Downtown Fairy Ring

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring[1] or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms.    The rings may grow to over 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter, and they become stable over time as the fungus grows and seeks food underground.

They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands or rangelands. Fairy rings are detectable by sporocarps in rings or arcs, as well as by a necrotic zone (dead grass), or a ring of dark green grass. A fungus, mycelium, is likely to be present in the ring or arc underneath.

It's more fun to think it has something to do with fairys.    I'm pretty sure that fairies do not dance at this intersection in the middle of the night.   I actually HAVE danced in this intersection.    And I was sober.

I have tried to find a full fairy ring for the last two years and this is as close as I can get.    This one occurs in a median strip in the middle of town and I got this shot on my mail run.

Fish Fry

I mentioned in the last post that I looooove to fish for gar.    So far, I have caught exactly ONE.    The best methods are illegal, and I figure that if anyone is goin' to get popped by Game and Fish, it will be me.    I try my luck legally, and get skunked every time.    The one I caught I caught by accident because I was set up for bream, and it was amazing that the fish didn't snap the line-----lots of sharp teeth in that snout!
     This is my son-in-law with a gar that he caught.    This is a big fish, but gar can grow to a huge size:

Some people eat these, but they are too boney for me to fool with.    You can slice 'em into steaks (fried or grilled) and pick bones all night long, or you can grind it up in a food processor, bones and all, and make gar patties.    But not in my kitchen.


Now, THIS is probably my favorite fishing in The Whole Wide World!    Call 'em bowfin, grindle, or mudfish, this fish will fight like you won't believe!    Ex and I caught one on a jug hook that pulled us and a six foot boat all over the pond we were in.

We ran across an older lady who was fishing on the bank one day at a local lake and asked her if they were good to eat, and if so, how do you prepare them?
     Yes, they are tasty, but you have to clean them like other fish and soak them in ice water and vinegar FOR THREE DAYS so they can bleed out.    Then you grind 'em up, make patties, and fry 'em.     Oh Hell no.     This is another bones-and-all meal deal that I cannot abide.   I don't eat salmon patties for the same reason.     Makes me queasy and if I crunch bones supper is OVER.    Captain D.'s does a good fish sandwich should a hankerin' overcome me.
     We gave her the bowfin we caught and she was tickled to death to have the thing.    She crammed that thing----over two foot long----into a five gallon bucket, dropped the lid on the bucket, sat down on the bucket, and went back to fishin'.     We did not have fish for supper.

This is a bream/panfish/stump-knocker/bluegill:

Fun to catch and the main ingredient in a bream sandwich as mentioned in the last post.   
    We lived way out in the country for a few years, and we had a pond to fish, and it was full of these.    We fed 'em and they became more like pets than groceries.    Throw a handful of dog chow into the water and the water would boil like it was full of piranhas.They say that piranha is considered good eatin' in some parts of the world.    I will never know.   

I know about softshell turtles and that won't happen again.   They say that there are seven different flavors in a softshell turtle.   All of them are bad but I know people who grew up with that delicacy and will fight over one.

Lampus eels:   damn anything that still bleeds after you fry it crisp.   The cooler it gets, the more it bleeds.    Again, I know folks who love 'em.

Alligator tail tastes like a porkchop fried in fish grease, but tryin' it for the first time at a county fair was probably not the best way to experience it. 

Just pass the grits my way and I'll take a pass on the rest.    Where's the sweet tea?

Chicken Breath And Bream Sammiches

We are having a chuck roast for supper.     I can put a mean scald on a chuck roast, and whip up a decent gravy.

After a couple of days of fast food and hot dogs that chuck roast will be good.

Sammiches are a great idea, and Bless the first soul who had the idea.

What's Cooking America's website says:

"1st Century B.C. -The first recorded sandwich was by the famous rabbi, Hillel the Elder, who lived during the 1st century B.C. He started the Passover custom of sandwiching a mixture of chopped nuts, apples, spices, and wine between two matzohs to eat with bitter herbs. The filling between the matzohs served as a reminder of the suffering of the Jews before their deliverance from Egypt and represented the mortar used by the Jews in their forced labor of constructing Egyptian buildings. Because he was the first known person to do this, and because of his influence and stature in Palestinian Judaism, this practice was added to the Seder and the Hillel Sandwich was named after him."

Gotta love copy and paste............

Like I say about some other people, I "ain't from around here".    I wasn't born in Georgia, I was born in Florida, and there were some.....uhhh......differences that I had to get used to.

Whilst waiting in line at a local diner, I heard a customer order a "chicken breath" sandwich.

Chicken  breath.........BREATH?

How do you batter and fry chicken breath?????

How in the Hell do you grab it in the first place???

Does it come in a jar like peanut butter or Nutella???

It actually reminded me of the old "catch that and paint it purple" fart joke from years ago.

Of course, they were just mispronouncing the word "breast".

I mentioned it once and was told what a chicken breast sandwich actually is.

Take a whole fried chicken breast, BONES AND ALL, slap it between two pieces of bread (use a bun if you feel snooty) with your condiment of choice and eat it BONES AND ALL.

Did you just flash on the recent KFC commercials where folks think they ate the bones and they freak out? 

I asked what did one do with the bones?    Surely they weren't swallowing the bones?

Nope.    When you get a mouthful of bones you spit it out.

Need to throw up?   I'll wait..........

Feel better?   I can ruin that, too.

Ever have a bream sammich?     

Take a whole bream, scale it, whack off the head, gut it, batter it with cornmeal and fry it crisp.

Leave the fins on.    Fried fins stickin' out of a sandwich give the sandwich that certain something, doncha think?

Fix it up like the chicken breath sammich and you are in business!

Do I partake?    Oh heck no!   

And to tell the truth, I think I just killed my own appetite.