My Family's Cooking

Uncle Tommy's Gumbo
This past year while searching for a gumbo recipe, Mom told me to look in our old church cookbook from Jackson. She thought she remembered that there were several good recipes in that particular one.  We have had this book since I was 5 and I am now 32 but we haven't used it in quite some time. I opened the browned book to find several gumbo recipes.  You see,  I grew up Episcopal before I became Catholic and Episcopals in Mississippi are known for their gumbo and take the making of gumbo very seriously.  Almost as seriously as a true Cajun (almost). 

I read out a few recipes but only one stood out.  "That is the one we want!" my Mom said enthusiastically after I finished reading it. I looked down again at the recipe and was surprised to see a familiar name.  Call it family instinct but my mother had just chosen her brother's gumbo recipe. Underneath the recipe read Tommy Lack as the contributor. Uncle Tommy if you are reading this post, please feel free to make me some of your gumbo some time soon! I know I obviously have access to the recipe but I would prefer a bowl with your own touch!

Chicken-Sausage Gumbo (As seen in Bread & Wine, Favorite Recipes of All Saints Episcopal Church)
1 stewing chicken, cut up
1 lb. smoked sausage, cut up
1/2 c. cooking oil
1/2 c. flour
1 c. chopped onion
1 clove chopped garlic
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1/2 c. bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c. green onion tops
Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper to taste

Boil chicken until meat falls off the bones. Reserve stock. Make a roux adding flour to hot cooking oil. It is necessary to stir constantly, keeping heat low until flour is a reddish golden brown. Add chopped onion and stir until it becomes transparent. Add roux to chicken stock; add sausage, chicken and remaining vegetables, salt, pepper and red pepper to taste, stirring often to prevent sticking, adding more water as necessary. Let cook about 1 hour. Serve with rice.

Aunt Martha's Brown Rice Casserole
When I was little, I did not like Mama Chris's dressing at our holiday meals. I know you must think I was a family disgrace after reading about the honored position dressing has in our family but I was a kid! However a side dish that I absolutely loved was my Aunt Martha's Brown Rice Casserole. I loved it so much in fact that my mother began to fix it as a regular side dish in our house after getting her recipe.  Thinking back, the three things that I love that my Aunt Martha makes would be her date balls, the zucchini bread, and of course the brown rice casserole! 

Brown Rice Casserole
3/4 stick of butter
1 med. onion
1 c. uncooked rice
2 cans undiluted beef consomme
2 (3 oz.) cans whole mushrooms
1/2 tsp salt

Melt butter in skillet. Add chopped onion and saute until transparent. Add the rice and salt. Stir the mixture well then place the mixture into a casserole dish.  Add the consomme and mushrooms with the liquid. Cover and bake in 325 degree oven until rice is puffed and tender (about an hour).

Aunt Margaret's Ambrosia
My Aunt Margaret was our family's self-proclaimed non-domestic type.  I remember her sitting in the kitchen with her charm bracelet tinkling as she would say to my mother, "Susie, I am just not domestic like you are."    Really my Aunt should have been saying, "I am so smart! I announce I am not domestic and I don't have to wash dishes." Brilliant really.

My Aunt was domestic in her own way.  She loved to have beautiful things in her home and was constantly trying new decorating ideas that she found in magazines. I remember one time she saw a magazine picture of a home with a wall covered in family pictures. This idea inspired her to do her own wall of family pictures. Thinking about my family as I write this blog, I understand where I get my love for pictures. We are all obsessed with photos because of the stories they tell and the memories they sustain.


But my Aunt was being honest in that she wasn't inclined to cook and clean in the daily domestic sense. I think she just didn't want to be bothered with the mundane mess that can make up daily life. I understand completely! Why have boring when you can have special?  She wanted special.  She wanted regal.  And she was just that.

But what she did  prepare that was special, she did well.   Her specialties were Irish Stew and Ambrosia.    When researching Ambrosia recipes, I came across one close to hers that described Ambrosia as a Southern favorite. After reading over it, I think I need to make this dish soon! In honor of my Aunt and all her beautiful eccentricities that make my life richer now, here is a special Ambrosia recipe found on southernfood.about.com.

Ambrosia (This recipe with coconut is a Southern favorite.)
1 cup orange juice
3 medium oranges, peeled and sectioned
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks, undrained
1/2 cup seedless red grapes, halved (I think she used raisins)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine juice, orange sections, pineapple, and grapes, stirring gently to blend. Refrigerate until serving time. Fold in coconut and pecans just before serving.



