Got an e-mail from my pal Sherman Shifflett about a good place to get a bite to eat. It’s called Luv’N Oven and it’s in Scottsville. “The food I ordered was darned good,” he said. “I got the chicken breast, mashed potatoes, pinto beans and rolls. The coconut cake was very good. Ava ordered a BLT and it was good, too.” Luv N Oven is a locally owned diner-type store front restaurant in … [Read more...]
Chicken and Rice Casserole
There are probably as many recipes for Chicken and Rice Casserole as there are cookbooks in America. Every cook, every house has its own version. I did one this week that turned out well. Nothing fancy at all, just basic comfort food. But it was easy and tasty. Here’s how. I started with chicken tenderloins, not whole chicken breast loins. I did this for several reasons – they were on … [Read more...]
The Versatile and Beautiful Goldenrod
The crop of goldenrod this fall has outdone itself. Standing tall, often along a spread of Black-Eyed Susans, goldenrod provides a colorful sea of gold and yellow along our roads and highways. Yeah, but goldenrod is the stuff that causes all those allergies. Get rid of it. Not so fast. Goldenrod is frequently blamed for allergies caused by ragweed. Ragweed, which often grows alongside … [Read more...]
Striper Season Underway
The saltwater striper/rockfish season opened October 4 in Virginia waters and runs through the end of the year. The limit this fall is one fish per day at least 20-inches in length and no more than 36-inches. Lots of stripers are being caught by trollers and caters, but many fish are throwbacks. It seems that no matter where they set the size limits, the fish you catch will be one inch short – at … [Read more...]
Time Was!
What time is it? I don’t know. I don’t have my phone with me. Phone? Where’s your watch? What’s a watch? Time was, everyone wore a watch. A right-of-passage for a young girl or boy was their first watch. It was a big deal. I think I was 7 when I got my first watch. It was an inexpensive stopwatch. I was constantly stopping and starting the watch, which also reset the time. So I never … [Read more...]
Return to Outback
For years, The Outback Steakhouse in Charlottesville’s Albemarle Square was our go-to restaurant. The service with rare exception was excellent and the food consistently good. More often than not, we skipped the waiting with the buzzer in your pocket deal (there was always a waiting line) and squeezed in at the bar. The bartender was Charlottesville’s finest. He was quick with drinks and water and … [Read more...]
Snakes and Leopard Frogs
We have recently found a few snakeskins in our yard, so that meant there were snakes around. But until this week, we had not seen any. Yesterday, I heard Nancy shrieking outside, and that meant she had found the snakes. She wasn’t afraid of the snakes per se, they were harmless garter snakes, but she feared they might get our frogs and there were now two of the slimy critters in our small … [Read more...]
Getting Back to Normal
For the first time since March, I felt a genuine sense of normalcy. I sat out in the back yard on a Saturday afternoon and listened to a UVA football game on the radio. I puffed on a cigar and sipped a cold beer while the Cavaliers alternated between great and awful. It was just like old times. Even though Scott Stadium sat mostly empty, the players of both Duke and Virginia played their hearts … [Read more...]
Sam’s Club Eggs
Drat. The local farm where I have been buying cage-free eggs is and has not been not delivering. That’s because the chickens are molting and apparently their hens cannot lay eggs and molt at the same time. So we were completely out of fresh eggs. I don’t mind regular eggs, except they are not as firm and flavorful as local eggs. The cage-free part is irrelevant. I just like the cage-free … [Read more...]
Roasted Zucchini, Tomatoes and Ranch Dressing
As a cook, preparing vegetables is not my forte, especially green vegetables. I typically go to the basics – green beans, sweet peas, lima beans, kale, collards and the like. Not that there is anything wrong with those green vegetables, they’re just not very exciting. Tired of the same-old, same-old, I looked for a different green vegetable to cook with creamy garlic chicken, and I saw some … [Read more...]
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