Archive for the ‘fried chicken’ Tag
Today my better-half and I took a break from yard work, gardening, and working in general. It was a sunny and warm day so we decided to take a trip down memory lane. We made a nostalgic drive down to the southern border of Maine and retraced a route we used many years ago when we spent some weekends visiting yard sales and flea markets. The routes took us into New Hampshire a few times and back into Maine. The scenery was beautiful and with a little good music was really enjoyable.
When I first moved to the Maine and New Hampshire area in 1999 one of the first things I discovered was the incredible number of yard sales. On any Saturday afternoon if I so desired I could visit thirty to forty of them without driving more than a few miles from my home. I was a little hesitant going into people’s yards and garages but I finally got over that. I made so many incredible purchases in the first few months that I became hooked.
It wasn’t until a few years later that my better-half and I met and began our lives together. During all the billing and cooing and rush of a new relationship we started making yard sale safaris as one of our regular weekend activities. We developed specific routes in and around the border depending on what types of things we were searching for. We made many great purchases and had fun doing it.
We knew the best times to shop and the yard sales that always sold specific types of merchandise. We knew which yard sale always carried car accessories and auto parts, craft materials, collectibles and home goods. We knew if we visited the "Pig Lady" my better half could buy any number of pig related collectibles for her pig collection. We visited the "Bottle Guy" who was an old hoarder with three building full of antique glassware, old furniture, and just about anything else you could think of. He had forty years of treasures stuffed into some old and filthy buildings. We knew to wear gloves after our first visit there.
As we began our trek today we were reasonably sure that most of those old places had long since disappeared. We were wrong. Many of our old stops were still there doing business and hadn’t changed a bit. We searched through the "Bottle Guy’s" place for an hour and really found nothing we wanted or needed this trip. It was still fun to return to these places we visited for so many years and to reminisce a little.
We didn’t make many purchases today but that was okay. It was more about our time spent together and remembering the fun we had back in the day. We plan on doing this more often in the future so we can have more quality time together away from he normal madness. It’s an activity that clears the mind, reminds us again of how much fun we can have together, and finding an occasional treasure or two is just a “cherry on top of the sundae”.
We even managed to stop at a little corner store out in the middle of nowhere to enjoy a few pieces of chicken. This was a stop we never missed because the chicken was to die for.
We had a wonderful night tonight. Celebrating my better-half’s birthday is always a treat and she didn’t let me down. We went out for dinner and she absolutely consumed a gigantic steak and all of the fixings. She had a tough day at work and I could tell she was exhausted but all I had to do was mention the word steak and she was ready to go.
I don’t know whether any of you’ve had the opportunity to eat at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant but I highly recommend it. I love a good steak as much as the next guy but there are times when other dishes call to me. Last night as I was perusing the menu I found something I wasn’t expecting and I had an OMG moment. I love steak but instead ordered some good old down home country fried chicken with a white sauce that was to die for. This is no lie, I ate until I couldn’t eat another mouthful and it was wonderful. While I was pigging out on the chicken my better-half was devouring a large chunk of cow. It sounded and appeared to be delicious. Of course since she was the birthday girl it was required by the restaurant staff that she be recognized with a rootin-tootin country “Happy Birthday”. They dragged her out of our booth and seated her on a saddle while the entire restaurant and staff hooted and howled and wished her a happy birthday. She was thrilled and I thanked God it wasn’t my birthday. Reminder to Self: Don’t go near a Texas Roadhouse on your birthday.
After a couple of drinks and that huge meal we made our way home, opened a few gifts, and then vegged out. I knew she was very tired and wasn’t going to last much longer. She only blew out the candle on her cake since neither of us could eat another mouthful of food. All in all we had a great time and celebrated the hell out of her birthday. She had an early day of work but still had enough energy left to talk to her children when they made their obligatory birthday calls from different parts of the country.
As always I’m a bit of a nighthawk and stayed awake for another few hours doing a little reading and little thinking. I’m on the verge of finishing the second Harry Potter book but it’s not near as good as the first one. Two thirds of the way through I started to get bored with the story but continued on because I had assurances from friends that each book gets progressively better than the last. I finally put Harry Potter off to the side and again attempted to read the book that has become my recent frustration. Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie is the toughest book I’ve ever tried to read except for possibly the Talmud and the Koran. I discovered one thing last evening. I’m never going to finish this book because it is just so much bullshit and nonsense. I’ve had people brag to me about reading this book and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s more about their snobbery than reading anything of consequence. How in the hell this book created such a furor within the Muslim community is beyond me. In my opinion it’s highly overrated in every respect. So consider this my book club selection of the month and here’s my true feelings. Don’t read it, it sucks, it’s boring, it’s freaking stupid, and I hate it. There, I feel better already.
A good nights sleep and I’ll be ready for the week of pre-Thanksgiving propaganda to come.
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