I think the Spicy Chili Crisp gave it better flavor. The original recipe, with slight mods, was pleasant, but not distinctive enough. I’m not sure what it could have used. It wasn’t unpleasant, but just didn’t “pop.”
I halved the finished product, and added some Spicy Chili Crisp to the second half. This reddens everything, so the scallops come out a darker brown color. I just went back to taste this version before storing it in the fridge, and you know what? I like it. This was just enough of a change to make it pop. Maybe this version, on some polenta, and with a simple salad with the Cilantro-Honey-Lime dressing. *Agave Nectar instead of honey.
If you’re paying attention to my current seasoning favorites, you know that I’ve used a lot of Toasted Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce, ginger powder, bell pepper, carrot, and Red Wine Vinegar. So, this was just a very minor side step.
Ingredients
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup long-grain white rice
¼ cup rice vinegar (red wine vinegar)
¼ cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower (Avocado)
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), thinly sliced
2 bunches scallions, white and green parts separated, cut into 2-inch lengths (onion)
2 carrots, halved lengthwise, or quartered if large, and cut into 1 ½-inch lengths
In some ways, this meal reminds me of the Seared Scallops with Minted Smushed Peas. It looked great, but just didn’t deliver. If you recall I found this recipe from a page that was highlighting entrees that would go well with polenta, and my comment was that the photo on their page didn’t show any polenta.
But, what I produced, had polenta, and I also added a colorful red cabbage & yellow corn salad, which made the image pop even more… red, yellow, mint green, and the seared scallops. The colorful red & yellow grape tomatoes didn’t hurt the color palate either.
I wonder if going a slightly different direction and adding shrimp with the scallops, and then instead of Toasted Sesame Oil, forget the ginger, and using Oyster & Fish Sauces, and maybe serve over Polenta. And, maybe use tomato, instead of carrot. Not a lot of tomato, sort of like I use in my Kielbasa, Shrimp & Zucchini dish. Just a little tomato forms a slightly reddish sauce, without overpowering like a tomato sauce.
Then it came to me, “You know, some fried chicken livers would really set off the seared bay scallops.” Let’s try, bay scallops, chicken livers, and bacon, with maybe some stir-fried green beans. That’s probably what the scallops need to pop. Sort of like when you add sausage to shrimp in a Frogmore Stew.
I was looking for the Sempio Brown Rice ( 현미 ) Vinegar ( 식초 ) and went to three Korean Asian grocers in Fayetteville, and none had the Sempio Vinegar. But, while I was looking in the Sun Asian Super Market, I happened to see the “Spicy Chili Crisp” and the “Fried Chili in Oil” that I like (very much) and they have a good price on it, although Walmart has it listed online at $3.88 a jar.
I just noticed from the above photo the cardboard inserts separating some of the jars. The packaging adds to the confusion, and I’ve found little difference between the flavors of “Fried Chili in Oil,” “Hot Chili Sauce,” and “Spicy Chili Crisp.” I do see some jar size and label color variations that I hadn’t noted before. *I see both “Spicy Chili Crisp” and “Fried Chili in Oil” in Walmart. One of them has fried peanuts in it.
In one of my early stir-fries, using the Spicy Chili Crisp, I ended up with a finished product that had a few peanuts in it. I asked myself where those had come from and eventually I found that they were “hidden” in the Spicy Chili Crisp.” Welcome by me, but I’m sure someone with a peanut allergy might fall out dead from a little taste.
While in Pan’s Thai Market I bought two different things, “to try.” I bought a bottle of spicy pepper vinegar that had some whole veggies (looked like peppers and white garlic cloves) floating in it, and a small jar of “black pepper sauce.”
The pepper vinegar turned out to be nothing more than “pepper vinegar,” which I knew those flavors from my childhood. Like those small shaker bottles of “hot pepper vinegar” that we would have put on raw oysters. Nothing new, and nothing really special. I’ve made similar at home by putting the various colorful peppers I’ve bought “in season” at the Farmers’ Market in Raleigh.
A brief aside here. Specifically a comment on my age, and it’s effects. I’ve noticed that my typing, specifically, my spelling of words as I type has become more sporadic. I rarely had this trouble for most of my adult life. *Perhaps some of this “misspelling” can be attributed to the automatic “corrective word spell” software that tries to take over and correct me, on the fly, and many times missing entirely on my message, and choosing incorrect words, and spellings that I have to correct as I go back and reread what was written, not necessarily what I wrote, or intended to write. But I think at least some of my misspelling is due to my age, and my mind just not working as well as it did. This was a message from our sponsor, and now back to the show.
The other item, “black pepper sauce,” was more interesting. It had what I would call a “gelatinous” look, but the deep black pepper flavor was captivating. I liked the flavor, but my mind wasn’t quite sure, how I would use this sauce, or what I would put it on. I couldn’t quite imagine spreading it on bread for a ham sandwich… although I might at least give that a try. It’s consistency being odd, I couldn’t imagine mixing it with Dukes mayo, or French’s yellow mustard. No. But, I am looking for a place to put this, and if I find it, I think it will be a happy addition to all those “earthy” flavors that I enjoy. (Earthy flavors e.g. fried chicken livers, pig’s feet, Nueski’s smoked liver pate). And none of those items listed here, would be something that would benefit from this Black Pepper Sauce.
Ah, I just read a note on someone’s web site, that this sauce is “thickened with starch.” Yes, that might give it that gelatinous quality. And now AI puts in it’s two cents, “It is perfect for pairing with barbequed or grilled meat like steak, chicken, or shrimp.“
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.
Currently at Amazon, two 44 oz. bottles of the Wholesome Agave Nectar costs $33.16. That would be $16.58 per bottle, so it is quite a savings at Wegman’s ($3.59 per bottle). Wegman’s White American Cheese runs less than $4 per package (pre-sliced). *But, I don’t think of Wegmans as being less expensive, except for these two examples, and the $.99 ICE drinks. *Wegman’s also has the “Raspberry Royale” tea from Bigelow.
