Category: food

The Custard Tart Dream

To set the dream scene, I was different in some ways to my real life self. Still white, I was tall and skinny with short black hair, and wearing a holey white tee shirt dingy gray with age. About nineteen years old, I was clean-shaven and despite my dirty clothes, I was clean. I knew I was poor but I was a happy and hopeful individual.

Walking among some dark industrial ruins, I came across a table. On it were about a dozen tarts. Six inches in diameter, they were custard, with cinnamon sprinkled across the top, and stacked about ten tall. Beside the tarts were a dozen empty tart pans in a stack.

Finding the tarts pleased me. I’d been walking for days, hadn’t eaten and was hungry, but more importantly to me, I’d been travelling alone and had not seen anybody the entire time. Finding the tarts, if they were fresh, was a sign that others still existed and could be close by.

I didn’t eat them, though, though I grinned widely as I looked at them. I didn’t know who owned them and refused to take them, thinking that would be stealing. Then, walking around, I found a cardboard sign with handwritten letters in red marker, “Free”.

I still didn’t take any. At that point, other people emerged from the shadows. Seeing them, I knew they were as hungry as me, so I called to them and started passing out the tarts. As I did, I found that there were more tarts than I thought. While I was surprised, I was also pleased because that meant that everyone could eat more.

Then, a voice told me that they’d been watching. They were going to provide me tarts, and I could sell them. That confused and surprised me. I queried them about why they’d want to do that. They answered that they thought I’d be good at selling them.

I shrugged. If they wanted to do that, it was okay, I guess, I said, but I’d rather just give them away because so many people didn’t have money or food. The voice replied, you can do what you want, they’re your tarts.

Dream end.

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Overheard

“It was cold in my house last night,” the sixty-ish man said. Dressed in a tweed cap and black fabric car coat, he and his trimmed gray beard cut a dapper image. “I had to turn on the furnace and warm the place to eat my ice cream.”

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Sunday’s Wandering Thoughts

We were on vacation for about ten days, venturing east to Pittsburgh, PA, to witness my nephew’s wedding and visit family. One of the hardest adjustments after coming home were meals. On vacation, we ate what we wanted, when we wanted, where we wanted — Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, or American. Such delicious foods, especially a few local Italian places.

One that deserves calling out is DeNunzio’s in Monoeville. It didn’t look like much when we looked at it from the parking lot.

We started with bruschetta. An appetizer like that in most Pacific Northwest establishments is small fare. Not the Denunzio’s offering. This bruschetti was quite different. Cherry tomatoes were cut in half and put in a bowl with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and herbs. Toasted garlic bread with loaded with buffalo mozz served on a platter which was fifteen inches long and twelve inches wide. Huge, dudes, huge.

Next, salads. Mine was just arula with red onions, kalamata olives, and Italian dressing made in the restaurant, along with a basket of freshly baked bread. Tasty and satisfying.

Then came my main course, linguini with chunky marinara sauce, meatballs, and garlic bread. We joked with our server about the size of the portions and all the bread. I was full almost immediately and took my leftovers over to Mom’s house for her and her partner to finish off. I sure couldn’t, despite my inspired effort. All this was washed down with a California pinot noir.

Midway through the main course, our server came by. “Need anything?” she asked.

“Yes, could you bring us more bread?” I replied.

I’d be shortchanging you if I didn’t also mention the Italian grocer located down the street from our hotel on Mosside Blvd. Labriola’s had some terrific hot deli offerings. Two pounds of lightly breaded rolled eggplant was purchased and taken to Mom’s for one night. Chocolate filled and cheese filled cannoli was purchased from Moio’s Italian Pastry Shop for dessert.

After getting home, we felt fortunate that we don’t have these places nearby, or we’d be gaining so much weight. At the same time, my tastebuds remember the experience, and I think, I could go for a little Italian today.

Maybe we need to go east again.

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The Best 3 Things of the Gold Beach Vacay

We went west to the Pacific Ocean, enjoying its presence from the shores of a little town called Gold Beach in southern Oregon (population: 2241). Highway 101 runs through it from California, serving as the main way in and out. We stayed there three nights and four days, making and taking terrific memories. Here are my top three worthies from bottom to top.

