Blog Bonuses....

Well, the Feeder started off what was to be a leisurely Friday morning by once again succumbing to a failing that seems incredulous, but has happened to me more than once now. You would think that the last thing you would do is to start your coffee bean grinder without the little plastic thingy in place to catch the grounds. My latest version of a grinder has no interlock (as did the former one – now trash) to prevent doing that. Add that to the fact that the grounds are pretty highly charged with static electricity and you have a very nasty counter top on your hands. Sigh, it’s always something.

At any rate, here we are on a Friday morning (coffee now in hand) and ready to face the weekend. It turns out that there are so many things one could ramble on about that one could fill up multiple blogs.

Blog one: By the time we got to….“Where were you 40 years ago Saturday morning?”, and go on about Jimi Hendrix, the Dead, etc. What a time, a legacy and good music. what a long strange trip it's been....

Blog two: Happy Birthday Julia!! And rant (which I won’t) about that stupid movie that seems to have dropped from sight although (in a rare fit of fairness), I have heard good things about Meryl Streep’s “interpretation” of her, and less than favorable comments about that other person. The real Julia would have been 97 Saturday. Bon Appetit, miss Julia...and thank you.

Blog Three: Ringing the Bell!… Last Wednesday, after enjoying the “Wine/Art Wednesday” I returned home and joined MFO in watching a “Live from Lincoln Center” broadcast that featured Joshua Bell. Alert readers will remember my joy and astonishment in listening to young Jonah Yeh perform earlier this year down at St. Mary’s College. Although Joshua Bell is world reknown, I think this may be the first time I’ve actually seen him perform. Of course I’ve heard his music many times, but to actually see him perform it opens a whole new dimension. Of course I forget the actual piece, I believe it was a Mendelsohnn concerto and it must have lasted 15 or 20 minutes. No music in front of him, eyes closed occasionally he seemed to actually enjoy the music as much as the people in the audience, but he was doing that while making it. Amazing. Alan Alda (who seems to be turning a bit senile) did an interview with him. Not affected at all, just a nice guy (Joshua). No need to comment on his musical ability – except that in his youth in Bloomington, Indiana apparently he was quite the tennis player. Talent is Talent.

Blog Four – What about Pot? Last night after MFO and I went to the little open house for the proposed archival/interpretive center at St. Mary’s College, we kept a reservation for dinner at Brome Howard Inn. BHI is one of the brighter stars in our little constellation of fine dining places here in Southern Maryland. If you want a quiet, leisurely dining experience this is your place. It’s good that all of our “stars” down here offer a slightly different type of atmosphere (which I won’t enumerate here – maybe Blog X for another day), that allows you to sort of suit your mood with your dinner. Here it’s almost like eating with family, because somehow you always strike up a conversation with other diners, and the presence of the always gracious hostess/owner Lisa Kelley keeps things running smoothly. Anyway, as the other half, Chef Michael Kelley is occupied with his new venture Ruddy Duck, there is a new chef in the kitchen at BHI. We were quite satisfied with his efforts, as we shared a mushroom crostini, mussels in garlic lemon broth, a stuffed chicken dish and rack of lamb. Noting MFO’s current condition of one armedness, the kitchen kindly cut up the chicken and arranged it very nicely on the plate, saving me destroying it in front of everybody. A nice bottle of ’06 BearBoat Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley was very nice.

We decided to accept the offering for dessert, and opted for the Pot Du Crème. It arrived in a large cup (with two spoons), a richly flavored custard topped with a fresh strawberry. I got to wondering what the difference was between Pot Du Crème and Mousse was. With a little research (emphasize little) I think it has more to do with how the custard is served than what it is. The key is the “Pot” part, there are traditional vessels for the purpose. The recipes for either the “Du Crème” or Mousse are quite similar, milk, cream, whisked eggs chocolate flavoring. Anyway it was a nice ending to a nice evening. Dining out is rewarding..

And it goes without saying we were
DFD