Pink Grapefruit Margaritas

It’s Saturday. It’s summer in southern Ohio. It’s hot. For us here on the farm, it all means that when 5 p.m. rolls around, it’s time for pink grapefruit margaritas.

Inspired by a local eatery where Mrs. SR013 got a grapefruit margarita, I started experimenting with my own recipe. They’re a little more tart than the classic variety, but perhaps a little more refreshing on a sweltering day, too. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Makes about 3 margaritas

6 oz. tequila
2 oz. Cointreau
Generous 16 oz. (2 cups) fresh pink grapefruit juice
Juice of two limes
2 tsp. sugar

Mix all ingredients briskly and pour into glasses with 5 or 6 standard ice cubes in them. Drink while sitting with a friend (or friends) on a patio and congratulating each other on how great you are.

Cincinnati Restaurant Scene: Two-Month Assessment

I’ve been to a number of local restaurants now, based on one sort of recommendation or another, and I’ve perused the online menus of many more. My impression after only a couple of months is this: A lot of sameness and a lot of mediocrity. There are a few interesting or even good restaurants — Boca, Chalk, Nicola’s — but overall the landscape, particularly east of the city where we live, is pretty sparse.

Most of the popular local eateries seem to focus on comfort/bar food. A lot of burgers, steaks, fried shrimp, chili, chicken wings, mac&cheese, French fries, ceasar salads, mozzarella sticks, potato skins, things like that. Maybe this menu stems partly from the family oriented culture here: eating out is Mom’s night off, and she avoids any sense of guilt if her family can get something she approves of, something familiar. Meanwhile, Dad wants to order what he used to eat when he went to a bar with his buddies.

I think the conservative cultural currents that run through Ohio probably contribute to this sameness and lack of adventurousness, along with what seems to be a tendency for many locals to spend all or most of their lives here and not travel much. One way or another, the restaurant-going public here is just not very demanding or experienced. I’ll update this post in the coming months as I try more places. And I’ll do a separate post on ethnic food.

Geese Redux

Well, goose poop on the driveway confirms the geese waddled 150 yards up the driveway to our house, across the front lawn and around the house to the bird seed. These are the waddlinest geese I’ve ever known of. I’ve seen them fly so I know they can do it, but apparently their attitude is, why fly when you can waddle? I don’t know if they’ll be back, however, because they’ve grown wary of our barking dogs.

Hot Hot Hot

Hottest day of the year, 91 in the shade on the north side of the house, and it’s 4:30 in the afternoon. The bird feeders on the back lawn are deserted, the robins have disappeared from the lawn. There’s a strong breeze but it just seems to bring more hot, thick air, and you wonder, where is it all coming from?

Visitors from Canada

The Canada geese that have been spending the summer at our neighbor’s pond found their way to our yard this morning. It’s a little surprising because the pond is near the road, about 1/4 mile from our house, and these geese are accustomed to walking around the neighborhood. Nevertheless, they appeared in the yard and walked warily around the side of the house, in a long line, until they got to the bird feeders in back, where they started gobbling up seed that had scattered to the ground. It’s almost as if someone told them it was there.

Many of these big guys were dinky goslings a couple months ago.

An Artist’s View

Mrs. SR 013 was invited to contribute several guest blogs about moving to Cincinnati on Soapbox. They’re good reads and give you some excellent perspective on what the transition has been like for a couple of Southern Californians moving to Ohio for the first time.

Counting Robins

After a rain shower yesterday evening, Mrs. SR 013 and I counted at least 100 robins on the lawn surrounding the house. Granted, it’s a fairly big lawn, and yes, robins look for worms that surface after a rain, but geez. We seem to be ground zero for the local robin population. It’s among the species that seem to be doing very well here on the farm.

No Crowds

I went to the Newtown post office yesterday and it looked like it was closed. No cars in the parking lot, no one behind the desk inside. When I tried the door, though, it was open, so I went in and a guy came out from a back room and genially sold me some stamps.

Later I went to the Ohio BMV office in Milford to get license plates for my new car, and there was no line whatsoever there, either. I was done and out the door in under 10 minutes.

When I went to the post office in Southern California I always found 10 or 15 people waiting in line, and parking was always a hassle. And you had to budget a few hours for a trip to the DMV for anything.

I’m not used to this lack of crowds, but it’s one aspect of small-town life I definitely enjoy.

Squirrel Notes

A recent New York Times article was full of fresh perspective on the Eastern gray tree squirrel, which we have in abundance around here. Although many experts consider these animals to be an invasive species, the article pointed out, among other things,  how crafty and social they are, and how their broadly veined tails help them regulate body temperature. One scientist even said that when people call him “squirrelly,” he takes it as a compliment.

Overall this piece gave me some new respect for squirrels as I eyed one searching (and finding) bird seed on the lawn from a feeder we have hanging from an iron post.

Bicycling

Mrs. SR 013 and I took our first bike ride today along the Little Miami Scenic Trail, the 78-mile-long paved trail along the Little Miami River. The experience was like biking through a long, shady green glade, with other bikers — from serious “hammerheads” to families — passing by along the way. The air was soft and cool along the river route — delightful. What a terrific amenity this bike route is for the greater Cincinnati area.