Part of my jaunt up to Morrisville, via Apex, is to stop first in Cary at the Golden Hex (a European grocery). They have a fantastic variety of deli meats, salamis and sausages as well as various cheeses and a bunch of other grocery items from European countries. I’ve found a green seaweed there that I can “doctor up” to replicate the side dish that I had enjoyed several years ago at different restaurants. I think the additions included toasted sesame oil & seeds, soy sauce, vinegar, and some sweetener. *I think there was also some hot pepper flakes.
So I buy some sliced Estonskaya and maybe one other sliced salami. I take this to Wegmans, where I buy a ciabatta roll for $1.10. I either take a couple of slices (or buy them there) of the Wegman’s White American Cheese. It is both cheap and flavorful. *I take a sandwich bag with a couple of dill pickles & maybe some grape tomatoes and/or some olives (Castelvetrano). **I have been taking some sweet mustard flavored with horseradish cream, but after today I think I might simply prefer Dukes mayo. Oh, and I’m also thinking that a couple of slices of sweet (Vidalia) onion and/or some sliced Campari tomatoes. If I have some wavy potato chips (IGA has a small bag with about 3 good servings per bag at about $1.38), I take them too. Take a bottle of ice to use with my bottle of flavored ICE drink. This has to be a relatively cheap lunch, but with a lot of enjoyable flavors. ***Oh, I did actually buy a whole head of Iceberg Lettuce at Wegman’s today and included it in my ciabatta roll salami & cheese sandwich. My dill pickle spears were the “souped up” version with the Ranch flavoring.
I buy the cheap jar of dill pickle spears at WalMart, and the even cheaper packet of Ranch Dressing mix from either WalMart ($.60) or Food Lion ($.50) and add the packet’s contents to the dill pickle jar. After this first combining, I re-use the Ranch dill pickle juice in subsequent jars of dill pickles. The juice doesn’t appear to “go bad,” and I just pour off the plain pickle juice first. *I bought some whole dill seeds to try and sprout them, but the sprouting didn’t work. So, I ended up putting some of the dill seeds in the “Ranch Dill” jar. To my surprise, this kicked up the flavor of these pickles even more.
If I am fixing some Ranch Dressing chip dip, I do buy the more expensive Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning at a little less than $2 per package. I add cream cheese (the cheap brand is okay), some sour cream, diced sweet onion, diced red bell pepper and S&P. *The chip dip & wavy potato chips are a “splurge” that I seldom enjoy because of the fat & threat to my blood sugar level.
I find that including “cheats” or “splurges” to the foods I eat make life more palatable & enjoyable. And, if you don’t cheat often or regularly, any move in the wrong direction is quickly re-adjusted in a day or two. The blood sugar level may spike higher than you would want on a daily basis or you may gain a pound or two by eating a lot of ice cream or spaghetti at one sitting. But, going back to the rule and not making the exception(s) the rule, the body quickly readjusts and the bgl or weight return to acceptable norms. *I just realized that it has been a long time since I ate a half gallon of ice cream in a day, or ate a large plate of spaghetti noodles w/ homemade spaghetti sauce as a cheat. I no longer have those desires. **Having said this, today for the first time in a long time, I stopped by a Wendy’s (Exit 319) and got and consumed a small Triple Berry Frosty (normally I would prefer chocolate flavored). I had never tried this flavor (it is new) before today, and it was a familiar flavor and I enjoyed it, but don’t think I would prefer it over a small chocolate Frosty.
In the past, I might buy a cheap Rocky Road flavored half gallon of ice cream at Food Lion and at home, would take a soup spoon and add some chocolate flavored syrup before scooping out and devouring the ice cream. After I’ve indented the ice cream, I would like to either add some Half-n-Half or regular milk in the ice cream container. Yeah, I haven’t done that in a while, or even desired to do so.
In 2019 I think I had eaten some Pistachio ice cream before 10 am, on a holiday Monday, and had just returned the half gallon container to the freezer section of my fridge, when I sat back down in my easy chair, watching a new episode of the new, new Outer Limits (or was that the new Twilight Zone) and in moments realized that something was terribly wrong with me. I was having a seizure due to low blood pressure, but I didn’t pass out completely. No, I just sat in my chair watching the TV show through a reddish filter and pissing on myself. My body providing the tinted filter. *I quickly recovered, but sat for a while trying to regain my composure and to determine my next steps. I called Jeff Mitchell to let him know what had happened. While talking to him I decided to drive myself to the Cape Fear Valley Emergency Care facility that is about a quarter mile up the road from my apartment. I showered, dressed, and drove there. And, as I have rehearsed elsewhere on this site, I was providing a urine sample there, when I passed out completely. And within the hour, I was transported over to Cape Fear Valley Hospital (across town) and three days of intense testing begun. **They didn’t come up with a definitive cause of my seizure and passing out, but my cardiologist had an idea I think. About a month later, when I passed out while getting a new CPAP machine, I was taken again to the hospital and within a few days had a new device in my body, a pacemaker. I think it was six weeks for the heart surgery, and my fractured knee to heal. Once I could get my behind in the driver’s seat, AND my leg (in a brace) into the car and my foot on the gas I was self-sufficient once again. I still wasn’t supposed to raise my left arm above my head until the electrode connections had healed. The only time that I might have raised my arm was when I was sleeping and awoke with my arm above my head. But, this only occurred once or twice, and I guess I could have tied my left arm to my body to stop this.
Just tried some of my sweet mustard & horseradish cream sauce on some smoked oysters. Good flavors together!
[NOTE 08/15/24]: I bought a small tin of Riga Cod Liver at Golden Hex (I think.). I’ve never eaten Cod Liver before, and I am 70 years old. I had a strange reaction to even opening the tin container. I guess I was afraid that I would be repulsed by however this food tasted. It wasn’t the flavor, which was slightly fishy (maybe like a hint of tuna), but the texture which was probably like foie gras, and I’ve never had foie gras either. Duck fat. I could tell this was a extremely fatty food. Not sure how I would enjoy this. I think I read that you could spread it on bread, and that you might want to eat it with something that would “cut the fatty” flavor. Citric juice or maybe a vinegar. I’m thinking that you could add cod liver to tuna, or smoked oysters to deepen their flavor, but I’m not sure it would be worth the extra cost.
