Sidebar..

First of all, be sure to raise a (real or mental) glass and toast to your Mother this Sunday, whether she's here or just a memory.  I wouldn't be writing this, or you reading it, without her.  For me, Thanks Jackie!

Okay, I finally got my head above water, figuratively and almost literally.   Been a rainy couple of days and more on the way tonight.  Also a busy week with civic organization pulls and duties.. 

Thanks for accompanying me to Charleston and points south, and thanks also for the kind words of appreciation.   We both enjoy traveling.  Especially with a bag of Canon equipment.  MFO drives, I shoot, er I should say, take pictures.

As I wend my way through the days, I run across (or see on TV) things that bug me, and sometimes have enough sense to write them down.  So the list has grown enough that we should take a little side trip through rantdom.  Of course other more interesting things are in the hopper like our Blue Apron experience, a little foray into cooking with a sous vide device, a couple of restaurant visits, and other things more culinary…

But, let’s get a few things off the list and my chest:

Selfies:   I do haunt FaceBook a bit, and besides all the kitties, puppies, babies, and grandkids, there actually are several useful sources of information.  Like our neighborhood has a page that is useful for us to keep track of vandalism, lost dogs, and such, there are Birding pages which I frequent, and a couple of interesting history related pages (You know you’re from St. Mary’s County if….) which contain pictures of structures of years ago, stories from residents about tobacco farming, “did you ever know…. So and so), etc.   But, there is one phenomenon which always puzzles me.  (And, this is just cultural curiosity, not meant to criticize anybody), WHY do people feel they need to publish pictures of themselves (commonly called selfies)?? And I’m not talking about pictures of folks standing in front of the Washington Monument, I’m referring to those that are just their face.  WHY?  They know what they look like; if I know them, I know what they look like; if I don’t know them, I don’t care what they look like.  And of course the “comments” below them are always a string of things like: “beautiful”, “gorgeous” “lovely”.   Is that their narcissistic motive, pump me up folks!  If I would join the crowd, I can only imagine: “ugly!”; “hide the kids!” and so forth.  

Okay.  On to:
Car and other advertising:   I know I have ranted before on Subaru about “Love, it what makes a Subaru a Subaru”.  Not automobile safety, features, Love.  And the commercials reflect that.  Dad with a teary eye seeing daughter off to college in her Subaru and he says at least it’s the Subaru.  Works for them.

And recently another ad is plastered all over the place that makes me kind of nauseous.  Starts out with a close up of an elderly lady obviously grieving, with a soft focus (female) “kid” in the background with a sad, concerned face.  The audio is a male voice talking about how he never had a chance to see this great country and now wants everyone to see it.   On to smarmy shots of cross country travel through Monument Valley, swing sets, deserts, with Pandora music with lots of “America’s” in the lyrics, and so on with more close ups of Grammy with that same expression, sometimes with visible parts of an urn in hands.  Finally, we’re on the coast of California (?) and although (mercifully) we don’t see ashes flying it is obviously the culmination and objective of the trip..  More patriotic music, and finally the kid is seen piteously smiling at Grandma who now doesn’t look so sick.  Okay, is this a commercial for:  A funeral home?  Insurance policies? Investment firms?  No, no, and no.  It is an ad for a VOLKSWAGEN.  All of the traveling shots are in some version.  Until the closing logo, I don’t think the word comes to us.  And with all that patriotic foofaraw, exactly where are those vehicles mostly made?

And of course the concept of “selling the experience” not the product is not new.  Another recent example is the folks from Zillow telling us that we’re not buying a home, we’re buying a back yard with a pool where the kid’s fingers turn pruny, or that kitchen where you make yourSide baby’s first “Smash Cake” (whatever that may be).  Or the guy that bemoans his commute time because he never sees his family (all with about five seconds between sentences) and how they “jumped on Zillow” and found a place much closer to work, and “now he has his family back”. Plus a hefty mortgage payment????

Nothing is sacred.  Charmin wants us to have a “cleansing experience” when “we go”, all done with cutesy cartoon bears exposing their backsides.   What’s next?   I shudder to think.

And I’m not even going to mention Chevvvvvvveeeyyyyy! All done with “real people, not actors”.

As H.L. Mencken (actually) observed (~1926):  

No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me —has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.