Christy's Broccoli Rice and Sausage Casserole
As the phone calls start flying around the country during the holidays for Mama Chris's dressing recipe, Christy  always receives a call from my house for her casserole recipe.  Mom wrote it down several years ago but we always seem to lose it. No worries because by losing it then a phone call can be made where we exchange recipes once again and catch up.  Thankfully even with the distance separating us,we do get to talk a lot but every excuse to talk is a good one. Maybe I need to go lose that recipe again....


Christy's version of this casserole is my favorite because of the sausage in it.  You get the added kick or my mother's much needed tang in food.  However, I have to say that I have never had anything Christy has made that I don't like. She is a wonderful cook.  I even ate beef for her and I don't eat beef but it was Christy's cooking so I made the rare exception.


Broccoli Cheese and Sausage Casserole
2 boxes of frozen chopped broccoli (2 boxes)
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup and add a little milk
1 Onion
1 roll of Regular Sage Jimmy Dean Sausage (Gold Pack)
Top with lots of shredded cheddar cheese

Steam broccoli and cook rice. Mix together with soup and milk. Fry sausage and saute onions.  Mix all items together.Top with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until ready.

Jenny's Corn Dip
When I moved to Jackson from Hattiesburg to start a job after graduate school, I lived with my cousin Jenny and her family for about two weeks until my apartment was ready. It was October and the weather was just starting to get a cool chilly feeling in the air.  I came home one night to Jenny making Cowboy Stew with an appetizer of Corn Dip.  I fell in love with this dip and it has become one of my go to recipes for tailgating or any kind of party.  If you don't have friends, you will after making this recipe!  This recipe just makes people happy.  Try it. Enough said.

Hot Corn Dip
2 cans mexicorn
About 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sour cream
About 1/2 to 3/4 cup of mayonnaise
Sliced black olives to taste
Diced jalapenos to taste
At least 1 cup (or more) of sharp cheddar cheese (whatever your cheese amount preference)

Mix all the ingredients together in a baking dish. You may have to play a little with the amount of sour cream and mayonnaise. The mixture will need to be slightly soupy going into the oven. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 to 45 minutes.  The mixture should be thoroughly heated and bubbling.  Serve with Frito chips.

Christy and me...Cousins and Champagne!

Jenny with me, Thanksgiving 2010

Laughing with Aunt Martha, Thanksgiving 2010

Family of shutterbugs! Jenny and Uncle Tommy with their cameras.

Brother and Sister, Thanksgiving 2010

Margarita Monday

Photo courtesy of vivideats.blogspot.com

 Happy Monday Y'all!  Congrats on making it through the first day of the week. I think we should celebrate Mondays so that we don't dread them.  In honor of a celebratory Monday evening, below is my boyfriend's famous Margarita recipe.  I guarantee if everyone dubbed Mondays as Margarita Mondays people would greet colleagues in the morning with, "Yay! It is Monday!" instead of, "Ughhhh Monday!"

Boyfriend is a great cook and has a few things he is known for especially his chili. However he is keeping the chili recipe to himself with the possibility of entering and winning a chili cook off one day.  But he did agree to share his Margarita recipe. I am also including another one of my faves that he makes.  Very simple but so delicious and the perfect side for a summer cook out! Cheers y'all on this Margarita Monday!

Margarita

1 Can Frozen Bacardi Margarita Mix

1/2 or 3/4 can of tequila (Use the Mix can to measure) (Jose Cuervo Gold or better)
    

1/4 can triple sec

 Put in blender with ice and pulse till slushy

Serve in a kosher salt rimmed glass by first wetting the glass edge with some triple sec and then dipping the rim into the kosher salt. The triple sec gives the drink the extra kick and tang!    

 
 ***Basically it is the Bacardi recipe with triple sec added

Just Grilled Squash and Zucchini

(Note: Boyfriend named the recipe for me this afternoon so I could put it in the blog. I think it is the perfect title - leaves no guessing! Got to love guys because they always get straight to the point!) 

Fresh Yellow Squash

Fresh Zucchini

Italian Dressing

Very important to slice squash and zucchini on the bias so you have large pieces. Marinate slices in Italian dressing for 15 minutes to 1/2 hour.   Grill veggies over a medium to medium-low heat until they are soft (but not too soft!).   Note: The squash cooks a little faster than the zucchini so put the squash a little to the side of the heat.

