Our First “Taste” of Chincoteague Virginia

Driving north from Eastville Virginia, we headed in the direction of the town of Chincoteague in Accomack County Virginia.  Chincoteague would be our ‘home’ for the next couple of nights.

As we headed north, we stopped and took a look at James Brown’s Dry Goods Store which is indeed located in Eastville’s historic district.  The store was built ca. 1880 by William U. Nottingham, to serve Eastville as a general merchandise outlet.  This 2-story, 3-bay building measures 32 feet wide by 100 feet long. 

In the 1800s, dry goods stores began by selling supplies and textile goods to remote communities…with many customizing their products to fit the area’s needs.  These stores trended on into the early 20^th century, gradually disappearing as they were replaced by catalog sales and department stores.

Nottingham died in 1924 and James A. Brown bought the building from Nottingham’s widow.  The store featured a huge candy display, fabric, shoes, boots, ladies dresses, sheets, dishes and much more.  It continued until Brown died in 1969.  The building has been refurbished and restored by subsequent owners.  From what I can determine, a legal firm is now occupying the old store.

When we arrived in Chincoteague it was too early to check in at the cottage we’d reserved and it was time for a break, so we decided to have a snack along with an adult beverage.  Ropewalk was located on the water in close proximity to our overnight accommodations, so we decided to give it a try.

It seemed to be a good sign when we saw just how busy Ropewalks was!  The weather wasn’t conducive for outdoor dining though.  It was too bad as the outdoor setting was colorful and appealing.  The dining room was also colorful as well as large and fairly spacious.

It was all about appetizers and beverages.  We started with the Fried Green Tomatoes topped with lump crab and creamy chipotle horseradish sauce. ($14.00) It didn’t look great and it wasn’t amazing, that’s for sure. 

FYI, for those that indulge the Ropewalk Mules were pretty decent. ($8.61)

Another appetizer was one that we hadn’t heard of before.  This was our order of Crispy house-made eggrolls stuffed with crab meat and served with sweet Thai chili aioli. ($16.00) Not much food for the money and no one considered this offering as a winner.

The next appetizer was right down my alley!  This was our order of “Bada Bing Shrimp”. ($15.00) They are described as crispy shrimp tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce.  We all agreed that the ‘Bada’ portion of this item’s description fit fairly well.  Too much breading and it was too mushy!

Our last appetizer was this order of Battered Pickle Chips served with chipotle horseradish sauce. ($11.00) This was the best of our 4 selections.  Not great but decent...

FYI…the beers selected were priced at a reasonable $7.00.

OK, for us Ropewalk wasn’t a winner.  Was it our only choice?  It was really very busy so was location the key?

Ropewalk Chincoteague is located at 6262 Marlin Street in Chincoteague Virginia.  Website: Best Restaurant Chincoteague Island Virginia Ropewalk & Bar.  In hindsight, I’ve noted that the TripAdvisor reviews for this restaurant aren’t great.  There are 3 other Ropewalk locations… They are in Ocean City Maryland, Bethany Beach Delaware and Baltimore Maryland.

While our food and drink orders were being processed in Ropewalk, I decided to wander around outside and take some photos.

I really like the former Chincoteague Volunteer Firehouse.  There is quite a difference between the firehouse doors in the left portion of the building, which was built in 1930, and the ‘new’ portion, which was completed in 1957.  In 2019, the fire department moved to a new building in town and the question was, what to do with the old firehouse.  As it turned out, the town council voted to buy the building for $600,000 and then seek grants for its restoration…possibly building apartments on the second floor.

The price paid was well below both the appraised value and the most recent real estate listing prices.  Apparently this structure served as a key refuge during the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 that flooded much of the island.  The flood lingered through 5 high tides over a 3-day period.  When the flood came, this is where many islanders went.

I did note that the right hand portion of the old firehouse is occupied by Chincoteague Island Community Cats, an organization dedicated to the control and welfare of the island’s cat population.

Next I noted these rather attractive homes across the street from Ropewalk and the bay.  The first home and the last one both displayed signs in front from “Island Getaways”, and are obviously vacation rentals.  The first house is listed as a 3 bedroom 2 bath rental that features a 6-person hot tub.  Depending on the time of the year, the weekly rental cost ranges from $1,260 to $2,500.   I couldn’t find a listing for the last house but it also features 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  I liked them all but I must admit that the one I’m most curious about is that low lying stone and glass home with the off-center front entrance. 

