Last Breakfast in Gettysburg

Well I'm back from a vacation, of which you will eventually see evidence...but now I gotta just get through this Gettysburg trip that happened in late February. Our last meal was at a '50s style joint pretty much catty-cornered from Ernie's, and if I recall correctly also had a man's name in its title. In any case it was a cold day, but we got a pretty sunny set-up, which kept us warm and gave me nice light for photos. A number of us ordered french toast, which looked pretty good.

I. seemed contemplative about her bites.

I had the two eggs, sausage and homefries combo. I would have liked my eggs just a little more cooked after being flipped but it wasn't anything tragic. Sausage and potatoes were good.

Then we all drove in our respective cars out to one of the battlefields. It was so unbelievably windy and cold that I don't think any of us were too excited about staying out in the elements for long, so then we splintered into two groups. I was in a group that went to check out outlet stores nearby. I was particularly interested in finding sunglasses, but ended up buying two pairs of jeans for $30.

And thus concludes the family weekend in Gettysburg.

Snacks c/o Appalachian Brewing Company and Pizza c/o Tommy's Pizza

Oh man. I really gotta go to bed, but here's one more post. The timing of our lunch and then idea for planned dinner was such that a quick snack had to be had between them. This snack was c/o Appalachian Brewing Company, which truly has wonderful beer ... but has never quite figured out how to have its food match up in terms of quality. I had another stout and loved it.

And ordered a small cup of the chili, which my uncle warned me would be too spicy ... it wasn't, but I think he and I have slightly different tolerance levels.

We also all had a bit of their soft pretzels with mustard and beer cheese soup dip, they were nice and warm and soft. There was also a spinach kind of dip. Basically my thought is this: go there for the beer and if you need to eat something, don't get too ambitious.

Then we spent some time hanging out in the two adjoined rooms out of the four we had reserved. K. the little really was doing some excellent bed jumping work.

K. the OC and I concocted a plan where we'd play UNO before going to dinner so that afterwards we could potentially distract the kids with a movie while we focused on hearts (the night before the reverse happened in part because the kids got annoyed that we weren't going to teach them how to play hearts. Their day will come, but not quite. I think A. the bf's daughter K. and the eldest of M.'s kids, A. will be the first to be allowed into the hearts/rummy circle. And other cousin/brother K.'s daughter G., but they weren't there so let's not complicate this any further.

I got kind of bored of UNO pretty quickly and moved on to lying around taking photographs.

Little I. began to see me as a potential tickle target. Or perhaps I first tickled her and it was her payback?

In any case, she'd jump from one bed to the other and then try tickling my feet or belly. She hasn't quite gotten the knack for it, so I'd really just pretend to be tickled.

Which figuratively tickled her while also getting the attention of her older brother, who had a much firmer grasp of how to make a person tickled/squirm. Once it was two against one it was a little more intense on my feet.

Oh yes, she's an angel.

Then they momentarily lost interest in me and wrestled each other.

Then it was back to me.

Then I think pretty much everyone was over UNO and into lying down.

And then we gathered ourselves for another ritual eating experience. I don't actually remember Tommy's being as large a part of our visits to Gettysburg as it was for Uncle E. and his brood, but in the last few years I've enjoyed catching up. They recently renovated and it has slightly classed up the place, they also are doing a great job of having interesting beers on tap - Troeg's, Yards...not your average pizza joint Bud (though they have it too. We were lucky to be able to grab two good sized tables. I ended up with the kids. K. the OC joined in at some point. I took some photographs, but then trusted A. the eldest and K. to take some too as they are both responsible young ladies. And they took some good shots. This first one I did.

This was by A. I believe. I look awful but what can you do? Wake up early and work out probably. Moving on.

I think between us we split three pizzas, one pineapple and pepperoni, one cheese, and one sausage and peppers. Good stuff.

A. by K. I think.

K. by K. but two different Ks.

Ugh. I just want to prove I was there even though I look the worst.

Another one by K. I think.

Probably A.

Little I. does this funny thing that when you tell her to wink, she really just closes her eyes and winks her mouth, which is, I think, what I was doing here.

And that has got to be a wrap for tonight, even though we had one more meal before I headed out the next afternoon. You'll just have to wait a week and some days. It will totally be kind-of worth it.

