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Ahhhh, summer in Ohio. Up in the 90s, finally, and the sweat’s drippin’.
After you’ve been out in it and need to stip something tasty to cool off a bit, what’s your beverage of choice?
A good beer? An icy glass of lemonade? Diet Coke? Plain old delicious tap water? A Mojito?
What’s your favorite summertime drink? We want to know.
Hmmm… just when you thought they had a day for everything, an apparently knowledgeable PR flak from New York has just emailed me to report that July 30 is … drum roll … National Cheesecake Day!
So, um, have some cheesecake and celebrate.
While we’re at it, what sort of cake do you wish they had a day for?
And who decides such things?
Well, we all knew how this story would play out, once the initial headlines arose that the hostile takeover was in the works… Now, indeed, InBev, the company from Belgium that makes Stella and Beck’s, is taking over Anheuser-Busch.
Sooooo, do you beer drinkers out there think this is a good thing, or a bad thing? Does it even matter?
I mean, Stella Artois and Beck’s are definitely good products, and InBev seems pretty smart… Is this a case of a great American tradition getting sucked up by foreign money (did you hear about the Chrysler Building?) or is it a globalism-works-fine case of watery US beer about to get improved by smarter European tastes?
Weigh in here, please…
Ahoy, Brother Ron here, back from vacation: stopped by the Swamp Romp at the Fraze yesterday, at which the food is as much the attraction as the music, all of it fun and good.
So: Red beans and rice, or jamabalaya?
And do you like alligator?
Brother Ron here…
Made a stop yesterday for lunch to an old Leadbelly favorite while the wife and I were cruising the back byways of Warren County with some friends… We hit Mom’s, in the village (hamlet? crossroads?) of Red Lion, at 741 and 122.
You remember Mom’s … about five years ago, the Leadbellies had breakfast there and rated it pretty high on our Yum-o-meter. It’s a classic old mom-n-pop nook populated by regulars and staffed by cheerful, hard-working coffee-slingin’ waitresses who remember the last time they saw you.
The food is mostly fried or flipped, and it’s good greasy fare of the sort that makes you want more. Burgers are basic and filling; the soup beans are a classic, served up with diced onion, hot peppers and a slab of cornbread; the veggie soup is really veggie beef, and they expect you do know it; everything on the breakfast menu is great.
The decor includes rows of coffee mugs along the walls, hundreds of them; UK paraphernalia of all sorts (the owner’s an alum, apparently); and — love this — dollar bills stapled to the ceiling on which fans have written notes of greeting and appreciation.
The bad news: Mom’s staff says they have been told by the state that a planned upgrade (um, whatever) of the complicated five-way stop on which the restaurant is located in the center of Red Lion will kill off the diner sometime in the next few years. They aren’t sure when, and are just going along for now.
I say: Why should a 20-plus-year business have to be closed down just for the driving convenience of a bunch of people who are just passing through anyway?
There are days when you wonder just we mean when we refer to progress.
Meantime, stop by Mom’s while you can! BTW: Cash only, no checks or cards.
Seeya there.
Dinner at the Art Ball this year was dandy, even considering that Leadbellies don’t normally require such fine fare… But I find that over the years, I’ve found myself dining on a lot of gala food and found it to be of pretty good quality, overall — suprising especially considering the large-scale logistical difficulties of preparing and serving it.
I mean, take the Art Ball. Elegant Fare, the company that serves in the DAI’s Cafe Monet and which does nearly all of the catering for its special events, has the job of serving 700 to 800 meals all through the galleries of the museum. The place is VERY spread out, and they gotta get the food there hot. And it can’t be plain old gala chicken, either.
This year it was filet and tiliapia, and nicely done.
There is usually a pattern to the sort of dinner that ends up on a gala plate … a bit of beef, a bit of chicken, a smattering of mixed veggies lightly sauteed, and either mashed potatoes or brown rice. Elegantly arranged on the plate and following up a small salad.
Just enough to fill you without stuffing you.
Gala food? Yes or no? And if you say “I just go for the wine,” then that’s OK, too.
Stopped with the family a while ago to the newly renovated, post-fire Golden Nugget in Kettering, to which we hadn’t been since they reopened.
Nice! Big long line out front on a Sunday morning, too. They sure do move you through pretty quickly, too — but not in a bad way. That place has getting you in the door, done with breakfast, and happily home lickety-split down town a near-science. And they make you feel very well-served, too.
And what a breakfast! There wasn’t a bad thing we tried. I was partial to the biscuits and gravy, and I’m a sucker for hash … and theirs was fine and dandy.
What’s your favorite thing there? And where do YOU like to enjoy breakfast?
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Lynchburg Lemonade-tall one.