MR 8THST

I’ve never had a personalized license plate, but have always thought about it. Having one is really a 7 letter (or number) statement of who you are to the world. I’ve always been put off by the extra cost (here in Ohio it comes up to $70+ extra each year) and that many of the things I would choose to have on the plate have already been taken by someone else.

I’ve lived in a number of different states and travelled to all but one (Oregon here I come), and find that no state seems to have a higher percentage of personalized plates than Virginia. I think the state must pay people to have them because it looks like each car has one.

When I was a teen living in California, there was an article in the paper about a man whose car was routinely being vandalized. He had a personalized plate that read “MR 8THST”. Repeatedly he would come to find his car had religious leaflets on the windshield and on several occasions either paint, marker or even carved into his pain would be things like “Jesus saves” or similar religious based affirmations. It looked like too many people were not happy with Mr. Atheist (MR 8THST) being as proud of his convictions as they were of theirs. Besides being wrong for not being a good person (vandalizing), and being hypocritical, they were just plain wrong. He wasn’t Mr. Atheist….he was Mr 8^th Street.

Born and raised on 8^th Street in Philadelphia, he had gone by that nickname his entire life. After relocating to California, he decided to get a personalized license plate with the nickname, only to find it regularly mistaken.

Flounder Pesto Roll-ups

No mistaking the flavor here.

Such a quick and simple recipe that looks elegant.

Spread the pesto on the fillets.

Surround with tomatoes.

A beautiful dish!

Flounder Pesto Roll-ups

Cook Time: 20 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients:

4 about 6 ounces each, flounder fillets
8 teaspoon(s) refrigerated basil pesto
1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
1/4 cup(s) dry white wine
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup(s) loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place fillets, skinned side down, on work surface. Spread 2 teaspoons pesto on each fillet; sprinkle with salt. Starting at narrow end of each fillet, roll up jelly-roll fashion. Place roll-ups, seam side down, in 8- by 8-inch glass baking dish.

2. Pour wine over fillets and top with tomatoes. Cover dish and bake 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Sprinkle with parsley to serve.

Source: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/flounder-pesto-roll-ups-366