Rice
Dorothy and I stopped at Latte Plaza on the way home from Laurel today. I took a few pictures there, including this stack of sacks of rice, definitely our favorite form of starch.
Tagged With: Food
Grace and Emily
Grace and Emily
I enjoyed taking pictures of these two having fun in the kitchen this evening. Grace did most of the flipping. They both did a lot of laughing. Grace posted a picture similar to this shortly after I got it off my camera and shared it with her. I’m a little late getting to it but I also have taken the time to make a few changes. First, I cropped the image a bit. Second, I replaced the image of Emily with one from a different picture that I think is better (her eyes are open, for instance). Getting the timing right so I could get the pancake in the air was the trickiest part, of course. It was much easier after she got more height on them, as in this image.
The Guys
Steve, David, and Juan at The Old Town Pour House
These guys, Steve, David, and Juan, (plus me and a few others from time to time) have been meeting regularly for over a year and a half (since October, 2015, I just looked it up in my journal). Mostly we meet at the church office but now and then we go out for dinner. This evening was such a time and we mat at the Old Town Pour House in Downtown Crown. The food was quite good, although I’d say it was overpriced. I had a duck Reuben and it was really tasty but $14 for a sandwich? Really? The beer was good and there is a pretty broad selection to choose from. I went with a beer called Bivalve Saison brewed by Evolution Craft Brewing Company of Salisbury, Maryland. Nice. As usual, we talked about life. That can keep us busy for a while, as you might guess.
Mont. Co. Agricultural Fair
Fruits and Vegetables
Cathy, Dorothy, Jonathan, and I went to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair this afternoon. I got a moderate thrill being a VIP of sorts, with my four free passes, won last year in a photo contest. That saved us $52 ($12 per person plus $10 for parking). We enjoyed the food and wondering around the barns, especially the rabbits and chickens. We made it up to the craft and photo buildings and looked at the produce and flowers that had been entered this year. I love the intense colors of the fruits and vegetables in this basket. Note that they may all look like vegetables to you, as that’s how most of these items are used, but technically, these are all fruits except the beets and onions.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Food, Fruit, Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, Vegetable
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Marmite
Marmite (500g and 125g)
“Are you born a lover or a hater?” That’s the question the folks at https://www.marmite.co.uk/ (a.k.a. Unilever) are asking. It does seem true that people either love or hate Marmite. I’m a lover but I hate the fact that it’s hard to find around here. Some Giant stores carry it, as well as World Market and Rodmans, but generally you can only get it in the titchy 125 gram jars (on the right in the attached photo), which is maddening. Online shopping has been a thing for a while now and this is an item that’s worth the wait. I just bought two, 500g jars (on the left in the photo). That’s 2.2 pounds of the wonderful, aromatic, slightly salty, ambrosia. But is someone really going to spend £89.99 (roughly $125) for a DNA test kit to find out if they are predisposed to love or hate Marmite? Not when you can buy a little jar and simply try it. And when you discover you’re a lover, then you’ll happily order it by the kilo (for less than $30 in the USA and including shipping).
Categories: Food/Drink
Tags: Anglophile, Breakfast, Breakfast of the gods, British, Food, Marmite, Yeast, Yeast Extract
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A Home Cooked Meal
Theresa, Cathy, and Terry
It’s always nice to have a home cooked meal. It’s especially nice when someone else does the cooking. Actually, while the food was wonderful, it was the one who cooked it that made the evening lovely. Theresa (a.k.a. Reeree) is a very dear friend and she was nice enough to have us over for a little R and R (which I will now take to mean Rest and Reeree). The conversation was wide ranging and there were, as you might imagine, a few laughs, some tears, and a lot of love. Thank you, dear friend.
Turkey Soup
Turkey Soup
I’m not a huge fan of turkey, as a meat. If cooked right, in can be tender and juicy but the white meat generally has little to no flavor even at it’s best. The dark meat is better but there is relatively little of it. We eat turkey on Thanksgiving, nevertheless, and (I guess because we hosted and I cooked it) we ended up with a significant amount of leftover turkey. I pulled just about every scrap of meat off the bones, from the back, the wings, and the rest of the carcase, and made soup. It turned out well and we had that for three nights. Then I made this batch with the leftovers from what had been carved from the bird, mostly white meat but a little from the legs. Instead of pasta I put barley in this batch, and also mushrooms. It turned out quite well and was a hit with the fam.
