View from the front porch
Sometimes I think vacations end on days like this to make going back easier. After six sparkling days of bright sunshine, blue sky, low humidity, highs in the low 80s, and clean mountain air, I woke up to rain, which turned into gloom and drizzle and then more rain.
My breakfast bread had gotten moldy.
Andy Roddick lost.
To cheer myself up, I took my husband to the new Sonic in Monteagle that Bucky told us about for lunch. Not because I was craving a fast food burger. In fact, I wasn't. But I was curious. ...
Much as I trust Bucky's judgment on fast food, Sonic's hamburger doesn't hold a candle to In-N-Out's.
However, for atmosphere and service, four stars. You drive into a little bay with a menu where you can pay with a credit card, you put in your order and incredibly quickly the cheerful little car hop appears at your window with your order.
That sonic speed means, however, that the burger has been sitting waiting for you.
The part I liked best was the second car hop who appears soon after asking if you want any extra mints or napkins. That's her whole job. Mints and napkins.
Last night I had the worst meal ever at the Smokehouse in Monteagle, the metropolis six miles away. I won't go into great detail. I'll just say that my catfish had a cornmeal crust that was as hard as a turtle's shell. So tonight I broke down and cooked dinner from ingredients I bought at the Pig (the Piggly Wiggly supermarket to you non-Southerners).
I meant to buy a Piggly Wiggly T-shirt ("I dig the Pig") for a future prize, but I never got around to it. When I'm forced to cook on my vacation, it's time to go home.
Comments
Much as I trust Bucky's judgment on fast food, Sonic's hamburger doesn't hold a candle to In-N-Out's.
I didn't recommend that you go to Sonic for the food. I recommended that you go get a Route 44 Limeade to drink while you watched the 4th of July parade.
Their burgers are pretty far down the list.
Now you tell me. EL
Posted by: Bucky | July 5, 2009 10:42 PM
I thought it was time for another crab cake controversy, so here we go!
(From the WBAL tv web site)
Here are the top five restaurants that you say serve up the best crab cakes in Maryland! Now you get to tell us which one of these five restaurants dishes up the most delicious crab creation.
G & M on Nursery Road, Box Hill in Harford County, By the Docks in Chase Md., and (tied) Mo's Seafood in Glen Burnie, Md., and Timbuktu in Hanover, Md.
>>>>
After suffering through G & M two weeks ago, I will never know how they got voted in. Actually, yes, I do know. They have very large crab cakes. No taste, but very large. That apparently is all that matters.
Posted by: Cosmos Girl I>--I | July 6, 2009 7:33 AM
No taste, but very large.
That pretty much describes the By the Docks crab cakes as well.
Posted by: Hal Laurent | July 6, 2009 7:55 AM
I didn't find the Box Hill crab cakes to be anything special. I heard all about them after I moved to Harford County, but they were fairly bland with no large, juicy lumps.
Posted by: Stacy | July 6, 2009 8:06 AM
There's a G&M in Harford County?
Posted by: Eve | July 6, 2009 8:58 AM
No! Wait! I just read CG again and THIS time, I read the comma!
Posted by: Eve | July 6, 2009 9:00 AM
What you have to remember when looking at any survey done by a TV station, magazine, mass market website, etc., is that you are seeing the opinions of The Great American Public. The ones who keep McDonald's full, who you see walking around at the Mall with various snacks in hand and mouth. Not the knowledgeable people with sophisticated palates who discuss the finer points of food and cooking (and everything else) here.
Posted by: Retired in Elkridge | July 6, 2009 2:59 PM
Yes, we are so much better, and smarter, and cuter than the great unwashed.
Posted by: Robert of Cross Keys | July 6, 2009 8:52 PM
Cuter?
Posted by: Dahlink | July 6, 2009 9:16 PM
We are not cute.
Posted by: Lissa | July 7, 2009 4:59 AM
I remember cute.
Posted by: Dahlink | July 7, 2009 6:22 AM
I was never cute.
Posted by: Eve | July 7, 2009 11:13 AM
My wife and my Mom say that I'm cute. All I need is one more person to say it, and it will be a fact. As you all know, anything said three times is true.
Posted by: Robet of Cross Keys | July 7, 2009 12:01 PM
Just put it on a web page, RoCK, and it'll be true.
Posted by: Lissa | July 7, 2009 12:06 PM
It's SOOOO true now. See my new blog
Posted by: Basket of Kittens | July 7, 2009 12:25 PM
That works, Owlie. Now we all know that RoCK really is cute, and that you spend way too much time on Cute Overload .
Posted by: Lissa | July 7, 2009 12:33 PM
Oh, yes. RoCK-a-bye Baby.
Posted by: Laura Lee | July 7, 2009 12:38 PM
I don't know who Owlie is. I travel the land glorifying all that is cute in the world. Uh oh, I think I hear somme doves crying
Posted by: Basket of Kittens | July 7, 2009 12:40 PM
Can we get back on topic please
Posted by: ed abernathy | July 7, 2009 12:45 PM
In that case, ed abernathy, please enlighten the Sandbox with your comments on dining in Tennessee.
Posted by: hmpstd | July 7, 2009 12:50 PM
Want my recipe for stewed possum?
Posted by: ed abernathy | July 7, 2009 12:51 PM
Opossum.
Posted by: Bucky | July 7, 2009 1:38 PM
Bucky, is the first "o" silent?
Posted by: Hal Laurent | July 7, 2009 1:53 PM
Hal,
It is if you are in the South.
And the NW Florida Possum Festival is coming up in about a month.
Posted by: PCB Rob | July 7, 2009 2:06 PM
Hal - Nope. But it isn't pronouned "Oh". It's...well, how to describe...sort of a gagging "oh". The opossum is North America's only native marsupial.
The possum is a related sub-order of Australian marsupial. (So, maybe at Outback you can get stewed possum. I don't recall ever seeing it on the menu.)
Posted by: Bucky | July 7, 2009 2:12 PM
Always fun to run into someone smarter than the dictionary
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/possum
Posted by: ed abernathy | July 7, 2009 2:30 PM
Good link, ed...now click on it, then click on ":Opossum" a few lines down.
Posted by: Bucky | July 7, 2009 2:37 PM
yeah, that means that it has the same definition. It's still a valid spelling and the only common spelling in the south as Rob pointed out. Your correction was quite inappropriate and wrong.
Posted by: ed abernathy | July 7, 2009 2:43 PM
Ed, you sure are grumpy today!
Posted by: Hal Laurent | July 7, 2009 2:49 PM
burnt possum :(
Posted by: ed abernathy | July 7, 2009 2:53 PM
schwa
Posted by: Weenie Burger | July 7, 2009 3:00 PM