So, the next morning, my dad was confused. He thought there was another funeral service that morning. We reminded him that we were supposed to go to Kissimmee to the... cousin in laws or whatever you call them. So my dad asked if we found the wine that was in the boxes in the garage. The only wine we knew of were these little individual sized gallo bottles with the plastic cup shrink wrapped on top like the cough syrup measuring cups.
So my dad said we should go to the store and buy 2 bottles. Then he said, we should only bring one bottle out, and if we need the other bottle, we could bring that one out. Really. He said that. His wife just died, we just had a funeral, all his relatives were there to support us - they were inviting us for dinner - and my dad wanted to get cheap on the wine. Now, people might say that he was reeling from the shock of losing his wife. But he's always been cheap like that. So we bought 2 relatively cheap bottles of wine, and we brought them both into the house.
My sis, Openheart and my nephew, Duwende, stayed in Lakeland, because Duwende was still barfing. When my dad asked why they weren't going, I told him. He started bitching about how my sis lets him eat anything, etc. I said, well, the last thing he ate was dirty old Golden Corral, which was your idea. My dad "didn't hear". Conveniently, over the years, he doesn't hear certain things, and then other times when I've sworn there are things he shouldn't be able to hear, he hears perfectly. Selective hearing.
So, the relative had all spent the day at Merritt Island getting the bounty for the night's dinner. I would have liked to go, but we had been held captive in Lakeland with my dad in the hot house. The new house had brand new energy efficient air conditioners - 2 - one upstairs and one downstairs - and my dad kept making sure the air was pretty much off or on 85. One time I looked at the thermostat and he had it set on heat at 63! Why? I don't know. The guy had lived most of his life without using air conditioning. Most of the percentage of time that they lived in the old house, the air conditioning wasn't functioning. In Florida. This is insane to me. When it's almost 100 degrees outside, the air should be on in my opinion.
Anyway,we got lost because the mapquest directions that Creepy Uncle H gave sent us in the back way where you need a card or key or something to get into the gate. So we tried to bumble around, and we went to the wrong side. My dad made jokes about how we took the scenic route. Ha ha, so funny. Funnily enough, he had been to this house several times. The Food Pimp was driving - he and I had never been to the house. But, my dad could make no suggestion how to get to the house, all he could offer was derisive ridicule. Funny guy he thought he was.
So, we brought in the wine. Both bottles. They had drinks set up in the kitchen, they were grilling on the patio. This was nice. Anything to break up the insanity of that house on New Jersey Road.
The FP got a drink right away. I was outside, and I saw his glass of wine, and I had to have one to. Oh, how I needed a drink.
Here is one of their canine companions.
So they had the spread out, but first was the soup!
This was just wonderful. It was perfectly seasoned. It was like I was sitting in somewhere in South Carolina or Georgia at some plantation restaurant. The broth was flavorful, the sweet big shrimp, the corn on the cobb, the beautifully poached egg!!! Sooo good! So so beautiful too!
A nice simple salad...
Oysters!
Nicely shucked, not as briny as our Pacific variety over here. So wonderful!
So, the neighbors came over. They were this cool couple - musicians. The guy makes a living as a John Lennon impersonator. Really. They were very nice... seemed very socially and environmentally conscious. I totally put my foot in my mouth - as if there was room there with the crabs and oysters and whatnot - I said "hippie" because I couldn't think of the phrases environmentally conscious, green, self sustainable.. idiot
But these guys and gals were the star of the show!!! Blue crabs! I never understood how delicious and valuable a natural resource they were until I didn't live in the Southeast. These babies were commonplace to me as a child. These were just so flavorful... nothing needed but maybe some hot sauce and vinegar or patis! So I didn't want to be a pig... I think I only had 2 or 3 crabs, I could have had a couple more, but the work is tiring.
So after dinner, we retired to the other room because American Idol was on and our hostess could not miss it! So after, we had dessert. A dessert I had only heard of but never tried. Sans Rival.
So, this took the cake, so to speak! It was.... without rival!!!!!! So, it's a cashew meringue layer cake with buttercream. It was ridiculously good. It was unbelievable!!! Really!!!
