Yes, that’s an emblem for a local brewery, but more importantly they were having their first Oktoberfest after opening last year.  Since Eric owns a ‘brick’ from this establishment (that’s a whole other story) he made plans for our weekend.  He was telling me the details and instantly remembered (right after I did) he couldn’t be a part of it – oopsie. He was thinking of canceling “No!”.  Hence, Girls Oktoberfest weekend.  Okay, enough of the rhetoric, let’s get to the good part.

Yeah!  Almost like being back in Germany – but not quite.  Notice I didn’t say Munich.  The boys went to Munich while we were in Frieburg last year.  We both ended up with Brats and pretzels.

Naturally there had to be some beer involved – Festbier.

Can you guess which beer was mine?

While I’m not advocating following up with ice cream after a beer, I couldn’t resist a small cup of Ritter’s ice cream (custard) since they were at this event, along with a few other food trucks – just in case you didn’t want brats (really – why else would you come, just saying).  Re-reading this, that was a looonng sentence.

What is Oktoberfest without a band?  Apparently a ‘heavy-metal’ wanna-be band.

Yeah, it just didn’t create the right ‘bavarian’ mood.  About the time we were finishing, guys wearing Lederhosen started gathering.  Yep, the German band was up next.  And, it wasn’t just old guys – two looked really nice in the lederhosen.

We listened to a few polkas then continued our day’s journey.  No one was dancing, but they kept trying to get them up.  I’ll guess that as the beer continued to flow, dancers would appear.

We curiously enough didn’t have the Suncreek Brewery stamp on our Ale Trail map, which we got today.  Our maps are different, yet we both needed the one from a brewery in Eustis – destination decided:  Wolf Branch Brewing Co.

I stuck with my Festbier option while Adrienne tried the amber, and maybe, just maybe the pumpkin ale too.

You wouldn’t think we would be hungry (and really we weren’t) but they had some bagged popcorn that went well with our choices.  And come on, who could resist a popcorn with these flavors (and who could come up with that combo)? Yikes.

By this time, Eric was done with his appointment (it’s hard being a board member of Florida’s Wildlife Federation – just saying) and we headed home.  Hmmmm, seems like someone got a nap during the drive and it wasn’t me.

We let him join our Girls’ day and supper was at a nearby Cajun joint The Big Easy.

As you can see from this inside shot, they’re big fans of LSU (Lousiana State University for those non SEC people) decorated in purple and gold.

First thing that caught Adrienne and Eric’s eyes was this Bloody Mary order form.

OMG.  And this was their result.  Man – its more like an appetizer than a drink.

Okay, finally the food.  We started with fried pickles and boudin balls.

I ordered a roast beef sandwich, New Orleans-style.  I had planned on saving half for lunch the next day, but alas, the meat was too good to stop.  I quit eating the bread.

Eric wanted gumbo (sorry, the photo isn’t much) and onion rings.  Because you know, we didn’t have enough fried food.

Starting the day in ‘Germany’ and ending in ‘New Orleans’ isn’t a bad way to spend a weekend in central Florida – just saying.

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A year ago, we were in Germany with good friends.  Wish, wish, wish I was there now.  I couldn’t resist throwing in a photo, or two.  The guys were in Munich, the girls were in Freiburg in the black forest on an awesome tour.

But alas, we’re not. We’re in Sanford, FL – love the gate – just saying.  It’s a nice entryway to downtown Sanford, such a big difference when a friend of mine was the city’s horticulture manager in the 1980s.

First stop was lunch at Hollerbach’s Willow Tree Cafe‘.

Eric wasn’t excited at my response when the hostess asked ‘Inside or out?”.  He naturally said inside (air conditioning!), but I’m definitely a fan of outside eating.  Besides – more like Europe, right?

Their menu is very casual, like reading a newspaper with lots and lots of food mentioned.

While I went for a coke, Eric got a beer.  I had a sip and it was mighty tasty – a hint of grapefruit.  If this place was closer to home and I wasn’t so tired, I definitely would have ordered (a small) one.

Naturally, we needed to start with a pretzel……………

…………….and potato pancakes with applesauce and sour cream.  Anyone see a mickey shape?

I got the sausage platter option, picking Nurnberger wurst (2) and Mettwurst.

