Family and Good Food

My blog is finally cool enough to receive spam comments! I feel so special!

Jacksonville has been fantastic. Ken, Sean and I arrived Wednesday night and Will got here tonight. We really haven’t done much but Southern hospitality lives up to the hype. Last night we stayed with Ken’s aunt Linda. As soon as we arrived at her house she started feeding us, starting with Ritz crackers, herb and garlic whipped cream cheese and martini olives. Quite delicious. As soon as they were done she put a huge plate of fried alligator tail on the table. The meat was pretty tough but the flavor was mild and we ate a ton. Ken’s cousin came over along with his wife and baby daughter. We played around a bit and finally, dinner was served. Squash casserole, boiled okra, black-eyed peas, white acre peas, jumbe prawns, smoked ham and homemade biscuits with homemade blackberry and peach jam. We finally squeezed down some rum cake for dessert and called it a night. It was all about family and a ton of good food, just like the South should be.

We woke up at the crack of noon. Aunt Linda was ready for us with scrambled eggs, smoked ham, grits, extra-large biscuits and OJ. There’s a tropical storm brewing but the sun was out for a bit so we went to the beach. The Atlantic is much warmer than the Pacific but the wind was a little crazy and the waves were too choppy to go swimming. We visited Ken’s cousin and planned Sunday’s tailgating festivities then went home to wait for Will’s call. Around 5 he called with directions to his aunt and uncle’s place and Linda drove us on over.

Aunt Bev and Uncle Tim live right on the water in an insane house. I’ll take some pictures and post them before the end of the weekend. Will’s cousins, 2 dudes about my size, came over and we watched Sportscenter for a while. Dinner was catered tonight and featured a poker table-sized platter with all the BBQ you can imagine piled high: Ribs, chicken, shredded beef, jumbo prawns, baked beans, potato salad AND a case of Michelob. I absolutely gorged myself silly. We went to Will’s cousin’s house for the season premiere of the OC and Monday Night Football. He just dropped us off back at the pimp pad and we’re getting ready for bed. The theme of the night: Family and good food.

Tomorrow we’re renting a car and driving to Orlando to hit up one of the theme parks. Uncle Tim got us tickets for the Florida Gators game on Saturday so we’re meeting Will’s cousins early to tailgate. Sunday of course is the Jags-Seahawks game so we should be busy the next few days. If we get a hotel tomorrow night with wireless I’ll get another post cranked out. Go Seahawks!