3. Jet Mail Boat to Agness. First, the boat doesn’t have propellers, which allows it to travel in water as shallow as twelve inches. Using three 6.2 liter Chevy marine engines to steer and propel it along, the boat delivers the mail to Agness six days a week during the summer. Besides the boat ride and the history of the USPS run from Gold Beach to Agness up the Lower Rogue River, we saw a bear eating blackberries, a few river otters swimming around, deer, Roosevelt elk, beavers, osprey and their nests and young, and a couple bald eagle nests. We were also told about the stunning 1964 flood. We were about fifty feet below a bridge. That flood crested three feet above that bridge deck. Like, mind blowing. Besides it, we learned about the now departed Lowry fishing camp. Clark Gable used to fish there, among many celebrities and politicians, but Cable always asked for our boat pilot’s grandfather as his fishing guide. So we had water, boating, nature, and history, along with a dinner at a lodge.

2. Chapter One – yes, it’s a coffee shop. I enjoy coffee shops, even have a passion for them. First, I like a good brew. Second, I look for the ambiance. Third, I consider the food offerings. Like my other favorites — the lamented Li Di Da in Half Moon Bay and the long departed original Beanery of Ashland — Chapter One offers these things. They almost displaced The Green Salmon as the best coffee house. The Green Salmon’s fabulous gluten free baked goods keeps the competition level, but Chapter One’s maple scone was OMG excellent. What keeps the Green Salmon (Yachats, OR) at number one is their gluten free vegan breakfast sandwiches. Oh, yeah.

  1. The Pacific Ocean. We had a beautiful stretch of little used public which was a few miles long. It was so little used, it felt private. Wonderful to breathe fresh ocean air, gaze out over the sun splashed waves, and hear the crash and roar. Walking the beach was done several times a day. Great place for contemplating existence and discarding worries. I left a lot there in the beach’s sand.

Just want to note that the numbering is another WP thing. It insisted on indenting #1, at the bottom of the list, identifying it as ‘list’ and indenting it. Why? Only WordPress knows for sure.

Naturally, to make this a complete WP experience, it dropped again while I wrote this. Couldn’t save the draft, couldn’t publish. Had to work around by copying it and pasting it to a doc and then creating a new post.

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The New Biz

There’s a new business in Ashlandia: Kingston Cannabis.

It’s on the south end of town, by I-5 and the Exit 14 Interchange. The business used to be a U-Haul service center. Before that, it was an automobile service station. Like the U-Haul place, Kinsgston reeks with 1960s era service station design clues.

My wife and I decided to stop there the other day. We were on a mission. Cannabis was not involved. We weren’t interested in THC, CBD, CBG – nothing like that lured us to Kingston. We were there for the food truck.

Garcia’s Tacos.

My wife and I, white as new snow on Mount Ashland, are very fond of Mexican food, especially that part of the food spectrum called Tex Mex. We really enjoy burritos. Tell us that breakfast burritos are available and our eyes light up like the Terminator chasing after John.

Besides Garcia’s food truck, several other food trucks are authorized to park at Kingston’s, including Kat’s Crepes – oh, boy – Yolks and Toast (there almost every Sunday), Desserts1st, Tacos El Paisa, Double B Wings, Laika’s Lox & Bagels, and a doughnut truck called Lil’ Monster Donuts . Yes, a doughnut food truck! Almost as damn enticing to the taste buddies as a Mexican food truck.

The best burritos in Ashland, in our opinion, is offered by Ruby’s of Ashland. They’re downtown, on Pioneer, just a few blocks from the plaza, Lithia Park, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s theaters. Good location, yeah? Yeah. Tres popular place. Next to it is a lovely tap house, Gil’s. Cold brews, you know? Yeah, you know.

So, we ordered Garcia breakfast burritos. Nine dollars each. He gave us a pager for when the meal was ready. Off we went to explore Kingston.

Okay, if you want edibles or smoke-ables, Kingston can serve you. They have fine offerings out of Washington, Oregon, and California. They make many things locally. We didn’t buy anything today but the gummies and cookies were both talking to me. Friends swear by their combination of THC/CBG gummies.

Besides the cannabis offerings, Kingston has a lovely outdoor seating area. Half is covered. New café tables and chairs are set up. Water features and fire pits are set up to counter weather’s influence. The manager told us that they have live music several times a month, with the food trucks coming on site to provide food and refreshments. Besides the seating area, they also had Cornhole set up.

Our burritos took a while. We finally took them home and devoured those puppies. Mine was egg, hash browns, and bacon. It was dry but tasty. Definitely didn’t overtake Ruby’s burritos are the top of the list but definitely worth another tasting.

And of course, there are plenty of other food truck offerings awaiting our judgement. It’s game on.

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Friday’s Theme Music

Here we are again on the little backwater establishment known as Earth. Look at the humans; aren’t they cute. Look at that old one, sipping coffee. Just adorable. He looks so sleepy.

