I wasn’t going to write today but that if I didn’t I would never end up writing about Syracuse Salt Potatoes. I have never eaten one and blame LORi for not introducing them to me when we visited Syracuse on our way to Toronto. Her son was at the University. I have a weakness for regional foods. When I pass through Binghamton I get Speedies. In Buffalo, Buffalo Wings. In Syracuse I should get salt potatoes. I will for now on. Syracuse was a major salt for salt that comes from salt springs. Part of the process of making into table salt was to lay the brine out on barges and letting the water evaporate, leaving just the salt. The salt workers would boil small white potatoes in the brine. They come out quite differently that the usual bland boiled potatoes. They are both creamier and tastier. I boiled mine for 13 minutes. If you make a lot you drain them in a colander; as this was just for me I removed them with my large slotted spoon. When you take them out pour melted butter on them and that’s it. You don’t even need to measure anything. Add salt until the water is saturated. There should be some undissolved crystals on the bottom of the pot. The “official” recipe is one cup salt to six cups of water. I cooked mine in a tiny pot. This so easily scales up. It’s perhaps the lowest effort potato. It’s now part of my rotation. The simple things in life can give a great deal of satisfaction.
After dinner I watched the World Series. I’m rooting for the Dodgers as they’ve been the best team in baseball and haven’t won anything yet. Post season baseball is ruled by luck. The best team in each league wins the pennant only a quarter of the time. That’s the effect of multiple rounds of playoffs. I was always against the wildcard, this season it was made even worse. This year it worked out, the best teams won, and now I want the best team to win the World series. The Dodgers are the model for how I want the Mets to be run after Cohen byes the team; a big spending team that takes a hyper-analytic approach. The Rays are a small spending team that takes it to even greater extremes. They have to. They need to get the most out of every dollar spent. No matter the budget Mookie Betts’ salary is money well spent. He’s a joy to watch. He does everything well and he demonstrated it last night with a home run and two stolen bases. He’s been a human highlight reel defensively during the post season. God I wish the Mets had traded for him and then signed the big extension. Betts is the best player in baseball to not share a name with a fish. Only baseball fans will get that. The best player in baseball is Mike Trout. You don’t believe me? Just Google, “Best player in baseball.”
If you have Google assistant on your phone try out a new feature. For years you could play recorded music and ask, “What song is this?” and it would identify it. You can also just press on the mic icon and play the music. “identify this song” will pop up and touch that. Right now, it told me that I’m listening to Suite for flue and piano, OP. 116: II Idylle by Jeffrey Khaner. The new feature is that you can sing or hum the song and it will identify it. Ask the same two ways. I’m a terrible singing but it can sometimes figure things out just from singing nonsense to the melody. I am not good at remembering lyrics. I can’t whistle well enough to make it work. Those of you that can actually sing should try it. When we hear live music again I’ll see if it can identify the song being played. I’m not sure how complete the library is.
I should have gone out today and taken the hike to Marie’s Coffee on Arthur Avenue for more coffee. I’m almost out and today was a beautiful day. I’ll try to get the motivation up to do it tomorrow. Life without good coffee is not life, it’s just existence.
Wise Madness 