Tag: food

Stir Fry Central

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This is a consistently easy to prepare and has easy clean up. The finished product looks good, and is filling.

I bought one of these electric woks (Aroma) for myself at Amazon, and then after I saw the quality, I bought another one as a present for Chad and his bride to be (end of May 2025). I’ve also bought them a VinChef wok, which is not electric, but is oven safe and I’ve broiled a couple of things successfully. I think the VinChef wok is a beautifully crafted pan.

Vinchef wok

[NOTE 01/06/25]: I’ve moved stuff around in this posting. I moved the immediate ingredients list below to the top, because I’ve repeated this almost exactly twice and had it tonight again, and it is satisfying.

I see that WalMart has the Stir Fry Vegetables from Polar for $2.50. I can make two meals out of the one can.

[end NOTE]

A Chicken Stir Fry recipe from the American Diabetes Association that uses no cooking oil.

Let me mention what ingredients I put in tonight’s stir fry as it was “spot on”:

  • Chicken tenders
  • Onion
  • Carrots [X]
  • Sweet red bell pepper
  • Stir fry veggies
  • Pineapple chunks
  • Angel hair pasta [X]
  • Sesame seeds
  • Agave Nectar
  • Splenda
  • Lime juice
  • Spicy Chili Crisp
  • Toasted Sesame Oil
  • Avocado Oil
  • Cornstarch
  • Red Pepper Flakes

I think the above is all that I added, but if I think of something else, I will add it to the above list. I added a little garlic powder as I was cooking. I did dice a small amount of red jalapeno, which I think I can do without since I’ve already got the red pepper flakes for heat. I didn’t add any Angel Hair pasta noodles to this, but they work well also. I think I added some ginger powder, but if I have the sliced ginger, that would be a good “change up.”

The “Change Up – Line Up”:

  • Ginger (sliced)
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Angel Hair Pasta
  • Shrimp (instead of chicken)
  • Cauliflower
  • Mung bean sprouts
  • Oyster Sauce

[NOTE 06/13/24]: Not sure what made me go looking for “stir fry” vegetables in a can, but I found that Polar (also does Smoked Oysters) sells a “Stir Fry Vegetables” in a can. I think I paid a little over $2 for a can that I found in Wegman’s yesterday. I also bought some bean sprouts at Whole Foods in Raleigh.

The Polar Stir Fry Vegetables included some sliced water chestnuts, some bamboo shoots, some baby corn, sliced chili, and garlic. There is a lot of water in the can, but still a generous quantity of the veggies, and if you don’t want to buy a can of each vegetable and have to freeze some, this is definitely the way to add variety. Since I’m only fixing a stir fry for one, I can use half a can of the “Stir-Fry Vegetables,” for each meal. I drain most of the liquid in the canned veggies, and put them along with enough pineapple chunks for my next meal in a Rubbermaid storage container.

Walmart not Wegmans
Walmart not Wegmans

There are some things that I like in my stir fry, and I perpetually forget to add. I like crushed ginger & some ground ginger. I like sesame seeds. I like to add just a little pasta, Angel Hair. I also like pineapple chunks. And, I like sweetness, so some Splenda or Agave Nectar is the norm for me. *I’m a Type 2 Diabetic, so I never add sugar (white or brown) to the foods I am cooking at home. I might add some Coconut Sugar, but very little, and usually only to my coffee. If I wasn’t Type 2, I would probably be using more brown sugar than white and I like Agave Nectar.

**In January of 2012 I was diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic. That requires controlling my blood sugar levels with drugs such as Metformin and now Ozempic. At the time, I had about a third of a 5 lbs. bag of white Dixie Crystals sugar left in my kitchen. I totally stopped using white sugar, not even putting it in my coffee or tea and eventually the crystalized sugar formed a single hard white ball of sugar. After several years I threw out this ball of sugar.

I’ve added sliced jalapenos and at the end of summer when there are various hot peppers available that would be fun. Last year I added some Brazilian Starfish, Trinidad Perfume and Biquinho peppers to my seafood chowder. They were distinctive, not too hot, and delicious.

Ajicito Dulce
@ Compare

Last night I used the second half of the can of Polar Stir Fry Vegetables. I had even frozen them, thinking I might not use them as soon after I had the first half, but thawed them during the day. I was well pleased with the quality of these veggies. The water chestnuts were crisp and the bamboo shoots were tender. And, I had bought a box of “cornstarch” and made a slurry and added it to my stir fry. Worked “like a charm,” as it should, to thicken the sauce and make it shiny. I used shrimp (previously frozen, head & tail off and peeled) instead of chicken and now am thinking about using cubed pork, but will have to figure out how to pre-cook the pork so that it is tender, but done. *I also bought some spicy Thai garlic sauce, but haven’t actually tried it yet.

I bought a couple of cans of the Polar Stir Fry Vegetables at Walmart for about $1.68 per can. They’ve now gone up to $2.50. I see they are also available at IGA. I bought some pork and sliced it into thin strips. I added some of the Thai Garlic Sauce, some Sugar Snap Peas, some pineapple chunks and some stir fry veggies (half of the can) and I also added some slurry of Corn Starch.

The pork was just a little tough, but thoroughly cooked, and it didn’t have a great deal of flavor. I’m thinking the chicken and shrimp would have more taste, unless I find some marinade for the pork. The addition of the corn starch slurry really does make a smooth, thick sauce. Once again, the Stir Fry Veggies from Polar are excellent. No staleness or toughness to these special veggies.

[end NOTE]

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I like the flavor of this “Spicy Chili Crisp.” It is cheap, about $4 per small jar at Walmart. I just noted that it has peanuts in it. I think they fry up chili peppers along with some peanuts and it ends up being a crunchy concoction. I also noted that the flavor between two jars was not exactly the same. Both jars had a good flavor, but distinctly not the same. This also has a reddish color to the sauce and imparts that reddish color to your stir fry.

