Thinking of You

Today is Halloween, a day when children of all ages dress up in costumes (or not) and go door to door looking for treats. They have no fear walking the streets of their neighborhood, knocking on the doors of people who are practically strangers to them, trusting that the treats they receive are just that, treats. I remember the fun I had as a child, returning home to dump my bag of candy on the kitchen table or living room floor so my parents could look through it and make sure it was all safe to eat. 

I suspect that my dad had an ulterior motive, deeming some treats not fit to eat yet later I would find the wrappers in the trash can of his office.

Today there are many many people who woke up another day to face the trick that Mother Nature played on them. Not because she's mean or cruel or nasty, but just because. We have no control over storms or hurricanes or tornadoes or any other kind of natural disaster.

What we do have control over is ourselves. Those of us lucky enough to still have our homes, power, water, family, friends and neighbors, can reach out to those neighbors we may only see once a year when we take our children house to house for a treat. And we can also reach out to those neighbors we will never meet, those whose lives were upended and left in ruins, those neighbors we see on the news. We can do it in person, by volunteering, by donating money or goods, or simply by letting someone use our kitchen to cook a meal, come over and watch the game, use the phone to make calls, or store food in our freezer so it doesn't spoil.

And for those who were not so lucky, please know that we are thinking of you and keeping you in our prayers, that our hearts are with you, and we hope and pray that your lives will be healed and made whole again.

Blowin' in the Wind

I'm taking a time out from subjecting you to my wanderings through life to wish everyone well during the impending storms. Pay attention, stay safe, watch over your family, keep an eye on your friends and neighbors, and batten down the hatches.

Oddly enough, my siblings and were subjected to a stepwitch (sorry, using the word 'mother' would be an insult to mothers everywhere) who could have given Cinderella's a run for her money. Of all the evil things she did, not only to my father and we children and her own, the worst of it was what she did to my mother. Some day I may share the story, but not tonight.

Tonight I am rolling my eyes at the irony of how she seems to be reaching from the grave to further torment my mother. This weekend we are holding the estate sale for my mom's house. Things are a bit sketchy at this point because, as a local paper puts it, "Sandy wreaks havoc on the East Coast".

The stepwitch's name was Sandy.

Just an observation ...

Until next time, my fingers are crossed for everyone!   

Hotel Hell

Where is Gordon Ramsay when you need him?

Since we were driving to Cleveland we decided to find a hotel a little cheaper for this Bouchercon adventure. It's a lot easier to lug books around when you stay at the conference hotel, but having a car is the next best thing.

We booked our hotel about nine months ago. And paid in advance.

It was a Days Inn, a chain we've stayed at many times without issue. (The link is for the one we stayed at, FYI. Just in case you were thinking about staying there ...)

The lobby was okay, not spectacular but seemed to be clean. When we got into the elevator we were a little surprised at how dirty is was. We looked at each other as the elevator lurched up and said this doesn't bode well.

How true.

If you have a weak stomach, don't go any further. Just saying ...

The carpeting in the hallway was so badly stained it was black in spots. The walls were filthy and badly in need of a paint job. Let's not discuss the smell.

The room was shocking. I can say without a doubt, it was the worst room I have ever stayed in my entire life. It stunk like dog pee covered up with copious amounts of carpet fresh. Turns out is was a pet-friendly hotel, so that explained the dog pee. Lucky for us they left some of the carpet fresh behind.

It was even in the bathroom.

The problem was, we were on a very tight budget and hadn't slept in 24 hours.
Yet the room was a gift that just kept on giving.

The lamp next to our bed. Front desk had no light bulbs.

 The outlet next to the bed.

One of the bonus features about the room was the extra storage space in the wall.

 

I don't typically use the word 'skanky' but in this case, there is really no other choice when describing the bathroom. See if you agree:

Our carpet wasn't as bad as the hallways, but it was trying hard.

 

I guess we weren't the only people disappointed in our stay. Too bad we didn't read the reviews before we booked. Lesson learned.

We did go to the front desk and lodge a complaint, but the desk lady (who was very nice and apologetic) said that there was only one other room left and it was worse than ours. Nice. 

So we had to stick it out. We found a local Wal-Mart and bought bedding and towels. 

We also left most of our stuff in the car, only bringing in what we needed at the time. Hubby wore a pair of my sandals in the room because the carpet was so disgusting that we were afraid to walk around in bare feet. And I always travel with a small Febreeze so the smell got some treatment.

The ironic thing about the whole adventure is what I found on the Days Inn website. It's: NEW! Ratings and Reviews 

Something tells me they may end up regretting that.

 

Melt-ing in Independence

Husband loves Man v Food so naturally I watch it too. It's kind of fun to visit the places we see on t.v., one of the best we've checked out is Hash House A Go Go. We've been to both Vegas locations and enjoyed every meal there.