Nurnberger – well seasoned grilled Franconian brats.

Mettwurst – applewood-smoked grilled bratwurst.

Sauerkraut and spatlze mit gravy were my sides (no, I did not use the wrong word, mit means with).  Next time I don’t need to order the spatzle – nothing wrong with that choice, just not worth the calories when there are other options for sides.

Eric ordered Jagerschmitzel with potato dumplings and red cabbage.

Jagerschmitzel – pork cutlet with a rich hunter’s pan sauce of brown gravy, wine and sautéed mushrooms & onions.

The weather was absolutely great – very surprising for Florida right now.  There was a nice breeze and the temps were only in the 80s.   It’s been hot and muggy lately, and we’re (just) a bit tired of it.  At least we’re not breaking temperature records like other places in the Southeast.   As I mentioned above, Eric wasn’t a fan of sitting outside, but it was a good decision.

Monday, was a very quiet day in Sanford.  Our previous visits have been on the weekend and couldn’t find any close parking (today, plenty of spots on main street).  We found this interesting art option walking around downtown.

The above butterfly was placed perfectly for adults while the one below was for little ones at ground level.

I couldn’t resist a quick snap with the floral background.

After walking a few blocks (and finding our usual haunts closed 😦 )  we bee-lined to the German deli associated with Hollerbach’s.

There are a plethora of German grocery items lining the shelves. Now how many times do you see plethora used – really?

Along with some fresh (and tasty!) deli items in their cases.  We got some of the Mettwurst to bring home for our own German meal later in the week.

Looking around, I saw a beer that brought a smile to my face:  Radeburger.  During a German ‘tour’ we booked in 2007, the tour operator had enough clout to have the brewery open for our tour group, on a Saturday no less.

This beer brought a smile to Eric’s face.

Of course, I was curious, what is ‘Festbier‘.

• In the 1970s, Paulaner Brewery in Munich started experimenting, searching for a style of beer that was malty, but less heavy and lighter in color then Marzen (the original style of Oktoberfest beer).
• Festbier, the name can only be used by breweries in Munich and only 6 breweries are given the honor of pouring this at Oktoberfest.
• It is a safe bet that a beer labeled as Festbier from Europe is going to be true, while one brewed in the US is not a sure bet.

And yes, Festbier hopped into Eric’s basket of deli goodies and came back to our house.

With my recent crazy schedule, this was a nice day trip to truly ‘get away’ from it all. This sign in the cafe’s window says it all.

Translated it means ‘Where comfort/contentedness/relaxation Happens’.

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time the weekend was all about Eric. He gets a birthday weekend!  Not many of our posts feature him (okay, maybe none) but it was a nice departure from my normal routine with this blog.

Usually our birthdays start with a favorite restautant or a favorite meal.  His weekend featured a (local) favorite restaurant – Le Coq a Vin.

This place used to be marketed as ‘The place where chefs go to eat on their day off!”  It opened in 1976 and was a Zagat top-rated restaurant for Orlando for a number of years.  The original chef/owners are still involved in the running of the restaurant but recently sold it to another chef/wife team.  These chefs spent over 20 years traveling the globe together on behalf of the American Culinary Federation and formed a bond than transcended to this restaurant.

The restaurant features a fresh twist on legendary French foods.  They also believe in ‘farm to the table’ introducing products from Florida.  We’ve always considered it a country French restaurant, moderately priced.

The place looks like a home-turned-restaurant and several of the rooms have been turned into individual dining rooms.

Regardless, let’s get to the food, which is the reason we visited.  I’m the designated driver, so wine was shared with our friend and I did not partake. 😦  That was fine with me……….since I don’t really enjoy red wine.

We started with appetizers:  fried green tomatoes with crab, roasted beet salad with goat cheese and Soupe a l’Oignon (onion soup with melted cheese on top – guess you can figure out which photo is the soup).

Our meal choices were Le Poisson “Bronze” (fish) with ratatouille (Adrienne).

Auberine du Bayou Teche – eggplant topped with seafood (Eric).

Tornedos – beef tenderloin steak with a blue cheese crust (me)  🙂

All entres had seasonal vegetables and a starch.  The meal was rounded out with desserts!  French-style Lava cake and two souffles – chocolate and grand marnier.

It was a fun & relaxing evening to celebrate Eric’s big day.

But hang on!!!!  The weekend was not over yet.

We had coffee and beignets for a quick breakfast Sunday morning (okay, that was more for me not him, but still………..it was part of the weekend adventure).  They are little puffs of goodness (fried dough), dusted with powdered sugar.  Who can resist that?  Definitely not me!  Maybe, just maybe they had a repeat experience later that week……………

We needed protein if we were going to make it through the day.  Since it was still ‘Eric’s birthday weekend’.………….he chose this place, and the most shocking thing, I went along.

Trust me, I don’t have anything against Mexican food (love it as a matter of fact) but it is the unusual meats on the menu which causes some hesitation – just saying.

Yep, 3 of those offerings totally turn me off – cow head, tongue and pork stomach – must be that Midwest upbringing.  I heard Eric order our tacos (asada for me), which was the only way that I knew for sure he wasn’t getting me to ‘try’ something different.

The Mexican coke is nice – cane sugar is used for the sweetner and not corn syrup.

And then you have the tacos.  Sorry, things are very ‘blue’ since we were sitting underneath a blue tarp for shade.  First up, my taco asada.

Then you have the taco cabezo and taco lengua.  Check up above to see what that translates to.

In case you haven’t figured it out, this is a food truck – with a permanent location.

My taco was very tasty – and needed.  Man (or women) cannot live on beignets alone.

Eric had to take one last photo…………..of me, to prove to his buddies that yes indeed, I was there.  And, also prove that I ate my taco, since my tray is clean.  🙂

 

That’s it for his birthday weekend.  Happy Birthday Hon!

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While almost over, Hurricane Dorian made an impact in many ways.  Quite frankly, Central Florida was among the luckiest, but you never know what will happen and you need to prepare.  I just wanted to insert a quick post about our Hurricane planning in the Darden household.  I’m not making light of the tragedy that is still unfolding, just sharing our personal experiences.

 

Yes, our main source of info is The Weather Channel, either on TV or our I-phones.

Both of us have some things we automatically drift towards.  I make sure all laundry gets done, along with any ironing.  I had a small helper with the laundry.  🙂

While Eric stocks up on water, cat food and bottled gas.

It’s also fairly important you have a good supply of medicines on hand, along with a first aid kit and first aid supplies.

One of the most important things you need…………is cash.  Places may not have power and/or can’t connect with your credit card company.  It doesn’t go to waste, you can always spend it – just saying.

The TV always have stories about gas stations having no gas.  We try not to go below 1/2 tank.

I bake cookies……………………

………….while Eric makes pate’.  Yep, that is his focus in the photo below.  Really?  It’s not something that I even eat.

You probably noticed, I haven’t really mentioned grocery purchases.  We know we have to go to work before and after the storm.  We’re the last to leave and the first to arrive after the storm & danger are past.  Earlier I showed a photo of bottled gas.  In the past, Eric cooked on gas burners, making breakfast and lunches for  us.  Yes, my husband spoils me and he likes a challenge.  Cooking with no ‘power’ is a challenge he relishes.

 

We get the notice the Parks are closing.

Preparation begins some of which is unnoticed while guests continue to enjoy the park.  Other things are a bit ore obvious.  We use a lot of shrink-wrap – both to keep moisture out and to keep items together.

Trash cans are pulled together and shrink-wrapped (I got this photo before the last action happened).

Umbrellas are zip-tied.

A few sand bags are used, but let’s face  it.  They get super heavy. Some of us (me) can’t pick them up, especially once they get wet.

Epcot is beginning to undergo some construction.  This is one of those things occurring on-stage, but guests don’t notice.  The scrim on the fence is lowered and zip-tied while remaining wooden construction walls are weighted down.  Yes this is a disclaimer.  No photos taken were back-stage, only things a guest could see.  I do want to keep my job.

Mentioning Disney……………….no matter what, you just can’t get away from Mickey.  A friend sent me this image during the storm.  Can you see the ‘hidden mickey’?

Probably the biggest chuckle came when a friend sent me this image.  I believe it’s all over the internet now.

Again, Central Florida was very, very lucky.  The last hurricane (Irma) in 2017, we had to replace our roof since most shingles were ripped off in the high winds we experienced.

At one point this week, hurricane Dorian seemed to be headed straight for us.  Once it turned north, we still got some rain and a bit of wind.

A rain band came over us Tuesday night around 10pm.

I was bushed.  Spending almost twelve hours at work, prepping and talking, both with cast members and guests wore me out.  I went to bed shortly after the above shot.  I was confident that Eric would wake me if we needed to take cover.

One added benefit.………….tolls were suspended so I’ve been driving those roads going back and forth to work.  That will end soon.

Please keep those less fortunate in your thoughts and prayers as the hurricane is still impacting many others.

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving the streets of Crystal River, we found this really ‘cool-looking’ place that had nightly rentals.  After a quick photo and subsequent internet research, we were definitely intrigued.

A little internet research around Kings Bay Lodge came up with this:

• Established in 1957 by a group of fishing buddies from Tennessee.
• They spent weekends at their ‘fish camp’ mostly comprised of tents and small outbuildings.
• Once wives and kids were in the mix, efficiencies were built which also allowed the owners to recoup some money if rented out to others.
• The landscape and owners have changed but the feel of ‘old Florida’ remains.

The outside has charm……………….

…………….along with the inside of our unit.  All of the units are different since they are owned by different families.

The pool is kind of interesting…………..

As you can read on the sign, this is a natural spring fed-pool, converted into a swimming pool – which couldn’t be done in today’s world.  There’s this square ‘outlet’, seen from the water-side to release the water flow.

Eric was brave enough to take a dip – not me.  The water is a constant temp (70 degrees F) which sounds okay, but in the summer with the surrounding heat, it feels frigid.  In the winter, 70 degrees feels rather ‘balmy’.

Turning around after my shot of Eric, this banana plant added some tropical charm to the surrounding pool area.

Before checking in, we fished in the Gulf and caught our supper.  Top fish is a spotted seatrout.  The fish below it (L-R) are 2 porgies and a grunt.

Other fish were caught during the day, like this Jack crevalle.  They are sooooo much fun when they get on your hook – pulling out line from the reel (its a distinctive sound) and not giving up without a fight.  But then when you get it close enough to the boat to see what you hooked………….crud, not an edible fish.

Some fishermen practice ‘catch & release’, while others do not – like us.  If we catch an edible fish, -within FWC guidelines – we keep our limit.  And then it turns into dinner, like below.  Swimming in the Gulf late afternoon, on our plate early evening – along with cubic fries and smothered green beans.  Now that’s fresh fish!

We filled in the cracks with ice cream – my flavor of choice this time was oatmeal-cookie vanilla ice cream.

Since our accommodations are in the historic part of Crystal River, places such as the ice cream shop are easily within walking distance.  They’ve created this fun walkway to take advantage of water views.

We followed the River Walk and found an interesting photo spot right as the sun was setting.

Right behind our lodging is a crab operation – retail, wholesale and a restaurant.  Their crab traps are stored in an empty lot, waiting until the season opens.

Although we had to check out on Monday morning, we still got in some fishing time.  First stop in the morning was to Pete’s Pier to get live shrimp.

Interesting side note………….you cannot put the shrimp in your boat’s livewell just yet.  Crystal River is composed of 70+ springs – fresh water – and the shrimp need salt water.  Put them in now, and they will be dead by the time you get out in the Gulf.  Nope – believe it or not, we have not done that, thank goodness!

Here’s a number you hope you never have to call.

In an earlier post I shared a photo of this man and his dog.  They apparently have a routine and go for a ride most days.  Good for them.  🙂

We had a good morning of fishing.  I caught one of the Jack crevalles – which was fun.

I also got this guy – a mangrove snapper.

But my best catch that day was this awesome Redfish.

Yep, he’s big – too big: 29″.  😦  FWC regulations state redfish must be at least 18″ in length and no more than 27″.  Slot regulations are important to keep the redfish population from being destroyed – which has happened in Florida in the recent past.  Fish that are bigger than 27′ are breeding size.  This redfish was thrown back into the water to make more redfish.

Eric caught this pompano and he was delighted!  He thinks it is the best fish ever – that’s his opinion, not mine.

Overall, we brought home a nice variety of seafood.  Eric makes fun of my cut herbs added to the board.  Top to bottom:  pompano, mangrove snapper and black drum.

The pompano fish was baked in parchment, along with some veggies – very tasty.  Hard to see but there’s a filet of fish underneath the carrots and asparagus.

As you noticed in the title, this post is ‘Take 1’.  There’s already been a ‘Take 2’ and that will be my next post.  Stay tuned!  We really, really, really like these accommodations.

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to break the blog monotony of fishing and craft brews……….at least for a little while………..and get back to my roots (pun intended).

There’s a task we do every week while getting ready for the work week…………walk the yard gathering cut flowers.  I pull together whatever I can find blooming, throw them in a glass jar and voila – I have flowers for my desk.  Some weeks are better than others, while during various times of the year, it gets tough – and summer is one of those times.

Whaaatt?  We live in Florida, everything grows here, what do you mean?  Sometimes it’s just too dang hot for flowers to flourish, especially when we have daily rains and plant rot takes over.  More things have gotten thrown away these last 4 weeks, due to rot, than in the previous 4 months.  Such is the life of a plant in Central Florida’s summer.

Regardless, here’s what blooming in the Darden Garden in August.

Pink vitex – small bush, attractive to local bees, this is our second blooming after a hard cut early summer.

After blooming the flower spikes have these berries which can also be used.

Blue porterweed – butterfly attractor, small bush, lots of flower spikes.  Truth be told…………while this started out as a single plant 5+ years ago, this growth sprouted up about 3 feet from the original planting

Hard to get this bumble bee to hold still for my photos.

Orange bauhinia – tall bush, summer bloomer, long weeping branches give it a layering look.

Close up of the flower is below while the seed pods are easier to see above.  These pods ‘explode’ once mature and seeds travel 10+feet to disperse.  That’s their mechanism for plant survival.

True story……….working outside a couple years ago on my plants, I heard some faint  popping noises.  Saw a seed hit the side of our house, more than once.  Yep, the seeds were dispersing.

White fragipani – sensitive to cold temps, easy to propogate, received a cutting from our neighbor and I’ve kept them alive and grown more cuttings to give to others.

Purple passionflower vine – attracts gulf fritillary butterflies, they’re so hungry the larve usually eat all of the leaves on a vine, practically destroying the plant.  Yep, you can see below, we have not been visited by a fritillary butterfly since we have all of the leaves.

If the flower is pollinated, this passion fruit develops.

Clematis vine – given to us by one of Eric’s leaders a number of years ago, now is the season for the white fragrant blooms, the plant was cut back severely last winter after the loss of water caused a good portion of the plant to die.

It does much better when left alone to climb amongst neighboring plants than on the trellis above..

Firebush – great to use in bouquets, tends to become a pesky weed.  We had another bush in a different corner of the yard and 5+ years later, it’s still sprouting up no matter what I do to kill it.

The flowers are great, as are the berries found afterward.

Purple vitex – also attracts native insects, second blooming after being cut this summer.

We have two different insect boxes that invite native insects to live and lay eggs.  Eric made the one on the right and it was at least a year before bees started using it.  I guesss it just had to ‘weather’.

We have a few other pieces of  ‘whimsy’ around our flower beds.  This guy has been bleached white by the sun.

I’m closing this out by ending with this week’s bouquet I took to work.

By the end of the week, the flowers still look good, so I started leaving them in the nearby ladies (cast) restroom backstage and OMG……………..I have gotten multiple post-it notes left on my door, thanking me.  Such a simple thing and it has totally made a major impact – who could have guessed.

Ginny 

 

 

Some work weeks are good, some work weeks are better, but once in awhile, there’s a ‘yucky’ work week that messes everything up.  Yes, recently there’s been one of those ‘yucky’ weeks – btw, that’s a highly technical term – just saying.  🙂

Hmmmmmm?  What to do?  What to do?  Spend some time on the water, of course!  Who can complain about this view?

Very few people around, very few boats, calm breezes, blue skies and just a few fluffy clouds.  Man – we’ve got to start playing the lottery and win, not just win, but win big.

These birds were enjoying the peaceful morning as they dug in the bottom for their breakfast .

While it wasn’t that early, the sun was peeking through the trees in the Crystal River Preserve.

But let’s start at the beginning.  We booked a room at the Plantation Inn at Crystal River.  We love getting one of the rooms along the canal – to keep an eye on the boat.  That’s our room, third awning from the left.

The goal is always to go fishing, but at this time of the year, scalloping is also on the agenda, at least for some (meaning – not me).  I’m fine enjoying the time on the boat while others snorkel……………until it’s time to get the rods out.

We knew this season that scallops were pretty scarce and/or in deep water so our expectations were not high – good thing as their total scallop catch was 6.  That’s not a typo – probably our worst scallop trip ever.  But the photo doesn’t lie.  We also caught a bluefish, a mackerel and a silver trout.

No matter, an hour after we got back on land, we were eating at one of our top local picks…….Seafood Seller Café.

A fantastic way to start our meal is with the ‘tomato chips’.  Okay, okay, they don’t look like much, but these quartered and fried tomato slices are little tasty bits of heaven.

I ordered something different for me, grilled flounder, accompanied by fries and cole slaw – yum!  It totally hit the spot.  It had the right about of smokey flavor and grilled char on the fish.

Naturally, Eric ordered the crawfish – which is pretty standard for him.  Four pounds arrived on this tray.

Fried okra and red beans & rice rounded out his meal.  Adrienne couldn’t stay the  night and headed home after dinner – sorry about that. 😦   I wanted something ‘more’ to top off the night.  Ice cream answered the call.  Google search found a local ice cream shop within a few miles of our hotel.  We headed out for this treat.

I’ve become a fan of coffee ice cream and theirs was mighty tasty.  Eric stuck with his normal – butter pecan (kind of boring…………..).

We wanted to get on the water fairly early Monday morning and drove a short distance to this Greek restaurant.  It’s nothing fancy, but filling.

Funniest thing is several spots are ‘saved’ for the locals at this restaurant.  We planned on sitting at the counter instead of a table but were told those (empty) seats were taken.  Oh well, we found another spot.  Raisin bread French toast (my pick) and an omelette for Eric.

Monday on the water, we were greeted with this idyllic scene.

While I’ve never been on a sailboat, they’re great to look at.

This one brought a chuckle.

Motoring around King’s Bay, we go past multiple ‘tour’ boats.  Everyone wants to see the manatees.  The best time is in the winter when there are hundreds and hundreds of manatees seeking the relatively warm spring water (a balmy 72 degrees F).  Sometime I’ll share the story how a manatee ‘attacked’ my husband’s kayak.

Before heading out to the Gulf, we first need live shrimp from Pete’s Pier for bait.  Lo and behold, there’s a shrimp boat at Pete’s Pier.

We weren’t the only ones looking for shrimp………………see the white bird, he was looking for the perfect opportunity to grab a bite to eat.

Got our shrimp – √

Enough gas in the boat – √

A man and his dog – whaaattt?

You just never know what you’re going to see on the water – paddle boarding no less.

Ultimately, local storms chased us off the water.  We were only on the water less than 2 hours and didn’t target our ‘normal’ species, but…………….we got quite a catch!

• Top – mackarel
• Left side, top to bottom – grunts (2), mangrove snapper, silver trout.
• Right side, top to bottom – porgies (2), black sea bass (2), silver trout.

Eric made fun of the herbs that I used in the photo, but I think it adds an artistic flair.  And that’s the end of this story.

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

There was a photo and article in our local paper that definitely caught my eye.

Why you may ask?  The soup dumplings turned into my comfort food during my 6 months in Shanghai.  I miss them – really, really miss them.  I had a (small, actually tiny) chance to get them last year when I flew to CA, but alas, it was not to be.  Once in a while we hear a place in Central Florida has them, we go, we order and then never need to go back.

This this article came out and Hawkers was the place to go!

Kind of cool how they used woks in their décor for lighting.

But then you see these……………….

We’re in the right place seeing the bamboo steamers.  🙂  Drinks were ordered as we ponder their weekend brunch menu.  Eric’s bloody mary is on the left, Adrienne’s beer on the right and my coke in the middle – someone has to drive.

We found the soup dumplings on the menu.  Two orders please.

We got a few other things to round out the meal.

Finally, the food came.

We ate Chinese style – which is to say family style.  It took me only a short time in China to really enjoy this aspect when going out to eat.  Then the dumplings arrived. YUM!

I’m definitely out of practice eating them.  We will have to rectify that – with more practice.  We will be back!

