That was stupid!

So I heard on the news yesterday a lady died from eating a bad raw oyster. Yes, that’s right, not only did she eat the oyster in August, but she had it in Atlanta. Come on people I need ya to think first and then eat it. Everyone knows you don’t eat raw oysters if the month does not have an “R” in it. And you should be smart enough to know you have to have them fresh and I have yet to find a oyster bed in Atlanta.

You have got to be careful when and where you eat your raw seafood. I love sushi, but I don’t eat at $1 sushi joints. There is a reason it’s only a dollar a piece and the reason is not good. I must have eaten 30-40 raw oysters last week at the beach, but I bought them basically “off the boat”, and kept them ice cold at all times. I bet that lady that died will think twice about that next time.

I am amazed at the price of seafood when I go to the beach. If your not a local and don’t know where to go, then it’s not cheap. Shrimp were about $3 a pound more in Port St. Joe than in Atlanta. I guess if I knew where the locals go I could do better, but who’s got time for that when your on vacation. Grouper was $13 a pound, I haven’t bought Grouper here in Atlanta lately, but $13 seems high.

But man it was all good. We had shrimp and grits a couple of times and oysters diablo once. We boiled some shrimp and made a shrimp salad and ate on that all week long. So don’t get me wrong, a few extra dollars ain’t gonna stop me from having good, fresh seafood. One night Stacey took a couple fillets of that high priced Grouper along with tomato’s, garlic, black olives, artichoke hearts, capers, lemons and olive oil, wrapped it in tin foil and baked it. It did not suck!

OYSTERS

Oysters are good! Raw is best. I like mine with a horseradish heavy cocktail sauce on a saltine. Fried is good and we often do them on the front porch. Talk about white trash, but yea we cook a lot on the front porch.

We got up Tuesday morning and it was about the time I was mixing the second Bloody Mary, about 10:30 a.m, that I was thinking about oysters. Seeing as we were in one of the top producing oyster areas in America. We had been told to eat at the Raw Bar, the funky local oyster bar and seafood joint.

So after sitting on the beach for a few hours, reading, swimming, drinking beers, making out and stuff like that, we thought some oysters would be good. We were pretty excited about having oysters, knowing how fresh they would be. I like gulf coast oysters best. They are salty and usually the perfect size, not to big not to small. The cold water oysters I have had are to small and don’t have that briney flavor.

Wouldn’t ya know it, the Raw Bar is closed for a week after the Labor Day Holiday. Damn.

So I ask the some guy cutting the grass where to get oysters? He sends us to Boss Oysters in Apalachicola. We have been to Apalach a few times before and had no problem finding it. So we had beers and tequila and raw oysters.

Stacey ordered fancy raw oysters with a salsa like mixture on them, called “oysters ceviche”. They were good.


So we blew that joint and stop at the hardware store and got some copper wire and red spray paint, it’s not what you think. Then we stopped at a retail seafood place. The boats were right out back, it was late in the afternoon and they were cleaning them. We got two pints of oysters, shucked and headed to Cloud Nine for sunset on the beach.

And that’s just what we did. Sat and watched the sun go down for hours. Again we hardly saw a soul. Later we had both raw and fried oysters for dinner. We laid in the hammock on the front porch and watched a movie. Stacey went to bed but I spent about half the night on the screened in porch, in the hammock. Woke up about 3am and climbed into the real bed. Thinking about how to have my oysters for breakfast…

How to get to Cloud Nine

Well what we did was, caught a plane to Panama City, rented a car and drove to the beach. It was really easy and the plane was close to being on time, and I think that’s all you can ask for these days.

Cloud Nine is our friends beach house at Indian Pass in Gulf County Fla. It sits right across the street from the beach. It was built in 1926 and used to be a hunting and fishing camp for men. There were no bathrooms when our friend bought the house about 5 years ago. The floors, the walls and the ceilings are all made from the same material. 1″ x 3.5″ pine slats. It is really cool and so different than any beach house I’ve ever been to.

