The New Ideal Morning

Someone please explain how people can live in an area where there is no scrapple.

The New Ideal, my fave

Half chipped beef, half sausage gravy, side of scrapple

Temping

So, what do y'all think about temping?

Food Dreams: Where Are They Now? (vh1 style)

"I can't do footnotes or copy and paste on here. That is annoying". That would have simply been a footnote.





But food notes, that's what we're looking for. So, let's go back to the latest food dream, so see if I visited or my deflated budget and low motivation hadn't quite gotten me to my food fantasies yet.





Edo Sushi: haven't made it back there. Haven't been downtown too much. Visited the old office. Said "hi", but then no one ever called for happy hour so, never made it to the downtown spots. Jeez, I mean, I worked there for 10 years. "Welcome Home!". Or not.




Pazo: Oh yesireebob. Yum. Have eaten some tonno and lots of other goodies. Who can stay away? Honestly though, all the elderflower is a bit much. Make me a good old school dirty martini and walk away. Thank you. Ugh. Fancy drinkdom. Yuck.







Charleston: No. Come on, I just left the Peace Corps. Jeez. Are YOU going to take me there?





Miss Shirley's: No. Looks busy though.



Parents' back yard: Yes. Crabs, cheese, wine, delicious things.

The rest: No, not yet. Hope to make it to a BBQ before summer is over on the sidewalks of Bond Street.

One-Eyed Mike's: They are a special category. I have eaten there 5 times since I've been home. Dude - that is more than the

New Ideal -- that is saying something! I walk in there - it can be 8am - and they're like "soft shells?" and I say "yes" and there you go. Coffee, ice water with lemon, soft shells, 2 sides. Easy.

One-Eyed Mike's is consistently delicious. Honest, fun, straightforward always great food. Plus, it is on Bond St.

More later on food.

I miss Louise; also I, Miss Louise

Daniel and I - I am sharing Pop Rocks with him.

I miss Louise. For those who don't know, I am Louise whenever I am in a non-anglophone part of the world. It is my middle name and Heather is just impossible to say unless you are from Great Britain, the US, or Australia & New Zealand. They can't even say it in Ghana.

I have been toldthat I am a different person when I am Louise -- nicer, chiller, friendlier. Maybe it is just the speaking French part that makes me happy, I don't know.

Nonetheless, I have been getting emails from my companions in Notse. Daniel and Desire were like my sons/little brothers/students. They were at my house every day, we played, we worked, we read, we drew, we studied, we explored.

Here is the email I just received from Desire, he is about 13:

"Bonjour Louise ;comment ca va. C'est vrai que tu nous a quitte mais tu resteras sans mon coeur pour toujours.Depuis ton depart je suis reste en tristesse. Lorsque je me rapelle de nos petit jeux dans ta maison; les larmes viennent dans mes yeux.Ma mere te salut.S'il te plait envoie moi sa photo par ordinateur pour voir ton visage car tu me manque beaucoup.

JE T'AIME LOUISE. De la part de Desire."

Translation:

"Hello Louise, how are you? It is true that you have left us but you will remain in my heart forever. Since your departure I remain in sadness. When I remember our little games at your house tears come into my eyes. My mother sends her greetings. Please send me a photo via computer so that I can see your face because I miss you so much.

I love you Louise.

On behalf of Desire."

Isn't that so sweet. I miss my boys.

Food Dreams

Since I am counting down to coming home, here are the foods/restaurants I am dreaming about. All my foodie friends, please tell me if any of these have gone downhill and of any new places I haven't been yet. . .
Edo Sushi (Harbor) - lunch combos
Pazo - tonno crudo and foccaccio
Charleston - she-crab soup, foie gras, oysters, shrimp grits
Miss Shirleys - anything with fried oysters and softshells, grits, sweet potato fries
Parents' back yard - crabs, corn on the cob, tomatoes
Holy Frijoles? - chimichanga, chips and salsa
Broadway Market - fried chicken livers & gizzards with hot sauce, soft-shell sandwich
Lexington Market - oysters, clams
Anything Heidi cooks. . .
Grill out on the corner of Bond & Lancaster
Anything from One-Eyed Mike's
Suggestions?

Banks of the Chesapeake

I have always loved a song called "Banks of the Pontchartrain" by Nancy Griffith. One lonely night over a year ago I was laying in my bed in Notse, no electricity, listening to it on my ipod and the lyrics magically changed themselves into something much more personal. With permission, here is my adaptation of the song. It makes me weepy every time I hear it.

I'm goin' back where my garden blooms all year
Where the wintertime speaks softly in the fallin' rain

I'm goin' back to my friends and family there
and we will dance along the banks of the Chesapeake

Oh, I've grown dark beneath the skys of Africa
Where the voices ring like bells in French and Minah
And the heat melts the body all year long

I am alone at night and dream of my own Chesapeake

Chorus:
Take me to the airport...
I am late to catch my eastbound plane
Oh, I'm gonna call my sister Heidi
she will be waiting by the gate when I fly in
I'm gonna fly across the ocean
just to stand beside my Chesapeake again

These old rails shake like thunder through the night
Soon I'll have my family's arms to comfort me
Oh, I can see my sister Heidi by their side
her hair will flow in waves like on the Chesapeake

Take me to the airport...
I am late to catch my eastbound plane
Oh, I'm gonna call my sister Heidi
she will be waiting by the gate when I fly in
I'm gonna fly across the ocean
just to stand beside my Chesapeake again

I'm goin' back where my garden blooms all year
Where the wintertime speaks softly in the fallin' rain
I'm goin' back to my green eyed lover there
and we will dance along the banks of the Chesapeake
yes, we will dance along the banks of the Chesapeake
we will dance along the banks of the Chesapeake
and here comes the plane


I can't wait to be home for fall and winter. I miss you.

And more stuff of late

Gee, so much is going on, too much to say, too public to say it all. I passed the Foreign Service Orals, moved to another part of Lome, the fancy part actually, where things like this happen in the wee hours of Easter barbeques. We didn't even hear the shots.

Togo leader's brother in shootout
A security raid on a house belonging to the brother of the Togolese president left at least two people dead and three others wounded, reports say.
A BBC reporter in Togo says security forces exchanged fire on Sunday night with troops loyal to the president's brother, Kpatcha Gnassingbe.
Following the shootout in a Lome suburb officials accused President Faure Gnassingbe's brother of coup plotting.
He denied the charges and said he was the victim of an assassination attempt.
Prosecutors said five senior military officers had been arrested.
Former Defence Minister Kpatcha Gnassingbe is now under house arrest.
He told the BBC that armed men in military uniform had turned up at his home spraying bullets at his bedroom and the bedrooms of his children during the gun battle, which lasted at least three hours.
President Gnassingbe, who was elected in 2005 during a vote which observers said was flawed, cancelled a foreign trip on Sunday after the shootout.
He became president after the death of his father, Togo's veteran leader Gnassingbe Eyadema in 2005.
(from BBC)
The weirder thing is no one here is talking about it. Like, at all. Ho-hum, just another day.