New Year's Eve, Southern Style

Okay, I'm way behind on publishing a new post. This is what happens when the all-consuming task of looking for a job while getting settled in a new city, dealing with the estate of a deceased parent, being daddy to a smart but manipulative pre-schooler, and being regularly awakened in the middle of the night by upstairs neighbors who like to "knock it out" at 3 or 4 a.m., begin to take their inevitable toll.

Luckily, we have friends down the street who know how to blow off steam, especially on New Year's Eve.

The Double Oak New Year's Eve Block Party was a blast, even if it was freezing cold, as the South Carolina Lowcountry had just suffered through a December unlike anything on recent record, with average temperatures 20 degrees below normal.

Our friends Daniel, Karen and their neighbors know how to throw a party. We arrived to a couple of long tables set out on Daniel's lawn, one ladened with trays of miscellaneous party foods, including frogmore stew. Now for those who don't know, there are no frogs in frogmore stew. It's actually a tasty mix of shrimp, smoked sausages, new red potatoes, corn and Old Bay seasoning all cooked together. Good stuff. Why the name "Frogmore"? Well, according to Wikipedia, the supposed know-it-all about everything:

"When Frogmore Stew was first cooked in the 1960s, Frogmore was a little hamlet on St. Helena Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina. In the 1980s, however, the postal service abolished the name Frogmore. That changed the name of the popular dish to Lowcountry Boil or Beaufort Stew-except, of course, among the proud (and peeved) residents of Frogmore. Richard Gay, whose family owns Gay Fish Company on St. Helena, created the dish in the early sixties."

Then there were the oysters. A home steamer was set out on the lawn, and a box of large oysters was poured in and set to boil. When they were ready, they were dumped in a large tray on a folding table, and everyone dove in, cracking them open with pocket knives, screwdrivers, whatever was handy. If you've never had them, they're messy and a bit slimy. Dipping them in cocktail sauce makes them a lot more palatable, as they have a somewhat dirty, salty flavor. Not my cup of tea, although I did down a few.

Now, you can't have Frogmore Stew or oysters without some Apple Pie Moonshine in a mason jar, which everyone just passed around, the rational being the alcohol would kill any individual's germs. In short, it's a mix of apple cider, cinnamon sticks, sugar, and 190-proof pure-grain alcohol. To quote Foster Brooks, it was "smooooth!" Went down a whole lot easier than the cherries marinated in what I think was unused alcohol from the apple shine. Like a little chewy red drop o' evil. Compared to these, the apple shine was mild.

Now, quite unlike many NYE parties in SoCal, where people shoot off guns on street corners, irrationally ignoring the fact that the bullet has to come down somewhere, Daniel and his buddy Beeze (don't ask) shot off $130 worth of fireworks, which are legal in SC. Incredibly so, given the fact that there is still so much forested land here so close to residential areas. But hey, that's what fire departments are for: to rescue people from their own stupidity (and yes, the FD was busy that night, but thankfully not as a result of Daniel's and Beeze's pyrotechnic show).

D&B wisely decided to blow them off before they got too plastered to think straight. They set up the pyrotechnics in the middle of the street, a good distance from the partiers and away from any power lines. These are professional-grade fireworks here, not the little "safe and sane" sparklers, snakes and smoke pots we used to get back home as kids. They exploded with a loud bang and shot a good 200-300 yards or more up in the sky before exploding into various rainbow colors. All in all, a nice little show, with only a couple of incidents that were cause for concern (some sparks did sprinkle down on a neighbor's garage roof, but didn't catch fire. Also luckily for Daniel and Beeze, that particular neighbor was not home nor one of the revelers).

After that, back to the fire pit (very enjoyable, considering the frigid temps), the moonshine, frogmore stew, dirty jokes and good company. There really is something to all this talk of "Southern hospitality."

Happy belated new year, everyone.

11/19/10

Thanksgiving party at Matthew's preschool last night. One of the teachers cooked up a storm, including baked ham, dirty rice and amazing sweet potato pie. Delicious... Then I got roped into a presentation that I think was inappropriate for the venue. Thought it would be an opportunity to network with people who might help advance my job search, but ended up being a presentation on how to clean up your credit (mine's fine) and learn to become a financial advisor (pyramid scheme). Complemented by a kid sitting in front of me who I'm sure had a loaded diaper. Wasn't just the presentation that stank.

Week in review: Had a great meeting with the President and Director of Development of the Coastal Community Foundation in the historic downtown area. Great organization that works with numerous other nonprofits in town and across the Lowcountry. They were very generous with their advice and offer of assistance in my job search. Extremely helpful with resume tips in particular. Afterwards, had a bite to eat on Market St. and was walking to my car when I was stopped by a couple of women asking me how to get to Broad St. (my first experience as a local dealing with tourists!). Told them how to get there, then worried that I may have been wrong. Checked my map back at the car and found that my directions had been correct. Learning my way around pretty well...

Tonight -- tossing the frisbie and trading insults with the Double Oak Homeowner's Association. Should be fun.

Thursday, 11/18/10

Dateline: Charleston. That's SC, not WV. Not to disparage the beautiful state of West Virginia (stop mountain-top removal now!!), but Charleston, South Carolina is the place to be...340 years of colonial/American history, an amazingly restored historic downtown area, friendly people, and some of the best Southern cooking you'll ever eat. So here we are, settled in our little apartment, enjoying the weather (beautiful, sunny and cool), finding our way around, and wishing our townhome back in CA would sell already.

Me: looking for work in nonprofit, missing the mountains and canyons of California, but loving the marshes, rivers and wildlife of the Lowcountry. Used to be a tourist, now transitioning into being a local. Had my first experience with a tourist the other day, who stopped me on Market St. and asked me how to get to Broad St. -- and I knew the right answer!

Thanksgiving and the holidays will be different this year. Hard for family back home, missing them, they're missing us. The American diaspora. Took us eight years to get here, but here we are indeed. Gotta go where you're pulled. That's all for this first post, just some ramblings. More later.