Actually, I just noted a picture of a package of Duck Pate that I had tried some time ago. I recall that this also had a slight flavor that wasn’t as pleasing as the Nueske’s Liver Pate that I buy sometimes. I think this liver pate is reminiscent, but not exactly the same as Potted Meat.
I tried some Sprat’s Pate that I also bought at Golden Hex some time ago. I did not like the flavor.
[end NOTE]
[NOTE 08/25/24]: One of my regular morning breakfasts consists of hot tea, egg salad, bacon, & polenta. Sometimes I add grape tomatoes, if I have them. I currently prefer the Scottish Tea by Taylors, which has a “heavier” flavor. In fact, the first time I tried this tea, I didn’t like it, but when I tried it a second time, I began to like it, and after a while, I prefer it. Now I still like Bigelow’s “Constant Comment” and “Earl Grey” (longtime favorites, maybe since the mid-1980s) and another favorite, “Raspberry Royale,” since I first tried it at a Quality Inn in Lynchburg, Virginia about 2017.
Today, I came up with two additions/modifications that worked well. I had a small amount of some homemade pizza sauce (only 6 ingredients) and I put that on two thin slices of polenta which I heated in the microwave. This had good flavor. I also cut a couple of slices of English cucumber and put a little salt on them. These two modifications worked well and I might do either again.
I had another Ciabatta roll pizza with the homemade pizza sauce yesterday, but I forgot to add jalapenos to it. It was good still. This is a consistently satisfying pizza, and just enough. So, I can make a satisfying pizza at home, and I can make a very good Pastrami Reuben on rye. Oh, and the Kielbasa/Shrimp/Zucchini dish I make, is consistently pleasing.
I do not make it often, but I enjoy a multi-bean salad. Its not something that I want to eat every day, or even once a week, or possibly even once a month, but I do like it and it is a nice addition to my food rotation. Sometimes I buy the beans in separate cans, but this time I found a can of 3 mixed beans: kidney, pinto & black beans from Whole Foods. To this I added some wax (yellow) and some green beans. I also added the little red pearl peppers, and the multi colored medium pickled peppers and some chopped sweet onion, and orange bell pepper. I used three types of vinegar: white distilled, red wine and some apple cider vinegars with some Splenda. You could add pickles, pickled beets, pearl onions, garbanzo/cannellini/navy beans to this too.
I made my bean salad yesterday and still have enough for two more meals. I had bought a whole rotisserie chicken at Harris Teeter so I had a drum stick and a little white meat, and I steamed a medium sized ear of corn in the microwave (it was sweet & tender). *Harris Teeter sells their whole cooked chickens for under $7 compared to Publix, which sells them for about a dollar more. I had bought the Publix chickens for a while and then realized I didn’t like their fatty/mealy textures. I tried HT and liked them better. Still either one would be a good deal because you can get about five good meals from a whole roasted chicken. The last meal being a chicken salad with a good portion of chicken.[end NOTE]
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.
[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]
AChicken Stir Fryrecipe 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 WegmansWalmart 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]
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.
I haven’t made spaghetti sauce in a long time, but in the past, I made it quite often, probably every two or three weeks, and each time I made it there would be at least enough for three meals. I just haven’t needed the extra carbs of the spaghetti noodles, and I can’t imagine substituting zucchini noodles for actual pasta. *I do think I had some zucchini pasta with chicken at the Olive Garden, and wasn’t too thrilled when I found that the cheap special came with the zucchini noodles.
Olive Garden is one of those restaurants that I’ve completely stopped going to, although since my last visit to Dr. Norem (quarterly checkup), I haven’t been eating at very many restaurants. I’ve even pared my weekly visits to Taco Bell down to almost none. A day or so ago when I was preparing my schedule for meals for the next week, I thought of stopping by Taco Bell to buy either a Beef Burrito Supreme or a Crunchy Taco, but when I looked at the calories in just one taco, I decided to not go there,… and I love the flavors of their burrito supremes & tacos & bean burritos.
I haven’t been to the Rainbo in many, many months. Nor have I visited R.K.’s, or Zorbas. I’ve even made my lunch and took it with me twice when I was going up to Cary, Morrisville & Raleigh shopping. Ate twice in the Wegman’s parking lot and think I had a Greek Salad both times. The sesame crackers had become stale the second time, and they keep their crunch a long time. Probably should have put them in a plastic bag instead of actually on top of the salad, in the Tupperware container. Haven’t been to Golden Corral in way more than a year. I had been to the Pizza Hut in Lillington (just across the Cape Fear River) for their lunch buffet several times, but since my doctor’s visit, not once. I will have to say that their pizza and salad needed something, but I’m not sure what.
But this time I started with the intent of making only enough for one, or two meals. Quickly, I realized that you almost have to prepare spaghetti sauce for at least two meals. I had 4 oz. of ground beef, and diced a very small onion, some chopped red bell pepper, added half a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes to about a third of a jar of Rao’s Marinara Sauce, and a small can of mushroom bits & pieces. Italian seasoning, marjoram, bay leaves, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, onion flakes, garlic powder, ground Indian pepper, some dried parsley flakes, S&P, very little chicken stock, Agave Nectar and Splenda. I can see that this is going to provide me with two generous portions of spaghetti sauce, and I am planning to sauté some zucchini and add that to the pasta & spaghetti sauce (at the end). *Recall that fennel seeds are in some Italian sausage and provide a licorice flavor.
I have been to Helen’s Kitchen for breakfast a couple of times, when I visit Hubert & Jacksonville and Mary Ann. And on January 19th, I ate at both Helen’s Kitchen and at Down on Main Street, in “little” Washington, NC. I really, really, really enjoyed the shrimp burger with coleslaw, fried okra and cocktail sauce. Now, these are exceptions to my current eating patterns. And, if I am successful at getting my A1C below 7 this next doctor’s office visit, I might take a quick trip up to Greensboro, NC to “Sticks -n- Stones” Pizza. I love their Margherita Pizza with some jalapenos. The only other restaurant treat might be a visit to Pharaoh’s Legacy for their Lamb Gyro and Greek Salad, and my last visit there (about January 17th) I even carried my own Greek Salad and at the meal out in my car. But, this did throw my resting blood sugar level way high on January 18th, my & Mary Ann’s birthdays.
