Weekend Ramblings
We did start out the weekend by attending the River Concert, which was enjoyable as usual, we had some great victuals, both liquid and solids. Our friends brought some of the coveted Beecher’s Cheese they personally carried back from Seattle. We won’t go off on it again here, but cheese is such a wonderful food. We had some of their smoked cheddar. Lovely. Not the overpowering smoke you get with the brown skinned stuff at the markets, but just a touch, enough to let you still enjoy the cheese. Well, I did go off a bit. We brought a bottle of Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Viognier, one of my favorite whites these days. Oh yes, there was also the music (sort of the RC in a nutshell). We did observe one lady in front of us who probably spent 80% of her time staring at the cell phone with both thumbs a blur.. Oh well, enjoyment is in the eyes of the beholder. Speaking of which, one of our friends shared a picture of the event.
One of the things you (I) do when sitting waiting until nightfall is to watch the television. And, last weekend brought a lot to see if you’re a sports nut. There is Wimbledon, a couple of golf tournaments, baseball, and of course the once every four years when most Americans become aware of the sport of soccer. Once again there was an appalling display of lack of officiating as at least two obvious (yes, during replay) goals calls were bungled, having an effect on the outcome of the games. The Americans had a nice run along with a couple of those bad calls. It’s interesting to hear the FIFA folks try to explain why some video review of the play isn’t a good idea. The reason I bring it up was the great shots of the stands with face painted fans holding their bottles of Bud. But the really best shot was of Bill Clinton sitting next to Mick Jagger and seemingly enjoying being together. I think they were. Somehow there’s some similarities there methinks.
Oh, I don’t think this counts as a rant because it’s a fact of life. I don’t like it, I don’t understand it, but it’s all in this human circus we live in. There are many rings. Every spring/summer about this time we see boats slowly patrolling the shores and piers, usually with a platform on the bow occupied by a person with a bow (and arrow). I had always thought they were looking for prowling rockfish. Well, I was wrong. While working on the gray lagoon Saturday morning I spied such a boat a little out in the river and much activity foretold that something had been skewered. To my surprise when they hauled in the line there was a Cownosed Ray on the end of it. Of course it was flapping it’s best, and then somebody produced a hatchet or hammer and proceeded to bludgeon it to silence. It took many blows. I can see fishing, there is some art in that, selecting the bait, finding the right spot, some degree of skill in presenting the lure, and so on. But gee, where’s the challenge in running up on some placid, docile ray which has a large planform, and shooting it with an arrow? I don’t get it. My neighbor informs me that they can be eaten, you drill out some cores and treat them like scallops. There are recipes for them, I suppose preparing like skate wings although I think they’re a different creature. Anyway it wasn’t a pleasant sight.
On a happier note we did have a lovely dinner Saturday night of grilled rockfish with a roasted garlic and red pepper coulis, an MFO potato salad, with some local tomatoes and then blueberries for dessert.
We finished the weekend last night watching another edition of “The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes”. I don’t care how many times you’ve seen the same program it’s such a treat to watch Jeremy Brett. That little raising of the eyebrow, the pursed lips, the steely glare, I can’t get enough! You can almost watch with the sound on mute and get just as much enjoyment, although you will miss the “Mrs. Hudson!” exclamations..
And I was going to end on that note, but my eyes fell on the cover of the latest Food & Wine issue. It features a picture of 10 youngish folks in whites with the headline “best new chefs & their simplest recipes”. Oh good, maybe i can learn how they boil water. Boy, I sure wouldn’t want to be able to try to cook the real thing – “give me the dumbed down version please”. And, on the same cover “Italian restaurant recipes made easy”. Well, if they’re made easy, they’re not the real Italian restaurant recipes are they? There’s a whole blog about the difference of cooking it yourself or going to a restaurant…
Stay cool, and consider light layered clothing when
DFD
PS: the little utility that creates this tells me this is my 300th posting!! I have to remember where that time goes...
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