Food Odyssey

Winter drove us out of our comfy home last Saturday, and we headed south for a week in Orlando, Florida. It is a chance to visit friends and relatives, and to go to Epcot without having to please little children.

We spent the night in Santee, SC, and ended up at Capt. Kirk’s.

It turned out to be a decent restaurant. I had Shrimp and Scallops Imperial, which was shrimp and scallops on linguine with a good Alfredo sauce, and Diane had Fried Shrimp and Dinner Grits (not exactly Shrimp and Grits, but close).

On the way out of town on Sunday we stopped at Smokey Joe’s Bar B Cue, where we both had a pork sandwich with our choice of sauces, both very good. Diane had the Baked Beans, which were terrific, and I had Sweet Potato Fries with a dipping sauce that was out of this world.

We arrived in Orlando about 4 p.m. and took the easy way out and ate pizza and watched the Steelers walk all over the Ravens at a poolside bar. Decent. Not special.

For lunch on Monday we hit a TGI Friday’s, which was decent, and for dinner we went to a Bahama Breeze, of which there are a few around here. Diane had Jamaican Grilled Chicken, Green Beans and Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and I had Tilapia sautéed in a spicy Havana Sauce and Tropical Rice. Both very tasty. Good Mojitos, too.

Monday, lunch in, but went to Jack’s Place for dinner, which was a little pricey, but quite good. Diane had Beef Shortribs with Mushroom Risotto, which she loved, and I had Jack’s Key Largo, which included a filet and a crabcake, with Asparagus. The deserts were spectacular: a Berry Martini with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries with a Grand Marnier Cream, and a Mango/Guava Cheesecake. Yummy!

Wednesday is Epcot day, and we’ll eat there both at lunch and dinner.

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Technorati Tags: Food, Vacation

Long Weekend in Myrtle Beach

We managed to get away on Thursday for a long weekend which, after driving 5.5 hours each way turns out to be not really a long weekend. We headed for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and got there just after 4 p.m. After checking in and getting settled we headed out to look around the area and find a place for dinner. We chose Greg Norman’s Australian Grille. Now, Greg produces wines and his name is pretty well known for that (in addition to golf) and both Di and I thought he had several restaurants, but, no, he has only one, and it is in Myrtle Beach.

We got a table outside on the harbor; it was very relaxing and scenic. But the mark of a good restaurant is the food, and the food at Greg’s was very good. Di had veal scaloppini with Hunter sauce and portabella beggars purses, which she liked, and I had the wood-grilled ribeye with garlic mashed potatoes and apple smoked bacon green beans, which was very good. For dessert, Di had bread pudding with strawberry white chocolate, and I had mixed berrys with vanilla ice cream. All in all, a very nice evening.

Friday for lunch we went Joe’s Crab Shack, where I had a crabcake sandwich and Di had coconut shrimp. Tolerable food.

For dinner Friday, we went to the House of Blues, which was a mixed blessing. If you’ve never been to a HOB, you might want to think a little about it before going. They have a concert venue, a restaurant, an “art” gallery and a souvenir shop all right together. It’s a very loud place, with a younger crowd, and a “rustic” décor. The food was decent; Di had an 8-ounce filet with snow peas and mashed potatoes, and I had the full rack of "fall off the bone" baby back ribs with Jim Beam BBQ sauce, mashed sweet potatoes and greens. The filet was tolerable, the ribs were very good, the sweet potatoes were tasty, but didn’t really fit with the ribs, and the greens were too spicy. The most memorable thing was the appetizer, which was skillet baked rosemary cornbread with maple butter. Unique, and tasty.

Tomorrow holds the promise of a return to Thoroughbreds’, a place we went a few years ago that had both a great atmosphere and good food. Lunch is still undecided.

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Friday, Then Home, Again

Well, the week has ended and we are back at home. The drive was not too bad, except for heavy traffic on I-64 from Hampton to Richmond. We left at 10 a.m. and stopped for lunch in Richmond right after noon at Red, Hot and Blue. We love RH&B, with good blues playing in the background and great barbecue. When traveling I usually like to get a quick lunch and get back on the road, but this was worth the extra time. We pulled into the driveway at 5:45.

Yesterday was a good relaxing day, with some beach time and just hanging out on the porch/deck on a beautiful day. Dinner was at a place called the Board Wok, and featured, as you might have guessed, Asian cuisine. It was decent, but not special.

On the way we reviewed the things we talked about doing, but didn’t do. I think that is always the way it is, at least for us. As much as I liked having the kids with us, they stay up late and get up late, and that shortens the time to do things. We could have made a better effort, though. That just gives us a reason to go back some day.

So, now it’s back to the usual ranting, I guess. Stay tuned.

Thursday

Thursday was an active day, even with the late start we’ve been getting all week. We got out around noon and went to lunch at Panera Bread, a really, really good sandwich place that has several locations here in the eastern US, and maybe elsewhere, too.

After that we made our way to Norfolk, Va., which is Navy central, with multiple bases in the area, the Norfolk Naval Station, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, the Little Creek Amphibious Base, the Oceana Naval Air Station, all in the nearby area. There are other military installations here, as well, with three Army bases, and Langley Air Force base, close by.

