Chaos Reigns

This Just Isn't Right!

I protest! This just can't be happening! There is strange white stuff falling from the sky. In Georgia. In March.

And it's cold. Where is that global warming I've been hearing so much about? I need it NOW!

Here's the report from weather.com:

PERIOD OF LIGHT SNOW EXPECTED  ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA THIS  MORNING...

A DEEP UPPER LOW WILL CONTINUE MOVING NORTHEAST THIS MORNING OUT OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY TOWARD THE MID- ATLANTIC REGION BY AFTERNOON. MUCH COLDER AIR IS SPREADING INTO WEST AND NORTH GEORGIA BEHIND THIS SYSTEM. LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS ACCOMPANYING THE UPPER SYSTEM ARE CHANGING TO LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA.

A PERIOD OF LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS FROM TWO TO FOUR HOURS MAY OCCUR ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA THIS MORNING...WITH A LIGHT DUSTING POSSIBLE ON GRASSY SURFACES. SURFACE TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING DURING THIS EVENT...THUS NO TRAVEL PROBLEMS ARE ANTICIPATED AND MOST OF THE SNOW WILL MELT AS IT FALLS ON ROAD SURFACES.

Eric, of course, is very excited. He's only seen snow (that dreaded four letter word that probably shouldn't be used in mixed company) a couple of times in his life. The child is under the delusion that he's missing out on something by not needing a sled, skis, and ice skates.

That's a snowflake on his face. A face previously untouched by snow.

Personally, (just in case you didn't get the idea that I don't like snow) I don't like snow. I don't like cold. By the way, cold is defined as anything below 70 degrees. I don't live in the "deep south" just for the sweet tea, boiled peanuts, and collard greens. And I don't live down here for snow. I want warmth! Maybe I should move further south. Like to the Amazon. I hear Brazil is nice this time of year.

You WILL Appreciate the Difference

This sign in a local restaurant chain just kills me.  I laugh every time I see it. I even insist on pointing out the finer points of this sign to the lovely people standing behind me in line. Most of them have never noticed it. I guess they were too busy deciding on their order.
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Counter service always enhances my dining experience. Standing in a line to order my food is the hallmark of better service. I can hardly wait for the order to come up so I can carry it to my table. Just the honor of carrying that lovely brown plastic tray increases the quality of the food.  Elbowing other diners out of the way at the soda machine is THE high point of eating out and I just love filling the little paper cups with ketchup.  Especially when another diner elbows me and I get ketchup all over my hand.

The added value of these perks is incalculable. I'd be wiling to pay twice as much for dining in this establishment. I sure would. Yes indeedy.

I do appreciate the difference. I really do.

Sweet Tea

  One of the most difficult adjustments I had to make when we moved to the Deep South from Texas was ordering ice tea. The default down here is "sweet tea". Personally, I can't stand sugar in my tea..

This shouldn't have come as a surprise to me. My granny was born and raised in the panhandle of Florida before Florida became "South New York". She would make tea and, while it was still hot, add sugar until an inch of it stood undissolved in the bottom of the pitcher. Considering Granny's tea and the Southern penchant for pecan pie (corn syrup and pecans) and mint juleps (simple syrup, bourbon, and mint) not to mention RC Cola and moon pies, I don't know why the sweet tea default was so shocking to me but it is still quite disconcerting to order tea expecting a tall, cool glass of ice tea, and nothing else and be served sweet tea.

Now the thing that really baffles me is the way true Southerners order tea. I just don't understand why they do this but everytime they will order "sweet tea" like they are going to get anything else in this neck of the woods.

The World's Best Boiled Peanuts

tMy brother, Mike, doesn't live in the deep South so he doesn't have access to some of the southern delicacies we take for granted. Some like pecan pie (properly pronounced PEA' can) and sweet tea are easily made at home. Others, like moon pies and RC Cola, can occasionally be found in a grocery store. By the way, an RC must always accompany the moon pies. To do otherwise is sacrilege. But Mike and his family crave something that you probably won't find north of the Mason Dixon line or west of the Mississippi - boiled peanuts.

Boiled peanuts can be found almost everywhere in the Deep South. You can buy them at the vegetable market. You can buy them on the street corner. You can buy them at the ball field. You can even buy them at the hardware store. But, according to Mike, the best boiled peanuts can only be found at Bob's Famous Boiled Peanuts. Oh, could he wax poetical about Bob' Famous Boiled Peanuts.

Val, my sister-in-law, decided that she would boil some peanuts for my dear brother. After all, how hard could it be. Throw some peanuts in a pot with some water and a ton of salt and, presto chango, you have boiled peanuts. The only problem is that she couldn't find the main ingredient - raw peanuts. She has since decided that no raw peanuts are permitted to leave Plains, GA. It's probably just as well. No one can touch the quality of Bob's Famous Boiled Peanuts. They're the best in the world.

Once a year, Mike and family go to Mom and Dad's so we usually make a mini-family reunion out of his visit. I have to pass right by Bob's Famous Peanuts where the best boiled peanuts in the world are sold. I love my baby brother so I faithfully stopped each time at Bob's, home of the best boiled peanuts in the world, and bought $20 worth of the delectable legumes.

You might think the $20 worth of the best boiled peanuts in the world is a lot of peanuts and it is until those desert rats get hold of them. You would think that we are the Hoover family. They love Bob's Famous Boiled Peanuts.

Last March, I was making my way to Florida for the annual family get together. Being such a loving sister, I stopped again at Bob's Famous Boiled Peanuts for another $20 worth of the best boiled peanuts in the world. I began to fill the largest container Bob's had when the clerk advised me that they were heating up a new batch of the best boiled peanuts in the world. I thought this was strange because I didn't detect the distinct aroma of boiling peanuts. Once you've sniffed boiling peanuts you never forget it. About that time I noticed a #10 can of ... You guessed it ....boiled peanuts! The Best Boiled Peanuts in the World!