Grilled Cheese Restaurant opens in Mall

   

      If you are a fan of grilled cheese sandwiches the Columbia Mall has a new offering with the Grilled Cheese &Company next to Lord and Taylor.  The location at the Mall has a more limited selection of sandwiches than their other locations.  Here is what you can get at the Mall:

• Original - American cheese
• Fresco - mozzarella, provolone, roasted peppers, basil pesto, balsamic glaze
• Crabby Melt - crab dip featuring sweet claw meat topped with Monterey Jack
• BCT - bacon, cheddar, tomato
• Tomato Basil
• Shoe String Fries

  P.S.
       My favorite homemade grilled cheese is tomato (homegrown) and pineapple with smoked mozzarella.

#hocoblogs

Republicans finally have someone to chant about "lock her up"

    Yesterday our Attorney General disgraced himself in forgetting he is no longer on the campaign trail in a speech that he gave.   Was the audience chanting about this woman who funneled Russian money to conservative groups? 

 P.S.
    Is this where we are headed folks??

The sacrifice of one brave Howard County fire fighter

Today Howard County fire fighter Nathan Flynn paid the ultimate price in serving all of us in Howard County.  Very sad day for everyone who appreciates those in our County Government that make Howard County such a good place to live and work.

#hocomd

Global warming seen graphically

    

                       Sometimes you just have to see it with your own eyes in a graph.

Howard County fastest growing county in Maryland

    You only have to drive by Town Center or drive up Route 1 to see how much Howard County is growing.  But did you know that we are the fastest growing county in Maryland?  Here is the report.



#hocoblogs

New breakfast and lunch place--First Watch

Always on the watch for new breakfast places in our area led me last week to First Watch.  It is located across from the Ale House off Dobbin Road in Columbia.  This is the first location in Howard County for this chain.

     It is open from 7 am to 2 pm for breakfast and lunch

   Their lemon ricotta pancakes were different with the lemon curd spooned on the top.

    The Rainbow Fruit Toast was a nice item with a thick piece of sweet bread, yogurt, fruit and nuts.

#hocoblogs

Collusion in public takes chutzpah

   So you meet with Putin with no Secretary of State, Director of the CIA or National Security Director.  Just you and a translator or two.  Smells like collusion to me.  Sounds like you only feel comfortable to meet this way to find out what you have to do next to prevent Putin releasing the information he has been using to blackmail you.  You really think that Trump wouldn't sell out our Country to protect himself?   When Russians look to compromise a person they look at someone who is in financial trouble.  This is where they started to compromise Trump in the 1980's when the banks wouldn't finance his buildings because of his bankruptcies and he seems to have turned to Russians interested in places to launder their dirty money.   Just take it from the mouth of Eric Trump.   There is a strong possibility that Trump laundered Russian billionaire money. 

    So are you still surprised about the private meeting with Trump's Russian handler Putin?

P.S.
      Trump fingered the wrong person who stopped more aggressive responses to the Russian hacking before the election.

Bicycle Heaven in Pittsburgh

     Having finished the bike ride into Pittsburgh on the Great Allegheny Path recently, our bike group visited Bicycle Heaven a combination bike store and museum.  The old bikes from the past made for an interesting experience.

There were bikes everywhere you looked!

 
   It was fun to remember how many bikes of the 1950's were made to resemble the cars of that time.

                                                      Marilyn Monroe bike

           Remember the banana seats?

Girls had pink bikes.  I don't remember blue ones for boys.

Parade bike!

 

These are "commuter bikes" that covered all the parts that would get your clothes dirty.  They are now priced each at $48,000 because of their rarity.

All the boys are out. See video of the journey

Here is the amazing video of the rescue!

An easy child rescue and a hard one

     This week as we watch the incredible rescue effort in Thailand to rescue kids trapped in a cave we also learn that the Trump administration can't reunite many children with their parents who were separated through an administration action.  Who would have thought the children in our immigration issue would be a more difficult rescue.   If the Trump officials would have had responsibility to rescue the Thai kids they would have trouble finding the right cave to look in.

