Entrees are usually no problem for a Home Chef. There are hundreds of things you can do to a chicken and more than that with beef. It’s the sides to go with the entrees that often confound this chef. I tend to get in a rut and serve the same-old, same-old. Recently I saw a recipe for a BLT Pasta Salad. I like pasta and love BLTs, so how could I go wrong? I made a batch and ate enough to gain … [Read more...]
Special Visitors
When I’m at home, I spend as much time as I can at the kitchen window checking on my birds. It is always a great joy to see special visitors. They were there this morning, a flock of Cedar Waxwings, stopping by for a drink of water from our bird bath. They flew down, then back up into the tree. They did this five or six times. One bird landed on a limb just outside our kitchen window. … [Read more...]
The Price of Golf
Golf can be an expensive game. A set of new Callaway Clubs can cost as much as a used car. Golf balls push $50 a dozen and it takes a lot of time, usually five- or six-hours including travel time to get in a round. And that doesn’t count greens fees. Last week, our regular foursome picked Old Trail as our designated course. Nobody bothered to ask about prices. It was still March, on a … [Read more...]
Southern Roots
My southern roots go deep. My daddy and his family were raised in Clemmons, just outside Winston Salem. My mother’s people were from Raleigh. My second daddy was from the Wilson area. My closest aunt and uncle were from Charlotte. I grew up eating southern food and enjoying southern hospitality. So it was with great enthusiasm that Nancy and I went to dinner with my daughter Angelin and her … [Read more...]
(Not So) Neat Stuff
A few weeks back I wrote about Farmland Spiral Ham Pieces and Slices in my Neat Stuff column. I’d like a mulligan on that one. It’s not such neat stuff after all. Last week I went to Wal-Mart specifically to buy a package of Spiral Ham Pieces and Slices. The first pack I bought – basically trimmings from a delicious spiral ham - had lots of nice cuts of meat and very little waste. The second … [Read more...]
UVA! UVA!
Following UVA’s stunning win over Purdue last Saturday and a subsequent invite to this week’s Final Four, I enjoyed reading this series of emails from some of my my friends, and UVA Basketball fans that go WAY back. Here’s some of the the chatter. From Sherman Shifflett: Even if you are not a UVA -Purdue game Saturday night, you have to admit it was pretty exciting. The Purdue fans, and … [Read more...]
Get Ready To Gobble
Spring gobbler season opens April 13 in Virginia and according to VDGIF, it’s an important tool for future conservation efforts. Participating in spring turkey hunting prospers the species because of the funding procedure that enables the work of DGIF. Money from license and permit sales, and spring turkey hunting gear, are the primary financial components of research and … [Read more...]
Stripers at Nags Head
After three months of nothing to report except dogfish and skates, things are finally starting to happen in Nags Head, so if you’re heading down for Spring Break, bring your rod and reel. Capt. Reese Stecher has been mixing it up with stripers for the past week or so, The season is open back in the bay and sound till the end of April, with a two-fish per day per man creel limit of … [Read more...]
I Haven’t a Clue
Was it Col. Mustard with the lead pipe in the ballroom, or could it have been Mrs. White with the rope in the conservatory? If you haven’t a clue, then you likely aren’t a Boomer. On a winter day and with a rare school closing due to snow, Boomer kids raced up and down steep hills in our Flexible Flyers until exhausted, and then we gathered up a gang and went to someone’s home for hot chocolate … [Read more...]
Tunnel Vision
As a backyard gardener, nothing makes me madder than planting a row or two of beans, only to have squirrels dig up half the beans, then rabbits taking down the survivors. I have tried squirrel and rabbit keep-out sprays and they work, sort of, until the first rain or until the varmints get really hungry. So….. I have bought myself 20-feet of Garden Tunnel Netting. If the squirrels … [Read more...]
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