My change in eating patterns since shortly before my last checkup have greatly reduced my resting Bgl. And that only went up when I couldn’t refill my Trulicity prescription in a timely manner. I went up about 20 points on average until I got on Rybelsus, and then got Trulicity and started back on it. *I only used about 15 tablets of the Rybelsus because I had started to see things about extreme side effects, and then a commercial about another like product that was including Rybelsus in a law suit.
I left the spaghetti sauce cooking on low on the stove-top as I wrote the above, and when I went to it just now, most of the liquid had cooked out and I had enough for two 2-cup containers (only filling each about 2/3rds full). Fortunately, the sauce was just about perfect, and none of it had burned on the bottom of the pot. Sometimes, especially when I am cooking beans, and specifically those large white butter beans, I leave them and at some point realize that the water has cooked out of the pot and the beans on the bottom have become “scorched.” Although not inedible, the overcooked flavor is not my usual goal.
Both the YM Warranty and the BBC Volga appear to be in port at this time. The Warranty is at the Port of LA, and the Volga is at Douala, Cameroon. You know I am enamoured of the vessel Volga and her vast travels around the World since I first became aware of her, as she pulled into the Port of Morehead City in late November of 2022. If I were ever going to teach World Geography, I would hope to incorporate the travels of such a vessel because, and greatly to my surprise, the Volga, in a year almost completely travelled around the World in both directions. She did travel completely from West to East, and then turned around and almost completed the entire journey for East to West. And since, she has also gone through the Panama Canal, travelling completely down the western coast of South America, and then back up the entire eastern coast of South America, going to the Port of Houston, and then Panama City (USA) and then Jamaica and from there across the Atlantic to Cameroon. When you figure that she has been up to Norway, and over to Gdansk, Poland, and then to the UK, and around past the Straits of Gibraltar, across the Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, down and across to Singapore, up to China and all the way to Japan, I think you should be impresses with this “little” vessel. A Handysize container vessel literally travelling the World.
[NOTE 05/04/24]: Well, I was successful in getting my A1C down to 6.7 for my last visit to Dr. Norem, and I had also lost about 15 lbs. during that time. And I think it was the following week that I took a trip up to Greensboro, NC and had a pizza at Sticks-n-Stones. “I love their Margherita Pizza with some jalapenos.” That pizza was good, but it wasn’t the best I have had there. After looking at this picture, the colors are vibrant, and the ingredients look tasty (and they were), but I noticed that the crust was uneven and gigantic around the edges. I began to think that the chef wasn’t really “into” making my pizza, this time. Different chef, maybe?
After Greensboro, I drove to Burlington, then through Gibsonville, and finally to Mebane before heading back south and home. I stopped at the library and a bookstore in Burlington. I found the downtown section of Gibsonville and they had a neat little small toy train setup, and finally I stopped at a used book store just out of Mebane and the the library in Mebane. I had just missed the used book sale at the Burlington Library, and then was told that the Mebane Library is part of the Burlington system.
I’ve stopped going to Taco Bell altogether, and before I got serious about my A1C & weight, I probably would visit at least once or twice a week. Haven’t been to Golden Corral in many months, and for years when I was working, I would probably visit Golden Corral at least once or twice a week. Covid shut down most buffet restaurants, and I don’t have any buffets that I go out to now. I would visit Mi Casita at least once a week, but haven’t been there in a long while. I still will make a special visit to Pharaoh’s Legacy for a Lamb Gyro, but I now order out and eat in my car. I make a Greek Salad at home and bring it along with me for this lunch.
The last time I went down to Jacksonville to see Mary Ann, I didn’t eat at Helen’s Kitchen. And, at the moment, I can’t remember where I did choose to eat, or maybe, now that I think about it, I ate at home before driving down and then had lunch out at Marakesh with Mary Ann.
Oneida Golden Julliard FlatwareOneida Stafford Satin FlatwareHampton Forge Zephyr Mirror FlatwareEgg with cheeses, liver pudding & polenta.
This is a satisfying breakfast that is easy to prepare. Use a small skillet on the stove-top and put some bacon grease & some other oil (grapeseed, olive, avocado) in the pan. Slice the casing and remove it from the mush and press the mush down onto the skillet. If desired, slice some onion and put it in the pan with the liver mush. Depending upon how hot the pan is, the mush may begin to form a fine burnt (not to taste) skin that sticks to the skillet but can be scraped up. *Freddy’s hamburgers have a similar skin around the edge of their burgers.
Paint some oil on the surfaces of a waffle iron, and put a couple of slices of polenta on the hot iron surface and close the lid, and press it down and leave it to heat through. **Without the oil, the polenta may stick to some of the waffle iron surface when you try to remove them.
Prepare an egg (maybe two) in a bowl, with S&P, and various spices (marjoram, celery seed, dulse, garlic powder). Put a little oil & water in the egg mixture and beat with a spoon. Put a little oil in the microwave onion cooker, to keep the egg from sticking to the bottom of the plastic container. Cook the egg for perhaps 30 seconds and then add shredded cheese(s), and then finish cooking the egg. A minute or a minute & a half is usually sufficient to melt the cheese and cook the egg thoroughly.
When the egg is cooked, you can just flip the container upside down and slap it on a plate. The oils should cause the egg to release without a problem. ***Without the oil, some of the egg may stick to the bottom of the plastic egg cooker. You now have a perfectly formed & cooked egg, in a round flat shape that you could also put on an English muffin. Add some sliced deli ham and you have an Egg McGibson.
Without an English muffin, open the waffle iron and using a fork, remove the two polenta waffle cakes to your plate. ****You choose whether you want polenta or other bread with this breakfast.
Scrape the liver pudding & onion from the pan making sure to get the burnt bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet.
Add some small grape tomatoes. Slicing the tomatoes will allow you to add salt to the halves/quarters.
[NOTE 02/08/24]: I’ve mentioned cooking this breakfast elsewhere but I’m not sure I’ve ever stated the brand of “liver pudding”. This is “Pender’s Pudding” and I originally bought some at Pate’s Farmers Market (across town, in Fayetteville). But, I have since realized that there are other grocers that sell this. I think I bought some in the Carlie C’s and here is the simple process I used to figure it out.
20240122_111200.JPGGoogle Timeline for January 22, 2024
Note that the file name of the image of the Pender’s Pudding was showing as January 22, 2024 at 11:12 am. I went to my Google Timeline and pulled up that date. Timeline wasn’t sure of where I was visiting at that specific time, but the outlined path made it clear, to me, that I was in the Carlie C’s IGA at that shopping center. *Not sure if I just saw it there, or actually bought it there, but I know the last time I bought it, I didn’t drive across town to Pate’s.
You may also notice that the Pender’s Pudding is vacuum packed, but once the seal is broken you don’t have an endless shelf life in your refrigerator. I know from experience that some has gone bad and had to be thrown out, or almost gone bad (beginning to get a slimy texture to the casing). So, this last time, after I sliced the plastic package open, I cut a slice of liver pudding for breakfast, but I cut the remaining into breakfast portions and put each in an individual re-sealable sandwich wrapper and put these in my freezer. I figure I can take one out a day or so in advance to thaw and hopefully won’t waste the rest.
The problem with this or any meat is that you don’t want to eat it every morning until it is all gone. And, when you rotate through waffles & bacon, oatmeal, eggs & bacon, fried apples & bacon, etc., you might not finish off the liver pudding before almost three weeks (too long, unless you freeze some of it). I do eat a lot of bacon, but it is packaged in 12 oz. sealed packages, and when I open one of these, I slice the bacon in half and then put all of it in a plastic container for my fridge. *I use the re-usable plastic containers that I have bought deli meats from Hillshire Farms in. They have clear plastic bottoms and a red see-through top. The Hillshire Farms advertising is meant to be easily removed from the red plastic top. It is a flat cardboard sheet that is attached to the red plastic top by a few daps of sticky glue. Just pull off the cardboard sheet, and roll the glue up into a ball & throw away. Depending upon where & how much you pay for the Hillshire Farms Deli Meat, it may or may not be cost effective to get these re-usable plastic tubs.
***I haven’t bought deli meat (honey turkey, honey ham, black forest ham, pastrami, corned beef) in quite a while. Actually since I started paying attention to my weight & Bgl, I realized that I didn’t need a deli meat sliced, to go on a bunch of bread. Now, I might buy some pastrami with the intention of making my Pastrami Rachels at home, but this would be an intentional act, knowing I was going to use more bread, buttered & toasted with melted Swiss cheese than usual. A “splurge” eating event. As might be going up to Greensboro to “Sticks n Stones” for their Margarita Pizza (jalapenos extra). Or perhaps going across town to Pharaoh’s Legacy to have their Lamb Gyro, with a Greek Salad. And this reminds me that I haven’t been up to Maguro’s for their lunch special (all the rice, I like but don’t need) in quite a while. At one time I was going weekly up to Southern Pines to eat at Maguro’s.
Also, the one “fast food” place that I had continued, Post-COVID to visit, Taco Bell, I haven’t been to in maybe a month now. I ate there every week, buying a Beef Burrito Supreme, a Bean Burrito & a Crunchy Taco, but sometimes leaving either the bean burrito or the crunchy taco out. I think the last time I stopped at Taco Bell, I only bought one item and don’t recall if it was the Burrito Supreme or the Crunchy Taco. You see, I can and do make/choose other items at home to go with this Mexican Meal. Homemade salsa, with roasted poblano & jalapeno peppers, some cumin & cayenne & Agave Nectar. Some chopped sweet onion, or maybe an avocado cut up. And some sour cream.
I’ve got an opened bag (probably gone stale by now) of Tortilla Chips on my dining table that may have been there a couple of months. I ate a few with some homemade salsa, and then they just haven’t fit into my current eating pattern since. You have a certain amount of calories in a day, but you also have to get all the nutritional value in that same day, so you can’t eat a whole bag of Tortilla Chips and then eat all the other stuff you need nutritionally for that day. **I tried 1 tortilla chip tonight, and they were still crisp & edible.
My Fitness Pal has helped me schedule and plan ahead the foods/meals that I am going to eat. The total calorie intake might not be exact for a certain day, but with a certain margin of error, they are close enough. So, I am eating with two main goals in mind. #1 is to keep my Blood Glucose Level down, and the 2nd is to cut calories to bring my weight down. I know that my Bgl will become more maintainable as my weight decreases.
I haven’t been able to decrease my weight (after having lost a little more than 10 lbs. in couple months period) below 250 lbs. and today was 252.6. I’ve also had a problem with keeping my Bgl down because I wasn’t able to get my Trulicity refilled when needed and eventually switched (maybe just for 30 days) to Rybelsus. But during those couple of weeks what had been averaging around 135 resting Bgl, had kicked back up above 150 Bgl. I’m still not happy with it, and after reading some of the side effects of Rybelsus, I want to return to Trulicity, if possible.
[end NOTE]
I’ve said there are two versions of the Sesmark Rice Thin Crackers and one of the packages is about twice the size of the other, and for about the same price. I know I can get the single channel package at Harris Teeter, where I first bought them. I don’t recall the other store where I bought the four (or 3) channel package, but will be looking because I didn’t notice too much difference between the two crackers.
The other day I realized that I hadn’t fixed tuna salad in quite a while. The first thought on this was that I would need to buy some sweet bell pepper (any color, red, orange, yellow). For many years when I fixed a salad, I added some sweet bell pepper to it. And until not too many years ago, the only bell pepper that I used was a green one. That was probably because I don’t recall any but green bell peppers being sold in the grocery stores that I frequented. *Someone, probably Mary Ann, mentioned that the colored bell peppers were sweeter and more tender. I don’t think I had noticed this on my own, but after it was brought to my attention, I rarely bought a green bell pepper.
**Also, the various colors of bell peppers go well in my Salsa Ranchera dishes (usually chicken or pork) which include onion and tomatoes. They go well when I fix spaghetti sauce, although the big change in my spaghetti sauce is using Rao’s Marinara “starter” sauce. But, I’ve also stopped adding mushroom bits & pieces to this sauce. So, between spaghetti sauce, the Mexican chicken dish or salads, I almost always had one or two colored bell peppers on hand. But now, I mainly fix a Greek Salad, in which I don’t use sweet bell pepper. And, I rarely fix spaghetti sauce, because of the high starch content in the spaghetti noodles, and I rarely fix the Mexican chicken dish.
