easier stuff now

    

Well, a couple of changes around the digs.   I finally acquiesced to MFO’s “suggestion” that I move the big boy laptop from the loft to my living room office.  I had resisted, but the 14 steps necessary to “get up there” were a deterrent from getting there.  And that is where “big boy laptop” with all my images and the software reside that I use to create this wonderful literary piece of literature called the Bottom Feeder. So now that it is on this level with no stair adventure involved hopefully means I’ll be able to victimize you more often!

Pop Quiz:   look at this lovely necklace

Where do you think it came from??  Answer at bottom (no peeking!)

The phases and changes stuff above is part of the reason you haven’t seen much of the Feeder lately, the other is:

The blue squiggly line is temperature, the orange is the associated heat index, and the vertical black line is rainfall (currently about a quarter of an inch), providing some much needed relief to both plants and mankind.

Somehow that weather saps my energy and (what little) creative juices I have and leave me almost catatonic.  

Anyway, now that I am slightly revitalized and relocated, we can see what I’ve been up to:

Food

You may remember I was doing slow cooked chicken thighs.   Well, they haven’t been cooking THAT long, but they did turn out reasonably well. 

The lemon came through a lot.  I’ll have some changes for that mythical “next time”

Going Out

Last night, MFO and I went to the Cow and Fish for a meal “out”, for a restaurant meal to alleviate MFO needing to come with yet another iteration on Chicken, Fish, or salad.  Although some have had varying experiences we have always enjoyed our visits.  Chef Michael turns out interesting dishes and specials are always worth considering.   Being Tuesday night it was almost private dining (good for us, maybe not the house), and we didn’t feel rushed as there were plenty of empty tables (ditto).  After enjoying cocktails

(despite that stemless “up” glass, and the awful Mason Jar) once the server figured out we would like to linger a bit, things went well.  We split an appetizer of Fish Bites

Which could have served for an entrée.

MFO did lamb chops and I had a Hangar steak (helping my beef deficit) served on nicely done sautéed mushrooms (one of the better “Side” choices), and the leftover will serve for lunch. 

A glass (well, two) of Tempranillo paired well.

Throwing caution to the winds we “two forked” a nice lemon cake for dessert

Sylvia is always interesting to talk to…with the dwindling options for chef cooked food, the C&F is a treat.

Art

We have a daily calendar from the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, that has a different item pictured for each day.  Quite interesting what they present.  Like these gorgeous panels of Tiffany leaded glass

Having at one point dabbled in leaded glass I can only wonder at those beautiful works, it ain’t easy folks.

Okay answer to pop quiz:  where is the necklace from??

Baltimore Craft show?  Smithsonian Craft show?  Nope!

Over two thousand years ago!!  Amazing.  You think of humans using burnt wood to draw on walls of caves, and then to see something like this..

Okay, enough rambling..  hope to publish more frequently now.   In the mean time I’ll fight to get Mason Jars removed from tables, and as always,

DFD

and just to close on a subject near and dear to me, a nice picture (to me)

new stuff

Well, I’ve finally amassed enough “This and That’s” to cobble together a feeder. 

So, what’s been going on?

More adventures from the world of Henry

Well, here I am sitting on the Feeder Fence, in hopes of seeing some tasty little morsel.  Very peaceful here, nice and quiet.. 

Hey! What’s that noise?

Oh, one of those featherless flying contraptions

Hope it just keeps going… nope

Bet it doesn't like mice, either

Kitchen maintenance

Do you have any cutting boards that are sort of getting “shop worn”?  I sure do, so I decided to give a trial to a Boos product (available from Amazon)

Dumb old me I didn’t get a “before” shot, maybe I will after a while, but after application of the Mystery Oil and an overnight, a couple look like this

I tried to finish with the Board Cream, but it took all my (lessening strength to get it out of the tube.   Almost caulk like.  So I went to the “contact us” page of Boos and voiced my problem, within hours I had a nice reply from Allison, acknowledging that that was a problem with the product.  She suggested I nuke it for 10 seconds, then knead the tube before trying to extrude some.  Well, I haven’t tried that.   Results in second edition, along with other stuff..

Chef Feeder rises sits again

Well, I still can’t stand for long, so looking for recipes not requiring long stints on “the line” so to speak.  What could fit the bill more than “Slow Cooker” stuff.  Great idea!  It so happened a recipe appeared in the latest “Cook’s Country” that looked good, wasn’t loaded with salt, and didn’t require a lot of fussing.

Hey, let’s give it a try!

So I gathered and mixed the dry ingredients

And then addressed the thighs (hello, thighs!)

