Notes From All Over, Early Saturday Morning Edition, Part 3 -- May 16, 2020

Scottish history, 17th century and earlier, we find the origins of the terms used in describing the baseball field. From The Scotch Irish: A Social History, James G. Leyburn, c. 1962, page, 20:

The land of the farm was divided into infield and outfield.

I'm not convinced the "classical" etymology for "beer" is accurate. Be that as it may, from the same source, page 21:

The grain sown was the poorest and least prolific kind, which had been long since abandoned in most countries of Europe. Grey oats, according to [Henry Grey] Graham [1937], "at its best only gave increase of three seeds for one";  and the variety of barley, called "bere," is the least nutritious of the barleys but was grown because it was believed to be the only sort that would flourish in Scottish soil.

In Texas (north Texas?) Buc-ee's is a destination. Seriously. If one wants a unique shopping / dining experience, there is really only one place to go when in north Texas: Buc-ee’s. Our older granddaughter and I drove out there this past week. She has her driver's permit and needs some highway experience. It's a 15-mile / 30-minute trip out to Buc-ee's at the intersection of US Highway 114 (Dallas to Los Angeles) and I-35W (Ft Worth to Denton, TX).

Buc-ee's is clearly an interstate and regional shopping stop. The place was very, very busy but not as packed as it can be. The gasoline pumps were all full -- so the car and truck traffic was huge. All employees wore masks. I would estimate 50% of the visitors also wore masks. Our granddaughter wears a mask. I refuse to wear a mask except on two occasions now: when taking Sophia to TutorTime and when visiting Buc-ee’s.

I stay outside when taking Sophia to TutorTime when she goes in so there's no reason for me to wear a mask but I do it to show support to the TutorTime team. They have been superb.

I walked into Buc-ee's without a mask but seeing the crowd of folks, I quickly walked back to the car -- which was quite a walk -- the parking lot is huge -- to get my mask. What bothered me most was the fact that most of the visitors were probably from outside the immediate area. I assume the common-cold virus was running rampant.

To my dismay, the Waffle House near Buc-ee's looked absolutely desolate. Truly a sad commentary on/of American, 2020.

By the way, somewhat belatedly, I found an incredibly wonderful set of jewelry for my wife for Mother's Day at Buc-ee's. As noted: Buc-ee's is a shopping / dining destination.

We also got a cheese, sausage, jalapeño kolachi for Arianna's mom, our older daughter who says she's a vegan (sort of) but loves kolachis. LOL.

Speaking of masks:

Our grandkids are going to look back our virtual scrapbooks and wonder how we all could have fallen for this medieval crap. What were we thinking?

The guidelines make no sense. Like most big box stores out here, all entrances are closed, except one. Don't ask me why; I don't know. So instead of a gazillion shoppers going through several doors (with a bit of social distancing), those same gazillion shoppers are herder through one door. Those entering walk directly into those exiting.

Wouldn't it make more sense to have one door to enter and at the opposite side of the store, one door to exit? No rhyme or reason for any of this. Of course, Governor Cuomo demanding that nursing homes accept elderly with active Wuhan flu was the most incredibly criminal. And we call Bernie crazy. Twitter tweets suggest Cuomo finally realizes that debacle, but he won't admit it, and he won't be held accountable.

*******************************

The Grilling Page

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but I am absolutely sold on "caveman" grilling using FOGO lump charcoal. I had to modify my marinade a bit for the lamb -- no Dijon mustard, no olive oil, no liquid of any kind (except water) to mix the herbs (rosemary and thyme) and salt and pepper but the lamb still turned out excellent.

I picked up a very inexpensive "3-pack" of lamb shoulder cuts and grilled one of the three yesterday. Directly on the coals, 90 seconds on one side, barely 120 seconds on the other side. In aluminum foil for ten minutes after taking the meat off the coals. Wow, perfect. 

I can honestly say that if one does not like lamb, one will not like lamb shoulder at all. I do not recommend this for anyone other than those who really, really enjoy lamb. I suppose lamb chops are still much better but I'm not sure. The lamb shoulders were a lot fattier but it seemed not to matter.

Most surprising: the meat was medium-rare at most, perhaps closer to rare deep inside but yet the meat fell off the bone just like a well-cooked beef ribs. That 1100-degree heat on direct coal must really, really get that bone hot. I would not cook the lamb any longer; it would likely dry out. The steaks were very, very thin, maybe 3/4's of an inch thick at most.