Hot Dogs and Fries c/o Ernie's Texas Lunch

Once I had eaten, I checked into the same hotel our family has predominantly stayed in ever since Helen's house was sold. This hotel, Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters (known by us and for all time as "Larson's"), holds almost as many memories at Helen's house. Even after her death, we'd still manage to meet up there about once a year, usually around Christmas. For a while now we haven't really done Christmas in Gettysburg, which is fine by me - it's COLD, but we still manage to get together about once a year or so. My mother's brother, Uncle E., could certainly be described as a creature of habit...which I think he very much gets from his father. And if you've been a long-time reader of this blog, you will not be surprised by the meals we enjoyed over the next few days. In any case. First I checked in. Then I went to the Appalachian Brewing Company restaurant, which is part of the hotel, and enjoyed myself a delicious stout while waiting for the rest of the folks to come in. Seriously good beer. If you have the chance, definitely check their line of beers out. Soon enough K. and A. and M. and A. and K. and I. all appeared and those of us of age enjoyed beers and a quick catch-up before further regrouping. Then we walked to Ernie's Texas Lunch, which like pretty much everything else in Gettysburg is steeped in my mother's family memories and lore. When my grandfather attended Gettysburg College, he ate there. When my mother and uncle were growing up and they'd visit the Fairfield relatives, they'd eat there. When my uncle went to Gettysburg College, he ate there. When my cousins and I were growing up and meeting up, well...you know...we ate there. And since I returned to the lower east coast after grad school, that tradition has most certainly continued. It was not terribly warm or pleasant, but given our diet for the next 48 hours, a walk did us all good. Little I. was not so keen on walking.

The kids didn't skip a beat once we were inside, lining themselves up at the counter while we took over the large table in the back, which for so so so many generations has had my family members gathered around it.

Fries on this day were hot but could have been a little crispier. You'll note that pretty much everyone not under the age of 12 chose lager for their beverage.

I have learned that I don't really love the full nine yards Texas dog, which comes with chili and heaps of onions. So I got two dogs just with mustard. Still nicely cooked. I think the slightly charred skin is my favorite part.

The staff is really nice, both front of house and back of house. One of the cooks came out and first asked the adults if it was ok to give the kids lollipops, and once given the 'ok' kindly doled them out. I. was quite pleased with hers.

And then I'm not sure exactly what this was about. But she's got pretty cool kicks.

And K. wanted me to take a photograph of this because he was 'a bridge' and he most certainly was. When K.-the OC (original cousin, there are a lot of abbreviated names starting with the same letters) and I were little (and, really, even in the last five years) we enjoyed jumping back and forth from bed to bed in the hotel's rooms. Now with this new generation of actual young people, we are most certainly bad influences...I didn't take any photographs of it, but all four kids, K. and I all jumped vigorously on the beds while the 'grown ups' were still on their way back.

And then, as we have done for as long as I can remember, we gathered around a table and played some cards. Hearts first for the older set, then UNO with the younger. Though I hadn't played hearts in some time, I did quite well. Actually, I think I did better than I ever did when I played it a lot back in the Chicago/France days.

Family Memories and Meh Mexican (Mehxican)

The weekend before last I took a day off and made my way southwest to Gettysburg for a weekend-long rendezvous with my Ohio relatives. I knew I was going to get there before they did, so I first took a small detour to Fairfield, which is about 10 miles outside of the 'burg, and is also where my grandfather and his sisters (and a brother? I can't remember if he was the only boy) grew up. The family has long returned to the town. As a kid, I remember countless drives from the D.C. area with my mother, where we would meet up with our Ohio brethren at my great-aunt Helen's house. Helen was a school teacher and never married, and her house was a general meeting place for numerous holiday gatherings. We rarely spent Christmas-proper there, but always celebrated the holiday at some point. I have so many memories from those days; flashes of the rooms, furniture, knick knacks, wallpaper, piano, refrigerator magnets, unsafe back porch, grassy back sidewalk, clothes hanger, neighbor boxer dog, tiddly winks, armchairs. And the town itself was/is so small that as kids my cousin and I were allowed to walk around it with no supervision. I most vividly remember walking the two or three blocks to the local grocery store every time I was there to buy MAD magazine and gum - two things I never purchased at home. On another occasion, shortly after reading Harriet the Spy, I wandered down the main drag and up and around the few small alleys, taking notes on the various houses and looking for potential ways to get inside the houses...never did get inside, which is definitely for the best. When Helen ultimately had to be moved to an assisted living facility, the house and its belongings were sold. Actually, the things were auctioned off, so many of our family members went to the auction to get a few especially meaningful items (why we couldn't have simply taken them before the auction isn't clear to me). My mother got one of the two bed frames from the back room, where my cousin K, me and often my grandmother too would all sleep (the house may look a good size from the outside, but with three bedrooms needing to serve at least 8 people, things could get cramped. The mattress on that bed had a very pronounced dip in the middle, which I loved. That frame, with new mattress (to my chagrin) became my bed for the remainder of my years at home, and is now in the guest bedroom in Tennessee. I expect that whenever I have a more proper home I might try to mooch it. Mom also got an antique clock that sits in the dining area of the Tennessee house. All to say, this house has a lot of memories and feelings attached to it. So when I went to Fairfield, I first went to the cemetery where we spread some of Mom's ashes (by Helen's and other family members' graves) to just say hello to everyone - figuratively speaking. Then I became a super mccreepster, parking across the street from the house and taking photos. Driving around its block to see how things stayed the same or changed. Things have changed a little for sure, but this front view is exactly what we'd see when we drove up.

