To Rant or not to Rant...

What should I do? Rant then do nice, or vicey versa… hard to tell.

To kill a little time did you go to Google’s home page today? Those guys amaze me. Silicon valley somethings, dreaming up stuff for us to see in their “Google Doodle”. This week they celebrated the birthday of the Bunsen Burner guy. Did you have physics or chemistry class memories with one of those? Long time memories. And today they celebrated the 119th anniversary of the “documented” ice cream Sundae (always “ae”) not the 100th, not the 125th, but the 119th. They are very clever those google somethings. I type about three letters and Boom! Suggestions. And by golly they are 95% right. How do they do that??? I guess they are smarter than me.

Okay, I guess I’ll out and out rant first. I think I may do this every year about this time, and hopefully I don’t get in any more trouble than I usually do. Last night I watched the final four of the men’s basketball tournament. Exhilarating stuff. Up and down the floor at breakneck speed, long range three’s (please expunge the “three ball” from the lexicon of sports reprorting), rocket passing, soaring dunks, great stuff. Anyway, it’s played at a tempo that’s exciting. Okay, tonight I am watching (there’s no Holme’s dammit) the women’s version of the final four is on. After a half of play (of the first game) the number one and two seeds have amassed the huge totals of 50 points between the two teams. Twenty minutes of play and there’s 23 points on the boards for one team. Missed chip shot layups, front rim free throws, dribbles off foots, tripping on own feet, loss of controls for no reason. Maybe I should not consider this the same sport. Maybe it’s my problem. I should consider it a different sport, like say, Cricket, Horse Polo, and don’t compare to another sport by the same name. And who is that women on ESPN? that hokey accent-- "They bin aplayin' fer a long taame"...along with Holly Rowe who starts every interview "what were you thinking...." great job Holly.

Okay, let’s move on

I met some friends today for Brunch at Café Des Artistes in Leonardtown. We have kicked around “Brunch” lately so this was a good opportunity to check out an opportunity. Café is a pleasant place to enjoy a Sunday interlude, kind of a frilly, semi formal place to enjoy Sunday casual dining. I have gone on record as stated that “brunch” should include a special menu, and they have a “light offering” section on their menu that might qualify. We were surprised that there was not an omelet or a quiche option today.

First,long time readers may remember that an experience at his same CDA gave genesis to the DFD campaign. Well, today we repeated that same experience. As I was arriving at the restaurant, there was a white pickup parked past the restaurant the disgorged three people in ball caps, sweats, tee shirts, hooded sweatshirts, and torn jeans. I thought well, there must be remodeling work today someplace. Nope, they crossed the street and entered the restaurant. Of course they were seated.

During our stay, I might speculate that at least half of the patrons were not what I would consider appropriately dressed for the situation. People came in dressed in jeans, sweat shirts, and generally shabby clothing. There were several tables more of my generation clothed in appropriate dress. What the hell, am I missing something? "C’mon honey, let’s go in here and get some chow".

I have considered this phenomenon, and have mixed feelings. Dress to respect the food and the establishment, or just go in to pound food in the mouth. Who cares about ambiance, sense of place, I’m just going in to shovel in the food.. In the end, the money in the cash drawer looks the same, but geez, do I have to share my experience with somebody who looks more like a construction worker than a diner? The most I could wish for is some dim awareness that “hey, I’m not dressed like these other folk”.

So, lack of some ambiance aside, how was the food? With Chef Loic in the house it was good. Our table had two Eggs Benedict, and a Strata (kind of an egg casserole). I am happy to report that the Eggs Benedict (which calls for poached eggs), was presented with the eggs poached in the classical manner of swirling them in boiling water to form a little pouch rather than the one eyed offerings coming from a “cup”. Where else do you get that? And the egg yolks were properly cooked with a lovely orangey/gold color. They were also just coagulated, not runny, just right.

So, a good day and MFO will arrive tomorrow. She’ll probably be road weary and we might not be able to

DFD