DDD Map

We're big fans of Guy Fieri's TV series Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (aka DDD). Each episode features three hand-picked restaurants where Guy goes into the kitchen, watches, and comments as their chef makes a signature dish or two.  I wanted to see which places he's visited in Las Vegas and instead of looking at lists, I found that someone had created a handy map (at the link below) with all those places and Guy's own restaurants.  One of Guy's restaurants is on the Las Vegas Strip in the Linq Hotel, a very likely destination during our next trip out west.

https://dddfanmap.com

Frankie's Forest Park

Frankie's Forest Park, located on North Main Street just north of Dayton, Ohio, originated as a zoo in 1928 featuring African animals captured by Fred Patterson, son of NCR founder John Patterson. That closed in 1935 amid the Great Depression and re-opened as an amusement park featuring the Comet roller coaster and a train ride that included a section through the woods (i.e. forest). Bumper cars, a roller skating rink, and a picnic area were also available and a 1/5 mile speedway was added in the 1950s. Following the park’s closure in 1958, the land was reborn as Forest Park Plaza, a strip mall featuring stores such as J.C. Penney, Gallenkamp Shoes, and Woolworths. The plaza was closed and demolished in 2013 and is still a large, vacant lot.

Garlic Butter Shrimp Penne

When every word in a recipe title screams "yes, yes, yes, yes!" it's got to be good.  Gourmet Chef Elaine cooked up this recipe a few months ago and it was both a flavor bomb and a delicious warming treat.  While you can play around with the exact spices to add (or not), we suggest that you make sure you have the heavy cream and Parmesan cheese or your dish will be less flavorful and most likely a runny mess.  All the details are in the recipe below.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/garlic-butter-shrimp-penne-13767500

Argonne Forest Park

The Argonne Forest Park amusement park was located in what is now Possum Creek MetroPark at the southwest corner of Dayton, Ohio. It was the dream of Null M. Hodapp and named after Argonne Forest in France, the place where his good friend Ralph Clemons died just hours before World War I ended. He built a clubhouse for veterans and then expanded it to include a dance hall, horse racing track, shooting range, baseball diamonds, and a huge swimming area among other attractions. The park closed in 1941, a victim of wartime rationing.

Sandy Beach Amusement Park

Pappy Wilgus built Sandy Beach Amusement Park at Russells Point on the south shore of Indian Lake as the region’s tourist industry was booming in the Roaring ‘20s. It featured the state’s largest dancing venue, the Minnewawa Dance Hall, filled with over one hundred couples dancing to the music of Paul Whiteman, Rudy Vallee, and Glenn Miller. Along with the amusement park staples like a roller coaster and a Ferris wheel, Sandy Park featured the unique Old Mill Shoot where half-boat, half-car vehicles soaked their riders with the huge splash generated as they plunged into a tank of water at the end of a roller coaster hill. Sandy Hill was partially rebuilt following a 1935 fire with Big Bands booking the new Moonlight Terrace Gardens in their tours. The 1960s saw a period of decline amid growing competition and the park was renamed Indian Lake Playland in 1967, nine years before it closed down. Houses and condominiums sit on the grounds of the old park and a refurbished Sandy Beach Bridge still spans Russells Point harbor.

Christmas Display Update

On 11/24/2021 (https://dailyposts.paulishing.com/2021/11/christmas-invasion.html), I blogged about a Kettering light display that was over the top.  Compare that to the updated photo below and it's obvious they were just getting started.  There are at least twice as many nutcrackers, reindeer, gnomes, Santas, etc. adorning every spot in their yard.  This display is on Berwin Avenue and is really a sight to see, young or old.  Be careful driving and walking in this area as folks get distracted.

Lakeside Amusement Park

Lakeside Amusement Park, located in the western part of Dayton, Ohio, evolved on the site of a large, 360-degree cyclorama depicting the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, also known as Pickett’s Charge, which opened in 1886. The park opened in the summer 1890 and featured attractions such as the Crystal Room dance hall, bumper cars, a merry-go-round, and a funhouse. The Shoot the Chutes boat ride used flat-bottom boats to drop its dozen or so passengers down a wooden ramp into a lake and an enormous splash. In 1930, a wooden twister roller coaster named Wildcat was added. The unique Flying Turns wooden bobsled ride was a favorite with couples, as they sat one behind the other, and the sled twisted and turned down the ramps. Lakeside closed in the mid-1960s and was rundown until the city cleaned it up several years ago, including adding a walking trail, parking, and a boat dock.