Another great place to have a Margarita on Monday!

 

 

My sweet guy at one of our favorite restaurants: The Shed. 

The above picture was taken in Destin. We have also been to The Shed in Hattiesburg and the original one in Ocean Springs.  We like to get fed at the shed! Yum! Check out the website at theshedbbq.com  but I am warning you to be prepared to start craving barbecue. When you do go I recommend the potato salad which is the only type of potato salad I have ever liked and that is saying a lot for this reformed picky eater.  But until you can head to the shed, enjoy Margarita Monday!

My Sweet Mother's Cooking

City Grocery Balcony, July 4th Weekend 2009

Most of us love our mother's cooking.  Unfortunately being Southern doesn't guarantee that you have a mama who can cook.  Fortunately that is not my case. My mother inherited her cooking abilities from previous generations and then added her own flavor to create her array of signature dishes. My mother is very much like me in her love for restaurants but when she wants to cook, anyone who is lucky enough to be around will enjoy an amazing meal.

Choosing just a few of my favorites that my mother makes is quite hard to do but the following come to mind as the food she is known for. Most importantly, my mother is also known for never having a dull meal.  She will always say, "I need a little tang." Translation: There better be tomatoes around somewhere!

I loved ketchup as a child but that was the only tomato based food I would eat so my mother made accommodations for her picky eater. She always fixed me a different meal when she made chili and spaghetti.  We would have big family dinners and I remember my family so perplexed that I was eating Hormel Chili while they ate homemade chili.  Or I would have plain, buttered spaghetti and a hamburger patty to the side (with ketchup!) when my family ate spaghetti and meat sauce.  Eventually I grew out of that phase and now won't even touch Hormel chili! What was I thinking???

WHAT'S FOR DINNER? SPAGHETTI WITH MEAT SAUCE!
Mom says that she must have come here knowing how to cook spaghetti because she can't remember when  she learned how to make it.  She just remembers it being the main meal she knew how to cook.  She was telling me yesterday when she was about 18, her boyfriend at the time would joke to his friends, "If we ever get married, I will ask someone to come to dinner and say we are having spaghetti." He would continue to say he would always know to tell potential dinner guests they were having spaghetti because that is the only thing she knew how to cook.  Mom said he was weird so she broke up with him but thankfully kept making the spaghetti and many other things contrary to what he thought!

Meat Sauce for Spaghetti
1 lb ground beef (Note: we use ground turkey now)
1 medium onion - chopped
1 green bell pepper - chopped
2 cloves garlic - diced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 to 2 bay leaves
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste
2 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 to 2 cups water as needed
Salt to taste and a little red cayenne pepper

Brown ground meat - add onions, peppers, and garlic.  Saute until onions and peppers are done. Add spices, tomato sauce, paste, and water. Cover and simmer for at least 1/2 hour, possibly longer. Serve over spaghetti or angel hair pasta.

This recipe can be increased if cooking for a larger group like a large Southern family supper!

  
SOUTHERN GIRL COOKS IN DENVER
When my mother was 18 she moved to Denver for about a year and took a cookbook from Mississippi to Colorado with her.  This was the first time that my mother would be taking care of her own place and learning how to cook more than spaghetti.  She remembers that she came across a recipe in this book called Chili con Carne and has been using this recipe for the last forty-one years.  To me, it is the taste of home. Recently, I thought it was important to me that I learned these recipes. I want to be able to make them exactly how my mother cooks them because other dishes may be delicious but nothing tastes like home the way your own sweet mother does them.

Chili con Carne (No more Hormel for me!)
1 lb ground beef (Note: we use ground turkey now)
1 medium onion - chopped
1 medium bell pepper - chopped
1 to 2 cloves garlic - diced
2 to 3 Tbsp chili powder
1 large can diced tomatoes (Hunt's)
2 to 3 8 oz cans of tomato sauce (Hunt's)
2 cans dark red kidney beans (Bush's beans)
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground meat, add onion, peppers & garlic. Cook until onions and peppers are done. Add tomatoes, sauce, chili powder, and beans. Cover and simmer for at least 1/2 hour or longer.

Fixin some cornbread

SOUTHERNERS LOVE THEIR CORNBREAD

There isn't a meal that doesn't welcome a pan of hot cornbread, unless you are on one of those low carb diets which never last too long in the South.  However, my family is a very health conscious Southern bunch hence the turkey substitutions in the previous recipes. We rarely fry foods or eat sugar. We don't eat beef.  And we drink lots of wine - that is of course for heart health only!  I know wine consumption is a difficult practice to acquire but it is all in the name of health.Therefore, in the name of health, cornbread is a rarity in our house but a special treat when we do have it.

