This and That #2 – 2014

At this time of the year, we are a bit more homebound and travel is greatly reduced…unless we head south!  Consequently, since we’re home a lot more than usual my posts tend to be more focused on our daily life.

Laurie makes great chili!  It’s not for just anyone though… We like it spicy and believe me, it is!  She enjoys it with a bit of cheese…and sometimes I add a bit of Tabasco just to increase its already significant heat.  One of the things I like best about Laurie’s chili making is that we have lots leftover for me to enjoy.  Even better, the flavors intensify as the chili ‘ages’.

One project that we had done recently was the removal of the ‘old oaken bucket’ style pond that was in front of our house.  Maintaining even a little pond…with its pump, filter, water levels, algae, etc. can be an unnecessary and expensive pain!  Now we’ve replaced the pond with some nice rocks surrounding a new slow growing dwarf cyprus. 

As I mentioned, I really like leftover chili!  In this instance my breakfast included a couple over easy eggs, with chili spread over a leftover beef cutlet that’s hidden under the eggs and chili.  This was a very satisfying breakfast indeed!  Of course, I added Tabasco…

This photo in early January was the sum total of our first ‘significant’ snowfall of the winter.  While there wasn’t much snow as compared to the standard set at our former home in Mt. Prospect Illinois, just northwest of Chicago, it was quite cold!

This is J.D. looking very content and happy sleeping on Laurie’s lap on his soft faux fur comforter.

This is J.D. in our bonus room once the temperatures dove down to the low double and single digits!  Now that he’s figured out how to do this, we have to remember to look for a lump under the comforter if we’re trying to figure out where he’s hiding… He spends a lot of time ‘undercover’. 

When Laurie and I went over to St. Louis Missouri for her Aunt Lois’ 100^th birthday celebration, we also had a chance to meet Kevin… He and Laurie’s niece Kasey are getting married in March down in St. Lucia.  Laurie took this photo at their new home south of St. Louis.  They sure make a great looking couple!

Kevin gains an instant family when he marries Kasey.  Delaney and Avery are very sweet and they already love Kevin… They sure look like they belong together!  We’re wishing them the very best!

That’s about it for now.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Oh Happy Days!

It all started with manure!  Everyone who knows me knows that I love horses and horse manure!  The smell of a horse barn with hay and manure mingled together is heaven to me!  When I die, I want my ashes dumped in a manure pile!  That manure pile will turn into 'exceptional mulch' and the cycle of life will continue….

Anyway, in our area we have a local on-line ‘Facebook style site’ called Nextdoor (then the name of our area).com.  A local resident placed an ad on the site for “free manure to anyone who wants to come and get it.”  Her three horses, one donkey and a one 'pomule' (pony/mule mix) all contributed to this glorious manure!  My first reaction to this ad was, “Wow!  Someone close by has horses!”  I emailed this person (her name is Carol) and I told her that I wish I could use some manure but we live in the woods and have no place for a garden.  But what I would love to do is come and give her a hand with her horses if she could use some help.  She was thrilled…we met up that weekend and the rest is history!

The photos are in the order I took them.  This first photo is of Ellie Belle on the left and Too Cool on the right.  This is one of their pastures on this 15 acre spread.  Ellie Belle is a Paso Fino show horse and former brood mare. She was adopted by Carol after being rescued by Horse Haven, which is located here in East Tennessee. To learn more about Horse Haven, go to http://horsehaventn.org/.  

Carol ‘rescued’ all her animals from Horse Haven except for Too Cool and Frankie.  Too Cool is a ¾ Puerto Rican Paso Fino gelding and he has an amazing gate!  Carol is an excellent rider and Too Cool is a very lucky boy to have her as his owner.  Too Cool can be driven too!  Can’t wait to see him hitched up to his cart!

This sweet baby is Willow the ‘pomule’...half pony, half mule.  She was abused by her former owner. She and Willie are the first animals to greet you when you drive up to the barn.  Isn’t she a doll!?  The horse in the background is Frankie… More about him later!

