VISITING FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN THE DC AREA

All is quiet here at Little Bennett Regional Park (click here to read our campground review).  The Memorial Day campers are long gone, and even their trash, overflowing from the dumpsters, has been picked up.  Odel is on the golf course, and I am sitting in our leafy glade, listening to old rock on the radio.  Quite peaceful!

Our two-day drive from Cincinnati to Clarksburg, Maryland, 30 miles north of Washington, DC, was uneventful.  We spent some of it on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a toll road with limited access, unlike most of the highways we travel.  I’m not sure why we had to pay to use it ($19.70), as the surface was just as bad as the “free” interstate miles we traveled.

This isn’t a sightseeing visit.  We came this far east to visit with Odel’s daughter and her family, and are otherwise doing our usual “stuff”: groceries, dealing with the mail we received in our forwarded packets, walking.  The weather hasn’t been conducive for outdoor activities: hot and humid.  I know everyone laughs about the westerner’s mantra, “but it’s a dry heat!” – but give me 100 degrees and dry over 88 degrees and humid any day!

In lieu of the usual travel report, I have a product review:  “As Seen On TV”, Heel-Tastic. 

Not long ago (after I got my pedicure in the Dallas airport), I put away my winter shoes and got out my sandals.  My toes looked great, but my heels – HELP!  All dried out and cracked, yellowish – you get the picture, and maybe you’ve seen it yourself on your own heels, eh?  Odel’s were even worse, which I wouldn’t have thought possible.

On a trip to Target, I saw the “As Seen On TV” section, which always fascinates me – such oddball items, of such low quality, with so little chance of doing what they promise, yet they seem so inviting!  A small display of Heel-Tastic sat on the shelf, calling my name.  The photos!  The promises!  Just $9.99.  I put it in my cart.  I put it back.  I dithered.  Finally, I bought it.

We LOVE it.  It comes in a stick, with a buttery texture, so is quick and easy to apply.  The scent is grassy and herbal, not too medicinal, and it’s quite oily – we both have special sox we put on after applying it, or flip-flops.  Odel uses it daily, I use it when I need it – and our heels look great, with even the biggest cracks healing.  So, that’s what’s up with us lately – solving senior “body-image” problems.  :) 

We’ll be here until Sunday, when we’ll be heading north to wherever the weather is cooler.  See you then!

FAMILY, FOOD, AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD – CINCINNATI, OH

Cincinnati’s humidity was a light, warm fog as we set off on our loop around the lake this morning.  Just 7:30 when we joined the neighborhood walkers and joggers that take advantage the amenities at Winton Woods, the huge county park where we camped for four nights (click here to read our campground review).  Though it is part of the urban Cincinnati area, the park has a rural feel – an excellent base camp for our visit.

Greg and Joy put Cincinnati on the map for us – we specifically came to visit with them, see their home and community.  It turned out to be a good stop for other reasons, too – the best of all worlds.  :)

Before we left Memphis, I visited the AAA office and stocked up on maps and tour books for all the states we plan to visit this summer.  Researching Cincinnati, one “attraction” stood out: the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.  

Until we arrived in Cincinnati, I didn’t realize that it was just across the Ohio River north of Kentucky.  The river is the boundary between Kentucky and Ohio, and also was the boundary between slave states and free states.  Cincinnati, on the northern bank, was a beacon for slaves fleeing from the southern states to freedom, and a center of Underground Railroad activity – a natural location for the Freedom Center.

Greg had a day off on Wednesday, so we met him at the Freedom Center (his first visit, too) at 11 am, when it opens.  We were there for three hours, leaving not because we had seen everything, but because we couldn’t absorb any more.

The history of slavery is a grim, sad story.  On top of the pain inherent in the permanent displays, the Freedom Center gallery had a special exhibit, Without Sanctuary, Lynching Photography in America.  It is impossible for me to understand the horror and brutality humans willingly inflict on one another, and the history of lynching in the U.S is beyond belief.  I won’t go into further details; suffice to say that none of the three of us was able to study the entire exhibit.  Mobs – the very worst of humanity, magnified, unleashed, uncontrollable and unrepentant.

The permanent exhibits of the Freedom Center present the whole terrible history of slavery unflinchingly.  A two story “slave pen”, a warehouse to hold slaves for awaiting transportation south and sale, has been moved from its original location in Kentucky and rebuilt inside the center.  Chains, shackles, photographs, written records – it is all there, and it is heavy and fatiguing to view, indeed. 

Greg inspects the slave pen.	Shackles and chains

So, what saves this from being nothing but a totally oppressive experience?  Two things: the story of the underground railroad, and ART!

Whoever planned the Freedom Center understood the inspirational power of art, and it is used liberally throughout, a break from the relentless inhumanity of the story of enslavement.  Artistic standouts are the animated film that provides the orientation to the exhibits, and the “RagGonNon” fabric art piece (click here to read about the artist) that dominated one wall of the second floor (the center is three stories).  I also appreciated the symbolism and hope of the eternal flame burning on a south-facing, third floor outdoor deck, mirroring the lighted lanterns used by “conductors” of the underground railroad to signal slaves attempting to cross the Ohio River.

Odel contemplates “RagGonNons” (click to enlarge)	Detail of “RagGonNons” (click to enlarge).

The compassion and heroics of the “conductors” provide another antidote to the exhibits.  A second film dramatizes the fear and courage of both the escaping slaves and their helpers, helping to mitigate all we had seen, read, and heard (free audio PDAs are provided to narrate your tour).  It is an impressive place, a valuable history lesson, and we recommend it – but be prepared to get up close and personal with humankind’s terrible capacity for brutality and indifference.

On a completely different note:  we had two nice visits with Joy and Greg.  Both nights that they were free, we drove to their house (a 25 minute drive), then Joy drove us all to dinner in her new Prius.  On Tuesday night, we had outstanding pizza at Dewey’s Pizza at Oakley Square, then walked out into the balmy darkness and down the block to a historic local ice cream parlor (over 100 years old) for dessert. 

Wednesday night, the menu was Thai, at the OUTSTANDING Green Papaya.  We shared delicious, unusual sushi rolls for an appetizer, then tasted each others’ entrees, each very different from the others, and each very, very good. 

Joy took us on a short driving tour of the highlights of the Hyde Park neighborhood – a huge, green park, several streets of huge, old, beautifully maintained homes, and Hyde Park Square, a tiny park in the center of a boulevard, lined on both sides with independent shops and restaurants.  It was a lovely slice of Cincinnati that we would not have seen as anonymous visitors, and we were glad for both the company and the local knowledge.  Thanks, Joy and Greg!

As I write, we are on the road east, passing through a tiny slice of West Virginia, another state to add to our map.  :)  Safe travels, all.

A QUICK BREAK AND SNACK – CINCINNATI, OHIO

Just back from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (tomorrow’s blog), we have a little break before meeting Joy and Greg for dinner - so I took a few minutes to whip up a fresh batch of hummus to savor during our next two days of travel.  That reminded me that Elaine had asked me to post the hummus recipe to the blog, so here it is, 5 Minute Hummus.  It took as long to type it as to make it!

The only ingredient I didn’t have on hand the first time I made the recipe was tahini (sesame seed paste – like peanut butter, but made with sesame seeds), which I bought at Whole Foods.  There is enough in the jar to make many batches of fresh hummus.  The original recipe labeled tahini as “optional”, and I suppose it could be left out (it isn’t cheap, and isn’t something most people have on hand), but it does add a smooth richness and additional layer of complexity.  If you don’t have it and don’t want to buy it, I would substitute smooth peanut butter.  I doubled the garlic AND the lemon juice (and wrote those changes into the recipe) – cut either if you wish.

Hummus is a wonderful dish to keep in the refrigerator during the heat of summer.  It’s a great light snack with cold, crisp carrots, celery, cucumber or jicama sticks; it’s good on toast, or in a wrap.  It is a pretty dish to take to a party or potluck, and it’s healthy.  It would be good looking and good tasting stuffed in those popular little Peppadew peppers. 

The same day I mentioned making hummus, an interesting link appeared on one of the food blogs I follow, Casual Kitchen.  If you are interested in more recipes for hummus, check this out -  The Hummus Blogroll: 17 Easy to Make Hummus Recipes.  I’m looking forward to trying Thai Basil Hummus and Curry Pumpkin Hummus.

Enjoy, Elaine – and all you other cooking readers.  If any of you try a recipe (or several) from the Hummus Blogroll, I hope you’ll let me know how it turned out.  I can feel a hummus obsession coming on… :)

Note: a couple of hours after I posted this, a reader pointed out an error in the recipe (forgot the lemon juice).  It’s fixed now.