Revolving Doors....

Well, I hope everybody had an enjoyable forth.. this miserable weather has kind of sapped the creative juices (and appetite), but there are still a few things worth passing along..

Comings and goings..

This has found its way into the column before, but we are soon to be blessed with a relocated Subway on our little corner up by the demon infested stoplight at 235/Millstone across from San Souci..

This will place it almost next to the new Jerry’s Bistro.  But they had a lot of competition across the street.  Looks like they will have more room in the newer location.

And while we’re opening things, I have been advised that Coco’s Cantina (old Lone Star) is now open, and a couple of readers have asked if I have been there..  answer is not yet.  The sort of unwritten rule of thumb is that new places need 120 days to work out the infant mortality items, find their rhythm, get the staff trained (which seemingly takes forever around here), so I will let some time pass. If I get curious I might stop in for lunch or something just to see the place. 

They do have a web site up (gotta have that, never mind the food), and although they talk about “Latin Inspired Cuisine” the menu looks more like typical Mexican fare to me.  Standard items like Nacho’s; Quesadillas; Tacos; Enchiladas; and although they call them “Skillets” I would bet they are very close to Fajitas. Also typical Mexican is that with your main course you get to choose sides which include (guess what?) refried beans and rice among other things.  They do offer fried plantains which is maybe unique. On their "home page" there is a nice little box talking about local sourcing when available, and buying local whenever possible, I hope they do. And while maybe the web developer is not associated with the food side, I was a little surprised to see the following sentence under the picture of the grinning host:  “With over 10 years experience, Chef Rivera knows premium dishes and knows the Southern Maryland palette”…. While one could make the argument that the choice of spelling of the last word was intentional, I kind of doubt it.  So, we’ll see.  I hope they make it, good to see another independent open, up to them to make it work.  Oh, and they do serve breakfast (with huevos rancheros… a must).  Maybe the Linda legacy showing through..

And on the other side of the coin, chains don’t always work out either:

And it must have been that they sold that last remaining sub, because the sign on the door said:

Notes of not much:

You might remember that I have a liking for fried rice for light suppers, especially when it’s late and we don’t want to cook.  With the plethora of Asian restaurants around here, I still have not found one that makes rice I enjoy.  So the other night we were casting about for something to carry out, and MFO allowed as how we have not tried the Golden Japanese Chicken Grill or whatever it’s called up next to Buffalo Wings and Beer.  What the hell, I’ll try their (chicken) fried rice.  I am happy to report that I was very pleased with it.  The chicken was plentiful and fresh, and the rice light, fluffy, and not overly (soy) sauced.  One dish, one night, but it will bring me back..

And I almost couldn’t believe my ears the other day..  Usually while watching TV I tend to tune out when commercials come on.  I happened to still have my attention span about me when one came on for Ruby Tuesday’s.  I will have to hear it again but I’m fairly sure I heard:  “What if there were a place where eating felt more like dining?”.  Yikes!

And in the “you can’t make this stuff up” department..

You may remember that an F-18 out of Oceana crashed last month..  we were watching the local news the other night, and before going to commercial break, they said (something like) “the Navy has finally determined the cause of that F-18 crash last month (cut to picture of flames and burning things) and when we come back we’ll find out”.  So having some familiarity with tactical jet aircraft and the F-18 in particular, I was eager to find out.  Hydraulic failure? fuel controller malfunction? Engine software?

After the many minutes of disgusting commercials, they finally go back to the news.  Starts out with a recap (more flaming buildings) about the plane that crashed into an apartment complex, yadda yadda, and then:  The Navy has blamed the crash on what is called a “Dual Engine Failure”.  Really!  No kidding!  Boy those guys are smart.  Only took them a month to figure it out..Geez louise..

A parting reminder that tonight is the River Concert at the College and it is the one with fireworks.  Starts at eight.   Don’t think you should look for us..

DFD

Heat waves.....

With this sweltering heat, food kind of takes a back seat (hey!!...)  So, a quick recap of the weekend..

