Camping, Princess Style

[btbyrd]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but having a chamber vacuum machine and an immersion circulator makes camping awesome. You can buy everything beforehand, cook it off and pasteurize it, and then throw it in the cooler until you're ready to warm things up or sear them off. Combine a cooler full of vacuum bagged food with a camp site grill, a Coleman stove, and a Searzall and you're ready to go. Seal up soups, sauces, stews, steaks, braises, pork belly, short ribs, pre-cooked veg... whatever. It's awesome.

[Smithy]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but having a chamber vacuum machine and an immersion circulator makes camping awesome. You can buy everything beforehand, cook it off and pasteurize it, and then throw it in the cooler until you're ready to warm things up or sear them off. Combine a cooler full of vacuum bagged food with a camp site grill, a Coleman stove, and a Searzall and you're ready to go. Seal up soups, sauces, stews, steaks, braises, pork belly, short ribs, pre-cooked veg... whatever. It's awesome.

 

Thanks for that, btbyrd. I haven't taken the plunge yet on this gear and method of cookery, but I suspect it's just a matter of time.  For shorter trips this would be a great way to have food ready for the gang.  Once you had proteins sealed and sterilized, how long would you consider it safe to keep in only a cooler, as opposed to the freezer?  I'll be posting soon about a beautiful salmon filet, my second-to-last.  How I would love to have been able to bring more with us on this trip!

[Smithy]

The Davis Mountains in southwest Texas rise from the dry flat grasslands and Chihuahuan desert, up into beautiful hills with peaks nearly 7000' above sea level.  The McDonald Observatory is there; one "star party" night their speaker illustrated their dark skies with this boast:  "The nearest Walmart is 50 miles away".  Javelina, deer and wild turkey abound, flowers are blooming, and the songbirds are in full mating cry.  We spent time at a picnic area, then moved on to Davis Mountains State Park.  The downside of this wonderful isolation is an almost complete lack of internet communication; I managed to pay bills on April Fools' Day by driving to a mountaintop lookout point.

 

Although flowers are blooming, the only deciduous trees beginning to leaf out are the cottonwoods tracing out dry creek beds.  If you saw a painting of this canyon, you'd say the green looked phony.  I promise that it looked like this...except even more vividly, brilliantly green.

 

 

We grilled sometimes and cooked inside otherwise, rode bicycles, fixed flat tires, and hiked.  The only noteworthy meal was one of our rare breakfasts eaten out.  Some years ago we discovered the Indian Lodge at Davis Mountains State Park; a CCC-built building that has been renovated and/or rebuilt due to a fire some years ago.  

 

 

 

Its restaurant, the Black Bear Grill (named for a bear that 'treed' several CCC workers up a windmill tower back in the day) has nice woodwork, interesting old photos, a beautiful mural depicting the history of the area, and good food.  The window blinds are wood slats.  When was the last time you saw that?

 

 

We ordered our usual favorites: two eggs, potatoes and meat for him, and a breakfast burrito with all the trimmings for me.  We shared the sausage and bacon, since we can never remember which we prefer.  

 

 

The bacon is smoky and full-flavored.  The sausage has some nice seasonings that neither of us could identify.  I wish I could, so I could try to duplicate it.

 

We ate and looked out the window at the swallows in the near ground and the valley and campground farther away.

 

The burrito was huge.  It always is.  At some point I conceded the match, and brought the rest home for a late-afternoon meal.  

 

 

Up next: Easter in Del Rio.

 

 

[lesliec]

Looks like a nice relaxing place, Smithy.

 

A snippet for us iggerant furriners:  what's CCC?

[Thanks for the Crepes]

lesliec,

 

I'm a native daughter, but I skipped over CCC thinking it was just my negligent reading of something upthread that would explain it. I even went upthread looking to no avail, so I'll be waiting with you for Nancy's explanation, assuming she cares to give us one. 

[IowaDee]

If you do a search for Civillan Conservation Corps, you will find the info.  We have several beautiful buildings in local parks thanks to it.  

[Smithy]

Oh, please excuse my lapse, and thank you for asking! IowaDee has the right of it.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a government-funded Public Works program during the Great Depression in this country. From 1933 to 1942 young men (unemployed, unmarried, needing financial relief) were hired to work on conservation and preservation projects on public land. They built parks, campgrounds, roads and bridges; they strung telephone line; they did forestry work and flood-control work. They did this work in exchange for food, shelter, clothing, a small wage and the development of job skills. Many of their structures are still in use, not only in parks but in rural areas of this country. There are beautifully-constructed stone buildings and bridges (prominent in northeastern Minnesota, where I used to work) and their timber-frame lodges are permanently associated in my mind with forests and national parks.

