A Good Time Was Had By Me

Today was what a weekend day should be: relaxed, lazy, yet productive and full of minor accomplishments.

After a late start, the first endeavor involved going to the Dallas Farmers' Market, where we saw this:









Before loading up with sacks of tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, okra, and random other such necessities, a visit to Paul's Sweet Roasted Corn was in order. For just $3, Paul and his folks will sell either roasted ears of corn or, my favorite, large cups filled with corn kernels that have been sliced from the cobs. In addition to the roasted corn kernels, they put huge globs of butter in the cup, along with mayonaisse and/or sour cream. The buyer then decides how to finish out the snack; most people tend to choose lots of chile powder, Mexican hot sauce, lime juice, pepper, and various spices. After the cup full of goodies is stirred and mixed with a plastic spoon, the corn becomes a delightful and energizing snack.


After the snack and a quick dash though the sheds, I had a trunk full of goodies for the coming week.


Then, it was off to Vern's Kitchen for lunch.




The exclusive focus of Vern's Kitchen is soul food. And Vern and her crew serve up some excellent soul food. The offerings include: short ribs cooked until the meat falls off the bone; meat loaf; beef stew; chicken-fried steak; chittlins; chicken and dressing; pepper steaks; and pigs' feet. For "sides," they serve collard greens; black-eyed peas; green beans; yams; and a host of other stuff. We had chicken-fried steak and ribs, with sides including collard greens, green beans, and yams. It was outstanding! The people behind the counter are very friendly and extremely accommodating. While the menu is not what I'd call "heart-healthy," I'd say its good for every other part of me.

The rest of the day was spent on unproductive but interesting exploits. A visit to two "model home remodels" yielded plenty of envy about other people's recent home upgrades, but also plenty of ideas that could be done less expensively, so maybe it was worthwhile. A trip to the grocery store, where no vegetable were purchased, yielded massive stores of meat, including beef in the form of New York strip and lamb in the for of lamb chops.

And now, here I sit, trying to figure out how to have a good time like this every day.