Living Our Dream

Day Trip to Pensacola

Summerdale, AL - Events of Friday, April 26, 2013

When we had lupper with Pat, Mike, Harlan and Linda at the Shrimp Basket in Foley several weeks ago, Harlan and Linda told us about the Joe Patti Seafood Market in Pensacola. It is a huge fish market that has local seafood as well as seafood shipped in daily from all around the world. Since Pensacola is less than an hour from Rainbow Plantation, we decided to drive over on Friday to check out Joe Patti Seafood Market.

Joe Patti Seafood

Joe Patti Seafood is located right on Pensacola Bay, and there were plenty of fishing boats docked nearby.

Fishing boats docked near Joe Patti Seafood

Captain Joe fishing boat

Joe and Anna Patti, who were both immigrants from Italy, met in Pensacola in 1928 and married shortly thereafter. Joe was a fisherman, and the young couple started their own business selling shrimp from the back porch of their home in 1931. In 1935, they opened a fish market at a separate location.

As you come in the door of the market, the first thing you see is the long display case running the entire length of the store with all sorts of fish, shrimp, lobster and shellfish.

Seafood on display

The market also sells meats, cheeses and prepared food. In addition, they have a gourmet food shop, a wine shop, a sushi bar and a restaurant.

Like Billy's Seafood in Bon Secour, Patti's has numerous sizes of shrimp. Some of them are from the Gulf of Mexico, and some are from other areas. The ones from the Gulf are labeled "domestic." The most expensive were the shrimp from the local waters of Pensacola Bay and Mobil Bay. Most of the shrimp are also available shelled and de-veined for an additional $.50 to $1 a pound. Shelling and de-veining are a big pain, so for a slightly higher price, buying our shrimp shelled and de-veined was a no-brainer.

Patti's will also steam shrimp and lobster for free. You can choose to add spices to them that range from mild to extra hot, and you can also choose to add lemon. After steaming the seafood, Patti's will ice it down if you are taking it home for later. We chose to get the shrimp with medium spice and had them iced so we could put them in our cooler to take back with us for dinner the following evening.

Shrimp and lobster steamed free with or without spices

The steaming only takes about 5 minutes, although the wait could be longer when the store is more crowded. They give you a lobster-shaped pager that flashes when your order is done.

Margery with lobster-shaped pager

Outside the store, there was a trailer selling freshly-made beignets. While we were waiting for our shrimp to be steamed, we noticed a stack of coupons on the counter for a free second order of beignets when you buy an order. We decided to take advantage of the coupon and get some beignets on our way back to the car. We were hungry, so we thought we would eat a few right away and take the rest back to the motor home for later.

Beignets outside Joe Patti Seafood

Paul with one of our orders of beignets

The beignets were different from the ones at Café Du Monde and from the ones at Panini Pete's. The ones at Café Du Monde are rectangular pillows, and the ones from Panini Pete's are round balls. These were flat triangles and were rather soft. They reminded us of Indian fry bread we used to make when we were camping years ago. They were okay, but not as good as the ones from either Café Du Monde or from Panini Pete's.

We took the scenic route back to the motor home and went by way of Perdido Key, which is one of the barrier islands along the Gulf of Mexico. Not only was it a nice drive along the beach, but wouldn't you know the route went right by The Gulf restaurant. We stopped for a late lunch.

We discovered The Gulf last fall when we read about it in another full-timer's blog. They had only been open a month or two back then. The restaurant is located along Perdido Pass, which is where Perdido Bay joins the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf is constructed from 4 stacked shipping containers.

The Gulf restaurant in Orange Beach, AL

The next photo shows a view of the restaurant from the beach side. That's the bar to the left, the kitchen and order window to the right, and upper-deck seating above.

View of the restaurant from the beach

All seating at The Gulf is outdoors, so they aren't open in inclement weather. There are tables on the deck and on a lawn that you can see in the photo above, and there are also benches, chairs and lounges on the beach.

Beach seating at The Gulf

The next photo is a view of some of the tables and of the beach from the upper deck. There are also several tables and some comfortable lounging chairs on the upper deck.

