Numbers, travels, and books....

Long time readers, (if there are any left -  I hope so), will remember in the formative days of the Bottom Feeder, I became enamored of messing around with the date of the year, or the month, figuring out fiendishly clever formulae with dates like if you multiply the day of the month times the year and you subtract the number of the month, you get……  Well, my days of being fiendishly clever have passed, but in honor of those days, I have to point out that today is what has become to be known as “Pi Day”. Today is the fourteenth day of the third month, so at three o’clock (or, if you like, at one o’clock), some minutes, etc., you get the number Pi to a certain number of digits, 3.141529… etc.

I thought it appropriate to point that out, being somewhat esoteric and of interest to people, while maintaining my reputation as strange.  Well, I went out and got the morning paper (Enterprise) this morning while retrieving the trash tub, and found a front page article about the day.  Sigh…  and surprisingly enough, there isn’t a google doodle, I thought odd.  Anyway enjoy dividing your circumference by your diameter.

Well, now, what is this?

Are the flutters leaving the digs?  Is somebody moving in?  what IS all that stuff??… well, it goes back to last year and a (long not recounted here) story about a live auction at a local charity event.  It ended up that we rented a house on the Outer Banks for a week in which we will celebrate our 50^th wedding anniversary (of last year).  We’ve invited family to join us, so planes, trains (well, not really), and automobiles will find the FOJ’s assembling over the weekend for the week.  We will also host our Grand Dog “Stanley”, who will be participating in his first competition on the way to the OBX.  More on that later (we don’t know the story yet).

Anyway, as our alert readers on the right coast know, the outer banks are relatively sparse when it comes to “stuff”, and so MFO has assembled and packed enough necessities so we can be pretty much self sufficient for the week.  Hence the mound pictured above.   Fortunately, it will all fit into the MOMSTER II, and we are starting tomorrow morning for the town of Salvo.  The house is supposed to have a network so hopefully I can post some pictures and descriptions for your enjoyment.

Book note:

And lastly (gotta get going this morning), an alert that this weekend is the annual Friends of the Library Book Sale, which generates funds for the libraries benefit when you come and buy the books (hardcovers for two bucks, paperbacks less).  Today (Friday (Pi Day)) is members only, but you can join on the spot and get first crack at the books.  Noon to eight today, ten to five tomorrow and noon to three on Sunday..  It is at the same place as ever, the St. Mary’s County Fairgrounds.  I will be doing my usual job today as cashier in the Non – Fiction building.  (that’s where the cooking books are!).

Okay, that’s a short one for today, and although I’m not sure there will be the opportunity, our packing includes the capability to be

DFD

The End Draws Near..

You know that old saw about walking half way to the wall over and over will result in the fact you never get there?  I’m sort of in that predicament myself.  In this case it’s a book.  You remember I said I had that book called "50 Foods; The Essentials of Good Taste", by Edward Behr?  As I said then, it discussed what he considers the fifty most important foods, from Anchovies to Walnuts.  Depending on the item, there are two to four pages discussing characteristics, varieties, methods of cooking, how to buy it, what complements the item, and words about wine.  Its matter of fact, to the point, and succinct.  Excellent information.  I find I very much enjoy reading it and am learning a lot.  I am currently on number forty one: Potatoes. That means there are only nine more items to go.  So here’s the dilemma: if I keep reading (and enjoying), it will be over.  I don’t want it to be over!  I suppose I could begin again.  Oh well, I do have somewhat of an out:

In more than one of the chapters, Mr. Behr refers to the following book:

We had Amazon perform its miracle and within a day or two of clicking “Check out” it was on my porch.  A quick thumb through reveals that it is pretty much the same format, but with 290 pages, there isn’t quite the same amount of space for each vegetable.  So I look forward to learning about Louvana Chickling Vetch from Cyprus, Griselle Shallots from France, Giant Zittau Onions from Germany, as well as the more common Pumpkin Yam Sweet potatoes from America.  Looks like good reading.  The endless variety and pleasures of food.