So, I stopped by the nearest Food Lion in which the Green Grocer (vegetable) section has recently been remodeled, and bought a red (seemingly smaller than usual) bell pepper. I used about a quarter of this red bell pepper in my tuna salad.
Dukes Mayo Capers Celery Mt. Olive Pickle Relish Sun Dried Tomato
Lime Juice Splenda Sweetener S&P Cayenne Celery Seeds Dulse
I think the only thing that I didn’t add to the tuna salad today was the sun dried tomatoes. And, I don’t actually recall whether I chopped up the Romaine Lettuce for this either. My first thought was to slather some of the tuna salad on a Romaine leaf, and some more on a slice of wheat bread.
For a long time, and especially since my last visit to Dr. Norem, I haven’t been eating any sandwiches or even a hamburger with two slices of bread. Only one slice, the hamburger patty, a couple of slices of sweet onion, a small tomato, relish, catchup and some yellow mustard on the plate. And yes, I do like a dill pickle spear with that.
Speaking of dill pickle spears, or slices. Walmart, until about three years ago, offered a Spicy Dill Pickle in addition to their regular dill pickles. I think I still have one unopened jar of the spicy dills from Walmart. I think the last jar that I opened, the pickles had begun to go a little mushy. But, I had learned that I could pour out the pickle juice from the regular dills or dill spears and pour in the spicy dill juice, and very shortly, the plain dills took on the extra spicy flavor.
Just a few days ago, and I wasn’t looking for this in particular, I came across a recipe for Ranch Dill Pickles. The first thing that caught my attention was that this recipe only had two ingredients: a 1 oz. package of Ranch Dressing, and a jar of dill pickles. Now, I know there are more ingredients in the package of Ranch Dressing, but I tried this, because I had an unopened jar of regular dill slices, and a package of off-brand Ranch Dressing mix. I used the whole package of dressing mix, pouring it into the dill pickle juice, which made the juice a milky color with flecks of herbs (from the dressing) floating in it.
I’m not sure that I can say that the Ranch Dill Pickles are exceptionally different, but there is nothing negative about the flavor, and I do plan to pour this modified pickle juice into another regular jar of dills after I’ve finished eating this first batch. Now, I have planned to eat one slice of the Ranch Dill Pickles three times today. One for lunch, one for dinner and one with my Bucheron cheese & Sesame Crackers snack for later tonight.
I really have fallen for the Sesmark Savory Rice Thins crackers. I eat them when I have a salad, and sometimes with soup or chowder. There are two different versions of these thin rice crackers from Sesmark. One comes in a package that has twice as many crackers for about the same price.
Capricho de Cabra
These crackers go well with Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate, but they also go well with the Bucheron or Capricho de Cabra goat cheeses. The Capricho de Cabra cheese is extremely tart and combining it with a thick raspberry jam and a cracker works! *But, until I get my A1C under control, I don’t think I will buy any raspberry jam, or orange marmalade or blackberry jam.
Smoked Liver Pate
Now, I might add the above cracker choices with my homemade hummus choices for variety. I like having smoked oysters with my hummus, but also Vidalia onion, Campari tomatoes, assorted olives (Castelvetrano, Kalamata, Green), assorted colors of sweet bell peppers and maybe celery stalks or carrot spears. *I haven’t had them lately, but I seem to recall that I don’t actually like the celery stalks with hummus, and I’m not sure why.
The following I have used as a condiment with certain deli sandwiches: Inglehoffers Creamy Horseradish, Frenches Yellow Mustard & Equal Sweetener (and/or Agave Nectar). But, I haven’t been eating any homemade deli sandwiches lately because of the fatty/salty meat and the starchy bread. If I had a craving for the horseradish-mustard mix, I might buy a small package of sliced deli Turkey or Ham and eat the two together without any bread.
I haven’t been eating much cheese lately either. I like cheese, many different types, and I especially like fresh goat cheeses. There is also a blue cheese, “1924 Bleu,” that has exceptional flavor.
Thinking about toasting bread for cheese, reminds me that I also like to slather a slice of wheat bread with margarine and then sift a generous portion of garlic powder (not salt) on the whole slice. This toasts up nicely in the oven.
Growing up there were only two main cheeses that we ate. Cracker Barrel Sharp or Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese was the old standard for toasting on white bread. I don’t know when the first time was that I had wheat bread, but I might have been in college. The other cheese was Kraft American Cheese, which went on a sliced ham sandwich, which might be slathered with Dukes Mayo. The American Cheese slices might be individually wrapped, or not. As a much older adult, I have enjoyed a sharp white Cheddar cheese from Cabot’s.
I’ve written about this elsewhere, but I think it was about 2017 when I was on one of my three day vacations and I had come across a restaurant chain online. The chain was called Macados and the locations are mostly in Virginia. I was looking to visit the location in Lexington, VA because Washington & Lee University is located there (VMI also there), and I had planned to stop by the university to meet with a staff person that had developed a “free” application for the Blackboard LMS that FSU was using. But, after driving through the Washington & Lee campus, I decided to not try and visit this person. And, that made the morning only about a little after 10 am, which was too early for lunch. I got online and saw that there was another Macado’s location in Roanoke, VA and decided that I would drive down there and have lunch. Only after I neared and drove into Roanoke, at 12 noon, did I realize that I didn’t want to fight the crowds for parking and eating at a restaurant during “rush hour.” I did drive in downtown Roanoke and past where their Macado’s was located. But then I got online and found that there was another location, a short distance away in Salem, VA. Now Salem and Roanoke are jammed up right next to one another, but Salem is much, much smaller. Ironically, Roanoke College is located next to downtown Salem, not in Roanoke.
So I made it to Salem, VA and managed to find the Macado’s parking lot behind the restaurant. The front of Macado’s faces East Main Street, but there is little or no parking there.