This beautiful boy is Chester.  He is an Appaloosa Walker.  Chester is 'almost' or is totally blind but gets around the barnyard very well!  One eye had to be taken out due to an injury he suffered and he gradually lost sight in his other eye.  He knows his way around very well and he is a real sweetheart!  He loves to be talked to and groomed!

This charming guy is Frankie!  He is a 12 year old Paint Horse and he’s the horse Carol wants me to ride on a regular basis.  Isn’t he gorgeous as well!? He hadn’t been ridden in 9 months but when Carol and I took Too Cool and Frankie out for a ride, Frankie did great!  He moves very well and I truly enjoyed myself...but boy oh boy was I sore for a few days!  After having not ridden a horse for some time, I discovered a number of muscles I hadn’t used in quite a while!

Here’s a close up of Frankie.  He has blue eyes and lovely markings! I was grooming him and he loved every minute of it!  I think he even went to sleep!

This is Carol with her baby Too Cool!  As I mentioned before, he’s a beautiful Paso Fino!  Carol treats all her animals like family and spoils them rotten…but considering the conditions that most of her animals came from, they deserve to be treated with kindness and lots of treats!  If I were a horse, I’d love living here at Carol’s barn!

Here is Chester and the darling mare Ellie Belle approaching the barn for petting and treats!

After grooming Too Cool following our ride, he went right out to the pasture and rolled!  Now he’s all muddy!  His buddy standing there with him is Willie the donkey!  I love Willie to death!  He is such a sweet stable mate for all the animals.  He and Willow the ‘pomule’ are best friends!  They hang out together all the time.

Here is a close up of Willie.  He is a Sicilian Donkey.  What’s not to love about that sweet face!

My last shot of the day, as the sun was starting to set, was of my boy Frankie… He now has a excellent home with Carol, as do all his stable mates, where each are treated with great love, care and respect. 

I’m really happy that I can give Carol a hand with her animals and now ride horses once again!  Yippee!!!  Thank you Carol for allowing me into your “extended family”!  I’m honored to have your trust and friendship.

Thank you all for reading my blogs as well.  After proof-reading Big Daddy Dave’s blogs these past years, I’m not surprised that I was also bitten by the blog bug! 

Click on any photo to enlarge it and thank you for stopping by!

Take care and happy trails to you until we meet again!

Laurie 

Lunch Time! How About a Chain Restaurant?

Laurie and I were over in Knoxville running errands and it was time for lunch.  We’d seen repeated advertisements on TV for O’Charley’s Restaurants.  I hadn’t eaten at O’Charley’s for many, many years and the experience hadn’t been that positive.  Back in the 1990s a member of my team and I were visiting stores and we had needed a ‘fuel stop’.  As I recall, that’s about as high as I’d been able to rate it at the time…

So…it was time to give O’Charley’s another try…

This is the O’Charley’s location in Knoxville’s Turkey Creek shopping area.  It always seemed busy whenever we’d driven by…

The interior of the restaurant was clean, bright and cheerful.

O'Charley's is a chain of casual dining restaurants with more than roughly 220 company-owned locations.  O'Charley's is located in 18 Southern and Midwestern states, including 4 franchised locations in Michigan, 4 in Ohio, 3 joint venture O'Charley's restaurants in Louisiana, and 1 joint venture O'Charley's location in Wisconsin.

Here’s another view of the interior of Knoxville’s Turkey Creek O’Charley’s Restaurant.  Note the full bar.

This restaurant chain was ‘born’ in Tennessee.  Charley Watkins founded O'Charley's restaurant in 1969 with a single restaurant on 21st Avenue South in Nashville, just across the street from Vanderbilt University.  Watkins ran O'Charley's from 1969 to 1984 when he sold the restaurant to an investor who wanted to expand the concept.  

Our waiter started us out with these nice rolls.  Since we were ordering sandwiches, we didn’t need them but we took the opportunity to evaluate their quality.  The rolls were warm, had a decent chewy texture and the butter was soft and whipped…as it should be!  We have never understood cold butter served with bread or especially with warm rolls…

I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken Sandwich. ($8.99) This consisted of a hand-breaded chicken breast lightly fried and served on Ciabatta bread with white cheddar cheese, applewood-smoked bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles and O’Charley’s spicy jalapeño mayonnaise. I opted for a premium side of asparagus ($1.49) instead of French Fries.

