Summer's lease hath all too short a date

I was reminded of the Bard's words by Harry Eyres in Saturday's FT Weekend, and, while his solution for putting these fleeting days in context involved going to a festival in the Orkney Islands, my way of dealing with the end of summer usually includes attending a baseball game. This month, Heather and I had the pleasure of attending one American League and one National League game, the latter having occured last Thursday evening at Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine.



The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958. I have always been fascinated by this event, and its accompanying tragedy (if you are from New York) of the Giants moving to San Francisco that same year. The moves were both a reflection of the population shift in the United States in the postwar era and the profit-making concerns of baseball team owners. Anyone who remembers the short-lived television show Brooklyn Bridge may share my regret that this sad episode in New York history was not included, because the show ended with the announcement that the Soviet Union launched Sputnik (which, conicidentally, occured during the 1957 World Series between the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Braves-- quiz: where did the Braves play before moving to the Midwest?).


The view from the parking lot. It is a nice setting, very different from a crowded street corner in Flatbush (Ebbets field was demolished in 1960).

We had really good seats, courtesy of a Travelzoo special.

After the Giants' and Dodgers' departures, the National League expanded and added the New York Mets in 1962. The Mets played at the old Polo Grounds, former home of the Giants. Ah, the good ol' days of non-corporate stadium names! (... Wrigley Field is an exception but gets a pass because it is so old).

Jetsons-era architecture.

Thursday night game in mid-July.

Who's paying attention to the action on the field?

Unlike Detroit a few weeks ago, summer evenings in L.A. are cool.

The stadium's renovation includes this uniform script for all concession stands, signs, and staff shirts. Yet another reason why design-wise California is the Japan of America.

A victory wave! The Dodgers won 2-0.

Aberdeen sausage

Hello again. Heather and I have returned to Nashville after a 9-day trip to Michigan and Ohio. Unfortunately, many of those pics are on Heather's laptop, which is not here, so I will briefly post on an interesting meal we had before we left town two weeks ago.
In Nashville at least, Whole Foods is the place to go for quality in-house sausage. The selection is wide and evenly distributed between pork and other meats, except for lamb, which is one of a few reasons why the Whole Foods in Omaha is quite a bit better than the store in Nashville (this may surprise some, but Omaha is full of surprises). Regardless, I recentlly bought something called Aberdeen sausage, which I had never heard of, and which I now hope will become a regular item.


Beautiful links. The sausage is Scottish in origin and is made mostly of beef. Interesting additional ingredients are bacon and oats! This is hearty stuff.


Green and yellow string beans were in season at the market, which provided the perfect side dish. An easy bean side dish begins with sauteing onions in olive oil, then adding chopped tomatoes/sauce, a little broth, herbs (not necessary) and the beans.


I browned these in an enameled cast-iron skillet and cooked them in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes. It's o.k. if they're a bit over-done as long as they are not pierced before cooking, which would render them too dry.

A good pairing. In the winter, these would go well with root vegetables.

This meal reminded us of the typical "gastropub" fare that we experienced in England five years ago. Instead of offering the usual fish and chips, gastropubs, which are to England what bistros are to France, often serve platters of local sausage accompanied by whatever is in season at the time.

Woodland Wine Merchant does it again!

The go-to red for the summer has been Notro (Sangiovese from Mendoza), which sells for $8, but two weeks ago the best wine value in Nashville was this Spanish red, selling at $7.

More "filler" posts tomorrow-Friday, ahead of our 9-day trip to Los Angeles!

Detroit Tigers, Fourth of July

Posting from WATERFORD, MICHIGAN.
Good morning... not a lot of time to write, but here are some pics from Comerica Park yesterday. Tigers lost 8-1 in the smoggy Detroit heat.


Modern friendly confines.


With Liam Bennett (aka Lou Grant).


Napkin in the heat.

Kind of like the old school Tigers, down by 6 runs.

Strike!

RIP, Ernie Harwell.

Ray Liotta?

The Georgia Peach.