So, after such a memorable meal and great company, it got late. It was time to go. To tell you the truth I didn't want to go. They had such a warm and inviting house, yet cool (temperature) and all our relatives were staying there. And we had to go back to that big cold yet warm (in temperature) house with this hard old man who was impossible to please.
So my dad said we should go to the store and buy 2 bottles. Then he said, we should only bring one bottle out, and if we need the other bottle, we could bring that one out. Really. He said that. His wife just died, we just had a funeral, all his relatives were there to support us - they were inviting us for dinner - and my dad wanted to get cheap on the wine. Now, people might say that he was reeling from the shock of losing his wife. But he's always been cheap like that. So we bought 2 relatively cheap bottles of wine, and we brought them both into the house.
My sis, Openheart and my nephew, Duwende, stayed in Lakeland, because Duwende was still barfing. When my dad asked why they weren't going, I told him. He started bitching about how my sis lets him eat anything, etc. I said, well, the last thing he ate was dirty old Golden Corral, which was your idea. My dad "didn't hear". Conveniently, over the years, he doesn't hear certain things, and then other times when I've sworn there are things he shouldn't be able to hear, he hears perfectly. Selective hearing.
So, the relative had all spent the day at Merritt Island getting the bounty for the night's dinner. I would have liked to go, but we had been held captive in Lakeland with my dad in the hot house. The new house had brand new energy efficient air conditioners - 2 - one upstairs and one downstairs - and my dad kept making sure the air was pretty much off or on 85. One time I looked at the thermostat and he had it set on heat at 63! Why? I don't know. The guy had lived most of his life without using air conditioning. Most of the percentage of time that they lived in the old house, the air conditioning wasn't functioning. In Florida. This is insane to me. When it's almost 100 degrees outside, the air should be on in my opinion.
Anyway,we got lost because the mapquest directions that Creepy Uncle H gave sent us in the back way where you need a card or key or something to get into the gate. So we tried to bumble around, and we went to the wrong side. My dad made jokes about how we took the scenic route. Ha ha, so funny. Funnily enough, he had been to this house several times. The Food Pimp was driving - he and I had never been to the house. But, my dad could make no suggestion how to get to the house, all he could offer was derisive ridicule. Funny guy he thought he was.
So, we brought in the wine. Both bottles. They had drinks set up in the kitchen, they were grilling on the patio. This was nice. Anything to break up the insanity of that house on New Jersey Road.
The FP got a drink right away. I was outside, and I saw his glass of wine, and I had to have one to. Oh, how I needed a drink.
Here is one of their canine companions.
So they had the spread out, but first was the soup!
This was just wonderful. It was perfectly seasoned. It was like I was sitting in somewhere in South Carolina or Georgia at some plantation restaurant. The broth was flavorful, the sweet big shrimp, the corn on the cobb, the beautifully poached egg!!! Sooo good! So so beautiful too!
A nice simple salad...
Oysters!
Nicely shucked, not as briny as our Pacific variety over here. So wonderful!
So, the neighbors came over. They were this cool couple - musicians. The guy makes a living as a John Lennon impersonator. Really. They were very nice... seemed very socially and environmentally conscious. I totally put my foot in my mouth - as if there was room there with the crabs and oysters and whatnot - I said "hippie" because I couldn't think of the phrases environmentally conscious, green, self sustainable.. idiot
But these guys and gals were the star of the show!!! Blue crabs! I never understood how delicious and valuable a natural resource they were until I didn't live in the Southeast. These babies were commonplace to me as a child. These were just so flavorful... nothing needed but maybe some hot sauce and vinegar or patis! So I didn't want to be a pig... I think I only had 2 or 3 crabs, I could have had a couple more, but the work is tiring.
So after dinner, we retired to the other room because American Idol was on and our hostess could not miss it! So after, we had dessert. A dessert I had only heard of but never tried. Sans Rival.
So, this took the cake, so to speak! It was.... without rival!!!!!! So, it's a cashew meringue layer cake with buttercream. It was ridiculously good. It was unbelievable!!! Really!!!
So, after such a memorable meal and great company, it got late. It was time to go. To tell you the truth I didn't want to go. They had such a warm and inviting house, yet cool (temperature) and all our relatives were staying there. And we had to go back to that big cold yet warm (in temperature) house with this hard old man who was impossible to please.
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