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WalMart
Harris Teeter

I saw these GoodCook heat resistant, silicone spatulas at Harris Teeter. They look similar to the ones I use and surprisingly, I can cut the chicken in the wok with the edge of the spatula.

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One change I made tonight was that I had bought a package of 5 Pork Egg Rolls at Aldi’s this morning.

I don’t go to Aldi’s very often, but one thing that is a seasonal item is their “Stolen.” This is a dessert of German origin (I think.) and I basically think of it as a “coffee cake with fruit filling.” I’ve heard of it described as a “fruit cake,” but fruit cake to me will ever be like the “Claxton Fruit Cake.” The Stolen fruit filling might be “Marzipan” (a sugar and almonds mixture), or maybe a cherry filling.

So, I was at Aldi’s looking for Stolen, to give as a gift, but happened to see the package of Pork Egg Rolls and one of chicken egg rolls, but the chicken had a few more calories per serving, and I really wanted a pork filling anyway.

Aldi’s Pork Egg Rolls (5 pak)

Tonight, I used one pork egg roll from the package, and heated it for a minute (instead of the 30 seconds it had suggested) in the microwave. I put some Hot Chinese Mustard on my plate and some Oyster Sauce (I didn’t have any Duck Sauce.). It was flavorful. **The last few home stir fries, I’ve stopped by a local Chinese Restaurant and bought a couple of their egg rolls, and they provide a Duck Sauce in small clear plastic packets. Their egg rolls are better because they are warm & crispy, but two cost about $3.60 and the Aldi’s pork egg rolls are only about 50 cents per egg roll. I did buy a small jar of Duck Sauce, but am not happy with the flavor.

Once again, a Chinese Stir Fry at home, with an egg roll is one of the cheapest, healthiest, but still very delicious meals you can fix. I tried frying the Pork Egg Rolls at home and I don’t think it added much to the flavor. *I would prefer to buy the egg rolls at the Chinese restaurant and bring them home to eat.

Oh, and there was no Stolen left at Aldi’s and I went to at least two Aldi’s in Fayetteville and neither had the large white sugar coated dessert. I was told that “World Market” had Stolen so I went there on my way to Sprouts. I did find Stolen at World Market, but it was smaller than I remembered, and it was almost $10 per cake. I didn’t buy it.

The Duck Sauce packet shown above reminded me of another egg roll that I enjoyed regularly when I was attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972/4. Usually on late nights when I was returning from a bar, or several, near Franklin Street, I would pass “Hectors, Famous Since 1969” and would stop in to buy a couple of their egg rolls. I think they included packets of Duck Sauce and Hot Mustard. I would take the warm bag of food back to my dorm, Aycock, and would pass “Silent Sam” on the way.

*As an aside, I recognized “Silent Sam” as being a Civil War Memorial to Confederate Soldiers but that was never his real purpose. “Silent Sam” was silent because he only shot his rifle when a virgin walked by, and was silent because there were never any virgins to walk by. **Not sure which is more offensive, to celebrate the Confederacy, or to insult virtuous women. Still, I doubt if anyone actually checked his weapon to see if the mechanism had rusted and no longer worked for that reason.

And on “egg rolls I have known,” the only other really, really good egg rolls I’ve ever had were at “Good Luck” near the corner of Ramsey Street and Tokay Drive. They only had a few booths inside, but they had gigantic rolled egg rolls that had a crispy fried shell. I think someone once told me they were double fried, whatever that meant.

And Google AI is so informational: “Double frying an egg roll is done to achieve maximum crispiness by allowing the initial fry to cook the filling while removing excess moisture from the wrapper, then the second fry at a higher temperature creates a crispier, more evenly browned exterior without overcooking the inside.” **I wonder if I could double fry those store bought egg rolls to get a crispier exterior?

The other thing I recall is that there was a giant Chinese take-out box on a post in front of the restaurant with the name “Good Luck” on it. I’m pretty sure it might have rotated at one time, but I never saw it in operation. *And after several years they went out of business. I think the old Chinese gentleman who was the cook may have either retired or died. **The location has been a combo Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins restaurant for many years now.

I made some more good “chicken stir fry” again tonight. I forgot to add the white sesame seeds, but surprisingly, the okra and asparagus incorporated very well. I’ve added asparagus previously without any okra, and the flavor was minorly distracting. But neither the okra nor the asparagus fought the finished product.

  • Chicken tenders (cubed)
  • Asparagus (large diced)
  • Bell Pepper (colored, cubed)
  • Broccoli (small florets – did not have)
  • Carrot (sliced)
  • Okra (sliced)
  • Onion (chunked)
  • Pineapple (chunked)
  • Pasta (Angel Hair)
  • Water Chestnuts (cubed but sliced preferred)
  • S&P
  • Toasted Sesame Oil
  • Sesame Seeds (forgot)
  • Soy Sauce
  • Teriyaki Sauce
  • Lime Juice
  • Agave Nectar
  • Splenda
  • Red Pepper Flakes

And this is the marinated pork stir fry. I added the Hot Chili Crisp, but I forgot the pineapple.

[NOTE 05/18/25]: It has been quite a few years since I had the egg rolls at “Good Luck” in Fayetteville, North Carolina and the location has been a combo Dunkin Donuts & Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Shop for many years. But, I’ve filed those large, crispy, flavorful on the outside and inside egg rolls as the best egg rolls I’ve ever had. It seems to me that two of those egg rolls made a meal.

