Two-Fers

Bowl-ing
We were running errands and the car was parked near The Counter, so Richie said, "Let's have lunch!" 

My problem with The Counter is that while I love the idea of creating my own burger, I don't particularly like the burger part.  Can't really put my finger on it, but something about the texture... I love their onion strings though.  As something of a connoiseur of them, these are very close to perfect.  Just the right amount of flour, just the right amount of pepper in it. 

Compromise!  The Asian Veggie with 1/3 lb. house-made vegetable patty, organic mixed greens ("Hold the lettuce, please!") chopped red onion, grilled pineapple, roasted red peppers, scallions with little cups of ginger-soy glaze and peanut sauce.  It arrived with the veggie patty atop the red onion, the red peppers to the side and covered with grilled pineapple slices and a scattering of chopped scallions in a bowl.  No bun  Just all in a big, flattish bowl.   Having only eaten store-bought vegetable patties, (Morningstar Farms?) I was very impressed with their home-made patties. 

There are The Counter restaurants in Hermosa Beach, Hollywood, San Jose and Chicago.  Visit thecounterburger.com to see the other four bowls on the menu.

Successor to "The Help"?

"The Healing" by Jonathan Odell  Doubleday   340 pages   $26

What's happened so far (am still reading it.)  A white plantation owner's 12 year old daughter dies of cholera.  He has refused to have her treated, saying disdainfully that cholera is a "slave disease."  His wife goes insane in her grief and takes (literally) a newborn slave girl as a replacement for her dead child.  The daughter's and the slave girl's souls may have met in the transition from life to death and from the womb to birth as both events occurred simultaneously. 

Yes, rather a heady start...  So far, the point-of-view is that of the black servants.