CajunKing's Adventure to Mexico Beach, Florida

Feb 13, 2007 - Southeast Indiana

Today I am getting ready to head south for the 9th annual gumbo cookoff in Mexico Beach, Florida. I have things to pack and things to do before I head out at 6AM tomorrow.

I opened the door to head out and guess what Mother Nature has been busy, the wonderful snow we had was getting rained on, the temp was hovering around 31 degrees and the ice was building up fast.

I got home about 3:30 this afternoon and loading the cooler with all the goodies for my gumbo, and went inside to pack my suitcase. Again mothernature plays a trick on me, and we lost power.

Have you ever tried paccking a suitcase by candle light?? It is not the easiest thing to do. I hope I didn't forget anything. Finally about 11pm the power is restored, and the house can start to warm up.

I have everything loaded into the car, and I really hope in the morning I can get into the car with all this ice forming. We shall see.

05:30am, power went out again, good thing I have a battery operated alarm clock. Dearborn County is under a level 3 snow emergency, no one allowed out on the road or ELSE!!



Finally at 6am I got the car somewhat scraped off, and somewhat warm, the temp dropped to 12 degrees last night, hey when did this snow start falling.

I met my friend at the local Wal-Mart and we set out, travelling a whole 20 miles an hour along the highway. We finally get out to the interstate and YEAHHHHH we can go a whole 45 mph now. As we head south the ice and snow gets less and less, and by the time we are in Louisville, there is just a little blowing powdery snow, but nothing really slowing us down.

We got to Elizabethtown, KY and stopped for breakfast. My friend will only eat breakfast at Cracker Barrell, so we stop there. Walking through the parking lot, I don't notice this patch of black ice and down I go.

Laying there on the ground wondering what the heck just happened. I tried to get up and my knee gives out and down I go for the second time. Finally I get to my feet and walk tenderly into the CB.

The food was ok, the service was horrible. I had the country boy breakfast (3 eggs, steak, grits, biscuit gravy, hash browns and baked apples) Everything was ok but the steak they mashed it to hurry it up and it had a nasty burnt bark on it.

We ate and I limped back out to the car, this is where I must say painkillers can be a wonderful thing, when you need them. I took some and slept for a while.

At this point I must stop for now, it has been a LONG day, and my second round of pain meds are starting to kick in.

More tomorrow, including pix.

So for now from Mexico Beach, Florida where the introverts stare at their shoes and the extroverts stare at yours, TTFN.

CK, you have a thang for falling on these trips dontcha? Stay safe! Glad the weather didn't hold ya up any!

Hello All,
Cajunking, bummer on how the trip started, but I hope you have a
wonderful adventure from now on.
Did you take the pain meds before you fell or after?
Really, enjoy your bliss in Mexico Beach.
Awaiting your next report.
Take Care,
Fieldthistle

Cant wait for pictures...

I took my pain meds after the fall, and slept until Montogomery, AL. So we missed our stop at Big Bob's Gibson. So we stopped in Montgomery at the Roadhouse Grill. I love a place where you can still throw peanut shells on the floor.

The steaks were decent, the mashed potatoes were garlicy and good.

After dinner we headed down the road and outside of Dothan, AL we got to see some fo the destruction from the tornadoes that had gone through the area. There were 4 mobile homes destroyed. We arrived in Mexico Beach after 13 hours on the road.



Ice Storm Cometh



My neighbors tree what was left of it.



It was pretty but deadly, a 9 year old Cincinnati girl was killed while walking her dog, a tree limb fell on her and killed her.

Besides the fall, everything was pretty uneventful. I really had better plans for some good eats along the way, but "The best laid plans..."

Bhambabe,

Yes for some reason this place makes me clumsy.

FT,

They are prescribed for a chronic back condition.

Ann,

Here we go

Thursday Feb 15th, 2007

After a night's rest, all is somewhat better. I woke to the smell of frying sausage, and the sight of grits, eggs & toast.

After a really good breakfast, we headed out to see my father's new house, it is almost complete.

We went to Piggly Wiggly and found some beautiful red, yellow, green, and orange peppers. We got the other things we needed for the gumbo.

We went to dinner at Peppers Cantina, in Port St Joe, Florida. This is a local Mexican restaurant, with really good food.



The interior is great, it is in an older building and they used that to their advantage.



Here is the Pepper's Menu



I was in the mood for a really good drink, so I got a small margarita



I ordered their fajita lovers chimichangas, steak, chicken and shrimp fajitas wrapped up and deep fried. The white sauce is melted mexican cheese. They were awesome, tender and juicy, slighty smokey.



Dad got their Fajita Burrito Deluxe, IT WAS HUGE!



Dennis & Kim both got Chicken and Shrimp Fajitas



Dinner was great and totally filling, here it is 5 hours later and I am still stuffed.

Tomorrow we are going to Panama City, then back and start cooking gumbo.

Wish you all were here!

I absolutely love Port St Joe. Between there and Mexico Beach there is a little grocery store that sells the most delectable fried chicken in the deli. We would stop there, grab a three piece box and then drive to the little marina in Mexico Beach to eat and watch the seabirds.

Lookin good so far, King! IMHO, If trips always went as planned they would not be as much fun. Part of the pleasure is the unexpected. It's good to see you take it all in stride! The snow looks awful but the fajitas look great!

Enjoy yourself down there. Wish I was there to try some gumbo this weekend. Always next year, I suppose!

Good luck, Look forward to the next batch of pics!

Unfortunately the usual snafu of unplanned priorities have come up, again, and I will not be there in Mexico Beach tomorrow. I am so sorry. By the way, I saw some of your pics, Cajun. What is all of that white stuff I see on the ground and just about everywhere?

It for sure aint the white sand of Mexico Beach.

Sorry you can't make it

Feb 16th, 2007

Today was an early morning, I went to eat breakfast with my grandmother. We went to one of her favorite places here in Panama City, Florida. Chef Imondi's Restaurant & Bakery.



This place reminds me of a quaint litle place in the French Quarter in NOLA.





They have this beautiful wall of water dedicated to PEACE



Ok time for breakfast, they have the basics, biscuits and gravy, eggs. They also have fritattas and a great chef's ghoulash.



I had the Southern Plantation Breakfast with a Chocolate Chip Belgian Waffle



Dennis had the Rhode Island and Grandma had the #3 (This is the #3, Dennis' had ham)



Ok Breakfast is over and I am stuffed, but that doesn't mean I can't make a trip to the bakery.



Here is the cookie case



The cake case



and the Baked goods case



I fell in love with a Chocolate Fudge Pie



The chef's dream was great too.



I took a piece of it home for a mid afternoon snack, along with a dozen cookies and that Chocolate Fudge Pie.

Great report. Loved the photos.Makes me hungry.

I'll have the biscuits & gravy, home fries, and a piece of the chocolate ecstacy cake please. Thanks for a great road trip food report.

John

Hello All,
Cajunking, ahhh man, great looking food and nice places to eat. Thanks for sharing this adventure of yours, and I am looking
forward to more. One request, a photo of the family together, including you.
I am enjoying your adventure while I feed the birds on my icy deck.
Take Care,
Fieldthistle

quote:

Originally posted by BhamBabe

CK, you have a thang for falling on these trips dontcha? Stay safe! Glad the weather didn't hold ya up any!

BhamBabe,

Not to hijack the thread but hope you are well after your recent procedure.

John

Thank you John. I'm doing pretty good. Got to enjoy some Mardi Gras even.

Feb 16th

The gumbo is made and it is time for dinner. One of my favorite places to eat while in MB is the Fish House Restaurant. It is a small family owned place, great food, great prices.

However........

Things have changed at the Fish House. The menu has remained the same, the prices have went sky high. It was obvious something was a miss, when on a friday evening at 7pm there were only 10 people inside the place.

The Seafood Chowder was still the best I have ever eaten, thick and rich and full fo seafood chunks and shrimps and scallops and clams.

