Richmond Manor News | August 2023
Well by no means can we fool ourselves that fall isn’t here, and winter is just around the corner. I wish fall and winter weren’t so darn dark, I don’t mind the wind and rain but hate the dark. But then I just must remember it doesn’t last forever and the season is also filled with beautiful color and crisp days and warm cozy evenings, and it won’t be long before we start a new cycle again.
Because of busy crazy schedules we didn’t get an August blog published, we hope you all have enjoyed our fantastic summer and had a good Labor Day weekend.
We also want to rave about our annual Summer Potluck we had on August 27th. I think we had about 27 there, we enjoyed an abundance of fantastic food and had a great time talking, laughing, and enjoying everyone who was there. We were lucky and had some new faces join us, but several were missing because of conflicting schedules. So put August 25th on your calendars for next year’s party and let’s see if we can beat this year’s attendance.
The Christmas party is coming up again traditionally it has been on the 1st Sunday in December (the 3rd this year.) The party is held in the Book Nook, with food and fun provided by our neighbors. So, mark the date on your calendar and we hope to see everyone there. A great way to start the Christmas season.
Book club is scheduled to be at Edy’s home (Unit 311) on Oct. 9th. Bring a list of books you would like to have the group read this season. I’m looking forward to getting together for a good discussion of a good book but more so the great time we always have chatting and catching up with each other. Be sure to let Edy know if you plan to attend or not.
Traveling neighbors
We have had a large group of our neighbors who have been off checking out other parts of the world. Carole, Andi and Drake, Donna and Cheri all have been across the pond or to the east coast in the last month or so. Each gave a short synopsis of their trips; hope you enjoy them.
Carole’s trip to France and the UK
My sister and her husband and I spent a glorious 10-day tour of London and Paris recently. Some of the sights we visited and excursions we experienced included Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Stonehenge, Oxford University, the Tower of London, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles Palace and Gardens, a Seine River cruise, Montparnasse Tower, a food tour in Paris, The Louvre, Monet house and landscapes of Giverny, and a Paris home hosted dinner. Of course, we also did TONS of shopping and ate some of the best food! It was a fabulous trip, and now I’m ready to go again!
Cheri’s visit to Ireland
My friends and I had a wonderful time in Ireland, and immediately learned that there’s a good reason Ireland is called “The Emerald Isle”. We discovered a beautiful, very, very green island with lovely, very kind people. The western coastal areas have small, friendly villages and scenic rocky shores like the Cliffs of Mohr. Our eastern coast city was Dublin, a big, friendly, and very diverse city where we enjoyed the Immigration Museum, Trinity College with the Book of Kells, the Guinness tour, and the Jenny Johnston, the only ship that traveled back and forth 16 times to Canada and the US with not one death during the Irish famine in the mid-1800s. Other ships had many deaths, which gave them the name “Coffin Ships.
Andi and Drake’s visit Berlin
We were in Berlin for one week with Road Scholar that provided information and perspective on modern Berlin (& German) history. As well as expected events like walking thru the Brandenburg Gate which is right next to the American Embassy on the Unter den Linden, sitting in the visitors’ gallery of the Reichstag (Parliament), visiting the many memorials to victims of National Socialists, and walking along the Berlin wall there were other unexpected treats. We had a lecture from the Egyptian expert at the World Heritage Museum site who then walked us thru the exhibits and to the remarkable bust of Nefertiti. We talked with a couple who dated in the late 60’s, he from Montana and she in East Berlin and his nightly adventures going through Checkpoint Charley. We were inside a plane that flew the Berlin airlift, and I could not lift the 70 lb. bags of coal that were unloaded by the women (80% of the airlift was coal for heating). We enjoyed a Pops concert of Three Tenors in a gorgeous concert hall. Even visited the “summer home” palace of Frederick the Great called Sans Souci (French for no worries). Also, in Potsdam we were in “the room where it happened” –the carving up of Germany and Berlin at the close of the war. And finally, and happily, Drake was pleased to spot the Loeser name on a building along one of Berlin’s finest streets
Donna went to Washington DC
I was lucky to spend a week in Washington DC with my son recently. Since it was the week of Labor Day there were no crowds, and it was very easy to get tickets to timed entry activities, so we were able to see a lot. One of the highlights for me was going up inside the Washington Monument for the first time. Beautiful views and interesting displays describing the monument’s history.
Recipe du Jour
Shortcut Baked Rigatoni with Meatballs
Ingredients
½ pound ground pork
½ ground beef
1/3 cup plain dry breadcrumbs.
1/3 cup torn basil.
¼ cup Parm cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten.
