As I have mentioned elsewhere, I like that Michael Connelly uses real locations in many of his books. I understand that you can’t make a real location a “murder scene” but you can have Bosch, Ballard, or Haller meet in actual restaurants, or suggest a body was found near a public park, and have the school, streets and residence realistically real.
[NOTE 02/04/24]: I’ve read about six of the Harry Bosch or Bosch-Ballard novels, by Michael Connelly in quick succession. I just finished “The Night Fire” this morning and added the El Tinajon Cafe in Las Vegas entry to this posting. But, what I am wrestling with now, is that I have a mental image of a Google Maps “directions map” showing the route that a victim, a young college-age girl, might have taken, bicycling from Los Angeles City College where she was attending, to where she was living. And about half way between her residence and the campus is where they found her dead body, near Lemon Grove Recreation Center. *And, I cannot recall who killed her, or the ending to that story, or even in which Bosch novel the story was included.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Tyrone Power Memorial
But, as to why I even thought about the above geographical layout, is that I flipped back to the first page of The Night Fire in which Harry is limping his way to his mentor’s (John Jack Thompson) funeral and he sits to take a rest at the memorial of Tyrone Power. And the connections I place here is that the dead girl’s place of residence, on Romaine Street, was only a couple of blocks from Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where the funeral is being performed. And, without going back to the novel, I’m not absolutely sure that Romaine Street is the correct street. What I recall is that her street did not go the extra two blocks to get to the cemetery. [end NOTE]
The Night Fire came out in October of 2019. I’m almost three-quarters through the book and Ballard and a representative from the DA’s Office meet for a conference and breakfast at a cafe in Santa Monica, near Ocean Boulevard, called “Little Ruby.” From online this is a NY type restaurant that has an Aussie style. The two women meet briefly, discuss a case and have a breakfast of coffee and avocado toast, and Ballard brings along her dog Lola.
I see from Google Maps & Street View that “Little Ruby” in Santa Monica is now permanently closed, but there are still quite a few photos of what the location, atmosphere and food were actually like. And I now know what an Avo Toast at Little Ruby looks like, or perhaps where the two women might have sat during their talk.
Above is a basic Avocado Toast, but I see that you could top it with 1 or 2 poached, or a fried egg., and/or bacon, etc. And apparently Lola would have been quite at home there.
I must have researched this restaurant previously, seeing it referenced on the Bosch TV Series. I can’t quite tell if they are still in business at this location or not. I do have an image in my mind from maybe a couple of years ago. Seems it was a black couple eating at a small table. I did find their current web site for the Crenshaw location. But Ballard is in the large banquet hall “surveilling a couple of perps.” The web site has a couple of photos showing the banquet hall. There are also pictures of their fried chicken, collard greens and peach cobbler. She would have gotten a couple of cornbread muffins automatically with the meal. Not sure if she got their iced tea.
Harry meets his daughter Maddie “Mads” at Urth Caffé in Old Towne, Orange, CA for a late afternoon snack of Avocado Toast and coffee. He’s catching her just before she needs to go to an evening class. He feels the need to give her “a cancer update.” The cafe, located on Orange Circle, is just a few blocks from Chapman University where Mads is currently attending, but she’s thinking about law school, and going to the “D” (the District) after tonight’s class.
NOTE [04/17/24]: I turned on ABC 7 from LA (perhaps Long Beach, CA) this evening and while watching, I caught a police accident where a fleeing car ran through the circle and crashed into a fountain. Looking at the accident, the traffic circle seemed so familiar. I thought that this looked like one of the Google Street Views that I had recorded for where the fictional character, Maddie Bosch, was attending college and the Urth Caffe was nearby. Sure enough I found the article where the fountain was destroyed back in March. [end NOTE]
Is that an Almond Cheese topping with some micro cilantro? And for only $14.50 not including tax & coffee. Oh, and those heirloom tomatoes are extra…
So, Harry orders Sanddabs at the Musso & Frank Grill. It appeared to be lightly breaded & fried fish. At some point, I asked myself if this was like flounder. The images of prepared Sanddab didn’t appear to be wide enough to be flounder-like, but later I did find that the Pacific Sanddab was a form of flounder.
So I learned two new things. One, was that a Pacific Sanddab was a type of flounder. The other, was in looking at a picture of “Filet of Sanddabs” as served at the Musso & Frank Grill, I noted what appeared to be a covering for the lemon half served on the plate.
El Tinajon in Las Vegas, NV where the Black Widow may, or may not, have gotten her last café con leche with Cuban toast. Ballard and all were there to arrest her.
I’m watching an old British made movie called “Blind Spot,” and a woman just called a man, who was being forward to her, a “cheeky monkey.” This isn’t the first time I’ve heard the term, and I thought I understood the meaning because of how I had always seen it used. It’s sort of “a mild rebuff,” usually between acquaintances, but not necessarily friends. Maybe also being a little too familiar from someone that doesn’t know you well enough, yet, or maybe never will.
The only thing I’ve added to sauerkraut is homemade Thousand Island Dressing. Maybe that’s because the only time I eat sauerkraut is on a Pastrami Rachel sandwich, and as a side for that sandwich. *The short story about me and sauerkraut is as follows: When I was in 3rd or 4th Grade, at Swansboro Elementary School, about 1963/4, we would have sauerkraut as a side for our meal that we ate in the cafeteria. It was probably served with one of those big red sausages, and maybe some applesauce.
One day there was sauerkraut on our plates. I didn’t want to eat the sauerkraut, and I noticed several other boys stuffing their sauerkraut into their empty milk cartons (the little Half Pint size) and taking these up on their trays to the little window where everyone took their dishes when they were finished eating. There happened to be a couple of teachers standing near the window, talking, and checking to see if we had eaten our sauerkraut, and drank our milk. I had drank about half of my milk, before I had stuffed my sauerkraut into the carton and closed it up. *I normally would not do this, but it seemed like a good idea.
Well, a teacher stopped me, looked at my tray and lifted my milk up, and feeling that it was still full, she directed me back to finish my milk. **I now think she probably saw me stuffing my sauerkraut into my milk carton. I went back, sat down, and tried to drink my milk… my milk, mixed with sauerkraut. I gagged. So, for many years I never would even try sauerkraut again. The incident had left a “bad taste in my mouth.”
It may have been on my Spring Vacation 2017 through Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina that I had a Pastrami Reuben, with Swiss Cheese & Sauerkraut (about 50 years later) at Macado’s in Salem, Virginia. The sandwich and experience was so good that I tried a Pastrami Reuben at two other restaurants before returning home, and then got the fixin’s and made it at home a few weeks later. Over time, I learned that adding Thousand Island Dressing to the sauerkraut in the sandwich, “turned” it and made it pleasant. I eventually began to add sauerkraut, with some TI Dressing beside the sandwich, and liked it. I’m not sure I would have ever “really loved sauerkraut” but now I am thinking I may want to add sauerkraut to some of the meals I eat. Maybe add a little sweetener & spices to it and make a delicious side dish for maybe pork chops or Kielbasa sausages.
So, I thought I was finished writing this post, still watching “Blind Spot,” and what to my surprise, the main bad guy, who we’ve not seen until almost the end of the movie is played by a very young, curly haired blonde Michael Caine. I didn’t recognize him in a framed picture at the start of the movie. Oh, and he just drove off the road, the car caught fire, and Johnny is dead, or we hope so because the car is still in flames. The End.
“Blind Spot” has quite a few British actors & actresses that I have seen through the years. Well, I probably saw most of them in the series “Danger Man” with Patrick McGoohan and maybe even “The Saint” with Roger Moore.
I love the way the Saint (Moore) would sometimes, quite often, turn to the camera and talk personally to us, letting us in on some secret about what was occurring, or was about to occur. But, I also like the Saint, played by George Sanders from the 1940s.
I liked the actor George Sanders, even if he was playing a bad, very bad guy in something like “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” with Hurd Hatfield as Gray. And with a name like Hurd Hatfield, I recognize the actor when I see him in other shows, such as an episode of Perry Mason. And I’ve also watched much of the Alfred Hitchcock series and their are many, many actors that I recognize from these episodes.
I just heard a knock on my door. I rarely have a knock on my door, but I quickly recalled that I had an package arriving today. I had ordered a 28 piece silverware set from Oneida a couple of days ago.
Greek Chickpea SaladOneida – Zephyr Mirror 28 Piece Chopsticks Set
I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, that I especially enjoy the Bosch TV Series, and now the novels I have read. Connelly is probably responsible for both the location accuracy in his books and also on the TV series. Many locations can usually be found on Google Maps Street View. And, I like to go to Street View and get a better feel for the locations. So, I was retracing the steps that Harry, the serial killer, and the other police officers and technicians were riding along to get up to Sunset Ranch Hollywood, where the killer had supposedly buried the young woman’s body. Harry had been on the case for 13 years, and now… [This is from “Echo Park.”]
I happened to notice the Beachwood Cafe from Street View. I then went to their web site. Not sure if I saw the Greek Chickpea Salad on their menu, but something about their menu triggered me finding this salad online. For some reason, not the chickpeas, I was attracted to the long handled fork shown with the salad image above. I eventually found for sale online a set that looked “close enough” to the fork… and I ordered a set of four 5-piece place settings, which also came with two chopsticks for each setting (total of 28 piece set).
The Zephyr Mirror order arrived a short time ago. It remains to be seen if I actually enjoy using these utensils to eat my meals.
Beachwood Cafe on the way up to Sunset Ranch Hollywood
I checked out the Zephyr Mirror dinner knife & fork for my lunch today. The knife is shaped in some way to remind me of a doctor’s scalpel. I had a pork chop, bone in, some garden peas and zucchini & Italian tomatoes and a slice of White Mountain Bread. The knife easily cut close to the bone in the pork chop, and the fork handled the garden peas & zucchini.
At the last minute I changed the sides I was going to have with my pork chop. I was slated to have steamed cauliflower and steamed cabbage, but happened to see some garden peas and some zucchini & Italian tomatoes in the fridge. Trying to be better at portion size, I used a half-cup Tupperware container to portion out both the garden peas and the zucchini.
These half-cup plastic containers look small, but there were plenty of garden peas and enough zucchini, and I heated them up in the microwave and then dumped them out on a dinner plate. I saw that the pork chop, with bone, was .75 lbs. If 16 oz. makes a pound, then 3/4s of a pound would be 12 oz. I cut the pork chop in half, diagonally so that each portion was approximately 6 oz. But, one half of the pork chop had no bone and the other half had all of the included bone. **I ate the half of pork chop that had the bone, so now I am thinking that I could half the half and end up with two 3 oz. portions. Three ounces of pork chop with a generous portion of steamed veggies should work out just fine and reducing my calorie intake without leaving me hungry.
Now the half-cup container works for the above two items, but I couldn’t imagine measuring out my Greek Salad in these, or their equivalent. In fact 2 cups of the salad might seem a little small. Not sure if the steamed cabbage or cauliflower would be enough if measured out in half-cup sizes either. And, I think the calories in a lot of cabbage or cauliflower would be relatively low. I love the flavor of both the steamed cabbage & cauliflower. *I also like to flavor both of these veggies with margarine, or toasted sesame oil or bacon grease, or salt or a combination of it all. I’ve also enjoyed baked cauliflower seasoned with Smoked Paprika & Cumin.
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.
I don’t recall when I first started collecting this cutlery, but it was many years ago, and not having bought any in this pattern in several years, I now find that Oneida has discontinued the pattern. Golden Juilliard has a gold plated highlight but there was a Juilliard pattern, same design but without the gold highlight. I always thought this had a elegant look without being pretentious.
I have a “silverware chest” for storage. I haven’t looked at what I have in a long while, but I think I had most of the pattern, both serving and individual place settings, and maybe enough to serve 6.
I have a different pattern that I use for daily use, but the Golden Juilliard has a small “seafood/cocktail” fork that I like to use for olives and pickles. I also like the size of the soup spoon which has a large bowl, which is even bigger than the soup spoon in the pattern I use everyday. But, I only have one Golden Juilliard soup spoon out of the storage chest for daily use. I don’t recall who made the pattern I use daily, but it is much different from the Golden Juilliard, less delicate and less elegant. I had eaten at a restaurant in Thomasville, Georgia on a visit there to the “Sweet Grass Dairy” (at the time they offered both goat and cow cheeses, but now only cow). The restaurant could have been Liams, but now that I think about it, it was probably Jonah’s (right next door). Their silverware was large, in the hand, and when I returned to Fayetteville, on my next visit up to the Oneida store in Smithfield, I saw and bought the pattern I currently use. [NOTE]: In writing the paragraph, I recalled that I had bought my current pattern at the Oneida Outlet Store in Smithfield. I don’t see the pattern on their web site, but haven’t looked at all their offerings. The Oneida Outlet Store left the Outlet Shopping Mall many years ago, now.
[ADDENDUM 02/06/24]: I thought that I might not be able to find the exact Oneida pattern that I use for daily use, but I finally saw four forks online that were for sale, and I immediately recognized them as the pattern I use. I believe it is called Oneida Stafford 18/10 Satin Flatware. There is a Stafford Mirror version which appears to be shinier.
I also have a sugar spoon, and a slotted serving spoon and serving fork. I lost my regular serving spoon by taking it to work one time to serve whatever dish I was taking, but then forgetting it and never seeing it again. Not often, but more often than you might think, I have needed a larger serving spoon (not slotted) to dip something, like soup, and the slotted spoon wouldn’t work. This flatware has a hefty feel and is a little larger in the hand, which is what I had liked about the flatware I used down at Jonah’s in Thomasville, GA. [end ADDENDUM]
On my first visit to Sweet Grass Dairy, and Thomasville, Georgia, I ate at Liam’s Restaurant. Jonah’s Restaurant didn’t exist yet. I think I’ve been to Thomasville three times, and I think because Liam’s was closed on one of those visits, I ate at Jonah’s which was right next door (with a little alcove between the two). I may have had a Lobster Bisque soup at Jonah’s and enjoyed it very much. And yes, I think it was Jonah’s that had the larger cutlery for dining. *And later when looking at the two restaurant web sites, I noted a “Christian” vs “Not Christian” vibe between the two establishments. At that time, Liam’s had named some of their menu items in a distinctly, “non-Christian” jibe at Jonah’s.
On my first visit to Thomasville, I was able to drive to the dairy where there were goats (not sure if the cows were there or elsewhere), and cheeses (both cow and goat cheese at the time), and a fat, old, white bulldog lounging on the cool concrete porch. I had come prepared and bought a bunch of different cheese and had an ice chest to bring it back to NC. I met the founding couple and a younger couple, that was son & daughter-in-law, or son-in-law & daughter. *On my next visit, you could no longer drive down to the dairy. There was a newly constructed store a short distance from the dairy. I think I bought some Pecan Oil, mostly as presents for friends & family. On my last visit to Thomasville, I think the only location was a restaurant in town, and now Sweet Grass Dairy was only producing cow cheeses, which appears to still be the case.
Oh, the other thing I collected was the Pfaltzgraff “Winterberry” pattern of Christmas dishes.
The truth is that the Shrimp Burger with coleslaw and a side of fried okra & a cold Diet Pepsi (and a small plastic cup of Cocktail Sauce), was really delicious and… I just made dinner with a pork chop fried in bacon grease, steamed asparagus, polenta & a Greek salad and it was really delicious also. So was the gravy I made from the little bit of grease in the pork chop pan mixed with some Wondra flour and chicken stock. The gravy went well with the polenta and a little slice of pork chop, each bite.
The Greek salad was delicious, and the homemade dressing (red wine vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, Italian herbs, and sweetener) is spot on. The salad is simple: romaine lettuce, sweet onion, assorted olives, grape tomatoes and Feta cheese. Simple, yet easily repeatable, and consistently delicious.
And this homemade Greek salad went really well with the Lamb Gyro sandwich that I got from Pharaoh’s Legacy in Fayetteville (other side of town) last Wednesday. The next day I drove to Jacksonville, NC and had lunch at Marakesh Restaurant, and I had another Lamb Gyro there, with their small Greek salad. That was delicious also, but just a hair below the flavors of the previous day. Celebrated our birthdays, I together. I was born on Mary Ann’s 16th birthday, so she is now 86 years old, and I am 70 years old.
As far as I know I am in good health. I do have the pacemaker, to keep my heart from beating too slowly, and am taking one or more drugs to make sure it doesn’t beat too fast. Both of those seem to be working. And my Type 2 Diabetes has been better kept in check, until just recently when my resting Bgl has started to inch upward, I think because I am having trouble getting a refill for my Trulicity 4.5. Seems Trulicity is on back order across the board, not just CVS, but several CVSs, both n town and out of town (Erwin & Lumberton), and Walgreens (who said they were told not to order before February 23rd). That’s a full month from today. I’ve lost about 10 pounds in a little over 2 months, and my average resting Bgl has dropped about 30 points. My lows were just hitting about 150 about three months ago and for the last two months, just a few highs have been above 150. Quite a jump.
So, I feel relatively good. I’m able to live without assistance. Able to drive myself wherever, and daily to at least a couple of grocery stores (Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Publix, Fresh Market, Sprouts, Lidl, IGA, Walmart & Pates Farmer’s Market), and plan, days in advance, and cook my meals, with a relative sense of control of what I am eating, and varying the meats & veggies enough to not tire of any of it.
On the fly, I can change what I have scheduled to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today, I replaced a salad for baked beans at dinnertime.
I’m enjoying reading the Connelly’ Bosch novels and am currently on my 5th, “9 Dragons.”
Still wondering what happened to “the Overlook,” which I thought I had bought down in Washington at the Brown Library Book Sale last Friday. But, either I didn’t buy it, or I bought it and it has “magically” disappeared. I marked four novels (that I didn’t already have) on my phone as having been purchased in Washington. But, now I can only find 3 of them. I bought 10 Connelly hard backs in Washington. *Now, having mixed the books I had, with the new ones purchased, I can’t tell which is which, or even if one is missing.
From reading online, Eleanor Wish, Harry’s Ex, is murdered in “9 Dragons,” and Harry is exposed to radiation, which eventually leads to cancer, in “the Overlook.” I recall the Overlook story from the Bosch TV series. A woman’s husband is set up to steal radioactive material from a hospital, and then is killed by his wife’s lover (an FBI agent), which sets up the story to be told and the crime to be solved in that story. *The actress played a Princess of Mars (is that Barsoom) in the unsuccessful Disney movie. I liked the movie, but apparently the rest of the public did not, or at least not enough to pay for the exorbitant special effects. **The actress, Lynn Collins, who successfully played a “goddess” of Barsoom, is proof that movies can make “an ordinary looking woman” into a goddess, using makeup, wardrobe, lighting & camera angles.
So, at my age, I am facing, “the next moment” in which my life is severely changed, and in a negative way. I won’t be alive, or I won’t be able to live on my own, or cook for myself, or drive myself around (and that may be as few as five years more), or perhaps think clearly.
Sometimes I make homemade hummus (garbanzo beans, lime juice, olive oil, cumin seeds, S&P). I like to cut up some sweet bell pepper (assorted colors), a little sweet onion (Vidalia), halve a few grape tomatoes, add a few assorted olives and open a can of smoked oysters. I may even pour the oil from the smoked oysters into the hummus. I can make a meal off of this.
The replacement I bought. Oneida Golden Julliard Cocktail/Seafood Fork.
I gave my whole Oneida Golden Julliard pattern away including the flatware box, and then I realized how dependent I had become using the above Cocktail/Seafood Fork, so I bought just one from the Replacements Showroom, just outside of Burlington. I use this fork a lot when eating olives, or the smoked oysters, pickles, or maybe even Spicy Chili Crisp out of the jar.
I wasn’t serious about making French Onion Soup this time. I’m not absolutely sure, but I may have only made this once before. The soup turned out delicious that time, but as with many other things, I fail to repeat the process on a regular basis. I think the Internet did not exist the first time I made this, so I am not sure how I got a working recipe, but I did.
I may have made my beef broth from scratch the first time. This time, I’m just using a cheap beef broth from Walmart. I noted that when I deglazed the pan above, the fond on the bottom came off in flakes, and those not that flavorful.
I bought some Baby Swiss cheese slices for this, and then just a while ago read that Gruyere and Parmesan are the preferred cheeses of choice for this soup. It was Gary Golden that made this soup, years ago, when we were both attending Seminary in Louisville, KY.
I plan to toast the bread I have, multigrain mountain white wheat bread, with some of the Swiss in my oven and just put it on top of the heated soup. There are several elements that are working against this soup being as good as I remembered. *In writing this, I just recalled that I probably made this for the second time several years ago after having some at Marquis’ Bistro Restaurant & Lounge which is part of the Double Tree by Hilton hotel next to I95 & a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Fayetteville, NC. I don’t recall why I was at this hotel. I didn’t stay there. There may have been a work conference there, and then I decided to eat at the Bistro. The French Onion Soup was on their menu, I tried it, and was reminded of how much I had liked this the first time I tried it. More than likely, I tried making this at home again, but I recall no details.
I put Swiss cheese on the mountain bread, and also grated a small amount of Parmesan cheese and toasted a couple of slices. I ladelled out some soup in a regular soup bowl and then placed the toasted bread on top. Surprisingly this soup turned out well. But, the beef broth could have been much better, and that is what I would focus on, if and when I make French Onion Soup again… at home.
The melted cheese on the toasted bread worked very well. Eating the bread with the soup was a highlight.
I had lunch at “Tacos Mexico” in Apex, NC. Their Lunch #3 included chips & salsa, a Chile Relleno, a Beef Enchilada, Spanish rice and refried beans. I drank water, but think that might be the 16 cents Surcharge on the bill. The basic salsa was bland, but had bits of onion and cilantro. I asked for hot sauce and some packets of sweetener. The waitress brought back the sweetener and two squeeze bottles, one with a green mild sauce, and one that she said was really hot. It was really hot so I just used a little and some sweetener to make my sweet hot salsa.
The Chili Relleno had a lightly breaded crust. They included a whole Poblano pepper that had been deep fried. There was a tomato sauce poured on top of the Poblano pepper. There was a slight “after taste” that I realized I would not like. Once was enough. The meal wasn’t unpleasant, but just a one time event.
I noted the customers, and most seemed to be Hispanic, in work clothing.
I turned on to Hunter Street and rode west. At some point, Hunter Street becomes Olive Chapel Road and after crossing the Toll Road, Publix is on the right.
There were several locations within the store that were in a familiar spot, but it wasn’t exactly like the Publix in Fayetteville. I found the Bread section, and they had some Ciabatta Rolls. The rolls were mislabeled as Ciabatta Loaf and was priced over $4. I asked the clerk about this and she re-labelled the bag as Ciabatta Rolls at a lower price. I checked for lamb and they didn’t have any Round Bone Chops.
Coming back through the Apex Historical Downtown District I noted several groups of both boys and girls that looked to be Middle or High School age, walking down the sidewalks.
I drove up US 1 and made it to the NC State Farmer’s Market. There were still a lot of colorful peppers for sale, and I bought some at two different vendors (one Lee’s Produce for sweet peppers).
The four types of peppers shown below were supposed to be sweet/not hot and they were. The far right were red Poblanos. On the left, the more orange pepper had the sweetest flavor. The long red peppers in the middle had little flavor.
I bought gas in Fuquay Varina.
There is a turn-off just above Bunn Level and there was one car ahead of me that knew all the short cuts until we got back on Ramsey Street.
NOTE [09/03/22]: Awoke after 2 am on Saturday and went to the bathroom. I looked over at the counter where my “empty” pill box should have been. There was none. No pill box, hmmm… I had gone to bed early (don’t remember exactly when) so, it wasn’t likely that I had taken the evening pills. Mild panic. I head to my living room and search under my “recently received” car title, and there is an empty space for one of the blue plastic daily containers… but the empty space is for THUR, and this is early Saturday morning. There nearby is the empty container for THURS. I haven’t taken any of my pills for Friday, and it is Saturday. I rush back to the bathroom and take the morning pills, with no idea at how to fit the FRI evening pills in before the SAT morning pills come due.
I don’t think I’ve ever forgotten a whole day before. I’ve been fairly religious about taking my pills, except I did forget my evening pills once. That is when I determined that you should go ahead and take the pills that you forgot.
I had felt “off” and when I got home, went to bed early. Some of the “offness” might have been because I hadn’t taken any daily medication. Now, early Saturday morning, I don’t think I ate anything for dinner either.
I finally got around to scheduling maintenance on my 2018 Toyota Camry last night. I went online and surprisingly, there were early times listed for this morning (it may have been after 9 am, last night when I went online). I selected the 8:15 am slot and set the clock on my phone to wake me at 7 am.
I went to the Hardees near Cross Creek Mall this morning for breakfast. I ordered a Ham Biscuit Combo, which includes a drink and tater tots. I wasn’t paying close attention when the girl handed me my change but saw two $5 bills and some change. It took a brief time to register, but then I asked her how much the meal had been. *I’m thinking that two 5’s and some change would mean it was a little over $9 for the combo, and it should have been more around $7. I think she was confused also because she said the biscuit by itself was $5+ (which was the price listed for the combo). I later asked the manager and she looked at the ticket and said I had been charged correctly.
It was then that I realized the girl had given me a “bunch of change” and that there were quite a few more quarters, so I surmised that she had given me quarters instead of dollar bills. I had taken a penny and one or two quarters with me as I left my apartment, and now there were maybe a dollar or two worth of quarters.
I enjoyed the flavor of the ham biscuit, but later started to get indigestion, which lasted through the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, even after lunch.
I made it to Hendrick’s before 8am and was processed. I slept some in the waiting room, and looked at various stuff on my phone. My car was done in about 2.5 hours, which was relatively quick, but it did cost a little over $600 for everything. I mentioned to the processor that I had just finished paying for my Camry with my last monthly payment, and that I had received my car title just a couple of days ago.
I left the dealership and was just a short distance up the road when I noticed that the air conditioning was putting out hot air. I thought I was going to have to go back to the dealership, but cold air started pouring out and I continued on my trip. *I decided to go to the Longhorn restaurant in Goldsboro, NC for lunch. It was around 11 am.
It was shortly after 12 noon when I arrived at Longhorn.
I eat the bread with butter, and leave the hamburger bun that comes with the hamburger. Cheeseburger, with American cheese. I get the Shrimp & Lobster Chowder. This time I requested no pickles (they are dill) and extra onion. I like their onions (sweet, no bite).
After lunch, I walked outside. I could hear what sounded like a large jet engine revving up. **I looked at Google Maps and it doesn’t look like the air field is close enough to Longhorn for a jet engine to sound that loud. Not sure. I got in my car and drove to the other side of the SJAB airfield. There is a dead end road with soy beans (maybe) growing on either side, so they are low to the ground. I can watch any aircraft taking off or landing from here. There were a couple of small aircraft taking off as I arrived at the Dead End. They didn’t return and I saw no others take off or land.
Google StreetView image capture (no crops growing at the time)
I then headed on to Smithfield, NC and stopped at JR’s to get a couple of packs of RamRod Cigars. Comes to around $13 and there are 5 cigars per package.
Came back home. Watched a little TV and went to bed. Wasn’t feeling well, but am better now.
I have taken a few things with me when I am going to Maguro’s to have lunch, and I have since after my first visit only eaten “Thai Basil Chicken”.
Russ and Deborah took me there to celebrate my birthday and Russ had the Thai Basil Chicken. I had something else, which was “okay” but looking at Russ’ meal from across the table, I thought it looked especially tasty. At some point, Russ asked if there were hot peppers in the dish. I recall that both Deborah and I looked and I think we found what appeared to be a sliced Jalapeno. Now, I would guess that hot is not what Russ wanted.
I’m sure that Russ and Deborah had “cut out a swath of time” for me for my birthday celebration, but after lunch as we are standing in the Maguro’s parking lot talking, I realized that I had an upset stomach. My way of saying that I felt I needed to go to the bathroom. I told them I was going home and left my celebration early.
But, the next day I drove up to Southern Pines again to have lunch at Maguro’s, and to order the “Thai Basil Chicken” for myself. Making back to back trips to Southern Pines from Fayetteville would be highly unusual for me, but at this time, our gas prices had not started to rise drastically.
The Thai Basil Chicken was delicious! During the Pandemic, I would normally drive to Southern Pines on Thursdays and order the lunch special, which for sometime was still only $7 with water to drink.
The few things I took included:
— Hot Mustard which I would dip my egg roll (more like an egg roll instead of a spring roll) in and their sweet sauce. This mustard will take your breath away if you eat too much, and too much might just be a very little.
— Toasted Sesame Oil which I add to the fried rice. I had found that the flavor of the Toasted Sesame Oil was what “meant” fried rice to me. This does make the rice flavor better.
Many times I have eaten the entire meal at the restaurant, but a few times, I have brought a “doggy” box home with me. And, what I found is that adding extra peppers and onion to the left overs works well. I had some hot peppers including Habaneros, a poblano and some onion which I cooked up on the stove top. I added the peppers & onion to the left overs and microwaved for a couple of minutes. This worked excellently!
Andouille Lentil Soup
I knew that I wanted to make some lentil soup before I left for lunch in Southern Pines. I was going to look for some Andouille sausage at Fresh Market in Southern Pines. Not all sausages are the same, and I have had bland Andouille. But, I have also used Polska Kielbasa which was a failure. Not spicy.
I went into the Fresh Market and sauntered through apples, carrots, nuts and olives before making it to the meat counter in the back. You can only get to the meat counter from two directions, and I realized after walking along the counter that there was a “proper” direction, and there was a large sign for “the next customer”. I had not asked a butcher for assistance, and after finding the head of the line took my place behind an elderly couple that had just been called up to the counter by a butcher. I saw sausages and one of those was labelled ‘Andouille’. Another butcher, a black man, came to the counter and asked if I needed assistance. I asked him if the Andouille was spicy. He said he had not tried it personally and did not know. I asked if a pound of the Andouille was about two links. I ended up getting 3 links for a pound. The white butcher didn’t know if the Andouille was spicy, but knew that Andouille should be.
I had a 3 quart pot, and put a couple of links of the Andouille in the bottom and cut the casings from end to end. I tried to scrape the meat from the casings. I then added some red & brown lentils, some chopped onion and some chicken broth, S&P, and garlic powder. At some point I added some Poblano, and hot peppers, including a Habanero.
I was finishing off my Maguro’s Thai Basil Chicken as I was cooking the Andouille Lentil soup. But, I was tasting the soup broth, and it was obvious that it was spicy hot. The Andouille was ground chunkily (which is how it should be) and had good flavor, although I honestly cannot say if this Andouille was spicy because of the overpowering heat from the hot peppers I had added. But, this was really good soup, especially because it was spicy hot, and had good meat flavor!
So, I am sitting on the toilet the next morning, and it comes to me that my stomach feels like someone had punched it. It is slightly sore, and I smile thinking that the cause of it was all the spicy, hot peppers I had eaten the day before.
After lunch, I drove over to Ken Chappell’s fruit stand near Candor. This is a regular practice during peach season. Peaches & apples are the main produce, but they also have okra, tomatoes, cantaloupe & watermelons in season.
I bought a watermelon ($7 maybe $5), three small tomatoes, some Gala apples (small & hard) and a small bag of peaches (Flame Prince). I drove back to the Fresh Market.
I drove over to the Mitchell’s after I had bought the Andouille. No one was home, no cars in front, and no one answered the door bell. I left a few apples & peaches on the table under the patio.
I drove back to Fayetteville. I left the watermelon in the car, but brought the rest of my purchases & the left-over Thai Basil Chicken inside.
Not sure how soon afterwards that I went to bed, but I awoke about 8:45 pm. I started wandering through the apartment. I see that I left the left over Thai Basil Chicken in the little white plastic box, on the table, not the refrigerator. And also on the table was the package of Andouille Sausage, unrefrigerated. I got the bag of peppers out of the refrigerator, grabbed an onion, and started chopping dividing it out by eye, some in the Andouille Lentil soup pot, and some in a small fry pan (for the left overs).
Just before I got home, I stopped at the Food Lion. I bought a bag of carrots (for the lentil soup), a few Gala apples (for fried apples), a sweet bell pepper, roasted cashews, and supposedly “Sweet Bites” tomatoes. I was surprised to see the Sweet Bites, because they haven’t been available for over a year (maybe longer). But see my concern, because although the “Sweet Bites” package has returned, the small tomatoes inside are not the same variety (or flavor) as previously sold under this name by Sunset Company.
ADDENDUM [ 08/12/22 ]: Boy! I just had another helping of the Andouille Lentil soup I made last night, and there is just one more helping left in the fridge. This soup turned out to be really good, and addictive. It is so spicy hot, and the Andouille sausage has enough distinctive flavor (although I still can’t judge whether it is spicy, hot, or not), and the Poblano peppers offer their distinctive, earthy flavor and the carrots provide a cooling effect. I like lentil soup and have made several versions of it in the past. But, they are not always winners. I remember adding Texas Pete hot sauce to it in the past. I think that I had forgotten which type of sausage to use, and Polska Kielbasa doesn’t work here. *So, I would add this version of Andouille Lentil soup to my three other favorites, Curried Apple, Tarragon Leek, or Avocado Chipotle soup.
I currently think that they would be ordered in this order, as to my favorite:
I don’t recall how many years after I came to Fayetteville to work, in August 1995 at Fayetteville State University, that the second Golden Corral location in Fayetteville was built on Ramsey Street. This Golden Corral location was a favorite of mine, often visiting at least twice a week. The staff were friendly and DeWayne was a good waiter for many years. After they closed this location, DeWayne and others were moved over to the newly built Golden Corral, located at the same location near the Mall.
Is that my Honda Civic?DeWayneOld GC Torn Down for NewMain GC Torn Down for NewLast VisitLast Plate @ the Golden Corral Ramsey Street
The new Golden Corral was not necessarily better, or even as good as the old. The serpentine, undulating serving areas of the old locations provided a more friendly, less frenzied approach for customers to fill their plates. The new serving line was long, very long, almost spanning the entire length of the building and straight. The problem with this long straight line was that other customers were always “coming at you” from both sides and sometimes even behind you. Another negative aspect of the new Golden Corral was that the environment was incredibly “LOUD”. Sound bounced off the walls easily and became almost deafening. Oh, and there were certain sections of the restaurant where there was not enough room between the tables, on each side. Few want to have people and waiters/waitresses brushing against you to “get by” while you are eating.
Another negative was that DeWayne was never quite the same “happy” self in the new GC as he had been for years at the GC on Ramsey. I think the new was a more harried pace.
After Golden Corral moved out of this location, it was taken over by a Chinese restaurant. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant. Might have been “Supreme Buffet Hibachi”. I do recall before they actually opened, I was thinking that they didn’t need another Oriental restaurant in this area. I was a regular customer of the “Little China” restaurant which was just a few steps away, next to Ollies. But, the new buffet was good and I almost stopped going to Little China. Finally, when I did return to Little China, they had discontinued their buffet and I didn’t go back afterward.
After the Oriental restaurant left, “Fred Chaisson’s Grandsons Buffet” opened. I became a regular here also.
I include the two pictures below, because they look like the Ramsey Street location of Chaissons. The corrugated tin siding, and the neon pig on the red wall were familiar.
“Fred Chaisson’s Grandsons Buffet” on 3901 Ramsey Street fell prey to COVID. They closed when other restaurants were closing their buffets, and never opened again. And after a couple of years, I was riding by the other day and looked over to see that they had torn down most of the building. And by later that day, they finished the building demolish. Today as I rode past, it looks like they have cleaned up the rest of the parking area.
Not too long before I saw that they were demolishing the Ramsey Street location of Chaissons, I had heard/seen a report on WRAL about a shooting that had occurred at the Chaisson’s location in Hope Mills. The positive of this was that I didn’t know they had a Chaissons there, and I will probably visit at some point.
In writing the last paragraph, I was reminded of the Chaissons location which was down in Lumberton, NC. I’m not sure if there was a fire, but at some point the location stopped being a restaurant and fell into disrepair. The problem might have been the flooding in 2016 and not fire. *And, I correct myself. I just did a Google StreetView of the location down in Lumberton and see that it was a Fuller’s Restaurant and not a Chaissons.
The Agri Supply store is just about a mile, up the road, to the right of this picture, but on the left side of the road.
Fuller’s has the same “country cooking” type buffet as Chaissons. I know I visited the above location in Lumberton at least once before the fire. It has been a long time since I ate at Fullers in Fayetteville, on Eastern Blvd. Most times when I go past it, it appears to be closed.
Bill Gibson, II 