Date Night

This weekend was all sorts of wacky and scrumptious, though not all at the same time.  Will and I had our big dinner at Saluda's Friday night, which we'll get to later.  When Will and I get together, we like to eat.  A lot.  It's one of our favorite activities.  That sounds rather gluttonous, doesn't it?  Perhaps I should say we enjoy the dinner experience with each other's company and good food.  Plus we have to make up for all those dates we don't get to go on.

We stayed with my sister a couple of nights this weekend and manage to see two small disasters while we were here.  Yesterday, the whole plumbing system decided to revolt and back up into the house.  Not fun.  Several towels were sacrificed before the plumber got here.  This morning, while I was relaxing in bed, I heard a crashing sound.  I thought the dogs had knocked something over but no.  The kitchen was intact.  Then I looked into the yard.  A tree fell on the fence.  What the what?  Rich has spent the afternoon repairing it.  Thankfully it doesn't look like it did major damage.  Just enough to be really inconvenient.

Saluda's is a casual upscale place (Don't you just love a good paradox?) that blends Lowcountry ingredients and style with more classic French and Italian techniques.  The decor is simple with white-clothed tables and antique-style chairs.  Forgive me if the lighting in my pictures isn't the best.  I didn't want to be that girl taking pictures in a dimly-lit restaurant with flash out the wazoo.  Can a wazoo flash?  I digress.

We started with what they called a sushi plate.

 

Tuna sashimi over soba noodles tossed with peanut sauce.  It was topped with a salmon crudo, which is sort of an Italian ceviche.  Basically raw fish, salmon in this instance, is dressed with olive oil, citrus, and salt.  This had black sea salt sprinkled over it.  I think that might be some kind of roe on top.  The chili sauce in the corner gave it a pleasant heat.  It was lovely way to start a meal.  Light and refreshing because heaven knows the rest of the meal wasn't.

I had the shrimp and grits because I've been fantasizing about them for weeks now.  For realz.  A bed of Adluh grits with Dubliner cheddar, roasted red peppers, pancetta, sauteed shrimp, a bourbon cream sauce, and as if that wasn't enough, a delicate fried green tomato perched atop.  The tomato had a nice tang (as good fried green 'maters should), which offset a little of the richness the overall dish had.  Adluh Flour is a local company that sells flour (duh), grits, and assorted mixes.  The grits come out luscious and creamy, and in this case the bourbon cream sauce didn't hurt one bit.  Nosiree.  Honestly, shrimp and grits is one of my favorite dishes, and I love when I find a good rendition of it.

Because I have a hard time resisting dessert, we ordered a slice of red velvet cake drizzled with a little caramel.  Will thought he'd just have a few bites, but we ended up finishing the whole thing.  It was moist with a good ratio of frosting to cake.  There's nothin' like a little cake to finish off a good meal.

I like getting dressed up and feelin' fancy, especially if it's a date with Will.  And especially if I get to eat food like that.  Any date night recommendations for the next time he and I see each other?

Sweet Southern Heat

I've been taking my time away in Dothan very seriously.  By seriously, I mean I've read 3 books and am on the fourth in the two weeks I've been here.  I think reading is essential to summer.  TV shows are typically terrible in the months between May and September, with the exception of True Blood and a couple of USA network shows that are my guilty pleasures.

This is my formula for most days

Water---it's deathly hot outside, and I don't drink enough of it.  I don't always drink Perrier, but every once in a while I like sparkling water for a little freshness.  I'm also not very picky about what brand I drink.  That would be pretentious.

A book on a wicker loveseat on a screened-in porch.  There's a ceiling fan to keep it from being too hot, and the bugs can't get in.  Brilliant!

I have the good fortune of knowing incredibly generous people.  We went out on the boat on a fantastically gorgeous Sunday.

We snacked on smoked tuna dip.

One day I'm going to figure out how to recreate this without actually smoking tuna myself.  I'm pretty sure that requires equipment I can't get to.

This is my favorite thing about going out in the Gulf.

See that?  IT'S A DOLPHIN.  They put a real show on for us yesterday.  It's hard to get a picture of them because they zip around so quickly.

They'll come right up to the boats and look at you.  Will thinks they know something we don't.  I'm not going to dispute that.

Even better...

A baby!  Confession:  I love just about everything in miniature.  Babies, puppies, kittens, baby otters.  I could go on for a while.  Baby dolphins are just precious.

The little guy or gal put on a show for us rolling around and swimming by the boat.  You could see the mama dolphin a little further out, and when she thought baby should come to her she let him (or her) know!  There was probably some underwater communication, but she blew the water out of her blowhole really hard twice like she was saying "Get over here!"

Then we saw a shark.

Okay, so we don't know it was a shark for sure.  But let's just say it wasn't saying hello like a dolphin, and I wasn't going to get out a see for myself.  There are no pictures of the shark because I didn't have the wherewithal to grab my camera a shoot.  Sharks'll do that to you.

But isn't the water pretty?  You can see straight to the bottom.

For dinner we like to stop at this little place

Mmmm, Montego Bay.  We'd had a snack while Will's dad cleaned the boat, so I wasn't starving.  But I can always find room for gumbo.

Legend has it the recipe for their gumbo comes from the owner's grandmother, who was a Cajun.  The owner is in his seventies, so that makes this recipe pretty old.  And pretty darn tasty.  Scratch that.  It's delicious.

Even though the gumbo already has a pretty decent kick, a little Crystal hot sauce never hurt anybody.

We also had key lime pie, but that was gone before I even though about snapping a picture. 

One day I'm going to make gumbo and pray it's as good as this one.