Pepper
1 pound rigatoni, (uncooked)
1-pound fresh mozzarella (torn into l1 inch pieces)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large bowl, combine the pork, beef, breadcrumbs, basil, cheese, eggs and 1 tsp of pepper, salt to taste: mix well, roll the mixture between wet palms to form 30 meatballs.
- In a 9 X 13-inch ceramic baking dish, spread half of the pasta in an even layer. Arrange half of the meatballs and mozzarella over the pasta. Spoon half of the marinara sauce on top, and season with salt. Repeat with the remaining pasta, meatballs, mozzarella, sauce. Add 2 ½ cups of water to the dish and cover tightly with foil.
- Bake until pasta is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about an hour. Uncover and bake another 5 more minutes. Turn on the broiler, and broil 8 inches from the heat until the top is lightly browned. Let stand for 5 minutes and then garnish the pasta with basil and cheese and serve.
Recipe from Food & Wine
Neighborhood News
Chanterelles restaurant in Edmonds has closed, and the new owner Suzette Jarding is the new owner. The space is being remodeled and will open, hopefully by December. Suzette has another restaurant on Capitol Hill named Machiavelli. Hopefully it will be a good addition to all the great cafés and restaurants we have in our area.
Restaurant Review
The Church Key Pub
109 4th Ave N.
Edmonds, WA
Hours:
Mon-Thurs 4-11
Fri 4-12
Sat 1-12
Sun 1-11
Tel 425-835-0230
Jerry and I went to the Church Key on a Sunday evening, we had been there one time before and decided it try it again after listening to Cheri talk about how much she enjoyed Irish food on her trip.
Jerry ordered bangers and mash which he enjoyed and would order again. I on the other had ordered a common pub dish, Shepherd’s pie which was disappointing, the waiter warned me about a hot dish, he was right about the ramekin being hot, but the pie was not hot and was a very small serving and was $19.50 for about a cup of food. Service was good, all being said, we won’t be going back anytime soon.
Recommended Entertainment
We have a couple of things we are recommending watching on the Television during our long evenings.
Spy in the Ocean
This is a 4-part series which will premiere on PBS on Oct. 25th-Nov 15th. This originally aired on BBC, we watched one on U-Tube–found it very entertaining and informative.
We can be armchair travelers and see the beautiful island of Ireland by watching a couple of programs in the comfort of your living room.
Ireland Coast & Country
A 4-part series about the beautiful island of Ireland You can find it on Acorn.
Hidden Ireland
Another film about Ireland, this time on Amazon Prime
Call me Kate
This is a Netflix documentary about Katherine Hepburn on Netflix,.Jerry and I were lucky enough to see her at the 5th Ave many years ago.
Thoughts and Information from John Weschler
John W. has submitted this interesting bit of information, some historical, the rest just plain interesting.
During WWII U.S. airplanes were armed with belts of bullets which they would shoot during dogfights and on strafing runs. These belts were folded into the wing compartments that fed their machine guns. These belts measure 27 feet and contain hundreds of rounds of bullets. Often, the pilots would return from their missions having expended all their bullets on various targets. They would say, “I gave them the whole nine yards,” meaning they used up all their ammunition.
In George Washington’s days, there were no cameras. One’s image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are ‘limbs,’ therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, “Okay, but it’ll cost you an arm and a leg.” (Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint.)
As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October). Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn’t wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term ‘big wig’. Today we often use the term “here comes the Big Wig” because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.
In the late 1700’s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The ‘head of the household’ always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the ‘chairman.’ Today in business, we use the expression or title ‘Chairman’ or ‘Chairman of the Board.’
Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in ‘strait laced’ wore a tightly tied lace.
Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the ‘Ace of Spades.’ To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren’t ‘playing with a full deck.’
Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV’s or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars. They were told to ‘go sip some Ale’ and listen to people’s conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. ‘You go sip here’ and ‘You go sip there.’ The two words ‘go sip’ were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term ‘gossip’.
At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid’s job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in ‘pints’ and who was drinking in ‘quarts,’ hence the phrase‘ minding your P’s and Q’s’.
One more: bet you didn’t know this! In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem…how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a ‘Monkey’ with 16 round indentations. However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make ‘Brass Monkeys.’ Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey; Thus, it was quite literally, ‘Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.’ (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn’t you.)
Local Entertainment
There is an exhibit that looks interesting at the Seattle Asian Art Museum South Gallery
Showing until Dec. 3, 2023
Renegade Endo and Paris Japanese prints and Toulouse-Lautrec
If anyone is interested maybe, we can pick a rainy afternoon and go enjoy the exhibit.
Have a good October!
Remember it is time for Ghosts and Goblins, get ready.