Saturday, November 17, 2012.
Thanksgiving Begins.
I launched my the first attack on the supermarket this morning. I know better than to think that we won't have at least two more major passes, plus a few small ones before Thanksgiving. But the turkey must begin its thaw today. And ever since the Thanksgiving after Katrina--when whole Chisesi hams were hard to find--I'm compulsive about getting the ham in the house early, too.
Without Mary Ann there, I was forced to make a few decisions on my own. Cauliflower? She would later ask me what I had in mind for that. Doesn't her sister Sylvia insist on cauliflower? No, that was her late husband Lloyd. Well, in his memory we will have cauliflower au gratin.
At check-out time, I had all the pieces for another perennial: orange-flavored cheesecake. One of those is a half-pint of whipping cream. We have a history of running out of whipping cream during Thanksgiving preparations. So I bought ten half-pints. That should do it. But my main motivation was the price. Ten for $10.
I had to make a second trip just as I finished unloading the cart into the car. The main reason I was sent to the store was to pick up four gallons of bleach. Mary Ann is doggedly attacking the mildew--of which there isn't very much, really--on the outside of the house. We have a long way to go to get the place cleaned up for the guests.
With radio show to do, and Mary Ann refusing my offer to help her with her project, I took a double walk. For the past several months, I have kept up my regimen of a half-hour brisk walk around the grounds. It's so pleasant that I'm kicking myself for not having taken up this habit before. It is doing wonderful things for my vital signs. Today I did six laps around the Cool Water Ranch, which will be about the same distance I will walk at Manresa in two weeks. I have not tried that since breaking my ankle. But I think I'm ready.
Dinner at DiMartino's. I didn't remember having had their fried onion rings, which means that Mary Ann must have dined there without me. She said the rings were great, and they were. Not only thinly sliced, but made from purple onions, which seemed not to pick up as much oil as yellow onions. Good dipping sauce. Ate too many of them.
The house salad that comes with the entrees is a very good and not-so-small Italian salad. The entree with which it was tagged was grilled redfish with a lemon butter sauce. They serve it with a baked potato, but now they remember that I like it with pasta bordelaise on the side. The fish was fresh and good, if on the small side for the $19 price. But I don't complain about small portions anymore.
Almond cake for dessert, the order for which was taken by the waitress at the table, delivered, and charged to my credit card. If they're going to do that for Three dollars, while will they not take the whole order at the table? Having to order at the counter is a reason we don't come here more often. But they say that people on the North Shore feel more comfortable with this McDonald's-style method. People are always placing other considerations before good food.
DiMartino's. Covington: 700 S Tyler St. 985-276-6460.