Once again, we passed on the Friday evening River Concert Series citing the weather (and forecast) and the later starting time. And we here at the digs were very fortunate that the derecho went north of us, and while we were okay, many, many, many folks north of here are still without power and air conditioning, some not to be made whole until next weekend!  I am beginning to modify my thoughts about those Mayans and their calendar.   What’s up with this weather, anyway? And it’s only just into July for heaven’s sake!

Saturday I went down to Historic St. Mary’s City to “chapel sit” for the Summer Faire event.  I considered bailing all together but the Friday evening’s storms appeared to cut the humidity a little and it wasn’t so bad so I went down and sat for most of the morning.   Was surprised at the visitation, but I was glad to be able to talk to people.  For once, while they were all interesting, I didn’t have any “characters”.  MFO was helping in the information booth, and at about one, we both cut out and headed for CSM LaPlata to attend a lecture on Historic Foodways to be given by a former employee of HSMC.  The closer we got to LaPlata, the more we said, “Hey! look at that big tree down”, or “gosh, look at all those branches”.  Being a little late we hustled toward the campus and wheeled into the south entrance only to be greeted by a locked fence.  A short trip north resulted in the same experience.  Hmmm, must be closed.  So we went back out to Highway 301 and headed south.  It soon became apparent that power outages were in play.  All the little food chains (McDonalds, Chick-fil-a, burger king, Chipolte… they got them all up there) were “dark”.  Not only that, the traffic lights were black.  That resulted in confused drivers trying to make a turn across traffic with the usual “not in front of me, damn it” good Samaritans, which made it very slow going.  Anyway we finally got home, figuring CSM was in the “no power” group.  Hope they will repeat the lecture.

Elementary…. A Rant

One of the things that MFO and I like to do of a Sunday evening is sit on the back porch (if weather permits, which it hasn’t lately) take out the “little TV” and sit with a tinkling glass, nibbles, and watch MPT or WETA.  We enjoy some of the Masterpiece Theaters, series such as Downton Abbey and especially Doc Martin (don’t much care for the Miss Marple or Poirot's).  But our all time, hands down, favorite is the Sherlock Holmes episodes.  We just love Jeremy Brett (which has been mentioned before in this forum) as Sherlock and Edward Hardwicke as his foil, Watson.  I don’t care if I have seen the episode a hundred times, watching “Holmes” lay his finger aside his nose, purse the lips, arch his eyebrows, then flash that momentary little smile is just wonderful.  Scripting is great even if the plot is sometimes a bit pithy.  Great stuff.  I also think that I have mentioned before in some other rant about this that there is an “updated” series now with some youthful punk who uses cell phones and stuff.  I am proud to say I have never seen a complete episode of that, nor the recently released movie.  But what really got my goat (is everybody issued a goat for this kind of thing?) was something that happened while watching the golf tourney at Congressional yesterday afternoon on CBS.  Tearing themselves away from the idolatry of Tiger (who somehow is now viewed as tragic figure, deserving a return to glory), there was the usual string of commercials.  All of a sudden there was a teaser for a new CBS) series this fall, called “Elementary”, yet another take off on Sherlock Holmes.  Holmes is portrayed by Johnny Lee Miller (who has a broad English accent, wether real or not, I don't know). Butin the ultimate travesty and insult to Mr. Conan Doyle (who must be spinning in his grave like a runaway engine turbine) “Watson” is (get this) portrayed by Lucy Liu (hey, you gotta have sex in these things or they don’t sell!) and the character is Joan Watson.  Good Lord!  I could go on and rant on my own about this, but maybe CBS can illustrate my point better.  Here, lifted verbatim from their own website for the show is their own actual description:

“In a modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes, the iconic detective is taking on New York. Just out of rehab, he's been assigned to live with his worst nightmare-sober coach, Dr. Joan Watson. Holmes's unsurpassed skills of deduction and Watson's medical expertise come together to create a dream team for solving the NYPD's most impossible cases”

Rehab??? "Assigned to live?" Can anything be more ludicrous!  What idiots.  And while I’m using other peoples quotes, I’ll borrow one of my favorites from good old H. L. Mencken: “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public”.  Right on, HL.