Norfolk houses Nauticus, a nautical museum that features exhibits and information on area naval activities from the days before the Civil War. It’s a very interesting place, and has the battleship USS Wisconsin on display for touring. We spent more than an hour there before heading to the Virginia Beach boardwalk, which as I said before bears no resemblance to the boardwalk I remember from my Air Force days when my band spent so much time playing in the beach clubs (no remnant of which can be found today).

We then headed to Bella Monte, an Italian place recommended by my high school and college classmate Betty Todd Howes, whom I haven’t seen since 1966. She and her husband Peter, and the five of us had a good dinner and some long-overdue catching up.

Diane had Osso Bucco, lamb shanks in a dark sauce; Ryan had Lobster Ravioli, which he didn’t like; Katherine and Christen had something, but they were at the other end of the table and I don’t know what it was. Me, I had one of the specials, a split lobster tail with crab meat over risotto. This was the best dinner of the week. We got home about 10 p.m.

Friday, we are hoping and expecting to be able to go to the beach for a while without being sliced to ribbons by blowing sand, and the weather forecast give us hope that we can. Saturday morning will be glum, as we have to pack and hit the road for home.

Wednesday

One of the reasons this vacation is different is that the kids stay up pretty late and get up pretty late. Di usually hits the sack between 10 and 11, and I stay up a little later watching TV with Ryan, or playing his new PS3 baseball game, which has wonderful graphics. Anyway, that means that we don’t get going as a group until lunch. The wind was even stronger this morning than yesterday and it was in the low 60s and raining, so our options for activities were somewhat limited. Today, even lunch was too early for the kids, so Di and I went out alone to hit the Target nearby and get some lunch.

We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Señor Fox, which was staffed entirely by Mexicans (as most are) we were seated in a booth near a young family with three little ones (over my left shoulder) and two local white guys (over Diane’s right shoulder). The staff was very attentive and very competent, and our food was delivered unbelievably quickly. It was good, on top of all that.

Along the way, one or more of the young ones let out an ear-piercing scream or two, which is always unpleasant, and at one point one of them was running around the place. They had been there long enough that they left when we were about half way through our meal. We heard one of the local guys talking to one of the staff: “Not all Americans are like that,” he said. The staff person cleaning up the table appeared not to hear him, so he repeated his comment. That caused us to look over at the table. You would not believe how much food, crumbs and other stuff was on the floor around this table.

After hearing our groans about the disgusting mess, the guy said that his mom and dad would have cleaned up a mess on the table, and on the floor, if there was any. I agreed. I commented that the younger generation has been brought up without common levels of manners and consideration for others. He agreed.

Now, I don’t believe that the whole generation is thus poorly reared; I know my four got a heavy dose of “you’d better not do that” along the way. But I think a fair portion of that generation is self-consumed and undisciplined. It’s another example of how our culture is moving slowly (or not so slowly) into the dumper.

I subscribed to Classmates.com a year or so ago to see who of my former schoolmates I could find. I have found quite a few, some of them used to good buddies. One of them lives in Virginia Beach, so I was trying hard to connect up. We have been emailing for the last couple of days and our families are going to get together for dinner tomorrow. This should be interesting, as Betty and I haven’t seen each other since 1966.

Tonight we headed out to dinner with no particular idea in mind, other than Katherine’s objection to going to any restaurant that we have at home, like Chili’s or Outback Steakhouse. We found a place that we hadn’t seen before, a Cuban restaurant called “Havana.” It was the best meal of the week, so far. I had a Paella de Mariscos, which has shrimp, scallops, littleneck clams mussels and fish all sautéed with chorizo and a trio of bell peppers tossed in sofrito rice. I don’t care for mussels or clams, so they left them out and added more scallops and shrimp. It was very good, and the chorizo was highly spicy. Diane had the Filet de la Casa, which is beef tenderloin served over a dark rum and peppercorn sauce served with garlic mashed potatoes and house vegetables. Ryan had Ropa Vieja, which is roasted shredded pork, Manchego cheese, black beans rolled in a flour tortilla and served on sofrito rice and finished with jalapeno queso and green enchilada sauce. Katherine had the Caribbean Mojo Marinated Flank Steak, which is grilled medium rare, thinly sliced and served with a chipotle beurre blanc, garlic mashed potatoes and house vegetables. And Christen had Coconut and Plantain Encrusted Atlantic Salmon, served atop sofrito rice with house vegetables and finished with a guava beurre blanc. There were a couple of appetizers and also desserts. All in all, a great meal.

Summing up: weather – not good; food – great.

Tuesday

Tuesday started early, about 6:50 a.m., reluctantly. I filled the morning with some reading, some writing and some surfing and a little breakfast. Had a bunch of “business” email to deal with. It wasn’t a restful night; up late and up early.

We finally made it to the beach in the afternoon, and even though it was still windy, it was a good, if short, span of relaxation. It was in the mid- upper-80s this afternoon; the sand was hot, but the water was cold. Very cold.You can see some debris on the beach, evidence of some recent stormy weather. We took a short walk on the beach, and that was nice, but the best part was just lying in the sun. There’s something about baking in the sun listening to the surf that just takes all the tension away. About a half-hour or 40 minutes was all of the sand blasting we could take, and then we headed back to the condo, for more reading, writing and surfing.

