Musings

You’ve heard of “Where’s Waldo.” This is Waldo. This is Waldo’s downtown tavern. This is where you get a brewski and a bologna sandwich.

This is winter-fallow Ohio. Note snow persists only in the shade; however, more serious winter is coming.

Teasel silhouette.

Massive mountain road cut. Ice scabs on Mother Earth.

Mezze trio. Left to right: Lebanese hummus, Syrian muhamarra, and smoked eggplant zaalouk. My first time eating the latter. Yum, however my favorite of these three is the muhamarra.

Posted at 10:15 PM | Comments Off on Short cuts

In the wee hours we heard serious wind; I was glad I was cozy indoors. When we ventured out on the road we found downed trees and many branches and so on. See the organic matter in our lane?

Farther along our trail, we found a rooftop water tower structure that lacked its tank. Absence is okay.

We picked a nearby place to eat, and whatta view! We watched the street become dark.

Best beet salad ever. All beets, no foliage.

And, as a timely capper, we reached the streetcar enclosure and started to figure out when the trolley would arrive, and presto the rain began. Lucky us, our stop was a mere 100 feet from the door to our hotel.

And now we are ensconced, warm and safe. Happy. Happy.

😀

Posted at 10:31 PM | Comments Off on Shine and rain

Yummy feasts may end with a sweet assortment to tempt the mouths of all full-belly attendees. Good times! Laughs! Great company! Thanks! Yum! Yesssss!

Posted at 10:43 PM | Comments Off on Feast night

This is certainly a hot pink camellia. Despite the overcast and rain, it cuts through the murk of the day.

The rain, or just time, brought this one down. I spotted the bright yellow among the leaves and thought: that’s too yellow for a leaf!

Hot pink plus brilliant yellow equals…? Best I can do is this bolognese-inspired sauce (aka gravy)…in the new cook pan/pot. Perfect size! [This swirl is right after I started to stir in the milk….]

Posted at 6:26 PM | Comments Off on Color equation?

Outdoor report: lights are up and the aesthetics vary. I liked this one. Should I be concerned that the rocking horse has no chocks? [Duh—use your imagination, no?]

Indoor report: we avoided the Fry-Night crush and went out tonight, a late morning spur-of-the-moment decision. Everything was tasty as usual at Babette’s Café (honoring the movie), and we were even served our entrées by Chef Marla herself! Basking in the glow of cocktail, wine, and crème brûlée, our go-to dessert. Yum!

Posted at 8:25 PM | Comments Off on Treats

I’ve been wanting a stainless cooking vessel that is somewhere between a skillet and a dutch oven. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago using two big discounts, making it less than half the most overpriced retail prices I’ve seen for it. Yay! Last week, it arrived! Tonight I finally used it—chicken with vegetables, wild rice cooked separately. Yum! Sorry; no food photo; the original, perfect, never-used pan stands alone.

Posted at 6:23 PM | Comments Off on New pot

Feast day here today, delayed from the traditional yesterday, meaning baking for me (love!). I ended up with two tins of pumpkin in two brands—varied color and very different moisture levels. Mixed together, they made fine pumpkin custard!

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Tale of two pumpkins

I got the first dish going for our family festivities—on Friday…Friday works for everybody…. I ended up with about 2.4 dishes completed. I’ll be busy tomorrow!

As it turns out, we made two runs for “last-minute, forgotten” items. This was during the first. The second was after dark. If we can’t get by for the next two days on what’s here in the fridge and cupboards, we have lost perspective!

Posted at 7:15 PM | Comments Off on Prepping begins

The major reason today became bean-soup-from-scratch day was we got a ¼ ham earlier this week, and the bone was just begging (excuse the anthropomorphizing) to flavor some bean soup. Plus, the weather turned colder last week.

While the beans were soaking, I zipped—on foot (happy foot justifies the verb “zipped”!)—to the library to swap out two-for-one. On my way back, I scooted (happy foot justifies the verb “scooted”!) out of the way of a his-and-hers mounted pair of recumbent bicycle riders. They deftly navigated around me, and on up the street. I was slow to take a photo, so they were already stopped at the corner before I got a snap…edited to make them larger, so resolution is hammered.

And that’s all tonight, folks.

Posted at 7:09 PM | Comments Off on Bean soup tale

Silvery fish. Sooooo gorgeous. [We didn’t buy/eat.]

Mystery machine. Vanilla flavor, we read on the packaging. [We didn’t buy/eat.]

What we did eat, at another location—mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Did I say (write) mmmmmmmmm? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Posted at 11:28 PM | Comments Off on Oh, my