Cajunking's Road Trip to the South Land and Report

Oh Yeah, No more work for the next 10 days. I am heading south on another food adventure, fishing trip. This year's plans are Tuesday to head south from Cincinnati, through Louisville and then South via
I-65, US 31 and US 231.

Tuesday's stops will be breakfast north of Nashville, Mid morning snack in Clanton Alabama (Durbin Farms for homemade peach ice cream), lunch in Decatur Alabama, and dinner at Killer Seafood in Mexico Beach Florida.

Wednesday, breakfast at sharon's cafe, lunch at Reagan's Oyster Pub, Dinner at the Dog track in Ebro Florida.

Thursday, who knows where our taste buds will take us.

Friday, We will be setting up and smoking several hundred pounds of fresh sausage for a party in Mexico Beach.

Saturday, 5 AM out on the gulf for a day of fishing and hopefully winning the tournament, if not we will have fun trying.
Saturday night, Awards dinner - Fresh fried fish (from the tournament), cheese grits, pasta salad, home made slaw, jalapeno corn bread.

Saturday Night - Brown Cow's Ice Cream Shoppe for a "Walt's" famous bananananana split

Sunday - Scallops at the Port St Joe scallop festival

The rest of the trip, as our taste buds take us.

I hope to post pictures and a report from the road.

Talk to yall soon

Donald
cajunking

P.S. Bhambabe if you are done moving, not only is there hundreds of pounds of yummy qued sausages, but the PSJ scallop festival is also the weekend of the 25-27th.

P.S.A.P.S. Mayor Al, any ideas for breakfast south of you?? for Tuesday morning?

p.s.a.p.s.a.p.s. everyone welcome at Mexico Beach and PSJ scallop festival

cajunking,
remember to take pictures!!

got the camera ready, I usually forget and pack it away but it is in my "inside car bag" along with cd's, notepad (got to play the license plate game), meds and sugary snacks.

I can't wait to get the shot of all those sausages smoking, oh how i wish there was smell o vision.

quote:

Originally posted by cajunking
P.S. Bhambabe if you are done moving, not only is there hundreds of pounds of yummy qued sausages, but the PSJ scallop festival is also the weekend of the 25-27th.

Oh how I wish. We'll be in Atlanta all this next week for mandatory meetings then New Orleans to look at houses on the weekend.

Y'all have fun and eat some smoked sausages for me!

Sounds fantastic! Most people only make hotel reservations, you take it to another limit with knowing where you are eating for an entire week. If I were in the area I would hunt you down. Enjoy.

Cajun-Don,
Breakfast Tuesday morning in Louisville should be at Lynn's Paradise Cafe (see review on this site). It is worth the 2 mile ride off the I-65 in the city to eat there. I think they open at 7am so you could be close to your time schedule. Not much breakfast between Louisville and Nashville.

Lunch in Decatur, Alabama??? BIG BOB GIBSON's Try the White BBQ Sauce. We stop there on every trip down to the Gulf.

Have a great ride and report in with photos when you can !!!

Cajunking, enjoy your trip in my neck of the woods!
Watch out around Ebro - it gets pretty wild there sometimes!

Yes, Big Bob Gibson's for lunch in Decatur, I LOVE their potato salad, plus I will bring some que down to my father in Florida, and he wants a couple bottles of red sauce, he can find the white but not the red.

I was thinking about Lynn's, I have been there twice with friends, the friend that is going down with me gets to pick breakfast, I will strongly suggest it. (I have a feeling it will be cracker barrell tho )

bhambabe, MB is on the way from hotlanta to NOLA

I started my adventure today by traveling north into Indiana. I will post about my food mis adventures in the next day.

Right now i gots to go pack, for DIXIE I am coming home!!

I hate to mention it, but it has served as a family-quieter stop for me in the past....There is a Shoneys at the E-Town,KY exit (94 I think) that serves as an alternative to cracker barrel.