We hooked up with a former student of the college where Diane works who had been a work/study student. He lives nearby and is working on a masters degree, and he and his fiancé had dinner with the five of us in what is known as “downtown Pungo.” A decent restaurant called Seacrest served up a nice fried seafood platter for me, surf and turf for Ryan, drunken clams for Christen, chopped steak for Kath, and fried shrimp for Di. Good company and decent food.

We headed back to the condo and after a ride along the beach road looking at the beach houses we called it a day.

Today probably sounded like a wasted day, but it was really better than it sounds. But it’s been a little bit of an odd vacation, so far.

Monday

Monday wasn’t a special day, at least in terms of our activities. It was special, of course, inasmuch as it was Memorial Day, a day to remember those who have sacrificed their bodies and their lives so the rest of us can live in relative comfort and freedom. Actually, it is to memorialize all military service personnel, but as one who served but did not see action I can say with some authority that the people really deserving of our respect are those that did see action.

The kids got up relatively late and we didn’t hit the road until around noon. We had a decent lunch at a place called the Tiki Seagrille and Bar, where I had a burger with a crab cake on top and some O rings. we headed toward the Virginia Beach strip. Back in the day, that was a place of action, with beach clubs where the bands I was in played. Places like the Peppermint Beach Club and the Top Hat. Believe me when I say that if someone had blindfolded me and dropped me off on Atlantic Avenue, when I took off the blindfold I would have had absolutely no idea where in the world I was. Forty years changes everything. No more beach clubs and quaint hotels. It’s all modern new building without even a trace of the places of the good old days.

We spent the afternoon in a couple of malls. Yeah, I know: that’s sad.

We got back to the condo about 6:30, had some wine on the porch and watched the sun go down. Very pleasant, except for a stiffer-than-desirable breeze, as witnessed by the flag in the photo.

I actually found myself shouting obscenities at some bikers today. Those blasted things are louder than anything reasonable; just plain obnoxious, breaking the serenity of the area with that absurd racket. Maybe I just don’t understand bikes, but it seems to me that you ought to be able to have a fine machine that gives you the pleasure you seek without deafening those poor souls with the misfortune to be nearby when you decide to head off into the wind.

My first encounter with a motorcycle was when I was pretty young, about 8 or 10, or maybe 12. The guy who lived up the alley had a green Indian that suitably impressed us youngsters. Bill was his name, and he was a good guy. I don’t remember his bike being deafeningly loud. The next encounter involved three guys in high school, Tommy, Bobby and Freddy. Two of them had Harley Hummers and the third one that had a Zundapp. It was a German bike. None of them was loud, even the Harleys, but the Zundapp just kind of purred. I hitched a ride with those guys a time or two.

When I was in the Air force, my friend Jim had a Honda 425 (I think), and I actually rode that one by myself. It was quite a kick.

For dinner, we walked across the street to the Baja Restaurant, where a pretty good dinner was had by all. My choice: Sea food au gratin, green beans and roasted red potatoes. Diane had BBQ ribs, Ryan had crabbed flounder, Kath had the Thai chicken skewer, and Christen had just some chowder (she is tiny and has a small apetite). Good fare for all.

Hopefully, tomorrow is a beach day.

Ah! Vacation!

After that very busy few days last week we had scheduled a week away, and it may be the last one the four of us will have together, since the kids are getting to the point where they are headed in different directions than we are, and in different directions than each other. It is increasingly difficult to find something that the four of us all want to do that lasts more than a day at a time.

So, the four of us and Katherine’s friend Christen set out for Virginia Beach Saturday. That’s where I spent a lot of time playing in bands while I was stationed at Langley AFB a few years ago. Actually, it was about 40 years ago. Back then, Sandbridge was a deserted beach; today it is covered with beach houses and one big condo complex.

The trip down wasn’t too bad, until we got to I-64 south from Richmond. The traffic was pretty heavy, and the speed was up and down a lot, with no apparent cause, other than the inability of people to know how to drive on the Interstate. Then, we got to the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, and that was a royal pain. It took about 45 minutes to go three miles to the HRBT, and another few minutes to get across/through the thing. But when we finally got to the destination on Sandpiper Road about an hour later, things were much better.

The place we are staying is fantastic. It’s belongs to a couple who already live nearby and bought this place, but haven’t been able to sell their home, and are renting this out until they can sell the house. The unit we are in faces the Back Bay rather than the ocean, but that is just fine.

After unloading the car and getting somewhat settled, we headed out to get some dinner and go to the grocery store. There was some information about a pizza place in the materials furnished with the condo, so we went there. D and I had a Portuguese Pizza, which was very good, with tomatoes, onion, peppers and garlic with an oil based white sauce. K and C had some kind of wrap, and Ryan had fish and chips. Made as quick a trip as possible so we could get back for the sunset, which was pretty much over by that time.

Diane and I were not too far from here not too long ago for a wedding, and we spent a little time looking around at the old haunts, but not enough. My goal: relax, and spend some time looking at the places where I spent four years of my life. Try to get on Langley, which we weren’t allowed to do last time; find the old apartment and house where I lived, which we did do last time, but didn’t have time to really get a good look; find the old places where we played; find an old schoolmate who lives here, and see if any of the guys in the bands are still here. I guess we’ll go to the beach today, if only to look at it. It’s still a little cool in the mornings—it’s about 65 now—and this afternoon promises only about 71.