The sandwich was large and it was very nice…with lots of flavor and textures going on.  I would definitely order it again.  The lightly grilled asparagus was good too but it was just a touch too salty. 

Laurie went with one of O’Charley’s lunch combos.  In her case she ordered the ½ Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich with French fries and a cup of the soup of the day. ($6.59) In this case, the soup was cheddar beer cheese. I also noted that the menu mentioned that O’Charley’s rolls are automatically served with these lunch combos.

 

Laurie thouroughly enjoyed her lunch and we thought that it was an excellent value.  Overall, we enjoyed our meal!  O’Charley’s food was certainly much better than I remembered.  Based on our first glance, I think that O’Charley’s food is superior to TGI Friday’s, Chili’s or Applebee’s.  We will give it another try…perhaps for dinner.

This particular O’Charley’s Restaurant (#366) is located at 11036 Parkside Drive (Turkey Creek) in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-675-4244.  For more information on this chain of casual dining restaurants and to view the menu, you can just go to http://www.ocharleys.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for lunch!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Aunt Lois’ 100th Birthday Party!

We recently traveled to St. Louis Missouri for my Aunt Lois’ 100^th Birthday Celebration! The Templeton/McCormick Clan gathered together from around North America to commemorate this momentous event!

The party was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Clayton, Missouri. This is a view of the lobby.  The out of town family members, ourselves included, stayed in the hotel.  It was a beautiful facility for holding such a large gathering.

This sign speaks for itself!

This beautiful birthday cake wasn’t just pretty to look at but as we later learned, it was delicious!

As members of the family entered the banquet room, Aunt Lois was waiting to greet each person!  This is Aunt Lois with her granddaughter, Linda Horn. Linda, along with Bonnie Templeton planned the whole wonderful event!  Bonnie’s husband and one of Aunt Lois’ sons, Alan Templeton, graciously took care of the expense.

This is Aunt Lois greeting her niece Carla, a member of the Wisconsin contingent. Aunt Lois’ son Alan is looking on… Aunt Lois was very surprised and happy to see all of the out of state family members!

This is an overview of the banquet room.  In the foreground are two of Aunt Lois’ nephews.  Rick is on the right and Jim is on the left with his wife Shirley.  My sister Bonnie Comer is in the background between the two men.

This is Aunt Lois’ table at the party.  Her nephew Royce Rossier is sitting next to her.

This was our table… From left to right, my brother in law Ken Gross, his wife and my sister Glenda, my brother in law Bill Comer and his wife, my sister Bonnie.

Most of the family at this table are from Wisconsin.  From left wearing black with the silver necklace is Lois’ niece Carla Rossier-Iwanski, Jill with her husband and Lois’ nephew Rex Rossier, then nephew Rick Rossier and his wife Marie.

This view is of the first series of tables at the brunch which contain many types of salads as well as pita bread, rolls and fresh fruit.

This is a view of the “hot table” selection for the brunch.  Many interesting and delicious choices were available!

This is a photo of my plate!  Everything was fresh and well prepared… Like a good girl, I cleaned my plate!

Here is the Boaz Steiner, Executive Chef for the Crowne Plaza Hotel.  Job well done Chef Steiner!

Here is Aunt Lois' son Alan Templeton giving a short and interesting presentation recapping Aunt Lois’ long and storied life.  He managed to include anecdotes from almost every decade of her long life!

 

Alan’s presentation was followed by a very well done slide presentation that was put together by Linda Horn.  She had requested photos from family members and she created a slide presentation that ranged from Aunt Lois’ early life till the present. 

Queen for the day!  Lois Arline McCormick Templeton…

Linda Horn had arranged for a photographer to take group photos of family members.  In this picture, we have Aunt Lois and her three sons, Alan, Jim and John. Alan’s wife Bonnie is on the left and John’s wife Rose is on the right.

Bonnie Templeton, Alan’s wife, was responsible for the venue, menu and most of the related arrangements for this terrific event! 

This is a candid shot by Big Daddy Dave.  As you can see, the subjects were still being placed by the photographer.  These are all Aunt Lois’ grandchildren and their spouses.

