Aaah Spring

Simple early morning pleasures. Cinnamon toast. Tea. Camembert or brie on a light rye is also very good. A special memory for me. Camembert is better; depth and nuance. If brie is like a girlfriend, camembert is like a lover.

Yesterday was the warmest day since November 13th. Five months. Wow. An old fashioned winter.

Fast food, my favorite, will be returning fast in this late spring. Ducks, geese,herons, cranes, eagles, loons, swans, others, and all the small ones that sing. It is a good thing that we do not eat them all . We can appreciate them in different ways. A mourning dove sang yesterday. Something else will sing today.It is nice to have them back. I look forward to pelicans for a day or two, on their journey north.

And fish. I am a sucker for open water fishing. In the spring you can fish from shore or wade.It is simpler and it works for herons, too. I was dock fishing in Florida once on the Gulf coast and had caught some porgies and redfish( I think). I heared a small noise and turned to look and was startled by a heron as tall as I , sneaking up like in a cartoon and three feet away. I yelled and nearly jumped in the water. His/her intention was to steal my fish. Stalking. As w/ a scorned lover, you don't want to turn your back on them.

The Prodigal Food Writer

A month with the flu and I thought I was dying. Almost sixty and all that. Nice to be back.

Mr Rogers' said it many times over the years - " it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." Even the twitter of the fax machine sounds like a spring bird's song.

Nice to be back, to have an appetite; an interest in food and other things again. I will be telling you about them.

Thanks for the comment, moondog. If I remember any more funny stories I will pass them along.

Busted at the Buffet

Upon hearing of the Elliot Spitzer escapade(s), my first question was I wonder what they ordered from room service.

Next thought, of course( I'm a guy), is boy, she sounds cute.

Are we not good at destroying ourselves? Gee, he was so good at destroying others.

Sounds also as if this was not his first time at the buffet.

I feel bad for his wife, and think that she has probably lost her appetite.

Gettin' Chunky

Remember the Chunky Candy Bar that went the way of the Mars Candy Bar before the Mars Bar went that way? If you fill a china coffee cup with equal amounts of semi sweet chocolate chips, raisins and walnuts you have a very close approximation of the original. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Sip espresso on the side if you want to get really fired up.

The Dynamic Duo

In an internet ad Jack Nicholson says gentlemen, there is nothing sexier than waking in the morning and saluting a woman. That would be Hillary he is referring to, as President and Commander in Chief.

If Hillary would be President and would dally w/ Jack in the Oval Office, how would the American public respond? I can see Jack now, sipping his morning coffee, pinky finger flayed, hair all over the place, and that grin on his face. His greatest and final Academy Award performance.

Hedgehogs

I heard on public radio this morning of 23 or so guys who were publicly executed for attempting or assisting escape from N Korea. I guess that's why they were trying to escape.

I wonder what they eat over there. Not much, whatever it is. Dead stuff, tho', like we do.

The NYT food writer, Frank Bruni ,has been eating at and reviewing 10 of his favorite picks of newer restaurants across this country. He ate hedgehog at one in California.

We had a pet hedgehog, once, that stayed curled up in a ball like a tiny porcupine for two years and then died. He looked the same dead as alive.

I s'pose we could have ate him.

All is Well

It is hard to believe that our lakes will have open water in a about a month.

I am a sucker for fast food. Can't help myself. Stuff like fish. They're fast. And deer, grouse, pheasants. All fast. Swift in the water, on the hoof, or the wing. Fairly natural depending on where you get them.

Slow food too, from the garden, to accompany the fast. The perfect balance. Fresh herbs growing close to the kitchen.

A daughter still at home, of course, at 10 yrs of age.

A young lab, too.

Living on the lake.

It is good.