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