Meal No. 2395: Baked Chicken Thighs

Friday's early meal: seasoned baked chicken thighs together with green beans and some easy skillet stuffing. I pretty much scarfed this down and almost licked the emptied plate.

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"Baked Tender Chicken Thighs," from Valentina's Corner.

Meal No. 2394: Lamb & Mushroom Meat Loaf

It was kind of a sizable meal for the early bird special on Thursday, but I was headed to a 6:30 documentary screening and needed supper to be over before I left. It was still a great meal, though: lamb meat loaf, buttered mashed potatoes, and garden peas. I had more than my fill.

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"Lamb and Multi-Mushroom Meat Loaf" (p. 150), in Tupelo Honey Cafe: Spirited Recipes from Asheville's New South Kitchen, by Elizabeth Sims with Chef Brian Sonoskus. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 2011.

Meal No. 2393: 2 x 2 Soup

For a simple meal on Wednesday afternoon, I made a half-batch of the warm and delicious 2 x 2 soup.

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"2 x 2 Soup," from various sources.

Praline Clusters

Last Tuesday I got a hankering to try out a new recipe for pecan praline clusters, and boy howdy were they ever a sweet treat that couldn't be beat.

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"Pralines," by ratherbeswimmin on GeniusKitchen.com.

Meal No. 2392: Garden Salad with Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

For a simple lunch meal on Sunday, I had a nice crisp garden salad with some homemade Thousand Island dressing on it. I ended up having another such salad for supper the following Tuesday. I tinkered a bit with the dressing recipe and it really was great...and easy!

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Adapted from "Thousand Island Dressing," from Graybert on GeniusKitchen.com.

Meal No. 2391: Pipetizer Casserole

It's been well over a year since I made what used to be a real staple and much-loved favorite around here: the cheesy beefy goodness of Pipetizer Casserole. With six of us at dinner Sunday night, it's what I offered up, along with mixed greens and homemade Caesar dressing. It seems from the table conversation that we'd all missed this meal...

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"Pipetizer Casserole" is an adaptation of "Tailgate Casserole," from The Big Book of Casseroles, by Maryana Vollstedt. San Francisco: Chronicle Books (2000), p. 120.

Meal No. 2390: Roasted Salmon on Caesar-Topped Power Greens

On Saturday evening, after eating very little while I spent the week working in Richmond, I was ready for a healthy but hefty supper. The slab of salmon I spiced and roasted was over a half-pound, and I generously topped my power greens with homemade Caesar dressing, plus roasted sunflower seeds.

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Based on "Easy Lemon Caesar Salad Dressing," by Kim of lowcarbmaven.com.

Pimento Cheese Sausage Balls

While my sister was down at the beach over the last couple of weeks, she came across a recipe for pimento cheese sausage balls and sent it to me with the query: "What do you think?" I decided to try it out last Sunday, with a batch of my own homemade pimento cheese. And I'd say they were indeed pretty good...perhaps even a nice improvement on the original Bisquik recipe from my mother!

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"Pimento Cheese Sausage Balls," by Kate Robertson Parrish of the ScratchMade Southern blog. [Published 20 March 2019]

"South Carolina-Style Pimento Cheese." Recipe worked out by me, based on Sharon's Palmetto Pimento Cheese.

Sumner Turns Three

It was a mighty fine thing just over two years ago when Sumner Rumson Jones came to live here at the Roediger House. And the vet's best guess about his age suggests that a good time to celebrate his birthday is June 22nd...so today we celebrate that he is turning 3! And what a fine and good pup he is, and getting better all the time.

Meal No. 2389: Tomato-Gorgonzola Pasta

Last Saturday's late-night meal was a joyful bowl of creamy spicy tomato-gorgonzola pasta, and it was consumed quickly and completely.

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"Tomato-Gorgonzola Sauce with Pasta Shells," from Cuisine at Home, October 2007 (clipping).

Meal No. 2388: Grilled Filet Mignon

I had to have another round of steaks from the grill, especially since we got to enjoy such a glorious weather day last Friday. I didn't need much to go with that fine filet: a heap of roasted broccoli was just the right addition to my dinner plate.