For many years, while living and working in Fayetteville, I enjoyed many lunches at Hunan Garden on Raeford Road near the Harris Teeter. It even changed ownership and I still liked the food, but then it changed ownership again, and I sat in a booth and said to myself, “I thought I liked the…” and then I realized that I hadn’t changed but they just didn’t fix it in a way that was delicious to me. They also changed to policy where I could ask for steamed veggies instead of a mound of white rice (type 2 diabetic). That was a surprise, I asked my waitress if I could make that substitution and she said, “no.” I had to think a while and kept trying to convince myself that I had made that substitution many times before. I even asked at the register if it was possible to substitute veggies for rice and was told the policy was “no.” I then realized that the flavor of the food and the relaxed substitution policy were gone… and I’ve not been back since and that is probably 5 years or more. Before COVID. If they ever got new ownership I would try it again, and I do check periodically online to see if the reviews have changed. I just checked the reviews again, and they were either Oh well. 5 years old or a mix of excellent or horrible. I’m guessing that they are still horrible. And they were so good for many, many years.

My favorite Chinese restaurant is currently located in Asheboro, North Carolina and is called “No. 1 China Buffet.” They have several items that are reminiscent of other good Chinese buffet restaurants I’ve visited throughout my years. Hibachi Grill in Fayetteville has many items that are delicious, but I’ve stopped going there since COVID. I may have been once, or twice but I just don’t go there. [end NOTE]

Small World, Long Time.

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Every once in a while, I start reviewing some old music videos on YouTube, and one of them is ELO (the Electric Light Orchestra) with Jeff Lynn. The video is of the band playing “Showdown” from 1973. The band is standing on the south side of the Thames, and their background is the Thames and St. Paul’s Cathedral across the river. This is a long time before the Millienum Bridge was built.

Below, approximately where the band would have been located in the above video (before Millineum Bridge).

Above, looking back at the Tate Museum from on the Millenium Bridge.

There is a “Meltdown Festival” celebrated at Southbank Centre, and apparently this is the 29th year of the celebration, and the singer, performer Chaka Kahn is “curating” this year’s festival (whatever that means). So, seeing Chaka Kahn reminds me that I saw her at a Louisville Redbirds (minor league baseball team for Louisville, KY) back in 1983. Apparently the Redbirds had just come to Louisville the previous year, and in 1983 they set an attendance record of over a million visitors. I’m not sure if Chaka Kahn sang the National Anthem at this game, or if it was another game, but I was there, with some friends (fellow students from Southern Seminary, where I was attending). We went in one gate at the stadium, but heard that the millionth customer had come in a different gate and they had received some attention & gifts for being the millionth customer at the game that year. *I just read that that league went out of business, and the Redbirds ended up at a different town, and representing a different ML team now. Louisville now has a minor league team called “The Bats” and they are now affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. **I recall sitting in the stadium, and blowing a little, plastic, red “bird” promotional whistle.

I was walking down the isles of the IGA grocery store in Benson, NC several years ago, and “Showdown” began to play on the store audio. I love the beat and energy of this song… couldn’t have told you who did the song, at the time, or even who Jeff Lynn was, but since, went online, watched/listened to several of the groups videos, and now can at least remember Jeff Lynn. This was the same IGA, and might have been the same day that I ended up buying some Honeycrisp apples there, for the first time. These apples had a distinctive, and delicious flavor. I was on my way through town (Benson) and am not sure where I was heading, but made a point to come back through Benson on my way back to Fayetteville so that I could stop at the IGA and buy some more Honeycrisp apples.

So I went into the IGA and picked out four large Honeycrisp apples and took them up to the register. The clerk rang up the 4 apples. That’s all I was buying, and she said, “That will be $10.25.” The price for the four apples caught me by surprise. I realized, and I think I said, “That’s more than $2.50 per apple.” A quarter more than $2.50 each, but they were good, and “this time,” I went ahead and bought the four apples. This was a few years before paying that much for a grocery item would become the norm.

These apples were extremely large, and most apples that are offered today (at the groceries I regularly shop at) are much smaller. I fell out of love with the Honeycrisp because they continued to be “over priced” and the distinctive flavor wasn’t the same, or as pleasant as the first ones that I tried.

Well, “Small World, Long Time.” My thoughts, as expressed elsewhere, are that with all the stuff we do, or can do, in a lifetime, most of it is relatively meaningless. And, the American political climate has changed so drastically, from what I grew up with as a child and into much of my adult life. The Republican Party had the “high moral ground,” for many issues. But that has changed drastically. With the backing of Donald Trump, the Republican Party became similar to an alien race that comes to Earth, takes over, and says, “The Sun rises in the West. Oranges are blue,” and any number of items that are so “wrong” as to not be supportable, by me, in any form. It is as if labelling a person or belief as being “Republican” automatically makes it right and completely defensible, and even supportable… when they/it are NOT. I’ve still got friends that think Donald Trump is “the greatest thing since sliced bread.” And, it boggles my mind how they can still see him that way. I think Trump is a major threat to America and the American Way. *How can anyone justify in any way the attack by low-life pieces of shit Republicans on the US Capitol on January 6th? On that day, Trump is on camera telling people to go down to the Capitol in support of him. And when things get so out of hand and become so violent at the Capitol, Trump does nothing to step in to bring things in line, as they should be, and doesn’t even send someone down to protect His VP, Pence. It is obvious from his actions that day that he actually thought Pence should take action, and overturn the Election results, in Trump’s favor. What a piece of shit! The American Electoral System may not be perfect, but it has worked for hundreds of years,… before Donald Trump. And then he says, he was cheated out of the election… which is repeatedly never proven. But still he has supporters who would still, even enthusiastically vote him into the Whitehouse again. I DON’T GET IT! I only have one vote, and unless I go nuts, I would rather vote for an aged, or even dead, Joe Biden instead of a live Donald Trump. And that is even with the sorry assed way Joe Biden has handled (mishandled) the Southern Border crisis. I don’t understand that by Biden, and if the Republican Party offered any viable candidate for President, I would easily vote Republican instead of the decrepit Joe Biden. Biden shouldn’t be running for another term as US President. He is TOO OLD, and I AM OLD.

