Every
once in a while, I just put together a hodge-podge of items that individually
don’t add up to an individual post, but which still were memorable for us…
Laurie
took this photo of an almost full “super moon”.
If you enlarge the photo, you’ll be able to clearly see the contours of the
mountains/ridges at the bottom of the moon…
Our local
herd of deer have a trail through the common ground behind our back yard to a
wooded area where they bed down. The frequently
stop by to lick our salt block.
They don’t
always stay on the trail!
Alternatively, they wander down through one of the neighbor’s yards,
nibbling whatever they can find as they go.
They don’t pay much attention to cars in the neighborhood unless folks
stop to take a look…
Laurie
captured this photo of a 6-point buck in the woods on the north side of our
house… It’s amazing how well they blend in to their surroundings! Enlarge the photo for a better look.
Time for
a bit of food… Recently Laurie made some salmon croquets for dinner. For a little something extra, she added some
capers to the mix. Laurie sided her
croquets with a little spinach salad and some great aioli sauce.
Of
course, I just had to be different! I
put cheddar cheese on my croquets and on my salad and topped the croquets with
a couple of over easy eggs. The yoke and
cheese blended perfectly with the salmon and the aioli sauce! I’d put the aioli sauce on just about
anything! Yes…I did sprinkle Tabasco on
top of the eggs after I took the photo.
The birds
really spend a lot of time on our feeder this time of the year. In this photo, Mr. Bluebird is patiently
waiting his turn, ignoring the much larger Flicker who’s working over the suet
block at the other end of the feeder…
Here is a
better look at the Flicker. They are
such beautiful birds! When they come to
the feeder, they stay awhile, just relentlessly hacking away at the suet cakes.
…just one
more view of the Flicker. He’s trying to
decide when to fly over to the feeder for his next snack.
Isn’t this a pretty little squirrel? He or she is
also our nemesis! He and his neighboring
relatives (aka. ‘tree rats’) regularly raid or attempt to raid our feeder. We’re sure that they set up surveillance on
the house. If we leave to go somewhere
they ring the dinner bell and when we get home, there is always a big “V” in
the feed in the center of the feeder!
OK…back
to dining at home. This time of the year
it’s all about comfort food! This was a
pot roast that we recently slow cooked… In this photo, I’d already braised the outside
of the roast on both sides and the ends as well. Laurie added mixed fingerling potatoes and
carrots and she seasoned the roast.
This was
the finished product! We love roasted
potatoes and I particularly love carrots slow cooked like this. After breaking up the potatoes on our plates
we added butter and gravy…yum! The roast
was excellent. While we ate a lot of the
meat, ‘unfortunately’ I was ‘forced’ to have leftovers on a couple of
subsequent occasions.
This
photo shows the results of a recent visit to Bill’s Courtyard Deli, a
relatively new food source in Loudon Tennessee. My sandwich on the left of the plate is Bill’s
Favorite Brisket Sandwich with provolone cheese. ($6.99) Laurie's sandwich on the
right was the Beef Pastrami Rachael. ($6.99) The sandwiches came with pickles
and chips plus we tried their baked beans and greens for free, seeing as this was our first time ordering a sandwich! Laurie really liked her sandwich but I
thought that mine was just OK. Laurie liked their sides too.
We also
picked up a loaf of Honey White Bread from the Old Mill Bread Company and a big
jar of Boar’s Head Kosher Dill Pickle Spears.
Bill’s Courtyard Deli smokes their own ribs, pulled pork and
brisket. They carry Boar’s Head meats
for the deli counter. We do plan to stop by soon to try the ribs! There are indoor and outdoor dining areas at
Bill’s Courtyard.
Bill’s
Courtyard Deli is located at 700 Grove Street in Loudon Tennessee. Phone: 865-657-6164. They are on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/bro.frankbbqman/.
For our
final photo of the day… This is the old water tower in Loudon. It’s the first thing that drivers see as they
drive south across the bridge over the Tennessee River. It sat ugly and unpainted for many years and
we always thought that an attractive coat of paint would be a welcome beacon as
folks entered the downtown area…and it certainly is! (Note the date that Loudon
was founded)
Painting the
water tower had been discussed for years but it was on private property…part of
a deserted factory complex. However the
property was recently acquired by the Loudon Utilities Board in a $1,000,000
sale after negotiating a lower price to allow for the remediation of asbestos
and underground tanks.
Hutch
Manufacturing, which made fireplace related products and other items, had operated
on the property from 1978 until 2012…although only a handful of people worked
here in the end. Previously, the Bacon
Creamery had operated in one building from 1948 and the other 2 buildings from
the 1920s had been home to the Bacon Hosiery Mill.
Now the
city of Loudon has to come up with a plan for the development of this property
and for its expansive frontage right on the Tennessee River!
Just
click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by for a visit!
Take
Care, Big Daddy Dave