Drinking wine in the name of health!

I love my mother's cornbread.  It is so good that when eaten right out of the oven there is no need to even add butter to it. My Uncle Tommy use to always tell her she needed to open up a cornbread restaurant. I am still learning how to make it because I don't get that much practice. I made it for the first time this past Christmas and was very proud of myself.  It is probably going to be time for me to try another pan soon!

First time I made cornbread! Complete Southern set-up: cornbread, hot sauce, and wine (there was other food not pictured)!

Cornbread
2 cups self rising corn meal
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (usually canola oil)
1 cup buttermilk (possibly a little more)

Preheat oven to 425 to 450 degrees. Mix all ingredients well. Grease a heavy iron skillet with some oil and heat. Pour mixture into hot skillet - bake until golden brown on the top (usually about 25 minutes).

Mama Chris's Cooking



Mama Chris, Thanksgiving 2010

 Every family, regardless of origin, has food traditions passed on from the previous generations to the next.  Over time new favorites are added while some of the staples remain the same.  For me, tasting food that has been done exactly the same way in my family over many years is the definition of comfort food.  The smells and tastes of certain dishes have the power to instantly bring up memories and the feelings associated with those memories. Stories are created around these dishes. In my family these stories are often recalled and told as we prepare the dish, or in some instances attempt to make the dish.  While we eat, we remininise about all the times we have shared the food over generations of our families.   I have come to realize that we are a stereotypical Southern family of storytellers so maybe you all aren't talking about your food and memories.  But to us, food is just another catalyst to tell a great story.

In my family my grandmother, Mama Chris, was the one responsible for teaching us how to cook and passing on traditional family recipes.  Two that instantly come to mind when I think of the foods she is known for are her biscuits and cornbread dressing. 

FLUFFY OR FLAT BISCUITS?
If anyone in my family has yet to master my Mama Chris's biscuits they haven't told me.  The rest of us need the required measuring utensils.  My grandmother is skilled in just using her eyes and her hands.  She has happily shown anyone who asked how to make them but we have a difficult time understanding just exactly how much is a  good amount or just a little of something.  You would think that with measurements so vague quality would be hit or miss but her biscuits never fail to be consistently good.

But then again she has had a lot of practice. When she was 12-years-old, her mother was sick for a short time and could not prepare the biscuits for their family. Since biscuits were a daily breakfast food in her home someone needed to make them. Mama Chris tells about her father pulling her aside during this time to teach her how to make the biscuits.

When I asked Mama Chris to give me the recipe for this blog, she stayed true to the family characteristic by telling stories. The moral of one story was to use self-rising flour.  She remembers being quite proud of her baking ability after she became skilled at making biscuits.  She tells about going to spend the night with her friend Polly who's mother, Mrs. Beulah, was out of town.  A young Mama Chris proudly tells Polly's dad, Mr. Ollie,  that she will take care of the biscuits for the morning.  Mr. Ollie gets up the next morning to slice the meat for the breakfast and Mama Chris begans the biscuit preparations. She said they looked beautiful as she put them in to bake.  But unknown to Mama Chris she had been taught to make biscuits with self-rising flour. The Ainsworths used only regular flour.   She remembers being incredibly embarrassed because she had been so proud to show off her biscuits only to have her beautiful biscuits come out flat with no taste.  Mr. Ollie laughed it off. However, Mama Chris never forgot and self-rising flour became a staple for her.

For the rest of us, we can make biscuits but need a recipe. Martha White Self-Rising flour has a recipe on the package that is very close to my grandmother's but it has measurements.  Good luck to any of you who are brave enough to attempt the following recipe written in my Mama Chris's own words. It is important to note that when sharing these recipes with me she proudly told me they didn't own cook books.   She said, "These two recipes are not from any cook book, just from long ago cooking from scratch."

Old Fashion Biscuits
Flour
Shortening (Crisco)
Buttermilk

Put flour in mixing bowl. Hollow out space in flour, put in shortening about 1 cup. Pour buttermilk gradually while mixing flour in the shortening.  Then start bringing flour from edge of mixture and gently fold into a mound pinching up the sides, a ball of dough should be forming. Roll into small balls and drop into greased baking pan.  Bake at about 450 degrees until brown.  Mama Chris concluded the recipe with, "I always like to put a bit of butter on top of the biscuit dough - pat lightly, made them brown pretty."