View from the upper deck

After we placed our order at the window, we found a picnic table on the lawn. Someone brings the food to your table when it's ready. The wait staff at The Gulf is super-friendly, helpful and efficient.

Waiting for lunch to arrive

The Gulf has a fairly limited menu. They have burgers, a grouper sandwich, and they usually have one or two seafood entrees and/or salads available. Burgers are $7.50 (up from $6 last fall) plus $1.50 for cheese (American, cheddar, pepper-jack or blue). The grouper sandwich is $12, and the entrees generally run $12 to $15. Fries are hand cut and are $4 for a large order that is big enough for two, unless you are unusually hungry.

The food is pretty pricey, but the ambiance is worth every penny. Going there makes you feel like you're on a tropical beach vacation. We sat and talked for a long time after we were done eating because it was so relaxing with the warm Alabama sun, the cool Gulf breeze and all the boats going through Perdido Pass.

Sailboat passing by

We went to The Gulf twice last fall, and it was a lot more crowded this time. There were lots more people lounging on the beach and sitting at the bar then there were last year. Of course, it was a little later in the day than it was when we were there last year, so some of the "happy hour" crowd had started to arrive. Also, since it was a Friday afternoon, there were some weekenders who were already there.

We were enjoying the atmosphere so much, we really didn't want to leave; but it was getting late so we finally headed back to Rainbow Plantation. We topped off our late lunch with the beignets later in the evening.

By the way, we had our shrimp from Joe Patti's for dinner Sunday evening. We had them cold with cocktail sauce. They were yummy!

We only have a couple of days until we leave for our next destination, but we have one more favorite restaurant to hit. Stay tuned.

Eating Out - Again

Summerdale, AL - Events of Friday, April 19 to Monday, April 23, 2013

We love to go Panini Pete's in Fairhope for lunch, but we seldom get going early enough in the morning to have their beignets (pronounced ben-YAY) for breakfast. Since we had a few other errands to run anyway, we made up our minds to get up a little earlier on Friday and head to Panini Pete's for beignets before making our other stops.

Beinets are French-style, fried doughnuts made famous by the Café Du Monde in New Orleans. They are served smothered in powdered sugar. Panini Pete's takes the beignets a step further by also serving them with a wedge of lemon. When lemon juice is squeezed onto the beignets, it combines with the powdered sugar to create a hint of lemonade flavor. Panini Pete's beignets are also a little different from the ones at Café Du Monde in that they are more like an eclair without the filling than fried dough.

Beignets served with a wedge of lemon

Margery about to take a bite of her beignet

When eating beignets, it is advisable to wear light-colored clothing because you will inevitably spill powdered sugar on yourself and it will not be as noticeable if you are wearing a light color. Unfortunately, it was cool on Friday morning, and we both ended up wearing dark-colored blue jeans. The server give us extra napkins, so we managed to cover our laps well enough to avoid major embarrassment.

We did our cleaning chores around the rig on Saturday morning, and we relaxed the rest of the day. After church on Sunday, we watched the NASCAR race and relaxed some more.

Monday was Margery's birthday. We couldn't have the birthday girl slaving over a hot stove all day, so we made plans to go to Big Daddy's for lupper. We haven't had a chance to get together with Darrell and Judy this stop, so we sent them a quick e-mail and were pleased to find out they were free to join us.

Big Daddy's Grill is located on the Fish River only a few minutes from Rainbow Plantation.

Big Daddy's Grill

Big Daddy's has good sandwiches, burgers and seafood. Before 4:00 p.m., they have lunch specials that include several sandwiches for $6 and several types of seafood baskets for $9, which is a couple of dollars off the regular price. We all had the Philly beef and cheese, which is one of the $6 lunch specials. Darrell and Margery had onion rings for their side, and Judy and Paul had sweet potato fries.

Philly beef and cheese with sweet potato fries

Everything was delish! The beef is tender and full of flavor, and the sandwiches have just the right amount of onions and peppers. The sweet potato fries are extra-sweet, and they're tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. The onion rings were gigantic, and they had a nice crunch that didn't fade away even at the end of the meal.

It wasn't very sunny, but it was fairly warm and not too windy, so we chose a table out on the deck.

Darrell, Judy, Margery and Paul at Big Daddy's

The deck overlooks the Fish River. Paul liked the carving of a pelican that they had sitting on the railing.

Pelican carving overlooking the Fish River

Since it was the middle of the afternoon and the restaurant wasn't very crowded, we hung around a while chatting after we finished eating. Darrell and Judy used to live in Maine, and since we're headed to New England this summer, we picked their brains about places to stay and things to see.

We eventually headed back to Rainbow Plantation where we settled in for an evening of TV. We had picked up a piece of chocolate turtle cake from the bakery at Walmart the day before, and we shared the cake for dessert later in the evening to top off Margery's birthday celebration. The cake was chocolate and the chocolate icing was drizzled with caramel swirls and was topped with pecans and chocolate chips. It was yummy!

Chocolate turtle cake for dessert

Our time in Summerdale is winding down, but we still have plans for another outing or two, so stay tuned.

Bog Blog

Summerdale, AL - Events of Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog is located only a few miles from Rainbow Plantation. It is part of a preserve that protects 6,000 acres of a fragile estuary system along the northern side of Weeks Bay, which lies on the eastern side of Mobile Bay.

We went to the bog a couple years ago. There is a nice boardwalk through the bog where visitors can see a variety of wildflowers and sometimes wildlife in addition to the pitcher plants. On Tuesday, we decided to take the 10-minute drive to the bog to check it out again. Pets on a leash are permitted, so we took Freeway along.

Along the boardwalk at Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants that have tall, tubular leaves that are lined with downward-pointing hairs that trap insects. There is a pool of liquid at the bottom of the tubular leaf containing enzymes that dissolve the insect so the plant can absorb the nutrients. Pitcher plants are relatively rare because of their very limited range and habitat. There are several types of pitcher plants, but the primary type at Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog is the White Topped Pitcher Plant.

Tubular leaves of the White Topped Pitcher Plant

The tubular leaves with their white tops and red veins are very attractive on their own, but they are not the blossoms of the pitcher plants. Separate, red blossoms appear in spring.

Pitcher plant in bloom

Closeup of pitcher plant blossoms

Bogs are constantly moist, but they usually don't have standing water like swamps and wetlands. There was some standing water in the bog the day we were there because of all the rain we received only two days prior.

It was a little later in spring when we went to the bog the last time, and there were more pitcher plants to see (both the tubular leaves and the red blossoms) than there were this time. There were also a few more other wildflowers in bloom back then, but we did see some bitterweed flowers on our latest stop.

Bitterweed

There were also lots of cinnamon ferns, which get their name from their spore-bearing fronds that look like cinnamon sticks.

Cinnamon ferns

The boardwalk winds through the bog and eventually ends up at the Fish River.

Fish River looking upstream

Looking downstream we saw a fisherman at a dock under the bridge casting a net.

Net fishing under the bridge

As we headed back to the car, we stopped for a photo of some wild berry plants blooming alongside the boardwalk.

Wild berries

Even though there weren't quite as many pitcher plants and other wildflowers as there were on our previous visit, we had a nice time walking with Freeway and listening to the birds along the way.

Shortly after we got back to the motor home, we got a text from Pat and Mike asking if we were interested in going to lupper at Lambert's Cafe. They were leaving the next day, so we thought it would be an excellent way to see them off. Lambert's has three locations - one a few miles from Rainbow Plantation in Foley and two more in Missouri. Pat and Mike picked us up, and we all headed to to Foley.

Lambert's Cafe

We have passed by numerous times, but we have never stopped at Lambert's Cafe before. They specialize in southern comfort food, and they are "the only home of throwed rolls." Yeah, we know that's not correct grammar, but that's the way their slogan reads.