Mr. Mayor,

I would bring you back some shrimps or scallops, but the last time I did my cooler leaked, on a hot summer day that car still smells of seafood

Thanx for the advice.

My next post will be from Mexico Beach Florida. OH YEAH

Our trip began this morning at 6 am est, setting out in the predawn solitude. I let my friend pick his choice of places for breakfast. (Yes, I lobbied hard for Lynn's Cafe in louisville) The choice unfortunately was not up to me.

He chose his "favorite" place cracker barrell. The server was a wonderful older lady, who still had a steel trap for a memory. Without writing our order down she hustled off and placed our order.

My friend ordered the "Uncle Herschel" and I something that had ham & eggs, grits, apples, hashbrown casserole and biscuits and gravy.

The service was quick and our food arrived so quickly we only had time to play that agrovating puzzle twice each.

This however is where the good ended and the began. The ham was thin, and overcooked. It reminded me of very tough leather, and way too salty. The rest was ok, not real warm and the biscuits were dry.

I usually never get bad food at a cracker barrell, but this one.... I took a comment card and have since filled it out and mailed it in.

The drive through the rolling hills of Kan-Tuck-Ee & Tennessee, was beautiful. We hit several traffic problems up to Nashville, but south of Nasville the road cleared and we were making progress.

We arrived in Decatur, Alabama during the height of the lunch rush, and there was a wait fora table at Big Bob Gibson's BBQ. So we placed a to go order for our food, I knew there are picnic tables at Durbin Farms in Clanton Alabama, our next stop. So we got our food to go and headed for Clanton.

The whole car smelled of BBQ, My friend got a smaller sampler of brisket and shoulder. I got the "Big Bob Gibson Platter", choice of 3 meats, 2 sides and a roll. I chose Brisket, Shoulder and Turkey Breast with BBQ beans and potato salad.

The sun was out in Decatur, the temp was low 80's and we were all set for a picnic lunch. We arrived at Durbin Farms (exit 205 off I-65 in Al) set out our food and started our lunch.

Did i mention the sun WAS out in Decatur, well this little black cloud formed over us and in less than 2 minutes the sky opened up and a torrent of rain came down, and the lightening started flashing, and the thunder started booming.

Did I mention we were sitting at a picnic table under a small tree in the middle if a field? The only injuries came to our lunch, totally drenched BBG BBQ is still ok just a little more wet.

The brisket was tender and juicy, just enough smoke to notice it, but not to overpower it. The shoulder was good (mine had more bark bites in it, and I like bark but not a bunch of it). The turkey breast....
O wow, I discovered BBG turkey breast 2 years ago and have been hooked ever since. the turkey was tender, rubbed and smoked, I could have eaten 10 pounds of the stuff.

The potato salad was as good as always, even though it got a little water logged from the rain. The chunks of red potatoes, and just enough seasoning to make it all come together and be delicious.

The BBQ beans were sweet and spicy, just enough quick to make you take notice, but not too much to make you hate it.

The dill pickle..... went out the window going down I-65.
"cajunking remembers the dill pickle incident of 1979 and shivers"


We ran to the car and finished our lunch in the car watching this beautiful lightning storm. After we finished lunch we went inside Durbin Farms for dessert. Fresh peach ice cream. We both got 2 scoops, and sat there eating our ice cream trying to dry ourselves with napkins.

The ice cream was awesome as always, once we had finished we went over to the produce side of the market. Big Red and Chairty Belle were the variety of fresh peaches for the day. Big Red is a yellow fleshed free stone peach, extremely juicy and sweet. The Charity Belle is a white flesh, freestone peach, these were not quite ripe yet and had a TANG to them.

So after looking over the produce and making plans for our return trip and how many peaches we were going to need to take back with us (any body got a U Haul )

I got 2 boxes of Big Red peaches to eat while were are here in Florida. I a making cobbler on the morrow, with blue bunny vanilla ice cream.

The rest of our trip south was fairly uneventful, we had planned to eat at Killer Seafood here in Mexico Beach, Florida tonight, but when we got here we found out they are now closed on Monday & Tuesday.

So my father grilled some homemade meatloaf burgers for us for dinner with some green beans we had gotten from Durbin Farms, and for dessert fresh sliced peaches.

All in all a long day, filled with good times with friends and family. It may not have been the perfect Roadfood day, but hey there is always tomorrow. So until then my friends be safe and good eating.

I will post the pix from today's adventure hopefully tomorrow if i can find my usb connector for my camera. I did remember to take pictures this time, just can't get them off my camera yet.

Very good and interesting report, cajunking. Fresh peach ice cream sounds awesome! One question (fer us ignawrant westerners)-----what was wrong with the dill pickle that caused you to throw it out----and what's the pickle incident of 1979?

We hit Peach Park on our way home from the Gulf every year. It's a family tradition. Love their ice cream.

Gibsons is always first choice for me up that way too. Glad it was good for ya.

I'm sitting here in Duluth, Ga with a born and bred Atlantan and he wants Varsity...bleh Guess we'll hit that before going home to Birmingham thurs, then on to NOLA that night. We've had 'catered' food all week, bleh again, though they are supplying free beer :-)

That meatloaf burger sounds good bout right now. Never tried it that way, will have to give it a go.

Happy trip! So sorry you got wet, but we needed that rain lol

I have stopped at Durbin Farms many times enroute to Montgomery, AL. I found it to be entertaining, scenic and pretty good food. I enjoyed the walks to the east of the building.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Ed

There was nothing wrong with the pickle, but after a very bad experience with dill pickles when I was 8 (1979).

My step sisters doctored a pickle with who knows what, told me it was a sweet pickle (which i loved at that time) and I started eating it, bout half way through I started getting violently sick and they had to call the ambulance. I spent 2 days in the hospital. They on the other hand, only were grounded for a week.

To this day I will not eat a pickle plain. If it is chopped up in something (gots to be real small pieces) I can tell myself it is not a pickle, and will eat it.

So there is nothing wrong with the pickles at BBG, only with me and pickles.

quote:

Originally posted by cajunking

Ed

There was nothing wrong with the pickle, but after a very bad experience with dill pickles when I was 8 (1979).

My step sisters doctored a pickle with who knows what, told me it was a sweet pickle (which i loved at that time) and I started eating it, bout half way through I started getting violently sick and they had to call the ambulance. I spent 2 days in the hospital. They on the other hand, only were grounded for a week.

To this day I will not eat a pickle plain. If it is chopped up in something (gots to be real small pieces) I can tell myself it is not a pickle, and will eat it.

So there is nothing wrong with the pickles at BBG, only with me and pickles.

Yikes.....now I understand! I am the same with eggs-----as long as I don't recognize them as eggs I'll eat them in something. Put a soft-boiled egg near me though and I'm running for the door!

quote:

Originally posted by cajunking

Ed

There was nothing wrong with the pickle, but after a very bad experience with dill pickles when I was 8 (1979).

My step sisters doctored a pickle with who knows what, told me it was a sweet pickle (which i loved at that time) and I started eating it, bout half way through I started getting violently sick and they had to call the ambulance. I spent 2 days in the hospital. They on the other hand, only were grounded for a week.

To this day I will not eat a pickle plain. If it is chopped up in something (gots to be real small pieces) I can tell myself it is not a pickle, and will eat it.

So there is nothing wrong with the pickles at BBG, only with me and pickles.

My spouses's question to this would be, "What did you do to deserve that?,"

I was the youngest, and like cindarella I had two evil step sisters. Pets of my wicked witch step mother. All I had to do was be there and I got tortured. (Nair on my head, super glued my fingers to my head (another Dr's visit), the list goes on)

Needless to say I wished a house would fall on them, never did tho!!

Day 2 - The adventure continues

This morning we woke to a wonderful thunder storm, lightning, thunder that seemed to roll for ever. My step mother (no not the one from the previous posts, that was step mother #1, this one is step mother #3 ) had to go a doctor's appointment so she couldn't join us for breakfast. So my father, my friend and I went to Sharon's Cafe in Mexico Beach Florida.

Sharon's is a true small town diner that the locals always crowd from 6 am to 2 pm. We were lucky enough to find a table and were greeted instantly by a friendly local that has worked there for several years. She recognized my father and I, but did not know my friend so she sat down at our table and introduced herself.

The breakfast menu is packed with all sorts of good breakfast foods, my father ordered a full order of biscuits and gravy, and black coffee. My friend ordered a breakfast platter with 2 eggs, choice of breafast meats (links, patties, bacon or ham) he chose ham, grits and biscuits and gravy.
I ordered a different platter with 3 eggs, grits, 2 choices of meats, corned beef hash, toast. I also ordered a waffle.

Our order was prepared quickly and brought to our table, where our waitress again sat down and started talking to my friend.

The biscuits and gravy my father ordered were as he put it "heaven on earth". There were 4 buttermilk biscuits, each light and fluffy, they stood almost 3 inches tall. Baked to a light golden brown and brushed with melted butter that made them shine. The sausage gravy had big chunks of browned bulk sausage in it and lots of pepper. The gravy was thick enough to make it stick to your ribs, but not too thick to stand a spoon up in it, perfect IMHO.

My friends order came out on a platter as big as the place mat under it. The eggs were perfectly cooked (He likes them over medium), his ham was a nice thick slab of country ham. Nicely smoked and not too salty. It was tender and juicy. I got his grits because he is a northerner and doesn't like grits (No I am not trying to get anyone's dander up, just a simple fact that southerners like their grits better) His biscuit and gravy was "out of this world" as he said with a mouth full of it.

My order was done to perfection, my eggs over easy, grits (times 2 ), links and patties which I vut up and mixed into my egg/grit mixture. Corned beef hash grilled to yumminess. It was brown and crunchy in places and still tender in others, a perfect blend. The toast was..... toast, my friend ate it (we traded grits for toast).

The best part of my breakfast though was the waffle. over an inch high browned to golden brown. The batter had a hint of cinnamon in it. The butter melted down in all the nooks, I decided to use syrup. It did not need the syrup though to make it good.

We got out of there for under $20 for the three of us, and we were stuffed until well into the afternoon.

For lunch (which was 2:30 pm) we were going to go to Reagan's Oyster Pub. A local friend called and asked if we wanted to eat lunch with him at the Fish House so we went there for lunch instead.

The Fish House in Mexico Beach Florida is a small family run restaurant. They do serve a daily lunch special, but they really have good local fresh seafood on their menu. I also found out that it is now owned by the family that owns Reagan's Oyster Pub.

Today was Meatloaf Day, with mashed potatoes, creamed corn.

The three of us sat down and were greeted by the owner, she said hi to my friend Chip and she smiled and told me it must be fishing tournament time.

Chip ordered the daily special and Dennis and I ordered the grouper finger lunch plate. We also ordered Gator Bites for an appetizer and I ordered the seafood chowder.

The chowder arrived shortly, This chowder is made daily by a little old lady (the owner's mother). There were shrimps, clams, scallops and fish bits in the chowder, with potato, carrots, celery, onion and bacon, in a rich broth that was finished with cream. I will be going back again for some more and I may get some to take home with me.

The gator bites arrived and we dug into them. Each appetizer sized order had 12-15 bites, each one 1 1/2 to 2 inches big. The gator meat was dredged in corn meal and deep fried to a golden brown. Each piece was tender and sweet, they came with honey mustard dipping sauce, but they did not need anything but a little salt (very little).

