Junk Mail

Wednesday, 12 December 2012 13:30
dr_phil_physics: (Default)
Why are you still smoking cigarettes?

That was the Subject line from an email from Wired magazine. I was tempted to snarkily reply, "Because you still have cigarette ads in your magazine." But since (a) I have never smoked and (b) I was sure there was no Sarcastic Reply button on the email, it'd do no good.

But after I trashed the email and thought about snarking about it on Facebook, I decided to go the email trash bin and read the email. Turns out it was for some e-cigarette device. Wonderful.

Gives you the warm fuzzies, doesn't it?

So I decided to blog about it instead.

Back In The Day

I grew up with a father who smoked. Cigarettes, at first, then a pipe. Over the years he tried different things. He was not above smoking "pretty" cigarettes marketed for women, if they were, in fact, lower in various toxic values. And frankly, he was right in the sense that pipe smoking slowed his smoking down -- it takes time to work a pipe properly and keep it clean. Alas, he cheated with cigarettes a lot.

In later years he'd smoke outside. He'd smoke his pipe in his workshop, which was a standalone building we had built shortly after we moved to Greensboro.

I remember the ashtrays around the house as a kid. I remember the smells of smoking. Today, I can barely tolerate any of that, even though we've banished smoking from the workplace, the restaurants, the movie theatres and within so-many-feet of the entrances to buildings.

Fast Forward To 2012

I'm always surprised when I see volumes of smoke coming out of a car window ahead of me at a light -- I always think "fire" not "smoking" at first. And since I usually drive with a window opened at least partway, I am stunned at being able to smell cigarette smoke from one or two car lengths away -- and feel my allergies cut in. The other month, while loading up my rolling cart to bring my things to the office, a tall slender young woman walked past. I'd not really have noticed her, except that (a) I got hit with the wavefront of cigarette smoke and (b) closely followed by a very strong hit with the wavefront of perfume, and I looked up. What struck me was that just for a moment, it was actually a rather pleasant combination. Huh. Then the allergies cut in again and the "magic" was lost.

My mid-50s self would never be able to tolerate the 1960s. Just a thought.

Dr. Phil
dr_phil_physics: (Default)
New Restaurant in Standale

After the rash of closings and the fire I've noted earlier (DW), it's nice to find out about a new local place, down the road in Standale. The Crooked Goose is the second restaurant in the Grand Rapids area with this outfit, their Twisted Rooster is over by Celebration North and is always packed. The Crooked Goose website is just a placeholder, but they have a blog.
Meritage Hospitality Group is one of the nation's premiere restaurant operators, overseeing 86 Wendy's restaurants along with our uniquely pioneered dining concepts- Twisted Rooster & Crooked Goose.
This ain't no Wendy's, I assure you. Fun place. Packed and on a Thursday night yet. Their specialty seems to be big burgers and exotic grilled cheese sandwiches -- available with a cup of Campbell's Tomato Soup -- but that's not what we had.

We started with a cheesy crab and tortilla appetizer. Then I had the Michigan Fried Bologna Sandwich -- Ebels Bologna (Falmouth, MI), Pan Fried with Melted Swiss Cheese, Maple Mustard Slaw, Crisp Fried Onions & Mrs. Dogs Mustard on a Sesame Seed Bun with Sweet Pickle Potato Salad.

This is from their website.

What's a fried bologna sandwich? Well, if you fry a thin slice of bologna in a pan, you'll get these crispy little half domes. But if you cut a thick slice of bologna from a real deli bologna, say ½" to ¾", it makes a really nice cooked meat for BBQ. We used to do this a lot in the summer when I was growing up and I've done it every now and then myself.
The Old Family Fried Bologna BBQ Sauce

molasses
with enough cider vinegar so it will brush
squirt of yellow mustard

Yup -- that's it.

Note: Cut the bologna slices in half, so when grilled, the 
expanding meat will have room to spread on the cut edge.  
Baste all around and keep flipping.

It's Taken Us Three Years Or So...

... since we first noticed that there was a mobile BBQ stand / food truck in Allendale during the summer. It parks next to a party store and ice cream joint, just north of M-45 on 68th Avenue. So we finally decided that if it was still here, then they couldn't have killed all their customers, because Allendale just ain't that large.

