Old Glory

As you can see in the lefthand picture below, the flag flying at Walnut Grove Country Club was too small for their very tall pole.  The length of the flag should be at least one-quarter the height of the pole, so eyeballing the height of this pole at forty feet, Chef Elaine and I donated the 6'x10' flag seen on the right to the club to put some glory in Old Glory.  The sizing chart at the link below shows the proper flag size for poles from 15' to 70' tall.

https://www.flagpolestore.com/flag-sizing-chart

Frederik's Meatballs

I blogged about Frederik's, Meijer's store brand, last September and wanted to share that we love their Sweet Italian Meatballs shown below.  Chef Elaine uses them in her otherwise all-vegetable soup and when we carb-splurge a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.  While she has some fantastic recipes for homemade meatballs, these are just too easy and too good to ignore.

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/product/frederik-s-by-meijer-meatballs-sweet-italian-20-oz/71373334373.html

Cucumber Cooler

We first had a Cucumber Cooler at Hidden Valley Orchards (HVO) in Lebanon, Ohio and we just had to make them at home during these hot summer months.  It's a simple combination of vodka and the Fever-Tree Cucumber Tonic Water shown below on ice, finished with a couple of mint leaves and slices of lemon and cucumber.  I'm not usually a big fan of flavored waters, but this one is the best I've tried and the only problem is finding a store that stocks it.  

https://fever-tree.com/en_US/products/refreshing-light-cucumber-tonic-water

Two Bits

At my local hardware store, I picked up twenty finishing nails which were sold by the pound.  The manager of the store told me the cost was two bits and I just stood there looking at him, unable to figure out how much that was.  He let me know that two bits were twenty-five cents and the term comes from the old Spanish coins "pieces of eight" where each one was worth 12.5 cents.  The Spanish dollar was much larger than the other coins and was often cut into eight smaller parts, hence each one was worth an eighth of the dollar. Therefore, with two bits of this Spanish dollar, you had 25 cents.

It probably didn't help that I'm a computer guy and a bit means something totally different to me...

https://www.almanac.com/fact/how-much-is-two-bits-and-where

FreeSound

The Freesound website contains over a half-million sounds and effects that you can use for free (I love free).  I recently used a thunderstorm sound to add an audio dimension to a project so it would attract attention as students came by.  The sounds are under a few different licenses, but it's easy to search only for those released under the Creative Commons 0 License, which does not even require attribution.  As an example, turn up your volume a bit and click on the link below.

https://freesound.org/people/FunWithSound/sounds/591959

Parfait Container

Sometimes something so simple is so brilliant, like the packaging of the butterscotch parfait shown below.  The cashier at DiSalvo's Deli in Kettering, Ohio used a normal plastic container and lid, but turned it upside down, placing the parfait on the lid and covering it with the container.  Makes for both an easy way to package it and for the customer to open it when they need their treat.  When we asked the cashier about this, he told us he had packaged them all sorts of ways for many years, but when a new hire packaged it this way, he was stunned.  So simple, yet...

https://www.disalvosdeli.com

Pineapple Dip

This Pineapple Dip might be the most addictive substance on the planet.  I can't be in its presence and not find myself dipping a few more chips, not being able to stop until I physically walk away.

Just blend together a twenty-ounce can of heavy-syrup crushed pineapple and two, 8-ounce packages of cream cheese.  That's it.  No extras like sugar, vanilla, garlic, onion powder, honey, or lemon juice that other recipes call for.  Serve with potato chips, preferably the Lay's shown below.

A big shout-out to my good friend Grace for this recipe!

Strawberry Banana V8

I love a good strawberry daiquiri but too often they come out sweeter than I prefer, so when I noticed the Strawberry Banana V8 juice shown below I bought it, added some to my daiquiri mixture, and voila, a better, less sweet drink.  It's labeled "100% Juice Strawberry Banana Juice", which may sound strange, but when you read the ingredients, it is 100% juice, of which the tastes of the strawberry and banana juices stand out.  But it also includes sweet potato, carrot, beet, grape, and apple juices.  Nonetheless, it tastes good.

https://www.campbells.com/v8/products/v8-blends/strawberry-banana-blends

Rearward Expansion

The picture below comes from the back of the Kroger grocery store at Stroop and Shroyer Roads in Kettering, Ohio.  The space you see is the old CVS store that was vacated a while back and not content with just that amount of extra space, they are knocking out the back and expanding the building.  My guess is the extra space will be used for more inventory, not customer space, but it could also be for customer pickup, a feature neither Chef Elaine nor I have or will ever use.  Time will tell.

Patio Door Moulding

Finally got around to replacing the rotting moulding around the exterior side of the garage-to-patio door.  It was rotting because some Brainiac (not me) used wood moulding and the bottom just soaked up the rainwater.  The new trim on the right is made of vinyl which will eliminate that problem going forward.  The moulding set at the link below came with pre-mitered corners, eliminating one diagonal cut on the top piece, and needed just two straight cuts to get the proper height.

Huge shout-out to my brother-in-law Albert for installing the moulding and letting me help (a little!).

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Alexandria-Moulding-1-1-4-in-x-2-in-x-84-in-Vinyl-Brick-Moulding-Set-3-Pack-80077-ZWS77CM1/202081502