of this on the tomatoes. The tomato chutney was sweet and I found it “decadent” that you could have two different flavor profiles that compliment each other from the same fruit. The sweet ripe red tomato complimenting the savory fried green tart tomato.

The following story was added the next day from most of this blog posting, as I recalled another one of my visits to the Blue Willow Inn. I had finished eating and was trying to leave Social Circle and get back on I20 and I was heading back in an easterly direction, but I don’t know why. It was late in the day, and if I had been driving all the way back to Fayetteville, I wouldn’t have eaten at the Blue Willow Inn.

I didn’t see street signage pointing to I20, but I drove down a road quite a ways. I knew I was heading in a westerly direction, and I didn’t want to go back toward Atlanta. Eventually, I decided to turn around thinking I had gotten on the wrong road. I believe I even made it back to Madison, Georgia before heading back to where I thought I20 was located. Unfortunately, the road that I chose took me across I20, but there were no ramps either on or off I20 on this road. But, I continued on and tried to head in an easterly direction. Those roads wound in giant undulating swaths through country, but never was there a road heading back to I20 and an on ramp. I must not have had a smartphone, or at least a smartphone with an Internet connection because I had no map to reference. And eventually I began to wonder if I would run out of gas somewhere in this Georgia countryside. If you look at a map, I must have headed to Eatonton from Madison and only in Eatonton and Lake Oconee was I able to get back to I20. But what a circuitous and angst filled route.

And once I got home and the Internet, I went back on Google Street View and found that before I turned around in Social Circle, I had been just two miles short of getting back to I20.

P38 Military Issue "John Wayne"

And the third item that I have probably had the longest is my “John Wayne” P38 – Military Issue field can opener. *I was never in the military, but I grew up (Swansboro, Hubert, Jacksonville, Camp Lejeune) around Marines. I’m thinking that a Marine may have rented one of my aunt’s (“Sis” – Carrie Kellum) mobile homes (trailers) and having eventually moved out, left his John Wayne in a kitchen drawer, where in came directly or indirectly into my possession. However, I do recall that someone told me that the Marines called this tool a “John Wayne” and after all these years I finally googled for the reason “why.” **Seems that John Wayne did the “voiceover” on a military training video for the P-38 can opener. ***I do know why they called the rough brown toilet paper John Wayne. The joke goes it is called “John Wayne” because it’s rough, and tough, and it doesn’t take crap off of anybody.

What’s Mine is Mine… Sometimes.

As I re-read above about what an imaginary wife might have made me do. “Throw out those old things,” regarding the Gibson dishes I had, or the old Revere Ware that has continued faithfully to perform, I was reminded about something that happened to me a year so so before I moved to Fayetteville (1995).

I worked at Coastal Carolina Community College for a couple of years before I moved to Fayetteville. During my time at Coastal, I taught a few introductory computer courses (they were on the quarter system, not semester) and I worked in their computer department doing repairs, maintenance and software installs & upgrades on PCs. I was also working to complete an “Associates” degree dealing with PCs. *My age has stopped me from remembering the exact title of the degree, but if I scrounge around in my old papers, I think I may still have the degree that I earned. It was in a sturdy little folding, thick cardboard holder.

I had come across an old Marine Corps hooded poncho probably at “The Hem of His Garment.” That was the ministry that included a thrift store that helped supply donated items for people in need, and the profit from the sale of the donated items also went to support those in need.

The old poncho was made of a heavy rubber, a dark avocado military green, but despite a few holes it did it’s job well. It may not have looked good, but it did keep the rain off my head and body when it rained. So, I would take the poncho to work and leave it on a shelf just inside our office door. There was a young, attractive girl (woman) who I think was volunteering in our department, and she several times mentioned how awful the poncho looked. And I would “laugh it off” because it didn’t belong to her, and what she thought at least about the poncho didn’t matter. Well, at least it didn’t matter until one day I realized that the poncho on the shelf, was no longer on the shelf.

