HAVE YOU BEEN TO ABUELO’S?

Neither had I, until Ron and I decided to make that today’s “boy’s day out” destination!

Yes, another day on our own, while Judy, Neena, and Terri went their own way shopping and to eat at Gridiron Burgers. Ron and I will report on that someday soon!

Anyway, after walking around Gander Mountain, looking at what was on sale, picking up a couple of rifles (M1A, M-16, Mini-14, etc.), pointing out a 1911 or two, and then standing in the kayak area talking to Ron’s buddy that works in that department, we made our way on to Abuelo’s in the Turkey Creek area of West Knoxville.

I am used to walking in and instantly recognizing a place as a Mexican restaurant, but Abuelo’s is different…it looks fancy! Oh, it has a Mexican theme, it’s just more upscale than what I’ve been used to! Even the music playing in the background was not just some regular mariachi band, but some great band music accompanying some more modern sounding singers! I even got into a couple of them and one or two sounded like Mexican rock!

The adobe colored walls were broken by big white arches and columns, and accented with very dark molding and trim. The bar continued the dark wood theme, with large mirrors, a dark green granite looking bar, and matching tufted green leather topped bar stools.

The booths were plush with matching green seats and dark paisley designed back rests.

We ordered two large Dos Equis drafts from the lovely waitress and we were off!

I scanned the menu and knew immediately that this was going to be a wonderful taste experience. The items on the menu had more traditional names and beautiful photos of the selections.

Soon, we were ordering our second draft and placing our lunch orders.

Ron ordered The Monterrey from the “combinations” section of the menu, while I picked the Stuffed Chicken Medallions from the “senior” menu! Don’t laugh…it was great…look at it! It was wonderful!

Medallions of chicken breast were stuffed with chorizo, Poblano and cheese, and then lightly fried to perfection. It is served with refried beans and your choice of Papas con Chile™ or Mexican rice. I chose the rice!

Ron’s fare included a sour cream chicken enchilada, an avocado enchilada, a spinach enchilada, a chicken ranchera enchilada, a cheese chile relleno, and a crispy chicken taco and guacamole!

I took a photo with Ron’s hand showing for scale…it was huge, and he took some home!

We’ve decided that the next full family gathering should be at Abuelo’s!

BEER – THAT WONDERFUL CONCOCTION

I suppose I should count myself lucky not to have become an alcoholic with all that I have enjoyed over the years, but I think it is something you have a predisposition for, like a gene perhaps. So whether lucky or blessed, I have had a long life of enjoying alcohol. I can say I have only abused the privilege three or four times in my sixty plus years, because after the teenage wild and crazy years and the military era, I am thankful that I grew to just appreciate the wonderful varieties of taste. My sole purpose today is to enjoy the countless flavors; how they mingle, and enhance the taste of foods and good cigars.

My first taste came from a cold steel “church keyed” can my father held to my lips when I was probably five or six years old. Just a short swallow without mom seeing, but it was cold, refreshing, and the taste intrigued me. I can remember thinking how I could not wait until I was old enough to buy my own. Actually, the thought was more about how nice it would be to enjoy a can of beer with my dad. Looking back, I am not sure that ever happened.

I also had two uncles that I admired greatly and they both would come to our house and drink beer with my dad. I longed to be old enough to share that experience with them – a sort of rite of passage, I suppose.

Since, I have shared a beer with one of them, but the other let religion rob him of enjoying “life more abundantly.” Without understanding Grace, one becomes guilty of every short fall in their life, and some of the good God given things of life become lost. Such a shame!

Then there was the period in high school where we drank mostly because we were not supposed to and just because we could obtain it. There is also that added peer pressure and, of course, you do not want to be different. So, I drank when we could get it on the weekends, and finally when I became bold enough, I bought it at lunch during school just to be cool.

I can remember sitting in the back of someone’s car, drinking a quart in the dark and getting down to that hot pissy taste at the bottom of the bottle or can. You did not want to get caught not finishing every drop, but I could not then drink warm beer. Somehow you slipped the bottle out the window hoping no one noticed what was left, and that when it hit it sounded empty!

One beer episode will always stay with me and that is buying beer from the black (colored then) beer joint in “Basel Town!” Basel Town was what most folks in the Harriman area called the black part of town then. It was spooky enough to us white kids to go into the area at night, but to pull up behind the “Skinny Miller’s” and ask for beer was another step into the unknown.

As you meandered through the parking lot and neared the corner of the joint, you doused the headlights, rolled up to the little porch in back, and sat there waiting anxiously, listening to the music thumping through the walls.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the darkened screen door would creak open about two or three inches. From inside an obviously black voice would grunt, “Wh’ca ont?”

“Uh, ah, six-pack of Schlitz?”

The voice announced the price, which could be anything, because no one was about to argue with a darkened screen door! So you just laid the money in the “silhouette hand” that immediately disappeared behind the door.

Had the hand, holding a paper sack full of beer, never appeared again, we would have simply drove off after a long wait and counted ourselves lucky to have survived! But now, with beer in the car, all was right with the universe once again. We were alive and we had beer!

Later, in Vietnam, I learned to drink beer warm and often just plain hot! After the foam blew off about half the can when opened, you just sucked in the hot liquid to get to the high that made you forget, for a while at least, where you were.

I am thankful I lived through all that early experience with beer and whiskey. I am also thankful I now can appreciate it for what it really is. Beer is a wonderful tasting concoction - one of mankind’s greatest achievements and one of God’s greatest blessings.

THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND BEER

The six of us, the three sisters and us guys, went to see Irvin Berlin’s “White Christmas” at the Cumberland County Playhouse last weekend in Crossville, Tennessee. The playhouse has professional productions there and we attend two or three events annually. Our tickets for the evening were for 8PM, which is an hour earlier than our time zone.

Anyway, the discussion came up about where we should eat prior to the show. Someone mentioned a place and before I could stop myself I said, “You know they don’t have beer there?” Everyone looked at me and then to Ron.

Since Ron is a man who enjoys a good dark beer and prefers to eat at places that have a good selection on tap, I expected him to present our case. However, no further arguments were presented from either side and other places of interest were suggested.

I should have learned my lesson from the first looks I got from the “dragons,” but went on to say, “You know, next time we go to a play, let’s pick an earlier time so we can eat casually afterwards and have a couple of beers.”

Terri, the fork at the end of the dragon’s tongue, turned toward me like a bird dog on a point, and said, “You know Mushy (not his real name), the world doesn’t revolve around beer!”

“Ah no, contrario” I said. “The world floats on it!