Random Connections – Page 140 – A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

Nation’s Bakery

January 16, 2010 Tom 6 Comments

Restaurants

NOTE: This restaurant location has closed. The restaurant has moved to Inman, SC, and a Mexican restaurant has opened in this location.

It started with a box of cookies…

A new bakery opened just down the road in Lyman. Its signs touting “gourmet cuisine” have been taunting me for the past couple of months. I’ve even stopped by twice, only to be told that they were not yet ready to serve lunch, but soon… The smells of fresh-baked goods made it hard to walk out the door unsatisfied.

Then this morning one of my tech team brought a selection of cookies from Nations Bakery and told me that they were now open for lunch. The cookies were excellent, and I knew I had to give this place a try.

Background

Once upon a time this used to be a popular ice cream shop. Many years later it found new life as Don Pedro’s, a Mexican restaurant with fairly good food, but a scary interior. It didn’t fare so well, and the building has sat empty for the past couple of years.

As previously mentioned, work began remodeling the empty restaurant a couple of months ago. The bakery opened first, and the restaurant opened just after Christmas.

Warrior Mountain

January 12, 2010 Tom 3 Comments

Local

Growing up in the little two of Gray Court, SC, there were two prominent geographical landmarks that always fascinated me. Two small monadnocks, the Big Knob and Little Knob, dominated the landscape just three miles south of the town. As a child I was fascinated with geology, especially volcanoes. I imagined that these small mountains … Read More “Warrior Mountain” »

Carl’s Seafood Bisque

January 2, 2010 Tom 2 Comments

Recipes

We first had this meal in Florida at Carl’s house. He is a great chef! He had caught fresh red snapper in the Intracoastal Waterway and used some of it to make this seafood bisque. I unfortunately do not have fresh red snapper so I get tilapia from Publix and make this imitation of Carl’s … Read More “Carl’s Seafood Bisque” »

Looking Back at 2009

December 31, 2009 Tom 1 Comment

Miscellaneous

With only hours to go in this year, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on it. While 2009 was a challenging year for so many, overall it was a good one for us. We started the year with hope and celebration – hope in the inauguration of new president, and celebration of … Read More “Looking Back at 2009” »

Beef Bouillon Fondue

December 31, 2009 Tom No Comments

Recipes

Last night Laura decided she wanted fondue for dinner. She wanted to try something other than the oil-based fondues we had done in the past, so she decided to try a bouillon-based one instead. It was a resounding success. Here’s what we did… Ingredients 2 14 oz cans of Swanson’s Beef Bouillon 2 bay leaves … Read More “Beef Bouillon Fondue” »

Adventures in Customer Service

December 30, 2009 Tom 5 Comments

Rants

Two different stories of breakdowns in customer service. One had a very simple solution, but one was most difficult to resolve. Both resulted in ill-will on the part of the customer (us.) Both of these prove the old saying my former boss used, “It takes ten ‘atta-boys’ to make up for one ‘Oh Sh*t!'”

The Lazy Goat

This was the simplest to resolve, but that didn’t happen. The customer service faux pas could have been fixed with just one simple phrase, but the offending parties didn’t.

Laura and I celebrated our 21st anniversary last week. However, we decided to wait until we got home from Florida to have a celebratory dinner at The Lazy Goat. I made reservations, and specifically requested a table at the windows overlooking the Reedy River. When we arrived, we were seated in the middle of the restaurant, our request notwithstanding. The window tables had been taken.

Here’s where things broke down…

2010 Calendar

December 29, 2009 Tom 3 Comments

Miscellaneous, Photography

The past couple of years I haven’t been very successful with my photo calendars. In 2007 the company I used made misprints, and replaced all of the calendars I ordered. Some folks thought the calendars looked OK even with the faulty printing, and took them anyway. Last year I didn’t even get around to making a calendar. I couldn’t decide on which photos to use and the time slipped by. This year I had a theme, but once again time was a factor.

I order my calendars through Qoop.com from photos that I’ve posted to my Flickr account. Since I’ve been doing so much with antiquing and adding texture, I thought it might be nice to create a collection of processed photographs. Specifically, I was including old and vanishing structures and objects from the South. I placed the order on December 6, which should have been plenty of time for the order to be processed. However, the calendars didn’t arrive until after we had already left for Florida for Christmas – too late to be used as Christmas presents as intended. I complained to Qoop, and they were gracious enough to refund my shipping fees and give me a coupon for future purchases, but this is two orders that they have messed up.

As for the calendars themselves, they were waiting when we got back home. I may still use them as Epiphany presents, but the overall effect of the calendars wasn’t exactly what I expected. They turned out a bit darker, and a bit more Gothic than I had thought. Here’s a brief month-by-month rundown…

Christmas a capella

December 23, 2009 Tom No Comments

Entertainment, Music

I love a capella and close harmonies, for just about any genre of music. My co-worker, Rick, alerted me to a new group he’d heard on XM radio called Straight No Chaser that does some absolutely fantastic Christmas music. I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit lately, much to Laura’s dismay. Most of the group’s … Read More “Christmas a capella” »

Babes in Toyland

December 15, 2009 Tom No Comments

Miscellaneous

Since we don’t have kids of our own, each year Laura and I contribute to Toys for Tots and other charities. Last night we went shopping at Toys R Us and ran into an interesting dilemma. We always try to get something for the older kids. It’s easy to run into a store and pick … Read More “Babes in Toyland” »

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28