Happy Thanksgiving - November 25, 2010

We were blessed with a truly spectacular November day.  Mom and I raided Bobbie's garden while Dick and Ron watched the Detroit and New England football game while the turkey cooked.

It is hard to quit picking even though we knew there were way more than we could ever use.  We only picked a small fraction of the crop.  Hoping for more warm weather so this bounty can continue into December.  Thank you La Nina!

Someone needs to make some stuffed peppers!

Dick is learning to be a redneck - burning instead of mowing. :)

Nice to eat Thanksgiving dinner in the sunshine!

There is still a lot of color, but our leaf raking season is upon us now!

Charter Fishing - Panama City, Florida

Up at dawn, knowing we had a beautiful warm sunny day ahead, heading to Panama City, Florida, about 130 miles away.  We decided to take our chances of finding a fishing charter without pre-arranging it.  Worst case scenario:  we stock up on oysters.

Most of Panama City is shut down because "the season" is over.  However, at Captain Anderson's pier, there was a line of charter fishing boats with phone numbers, so we started calling.  We met Bo, and his son, Will, who were also looking for a fishing trip, so with 6 people, we thought we could find a boat even on short notice.

We found Captain Mike just coming in from a morning charter, and made arrangements to go out at 1 p.m. local time.  It was a very good choice!  Captain Mike's Charters  

Ah, fishing again - it's been so long - for an avid fisherman like my step-dad, Dick, a day without fishing is too long.  He hasn't been fishing since they left Alaska to come to Georgia about three weeks ago.

Ron and I were just happy to be out in the fresh air and sunshine.  Bo and Will were more like Dick and Mom - happy to be fishing.

First stop - live bait barge

Captain Mike and helper, Corey, carefully counted out the "minnows" - which were each about 7-10" long 

Our catch begins to build.  Nice red snappers, mostly.  Ron caught a King Mackerel and Bo caught a big Grouper.  Mom caught the biggest snapper.  I caught one snapper and a couple of Grouper that were too small (not 18") and had to be thrown back.  I was much too busy during the fishing part to take pictures.  Good grief, this is a lot like WORK!  

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. Captain Mike at the controls as we come back to port as the sun sets.

Scenes around SW Georgia in November

The trees are beginning to change color.

Some cotton fields are still waiting for harvest.

Pecans are being picked.

Cypress swamps are full of water.  Alligators are still out as the days are still sunny and warm.

Every evening brings a sunset and fishermen to the lake.

Chili Rellenos - Georgia Style

Our neighbor, Bobbie, had a couple of pepper plants just dripping with peppers.  I am not too crazy about hot peppers, but gladly took a bowlful of the banana peppers to attempt Chili Rellenos that two of my sisters have made for me.  I never attempted to make them myself, but hated to pass up the beautiful peppers Bobbie offered me.  My sister, Anne, cautioned me that the normal peppers used for chili rellenos are poblano peppers, but the banana peppers seemed the right size, so I gave them a try.  I used the recipe my sister, Anne, sent via email.
First, I washed and seeded and deveined the peppers and added a finger of Asaigo cheese (like mozarella but a bit firmer):

 Then I separated 3 eggs and stirred the yolks with 3 Tablespoons of flour until creamy.  The whites were beaten until fluffy, and the two were folded together to make the batter.

 I fried each battered pepper individually until golden brown.

 All fried peppers were placed in a baking dish and sprinkled with a combination of shredded mozarella and cheddar cheese and baked at 350 for 20 minutes.  Very tasty, and the banana peppers didn't have to be prefried to remove the skins.