Saturday the end of June we pulled up around 5pm and found that they were down to three pulled pork sandwiches and cleared out of everything else. Since we had our own pulled pork BBQ either just made or about to be made, we passed. But we did have them reserve a full rack of ribs for the next day -- and my they were good.


Mrs. Dr. Phil at Ed 'n Pat's Smokehouse BBQ food truck, finding out they were pretty much cleared out on 30 June 2012. (Click on photo for larger.)

So when Mrs. Dr. Phil's stepmother Pat came by this weekend, we got three half chickens from the shack -- we got two great meals out of 'em. Very pleased with this local operation. Much prefer their sauce than Bono's, the Southern style BBQ place that went out of business and became the Mexican restaurant that burned down. And they cook their meat beautifully.

The Rest Of The Visit

We also went to one of our favorites -- Pereddies in Holland MI. For once, we passed on both appetizers and desserts. I had my usual lasagna with meatballs. As for dessert, we had blueberry rhubarb crisp at home. For that, I was willing to give up key lime pie. (grin) And of course we did Sunday brunch at Grand Coney in Allendale. Managed to get in after barely waiting a few minutes for a table!


Pat and Mrs. Dr. Phil. (Click on photo for larger.)


As long as I had the Nikon D1 out and Pat was there, I had her snap a picture of us -- I rarely show up in pictures, because I'm on the other side of the lens. (grin) Aren't we a cute couple? (Click on photo for larger.)

Dr. Phil
dr_phil_physics: (norman-rockwell-thanksgiving)
Rescheduled Visit

Mrs. Dr. Phil's Mom, aka Momcat, and Joe were were going to come up for Thanksgiving, but given a variety of things on both sides of Lake Michigan, that didn't happen. So they came up this weekend. Moving into December means that (a) Mrs. Dr. Phil begins to bake batches of stollen and (b) we get an annual box of lovely Arkansas pecans from her Little Rock cousins. This year, the pecans were apparently very happy with the weird weather and are simply gorgeous and plentiful.

The pecans come already rolled, so the shells are cracked. Huge advantage. Momcat is now sorting the pieces and picking the meats from the shells.


Smile for the Kodak, Momcat!

Dinner From Stromboli's

Stromboli's Pizza on M-45 in Allendale MI is one of the few real restaurants in Allendale and it's a favorite to boot. When company comes, we frequently call in a big order and have them deliver. Might as well show you what the fuss is all about.

Clockwise from bottom: Meatball sub (footlong), Seafood Stromboli (black tiger shrimp, crab, side of Alfredo sauce), Pasta Funghi e Vino (Penne in mushroom sauce w/ basil, garlic and mozzarella, Spaghetti Con Salsiccia (known by the staff as Pasta Susie -- w/ sauteed onions, green peppers, sausage and meatballs) and Mostaccioli (w/ added meatball).


And out guests Joe and Momcat digging in.
For the technically minded, first two pictures taken on the Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n with the 28mm f2.8D AF-Nikkor and Nikon Speedlight SB-28DX, the rest with the Nikon D1X with the 18-55mm VR DX AF-Nikkor at 18mm -- which gives an effective 28mm focal length on a DX camera -- and Nikon Speedlight SB-80DX. So I guess this is all a 28mm party. (grin)

Dr. Phil
dr_phil_physics: (wkb09-purple)
56

My sister Wendy died over the weekend.


For many years we got together once a year in Greensboro NC at Christmas. We always did Christmas very well -- and especially had fun with "stocking stuffers", which you can see never could fit in just the stockings. Jackie/Mother, Wendy, Harry/Daddy, Mrs. Dr. Phil


More recent picture from another member of the UCF.

Dr. Phil
dr_phil_physics: (dr-phil-and-daddy-xmas09)
91½


My parents back on New Year's Eve Eve, 30 December 2009, Greensboro NC

Dr. Phil

Profile

dr_phil_physics: (Default)
dr_phil_physics

April 2016

S M T W T F S
     1 2
3 4567 89
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930

Links

Email: drphil at

dr-phil-physics.com

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Thursday, 22 May 2025 12:21
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios