Lil' Honda
03 May 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
Cap'n Chef Andy | Chilly, Rainy
I made another batch of pollo en coloradito mole and brown rice. I used 4 skinned chicken thighs and mole paste, salsa, and water in 1/3 cup portions. The rice had plenty of chicken stock in it, so I didn’t need stock to make the mole sauce. The chicken thighs were simmered in the sauce for an hour or so. I ate one thigh with a portion of the rice. Mmm good. I couldn’t help myself but to have another thigh. I promised to save some for Eve, the artist.
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I was chagrined to find the Boater’s Lounge was now a snack bar kitchen. The kitchen apparatus came from the Red Shell Shanty which will not be open this year. So, we lose the shanty and we lose the lounge. No place to work on the internet inside. Outside I had mixed results trying to connect to either of the marina’s wifi channels. I ended up using my phone to post the previous blog posting. I had to access my online medical records and was able to do so with the laptop, so the marina wifi is somewhat operative.
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We had fish chowder at Ann’s waterfront home and the next day I drove up to Salisbury to return the rental car. I first topped up the fuel and stopped at the UPS Store in Salisbury to return an Amazon item. Google Maps then directed me to the airport by way of back roads that ran through some hilly country and some nice homes.
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At the airport I turned in the car and Eve’s brother in law called me. He was in Salisbury at his doctor’s and asked if I wanted a ride back to Crisfield, yes indeed. After arriving at my dock I warmed up a portion of the chicken mole and rice. It does taste better the next day.
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The past week of activity, the long drive, all added to the pain of my sore hip. I took a day or two of rest. I watched several EA Sports football game simulations and focused on 49’ers and NY Jets games. The simulations had the Jets with their new (old) quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. Of the Jets game simulations I watched, 2 out of 3 were losses. I don’t agree with the simulations, one had Sauce Gardner having a touchdown scored on him. Not gonna happen. They also had Rodgers throwing a couple picks in the 3 games. He only threw 4 all of last year.
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The weather is chilly in the mornings and warming in the afternoon but still a little too cool to go out on the bike without a jacket. The first time I tried to pedal the bike I broke the chain. Walmart had no bike chains, but I found a chain tool with repair links and bought that. Back at the dock the chain tool, which is supposed to break open the chain, instead broke itself, useless. I was able to use a repair link in spite of that and finished by oiling each link with 3-in-One oil. The bike needed air in the tires and was good to go. I was able to bike to the wine shop for more pinot noir.
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I was following up on my Pilot gasoline scam reimbursement after a week of waiting for $5.47 credit on my card. The customer service rep I talked to gave me a long hold while she did something, then reiterated the numbers relating to the transaction, then said she had to contact other Pilot personnel and she would get back to me. Sure. It’s not the amount of money, it’s the principle, like I’m a good citizen reporting their malfunctioning pump, and they don’t do anything, just let the malfunctioning pump continue to overcharge customers. Evil.
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I needed to get transportation to Pocomoke to have blood drawn at the VA clinic. A local lady has a sort of Uber type of service but I was cautioned that she is very busy and can get booked up. I called her the day before I needed her and she arranged me on her schedule. She gave me a huge discount because I am a veteran.
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The next day was chilly and rainy. I was hoping my visit to the clinic wouldn’t take a long time. I was hoping my ride would not have to sit around waiting. Not to worry. I was almost a half hour early for my appointment but I could see the receptionist was checking my name off a list, the last one on the list, I must be the last one to see the phlebotomist. I waited about 5 minutes, was called in, blood drawn, and out I went. My ride was returning from the Hardee’s fast food place and we were on our way back to the marina.
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The chill and rain came along with a gale warning. Indeed, the winds became stronger and SUNSPLASH was rocking and rolling like at sea. A message: Your Avocados are Ready. The avocados were at Eve’s house. We negotiated, I will purchase more wine for her if we can have a Mexican Night dinner at her house. I also shopped for breakfast items. Blue Corn Nachos are not for breakfast. She shopped for taco ingredients.
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Back in her kitchen I prepared the guacamole using my new citrus squeezer and some of the mild salsa that I still had from St. Marys. The squeezer was amazing, producing maybe 5 times as much juice as hand squeezing. The guac was ready as Ann and Teri arrived.
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Eve blanched a package of shrimp and fried mahi mahi almost as well as I would have done, ha ha. What a great cook, her I mean. We had seaweed salad, oriental mixed salad, ingredients for pico de gallo, and of course soft taco skins. She roasted a couple to make a couple of crispy taco shells. We were enjoying the tacos along with margaritas. Later I would say, Too Much Tequila. I ended up back at the marina.
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The next morning I couldn’t find my lovely phone, did it fall out of my pocket again? It does fall out from time to time. I had a lot more stuff in my fridge than before but I didn’t remember loading it up, didn’t remember much about returning to the marina. Too Much Tequila.
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I pedaled up to Eve’s house, bringing a hacksaw I had borrowed. When I arrived she smirked at me. I tried to call you but it rang on my kitchen counter. I had left the phone there. She said Ann had taken me back to the marina. I regret not remembering.
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For lunch I ate a salad made of leftover taco and guacamole ingredients. Believe me it was not bad with mahi and shrimp along with seaweed salad, etc. I had a glass of wine with it from a bottle left over from the dinner party. It was Stone Cellars cabernet savignon. My wine glass already had some residue from last night and I wiped it out with a paper towel. Odd granular debris there. I noticed the wine was cloudy and very full of precipitate. I looked online at reviews.
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Most of the reviews are not original, many are just reiterations of the spiel the wine company puts out. Quaffable. None of them said anything about precipitates. I finished the bottle making sure I closely observed any precipitates. It was late in the afternoon, in fact, it was 5 o’clock somewhere. I then opened a box of Black Box pinot noir and it had no precipitates. I checked.
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It was Saturday and I missed the morning cartoons that I could watch in St. Marys on one of the Jacksonville channels. Up here I have no TV and there is no Boater’s Lounge anymore to watch TV. I guess I will be watching YouTube a lot.
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I stayed up to watch the first round of the NFL draft. You don’t do this unless you are really hooked. My NY Jets had made a trade for Aaron Rodgers and as a result traded first round picks with the Green Bay Packers. They gave their #13 pick to the Packers and received the Packers #15 pick, try saying that real fast. No harm, just two positions lower in the picks, right? No, the Jets really needed to draft an offensive tackle and there were several available right up to pick #14, but that was it, the rest of the available tackles would be considered new recruits that would have to be developed, the Jets are in a win-now mode, they needed someone who could start in the NFL without a lot of training. Maybe the EA Sports simulators are not wrong.
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I watched simulated games of the San Francisco 49’ers. I was following Sam Darnold who had been traded away by the Jets to the Panthers who used him successfully, but traded him to the 49’ers. It is an interesting situation. The 49’ers are a very successful team, but their quarterback lineup took a terrible turn last season. They had Trey Lance as a new draftee with a lot of talent and Jimmy Garopolo as a veteran who is considered a good quarterback. Both were injured and couldn’t play. They had a raw rookie, Brock Purdy who had to play, and play he did. He was cruising along unbeaten and looking like more than the last player selected in the draft. He was labeled “Mr. Irrelevant”, as the very last draft pick is very unlikely to make the team and get to play. Even he was injured. They had an old veteran, Josh Johnson, who could play, but not at the level required. They died at the end of the season. During the off season they traded for Sam Darnold.
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Trey Lance is recovering from a broken bone, I think, and Brock Purdy has had Tommy John surgery, which is a complicated elbow ligament repair. Both injuries could sideline these players during the beginning of the year. Here comes Sam Darnold, ready to show what he can do. The simulators were generous with him. It will be interesting to see what transpires about 4 months from now.
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So, I haven’t posted. I need a picture and it has been too bleak outside, bleak and windy, rainy, too. I’ve been preoccupied with the larger issues of the day, the NFL Draft, and restoration of Honda Super 90 motorcycles. None of this should be surprising. I always wanted a Honda Super 90. The Beachboys wheelied one on stage during one of their early live concerts. Little Honda. All right.
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This time it didn’t start like that, it was a YouTube invite to see a restoration of a Ducati. Then I saw other motorcycle restoration videos. Motorcycles are cool because you can take them all apart and put them all back together again in just a few hours. But things that are simple and quick can become complicated and slow, just like that.
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The image is of an old guy restoring a Honda Super 90. There are ten episodes of it on YouTube.
The first episode is at: https://youtube.com/watch?v=9ScjnsDWT1c&feature=share