Thursday, September 21, 2017

Travel Rest Stop



Leaving you stuck in Holland, Michigan for a second, a couple of things I’d like to pass on before starting the travelogue again..

First, the more serious of the lot…

I have a couple of friends (with discriminating palates of course) who are currently vacationing in South East Asia, and have been sharing their travels with many shots of the food, both in restaurants, street markets and so forth.  Their itinerary currently finds them in Viet Nam.  Here’s a couple of typical shots of scenery they took near Hội An.


Enjoying a "breakfast"



Oddly enough, their visit to this lovely place in Viet Nam is coinciding with the airing of Ken Burn’s latest documentary “The War in Viet Nam”.  It’s quite a contrast.  The horrors of young soldiers wounded and dying in rice paddies and jungles, and what we would now consider atrocities committed by both sides to the indigenous population and now a paradise..  

One has to wonder...

Okay, other notes:

Always something going on
We often document “visitors” to our back yard in the river.  Yesterday morning, we were host to these guys



Turns out they were removing one of the (too many) piers along our local shore.  They didn’t return today to do anything…  A friend the other day quipped that we have the best pier on the shore (none).

Comings and goings
About a year (?) ago, a little restaurant opened up in San Souci called “Bay Dawgz” which sold hot dogs in various guises with cutesy names that used “z” a lot as I recall.  Without going back and looking at my blog about it, I most likely wished them luck but speculated they might last a year.  Niche market to be sure, but maybe just too narrow, not easy to get to, parking a bit messy.  I think I tried them a couple of times, and they were okay, but nothing really special.  After all, there’s only so many things you can do with sauerkraut, cheese, chili, and yes, Old Bay.  Anyway we were going to grab a couple of dawgz for dinner the other night and found



Of course I don’t know them, but I believe they were a youngish couple, probably following their “dream” but joined the many who suffer similar fate when they're hopes of “I’ve always dreamed of opening a restaurant” fails.  Another independent gone.  I hope they didn’t lose a lot of money..

Weird

After seeing the above shuttering of “Bay”, I went across 235 to the little strip of stores next to the old drive through PNC bank, that contained a Jerry’s Bistro, a Smoke/Vape store, and more recently a Little Caesar’s Pizza outlet (pizza, pizza).  Speaking of which, seems to be doing fairly well.  Always someone coming in or going out.  I presume it’s the grab and go feature.  We tried (desperation and time) one of their six buck cheese and pepperoni offerings lately.  Good for keeping body and soul together, but that’s about it.  
Anyway, I was surprised to see a “For Lease” sign stuck between the Bistro and Smoke shop.   Both were dark due to the hour, but wondered what was up.  So today I returned during business hours, and saw:



But, both units had their “Open” neon lit, so I’m not sure what’s going on.  Stay tuned.

Tasting(s)

Had a couple of tasting – like experiences lately.  I was invited to be a Judge for last weekend’s “Taste of St. Mary’s event.   Was enjoyable, but kind of hectic.  Four categories, Appetizer, Entrée, Specialty, and Dessert.  Each category had about six to eight entries, and they all hit at once
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And we were given more than one entry at a time (this from “Entrées”)

As I recall a Philly Cheese Steak, a Brisket slider, and a …something else

By the time we hit desserts, we were pretty stuffed even though we didn’t “eat the whole thing”.

On a little less hectic basis, I also did a wine tasting up in Annapolis the other day, with the objective of selecting wines from the upcoming Hospital Gala.  Logistically it worked out that doing it at Mills Fine Wines and Spirits on the city dock was best all around.   The “Flight” of reds (whites not shown):



As kind of a little nuance, I have to remember we’re selecting wines for 500 people, not just the bottom feeder..

Quick Sports Rant
A retread to be sure, but the media created “FedEx Cup Play Offs” foolishness is going on.   Of course in America we have to have a “play off” to see who is NUMBER ONE.   All the major sports do it most notably the Super Bowl.  Only reason to play “regular season” is to see who “makes it to the next round”.  In the case of golf, the “regular season” includes, among weekly tournaments, The Masters, The US Open, and The Championship (don’t you dare call it the British Open!).   These competitions have been played for decades and besides winning a weekly tournament winning a Major (or not) will define a golfer’s career.  Sergio finally unloaded the beast from his back by winning the Master’s this year.   Now the networks trivialize those events by assigning “points” to a victory or placement on the leader board, and continually show the “Race for the FedEx cup” standings.    Anyway, today the coverage with my good friend Jimmy (the Snake) Roberts was warming up and I swear to God, the little weasel had enough ignorant gall to call the cup “the most coveted trophy in golf”.   Think Rory or Jordan (or T in his hey day) buy that crap?    A Green Jacket?  Just a rag… The Claret Jug?  Just a bauble.  Nauseating.

Okay, as alert readers well know, I always (mostly) close with a reminder about your attire for dinner.  Well, look what I was sent by a fan traveling in Maine from a little theater company.   We’ll make a special one time only case today




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