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Don’t Leave!



It’s nice when the folks from big-city-Baltimore pay attention to us in the news. I shouldn’t complain. But something got my back up when I read the title of this article in the Baltimore Banner.

The Dish: You don't have to leave Howard County to eat well, Christina Tkacik, Baltimore Banner

Well, well, well. Who is this article aimed at? Howard Countians? I think we know we don’t have to leave town to get a decent meal. Is it to assure the big city folks that it’s not a vast culinary wasteland out here? 

If you get stuck in Howard County around mealtime, don’t panic.

Perhaps we should let them know that you can drink the water here, too.

The article itself is informative and entertaining. I’m a fan of Tkacik’s writing, having discovered her on Twitter while she was working for the Baltimore Sun. I wrote here about her exquisite obituary of Downing Kay and lamented her being furloughed by the Sun.

Fun fact: I was startled to read a particular word in the following announcement, sure that it was a typo:

Cushwa and Rad Pies Tap Room is coming to the former Frisco Tap House at 6695 Dobbin Road in Columbia. It’s the second-ever location for the brewery and pizzeria, both based in Williamsport. Among the offerings: German-style Kölsch and Big Mac pizza with ground beef and animal sauce.

Animal sauce? Is that sauce for animals, or sauce made of animals? Yikes. I was sure it was some odd autocorrect.

Why, no. Animal sauce is a thing and I just didn’t know about it. It’s a specialty of In-and Out Burgers fast food chain. So you’ll be able to get a Big Mac (McDonald’s) pizza with animal (In-and-Out Burger) sauce. Just what I needed to know to reassure me that I don’t have to leave Howard County to eat well.

Yes, I admit that I’m cranky about this. Tkacik very likely did not write the title, so I won’t hold it against her. Don’t let my bad attitude keep you from reading Tkacik’s good article. (I was able to read it without a subscription.)

Included in her rundown of new food places is a bit of an interview with local liquor board chair Harry Evans III. He is, as she suggests, a bit of a character. That tv show she mentions? Learn more here. One particularly Columbia theme that emerges is Evans’ persistent interest in people of his own age group.

In hearings, he holds court, often asking entrepreneurs how they plan to cater to the scores of area seniors like himself, who he feels are an underserved demographic (though he declined to give his own age).

This brought to mind the candidates’ night in Oakland Mills when I was running for CA Rep and an audience member remained to know if I had a “senior agenda”. I countered that I had a “human agenda.” Later a gentleman confronted me saying I was trying to get rid of old people.

It’s all very humorous as I was no spring chicken at the time and now I am teetering ever closer to being “old people” - - cranky enough to be annoyed by title of a news article. 

I’m not going to tell you to “get off my lawn” but, if you’re out there, could you put more birdseed in the feeder? Local birds certainly know you don’t have to leave Howard County to eat well.



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