Earl and Agnes Lambert opened their first restaurant in 1942 in Sikeston, MO. Their son Norman threw the first dinner roll in 1976 when he couldn't get through the crowd to serve a customer. The customer yelled, "Just throw the danged thing." He did, and a tradition was born.

The side of the restaurant has a mural with likenesses of family members and others who are important to their business. We don't know who the man in the blue shirt and red suspenders is (maybe Norman?), but the roll he is throwing is painted on an air vent making the mural three dimensional.

Mural on the side of Lambert's Cafe

Margery, Paul, Pat and Mike at Lambert's

Lambert's menu is similar to Cracker Barrel with southern favorites like fried chicken, country ham, chicken and dumplings, catfish, pot roast and meatloaf. The big difference is the portion size. The Cracker Barrel portions are adequate, and their prices are very reasonable with most meals costing $7 to $10. The portions at Lambert's, however, are huge. Lambert's prices are somewhat higher, but they're still reasonable considering the much larger portions. Most meals at Lambert's cost $10 to $16. Drinks are served in 34-ounce, insulated mugs with free refills. The dinners are so big they serve most of them in 12" skillets. The photo below shows Pat's barbecued pork steak dinner with three sides (cucumbers and onions, baked sweet potato and baby carrots).

Barbecued pork steak dinner

We knew we would be getting a lot of food at Lambert's, so we both had chicken salad, which is a little lighter meal. It included a large scoop of chicken salad and two sides (shown below with sliced beets and white beans).

Chicken salad plate and two sides (beets and white beans with ham)

In addition to including two or three sides (there are about 20 to choose from), all meals also include what they call "pass-arounds." Servers carrying large bowls, platters or pots serve fried potatoes and onions, macaroni and tomatoes, black-eyed peas, steamed cabbage, and fried okra. There are unlimited refills on the pass-arounds.

Then there are the famous "throwed rolls." We saw rolls being thrown from all the way across the room, but the server will still toss the roll even if he is standing right beside your table. However, if you don't want to risk being embarrassed by missing the catch, you can request the roll be handed to you.

Server (left) winds up to throw a dinner roll from across the room to the people at the table next to us

The rolls are also huge, so we thought we would be good and split one. They are served hot out of the oven. They were so delicious, we couldn't resist splitting a second one.

They also serve apple butter and sorghum syrup with the rolls. We had never had sorghum syrup before, and it is really yummy. Sorghum is a large plant that is a member of the grass family. Some sorghum is grown as a grain, but the the syrup is made from the juices of a sweet variety of sorghum in much the same way molasses is made from sugar cane. After the stalks are crushed, the juice is pressed out then boiled down to a syrup to concentrate the sweetness. We thought the sorghum tasted like a blend of honey and molasses.

Our only complaint about the rolls is Lambert's serves some sort of faux butter spread rather than real butter. However, the rolls are good enough, especially with sorghum, that we hardly missed having real butter.

Most people leave Lambert's with styrofoam boxes of leftover food. The big portions, the large number of included sides, the all-you-can-eat pass-arounds and the endless supply of rolls mean there is often enough extra food for lunch the next day.

When we got back to Rainbow Plantation, we all stopped at our rig to chat a while before we said our good-byes. Then Pat and Mike headed back to their rig to prepare to depart the next morning. They will be heading west this summer, and we probably won't see them again until we all get to Blueberry Hill in December. We'll miss Pat and Mike during the summer, but we'll stay in touch by e-mail, by text and by phone.

We've been eating out a lot on this stop. We have been in lower Alabama for about two weeks and we have eaten at two of our favorite restaurants (plus buying fresh shrimp in Bon Secour), and we have eaten at two new-to-us restaurants. We still have some favorite places where we want to eat, and we may also end up doing some sightseeing. We'll let you know what we're up to in our next post.

More Good Eats

Summerdale, AL - Events of Wednesday, April 10 to Monday, April 15, 2013

Our friends, Pat and Mike, left Blueberry Hill about a week after we did and pulled into Rainbow Plantation on Tuesday. Their friends from Blueberry Hill, Harlan and Linda (Harlan and Linda were part of the group with which had Easter lupper at Cracker Barrel a few days before we left Florida), were staying down the road from Rainbow Plantation in Foley. On Wednesday, we met Pat, Mike, Harlan and Linda at the Shrimp Basket in Foley for lupper.

