As I said in the last post, I did not sleep one minute on Thursday. Friday night--could not sleep or rest. However, nothing was stopping me. I just couldn't.
After I got up and went to a food bank, I bought milk, jerky for Tommy, and cherries for both of us. He was here, waiting in his vehicle. I put away everything and we left.
I took a gardenia bush back to Lowe's. August Beauty grows well in this area, I am told. However, the scent is missing. That is the whole purpose of gardenias! Last week, I took a blossom to the car as we were leaving for a lunch. After a while he asked me if he could throw it out because it was stinky. The flower smelled like chemicals.
Poke Salat Festival, here we come. It is only about 22 miles to Arab, pronounced A-rab, accent on the long A. The day was warm, sunny, just beautiful!
We ate at the first restaurant in the town proper. This is the same place a guy and I ate in 2004. The poke salat was delicious, so it was a no brainer. We drove up and down the main drag until someone exited an angle parking place. Tommy almost let someone else get it by just sitting still. He did get the space and we still had to walk almost a block! That is way too much for me in the heat and with no sleep.
The restaurant was so crowded, but we finally found a dirty table and sat down. This place had long tables that one shared with others. A family sat at the other end and we talked a bit. Tommy was taken by this little smiley girl with two front teeth missing.
I ordered bbq, potato salad, and poke salat. Tommy ordered chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and poke salat. I received a plate with
two portions of poke salat. When I pointed that out, they brought me the potato salad as a side and tried to charge us for it!
The bbq sauce was too hot, potato salad was hot...Why would anyone put hot peppers in potato salad??? The meat was delicious. So was the poke salat. I ate two bites of potato salad and about three bites of meat and one of the orders of poke salat. I could not eat more because my gastrointestinal track was threatening me. HOWEVER, I had a great time, just knew I should quit eating.
A to-go box solved my problems. I ate the meat when I got home after Tommy left. Later, I ate the potato salad. Poke salat is still in the refrigerator.
Tommy HATES eggs. I warned him ahead of time that the poke salat had eggs stirred in and cooked in a pot. He even ate the chunks of eggs where raw eggs had been put into the pot of hot greens. I was surprised. He even ate mashed potatoes with skins. When I made mashed potatoes with the skins on, he did eat it, all the while looking exasperated. Silly man!
The name of the restaurant was "L Rancho."
While sitting and waiting on our meal, I thought I knew a man who was from Cullman standing at the counter. He moved in front of the windows with the light in my eyes, I was staring, squinting at him. He turned and was surprised to see me. He had driven over for poke salat and got two plates to go. He came and sat with us while we all waited for our orders.
We exchanged poke salat stories. When Mama and Daddy were first married, Daddy brought home poke salat for her to cook. He thought she was wrong about cooking it and rinsing it three times. He said his mother never did that, so he ate it just as Mama cooked it the first time, not allowing her to cook and rinse three times. She refused to eat it. He was in the bathroom for three days and swore to never eat poke again. He never did.
There was a craft show all along the sidewalks. We did not go to booths but just looked from afar., but not too far. A man was playing a piano and singing. The atmosphere was quite festive.
About two months ago, I decided we would do something like this once a month. When I mentioned the poke salat festival, Tommy did not hesitate to agree to go. I didn't tell him this was the first of our monthly outings...lol.
We were back here by 1 pm, maybe sooner. He left with a gallon of milk, loaf of bread, cherries, three baked sweet potatoes, and chicken. The baked sweet potatoes were each large enough for two meals. Since I had had no sleep, I was not sorry to see him go so soon.
Have you ever had poke salat? It does not have to include eggs.