For more information, here are some good web sites:

Wikipedia (of course)

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy Parks

An article in Minnesota History featuring a firsthand account of being in the C.C.C.

I think I have some photos rattling around in my files from park stays elsewhere. If I can find them - there's one particularly beautiful pond and dam - I'll add them. We've picnicked there many a time.

[Smithy]

Texans are great picnickers. Give them an excuse and they'll find a venue; we've learned to plan our travels carefully around spring holidays, because most parks will be full unless we make reservations. We moved on from Davis Mountains State Park to the Amistad National Recreation Area for the Easter weekend, from high altitude to low country.

The trees froth with fragrant blossoms, while small wildflowers accent the roadside grass.

The Amistad Reservoir, situated on the Rio Grande near Del Rio, Texas, has been pitifully low for several years and is rarely crowded as a result. Many boat ramps are closed. Sheep-filled pasture is reestablishing itself where there was water only 5 years ago. Our preferred campground, once a haven for fishermen, is now largely neglected. We had it to ourselves last Thanksgiving, and expected the same for Easter. We arrived to find 1 of 6 campsites taken; we took a site decently removed from that one. We slept soundly and quietly Friday night, with only songbirds and wild turkeys to disturb us.

On Saturday afternoon we learned that we had misjudged. Soon this was the view out our window, looking at the adjacent campsite about 100 feet away:

It was a local family, at least 3 generations' worth: grandparents, children and their spouses, and grandchildren ranging from toddlers to teens. Up went the tents. Out came the cooking gear. A fire was started, and soon wonderful cooking smells began drifting our way, along with laughter and chatter and the shrieks of happy children.

Early in the evening I couldn't contain my curiosity any more. I recognized (and lusted after) a portable wood-fired smoker, but what was that other thing they were cooking in? I wandered over, greeted them and asked. It was, in essence, a homemade propane-powered wok. It looked as though someone had made a large basin, flatter and deeper than a wok but much shallower and more flared than a frying pot. Grandmama, who thought I'd asked what they'd been cooking (not what they'd been cooking it in, said "pig tails!" What? Yes, pig tails. I'd never heard of fried pig tails! They were eager to share; they must have had 5 pounds left from that day's snackfest. The tails were cut into chunks, say, 2 - 3 inches long, dropped into the boiling oil until cooked, then fished out and dunked in salt water.

Man, that was good stuff. They also sent me away with some fine, homemade pico de gallo. "Be careful," said one sister of another, "she makes it spicy!" I think those were homegrown jalapenos. It was hot-spicy and delicious. My darling had a pig tail or two, but I got the rest...and all of the pico de gallo. The photo doesn't do it justice.

As I left, thanking them and wishing them all a Happy Easter, I looked at the toddlers and asked the pico de gallo maker about how early they went to bed. "We don't want to disturb you with our generator," I explained. (Quiet Hours are from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. but I thought the babies might go down earlier.) She looked at me with what I thought was a kind look of relief, as though she was glad they wouldn't have to keep their conversation down, or perhaps it was gratitude at my consideration. "Don't worry," she said, "we go to bed, ah, very late."

It was actually a look of pity. Their music continued thumping until after 3 a.m. although it stopped bothering me sometime after midnight. They certainly were having fun!

The next day more wonderful smells - was it brisket in the smoker this time? - wafted from the campsite as yet more people rolled in. We went about our own business, and at 5 p.m. were treated to the sight of a wild Easter Egg hunt with the kiddos racing as fast as their little legs could go. Their Easter tradition, it turns out, is similar to the Egg-Cracking ritual discussed over here, except that they use hollowed-out dyed eggs that have been filled with confetti. A riot of egg cracking and egg breaking and family tussling ensued. Then the family packed up, tidied up and left. They did a pretty good job. There's some litter of brightly-colored confetti and eggshell at their site, but everything else went into trash barrels and bags that had been provided by the Rangers.

Our Easter dinner was much more sedate. I used one of our two remaining precious salmon filets from our friends

and grilled it on a plank:

I had made bread as well:

Dinner: planked salmon and asparagus, caper butter, and fresh bread.

(He had inhaled his first two slices of bread before I got to the camera. )

We staggered off to bed, breathing more easily. It had been grand fun watching the families and learning about fried pig tails, but it was good to hear bird song again.

[btbyrd]

Thanks for that, btbyrd. I haven't taken the plunge yet on this gear and method of cookery, but I suspect it's just a matter of time.  For shorter trips this would be a great way to have food ready for the gang.  Once you had proteins sealed and sterilized, how long would you consider it safe to keep in only a cooler, as opposed to the freezer?  I'll be posting soon about a beautiful salmon filet, my second-to-last.  How I would love to have been able to bring more with us on this trip!

 

In a cooler with ice, it'll keep for weeks -- possibly longer. SV meat that's been pasteurized can last for more than a month in the fridge without any appreciable loss in quality. Sadly, SV fish isn't cooked for long enough (or at hot enough temperatures) to really pasteurize it. However, a combination of brining and low-temperature cooking can significantly extend the shelf life of fish. But if it were me, I'd try to eat any fish I brought along on the first day or two. That's less a function of safety and more a matter of how bashed up fish can in a cooler over several days of camping.

[Shelby]

Smithy, I just love following your camping adventures.  Makes me almost wish we still had our RV.  Almost lol. 

 

You are a far more tolerant person than I.....although now -a -days since I don't have to work, and I know I can sleep mostly as late or nap when I want to maybe I'd be different.  That bass thump would have driven me crazy back in our camping days.  I'm sure the look of relief was due to her knowing how loud and late they stay up!  Hopefully your generator drowned out most of it.  

 

Pig tails!!!  Yes!  Always reminds me of the Little House on the Prairie books.  They roasted the tails.  Then Mary and Laura played with the pig bladder that Pa blew up for them like a balloon.  

 

That pico looks wonderful.  Has me drooling for garden tomatoes.  Hopefully only about 4 more months until those.

 

Are you returning home soon?  Well, I mean to your home that doesn't have wheels.... 

Edited April 7, 2015 by Shelby (log)

[Smithy]

Smithy, I just love following your camping adventures.  Makes me almost wish we still had our RV.  Almost lol. 

 

You are a far more tolerant person than I.....although now -a -days since I don't have to work, and I know I can sleep mostly as late or nap when I want to maybe I'd be different.  That bass thump would have driven me crazy back in our camping days.  I'm sure the look of relief was due to her knowing how loud and late they stay up!  Hopefully your generator drowned out most of it.  

 

Pig tails!!!  Yes!  Always reminds me of the Little House on the Prairie books.  They roasted the tails.  Then Mary and Laura played with the pig bladder that Pa blew up for them like a balloon.  

 

That pico looks wonderful.  Has me drooling for garden tomatoes.  Hopefully only about 4 more months until those.

 

Are you returning home soon?  Well, I mean to your home that doesn't have wheels.... 

Thanks, Shelby! I too am pining for garden tomatoes, but have to remind myself that they won't be coming in at That Other (wheel-less) Home until July. We'll be arriving home around the first of May, and there still won't be buds on the trees although the grass should be turning green.

I still have to read the Little House series. I have read and enjoyed a couple of the books, but would be more interested in them now for their views into pioneer life. Have you been enjoying the cookbook?

[Smithy]

In a cooler with ice, it'll keep for weeks -- possibly longer. SV meat that's been pasteurized can last for more than a month in the fridge without any appreciable loss in quality. Sadly, SV fish isn't cooked for long enough (or at hot enough temperatures) to really pasteurize it. However, a combination of brining and low-temperature cooking can significantly extend the shelf life of fish. But if it were me, I'd try to eat any fish I brought along on the first day or two. That's less a function of safety and more a matter of how bashed up fish can in a cooler over several days of camping.

Thanks for that information, btbyrd. It gives me more incentive (as though I need any) to buy the gear and start playing with it. :-)

[SLB]

Smithy, I for one am gonna be seriously sorry to see this adventure end.  I TOTALLY want an RV now.  

 

Also, I had no idea that I could use my corningware over a flame like that.  