Telling stories


WANT TO UPSTAGE THE TURKEY?
The other recipe that deserves an honor higher than any turkey or ham at our holiday table is her Cornbread Dressing.  In our family, the meat is the side to the dressing.  When my grandfather was still alive and they would travel to whichever one of us was hosting the holiday dinner he had the honor of carefully carrying the huge pan in to the house.  They were always greeted with celebratory status as they walked in with the dressing.

Now my family is scattered around the country so around the holidays the annual phone calls start as we try to remember exactly how to make the cornbread dressing.  Below is the much loved recipe.  You Southerners will understand when I say we are a no-sage family.  For you non-Southerners, there are two types of families in the South.  The no-sage versus the sage.  And by the way, for clarification for my Yankee friends, do not confuse your stuffing with cornbread dressing. It is not, nor ever will be, the same food. And no it isn't even similar.  Still confused?  Would you ever say that bread pudding is the same thing as fruit salad? Never because it is not the same thing.

Now that you are clear that we are a no-sage family you must understand that this spice is quite a big deal. In the South, the sage families, will always say, "Just a touch of sage is all you need." To a no-sage family, just a touch in the cornbread dressing has the potential of ruining it or at the very least significantly changing it.  Therefore if you want to make the following recipe do not attempt to change any of the following steps including adding sage - not even just a touch!



Cooking

 Warning: Looks deceptively simple but very easy to mess up if the steps are not precisely followed.

Again in Mama Chris's words:
Cornbread Dressing

1 good size pan of cornbread (don't put sugar in your cornbread -ever)
3 slices of loaf bread
1 cup cracker crumbs
2 boiled eggs
1 big onion
4 stalks of celery
Broth (chicken or turkey)
Salt and pepper to taste

Best to bake cornbread a day or two ahead. Best for bread slices to be a day or two old. Boil diced onions and celery ahead of time. Crumble crackers, cornbread and loaf bread into a large mixing bowl. Dice boiled eggs. Mix all ingredients with plenty of broth (my note: dressing will appear moderately soupy - enough broth is key to having a moist dressing after it has been baked). Pour into a large baking dish and bake at 400 until brown edges show up.

She concluded that anyone cooking these recipes should just use their imagination if you want larger amounts. Anybody hungry yet? Happy bread baking!

Southern Cooking Y'all

While brainstorming ideas for my next post, I typed in my Google search box: "blog ideas" and hit search.  I found several possibilities but the one suggestion that really excited me was to pick a theme and write on that theme every day for a week.  I loved the idea of a daily writing challenge but what theme?  Well I guess food is never far from my mind because it didn't take me long to come up with an idea - Southern Cooking. 

I never would have declared myself a foodie until recently. I use to be anti-cook because I wasn't going to be found in the typical "woman's" place, also known as the kitchen.  No way. If you wanted food around me then I could tell you with expert wisdom where the best restaurants were and describe a majority of the menu in detail.  In a very strange way, not agreeing to cook on a daily basis was my way of declaring my female independence. I know it was a very, "I am woman hear me roar" mentality.  But everyone has to have their hangups and that was one of mine. Plus I was busy and therefore food could be found in someone's else kitchen. Preferably a restaurant with a good ambiance.

But something changed a few years ago.  I added a new interest because while I still love to eat out, actually preparing the food became intriguing to me.  And finally I felt like it was not just seen as a woman's job. For example, some of my favorite food network shows featured fabulous male chefs.  That is when I let my little secret out...I can cook.  And, here is the best part,  people actually eat what I cook and like it!  I just chose not to cook unless there were lights on trees and pretty packages with bows wrapped under those trees. Yes, I was a holiday cook. Until now.

I love to cook. I love to talk about food, find new recipes, make people happy with food, and of course I love to eat it.  I adore cookbooks, especially Southern ones.  And I find myself several times a day talking about food with my co-workers, family, and friends. My boyfriend and I even joke about ourselves because as we eat one meal we usually are deep in conversation about what else? Other foods we want to try! 

