And Ode to Springtime

There is an exquisite symphony happening right now in the backyard. J’s grandmother was a gardening visionary. She left a legacy of floral artistry. Even though I never met her, she has made herself known in her garden. 

The music began in the wake of our strange Ice-Blanket. Just when the winter felt endlessly long and cold– the strong, quiet, notes of dignified camellias began. To me, camellias are a reminder to hope in the drear of dark days, like the warming of strings in the orchestra... reminding me that the days will soon lengthen and the concerto is about to begin...

I cannot get over these blooms!

Then, the slow emergence: gentle tunes of Japanese magnolia, the bride’s wreath, and fig leaves. My eyes tingled with anticipation. Finally, this Saturday, the choir! A crescendo of cherry blossoms, daffodils, dogwoods, azaleas and wisteria left me speechless.

The Yard

A show like this is humbling for the failed gardener in me. Every year, I have dreams of a bountiful harvest of tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, basil, peppers, and so much more. I imagine a lovely garden of magnificent flowers. But, I often find that I kill more than I coddle. A mint plant even died on my watch, which I hear is virtually impossible. I’ll keep trying though, channeling the gifts of my gardening ancestors.

Because that is what springtime is, I think. It is hope. It is chucking last year’s wilted failures and starting over with a few new seeds and seedlings. My second generation tomatoes will surely outshine the first. I just know it.

What are you planting this season?

PS - I debated about posting this, thinking that the writing is too flowery. Then that thought made me giggle.

PSS - Though tempted, I purposely avoided the words whimsy, ethereal, airy and epic and am further banning them from this blog. Double whammies if I inadvertently use them and thank you, social media for ruining some great adjectives.

I have a confession

Over the past two years, I’ve fallen long and hard for my home on the Gulf Coast. I’ve been reading Pat Conroy and Flannery O’Connor, listening to the Alabama Shakes, walking barefoot, decorating with (and eating) Satsumas and Meyer Lemons by the ton, getting creative with Conecuh Sausage and Peturis Farm Red Sweet Potatoes. Heck, I even moved in to a housed designed after Tara.

 

And you know that tiny morsel of seaside? The humble royalty of the south? The infamous raw oyster?

 

I ate one.

 

Ok, six.

 

I went to my late Pawpaw’s favorite seafood joint, Sea ‘N’ Suds. (Pawpaw Dub, the one who once convinced an entire kitchen staff that he was the Cajun Cook.) 

 

Granny Grace, Pawpaw Dub, Me, Mom

 

 

I was captivated by memories of gumbo, flounder and crab claws. I smiled at the childhood memory of his throaty laugh, the time he showed me how to eat an oyster and I squinched my nose. I had to give in.

 

And? I loved them. Should I change the name of the blog?

 

I had a second encounter with the little boogers on Valentine’s Day at Tin Top restaurant in Bon Secour. They tasted like they’d brought them in from the bayou out back. Fresh and heavenly. If you are a raw oyster virgin, I recommend you go there if you plan to try them around here.

 

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, have you seen this gem on Garden & Gun? I submitted my own Grandparents’ photo (#24) and ended up spending hours on the 14^th reading the little blurbs and shedding tears, some for my late Gran and others for the lasting love stories.

 

Cheers to Oysters! Cheers to Love! Cheers to this beloved South!

A Girl's Gotta Eat

I'll start this post with an announcement: I have begun writing for another blog! Fear not readers, I'll still bug you on a weekly basis. :)

This new blog is for a wonderful small business in Orange Beach called Gulf Coast Beach Getaways. (Here's the link to the blog.) I'm excited about the opportunity and elated for the chance to give more exposure to the beautiful corner of the world that I live in.

In the interest of integrity, I am going to try to keep the two blogs separate. I don't want my employment to influence the recommendations I give you. But, from time to time, I might do some posts that are about the same topic and are quite similar. In these cases, I will be sure to inform you of my bias.

