Three Beautiful Things 03-20-2023: Keeping a Toe Record, Improvised BBQ Flatbreads, *Columbo* and *The Return of the Secaucus 7*

1. It's helpful for me to have a record via this blog whenever this big toe thing flares up. Today was the fifth day of swelling and redness. This might be the longest this inflammation has hung on, but I'm not positive. Today I iced it more aggressively. I decided to treat it as if it's gout and began drinking cherry juice. I almost never take painkillers because of my kidneys, but I took a couple Bufferin after I'd been in bed for an hour or so and slept through the night. 

There. That's the record I can refer back to. 

2. Our HelloFresh box arrived today and I decided to make BBQ Pineapple Flatbreads.

Ha! One minor problem. The employee who packed our box gave us two packages of Mozzarella cheese and no pineapple. (Debbie reported the error and HelloFresh credited her account six bucks.)

So, I improvised.

I decided to substitute apple for the pineapple and fresh squeezed tangerine juice for the pineapple juice.

The juice worked as an ingredient, along with vinegar, to pickle a quarter of a red onion sliced.

I cooked the chopped apple pieces with the rest of the onions as I caramelized them and that worked, too.

So, once the onion/apple mixture was ready, all I had to do was drizzle the flatbread rectangles with olive oil, divide the packet of BBQ sauce between them, top the sauce with the apple/onion mixture, and top that with sliced and seasoned green peppers, Mozzarella cheese, Jack cheese, cilantro, and the pickled onions, drained. 

I popped the flatbreads in the oven for about ten minutes until the cheese melted and the edges were brown, cut each flatbread into six pieces, and plated them. 

When we first moved to Greenbelt, the Old Line Bistro served flatbreads, thinner ones, prepared with a variety of toppings and I enjoyed this meal as it was both delicious and nostalgic. (I loved the Old Line Bistro, now closed, in Beltsville, MD.)

3. For dessert, we watched Lt. Columbo absolutely crush a sleazy, arrogant, hedonistic, amoral, gambling addicted dentist who tried to make it look like his wife poisoned her lover. 

The most fun (and awesome) part of this story was when Columbo arrived at the site of the dentist's regular poker game and the delight Columbo took in the fact that Ron Cey, Nancy Walker, and Dick Sargent were all at the table, all playing themselves. 

I experienced an added personal pleasure. 

The actor playing the dentist's brother-in-law, Mark Arnott, was the intellectually gifted, wood-chopping character in The Return of the Secaucus 7 who arrived at the reunion with Mara, who was breaking up (or had broken up) with him and, over the weekend, slept with JT, making it clearer than he wanted that she was done with Jeff.  

It's been many years since I last watched this movie, but for a stretch of time in the 1980s I had a tape of it at home and must have watched it at least two dozen times after seeing in three times in theaters in Eugene and Portland. 

The Return of the Secaucus 7 streams on IFC and AMC. 

Might be time to subscribe!