Don't get me wrong, I still love to eat out - a lot.  And I don't like to ever have to cook but most of the time cooking has become a celebration to me.  I can turn on some music and pour a glass of wine and make the experience a celebration even on a regular, possibly mundane, week night.  So my theme for a week beginning this Saturday will be Southern Cooking. I will be sharing my favorite Southern recipes as well as any memories associated with those recipes or cooking in general.  As my love for cooking has grown, I have learned another thing about my culture that makes the experience of preparing food much more than a previously assigned gender role. Cooking as a Southerner goes beyond merely feeding the family or friends, it is a sign of pride and most importantly, a way of celebrating our heritage and love for one another.  I hope you enjoy my upcoming food entries and I would love to hear some of yours! Okay, I am fixin' to go make something good!

FREE FALLING...or maybe not

I just returned from seven days in a world different from my usual life. In that world, I lost track of time and days as I laughed and loved with my family on vacation.  I needed to see my family and catch up on some lost time. And we did just that. We told stories and created a lot more family stories that will be told and most likely embellished in future family gatherings.  

We headed further south to Orange Beach, Alabama this past Friday.  For six days, the condo doors greeted a total of 16 people. Some stayed longer than others but all of us shared the common bond of being lost in laughter and fun.  We danced and cooked. We ate and drank...then drank a little bit more, especially the day of our para sailing adventure.

Floating around in the bay known as Old River on the second afternoon, Andrew, Ed and I decided we were going para sailing. We greeted my cousin Jimmy later that day with the information that he would be going with us.  The three of us were excited. Jimmy, however, asked for adult diapers or possibly some anti-anxiety meds.  Yet as the day got closer, Jimmy got braver and I got a little more worried. Andrew only made my fears worse as he talked about how you could see for miles because you were at least 100 feet in the air.  He would happily make this whoosh sound and quickly push his hand up to indicate how fast you were propelled up.The mental visual of a piece of fabric jerking me up 100 feet in mere seconds made me just a tad bit more worried.  Maybe I should go with Jimmy for the diaper fitting I thought. 

I tried to console myself by asking what I always thought, "You get a signal to give to the boat if you want to come down right?" 

"Nope, " my cousin Andrew said smiling. He was enjoying picking on my fear and my animated personality only encouraged him more. 

What I didn't tell anyone, although probably evident in my face, was that I was wondering if a perfectly healthy 32-year-old belle could have a heart attack and die from panic.  A ridiculous worry, I know,  but all of a sudden this activity wasn't sounding so good. Sitting on the beach with a cold, fruity drink melting in my hand sounded a lot better. After all, hadn't I come down to relax and be lazy? Unfortunately, I had talked the big, tough talk with the guys so if they weren't backing out then I wasn't either.

The para sailing adventure day arrived. We were doing our morning routine of sitting outside drinking coffee watching the beach and the occasional porpoise sighting when we saw the first para sailor take flight.  I was so grateful to witness one before I whooshed myself up into the sky.  I was relieved to see the ascension into the air was not too fast. No whooshing sound heard.  However, she was wildly kicking her legs as the parachute lifted her up.  At the distance that I watched from, I couldn't tell if her wild flailing was out of fear or if she was just doing her morning bicycle exercises. Either way, the jerky body movement wasn't terribly comforting.

Watching her, Andrew confirmed he was just joking about being catapulted into the sky...sort of.  Ed comforted me by telling me it wasn't really 100 feet.  I chose to believe my sweet boyfriend even though he had never been para sailing himself. Andrew, who had been before, compared the height to a six story building.  I thought I can do that - I have been on the sixth floor of a building before.

"Well maybe more like a 7 story building or possibly an 8....", Andrew who just didn't want to give up the fun torture kept adding more every chance he got.  An hour later we were up to a potential height of at least 9 stories. 

Ignoring my fear, I made my mind up to go so I started the necessary para sailing preparations which included the mandatory mimosa. A mimosa by the pool can ease anxiety and cure a lot of ailments. However, the mimosas didn't work as quickly as I needed.  Therefore as the time got closer, I begin to relish the potential last moments with my family as the reality of what I was about to do hit.  Maybe I am being a little dramatic but you need to understand my level of fear!

Did you know that you can see sharks and all kinds of sea creatures from the air?  Sounds cool. But what if, just what if, that little rope snaps and you go diving into that pretty blue ocean to join your new shark friends?  Not so cool. Oh and yes that little rope can break because Andrew's favorite para sailing story revolves around the rope breaking. Ten years ago the rope snapped causing the para sailor to take off on the not-so-joy ride of his life. Or at least on a ride across the highway into a condominium building. Thankfully the free sailor lived but I didn't want to find out if I had the same level of maneuvering skills if  my rope snapped.  However, Andrew assured me every time he told the story that it was perfectly safe. Nothing bad ever happens...except that one time. Oh...but you do have to sign a release.