Eggnog Snickerdoodles

I love eggnog.  I love Snickerdoodles.  When I saw the recipe for Eggnog Snickerdoodles at the link below, I couldn't wait to fill the house with the aroma of this delicious combination.  The only deviations were subbing vanilla extract for the rum extract and opting to go with no icing on top.  Fortunately, Gourmet Chef Elaine spotted at the last second that I was using wax paper instead of parchment paper to line the cookie trays which would have ruined both the cookies and the trays.  I can be such a ditz.

https://lilluna.com/eggnog-snickerdoodles

Miami Valley Meals

Miami Valley Meals is a local organization that transforms raw ingredients provided by various food donors (e.g., farms, urban gardens, restaurants) into balanced, nutritious, and tasty meals.  Food pantries, churches, social service groups, etc., distribute those meals to needy individuals in the Dayton region.  In 2023 they provided 235,123 meals not to just the hungry but to people who are not able to cook their own meals or just have a microwave available to them.  You can learn more at the link below.

One way to donate to their cause is by buying one of the unique spice blends they have created.  Click "Shop" at the top of their webpage to check it out.  I opted for the "Feel Good Fusion".

https://miamivalleymeals.org

Room Numbers

Gourmet Chef Elaine noticed that our local high school has put each room number on a window so it's visible from the outside.  In emergencies, these numbers can assist first responders in quickly getting to the correct location.  The design of the numbers (white and not too large) helps them blend into the building and not present an eye sore, but are easily seen when needed.  Pretty clever idea to help keep the kids safe.

Big Toe Hole Preventer

Every pair of running/walking shoes I've worn ended up with a hole in the fabric on the top of the left shoe and sometimes the right, which eventually causes me to buy new shoes earlier than otherwise needed.  It's a foot condition called "the hyperextension of the distal phalanx" (I know, it sounds kinda dirty), but all it means is that every time you take a step your big toe lifts, and that rubbing will lead to a hole.  

I recently discovered the "Big Toe Hole Preventer" which uses a black path, which is under the lift-off release paper in the picture below.  You just cut the outline to your shoe size, remove the release paper, slide the cut-out to the front of the shoe, and press down.  After a minute or so you slide the applicator out of the shoe and wait 24 hours to ensure the patch is secure.  I've put them in two pairs of shoes and don't know they are there.  

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4NWVBB1

YouTube TV Zen Channel

As I've blogged about before, I'm a big fan of YouTube TV and their latest feature expands on the little nature and other Zen-like clips they show at times in lieu of commercials.  There is now a full-time Zen channel that loops through scenes of arm-flapping penguins (shown below), crackling fireplaces, play-fighting polar bear cubs, ice skaters, and more.  While targeted at having a calming moment, I find myself flipping over to it during those all-too-often, 3.5-minute commercial breaks that cause major sporting events to regularly run 4 hours or more.  I can't wait until I can customize a 2-pane MultiView with the show I'm watching in one frame and the Zen Channel in the other.  And hopefully, YouTube TV will add a lot more scenes as these do get a bit repetitive.

https://9to5google.com/2024/12/04/youtube-tv-zen-channel

Cornbread Cupcakes

I was left with most of a bag of Pan brand cornmeal after making arepas a few months ago and didn't know what else I could make until Gourmet Chef Elaine made a pot of her awesome chili.  I thought a loaf of cornbread would match perfectly and then decided, for portion-control purposes, to make the cornbread cupcakes shown below.  I just followed the simple recipe at the link below and used baking cups to make clean-up easy.  What I didn't realize was that cornmeal is way stickier than a desert batter and I had to pry the baking cup off.  Next time I'll spray the pan generously with nonstick cooking spray.

The portion control didn't go as planned as these were so delicious I had to have seconds (and just maybe, thirds).  

https://us.allofpan.com/recipes/corn-cupcakes

Unique Flag To Pole Connection

The flag shown below is located in the office building complex across from the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, Ohio.  It features one of the smartest ways to connect the flag to the pole to prevent it from getting tangled up on itself.  Instead of the bottom attachment being the usual ring that's (supposed to) rotate, this configuration uses a weight to keep the flag spread vertically and a very loose loop to allow the flag to rotate.  Separating the two needs using two different mechanisms (IMHO) is pure genius.

Fraze Construction - Part 2

As shown below, the answer to yesterday's puzzle is that they are planting new trees. The series of plastic pipes comes from a company named DeepRoot. As its name implies, the piping is an irrigation system that helps the tree's roots grow down into the soil instead of sideways. If you have a tree near a patio or sidewalk, you know first-hand how powerful and destructive their roots can be.  You can read more about DeepRoot at the link below which includes a rainwater filtration option I don't believe is being used here.

