Even though I’ve lived out in the desert southwest for many
years, I originally grew up in Mobile, Alabama, down on the Gulf Coast. I like
to get back from time to time to visit my mother, brother, sister, and many of
my spiritual brothers & sisters that I’ve known since I was in elementary
school.
After visiting friends and family, the number #1 priority is food.
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| A visit to the Waffle House is a must |
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| Fresh raw oysters at Winchell's Oyster House |
Being on the coast, the seafood in the markets and restaurants was
swimming in the Gulf just a few hours before it hits your plate. I’m always
game for some raw oysters on the half shell, a fried oyster & shrimp po’
boy sandwich, some gumbo and probably some red snapper and grouper. Top it off
with mullet & grits for breakfast.
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| Shrimp Boil at my brother's house |
Besides seafood, there is the cuisine that the rest of the
country so quaintly likes to call “soul food”, but in the South, we just call
“food”.
Collards, fried chicken, okra, pecan pie- throw in breakfast
at the Waffle House, and maybe some beignets from a local café- it’s culinary
overload. Somehow it just doesn’t taste
the same in Las Vegas.
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| Essential tableware |
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| Beignet's with my mother & sister |
My mother lives across Mobile in a small artsy-crafty town
called Fairhope. Her house is only a couple of blocks from the bay, and it’s
great to walk down in the evening and catch the sunset over the water.
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| Fresh beignet's at Panini Pete's |
Funny how remnants of the war (the Civil War) are scattered
about. At the mouth of Mobile Bay still sit the two forts (Gaines & Morgan)
that guarded the entrance, but succumbed to the Yankee hordes at the battle of
Mobile Bay.
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| Windy day at Fort Morgan |
A few miles north of where my mother lives is the site of old
Blakely, where the last skirmish of the war was said to be fought, and the
Confederate earthworks still stand. Scattered about are gravestones from the
1840’s and 1850’s when yellow fever ravaged this region. There are still plenty
of mosquitos around, along with multitudes of other insect life, but at least a
bite won’t kill a person.
We were there during Thanksgiving week in November, a
particularly good time when daytime temps are usually in the 60’s to 80’s, with
very little humidity. After all these years in the desert, I know better than
to go back in the summer when 90% humidity means you walk around soaking wet
even when the sun is out.
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| Kingdom Hall in Foley, Alabama |
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| 3 congregations meet here |
We made the usual rounds to see all the old friends. Funny
how my teenage companions are all grandparents now. People from that region
don’t tend to move much (I was one of the exceptions), so whenever I go back,
it’s like a big reunion. Sadly the Mobile Convention Center where I got
baptized when it was new in 1966 is scheduled to be torn down. We had
assemblies there for a lot of years, but better facilities are used now.
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| The can of cane syrup went to Vegas in checked luggage, but the collards were | fixed for that night's dinner. |
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The only drawback is that November is a little chilly for
swimming in the Gulf, although usually the water is fairly warm up into
October. So I’m thinking about a 2016 visit a little earlier in the year so I
can really enjoy those white sand beaches and turquoise Gulf waters. (Yes the
Alabama beaches are one of the best kept secrets in the country. We try not to
spread it around too much to keep the crowds down.)
And as always....
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