I came along after “sliced bread” so sliced bread was the norm for me. It was always white bread, perhaps Merita, Sunbeam or Wonder Bread. The cheese was usually sharp from Kraft or yellow American cheese for sandwiches. Dukes mayonnaise, Frenches yellow mustard, Heinz or Hunts ketchup and sometimes Miracle Whip dressing. Not sure, but it was probably Mount Olive Pickle Relish that would go into our potato salad. There were no Vidalia (sweet) onions.

The Best Broccoli Casserole I’ve Ever Tasted!

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Today was Homecoming at Red Branch Baptist Church, near Carthage, NC. Jeff Mitchell has been pastor there for several years. Formerly, he pastored a church down near Lumberton, North Carolina. I saw a sign hanging at the front of the church that said “102” so I am presuming that this was their 102nd Homecoming.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit today. Ray Sharpe, my cousin, had been invited by Jeff to provide the music during church. Ray and his daughter, Elle, performed several songs and the congregation appreciated their music and gave applause after several ditties.

At one point I turned, looking back from my pew, and saw Ann “Gibson Hines” Graham coming toward me, with her husband, Billy Graham (a slightly less famous one) who I had not met before today. We hugged and they sat just behind me. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with both Ann and her husband. Ann was a Gibson, not related to me, and had married E. J. Hines and had a long marriage with him, I guess mostly down in the Holly Ridge, Jacksonville, NC, Onslow County region of eastern NC.

But, I’m not focusing on the people in this article, but on the food. The fried chicken smelled wonderful as I stood in line. *It wasn’t as good as “the best fried chicken I’ve ever had,” which I had a the Seaboard Station Restaurant in Hamlet, NC, but it was good flavored fried chicken. The “best” fried chicken I had was just a couple of years ago, and when you consider that I had it at about age 68, you’ve got to either figure I’ve gone nuts “in my old age,” or it must have been pretty good fried chicken. And, the truth, which is subjective, is that their fried chicken was flavorful, and tender, and moist, and having gone quite a few times to this restaurant, they consistently fix some really good fried chicken. They also fix some good, thin cut, pork chops.

Seaboard Station
This is a picture of the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted, in my life.

The carrot cake shown above is from Sara Lee, but she makes a good carrot cake. The thin cut pork chop also had good flavor. The steamed cabbage has a sweetness to it. I don’t think they put any seasoning meat, or bacon grease in these.

The other one is a broccoli salad, with mayo, and probably bacon and maybe dried cranberries. But I sat down with my plate of food and my diet drink and at some point put a spoonful of this broccoli casserole in my mouth and what a wonderful surprise. I think what was most surprising was the texture of the casserole. It seemed like it might have been whipped because, and I don’t think I’ve ever described any other casserole as “fluffy.” Sort of a savory type of Heavenly Hash, which is a sweet dessert dish, but this was a savory casserole. *I even went back for the last remaining helping of the broccoli casserole, which I put in a plastic dessert bowl, and then added several other desserts.

I asked who had made this dish and no one seemed to know, or they weren’t “fessing up” if they did know. *I’ve now gone online looking for a recipe which might produce this casserole, and I haven’t found it yet. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the broccoli wasn’t in large, or even small florets, but I wondered if everything had been “blended” in some way. Could it be whipped cream added to the mixture? Would baked whipped cream even keep it’s fluffy texture? I don’t know who, but let me say, to whomever made this dish, YOU DID EXTREMELY GOOD!!! I like food, and I’ve had a bunch of good food in my life, and I’ve even fixed a lot of good food in my life, but this broccoli casserole would be right up there with “the best fried chicken I’ve ever had.” And, to “surprise” an old man. I’m 70 years old. Is rare. But this was a welcome surprise.

This Broccoli Cheese Casserole Recipe looks similar to what I had at the Homecoming meal.

NOTE [05/21/24]: It was only at the end of my googling that I noted a comment that this casserole wasn’t “low cal.” I hadn’t thought of that at all. I was just focused on how delicious this was. So, this would be something that I shouldn’t fix a lot of, nor eat a lot of. But, it was sooooo good. [end NOTE]

NOTE [05/23/24]: I’m not sure I’ve ever thought to put a little water in the microwave onion cooker when I cook a potato, but I did this time and it turned out great. I cooked a small white potato and it ended up moist, and great for mashing. *I think I’ve always used either margarine or some kind of oil, and maybe chopped onion. I have put cinnamon & margarine on a sweet potato.

I’ve cooked a potato in the microwave and then rolled the outside in a saline solution, then finished it in the oven. This forms a thin, salty, crispy crust.[end NOTE]

Here are links to some broccoli casserole recipes that might be similar to “the best I ever had.”

Another Trip to Goldsboro, NC

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I had googled for different restaurants in Goldsboro because I had come to the conclusion that I couldn’t justify going to my old standby, the Longhorn Steakhouse Restaurant and having my old standard, a hamburger with lobster/crab soup and eating a whole loaf of the bread they give you as an appetizer. Even if you don’t eat any of the hamburger bun and justify the whole loaf of bread in that way. Longhorn is in front of the Berkley Mall and I have the shortest route to it from Fayetteville tattooed on my psyche.

I have even taken some sweet pickles (because they only serve dill slices) and extra slices of sweet onion because they only put on a single ring of onion on the burger. The Goldsboro restaurant seems to consistently have the best tasting soup, although I have tried the soup in Fayetteville and Southern Pines.

But after I looked at the nutritional value and calorie totals, this meal would have easily been over 1K. The loaf of bread alone would have probably totaled 500 calories. And, I consider 700 calories for a meal to be very high.

