Restaurant review: The 24 Market Restaurant

The first cup of coffee (sweetened with genuine “Dixie Crystals” sugar) got the morning off to a good start. It had also welcomed a nice reverie thanks to a great view of an historic building which had once housed the White Star Mills.

The dining room was elegant.
White table cloths and sparkling silverware.

Breakfast was presented in buffet style with three separate stations. Although there were no conventions in town and business was obviously slow, a complete and impressive array of dining choices were available.  One station had cold items including fresh fruit and cereal. Another station had hot choices with scrambled eggs and pancakes. It was also set up for an omelette and waffle bar had a chef been present and that happens on weekends. The last station was for sides with hash browns, grits, biscuits, bacon and sausage.

My test of breakfast buffets takes me to the scrambled eggs first.  Today, the eggs were neither too firm nor too runny -- just right -- and hot.  Nothing spoils a buffet quicker than for the hot foods to be cold and vice versa.  24 Market passed all my tests with flying colors! The biscuits were light and fluffy and hot enough to melt the room temperature butter. (I hate it when the butter is so cold that even a warm biscuit won’t melt it before you’re ready to eat.)

24 Market Restaurant is located in the historic Stonewall Jackson Hotel at 24 Market Street (surprise!), Staunton, VA 24401.  Weekday hours are 7:00 A.M. to 10:30 A.M on weekdays and 7:00 A.M. till Noon on Sunday.  The price tag for this morning feast? $9.95 on weekdays and $12.95 on Sunday.  The atmosphere and charm is worth half the price at least, so the food is a real bargain!

Speaking of prices, our room rate at the hotel was about $12 more than those cheap places right off the interstate.  It is well worth the mile or two drive that takes you from the busy highway into downtown and history.

Was the greatest generation colorblind?

Over sixteen million Americans served in World War II.

Some of the most memorable images that come to mind from that era, we remember in black and white. Most of us probably have a few favorites.

The sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square. (Image credit: WikiCommons)

I recently reviewed an interesting and important book: America at War in Color.

Fathers and grandfathers of baby boomers not only remember the war in color, they experienced it in color.

America at War in Color includes the story of one of the most memorable images from the war. It was taken near the end of the war on a small island in the Pacific. One of the men in that picture left autographed copies of it for his children. He chose to leave with with color prints.  Great story. 

(Image credit: WikiCommons)

"Thrilling Cities" QUIZ -- Answers

We hope you enjoyed the quiz and that you enjoyed the REVIEW as well.

A = Vienna

B = Hong Kong

C = Geneva

D = Tokyo

E = Macao

F = New York

G = Hamburg

H = Naples

I = Monte Carlo

J = Los Angeles

K = Chicago

L = Las Vegas

M = Honolulu

N = Berlin

"Thrilling Cities" QUIZ

Somehow, in all my reading over all these years, I missed out on this gem of a book.  Recently I discovered this book and now have reviewed it HERE.

For the book, Fleming visited thirteen cities.  Curiously, he combined Los Angeles and Las Vegas into one chapter in the book. We separte them for this project. Join me for a moment and see how you do on this matching exercise.  (At least one of the answers can be found in the review.) You'll need paper and writing instrument. 

Number your paper from 1 through 14 in this order:

1.   Hong Kong

2.   Macao

3.   Tokyo

4.   Honolulu

5.   Los Angeles

6.   Las Vegas

7.   Chicago

8.   New York

9.   Hamburg

10. Berlin

11. Vienna

12. Geneva

13. Naples

14. Monte Carlo

Here are the items to match with the above cities.  Good luck!

A. Lipizzan stallions

B. Suzie Wong

C. cleanliness (this city was by far the cleanest of the 14)

D. The Copacabana Club - NOT the one in New York - there's another

E. gold smuggling - no doubt an inspiration for Goldfinger

F. famous zoo here has no reptile house

G. battleship Bismarck built here, also home of the St. Pauli nightclub district

H. Pompeii

I. Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau

J. Dragnet

K.Playboy

L. Frank Sinatra

M."M's" steakhouse - Fleming wondered if his character had gone into business here...
N. Espionage is one of the main industries here.(in the late 50's and early 60's)

Some answers are obvious, some are not.  "Gambling" could be either Vegas or Monte Carlo. Good luck!

Check back soon for the answers! -- maybe in a day or two.

Elvis Found Alive!

Why can't the mainstream media pick up a really good story?  When all the best stuff comes out, we're often left to rely on documentary films to tell us the whole (real?) story.

Such is the case with the return of Elvis "The King" Presley.  Documentary film producer, Joel Gilbert, brings us the story and is reviewed by my wife, HERE.  Accompanying the DVD was a recently released "Comeback" album from Elvis himself.  The CD includes some fresh covers of some of Elvis's most poplar tunes and rock and roll classics (such as Every Step You Take by The Police) along with a new composition, "Lisa Marie" especially for this project.  You can find my review of the CD, HERE.

Join the more than 50,000,000 Elvis fans in welcoming his return!