One exception to this: My employers requested that I maintain an events calendar for the area. This has proven to be quite a task... there is SO much going on! I'm going place this calendar on my blog as well. It will have it's own tab: To Do List.

Get ready, it's going to be a busy fall!

Two Red Flags With Black Boxes

Facing my first named storm as a Gulf Coast resident hearkens me back to this common pre-snowstorm conversation back in Atlanta:

Person A: Did you see how full the parking lot was at Kroger? Haha.
Person B: Yeah, hahaha, people really go crazy whenever snow is in the forecast!
Person A: Yeah, no kidding. It's like, chill people!
Person B: Haha, chill. Hahaha.
Person A: I remember back in the Blizzard of '93, we had no power for three days.
Person B: Yeah! Burrrr. We definitely chilled then! Oh, I also heard that Wal-Mart ran out of bread and bottled water today.
Person A: Oh really, ha, wow, people are crazy.
Person B: Sure are.  The weather people are probably exaggerating anyway... It probably won't even snow that bad.
Person A: Yeah... Well I better get going, I've got to "run some errands."
Person B: Me too. Maybe I'll even grab a "bottle of water." Hahaha.
(Both secretly head to the nearest Grocery Store to stock up on essential grocery items, flashlights and matches.)

While Hurricanes are nothing to joke about and are decidedly more dangerous than Atlanta Snowpocalypses, I find that the attitudes are really quite similar: a mix dread for what could happen, practicality about what will probably actually happen, excitement about missing work/school, irreverent humor about the "over-prepared" and lots of jokes about the overreaction of news media and the in-competencies of the weather people. (Apologies to my meteorologist and news friends.)

Thanks, NOAA

So, though Issac has turned his eye westward and everyone assures me it won't be that bad, I thought I'd share with you MY hurricane preparedness list, just in case a latter-alphabet storm sets its sights on us.

1. Water.
2. Granny. And her Meds and Oxy-Tank
3. Flashlight & 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey*…. Because nothing makes ghost stories more frightening than a power outage and a flashlight!
4. Fully charged cell phone and computer. Or maybe not...
5. Blankets/Battery Powered Fan – Is it going to be hot or cold? I can’t get a read on that.
6. Virgin Hurricane Recipe – (Fitting since it is my first storm. :)) Orange Juice, Pinapple Juice, Grenadine and Sweet-and-Sour mix
7. Fiber Bars – Don't judge, I live with an octogenarian and I’m hooked
8. Helmet, Galoshes and a Bear Grylls Survival Bracelet – Just in case I have to go rescue this guy:

(Baxter. A hurricane in his own right.)

9. Non-Perishable Iced Coffee – Storm or no storm, I still need caffeine*
10. Body Spray – Showers may be few and far between?
11. Stack of books and the sewing project that Granny and I are working on
12. Extra batteries.
13. A group of good people to batten down the hatches with!

That should do it! Any other suggestions?


*Thanks for the tip, Deb. :)

Food with a Y Chromosome

Category 5

Don’t be fooled by the name. Food Network-featured Manci’s Antique Club is a man-cave if I’ve ever seen one. (Which is handy, because I suggested we try it as the lone woman in a party of 8.) Lined with old farm machinery and a Jim Beam collection that rivals the moonshiner himself, this bar/dive is something.

I have it on good authority that males will love this place… Especially if they decide to man-up with the Hurricane Burger! A bacon-cheese burger slopped with chili? C’mon, you know you boys would wear bacon-chili cologne if they made it.

Gals, this is not Dr. Pepper 10. There are plenty of treats for us as well. (And I’m not talking about the bathroom. Wink, wink.) I sampled a few of the sandwiches, but I especially like the sides: homemade chips, fries, or (yessss!) fried okra. 

The place is a little bit dusty, but fun and worthy of the "dive" label. Also, you'll definitely have something to talk about after you leave. Don't worry, Manci's regulars... I won't ruin the surprise. :)

Seafood Edition #2: Oysters

I feel cozy in paradox.

