Sensing that I have been somewhat preoccupied and unable to photograph every little interesting tidbit along my drive home, my wife has attempted to fill the gap. The other day, she would have made Ken Burns proud as she documented the historical end of a squirrel that zigged when he should have zagged.
As she was driving up Timberwilde, she alertly caught the dragging from traffic the decedent squirrel and quickly whipped out her camera to capture the action as it unfolded. Yes, even my wife carries her camera everywhere! Naturally, I have counseled her that in situations like this, video mode is much preferable.
The funny part is, regular reader Maureen sent a note to my wife on her Facebook account and asked if she was the crazy lady on the side of the road filming the circle of life in action. Good times.
We live in a part of the city where, due to the age of the homes, delivery to a mailbox in front of your house is still a service that the US Postal Service participates in. In newer 'hoods, they build these centralized boxes and you are issued a key so as you drive by on your way home from work, you can stop and check your mail. Some people like this idea because it means that vandals or drunks won't hit their mailbox. I on the other hand, prefer the old fashioned door to door service. If I'm paying whatever the price of postage is for a stamp (and though a Google search would reveal that price for me, I'm happy to keep it a mystery for now), then I want the mailman to deliver it to my house. Oh, and also, I should point out that I am pretty sure my mailman is a lady. You probably do not know the gender of your mailman if you are serviced by one of those community mailboxes.
Since we have the mailbox, my wife has always wanted to get one of those fancy brick ones made. Several years ago, she asked someone who was building one down the street from us and they gave her a quote of something astronomical like $650.00. But she pointed out, that included a planter built in to it so you could grow weeds to make your mailman feel pretty when she delivers the mail. Hey, for $650, it better come with air conditioning and a miniature jacuzzi.
So, needless to say, for the last several years, we have continued to receive our mail in one of those regular metal mailboxes directly in front of our home.
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What I am about to tell you has nothing to do with mailboxes.
When we lived in Italy, I worked with a guy named Ray who was just a super happy-go-lucky kinda guy. One day, Ray was driving home from a trip he had taken to Naples and on the side of the road, he saw a small Italian delivery truck with a guy standing outside of it and several boxes of brand new VCR's. Ray quickly slammed on his brakes and pulled off the road so he could see what it was all about. You must appreciate that back in the mid 1980's, VCR's were still fairly spendy, so the idea of getting one from a free enterprise entrepreneur type was worth looking into.
The guy had one of the boxes opened up and had the VCR available for complete inspection. Ray was fluent in Italian just enough to ask "Quanta Costa?" and get that the guy only wanted the equivalent of about $100 for the brand new VCR complete with remote control and auto tracking features. That was about a third of the going rate, even at the base exchange (BX).
Long story short, Ray opened his wallet and was down to his last $20 or $30 and sadly showed the Italian vendor that he did not have enough money. Taking pity on the young American Airman, the guy offered to let him have it for the cash he had. He even let him take one of the ones still in the box, in case he had any ideas of selling it to another GI for a nice little profit.
That, my friends, is truly a sign of international friendship.
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A few weeks ago, my wife found a man doing brickwork in our neighborhood, and in fact, we drove down a street in Emerald Valley where he had done six or seven mailboxes on that single street. My wife was able to talk with him and get a quote for a mailbox of one third the going rate.
Of course, we petitioned our neighborhood association's Architectural Control Committee who advised us that to be compliant with American Disability Act regulations, we would have to have the sidewalk extended to accommodate people in wheelchairs since the new brick mailbox would take up much more space than the original.
With all the paperwork out of the way, my wife contacted the mason and arranged for him to come by and build the mailbox. I'll let you get a feel for what is going on with pictures instead of me describing the event brick by brick...
On the first night of the job, he stopped by and dropped off the sand and bricks and dug the area for where the sidewalk would be extended.
We had some rain, so I think that pile of sand sat on my sidewalk for at least several days if not a week, but finally, the mason returned to build the mailbox.
In spite of the threatening rain, he worked at a quick pace to knock the job out.
But there was only one problem; he did not have enough brick to finish out the little sidewalk addition. To be honest, I did not even like the idea of making a brick path anyway; I had just assumed that it would be poured concrete like any other sidewalk. The plan was, our mason would return the following day (Sunday) with the rest of the needed brick and finish the little walkway.
But my wife paid him. Never pay the guy until the job is done, or you will never see him again - regardless of international relations.
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So my co-worker in Italy walked into work one night following his weekend trip to Naples and he was laughing and laughing and just couldn't stop laughing. Those of us gathering around figured he had just heard a good joke and were ready to join in. As Ray told the story about the VCR salesman on the side of the road giving him the brand new VCR in the box, he took it from the man and simply placed it in his trunk. He then promptly forgot about it and it remained secure in his trunk until moments before walking into work. Ray was laughing so hard, it was all he could do to get the story out.
