Olive Garden

I hate Olive Garden. I have issues with the way Darden Restaurants treats their hired help. But more than that I hate the whole big chain restaurant format. Chili's Grill & Bar. TGI Fridays Restaurant & Bar. Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar. And of course Outback Steakhouse.

For the most part I think of their food as uncreative and unimaginative. Largely distributed by central corporate kitchens and often simply heated up for service. Too much fat (one TGI Fridays hamburger has more fat than I can eat in an entire day!). Matter of fact I have some dietary restrictions, not even severely limiting what I can eat and TGI Fridays has only one thing on their lunch menu that I can eat! Too much fat. Too much salt. Too much added sugars.

And don't even get me started on The Cheesecake Factory! And yes I do realize those foods aren't meant to be a daily part of one's diet. The recipes are extensively researched and designed to please one's palate rather than deliver nutritious meals.

Mind you...make no mistake.. healthy nutritious food can be very good.

With all that said. I am embarrassed to admit. I just love Olive Garden's salad mix!

Olive Garden Salad
Yes. That's the real deal. With closures and reduced service to reduce the spread of coronavirus many perishable food stocks are sitting around loading docks with no place to go. And I know somebody. In food service. That supplies Olive Garden. And that is Olive Garden's salad mix. With some things added sure.

And frankly? You know those Fresh Express bags of greens and salad kits? Olive Garden should do that with their salad mix!

---

And let's hope the hysteria stops soon.

The supermarkets have been complete mad mob scenes for going on two weeks now. Shelves are stripped bare of pretty much everything. And it makes no sense at all.

We can be at our worst or we can be at our best. It's not going to go end anytime soon. But our food supply is not threatened people.

WTF?!

OK. With a public health crisis going on with the novel corona virus expanding...our president holds a press conference. He wants to reduce tax withholding from pay checks.

Yup! That will stop the spread of the virus!

Seriously. This is actually brilliant. I have a theory. For decades Republicans have wanted to shift the burden of governance to the states. They call it "state's rights"

And. What better way to do that than to demonstrate ineptitude and incompetence in the federal government? Seriously. Let's put politicians in charge of the corona virus task force! Ya. That inspires confidence yes?

My Cat

Is really creeping me out. He follows me around like a puppy and stares at me all the time! I go to the bathroom? He leads the way. I take a shower? He's sitting there waiting when I'm done. I go get dressed? In 30 seconds he's looking for me.

Yesterday I'm in the kitchen making pizza dough. I turn around...and..

There he is. Staring.

Climate Change Much?

This has been a very strange winter season. Here with the promise of spring I think we'd had one plowable winter snow. There's still time for a blizzard or two. Last year we barely had any snow until March when we got 15 inches in just a few hours. And last March was cold, and the spring was notably cold and wet.

It was a terrible year for tomatoes. And I don't think corn was coming up until June.

This year, last month, end of the first week of January, I saw a Great Blue Heron on the pond outside my home. He was more than likely sick. And then maybe climate change messed him up.

And then I could hardly not notice....buds of trees! On 15 January!

15 January. Very bad thing!
And then just several days ago, I see Daffodils coming up!

7 February. Daffodil sprouts!
As I understand it, everyone agrees the climate is changing. The issue is the likely cause. Most people believe carbon emissions are to blame.

Some believe it's just part of a natural cycle. I'm not a climate scientist. But there's a lot of evidence contradicting a natural cycle conclusion. But. It appears evidence doesn't mean much to some people..

Last Corn

Corn was off to rough start this season. Spring was cold and wet and our first local corn was late to appear.

But it turned out to be a good season! I love and I swear I'll have an ear of corn almost every day through the last half of summer. Oh there might be a few ears around for the most part the seasoon is over for 2019.

Last ear. 20 October.
Edited to add: That corn came from Kelly's Farm Stand in Upton, MA.

Of course it's comfort food and soup season! As much as I hate the wintertime soups, stews, squash and roast chickens takes out some of the sting.

Dead trees...

I've noticed a lot of dead trees this year. Just this last May, after the leaves came out in the spring, I was shocked by the sheer number of dead trees.

Pretty much everywhere. I swear you can't walk two blocks without passing dead trees.

So. Interestingly enough. A local news station did a report on all the dead trees. A certified arborist explained the consecutive droughts of 2015 and 2016 weakened many trees and left them vulnerable to disease and catastrophic damage from gypsy moth caterpillars in 2017.

So there really is an unusual number of dead trees. Not just something I hadn't noticed before.

This time they mean it!

Jane and Paul's farm is a local institution.

Many of us have enjoyed their produce for more years than I can remember. And they pretty much always had the very best corn.

Six years ago they missed a step. I don't know the whole story but I know there were some promising negotiations going on to acquire the property with community funds. That didn't work out. But they came back the following year!

But ...now, this year...

1 September. They're done. Forever.

Much Sadness
They plan to continue farming. But they're closing the farm stand. The second year in a row it just hasn't been worth keeping open. Last year hundreds hundreds of bushels of apples remained unpicked.

And Paul told me this year they hadn't had a single busy day. Not a single one. And at least half the blueberry crop rotted on the ground.

31 August. My very last ear of Jane and Paul's corn.