And, as the Bottom Feeder writes almost every day

DFD

All good things must come to an end - Geoffrey Chaucer,1380

Surprised? No he wasn't with us...

Well, the time has come to leave “Charleston”, for which I’m sure you are breathing a sigh of relief (about time, Feeder!).   If I don’t get too verbose (spoiler, I did), besides closing out “the trip”, there are several things that are getting under my skin that I need to rant a little about, so we’ll see (no we won't)..

But first.. we bid adieu to the journey.  A cruise that starts at A and ends up in B provides for some interesting logistics, and in our case the MOMSTER was parked at A (Charleston) and were in B (Jacksonville).  So joining up with another couple in the same situation, we arranged to have a rental car to drive from Jax to Charleston.   We sat in the “lounge” for the last time while the bags were taken off the ship.

   

After a bit of thrashing around we finally got the car and headed north to Charleston, about four hours.  Was a pleasant day and being in an auto instead of a water borne vessel was refreshing.

MFO and I were going to stay overnight in Charleston and drive all the way to the digs the next morning.   It was decided that all eight of the “Maryland Team” would eat out together at a restaurant where the folks that have a home in Charleston were “regulars”, a place called “FultonFive” which always ranks in the top end of the many excellent venues in Charleston.  Before we went to the restaurant we had a little cocktail session in the house of a relative of another of our travelers.

With charcuterie and some of his “famous” barbecued brisket…  I was quite good, and deserving of his reputation.   Being a “regular” does have its rewards and our table was pretty much ready on a busy Saturday evening.  FF is an Italian themed place, relatively small but with that comfy feeling that seems to always accompany Italian places (when you’re here, you’re ….; sorry but kind of true)

The server greeted us, offered the wine list, went over specials and handed out a menus.   Typically Italian

with the usual “anti, primi, secondi” courses..  Nice selections, although I notice more and more my favorite Veal Piccata appears less and less.   Anyway we did appetizers around the table, I had a very good bruschetta, and MFO a very good “Zuppa di Funghi”

I chose an off the menu special of Rigatoni with lamb sausage, and MFO a shrimp pasta maybe a fettucini (I didn’t take notes that day, and it’s been a while) and a Sauvignon Blanc from Cyprus, and at the suggestion of the server I had a very nice Valpolicella.  Of course there was plenty of crusty bread to go with.

My lamb sausage dish was quite pleasing to the eye

However (unfortunately) not so pleasing to the (Feeders) palate when he found that the sausage was just “too darned spicy” for his taste.  Why do people do that?   I just don’t understand a kitchen that thinks a dish should contain something so hot it masks the other flavors.  Of course that is a subjective evaluation which others may not share.  Anyway, in the end, I “ate around” the sausage and enjoyed the pasta and “stuff”.  MFO’s was very good on all counts

The table was treated to a selection of desserts from the kitchen.. a very nice touch in honor of our host.  

A very nice meal.  The reputation of Charleston remains, with a little care, I don’t think you can miss a good meal.   It was difficult for the Feeders to branch out to some of the widely regarded places.   As I think I’ve stated before, we should plan a food dedicated trip to there as well exploring Savannah..

on the road again....

So the next day the loaded MOMSTER headed back up to the mother county.   With MFO at the controls I was able to take shots of the passing scene as we traveled.   Now, most folks would concentrate on the scenery of the Carolina s, but warped me concentrates on… Food Signs!  They are a wonderful way document regional tastes and (restaurants).  For instance, there were dozens and dozens of ("clever") signs for a whole range of Glory Seasoned Southern Style products

get it?

I am not sure what a “Snap” is… need some help from the locals there

And this is but a small sample of the miles and miles of signs.  To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “Glory” product around here

And another “Southern” specialty is the famous

Which are advertised everywhere

And even sold in convenience/gas station stores

Along with the red bull

I have tried them upon occasion, I must be too much a Yankee to appreciate them.

And the “un-boiled” version of the goobers are also everywhere

I can't imagine a sign saying "Fake Virginia Peanuts"

Anybody who has gone south on 95 should be familiar with this place

There is seemingly a sign a mile for 50 miles either way.   