To get a sense of what types of vacation rentals are available in Chincoteague Virginia, just go to Island Getaways (igetaway.net).

That’s all for now.  In my next post we’ll check out our rental cottage and begin exploring Chincoteague and Assateague Islands.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

From North Carolina to the ‘va’ in Delmarva

After checking out of our hotel, we decided to have a quick look around Edenton North Carolina before heading north toward the Delmarva Peninsula and our 2 night stay along the Atlantic coast of Virginia.

Basically, all we did was drive through downtown Edenton and see what it looked like (nice!) and then down to the harbor just to have a look at the water.

We’d arrived in Edenton North Carolina on our first night, overnighting at the local Hampton Inn with Laurie’s sister Bonnie and Bonnie’s husband, Bill.  Before we headed north toward the Norfolk-Virginia Beach metropolitan area and our multiple destinations on the Delmarva Peninsula, we took a quick look around Edenton’s waterfront.  Beautiful big homes in the third photo...

Since it was early in the morning, nothing was open downtown and the ladies didn’t have a shopping opportunity and the local attractions were still closed.  Edenton is the county seat for Chowan County North Carolina.  It sits along Edenton Harbor, which is part of Albemarle Sound. 

There is a lot of history here… In 1658 explorers from the Jamestown Virginia area discovered the location and the county was created between 1668 – 1671 as the Shaftesbury Precinct and later, the Chowan Precinct.  Edenton itself was established in 1712 as “the Towne on Queen Anne’s Creek”.  After having a couple other names, in 1722 it was named Edenton in honor of Governor Charles Eden.  During the colonial era, Edenton served as the second capital of the Province of North Carolina.

Given the town’s long history with its attractive setting on Albemarle Sound, the town is a popular center for both retirees and heritage focused tourism.  Chowan County has a population of almost 14,000 while Edenton’s residents total about 4,400.

Barker House is located on the Edenton waterfront.  The original portion of this house, now a combination of Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival styles, was built in 1782 and the home was further expanded in the 1800s.  Today it serves as the Welcome Center for the City of Edenton.

The house commemorates the life of Penelope Barker.  She organized 51 ladies to sign a petition sent to King George III, which said ‘NO’ to taxation on tea and cloth.  Unlike the colonists who carried out the Boston Tea Party, these women signed their names to the petition.  This led to British newspapers to headline this first political demonstration by women in North America.

Other significant residents of Edenton included Joseph Hewes, the owner of a merchant marine fleet, who was appointed as the first Secretary of the Navy in 1776.  Hewes also signed the Declaration of Independence.  As per John Adams, Hewes “laid the foundation…the cornerstone of the American Navy”.  Another resident was James Iredell, who at 38 years of age, was appointed by George Washington to be a member of the first United States Supreme Court.

The Roanoke River Lighthouse was built in 1886.  Now decommissioned and restored, it once stood in Albemarle Sound at the mouth of the Roanoke River, across the Sound from its current location on the Edenton waterfront.  The lighthouse was in operation from 1887 until 1941.

This old lighthouse is a ‘screw-pile’ design, named such because of the original support system.  Each piling was literally screwed into the river or sound bottom so they would remain in place even in heavy storms or hurricanes.  This particular lighthouse is thought to be the last example in the USA of a rectangular building built for a screw-pile base.

We would have enjoyed a boat tour of Albemarle Sound…but the weather was not conducive to such an adventure and we had some distance to cover in order to reach our goal for the next couple of nights. 

The Sound is a large estuary on the coast of North Carolina at the confluence of a number of rivers, including the Chowan and the Roanoke.  Albemarle Sound is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Currituck Banks, the barrier peninsula where the town of Kitty Hawk is located.  Because it’s largely separated from the ocean and a number of rivers are feeding into the Sound, the water ranges from fresh to brackish and it’s not as salty as ocean water. 

Part of the Sound serves as a segment of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.  In the ‘olden days’, a number of ferries connected the towns along the fringes of Albemarle Sound.   One ferry service from Edenton to Mackeys North Carolina was in service from 1734 until 1938.  Bridges and paved highways supplanted the need for ferries but Harbor Towns Cruises connects many of the same places.  The number of available routes and tours is quite remarkable.  You can check out the options at Harbor Towns | North Carolina Cruises on Albemarle Sound (harbortownscruises.com).  We could easily spend a couple of days just riding around the Sound and exploring some of the historic towns along the way…

From Edenton North Carolina, we drove north on US Hwy 17 into and through the Norfolk – Virginia Beach Metropolitan area and across the 4.35 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnels. 