The Shrimp Basket, which is a chain of about a dozen seafood restaurants, is another one of our favorite restaurants here in Lower Alabama. We both had fried clam strips, which were delicious. The rest of the group had a variety of other things including grilled shrimp, shrimp tacos and all-you-can-eat fish.

Our group at Shrimp Basket (clockwise from the left): Margery, Paul, Mike, Pat, Harlan and Linda

We had a good time catching up with Pat and Mike and with Harlan and Linda.

We shopped for groceries on Friday then did our weekly cleaning of the rig on Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, we took Freeway to the dog park at Rainbow Plantation. We have been doing a little training after dinner in the space behind our site, but the training goes better at the dog park where we can allow Freeway to run freely.

Freeway continues to show progress in his training. We are now able to get him to sit even when we are some distance away.

Freeway, sit!

When we call Freeway's name, he sometimes even seems to be paying attention to see what we want him to do next.

Freeway waiting for our next command

Come continues to be the biggest challenge. If he is distracted, Freeway acts like he is totally deaf. However, when he feels like it (which is increasingly more frequent), he comes running.

Freeway, come!

Of course, we continue to mix play with training so the training won't be a chore for Freeway or for us.

Play time

We had a big rain storm pass through the area on Sunday, so we just hunkered down in the motor home with a movie we picked up on the way home from church from the Redbox kiosk at Walmart. Fortunately, the storm didn't cause any local damage that we're aware of, but we did get almost an inch of rain during the afternoon.

On Monday, since we had to go out anyway to return the movie, we decided to head to Panini Pete's for a late lunch. Panini Pete's is located on a small courtyard patio called the French Quarter behind a row of shops along the main street in Fairhope.

Entrance to the French Quarter in Fairhope

There is indoor seating in an enclosure that looks like a Victorian conservatory, and there is also seating on the patio.

Indoor seating

Outdoor seating on the patio

Panini Pete's is yet another of our favorite area restaurants. They A have nice selection of paninis including house-roasted turkey and house-roasted beef. Turkey is our favorite, so that's what we both had. The turkey panini is served on fresh-baked foccacia with baby greens, roasted red pepper, Dijon, garlic aioli and house-made mozzarella.

Roast turkey panini with shoestring fries

Margery about to take a bite of her panini

The paninis cost around $8 to $10 and include your choice of homemade shoestring fries, homemade potato chips or the side of the day (usually a pasta salad). Several types of burgers are also available for around the same price, and there are gourmet hot dogs that are a few dollars less.

The patio is surrounded by shops and boutiques. While we ate, we watched an artist from one of the shops who was outside painting.

Artist painting on the patio

After our meal, we strolled down the sidewalk for a couple of blocks. Fairhope has a quaint, picturesque downtown area that has an artsy feel. There are coffee shops, book stores, high-end antique shops, gift shops and boutiques all over the downtown area.

This garden shop was open by appointment only.

Gift shop

One of the things we like so much about downtown Fairhope are the beautiful flowers that are planted along the sidewalks and on the street corners. You can see an example of some of the flowers in front of the gift shop shown above. We especially liked the white iris we saw in front of another shop.

White iris

As we headed back to the motor home, we heard the news of the tragic bombings in Boston. Our prayers are with those who were injured, with their families and loved ones, and especially with the loved ones of those who died.

We are about half way through our stay at Rainbow Plantation, and we still have a number of eateries we want to visit. We are also hoping to do some sightseeing, so stay tuned.

Starting Out in Alabama With Good Eats

Summerdale, AL - Events of Thursday, April 4 to Tuesday, April 9, 2013

We needed to restock our fridge and pantry, so we headed to the Walmart in Fairhope on Thursday. Since the Walmart is about half way to the Bass Pro Shops in Spanish Fort, we also stopped there because Margery had found fairly nice raincoats on sale when she did a search on the internet. As we mentioned in our last post, we found out our old ones were leaking badly because the vinyl lining was cracked from age.

