What can I say except, YUM!!!!! Today was one of those days which will remain one of my favorite food memories. If you are like me, you have those special days of falling into different categories and today, well, all I can say is,
“I had a great time.”. We arrived in Savannah an hour before our RSVP of 1:15 at Lady & Sons. After 45 minutes of driving around trying to find a parking place, we were about to give up and just chalk it up to maybe we weren’t suppose to be there today. I told Randy that it was ok, it wasn’t that big of deal (all the while just trying not to act disappointed) and that he didn’t have to waste anymore time trying to find a parking place. We had gone to 3 public parking garages only to be turned away as they were all full. Randy, knowing how much I wanted to go told me that he would make one more loop around the block (we had driven around these blocks probably 5 or 6 times already)to just see if maybe we would be lucky enough to see a car pulling away, giving us a parking place. Knowing that this was not going to happen, I resolved to the fact that it just should not be that important to me. We turned the corner onto the one way street which runs right in front of her place and low and behold, it was just like the Lord just waited until our car was in perfect position to pull into the parking spot that a car was pulling out of. I have to confess, I got tears in my eyes that the Lord did that. We were parked and walked in the door to the gift shop and began to pick up a few (maybe more than a few, ok, a lot, a whole lot) of kitchen items which will adorn my new kitchen in AZ. I think our new friends there will get the idea that we are Southerners since we bought everything from a pillow to spatulas to measuring spoons to coffee cups with “Hey Ya’ll or It’s a Southern Thing” written all over them. Then, because it is a dream of mine that Paula read my book, I took a copy in just in case. Knowing that it would really never happen that she be there, (but a girl can dream) I asked the lady checking us out if Paula came in to the store and restaurant. She (Betsy) replied that she had just been in with her whole family on Friday. Getting excited, I ask her if I gave her a book would she promise she would get it to Paula. She had been kidding Randy about all the kitchen spatulas I had bought and she told me that if I would sign it, she promised to give it to Paula. Also Betsy’s husband drives the limo which drives Paula’s family around so if she didn’t see her in a few days, she would give it to her husband the next time he picked Paula up to give to her. Now my heart was beating so fast, we walked to the car where I proceeded to go on FB and find Paula’s page. After finding it, I wrote and told her what I had just done and in about 30 min,she or someone who writes for her (yes, I like to think it is Paula, herself) answered the comment saying that she could not wait to read it. All I can say is, this day was better than being let loose with an unlimited credit card in HomeGoods for 8 hours. Even Randy had a great time, feasting on delicious fried chicken and mashed potatoes at the Lady & Sons. It was a fabulous day and cannot wait to hang up my new kitchen towel, drink from my new coffee cup while whipping up a butter cake with my new spatula. It will be grand to go relax on our couch, laying my head on the new “Hey Yall” pillow.
It was a very “butterful” day!
Tag: Savannah
Touring on Retirement Budget
Another place that we cannot return…Savannah. Because we are on what Randy calls a “retirement budget” we are looking for ways to cut back where we can. He has told me to make a little game of it so I won’t feel like we are having to give up wonderful things like, eating or manicures/pedicures, salons, you know, the necessities of life. Today took the cake. We were in our hotel looking at the different tours to take which would allow us to see the historical places around Savannah. He told me that first he would kind of like to drive around the downtown area just to acquaint himself with possible restaurants so we could decide which tour sounded fun. I agreed. That was where I made my first mistake. As we were driving around taking in the small streets and different gardens, we got stuck behind one of the Tour Trolley’s and because the street was so narrow, we couldn’t go around. As we were sitting there waiting for the tour guides spill on the history of the building that was right in front of us, Randy quickly looked at me and said, “instead of paying all that money to ride the tour trolley, lets just follow it with our windows down so we can hear what the guide is saying”. I couldn’t believe my ears. In the first place, it was 43 degrees with the wind blowing and now we were getting dirty looks from the folks riding in the back of the trolley. They knew exactly what we were doing. It was so embarrassing. I pretended that I needed for Randy to pull over for me to take a picture of an empty warehouse so at least the Trolley would be able to make a run for it. As we were pulled over for me to take a picture, we heard tourist say, “there is that blue Texas Mercedes” that is too cheap to buy a tour ticket”. I told Randy to get us out of there and let’s go on to Charleston. It was time for me to have a little chat with Mr. Randy. I told him that maybe we should find other ways to cut back, other than the free tours, as I would hate for us to be ask to leave a town.
We are now in Charlestown and thank the Lord, we don’t have time to do any tours. He is now on the computer seeing if he can find any waterfront seafood restaurants which honor AARP or have any coupons that we can use. I think its time to head back to Dallas. Hopefully by the time we get to come back, Savannah will have forgot us or we will have a different car so they won’t recognize us.
Butter Mecca
Today is the day! I am as giddy as a 4 year old being turned loose in FAO Scwartz. Today we drive in to Savannah….home of the butter queen herself, Paula Deen, or as we butter lovers call her, Paula. My heart is racing as we load the car. I can already imagine what it will be like. We will walk proudly into Lady & Son’s with our mouths watering and our tummies growling. Just to be in the butter queen’s hometown has been a dream since my first purchase of one of her cookbooks. While others walk with reverence into Graceland, we will be waiting for a table with that little gleam in our eyes, just wondering if we will be fortunate to see “her”. I have on my best pearl earrings, just in case. I will be talking recipes that include mass amounts of butter with Randy just in case anyone is listening to our conversation; they will know that we have so much in common with the lady whose cookbooks adorn my kitchen book shelves. Not wanting to feel like a newbie cook, I will linger over each bite, contemplating the ingredients, while Randy rolls his eyes.
Yes, this is one of those days that will long be remembered. If we should be so lucky to actually see her or any of her family members, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will just happen to mention that not only do I keep the fridge stocked with a minimum of 4 lbs of butter, 3 lbs of cream cheese and 1 qt of whipping cream at all times, I always hand Randy his cup of melted butter at breakfast each morning, just to be sure he gets his quota of butter each day. After all, that’s what us “good southern cooks” are all about.
Chocolate Castles 