Uncle Jay Reports on Your Tax Dollars at Work

This is an old video, but is worth a couple of minutes of your time.

Key West – Friday

The last day at Key West was a little different. We had absolutely no plans, except to get out in the sun for a while, but this time we opted to go to the beach, which was just across the street from where we were staying, a five minute or so walk. You might wonder why we didn’t go to the beach until the last day, or even why we waited until day four to get out in the sun, and the reason is quite simple: we went to Key West to see Key West, not get a tan. We also thought the temperatures would be too cool to lie in the sun, and neither of us are sun bunnies, anyway.

We were at the beach by right around 11 and stayed about an hour. After getting cleaned up we headed out to nowhere in particular. Well, actually, we did have a destination, which was a tapas place called Santiago’s Bodega, which was highly recommended. It’s downtown two blocks off Duval where so many neat places are, but parking is such a problem in some areas, and we finally decided to go back to a place on the beach that had its own parking lot that we passed earlier, a decent little Italian deli called Saluté Ristorante. The atmosphere was terrific, with the dining area open to the beach, and the lunch menu provided some nice choices.

Diane had a Media Noce sandwich similar to a Cuban Mix, but without the salami, which she said was good. I had an Italian sausage on a bun with peppers, onions and marinara sauce that was great. The wine and the atmosphere made the meal a delight.

We drove back into town and found a free spot on US 1, which we had done before, but we were a few blocks further away than before. We visited a few shops, a great place called Glass Reunion that had a wide variety of nifty things, including kaleidoscopes, sculptures and more than I can remember. We stopped by a place called Mangoes and sipped some Cuban concoctions, and kept wandering around and decided to hit Sunset Pier again around five p.m., hoping to hear those two guitarists from Wednesday. As fate would have it, only one of them was there, and he told me that the other guy was really the Wednesday fill-in for the guy who was there that day, a soul singer who was pretty good. Honestly, the two guitarists were way better. We listened to the music for a while, and then headed down the waterfront to Mallory Square.

On Wednesday on a trip to the bathroom I had heard two guys playing Latin music outside a Cuban restaurant, one a conga player and the other who sang and played a little flute now and then. When we went by that restaurant on Friday, guess what? The missing guitarist was there with those two guys and they were playing some blazing Latin tunes. The conga player turned out to be pretty good, so I tried to get some pointers. He turned out to be a schmuck (the schmuck is shown at right in the photo). So, we dined on Cuban fare at El Meson de Pepe’s and enjoyed their music.

Diane had the barbecued ribs special and I had the mixed seafood, both of which were accompanied with yellow rice, black beans, and fried plantain. All in all, a very good meal with very good music to go along, and as good a way to end a great week that I can think of.

Key West – Thursday

We had decided early in the week that this would be the day we would schedule a special dinner cruise with Captain Alex of Islescapes Gourmet Yachting, and we had some leftovers from previous nights out to get us through lunch, so we just read, watched some TV and spent some time lounging by the pool.

We went to find Capt. Alex’s boat around 4 p.m. and that was too early, so we walked around a bit to fill the time. His boat is a small cabin cruiser, 33 feet, and he normally only serves four people, although he can serve six, if need be. You order in advance from a limited but ample menu, bring your own liquor, beer or wine, and Capt. Alex and his first mate, Stelmarra, do the rest.

Alex is an interesting person; his brochure lists him as “Capt. Alex, PhD,” so I had to ask him about that. It turns out that he retired from his job as a cancer researcher not too many years ago. He’s been running afternoon snorkeling and luncheon cruises and dinner cruises out of Key West for the last year and a half.

We got on board with the other couple, whom we didn’t know, and first mate Stelmarra cast off the lines and we were off for the short cruise to the place where we would anchor, have dinner, and watch the sun go down.

Capt. Alex furnished each couple a Shrimp Boat consisting of lightly blackened shrimp in a Thai chili sauce. My appetizer was a crabmeat Portobello mushroom layered with a savory crabmeat stuffing, four cheeses, fresh herbs and baked on the grill followed by Caesar salad, then the main course, which was a combination of mahi-mahi and grouper alfredina sauce, a white wine cream sauce with Parmesan cheese and sun dried tomatoes. Dessert was strawberries with Key Lime White Chocolate Whipped Cream.

Diane chose a potato goat cheese tart appetizer, a fresh mango slices marinated in a rosemary and honey vinaigrette served over baby greens with toasted almonds and sharp white cheddar, Jamaican jerk marinated pork tenderloin, and crème brulee. All in all, it was a very pleasant dinner, and being on the water during the sunset was great. We got back to the dock around 7 p.m., walked around downtown for a while, then headed home.

Key West – Wednesday

A lazy day reading, watching TV and lounging by the pool was the prescription for today. We finally made it out around 4 p.m. and hit the Publix market for a few items, and then went downtown for the sunset activities at Sunset Pier.

The Pier is a neat place, facing west at the point that a lot of the commercial boats head out and back in, and there was a lot of activity on the water in addition to the big boats. We found good table along the banister and right in front of the stage. Almost immediately two guitarists took the stage, creating a little concern that they might be loud and they might not be very good. We shouldn’t have worried: they were just loud enough, and were fantastic. Their music was Latin, with both guys alternating playing guitar solos and rhythm over recorded bass and percussion tracks.