Our first stop was in Northampton County, one of the two counties that comprise the ‘eastern shore’ of Virginia and the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula.  

This is one of the buildings that comprise the Northampton County Court Green and Historic District.  The Green is part of the Eastville Virginia’s Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.  Eastville, with a population of only 339 residents, is the county seat for Northampton county...population ca. 12,300.

This ‘newer’ courthouse was the 6^th one built for the county and it’s on the site of a previous courthouse from 1795.  It was built by the B.F. Smith Fireproof Construction Company…  The structure has been fully restored and it now serves as part of the county’s administrative offices, provides meeting rooms and it houses an exhibit curated by the Northampton Historic Preservation Society.

Along one side of the Courthouse Green, there are 4 offices of varying styles.  They are referred to as “Lawyer’s Row” and they were built between the 1820s and 1985. 

This small brick building was the 4^th courthouse for Northampton County.  It was built in 1731 by John Marshall, a Founding Father of the United States.  It cost 50,000 pounds (25 tons) of tobacco to build.  Built in the Flemish bond style, the building measures roughly 35 feet by 23 feet.  The courthouse remained in use through 1795 when another courthouse was constructed nearby.

Note: John Marshall also served as the 4^th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 until he died in 1835.  He is the longest-serving chief justice in the history of the court and is highly regarded as one of the most influential justices ever to serve.

The building was then turned into a storehouse for a rent of $1.00 per year on the condition that the new lessee put a new roof on the building.  The courthouse stayed in the possession of the lessee and his descendants until it was purchased by Northampton County in 1913.  It has been extensively repaired and restored.

The County Clerk’s Office was built next to the old courthouse ca. 1800.  It was designed to hold court records.  The building consists of one room with the original cabinets lining the walls from the flagstone floor to the vaulted ceiling.  The exterior brick work is in the Flemish Bond style.

OK…I didn’t know anything about “Flemish Bond” style brick laying…and I still don’t understand the terminology despite looking it up on the Internet.  If you’re interested, go to Brickwork - Wikipedia.

Note: Since Eastville Virginia was founded ca. 1690 as the first permanent county seat of Northampton County, it is home to the oldest surviving court records in the United States. (333 years of history)

This little structure was built in 1814.  It was the Debtor’s Prison.  Those who were convicted of not paying their debts were locked up here…separate from those who were convicted of crimes.  No windows…massive oak planking inside and a single door that is completely encased in iron on the inside.  This looks pretty rough!  I can’t imagine what the jail or prison for real criminals must have looked like.

Debtor’s prisons were banned in the USA via a Federal statute passed in 1833.  Currently, there is a movement to do away with bail for minor offences across the USA, with many regarding bail bonds as creating a new form of debtor imprisonment that impacts the less privileged members of society. 

The Northampton Court Bell was originally installed in the attic of the 1899 courthouse.  Back in the day, when court was called to order, the Sheriff would ring the bell and then stand on the porch or balcony of the courthouse to announce that the court was in session.

When the courthouse was refurbished and repaired, the bell was removed to its current site on the Courthouse Green.  It’s now dedicated to the memory of US Army Sgt. Tromain of Eastville.  He was killed in action in Iraq. 

This is a memorial to “Debedeavon”, the leader of the Accomac Native American peoples.  He governed about 2,000 Accomacs.  When English colonists first arrived in the area in 1608, Debedeavon was paramount chief in the region.  He was called the “Laughing King”. 

He allied with the English settlers who regarded him as a gallant warrior and a loyal friend.  Although the stories differ, it is thought that Debedeavon warned the settlers of a Native American uprising in 1621.  That warning is credited as saving the colonists from total annihilation in the massacre of 1622.  As it was, about 400 European settlers were killed in 1622.  That was about a third of all the colonists in Virginia at the time.  The “Laughing King” died in 1657.

That’s all for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by to join us on another road trip!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Back on the Road Again!

In September, Laurie and I hit the road again!  This time we were headed up to the Delmarva Peninsula.  The peninsula consists of all of the State of Delaware as well as the ‘eastern shore’ area of Maryland and most of the eastern shore area of Virginia.  To the west of the peninsula lies the Chesapeake Bay and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean.