Numbers of Books - on the Move!

Segueing into more books, this morning MFO and I helped with the annual book migration from the Leonardtown Library to the Fairgrounds for the Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale..  An armada of vehicles queued up behind the building

And then an army of volunteers loaded the hundreds of boxes into them

And then multiple trips were made to the fairgrounds

And then the boxes were further dispersed to the proper buildings (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s, Rare, and so forth)

This coming week they will be unpacked, organized, and will be waiting for you next weekend.  Thousands of books will be gobbled up at two bucks for a hardback and only a buck for paperbacks.  You really should come on over and look for that special book.  There are hundreds of cook and food related books, as always.

As we were leaving, we stopped to see some Turkeys in the field by the fairgrounds

And stopped again to pick up some local meats from our friend Willie Goddard’s little shop south of Leonardtown

if you can't read the sign, he's open Saturdays 9 - 1

 (until the farmer's market opens)

More Foodie Numbers

I don’t know if you get the daily Washington Post, but I picked up the Friday edition for an article in the “Weekend”. It was titled “40 Dishes Every Washingtonian Must Eat”, a nine page spread with pictures of each one along with where you could get it.    There was a little discussion about each one, something about the restaurant/shop where they were available and a little history, along with why they were a "must eat".   One (especially me) is always suspect of these kinds of things,  thinking: “for X dollars, you can make the list!”.  The author spent a lot of ink assuring us that they were selected from soliciting opinions of “real” people on social media, various blogs (most likely not the present one!) which are then informally voted on by the editorial staff.  Maybe so.

You’ve had enough pictures to look at, so I won’t give you more.  Nor will I list them all, but a few maybe of interest.  Oysters at Old Ebbitts Grill; Duck Confit at Water and Wall; Burger Américain at Le Diplomate; Wings at BonCHon; Taramosalata at Kapnos; or how about Dwaeji bulgogi at Yoonha’s Kitchen and Deli?  Most of the places were unfamiliar with me, so perhaps this might be a good guide into the unusual.  Interesting.   Although I didn’t look, you can probably find the list on line..

Okay, Mr. Goddard’s pork chops are about thawed, so I’ll go get the grill ready because today when you go outside, you don’t FREEZE YOUR “Butt” (not the word I would use, but this is a family blog) OFF”!  Naked in the streets folks!  After which you must

DFD

Winter drags on....

Well, did you survive the N^th storm of the season?  I think the all knowing weather channel dubbed it Titan, and indeed predictions were that it would live up to that name.   In reality, at least around the digs, it wasn't quite as bad.  I put that down in part to the fact that I repeated my ritual of preparing for Armageddon: move generator into place; test start it; stage extension cords; arrange battery powered devices (flashlights, lanterns, radios) strategically around the house; a selection of spare batteries concentrated all in one place; vehicles and spare gas cans filled; etc.  Of course MFO thinks this proves I am nuts, but in the three (?) major storms so far this year, we have maintained power and heat.  See, it’s only crazy if it doesn't work

The day started out as predicted, with snow blowing sideways

(flakes not visible in 24 knot winds)

So that accumulation was pretty much impossible at least on the back side.  This continued for hours and between drifts and snowfall I think we maybe got five or so inches.  Eventually the storm moved on, the sun kind of peeked through, leaving a rather pretty sight in both our “front”

And “back” yards lighting up the Solomons

And our feathered friends gathered to partake of the seed

5451

And the place where we have enjoyed numerous Gimlets and DMOTRWAT's didn't look quite so hospitable 

Eventually our tax dollars at work arrived in the form of County Plows to clear the streets, and once again despite complaints and pleas with county officials, they started at the inside of the circle, and progressive passes pushed the snow outward, eventually building a virtual dam across all the ends of our driveways

“There you go Mr. Homeowner, be sure to gun the car in your driveway and maybe you can jump it! have a nice day"

You would think that in these technologically advanced time they could use the truck’s on board hydraulics to change the blade angle such that you could start outside and move the snow toward our circle.  Or, much easier, go the other way, and achieve the same effect.  Wind row at the circle circumference is much better than across the end of our driveway.  (End of rant portion).

Fluff

You remember our discussion of Crab Fluff wherein the high and mighty Bottom Feeder was educated that indeed there is such a thing?  Well, an intrepid reader sent along a menu picture from a place called Ocean Pride in Towson

Fluff seems to be more prevalent up toward Baltimore.. guess I gotta go try it somehow..

Small Plates

Every day I get sent a couple of “newsletters” from various associations and agencies with stories about what’s new and (forgive me) “trending” in the food and beverage service industry.  A lot of them are geared toward the chains, because face it, that’s where the overwhelming majority of people spend their dining cash.  Sigh.  Anyway you find out stuff like:

-        IHOP is exploring a fast casual concept within their existing restaurants

-        Wendy’s will sell 415 of their restaurants in the first quarter to the franchisees, and require makeovers

-        Tim Horton's will further invade the US with 300 more of their legendary coffee and donut outlets (with 500 more in their own Canada)

-        McDonald's will begin test marketing “build your own burger” concepts with customers using tablets 

-        Texas Roadhouse will look into acquiring a secondary outlet for Pizza, called, get this: Bubba’s 33!  Apparently Chipolte is quietly expanding to pizza, as is BWW…If you want to get rich, I suggest you talk to your bank and go for the first Bubba's 33 franchise in St. Mary's County!!  Can't lose.

In the beverage department

-        Idaho has opened their 50^th winery

-        MillerCoors will begin marketing “Smith and Forge Hard Cider” mainly to manly men.

-        And more

Okay enough, I gotta go put away a bunch of batteries and stuff… and then think about getting

DFD

History

This week we lost a great friend to museums and historic preservation when Dr. Martin Edward Sullivan passed.  There will be many formal tributes to Dr. Sullivan, but to most of us here in Southern Maryland he was just…. Marty.  His long list of accomplishments will be told by others, but he will be remembered here as somebody who left a prestigious job in Arizona to become the Executive Director of Historic St. Mary’s City.  It was under his guidance that the “city” blossomed, and he worked with St. Mary’s College to establish their Museum Studies curriculum.  He brought an infectious enthusiasm to everything he did, and you couldn't help but share his passion for history.  He left Historic St. Mary’s to become the Director of the National Portrait Gallery in DC. 

During the time he was there, MFO successfully “won” a private small group tour of the Gallery, to be led by Marty.  Great, I thought… tromp around an old building looking at dusty pictures of dead Presidents.  Well, the truth was that that “tour” will stand out in my memory for a long time.  Marty hosted us in his office (complete with wine, mind you), told us about the Gallery and then led us on a fascinating walk through history and American culture.  He had an astonishing knowledge of all (and there are plenty!) the paintings, told stories about them, pointed out this and that, why this person was important, on and on.  He didn’t lecture us, he just talked about them matter of factly.  That was so typical of Marty, unassuming,  just like talking to your neighbor across the fence. 

So now Dr. Martin Edward Sullivan has passed into that history he cared so much about, but he will always remain in our memory as…… Marty..  Thanks for stopping by

Afternoon

While basking between this morning’s “dusting” and Sunday night’s “maybe” storm (see “weather” below) I had a nice interlude this afternoon.  Not much else going on, so this is kind of light.

I was finally able to match holes in schedules with a friend and we decided we’d go to lunch.  Since he lives “down” in Southern Maryland we decided we would try the St. Inigoes General Store, a place that people have informed the feeder about.  It has been on the “gotta go there” list for a while so this seemed like a good time to try it.  People seem to like it.

So we joined up in the parking lot, and went inside.  Indeed it is a “general store”, with shelves containing various items you would expect to find in a general store, cleaning products, various dry foods, that kind of thing..  There were a number of people standing around the counter, and nearby a white board presented sandwich specials, like an Oyster Po’ Boy for $10.95.  We looked around for the dining area, and guess what, we were in it!  As near as we could figure out, there is no sit down service available, but we didn’t ask.  So, we decided to vacate to another venue.  Problem: where are you going to go in the lower county?  Answer: Courtney’s!