Their music was energetic and quite well done, and they played such things a “Hotel California,” “Volare,” “Spain,” some things by the Gypsy Kings and Santana, some music from Cuba, all with Latin and jazz influences. The guy on the right was Hispanic, and sang as well as he played guitar. If you are familiar with Chick Corea’s “Spain,” it has a challenging riff that eludes many players: these guys were quite a pleasant surprise.

We looked over the menu for a drink with our food and almost immediately decided against the Liquid Jelly Monkey Luv in favor of more conventional libations. We first had some chips with three dips: salsa, con queso and guacamole; Diane ordered a Cuban Mix sandwich and I had Crab and Lobster on a Croissant. Once again, my choice wasn’t all I had hoped or expected. The half of Diane’s sandwich that I had after downing my own was pretty good.

The Pier is not far from Mallory Square and other activities along the waterfront. We saw jugglers, acrobats, a one-man band, a guy with a dog that did tricks, a woman who swallowed a long balloon that ought to have choked her and other entertainers after the sunset dinner at the pier. After walking around the downtown for a while, we headed back and caught the end of the Republican debate. All in all, it was a good day.

Technorati Tags: Vacation, Music, Travel, Key West

Key West – Tuesday

Diane is a HGTV girl; she likes the design shows. Each year for the last few HGTV has had a give-away of a pretty special house somewhere, and this year, as fate would have it, it isn’t far from paradise where we have been since Saturday night. After we’d had as much of Duval Street as we could take, we decided to do something different today, and headed up US 1 to Islamorada where this year’s Dream Home has been built. Don’t worry: that’s about all I’m going to say about it, except that I enjoyed touring the house, and if we won it, I’d at least think seriously about living in it. More to the point of this series of columns is the rest of what we did today.

We left the apartment about 10 and headed north. It’s about 81 miles to Islamorada from Key West, and the trip was not at all unpleasant. We got to see the sights we couldn’t see on the way down on Saturday due to darkness. And since you can’t go very fast on the mostly two-lane road, it was noon when we got close to our destination. A friend had recommended a place for lunch, which we couldn’t find, so we stopped at a place called Wahoo’s, which is on the water, and had lunch before tackling the tour of the Dream Home. I had seafood (yea!) in the form of a basket consisting of scallops, shrimp and fries, and Di had a basket with just shrimp (she loves seafood, as long as it’s fried shrimp).

Not far up the road we came to the Dream Home location and went through the place. It is well appointed and located in a very nice place. Trouble is that there are seven more places planned to go in a relatively small area, making the place less desirable from my point of view. The ticket money goes to a charity, so even though admission was overpriced, it probably was worth it. We walked around the art shops nearby and then headed back, stopping at the Boondocks bar and grill to break up the trip.

Dinner was at Kelly’s, a couple blocks off Duval Street, a place that once was the beginnings of the now-defunct Pan American Airways, and turned into a restaurant by Kelly McGillis of “Top Gun” fame. She no longer owns the place, but it still bears her name. Kelly’s is the hands-down winner for atmosphere so far, with an outdoor dining area with palms and other natural scenery. The only negative was that a room over top of the kitchen was a rehearsal hall for a show on the weekend that was, unfortunately, open so that we could hear the goings on up there. The menu was a good one and the wine list passable. We opened with a Macadamia Nut Encrusted Baked Brie appetizer with mango salsa and pita bread “points” that was pretty good. Diane had a Five-spice Encrusted Filet with a Ginger Shitake Cream Sauce (that was under done and had to be sent back, but very good), and I opted for Camerones Rellenos, which is butterflied shrimp stuffed with crab meat, wrapped in bacon and baked with an orange beurre blanc sauce. It wasn’t all I had hoped for.

We headed back to the apartment so that Diane could finish watching tonight’s edition of "American Idol" while I had a cigar on the deck and finished my McCain rant (See below).

Technorati Tags: Vacation, Travel, Key West

Key West - Monday

Walking around the historic area of Key West revealed much more than we had imagined, based upon the first brief visit. The maps and visitor information told us about these places, of course, but only by visiting them do you really get a feel for the places. On that first visit we took a trolley tour that showed us some of the old town area, but there is so much more that we hadn’t seen.

It’s difficult to park close to where you want to go in Key West, and if you’re not careful, you can set yourself up for a lot more walking than you might really want to do. If you scope out places and plan a little, you can save both time and walking. We found a couple of areas that we want to spend some time at later in the week, trying to get a feel for where to try to park, since parking is such a problem.

Back in the 40s President Harry Truman came here on a vacation recommended by his doctor. He stayed on the Naval base, in the commandants residence while no commandant was assigned, and liked it so well that he visited nine more times during his presidency. He is quoted as having said he’d like to move the White House here and just stay. The commandant’s house became Harry’s place, and became known as the “Little White House.” The Naval base is no more, and the Little White House is now an historic site. After lunch we visited the LWH.

We’ve been here since Saturday evening and I’ve only had seafood for one meal, the very first one, and it was fried shrimp. I’m a little disappointed in myself. We had a light breakfast in the apartment and headed downtown, finally deciding to visit the Historic Seaport area and had lunch at the Conch Republic Seafood Company, where I had a steak sandwich with peppers, onions and provolone on Cuban bread. It was pretty good, very big, and very messy. It wasn’t seafood. Diane had a mango pulled pork barbeque sandwich. She liked it.