I offer this one without comment (read it)

And of course depending on your luck you might have plenty of time to read the signs, as the poor souls in the southbound lanes did

Finally, after a long day of driving, we crossed the always welcome peace of Allen’s Fresh

A harbinger of home

So closed an interesting journey containing many sights and exposure to cultures (Gullah and Geetche) and traditions, local wildlife, and low country scenery.  Plus it is always rewarding to travel with friends and meet new ones.  As I’ve probably said already I thought the American Cruise Lines “side trips” were excellent and easily worth the extra cost.

Alert readers may note that there was not much coverage of food service on the ship.  I don’t have a good explanation for that.  The food was always well prepared and nicely presented, but somehow tended to have a sameness about it.  Maybe (gasp) I’m getting jaded.  Wines could have been notched up a little, Kendall Jackson IMHO is NOT a premium wine.  Table service was not always accomplished.  I might consider a Viking Cruise before another American Cruise Line Journey, but one hesitates to draw conclusions on a one-time jaunt.

That being said, the Cole Travel people took wonderful care of us, you sign up, and BOOM! Everything goes well…

And, you can easily be

DFD

Well, okay I did it.  The Rant will have to wait.   Just a quick bit of local Buzz: La Rive Breton has gone dark until the 12^th to effect some repairs.   Have revisited Cow and Fish I the meantime.  More of that later as well as our adventures with Azure Apron..

As Ella Said:

They call her Hard Hearted Hannah,
The vamp of Savannah,
The meanest gal in town

Well, we didn’t have the opportunity to meet Hannah, but we did visit “her” city for two nights and a full day.  We tied up to the quay in downtown for the day.

In old Savannah, I said Savannah,
The weather there is nice and warm!

And actually the weather was quite pleasant and we spent the whole day in Hannah’s town. 

To start our day, we left for a Trolley tour of the city.  Although we launched at 0900, we were still early enough to see the local farmers in their carts bringing their products to the restaurants

wagon jam

Break Break…..

A quick (?) aside:  in looking at the image above, it sort struck me odd that you would name a winery “Custard”  (okay, there is a Cupcake).  With a little research, I turned up the fact that the winery is owned by a Sebastiani, a fairly large name in the world of wine for the masses.. Donny is quoted as saying about the Chardonnay:

“These grapes make a wine that reminds me of one of my favorite childhood indulgences‐Sunday morning glazed doughnuts with creamy custard filling...'comfort food' before I even knew what that was”.  

The mind boggles.. And not to be outdone, the winemaker (Gloria Mercado – Martin) has to get back to more professional wine speak when she describes the wine as:

“Opening with aromas fresh from the bakery, with hints of toasted almond and dried apricots. Flavors of pear and citrus intermingle with silky, smooth vanilla cream pie”

You ever notice that the huge majority of these gobbledy gook wine descriptions contain the words “hints of…”?  Translation: “you won’t taste this; I just say it to make me look like an expert”

Okay, back to business…

We got aboard a trolley (classic, open windows) and got a little overview lecture by our driver

Our first stop was at the “Massie School” Georgia’s oldest s

Which has been open continuously from 1885 to the present, although now it is more of a cultural center.  We heard a little program about the history of education and school operation

It also had a lovely little courtyard (discovered on the way to the potty, a common Feeder journey)

After leaving the school we Trolleyed around town, seeing many beautiful “old” historical buildings

and structures

And it was pointed out to us where some scenes from Forrest Gump were filmed, such as this little square where he sat on a bench, which has now been removed

Many of the older buildings were restored via designs from The Savannah College of Art and Design

Which was founded in 1978 to provide a center for the arts not generally available in Georgia, and is now rather famous.

Of course colleges have college students, and I’m not sure if this is real.  Are there that many of Andy’s works still floating around?  “your” Warhol?

FOOD! (it is, after all, supposed to be a food blog, not a travelblog, although we have strayed a bit)

We returned to our ship just before lunch, and MFO and I decided to get lunch off board.  There were many places along the quay right by our ship

Interesting sign

I'm sure "Cheapest and Coldest Beer" packs 'em in

Look familiar Debbie? (Private Joke)

Pretty "touristy", but at one place we got a glimpse through the window of

Which looked pleasant and was housed inside the River House

While we dearly loved dining with our fellow travelers, tables of six or eight for every meal makes one(me) occasionally yearn for a quiet, dark, single table and a cloth.