The Beach is a 1 minute walk across the street and it is a very deep beach. Lots of it, in both directions. There are some large ugly houses here and there but no large condo units. Because of zoning there never will be. Not many people around as the holiday just past and there just aren’t as many houses as you see at most beaches.

So, of course I love this place and want to move here, just like most neat places I visit. But 4 nights will do for now. Stacey and I drive through Eglin Air Force Base coming out of Panama City. Then we go through Mexico Beach, it looked like a cool town. Small,very small. We don’t stop, we are ready to get to Indian Pass.

We then come to Port St. Joe. I guess it’s the largest city near Cloud Nine. We stop at the Piggly Wiggly and get food and a few other items. The Pig dosen’t sell beer, so we have to go to another store for that. Food total $63.00.

We drive towards Indian Pass keeping an eye out for some where to get beer and spirits. There it is, Triple Tails. They advertise beer, bait, liquor and beach stuff. Perfect. We pull in and they have everything we’re gonna need. Grab a little Patron, a little Absolut, a couple six packs and a bottle of wine. We were only here for four nights so we don’t need much. Beverge total $110.00.

We get to the house and check things out. Really like what we see. The place reminds me of the houses we used to rent on Mobile Bay. Not a slick beach house, but a old warm, wooden bay house. We unpack the car, grab a few drinks, two beach chairs and head straight to the beach. Not a soul in sight. When we head back to the house a few hours later as it was getting dark, we had still not seen anyone.

Oh joy!!

No plans at all

So, Stacey and I were gonna make our second attempt to go to Belize. Hurricane Dean stopped us the first time and today another one has stopped us again. Damn, what to do? Don’t panic, aren’t you the one who said something like, the best plans are no plans at all? Well, no, I have never said that, but I gotta admit it’s a good one.

So I cut the grass and I trim the hedges. I edge the sidewalk and I blow it all into my neighbors yard and still I haven’t come up with a plan B. Damn, what to do? Think Tracy, think man. Wait it’s coming, hang on it’s coming to me. Wait for it. Wait for it. That’s it. Remember the lady you traded a painting for a stay at her beach house. Find her card man, find it now. Now call her, call her now man. Yes, yes says it so, yes man it is so, you can go. Now I hope the flights are open!

The flights look good and we are off. Port St. Joe here we come. I think we are in for a treat. The nice lady who owns this house has been a client for a while and has a table I made, at this house. It’s a old house and she has been anxious for me to see it. She knows I like old stuff and is happy to share.

So we will be there for about 4 or 5 days, I ‘ll let ya know what we do and all about the place. There are all kind if good places to eat and I have a list, with a few names, so we will be eating good.

Shutter Table

So I have finished the Shutter Table that I wrote about a few weeks back.

Julie and Chris decided to go with a natural finish for the shutters and the frame around the shutters. This part makes up the top of the table, the part the glass top will sit on. The undercarriage has been painted white and distressed. Everything but the shutters has a light clear coat for clean up purposes. I like the way the table turned out.
Remember I had been offered some large pine posts from a building in downtown Atlanta ? I went to get these posts and was very happy with what I found. Most of the posts are 6″ x 6″. A few are 4″ x 6″ and one is almost 10″ square ! That’s big. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get the post out of this basement, up to street level and into my truck. The guy I bought them from helped and it wasn’t too bad. At home I am lucky enough to be able to back my truck into my shop and unload them. The large one I put right onto a furniture mover and have left it on it for now so I can’t move it around shop until I do something with it. That’s gonna be a fun job. Can’t wait to see what I get to make out of that piece!

The building these posts came out of is 90 years old, so the trees these posts came from were at least 150 years old. I also have used one of the posts for a coffee table top. I sold it to a guy yesterday at the Serenbe Market. He said his office was right up the block from the spot they came from. People like it when I can tell them where materials came from.

Anyway, the brilliant couple liked their table very much. They have ordered a king sized bed and I plan on using some of the 6″ square post for the corners of the foot and headboards. Stay tuned and I will post photos of the bed soon.

Living On Holiday

I read this phrase somewhere a long time ago, liked the sound of it and decided to go for it.

Now I know I got to have a few responsibilities, but can’t they be making the travel arrangements, packing the suitcases, get the travelers checks ? Can’t these be the things I got to do. But noooooooooooo, I gota work, I gota bring home a pay check, I gota do some house work and cook a few meals. I don’t mind, really I don’t.

I actually got it made and come real close to living on holiday. One thing that keeps me in the holiday mood is Mardi Gras. I get to do something Mardi Gras related all year round. Yesterday I bought 100 nerf footballs at the Dollar store. I got to have something to throw Mardi Gras Day.

I have been enjoying Mardi Gras to the max for the last 15 years. That’s how long we have been celebrating the Mystic Fish. It’s fun getting everything ready for the parade and reception and the party the night before. The golf tournament is fun as well.

But a few years ago things changed and now I get to fool around with Mardi Gras all year long, or as much as I want.

A few years back I was invited to join one of the older more established organizations. We have meetings (drink and eat) all year round. So whenever I’m around these guys it’s all about the parade. Who’s gonna ride where, what do the floats look like, how much money do I owe for my bad behavior from last year. You know, important stuff like that.

A couple times a year I go down to Mobile and visit my friend who builds the floats for KORs. It’s a lot of fun to check out the floats as they are being rebuilt, my favorite is when the building part is done and they all get a coat of white primer paint. It’s as if the floats are all covered with a very even blanket of snow, it’s something to see. Totally abstract to what you see on the streets.

There is so much involved with my year long love affair with Mardi Gras and really the best part is spending time in Mobile with all my friends and family.

Sushi, Sisters Of Mercy and Sake Bombs

Happy Birthday! Do you remember the Christmas show for Frosty the Snowman, one of the kids put a hat on him and he came alive and Frosty said Happy Birthday! Well the clock of life ticked once more for “Little Lady”, otherwise know as Stacey. And together with our new friends who run the local Sushi Bar, we all said Happy Birthday!

That’s kinda of what it was like last night at Wasabi. Wasabi is the only place in Atlanta where we eat sushi. This isn’t a rule , it’s just the way things work out. And yea, I know there ain’t nothing southern about Sushi, but come on, good is good, and this shit is good. They also make you feel at home, you know, that home where you mother makes sushi.

Tonight we about had the place to ourselves, which is rare, it is usually crowded. But that was cool for a change, we could hear each other and the music. I can’t think of nothing better then eating good food, listening to Sister of Mercy and hanging out with Stacey.

Nhan runs the place along with Jennifer and we always eat very well there. So tonight after Little Lady got home, she said she wanted to go to Wasabi for dinner. For her Birthday dinner that is.

On Wednesday it’s half price wine. Now That’s really good for two reasons. First, Little Lady likes wine, white please. And, two, these guys have a couple good wines that become even better at half price.

Anyway, we don’t really know these guys all that well or anything. We eat there and say hey and all that, but we haven’t really gotten to know them. Until tonight, that is.

So we were about done eating, it was another great meal, and no kidding this is good, someone has worked very hard to get seafood so fresh we can enjoy it in this capacity.

The place is not crowded , but it has gotten very loud and we realize the Chef is working the other side of the counter, so to speak. Tonight Nhan is happy, and having drinks with the customers, something I encourage all business owners to do every once in awhile.

He makes his way to our table and he knows our faces as semi-regulars. So he sits and chats, finds out it’s Little Lady’s Birthday and ask for three Sake Bombs. So we all drop a shot glass of warm sake in a half glass of cold beer and drink it down. We chat more with our new friend Nhan and suddenly, as if he just remembered something he ask Stacey, it’s your Birthday? He then calls for three more Sake Bombs, looks around the restaurant and then ask for eight Sake Bombs.

And so it goes.

Happy Birthday Little Lady