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Lemonade and other summer adventures

I'm back from my slumbers, revived by lemonade. I had never made lemonade before. Then, I spotted one of those fancy hang-up-in-your-kitchen decorations with drawings of lemons and a "classic" lemonade recipe in elegant type.

I'm back from my slumbers, revived by lemonade. I had never made lemonade before. Then, I spotted one of those fancy hang-up-in-your-kitchen decorations with drawings of lemons and a "classic" lemonade recipe in elegant type. I quickly memorized the recipe, rushed home and did this:

Poured a cup of sugar into a small pot.

Boiled some water in a kettle. Poured a cup of the boiling into the pan with the sugar, turned on the heat, and stirred a bit.

While the sugar dissolved, cut up some lemons and juiced them. Used 4.5 lemons (had a half lemon left over from another event). This was enough for a cup of juice.

Poured juice into a pitcher, tossed in lemon slices, poured in three cups of cold water, poured in the sugar syrup, poured in another cup of water, poured in a bunch of ice, stirred.

It was pretty good.

There's also this recipe, which I found by typing "lemonade" into Google.

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I ended up at Denny's with a companion after a Sunday night concert. There isn't much to pick from at 11 p.m. on a Sunday, and Denny's was on our way home.

The meals were better than I expected. My companion said her French toast was quite good.

I had one of their many combos - and it was much more substantial than I expected – three large pancakes, scrambled eggs with sausage and peppers, sausages, bacon, fried shredded potato, all for just under $11.

The pancakes were excellent, the scrambled eggs dish was also good. But the sausages were lukewarm, and some of the potato shreds weren't fully cooked.

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After many years of hearing that the hamburger at the Dutch Bakery on Fort Street is excellent, I finally got around to trying it.

And it's true. It's one of the best burgers in town, made especially so by the delicious, soft white toasted bun. The meat patty was nicely seasoned and not oversalted, the tomato slice and lettuce were fresh and crisp. I'm going back for more.

Their hamburgers are between $5 and $6; the price goes up if you add things like cheese, bacon, or a fried egg.

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I just watched Breakfast Special on PBS. A camera crew travels America, visiting places that serve a good breakfast - from the San Francisco place that specializes in jook (also known as rice porridge or congee) to the Maple Tree Inn in rural New York, which is only open two months a year, and serves maple syrup from the trees on its property with all-you-can-eat buckwheat pancakes. The technique of the woman who flips the pancakes is a sight to behold.

There's also a visit to Portland, Oregon which focuses on the Tin Shed (where a diner advises that she loves the place but her husband refused to come because he thinks it's overpriced, pretentious and the lines are too long) and Helser's (where they make amazingly big curly pancakes).

The filmmaker has a blog which features more breakfast places and plenty of enticing pictures.

An aside: I am not a fan of jook. Mushed-up rice in hot water isn't appealing, even with meat, fish and vegetables thrown in. But millions swear by it. I should be more open-minded and give it another try. Maybe on the same day I give marinated chicken feet another try. Tendon and tripe are more my pace.

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