Friday it be...

Well, here it is Friday again, and with the 2nd round of the British Open in the background, just a few this and that’s:

The “to do” list:

is fairly short this week, with the River Concert being the Friday staple. Today’s edition is “European Vacation” and not surprisingly features selections from “across the pond”. MFO and I are planning to attend. Use this weather when you can!!

And this gets included without comment. On Sunday, at Leonard Hall in Leonardtown, a couple of Great Mills grads will accompany the Horizon Wrestling Alliance professional wrestlers in putting on…. I don’t know what you call it… match? Performance? Extravaganza? No mention of fees.

Oh, sort of as a transition from “to do” to “to eat”, Trinity Church in St. Mary’s City will have its annual summer dinner tomorrow (Saturday) in their Parish Hall. All the usual “Church Lady” stuff, crab cakes, baked ham, fried chicken, green beans (it’s a law), slaw, etc. Always fun to get real food. Doubt the Sysco truck visited them. Cost is 23 bucks. Good cause.

To eat:

Sort of… Tuesday night we decided to celebrate the end of the scorching heat by going over to the Dry Dock for dinner. We arrived and noted that things didn’t seem “normal”, with several people at the bar and tables with nothing before them. Apparently the normal barkeep and manager had taken a leave for a while, and they were scrambling to recover. The young lady who took our drink order told us she was thrust behind the bar from the floor and said she had no experience. I thought that was very nice to be up front about that. I guided her through preparation of my DMOTRWAT and MFO’s Gimlet. We kind of had fun, and eventually we had a fairly nice dinner, and I’m sure they will work through the situation. One thing all restaurateurs constantly deal with is change. At least the kitchen is stable..

Last night we went to Café Des Artistes to observe Bastille Day. It was a festive atmosphere and Chef Loic was resplendent in a brilliant white chef coat and a red toque. They featured dishes any Francophile would be pleased with: Vichyssoise, Pâté de Campagne, Moules, Canard, Tarts, Crème Caramel, etc. We selected all of the above and MFO settled on a pork dish. Although the restaurant was pretty well filled, the food arrived at a good pace, and was quite good. I though the Pâté was fresh and moist with good texture and served as it should be with Cornichons and crusty baguettes, the vichyssoise was rich and creamy. The Duck Duo consisted of a smoked breast with a fruity sauce, and a fanned baked version. The Moules while rich and plump and flavorful were not helped by a rather thin broth. We had a very nice Muscadet the traditional accompaniment to Moules.

Prior to the dinner we stopped in at the Front Porch for a quick Dirty Grey Goose Martini and Gimlet. I really do like their bar, especially when we were the only occupants prior to the dinner hour.

Alert readers, might note that we dined out Tuesday and Thursday.. Why not Wednesday at the Dry Dock? Because, dear reader, it is “live music” night there. Yes, I am old, but I find that I much prefer to dine with friends without competition from a musical group, or at least the ones we’ve encountered around here. If I were in a dark bar, filled with ferns and oak, white tablecloths, and silently served drinks in a heavy glass by a well dressed server, a quiet jazz combo might be nice. I know others do not share this aversion because more and more places feature live music during the dinner hour. There was a talented group at the café last night, consisting of two guitars, a string bass, and a violin. The genre of the music escapes me, maybe Creole Jazz might describe it, sort of in the style of Django Reinhardt. Up tempo, rapid paced music. And, where we were seated it was, for us, too loud. As Tom Sietsema might characterize it, “conversation was difficult”. That sort of thing is distracting to me. Just let me enjoy the company, conversation, and food.

So anyway, that was our recent dining experiences. But of course we were

DFD

Ps the condition of our friend who was in the accident remains the same. Her husband is quoted in the paper today as saying “the intersection (where it occurred) “always sucked””. As you might remember that is the intersection which I always claim is inhabited by the demons. I would hope they would confine their pranks just to making me stop every time..