Now to the title of the post. When we lived in the small, lovely seaside town of Tirrenia, the assignment I had meant we often hosted visitors with an interest in the project. (That is a way more complicated topic). Hosting often included taking the visitors to lunch or dinner. Among the other charms of the town, we had 3-4 favorite restaurants and almost a dozen others when we decided on a change. Gulliver’s however, was the hands-down favorite for taking out-of-town visitors, especially large groups. A dish they were known for was their grilled pork chop; a wood fired grill of course. What made me think of this yesterday was watching an episode of Bobby Flay when he did a double-bone chop. It was almost as good looking as what we would get at Gullivers. We never asked, but he either had someone in his family or a good friend as a supplier because no one else in town could match him for this particular dish. Everything else was good, too.

Like most of the restaurants, the house wine was not served in bottles, but from pitchers. You simply ordered red or white. We were in Tuscany after all and the house wines were not something mass-produced for export. Our personal go-to place was Cocoriba, a wonderful trattoria/pizzaria a ten-minute walk from the house. This was where I fell in love with wood-fired pizza and because we began going there when we first arrived, we became regulars during their off-season. Tirrenia is a tourist town for Europeans and Asians. We had been told the place surged with tourists June through August and it certainly did. We were always assured of a table though because we were regulars.

In discussion with a couple of former bosses, I knew I didn’t want to be a “road warrior” spending 100+ days a year traveling. Since Hubby was still on active duty and I had my pension, salary and extensive benefits were not primary concerns. That meant I could stay away from the Fortune 500 culture of being one of thousands of employees.

The company I found was small; I think I was like the 143rd person they hired. Salary was mid-range and virtually no benefits. Veterans made up 80+ percent of the employees and the owners knew everyone by name and often their spouses’ names. There were either five or seven original employees and they shared a strong sense of camaraderie. Another aspect of the culture I admired was forthrightness from the leadership. The owner would hold periodic meetings with employees and act on what recommendations they could. For example, as the business grew, they added a benefit of continuing education in your related field. Yes, it was on a reimbursement basis, but 100% if made an A in a course; 80% for a B, and 70% if a C. Granted the benefit wasn’t useful for everyone, yet good for others.

A particularly important point was the clear understanding that employees might need to seek a higher salary with another company. In the private sector if you plan to do so, you literally “sneak around” so if a better offer isn’t available, you don’t risk losing your job for “being disloyal”. The owners were sincere when they explained it was okay to seek more. Their only request was to let them know if a new offer was made by another company. In most cases they couldn’t match the increase and wished the employee all the best. More unusual than such openness, in those occasions when an former employee discovered “the grass in not always greener”, they would be welcomed back if a position was open. That’s rare in the corporate world.

On the service side, take the Airbnb business that came about whenever. Whoever originally came up with the idea has now opened the way for related businesses; companies that handle everything for the owners; added “concierge” services that will link you to experiences as part of your rental. Now there are individuals who specialize in the management. Next up is a service for RVs where instead of a regular RV park, people who own property such as farms and vineyards are making spaces available – I don’t recall the name of that service. A few years back I did an article for the weekly paper about Swimply, where individuals can rent their personal pools (https://swimply.com/). This one came about because someone lived next door to a home with a lovely pool and they noticed it was rarely used (kind of like us). The individual approached the neighbor, made arrangements, and it worked so well, they approached others and the idea/company was born. How can you not love the freedom there is for such things?

Granted, there are lots of attempts that fail and the best one can hope for is the individual recognizes the pending failure and lets go before adverse financial impacts occurs. In fact, I know some of these failures and it can be devastating if the individual doesn’t face reality in time. The freedom to try though is what is important.

I like chicken mole, but I’m not going to try and make it from scratch and in the past I’ve had only the paste type and never quite got the mix to the consistency I want. I asked Hubby to look for already prepared and he found it in a box, just like a gravy mix I use at times. Menu last night was chicken mole, lime-cilantro rice, and adobe-roasted street corm. Yes, rice was a box mix and corn was frozen to reheat in the microwave. As it turns out, the mole is enough for three meals as the chicken breast were large and we have leftovers, plus there is enough in the box to make one more meal. Instead of sauteing the chicken and simmering it in the mole, Hubby grilled it and I then put it in the mole while the corn was cooking in the microwave. This really did make the process easier. Hubby of course used cumin and mesquite seasoning as well as cilantro and roasted garlic infused olive oil to prep the chicken.

We did not begin nor end the evening with margaritas and we had run out of Corona Premium. Ah well, we did have other beer on hand even if we weren’t completely authentic.