She had been cleaning up the place (office) and had taken it upon herself to throw my old poncho away. She didn’t ask me if she could throw MY poncho away, she had just done it. And, when I confronted her about it, it was obvious that what I thought about her actions mattered just as little to her, as what I thought about her demeaning my old poncho had meant to me. Nada.

I have given away a bunch of stuff through the years, and I’ve even given up stuff intentionally when I perceived that someone else wanted it more than I did, but this act made me angry then, and when I rarely recall it, still makes me quite angry to this day. What’s mine is mine, sometimes, but don’t take or throw away something that is mine until you check with me first. And if I don’t want you to take it or throw it away, you better not take it or throw it away.

Quinoa Salad Like Publix Deli’s

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The Publix I usually go to, just down from Harris Teeter in the Tallywood Shopping Center, discontinued their Deli salads a few years ago. I enjoyed this Quinoa Salad, but also they had a Wakame Seaweed Salad that I liked. I found a jar of Seaweed Salad at Hex in Cary but it has to be “doctored” to take on the flavors that I liked from the Publix salad. Add: soy sauce, red wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes. This reminds me of of the Dolce K Sweet Olive Mix at Whole Foods. Not because of the flavors but because of the complexity that makes up the mix.

I was just on the Publix web site and here are the listed ingredients for their Quinoa Salad.

Ingredients

Quinoa Salad {Quinoa, Lime juice, Canola Oil And Extra Virgin Olive oil Blend, Water, Lemon Juice, Sugar, Contains 2% Or Less Of The Following: Orange puree (Orange Pulp Cells, Concentrated orange Juice, Water, Orange Peel, Orange oil) Sea Salt, Sesame Oil, Spices}, Dried fruit And Nut Mix (Cranberries{Cranberries, sugar, Glycerin, Sunflower Oil}, Peanuts (Peanuts, Canola Oil), Roasted Pumpkin Seed {Pumpkin Seeds, Canola Oil}) Spinach, Edamame {Soy Beans}.

Edamame and soybeans are from the same plant but edamame is picked from the immature soy plant in July and August before it is fully mature. “It’s like picking a tomato that’s still green.” Green edamame is harvested from a still-ripening soy plant.

*I have made this Quinoa Salad at home successfully, but not it quite a while,

As I read the first paragraph I think on how diverse my palate is. Seaweed salad, Quinoa salad, Dolce K Sweet Olive Mix, smoked oysters with homemade hummus, turmeric & vinegar added to tomatoes, sweet bell pepper and sweet onion. Chicken livers & gizzards. Beef/calf liver. Souse and liver pudding. Goat & cow cheeses.

I’m also reminded of the changes that have occurred to the Tallywood Shopping Center since I first came to Fayetteville about 30 years ago.

On the corner was a small garage that I went to for basic maintenance. I don’t recall the name of the place, but the building, after several years of being vacant, was torn down and a drive-thru coffee shop built. Next to the coffee shop location is Biscuitville, which recently (is that one or two years now) replaced the Hardees. And a MiCasita which had been next to a carpet store. But in the back where the new Publix was built were several smaller shops and a (was that?) Belks. One of the smaller shops was School Tools Of Fayetteville NC, which moved for a few years over on Robeson Street, but now is just down from the Harris Teeter and the Post Office.

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The first Publix I recall visiting was in Georgia some years ago when I was visiting either my dad, or my half-sister Donna. Don’t recall what I bought, but after visiting another Publix, elsewhere, I noted that they were a “cut above” and with greater choices. I like this Publix and have a good rapport with the bakery. They will half a loaf with no grumbling. I like the Round Bone Lamb Chops that they have imported from New Zealand.