Laurie’s sister Bonnie and Bonnie’s husband Bill were going to join us on this road trip.  The plan was to pick them up at the Raleigh-Durham North Carolina airport after their flight from St. Louis Missouri.

I allowed for more time than it took to get from our house in East Tennessee to the airport at Raleigh-Durham, so we hopped off the I-40 Interstate at Old Fort North Carolina and followed US Hwy 70 east to Marion North Carolina. 

I keep state maps that I’ve marked up showing where old railroad depots are located…or at least ‘were’ located, as more and more of them are torn down.  That isn’t completely the case in Marion.  The old Southern Railroad passenger depot is no longer but this handsome freight depot was rebuilt in 1935.  It shows a little of a Craftsman stylistic influence with its large overhanging eaves and the prominent brackets.  A wedding or reception was underway while we were there so it’s safe to assume that the building now serves as an event center for rent.

Note: I did find one reference that stated that this depot was originally built in the 1860s and that it was one of the oldest depots in this part of the state.  The National Register clearly dates this depot as being rebuilt in 1935.

Of course, as is common across the country, the old depot is accompanied by an old caboose.  The depot, caboose and 4 other contributing buildings that interacted with the Southern Railroad freight depot, are all part of Marion’s Depot Historic District, and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Depot Historic District includes 5 contributing buildings that were economically associated with the Southern Railway Depot at Marion.  Included were warehousing, a wholesale grocery, a liquor rectifying facility and drug manufacturing.  All these businesses relied on the adjacent railway and its freight depot.  I only took photos of 3 of these buildings, although the Laughridge Furniture Company building (1894) was right behind me when I took my photos of the other structures.  I’ll blame my photo failures/distraction on the wedding that was going on across the street...

This handsome brick building is located at 44 Depot Street, on the corner adjacent to the old Southern Railway freight depot.  Constructed ca. 1900, this structure began life as an old-time distillery that was serviced by the railroad.  Later it became the home of a wholesale grocery operation.  Even later, it was transformed into a bank…the vault is still intact.

I did like the look of this little 648 sq. ft. commercial building at 61 Depot Street.  This one story brick building was built in 1911.  Love the decorative brickwork on the front of the structure and it is especially nice that the storefront framework of this building looks virtually intact.  I don’t know its history but its current business occupant, Picture Perfect Hair Salon, seems to be well regarded in the community.  Note to Owner: Your salon needs a little trim...a bit off the top!

Like many western North Carolina towns, Marion was quite isolated and rural until the railroad came to town in 1870.  The resulting economic boom and steady growth continued into the 1930s.  Marion is the county seat for McDowell County North Carolina.  The town was named after Brigadier General Francis R. Marion, the American Revolutionary War hero who was known as the “Swamp Fox”.  To learn more about the “Swamp Fox” go to Francis Marion - Wikipedia.

Notes:

         ·         The commercial district in Marion was virtually destroyed in a major conflagration in November of 1894. 

         ·         On 10/2/29, a gunfight between the sheriff’s department and 600 striking workers resulted in 36 workers being injured and 6 killed.  No guns were found among those who were shot.  This incident/labor dispute was later written about by Sinclair Lewis, author of “The Grapes of Wrath”.

Once we picked up Bonnie and Bill from the Raleigh-Durham Airport, we had 3 goals.  First: Drive to Edenton North Carolina.  Second: Check in at the Hampton Inn.  Third: Find a nice seafood restaurant for dinner!

Based on positive ratings, operating hours and the seafood menu, our choice was Waterman’s Grill.  This restaurant occupies a building that was constructed in 1894.  The entire block had burned to the ground the previous year.  Businesses that have existed here over the last 100 years include a Shoe Repair Shop, a Fish Market and at least two other restaurants. 

Please note…I took the photo of the front of the restaurant after we had dinner, hence the chairs on the tables.

For reasons unknown, I didn’t take a picture of the dining area.  You’ll have to use your imagination based on the photo of the front of the building and this one that I took of the bar area.  Lots of brick and wood…and a nautical and art orientated theme throughout, all in all a pleasant setting for dinner.

Of course I ‘had to’ take a photo of our traveling companions, Bill and Bonnie.

We started out with an order of Chilled Crab Dip and Wheat Thins. ($16.99) It was quite enjoyable but I think saltines or some other ‘neutrally flavored’ crackers would have been a better pairing. 