Anyway, back to the different shows on this channel. The workshops used are also of interest in looking at them compared to what most people can have in their garages. Good friends of ours are a great example. The husband has always been into cars and for a long time restored Jaguars. He usually had three and sometimes four with only one at a time actually able to run. He later got into a regional racing circuit – I don’t recall which one – and Hubby went with him twice to help out in the pit. I went along as his wife and I are the original friends and we did “girl stuff” while they prepped for the race.

One of the other things about the shows are learning about the different companies that provide parts, services,  and supplies. Niche companies, many of which are small business, intrigue me. They are a strength of free enterprise, entrepreneurship, hard work, and often passion about a particular area.

Right before things unraveled on April 17th, I had a long day Wed, April 15th, but it included a delightful night at the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada. I was the speaker for their monthly program with my presentation about my experience in co-authoring Mystery of the Last Olympian: Titanic’s Tragic Sister Britannic with Richie Kohler. Richie’s presentations about diving the ship are of course the authentic adventure and I explained in the first minute, “This is not that.” Here is the link to the YouTube archive. The presentation is right at an hour long, so I recommend settling in with a favorite beverage if you decide to watch. It was a hybrid in-person (full house) and Zoom event. https://www.youtube.com/@TheDivingmuseum/videos

We’ll see what the week brings in the sense of I should have priorities appropriately realigned. This is truly one of those weeks when I don’t need any more unexpected tasks thrown in. Keeping fingers crossed.

In 1994, Pat was appointed to the American Battle Monuments Commission and subsequently to the Site and Design Committee of the WWII memorial. From 2006 -2016 she met the Ely senior class at the WWII Memorial, briefing them on the history, design and construction of the memorial.”

After the transition into regular Army when women selected specific branches to serve in, she chose Military Police, which was definitely not the path most women selected at the time.

I never met her personally, but we all knew of her. At the time she was selected to be Brigadier General (one-star), that was the highest rank a woman could expect to achieve. That has to do with the limited positions women could hold; another thing that has changed considerably. A quick word about the American Battle Monuments Committee. That is one of those highly prestigious positions cherished by anyone interested in American history. Once appointed to the Committe it is usually permanent. The long time many individuals serve on it is one reason why so few positions ever open.

I made lunch for a couple of friends who were alone. It was actually a brunch menu with raspberry brie tarts while finished up the bacon, potato/ham casserole, corn muffins, and some fruit. Friend brought cheesecake topped with lemon curd.

We have boneless leg of lamb Hubby  will roast tonight and we’ll have potatoes and green beans to go with it. Although we usually do lamb chops, they didn’t look good at the store and the other did. Obviously, we’ll have leftover cheesecake for dessert. Hubby did eat the ears off the chocolate bunny this morning and that will get consumed over the next few days.

Not sure what the kids did; they will call later tonight and get us caught up. I did book our flight for the short trip in June to see the season’s end show. This is where all the classes from kinder-ballet through the upper levels, plus tap, jazz, and modern perform. It will be the first time we’ve seen granddaughter dance in person.

Lots to do in the week ahead of course and now I’m headed downstairs to see what happens with the lamb. Hubby searched through about half-dozen recipes. This one is pretty basic with olive oil, rosemary, garlic, and maybe one or two other ingredients.

Spear and other fishing is different; going back to sharks expending as little energy as needed. If someone has already caught or wounded a fish, then swooping in to snatch the fish requires very little energy for the shark. An angler battling to bring a fish in may suddenly realize most of the fish has bee yanked off the line. This is “paying the shark tax”. Our local Keys radio station has a fishing report three times a day; morning, noon, late afternoon and “Captain Matt” is matter-of-fact about this reality. The one thing that can happen is drawing multiple sharks in to create a feeding frenzy. As Captain Matt says, in that case, just move on to a new location.

They really are a bit of a bother to eat, but we have them about once a month. Hubby splits and grills them and we each have a half. The second meal with them will usually be cacciatore style or hunter which is the onion, celery, carrot, and brown gravy mixture. Both of those versions are even messier to manage – the two-napkin kind of meal.

I suspect my parents never had them because it’s not the kind of thing they would have noticed. Chicken of course in many ways and I’ve mentioned before, it was always the whole chicken to be cut up. That is the most economical and it really doesn’t take long to cut one up. We don’t do it because I’m not a fan of dark meat except I will buy a package of bone-in chicken thighs when I am going to do coq au vin. In fact, I have a few in the freezer and should probably use them soon.