Chip's meatloaf dinner arrived first, as our grouper fingers were cut and grilled to order.

The meatloaf was a solid rendition of the american staple. Onions, green peppers were present. The meatloaf held together nicely and was covered by ketchup/catsup. The mashed potatoes were mashed with the skins on, they were somebody's premade, but they added some sour cream and spices to it. The creamed corn was homemade, man o man that old lady can cook. Tammy the owner said her mom made it this morning.

The grouper finger plates came hot off the grill, you can get them fried or grilled with your choice of grill seasoning. (lemon pepper, salt & pepper, greek style, or cajun seasoning) Dennis & I both got cajun seasoning, gee imagine that.

The lunch plate came with two sides and hush puppies. Dennis got a small side salad and creamed corn. I got creamed corn and creamed corn.
The grouper was grilled until it was still very tender, flaky and juicy.

The hushpuppies were a cornmeal and beer mixture. Which made them sweet and just the hint of beer, sort of like beer battered onion rings, just that hint of the beer.

The gator bites were $7.99
The Chowder (BIG BOWL) $3.95
The Meatloaf Dinner $6.95
The Grouper Finger Plate was $8.95

Mine was $22.89 plus tax
Dennis' was $19.93 plus tax
Chip's was $8.95 plus tax

So not extremely cheap, but for what we got I could not complain, except that my stomach hurt from so much food.

I will post my dinner experience at Ebro Greyhound Race Track later today, it is 2am and my bed is calling me.

I took lots of pictures today but still have not found my usb connector, and of course my father's digital camera uses a different connector than mine and Mexico Beach is shall we say a SMALL TOWN, with no place to buy one.

So for now from Mexico Beach Florida, where the introverts stare at their shoes and the extroverts stare at yours, Good Night!

Cajunking, nice write up and great description of the area. I am anxious to see your pics once you find your USB.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Your descriptions are so vivid that I only need to see pictures for fun.Sounds like you are having a good time!!

Keep those reports coming. Great Job!!

Oh, I could just taste your breakfast.

(something weird about that sentence.)

I found a USB cable

Sorry for the delay in posting these.

This picture is of a Big Bob Gibson Sampler, we had it to go because it was a beautiful day in Decatur, Alabama and we were going to eat a picnic lunch at Durbin Farms in Clanton, Alabama.

The side dishes are two helpings of BBG potato salad, and I even got a gallon to go. The meats are from left to right
Smoked Pork Shoulder, Beef Brisket, Smoked Turkey Breast.

When I ate them I used the BBG championship winning red sauce, which I also picked up a gallon of, along with 5 pounds of shoulder.
So we could snack when we got down to florida.



This next picture is what happens when the weather changes suddenly while you have your picnic lunch all spread out on a table under a tree. That is my grey/blue car sitting with my bottle of water on it, I knew I forgot something whent he rain hit.



So with lunch a wash out we went inside Durbin Farms Market and got dessert. This is 2 scoops of fresh homemade peach ice cream.



After our dessert we went shopping in the farm market for some fresh peaches and other things to take down to my father's house. The peaches were sweet and delicious, on the right are "Big Red" and on the left are "charity belle"



They had all sorts of wonderful things, these nectarines looked awesome.



Here is some more of the great things Durbin Farms Market had the day we were there.



After a long day's driving, almost getting struck by lightning, this was the final reward though



I will work on posting the rest of my photos saturday, and try and bring my trip journal up to date.

From Sunny, Humid Mexico Beach Florida, where if you don't like the weather stick around 15 minutes and it will rain.

I have always enjoyed the ambiance at Durbin Farms. Great place and great pics.

Paul E. Smith
knoxville, TN

Oh, Cajun, that peace ice cream looks absoluuuutely perfect.

Cajunking, I have really enjoyed reading your trip report, thanks so much for sharing with us. I was just commenting this afternoon, at the Crabstock gathering, that one of the many things I enjoy about this forum is reading the reports from the field, and especially when there's a good narrative with pictures to accompany.

