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| Shells and rocks at Port St Joe beach |
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| Sunset, Crooked Island Beach, FL |
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| Bloody moon on right at Keaton Beach, FL |
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| Near Tyndall AFD, fires in tree crop |
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| Apalachicola, FL shrimpers |
February 12, 2012
Happy Lincoln’s Birthday! Ironic to be celebrating his bday in the south.
Sometimes we have to rethink what we’re eating. We did so in a big way with the following recipe from The Serotonin Power Diet:
CRUSTY BREAD SALAD WITH CHICKEN
Vinaigrette
1 T balsamic vinegar
2 t olive oil
½ t dried basil
½ t dried tarragon
½ t dried tarragon
½ t dried thyme
Ground black pepper
1 T anchovy paste (optional – I didn’t use)
Combine all ingredients and set aside.
Salad
1 bell pepper cut into 1” wide strips
1 yellow summer squash, cut into ¾” rounds
¼ medium red onion, thinly sliced
Crusty Italian, French, Cuban or Portuguese bread cut into 1” chunks
1 large tomatoe, cut into 1’ chunks
Chicken breast, grilled, warm or at room temp cut into 1” chunks
Vinaigrette
Preheat oven to 500. Coat a roasting pan with olive oil cooking spray. Place the pepper, squash, onion and bread in the pan. Coat with cooking spray. Roast until the vegetables are tender and the bread is crisp. Remove from the oven and let stand until cool.
Place bread mixture in a bowl. Add tomatoes, chicken and vinaigrette. Toss well.
Spent the day inside – didn’t step out the door of Blue once! It is so cold here, as an unusual Arctic freeze came through; and while it’s still sunny, it reached the teens last night! So, let’s see, it’s 5:00 pm on Sunday the 12th, and Ton-Ton is still in his robe. I, however, changed from jammies to sweats. I feel so superior to him.
Spent the morning making gumbo, as it is mardi gras season. Just finished a bowl and it’s just OK. Not my usual recipe and I think the spices were sub par. But hey, it’s hot, it’s got andoullie, chicken AND shrimp in it, so who can go wrong with that combo. I love cooking now that I have time to chop and sauté and stir. Very satisfying.
February 13, 2012
Still not moving fast, TC up late, Grammy’s on my mind. I am happiest when watching the Grammy’s. So much energy, new music, artists cutting loose. Hated the Minaj bit – just sing Nicky. Loved the Beach Boys – “bop bop.” The Civil Wars are my new download fever. And the Foo Fighters – crank it the fuck up! Tony even had a moment when he said, “That guy’s from The Roots!” Didn’t know he knew who they were!
Gotta say, our relationship has been force fed into increased trust, honesty, openness, due to this trip. He’s now weighing me as I need him to be my accuracy meter. I found that I would fudge a bit, then not know what the scale really said; it’s as if I couldn’t handle the truth – good OR bad. So, I’m untrustworthy when it comes to the scale. I’ve dumped about 8 lbs total, now 6. If I eat the carbs and veggies, it’s all good. Anyway, we have seen each other in nearly every contortion of emotion, some beautiful, some not so pretty.
His lack of wearing his hearing aids, and my need to repeat everything can lead to screaming - on my part; my tendency to go into the black hole once in awhile sends him mute; he talks too loud in stores; I don’t like listening to the news all the time, I am CRANKY, snide, and bossy; he is unaware of how to converse, and tends to monologue. Whatever. We’re better than ever and I am hopeful we will have many years of traveling together.
February 19, 2012
We find ourselves having moved about 50 miles to a $10 a night club place in Fountain, FL. We like it. It’s tree-sy, quiet, kind of sweet. Got some great areas to explore and is still close to the beach. Very nice peeps, including a little tabby cat named Max next door. They found him wandering the park and gradually he ended up lying on the guys chest sleeping. He’s on a leash, about a year old – meows at Roku when they look at each other out their prospective windows. They also have a bird feeder out which attracts squirrels, so Roku is in a constant state of “hunt” and happy.