[NOTE]: Before making it to Lexington, VA, I had stayed the night before in Lynchburg at the Quality Inn. Just before leaving the motel for breakfast, I went up front to where they were offering a continental breakfast. I was planning to have breakfast at Famous Anthony’s (Google Street View), but I saw a selection of Bigelow teas on the counter and I chose the Raspberry Royale. Not sure why I did, but it became an excellent choice. I made a small cup of the tea in my room and took it with me. I hadn’t finished my tea before pulling up to the restaurant, but decided to keep it. After breakfast I went back to my car. The tea was now cold, but it had good flavor and I decided to keep it for something to drink as I drove that morning. It was good cold also. *After returning home, I ordered some Raspberry Royale tea and still enjoy it to this day. **I see from the Google Street View that Famous Anthony’s in Lynchburg is permanently closed. [end NOTE]
Macado’s is a college crowd restaurant, with stuff on the walls and ceilings. I looked at their menu and found that they offered a Pastrami on Rye sandwich, with rough cut fries. I hadn’t had a Pastrami sandwich in several years so I jumped at the chance, and boy it was worth it. The sandwich was flavorful, had lots of meat, was toasted with Swiss cheese and the fries & ketchup were all delicious. The ice cold Pepsi was a welcome addition. *Reading in an earlier post, I may have had iced tea instead of Pepsi. I do seem to recall that my waitress didn’t come back very often, but I did manage to get a refill of Pepsi and more ketchup to finish off my fries. The food was GREAT, and set the tone for the rest of my lunches on this vacation. I ate Pastrami sandwiches in Asheville, NC and in Florence, SC before returning home to Fayetteville.
I think it may have been a couple of weeks before I got all the fixin’s to make a Pastrami Reuben (Rachel) at home. My first attempt wasn’t a complete failure, but I tried to toast the bread & cheese on the stove-top. What a mess, the bread ending up greasy and burnt. But since that first time I have honed my Pastrami Rachel skills to a fine art. I can make the sandwich quickly, and with little mess in my oven. I put margarine on one side of each slice of bread and toast that first. I then flip these toasted slices and add Swiss cheese to toast on both insides of the sandwich. I toast the cheese for the inside to help prevent any sogginess due to the Sauerkraut. And, I have learned to love Sauerkraut, and even add extra as a side, and on the sandwich. The Sauerkraut goes on one side and the Thousand Island Dressing on both sides and then the Pastrami slices in the middle. This makes a consistently good flavored sandwich. I don’t make french fries at home, or not in a long while. I do have a potato cutter for making french fries, but I’m a little wary of all the hot oil in the pot on the stove-top.
Oh, I do make my Thousand Island Dressing at home. I think there are only about 5 or 6 ingredients that go into this dressing: Dukes Mayo, ketchup, diced sweet onion, Mt. Olive relish, Texas Pete hot sauce and S&P. This makes a pinkish dressing with little bits of onion & pickle floating in it (thus the thousand islands).
I have made a delicious Catalina Dressing at home. The finished product had a ruby red color and had a good sweet flavor. Recently I made a Cilantro-Lime Dressing to use on a baked Salmon steak. The flavor was different but I think it was high in calories, which is something I don’t need. I do like Ranch Dressing, but I buy this at the store.
Great Value Classic Ranch Salad Dressing & Recipe Mix, 1 oz 54 cents per packet [06/28/24]. I think I bought a generic packet of this dressing at Food Lion for 50 cents. I removed some of the dill pickle juice and emptied the packet of dressing in the jar. Added back some of the juice and closed and shook up the jar, dispersing the salad dressing mix in the liquid.
If I should live so long, I will be 70 years old in 17 days, January 18, 2024. I think I am supposed to live to be 82 years old, but that might not be correct.
For about a month and a half, I have been paying a lot of attention to what I have been eating. The MyFitnessPal web site has made it easy for me to keep track of & to plan my food intake. I think FitDay provided more precise creation of food items, but MyFitnessPal has many items already, if you just search for them. But, it was nice to be able to enter the nutritional values for each food item.
I had Seafood Chowder for lunch today and some of the left over Grilled Salmon Salad (minus the salmon). The salad wasn’t as delectable as I had thought yesterday. I picked over the seedless cucumber slices. I fixed some blackeyed peas with seasoning meat, and white potatoes. I also doctored up some canned collards. Still, Mary Ann’s collards, from scratch, are much, much, much better. I made a meal off of her collards and slices of tomato the last time she fixed them.
This morning was a bump in the wrong direction for both my weight and my blood glucose level. My weight jumped from 251.8 up to 255.2. Not sure if it was the salmon, and/or the cilantro-lime dressing on the accompanying salad, and/or the “tasting” that I made while cooking for today’s meals early this morning. My Bgl jumped from 125 resting yesterday to 145 resting this morning. Now some of that might have been the “little tastings” that I made while cooking the blackeyed peas and the collards. Also, if I drink my “Bill’s Drink” after midnight, that has some real fruit juices (orange and cranberry) in addition to the artificial flavorings which affect my Bgl. *A note on my Bill’s Drink, is that it is also delicious when hot (microwave it). I have drank a bunch of this drink for several months and have not become tired of it yet.
I’ve lost about 10 lbs. although that jumped back up by about 3.5 lbs. this morning. I expect that to be an aberration, that I can correct. But I have also noted that my resting Bgl each morning has been averaging at lower levels. It is a little less than 140 Bgl.
The above graphics look very positive to me, even with today’s blip in the wrong direction. I wanted to add fish (salmon) to the meats I cook at home, but for whatever reason, either the salmon, or the salad dressing cause the negative reaction. I have been eating “right” and the above graphs are showing the positive numbers.
For years, I have said that if I had a choice for my last meal, I would have a “mess of” blackeyed peas, seasoned with ham hock and diced Vidalia (sweet) onion, at this was true until now. I had some good blackeyed peas for dinner today, but that’s not what I would want for my last meal. I’ve been enjoying a Greek Salad, with homemade dressing (simple: red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, Italian seasoning, sweetener). This dressing is deliciously tart. The salad ingredients include: Hearts of Romaine Lettuce, Kalamata olives, sweet onion, grape tomatoes, Feta cheese and Pepperoncini peppers. *I almost have a need to eat this salad at least every other day. Love the flavors.
