Last month’s blog about the History of Little Poland set a viewing record for my Blog entries. I’m so happy you took a look and hope you enjoyed. Your interest unfortunately now presents a challenge for me to come up with another Blog to maintain your interest. I really don’t think you want to read anything more about Covid-19. Nor do I want to jump on the political bandwagon and I don’t think you’re interested in repeats of all the bitches I’ve already written about. My inability to get something down on paper was starting to bother me and I was even beginning to feel guilty.
My guilt feeling went away when I checked the records and found that I had written 177 blogs since I began rhinoroars. It made me happy to know that I still had a few of you interested in what I write. So, bear with me. I’ll try my best to come up with some stuff worthwhile reading.
I just spent the last hour looking at the many pictures I snapped on 27 trips and cruises we took after retiring in 2000. I sat here thinking how lucky and happy we were to make them, especially our last one in 2018 when we took our children and spouses on a cruise to Canada, Nova Scotia and a Bar Harbor port. After this great family cruise our travels were interrupted. Marge had back surgery which needed some healing time. We also needed some research time to figure out what sort of trip these aging bodies could handle. Then of course, along came Covid-19 screwing everything up. Oh well, it was nice to have all those great memories and along with hundreds of pictures.
Prior to my retirement
travel was pretty much a no-no. Raising four children along with very light
wallets made trip and cruise thoughts non-existent. Helping to run a bar was a
24/7 deal and time away from it was only a dream. Then I started a new business and trying to
make it grow also became a 24/7 situation.
How then did all our travel stuff begin?
Driving home one day I was listening to the radio and caught the voice
of a local sports announcer, Arnold Dean.
He was promoting a trip with Your Man Tours to the Northwest USA and
Alaska. He would accompany everyone on
the trip along with his wife. For some
unexplained reason I was attracted to his sales pitch and when I got home I
told Marge about it. I have no idea why,
but I told her to “book it”. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.
That rash decision helped create many wonderful experiences, new friends and great memories.
Hey, its Recipe Time. It’s been a while since I made these, but I do remember how good they tasted:
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Crash Hot Potatoes
New potatoes ( or other small round potatoes)
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Rosemary (or desired herbs)
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook until they are fork tender. On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato. With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil. Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary (or chives or whatever herb you have available.)
Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
