We Now Return You to Winter Weather

One day after returning to "sunny" Southern Indiana, we were greeted with this sight in the early morning hours.

Such beauty.

Such coldness.

What a dichotemy.

Given that the temperatures were in the teens, it's not surprising that the frost is heavy.

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And now, over a week after the actual event, we finally got to have our "Thanksgiving Day Feast."

However, there were a few caveats.

First, the husband didn't want a traditional Thanksgiving Day feast.

Oh, who am I kidding?

He didn't want turkey at all, but since I already had this turkey breast, his argument fell on deaf ears.

The Foodie Boyfriend asked for an apple pie.

Unfortunately for him, I was sick and I learned long ago that sick people cannot bake.

This was easily the worst pie crust I have ever made.

Still, I managed to score on the filling.

Repeat after me: Sick people should not bake.

Now, let's turn our attention to that turkey breast.

I found a recipe for Honey and Thyme Brined Turkey Breast.


The brine ingredients were honey, fresh thyme, black pepper, brown sugar and of course salt.

Of course I had to buy this turkey breast.

After all, I only paid 88 cents a pound for the thing.

Score!

After dissolving the salt and sugar mixture in the water, The turkey breast was added to the cooled brine.

This then sat in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Following the recipe directions, I removed the turkey breast from the brine and patted it dry with paper towels.

Then I rubbed olive oil on the skin and patted on a mixture of fresh chopped thyme and ground black pepper.

The turkey breast roasted in a 400 degree oven for about one hour, or until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees.

I removed the turkey breast from the oven and covered it with aluminum foil so it could rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Gorgeous.

I opted to make things simple for myself and roasted green beans with bacon and potatoes with bacon and onion in the oven with the turkey.

The turkey breast was moist, tender and succulent.

The flavors from the brine weren't overwhelming, allowing the turkey to take center stage.

The skin was crispy and delicious, if you like that sort of thing.

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Apparently, the Foodie Daughter and the Foodie Boyfriend are, as they actually fought over the last piece of meat with skin attached.

It was that good.

The meat was cooked to perfection:

cooked through, but not overcooked and dry.



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And just how did this rate?

The Foodie Daughter, her boyfriend and I all gave this 5 stars

as we couldn't possibly imagine this being any better.

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The husband gave this 3 stars.

He thought the turkey should have been cooked more well done

and that it didn't taste like turkey.

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We are pretending that we don't know this man.

The next day I decided to use some of the leftover turkey meat to make turkey salad.

This time around I opted to add

mayonnaise,

honey Dijon mustard,

onion,

celery (including the leafy greens),

craisins.

This was mixed to taste.

I never go by recipes for this sort of thing.

That hit the spot.

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Later, my daughter and a friend came over to study and finished off the rest of the turkey salad on crackers.

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Oh, and that carcass?

That went into the freezer until it's time to make more turkey stock.

It's all good.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Sadly, time marches on despite our wishes.

Thus the day arrived when we must say goodbye to Panama City Beach.

Finding myself too keyed up and not wanting to miss one more minute of our vacation, I decided to venture up onto the Sunrise Deck of the Condo building.

After all, the last family non-Masonic Lodge related vacation occurred 13 years ago and who knows when we will be able to experience something like this again?

Ironically, our last 'true' vacation found us on another seashore, that time in Nags Head, North Carolina, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The Foodie Daughter and I bravely ventured up to the 15th floor Sunrise Deck of the condo building.

Did I mention that it was windy and chilly?

The West Bay can be seen in the distance to the north.

I'm going to miss this view.

Say goodbye to our view from the balcony of our unit.

We headed east to Panama City before finding our way north.

I love these palm trees.

Ooh, looky!

Cypress trees!

Yeah, I know, I'm a rube Yankee.

I just love seeing all the Spanish moss hanging from the trees.

Spanish moss is not a moss at all, but is rather a member of the pineapple family.

Of course you knew that pineapples are bromeliads, right?