All “neatly” packaged skin on, bone in

When un-packaged (and flipped) revealed

Kind of a mess

The recipe recommended removing the skin and any extra fat, which, after a good bit of greasy tugging I managed to pretty much accomplish that

And surprisingly the sometimes odious task of obtaining the “finely grated” lemon zest wasn't so daunting with the micro-plane

And got the device ready

And finally committed the chicken coating with the oil, and spices including the fresh thyme sprigs

I set the time for four hours on low, and crossed my fingers

So here ends chapter one…  I am up in the loft, and it just beeped indicating it was at the end of its four hours.  MFO is just about to arrive, so I’ll task her with peeking and sticking a fork in the thighs (Yikes! update: internal temp was only 120 degrees!)

Stay tuned for results!

And after I burden you all with this, I’ll go

DFD

And am proud to say there are no “jars” in the house.

and for many of my friends:

maybe that's my problem!!

coming up for air

Well,  you may have noticed that the Bottom Feeder has been dark for a period of time.   You may have wondered where the Feeder went, and may have even looked in things like:

So I’m happy to report you won’t find him there either, nor would you find him in the patient log of Johns Hopkins Hospital.   No, there is a much happier explanation which recently concluded with

with FOJTY leaving in his “mint chip” rent-a-racer

And a few days later the traditional salute from FOJTE as he departs for DCA and a trip back to reality

Both sons were so gracious as to spend some of their time coming out here and seeing us and doing the long list of chores that were generated by MFO and myself.  Part of which turned into a “Staining the Fence” operation which turned out to be much more work than planned, but it does look nice.  Also both are accomplished grill masters and we were able to have several good meals thereby, with local beef.   We also had a special treat when a friend obtained some dry aged strip steaks

And came and grilled it for us.  Over used term, but actually was some of the best stuff I’ve ever put in my mouth.  What a treat!

Having them visit tugged at our heart strings, and thoughts of “moving back” have begun creeping in our brains, but that’s a whole different story.

Well, if your memory is really sharp you may remember I was yakking about Objective A or something which got shoved into the background.  Although not quite as glorious as family visits, it does keep rearing its head.

As I spend a lot of time pushing words around I pay attention to popular usage, and current trends.   I personally try to say what is on my mind, being as literal as possible. Just say what you mean!  For instance, there are phrases creeping in that drive me nuts.   Here are but a few that particularly drive me nuts:

Me:   Hey (so and so) could you talk to (so and so) and ask about..

Millennial:  why, yes, I would be glad to reach out to them.

Me: don’t reach, just talk

Me: so how did the event go?  Did you make some money? Or how did you do on your exam?

Millennial:   I crushed it!!

Me:  I’m sorry to hear that, were there any injuries?  Were you arrested for damage of property?

Me: what are the objectives for the next ?

Mill: we’re taking it to the next level!

Me:   Huh? Where are those levels written down?

Me: How are the new rules of procedure for the meetings working out?

Mill:  they’re a real game changer!

Me:  oh, I thought we were doing rules for procedures.  Are we doing something different now?

Me:  Could you tell me what (so and so) said?

Mill: sure, I would be glad to share it.

Me: great, but could you just tell me?

And lastly (for now) one from the world of sports, usually in reference to a football running back:  “he just gets stronger as the game goes along!”  Huh?  How is that physically possible?

Now, I should hasten to add that several of the loyal readers sometimes use these phrases, but i think that's largely because of the reality they operate in.  

Anyway, just say what you mean, don’t add frills!  It could be a game changer for you!

And really lastly, I’ll probably get in trouble for this, but I lost respect for the USA women’s soccer team in the world cup.  I know others won’t share the same opinion and accuse me of being “soft” or “fuzzy”.   I was very embarrassed for Thailand’s when our players jumped around, hugged each other, and carried on after scoring the 13^th goal on an obviously vastly overmatched team.

I think they toned it down a bit lately, for which I give them credit.  Soccer is a funny sport in a lot of respects, but I kind of hate to see games swing in the balance of one official’s subjective view of play.  VAR helps, but when you see goals (and games!) taken away because “her heel was just an inch away from the line”.  And the only reason USA (USA…USA…USA) won yesterday was because they were awarded two penalty kicks.  No clean goals.  LeBron always gets the calls!

Okay, the Feeder should be back on the proverbial horse now, ready to go to the next level!

And a huge thank you to both FOJ’s for helping us out.  We certainly will do everything we can to remain in the digs and my continual reminder to
DFD

And NMMJ

Ps a subject for future posting was a wine dinner at Elements, and a dinner at CD cafe

Diamond Anniversary

Well, I was poised to go back to Blog Objective A, but maybe “C” trumps (er, maybe overides it).   This day marks the 75^th anniversary of the invasion of France at Normandy, normally termed “D Day” Seems like it is fitting to honor those who gave their life to (ultimately) turn WWII in favor of the Allies. 