I have no clue how much taxpayer money they are spending on this project but just to plant six trees must be worth it in someone's mind.

https://www.deeproot.com

Fraze Construction - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago we found workmen breaking concrete and digging a pair of large holes in the ground at the Fraze Pavilion, including removing some trees.  Why they were doing this was a mystery that only got more puzzling when a few days later they installed the series of plastic tubes you see below.  Maybe some kind of new Christmas decoration?  Take your best guess and tomorrow I'll reveal what they're up to.

Power Failure

One of the benefits of having some smart devices in your home is finding out that our electricity was out l during our 16-day September road trip.  I received alerts from my Blink camera app that it lost connection. I then looked at the Google Home app (screenshot below) to see that the WiFi router and Nest thermostat were offline.  Fortunately for us, we had almost nothing perishable in our two refrigerators and even though the first (of three) outages lasted over thirteen hours, nothing had to be thrown away.  

Guacamole

Earlier this year I had the Garden Toast breakfast shown below at the Garden Table restaurant near the Broad Ripple neighborhood in Indianapolis.  It was basically upscale bacon and eggs on toast with smashed avocado, which got me thinking about the word "guacamole".  

I've always pronounced it with a long "E" at the end, but when I heard it in Spanish, which concludes the word with a long "A" sound instead, I realized guacamole must be the two words, "guaca" and "mole", smashed together.  As you can read more about at the link below, guacamole is derived from the Nahuatl (an Indigenous people of Mexico) word “ahuacamolli,” which is a combination of the words “ahuacatl,” meaning avocado, and “molli,” meaning sauce.  Over time it was shortened to “guacamole.”

For whatever that was worth, I found it fascinating.

https://www.chefsresource.com/why-is-guacamole-called-guacamole

New Coffee Mug

Gourmet Chef Elaine and I visited Gettysburg this fall and took a fantastic bus tour through the battlegrounds, monuments, and graveyards, even though there was a drizzling rain most of the time. When we got back to the tour station, I wanted something to remember the somber moments of the bloody three-day battle of Gettysburg, and in their gift shop, I found the coffee mug shown below.  "We the People" are the first three words of the Preamble to the United States Constitution, introducing the US Constitution's fundamental purposes and guiding principles.  

If you haven't visited Gettysburg, I highly recommend it.  Bring a couple of tissues with you as experiencing the memories of this battle can bring tears.

Clever Marketing Gimmick

A couple of people trying to sell us AT&T's internet service door-to-door had a very interesting trick up their sleeve.  They had me run a speed test on my current service while standing on our front porch.  That resulted in a download speed of 61.4 Mbps, as shown in the lefthand screenshot below.  That makes it look like I'm not getting anywhere near the 300 Mbps I should be getting, but that's the trick.  Standing outside not only put me further from my Wifi router, but that signal now had to penetrate a brick wall to reach my smartphone.  Which of course they knew.

Being the techie type (it was my job for 40 years), I reran the test by walking five steps to the living room and reran the test, resulting in the 342 Mbps as shown in the righthand screenshot below.  That seemingly small difference in location made a huge difference and I was clearly getting great Internet speed.  But to really measure Internet speed, I knew I had to take WiFi out of the equation, so I ran a speed test from my MacMini, which is Ethernet-cabled to the cable modem.  That resulted in a stunning 483 Mbps.  

Creeping Thyme

The picture of our creeping thyme shown below was taken in late autumn. The single plant has grown to approximately four feet by three feet. That's not bad for a plant that started out this spring about the size of your hand.  This will remain green all winter (unless it's really bad) and bloom in late spring to early summer creating a blanket of small flowers.  We'll find out next year if it continues its growth spurt and tries to take over the entire front landscape.

https://www.gardenia.net/plant/thymus-serpyllum-pink-chintz

iOS Keyboard Space Bar Slide

Back on January 8, 2024, of this year, I wrote about the Space Bar Slide and how it makes positioning to the exact place in a string of text so easy.  I also said that I had to install the GBoard (Google's keyboard) on my iPad to get it to work.  All that being true, the part I missed is that you can do this with Apple's default keyboard, but it works just a bit differently.  Instead of just sliding back and forth on the space bar, the Apple keyboard requires you to press down on the keyboard and hold it down while you slide your finger.  You will know you have pressed down firmly enough when the keyboard "blanks out" as shown in the image below.  Get that screen and you can now slide back and forth.  This, and other useful tips, can be found at the link below.

https://www.howtogeek.com/441872/how-to-use-text-editing-gestures-on-your-iphone-and-ipad