And while we’re being crabby...

Friday night MFO crossed the bridge for a meal at the Dry Dock.  The searing heat didn’t exactly make us want to cook.  Besides, we like the place.  I still think it’s the best (non crab picking) waterfront dining experience available.   Food is generally good, service is nice (especially when you’re a regular), and the kitchen knows me well enough to substitute for asparagus without asking, and put anchovies on my Caesar. I ordered a special salmon dish, and MFO felt in the mood for crab cakes.  Venturing into the world of crab cakes is always hazardous, for what you like may not be what I like and vice versa, and that is perfectly fine.  She didn't particularly enjoy hers that evening. But, like I say, you might think it is good.  Judge not.  My salmon was pan baked, and topped with a very nice “Island” salsa of mangoes, pineapples, and other tropicals.  It was very good, and contained no asparagus… Nice place.

Does this weather make me (even more) irascible?  You bet.

And yes, it is a struggle to
DFD

Ps: I had some positive feedback about the larger print.   And I will pass along a hint from one of my more savvy computer friends who reminded me that on a “windows” machine you can press “Control + (or - )” to magnify your screen.  Just tried it, it works, but for this edition i'll use the geriatric font..

Bugs, Books, and Bugging...

had any good scotch lately?

Bugs first…

This really bugs me.  I go into Starbucks most every morning to try to kickstart my day.  I see this situation over and over with iPhones, but last week there was one that was over the edge.  The line was rather long, and I joined at the back of the line.  The young(ish) woman in front of me started talking and looking at me, well maybe more accurately looking through me. In a louder than necessary voice with a definate edge she said: “that will not be acceptable, I want you to talk to (tom) and set up a meeting!”  Just as I was about to say something like you must have me confused with somebody else, I noticed she had one of those cockroach devices attached to her ear, somewhat concealed by her hair.  I could go on to relate the whole conversation (I think it was about closing some kind of real estate function) but you would get tired of it just as I did.  Anyway, she never shut up from the time I fell in line behind her until she disappeared out the door still officiously giving orders and making demands.  That includes standing at the register and realized she had to order and yelled “just a second” to the bug and then started considering what she wanted with the person behind the counter patiently waiting.  Then more conversation between ordering and digging into the purse for money, absent mindedly handing it over, almost forgetting change.  It went on while waiting for the drink, which eventually sat on the bar for thirty seconds before she came up for air, and then had to ask “is that mine?”.   Yes, a nod, and “have a nice day” from the barrista which was ignored and off she went still lecturing the air and most everybody in the shop. Being a “regular” I know most of the people working there, and the young lady doing the coffee that day is especially friendly and nice.  So as I got my cup of enthusiasm, I asked her “does that bother you?”.  She sweetly replied with a smile: “Oh no, not at all, I just hope she dies in a fiery, horrible, car crash”.  And if the person drives as she walks, I’d say there’s a chance of that.   Rude people..

Books

I just finished reading “Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef” an autobiography/memoir of sorts by Gabrielle Hamilton, chef and owner of Prune, a highly awarded restaurant in NYC.  Besides the many awards for her chef work, she is also an acclaimed writer (along her varied path to success, she got a Master’s at Michigan in writing), with many articles in foodie magazines, and won this year’s James Beard Foundation’s award for Writing and Literature.  Her book is also a NY Times best seller.