While I may shy away from raw oysters, one of my absolute favorite foods in America is a char-grilled oyster from Drago’s in New Orleans. So, upon our family outing to the Original Oyster House on the Causeway for my mother’s birthday, I decided to try a similar dish-- the oyster sampler.* It was a lovely arrangement, including 3 different varieties of oysters: fried, baked with Parmesan cheese, herbs & butter, and the house specialty. (Marinara sauce and ham were involved.)

Any time I have ordered oysters at the O.O.H., I have ooooooh-ed. They are delectable. Not sure what they bathe the little bottom feeders in before they are cooked, but they are quite nice- especially the fried ones. The baked versions were nice too, but it’s a shame to compare anything to one of my absolute favorite foods in America. I was so enraptured by my pearly feast and the rowdy family conversation that I did not realize that I had an amazing sweet chili sauce to dip with. My plate was clean when I discovered it, so I had to borrow a few of J’s leftover shrimp and other samples from around the table so I could enjoy the sauce more fully. In conclusion: next time I go to O.O.H. I must be in the mood for fried food. And I’m asking for a gallon of the chili sauce.

Also, a very Happy Birthday to my unique and inspiring mother; and to my grandmother who did all the work. 

*I am aware of the old saying that one shouldn’t eat oysters in months that do not contain an “R,” but my grandmother assures me that farm raised oysters have created a cozy paradigm shift to year-round oyster eating. Your thoughts?

Let Them Eat Cake

Can we all just agree that we are tired of eating cupcakes? 

...Ok, now that we are all in agreement, let’s go back to eating cake. This cake: Dean’s (slap-yo-mamma) 7-Layer Caramel Cake  from Andalusia, Alabama.

I bring this up because J and I are doing a juice fast this weekend in an effort to reset our taste-buds. So, naturally, my daydreams are vacillating between bacon cheeseburgers and my favorite store-bought cake in America. Ugh. Yum.

Aunt Dean’s got it down, y’all. She recognizes cake for what it really is: a skeleton for its muscle, a frame for its drywall, a blank canvas for its Chagall, a set-worker for its Madama Butterfly. What I'm trying to say is: the true star in Aunt Dean’s cake is the icing. Oh, the icing! Her caramel spread has a contrasting sweet and smoky bite and that will make you wonder if there was an epic battle for good and evil fought in its fruition. Holy moly, it's good.

I admit, I'm so in love with the caramel, I've yet to venture out and try her many other cake flavors. Aunt Dean's website says her cake business all started with a Sock-It-To-Me accident. (How’s that for intrigue?) It also includes all the local places you can pick them up. I usually get mine at Allegri Farm Market in Daphne.

So tell me... what's your favorite cake?

Music Monday: Pop Music

There are three things I love almost as much as chocolate: Music, Free Stuff & Sunsets. Imagine my surprise when I learned that I could have all three of these things in one evening. (And chocolate to boot!)

As I've already told you, J is a master at impromptu date planning and a few weeks ago he wowed me again. We picked up a huge calzone and salad from The Ravenite*, and went over to The Bluff in Fairhope for a free Baldwin Pops sunset concert. The music was nice and the crowd was watch-worthy. After the concert, we drove down to the The Grand for some hot chocolate and a stroll on the gorgeous live oak covered grounds. Although the hot chocolate is nothing to write home about, I would never pass up a chance to walk around by the Bay! BTW - Did you know they just put up hammocks???

Sorry Ladies, this bf is taken!

*Note about The Ravenite: My days in Atlanta fostered a love for local, grungy, less-than-sanitary-looking pizza joints. This is really my favorite of that genre. They've got the grunge-factor down and the pies are really great. I just wish they served by the slice!

There's Something About Berries

I'm pretty sure June is the best month of the year if you like to eat. Give me hot temps and crowded beaches any day of the week, if I can trade it for fresh food off the vine, tree, bush or ground. Thankfully, my friends and family have connections with gardeners who are practically begging them to come thin out the crops. Oh okay... if you want...