So, the initial google listed several local diners that looked like they had the good country breakfasts like I had at the Rainbow for years. In the end, I pulled over shortly before entering the Goldsboro city limits and found the Laughing Owl. One of the photos looked extremely delicious. It looked like an oriental chicken dish, with hot peppers, and it was served with some rice. When I got there, my waitress was new (I don’t know how new.) and I showed her a picture of the dish I wanted. She wasn’t sure of what dish this was on the menu so she went back and asked the chef. I think the suggestion was that it was a Garlic Kang Pow Chicken dish that had peanuts. *I don’t like peanuts in my Asian dishes, but I do like peanuts in all their various forms, and I’m not allergic to them, except for one time several years ago, at Russ & Deborah’s when Jeff Mitchell have me some peanut butter candy. I think it had “turkey” in it’s name and it was like a brittle toffee. I ate a bite and was watching TV by myself in the living room. At some point, I realized that my throat was beginning to close up so I stopped eating the candy and sat there quietly hoping my throat would stop closing. It did stop closing and I didn’t eat any more and I haven’t had any problem with an allergic reaction to any peanut variations since.

I ordered a cucumber salad with the meal. The meal was disappointing. The peanuts were a distraction and the entree wasn’t spicy although there were a couple of red hot peppers (hard even after being cooked). The rice was good. The chicken was tender with a sweet sauce. I ate half and asked for a “to go” box. I ate the rest at home before dinner, when I had a pared down liver & onions, with steamed cabbage & cauliflower and one disk of polenta which I heated in the microwave.

After lunch I drove out to my favorite location to watch the jets take off and land at SJAFB. There is a road that “dead ends” at a fence that runs along one side of the runway. In the winter and as long as the summer crops aren’t tall enough to block the view, it is a good place to be self-entertaining.

There is a Little Lending Library in a nearby neighborhood, from Berkley Mall, that I have left a few books there before. I may have even taken one from there, but don’t actually recall, but today I just left one, “Two Kinds of Truth.”

I didn’t drive directly back to Fayetteville along Hwy. 13, but took a circuitous route that included Pikeville and Smithfield.

Here was the Pikeville Book Exchange.

I even turned into this “Gander Lake” housing development. The sign says these homes start at the high $200K range. This is funny because near Fuquay Varina there is one development I pass that says their homes start at the low $500K range, and they don’t look any different from these (to me). Don’t know what kind of jobs these people are going to have to be able to actually afford to live in these homes. May be like the mortgage loans fiasco several years ago where people were given loans that they really were never going to be able to afford. But who cares as long as the Developers and Bankers make their money up front. *I never actually saw a lake from the ground, but there may be one at the back of the development. Not sure if anyone living in the development actually has access to this small body of water.

I was trying to find a new business in Benson that I had seen advertised on TV. Seems like it was a man & woman, maybe married and it was either a produce or meat business. I couldn’t remember their business name (was their first names I think), or exactly what kind of business (probably a butcher with various types of meat). I ended up stopping at Lee’s Produce, and they had tomatoes, various onions and some potted flowers. I bought some cheap heirloom tomatoes and have had one at home, at its not the worst or the best tomato I have ever had. A Campari or some of those grape tomatoes from Wegman’s have better flavor, still I could make a palatable tomato & bacon sandwich, which I might do tomorrow.

This was Lee’s Produce, but this Street View as taken when they weren’t “in season.” The woman that waited on me told me they had a place at the Raleigh State Farmers’ Market. I recalled the Lee’s name, and also Tarts. I think I’ve bought peppers & other veggies at both.

I’m thinking the business might have been Lee’s Fresh Market which has all sorts of good looking meats.

I bought this peppered bacon at Lee’s and finally cooked some of it this morning (95/30/24). It was very flavorful. Delicious! *But I had also bought some pork chops there, and they had “boar taint,” and were just unpleasant to eat. They weren’t poisoned, but just smelled “off.”

Michael Connelly – The DROP

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I found “The DROP” at B.J.’s Bookstore in Fayetteville, NC last week. Unfortunately, it was a paperback edition, on medium greyish paper, and although I am about 70 pages into it, the smaller print & darker background makes the reading less pleasant. *I’ve been looking, this morning, to see if I can find an online copy that won’t cost an “arm and a leg” to read, but if not will muddle through the paperback. (Also bought hardback copies of “The Burning Room” and “The Black Box.”) All three were $3 each, and I had a good long talk with the male owner of the book store (I guess he owns it, and the woman, might be his wife.) “The Burning Room” is another Bosch story that I have already seen on TV, and like “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” I don’t feel like reading this since the TV version is still strong in my mind, and also from a Bosch period that I don’t much want to revisit.

Having said that, I am now reading “The DROP,” and Harry’s partner is Chu.

Harry is called in at the special request of Councilman Irvin Irving, because Irving’s 40 something years old son has dropped from the 7th floor of the Chateau Marmont hotel. George Irving has made a big splash, but Harry isn’t sure if Irving has committed suicide, or if he had assistance by someone else in making his final leap. And there is a play on the word “drop.” Harry is going to be forced to retire, according to the DROP and George Irving lying dead at the northwest corner of the Marmont, has made the drop. Truly nothing yet has been revealed to make anyone think that George has done anything other than commit suicide, for what reason or reasons we do not know, but the bed in his room is untouched, his clothing neatly hung on hangers in the closet, a black button off his white dress shirt on the floor, a white robe on the back of his balcony chair, and a digital clock lying on the floor. Harry doesn’t think “accident” even though the balcony has a low lying railing.

The Chateau Marmont may have been mentioned in some other Bosch novel, or TV episode, because maybe a couple of years ago, I went online and viewed the area where this hotel is located. And, from another Bosch story, I recognized the commercial complex in which “The Crush,” an exercise business is located a short distance down Sunset Blvd.