I have read many of these kinds of books by authors such as Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, and of course Kitchen Confidential by the irascible Anthony Bourdain.   This one is a strange book, and maybe not what one might not expect from the genre.  It’s not an easy read as you might expect. It’s very introspective, with many insights into her checkered past filled with episodes with drugs, thefts, twenty hour days in a catering mill, a string of cooking jobs both here and in Europe, and the strange relationship with her (eventually divorced) Italian husband.  Lots of talk about her parents as well as the bond that developed with her husband’s family in Italy which they visited yearly.  She has certainly earned her stripes without formal chef training.  What does come through clearly is her unfailing passion about food that drives these people and enabled her to reach the height of the profession.  Although she doesn’t use “dress for dinner” we do have many values in common.  She related an incident where she and her husband and two small kids were driving around NYC trying to find a place to eat lunch.. her husband remembers a place where you can get an $8.99 brunch, and a free mimosa.  “…. I don’t eat $8.99 brunch with a free mimosa.  I have my standards.. I will skip a meal rather than eat the corner joint’s interpretation of Eggs Benedict with spinach, button mushrooms, and “blood orange” hollandaise sauce.  I don’t eat that kind of s***”  She goes on to say “Free mimosa is the kind of signal I rely on to stay away from a place.  Why is the mimosa free?  What is wrong with a place that it needs to provide the customer with an incentive to eat the food”.  My kind of woman.  Anyway, you might read it sometime.  Interesting..

Bugging again

Have you seen that TV commercial for an iPhone with a well dressed gentleman (kind of like that most interesting man in the world jerk) in expensive looking surroundings fondly holding and speaking to his phone?  He asks the phone for places with pasta and Siri (I think that’s the name) says I have found 5 places near you with pasta.  Am I free tonight?  I see nothing on your calendar.  He eagerly asks the phone to tell him a joke.  The phone says "two phones go into a bar….. and I forget the rest".  He chuckles lovingly and then gives the phone a look that one might reserve for a boudoir setting…  OMG.  As bad as the “so forty seconds ago” drivel.  What have we come to??

MFO and I have elected to not attend the River Concert tonight (or last night if you see this Saturday) due to the horrid weather.. we may go out in search of food and probably will be

DFD

Admin note:  once again I have received a request to try to make the print bigger.  This edition was edited to use "large" font..  hope it doesn't result in looking like a large print edition book...

A wee dram....

New fluttermoble exploration (what’s this button do?) and various civic meetings have been soaking my time lately… and speaking of soaking..

I don’t know if I have mentioned previously, but MFO and I are joining a tour to Scotland a little less than a month from now.  We’re going with pretty much the same bunch that went to Ireland in 2010 from Historic St. Mary’s City.  Think you might remember that.  So eventually we’ll be sending reports of Haggis, and other Scottish delicacies.   The agency organizing the trip had a little social last night for the forty odd travelers to meet and greet, learn a little about the trip, go over itineraries, and so forth.  The leader of the trip will again be Dr. Henry Miller, director of research at HSMC, who went over some of the things we will be seeing and how they relate to Maryland History.  Of course you can’t talk about Scotland without eventually also talking about Scotch, much as Ireland and Guinness are bound together.  So, knowing the shabby reputation of the Bottom Feeder, they asked me to put together a little presentation for the group about Scotch Whisky.  Side note, in America (with a few exceptions) and Ireland it’s WhiskEy (with the "e").  In doing a little research to flesh out my existing knowledge I found some interesting things.  So, without trying to sound preachy I thought I might pass along some of the things about Scotch that perhaps some people don’t know.  And yes, I know some people don’t even like Scotch which is fine, hence my DWTHYL theory of beverages and wine.  So a short course (apologies to any reader who saw this last night) in the terminology of Scotch Whisky

•        For a Whisky to qualify for the name “Scotch”, it must be:

–       Produced entirely at a distillery in Scotland

–       Matured in Scotland

–       Produced from water and cereals

–       Alcohol strength by volume < 94.8% (47.4 proof)

–       Matured in casks of less than 185 US Gallons

•        in a bonded warehouse for minimum of three years from date of distillation

•        There are Three Types of Scotch Whisky:

–       Grain Whisky

•        Uses malted and unmalted cereals (barley, wheat, maize)

–       Blended Whisky

•        Usually ~2/3 Grain Whisky, and 1/3 single malts

•        Accounts for 95% of Scotch sales – Johnny Walker, Dewars, Cutty, Chevas

–       Malt Whisky

•        Made from 100% Malted Barley, yeast, and water, distilled in pot stills, batch by batch

–       Within “Malt Whisky” there are two further distinctions:

•        Single Malt – made at a single distillery - Glenlivet, Oban, Balvenie...