So of course we had to check out Melt, which was featured on the show and now has four locations in the Cleveland area. We went to the one in Independence, which was very close to our hotel. We hadn't eaten all day but we didn't mind too much. Melt's sandwiches had a reputation. When we walked up to the restaurant we noticed a lot of neon inside and out. That was a good thing.

It also had a lot of people. The wait was going to be about 2 hours. You would think that for two starving people a two hour wait was not going to happen, but we had nowhere to be and a back-up plan. This was our back-up plan:

The back-up plan was right down the road, a beautiful building we'd planned to check out after Melt. We simply rearranged the order. The building houses a McDonald's. We tided ourselves over with some fries (there may also have been a chocolate shake involved) and made sure our table was pristine before we left. (It was that kind of place.)

They don't take your name when you're waiting. They have you pick a name tag out of a bowl and that is the 'name' you go under. We saw Honey Boo Boo and Drew Barrymore. Our name was Joe Haden. The coolness factor was lost on us because we had no idea who Joe Haden was. (We found out later he plays for the Cleveland Browns.) When we returned we still had 45 minutes to wait for our table so I amused myself by taking pictures of the restaurant. It's an interesting place.

 

 

 

 

 

We were finally seated. The menu was pretty cool, printed on old album covers. See if you remember these.

The non-alcoholic drink selections were pretty neat. Here's a blurry portion of the menu:

Our server was perky. A bit unattentive but we gave that a pass due to the business of the place. 

We decided to order three sandwiches and sample each of them, taking leftovers back to the hotel. Our choices were:

Godfather / 3 cheese lasagna, hearty red sauce, garlic
spiked grilled bread, provolone

Parmageddon / 2 potato & cheese pierogi, fresh napa vodka
kraut, grilled onions, cheddar 

Chorizo & Potato / fresh ground spicy mexican sausage &
potato hash, sharp cheddar

When they came we were impressed with the presentation. Each sandwich was, as per the menu, served with hand cut fries and sweet slaw. Being lovers of hand cut fries and sweet slaw we were happy campers.

But not for long.

Before I divulge the bad news, here is what arrived at our table, tempting us with a very savory sight.

The Godfather

 Parmageddon

 Chorizo & Potato

The pickles were awesome. I tried to discreetly eat most of them but hubby caught on and put an instant stop to my thievery. The fries weren't too bad, but slightly deceitful. The fries on top of the pile were tasty and properly cooked. The fries on the bottom of the pile were kind of burned and greasy. Like putting real bills on the top of a suitcase full of cut paper. 

As there were plenty of top fries, we gave this a pass too. Then came the shocker.

The sweet slaw.

The definition of sweet:

1a (1) : pleasing to the taste (2) : being or inducing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is typically induced by disaccharides and is mediated especially by receptors in taste buds at the front of the tongue — compare bitter, salt, sour

 

I shoveled a spoonful of sweet slaw into my mouth, eager to taste this famous slaw, and almost choked. It was HOT. So hot that my lips burned. I wanted to plunge them into ice water but I didn't have any. Husband had the same experience. The couple sitting on our right said it was pretty awful cole slaw. They didn't eat it. Neither did the couple on the left. Whew, it wasn't just us. Perky waiter informed us later that the chef uses four different kinds of pepper in the sweet slaw. I made the unfortunate observation that the menu says it's sweet, so it was kind of a disappointment. Perky waiter said, "Oh the chef likes things hot." Good for him, but if your lips are blistered it's a bit hard to eat anything else.

Now for the sandwiches.

The Godfather was okay for the first few bites. Eventually the pasta and thick bread got a bit overwhelming in the carb department. Perhaps if there had been a bit more 'hearty red sauce' it may have been less dry and a bit more tasty. 

The Parmageddon had the same carb issue and was very dry. The onions weren't cooked enough. That edge of raw just beginning to cook texture made the sandwich a little hard to eat.

The Chorizo & Potato saved the day. It was delicious!

We didn't have dessert but the couple on our left did. They graciously let me shoot their Carmel Applejack Apple Crisp.

They also serve fried Twinkies.

All in all we'd probably go back and sample some of the other sandwiches, but not if there is a two hour wait. The place may be hip and cool, but not worthy of an entire evening out.

Or a pair of scorched lips.

Until next time.
 



    

    

Bouchercon 2012 Party Pictures Part 2

More Bouchercon party pictures, this time from Heather Graham's rocking party at the Cleveland House of Blues. The party was held in the restaurant area, and was a lot of fun. There were Halloween decorations, books strewn here and there, lots of music and food. Heather, Daniel Palmer, F. Paul Wilson and Don Bruns were among the folks providing some kickin' entertainment. I thought the venue itself was pretty cool, which will explain why there are mostly pictures of that ...

Enjoy!

Daniel Palmer rocking out on the harmonica.

Sightly blurry party people.

Wall art.

 

 

 

 

Ceiling art.

 

 

 Party decorations.

 

 

 

Next time you're in Cleveland, check the place out.

It's pretty neat.