Sharks, breaking ropes, panic attacks, unattractive adult diapers....I was trying to remember why I had ever wanted to do this para sailing thing.  I am not an adrenaline seeker. I have no desire to go sky diving. I like how my boyfriend puts it, "Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane?"  I don't like roller coasters and I would never entertain the idea of jumping off a cliff tied to a rubber band that would hopefully snap me back up in the very last second.  But para sailing above water had always seemed safe and fun.   I thought it would be like water tubing but in the air.  All my nice thoughts were fine in my head until I actually faced the flying activity. 

One o'clock approached signaling one hour until take off and bravery kicked in....or maybe it was just the mimosas finally working.  I decided that I would just do it and I was going to love it.  So I was ready and completely psyched about it.  We piled into the car and drove to the Flora Bama to take off but not before the necessary pre-flight "milkshake." The people around this area call their milkshakes Bushwhackers for some reason. We had one of the local milkshakes and by the time we walked out on the beach, I was ready to go.  We had several of our new found Flora Bama friends standing along the walk cheering us on and building the excitement.  I felt like an astronaut walking to the ship for our mission.  All four of us walking down the walk in a slow, stoic pace as our supporters cheered us on. Well maybe they were just a bunch of drunks yelling but if you listened just right it sounded like an adoring crowd. Then we reached the end of the walk as the cheers faded in the background and approached the para sailing window to find it.....closed.

What??? All that worry and excitement and fear and cheering and they were closed?!?!  I had spent all day gearing up for my amazing trip that would result in an equally amazing story that would be embellished over the next ten years and they were closed?!?!  We found the guy that worked there but all he could do that day was rent us jet skis. They only offered para sailing a few days of the week due to slow business. The business down the street was closed that day because the water conditions were not ideal.  So para sailing was not an option.

We rented the jet skis and had a great time but all were disappointed about missing out on the para sailing adventure.  I am ready to go for next time which could be as soon as August.  Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), I did find out the real details from the guy renting us the jet skis.  The facts include that they don't send you up 100 feet. They actually send you up more like 400 feet.  Far scarier! But  you don't have to endure fear of death from a panic attack very long.  I originally was told that you stay up about 30 minutes but you really only stay up 8 minutes.  I can deal with anything 8 minutes. To make me feel even better, I read somewhere that the age minimum is five. Surely if they will send a five-year-old up in the air, I can handle it. Guess I will get to find out in August because I will be ready...just let me have one of those local milkshakes first...


                                                       THE PARA-SAILING CREW


Andrew, Experienced Para-Sailor



Ed, My Co-Captain and My Love

Jimmy, Fellow Para-Worrier

Me

Beach Bound!

Shortly after my first winter-complaining post, my sweet and thoughtful boyfriend gave me a silver necklace with a tiny silver flip flop pendant hanging on it.  He told me it was to remind me that summer would again return and to cheer me up until it did.  My little necklace did make me smile a lot.  Then another set of winter blues set in causing me to write yet another blog about my summer dreaming.  Boyfriend then reminded me I had already wrote one blog on that topic....I guess I was really suffering from snow suffocation by that point.  This morning I was thinking about what I should blog on this week when I came up with the perfect idea - I could write about all the fun things I plan on doing this summer!  Half way through mentally writing the blog in my head, I thought something seemed familiar. Then I remembered that I had already blogged on the summer topic and my plans for summer twice before.  Either I am getting very absent minded lately or I am really, really excited about summer.

I love all four seasons but this particular winter seemed to last longer than ever with our last 37 degree morning just being this past Monday. I have never in my life witnessed 30 something degrees on May 16th. I just don't know how our Yankee cousins do it. Maybe that is why there is such a thing as Southern Hospitality - it is a lot easier to be friendly to all kinds of strangers when you aren't FREEZING! Northerners aren't unfriendly at all - they are just COLD!

I say all this to say I am BEACH BOUND tomorrow which means summer is officially getting kicked off. My plan?  To play summer up for all it's worth so that when the seasons start to change in a few months, I will be ready to embrace colder temps all over again.  Until then, I will spare you any more blogs on my summer plans because now summer is here and the plans are in action!  I will see you wherever there is water y'all!