Chateau Marmont

There are great pictures of the Chateau Marmont online and especially of the side of the hotel in which this story has started. Oh, John Belushi died in this hotel, and Led Zepplin were raucous in one of the bungalows.

LAPD Police Academy Elysian Park

LAPD Headquarters – Downtown LA

The Bradbury Building on 3rd St.

Charlie Chaplin Statue in Bradbury Building, Los Angeles, CA

Charlie Chaplin, “the Tramp” Statue
Robert Culp, Outer Limits
“Demon with a Glass Hand”

Harry and Kiz have a clandestine meeting at the Charlie Chaplin Statue in the Bradbury Building. *”The Night Strangler” film, from 1973, a precursor to the series, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (only 1 season) was filmed partially in the Bradbury Building, although the character’s situ was supposed to be Chicago.

 Ca’ Del Sole Ristorante Italiano

Take a tour of Ca’ Del Sole—inside and out. | Menus

Travel Town Museum

Travel Town Museum Foundation

LA Times Building

The LA Times Building. Across the street, to the left, is LAPD Headquarters. Behind this view is The City Hall.

Chinatown Entrance on Broadway

Harry has just found out that his partner, Chu, may have shared private case info with “GoGo,” an LA Times reporter. Not something a detective should be doing for any reason. But, I can see where “lone wolf” Harry Bosch doesn’t inspire loyalty with his partner, especially this partner. Harry has treated Chu like a mushroom… keeping him in the dark and shoveling shit on top. *But, should Harry have shared private case info, regarding autopsy results, with a reporter friend of his, in “The Black Ice?”

I enjoyed watching the “Morse” episodes, and there are parallels between Endeavor Morse and Hieronymus Bosch. Morse kept his partners, like Lewis, “in the dark” but I guess that goes with being the more intuitive & experienced partner in a relationship. Neither Morse nor Bosch have any real success with women. I look forward to reading the early Bosch novels to see where Bosch marries Eleanor Wish (post FBI and prison for her). I know the marriage doesn’t take place in the first two novels because I’ve read those. I know Eleanor dies in “The Nine Dragons.” And I don’t recall the novel where Harry actually figures out that he has a four year old daughter, Mads, that Eleanor hasn’t even told him about. Not a great relationship or commitment by either Harry or Eleanor. Definitely not something to be copied to have success in a “good” marriage.

Maybe Morse and Bosch are “idiot savants” regarding their insights into solving cases. But, they are idiots at relationships, especially with women. And being that way, no wonder they spend inordinate amounts of time on cases, and not developing outside, intimate relationships.

The Standard on W. Sunset Blvd.

I guess the Standard is no more, because the signage is turned upside down (see below).

The setup and attack by Pell on Hardy in the Sheriff’s transport is reminiscent of someone else who manipulated their arrest and then stabbed (???) someone to death in a holding cell, although I don’t recall which other novel in which that scenario was included. Also, it was a little bit of a stretch to think that Pell would have been strategically placed directly behind Hardy on the transport.

[NOTE 04/08/24]: I was watching an episode of “the Rookie” yesterday and there was a prisoner bus accident where the bus went over an embankment. I immediately recognized the location as being very near the LAPD Police Academy at Elysian Park. They also have a drone fly-over at Echo Park that is iconic.

I am pleased regarding my geographic education of Los Angeles which has resulted from my reading of the Bosch novels, and my follow-up online of the area of Google Maps and Street View. As much of the layout that I now know, I still don’t think I would want to live in L.A… or New York, Chicago or even Atlanta… Dallas or D.C. [end NOTE]

Black Sesame Rice Crackers

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Sesmark makes at least two different Sesame Rice Crackers, and I like the flavor of them both. But, a short time ago, I found some Black Sesame Rice Crackers at Whole Foods in Raleigh, and bought a bag of them. They had an even more distinct flavor that went really well with the Wegman’s Intense Brie. The Capricho de Cabra and the Bucheron Goat Cheeses are semi-soft and mildly tart and these would go well with either of these rice crackers. They also go well with raspberry jam.

Now I like liver, liver pudding/mush, liver pate, beef/calf liver, chicken livers, all types of liver. I especially like the flavor of Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate. This will go good with the rice crackers also.

Pharaoh’s Legacy – Lamb Gyro Pita & Greek Salad

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Today the rental agents were supposed to come around to the Longhill Pointe Apartments with a “mortgage” inspection. I decided to leave my apartment for the day, read more of “The Black Ice” at the Main Cumberland County Library in the morning, then go across town for lunch at Pharaoh’s Legacy for a Lamb Gyro Pita and Greek Salad, come back across town to the parking lot, for my cardiologist appointment, and then read some more until my 2:15 pm appointment.

I had been up early most of the morning before having breakfast at home, showering, dressing and leaving for the day, so when I went to the library and started reading, I was sleepy.

I was at the restaurant a little before noon and ordered soon after entering and being seated at a table directly in front of the entrance door. Unfortunately, the Greek Salad wasn’t as good as it normally is. The red onion was thin, the Pepperoncini skin was tough and there wasn’t much Italian dressing. Several previous visits to the restaurant, had delicious salads and the Kalamata olives especially had good flavor. *I even learned how to make the Italian dressing at home satisfactorily. There are things I don’t like in my Greek Salad… cucumber and sweet bell pepper. The basic dressing is easy to make at home: red wine vinegar, olive oil, Italian herbs, S&P, Dijon mustard and some sweetener. I’ve started using Romaine Lettuce (I buy the whole head because it lasts much longer than prepared, chopped Hearts of Romaine, which turns brown quickly.). I have several jars of Pepperoncini, and just bought more Kalamata olives from the Olive Bar at Fresh Market in Fayetteville.