And that peach ice cream looks sooooo good (even as stuffed as I am, it still looks good!). LOL

Day 3 - The continuing quest for good food, Thursday August 24, 2006

We had another nature's wake up call this morning. The rain was coming down so hard and hitting this metal roof, there was no way to sleep through that noise, plus the lightning and thunder were intense also.

We started our day again at Sharon's Cafe, Mexico Beach, Florida



The waitress was friendly and very talkative this morning (ok, every morning). She took our order and brought us our drinks very quickly.
Today, my friend Dennis had a 3 egg omelette, with sausage, cheese, mushrooms, & onions, with hasbrowns on the side with wheat toast.

The omelette was extremely fluffy and stuffed full with all the goodies. The hasbrowns were fried up to a golden crisp, without losing their tenderness.

I ordered 3 eggs over easy, corned beef hash, sausage patties, grits & a waffle.



The food was cooked to perfection, the eggs were runny, just the way I love them, the grits thick, but not too thick, really good for sticking to your ribs. The corned beef hash, was fried to crisp and tender. That waffle was heaven on a plate. Over an inch tall, as they were preparing it you could smell it cooking throughout the cafe. Served to us hot and delicious.

After a very filling breakfast we drove out the Cape San Blas, and the state park there. I wanted to show Dennis some of the damage that the last 2 years hurricane's had done to the area. The state park was beautiful sitting out on the narrow little strip of white sands. The dunes have mostly recovered from being decimated by the storm surge from the hurricanes, we got to see all sorts of wildlife, from birds to deer to a gator sunning himself on the beach.

We got back to my father's house where my step mother had been hard at work, she had slow cooked a nice big rump roast the night before, she had shredded it and was making beef & noodles for dinner.

That afternoon we ate, LOTS of beef and noodles with mashed potatoes, she made a key lime pie for dessert. The Key Lime pie really hit the spot after we let our stomach's settle.

That evening the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association (MBARA) cooking team got together for a pre captiain's party party. On the menu was all sorts of interesting things. Skeeter and G-man, put on a feast for us.

The first round of food, was "Pakistani" Chicken. Skeeter had gotten the recipe from a Pakistani lady he works with. She told him to put the chicken in the marinade for 6 hours before smoking, skeeter never doing anything the way he was told to do let it sit for 24 hours. This marinade was as orange as a prison jumpsuit. So onto the BGE (Weber, big green egg)
the chicken went to smoke and cook.

G-man, a good friend who lives in NOLA, brought some freshly made boudin, and put it on the smoker. While everything cooked we were entertained by all sorts of fish tales. Skeeter's brother is a charter boat captain here in the Gulf of Mexico, and most everybody at the get together has went out fishing with Capt. Chip. Finally the first round of food was ready to come off the BGE and the smoker.

The Pakistani Chicken had a really good flavor to it, there was some initial heat but it was not over powering.

As we all talked and ate the second round of food went on the BGE and smoker. The second round consisted of quail that had been marinaded in the Pakistani marinade, more boudin.

Capt. Chip and his brother are known for there love of HOT sauce, and both pride themselves in making some really HOT, but good stuff.

This year there were 4 entries into the "set your A**h**e on fire" contest.
The first was made by skeeter, it was an habanero/cajun mustard blend. This sauce was really good on the boudin, and did pack some wonderful heat.

The second sauce was made by a 94 year old neighbor of Capt Chip, Mr. Smith's Sauce was an Habanero/Jalapeno blend. I must admit that oldman can make Hot sauce, last year's entry was so hot it corroded the mason jar it was in. This year's sauce was not quite that caustic, but was really warm.

Skeeter's entry into this year's contest was a smoked habanero/habanero and a Jalapeno/smoked Jalapeno blend, he cooked it with carrots and onions and garlic. Slow cooking everything until it fell apart, then pureed it, cooked it some more then sieved it and bottled it. I was not sure about the use of carrots in the sauce, but they gave it a sweetness that was truly suprising before the smokey heat came in and kicked your butt.