[Smithy]

Llano, Texas has become a favorite several-day-stopover point for us.  This little town of only a few thousand people feels much larger, perhaps because it's the county seat and perhaps because of its history.  Beautiful stone buildings dot the downtown area, and the town square is built around a magnificent stone County Courthouse - easily the tallest building in town.  Best of all, there's a city park situated on the Llano River, with full RV hookups; the park is within easy walking distance of downtown, interesting shops and wonderful barbecue joints. There are other restaurants here: a mesquite-fired pizza place, hamburger joints, and an upscale wine bar/beer pub/restaurant with both courtyard and indoor dining, all of them within an easy stroll.  It doesn't matter.  We come here for the 'cue.  I don't plan to cook much during our stay.

 

Cooper's Old-Time Pit Bar-B-Que fed us the first evening.  We set up, paid our camping fee, relaxed a bit, and then headed up to check the offerings. They have charcoal-burning chimneys in which the wood is cooked down to live coals; from there, the coals are added to the pits as needed.  The pits begin operating early in the morning. This is a big operation, with 6 or 8 active cooking pits, a serving pit and (I think they said) one or two keep-warm pits.  It isn't unusual at peak times to see a line stretching the length of the building.

 

When I first heard the term "pit barbecue" I imagined a hole dug in the earth.  Although it may have begun that way, that isn't what we've seen around here.  In this context a "pit" is a large metal lidded box set up to add coals from one end, at the bottom of the box, with a grill above and a hinged lid to trap the smoke but allow easy access.  The cooks monitor the coals by feel, and nobody could give us a good estimate of the barbecue temperature.  (They told us later that they measure the meat temperature; brisket is considered cooked at 140F.  We didn't ask about other meats.) I think they said it takes around 4 hours to cook an 8-pound brisket.

 

Their offerings are listed on a chalk board hanging from the rafters.

 

The serving pit has a selection of available meats for easy viewing and selection, and to augment your appetite regardless of how hungry you might have been when you arrived.  

 

 

As a particular choice gets low, more is moved up from the keep-warm pits.  When it's your turn to order, you tell what you want and about how much.  One of the nice young men carves it to order.

 

 

 "Do you want it dipped?" he asks, and if you assent, the whole slab is dipped in a pot of their sauce.  Then he sets it all on a tray, and you take it inside to get it weighed and to pay for it.  There's dining inside.  They have other offerings: potato salad, slaw, beer, soft drinks.  We just bought meat and brought it back to eat at home.

 

 

We had bought a large serving of brisket and a small amount of sirloin.  I liked both.  My darling preferred the brisket.  We both agreed that the barbecue sauce was the perfect compliment to the meat: adding juice to carry the flavor, but not adding a noticeable flavor of its own.  All too often I find barbecue sauce to be the equivalent of a backup singer who wants to outdo the lead.  In this case, the sauce harmonized so well that I thought it must have had a base of meat juice.  I learned later that it's their own vinegar-and-ketchup recipe, augmented over the hours by the spices and juices from various meats dipped into it.

 

 

 

[rotuts]

nice.  hope you hit a few more Q's in TX

[suzilightning]

SMITHY ohhhhhhh.....pit 'Q.  I have been following with great excitement as John and I love to take roadtrips.  You aren't that far from Kerrville and Kinky Friedman's dog rescue ranch and New Braunfels with some killer German foods.

 

Our first year of marriage was a bit further east living in Hooks and I worked in Texarkana when they still had open pits.  The freaking smell of that beef was to die for ... almost as good as Fredonia in the fall when they were making chili sauce or peanut butter ... as it permeated EVERYTHING.

[Smithy]

Yesterday I strolled into town, across the Inks Bridge where I had a good view of the Llano River and the City's water supply dam.  This dam is raised and lowered seasonally as needed to provide a reliable water supply for the City.  They've lowered the water level drastically for the past several months in order to dredge the river bed and improve storage capacity.  It's startling to see the river this low.  

 

 

I've read about net casting in Pat Conroy's works - the practice required to get the net to cast out in a circle as it's thrown, so that it's wide open when it hits the water.  The weights keep it open until a drawstring pulls it closed.  He wrote about that for shrimping, but yesterday I saw someone use the technique on fish.  

 

 

After several tries he came up with a fish. It looked like a beauty.  It also looked like dinner, because he stopped after that one.