The coats that were on sale were much like the rain suits we had that were leaking - nylon outside with a vinyl coating inside. We saw they also had Frogg Togg rain suits (coats and pants) that are made from a proprietary, ultra-light, non-woven fabric that is both waterproof and breathable. When we tried them on, we found them to be a lot more comfortable than the ones with the vinyl lining that feels so clammy on your skin. One style of Frogg Toggs was being closed out 40% off so it was only a few bucks more for a complete suit than it was for the coat only with the vinyl lining. Even though we rarely need the pants, the Frogg Toggs were so much more comfortable we ended up buying them.

Paul modeling one of our new rain suits

The pants have zippers on the pant legs so you can get them on over your shoes. The jacket has elastic around the cuffs and around the bottom to keep out rain, and it has a hood that keeps rain off your head, too. The hood even has a drawstring to keep it snug around your face, but the next photo shows what happens if you pull the drawstring on the hood too tight.

Oops! That's a little too tight on the drawstring on the hood.

As we mentioned, eating out is one of our favorite activities here in Lower Alabama, and we didn't waste much time getting started. On Friday, we headed south to Foley to stop at the Walmart there because the one in Fairhope was out of Freeway's dog food. After making a couple of other stops, we drove to Bon Secour on our way back to the motor home to pick up some shrimp.

Bon Secour is a fishing village located on the Bon Secour River near where it empties into Bon Secour Bay on the eastern side of Mobile Bay. Bon Secour has several fish and shrimp packing houses that also sell fresh seafood to the public.

We usually go to Billy's Seafood when we go to Bon Secour to buy shrimp, but this time we saw Aguila Seafood had a banner on one of their billboards along the road saying "Lowest Prices" so we decided to give them a try.

Aguila Seafood

Aguila doesn't have as many different sizes of shrimp and as wide a selection of other seafood as Billy's, but their prices did seem a little lower for somewhat larger shrimp. However, the variation could also be due to seasonal fluctuations. We'll have to check out Billy's for comparison the next time we decide to buy shrimp.

Smaller selection at Aguila Seafood, but possible better prices

Margery used a new recipe to cook up the shrimp for dinner. She baked them in a shallow pan on a bed of thin lemon slices swimming in butter laced with a little dry Good Seasons Italian dressing mix. They were yummy!

We did some relaxing and some puttering around over the weekend. We attended services at Church on the Eastern Shore (COTES) on Sunday then watched the NASCAR race.

We made a run to the post office and a stopped at Camping World on Monday. On Tuesday, Margery had a followup appointment with the ophthalmologist who did her cataract surgery last fall. Her eyes are doing well.

On the way back from the ophthalmologist, we stopped at Fish River Grill for lupper. We have passed there dozens and dozens of times, and we were always curious about them. Our friends who own a lot at Rainbow Plantation, Darrell and Judy, mentioned Fish River Grill when they stopped by to say hello a couple of days prior. They heard from others at Rainbow Plantation that Fish River Grill had excellent hamburgers and catfish. For that reason, we finally decided to give them a try.

Fish River Grill

The place is pretty small. You order at the counter then find a table and wait for the food to come out from the kitchen. In addition to a couple of picnic tables under the trees outside, there is a row of booths and several nice tables with stools made from sections of logs inside.

Tables and stools made from sections of logs

We both had burgers. They are huge, half-pound burgers served on a bun with your choice of toppings. The burger comes with fries for $7.99. Other dishes include Po' Boys, shrimp, crayfish, alligator, oysters and catfish.

Half-pound burger and fries

The burgers were excellent! As first-time guests, we were also given a complimentary cup of Swamp Soup, which is a type of bean soup with wilted greens of some sort (probably turnip greens) in it. The soup was also excellent.

So we have kicked off our stay in Summerdale with one of our favorites - shrimp fresh off the boat in Bon Secour, and we followed that up with a stop at a new place we have always wanted to try. Look for our next post to see what else we find to do.