Bill and Bonnie love oysters and Laurie will eat one or two now and then.  They started out with a half-dozen oysters ($12.99) and then Bill had another half-dozen with his entrée.  They thought that the oysters were just OK…perhaps not as fresh as they would have liked.

Laurie ordered the soup…described as a “Seafood Bowl”. ($9.99) She wasn’t in love with it.  The soup was ‘too thin’ or lacked body, at least in her opinion.

Another appetizer was the Stuffed Mushroom Caps. ($16.99) The mushroom caps were stuffed with Waterman’s crab cake recipe and then broiled.  It was well received by the group.  I personally don’t like mushrooms and other than in a dip, I’m not crazy about crab.

For my entrée I ordered the Rockfish special with a side of applesauce (not shown) and a cheese and bacon baked potato. ($27.99) My meal also came with a couple of good hushpuppies.  It was a decent if not great entrée.

I believe that Bonnie and Laurie shared the Waterman’s Trio. ($29.99) It included steamed crab meat, shrimp and scallops.  They thought that it was decent with the scallops drawing the most praise.  This dish was accompanied by a pair of the hushpuppies. 

Bill loves seafood and he ordered the “Super Combo”. ($35.99) In addition to the 6 oysters mentioned previously, his entrée included steamed clams, steamed shrimp and a ‘crab leg cluster’.  Calling 2 segments of crab leg a ‘cluster’ might be a bit of an over exaggeration.  In any case, Bill thought that his meal was just OK.

The prices for adult beverages were quite reasonable, with vodka and tonic tall at $6.99 and Yuegling Beer at $5.99.  Service was just fine, but our overall opinion of our first seafood ‘feast’ on the eastern seaboard was that it wasn’t great…nor was mediocre food inexpensive.

Waterman’s Grill has been open since May of 1996.  Three years after the restaurant opened, it expanded into the building next door.  The restaurant’s on-line reviews are mixed on both TripAdvisor and Yelp.  This restaurant is located at 427 South Broad Street in Edenton North Carolina.  Phone: 252-482-7733.  Website: Watermans Grill.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by on the first leg of our fall season road trip!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

A Little of This and a Bit of That

Staying local… It’s about friends, family, food, fall season and critters, both feathered and furry.

Our new neighbors, Steve and Sue, invited us over for dinner.  They fled from California to retire here in East Tennessee, aka “Paradise East”.  They live right across the street from Laurie and me…

Steve and Sue were dog sitting for Sue’s sister so Laurie and I got our dog ‘fix’.  Cinnamon is a border collie.  She really likes women and tentatively tolerates men she doesn’t know.  Do you think she wanted Sue’s undivided attention?  Cinnamon couldn’t have gotten much closer to Sue without getting on her lap!

There were 3 couples for dinner, counting Steve and Sue.  Everyone contributed to the meal.  Steve broke in his new grill by barbequing pork ribs.  They were very tasty!  The other couple brought a very satisfying casserole dish full of corn pudding.  Laurie and I brought the rolls and the coleslaw. 

The plate of food shown above was Laurie's.  Mine is never as photogenic and it might have had a bit more food on it.  It was an enjoyable evening…

Recently we had a nice lunch at The Café by LeeEllen in Loudon Tennessee.  I’ve written about LeeEllen’s before so I’ll limit my photos to the food we ordered.  Laurie had a quiche sided with fruit and I enjoyed shredded chicken with dumplings.  Both of us were very happy with our choices.

LeeEllen continues to struggle to find and keep wait staff, kitchen help, etc. and she’s had to change up her schedule and menu to continue operations.  We like this place and we hope that it survives.  The Café by LeeEllen is on Facebook at The Cafe by LeeEllen | Loudon TN | Facebook.

Once or twice a week, when it comes to dinner, we just ‘wing it’.  Laurie tends to favor peanut butter and crackers or cheese and crackers as she doesn’t like most leftovers.  What’s not to like with my ‘leftover dinner’?  Leftover pot roast, carrots and potatoes…all heated in a frying pan and accompanied with a nice soft roll.

We like cats as much as we like dogs.  We don’t have a cat because Laurie is allergic to cat dander as are various member of our family.  We don’t have a dog because they tend to really tie you down to a schedule, require a kennel for trips, etc.  We had cats for years and learned that Laurie’s ongoing allergies were significantly impacted only after our last cat died.  Subsequent exposure to a neighbor’s cat revealed the problem.

