Text 2393, 57 rader
Skriven 2013-07-13 00:37:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: picnic trip 859
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We didn't get up for a long time, which was fine as all we
really had to do was prepare for the trip - figure out what to
pack (for them), go to Costco for gas and milk pills, the Indian
grocer for a special treat for us, and the Food Lion for a
special treat for the picnic. Then a break home to recuperate
before our trip to the Olney Ale House for the day's special,
half price burgers, of which Dale has spoken on the echo.

The restaurant is a half hour away, but the Shipps deem it
worth the journey, which is a tribute and I think a merited one.

When we got there, somewhat before 6, the parking lot was almost
full, and Dale dropped us off and went to find a place, which
took 10-15 minutes. We were still waiting for a table when he
joined us, and we continued to wait for 5 or 10 more. 

We all had 8-oz burgers with your choice of various cheeses for
a quite reasonable 5.15 (the cheeses at this table were Cheddar,
Cheddar, and Invisible Cheddar) and a pitcher of Fordham Lager,
a lightly hopped brew that all of us could enjoy; however, I
augmented my intake with a Guinness. I liked the Guinness more.

Burgers: medium-rare looked kind of medium, but my rare was a
true rare, and I found it quite nice, the meat marbled but not
grossly fat - if I can get meat truly rare I don't mind if it is
a lottle on the lean side; if I can't, the fattier the better, up
to maybe 50 or 60 percent. I am an extremist in this department.
Everybody was satisfied. These come with fries, which I thought
exemplary - crisp outside, soft with potato flavor inside, salty
but not grossly salty. Dale told me that they had been better the
last time, but then they had gone at an off hour, when the cook
could pay more attention to each order (the downside of off hours
is that the kitchen staff might not be the A team, but sometimes
they come through).

Back at home, after several hours of chewing the fat, we turned
our attentions to these big jars of cashews. They had already
opened a Berkley & Jensen 34 oz tin, so we started with those:
nutty, almost grainy aroma, good snap, quite decent. A lot of
broken ones, but that might have been because they had been
there for some time, and sizable inroads had been made already,
and the fragments had settled toward the bottom.

The competition was from Costco: the Kirkland brand, in an
identical size and similar shaped tin labeled 40 oz. These nuts
were bigger by at least 25% but had an oily aroma that I enjoy
but many may not. They were slightly more roasted than the BJ's
brand, but that might be batch variation more than anything
else. Gail thought that BJ's were crisper despite their greater
age; I thought the opposite.

Both were good. I had no real preference, though they were somewhat
different.

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