Like today, I haven’t been on a field trip recently (one is in the wings), nor eaten out, or had some idiot cut me off in traffic, tried any new wines, or cooked anything different. I guess there are days like that.
So, I hate to regurgitate things from the newspaper, but a couple of items caught my eye this morning. Foodies take heart! Not only is that Cracker Barrel in the offing, apparently we are also going to be blessed with a Buffalo Wings and Beer! Didn’t something like that fail down on Great Mills road a while ago? Anyway this will be located “at the front of the shopping center along 235” sharing the development by our Kohl’s (does anybody go in there?) department store. Our intrepid coordinator of the Department of Land Use and (apparently unbridled) Growth Management says: “That place is going to do a bang up business! Every new Restaurant here is totally packed”. And you know what? He’s right. What he doesn’t mention is that the locally owned businesses are closing and struggling to hold their own. Brome Howard? Gone. Dry Dock? Extended winter hiatus (hopefully) to re-open in April. Di Giovanni’s – sold again and again. And further on there is a quote from our Environmental Planner to the effect that landscaping is required because “we’re really trying to avoid buildings plopped down with a sea of asphalt surrounding them”. Really! While I might not call the asphalt around Olive Garden and Red Robin a “sea”, it’s a pretty darn large lake.
Miscellania:
Did you see the wrap up of the Westminster Dog Show last night? Best in show went to “Hickory” a Scottish Deerhound, the first ever for that breed. As usual, the real interest is the handlers. As varied in shape and size as the dogs, it’s fun to watch them lope around the floor striving to show off their pooches strong points.
I have a friend who is in the “sailing community” and has some friends that are doing an “around the world” sail. Literally. They’ve been at it for a long time and are currently heading for Palau. How romantic, one would think of languid seas, sailing in warm breezes, enjoying the local culture (which they actually have). They are sending out reports of their progress, and my friend passes them along so we can follow them. Here’s a couple of quotes from their idyllic voyage:
“We hesitated to use the engine but did. Knowing that evaporation produces a cooling effect, we poured water over a cloth laid upon the transmission while a fan blew on it. We ran it for 15 minutes and held our breath. We repeated this 5 times during the day and a few times last night--just to save some ground we were losing by this constant northwest to southeast 2.1k current.”
Or…
“ we attached the spinnaker pole to the jib while I started coffee and french toast. Then we felt the sheets go taut and I watched the lifeline take the weight of the jibsheet as the wind generator howled. We dropped all the hatches and
Yessir, a whole lot of fun!
Stuff to do:
Tomorrow (2/17) there is another of Brain Ganz’s “piano talks” in St. Mary’s hall at noon. Another obligation will prevent me from attending, but gosh, if you’re at all interested in classical music you have to go listen to him. It’s free, it’s only an hour, but worth every second.
Also tomorrow in the same place (only at 4:15) is an interesting sounding lecture called "Meals Fit for a President: Jefferson's and Madison's Culinary Tastes.", delivered by Elizabeth Chew (associate curator of collections at Monticello) and Christian Cotz (education coordinator for James Madison's Montpelier). Free. If my obligation allows me to be back here, I’ll be there!
Saturday there’s a kind of unique foodie event at Great Mills High School. The Girl Scouts are holding a fund raising Cookie Contest of sorts. Ten Chefs will prepare a dessert using some variety of a Girl Scout Cookie. I think there’s a $10 fee to get in and they’d like you to bring a non-perishable food item. But, you get to sample the results and vote for best in show (“Hickory” not eligible). There will be official judges as well, and you might be surprised who one of them is (I think that’s lousy English, but you get the idea).
See what happens when there’s nothing to say?
DFD
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