The have a seafood sampler platter grilled or fried: shrimp, scallops, deviled crab, oysters, amberjack and hush puppies with a side dish, Their price was $16.95, now it was $20.95 and there was less food.

The meal was ok, the quality has gone down hill The owner wasn't there that night, and we I saw her Saturday at the gumbo cookoff we both were too busy.

I really hope something changes, the Fishhouse has been wonderful place for a really good meal.

Feb 17th, 2007

Breakfast was gumbo at the gumbo cookoff.

Lunch was gumbo at the gumbo cookoff.

At 5 pm my Grandmother shows up at my father's door and says she is hungry and ready to go to dinner. Dad, Dennis & I were all resting up from the cookoff. So we got ready and headed off to Killer Seafood.



This seafood haven is quickly becoming a very popular spot in MB, and the surrounding area. The owners have kept it simple, you walk in, walk up to the counter and place your order. Then sit odwn and your food will arrive shortly.

They have oysters, shrimps, grouper, scallops fried or in a "Killer Bowl"



I ordered the Killer Scallop Bowl, Scallops served in Killer Sauce served over rice.

Mary had the Fish Tacos



Dennis had the Shrimp basket



Dad & Dennis # 2 had the oyster basket

I had an extra order of the Killer Seafood Puppies



After dinner one of the owners came and sat down at the table and wwe got to talk about gumbo, he had entered into the contest too. Kevin used the Killer Sauce as a base for his gumbo, I now wish i had a chance to sample his gumbo.

I bought 4 qts of Killer Sauce to go, and can't wait to use them here at home.

Feb 18th, 2007

This morning my dad and his wife had to work so Dennis and I were on our own to find breakfast.
So we loaded up and headed out to Sharon's Cafe.



The perfect little small town cafe. Everyone calls ya "HUN" and service always with a smile.



Breakfast of Champions, eggs over easy, grits, sausage, corned beef hash, & a waffle.

After we ate breakfast we headed out, so I could show Dennis the other side of life down here in Panama City, Florida. He had never been out to PC Beach, which is where all the spring breakers go to have fun.

This year, MTV is not going to use PC Beach as their headquarters, there was a big article in the local paper about how it is going to kill the spring break season for a lot of the places around there, but that a lot of the locals were glad that they were going else where.

Dinner that evening, was some of the Spicy Pork Sausage grilled, with some Zatarain's red beans & rice. The sausage came from Johnson Bros. there in PC, Florida.



I got 4 pounds of the HOT JB pork sausages



While dinner was almost a disaster, Dad got watching the race, and forgot about the sausages out on the grill , but they were not too bad and dinner was good.

Off to bed at an early hour because tomorrow comes the dreaded part of the trip.... Going HOME!

Feb 19th, 2007

The day started at 04:30 in the flipping AM, (what's the 0 stand for??? Oh my god is it early)

We grabbed a quick biscuit at the Hardees at the intersection of US 231 and I-10 there in Florida, and headed off up 231 towards home.

After several hours (when did they lengthen the state of Alabama? My god does it take for ever to drive from the south end to the north end)

We found ourselves pulling into a haven of BBQ



Through these very plain doors lies the world's best BBQ on the planet, Any guesses??

If you don't believe it just look at their menu





I absolutely love their smoked turkey breast and their potato salad, So i got the Little Bob Gibson Platter, 3 meats and 2 sides, I chose Turkey, Turkey and Pork with Potato Salad and Potato Salad


I asked for some of the habanero red sauce, and used it for the turkey and the pork.



These are the sauces they put on the table, their championship red sauce, their signature white sauce, and a pepper vinegar sauce.

For dessert a piece of the Chocolate Merengue pie



Just being this close to history is awesome, you can walk up and touch the trophy's they have won at Memphis in May



Big Bob Gibson's BBQ in Decatur, Alabama truly a great spot for BBQ.

My goodness, BBG and Killer Seafood in one post, heaven! Fish Taco's are wonderful! Thanks for sharing CK and I hope you get all rested up from your trip.