It was an odd day, weather-wise. In the sunshine it was pretty warm, but in the shaded areas the sometimes stiff breeze made it a little chilly. We wondered around for a few hours looking at places, had a piece of Key lime pie, and headed back to the apartment around 5 p.m. No dinner tonight; we’re both still full from lunch and the pie. Just having a snack.

We’re both ticked off that the apartment’s Internet service is lousy and unreliable. It’s especially irritating because when we made the reservation we explained that having reliable Internet service was a necessity. Had we any indication that it wasn’t going to be, we’d have found a different place. I’m not shy about telling people when they screw up, but I really hate to have to do that.

Technorati Tags: Vacation, Travel, Key West

At Long Last: A Trip

The first time we were in Key West was four years ago when we took a cruise to celebrate our son’s graduation from high school. It wasn’t the best experience, but overall a pretty good one, but we felt we needed to go back someday. So, we saved up and after a lot of commotion to get a Christmas trip to give each other, Diane and I booked a flight to Miami and rented a convertible to drive down US 1 to Key West.

We got to Miami International (for a really good price, thanks to Diane’s shopping expertise) about 3:15, and by the time we got to the rental place and got all that straightened out, we were in our Mustang convertible and heading out of Miami in an hour.

After about an hour of driving we had worked our way to US 1 south and escaped the mainland. It was a nice day, and after we got to the first and only drawbridge, we stopped and put the top down and continued south. We finally got to Key West and to the place we were going to stay about 7:40. The drive down was pretty nice, but long. Had we gotten to Miami a little earlier, I think the whole trip to the Keys would have been, on the whole, a better trip. But as time passed, darkness set in, and the trip began to drag out, since we didn’t have the magnificent scenery to keep us interested. Speed limits of 35 mph didn’t help.

Once we got checked in and to the apartment and unloaded everything and went out to get dinner, it was about 8 p.m. We ended up at a TGI Friday’s. It was loud and busy, but the food was good. Back to the apartment, and the day was done.

Sunday was a relaxed day, as all should be in KW. We headed to the historic part of the island about 10:30 a.m. with no plans, other than to spend some time looking around. Most of the stuff you read tells you to avoid Duval Street, because it is so “touristy.” But we hadn’t really gotten to see much of it before, and we ignored the advice. After walking around a while we ended up at Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffet’s place. We had been there on the first trip when the ship we were on docked there for a day. On the advice of some friends we had gone to Buffet’s place for a conch sandwich, which two of the four of us didn’t even consider. Ryan and I thought about it, and I actually ordered one, looking forward to a seafood treat. When the sandwich finally came, it had chicken between the bun halves, not conch. I was unhappy (gross understatement!).

This time, it turned out that a conch sandwich wasn’t even a possibility; it had been taken off the menu. Darn! So, I had a chicken club and Diane had a Cheeseburger in Paradise. That was her second one of those. We both had a margarita, and moved on. We walked around for a couple of hours, saw stuff we hadn’t seen before, bought some locally hand-rolled cigars, had dessert and a drink, visited Key West Winery and bought a bottle of Hurricane Class 5 white sangria (a very nice sweet wine), and had a great time. We headed back to the apartment about 4 p.m., and killed some time until we decided to go out to get dinner.

We hadn’t made any plans, so we just rode around looking for what we could find away from the busy historic area, but didn’t find anything that really rang our bells. Next thing we knew, we were back in the historic district which, among other things, is not friendly to people looking for a place to park. As it turned out, we had lucked into a free parking spot not more than a couple of blocks from Duvall Street earlier, so we went back there. As luck would have it we found another place at nearly the same place.

While we were riding around we saw a Thai restaurant that Diane was interested in, and it was only about a block away from the parking spot, so we went there. It’s just amazing how being only a block or two away from Duvall Street makes such a difference in foot traffic. As we drove down Duvall, we saw wall-to-wall people, standing in lines waiting to get into the places along the strip. At Thai Cuisine, on Greene Street two blocks away, we were seated immediately.

It was an international place: It was a Thai restaurant; an American girl seated us; a delightful Polish lass named Kasia waited on us; and a friendly Hispanic fellow bussed the table.

I haven’t had much experience with Thai food, but let me tell you that if you get to Key West, you should go to Thai Cuisine. Diane had a chicken panang curry dish (she likes curry) with coconut milk and ground peanuts, pea pods, carrots and green peppers. I had a honey roasted duck dish with carrots, pea pods, green peppers, onions and straw mushrooms with white rice. The food was terrific! And, it wasn’t very expensive, as Key West food goes. We got out of there with a $65 bill, including a bottle of wine. You’ve got to go there!

We walked around a little while, stopped in at Fogarty’s for a Mojito expertly made by Brandon, then headed home.

Day One was near an end.

To Tidewater

A friend of Diane’s was getting married in Newport News, Va. this weekend, so off we went to visit Tidewater.