 

Llano, "The Deer Capital of Texas", has fancifully decorated statues of deer all around the historic downtown area.  This one is set up to look like a barbecue.  Meet "Buck B Q":

 

 

 

The Berry Street Bakery, one block off the busy and noisy main street through town, is set in a blessedly quiet area close to the Town Square.  It's a nice little wooden-sided building, possibly a former house, with a dining area in front and another dining room to the rear.  To the left, as you walk in, is a display case with baked goods.  The area behind the counter has very nice vintage glassware and serverware that seems to be used frequently.

 

 

In addition to baked sweet goods they offer sandwiches, quiches and coffee.  

 

 

I settled for a chocolate chip cookie. 

 

 

It was lovely: just the right balance of toothsome resistance, followed by a soft interior.

 

[Smithy]

nice.  hope you hit a few more Q's in TX

 

That's the plan, rotuts.   

 

SMITHY ohhhhhhh.....pit 'Q.  I have been following with great excitement as John and I love to take roadtrips.  You aren't that far from Kerrville and Kinky Friedman's dog rescue ranch and New Braunfels with some killer German foods.

 

Our first year of marriage was a bit further east living in Hooks and I worked in Texarkana when they still had open pits.  The freaking smell of that beef was to die for ... almost as good as Fredonia in the fall when they were making chili sauce or peanut butter ... as it permeated EVERYTHING.

 

suzilightning, you'd have gone crazy here yesterday.  We were downwind of the preparations for a major event today (stay tuned ) and from a half mile away the smells drifted to us.  Wonderful!  I wonder if pit bosses ever burn out on the smell?  Maybe I should ask.

 

Do you mean truly open pits?  I'd like to know more about that.

[Smithy]

Charlie's Store in Llano is one of those one-off places that I never expect to find in a town of this size.  It seems to have expanded over the years to occupy what used to be 3 separate store fronts on the main street, although I've never asked if this is true.  

 

 

If you look through two of the storefronts you'll see an impressive selection of nice furniture; if we lived anywhere nearby I'm sure this would be our source of furniture. However, if you come through the middle entrance you'll get household goods, small appliances, a gift shop and and an amazing variety of kitchen gear. 

 

There are commercial-grade heavy-duty baking pans of all sizes and shapes.  There are measuring cups, graters, choppers, appliances, grilling supplies, cutting boards...well, the list is astonishingly large for a place this size.  Let the pictures take the place of the thousand words.

 

The prices are as good as anything I've seen for this quality of goods, and I love coming in when we visit.  Sometimes I have a specific need; sometimes I don't figure out what I needed until I see it here.  I came in search of a specific measuring cup that I bought in British Columbia about 15 years ago; it's cracked and no longer holds liquid for very long, but it's the perfect size and shape for immersion-blender mayonnaise (as an example) and I'd like to replace it.  No luck so far, but I had a great time chatting with Kim about the store, her cool selections, and then on to Life, the Universe and Everything.

 

 

I had also thought to buy a silicone banana leaf pad for the trailer.  While I was looking at it and wishing I'd measured the oven, Kim pointed out some Charles Viancin covers that I'd never seen before: citrus-section covers with rigid frameworks to allow stacking.  Dishwasher safe, yep.  Microwave safe, yep.  

 

 

What a find!  And they were half-price!  

 

 

I came away with 2 different sizes and a small throw rug to replace one of our severely worn rugs.  I deliberately did not buy any cookbooks.  That may be a first for my visits to this store.

 

 

I discovered after getting my purchases home that the lids are microwave safe but - unlike the other silicone lids - not oven safe.  I hadn't noticed that.  They'll still be useful. They already have been.

 

 

 

At the very next shop - an antiques and vintage store around the corner - I found these:

 

 

So much for coming home without more cookbooks.  

 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Smithy,

 

I was so excited the other day to rush on to your next post that I forgot to comment on the circular net fishing. It must be pretty rare, because I've owned boats for many of my years and lived on my ex-father-in-law's marina for almost two years, and I have only seen it once.

 

It must be an acquired skill that takes a lot of practice. It was beautiful to watch the grace of the two young guys who took turns with their net on the shore of Jordan Lake in NC. As we watched, they came up with multiple smaller, but keeper, fish and stowed them to take home.

 

I was fascinated, got off the boat, and asked the friendly pair if I could try my hand at it. I was no good at it, and I'm sure these two had done it many, many times. My boyfriend at the time, who was a lot more coordinated and athletic than I was didn't do any better, but with a skilled hand at this esoteric practice it is mesmerizingly lovely and quite efficient at landing a fish dinner.