Categories: Food/Drink
Tags: Food, Leftovers, Soup, Thanksgiving, Turkey Soup
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Roast Pork Shoulder
Roast Pork Shoulder
A while back the local supermarket had pork roasts on sale for $0.98 per pound. That’s about half what they normally run (and even $1.99 is a pretty decent deal). I bought three and froze them. This is one of those, thawed over about four days in the refrigerator, and the roasted. It’s about 12 pounds and so cost about $12 and will feed us for a few days, at least. There are bones, of course, but it’s still a bargain price. After slicing the skin and rubbing in some salt and a fair amount of pepper, I roasted it for about four hours. The first 45 minutes are at 450°F and then I turned it down to 325°F for the rest. That was just about perfect. Of course, the best part are the strips of crispy, salty, peppery skin, but the meat was pretty juicy and tasty, too. A little mustard and some cabbage cooked with apples and mushrooms rounded out the meal (although the cabbage didn’t turn out as well as it sometimes does—I used the wrong apples).
Categories: Food/Drink
Tags: Crackling, Food, Meat, Picnic, Pork, Roast, Roast Pork, Shoulder
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Fruit
Fruit – Bananas, Mandarins, and Apples
I’m not particularly proud of this photo, taken in my kitchen this evening, but at least it keeps up my unbroken streak of taking a photo a day. You might be thinking, “if you’re going to be posting pictures like this, then I’m not sure how significant it is that you post one for every day.” There’s a part of me that’s very inclined to agree with you. On the other hand, if I had to say, “I’ve taken a photograph every day for over eight years with the exception of one day when I couldn’t find anything interesting,” well, that would just be annoying. So, here you are. Hopefully things will pick up from here.
Categories: Food/Drink
Tags: Apples, Bananas, Food, Fruit, Fuji Apples, Mandarin Oranges, Mandarins
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Oranges
Oranges
I’m not sure what I can write about today’s photograph. It’s orange and they are oranges. My understanding is that the fruit was named first and the color was named for the fruit. Oranges are something of a tricky fruit. They can look perfectly delicious on the outside and be dry or mealy on the inside. Alternatively, they can look pale and unappetizing and be juicy and delicious. The only way to find out is to peel them open and give them a try. These look good and are, in actual fact, pretty good. You might say they have appeal.
Deviled Eggs and Veggies
Deviled Eggs and Vegetables
I was asked to take photos at the missions banquet at Fourth Pres. this evening. I took quite a few photos of people but they won’t be all that interesting to those who don’t know them and of course picking on out of so many that’s representative of the evening is nearly impossible. So, instead, I’ve decided to punt and post a photo of some of the food prepared for the evening. These trays have deviled eggs and vegetables and are, I think you’ll admit, quite festive looking. And who doesn’t like deviled eggs? Although I do wonder about the propriety of serving deviled eggs at a church dinner.
Categories: Food/Drink
Tags: Deviled Eggs, Food, Fourth Presbyterian Church
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Ampersandwich
Ampersandwich
After yesterday’s wedding and a good night’s sleep, we headed back towards the airport this morning. Our flight was not until mid-afternoon, however, so we had a bit of time to do some things. We went to the Bass Pro Shop just off of Interstate 20, east of Birmingham because Dorothy had asked for a Carhart jacket for Christmas. After driving into downtown Birmingham, we started to look for a place to have lunch. We got ourselves relatively near the airport and then Dorothy found this place, called Ampersandwich at 4124 3rd Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35222. If you’re looking for a good sandwich from friendly folks, this is a good choice and if we ever find ourselves in the neighborhood again, we’d revisit them. Tell them Henry sent you. It won’t get you any better service. There’s no chance they’ll know who I am. But it might be a good for a laugh.
Categories: Food/Drink, Travel
Tags: Ampersandwich, Birmingham, Birmingham Alabama, Food, Lunch, Sandwiches
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