Given all of that, we do like our dog and cat ‘fixes’.  Recently we visited Glen, a friend of ours in the Maryville Tennessee area.  He has 2 cats, one that is rather shy with strangers and then there is Smoky, who isn’t shy at all.

I think that Smoky really enjoys the attention he receives from Glen.  The look he’s giving is “I love you daddy”!  “Please scratch me some more…and don’t stop! 

Our son David II and our grandson David III recently traveled to Starved Rock State Park in Illinois, to spend some quality time together.  David III will be moving out of the family home in the near future following his graduation from New York University. 

Starved Rock State Park is located along the Illinois River just south of I-80, right between Peru/LaSalle and Ottawa Illinois.

Knowing my ‘thing’ as regards taking photos of old railroad depots, they stopped and took these photos of the old Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad station in Ottawa.  That railroad is now part of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad. (BNSF) Thanks guys!

Laurie took this photo of our late fall foliage from our deck.  It was a little past peak colors…but I still like it.  It’s a ‘feel good photo’…

One of our village neighborhoods was recently visited by a wandering bobcat.  Quick thinking and reflexes captured this photo!  Rumors occasionally pop up that we have mountain lions in the area but I haven’t seen any photos so far.  There have been a few confirmed cougar sightings in western and central Tennessee but there is no evidence of an established population in the state. 

Our big old oak tree in the back yard produced a bumper crop of acorns this year.  We have had frequent visits from the local deer population.  They love to feed on the acorns… I’m surprised that the deer still show up with all the construction in the area.  There is a fringe of wooded area and a wooded lot behind our house.  One side of our home is also still fully wooded.  Laurie took these photos.  I love the deer peeking around from behind our oak tree...

Laurie spotted this visitor at our ‘bird watering hole’ that we have mounted at one side of our front porch next to a large magnolia tree.  He/she wasn’t bothered by her attention at all and she was able to take several photos.  After a bit, after chilling by the water, the crow just flew off…

We were talking about going out to eat one day…and it dawned on us that we hadn’t been out to Tellico Grains in Tellico Plains Tennessee in quite some time.  So off we went!  She had her favorite sandwich, Joe’s Italian.  It consists of Genoa salami, pepperoni, Benton’s prosciutto, pesto mayo, pepperoncini peppers, black olives, red onion, deli-style mustard, lettuce and tomato on an herb flatbread roll.  Laurie could only eat half of this beast of a sandwich…but despite her dislike of leftovers, she did have the other half a day later.  It was as good as always!

We both think that Tellico Grains makes the best pizza in the Knoxville metropolitan area… I ordered the wood fired pepperoni and Italian sausage pizza.  Excellent!

We ‘might have’ purchased scones, cookies and more during our visit.  All good!  Website: Tellico Grains Bakery – 105 Depot Street, Tellico Plains, TN 37385 (tellico-grains-bakery.com).

Another great source for ‘pizza’, aka flatbread posing as thin crust pizza, has turned out to be the Publix grocery store in Farragut Tennessee.  At $9.99 each, these came out to cost about the same as a pizza in any of our local establishments.  They are in the deli area of Publix. 

We both added parmesan cheese to our flatbread pizzas.  Laurie also put olives on hers and I put jalapeno pepper slices on mine.  Then we heated them in the oven.  It was a very tasty and satisfying dinner!

One last food item… Our Weber grill was out of action for more than a year.  The squirrel’s kept eating through our propane hoses and, as I’m not at all handy, I had no idea how to fix the problem.  We were saved by our friend Morrie…  He and Jodie, his better half had been over for dinner and the topic of the grill came up while we were sitting on the back deck.

Morrie is very handy…and has helped many villagers with home maintenance issues.  He thrives on home care problem solving.  So, he put his mind to work, purchased the necessary parts including connectors…and then put it all together. 

I’ve once again started grilling!  I started with some pork steaks that I purchased at our local Food Lion grocery store.  The result was so much better than I could manage on the stove top or Laurie could produce in the oven.  The photo above shows Laurie’s dinner plate with mashed potatoes, some cantaloupe and a gorgeous grilled pork steak.  It was seasoned with a dry rub and then I painted it with Famous Dave’s Sweet and Tangy BBQ sauce as I grilled it.  Wow!  We’d forgotten just how good it could be…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what’s been happening!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave