Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Kitchenique's Pizza Class on Monday night was taught by a charming arm-flailing guy, Philip McDonald, Head Chef of Table Five. The highlight for E was learning how to make oven-dried cherry tomatoes and eating the VERY THIN crusts of the pizza (tho some of the toppings were far far from her faves--arugula and pesto BOTH = aiiiyyyy). We were persuaded to swap semolina flour for corn meal as the glide-facilitator on the peel (less corny aftertaste, yes!). And one of the helpers handed out silicone pot holders for us to place between our butts and the slippy stainless steel stools: voila, balance restored.


Tuesday we attended our second ACT Walton meeting (community organization encouraging eating/buying locally). Let's just say that Walton County is still a long ways away from having the kind of CSA we've had the luxury of being a part of in Alabama. So we've decided to capitulate and sign up for organic veggies from Off the Vine, which at least promises that the food will be grown within an 80 mile radius of, you guessed it, Rosemary Beach. And we do (and will) have our own veggies, grown in the waist-high box right in the back yard; so far we've had a couple of yummy salads of the greens, and you can see the radishes starting to swell.


Tuesday night we went over to Santucket (NOT a typo), one of the Old Florida Cottages near Goatfeathers, to have dinner with Canadians Hank & Lynn, who rented B-A-R last winter. Phil & Karen from next door were also in the party. The food was swell, and the company pretty amusing. For the first time we saw the infamous Yellow Line, the path which the lowly folks who live on Mary St. must keep to as they make their way to the deeded beach access the rich folk have been forced to allow them.


Thursday brought Tom & Jess and Friday Mike & Petra to B-A-R for a bit of poker and Wii and beach walking and stitching and reading to polish off Alabama's Spring Break. Culinary highlights included E's Chicken Wings Africana, her smashingly good coconut ice cream and her tried & true pecan pie. Pepper whomped up a stunning tortilla soup and 10,000 fish tacos, and Sandy redeemed one very salty marinade by serving up potato pancakes and spicy Deramus sausages for breakfast this morning. Now the sheets are whirling in the dryer, the towels wait patiently in the washer, and we gear up for the next round of company, arriving Thursday & Friday, S's brother Al and her cousins Gretchen, Anna & Robert. Looking forward!

Memory Lane

The trip back to Tuscaloosa had a special high point: a side trip to the highest elevation in Florida (345 ft above sea level), a stop that's been on S's bucket list for years. It might be the only thing on her bucket list, come to think of it. The road to Lakewood Park was as interesting as the site itself, an asphalted dog track winding through pasture land. Another bit of drama on the drive was missing the turn up 219, which fact we didn't notice (bc we were gabbing) until we were at least 30 minutes out of our way. Hooray for the GPS receiver: we jacked that puppy into the power supply and, without backtracking (and in just as good of time as if we'd never gone wrong), wended our way toward Toosa. Drove through an old enclave, Heiberger, Alabama, striking for the German embellishments on many of its buildings. Turns out, it's also the birthplace of Coretta Scott King and the site of her marriage to MLK.


It was a gorgeous weekend in the Deep South, clear, warm, and mostly sunny. Friday night we ate dinner and played MahJongg with Salli and Kathryn at K's house. Saturday morning, after breakfast at the IHOP (where we ran into Emma Ramey, also visiting Toosa for the weekend--weird!), we did regular old Saturday morning jobs (car wash, oil change, trip to Target) and snagged a Taco Casa taco each (oh how we miss TC!), and met up with the poker crowd at Wendy & Joel's. Highlight there? The ceremonial passing of the sanitizing potion from dealer to dealer in an effort (successful as far as we know) to keep from getting Anne's wretched cold/pinkeye combo. We ate dinner at the new Greek joint (DON'T do again) and watched MILK, rapt, on the Hilton Garden Inn's pay-per view.


Sunday opened with donuts and Rummy-O! and SET with Wendy & Joel, was followed by a sweet brunch at Harold's w/Petra and Joe and Cornelius, and rounded off with a sentimental return to GreeneTrack to play high-stakes bingo as we were wont to do every Sunday when we were Alabamians--and we won BIG. Monday we hooked up with Vonceil for lunch at Lek's House of Thailand in Montgomery (quite yummy) and followed the GPS home from there, on roads we've not heretofore traveled, passing through Coffee County at about the same time some poor local guy was on his last rampage with a shotgun.

Home (Beach-A-Rama!) again to a happy cat and a nice chicken salad that Carol left for us--yummy. And lettuce and radishes going great guns! In fact, we ate a little salad of our own greens this week, and drove up to Cottons in Freeport to get more of the beautiful onions we'd snagged on the drive back from Toosa. S can't get enough of these sweeties, and has, for the first time in her life, sterilized jars and put up pickled veg. Can botulism be far behind?

In the TAH-DAH department: on Saturday, eight months after the remodeling project began, the defective fan in the master bedroom was finally replaced and the job is DONE.

Lent

In our clutches . . .

We're happy to report that Mahjongg has taken hold at Sunrise Beach: Sunday we enjoyed egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches at Joyce's house for a MJ lunch, and taught two more newbies, Karen D and Billye how to play; Thursday afternoon at our house, we taught the other Karen, our semi-permanent neighbor, and she was such a quick study that she won a game in short order. And Susan already professes to be addicted--an excellent sign!

On the garden front, the lettuce is doing so well that we were encouraged to brave Home Depot's garden supply center to get more soil for additional planters. Even the parsley and dill are peeking through. Unfortunately we woke up at 2 AM this morning to a magnificent windstorm and severely dropping temperatures: it may be a day or two before we don our overalls again.

Micro-greens!

Culinarily speaking, we had several adventures. On Wednesday, while Karen was whomping up some pastitsio, Phil got a wild hair and invited a small party of SR beachers (current and former) for dinner. So we trooped over to join Susan & Charlie, Billye, and Sharon & the other Charlie for a good meal and lots of wine. We think we learned something really useful at this gathering (as we tend to do when the old timers get together), but there must have been too much wine in the mix, bc we sure can't remember what it was.

We've had this candle, a gift from Anne & Joe, for at least 15 years. We saw one exactly like it at Karen & Phil's the other night, and Susan says she has one too.

On Friday, E espied a notice of a fish fry (to benefit the poor in Walton Co.) that night at St. Rita's just up the road; we piled in the car and caught the last servings of a nice whitefish that we ate in the big hall next door to the sanctuary--along with about two hundred other greyhairs, mostly snowbirds. The most memorable part of the evening for E was when a worker, asked what fish we were eating, answered "Pacific Sway" and did a little hula. St. Rita's entire compound is understated and elegant, and the congregation appears to be far too well off to ever need bingo revenue. Alas.

Next weekend, for the first time since we've begun our adventure in moving, we are going to return to Tuscaloosa County for a visit with our pals. E wonders how many more seats have been added to the stadium in our absence. Stay tuned.

Impasse