The final entry (and most deadly) was a sauce that Capt Chip had created, it's name was "Diesel Fuel". It looked just like diesel fuel. Capt. Chip had warned everyone about this sauce. It was very thin, and had an initial sweetness to it, but OMG did it light your world on fire.

Sitting around the deck at skeeter's palce we ate and ate, I found that if you pored some of the diesel fuel on a plate and dip the chickenand boudin into it, then it was not too bad. (ok, so I lied, my motto when in a heat contest like this one, NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU SWEAT)

The second round of food was taken off the BGE and smoker and the final round of food went on. 5 pounds of inch and a half thick Ribeyes that had been marinaded in the diesel fuel.

The steaks were wonderful smoked to a rare/medium rare, the diesel fuel added a sweetness to the steaks that was surprisingly good, and the intense heat was soothed a little, but too much of a great thing can be painful in the morning.

After way too many pieces of boudin, and chicken and everything else, mixed with a few adult beverages of the malted hops and barley variety and shots of Jagermeister at midnight. I was really glad my dad's house was only a block away and was within walking distance.

So for today, I must say farewell, until tomorrow's report. Which includes photos of one of the real reasons for my trip to the southland.

Good Night, Sleep Tight, If you tried the diesel fuel,

Day 4 - The day I was really looking forward too - August 25, 2006

Once again mother nature had an early morning wake up call set, this time though it was early enough that after the storm we could go back to sleep for a few hours.

I must admit the honest truth here, this morning when I woke and went to the bathroom for the first time since last night's "Set your A**H**E on fire" contest. , enough said on that matter.

My father cooked breakfast this morning, biscuits and gravy. Since i was a little kid my father has always prided himself on his biscuits and gravy. The biscuits were homemade drop biscuits, the sausage gravy was made with Piggly Wiggly brand sausage, for a store brand it really has a goo flavor and just the right amount of pepper.

After breakfast Dennis and I went for another journey, and to get his fishing license for the tournament tommorrow.

We stopped at Paul Gant's BBQ in Port St Joe, Florida. His que was very good, the shoulder had a good smokey flavor to it, and lots of bark mixed in with every serving.

His sauce is a thicker, red sauce with a bit of smokiness and heat to it. We both had a shoulder sandwich and hushpuppies.

At noon we went up to help the MBARA cooing team set up for the captain's party. 3 stick burners (mobile que pits) were brought in and set up. We fired them up and started to get a nice load of hickory coals going.



The dinner starts at 5pm, and there is usually about 600-750 people ready to eat by 5:30pm. So at 3pm we started smoking our sausages.



G-man, has a friend in NOLA make all our sausages for the party, this year we had over 300 pounds to get ready for the party.



Here are some of the members of the MBARA cooking team getting things reasy for the party.





This years choices: Chicken Jalapeno, Georgia Hot, Hot, Mild, and XXX HOT. For the next 3 hours we smoked our sausage, and when the time came there was plenty to go around for everyone.


Things got real hot, heck we even had George Washington stop by, ok so it was CT trying to stay cool.



This was my dinner that night, ok I snacked on all the flavors and all were good, but these are the ones I kept coming back to.



The XXX HOT sausages, yes that is catsup/ketchup on them, I was trying to lessen the heat on them.



What you don't see in the photo is I had dipped them in the diesel fuel



The jar with the blue lid is the diesel fuel, Capt Chip used a plastic lid this year so it would not corrode.

The captain's party was a huge success, we were all worn out after we had torn everything down, but there is nothing like smoking on a white sand beach.



and a view like this



or an ending to a day like this



So from the Sunny Gulf Coast of Florida, where the A**H**E's are still burning and the food was delicious, good night!

You should write books........