A Change!!!

Football Content follows, foodies jump below…

Well, yesterday before the Rose Bowl (and even after the first series) I was getting ready to start writing my yearly rant  once again about the utter failure of the Big Ten in post season bowl play.   I won’t bother looking up the record over the past few years, but it is abysmal and more specifically they have lost the Rose Bowl 10 out of 11 or something close to that.  So after seeing Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa all lose, I was buoyed a little bit by seeing Nebraska win (or maybe Georgia lose) by dint of a dropped desperation pass at the end.  And, just for the record, it is hard for me to think that the Huskers are in the Big Ten.. (and still more “outsiders” to come).

Anyway we settled in to watch the Rose Bowl, knowing we would have to suffer Brent’s homer announcing, starting out with quotes like: “There’s Tyler Gaffney, you’re going to hear his name a lot today!!”  Yeah, well Brent, we did.  You had to force out “Gaffney for a one yard gain!”  Too bad, buddy.  Or lauding Kevin Hogan’s talent (143 yards passing).  Sorry, maybe it’s just me.  What followed was (in truth) a great game, with the Spartans finally prevailing with a great stop on the goal line.  Despite not having their “soul of the defense”, they did a pretty good job.  It would have been a respectable effort if it had gone either way, no blow outs (Wolverines?). Dantonio is a class act, like Izzo…  for once proud to be a Spartan!!  And despite a lot of debate about cheering for your rivals and conference, I hope Ohio State comes back, but as I said, the Big Ten struggles against those fast ACC/SEC teams.. So this year I am able to change from the usual Rant on Big Ten...

(Okay, out and out Rant)

I have to mention another game that drove me to drink.  Short trip.  The Chick-Fil-A bowl between Duke and Texas A&M seemed to be dedicated to a worship service for “Johnny Football”.  Most time outs featured vignettes of the little twerp, posing here and there, showing his impish little grin.  I must have missed the one of him selling autographs..  During play we cut away from Duke action to see JF on top of the bench flapping his arms exhorting the crowd.. Anyway it turned out that despite little mention by ESPN’s Mr. Davis and his announcing team, Duke almost came out on top.  I think they led everywhere but on the final scoreboard.. A couple of unfortunate interceptions (the last with a little over three minutes left) tipped the balance to the Aggies.  There is no doubt that he is fascinating to watch leap around on the field, escaping tackle after tackle.  Word is that he probably is headed for the NFL.  I have two words to say about that: Tim Tebow.

An Aberration..

MFO and I are in the process of updating our Will which hasn’t been done for a few (lot) of years, and our appointment with our attorney this morning released us just about the lunch hour.  We decided to go over the bridge to CD Café for a nice lunch.  We arrived about 11:15 and were told that they didn’t serve until 11:30 so we waited in the hall.  While we were there, a family (?) of three came in, approached the door, and after receiving the same message we did settled on the bench next to us.  Upon sitting, out came Dad’s iPAD, followed shortly by Mom’s smart phone, and Daughter fished out a similar gadget.  No conversation, no interaction (unless they were texting each other), just head down, fingers and thumbs flying.  This silence lasted until the doors were opened and we were ushered in.  “Sit anywhere you like” we were told.  TIP:  if you are a party of two, pick one of the two corner tables on the far wall.  They are “four top” size, but due to the walls are just set for two, i.e., more room!  We were actually the first guests in the room and we took the table on the left.  We were approached by the server and I just tuned out during the complete “Hi I’m…” speech (a battle I’m losing along with the liberal use of “guys”, “no PROBlem”, etc.) and listened to a list of the (many) specials for the day. She did gain some points back by asking if we would like something to drink before she left the table.

The place began filling up and by 11:10 or so, was pretty much full. MFO decided on the Turkey Burger (and salad) from the menu, I took one of the specials: beef tenderloin strips over linguini in a gorgonzola cream sauce.  Our orders arrived fairly smartly (before I finished my wine, which is a good thing!).  I am not sure what “cream sauce” means to them, it was tasty, but it was rather thin and “soupy” and you had to chase the pasta around the dish to corral it on the fork.  I would prefer a pasta sauce to enrobe the pasta, not bathe it. The beef was on the chewy side.  MFO’s turkey burger was fine…  while we were waiting we saw two bowls of the special cream of crab soup go back to be “warmed up”.  I would balance that against our table(s) were the first of the lunch service.

Anyway, I have always put CD café on the list of “reliable” places to dine, so I was a bit surprised that for once the dish wasn’t to my liking .  I certainly would not remove them from the "reliable" list, nor change my recommendation, but as I say, I was a bit surprised..

 

The Beacon

After our lunch we drove past the “New Lighthouse”.  The parking lot was full of “contractor trucks” (HVAC, Electric, etc.), so I imagine the opening is nearing..  looks nice from the outside.. I also saw on FaceBook the other day that Clarke's Landing was offering tables and chairs for sale.

 

We'll see if you have to be

DFD