It turns out he remembered the VCR he had purchased as he was pulling into the parking lot, so when he parked, he opened the trunk, whipped out his Leatherman and promptly unsealed the box...
Which contained three properly secured rocks in Styrofoam. You would think the guy would be pissed off but he wasn't. He realized that he was so quick to get the good deal that he forgot that golden rule - if it sounds too god to be true. The money he paid was more than made up for by the entertainment he got out of it.
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So this past weekend, I got rid of the pile of sand on my sidewalk and put down some re-bar, and mixed several bags of concrete.
And this is our new ADA compliant sidewalk.
Ya get what ya pay for, my friends.
So we were out garage sailing this morning and among the numerous folks we ran into, was a couple who we met through our Cellular on Patrol course. They showed me a really spiffy device and I thought I'd share it with readers here.
Just so you know, while this flyer is an advertisement, I'm not getting some sort of kick back here, and in fact, they didn't ask me to post it; I just think it is worth looking at.
I don't know what it is called - the the little flyer doesn't have a name on it but Frank showed me the actual device and it is a thick piece of nicely polished metal that screws into the floor in front of your door. It is thick enough to be strong, but thin enough that your door will open easily. It comes with a second piece of metal that is at a 90 degree angle (if my calculus is correct), and when you want your door to be safe from being kicked open, you simply slide this piece of metal into the slot and it sits securely up against the foot of the door. The punks ain't gettin' in when this thing is installed.
Anyway, there ya have it. If ya need one of these, the number is on the picture.
Sometimes all you can do is just shake your head. Regular contributor Anon E. Mouse snapped an entertaining picture this afternoon in our 'hood.
Lee says, "I was behind this Toyota on Grissom waiting patiently to turn left at the light on to Culebra, then followed him down until I stopped at Frost Bank. Looks like an old piece of fire hose and a couple of scrubbies. Can't imagine what it was supposed to represent, right?"
Wow. Do you suppose this is something leftover from a tailgating party? Don't they sell some big rubber hanging huevos that might work better than a couple of scrubbies? Does anyone care to offer up an explanation to this strange sighting?
Lora, who visits the blog from time to time to find out what we have eaten, reports that the Friends of the GNW Library is a newly forming group which will be affiliated with Friends of the SA Public Library. Locals may know that there had been a group called called GNW Library Friends (which I have mentioned here), however it appears that group has disbanded or something like that.
Regardless, the new group made up of some of the same folks I believe, is going to have a membership table at the 15th Anniversary Celebration event at the Great Northwest Library on October 17th from 10am to 3pm.
I won't lie and tell you that I hit our branch library on a weekly basis, but I will tell you that supporting it and supporting the Friends is certainly a worthwhile thing. Just the book sales that these folks put on to support the library are worth attending and supporting. The new Friends will continue the book sales as well as hold monthly meetings and volunteer opportunities to allow everyone to get involved.
Need more information: Go here and/or send me an e-mail and I can put you in touch with Denise Barlow, one of the folks organizing the event.
Earlier this week I had an afternoon meeting with some folks I work with and the selected destination was Acadiana off Loop 410 between 151 and Marbach.
I was pretty sure I had written about Acadiana before, and sure enough, a quick search of the blog revealed that in fact I had. Here, co-workers and I attended lunch but I hadn't driven, so I didn't have my camera, a firm requirement for taking pictures of my vittles.
So anyway, I'll keep this short. One of my colleagues suggested an order of the fried pickles. Before I could whip out Mr. Camera, half the plate was gone, but here you can see a good representation of what the fried pickle is all about. It is a pickle, and it is fried. Add a little Ranch dressing and your high blood pressure will be off the charts. They seemed a tad bit salty this time around, but I simply could not help myself. I have been asked, by the way, if I am pregnant, and I assure you I am not. It only looks that way.
I shan't embarrass anyone and go around the table describing each meal in detail but I will tell you that I enjoyed my standard Acadiana dish. As much as I am open to new things, it would seem I am incapable of going into Acadiana and ordering anything different, even down to the sides. Of course, catfish is always a given when it is made available to me. I am a fan of green beans and at this place, I am down with the red beans and rice.
Have you ever tried the deep fried turkey they sell at Acadiana? I am told it is out of this world. Do you suppose people from Louisiana in the Acadiana area come to this restaurant and laugh at us San Antonio folks as if this place is the equivalent of hitting Mickey D's for a fine burger? I hope not. I'd like to think that my taste buds are on target.
Is it the best catfish in SA? Not in my book, but a fine place to dine just the same.
I was back in the Five Oh earlier than normal today and my wife and I thought it would be a perfect time to grab a quick bite from the recently moved and opened Pizza Hut-Wing Street place on Grissom Road at Timber Path. Seriously, just ban me from the place right now.
A quick note about pizza. I love pizza. I could seriously eat an entire pizza, and the greasier the better. The problem is, I am ready to fall asleep three bites into the first slice. The dough, especially the hand tossed, and really thick pan types just do me in. Just bust out a 1000mg of Metformin, and maybe I'll be okay.
But if you take the time to add the name Wing Street to a place called Pizza Hut, now I am forced to try not only the pizza, but also the wings. Is there a cardiologist in the house?
And of course, as promised, my wife and I are attempting to use the Entertainment Book coupons everywhere we dine now, and it just so happens that we had a coupon for a free order of cheesy bread sticks (or whatever the Pizza Hut name for them is) as well as a pitcher of soda.
The place is sparkly and new. I originally thought that it was smaller, but come to find out, it takes up half of the new building built in front of Stacy's Sports Bar on Grissom. I like the set-up inside. Very modern sports bar look with flat panels everywhere and a serious Texas and San Antonio theme.
I'll keep this short. Using our coupon, we got the bread stick things. They are so good that you just can't help but want to eat all of them before your pizza arrives. But we didn't. Instead, I think we ate one each and if I am correct, they are sitting in my refrigerator next to the microwave as we speak.
By the way, instead of getting a pitcher of soda free with the coupon, my wife asked the waiter to just knock off the price of her Iced Tea. He agreed, but now that I think about it, I don't think he did. I ordered a single Mich Ultra at $4.00 for 12 little ounces. Hey, maybe in Stacy's where I am told that the waitresses are scantily clad, but at Pizza Hut? Really? Note to management: Get some draft on tap and save us a buck.
I had to order the wings mild so my wife could try them. She no-likey the hot stuff. I thought the wings were excellent - not overcooked as some tend to be, and they were nice and meaty. I think it was $6.99 for 10 of them, and with the little tub of Ranch dressing, I thought the price was fair.
Our coupon for the free bread sticks stipulated that we had to purchase the large pizza as opposed to a medium (They don't have small). The large is what I suspect a medium was back in the day. Don't get me wrong, it isn't that there wasn't way more than enough for two, even four people, but I'm just telling you, it is smaller than I recall.
And that brings me to the point of why I rarely go to pizza hut. I love the pizza. They make a reasonably good product, but for the price, I just get the feeling like I have been to a regular full scale restaurant. After the coupon and before the tip, the bill was $27.01. Granted, we wouldn't have ordered both the pizza and the wings had we not known that we would be taking at least half of it to-go, but still, we could eat at Texas Roadhouse for that.
No complaints about the food, service, or atmosphere at the new Pizza Hut - Wing Street on Grissom, but if I'm going to eat myself into a coma, I'll spend a lot less and just go to Papa Murphy's.
Am I an utter cheapskate? Someone, set me straight here!
Okay, the whirlwind Dexter-watching marathon is complete just in time for us to get ready for Season 4. My wife will need the short break in nightly serial killing in order dream about something besides how I might have a secret dark side she is unaware of. I assure you, I don’t even own a boat.And if you have no idea what the heck I’m talking about, you’d better get to Blockbuster or NetFlix so you can catch up on the first three seasons. Or, if you have a reader of your own named Deb who offers to lend you the DVD’s, that much better, but hurry, you will not be disappointed.
We of course had to put off some of our regular activities during the Dexter thing. It turns out; we find ourselves a few episodes behind on Son’s of Anarchy. We’ll have to correct that, immediately.
Have you looked at the new Prime Time Jay Leno Show? Of course we DVR everything, so I went back and started to watch it, but never got more than 15 or so minutes into it. Then, I went on Hulu.com while I was tread-milling and started watching another episode and realized that in his old time slot, I usually fell asleep before the first guest ever appeared. I find Jay’s monologues humorous and I was always a fan of Headlines. But since I was on the treadmill and not susceptible to drifting off to sleep, it occurred to me that not much else is funny. A few examples: There was some comedian who came on, I forget his name but he was called the “Uninvited Guest”. He had his own little monologue complete with staged photos so you could visualize the punch line of his jokes. His segment lasted about half an hour. Okay, maybe it was only two or three minutes, but everything after the first 15 seconds seemed like half an hour.
Another thing Jay had was this segment called 10 Questions or something like that. I saw Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz sitting on a movie set somewhere, answering 10 not so funny questions. I realize now that without the assistance of special hair gel, I don’t find Cameron Diaz that attractive or funny. And really, unless there is a couch involved, I don’t see anything humorous about Tom Cruise, either.
And speaking of Oprah, they had a little skit where Jay’s first guest, Jerry Seinfeld (or as my wife calls him, SignField) uses his clout to have Oprah appear via satellite feed. The dig is, Jay could not get her to be the first guest on his new show, but Jerry has no problem getting her. Then, Jerry proceeds to interview Oprah and she totally ignores Jay. Did I mention how enormous her face looks in High Definition? Attention Macy’s, your blimp got away…
Anyway, I suspect that aside from the first 15 minutes, there will be no requirement for me to catch the new Leno show, but that gives me time to catch up on other important viewing, like Hung.
I don’t know if you heard this or not, but on Thursday evening, our Community Improvement Association (CIA as opposed to HOA) appointed me to fill a vacancy on the Board of Directors. Obviously I am honored and will do my best to serve our community. There was another guy who was up for the position and we met for the first time last night. As it turns out, Chris is a reader of this blog and I might mention a very cool guy. It was one of those moments when you feel bad that you get picked over someone else. So if I didn’t feel bad enough, on the way home my wife, in a moment of pure spousal support says, “I think they should have picked the other guy.” In fairness though, this board thing may cut into our TV viewing time, at least until season 4 of Dexter starts.
Speaking of seasons (man, am I working the transition or what?), am I the only person who has noticed how wonderfully cool it has been the past few mornings? For readers outside of Texas, it probably is cool already where you are at, but here in San Antonio, we have had several months of record fireball action, with more 100+ days than ever. I know, see, AlGore was right; we’ll soon have beach front property. Anyway, I get up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee and walk out on the back patio with my dog Gracie, (it is still dark at 5:30 and she is afraid), and both of us have noticed just how wonderful it feels. I’m ready for more of this weather.
And finally, again for the locals - we got the shocking news that Chris Marrou is going to hang up his anchorman hair at the end of the year. KENS-5 just won't be the same I tell ya, but I'm sure Chris will turn up somewhere. I know that many people just hate the way that Marrou has to add his little comments to the end of every single story; I for one love it. It was only that much better when his old friend Dan Cook was still around to join in on the off the cuff remarks.
For readers not familiar with Chris Marrou and Dan Cook, just imagine an anchorman and a crusty ol' sportscaster after a news story about a bank robber that gives the teller a withdraw slip complete with bank account number and real driver's license, before showing a gun and asking for all the money. Chris would say something like, "Well, that was pretty stupid." and Dan would say, "What a dumbass." Okay, maybe not those exact words, but you get the point. In the past year or so (since the long ago retired Dan Cook passed away), Chris has really stepped-up his commentary on news stories. Combined with his recent law degree, my amateur analysis says he will be running for political office. Hey, it runs in the family. You know his older brother, Andre Marrou, has been a candidate for president numerous times.
That's it friends. We have a busy weekend of eating, garage sailing and perhaps a visit tomorrow to the bone orchard. It was 9 years ago today that my wife's father passed, and we would like to do a little yard work on his resting place. Which reminds me of something he told me once.
(Eva and Nando on his last visit to Garner State Park)
He told me that he had a job where he was "over" hundreds of people. "Oh really" I said, inquiring for more detail. He said "Yea, I used to mow the grass at the cemetery". Good ol' Scobey.
What better way to kick off the first Sunday of the NFL season than with our two favorite teams going head to head. Tampa Bay looked to be the better team in the first half but the Cowboys came through in the end to win by 13 points.
Thankfully, I didn't put all my eggs in one basket...
For some reason, every time my wife and I thought of going to Bruno's, it turned out to be a Sunday, so we tricked ourselves by diverting from a place I had planned for Saturday and headed straight to West Hildebrand and found the place open for lunch.
Why the need to get into Bruno's? I had read an article in either the Express-News or The Current that talked glowingly about the fine Cuban cuisine. Clearly, these writers have never been to The Columbia. But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.
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When I was in school in West Tampa (what a scary time - being the only white kid huddled together with the only black kid and maybe a Vietnamese kid in a sea of Cuban men. Let's face it, in the 7th grade, the Cuban guys had facial hair and such; showering in gym was especially humiliating) one of the favorite days of the week was Cuban sandwich day in the lunch room. I don't think there was any effort to make the sandwich special, but the Cuban bread and the ham and cheese just seemed so good. Since leaving Florida more than 25 years ago, I
have always been on the lookout for a good Cuban sandwich.
