OPINION

Experiences at home and away

Odds and ends from here and there:

• I usually don't write about non-Arkansas items, but want to mention a restaurant in Monroe, La. South Arkansas is only a little over an hour from Monroe, and when we were there recently, three nearby tables of diners were from Arkansas.

Last Saturday, a trip to Monroe seemed a way to break the incessant rain boredom. An hour and 15 minutes later we were at Restaurant Cotton, viewing the Saturday brunch menu. The restaurant gets its name because it's in an old cotton warehouse, right behind the levee of the Ouachita River. The idea of a restaurant in a cotton warehouse might make you wonder, but get ready for a shock: The interior is absolutely a knockout. A beaded wooden ceiling that is at least 17 feet high, a gorgeous bar, original pine plank floors, and a 15-foot by 6-foot foot painting of Andrew Jackson really sets this restaurant apart.

The theme is Creative Southern Cuisine, and it lives up to its name. We have been there for dinner, so we have tried several of the "For Supper" items. Any restaurant with redfish, crawfish (two ways with fettuccine) and duck fat fries is going to be excellent.

Duck fat fries? Yep; here's why: Vertis and I were once traveling by car in France when we stopped at a rustic inn-restaurant for dinner. Along with entrees we had French fries, and they were the hit of the meal. I sent a question to the chef about how he prepared the fries, which brought out the chef, who told us he fried his potatoes in duck fat. You may think you've had good French fries, but you haven't until you have duck fat fries.

Our brunch was duck wraps, wedge salad (lettuce, tomato, bacon, blue cheese, buttermilk dressing), and a Louisiana strawberry salad which, along with strawberries and spinach, had goat cheese, spiced pecans, and a fried egg with cane syrup vinaigrette. I'm looking forward to returning for dinner and ordering venison schnitzel: pan-fried venison with bacon bourbon au jus, sweet potato mash, and onion spoon bread.

• This morning, I concluded a 24-hour strike over a domestic dispute. After some negotiations, I have decided that to prolong this strike would endanger a relationship. Curious? Let me tell you what caused this strike.

Over the years, I have realized that keeping up with chores around the house should be a joint operation, and I have tried to help out by doing several things. I make coffee every morning and bring my dear wife a cup as we read the paper online. After we're through with coffee I clean the pot, and since it grinds the beans, I have to dismantle it. Later, and after most meals, I put the dishes in the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen. That turned out to be the source of my strike.

Yes, I do have my own way of putting dishes in the dishwasher, and after watching a Cascade commercial, where they put a dish in the dishwasher so dirty that a hog would turn up its nose and it came out sparkling clean, I decided to follow suit and forget prewashing and scrubbing. Why have a dishwasher if you are going to prewash the dishes?

Well, doing it my way makes loading the dishwasher a 30-second operation. Last Thanksgiving, I set what may be a local record by putting eight plates in the dishwasher at one time. I did remove the knives, forks, and spoons, which I placed in the dishwasher with a one-second jam and drop. I found out if you can close the door of the dishwasher, it is not too full, and I consider everything on a kitchen counter dishwasher safe.

My strike started when we had breakfast eggs, several messy skillets, milk glasses, and assorted jelly spoons, which I jammed in the dishwasher until I had to re-arrange them twice to close the door. Over years of loading the dishwasher, there have been several thousand dishes washed without complaint. However, this past Monday, a plate was held up for inspection, and it didn't pass.

"Look at this! There is dried egg on this plate!"

"Well, flick it off. It has been sanitized."

"No, I'm going to have to clean and rewash all the dishes in the dishwasher."

That brought on a lecture of how to prewash the dishes before they go in the dishwasher. After the lecture, I began to think about stuff. "Hmmm, dirty tissues on the cabinet, kitchen counter with butter left out, towels thrown on the bathroom floor ... and then a tiny spot of egg on the plate, about an inch or two long that had been in near-boiling water and steam, so it was as clean as the plate." That's when I decided I had been wronged.

The next morning I left the dishes from the night before and the breakfast dishes on the cabinet and in the sink, didn't unload the dishwasher with yesterday's clean dishes, and left the coffee maker with dirty grounds. The action started when I was getting ready to leave for work, and Vertis walked into the bathroom.

"I finished cleaning the kitchen."

Yeah, there was an edge to that comment, and I didn't help by saying, "Did you clean the coffee pot?" If you have seen the commercial where the pro basketball player is watching his home camera and a crook is stealing his car, and he says, "What?" Well, that's what happened, and when I said, "I'm not going to do that anymore," it was another "What?" and then more words, and it was getting more than a little testy, and when I rattled off some little negative Vertis things such as tissues on the floor, butter left out, and other shortcomings, and got her reaction, that's when I knew it was time for my strike to be over.

Maybe I made my point, but I'm not sure. After I load the dishwasher with dishes from our big Easter meal, I'll let you know.

• Thanks to the folks who email me. I really do appreciate the feedback, and try to answer every email. Keep them coming because they help me understand what you would like to read about. As you know from my columns, I have a special care about Arkansas environment, and I'm not bashful in expressing how I feel. However, I do try to mix the column's content up, or I would bore you to death.

Email Richard Mason at richard@gibraltarenergy.com.

Editorial on 03/17/2019

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