Also, Mom was in town this week and on Monday she took me and my aunt blackberry picking. If you, like me, do not have blackberry connections, Gardener's Berry Farm is a gorgeous setting for this. This was Mom's second haul, and she said it was a little more sparse than last time, but we still pulled in two gallons in less than an hour.

The operation hours are a little bit tricky and you do need to call ahead to make sure there are actually berries on the vines. One gallon of blackberries will set you back $15, which is totally, totally worth it.

 

Then you can go home and make an easy dump cobbler* and everyone around you will realize you are Wonder Woman! (Man?)

*Just sugar up the berries to your taste, mix 1/2 stick of butter (melted), 1 c. self-rising flour, 1 c. milk, cinnamon in baking dish and pour the berries over it. Bake 375 for an hour. Easy.

GW#3: Wheels and Deals

After a meal fitting for a truck-stop at Derailed Diner, Jackie and I needed to recover... fast. So, we headed to Orange Beach for a little R&R... Rest & Riding.

After an hour or so on the beach, with grease seeping through our pours, we decided to hit the Backcountry Trail on our bikes. Good decision.

Jackie's Artistic Eye on the Ride

Have you guys ever done this trail? If not, stop what you are doing right now and go to OB (or GS, you can access it from both sides.) This trail runs parallel to the shore, separated by about one mile. It was probably my favorite bike ride ever. The air was breezy and the path was shaded. There were a few snakes, so beware runners. The oaks are laden with Spanish moss, the clearings from that fire last summer are a perfect place for a sunset. And it's flat. Go. Now.

When you finish with your 6-10 mile bike ride, may I suggest a stop at Bravo Tacos? J and I have been there at least 5 times in the past year. We love it. Jackie enjoyed it too. Here's why:

1. Tastes great - Everything that I have ordered here is tasty. The flavors are fresh and original. J and I happen to be fairly picky when it comes to Mexican fare, but we both agree that it is one of the best Mexican places we've tried here in the good-ol' US of A.

2. Healthy Choices - The chicken is free-range and the other meats are organic. There are even several vegetarian choices, like the Chipotle mushroom and tomato taco Jackie ordered. The food is not greasy. As in, this is not your run-of-the-mill TexMex place, don't go there and order a ground beef taco.

3. Good Price - Even though the quality is excellent, so is the price. Two tacos, a side and a drink will cost you $8. My favorite dish, the Costa Rican is Rice & Beans, Meat and Tortillas... 7 bucks, y'all.


I did not have a phone (see previous post) to take a picture, so I'll have to share one with you next time.

Have a good weekend!

Seafood Edition #1: Who's Yo Daddy?

Beachgoers, visitors, and wonderfully welcome guests to the shore... can we have a little chat?

I'm with you. For the first 28 years of my life, I was a guest of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. I took my friends to Lambert's and Lulu's, or some place at the Wharf, and I loved it. I get it.... who doesn't love balls of hot bread flying at your head and/or some loose association to Jimmy Buffett? But, if you are ever tired of paying so much for atmosphere and if you decide that all you really want is some darn good fresh seafood...

I'll be here for you. So, here's my first Seafood Edition*.

J took me out last night for our "Monthary."  (If you come by often, you're going to learn real quick that he is a master date-planner.) Last night we went out to Big Daddy's Grill. It is a favorite to suggestion to out of town guests because it is off the beaten path and the food is good. (Just don't ask me for directions. I will get you lost.)

Other bonuses include live music on the weekends and apples as after-dinner mints. The fried stuff is alright, if that's your thing, (it is often mine,) but I really love the blackened shrimp. The menu is fairly similar to other seafood restaurants around, including the ever popular fried pickles and smoked tuna dip, but I think the quality/freshness is better. It is a little bit of a drive from GS/OB, but worth it. You might want to stop on your way in or out of town.

*Speaking of, have you seen the new Alabama Seafood ads? Aren't they so trendy!? We are coming up in the world, people!

Hirty, Girty, Look Who's 30!