•        Vatted or Blended Malt – a blend of single malts (from any distillery in Scotland).. Johnny Walker Green...

So when somebody gives you that bottle of Single Malt Scotch Whisky you know it is made and aged in Scotland, is from 100% Malted Barley, yeast and water, and is from a Single distillery.  What gives these single malt whiskies their wide range of flavors is that each distillery uses the water, yeast, and barley of their choice, has their own processes of using peat (or not) to dry the malted barley, how long they steep the mashed barley in water (spring, lake, river, each with different character), the shape and form of the pot still, how many distillations they go through, how long and in what casks the whisky is matured.  And before bottling a single distillery might add in a little whisky from a longer aged cask, attempting to make it what they perceive as their benchmark style..

Anyway in the lovely setting of the State House, we sampled whiskies of each type (except grain) to demonstrate the different categories

We had Dewar's White Lable and McKORMICK’s as example of popular blends, a Glenlivet Single Malt, and I wanted an example of a smoky, peaty flavor.  So what else would you bring…

Now, look at that label…  given your little primer up above, what category of whisky is this?  You know it’s Scotch, and the word Malt tells you what it was made from.  What word is missing?   “Single”.  So that means it was not made at one particular distillery, so it's a blended malt.   A peek at the back label tells all.

It is produced by the “Compass Box Whisky Company”, not some distillery.  And if your eyes permit, under the “Distillery Sourcing” you will note that they talk about several distilleries and their single malts that went into the “Monster”.  And they also say they used “first fill and re-fill” American oak, probably the reason for the relatively light color.  By the way, upon opening the bottle, you would have thought that somebody started a bonfire of wet wood.  Although the peat came through on the palate, it wasn’t as scalding on the finish as other heavily peated ones I have tried.

Okay last test:   Here’s another label to look at:

438

Single – check. Made at one site; Malt – check. Made entirely from Barley; Pot Stilled Whisky – of course.  But wait?  What’s that Rappahannock doing there?   That’s in Virginia for heaven’s sake...  Correct!  So do you see the word “Scotch” on the label?  Nope.  Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, Virginia used to be (and maybe still) the only distillery in the US to make a Single Malt Whisky.  

Okay enough for today, I hope it helped those who are less familiar with Scotch and it’s permutations, and re-affirmed what others already know..

 DFD

oh, maybe a little postscript is warranted.  Just because something isn't the holy "Single Malt Scotch", doesn't mean it isn't good.  There are very good drinks in any of the categories.  Try them all, explore your tastes, and find what you like.  It's fun.  your favorite doesn't have to be that $120 bottle!  DWTHYL!!

Cars, boats, and.... Onions

Another long and (as it turned out) tiring day. 

You recall that we spent Tuesday afternoon in the Hyundai place, and eventually moved (jabbed by MFO to “quit waffling! just go ahead and do it!!”) to begin filling out paperwork.  I had a meeting at six, and so had self imposed a deadline of leaving by five.  Tick, tock, as we madly signed this and that, worked out about the trade in of FlutterMobile One (FM I), signed some more stuff and finally wrapped up at about five before the witching hour.  We mutually decided we would bring the down payment check when we picked up the car (Thursday as the salesman had Wednesday off) and also because we had to transfer some funds to cover it.  Fine, congratulations Mr. Moody you have a new car!  So I moved to leave, and headed toward FM I to hasten to the meeting.  Salesman:  “Um, where do you think you’re going?”  well, I was going to drive home and get ready for the meeting.  “Well, technically you don’t own that car anymore”.  Uh Oh, as the light bulb slowly illuminated over my head…. “your new Genesis won’t be ready for delivery until Thursday as we agreed, and we would prefer you don’t drive it anymore”  He did graciously offer a loaner (A new Veracruz) until Thursday at their expense.  Okay.  “Is there anything in the (FM I) you would like to get?”  well, yes – dark glasses, phone charger, base badges,  etc., “okay you can get those and we’ll just keep the car until Thursday when you bring the check and get the Hyundai”.  Now lest anybody is under the impression that removing said glasses etc., “cleaned out the car” you don’t know the Feeder very well.  Most of the time it looks almost like it is lived in with multiple empty water bottles here and there, god knows what in the recesses of the trunk and console, and so forth.