I also like the frozen shrimp that I use for my Zucchini/Kielbasa/Shrimp dish, but more than once have found that they either don’t have a clue that they sell this product, or can’t manage to put it on the shelf (in a timely manner). And “on the shelf” is rhetorical because the shrimp are in a freezer with a see-thru door. After asking about these, I found myself in a Cary Publix where I had no problem getting the frozen shrimp. *The shrimp come in a resealable bag, but sometimes I divide these into about 15 shrimp in smaller bags and then put them all back in the big reseal bag. Then I just have to put the smaller bag into the microwave under the “2.0” defrost setting. It takes less than 15 minutes to thaw the shrimp, and that allows for the time to cook the pasta (the small shells) . And both of those happen as the kielbasa, onions, and zucchini (with a little tomato to color the sauce) are cooking. *This process reminds me of the precise process I use to make my Pastrami Reubens (Rachels) which turn out perfectly almost every time.

Butter the outsides of the two slices of seeded rye bread and toast’em. Flip them over after the butter and bread are browned and put on a slice of Swiss on each and melt the cheese. Squeeze out the moisture in the sauerkraut to be put on the sandwich, but also put some more sauerkraut on a plate to be mixed with the homemade Thousand Island dressing. *It came to me that if the sauerkraut and dressing were good on the sandwich, they would be good together as a side dish, and they were/are.

The Thousand Island dressing consists of: Dukes Mayo, Heinz Ketchup, Relish, finely diced sweet onion (Vidalia), some hot sauce (Texas Pete not Frank’s), S&P.

I don’t heat the Pastrami but place a slice or two on each toasted slice of the rye bread. The idea being that the melted Swiss and the Pastrami will both keep any extra moisture from leeching out from the sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing and making the bread soggy. And, this works!

The sandwich has a lot of flavor and it isn’t messy, although it could be. Add some chips and a Ranch Dill pickle and maybe a side of the sauerkraut & dressing, and you have a good lunch.

And the Ranch Dill (spear) is easily made. Buy a cheap jar of the Dill Spears at WalMart. Buy a cheap package of the Ranch Dressing powder (about 50 cents at Food Lion) or the Hidden Valley packet for about $1.50. You can drain the juice to mix with the powder and then pour it all back into the pickle jar. Seal it, and put it in the fridge for a day and then enjoy, as needed.

IGA currently has a small, but not single serving size, bag of Wavy potato chips that only costs about $1.48.

The rye bread and the chips are a “splurge” for a Type 2 diabetic, and the salt and fat in the Pastrami…

Did I mention that the plastic container that the Hillshire Farms Pastrami comes in is reusable? If you can buy the Pastrami at WalMart for less than $5, then that makes the reusable container “a deal.” And the company has intentionally made this container easily reusable. Their advertising is printed on a cardboard sheet which is attached to the red “see thru” lid with some of that stretchy gluey stuff. Peels off easily. I have quite a few of the Rubbermaid Easy Find storage containers, but the Hillshire Farms tubs work well for many other things. I recently put some homemade hummus and black bean hummus in a single container. The differences in color of the two hummi (I’ve never used the plural of hummus before, and am not sure if there is a plural… but I know that it ain’t “shrimps,” but “shrimp” looked good in the container. But these smaller containers also work for leftovers, and now that I think of it, I put my bacon (uncooked) in one of the Hillshire Farms tubs. I slice the bacon in half and both halves then fit easily in the small tub.

Tilapia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Version 1.0.0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mealy Bugs

bgibson135

It has been a while since I made any bean soup using dried beans. I had several plastic bags from which I had used at least some of the dried beans. Some green split peas, some baby limas and maybe some black eyed peas. So, I was in the mood for some green split pea soup with country ham. I got the half bag off the shelf and almost immediately noted that the bottom had peas that had disintegrated. I thought they might still be good so I dumped a small portion out into a white bowl and went back to get something else. To my surprise when I returned there were quite a few black mealy bugs coming out of the dried peas. I threw them out and then checked the several other bags. All were compromised so I threw them out also. It was then that I knew where the mealy bugs had come from that had ruined my Bisquick. Not sure if they can get into a glass jar with a tight lid, but I have bought one and put a new box of Bisquick in it. *This is a large glass jar, perhaps 1/2 or 1 gallon in size.

