Savannah Vacation, in Food

If you know us, you know we like to eat, and you know we plan our vacational food visits before we figure out where to stay. We went to Savannah GA this past week for Sarah to attend a Wordpress conference, and it was no different this time.

We took two days to arrive, stopping in Raleigh NC on the way. We ate at a couple places there, but they were not very memorable. When we arrived in Savannah we stayed at a motel called The Thunderbird Inn, which is a 1950s motor hotel that has been restored to its former glory. It was a pretty nice stay, despite the fact that we had to call 911 on our fighting neighbors at 2 am the first night, and were awakened by a drunk person trying to get into our room at 3 am the next night. The food in the area definitely made up for it.

Sarah loves barbecue, so the first place we went in Savannah was Wiley's Championship BBQ, which was a little confusing to get to, and very small inside. I had always wanted to try BBQ brisket, and it was delicious. Sarah had the pulled pork, but I think she liked the sauce better than the pork, so we got a bottle to go. I had the potato salad, and it was most definitely the best potato salad I ever ate.

For our first breakfast in Savannah, we went to J Christopher's, which I just found out is a chain in Georgia. Our vacation rule is to stay away from chain restaurants, unless it is a regional chain that we don't have near us. The vibe was more coffee house than breakfast place, there was art on the walls and it had almost a warehouse atmosphere. One of the front windows was a large garage door, and we wondered if it had been a garage or a firehouse long ago. The food was okay, I am usually upset when I order corned beef hash (my favorite) and it is the pre-made kind, which is what happened here.

That was not the case at Clary's Cafe on Abercorn St. The hash was excellent, Sarah got these huge pancakes that were delicious (but she couldn't eat them all), and the service was excellent. The biscuits were heavenly. the atmosphere was definitely better for us, even though we don't go out to eat for the atmosphere.

Sarah picked a pub for dinner called Molly MacPherson's. The reason she picked it is because they had Scotch Eggs on the menu, which is something I've wanted to try for a long long time. In case you don't know, a scotch egg is a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage and deep fried. The epitome of healthy eating! It was really good though, but not something you want to eat every night. When we got there, I started to think that maybe we should go somewhere else, because it was a small bar that served food, and I thought the food was going to be mediocre. Thankfully I was wrong. I had the fish and chips, which I always get in a place like this, and it was really very good. It was light, which is surprising for fried food, and it wasn't a huge portion, which was nice. We also had the sticky toffee pudding for dessert, which is something else I've wanted to try for awhile, and it was incredible.

Sarah found a place online that we probably wouldn't have found otherwise. The Masada Cafe is actually a church (United House of Prayer for All People) that raises money by selling food from a cafeteria-style setting. It is traditional southern cooking, and it's inexpensive and delicious. The people there were very friendly and talked to us about our trip. The ribs there were awesome.

On the way home we hit two soul food restaurants, Vick's Drive-In in Fayettville NC and Ann's Wings and Things in Stafford, VA. Both had traditional southern food on the menu, like chitlins and pig's feet, which I am frightened of. At Vick's, we both got the cheeseburger and fries, which was way better than it had any right to be. It looked like a frozen or pressed patty, but it was amazingly soft and delicious. I got the ribs at Ann's, which were great, but not as good as Masada's. What was good was the baked beans, which I think were the best I ever had. I got to sample Sarah's turkey dinner, as she was not too fond of it. I liked it a lot, it came with cornbread stuffing and was smothered in gravy. I was perplexed by the amount of mashed potatoes she left, until I ate them (they put vinegar in it).

Sarah's favorite place (I think) was Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room in Savannah. They open for 3 hours a day, and there are 10 person tables inside where strangers all sit together. There is a long line, but luckily we got there a little early and made it in by noon. When you get inside the tables are covered with all manner of southern dishes. The meat on the day we went was fried chicken, which was great. There were a ton of side dishes too, all the southern favorites. You just grabbed a bowl and passed it around the table. The last time I had a meal like that was when I was 8 and I visited my Aunt Emma in South Carolina. On Sunday morning she was in the kitchen making a ton of food and the table looked pretty much the same. It was the most vegetables that we ate on the trip too, so that was good.

My favorite place was The Breakfast Club on Tybee Island, which is about a half hour from Savannah. This place also had a line out front, but we didn't have to wait as long as at Mrs. Wilkes. I love breakfast, especially if it involves eggs and some sort of meat (I have made myself an egg sandwich with hot dogs on it). This place had so many interesting egg dishes that it was hard to decide, but I got a scramble that had kielbasa in it (the owners are originally from Chicago), and it was incredible.I don't normally eat grits unless I'm in the South, and these were by far the best grits I've ever had, just served with butter So good. The best part was we sat at the counter right in front of the grill so we could watch the cooking. They had one guy on the end doing prep and making waffles and replacing empty stuff; then two cooks on the grill in the middle making everything; and I think the owner on the other end finishing and plating. It was beautiful to watch, like a breakfast ballet. I harbor thoughts of doing that myself, so it was a learning experience for me.

All in all, there were very few disappointments, although a major one for me was being plagued with bad coffee. It wasn't all horrible, but nothing was better than I could make at home, which made me very sad. The absolute worst cup I had was in a cafe, of all places.

Some of you who have dined with us in the past may notice the absence of food pictures, which we like to take when we go out. I think it was just that the food looked so good, we just forgot to take them.

I hope I'm just tired.

I have been pretty cranky for the past few days, sorry about that. I'm hoping it's just work and not sleeping well that is making me that way. This year I didn't upend my schedule like I did the last two years, which I think is helping a lot, but it's not making the crank unavoidable. I don't think anything can do that, save for quitting my job and devoting myself to a life of leisure. That probably isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Being the manager now is part of it, because I hate being in charge, and I don't see any way out of it at this point. I'm not a born leader, as leaders are, I like to go with the flow I guess. I think being the manager is more stressful than the actual work volume in November and December. I wonder if that's why I'm not sleeping well. I've been having a lot of work-related dreams lately, but they all center around baking and not managing. Who knows.

This Saturday Sarah and I and my sister and her husband are going to Christmas in Odessa. Odessa is a very small town in DE to the north of us. For the past 40-odd years, they get a lot of people in town to decorate their homes (most of which are very old), and they open them to the public. We saw the sign the first time we came to DE in 1997 to scout out living locations, but we didn't make it until last year. It was everything I had built it up to be in those 10 years, and I had a really good time. We stayed overnight on Christmas Eve at Sarah's parents' house last year, and we made donations in all the adults' names instead of giving gifts (her parents did not strictly adhere to this). Aside from my stupid schedule at work, it was one of the best Christmases I've ever had. It came very close to the vibe of Christmas when I was a kid, which I really enjoyed and missed, because most of my family from then has passed away and the rest of us are all over the states. We are doing all these same things this year, so I think it will be even better. I don't really get into the religious side of Christmas; I like the togetherness and the giving part of it, and I try to stay away from the commercial aspect. These days it's hard to avoid.

Blog is currently experiencing fail, please stand by.

If you read any of my previous blogs, you may know that I am trying to blog every day in March for NaBloPoMo. Well, it's only the 6th day, and I have already screwed it up. I think I misunderstood the point of the exercise, which I believe is to WRITE everyday, not post a blog every day. I wrote two blog posts on Wednesday, because I had a lot of stuff to do yesterday and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to write anything of substance (which begs the question, have I written anything of substance at all?). I saved it as a draft in Blogger to post when I got home on Thursday afternoon. Blogger called my bluff, and posted it on the date and time that I actually wrote it. I didn't notice until I got up this morning that I had two posts for Wednesday and none for Thursday. Since it was only for an hour and a half, I changed the date of the last post to Thursday, since I actually posted it on Thursday. I was thinking about this at work, and I thought that it was dishonest, which is why I'm spilling the beans on myself here. Would anyone else but me have known the difference? Maybe not. At least I think I learned something. I will still be blogging everyday, so don't think you're getting off that easily.

One of the things I did yesterday was go to book club at our county library. We read Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I thought it was excellent; there are many amazing coincidences throughout the book, but I didn't mind those because the writing was very good and I liked the setting (pastoral England) very much. I usually don't talk much at book club, but I wanted to last night. I did try at the beginning, but I kept getting discouraged, so I shut my mouth.

Sarah and I are going to see Watchmen with our friend Adam tomorrow. I am extremely excited to see it, but I'm not getting my hopes up, as the comic has been called unfilmable by many people who would know about these things. I read the book over 10 years ago and have tried to get Sarah to read it ever since. Don't think it's because she's a girl, she's the one who got me into comics! And for you non-comics fans, this book really transcends the whole comic-geek thing, it really is a good story, it just happens to have a lot of pictures as well. Adam is also very excited to see it, so it should be a good time. We are going to La Tolteca for a late lunch beforehand, which is a really great Mexican restaurant chain.

Tonight Sarah and I are celebrating Frozen Food Day in grand style, we're having chicken parmigiana with mozzarella sticks and buffalo bites, and ice cream for dessert. Celebrate with us, it's tres healthy and very in! Also, Sunday is Be Nasty Day, so I will be ringing that one in by cleaning out the litter boxes. I'll have an extra hour to do those.

I give her all my love, that's all I do

My wife Sarah and I will be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary this May. While this may seem unusual when you take into account American divorce stats, it doesn't seem that way to us. Neither of us have divorces in our immediate family. I think that's one of the big reasons why we have lasted so long. We also believe that we are truly soul mates. This may sound corny these days, but I think it's important in a marriage. I used to think being opposites worked in a relationship's favor, but after meeting Sarah, I don't feel that way anymore. Let me tell you about our meeting (cue harp glissando and fade to the past)...

My dad owned a bakery in the 80s, and inevitably, I worked for him there (more on that later). I was the stereotypical baker, the guy who gets up at midnight and trudges sleepily to work. "Time to make the donuts" and all that. After I learned how to drive, I started working the night shift on weekends by myself. This meant that I could not go out on weekends during most of my high school years. As you may know if you've been to high school, this is absolute hell. This alone was the reason why I hated being a baker.

