Autumn Blue and Gold

Started off the morning with Scooby Doo and the Gourmet Ghost while eating breakfast, and later while beginning my fall collage. The gang are in Rhode Island, checking out Fred's uncle Bobby Flay's new "Culinary Resort." It's a remodeled version of his family's old tavern, with a state-of-the-art "cooking arena" and huge kitchen. Shaggy and Scooby are in heaven...at least until they hear the story of the Red Ghost. It seems Flay's ancestor, Edward DuFlay, was a chef for a colonial tavern who fed both the American and British soldiers. His last words were heard to mention a "red ghost"...and it seems that the Red Ghost now haunts the Tavern.

When Bobby's big cooking show with fellow Food Network alumni Giada Di Laurentiis loses power, the gang leaps into action. Turns out that there's several people, including groundskeeper Jeremiah Noseworthy, who think DuFlay's actions during the Revolution were closer to traitorous. Others, like local historian Bradley Bass, believe DuFlay to be a hero. Shaggy and Scooby just want to get food from celebrity chefs, without getting constantly shushed by the Ghost.

I think I might have gotten more out of this one if I was familiar with the Food Network celebrities being parodied here. I really only know their names. Recommended if you love the Food Network or the famous chefs featured (there's a few other Food Network chefs in cameos). Perfectly harmless time-waster for everyone else.

Did three episodes of various Scooby shows that relate to food and cooking while finishing up the collage. It's a "Recipe For Disaster" in What's New, Scooby Doo? when Shaggy wins a trip to the Scooby Snack Factory, only to learn that security is high due to spies and a monster scaring off the workers. Needless to say, this is one mystery Shaggy and Scooby have no problems getting involved with.

The Scooby Snacks Factory is also in danger in the Pup Named Scooby Doo episode "Wanted: Cheddar Alive." This time, if the gang can't stop a cheddar-covered monster from scaring off the workers, the Factory and its famous recipes will be sold to the Acme Dog Biscuits company (whom Scooby is not a fan of).

"The Devouring" from Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated gets away from Scooby Snacks and back to celebrity chefs. Here, it's a parody of Paula Dean who is attacked by a monster made from bread dough. The kids have to figure out what it is that the monster's after.

Headed out around 1 to run errands. It was an absolutely glorious day for it. The weather couldn't have been nicer. While it was gale-force windy, the sun was out, the sky was brilliant blue, and the sun was relatively warm when you could get past the wind. It was a great day for a ride down Atlantic Avenue and into Audubon.

On my way down Market Street, I spied a new deli next-door to Abbie Road with relatively inexpensive daily specials on a dry erase board. Thought I'd give them a try for lunch instead of the more expensive fast-food places at the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. I bought a junior roast beef hoagie, a can of Poland Spring cranberry-lime sparkling water, and a small bag of chips for lunch. I needed to buy 10 dollars worth of food to use my debit card, so I added a small container of broccoli salad and a white chocolate chip-macadamia nut cookie. The lady was really nice about it, too. She's the one who suggested the salad.

Yum! The sandwich and the salad were both a bit more filling than I thought. The sandwich was pretty darn big for a "junior" hoagie. I ended up saving part of it, the chips, and the broccoli salad for later. (The broccoli salad was ok. The tangy sweetness overpowered everything else, including the broccoli and the bacon and mozzarella shreds.)

Next stop was the new Five Below store at Audubon Crossings. I've only vaguely heard of this discount chain until recently. I think there's maybe one other location in this area. It's kind of like a department store version of Dollar General, with no food besides candy and lots of sundries like toys, stationary, Halloween costumes, makeup, hats, linens, and bath and hair supplies. I bought a new dry erase board to write my weekly schedule down on (the old one's been really scratched for ages) and a fizzing bath bomb.

