Less Hustle More Coffee

George fixed a fine meal Saturday night of pork chops, sauteed spinach with pine nuts and potatoes and corn. It was all so good.

The spinach is one of my favorites that we took away from a show called “Spain….On the Road Again” that had Gweneth Paltrow in it. It calls for the spinach to be sauteed in a really good EVOO, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, pine nuts added and a bit of fresh lemon juice which along with the olive oil and pine nuts make a great taste! And the pork chops were pretty tasty too.

Saturday afternoon/evening I was able to get started on the next video. Being that I cleaned most of the week and finished it Saturday morning put me in an excellent position to play with that this weekend. So great progress made. I do need to film a little segment for the “value added” portion, sometime this week or weekend. But I should be able to finish the video by the end of the weekend.

Around 11:00 yesterday I quit working on the video as we were meeting my Aunt and Uncle and Mom in Columbia. George had to stop at a gun store on the way to get a gun repaired. So we gave ourselves an extra hour an a half but it did not take very long at all. So we headed on down to Columbia and hung out on the square until our reservation time after driving around a bit.

George was excited to see places he never sees. We are always sitting on the sofa on our devices, all of us, including Mom, so while he has been to Columbia numerous times, he’s never been shopping there. He saw a gun store, and outdoor store, a baby shop, and he said “we are going to have to come back here and shop some day”. So, it’s really nice to have a hubby that likes to cook and shop! 😀

We drove around one of the local parks near the shop. I remember this area mainly as a ball park in my days growing up. And I believe the ball parks are still around that area.

Here is the court house taken through the car window. I have a video shot of it but will save that for the 3rd video or so coming down the pike. (I actually have enough footage to be several videos out now with all the Texas trip and now this outing). I kinda like that. And hope to get in a regular rhythm soon but I have to stop and figure out a few things about storage and back ups and my security system is about to be outdated with the new updates coming to Mac – so will have a brief interruption to get all that figured out. But back to Columbia…..

I guess I failed to say that this is my hometown of Columbia, TN. I grew up here. It is a quaint little town for the most part. The square area was not really where any of us hung out though back then. It was mainly open Monday through Saturday and you went only if you had business there. It is much the same today but there are more restaurants and even tap rooms and breweries and ice cream shops all about the area now. Back then beer was only drank at places everyone called “honky tonks” and quite frankly it was looked down upon. Now the breweries are like coffee shops all across America and a place for gathering like coffee, not a night club.

Excuse me for saying it but isn’t “honky tonk” considered a racial term now? I mean if we choose to be politically correct? lol. I guess I can say that word as there is a restaurant in Nashville actually called that in name. George says that the term “honky tonk” collectively is not as it’s meaning is a beer joint, lol. I beg to differ. Because “honky” is what a black person has called a white person for years, among other names. And if we were to tack on certain titles to the word “tonk” it would not fly. So I think I will take offense then to the “honky tonk” term. I am just making a point. I really don’t care who calls what or what calls who. But anyway all that to say that it was quite different back then.

While I’m on the subject of race here and speaking of past history. And in doing some research on line, I verified that there was a business district that was a black business district on a hill in the offshoot streets from the square. It was known as the “Mink Slide”. Don’t worry, it’s NOT my term, so don’t get mad at me, but apparently an official term that is in the history pages of that area. I was told growing up not to use the term in case it offended someone but in the realm of history since it was actually called that, I will mention that here only.

I’ll continue sharing some pics from the square. Then I need to get ready and head to work!

We went to the Taps on Main while walking around and had a C’Zanne’s while waiting for time for reservations at Puckett’s. Here it is below.

George and Uncle Ken took interest in this cool old car parked on the square. Got a pic of Mom and Aunt Martha here as we walked in to Pucketts.

George may have forgotten how to wear his mask! It was sooooo good to see everyone and to be able to eat out again with everyone.

We were incredibly full but we still had some Hattie Jane’s ice cream after.

What a wonderful day! A wonderful time with family. It was good time to go at 2:30 as we missed lunch and evening crowds. We will have to keep that in mind!

OK I’ve got to get ready and get to work. I’m almost caught up but have a few things I need to do today before the next payroll run. And after work I’m fixing chili. I have been craving it for a while. I crave it in August and also again in October – every year. I’ve not had many cravings this year but I think now it is more of a habit. Anyway it’s spicy so it will have some flavor and taste good!