Another favorite is Chicken and Yellow Rice. When I introduced this specialty to my wife at The Columbia the first time I took her, she was hooked. Thankfully over the years, she has adapted a recipe my mother gave her into her own, and honestly, I will put my wife's version of Chicken and Yellow Rice up against any one's; dare I say it, even The Columbia.
But how nice would it be for us to be able to go to a Cuban restaurant here in San Antonio where we could get some fine authentic vittles. I would so love for the Gonzmart family to open up a place on the River Walk.
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We buy those Entertainment coupon books every year to support various school fundraisers, and I know for the 2009 book, we easily exceeded the $20 or $25 we paid for it in savings. When we purchased the 2010 edition last week, I told my wife I wanted to keep strict track of every coupon we use, just so we can see how much we saved. And of course, one of the coupons was for Bruno's. Now we had to go!
When we walked up to the door, there was a large sign reporting that Bruno's does not accept the coupon with their name on it. But, that would not be enough to stop us from giving them a try. If only we had been so easily persuaded. My wife asked the owner, Bruno, what the deal was with the coupon and he explained that they have been trying to get the Entertainment book people to remove their coupon for the past several years, but they just can't seem to get it done. He said his next step is to go to the Better Business Bureau.
Inside, the place has a nice feel to it. Very clean and comfortable, couches and sitting areas placed throughout. I guess with a full bar there, you could grab a cocktail and go sit down with your date like it was some fashionable dining club or something. Who knows? We were the only diners present, so maybe there is more of an evening crowd to the place. I might have felt out of place if other people had shown up with dinner jackets and such.
Our waiter came out and was super friendly, helping us with the menu. I had a bad feeling right away when I saw that Bruno's is a Puerto Rican and Cuban Restaurant, and an even worse feeling when I saw the overwhelming number of Puerto Rican flags in the place. I'm sure Puerto Rican food is wonderful, but not when what you have the urge for is Cuban.
The waiter assisted my wife and I going item by item to identify Cuban dishes versus Puerto Rican dishes. It was a given that I would order the Cuban sandwich and my wife would be ordering chicken. But we also wanted to try a few sides. I asked for an order of Croquetas (Ham Croquettes) and the Platanos maduros (ripe plantains that are fried). Unfortunately, they were out of the plantains.
As they went back to the kitchen to cook up our order, we sort of looked around the place. They have a side patio and a rear patio, places to sit, places to dance, and of course a full service bar. I'm guessing now this is where 51% of the income comes from.
We could smell the food in the kitchen, and honestly, it smelled wonderful. My wife and I were both pretty excited about it when we saw the waiter bringing out the food. The excitement was short lived.
The Croquetas were burnt little rolls of dough or something. I could not have picked out a hint of ham flavor with a seeing eye dog, and my wife could not force half a bite of one down. I'm at a loss for just what the point of these little things is.
As soon as I saw my plate, I was disappointed on two fronts. First, the bread on the Cuban was not Cuban bread - or at least the kind you use to make a Cuban sandwich. Secondly, the rice looked terrible. It was obviously dry and the little peas looked as though they had been dead for some time. Bruno's is only open Wednesday through Saturday. I suspect this batch of rice was made on Wednesday, possibly of the previous week. The sandwich itself was not bad per se, it just wasn't what I had a need for. I told my wife later that if someone had just said, "here, try this sandwich" I would have liked it. But when you order steak and get chicken, it isn't that the chicken is bad, but it isn't what you want.
My wife ordered the Pechuga de pollo, sauteed with onions & bell peppers in a tomato-based sauce. The presentation was reminiscent of prison food, though having never been to prison, I can only imagine this is what you get. The spices had a Caribbean flavor to them, and other than the fact that it was extremely too salty, I could see how people might enjoy it. But it simply wasn't what we were there for.
My wife's plate came with an order of beans. Though not bad, I couldn't help wonder how old they were.
In the end, the rice was simply inedible and we both sort of spread it over our plates attempting to lessen the appearance of taking a single bite or two and giving up.
Bruno's falls into the category of one of those places we so wanted to like and be able to return again and again. Instead, after waiting for so long to finally give them a try, we were simply disappointed. Blech.
If you are a fan of Puerto Rican food, why not give it a shot and tell us how it compares to your expectations. But I'm guessing you'll want to go on a Wednesday or Thursday while the food is still reasonably fresh.
As she was driving up Timberwilde, she alertly caught the dragging from traffic the decedent squirrel and quickly whipped out her camera to capture the action as it unfolded. Yes, even my wife carries her camera everywhere! Naturally, I have counseled her that in situations like this, video mode is much preferable.