The trip down was anything but uneventful. First, there was a navigation error by yours truly, but we won’t talk about that. The most notable difficulties came later. On the way between Christiansburg and Roanoke we encountered an electronic message center along I-81 telling us that there was an accident at mile marker 130, about 15 minutes ahead. We had just talked to some friends who lived nearby about a place to eat they’d mentioned a while back, and they called us back to tell us about that accident, and another one farther down the road that we didn’t know about. Both had the same message: left lane closed.

As we got to MM (Mile Marker) 124.6 the traffic slowed to a crawl, and everyone (nearly) moved to the right lane. Traffic continued to crawl, though it never really completely stopped, for a few miles, and then, as we rounded a curve at MM128.8, things just magically opened up, and traffic began speeding up to highway speeds. As we passed MM130 and into MM131, we noted that nowhere was there any sign of an accident: no emergency vehicles, no skid marks, no broken glass … nothing.

Very weird.

So, on we went, and eventually we encountered the traffic backup from the MM 146 accident … at MM 134.3. This one was somewhat less painful, as the average speed of traffic was 20-45 mph most of the time, although it lasted longer, over a greater distance. One thing I have noticed in situations like this, when traffic has been advised to merge to one lane, and some nabobs decide to push that to the last possible moment, is that truckers will line up two abreast, forcing traffic to do what is advised, merge into one lane. There was a Fed Ex truck about a quarter mile behind us that had positioned itself in the left lane, blocking that lane to the opportunistic drivers who might think they could gain ground in the left lane. During one of my periodic checks in the side mirror I noticed that the Fed Ex truck was coming on fast in the left lane, and realized that something was going on. Truckers have their own communication system, you know, and I judged that this driver knew more than I did about what was happening ahead, so I moved into the left lane at the earliest opportunity, and followed along. Sure enough, not far down the road, things opened up, and traffic sped up to highway speeds fairly quickly. As we passed MM146 and 147, I couldn’t help but notice that there were, again, no signs of an accident.

It appears that all of us on I-81 were slowed down by 40 to 60 minutes for these two mysterious events, and it appears that there were no wrecks that caused the slow-downs. Or, there were accidents earlier in the day, and for whatever reason it took several hours for the impact to resolve.

Very weird.

Friday

Today was not a great day, for me. First, the rain continued, the outer fringes of a tropical depression in the Gulf that would have been called “Jerry” if it had reached the level of a tropical storm, but didn’t.

So the day was dreary, and it was the last full day on Hilton Head Island, so it was less than ideal. But, undeterred, we did some computer stuff, some prep for the trip home and went out to One Hot Mama’s for lunch. OHM is a BBQ joint, and we both had the platter that featured some pulled pork and some beef brisket accompanied by a pile of fries and a small piece of what they called “honey jalapeño corn bread” that was okay, but had too much honey and not enough jalapeño. The meats were good, and the homemade sauces were pretty good, too. Unfortunately, as I wouldn’t realize until later, there was too much food on that platter, even though we each brought some of it home with us.

I was very tired in the afternoon—I just felt very unmoved to do much of anything—so I napped a little, and Diane headed out to shop. It’s just as well; I just slow her down. I answered a comment from War Mule and emailed it to him after my nap, and did some work on the band CD I’m working on, and then tried to narrow down the choices for dinner.

We decided to go to one of the three places we had on our list when we went to Catch 22 the other night. It was called The Black Marlin Bayside Grill, formerly Hemmingway’s Bayside Grill; apparently the name change was either requested or demanded by the Hemingway Society (I have forgotten what I read about that, and too much time looking for it has turned up nothing. AND, it isn’t really important).

Anyway, after being seated in a quaint and private little cubbyhole, we found that Jolivet Attitude wine on the list that we had last night, and ordered a really good appetizer, a potato rellano, which was essentially a fried potato ball with a ground beef filling and a “picadillo” sauce on top, and an ailoli sauce on the side. Really, really good; the aioli was quite spicy (meaning “hot!”).

Entrée-wise, Diane had a Bloody Mary Ribeye, which was flavorful, but not a great choice. I wrestled with my decision, considering no less than five seafood choices before deciding on a Parmesan Encrusted Talapia, topped off with shrimp and scallops, with rice and a substitute vegetable of asparagus. It was very good, but not better than the snapper at Catch 22.

A stop at Publix for a couple of things, and back to the apartment for some TV and trip prep.

So, tomorrow, the idyll ends and it’s a 7-hour trip home, and maybe longer, as there are a couple of stops we want to make. I want to stop at JR’s Outlet for cigars, and who knows exactly what Di has in mind.
America, Vacation, Food

Thursday

The rain we had been expecting came today, and stuck around pretty much all day. As it turned out, that didn’t really make much difference, as I had a meeting I had planned to attend, and Diane wanted some time to shop, so she did and I did, and it all worked out just fine.

Dinner tonight was the one we had waited for, at Red Fish, a place that the interim president at the college put us onto last year. It is upscale cuisine, if not upscale attire or upscale pricing. Red Fish has the best wine list we have seen, so comprehensive that it reminded us how little we really know about wines. Actually, there are two lists, and the one, called the Cellar List, had only one wine that we recognized (but couldn’t afford), and none less than $65, a little too high for our needs. Come to think of it, we didn’t recognize most of those on the lower level wine list, either, so, being the smart folks that we are, we asked our waiter, Ryan, for his advice. And his advice was right on the money, pointing us to a very good, but not expensive sauvignon blanc called “Attitude.”

