Month: January 2018

The Panhandle of Florida is one of our favorite areas to visit.  We’ve never visited this time of the year and this is an ‘explorative’ trip, seeing how we like the area during a non-touristry season.  We have stayed at nearby St. George Island many times (since early 1990s) and visited Apalachicola, but never with this purpose.  The next four days will be spent exploring the city and surrounding area.

it’s roughly a five-hour drive, taking a scenic, non-interstate route.  Rocky’s is our normal stopping point, a chance to stretch our legs and walk through their store.

And the store is amazing!  Combination gas station, eatery, truck stop, fishing supplies, convenience store, deer stands, animal feed, crab & pinfish traps, scalloping supplies and the list continues.  We needed gas.

There is a BBQ competition this weekend in Apalachicola, their first such event and one that they are trying to grow into an annual event.  Since we’re were arriving late, we stopped to check it out before going to our hotel.

Music was part of the event as the judging was occurring.

The whole event was winding down so we headed to our hotel, Water Street Hotel & Marina.  It’s a fairly new place that we have never stayed at and tried it for a change of pace.

There was a welcome committee that never moved as we went inside.  I assumed they’re siblings. Throughout the weekend, we kept running into the cats.  One evening they followed us to our room on the fist floor and was used to being invited inside (but not us – sorry kitties).

Our room was much nicer than what I expected.  It has a small kitchen, two bedrooms – one with bunk beds – and a screen porch that overlooks the Apalachicola River.

After dropping off the luggage we started walking.  We’re close enough to walk to the downtown area which was very fortuitous.  We walked past a new storefront that had a name from the past:  Betsy’s Sunflower.  When we started visiting in the 1990s, this was the coolest store.  I bought so many linens, dishes and food items, Eric tried to limit my spending, ha!  They just had things in that store that I couldn’t seem to find anywhere else!

We had to step inside the store and ask the question……….were they related to the other store?  Yes!  It is the same owner. 🙂  She left in 2005, headed for Maine and recently scoured Apalachicola to find another store front in the town to reopen her store in Florida.  Yeah!!!!!  She graciously allowed me a photo.  She mentioned how she has heard numerous stories from shoppers that remembered her other store.  Betsey is on the left.

There are just too many things in her store to capture in a few photos but since my purchases in the past always involved linens, I couldn’t resist.

Our walk had a purpose in mind, dinner.  After checking restaurant hours over the next few days, we settled on ‘Hole in the Wall’ since Saturday night would be our only opportunity on this trip to eat there.

There are several ‘salty’ characters and the lady that controls it all (Barbara) keeps all the men in line.  There’s no photo on purpose, she wouldn’t stand still for such nonsense.  This gentleman does all of the shucking and preps the oysters.

Eric had to start with oysters, since Apalachicola is the ‘oyster capital of the world’.  While 1 1/2 dozen didn’t nearly satisfy his craving, it was a start. Yes, I ate one and they were good.  🙂

This fish dip is always a great starter and suited my appetite more.  Somehow fish dip always taste better when eaten near the coastline.

And the seafood baskets (grouper, oyster), fried of course………….

It’s just a fun place to grab a bite to eat.  When there is only the two of us, we sit at the bar.  Eric never met a person he couldn’t strike up a conversation.

Main street had an ‘old-fashioned soda fountain’.  After walking the block, we stopped and we shared a chocolate malt to ‘fill in the cracks’ our dinner didn’t.

Saturday was a good beginning to our weekend trip.  It gave us a chance to see another side of Apalachicola.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Tradition for a New Years Day meal dictates a few things not commonly (ok – not at all) seen while growing up in the Midwest.  These are supposed to bring you good luck for the year to come:  black-eyed peas, greens, cornbread and pork.

Let’s start with the black-eyed peas.

They are supposed to be ‘mystical’ and bring good luck.  They became much more common after the Civil War when it was one of the few things readily available to eat.

Greens, our own home-grown collards are mixed with mustard greens.

These are to symbolize wealth.  They are green  like money and will ensure you a financially prosperous new year.

Pork and cornbread are also generally part of this tradition.

A lot of cultures associate a pig with good luck because they use their snout to ‘root forward’ as they eat, embracing challenges.  The cornbread represents gold and who doesn’t want more gold (or wealth).

So let’s talk about the pork.  There are sooooo many ways to eat pork, but is any way better than smoked?  Not in this house hold.  Eric spent a good part of the morning, smoking the pork roast.

But he bumped it up a notch…by covering the meat with bacon while it smoked.

Really? Really!  You just knew it was going to be mighty tasty……….and it was.

I couldn’t find any tradition that mentioned a specific dessert, so I made one of my favorite.

It starts out with a yellow cake mix and through the addition of various types of chocolate and other secret ingredients,  it comes out like this.  One of the finest cakes around!

While the weather on New Years Day was okay, within a few days, we had some of the chilliest weather to hit Florida in years.

OMG – cold, wet, rainy, windy, yikes!  I pulled out my flannel-lined jeans (a life saver – just saying) and spent time outside preparing our plants.  In years past, this was really involved, bringing every pot into the garage and covering in-ground plants with frost-cloth, pegging down the corners and building-up edges to keep everything protected.  Not so much anymore.

I look at the cold weather as nature’s opportunity for pruning.  The plants may suffer some cold damage, but don’t totally croak.  Most of the plants we grow now are generally cold-tolerant. They may not love the coldest temps but I finally outgrew the fascination with tropical plants that grow only in south Florida where it never/rarely freezes or has a frost.

Sometimes we are lucky enough to be growing something that only gets better with the chilly temps, such as cabbage and the collards seen below.  There is a little tiny head of cabbage forming in the left photo.  Last year we harvested almost 10 full heads of cabbage and enjoyed the fruits of our labor for months.

The other potted plants are clustered near the side of the house in front of the garage doors.  The escaping heat is usually enough to keep them alive.  That and being sure they are well watered.

My tomatoes are a different story.  They look beautiful!  The developing fruit is about the size of my fist.

The vines have grown so well, the tomato plants are surround by an additional 5 wire cages to keep the vines off the ground and the stems from breaking under the weight of the fruit.  Again, absolutely beautiful plants and fruits – just saying.  🙂

This is where Eric got to play.  He built a framework around the tomato plants.  You just never know when you will find a use for duct tape.

Added some lights……….

Yes, those are Christmas lights in the second photo.  The next step was to wrap the plants in frost-cloth.  Once the temps plummet, the micro-climate inside should be enough to keep the plants alive and relatively untouched.

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Thursday night and Friday should be the worst and then a gradual warming.

So, no we don’t have it nearly as bad as most of the nation, but once you live in Florida, your blood thins out.  Temps that most people tolerate by wearing a long-sleeve shirt, we wear coats.   That’s life in Florida.