Part of the Dream Team

Surprise parties make me giddy. I love them. Especially when the surprise party is dedicated to my favorite almost-30-year-old on the planet. This one was beyond perfect.


First of all, the party planners made a good team. We put together a dream scenario in less than two weeks. Secondly, the guests made a wonderful combination of fun people who were willing to get wet! Lastly... don't you just love a wholesome excuse to lie to your loved ones? Exhilarating! (Kidding.)

Slip and Slide made of Recycled Billboards

Best feature of the evening: A huge slip-and-slide. (Note: If it has been a while since you've done this, I have to say... it really is just as fun as when we were kids, just be prepared to pop the pain pills the next day.) There was also a balloon toss, a water gun fight and a real-live photo booth, recycled from J's brother's wedding.

The best moment: The Surprise. Y'all, J was SO surprised! We had a hard time keeping him out of the house with the rain, but it still worked. AND it stopped raining just as the bash began. The party guests had the brilliant idea of pelting him with water balloons upon his arrival. Genius.

All in all, a great evening. Even in the photo booth...

Our Reenactment of a Redneck Love Story: Don't worry dad, it's all just pretend. :)

So Long, Spring.

Alabama Spring is enchanting, isn't it? From the moment the azaleas trumpet its onset, to the day the shy pecan trees start to bud, I have a silly grin on my face that can only be explained by impromptu beach weekends and homemade strawberry shortcake.

And then... things really start to heat up. I know you 'solstice people' are going to be up my tree about this, Summer in Lower Alabama (which will hereto-forth be known as L.A.) is about to officially begin. I prefer to determine my seasons by the temperature in my black Honda and the number of bodies on the beach.

Soooo.... Local ladies and gentlemen, cue the sweaty commute and the lines of cars on Highway 59!

To keep us upbeat about the heat, here are some cool ideas for the summer:

1. Water Park - Robertsdale is currently in the process of building a water playground, just like the one in Summerdale. It is great for kids or hypothetical boyfriends that think they are still 10.

2. Ice Cream - Our gang usually finds time for the homemade sort, but there's also Cammie's in Midtown Mobile, which is well worth the drive.

3. Cold Springs - There's nothing like cooling off on a hot day with some icy cold water from middle earth. Our favorite spot is Morrison Springs in Florida, which is about 2 hours from Loxley. It's great for swimming and diving, just don't go on a holiday weekend, it can get crowded.

How do you cool off in the L.A. summer?

Tea Party

This post has nothing to do with real politics.

But, if there is ever an election between coffee and tea, I’d vote a straight ticket for coffee 11 months out of the year. Fittingly, my voting allegiances splinter in November.

Blame Starbucks. When they came out with the “London Fog” a few years ago, I was hooked. It made me feel urban. And European. And poetic. And warm.

Yep. Duped by the marketing mega-brand. So, I stuck it to the man when I figured out that I could order an Earl Grey with steamed milk, and get the same drink for $1.50 less.

Then I really stuck it to the man by discovering this November delight is more delightful (and organic) at The Coffee Loft, a local small-time joy that brands itself as a “European Style Coffee House.” (Drats! Duped again!) Adding to the experience: great music like Edward Sharpe & Bon Iver.

 

So, once again this November, I’m crossing the aisle (and the street) to shake hands with Tea!

Slice of Utopia Pie

Fairhope is something else, isn't it?

(Thank you, Aunt Maggie, for this photo.)

Even though the sultry southern town has evolved away from the original utopian dream, it has managed to hold onto its quirky charm... an amalgam of culture nestled alongside Mobile Bay, attracting off-beat artists and suburbanites alike. And what woman doesn't love a town with an array of public restrooms?!

It is not just Fairhope has taken my heart, but the entirety of Baldwin County: with the Gulf to the south, Mobile to the west, and beautiful rolling farmland all throughout.

Friends (new and old), welcome to Anything but an Oyster.  If you’re from the BC, I'd love your help in discovering this area. If you aren’t… come on down y’all! This site will include cream of the crop in restaurants, activities, artists, events, and interesting people. See ya’ round!