A sunday outing isn’t complete with out hitting a few local breweries to get our ‘stamps’ for our ale trail map.  While we had visited Dead Lizard Brewing Company in the past, we needed the stamp for our current map.  Besides, its a great name – just saying.

Next brewery was a new one for us …………..Castle Church Brewing.

Yep, its also a church.

While not really hungry, there’s always room for a ‘snack’ when you’re sharing amongst three, especially when you see a food truck at a brewery.

Some edamame with garlic and sea salt sounds good – and they were!  Simple but mighty tasty.

The place had an interesting interior – shipping containers.  They had been used so well, it took a while to notice the décor was a collection of these containers……..intriguing.

That’s the extent of our breweries on this excursion.  After heading home, then relaxing for a few hours………….this tray of cheeses, meats and fruit was all we needed to end our day.

Cheers!

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

Yes, yes, yes, finally sat down to finish the SGI trip.  Writing about it means acknowledging the trip was over – which it is.  But………………there was a great ending.  Yep, you’ve got to wait until you reach the bottom of this post.

Earlier during the trip, I mentioned we had rainy weather, which gave us the opportunity to drive into Apalach.  Another day it was really windy (and I mean really windy) and not the best to get on the water.  You can’t be on the island without throwing out a line.  Rich threw some casts from our dock.

Rich fished while I sat on their wooden swing on their dock – loved that swing.  Several days I napped out here in the afternoon.  I want a swing……..

So you think, wait, that water looks calm, what’s the deal.  Our rental was near the back of a finger canal and we had plenty of protection from the gusts.  Hence the deceptive calm waters – not so much out in the bay.

The wind seemed to lessen late afternoon (at least enough for 2 brave souls).  Rich and Connor took a chance and fished from the protection of the SGI bridge island.  The ride back was something that I would have not wanted.  If I had been on the boat, that ride could have possibly been my last.  At least it had some payoff……..Gaft-top Sail cats, delicious but lots and lots of ‘snot’ along the outside for protection.  Another (very) appropriate name………..snot cats.

You’ve got to be careful with handling these fish, before and after you get them to the boat.  They have barbs on their fins which are poisonous and you need to be careful with any subsequent cuts on your hands when handling them.

 

I felt it was only fair to include a photo of Rich fileting his catch.  On an earlier post he was in the background-looking on-while Eric did the work.

Let me jump to a new topic and share info about our neighbor.  One side there was an empty lot, no house but plenty of parking and a nice dock with two boats.  Turned out it was a local fishing captain’s meeting spot.  Our first day she walked over to introduce herself.  Yes, that is not a typo – Captain Krista.

As you can read in the photo above, she is a 5th generation fisherman.  She has at least 20 boat captains working for her to handle all of her booked fishing tours.  She has a great website (stgeorgeislandcharters.com).  Definitely check it out!  Her family has fished these waters since the 1800s and she continues her honoring Creek Indian heritage of living off the land.

I also want to give a shout-out to a new brewery we (and by that I really mean me) found – Eastpoint Beer Company. We drove right past it to get to SGI, but somehow missed the sign.

It has a great open-air location along US98 and out the back garage door, is the intercoastal waterway.  Eventually they will have boat dockage at a back pier.  There is lots of potential here.  With Oyster City Brewing being relatively near, we were told that several Tallahassee Beer Bus Tours have stopped by, which is always good for the brewing business.

They had good beers………………..

……and these really cool containers for their beer flights, resembling an oyster boat.

Jumping again……….close to our rental, I came across some interesting ‘yard art’.  Karen and I stopped to snap a few photos.  Trust me, they had waaaaaay more art.

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Another morning, Rich and I walked along the beach.  Sounds like a good plan and looks like it should be a good plan.

Nope.  Notice that storm in the background in the photo below?  We thought this guy was crazy for fishing when we first walked past him, until the storm got to us and we were soaked before getting to the car.  I don’t mean wet, I mean soaked, like you could ring water out of our clothes.  Guess the joke was on us.  But I did get a nice photo of the boardwalk over the sand dunes when we got to the car.

Friday morning we made one last trip on the water.  Fishing was tough, but I caught what turned out to be the biggest fish of the week.  Wait for it………… wait for it………yep, you’ve got to wait for the photo.  The photo below was our last group fishing photo.  Notice all of that safety protection: hats, fishing shades, rashguard/shirts and buffs.  ‘Safe-D’ begins with us.  Sorry – inside joke.  🙂

We finally got everyone to the beach our last night on the island.

While its sad to leave, everyone gathered on the dock around the swing for one last group photo (my favorite spot again) signaling our final morning together at the rental.

Okay, the time has come to share my photo. Yep, that fish is big.  We estimated this seatrout was 24″in length.

There’s no immediate trip on our horizon or a calendar date to return, but we can’t stay away for long.  We’ll be planning something soon.  This was a Great trip with great friends.

Ginny

 

And you would expect the story to end there.  Trust me, I wish it had.  We’re within 30 miles of home, still on the turnpike  and Eric says  ‘We have a problem with the boat/trailer.  The tire on the trailer is coming apart’.  Aaaarrrrggghhh.

We seem to have a history with fishing trips and boat/trailer incidents.  On a SGI trip last year, our boat trailer broke an axel within sight of a marina – pretty darn lucky.  This situaiton occurred  within a mile of a turnpike reststop – more luck.  We were able to pull off and find a decent place to swap tires with our spare – safe and shady!

He got the  new tire on, walked to wash his hands and who do we come across?  A boy scout troupe.  Eric joked with them and asked if they have a badge for changing tires.  The troupe master said yes.  They would have helped us and gotten a badge for ‘Auto Repair’.  Wish they had pulled in 20 minutes earlier.  Now, that’s the end of our SGI story.  🙂

 

 

 

 

 

My last post mentioned cooking while on vacation.  Most would think that is a chore, but not my husband!  Cooking is his hobby and a way to relax – crazy I know.  But for him, the cooking is a key part of the entire week’s experience. Let’s just say when we’re looking for a place to rent (anywhere) the kitchen is the first photo he brings up.  Enough of that, let’s start where my last post left off – crabs.

He’s in the process of picking out the meat from the cooked crabs.  He was giving lessons to our friends.  Well, maybe not so much lessons, as advice.  It got very quiet in the kitchen while this was happening.  Can you feel the intense concentration just from the photo?

The steps being:

• Pull off legs & claws.
• Remove top shell from caripace
• Pull out/discard lungs and digestive tract.
• Break in half and begin picking out the crab meat.
• Pick meat off claws – some consider that the best and sweetest meat of all, hopefully it goes into the container, but just as often, it gets eaten now.

Those leftover pieces & parts…………………utilized to make a stock, adding in ‘aromatics’ such as onions, shallots and celery.  Now would be a great time to pour in some leftover white wine – just saying.  Why are we making stock……crab bisque!

The stock was an integral part of this.  The bisque being comprised of the ‘homemade stock’ and a blonde roux (flour & butter), seasoned to taste.    The crab meat was placed into the bowls with the bisque poured over it.

I’m not the biggest fan of bisque, unless I dunk some bread into the broth – oops, that’s my bread in the above photo..  🙂

We also used the crab meat to make crab cakes – much more my style.  Man – look at all of that meat!!!

Early in the week, we caught some mackerel.  Those fish were grilled before served, Mediterran style with olive oil, lemons, salt & pepper.  Love their platter – just saying.

The seatrout caught throughout the week, was served three different ways.  Initially it was panfried, then served over arugula, topped with almonds.

Another night it was served with a lemon butter sauce topped with capers.

But I got to tell you…………for many years and years and years, it was always served fried.  That’s hard to beat!  Yes, yes, the photo below is fried shrimp, but the fish nuggets were fried afterwards, I promise.

Let’s now talk shrimp.  While we occasionally fry the shrimp, truly the best way I like the shrimp is poached, then de-veined with the shell removed.  Rich does an awesome job with that task.

One evening all the guys were involved with our meal.  Connor was in charge of the cubic fried potatoes, while the other two cooked the fish.

What did the girls do?  Primarily the clean-up, which is no easy feat where my husband is concerned.  Just ask Karen.  I’m used to it, but he sure does use a lot of pans!  But, I also got a chance to sneak in this photo.

Oh yeah, that watermelon we picked up during our drive here – very tasty.

One more SGI post is coming.  I got a bit behind when Eric unexpectedly left town and work at home consumed my time.

Ginny