 

I am sure this was very difficult to photograph, and you did quite well at capturing the fast motion. I was worried for the guy leaning over the spillway with no guardrail! The currents there can be dangerous if one were to fall.

 

Thanks so much for taking us along on your explorations, and thanks for dredging up this memory of a beautiful summer day when I was much younger. I really appreciate it!

[Shelby]

Hi Smithy!  

 

Nothing much beats a good chocolate chip cookie.

 

Around here that guy would be in some serious trouble if he was using his cast net to catch sport fish to eat.  You did a great job capturing that shot!

 

 My husband has used a cast net for years and years to catch bait fish (shad is what we like to use).  After getting some in the cast net, they go immediately into an aerated bait tank.  Shad are super sensitive and hard to keep alive.  We then use the bait fish (shad) to catch the sport fish (such as striped bass etc.).  

 

It takes a while to get the hang of throwing it.  Hubby is dang good at it.  Me...not so much.  I try at times with a smaller version of his.  It's very hard not to throw myself into the water with the net LOL.  The big one is really heavy.  Plus, we're throwing it out of the boat, normally, so that doesn't give you much leverage.   We also used the cast net a few times to grab some crawdads.....that doesn't work so well and it's super hard to get them untangled from the net.

 

And that's probably much more than you ever wanted to know about cast nets LOL.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Shelby (log)

[Smithy]

Thanks for the Crepes and Shelby, thanks for that additional information about net casting!  I've never had a chance to try it, but your descriptions match Pat Conroy's.  As far as balance goes: this gent had the advantage of casting from a very solid surface - not a rocking boat - but it would have been a long fall with a very hard landing if he'd gone over the edge.

 

The Llano Volunteer Fire Department serves the City of Llano as well as the surrounding rural area: about 650 square miles, according to their web site.  Their main fundraiser is their annual fish fry and barbecue.  Last year we had so much fun that we scheduled our trip to make sure to hit it again.

 

The day before the Big Event I happened by the Fire Hall and discovered that preparations were well underway.  Men were laughing and working hard and confirming schedule details, but they were happy to answer questions and let me snap photos.  

 

One team of men was cooking down chunks of mesquite in a chimney.  About every half hour, a shovelful or three of coals would be moved from the chimney to the barbecue and distributed for even heat.  As with all the other 'cue operations I checked, nobody owned up to using a thermometer, infrared or otherwise; they just went by feel and long experience.

 

They also used bagged mesquite charcoal. At what stage they mixed the wood and the charcoal chunks is something I either didn't ask or don't remember.

 

Meanwhile, another team was busily prepping briskets for the grill.  

 

"Blur my face!" laughed one man, "I'm a wanted man!"

 

 

(I heard that from several people in Llano, but they all made sure I knew they were joking.  )  They had a pan full of a bulk spice blend that they bought in large bags: salt, pepper and "pork salt", which I finally worked out was curing salt. By "bulk" I mean very large bags.  I don't remember how many they said they'd use, but here's the bag that was in use, atop a chair for easy access:

 

 

 

Each brisket was unwrapped, coated thoroughly in the spice mix, 

 

 

then stacked and taken away for cooking.

 

 

They cooked all the briskets that day, then wrapped and chilled them overnight.  The next day, the briskets would be warmed before serving.  I didn't ask about the other dishes that would be served; I thanked them, said "see you tomorrow!" and continued my stroll.

 

 

The next afternoon, we drove over to the Big Event.  What a turnout!  People come from all over the county to support this barbecue.  

 

People were lined up to buy dinner (donation, no suggested amount) and raffle tickets ($1 each), and then lined up at the buffet.  What a spread!

 

 

The tables were all packed.  A live band was playing a combination of Texas swing and standard rock-and-roll songs.  People who were done eating sat around and clapped, or got up and danced.  The energy was wonderful.

 

We loaded up our plates far too enthusiastically, but how could we skip anything?

 

 

We had driven because rain was threatening, but it didn't happen.  We should have walked waddled home.  We could have used the exercise.  

[Shelby]

That looks amazing.  Do I spy a hushpuppy up there?

[Smithy]

That looks amazing.  Do I spy a hushpuppy up there?

 

You do indeed! They also had nice garlicky fries.  Dessert was peach cobbler (the styrofoam cup at upper right of one of our plates).

[rotuts]

WoW

 

Smithy

 

such stunning stuff !

 

good for you !