Went to run errands in Panama City Beach (PCB)- pick up mail and meds, then head to Mexico Beach (MB) for the Gumbo Fest, then further down the road to Port St Joe for the Chili Cook-Off at St Joseph’s Catholic church. PCB was a complete disaster, neither task completed. Our mail is forwarded by the Hunter’s, and we order stuff online and have it sent ahead as well. We have to pick a post office a few weeks down the road where we THINK we’ll be near and everything must be marked GENERAL DELIVERY.
Our experience with this system thus far is sub par. I think it’s too much of a burden to Sandi and John who are already up to their eyeballs in business and parenting and community. The standard of quality at each post office we’ve encountered is erratic at best. The “rule” is that they are to date the package when it gets there, then hold it 30 days; some hold it 15, some send it back. If there’s no GEN DEL on it, back it goes. In general all has gone well and we eventually receive everything. The PCB post office, however, states that “they don’t do GEN DEL, it all goes downtown.” What?! OK, where’s “downtown?” “They’re not open today.” We also had two packages that hadn’t arrived by the time we left Perry, FL, that the manager of that PO said would be delivered to the PNB location via inter-office mail. Not there either – must be downtown! So, what it really means is that we have to return to PNB even if we didn’t want to. I did get all the latest packages sent to various kids and friends, however. Joey – package coming to Peg’s!
The second very important item we’re constantly shuffling is medications. I take about five, TC a few. His are easy because they’re all through the VA, but he does have to explain each and every time that he’s traveling and that’s why he has different GEN DEL addresses every few weeks. Mine is more difficult, as two of mine are compounded – so I need to research where compounding pharmacies are and how long it will take (I will never take Poulsbo Comp Pharm for granted again). The rest are with Walmart, a store whose employee work practices I hate, but whose pharmacies cover the US, making it east – I thought – to fill a prescription wherever we are.
It’s worked out just OK, other than every new location not having my insurance info, address, multiple orders on file and never updated, no meds on hand, long lines. The latest is that they said my insurance company, Regence/Uniform, won’t allow me to buy the meds from them as a retailer, that their particular store is not in their network (now, remember, I’ve had it filled at least three times at Walmart all across the country). They told Walmart if they transfer the script to Publix, they could fill it. We go to Publix, but they can’t fill it because Regence said it’s not covered! They sold me 2 pills, for $10.00 apiece. Mother of god.
So, Monday’s a holiday. Tuesday we’re heading out. Can’t wait to have that conversation with Regence. This is the kind of medication that you have to wean yourself off of or you go cuckoo. And I’ve already got enough of that to ride on.
On to the local food. Gumbo fest was over, and we had time to kill so went to the beach for more shelling! My heart sings.
Chili, come on! So do y’all know Tony used to cook competition chili? He knows his “red”, and although I have my own taste – I like beans, he says they aren’t allowed in competition, hmph! – he is fantastic to go to these cook-offs with because he’s so knowledgable about the rules. Ten chili “stations” were set up, with eight crock pots in view. This took place in the men’s hall of a catholic church. Booze flowed. Most attendees were older. No one talked with us except the priest. And he only talked with me because he overheard me tell Tony, as I was holding his chili cup in my hand, that I wanted to give it back it looks so bad! We eventually picked the least offensive and voted.
Last night was awesome! Tornado warnings! Weather map in red and pink over our little town of
Fountain! Severe thunderstorms! Maybe big hail! 3” of rain in an hour! We got some ferocious winds and a lot of rain, but that was it. I did make Ton-Ton think of an escape plan, however – he chose the car. I got out my headlamp, readied the big blanket (the one YOU gave me Melissa) to pick up Roku with and rush to the car! Never happened, but wow the lightening, the thunder!
Phone day, so was lucky enough to spend time with seester Dawn and brother Bruce (ex-bro in law, Doug’s bro). Great conversaions. And random pictures:
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