I’m eating way too much this summer, but it keeps getting put in front of me!
At my family’s 75th annual reunion, we had about 70 cousins, aunts and uncles show up (which is actually a small crowd for this event that usually has over 100 in attendance) and everyone brought something good to eat. You may remember my lamenting over the fact that people don’t know how to “do” dinner on the grounds anymore (HERE), but our family does it right.
Here are the watermelons my uncle grew that we ate after a full lunch and many desserts. You’ll notice he wrote on the first one,”46.5 lbs.” With a giant melon like that, you’d think we were from Texas!
This side of the family is actually from the area of Kinston, AL and Darlington, FL. Great grandaddy moved his family of 13 children across the state line into Florida in 1916. You may also remember one of our direct ancestors is an “official” ghost of Alabama (HERE). Since the family is thick with ministers, deacons, and faithful choir members, we don’t talk about the haints in the family much and consider Kathryn Tucker Windham to be somewhat of a busy-body, stirring up naughtiness. (But oh, what a storyteller she was!).
After we sang, “Blessed be the tie that binds” in perfect four part harmony, we jumped into this . . .
Okay . . . here we go. The deviled eggs were gone before I got down the line, but my cousin Lona had made another plate I jumped into. She had gathered the eggs from the coop that morning and said freshly gathered eggs were hard to peel. Just when I thought, “How many people know that fact?” another cousin walked by and said, “Fresh eggs? Oh, I’ll bet they were hard to peel.” These people know everything.
In non-food news, I’m having my dining room chairs reupholstered. This is a photo from when I stopped by the shop to pick out trim. They were sagging so badly, you could only sit on the rims. I totally forgot I didn’t have chairs, and invited people over for dinner (more food), so we had to squish around the kitchen table, which is fine, because they are kitchen-table-kind-of-friends. On the menu? Tangy apple and walnut salad, shrimp and grits, and lemon pound cake with fresh berries. No photo for proof. Only calories.
Good thing the chairs are being reinforced!
Oysters from a local restaurant that were delicious, but more cheese and toppings than oyster.
And yet another great meal was served by Fairhope Mayor Tim Kant and County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey at the Republican Women’s Annual Fish Fry which raises money for the Veteran’s Court. Fried fish is the best food ever!
Local farms are swimming in corn this time of year, so I had some ears picked that very day and made a corn and bell pepper salad. With a little bit of crumbled bacon . . . mmmm.
So that’s it for now. Tonight I’ll be out with the ladies eating seafood again. Life’s rough around here.