You can’t see Aunt Lois due to all the great grandchildren surrounding her!  What a great looking group!  They represent a large portion of ‘the future’ for our family.

We had a lovely time with all our extended family but the visit was way too short.  Family members came from Canada, California, Wisconsin, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, and of course we came from East Tennessee.

Once again, many thanks to Bonnie Templeton, Linda Horn and Alan Templeton for arranging for this memorable family celebration!

Just click on any of the photos if you’d like to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and sharing this happy day with us! 

Take Care,

Laurie 

Back to Doug’s Place – Loudon Tennessee

When Laurie and I find a promising dining venue in East Tennessee, if the restaurant is promising, we try to return as soon as possible in order to verify our initial impressions. 

Our first visit to Doug’s Place in Loudon Tennessee was a positive dining experience.  So…we’ve been back twice since then, once by ourselves and once with our friend Karen.  As previously mentioned, we’ve lived in this area for 4 ½ years and Doug’s Place is the 5^th restaurant in that period of time to occupy this building…

On our second visit, I chose this nice salad and the very interesting and flavorful soup of the day as my sides.  I can’t recall what the soup was called but it had a green chili base.

OK… During our first visit I’d ordered the Peppercorn Sirloin Steak cooked medium rare. ($14.00) It had been cooked just right and it was fairly tender as well.  I decided to order the same entrée just because I really liked my first experience and also to see if the quality from my first experience held up.  It did…this steak was just as good as the first one…and the peppercorn sauce is really great too!

Laurie ordered a side salad ($2.49) just like mine as her entrée didn’t come with any sides.  This was her Penne Pasta Basil Alfredo. ($9.00) The penne pasta is tossed with cream, parmesan, basil pesto, kielbasa sausage, zucchini, squash and red peppers. (She left out the red peppers) She thought that this was excellent! 

Diners also have the option of adding grilled chicken ($12.00) or grilled shrimp ($14.00) to this offering…

On our 3^rd visit to Doug’s, we once again ordered salads.  This one came with a balsamic vinegar dressing. 

I almost forget one other important detail.  Rolls are served with the meals…and they are not the standard pop in the oven rolls that most restaurants in East Tennessee provide.  Each of the 3 or 4 varieties served at Doug’s Place have texture…a nice ‘chew’…to them, reminding us of the rolls served in our former home turf in Chicago.

Karen ordered the hand breaded Fried Shrimp Dinner. ($13.00) The shrimp were accompanied by an Asian orange glaze and her side baked potato.  Lucky for me, Karen couldn’t eat all of her shrimp and I was able to sample one dipped in the orange glaze.  It was very good!

Laurie is more willing than I am to jump out there and try something unusual or different on a menu.  In this case she ordered the Sesame Ginger Beef Stir-Fry. ($10.00) This entrée consists of tender sirloin strips with broccoli, carrots and mushrooms in a light sesame ginger glaze.  Laure proclaimed it as a nice change of pace and a winner!

I finally strayed away from my Peppercorn Sirloin Steak…and at the same time order something relatively healthy for dinner.  This is the Honey Lime Chicken. ($11.00) The boneless breast of chicken is smothered with their honey lime sauce.  For my second side, (after my salad), I chose the rice pilaf.  The chicken was moist and has a nice flavor.  I was surprisingly satisfied with this, (for me at least), rather plain offering.

Other available sides include: French fries, sweet potato wedges, Yukon gold mashed potatoes, oven-roasted red potatoes, broccoli, the baked potato, cole slaw, onion rings and the vegetable of the day.

In summary…3 trips to Doug’s Place…3 very satisfying dining experiences!  Doug’s Place is a keeper!  We will return and I hope that the residents of Loudon, Lenoir City and Tellico Village continue to discover and dine at this local upscale but reasonably priced restaurant…

Doug’s Place is located at 222 Lakeside Plaza in Loudon Tennessee.  Phone: 865-657-3503.  I’m not on Facebook…but if you are you can check out Doug’s Place at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dougs-Place/636791193045225.  I will also post a review on Doug’s Place on Trip Advisor in the next few days.

 

Just click on any of the photographs to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave