Popis Place Sarasota FL

Traveling and eating out on the trail always invoke the food and beverage tourists purchase, because I want to believe that it’s what people come for although I never see it on their plates. I want to believe that people stop each other in the streets to talk about it, in the barbershops and bingo halls. But this is folly and and my little schoolboy dream dies another death in another small town. Chicken Fried Steak is just this meal and Popi did a good job with the smothering of gravy although not as chunky as I’d envisioned and the biscuits below deck showed only their edges when I attempted to raise her. Mind you I’m writing this review in Peaches Cafe because I just looked at the menu and what hit me right between the eyes? CFS, I’m tired of saying it and tired of writing it so it will remain an acronym hence forth. And I really can’t tolerate chicken for breakfast but it’s hugh in the south so I’ll keep beating it into my mouth while trampsing the on the cities fringes and believe chance is soon in the air perhaps further off on the horizon. The staff is incredibly happy and fun and if they served alcohol, I’d probably belly up to the counter and pop a few at Popis. The music and wall art are also fun and 70ss cool although the Ringling Brothers memorabilia is strewn way too heavy from city hall to the trailer at the end of dirt road just before the swamp. And I know, prices are going up on everything and inflation and war and family and disease (sound familiar to anyone, hint – Revelations) however closing out at twenty two n change hurts more than just the pocket. It’s a deeper hurt, one of days now and forever gone to never be seen nor experienced ever again, at least in my lifetime.

Siesta Key Top 10? NOPE!

I’ve got some Key knowledge but I don’t understand the term, perhaps it’s a shape thing and there are too many to know them all, they stretch all the way up and down the west coast. Someone told me “it’s a top ten beach in the country”! And to this I smiled and replied something to the effect of “oh really? Wow, that’s so interesting”. This is my common response to anyone who I’m trying to get out of the conversation with and away from as soon as humanly possible. The water is flatter than a pizza box as is the sand. It’s as if a giant roller rolled over this Key a multitude of times,back and forth nice and slow to really press it in. What’s so great about that? Beaches have waves, at least the ones I go to and the sand is loosely arranged in clumps and troughed depths and you can see little kiddos building sand castles which ain’t here either. The gulls look ghetto just posting up in militarized configurations looking for opportunities to jack someone’s something. When it’s low tide you gotta walk forever to the knee high deep end of the questionable Gulf water giving more space for the people to lay blankets and play the radio and drink and dance but that wasn’t happening here either. Just a bunch of gods waiting room patients creaking along the toe high shore breakers. And no dogs allowed, as in never ever.

Yelp review for Popi’s Place!

Please click the link to read my review of Popi’s Place

I don’t have my laptop to cut and paste 😞

https://yelp.to/WCswMhNwo3

Thanksgiving Food at Aldi Experience

“Look at that” I say to myself “these huge companies are killing mother earth but first sending her out to the world’s markets to sell pieces of herself and one day we’re all gonna pay a price for this treatment, unless we break the chain and buy local. From farms and farmers markets, especially around the holidays when possible. But for now, I’m liking Aldi for it’s specialty items that aren’t the run of the mill grocery store stuffs .

And as I stroll the aisles of goods, I think about the true meaning of Thanksgiving which is but a week away. Apparently there are people coming to see, so I’m the cook again, which is fine by me, but I live with the animals and they’re allergic to everything that moves and I’m not sure what they’re thinking but I agreed anyway. Maybe with my spiked cider they’ll loosen up enough for the annual touch football game – “Red 13! Green 84 hut – hut – hike!! Go long, buttonhook around the donkey stalls”!

So extra sweet potatoes ($1.79 for a nice net full, approximately four pounds, butternut squash is well priced as well. I think I’ll skin and stuff them this year, or shall I’ve def world famous soup?

Irish Butter and heavy cream to cook with – cheeses and charcuterie to set out early for hors d’oeuvres with some canned beluga caviar I have always handy.

I’m quite ambitious and can throw down big time in la cuchina, but living in an RV can limit ones culinary prowess. So I’ll return for pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce, I do hope this is the year that I open the can on time. I’m just not sure if its sold here, or if they have a turkey even – as I left without my list. Tom Turkey (or Tina) has a two day spices citrus brine ice bath to be plunged down into the awaiting five gallon pail. Or perhaps I’ll just stick an apple up it’s butt and serve it raw, I mean, what’s a little salmonella between friends?

This should be interesting.

Lowes Knows Something I Suppose

Nov 5, 2023

I went to the blue home improvement store which was further away than the orange home improvement store to mix things up a bit. Needing a three position spigot adapter I figured “it’s probably in plumbing”, but deciding to inquire first to a pumpkin looking lady (Twas Halloween Day), I was redirected to the Garden area and she didn’t pressure me for a Lowes credit card which was wonderful.