Alert readers will know that Courtney’s is the king of my “Just Right” list now that St. James Pub has shuttered (and one might reasonably argue Courtney’s was always the king).  Due to the failure of Plan A, it was a little later than peak lunch time, and there were only two other groups seated.  One was a collection of (what we assumed were) Volunteer Rescue workers, complete with those jackets that have acronyms on the back.  Every once in a while, static squawking noises emanated from devices affixed to them..They seemed all to be in the veteran category, and were having a good time relaxing (you always have time to relax at Courtney’s).  Eventually Tom Courtney showed up at our table with the perennial cap affixed to his head, pad and menus in hand.  He stood with pencil poised and menus undelivered, but we kind of knew what we wanted, a bacon cheeseburger and an oyster basket, beer and coke.  He took down the order and left.  I thought he looked a lot more fit than the last time I saw him.  Five or so minutes later the (plastic) glass of ice cubes and plastic coke bottle arrived along with the Yuengling and frosted mug.

During the ensuing fifteen or twenty minutes we had plenty of time to catch up, enjoy the (now) sunny day and the water view, all the stuff on the walls, and general ambience.  Very pleasant.  At one point the food for the eight VRS folk arrived, complete with the ritual of Tom calling out the dish in hand, and the diner raising his or her hand to bid on it.  Normally I give crap for this kind of service, but in a place like this it is perfectly acceptable and even expected.  As it should be.

Our food eventually showed up, the ritual distribution placed in front of me the waxed paper lined red plastic basket with six plump fried oysters, hot crispy fries with those little bumps on them, and across the table the hamburger topped with obviously just fried real bacon, not that flat stuff you normally get.  And it was served on those kind of special rolls they always have.  My request for a second beer fell on deaf ears, but what the hell.  Why not?

While we were eating Tom’s wife, the chef Emily(?) came out of the kitchen with six cupcakes (still in their plastic six pack package), each one with a lit candle in it, and we all sang happy birthday to one of the VRS ladies.   How neat is that?  What an enjoyable afternoon.

Openings

On the other side of the peninsula and across the Patuxent, I see the “new” Lighthouse is opening for business (yes, you have to find this stuff out on Facebook) at least for lunch and happy hour. Prices are astonishingly low, but I suppose you gotta do that to “get them to come”.  I hope they do.  A picture looks like they have a very nice bar.  Since it is run by the Clarke’s Landing folk, they should have a leg up on the business.

Which leads me to think there are now quite a few opportunities for “fine dining” (a hazardous designation, I know) over there on the island.  The standby Dry Dock and remarkably good Bistro at Blue Heron Bistro Bed and Breakfast Bistro (I never remember the proper combination) are now joined by the “upstairs” at the Striped Rock and (presumably) the Lighthouse (caveat that the Feeder has not visited either place).    And while the CD Café is pretty much reliable and serves very good food, I don’t think I would classify them in the “fine” category.  However, I would put their Back Door Lounge right up there for a place for sips and small bites.. Some might mention Giovanni’s but I don’t.

Speaking of dining, some thirty one restaurants in Calvert County are participating in their Restaurant Week, which runs through this Sunday.  As I read it, there isn’t the hokey meal for $20.14 that is fairly common, just special menus (?) and prices.  Check it out if you wish.

Weather

An odious subject these days indeed.  Since I’ve mentioned Facebook a few times, I’ll keep going.  There is now a proliferation of “weather” pages, all trying to provide up to the minute predictions and conditions.  While I suppose they are all okay, if you want to follow one, I would recommend following: “Justin Berk, Meterologist”.  He is a retired professional having worked television for years.  He has pretty much nailed amounts, timing, and severity over the past few storms.  

Meanwhile we gotta go get

DFD