Heavenly Ham Dinner for Two

With this most recent Easter being spent by ourselves (and watching the Masters golf tournament), Chef Elaine smartly opted to let Dorothy Lane Market make our dinner instead of spending hours in the kitchen and spending a lot of money.  For a total of just $30, we each had a plate full of Heavenly Ham, Au Gratin Potatoes, and Orange-Glazed Carrots plus a few leftovers.

https://www.dorothylane.com

Creative Banners Flags & Poles

Our search for a proper flagpole led us to the locally-owned Creative Banners Flags & Poles on Dorothy Lane in Kettering.  In addition to lots of flags, they carry a number of Ohio wines and even have a tasting bar.  But most unexpected was to find a local place that carried our favorite bulk spices, two of which you see below which they packaged for us in the signature bag.

https://www.facebook.com/CreativeFlagsPoles

Saved By The Leg

Our firepit has a nice cover with a drawstring to keep it in place, but it's no match for the crazy winds we've had this winter and spring.  In order to avoid chasing the cover all over the neighborhood, I wrapped the drawstring under one of the legs, using the weight of the firepit to counteract the force of the wind.  Works pretty well as you can see below.

 

Lots Of Drops

I noticed the inspirational saying shown below as I was passing a local church last month and while I realize it was not meant to be taken literally, I am known as "Mister Literal", so I had to see how far from the actual truth this saying really is.  I started by looking to see if a drop is an actual measure and while many definitions exist, pharmacists set a drop at 0.05 milliliters.  So using that measure...

• A drop is .05 milliliter
• 20 drops is a milliliter
• 20,000 drops is a liter
• There are about 8 billion people on Earth
• 8 billion people divided by 20,000 drops is 400,000 liters

An Olympic-sized pool holds 2,500,000 liters or 6.2 times the 400,000 liters above.  A lot of water, perhaps, but not exactly an ocean.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_(unit)

American Sign Museum

We recently took a trip down to Cincinnati to visit the American Sign Museum, located in the Camp Washington neighborhood.  The self-guided tour took a little under an hour and we learned about the three major phases of sign-making (pre-electric, neon, plastic), how neon is made to glow in different colors, a real-life demonstration of bending glass tubing, and a ten-minute informative video.  The signs you see below are just a few of the hundreds on display and they provided us with trips back to our childhood.  

https://www.americansignmuseum.org

Chinese Hot Mustard

I love Chinese hot mustard on egg rolls but I was unable to find anything suitable in the several grocery stores we frequent.  I looked up recipes on the Internet and found the one at the link below.  When I looked at the ingredients (dry mustard, sugar, boiling water, and vegetable oil) I thought that can't work, but the reviewer's comments convinced me to give it a try.  And it's perfect!  The super spicy hotness obviously comes from the dry mustard, but all my life I thought mustard was more tangy than hot.  

The other key point for the egg rolls shown below is that I baked them in our convection oven for 15 minutes which leaves the outside wrapper crispy and crunchy.  Way better than the soggy microwave version.

https://www.food.com/recipe/chinese-hot-mustard-224930

Sticker Shock

We had a craving for some French Fries and arguably McDonald's has some of the best.  I went inside (we hate drive-throughs) and ordered one medium fries and was absolutely shocked when that ended up costing $3.49.  I know food prices are nuts but this was just outrageous.  I don't know if that's the normal price at all McDonald's or if ours is just price gouging.  If you have a recent fry-buying experience, I would love to know how much you paid. 

You Are The First Person

I noticed the misspelling below while picking up my wines of the month at Rumbleseat Wine.  I told the owner and he couldn't find it until I pronounced what was written incorrectly.  His response was that I was the first person who had told him about it and that he had written it a long time ago.  I guess when you write and edit as many things as I do you naturally get better at it.  Or maybe my brain is wired differently.  Or I'm just weird.

My grade school nuns would be so proud of me...

https://rumbleseatwine.com

Aperiodic Monotile

The simple tile shapes that most folks use on their floors end up with a design that repeats itself over and over.  A group of mathematicians found a single shape that does not repeat itself when tiled and found the thirteen-sided shape seen below.  They call their shape a "hat", but the technical name is "einstein", which means "one stone" in German, not a reference to Albert.  So if you're looking for some really wild floor tile patterns, this might be useful, although I have no idea if anyone sells these yet.

More information and a link to their 89-page mathematical proof can be found at the link below.

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-geometric-tiled.html

Valedictions

The writer at the link below used ChatGPT to generate hundreds of valedictions, those expressions used to say farewell at the end of a letter or message, using a number of categories.  ChatGPT generated some good ones and some terrible ones, then the writer picked fifty from each category that he thought were the best.  Below is an example from each category that I thought was among the best.  So instead of using the worn-out "Sincerely yours" or "Best regards" as your next valediction, hunt through the list to find something unique and appropriate.

Positive - Cheerful farewells

Angry - From the end of my rope

Apologetic - Apologies from the heart

Congratulatory - Kudos and congratulations

Romantic - Eternally smitten

Hot - With a wicked grin

Reconciliatory - With open arms

Job Seeking - Ready to make a difference

Holidaying - Sending sunshine

Corporate - Onward and upward

https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/how-to-sign-off