My friends felt bad for me, and also saw an opportunity in my plight. They began to visit me at work in the wee hours of the morning. They would talk with me and amongst themselves, and also avail themselves of free coffee and cold drinks and cookies and donuts, etc. I enjoyed their visits, because it kind of felt like I was going out with them, and it wasn't so lonely. Usually the late night visits happened after the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which played at our local mall every Friday and Saturday. One night my friend Mike told me he met a girl there and was dating her, so I told him to bring her along some time, and he did.

Mike brought his girlfriend Sarah to the bakery on November 11, 1990. (I wrote it down in my journal at the time, that's why I remember.) She had very long, almost white hair and a beautiful smile, but I didn't think of her as anything but Mike's girlfriend then. She asked me a lot of questions about my work, which no one had really done before. It was a little difficult talking to her with everyone else there because she was extremely quiet. She came to visit a few more times with him. One time she slipped on some cornmeal on the floor, and I felt really bad for her and was very apologetic. Another time, she asked if she could have some chocolate milk, and I teased her about it, because everyone else just took stuff without asking. She told me later that this made her very angry with me.

In December, Sarah came to visit, and her hair was cut very short. I had always like long hair on women until I had seen Ghost, and Sarah's hair looked just like Demi Moore's in the movie. It was then that I really noticed her for the first time and started to like her. I was hoping that she liked me too, because she started to come and visit by herself. We bonded over my They Might Be Giants coffee mug, whom I liked and didn't know anyone who had ever heard of them. Sarah had actually seen them in concert! We liked many of the same things, and I really enjoyed talking to her (when I could hear her). I thought that Sarah was definitely the one for me.

I was in a long-term relationship that was pretty much over, but I didn't know how to get out of it. And Sarah told me later that Mike was a rebound thing, as she had abruptly ended a long-term relationship of her own. My relationship finally ended mutually, and a few days later Sarah broke it off with Mike. But most of my friends liked her, and I thought I should step back from asking her out. I decide that I wouldn't pursue anyone for awhile, even though I liked her a lot.

I went to a party on New Year's Eve with a different group of friends. But I wasn't having a good time, so I decided to go to my other friend's party, hoping that Sarah was there. She was! I wanted badly to ask her out, but I didn't know what to do. She solved that for me by sitting on my lap and asking me, "How come you're the only one that doesn't like me?" I assured her that I did like her, and we left the party and went to my house to listen to Beatles albums.

We started dating a few weeks later (at the comic book show in New York, another thing we have in common), and both of us realized in a short period of time that we were meant to be together. We got engaged on September 1st, 1991. This was Sarah's 20th birthday, and it was also the last day my dad owned the bakery. So we got engaged in the bakery at 4 AM, surrounded by friends. I got down on one knee with the ring, and I had also written to my disc jockey friend Manny Glin, who was on WDHA at the time. He popped the question for me on the radio, which as you know, was answered yes.

Have the last 15 years been perfect? Of course not. But there's no one else I would have wanted to go through the last 15 years with. And it's true that I love her more now than I did back then. I had always heard people say that, but I didn't know how it could be true. Now I know. I love you Sarah, forever and always.

The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?

We moved to DE in 1998, and that's when I started working at Sam's Club (which is the 9th circle of hell, but I digress). I had to put away the stock at Sam's, and it was a lot of stock every week, which I hadn't really done at my other baking jobs. My wife introduced me to Aleve, which worked wonders for me back then. It got so I would take it before I went to work on stock day. Mind you, before work in 1998 was 2 to 2.30 am, I pretty much rolled out of bed and went to work. So one stock day I looked for the little blue pills that made me feel so good after putting all that crap away. I took 3 instead of my usual 2, because it was getting close to Thanksgiving, so there was lots to put away (I'm a baker by the way, if I haven't mentioned that yet, and more about that later).

Around 7 am that morning, I started to get extremely tired. I could not keep my eyes open, and I actually fell asleep sitting in a chair on my break. I carefully drove home and took a very long nap.

That evening, I was telling my wife what happened at work. She knew it was stock day and that I had taken Aleve, but for some reason she asked me to show her the bottle. She worked at Wal-Mart, and we had started buying the Wal-Mart brands of all the medicines that we took, because they were a lot cheaper, and we were not making a lot of money at the time. All of these bottles look the same. You see where I'm going with this, right? I mistakenly took the PM Pain Reliever, which is in a small bottle and is also a blue pill, just like the Wal-Mart brand of Aleve. Sarah laughed at me for a good long time, and she put a Z on the cap of the PM Pain Reliever. She still does that to this day, even though I don't take Aleve anymore. But I try not to take the PM Pain Reliever any more, because it scares the heck out of me.

This story seemed a lot better in my head. Oh well, I told it because I plan on taking some of the PM stuff tonight, because I haven't been sleeping well lately. That is because I am fat and lazy and have sleep apnea (which would lessen if I wasn't fat and lazy) and I don't go to bed when I should, especially when Sarah isn't home, which she isn't tonight. So it should go pretty well. :P