Dear Senator Warren: I Am Not Patrick Callis

25 May 2019


The Honorable Elizabeth Warren
United States Senate
309 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Warren:

I write to you not because you are my Senator but because of your passionate championing of the rights of consumers in their dealings with financial and credit institutions. On May 7th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced proposed rulemaking for the implementation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I’d like to speak to a particular aspect of protections for citizens/consumers borne of my own recent experience.

We know that consumers who are struggling with debt are due reasonable protections from the predatory or harassing actions of debt-holders and collection agents. We also know that victims of identity theft deserve a separate set of protections from the actions of debt collectors. I find myself in a third category that seems quite distinct from those two kinds of consumers: someone using medical services in Texas gave my home address to the service providers. He didn’t represent himself as me; he did not use my social security number; he did not use my phone number. He simply gave them a false address. He represented himself as “Patrick Callis,” which might in fact be his true name.

As one might expect, I began receiving at my home address, but with Patrick Callis’s name, what appeared to be billing notices from two different hospitals in the UTHealth – East Texas network (Tyler and Quitman), from the UTHealth – East Texas EMS, and from Tyler Radiology Associates, P.A. On the first of those, I wrote in thick Sharpie pen: “NO SUCH PERSON AT THIS ADDRESS” and “RETURN TO SENDER.” I did so on the second billing notice from each of these entities. I did so on the third, perhaps the fourth, likely even a fifth billing letter.

It was not long before I began receiving mail for “Patrick Callis” at my home address from CMRE Financial Services of Brea, California. On the first of those, I wrote in thick Sharpie pen: “NO SUCH PERSON AT THIS ADDRESS” and “RETURN TO SENDER.” I did so on the second collection notice from CMRE. I did so on a third and a fourth. I reported it to my mail carrier so that he could enter it as a bad address in the United States Postal Service address system.

Just this week, two more pieces of mail addressed to Patrick Callis, this time with only an address in Oaks, Pennsylvania, have also arrived at my house and, by all indications, are from a different collection agency.

In the meantime, on my home telephone, I have answered two recorded calls from CMRE Financial Services. The recording states that it is intended only for Patrick Callis and that, if I am not Patrick Callis, I should hang up. So I promptly hung up. Both times. Following that, I also received two recording machine messages from CMRE Financial Services on my home telephone, intended for this Patrick Callis who falsely claimed my home address as his own. I suspect, but have not reviewed call logs to confirm, that other attempts to contact Patrick Callis using my home phone number have occurred at times that I was not able to answer and for which there is no recorded message in voicemail.

I bought my house in 2003 and have lived here continuously since that time. I have never knowingly met Patrick Callis and I can assure you that, if he ever lived at this address, it was over 15 years ago. I will say without hesitation, though, that he has never had my telephone number. And yet CMRE Financial Services has repeatedly called a number that never belonged to Patrick Callis. I don’t think that is right.

When we get into the dirty details necessary to the crafting of rules and regulations governing the activities of debt collectors and ensuring protections for consumers, I strongly urge that the rules make clear that the actions of debt collectors toward debtors should never be confused with any actions taken by debt collectors regarding citizens/consumers who are not in debt to them. That rules should make clear that debt collectors are subject to fines and enforcement if they repeatedly contact individuals who are not the ones who owe debts that are the subject of the collection efforts.

To my chagrin, I found that my own efforts to clear my address from the targeted sights of these medical providers have been futile. Even though I returned their bills promptly and clearly stated that no such person as “Patrick Callis” resided at my address, the records were not corrected and my address was turned over to, and is now being targeted by, the collection agencies tasked with following up on the debts incurred by Patrick Callis. Even worse, the debt collection agency connected my personal phone number to Patrick Callis and has made repeated attempts to contact him by calling me. When I saw in the proposed rulemaking that debt collectors could make up to seven calls a week to “consumers,” I cringed because it did not make a distinction between actual debtors and, for instance, mistaken or incorrect addresses. Once I informed each of these entities that their patient/service recipient had provided them with a demonstrably false address, I should never have been contacted again. The debt collection agencies should be afforded no rights or protections to harass individuals who are not carrying the debt they are trying to collect.