[NOTE 08/12/25]: I like the idea of putting dry beans in plastic jars instead of the glass ones. I ordered a 12 pak of plastic storage jars, with metal lids & bands from Amazon. I probably got the idea of the plastic jars from the reused Dukes Mayo jars. But I see that the 12 pak of plastic jars do not fit the yellow Dukes Mayo lids. [end NOTE]

Plastic Dukes / Glass Ball
Both holding dry Lima beans.

If I buy any new bags of dried beans, I’ll have to put them in glass jars with tight lids.

I have a bunch of Rubbermaid Easy Find containers with lids, but I’ve also used quite a few Ball glass jars but I put the yellow plastic Duke’s Mayo lid on them when I have those. The plastic lids will eventually break, but it saves having to keep the canning jar lids (which have two parts). *Not too long ago I bought a foam noodle and cut it to put the canning jar bands on. They fit almost perfectly and it makes them more organized when I put them in a plastic storage shoebox.

*A note. I prefer the taste of Duke’s Mayo to Hellmans and now I also have another reason to stick with Dukes. The Dukes plastic lids fit the canning jars perfectly, but the Hellmans lids do not.

I like:

  • Bread
    • Ciabatta
    • Cornbread
    • Onion Roll
    • Polenta
    • Rice Crackers (sesame)
    • Sprouted Grain Bread
      • Knock Your Sprouts Off
      • Ezekiel 4:9
    • Waffles
    • Whole Wheat
    • Yeast Rolls
  • Pasta
    • Angel Hair
    • Orzo
    • Shells
    • Spaghetti
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
    • Basmanti
    • Brown/White/Wild
    • Jasmine
  • BEANS
    • Black Eyed Peas
    • Borlotti/Cranberry/Roman Beans
    • Lady Cream Peas
    • Lentils (green, brown, black)
    • Lima Beans (large white)
    • Mung Beans (for sprouting)
    • Garbanzo Beans
    • Green Split Peas
    • Green Beans
  • NUTS & SEEDS
    • Almonds
    • Cashews
    • Chia Seeds
    • Peanuts
      • Peanut Butter
      • Raw
    • Pecans
    • Pinenuts
    • Pistachios
    • Pumpkin Seeds (roasted)
    • Walnuts (black/regular)
  • FRUIT
    • Apples
      • Gala (frying)
    • Apricots (dried Mediterranean)
    • Bananas
    • Blueberries
    • Cantaloupe
    • Cherries
    • Cranberries (dried/juice/whole)
    • Currants
    • Dates
      • Deglet
      • Medjool
    • Figs
      • (raw/dried)
    • Grapefruit
    • Grapes
      • Raisins (red/yellow)
    • Lemons
    • Limes
    • Olives
      • Black
      • Castelvetrano
      • Green
      • Kalamata
      • Picholine
      • Nicoise
      • Spanish
    • Oranges
    • Peaches (white/yellow)
    • Pears
    • Pineapple
    • Plums
      • Prunes
    • Pumpkin
    • Raspberries
    • Tangerines
    • Watermelon
  • VEGETABLES
    • Asparagus
    • Avocados
    • Beets
    • Brussels Sprouts
    • Cabbage
      • Green
      • Napa
      • Red
    • Capers
    • Carrots
    • Cauliflower
    • Celery
    • Chard (Red Swiss)
    • Collards
    • Corn
    • Cucumbers
      • Pickles
        • Dill
        • Sweet Bread & Butter
    • Eggplant
    • Lettuce
      • Freezia
      • Iceberg
      • Romaine
    • Mushrooms
    • Okra (chips/fried/stewed)
    • Onions
      • Garlic
      • Leeks
      • Ramps
      • Shallots
      • Spring
      • Vidalia
