Weekend, Driving, and Dinner....

Due to the Rémoulade piece (thanks for all the responses!), I didn’t get to say much about the mother’s day weekend. Partially because there wasn’t much to say (on my part). MFO was returning from Wisconsin and we spent the real mother’s day sort of recovering from that. She was pleased to get a call from both FOJTE and Y.

Anyway, my only other Mother’s Day comment was an observation. First, let me put in a caveat that anybody who takes time to be with their mother/wife/family is doing a good thing regardless of the venue. The “being together” part trumps the “where” part. Anyway, Sunday I was going up to the Greenery (which seems to be experiencing somewhat of a revival) and happened to glance over at Lenny’s. I was amazed to see the parking lot jammed full, a line to get in the door, and several groups of people just standing around their cars. I have never heard anybody say they’ve had a good meal there, so it was surprising to me. A quick glance also revealed that DFD did not have many fans…and you know what I think about buffets.

Last night I was able to observe yet another County driving practice (I’m not tailgating, I’m drafting). We were heading over to Leonardtown for the annual Friends of the Library (FOL) dinner (more on that in a moment) and chose the Hollywood/Leonardtown road route. Being as how it was “rush hour” there were quite a few cars on the road. Ahead of us was a van of some sort, and the driver must have been trying to read one of those NASCAR bumper stickers on the car ahead of it, because the gap could be measured in feet, not yards. Ahead of the car the van was "drafting", there was quite a gap before the next vehicle. I should say that speed was acceptable, 52 or 53 mph. Nobody was crawling. At one point the vehicle in front of the van turned off to it’s driveway or whatever. Immediately the van hammered it (is that the term?) and, as fast as possible, narrowed the resulting gap to attach itself to the next vehicle. As fate would have it, this was repeated several times, and every time the car in front left the road the van quickly bridged the gap to affix itself on the license plate of the next victim. All this time, the flutter mobile was under the control of the cruise device, maintaining the reasonable speed. Sure enough, when we fetched up to the light at Rte 5, there we were right behind the van. But, by golly, (s)he showed them! Sheesh.

The dinner for the FOL was held at Café Des Artistes. I have been worried about the co-existence of them and the newer Corbels. I think I am beginning to conclude that they are complimentary, not competing venues. There’s a certain comfort at Café, sort of an eclectic homey feel, while Corbels provides a more “modern restaurant” experience in the nicely renovated Sterling House. Menus also reflect differences, with Café featuring cuisine by sure French trained hand of Chef Loic, while Chef Leo at Corbels emphasizes the modern American fusion kind of thing if you know what I mean. I am pretty sure there is a niche for them both. Depending on your taste for a particular evening out, I don’t think you can go wrong at either restaurant. Anyway, we had a nice evening with the Friends along with several of the Library folk. Commissioner Mattingly spoke briefly about the importance of libraries and books, and had some nice things to say about the restaurant. Passed appetizers of chicken wraps, crab balls, and a lovely cannellini bean dip, were followed by dinner (served pretty much by table), and a little program. MFO, who is retiring after 6 years as Book Sale Chair, received some very nice accolades and little mementoes. She (along with volunteers, etc.) has pretty much elevated the book sale from a cute little event to a major fund raiser for the Libraries, this year netting about $20,000. A nice evening..

During one of the lulls while libations and appetizers were being consumed, I found myself next to Chef Loic. I asked him about the sauce for the little spoons of crab balls and confirmed it was green goddess. I then inquired about sauce Rémoulade and his first response was you had to use home made mayonnaise. Yes.

DFD