Five years ago, MFO and I were part of a tour group to France which included the Normandy region, led by none other than Chef Loic Jaffres.  Looking back, it was a memorable trip, both for food and also the historical significance.

As with all memorials to solemn pieces of our history, it was a sobering experience to see the place where so many Americans did the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

With all the media coverage today, you might have seen a picture similar to this today on TV:

Depicting the incident of an ally parachute soldier got entangled on the roof of a church in Ste. Mere Eglise, and they have recreated the scene.   As I recall, the soldier did not perish and had a story of his own, but he will be memorialized forever on this church and in this town.

There are several memorials honoring the Americans

views of the challenges facing the allied invasion forces at places like Omaha Beach

In the town itself, there are cemeteries for the fallen

With graves marking the final resting places of the soldiers

Some of the museums had dioramas depicting various actions

After experiencing the poignant memories of the invasion, it was time for……

LUNCH!

The town is also for famous for

And the bakery has a restaurant associated with it, with the typical French custom of presenting the menu in usually lovely handwriting on an exterior chalk board

Inside was welcoming

Being a large group, we all had the same courses, one of which was Dodine de Saumon.  know what that is?

“The recipe of the Dodine Sauce is one of the most ancient in the history of French cooking. We are first given it in Le Grand Cuisinier de toute cuisine, which dates from about the year 1350, and there are many recipes for it in other fourteenth- and fifteenth-century cookery books.”

You should know what the “Champignons des Sous Bois” is.  Anyway it was a lovely dish

Served of course with the always delicious French Baguettes

After lunch we “toured” the bakery shop

It’s nice to dredge up old memories

Although we were touring, we were suitably

DFL(unch).

 By golly those French do it right!!

Missing Two

Have you ever started out with objective A in mind, and ended up with objective B?  Such was the case yesterday, I started out to rant a bit, talk about the French Open (tennis), then plans changed.

Way back in 1991, nearly 20 years ago, I accompanied MFO (before she had that tag) and a group of Law Librarians from St. Louis University attending a conference in New Orleans.  I had many good memories (and lunches) from that experience, one of which came into sharp focus recently.  One evening we attended a “group dinner” at a restaurant called “Dookie Chase’s” in kind of a (then) run down part of town. Turned out to be a memorable meal and experience, with great creole food.   Plus we got to meet the chef/owner Leah Chase.  A charming woman with a love of life, food, and good cooking (often referred to as the “Queen of Creole Cuisine)”, you can read more <here> about the restaurant, the family, and her life story) she had just published a cookbook which of course the fledgling Bottom Feeder had to get:

As with all things, life turns the pages for us, and she passed on June 1^st at the age of 95, and I dug out the cookbook and had a fresh look, and was quite taken by her inscription to me, which now, 27 years later popped out with her message clear and in line with my beliefs:

The book itself is not only filled with great (annotated) recipes

Note it calls for Pet Milk!

But also has lovely art in it

Borrowing a phrase from their website “She was a major supporter of cultural and visual arts and an unwavering advocate for civil liberties and full inclusion of all… While we mourn her loss, we celebrate her remarkable life, and cherish the life lessons she taught us. The Family will continue her legacy of “Work, Pray, and Do for Others.”

Grateful To You,

The Chase Family”

Anyway, a great lady who lived the life of good times and celebrated food.  RIP.

And another icon (to me) of a different sort who hopefully has a seat at her table in heaven also left us on May 30 at the age of 69.  Without reading the caption, do you recognize

Yes, the unique and staunchly individual Leon Redbone took his guitar and moved on.  He will never be replaced.  (As I remember) I never had the pleasure of seeing him perform in person, but you hear him from time to time on the Blues Channel (74 on Sirius XM)  a talent like no other..

End of unexpected Objective B.  Objective A was to rant a bit about phrases that drive me nuts (short commute), such as “reach out”.  Seems kind of inappropriate at this point so we’ll end with the usual admonishment to

DFD (maybe in honor of Leah’s food)

And if you look at the photos of her restaurant, you will see NO MJ’s!


Oh, just to add a little lighter note, another bit of "Bird Banter"

American Goldfinch:  "Hi there buddy! Good seed here eh?"
Decorative Wrought Iron Bird: "..............."
AG:  "excuse me pal, was just making conversation"
DWIB:  "............................"
AG: "YOU'RE NOT VERY SOCIABLE!"
DWIB: "......................."
AG: "well the heck with you, excuse me, I'm going to get a sunflower seed"
DWIB: ".........................."
AG flies down to feeder
DWIB: ".........................."