PRR on dixie-cups and string

[drew]

> how far are you from passable Mexican food?

Why do you ask? Are you coming up, ONLY if I can show you good Mex?

Heh, no.  Whenever I get the overwhelming urge to get the hell out of where I am now and move to <insert name of idealized pastoral community somewhere far away> and start doing <insert name of completely impractical occupation>, one of the ways I talk myself off the ledge is by thinking about stuff like that.  If getting a good carnitas super-burrito (or pad thai or whatever) is going to involve packing an overnight bag, then the idea of moving there starts to sound a lot less appealing.

True enough about the seafood, although, believe it or not, you can get tired of lobster pretty fast if you're in a situation where you can have as much of it as you want (e.g., visiting your uncle the lobsterman).  I actually like the crab better.  They're small, and a lot of work to get the meat out of them, but I think they're tastier than the lobster.  I don't think there's much of a commercial market for them, and a lot of the guys just throw them back, but if you can get ahold of some, it's definitely worthwhile.

[jhadhar65]

>We went into **** ****, a VERY popular pizza and beer joint here, and were extremely underwhelmed with the pizza. Wholesome and utterly bland.

Hmmm... was "**** ****" about 20 minutes or so north of you, like in Ellsworth, and does the name start with an "F"?

[PRR]

There are five Mex joints within 10-30 miles.
 


The Mex gets poor reviews, but some of these people may have never been within 1,000 miles of Mexico. It's in Ellsworth, the working class town where Bar Harbor tourists stop to pee, and has been in operation for decades.

Gringos and Pancho are Bar Harbor side-streets, been going good for many years, are probably very fine, though perhaps not what you'd get south of the border. If you come, we'll check them out.

As everywhere, there's a lot of "global cooking", which to me means odd apparently-random unpalatable combinations of foods. Like a 4-star steak, topped with an inch of wicked-good blue cheese from a local farm; either alone would be great, but together was a waste of decent beef and an overdose of good but strong cheese. Some of the "Mexican" found in Google is really "global": Rupununi is a fine joint if you like something different, but any Mex is happenstance. Bassa is probably also an everything-goes fancy food joint.

BTW: I said you can't get good bread in Maine supermarkets, but even quickie-marts stock taco shells. Yes, Old El Paso cardboard, no relation to real Mexican. But must be a lot of people thinking "home-cooked Mexican".

> fresh seafood

You'd think. But once in a while we've got stuff that clearly walked down to the Boston fish-market and back. The Maine fishery is small and fragmented. Many restaurants don't want lobstermen coming to the back door, they work with suppliers who often as not get seafood where convenient. And when a 1,700 passenger cruise ship docks in Bar Harbor, they can't all have local lobster... the uncommitted catch is not that large.

Lunt's, Trenton Bridge, and Stewman's will presumably have lobster caught the same day in the local bay. Southwest Harbor is where many lobstermen dock and you might get lobster right out of the trap.

And once in a while you find a treat. I was around Philly in the 1960s, and they made soft pretzels-- excellent! It was yeast-raised, hand bent, and served hot from the oven. With a special mustard. Nothing like hard boxed pretzels. And there are "soft" pretzels made cheap in a factory full of chemicals to keep them "soft" for a week, uck. Tonight, Jack's served us 4-star soft pretzels: clearly made in a factory and frozen, but better than any factory-made soft pretzel I ever had, and served with the proper mustard (except in a glass dish with a knife; the right way is from a plastic squeeze-bottle). This almost made up for the trouble they are having with french-fries.

[billcreller]

Sounds like you are having fun PRR   You needed a project anyway
When I built my house in the mid 80s, the ground and neutral in the service were both attached to the enclosure , and now they are supposed to be separate I guess.   Must be OK, the house is still standing.  Good that you have communication up-grades since you moved in.

[PRR]

> the ground and neutral in the service were both attached to the enclosure , and now they are supposed to be separate

They should be bonded together at the MAIN box.

NOT at any sub-panels, such as the 4-fuse box in my garage.

It is similar to star grounding. ONE point brings power-common and safety-ground together. If they come together at multiple points, bad things can happen. Usually not, but....

[billcreller]

 Mine was inspected at the time, so I guess I did  it right. The only thing I'm sure has changed since I built this place is that they want a ground to the main box from a water pipe as well as the 8 ft ground stake I drove in near the meter.

[PRR]

> does the name start with an "F"?

No. Half mile south. Not a pizza joint, a beerhall which serves various food. Maybe not the best place to sample fine Maine cooking, but we were hungry and we were passing it.

Might be a great place to watch a good football game.