Beware Caesar...

Somehow after "the trip” some of this stuff seems sort of banal, but anyway…

Today is our second “special” day in a row..did you know that yesterday (Monday) is called “Pi” day because it was 3/14 or European 3.14? Just think in 2015 it will be 3.14.15, the last time for this century..(or back in 1592 it would have been 3.14.1592)

Culinarily, the weekend was sort of a bust, with the book sale occupying most of our time, although “hot dog guy” from First Friday fame showed up and did quite a business - a good case of "just right" food. Saturday night took time out to go to the River Concert Series fund raiser Gala down at the college. It’s kind of a fun event and a chance to get the tux out of mothballs. I think there were fewer attendees this year judging by the “packing factor” in the little area that serves as a bar. Normally, it’s the old “’scuse me; pardon me; pardon me; ‘scuse me, sorry” to move around the room. Not this year, movement was easy. The theme for the evening was “night in the Garden of Spain”, and they had a nice selection of Spanish cheeses to accompany a beverage of your choice. The dinner entertainment was a “big band” of the Chesapeake Orchestra and a guitarist and flamenco dancers. That part was pretty good, although we thought the band was “too loud”, think what you will. As for the food, let’s just say it wasn’t up to previous efforts or expectations.

Back to the book sale for a minute I think they did raise a lot of money for the libraries, although the final figure isn’t in as of yet. I didn’t find any gems in the cookbook section this year, although I did run across and acquire a 1974 “World Atlas of Food” which has some pretty nice artwork in it, and also a copy of a 1971 little paperback called “Home Book of Smoke Cooking Meat Fish and Game”, complete with plans for making home smoke ovens, or how to construct one from branches a la Native Americans.

After the sale, MFO presented me with a little gilt edged book from Brooks Brothers entitled “How to Be a Gentleman”. Nothing was said, but there might be a message there. It’s full of interesting little tips (how to tie a bow tie) and advice: “A gentleman knows how to make a grilled cheese at 2am and an omelet at 7am”. There will be lots of fodder for feeders on a slow day..But one that caught my eye was a few paragraphs under the title “A Gentleman and His Cap”: “....he may feel that a beloved baseball cap is almost a part of his body, but he should never forget that it is still a hat and that common courtesy demands it be treated as such. A gentleman does not wear his cap inside most public building....” Amen.

I would add that a gentleman is always

DFD