Toes in the Water by frances robson

Good evening and come on into the Net Porch for it is not cool but cooler tonight. We had a little thunderstorm with much needed rain for our dry area. Despite the lack of rain, there have been "hundreds" of loads of watermelon and cantalopes carried by our house today in trailers, trucks, and busses. It is the peak of the early season and they are quickly hauling them to the produce sheds to be sent all of the world. Of course many find their way on the roadsides as they fall off and bust wide open unlike the cabbages which fall off and remain in one piece. Guess I wlll just have to go buy some.

As you can tell from the picture above I am still in beach mode, but actually, I stay in that mode all the time. Living at the beach would be my idea of almost being in heaven until a hurricane blew in but that would be worth the risk. Maybe someday I can live part of the time on the beach at least. sitting on the porch of a beach house, listening to the surf, swimming and walking on the beach is a way of life I could get used to. Fishing in the surf looks like fun and I would like to try that also.

We had a great time last week with our relatives at Gulf Shores and the food was delicious. Martha and Beth brought a lot of good food and we bought out a fresh produce market and a lot of Wal Mart so we surely didn't eat junk food. We ate lots and well and the beach air made us very hungry but walking back and forth to the beach over the sand dunes made us even more so. It's hard work going over and down and over and down the sand dunes and then walking up and down the beach but oh so much fun. Didn't work out enough calories though for I added a couple of pounds during the week.

Greg and Beth usually cooked breakfast for us and the scrambled eggs were exceptional. They had bought some good Lousiana boudin sausage and put them together and you got a dish fit for a king. After I got home I decided to try some of Gregs ideas and include a suggestion from Frank. If you use a link sausage, be sure and remove it from the casings before browning it.

I call it Scrambled Eggs with Ham and Tortilla Strips. Instead of the sausage I used a piece of sandwich meat ham thinly sliced, then chopped. This made it lower in fat but still had that smokey taste. You can adapt it to egg beaters, or mostly whites if you need a low cholesteral diet. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Scrambled Eggs with Ham and Tortilla Strips

4 eggs- well beaten
1 small flour tortilla – sliced thinly - I used the whole wheat one
1 slice of ham – sandwich meat or deli style- sliced thinly
½ cup finely chopped bell pepper or banana pepper
½ cup grated mozzarella cheese or cheese of choice
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat olive oil in frying pan. Add the thin slices of flour tortilla until slightly brown and crispy.
Add the slivered ham, chopped peppers and beaten eggs and scramble. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.
Optional ingredients you can add – chopped onion, chopped tomato, and hot pepper

The flour tortilla strips add a nice crunch

You could use any meat you like such as bacon cooked and crumbled, leftover baked ham, or your favorite sausage.

We like it served with grits but it is great alone with hot toast or biscuits. Just make it the main dish as your favorite breakfast of brunch.

Let me know how you enjoyed it and what ingredients you included to make it better.

Be careful going home for it is still a little windy outside and come back to see us.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Another Good Monday

Good afternoon to ya'll. I am a tad tired today for we made a quick trip to Mobile last Thursday through Saturday to tend to some stuff. We stayed in the little town of Daphne at a Microtel we had used before. Roy's parents lived close to there for about 5 years in the retirement village of Westminister and we like the area. It is amazing how it grew in those few years. Evidently it is has become an escape from living in Mobile for it has mushroomed but still a small town atmosphere.

Eating breakfast in a motel is quite interesting sometimes or rather most times. Friday morning it was rather quiet and uncrowded but a few characters in the bunch. They have instant grits, which is for people who don't know what good grits are, and a hot water tap above the coffee urn to mix with them. On the microwave door written in large, block print are these words, "Do not put the cereal bowls in the microwave." Plain, simple and few words that anyone with half an eye and good sense could understand.

A lady who was sitting right in front of the microwave proceeded to empty a packet of grits in a Styrofoam bowl, add some water from the sink tap and placed it in the microwave saying, " I'm afraid it is going to explode" but pressed the buttons. It was not done to suit her so she repeated the action saying again she was afraid it was going to explode. Well, the third time was the charm for if exploded and grits coated the inside of the microwave. She looked quite surprised that it actually exploded.

