1. A useful name for an aging bluegrass band that I don’t believe has yet been used,The Liver Spots.
2. Talented Chris Rock on turning 50 years old. To paraphrase… “Turning 50, he said made me feel really OLD”…… But, when you read in the paper that someone died at 50, folks seem to always say, “He died soooooo young.”
3.Super Bowl this week-end.Is everyone as excited as I am? I’ll be at our local Safeway watching paint dry.I must be getting old. I have yet to watch a complete football game this year. Coming to grips with realization that not bother me one bit.
4. The good news gets better. “California snowpack reaches 173% of average, replenishing a third state’s snow deficit.” Californians are smiling but I am wondering if the same “forecasters” who told us that LAST year would be the huge “El Nino” year and this year would be a dry “El Nina” are the same forecasters who told us how the election was going to come out.
5.Maria and I will be flying to Pico, via Boston and our trip will begin.I was hoping older sister and I would be able to climb the 7000 foot peak on Pico. I found a little video on you tube someone posted of their climb. It takes about 4 hours up and another 4 hours down. No problem. But in order to get to the top one has to climb,and climb,and climb. Its pretty much straight up. The youthful fit muscular climbers in their multi colored hiking attire made it look easy. I am no so easily swayed. Climbing is not user friendly to this flat street walker. In fact even though I choose to use stairs when I am given the choice I am winded and sore when the climb is over, be it ten steps or fifty.
For a few escudos,Maria says we can rent a mule from the local rent-a-mule and ride it safely to the top to get a gorgeous view of a couple of the surrounding Azores Islands.I’ve been told by an ex-governor of Alaska that on a clear day we might be able to catch a glimpse of Russia. I am looking forward to seeing the homestead and homes of my grandparents, and of course Red Square.
| A SPECIAL TREAT FOR OUR CBA READERS
You all know that I would be the last person to boast or brag about myself or kin of any kind. I would rather take a bullet to the heart than sink to those earthly negative traits. But yet when something is unique and worthwhile shouldn’t it be share especially with you the CBA members? My ten year old grandson had to write a descriptive paragraph about his favorite restaurant. I thought it was a pretty good piece of writing. I hope you enjoy it.
SWEET TOMATOES BY “S” GRUMPY’S GRANDSON
My favorite place to eat is, in simplest form, Sweet Tomatoes all-you-can-eat Buffet. Sweet Tomatoes isn’t exactly what you’d call a franchise, as I only know of two locations, but it’s a large restaurant, having a buffet line, hot food section, drink counter, and a thirty foot by fifteen foot carpeted dining area. Sweet Tomatoes is also a great place to run into your classmates or teachers, as it is quite popular, and I daresay a few celebrities have dined there, though I’m not sure. It’s so nice, in fact, that even today my family and I might go out there for a Friday-night out-the-eat dinner. From the front, Sweet Tomatoes is a large, pale orange building with the logo displayed as a large light-up sign above the sheltered area paved with rough, square, tan cobblestone tiles where the unlucky back-of-the-liners are forced to wait outside in the often cold evening or night. On those days, the line inside the restaurant is not much shorter than the segment outside.
Going inside the restaurant, you’ll find the front of the buffet line, and the small station where you get your plate and tray. Then you move on to the buffet line, the metal bowls filled with cold, fresh, and wholesome food. That’s one of the reasons why I like Sweet Tomatoes so much: The food available consists of deliciously crunchy salad greens, shredded carrots, cold pickled beets in the shape of wavy French fries (which taste way better than they sound), fresh sliced cucumbers, olives sliced in thirds, the best cooked, cooled corn kernels you’ll ever taste, three types of dressings (olive oil, red wine vinegar and rice wine vinegar), a coleslaw or two, egg salad, quinoa and chickpeas, wavy-cut dill and bread-and-butter pickles, crunchy “noodles” made of wheat, and raisins. After you’ve piled your plate high with all your favorite foods, you move up to the checkout counter, pay for your food, get cups, fill the cups with soda or the coldest, freshest regular or strawberry lemonade you will ever taste. Then you move to your table, wash your hands, then dig in!
After finishing your “main course” (there are no appetizers at Sweet Tomatoes), you decide it’s time to get some hot food. The hot food section has warm focaccias (In case you don’t know, focaccias are rectangular slices out of a sort of large, square pizza, except the pizza doesn’t have as much cheese and sauce and is puffier than your average slice), cornbread muffins, steaming varieties of soup, especially the tomato basil, which is like a crackling fire on a frigid day, and macaroni and cheese that is simply the most delicious macaroni I have ever laid eyes upon. Just the smell is enough to make you scoop some into a bowl, and the taste-well, taste is a warm, creamy flavor that makes you think of sitting in an enormous plush armchair by a high fire on a cold winter’s evening, with a cat curled up on chair, a mug of hot cocoa at your side, and a wonderful drowsiness coming over you. A reason why I like the restaurant: This is one of the best flavors in the world.
Another reason Sweet Tomatoes is my favorite restaurant is that it’s a great place for conversation. The best kind of conversation too: You don’t know how it started, but it’s interesting to listen to and goes on and on until you get up to leave. Usually, the subject is something like someone finding an old World War Two decryptor in their garden shed, then selling it for twenty dollars to a couple of collectors laughing in their sleeves the whole time-because a more reasonable price would be $20,000!! Or it’s something like a lost houseboat drifting across the Atlantic-well, you get the idea. I guess the friendly atmosphere and the sounds of many voices blended together encourages a good bit of talk. Also, I think you’re in a better mood after you’ve eaten a good meal, and probably more sociable too. All in all, a great place to have a celebratory dinner with friends and family.
The biggest reason I like Sweet Tomatoes, though, is that people can get together. You can get to know someone better, meet someone new, and you can just enjoy each other’s company. Since the act of eating is scientifically proven to boost your mood, it’s a great place to just enjoy yourself and be happy. I can prove that myself: I know I’m always in a better mood when I step out the door. You will be too.
Until March 3: Read a book, hug a child, pet a dog, stroke a cat, eat a bar of chocolate, and IKIRU.