I gotta get on the horse and speak about the morale a bit, pumpkin lady was sweet but the fellow with the flare vest wasn’t pleasant. He was an experienced older fella, as he low glided within the ferns in an effort to evade me however I rounded around anticipating his next move and caught up with him at the potted annuals. Everywhere I go, flowers and plants seem to talk to me and I always want to be in the garden with all of them.

As expected, he was curt and rudely unhelpful, responding to my question while walking away. With three people in the entire store, I’d have thought his question receiving bank would have still had availability.

They had two positions adapters and a brass four position with line level On / OFF switches and I think about corporate and 1984 and how I feel as the CEO Big Brother stares into my face and soul on the Lowe’s Channel thru the large orb ornaments hung high upon the large selection of Christmas trees, on Halloween! Christmas trees are be ring sold on Halloween Day and Christmas song came up on my radio the very next day.

How strange – to have a two and a four but not a three. So I bought both the two and the four and the price was thirty three thirty three which was weird but a fun and odd Halloween checkout moment.

Beef O’Bradys – Thrice

Always located in shopping/strip malls, outside seating and paint colors carbon copied from SC to FL (Florida – Beefs home) – so search pointed Kelly green wooden highlights, usually two to three stores down from a chain supermarket – and you’re likely to bump into one.

There’s no hostess – signage reads “seat yourself at any clean table”, the locals consider the menu “very exciting” and I read it by it’s pictures, scanning two pages at a time in a childishly circumloqusacious manner. Lunch on the back with desserts the previous page and I’m wondering who orders the Strawberry Margaritas and the Original Ruben?, on St. Patrick’s Day perhaps but not before nor after.

Beefs they say used to not serve hard liquor, but you can get any drink you want now – it’s the “family friendly” initial concept that kept the booze and booze hounds out, but Beefs loosened up on that issue eventually.

I always picture a buff Irishman being the owner that throws the fellow in the corner out upon his derriere, who moments prior fell asleep with his face slumped down in the peanut bowl because he had too many spirits. But that doesn’t happen and they do not have bar peanuts, but I’m always fantasizing and dreaming up scenarios in my head but maintaining conversation – sort of. Just a lot of nods of “yes” and verbal “how interesting”ings.

Boneless wings bother me – they are just weird to me, why not call them something else? Baby Legs or Small Stumps or Mini Pegs? I dunno. But until the day they pry my final wing from my cold dead fingers, I’m always and forever going bone in baby.
These three bite wings are a mixed bag of the jumbo party pack wings and the next size down, my preferred size. I always ask to not be served the big jumbo drummettes, I can’t stand them, they’re so obnoxious – and they never listen to me, nobody seems to listen to me nor my requests. Not the waitress and not the cooks apparently, always ignore my simple and quite unobtrusive request about the size and they ignore my “extra crispy” request as well and I find this disturbing.
But if I complain, I’ll get agitated and then it builds and it’s better to not even get me going, I know this those that know me know this – no need for the volcano to erupt over poor order taking and preparing. I guess I get agitated because nobody listens anymore, but not believe me, I’ll try not to deceive you, but I’ve always got so many things to say.

I believe my current record on Wings Wednesday at Beefs is three for five or four for six, thereby having consumed generously from top down on their wing meter that depicts heat levels, it’s pictures within the menu. I’ve steered clear from the top of the thermometer, the reddest color (I’m coming for you soon Mr. Atomic Wing) because I always go with her and although I’ve already eaten and drank and made merry multiple times in her presence, she’s still a classy lady and to go high on the heat index would require many of Beefs big beers, then perhaps feeling a bit tipsy I’ll be distracted from what she’s saying and look around at all of the big TV screens because I don’t have a television at home.
So she’ll drop me off and go shopping and pick me up and drive me home – when that day comes, and it’s coming soon, she’s so agreeable with me and I haven’t a clue as to why.

Little Manatee River State Park

• The moneys been put in the box at the booth, it’s five bucks and The Honor System is used – thena series of slow winding snake turns up the next half mile past the canoe launch and into the parking lot & picnic area where there’s also a little playground set up for screaming kids.
  
  Last week we explored to the East, logic dictates we head West because there’s more land, more trails and a brisk twenty minutes in, past the equestrian area and I had wished I brought my compass . So I looked to the sun, it was my nearing 9:45AM so I made a quick little sundial and determined my bearings, keeping the rays at my right shoulder, a tall pine in the distance for extra measure.
  
  So quickly the terrain can change from soft and slow white sand to fast packed non-silty soil to brown and boggy muddy to green and lush all within a stones throw in any direction.
  Know this friends – you’ll be given no help from signage – only arrows , there are numbers from 15 to 3 – yet, not telling ya anything at all – no maps at the gate, nobody in the booth at the gate – nobody official looking around, so be aware of that if you want to see beyond the next turn. Getting turned around is easier than going straight towards the trails end. I assumed that the 15 I saw, then the 7 I saw then the 3&4 means I’d be on a cylindrical circumnavigation – looping back to the pavement that takes you in and separated the two very different sides of the park.
  
