Food, Greenery, Family and…Progress?

I could have titled this post as miscellaneous…but that would be too easy even if it’s accurate.  Our movements/explorations have been limited recently due to one of my knees deciding that it wanted to give me some grief.  Surgery or not…to be determined.

So most of my immediate or ongoing blog posts will be primarily local…and food will continue to be the most common theme.

I had a couple of leftover potatoes from a recent pot roast dinner, so I sliced them up and crisped them up in the frying pan.  I added 2 easy over eggs, 2 small slices of toast and 2 slices of salami.  My day was off to a good start!

More leftovers… I know that Larry (aka Big Dude at https://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/) will disqualify this meal as a “breakfast”.  There are no eggs present to accompany a leftover burger patty smothered in gravy with the leftover mashed potatoes fried in butter and shredded cheese.  Maybe it was the gravy that led to my ‘eggless’ breakfast…

What!  Another egg failure for breakfast… I don’t have a good excuse for this no egg plate to start my day, except perhaps for the fact that there was a lot of food on the plate.  I had leftover chicken and fingerling potatoes from our anniversary dinner to work with.  It was a good start to my day.  Maybe I was just too lazy to add a couple of eggs?  They would have kicked it up a notch...

OK…the eggs aren’t over easy but at least there are eggs for breakfast this time.  I had some old bread in the refrigerator and a couple slices of deli style ham.  We always have shredded cheese and eggs on hand… Hence, scrambled cheese eggs with ham and toast.  Added Tabasco before eating!

FYI, I don’t even throw away bread.  As is ‘ages’ I just put in the refrigerator and try to use it with a casual meal or for a sandwich.  If I see any green or blue mold, then it gets tossed…

Note: No photos to share but our last breakfast outing at Cracker Barrel was not satisfying.  Was it the cook or is the quality going downhill?  Smaller portions too… Opinion?

This wasn’t even my meal.  However Laurie and our new neighbor Sue were really happy with this excellent luncheon pizza that they recently shared at the Tellico Grains Bakery in Tellico Plains Tennessee.  It featured onions, artichokes, feta cheese and sundried tomatoes.  I’ve said it before, but in our opinion, Tellico Grains makes the best pizzas anywhere in the greater Knoxville area.   

One way to measure success and quality in the food business is longevity.  After rebuilding the once dilapidated structure, Anissa and Stuart Shull opened the Tellico Grains Bakery in this small town 21 years ago!  They are busier than ever… Check out the menu at https://tellico-grains-bakery.com/.   

We’ve gotten past the historic freeze and frost dates here in East Tennessee…and as a consequence, it’s time for Laurie to plant and nurture herbs and flowers.  We stopped at our local Sloan’s Home and Garden Store in Loudon County and she loaded up with plants for her planters on the deck and in the front of the house. 

This past winter wasn’t particularly nasty but we did have several days in a row when it was in the low 20s F.  The consistent cold temperatures killed off plantings that had survived several winters against all odds.  We do have a few bushes that will need to be replaced and others that are still in slow motion recovery mode.

This is Charley Kate, the 'renowned female hockey player' who also is Laurie’s great niece.  She’s with Laurie’s sister Bonnie and Bonnie’s husband Bill…Charley Kate’s grandparents.  She looks so sweet in her confirmation dress, but put her in a hockey uniform and she transforms into an aggressive girl who plays hockey on an otherwise all boys’ team!

Our view across the street from our home keeps evolving.  It was stripped clear of trees a year ago.  It was ugly.  Now heavy equipment keeps coming and going.  Our ‘favorite’ was the backhoe outfitted with the jack hammer.  The good news is that they never started using that equipment until mid-morning. 

Our neighborhood is known for the granite that underlies the trees and vegetation.  Folks who want to build a home have a choice.  Dig down with a jack hammer to set a foundation or build up the lot to the point where the foundation can sit on the granite.  Our house sits on a huge rock… That is despite the fact that the original owners wanted a walk out lower level.  The granite foiled their plans…

We knew that the jack hammering was complete when, on a recent day, a series of cement trucks rolled up across the street and the base for the foundation was poured.  Progress!  This was the view from our laundry room.  My guess is that this house will be move-in ready by Christmas…or Thanksgiving if the builder/new homeowner is lucky.  

We are happy that our day-in day-out view from our living areas focus on the back of our house…with trees, a few roof tops and Tellico Lake just a couple of block away.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave