It began in Leonardtown on Friday night when a group of us met to “do” First Friday.. a communal decision was made to begin with some fortification, and despite lots of people in town, we somehow got our favorite table in the bar at the Front Porch. One thing (drink) led to another along with some snacks and before we knew it most of “first Friday” had shut down. Undaunted, we walked over to Fenwick Street anyway, and the ladies just got under the wire (figuratively) in the Chocolate Shop, and the male side went to the bookstore where the band was preparing to leave. I had hoped to hear them play, but at least I got to talk to my friend who is one half of the band. Most of our conversation was in the fairly empty street.. then we also closed down the North End Gallery, but got a chance to talk to some of the artists and saw the “show”. Nice stuff, recommended. So a great Friday night was a prelude to a great
Saturday
Which started by meeting a friend for coffee in the Coffee Quarter in San Souci. The “back room” was occupied by a bunch of ladies doing some sort of class, so we sat up front. Good conversation. After that, we journeyed over to Loveville and went into Loveville Leather Store. If you haven’t been there (I admit I never was before Saturday) I would highly recommend a visit. The owner (Elam) is very friendly and great to talk to. Not surprisingly, most of the stuff there is “horse” related, with saddles, bridles and other pieces of equine gear. But there are also belts (for humans), leashes and collars for dogs, and many other things out of the ordinary (at least to me). Everything I saw seemed to be of very high quality. The real reason for this visit aside from the adventure was they are phasing out their bird feeding things with a “two for one” sale. So we got a couple of bags of this and that. Oh, I also saw a large bag of Horse Treats! You never know what is out there.
That occupied the rest of the morning, so rested a bit and then mid afternoon I went over to a “whiskey tasting” at a local gourmet store. While “wine tastings” abound, it is fun to have a chance to try other things and expand your horizons. We must have tasted six or so different spirits, all from the High West Distillery. It’s located in Utah, which I generally think of as mostly “dry” state. Obviously not! Most of their product is from Rye, which I think is kind of an acquired taste. It’s okay, but I am more used to good old sour mash Bourbon. High West does give it a nod, and they also have a spirit that is a combination of Bourbon and Rye. It’s called “BouRye”. Kind of a take on the Marine phrase… They also have something called “the 36th vote” which they call their Barreled Manhattan, made with Rye Whiskey and Sweet Vermouth. Sort of a liqueur I suppose. Anyway it was fun to sample.
With MFO in Wisconsin, I had sort of planned in my mind to finish the day by going over to the Dry Dock for a dinner, having had my fill (so to speak) of my own preparations which were sort of in the “left over” category. Upon arriving home from the tasting, there was a phone message from some neighbors inviting me to accompany them to the Brian Ganz concert that evening. What??!! A quick internet session confirmed that indeed Brian was to play through his complete performance of Chopin compositions that he will be playing on the 11th at Strathmore. What will be upwards of thirty bucks at Strathmore is free in Southern Maryland, so what a great opportunity! But that sort of posed a dilemma with my dinner plans.. I was pondering this decision when it dawned on me that since the concert started at eight, maybe I could have my cake and eat it too (always thinking of food!). I figured if I got to the restaurant early enough, I might be able to make it back for our planned “sevenish” departure for the concert. So risking an “early bird” appearance, I hopped in the fluttermobile and arrived just after they opened at five thirty.
I had a DMOTRWAT (which I now don’t have to order, they know), and a very nice piece of grilled Coho Salmon over “hoppin’ John” rice and some snap peas. As usual everything was nicely prepared and presented. And at six thirty five or so, back over the bridge, and I arrived home just as my friends arrived to pick me up!! Nice to have it both ways…
I have waxed eloquent many times on the talent of Brian Ganz, so won’t spend much time here, but it was a wonderful concert. There were eight pieces, Polonaises, Fantasies, Impromptus (Chopin’s not Brian’s), waltzes, and Mazurkas. The final piece was “Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op. 22”. It was an amazing work and I won’t demean either of us by trying to describe it. Get it on a disc if you can. As far as this engineer’s ear goes, it was a flawless performance, lasting over an hour and a half, and there was not one sheet of music. All from memory. I wonder how many notes there were, I suppose thousands, and they were all at his fingertips – so to speak.
So concluded the first part of a typical “nothing to do in St. Mary’s” weekend, with the small exception of: First Friday, Coffee and Conversation, a trip to the Mennonite Leather/Feed Store, a Whiskey Tasting, a Very Nice Dinner, and a Wonderful Concert, too bad there isn’t much to do around here.
Sunday
And then yesterday was of course Super Sunday. I’m so glad it’s gone and we can mercifully stop talking about what’s his name,s “high ankle sprain”. How many times did you hear that in the past two weeks? Sheesh. Of course you can’t have Super Bowl without snacks and stuff, and although I didn’t go overboard (for one person? not so much fun).
First course was (enhanced) bacon horseradish dip, (whole) cashews, and smoked almonds
Oh, and eagle eyed readers will note the lack of the “T” in the DMOTR, an unfortunate circumstance… you know how much lemons are these days?
Anyway, that was followed by Second course
With the lovely ’08 Kali Hart Chardonnay, a second label of Talbott Vinyards. It was obtained with the help of FOJTE on one of his trips to California..
The third course consisted of “Bill’s Brats” always a winner. I didn’t get a decent shot of them, but they were tasty as usual.
(virtual image of beautifully cooked brats here)
As to the game itself, I suppose it lived up to the hype, could have gone either way.. I know it can’t finish in a tie, somebody has to have more points on the board, but I certainly wouldn’t call the Pats “losers”. was a good game to watch. None of the commercials knocked me out of my chair, although i did like the Geico one with the teen age girls...
and i was
DFSB (i.e., comfy)
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