      • Yellow
    • Peppers
      • Aji Dulce
      • Biquhino
      • Brazil Starfish
      • Cayenne (raw/ground)
      • Chipotle
      • Jalapeno
      • Peperoncini
      • Poblano
      • Sweet Bell (Yellow/Orange/Red)
      • Trinidad Perfume
    • Potatoes
      • New (red)
      • Russett
      • Sweet
      • Yukon Gold
    • Rutabagas
    • Spinach
      • Chopped
      • Wilted
    • Squash
      • Patty Pan
      • Yellow
    • Tomatillo
    • Tomatoes
      • Campari
      • Grape
      • Roma
      • Sun Dried
    • Turnips
    • Zucchini
  • DAIRY
    • Cheese
      • Blue (1924)
      • Bucheron(din)
      • Capricio de Cabra
      • Cheddar (yellow/white)
      • Cream Cheese
      • Feta
      • Gouda (smoked)
      • Brie
        • Intense (Wegman’s)
      • Swiss
      • White American (Wegman’s)
    • Milk (whole)
    • Sour Cream
    • Yogurt
  • MEATS
    • Chicken
      • Dark & White Meat
      • Eggs
      • Gizzards
      • Livers
    • Cow
      • Beef/Calf’s Liver (Skylark)
      • Chorizo (Spanish)
      • Italian Sausage
      • Liver Pate (Nueski’s)
      • Polska Kielbasa
      • Steak
    • Lamb
      • Round Bone Lamb Chop
    • Pork
      • Andouille Sausage
      • Bacon
      • BBQ
      • Fatback
      • Ham (Country/Fresh)
      • Ham Hock
      • Liver Pudding (Mush)
      • Pork Chops
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Fish
      • Codfish
      • Flounder
      • Salmon
      • Sardines (oil/water)
      • Talapia
      • Trout
      • Tuna Fish
    • Shellfish
      • Clams (fried/steamed)
      • Crabs
      • Oysters (fried/smoked/steamed)
      • Scallops (Bay)
      • Shrimp (fried/steamed)
      • Tuna Fish
      • Wakami (seaweed salad)
    • Turkey
  • BEVERAGES
    • Coffee
      • Breakfast Blend (Starbucks)
    • Juices
      • Cranberry Juice
      • Orange Juice
      • Pomegranate Juice
    • Tea (hot/cold/assorted flavors)
      • Constant Comment (Bigelow)
      • Earl Grey (Bigelow)
      • Green
      • Pu’er
      • Raspberry Royale (Bigelow)
      • Rooibos
      • Scottish Breakfast (Taylors)
    • Alcoholic
      • Disarano
      • Schnapps (Peach)
      • Wine
        • Muscadine
        • Scuppernong
  • SWEETENERS
    • Agave Nectar
    • Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup
    • Coconut Sugar
    • Equal/Splenda
    • Honey
    • Molasses
    • Sweet-n-Low
  • CONDIMENTS
    • Catchup
    • Horseradish (Inglehoffer Creamed)
    • Hot Sauce
      • Salsa Ranchera (Herdez)
      • Texas Pete
      • Tiger Sauce
    • Mayonnaise (Dukes)
    • Miracle Whip
    • Mustard
      • Dijon
      • Yellow (Frenches)
    • Spicy Chili Crisp
  • HERBS/SPICES
  • Herbs
    • Basil (regular/Thai)
    • Cilantro
    • Curry Leaf
    • Mint
    • Parsley (Italian)
    • Rosemary
  • Spices
    • Basil (dried)
    • Cayenne
    • Celery Seeds
    • Cinnamon
    • Cloves
    • Cumin
    • Curry
    • Fennel
    • Fenugreek (ground)
    • Garlic (cloves/powder)
    • Ginger
    • Mace
    • Nutmeg
    • Oregano
    • Paprika (regular/smoked)
    • Pepper
      • Indian Long Pepper
      • Red Pepper Flakes
    • Sesame Seeds (regular-white-black/toasted/
    • Tarragon
    • Turmeric
  • EXOTICS
    • Ramps