Rode across the busy parking lot and over to the Acme. They're having a "stock up sale." I grabbed the buy one, get two free mustard and bought two Betty Crocker cake mixes (went with carrot and Rainbow Party Chip) and Progresso soups (tomato and butternut squash). Had an online coupon for picante sauce and thought I'd try it. Restocked peanut butter, yogurt, butter, pumpkin, powdered sugar, soy sauce, breakfast cookies, skim milk, and toothpaste. Fished the Rey/Finn/Poe Before the Awakening novel out of the bargain books bin.

My schedule for next week is mostly much better. My hours are now back to more normal shifts, and they're still pretty early. I kind of wish my first day off was earlier than next Friday, but I do have next Friday and Saturday off. I also have slightly fewer hours, but given how dead the Acme was when I was there, I'm surprised I got what I did. I work very early on Sunday. I'll get to attend Oaklyn's Town Picnic for the first time in ages.

When I got home, I ran a quick Good Eats episode while putting everything away, and then while sweeping out and organizing the pantry shelves. Alton has a "Cran Opening" when he demonstrates how the tart red "super fruit" can be used in everything from sauce to Cosmopolitans. (This episode has become a particular favorite of mine, given how important cranberries are to South Jersey's economy.)

Switched to the Beatles' last album Let It Be while giving the indoor trash and recycling canisters a quick scrub. I do this twice a year, in mid-May right as it's getting hot, and in mid-October right as it's getting cooler. I waited an extra week this year in the hope that I'd be able to wash them on my new porch. I also gave the bike a quick scrub-down.

Worked on writing for a little while after I finished. Luke and Yoda are making their own way through the Temple. Luke's getting tired of hacking away at vines and cobwebs. He wants a story. Patience, Yoda says. You'll get your story soon enough...

Broke for a quick hoagie and broccoli salad dinner at 6:30. Did most of an episode of Garfield and Friends while I ate. Garfield finds himself in "The Lasagna Zone" when he spills tomato sauce and cheese on Jon's new satellite dish and somehow ends up in the programs. Orson is a "Sleepytime Pig" when the Sandman can't seem to get him snoozing. "Yojumbo" has Jon and Garfield taking martial arts classes to take on a bully...but Garfield has another way of dealing with him.

Jumped into the bath even before the cartoon ended. Ahhh. While the bath bomb didn't really fizz, the citrus-mint scent was nice and soothing. I listened to George Winston play the music of Vince Guaraldi (including "The Great Pumpkin Waltz") while looking over self-help books.

Mom called while I was in the bath. I called her back as soon as I got out. I hadn't talked to her in ages. She and Dad-Bill are both having a rough time of it. She's taking time off from her job at the Ferry to take care of him, which means neither of them are working. They won't be having Thanksgiving at their house this year. (That's ok. I'll probably eat at Dad and Jodie's or, if she does do it, Rose's house.)

In better news, my sister Anny and her fiancee Jay finally bought a house. They were living in the Villas, but their current home is smaller than my apartment. It's much too small for a family with three children (one a teenager and one a toddler). The house they're buying is in North Cape May, just five minutes from where we lived from about 1994 to 2006, across from Legates Farm Market on Bayshore Road.

Finished the night with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The island of Isla Nubar is being threatened with a volcanic eruption that could harm the remaining dinosaurs living there. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) tries to encourage the government to save them, but they turn her down. Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) and his assistant Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) claim they want to transfer the dinosaurs to their own sanctuary. He recruits a group of mercenaries to help him, including dinosaur doctor Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda). Claire calls in Owen Brady (Chris Pratt), who had trained many of the dinosaurs, including the only Velociraptor.

It's Lockwood's granddaughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon) who figures out what's really going on. Mills wants to sell the dinosaurs on the black market, including a new one created by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (B.D Wong). She has to warn Owen and the others, and they have to figure out how to stop this new creation, before all of the dinosaurs get loose and wreck havoc.

If you enjoyed the first Jurassic World, you'll probably like this one just as much. It was one of the biggest hits of this past summer for a reason. Spall and Wong get top honors this time as the villains, along with Pineda as the sassy animal medic. While I didn't like it quite as much as the first one, it's far from horrible (and is still better than either of the Jurassic Park sequels).