Well, as they say the older you get, the more you talk about
the weather, your health, and (in my case) food.
Actually I have something to say about each category, but we’ll take
them out of order.
Weather…
It was with much relief that the track of Matthew took a
hard right turn and now seems to want to set up shop across from Florida. And while it’s good news for us, the eastern
coast of FL looks like it’s going to take a Katrina-like hit. We have some very good friends who have digs
in Melbourne, which right now has the center of the “cone” in its sights. From Facebook postings it looks like “riding
it out” is the plan despite urging to (in meteorological terms) “get the hell out of there…”. We have experienced a far watered down
version of these storms with Isabel, Irene, and so forth which grazed us as
mere Tropical Storms or depressions. Before
the thing arrives everybody is in sort of a party mode, but when it’s dark,
with no power and the wind howls, it isn’t so funny anymore. Our thoughts and prayers go out for
them.
Food (probably the longest section as it should be):
Openings:
I noticed the latest resident in San Souci is “Bay Dawgz”
As you can (maybe) see, a “Gourmet Hot Dog Restaurant” which is sort
of an oxymoron. It is located in the
spot previously occupied by the Jamaican Jerk place, next to China Café II. I did a drive by the other day to get the
takeout menu
Not quite sure what the fascination is with all the letter “Z’s”
I guess an extension of the Dawg in the title.
As you might be able to see and expect, the
menu is understandably dominated by hot dogs in various guises. Mostly they are distinguished by the
topping(z) which are numerous. I’m
sure my Maryland Grad friend is pleased that there is such a thing as Old Bay
Sausage Dawg on the menu. So far I didn’t
see any Pumpkin Dawgz. (keep reading)
When I ducked in to grab the above menu I was greeted by an
affable young man with a young lady in the “kitchen”. He was mildly disappointed that I didn’t want
a product on this visit. There are lots
of blackboards around with colorful chalk lettering. I thought I saw some racks with at least
rolls on them, and I THINK they were top sliced.
Anyway, I wish them luck, opening a restaurant is always
risky, but they are young, eager, and I hope they’ll overcome the obstacle of
(IMHO) a not so good location. At least
they have a niche product, which I suppose can be both good and bad. They are open eleven until nine Monday through
Saturday. but Dawgz for Dinner? Tough.
But any independent restaurant deserves our support.
Le Dejeuner:
Speaking of dinner, let’s talk about Lunch. I think if you’re
interested in getting into the food service business, by all means (if you’re
on this side of the County – near the base) it would be wise to gear your
business plan around lunch. Case in point:
I was out and about today around the lunch hour, and I thought since
there is nothing in the Fridge for lunch so thought I would “stop and pick up a
sandwich for later”. Oyster festival
prep took me to the old Blue Wind
Gourmet, (which is also the new
BWG), but after completing festival business, the mob around the counter was
deep, so I got a Peet’s Latte and left.
Next stop: Coffee Quarter in
San Souci. At least 12 people waiting to
order. Next stop: Bay
Dawgz; pleased to see that I probably couldn’t get in the door. Next stop:
Day’s off Deli; no parking
places available. Tail between legs
(sorry indies) Subway for a tuna salad sandwich. Walk in, work down the line, pay, out the
door. Maybe overall, it was a good thing
that they weren’t so busy.
Openings of another sort..
Sunday, MFO looked out the window and exclaimed: “hey, there’s a work boat..” Sure enough our winter companions were out
in force, mostly fitted with “Patent Tongs”.
A quick check on a website confirmed that October 1st marks
not only the opening of the Supreme Court, but also the beginning of commercial
Oyster harvesting season. I’m not sure how I feel about this. With the bay struggling to return the
population of “natural” oysters, unleashing boats by the dozen to harvest the
wild caught bivalves makes that difficult.
Thank goodness there are more and more aquaculture farmers raising them
under controlled conditions.
Flavor of the Season…(a
bit of a rant will develop)
Ahhh, the air cools and crisps, leaves begin to show color, Ospreys
have pretty much packed their bags, we enjoy driving by the farms in the area
where globes of orange dot the fields: “a cultivar of a squash plant, most commonly
of Cucurbita pepo, that is round, with smooth, slightly ribbed skin, and deep
yellow to orange coloration”.
Commonly called a Pumpkin. And
what happens? everybody goes nuts. While
not a baker, MFO regularly receives a publication from a very respectable
source of all things baking, King Arthur Flour, who apparently are not immune from
the mania:
Devoting whole sections to the subject
And they are not alone, most of my “foodie” mags also
publish multiple recipes… And you know
what? In very few do you see: “take the pulp of one pumpkin…..”. Nope! you see: “ add 2 Tbsp. of Pumpkin Spice
seasoning….” what's the deal? That stuff is available
year round, so why push it now? I suppose in the
spirit of the season. Could make the same stuff in June.
And dry goods are not the only band wagon jumpers, there is a
whole raft of “craft beers” that trot out product this time of year such as the
venerable St. Louis based Schlafly Brewery offering.
This too, shall pass.
Where’s that pumpkin Latte…
But I’ll tell you what, here is a food product that NEVER
goes out of season…
Long live Charcuterie!
And not sure what it calls for in the Department of
DFD
DFD
Editor’s note. We’ll
postpone the “medical” portion, MFO is pretty much full up, but the Feeder may
be reaping the rewards of years of eating such food as above.. stay tuned..
PS: Today (10/6) is the return of the group that went to Cornwall with us in spirit. They were very considerate in keeping us up in their journeys..
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