After the requisite amount of nostalgic thinking, I made my way back to Gettysburg. I hadn't eaten and wasn't sure exactly when our family meal would happen, so I stopped at a Mexican joint and tried their food. Guacamole was ok, but rather bland.

I ordered a quesadilla/enchilada/burrito combo, which was also lacking in any particularly marvelous or specific taste other than 'white people Mexican food.' I'm not bothering telling you where this was because I'm not recommending it.

Shrimp, Scallop and Sausage Wonderland, With an Appearance by Asparagus

On that first afternoon when I went to fulfill all our seafood dreams, one dream had to not only be deferred but outright abandoned. That dream was soft shell crabs. The man behind the counter, with what I believe I could refer to as a 'handlebar mustache' (though maybe not) told me conviction and knowledge that the season down there had already been over for almost a week...he also told me that the soft shell crabs I enjoyed a few weeks back with L. and Fat T. were - regardless of what the fishmonger might have said - not from Maryland but from North Carolina. It was all very confusing and disillusioning and meant that we would be having no crabs at all ... we're purists and don't really believe in frozen soft shell crabs. So on that second night C. whipped up a garlicky, lick splickety good pile of shrimp, scallops and chicken sausage, which was served over pasta and accompanied by asparagus.
Wonderful stuff, this.

Apricot Stilton, Tuna Steaks and More

After logging about four hours at the beach, which consisted mainly of lying down and reading and then getting up and swimming in a closed loop, we packed up and returned to the house. I forget what we ate. I think mostly cheese for lunch. Though I could be forgetting something. Chicken maybe? We discussed what we wanted for dinner in the coming nights, thinking mostly of seafood. Soft shell crabs were envisioned. And shrimp. And tuna. And scallops. I went and picked up the majority of the things on our dream list at Austin's Seafood in nearby Rodanthe, and after an afternoon of beer and wine, I began to prepare for the grilling part of the evening.
Apricot Stilton and the remnants of Rosey Goat. I wasn't overly crazy about the apricot stilton, so much apricot flavor that the cheese seemed really just to be a delivery system. Later on C. pulled out a huge wedge of Brie that I couldn't say no to every time I passed it in the coming days. How could one say no to that face? The face of Brie: a thing of wondrous, seductive beauty ... and a bitch for the waistline. I should be a copywriter.
These, I was told, are sometimes called Century Plants. There were a number of them around the house and I just loved the look of them.
In preparation for the trip I bought a new bathing suit top, having been convinced by K. during our Jamaica trip that I wouldn't be astonishingly disgusting to others on the beach if I were to rock a little bare stomach. Though I purchased the top I wasn't sure I really had the guts to wear it in public...mainly because of my gut. See what I did there? C. suggested asking J. the 17 year old (of whom no photographic proof - bar one - will be seen because she has an uncanny knack of looking more miserable than I think she really was in all of them and I'd prefer all of us to imagine her with smiles on her face) what she thought, as she is not one to hold her opinions back on the whole. So I asked her if wearing such a thing would be cause for ignominy, and she said no. But I didn't buy it, I think she was too entranced by Invader Zim to pay much attention to the urgency of the question. C. took a photograph and while I must admit it's not terrible, I couldn't constantly be worried about the stomach and never actually wore the suit to the beach. Why am I going on about this? Let's move on.
While I stoked the grill, C. and D. - cousins for years now - sat on the top deck with binoculars and drinks.
Meanwhile, I manned the grill and fretted over the tuna steaks (local and fresh) being too rare or too cooked.
In the end they were just right, at least by my standards. Rare but with enough cooked-ness that they flaked easily. Still pink. Yes. Most certainly still pink. And with the tuna we enjoyed tomato slices and grilled potatoes. J. enjoyed hot dogs because she doesn't eat things from the sea, which truthfully is what all of us in the world should do if we want anything left for future generations. She said before providing many a future meal proving her own hypocrisy.