Grassroots needs group to prepare meals for July

   July and August are tough months for non profits when their supporters are on vacation.  Grassroots uses volunteers to provide meals to the homeless families at their shelter.  If you or a group you belong to can help them out this year here is how to volunteer. 

#hocoblogs

When your brain isn't attached to your mouth

P.S.
    Maybe the organ that gets Trump in trouble isn't his mouth.

Pickleball grows in Howard County

     If you haven't heard of pickleball you will soon!  America's fastest growing sport is expanding in Howard County in the past couple of years.  Above is a picture of the 35 people who showed up to play the 4th of July at the tennis courts in Oakland Mills Village Center.  Organized by the Howard County Pickleball Association with over 200 members, play there takes place every Tuesday, Saturday and Holidays.

                     This year we decided to have a red, white and blue theme to our play apparel.
   Pickleball is a combination of tennis and ping pong.  It is played on a smaller court than tennis with a paddle and a whiffle type ball.  The game is for all ages but have really grown with the senior age community.
     Later this month the Columbia Association will open 6 new pickleball courts where the bubble used to be at the Owen Brown Tennis Center.

  Howard County Recreation and Parks has had 2 pickleball courts at the Atholton Park in Allview for the past year.



     Indoor play is available from Recreation and Parks and the Ellicott City YMCA.
Email me if you would like to learn about playing pickleball.


#hocoblogs

Sarah Huckabee Sanders should blame the Supreme Court

 


     In 1964 Congress passed a public accommodation law that prohibits discrimination against persons being served by any business that serves the public.   This year in a narrowly decided court case the US Supreme Court ruled that a baker could refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.  This case like many before the Supreme Court has to decide between 2 constitutional rights.  The freedom of religion vs. the right to be served in a public business.  Not unexpectedly a conservative court ruled in a narrow way to overrule lower courts that had ruled in favor of the right to be served.



     I thought of this recently when Sarah Huckabee Sanders was refused service at the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia because of her working for an administration with whom the owner disagreed.  I guess the owner could have used her religious freedom beliefs against an immoral immigration policy to claim the same right as the baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.  This is where we are today.  Could a Jewish business refuse to serve someone with a Nazi flag on their t shirt?  Or a minority business not serve a person with a Confederate flag tattoo?
     Even though it would be morally repugnant to serve a person whose beliefs you oppose when you open a business to serve the general public you should have to serve everyone or close your business.

An Estrogen led electorate

      First it was when the women marched in the millions after the Inauguration and then Time Magazine named the Women's Movement as its Person of the Year last year. We are beginning to see a cultural change that has only grown larger since the election of Trump.  In Trump we see what our World looks like with an extreme testosterone fueled narcissist leader.   A love of authoritarians and a lack of sympathy toward the less fortunate has moved women to raise their voices as never before.  As a member of a group, older white men (OWM), that is the bulwark of Trump supporters I can't begin to say how much I love to see the women of our Country stand up to the bully in the White House.  There are many of us OWM's who also realize how dangerous a testosterone run Country can be.  When I voted last week I voted for women when given a choice.  I voted for a saner society.

P.S.
      Just finished James Comey's book.  He certainly had problems with Trump because Trump kept trying to get him to not prosecute various administration officials.  Trump didn't respect the barrier between the President and the FBI Chief.   When Trump fired Comey the new Acting FBI Chief McCabe let Comey fly back from California on the jet he had taken to Los Angeles.  This infuriated Trump and he called McCabe to see who authorized that and McCabe said he did.  Trump then asked McCabe "Your wife lost her election in Virginia, didn't she?"   McCabe answered, "Yes she did." Trump then said this to McCabe "Ask her how it feels to be a loser" and hung up the phone.  Trump got revenge by firing McCabe only hours before he was eligible for his FBI pension.

Impossible Burger

   I have blogged before on the Beyond Burgers that Wegmans sells as the best meat substitute burger for those of us that are looking to limit their meat intake.  This past week I had a chance to try an Impossible Burger that you can only try in a restaurant.  I have to say that I think you could fool any meat loving burger person with this burger.  The closest restaurant to where we live is the Glory Days Grill in Ellicott City.   I can only hope that in the future grocery stores will have these burgers or something like it.