Just this week, I wrote more formal letters to the four Texas medical providers and two different collection agencies to once more inform them that no such person as Patrick Callis resides at my home address. I have little confidence, however, that doing so will provide me with relief from the continued harassment. Instead, I think strong and clear rulemaking must occur, informed by the need to protect debtors, victims of identity theft, but also simple victims of false contact information like me.

I hope that you will use the power of your position and the avenues available to you in the United States Senate to help provide cover and protection for individuals such as myself. I’m grateful for your time, for your incredibly valuable service, and especially for the tremendous impact you have made—and are making—on behalf of consumers.

Sincerely,
Raymond C. Jones

Meal No. 2387: Grilled Pork Chops

The mid-afternoon meal last Thursday, taking advantage of a lovely afternoon, involved grilled pork chops, garden peas, and a small mound of easy stuffing. Those chops came out amazingly good!

Meal No. 2386: Grilled Spicy Chicken Wrap

After sort of inventing it at the end of May, I was ready to bring back my grilled spicy chicken wraps again when the weather finally turned amazing last Tuesday. It was the second meal of the day I made and it was hard to resist the extra wraps that were set aside for leftovers!

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"Grilled Spicy Chicken Wrap," a Roediger House original recipe.

Meal No. 2385: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

On Tuesday evening it was a return to grilled chicken atop Caesar-dressed power greens, a filling and reasonably healthy supper following a most gorgeous and glorious sunny day. I ought to have invested quality time in yard projects, but most of my outside time involved sitting in the sunshine and enjoying the relaxing afternoon with Sumner.

Meal No. 2384: Grilled Filet Mignon

The Monday afternoon meal at the Roediger House was the special treat of grilled filet mignon, wonderfully rare and flavorful, together with roasted parmesan asparagus cuts. It seems I don't get to eat steak all that much any more, so it was a welcome variation from the current norm.

Grandma Bastow's Skillet Cake

After Sunday's pork tenderloin supper, I also had a new cake recipe for us to try out: Grandma Bastow's Skillet Chocolate Cake. Incredibly moist and chortlingly chocolatey, topped with a vanilla frosting, it really did a number on us. That's a cake that needs to show up here again. In the picture above, you can see the addition of cocoa nibs from the local Black Mountain Chocolate.

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"Grandma Bastow's Skillet Cake," from Pat Spencer on JustaPinch.com. [Published 07 September 2011]

Meal No. 2383: Hoisin-Roasted Pork Tenderloin

With Amy and Gern over for Sunday night supper, I made us a hearty meal of a meat and two sides. Anchoring the menu was an oven-roasted hoisin pork tenderloin, with support from company mashed potatoes and seasoned green beans. We did a great job of cleaning our plates.

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"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

Cultural Affairs and Downtown Living

I like to talk from time to time about how much I enjoy downtown living and all that it offers. Over the weekend, I delighted in having the pleasure of strolling to a couple of "cultural" activities. On Saturday, that included a mid-day viewing of the French film, Non-Fiction, showing at a/perture, our arthouse theatre on Fourth Street (I took the photo above during our January 2017 snowstorm).

On Sunday, I walked in a different direction but still a short distance from the house. Spirit Gum Theatre Company's production of The Altruists was being performed at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts (see the picture above that I took back in 2010), only blocks from the house. It was a terrific production with a strong cast, including my neighbor from just down the street.

Visitors of Early June

Last week was great for getting to see special people as they traveled through Winston-Salem. It began with my sister and nephew passing through, as May turned to June. Then, last Thursday night was the rare and special treat of a short overnighter from Jim Huneycutt, one of my dearest friends from my doc program at the University of Virginia, as he traveled down to Salisbury on family business. And at mid-day Friday, my best friend from my masters days at Wake Forest passed through with his oldest daughter on their way to see his brother in Cary, and we got to meet up for lunch just up the street from the house. Above you'll see Jim and me...he's quite a tall fellow! And I'm kind of short. But there you have it: friends for over 20 years now...