We went inside and were seated at a table by the window

We first decompressed with a glass of (sorely needed) wine

A rather nice Pinot Noir from “Left Coast” vineyards for the Feeder, and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (Nobilo) for MFO..   we lingered enjoying the peace and quiet and the view through the window (with our ship in the background)

And very much appreciated an understanding server (John) who said, "Enjoy, just let me know when you want to order"  No pressure, and he did leave us alone.  The menu contained “regional” choices like a fried green tomato salad, oyster Po Boys, crab cakes, etc., and we got a plate of quite nice Hummus to relax with.. (getting the theme here?).  

we finally signaled John and MFO ordered a “Purple Crab salad - our jumbo lump crab cake atop fresh spinach with roasted beets, local goat cheese, red onions, yellow peppers, and glazed pecans with balsamic vinaigrette. And I stayed local with a special du jour of Shrimp and Grits.

Although in all candor, the level of spice was right at my upper limit, which as you should remember is not adventurous…

After lunch we returned to the ship, greatly appreciative of our little interlude of privacy.  Sometimes the experience is created by the food, sometimes the ambiance sets the tone, with the food just an added pleasure.  This wasn't the greatest food in the world, but it was quite competent and didn't take away from our mood. 

That evening aboard ship we saw many ocean going container ships heading out.  Savannah is a huge port for such vessels.

6929

And although we never did see “The Meanest Gal In Town” we did enjoy our stay.  A future excursion including Charleston AND Savannah is being considered.  The latter also has restaurants of some repute..

And of course we would be

DFD

Crustacean Catchin'.. and more!

We’ll start off today with a garment which presaged our day's activity when the ship remained in port in Brunswick

To begin the day, we woke up early enough to see the local farmers supplying our ship

With local delicacies carefully examined by the sous chef.

After the usual breakfast ritual, we boarded a little coach to go to the place documented on the shirt above, and after a short ride, we arrived at the little shack that served as the departure point for the Lady Jane 

There were about ten of us who signed up and we all fit nicely in the stern of Lady Jane.  As we got underway, the “captain” who drove the ship told us about the trip

Basically we would cruise the little backwater canals, drop the nets and drag them for a while, reel them in and see what turned up.   He introduced our “naturalist”

who turned out to be just an interested person who had a terrific knowledge of what lived in and around the local waters.  So over the stern goes the drag net and pretty soon was hauled back aboard

And the contents sort of dumped on a sorting board/table

Quite the array of creatures, and readers here on the right coast can most likely recognize our friend Callinectes sapidus, sometimes known by "Beautiful Swimmers", or more commonly, the blue crab upon which we like to dine.   Anyway, the “naturalist” selected various examples, including that Diamondbacked Terrapin

And a charming ray

Most of the finds he passed around for people to hold, and it was interesting to see the joy some had actually handling and touching creatures they have never seen

Dad looks a little concerned!

I didn’t take notes so can’t identify the little guys but they were kind of cute

Including a little squid (think calamari)

And of course the white shrimp

On one of the “hauls” we came up with one of the ugliest creatures (I shouldn’t judge) there is around, the infamous horseshoe crab

Who wasn't very happy, and is even uglier below

But, they’re all part of the ecosystem which we just visit..

It was a really fun experience.  Although the wind was pretty brisk, the boat didn’t rock at all.  Would recommend if asked

Back to the boat in time for the daily complimentary cocktail hour and the dinner choices (Feeder*) were:

Creole Bean Soup with cornmeal dumplings*

Southern Crab Salad with Cornbread pudding, sherry cream and chives

***********

Creole Daube Style Braised Short Ribs of Beef

Southern Pecan Crusted Local Flounder*

Butternut Squash Penne

************

Chocolate Cherry Cake

Maple – Bourbon Banana Pudding cake*

Assorted Ice Cream Flavors

The evening’s entertainment in the main lounge was:

“Annie Akins—Move to the music with Annie in the Lounge as she performs classic Rock-n-‘Roll tributes and chart toppers!”

Probably not a surprise to any of the readers that we didn’t attend.

And although I will bring this travelogue to an end in maybe a couple more posts (one reserved for an overall food observation), at the end of the chain will be a real food adventure with this hint from another garment (nice symmetry eh? beginning and ending with garments...I'm so clever)

DFD