It’s 6/16/2023. Friday. Cushioned with a light cool breeze, 64 degrees F and hopping up, Ashlandia is living a dreamy Friday morning. Blue sky and sunshine rule. Gonna get warm. 88 F, they say. I say 90.

Now, a correction. Not that anyone uses this blog for reminders but I thought last Sunday, June 11, was Father’s Day. That’s because my wife said it was. She was pointing at a sign in a store when she said it. It just locked into me. I hustled a card out to Dad but didn’t call him. Put it off because we’d just spoken a few days before. Neither of us are big pholks (phone folks).

Then I began noticing all these Father Day ads springing up and checked the calendar on my wall. Correction realized.

Injured my back yesterday while running. Only went a little less than a mile. Probably closer to a little less than half a mile. Didn’t feel anything snap, crackle, or pop, but when I finished, my back said, “Why did you do that?” It then stiffened like a flag in a strong breeze. The spouse unit, who regularly goes through aches and pains associated with her chronic malaise, provided me with a Salon Pas pad, which heated the back up very impressively, alleviating the pain and stiffness. After wearing it for six hours, I removed it per instructions and then applied CBD TherapyReLeaf to the area. Feel much better this morning, thanks. While the back’s pain surprised, I’m relieved I bounced back, knock wood.

A dream inspired The Neurons to plug a 1982 song by The Kinks, “Come Dancing”, into the morning mental music stream. The dream was all ’bout food prep and eating — mostly cakes and sandwiches — and then dancin’. Sort of chaotic, a little hasty, like the dream had been put together at the last minute and had a small budget. “Come Dancing”, a light song, fit the dream mood and is perfect for a relaxed Friday.

‘Bout done with my first cuppa. I’d gotten up and cleaned the kitchen. That slid things back a bit. Hadn’t been a plan to clean the kitchen. Wasn’t that dirty as my wife had tidied before leaving for her exercise class. We work well in tandems like that. Then ended up cleaning the primary litter box, a.k.a., the big ‘un.

Stay pos. Hope it’s a satisfying day in your existence. Here are The Kinks. Cheers

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A Small Rant

A small rant, s’il vous plait. A first world thing. First, apologies.

Apologies to the people being denied rights for me being so upset by my ‘plight’. Apologies to women who have lost control over their bodies to male-dominated governments who arrogantly decide what is right and wrong for you because of what they decided their religion tells them, regardless of your religion or circumstances.

My apologies to those dying in wildfires, or fighting wildfires, or enduring the terrible smoke.

Of course, apologies to people still getting COVID, still dying from it, or coping with long COVID.

I’m sorry, everyone having heart attacks and strokes, or dealing with cancer, and other diseases.

Likewise, apologies to everyone still rebuilding after a hurricane or tornado flattened your domicile, or who lost their home, loved ones, and belongings in a flood or other natural disaster.

My abject condolences and sincere apologies to the LGBTQ+ community and the indignities forced upon you by people too ignorant and uncaring to give you sympathy or empathize with your situation, who instead monstrously decide to compound your problems by building bureaucratic walls and persecuting you.

I apologize for those who have governments who think material goods and wealth is more important than health, security, and welfare of their citizens.

Apologies to the victims of racism and sexism, discrimination, and hate crimes.

Apologies to the food insecure, to the homeless, to the murder victims, gun violence victims, and police brutality. Apologies to the abused children, to the mentally ill who can’t find help, to the struggling and working poor, and the refugees around the world. Apologies to the people dying in famines and wars, and apologies to those working multiple jobs just to get by. Apologies to spouses with cheating and abusive partners. Apologies to the desperate and hopeless.

I haven’t covered everyone but I’ve done what I could, apologizing to everyone who has truly serious matters to deal with. That out of the way, you wouldn’t believe how long my Microsoft update took today.

So frustrating, you know?

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Saturday’s Wandering Thought

When I’m happy, I want to have something enjoyable to eat. Steak and pie often speak to me at that point, although I rarely eat steak, rarely eat meat, as my wife is a vegetarian. Likewise, when I’m frustrated, or depressed, I want something enjoyable to eat. Steak — or a burger — come to mind, along with pie, or ice cream. It’s only when I’m in a good mood but not overly happy, but very focused, when I’m not prey to different eating urges. And that’s a bare sliver of a window.

It interests me how my urges to eat are similar when I’m happy or sad, an intriguing additional insight into my personal spectrum of being.

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