DoubleTree-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I waited for dear friend and colleague Jim Huneycutt to complete his journey down to Winston-Salem from Charlottesville last Thursday night, I thought I'd be ready with some hot delicious cookies. It seemed to call for the special and terrific Doubletree-style chocolate chip cookies that I'm really very fond of, although I see from the blog I hadn't made them since October! They proved tempting for all of us.

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"Doubletree Hotel's Chocolate Chip Cookies," by Ayşegül Sanford and her blog, Foolproof Living. Published December 29, 2013.

Meal No. 2382: Roasted Salmon and Broccoli

Here it is just coming out of the oven last Thursday night: spiced roasted salmon along with roasted broccoli florets, eaten straight out of the pan as I sat at the kitchen island and clicked through headlines.

Summertime Lunch Breaks

By the time late morning rolls around and I start feeling a bit peckish, I've been pretty content to have myself a bowl of yogurt with granola...but now that summertime is rolling in, the addition of some fine fresh fruit is pretty divine. This is what's been powering me through till dinner most days.

Meal No. 2381: Cajun Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

The Tuesday evening meal was sort of thrown together but it came out mighty fine and good: grilled creole-spiced chicken breast nestled in cajun fettuccine alfredo. Creamy and flavorful with a mix of asiago and parmesan cheeses in the sauce, it proved to be a tasty dish for dinner.

Meal No. 2380: Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole

With four at dinner on Sunday evening, we started with super greens salads topped with my homemade creamy Caesar dressing...

...and followed it up with heaping globs of cheesy chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole. It's been a couple of years since I'd made this, I believe, and we all seemed glad that I brought it back (even though I ate too much!).

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While I have pretty much made it my own recipe, I still got inspiration and ideas from:

• "Chicken Broccoli Rice and Cheese Casserole," by LifeAfter40 on food.com. Posted 18 March 2013.
• "Cheesy Chicken Broccoli and Rice Casserole," by Sabrina from Dinner, Then Dessert. Posted 14 December 2016.

Meal No. 2379: Roasted Salmon on Caesar'd Power Greens

While my sister and nephew were here this past weekend, my sister made a second meal request that I was able to accommodate after we all went to see Rocketman in the afternoon matinee. It was a nice thick slab of salmon, spiced and roasted, atop power greens dressed with my homemade creamy Caesar. It seemed to be reasonably decent for dinner.

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Based on "Easy Lemon Caesar Salad Dressing," by Kim of lowcarbmaven.com.

Meal No. 2378: Braised Chicken over Brussels Sprouts

My sister Allison and nephew Eli stopped in over the weekend on their way down to the beach, and Allison's request for dinner Friday night was the terrific braised chicken and Brussels sprouts meal. It sure does hit the spot each time.

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"Braised Chicken and Brussels Sprouts," in Everyday Food, Issue 97, November 2012, p. 22.

Meal No. 2377: Salmon on Caesar-topped Power Greens

By Thursday evening, I figured I'd best moderate my food intake but still needed to refortify after some yard labors here at the end of our weird May heatwave. There remained some salmon from the previous night's meal and it went great with my homemade Caesar dressing over a bed of power greens.

Meal No. 2376: Chicken Quesadillas

With a nice remaining piece of grilled chicken left over, I was able to make a scrumptious mid-day meal on Thursday: chicken quesadillas. Hadn't made these in a while and it was nice to find 'em back on my plate.

Meal No. 2375: Roasted Salmon and Roasted Green Beans

The heatwave of the last several days has severely impacted my ability to work in the yard, so I've been having to lay low and venture out only in the late afternoon when the sun is behind the house, even if the temps haven't moderated much. I'm delving into new challenges with some of my projects and they are proving to have quite a steep learning curve, which can be incredibly frustrating. But I worked up a good enough appetite at mid-week that I was craving a good slab of roasted spiced salmon, to which I added roasted green beans with button mushrooms. It hit the spot.