You know, believe it or not, creating these missives is not easy. As I move around, reading this or that,
seeing signs, and so forth, I often think that: “Hey! This should be in the Feeder!” Well as age creeps up and memory goes down, I have
taken to try to make little notes, on
some handy scrap of paper, or a little sticky.
So when it comes time for fingers are put to keyboards, and I draw a blank, I can
refer to those notes for content. Well, most
of the time I either cannot find them, or if I do, there is some cryptic note
whose meaning has flown out of my brain.
Case in point, today I found a small sticky with one word on it: “lasagna”. What the heck is that about? After pondering it for a while and giving up,
I went on about my business and suddenly it popped into my brain: Olive Garden!
Those charming folks or “family” have a new promotion called “Create
your own Lasagna”, meaning they make a stack of lasagna noodles with some
creamy white cheese in between, and you select a sauce (meat sauce, marinara, alfredo)
which apparently goes over the pasta
stack, and then you can pick your “topping” which is then crowns the mess. I, at least, generally don’t think of “toppings” on Lasagna, it’s a nice
dish on its own. Anyway, your options
include Grilled Chicken, Cheese Ravioli (??), Sautéed Shrimp, and I even saw
one on TV that offered scallops! Dear
God – no regard for harmony of texture or balance of “lightness” and the
presentation is pretty frightening… a great culinary innovation.
And while we’re stuck on “genre”, a comment about “Mexican” food (at least as available locally). There
are/were four (maybe more) main restaurants featuring the cuisine: Plaza
Azteca; Plaza Tolteca; Hacienda Los Guayabos; and (finally) recently opened Dos
Amigos in Leonardtown. I kind of exclude
Chipotle and the new place near Harris Teeter which I believe are order at the
counter and not a sit down place.
I got menus from all those above
Plaza Azteca has gone “chain”
and has over 40 outlets scattered around the Mid – Atlantic (so the only way to
see their menu is “on line)”.
And did some comparisons. I have often postulated (somewhat tongue in cheek) that there is a Mexican Cocina in the sky, and it magically makes the same dishes appear in the various restaurants. I sort of centered on Enchiladas as a common denominator, and guess what? Enchiladas: Supreme, Suiza, Banderita, and Rancheras all appear on all the menus (Azteca shown)
All of which include Chicken, Pork, or Shredded beef but
basically the same dish. There are a
couple of others like “Poblano” or “Del Norte”. Not much latitude.
I suppose they are popular, and people are used to them and
feel comfortable knowing what they are going to get.
I have had an early stringer report on Dos Amigos, finding
the both rooms “packed” on a Monday night (!).
Food was as expected, nothing outstanding, but said he would
return. Only flaw was that several
dishes of the four were “not hot”, for which he received an apology from the
manager.
Since it is a “new” place, I did a bit of looking at their
menu. Pretty much a formula thing with boxes
for categories like Appetizers, Nachos, Salads, Combos, Quesadillas, Fajitas,
etc. While there was not a box for “drinks”,
there were several pictures of Margaritas.
I suppose it could have been
separate. Following more and more common
practice, there were little icons beside some of the dishes, denoting: “Recommended,
New, and Popular” one wonders if things without, say, a “Recommended” star, if
they are NOT recommended. And odd that
a place that has been open less than a month has a “new” category. Maybe refresh there is no markings for
vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, and so on.
Oh, and they indiscriminately interchange “cheese” and “queso”
Be interesting to see how they go after they get over their birth pains...
I went into one of the
non-chain coffee places here, all of which serve pretty good coffee. I got a “large” whole milk Latte, with two
shots of regular and one of decaf.
Took it to my car, put it in the cup holder and off I went. Just before I got to the digs, I went to have
a sip, and “eagle clawed” the cup, and then all hell broke loose. The cup collapsed, the lid flew off, and I (and the flutter mobile) was bathed in hot, sticky, coffee.
Fortunately, I was able to get to the house and grab a bunch of paper
towels and mostly mop up the car and myself.
Always pick up by the bottom, not the top!
'Shrooms
Lastly, a memory jogger for me. Through the wonders of the
web, I happened to come across a product that brought back such pleasant
memories of my youth.
Growing up in Michigan, every spring I was shipped off to
Petosky to stay with “Aunt Lee” (of whom I could fill volumes of Feeders) my
mother’s sister. During that time, I quite
often spent a couple of days with “the Alfreds” (who lived across the street from us in East Lansing), who operated a small curio
shop during the spring and summer between Harbor Springs and Cross Village.
They sold local Native American Crafts, like little Birch Bark canoes, beads,
and so forth. And part of the ritual was
centered around food, Morel Mushrooms and Smelt.
At that time of the year the Smelt would “run”
in many of the small streams and creeks. So after dark, you’d put on waders,
and find a stream (which was ice cold) wade out with a little net and scoop up
the small silvery fish.
But as good as they were, the real Holy Grail was the much revered Morel Mushroom,
a local delicacy. Finding a location
where they grew wild (especially around ash trees as I recall) which would be a closely
held secret strictly a secret kept within a family, not to be shared with anybody. So we would tramp out into the wilds to "their" spot to find
the emerging legumes, and harvest a few.
So home again, fry the smelt in a little butter, saute the lightly dusted mushrooms,
and a feast fit for the kings (or at least me). The memories
of those meals have stayed with me for decades, and maybe contributed to my
passion for food. That’s what it is all
about!
Not sure what I’ll do with the dried variety, maybe
scallops? Sure as hell won’t top Lasagana.
Thanks and
DFD and don’t forget
NMMJ
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