Whips, Spurs, and other Sports....

First it’s Monday, and then a blur occurs and here we are at Friday.

Before launching into Friday matters, we’ll wrap up yesterday. MFO and I attended the Patuxent Habitat for Humanity event at the Front Porch in Leonardtown. Sitting on the real front porch at the Front Porch can be a very pleasant experience. It was especially pleasant yesterday as we met some good friends, and pretty soon a nice young man brought me a very pleasant “up” martini glass (there is something elegantly classic about that) containing decent sized olives and Gray Goose Martini, “dirty”. Talking, sitting, sipping, and observing the passing scene is quite pleasant. (okay, quotient of “pleasant” reached, it was done for effect). The passing scene in this case was the growing amount of people attending the “Whip and Spur” gathering. I had been wondering all week from where and what the heck that title arose from, and come to find out Wente Bros. Winery (Livermore, CA) has bottled a white and a red by that name, and at the moment I don’t remember which was which. Which may give you a little indication of my impression of the wines.

Anyway, for your ticket (going to a good cause) you got to taste each, and then go get a full glass of your choice. The white was a blend of five or six (!) grapes, including an orange Muscat, and the red a blend of at least four. My taste of the white was not properly chilled and I think that was to the detriment of the wine. Slightly sweet and perfumy, I didn’t care much for it. The red was better (which turned into my full glass by default) but I thought a little lacking in any distinct character. You could buy a bottle of either, and it would be signed by Karl Wente the 5th generation wine maker (which I must have heard 10 times). Karl (who arrived in a limousine) also was part of the entertainment. A string quartet from Cosmic was the first musical group and they gave their usual accomplished performance. Turns out that Karl also plays the guitar, and he was the next entertainment, ably backed up by a local bass player. To be generous, I am hopeful Karl will pursue a career in winemaking, not music.

As part of the entertainment, they had little quizzes and stuff to hand out Winery shotzkies, and MFO and I got a nice cookbook as a result of our long marriage. We won by a pretty good margin.

The passed appetizers coming from the kitchen were varied and quite nice. I was attracted to a horseradish stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon. They were quite tasty, although it of course left you with that always difficult situation of “Shrimp Tail in hand”. While sitting on the porch I resisted lobbing one at friends. Good thing I didn’t have that second Martini.

I am enthused that the Front Porch seems to be interested in hosting these local community events. They have a wonderful venue for this sort of thing, and it’s good to see they are pursuing using it (as in the recent Easter Egg Hunt). Hope they keep it up.

Partially fumbled football:

After the event, we found that the shrimp (and chicken skewers, and phyllo, and..) didn’t quite fill the void in the stomach so upon a thought from a friend, we stopped at the Gridiron Grill in Callaway. The Feeder has had the place on the list for quite some time, so a visit there would satisfy both short term and longer term objectives. We traversed Rte. 5 and pulled in the little shopping center and located the Grill. We knew it was a “sports bar” (duhhhhh) and indeed that’s exactly what you get. Probably about 15 wooden tables, some high, some are regular and there is a long bar. In further sports bar fashion there are 8 or so flat screens on the wall of varying sizes. Each of course is showing a different event, and all on “mute”, so if you’re interested in one particular thing, you have to guess at any verbal content. But, mostly games can be absorbed by looking (“you can see a lot just by looking”), so that’s understandable. The place is mostly decorated with dark paint (I suppose to facilitate the viewing).

When we arrived it was maybe 50% occupied, mostly by groups. It obviously is a gathering spot for “locals” as there were many groups, who knew most everybody in the place. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves with lots of give and take with the staff. Coming from the event, we were much more DFD’d than anybody in the place (of course to be expected), and may have also set the upper age limit. We were greeted by a server with menus, and asked if we would like something to drink while considering them. MFO took some Iced Tea, and I inquired what beers were available. I was surprised at the lack of selection (unless I missed something) as it was mostly Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Coors Light, and I think a Blue Moon. Yuengling was the most “exotic” (I am not a blue moon fan – sissy beer), so I took that. Turning to the menus we found everything you would expect in a sports bar. Nachos, crab dip, fries, rings, fried pickles (!), chicken fingers, soups, chili, salads (including a “signature” Greek salad) and a special category for wings. Then there is the normal selection of sandwiches and Pizzas, then some Dinners (ribs, steak, “signature” crab cakes – is there any restaurant that doesn’t have “signature” crab cakes?). We sort of honed in on the sandwiches, because of a recommendation of our friend. I chose the “classic” Reuben with your choice of corned beef or turkey. At this point I will not debate using the terms “Reuben, Classic, and Turkey” in the same menu item. MFO chose a burger (medium rare) with various adornments, and both baskets were accompanied by their house made chips (also a recommendation).

While waiting for our food, we observed that they serve the pizzas on one of those pedestals I remembered from college – flashback! Anyway, our basketed food arrived in the appropriate plastic baskets lined with the wax paper. There was a fairly large serving of the chips, and they were tasty, but needing an application of salt. Some were more crisp than others, obviously freshly cooked. My sandwich was served on rye bread, but in normal sandwich cut, not like those oval loaves of rye you see, and wasn’t terribly toasted. There was a good quantity of kraut, and the corned beef was pretty thinly sliced, reminding me of “deli” products. Had fairly good taste, and we were hungry. MFO’s burger was served on an almost Kaiser Roll with nice lettuce and a tomato slice that was nice and red throughout. What was not nice and red throughout was the burger itself. It was not a hard gray, but light one, probably just past what I would call “medium”. Not and uncommon occurrence these days, and being hungry she just ate it as was. When the server first checked we chickened out and answered with an unenthusiastic “it’s okay”. More bites of the burger never found any shade of pink, and so when we were almost done, and the server checked again, I pointed out the burger and said it certainly was not medium rare. She looked at the gray couple of bites, and dispassionately said, well, was it good? And left. And to be (somewhat) fair MFO said it did have some beef flavor, and indeed ate the whole serving.

As we received our bill, what turned out to be the owner visited the table, and said he’d heard the burger wasn’t to our satisfaction. Yes, it was overcooked. He apologized and said they tried to make things as ordered. I also mentioned the “lunch meat” appearance of the Reuben, and he replied they like to slice it thin.. He then said that he would remove the beer and the tea from the bill, since we did eat the burger. Fair enough.

I appreciated his visit, it was the right thing to do. I am sure if we made a fuss up front, another attempt probably would have been made. So due to his interest, instead of crossing the place off the list (yes, one time, one night, yadda yadda) I would put it on the “go back sometime” list, and maybe try cheesesteak or a pizza.. I do like those pedestals..

Gosh, this was long! Apologies.

Fortunately the “to do list” this weekend is a little shorter than normal.

Lecture at Sotterley this evening, first Friday in Leonardtown, a Kentucky Derby event at Sotterley tomorrow for Hospice.

We’ll be

DFD(erby)!