I ate most of the salad, except for some of the tough Pepperoncini, and a bit of Romaine. I ate just a little of the pita bread, and then got a box for the remaining Lamb Gyro in the pita. I was in the doctor’s office parking lot about an hour and a half early, but eventually backed into a spot and started to read my book again. I went in to the office a little after 2pm, and at around 2:15 a nurse came out and directed me back, for a weigh-in, and some other tests. She commented on my loss of weight, as did the doctor later. He set up an appointment for another year from now. *I’m feeling good, but know that at my age, 70, a serious illness (even terminal) might jump out at me, unannounced. And, although I currently am healthy and able to easily take care of myself, cooking, bathing, grocery shopping, etc., if I lose my mobility that would seriously affect my lifestyle.

I don’t really want to move back to Jacksonville, Hubert or Swansboro, NC even though Mary Ann and her family are in Hubert. I am alone in Fayetteville, but I would be pretty much alone wherever I went now.

[NOTE 03/14/24]: The simple Greek Salad: chopped Romaine Lettuce, diced sweet onion, Pepperoncini, Kalamata Olives, quartered Campari Tomatoes, sun-dried tomato slivers, Feta cheese. Dressing: Olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, oregano, S&P, sweetener. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 01/09/25]: When I remember, I take a sandwich baggy with me, to the restaurant, that has some pepperoncini, grape tomatoes & sliced sweet onion, and I now ask my waiter/ess for an extra cup of their Italian dressing. Usually, the restaurant’s pepperoncini has a tougher skin but their Kalamata olives, which I normally can’t find in my refrigerator, have a better taste.

I’m currently reading “Magic Foods For Better Blood Sugar.” Three of the ingredients they suggest for lowering blood sugar include: red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil. These are all included in the Italian dressing.

I haven’t been making many salads for my meals, and most of those are not Greek salads, but I do have some Romaine lettuce in the fridge.

[end NOTE]

Snow Hill, Greenville, & Little Washington

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Well, Friday started off with a visit to the cardiologist’s office to have an echocardiogram. I had forgotten that I had this scheduled at 9:30 am on Friday. I originally was planning to get up a little earlier and make it to Greenville, NC by 9:00 am to be one of the first in the Library Book Sale at the Greenville Convention Center. But, no, I knew the doctor’s appointment was more important, and I hadn’t remembered that visit until the 24 hours advanced notice time was past. But, the echocardiogram went quickly and I was on the road to Greenville before 10 am.

I had decided to take Hwy. 13 all the way to Greenville instead of going up I95 and then taking I264 from Wilson to Greenville. The Wilson to Greenville route was a few minutes quicker, but I have driven that route many times through the years, and wanted a more “scenic” trip.

You turn onto Hwy. 13 at Berkley Blvd. to head to Greenville. The Berkley Mall is within sight of this traffic light. I had driven this route at least once before, because I remembered Snow Hill and had taken a picture of a string of old buildings in downtown Snow Hill on a previous “pass through.” Hwy. 258 intersects Hwy. 13 at Snow Hill. I know Hwy. 258 from my old stomping grounds in Jacksonville & Onslow County years ago. I also recall my NC Driver’s License number because part of it has the number 258 in it. I was 24 in ’88 and there is a Hwy. 258.

Even though I had gotten a late start on my trip because of the echocardiogram, I knew I needed to stop and take a “walk around” break from driving. When I was younger it was nothing for me to drive for four hours straight, and stop only to refuel my vehicle. I might not even have to take a “pee” break back then. Now it is the opposite, I usually have to plan for a pee break, whether I need to or not, because I at least feel like I need to. *But, this was the first time that I came up with the idea to go into a grocery story and walk around there. I saw a Piggly Wiggly and drove into the parking lot, got out and went into the store.

I walked through the store, first looking at a spice section, and eventually around to their meat section. The meat section had good looking cuts of meat, and I noted that some of the pork chops appeared to have a good price, per pound. Didn’t really plan to come back to this store on my way back to Fayetteville, but that is what I did do, and I bought a package of pork chops for $1.59 / pound. **I may have even bought the same package of pork chops that I had taken a picture of on my first visit of the day that morning.

The book sale was a little disappointing. I did end up buying two Michael Connelly novels that I didn’t already have, “City of Bones” and “The Lincoln Lawyer.” “City of Bones” is an earlier Bosch novel. Although I like the “Lincoln Lawyer” TV series, I wasn’t enamored with the Haller story I started to read, so I put it down. A note on the book cover for “City of Bones,” is that I have seen that cover before. Probably at one of the book sale visits somewhere. Part of the cover has a raised letter grid that was memorable. Don’t know why I didn’t buy this novel when I saw it at the earlier sale. Also don’t know what happened to “The Overlook” novel that I recorded as having bought in Little Washington, but couldn’t find when I got home, still… to this day.

I bought the two Connelly novels and about 4 other, German Language, books. One of those language books was a novel with a title, in German, meaning something like “The Snowmaiden’s Secret.” Another larger book has a title meaning something like, “First Men” or “People.” And, the check-out woman said my total was $6, so I gave her a $20 and told her to “keep the change as a donation.” She asked me if I was sure, and I said, “Yes.” After all, a donation to most libraries is “a good cause,” and where else can you buy a book for a dollar, or three, or even @$10 for a book that probably originally cost $35?