Spanish moss is an epiphyte, meaning that it just uses the tree as a support and does not harm the tree in any way.

It is a separate living organism that does not attack the tree.

Looks like we found our fall color again.

Water wheel below a dam near I-65.

Since it's daylight, I would assume this is Alabama.

Of the 14 hour trip home, nearly half that time was spent in Alabama.

Birmingham, Alabama skyline.

Nashville, Tennessee in the evening.

Have I mentioned how difficult it is to get a good night picture from a moving vehicle?

Finally, after all day on the road, we arrived home, safe, sound and tired.

Unfortunately, it started raining while I was driving in northern Alabama.

We drove through rain for the rest of the trip.

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In the end, we had traveled 1,592.3 miles on this trip.

The trip home was 770 miles.

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Still, I would gladly make this trip again.

Saturday in Panama City Beach

Sadly, our time on the gulf is winding down and we decided to leave the car parked and just enjoy the condo and the beach, despite the chillier than normal weather.

Hey, it still beats the 20 degree wind chills we had at home.

One of the ways we decided to save money was to eat breakfast in.

Yes, this is a frozen breakfast croissant.

And yes, it certainly lacks in the flavor and texture department, no matter what that smiling sun on the commercials will tell you, but when you have this kind of a view while eating this?

Priceless.

The entire time we were down here the Beach Warning Flags were at Medium Hazard, which means there are moderate surf and/or currents.

As in many things, yellow means caution.



The seagulls seem rather used to the human invaders.




Saturday saw cloudier, windier weather and one could clearly see currents in the gulf.

It's that time again, folks.

Time to head down to the beach to await the sunset.

Click on the photograph to see the sightseeing helicopter better.

Apparently sunset means good fishing because the pelicans were busy getting their dinners.

We just had to laugh at their landings.

Yes, I know that they do that in order to get their food, but it's very funny to watch.

The surf was up just a bit today.

And now I will let you enjoy the show.

They say a picture's worth a thousand words.

I don't think a thousand and one words could sufficiently convey just how beautiful this experience was.

Truly this evening's sunset was better than the past two evenings combined.






After sunset, we decided to return to Sharky's Beach Club & Restaurant that was just across the street.

After all, the Foodie Daughter did have homework and studying to do still.

Once again we ordered the Caribbean Fritters as an appetizer.

Then we started on our entrees.

My dinner started out with the house salad.

I ordered the Raspberry-Poppy seed Dressing for my salad.

My husband ordered the Grouper Martinique

which was described as being "A flaky fillet of Grouper stuffed with our own special crab meat stuffing (redundant much?), broiled to perfection & topped with a Garlic Lemon Butter sauce."

Gotta love that random Capitalization.

The husband did enjoy his meal very much.

The Foodie Daughter ordered a basket of fried shrimp.

She once again enjoyed the freedom to be able to eat shrimp without having to worry about endangering her boyfriend's health.

And I?

Well, I decided to be adventurous, but I also wanted to hedge my bets as it were, in case I really hated this new food.

After reading Rosie Hawthorne's many loving tributes to the lowly oyster, I was determined to try this homely little critter.

Thus, I ordered the Island Trio which the menu decreed: "Fried or broiled Gulf shrimp, bay scallops & oysters make this a local favorite."

Obviously I chose to have these fried as I was really worried about those oysters.

The verdict?

Well, I quickly learned that oysters are not something that one takes a bite out of and then looks at.

Just. Don't. Do. It.

Some things are better left unknown.

However, the oysters ended up being my favorite thing on the platter and the Gulf shrimp were my least favorite.

In the end, there was just too much food here.

I really wasn't expecting enough food to feed all the people on my floor of the condo.

Really.

There must have been over a dozen shrimp, a couple dozen bay scallops and over a dozen oysters.

Who could possibly eat this much in one sitting?

Sadly, not this girl, and as this was our last night down here, I couldn't take any with me for later.

And that was a shame, my friends.

The restaurant has an aquarium with some friendly fish.

See what I mean?