Day trip: Birmingham, Saturday, June 26

Ask anyone what the closest city to Nashville is, and the response will probably be Memphis, or maybe Knoxville or Chattanooga. Those responses are incorrect, and, unless you consider Bowling Green, Kentucky a city, the two closest cities of any size are both in Alabama, with Huntsville about 100 miles away and Birmingham about three hours away at 191 miles. In fact, the second-closest large city to Nashville is Louisville, which is 174 miles from here. So, Memphis, although in the same state, is third on the list of big cities, 212 miles to the west, and, if you have ever been there, you know it has a decidedly different feel to it than the state capital. As John Grisham wrote, the two largest cities in the state of Mississippi are Memphis and New Orleans! Ha! But enough geographic hurly-burly...


Well, one more fun fact: If you drive down I-24 to Chattanooga, you actually go through a corner of Georgia to get to the closest city in Tennessee!


Birmingham is known as the "Pittsburgh of the South," and the Red Mountain district certainly validates this claim (obviously its steely past is the real reason for the nickname, but the look of the city's downtown neighborhoods make for an unexpected comparison). This old carriage house is Penney Patterson's new home!

A nice reunion!

Our visit came on the day after an epic party, the main attraction of which was this beer pong table hauled up from Tuscaloosa. Click to enlarge and admire the meticulous detail with which the Alabama fight song was painted on the outer edges.

The fifty yard line, which no doubt seemed more blurry and distant as the evening progressed...

A familiar sight in dishwashers of football-loving college alumni!

Much of the original details of the house, built in 1912, remain. Note the heavy wood beams across the ceiling.

Stairs on the morning after... no traces of Bluto or D-Day!

Memories of our place on Blair Blvd. in Hillsboro Village flooded back as we walked through these doorways, which are typical of pre-Depression architecture in this part of the country.

The downstairs bathroom... a touch of class.

Classic! Penney's housemate Mary (whom we have not yet met) found this antique lift-top desk, which works well with the early twentieth-century tiles in the downstairs bathroom.

The steep descent... South Side Slopes?

After a great lunch at V. Richards (amazing place- another post for another time), the three of us went to a place that Heather and I missed on two consecutive trips to Atlanta for reasons too tedious to mention here. To our surprise, however, Flip Burger Boutique opened a location in Birmingham!

This unexpected find, for someone who had already eaten a burger earlier (the "James Beard" at V. Richards) was a gourmet ground beef Valhalla. For others, merely saliva-inducing.

The booth's lamp: a cow palace Cloud Gate!

Hmm... foie gras or kimchi on our sandwiches? This sure isn't Primanti Brothers!

Every city has a few burger places that try this kind of stuff (e.g. Burger Up in Nashville- mixed reviews so far; will go back in a couple of weeks and post), but Flip is the real deal. I got the butcher's cut, Heather the Korean BBQ and Penney the turkey. All good, and actually cooked to the right temperature! The pictures would not do them justice.

Read the fine print! Flip has wisely decided to join the anti-high fructose corn syrup trend, eschewing an ingredient that is helping make America the most obese country in the world!

Heather and I were at Fido in Nashville last night, where we noticed organic Heinz ketchup, sweetened with... real sugar! As some of you know, that company is in the process of returning to natural ingredients.

Cursory research yields the following tidbit, which makes us wonder if it's a half-truth. I suppose the point is to avoid too many sugared drinks, except, of course, Miller High Life.

Thanks again to Penney for the great weekend! We hope to see you in Nashville soon, and look forward to exploring more of The Magic City!

Is this what Beck was singing about?

Almost local... it's peach season in Alabama. These were trucked up to the Franklin farmer's market last Saturday. Ripe and juicy!

The perfect summer dessert (with vanilla ice cream).

Local blueberries, also from Franklin.
Thanks to Robin and Kristen about the low-temp pasteurized milk idea! I'll post about that another day...

Heather emerges from the comps cave for some morning sun!

See you all at Sam's bar in the village for the World Cup tomorrow morning at 8:30!