So, I’ve read eleven of the Bosch novels so far and am currently reading the first, “The Black Echo.” Definitely hadn’t planned on reading any of them, but have enjoyed most of them, and really like the characters and story line differences from the TV series. ****e.g. Irvin S. Irving is white in the novels and black ( played by Lance Reddick ) on TV. It is necessary for him to be white and prejudiced in the book, “The Closers,” for the comment, “Irving is a Jewish name, isn’t it,” to make any sense. I never really noticed the animosity between Irving & Bosch in the TV series, although I do recall an office scene between the two where Bosch has realized that Irving “planted evidence,” shows him the archived photo that proves it, and Irving shreds the evidence in front of him. It is a shame that Lance Reddick died. I liked him in whatever I saw him in, especially “Fringe.”

All through my adult “working” life, I never read much for entertainment. I read a great deal for work, and enjoyed much of that, but I wasn’t interested in “wasting my time” reading fiction, sci-fi or detective novels. I wasn’t interested in historical fiction. If it’s history, I want it to be historically accurate. But, from my historical research on the Cape Fear River steamboats, I do realize that sometimes the researcher/writer has to draw items together, when there is no written evidence as proof. You have to do this just to make the story “come together.”

When I got home, I took one of the pork chops out of the package. They looked good, and they were cut a little thicker, but not actually a thick cut chop. I decided to dice up some onion, jalapeno, poblano, red bell pepper & a couple of small tomatoes and fry the pork chop up on the stove-top. I also added some cayenne pepper and a chipotle pepper and some of the adobo sauce, with sweetener & a little agave nectar. I didn’t fix anything else with the pork chop. No rice, or sweet potato, or even tortilla chips. No slaw or cucumber & onion salad. Any of these extras would have been good with this spicy hot pork chop. It did turn out very well. ***Part of no sides with this meal was because I had eaten a bunch at lunch time. I had a Shrimp Po’Boy sandwich with coleslaw and a side of fried okra. The sandwich and the okra were “good again,” and this time I noted that they had put extra fried shrimp on my plate around the sandwich, and there was a very generous portion of okra. There were so many okra, that I asked for a “to go” box, and a “to go” cup of water with ice. In retrospect, I may have gotten a few extra shrimp and a bunch more fried okra because it was “late” lunch-time and maybe the chef was trying to get rid of these items so as not to have any left (or perhaps not enough for one more plate).

Looking out the back door of
Down on Main Street.

I was seated at a slightly different angle my last visit to Down on Main Street, and I think the black throw rug was in a slightly different position, but here was the kitchen door where the waitress came out of and did her dance with the woman customer coming out of the nearby Women’s Bathroom, and spilling some items. But note the man sweeping. Several of the men were in what I would call “a cleaning mode” which is definitely something I don’t have. I’m nasty, but it doesn’t mean I don’t recognize “clean” people, and even appreciate them.

As I am getting ready to pay my bill, and I had already taken my VISA card out (as I normally do), I looked at the ticket and noted that there was an extra charge (less than a dollar) if you didn’t pay by cash. I realized what this meant, but I did verify the meaning with my waitress a short time later. Yes, an extra charge if you paid with a credit card. So I fished around for enough cash and only included a $2 tip. The meal and unsweet tea were about $16. $1.60 would have been a 10% tip, so is that a 12.5 % tip? I think so. This waitress got the job done, but I didn’t really feel that she had “invested” enough in our brief relationship for me to be generous and give her a $3 tip. $2 felt cheap, but cheap I am, and I wasn’t going to pay a credit surcharge if I had enough cash.

Seafood Chowder -n- Polenta

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This seafood chowder was good, and would be repeatable, but just not as good, this time. However, adding the polenta waffles to it was a definite plus. I placed the polenta cakes on top of the chowder. And, it went well with the cabbage slaw I had made, but the slaw would have been better if it was fresher. The slaw had cabbage, sweet onion, red bell pepper, Dukes mayo, Half-n-Half, S&P and some sweetener.

[NOTE 06/09/24]: I buy polenta that comes in a tubular plastic package, shaped like “Jimmy Dean Sausage” pack. It is already cooked and apparently does not need refrigeration, because it is on display on one of the regular Walmart isles. I can cut off about a half inch thick slice and I think that is about an ounce. For a time, I would place a couple of polenta “rounds” in a waffle iron that I had coated the surface of the iron with cooking oil. They heat up, but do not brown up, but the waffle indentations make a good place of gravy to pool up.

But, having said the above, I haven’t been using a waffle iron to heat up my polenta. I have started putting the polenta in the microwave for about a minute to heat it up and soften it up.

I have put a couple of slices of polenta in my seafood chowder lately. It is almost like adding a cornmeal dumpling to the soup. [end NOTE]

Connelly – The Closers

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C. Erwin Piper Technical Center – Evidence Storage Warehouse

Chinatown

[NOTE 02/26/24]: Okay, let me come up with a scenario for “The Closers.” I’m about a 140 pages into this novel, and… the murdered girl, had an abortion a few months before she was killed. She was shot with a stolen gun (so he says) and another man’s DNA was found in the gun (now 17 years after the murder). Apparently this weapon was known to “pinch” the handler, if they weren’t cautious, and some skin, attributed to someone, not the gun’s owner, was found in the gun, from such a “pinch.”

The girl was part of a small group of girls that had known each other since 1st Grade. But, none of the girls seemed to know that the murdered girl had been pregnant. They knew of no boyfriend, other than one that had moved from the area about a year previous to the murder, and who had an alibi, a long way off… which Harry found hard to believe. But, you’ve also got to ask, why would this former boyfriend have a reason to kill this girl.

After the murder, the father left the home and became a “street” person. The mother stayed in the home, made a shrine to her daughter, in her daughter’s bedroom, and made ends meet by collecting items and then selling them online.

I’m going to guess that incest is going to be the reason for the murder. The girl’s father. Her father ran a restaurant, where she also worked. I’m guessing that the father may have procured the murder weapon from someone who stole the gun and left his DNA in the weapon. Could be the burglar threw the gun away in a dumpster behind the father’s restaurant. [end NOTE]