  We came up on Dude Lake and here in this primitive shallow shored lake – along with birds, turtles are sounds unique to my ears, movements in the brush that have the dogs diving into and thrashing within – only to pop out from the other side dumbfounded and disappointed. There are things that are unseen underneath – human penetration is virtually impossible without damaging the plants, vines and thick green entanglements. I believe these are small creatures, whatever they are but emit the most beautiful sounds, whatever they are.Helpful 30Thanks 1Love this 25Oh no 0

TAKE 5

• If you painted over the yellow with white – Take 5 resembles a Kentucky Fried Chicken a bit. I’m here for a big bucket of oil today and Take 5 was a Take 7 for my van – it’s big, the displacement that is, 5.6 which I think equals just under 350 cubic inches. I wasn’t ever much of a synthetic guy, in life and in oil but with engine oils viscosity breaking down with conventional oil after three thousand miles, I converted a few years about the same time I stopped doing my own oil changes, and I do miss them.
  
  Not enough to be a lubeguy – the underground dweller that hasn’t any human interaction, like CHUD – the horror movie every horror movie fan hates but me, it’s a classic! Cabalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers for those that are into acronyms.
  
  The above grounders, with ceiling hung curly blue hoses around them, I thought about green gore and dripping blood because it’s October and everything I see has tinting of Halloween , best holiday by far.
  
  So finger flick lickin’ good hand directionals are lefts n rights until I’m over the target – we chat a bit after the quick accelerated double open palm face flash, these dudes hand me off a water then swarm the tires and fluids, filters and windshield.
  
  My two dogs look perplexed but not threatened – they can get spicy if the vibe ain’t right and that’s telling to me. If my dogs don’t like you, sorry but we can’t hang.
  
  Another fellow showed me my light brown new oil, I skid my finger across the dipstick and smelled it so close I got it on my nose. Unfortunately oil ruined the planet in all of its forms, sure wish we hadn’t discovered it. $116 and a little tax (x 7.5 percent) and I could feel the new sweet Texas crude happily flowing throughout my rigs mechanical veins.

HAPPY ST> RIPPERS DAY

Twas a dark and stormy St. Rippers Day at a weathered old sea-town we all know well – Rockaway Beach NY. Tropical Storm Ophelia rolling in fast, heavy angry and upset. We shuttered up amidst the wind and rain and drank Medalla and Tequila. And sometimes I feel like I’m living a life of illusions and i went to the shore and watched the cool watered waves flow and remembered the tings I done at 116th St. And now I see through this hole in my world young guy gets older – beach bod not what it was, but no longer a life with any confusion but I can still hear the waves song calling me – the pretty girl I kissed low in the sand dune – walking barefoot along the quiet waters -and love was in the air – always. If you remember me, if you get lost, you can always come back and we can walk again together, but honeychild – I have my doubts. Theres no pulling the reigns in upon me and we will both live a lot longer if you live without me.

The musical acts of Part Two of the Double Header Two Days of Mayhem couldn’t perform – Wakala and Depresion Tropical – Cartel and Sleep Well.

The rain never gets me down – gear affixed and POW – right upon our heads, the downpour of Ophelia’s natures surprises then WOW, the bar was filled with more beers and the tequila came with no warnings and we flipped them upside-down one after the next.

When it rains – eat, drink and be merry with your rain gear and your friends – there isn’t great XXL doggish rain gear – I’m starting a new company in the next hour if my morning dew don’t run dry – its a carry over from the day before but a week to go two thousand miles.

This was me fiiiift? or more probable my sixth RIPPERS trip – always a banger of cheesy fries and beers that make you go “humm” and then rip four as a warm up before we hit the water and come back out and go deep into the bar again.

Bloom Botanical Bistro

The medley of honks and horns left little distraction, it’s painful to become aware that I’ve grown immune in my seven weeks back to my town with two left before a much needed departure.

In Lieu of Flowers was tart enough to back it up with a beer and a shot – buying more bar stock in lieu of a cheaper bill wasn’t the focus, supporting Mario’s (& partner) new venture was. Even for the prior business at this large space, I do what I can in the shadows by myself.

I sat outside w/ pups watching the cribs and carriages rolling up to Carvel next door in preparation for the evenings ice cream. These babies all slept and magically awake all at once as one, that is – when the cones arrived. I watched as I forked my Kunk Pao Calamari which once upon a time I believe had peanuts and vegetables which could be a travesty of seafoodie food, yet the sesame seeds worked quite well to compliment this dish, perhaps the calamari could have been a bit tighter without the tougher texture.

To the right there is a door with a few loafers loafing within and just beyond the bar  with a presiding Juan Valdez top hat, clad in a long solid white shirt with an oil seared moustache. His demeanor was unpleasant to me, as his continued stares had my chair inching clockwise years the local traffic rumble and away from the beautifully appointed interior.

This I found particularly disturbing as I began to attempt to enjoy my Mediterranean Artichokes and so too were few of the other few guests. Lightly munching as he bowled himself up and down the bar conversating with staffers and acting peculiar.