I like the Greek Salad at Pharoah’s Legacy along with the Lamb Gyro, but I am thinking that I may make my own Greek Salad with the homemade dressing and take it with me and order just the Lamb Gyro there, and eat it all together out in my car. I can’t do the shaved lamb, but the salad & dressing, hmmm. I’m especially loving the tartness of the Pepperoncini Peppers with this salad.
I found Hearts of Romaine lettuce at Walmart for less than $3. The package is small, but I haven’t been able to use it all before some of it turns brown… until this last time, when I wrapped the lettuce in a paper towel and rolled it up tight in a plastic bag & twist tie. I also found a deal on Pepperoncini Peppers at Food Lion and bought one, maybe two jars of those. Oh, and I’ve finally found a cracker (made of rice) at Harris Teeter that has good flavor, isn’t wheat based, and stays really crisp even when the surface becomes wet. I like these crackers with my salads. They provide a crunch.
[NOTE 02/16/24]: I was eating a Greek Salad at least every other day, and was using Romaine lettuce in it. But as I said above, the Romaine lettuce, even in the small packages, turned brown before I had finished using it. So, I happened to see a whole head of Romaine in Food Lion and decided to buy it. And, that has proven to be the answer. I pull off a leaf or two and chop it up for each salad, and the rest doesn’t turn brown, except for maybe the last little stalk end, and I get rid of the small amount of brown lettuce each time I chop a leaf or two. [end NOTE]
Library Book Sales
Wilmington, NC 1241 Military Cutoff Rd 01/19-20/24 Fri-Sat 10 AM – 5 PM
Washington, NC 110 Gladden Street 01/19-20/24 Fri-Sat 9 AM – 5 PM
[NOTE 01/21/24]: I ended up getting to both library book sales, first to the Wilmington location and then to the Washington location. I found more Connelly novels in Washington than Wilmington. I bought 10 hardbacks in Washington. I also ate lunch at “Down on Main Street” in Little Washington and it was extremely delicious. Shrimp burger with coleslaw on the sandwich, and fried okra, with a Diet Pepsi.
[NOTE 08/05/24]: Actually, I ate at Pharaoh’s Legacy for lunch today and had the Lamb Gyro Pita with their House Greek Salad. But as I have at least once before, I took a sandwich baggie with some sweet onion, a few Kalamata olives, a Pepperoncini pepper and a few yellow grape tomatoes.
I only have about 30 pages left to read of the Sully Sullenberger bio. And ironically, there was an Air Disaster episode on TV this afternoon featuring the “Miracle on the Hudson.” I understood a great deal more about this event by having freshly read the details in the bio. [end NOTE]
[01/01/25]: Another year has passed. If I should live so long, I will be 71 years old in 17 days, January 18, 2025. I was just down at Mary Ann’s over the Christmas holiday, but am already thinking that I will go back on our birthday, if she is feeling okay.
I remove the liver pudding casing, add some bacon grease to the pan and press the liver pate down onto the cooking surface (relatively low heat). Maybe a couple of minutes to heat through.
I slice a couple of polenta rounds, thinly so that I can put them in the heated waffle iron and press them down. I’ve already brushed some cooking oil (now normally Avocado Oil because of high smoke point) on the two sections of the iron that I plan to use. This will take a couple of minutes to heat up the polenta cakes.
I break one egg into a bowl (one of my black bowls that has a rough texture inside the bowl) add a little Half-n-Half, some S&P, cayenne, and garlic powder and whisk with a fork. I can’t scramble an egg normally… in a pan, on the stove top. It just doesn’t come out like at a cafe. But, I can put this egg mixture in my onion cooker that I bought at the Agri Supply Store, put it in the microwave and it is done in about 1 minute (sometimes just a little longer to get all the runny stuff, but 2 minutes would make the egg hard). *As I’ve probably said elsewhere, this microwave onion cooker can cook a varied assortment of foods: baked potato, sweet potato, onion (medium or pearl), and eggs.
I was over at Pate’s a week or so ago, and walked past the liver pudding. It looked good, but as I came back to it, I couldn’t see a price. There was a butcher nearby stocking an opposite shelf and I asked him the price. He came over to the counter and pointed the price tag (very small & white above the products). If you know where to look, the price tag was obvious. I think it was about $3.66 or so.
I didn’t try this, but I’ve been thinking of making some spinach rice. I just bought some brown rice yesterday, and I have several packages of frozen spinach. I think I’ve used white rice when making this previously. I don’t need a lot of rice in my diet. Through the years I’ve loved all types of rice, but in the last several years the rice I cook seems to take on a grainy texture (not pleasant to me). I don’t know if the rice is old, because I don’t cook rice very often any more, or if it is the method I use to cook the rice. *For most of my life, I cooked rice by measuring out just a little more water to cover the uncooked rice, and hoping most of the water would cook off by the time the rice was ready. But a few years ago I saw a cooking show and they suggested a different method. Put way more water in the pot than you think you might need, and add the rice. Bring to a boil and cook for exactly 9 minutes, pour off the excess water, and viola, perfect rice. And, it did seem to work. It was only later that I would note the graininess of the cooked rice. I still enjoy the Sushi Rice I get at a restaurant. It is moist and a little chewy.
NOTE [05/30/24]:
I entered the following comment on a web site that had a posting regarding liver pudding/mush:
“On the coast of North Carolina, where I grew up, this was called “liver pudding.” In the western part of our state, and in South Carolina, it is called “liver mush.” Either way, I love it, with some sauteed onions. I’ve bought it in “block” form, where you slice off some to cook. Lately, I’ve been buying it in a casing, like link sausage. I have a box cutter near the stove, and I slice the casing and peel it off before I start cooking the liver pudding. I like a scrambled egg with cheese with my liver mush breakfast. I have a microwave “onion cooker” and I beat the egg, and cook briefly to get a firm base for the egg. I then add some shredded cheese to the partially cooked egg and finish cooking. What this process does is allow the cheese to melt in the middle of an egg patty. The rounded egg/cheese patty would fit perfectly on an English Muffin, so you could just add Canadian Bacon for a McMuffin-like sandwich. Or forget the muffin and enjoy the liver pudding & sauteed onions.”
Bill Gibson, II 