We started off with a cheese plate that went well with the wine, and Diane ordered the Crispy Ashley Farms Free Range Brick Chicken that featured Caribbean spices, boursin grits, asparagus and roasted garlic jus. It was awfully good. I went for one of the specials, and what appealed to me was that the main element was accompanied by a shrimp and lobster cake. As it turned out, the shrimp and lobster cake was too spicy to fit well with the smooth lobster cream sauce on the Mong chong fish filet. But the Mong chong was great. We had a dessert wine and a dessert, she a peach bread pudding, and he (me) a triple berry trifle. Both were very good. After two hours in Red Fish, we waddled out to the car and headed home.

Tomorrow is the last day, and we have to try to fit everything else into one day. It should be interesting.

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Wednesday

We went out to the beach this morning, and found it too breezy again. We sat down for a while, anyway, and took a few photos. We spent two sessions at the pool, with a lunch in the apartment in between, and throughout the afternoon the clouds moved in and blotted out the sun.

Dinner was at Tapas, which is both the name of the place and the style of dining. Tapas dining features entrees cut down to the approximate size of an appetizer, allowing you to sample more than one entrée without stuffing yourself. These folks know how to do a wine list, and they also have what’s on the list in stock. They also realize that you don’t store red wines on the beach.

We decided to order one thing that each of us wanted, and one thing that we both agreed on, plus a small salad. Diane won the salad round, even though my Spring Mix Salad with blue cheese, spiced pecans and fresh pears in orange vinaigrette was pretty good. Her Raspberry Spring Salad with fresh greens topped with candied almonds, feta, cranraisins and fresh raspberry vinaigrette was better.

She also won round one of the entrees, with Sourmash Chicken, a chicken breast with country ham, bourbon, caramelized onions and cream was succulent, while my Tornado Vernoff, which was a grilled filet mignon with caramelized garlic, deglazed with brandy and Madeira wine, then blended with demi-glace was pretty tasty, but took a distant second place.

However, I prevailed on the second entrée with the Grand Marnier Duck, which was a duck breast with pears and grapes napped with a grand Marnier sauce. Her Pork Apple Jack, a pecan encrusted tenderloin sautéed with apples, brandy and demi-glace was also tasty. All in all, a very good dinner, and a nice recovery from Tuesday night’s less-than-spectacular effort.

Then, it was off to the Old Oyster Factory to see whatever sunset could break through the seriously overcast sky. Hilton Head Island has the mainland on the northwest side, separated by Calibogue Sound, a narrow, curvy stretch of a waterway, and the Atlantic on the southeast side. In the middle is a very large marshland that nearly cuts completely through the island. On the marsh is where the Old Oyster Factory is located, and it is a very picturesque location. Along with a Bailey’s and coffee, we enjoyed the sunset, which managed against heavy odds to be right pretty.

After a stop by the Fresh Market to pick up some stuff for breakfast, it was back to the apartment for some M.A.S.H. episodes and a little email and Internet catch-up. Tomorrow there’s a 70 percent chance of rain. We’ll hope the 30 percent prevails.

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Tuesday

Another nice day, but a little breezy, so we didn’t even attempt the beach and spent a little while at the pool. We did go to the beach in the afternoon, but only to see how windy it was, and thought there was a stiff breeze, it wasn’t blowing the sand around like before. Maybe Wednesday will be the day at the beach. Finally.

We had lunch at the Wild Wing Café, a favorite spot that features, in addition to other things, 32 kinds of wings. Having eaten too much, I stayed in during the afternoon while Diane shopped.

We decided to go to Sticky Fingers for dinner. It’s a chain of 15 BBQ places across the southeast, and is generally a good place to go. It was less so, today. Immediately upon entering the service area we were greeted to the screams of a child far too young to be in a place where adults go to eat a peaceful meal, and were seated next to a group that had a 4 year-old that was too noisy, and instead of being quieted down by her parents, was encouraged in the noise-producing activity. It could’ve been worse, though.

Diane and I are “experienced wine drinkers,” which is somewhere between being a rookie and a connoisseur, more toward the middle than the expert end. We know a little about wine and brands, so we are a little choosy about what we order, and in places like Sticky Fingers, which sells a lot more beer than wine, we often find ourselves faced with buying a mediocre or lower quality wine, or trying something we’ve never heard of. Predictably, SF didn’t have the one of the two cabernets on the menu and we didn’t want the other one. The waiter said she’d go check the stock, and returned to tell us that the pickings were slim. But we selected what we thought was the best option, ordered our food, and waited.

The food came quickly, perhaps a little too quickly, being just a minute or two later than the unknown wine. You may know that red wine is intended to be drunk at “room temperature,” which is a bit misleading. The “room temperature” rule developed a few centuries back, when stone castles were typically around 55-60 degrees, and that is the ideal temperature range for reds. Anyway, the wine was warmer than the ribs. I think they stored it outside. You normally swirl a red wine in the glass to introduce some air to it, which softens the hard edges, especially in inexpensive red wines. In this case there was a second reason to swirl the wine: to cool it down to a drinkable temperature.

The meal was decent, though less than we had grown to expect from Sticky Fingers.

It was back to the room around 8 and watched two very good science shows on Georgia Public Television on the universe, a topic that has fascinated me since I was young.

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