Feeling OK on the first day of summer
We are planning to be at the Byron's Mark Gerking Tribute Kevin Gordon show on July 3. I hemmed and hawed as it was definitely not in the budget but, well, it's for Mark, and he will always be very important to us. I had long wanted to go to a show at Byron's and meet Mark there. So we will do this instead. Although now I hear that COVID has struck the KG trio so we're crossing fingers they will be fine for the show.
Ernie is already making plans for a Jelly Roll pumpkin for Halloween, complete with little face tattoos. Or, as he says, 'my man, Roll.' I just watched Jelly Roll on GMA and I found him delightful.
My dinner last night was FABULOUS! Yes, I am bragging. And as my favorite recipes often are these days, it took no time...well, maybe 15 minutes. I had a box of the mini gluten-free gnocchi. We haven't bought them in awhile as they are pricy but damn....they're so good and so simple. I just sautéed the gnocchi (straight from the box) in what was supposed to be browned butter but I always get impatient so it's more like tan butter. Next time I'll just use olive oil. I sautéed them until they are browned and a bit crispy. Then I threw in some lovely snow peas and cooked it just a minute or two. It didn't seem like the right vegetable to gnocchi ratio so I added several handfuls of a spinach/arugula mix. Once that was wilted we stirred in some grated parmesan (Ernie's in charge of the grating) and a bit of salt and pepper (I'll be more careful with salt next time....the gnocchi already has a good bit of salt in it). Good Lord a mama, it was absolutely great. The snow peas still had some crunch and I think that contrast made it.
I always order these sweet little climbing petunias. They aren't the flashiest but they have teh sweetest scent you can imagine. They often self sow too which is lovely. I highly recommend them. You can get plants or seeds from Select Seeds. Thanks to my beloved Susan for getting these as well as my nicotiana into the ground.
It's funny what catches my eye sometimes. We passed this little building heading out of Peru and for some reason I liked it.
If you look carefully at the little porch on the left side you can see a bit of Victorian detailing on it. Maybe it all started as a Victorian house? It looked long closed but as we were there an older man kind of shuffled to the entrance and went in. I figured out what the address is and it turns out it it may look closed up but it's not. It is Sajnaj's Buffet and reportedly has great hamburgers, with reviews as recent as a few months ago. One review added that there's no sign but all the locals know it. For some reason this tickled me. SO many hidden stories out there. I'm trying to STOP myself from going further down the rabbit hole but I did find a couple of old advertising items.
And in big news, we've decided on a new rule: Ice cream on every wander. We used to take Route 47 through Gibson City ALL the time. We were fond of the Dairy Queen there because it had an old sign. We were relieved when they inevitably modernized their main sign, that they saved the old one and put it on a little shed behind the restaurant. Bonus points for the basketball hoop.
Onward.