So yesterday after a nice coffee with the “Thursday buddy” at Starbucks, I piddled around until one o’clock came and headed to the dealer in the loaner (don’t EVER look at a Veracruz, by the way) with the hefty down payment.  The kind salesman had moved my new car into the showroom for the “fam tour” so as not to bake outside.  I may have mentioned before that they don’t move many Genesis models down here, and hence he was a little unfamiliar with some of the features not common with the lower priced models which are popular here, like most of the Genesis's Nav System.  “I’m not sure” was used in the lesson quite a bit, although he successfully did the Bluetooth Dance with the Droid.  He was very honest about it, and I don’t really hold it against him.  It did, however leave me with a stack of owner’s manuals the size of the Gutenberg bible, and probably about as incomprehensible.  The car has a lot of “gee, whiz!” features, heated and cooled driver’s seats, reactive cruise controls, a little sun shade for the rear window that goes up and down as needed, automatic rain sensitive windshield wipers (whatever that turns out to be), headlights that lead you around the curve, push button start, keyless entry, and others too numerous to mention.  Probably those readers who already have “luxury” cars are familiar.   Anyway with the tour completed, it was time to wish the FM I a goodbye (not quite as tearful as the MOMSTER I).  So I mined here and there and hopefully got everything removed.

(Last known picture of the Flutter Mobile)

Finally drove the Genesis out of the lot being veeerrrryyyyy careful (funny how new cars turn you timid) and brought it home to the safety of the garage.  Maybe I’ll just leave it there.  I spent some time this morning playing with the Nav stuff and learned how to call by voice command, saying “Channel 76” and have the XM move to Symphony Hall on its own, play a little with the maps and so on.  Then I drove it down to HSMC to pick up some glasses for my Scotch class for our tour group next week, and the car is really sweet.  All 4.6 liters and 8 cylinders do their job well.  One little feature I tried which I though “why did they put that in there” is called something like temporary hold.  You push this little button to activate it, and next time you get to that red light and fully stop, you can take your foot off the brake pedal (such as to catch up on text messages) and the car WON’T MOVE until you hit the gas.  Anyway here, in all it’s complicated wonderfulness is FlutterMobile II

And a little peek at the plush driver’s station (no aviation terms for me), and yes, the steering wheel is "upside down"

Oignons....

So last night secure in the knowledge that the car was safely nestled in the garage next to its bigger sister, MOMSTER II, I decided to cook something nice while MFO attended a little lecture up in Prince Frederick.  I was going to prepare (my adaptation of) a rice soubise, to go with the grilled/smoked pork chops.  The chops were smoking nicely (almost didn’t need any charcoal last night), and when she called and said she was leaving for home, I got out the onions to dice them up for the rice dish.  Now, I could just not say anything, but in my policy of full disclosure, my normally excellent knife skills were a little lacking last night, with the result that after a late night trip to the emergency room to stem the tide of blood (no stitches, looked worse than it actually was), this morning my hand looked like this

Be more careful, feeder.

Oh for those of you wondering, here’s a shot (an increasingly tempting word) of the ducks terrified at the specter of the “pool toys”.

"Why yes, Daphne, I do feel like a dip. Besides, I have to take a dump"

Anyway, last night, dinner resulted in a different mode of

DFD 

 +++++++++++++

PS this season’s edition of the St. Mary’s College River Concerts start this evening at 8pm, and hour later than usual..

Bonus – a shot of the Kalmar Nyckel, who is visiting this weekend