Now what did this brilliant lady do? She said she just knew that was going to happen and began to try to clean up exploded grits in a microwave with paper napkins. Of course it wasn't going to happen and the manager and one of the maids came with cloths, water and cleaner and said they would clean it but his "smart" person just kept trying to clean it while explaining she knew it was going to happen but wanted to try it for she didn't like grits with just the hot water added. The nice manager and the cleaning lady finally persuaded her to get out of the way so they could clean it properly for she was just smearing sticky grits all over the microwave.

By this time I was in stitches and trying not to laugh out loud and say as I fell to the floor, "Lady, you are just plain stupid and stupid can't be fixed." Being the Southern Lady that I am I just turned red in the face while stifling the laughter and watched her become a blabbering idiot. I wanted so badly to tell her, "Sugah, there is a Waffle House next door if you want some cooked grits for it is evident you can't read." Bless her heart, we'll pray for her.

Then there was the maintenance man with his great big set of jangling keys who was eating breakfast with us. He ate 3 packets of grits, 2 toasted bagels, jelly, cream cheese, several cups of coffee and orange juice and left with an apple. Now this took awhile for he would fix and eat one packet of grits at a time, then the bagels and orange juice and then more coffee. He was up and down and all around again and again. What made it so funny was the big ring of keys jingling and jangling and the flip up sun shades attached to his glasses. Made him look like a nerdy, redneck, repairman. There was also the loud comments to the staff when the smart lady blew up the grits. He summoned them with a shout, she blew up the grits needs cleaning up. He sure ate up their profit that morning and I wonder if they take it out of his check for he sure can eat. He also seemed to like coffee all day for when we would walk through the lobby he would sitting at a table drinking more coffee.

Saturday morning was crowded and loud. They were having the Senior Bowl in Mobile and a whole host of Florida Gators were at the motel and I guess they had come to see Tim Tebow play his last game as a college student. I kinda got the impression they were coaches and wives and friends or some other athletic group for they were loud, obnoxious and totally Florida fans. They took up most of the tables and chairs and had to talk at shouting pitch and eat all the food. Every time I got up to get something to eat you had to go around one of these people. I sure am glad they were not on our floor for I think they had been celebrating all night. However, I did have a 300 pound gorilla in the room over us or at least that's what it sounded like.

We ate quickly and got ready to come back to Georgia for it was cold and had rained buckets the night before. I helped load the truck and sat in it while Roy went to pay the bill. Now for those of you who don't know my husband, he is a big, quiet man who doesn't say a lot but sees everything. When he completed paying our bill he told the lady manager he was about to make some people mad and turned slowly to face the crowd of Florida fans and said, "All you Florida fans, listen up. Rooool Tide." He strolled out and left them sitting quietly in shock. I am so glad he did that for I had wanted to shut them up somehow but didn't think about that. After all, they were in "our house", Sweet Home Alabama, acting like a Florida Gator. They needed to be taught some manners.

Now for those of you who don't follow SEC football, let me 'splain to you. Alabama (Roll Tide) beat the Florida Gators this year and kept them from being SEC champions and made Tim Tebow cry. You just help but brag if it is SEC football for all is fair in war and SEC football.

It was an interesting adventure for people are funny if you watch and listen. We had hoped to have some good, fresh seafood at the Original Oyster House but it was raining really hard when we got there, we had to park in the next county and they were having a Mardi Gras party there and it was packed. As an alternative we went to Olive Garden at the shopping center and had a great Italian meal. Missed the seafood but I can get that here but we don't have an Olive Garden.

Well, I have rattled on enough for today and we are about to eat "lupper" (lunch/supper) and we have fresh turnip greens, peas and a hamburger potato casserole which I cooked for the first time. If it is good, I will share the recipe.

Nuff said and ya'll have a good day,

The Georgia Peach