Rain and wind today

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Oyster boats at rest

 Last night the wind was blowing so hard it rocked the rig like we were living on a boat. Rain came and went ferociously as the predicted cells of bad weather moved over us. This weather is headed north and I feel sorry for those folks when it hits the cold front coming in from the north and turns all this rain into sleet and snow. Tonight they are predicting snow for northern Alabama. We're supposed to get freezing temps tomorrow night. Time to get out the insulation for the water hose. Needless to say, this was mostly an inside day, though we did venture out to Bayside Burger for some more of their wonderful oysters. After lunch we decided to venture north to the Super Walmart about 40 minutes away. We needed to pick up pies for Thanksgiving, as well as other necessities. There isn't much in the way of shopping in this area.

Several rigs moved out today. Our neighbor in front of us went down to Orlando a day or two early to get out of the weather, but I'm afraid he's going to be disappointed, as the weather forecaster said the storm is moving toward that area. The RV park is looking deserted, and I don't see how we are going to get the 50 to 60 people they usually get for Thanksgiving dinner. The owner of the park provides the turkey and ham and everyone else signs up for a dish. We opted for pie. Actually it was Peg who opted for pie, because it's easy. Pie or potato salad is her go-to pot luck contribution.

Last night we had bay shrimp from Millender's and Son Seafood shop here in Carrabelle. I'm told 6 generations have worked the store. I try to go in every few days to see what they have. Yesterday they had shrimp. Their bay shrimp was about $6.50/lb. I asked when it came in and he said "Just this morning." I suppose I could have gotten it fresher if I'd helped them unload the boat, but this was good enough. I also picked up some crab cakes for the freezer and more mullet dip. I don't really know mullet. Never seen it before and certainly never cooked it. It's very popular around here and there are restaurants that feature all you can eat mullet. All you can eat of a fish I'd never heard of didn't sound real attractive to me, but the owner had told me that the dip was very popular, so I was willing to risk $6 for some. Boy is it good, a smoked fish flavor, strong but not overwhelming. We finished off a container in 2 days, so I picked up another, and I'll  go back to Millender's one more time before we leave. If you're in the area stop by.
An afterthought: As I browsed the fish section at the Walmart I noticed that there was some local shrimp in stock, all frozen of course. They did have fresh oysters already shucked, in a plastic container. From Washington state. Peculiar. The grocery stores, what there are of them in this area, don't even bother to carry seafood, unless it's something like fish sticks. Why try to compete with the freshest you can get?

Millender's Seafood

Harvesting oysters