Chris Magyar expressed some concern that Nicholas' lotto ticket might have been an expired one, thus depriving my brother of his prize. I'm happy to report that Nicholas was able to cash the ticket on the spot ($500 is the upper limit on tickets that can be cashed in-store), and so Sarah had a good time with a stack of twenties for the rest of the road trip. Of course, upon arriving home she immediately got a $75 speeding ticket. Easy come, easy go. You can read Nicholas' account of the lotto experience at the family blog.
I promised a journal of the weekend's events, so I'll cover it in stages and be done with the whole thing by the end of the week.
On Thursday Christina and I lit out of St. Petersburg at about 5:30 p.m. Our plan had been to depart mid-afternoon, but my boss Rob asked specifically if I'd be staying through the day, so I was stuck. About 4:30 he came by with a bunch of questions about orders I'd placed on his credit card (annual audit, coming through!), which made me grateful that I'd spent so much time saving electronic invoices into PDF files. The delay put us in Orlando at about 7:30. I-4 was eerily empty during rush hour, but we knew better than to complain.
We stopped in Orlando at the home of Jeff "Filmboy" Stanford and Loren Faust, where we had dinner. This included the company of long-time friend L and her new husband A. L&A recently moved to Orlando from their previous homes in Boston, which I consider an extremely wise move. So does Liz, although I suppose lifelong Boston-native A still requires convincing. I expect that the 60-degree February weather and absence of state income tax will soon win him over.
Much of the evening was spent attending to the needs of Mr. Cavanaugh, the aging Scotty dog that Loren inherited from her mom, who passed away early last year. Cavanaugh likes to be the center of attention and will let you know when he's unhappy with your performance. Still, he's a pleasant enough presence in the house and it's amusing to see Jeff interact with a dog in his domain. Previously, Jeff didn't so much as share his abode with a house plant. Now he has a live-in girlfriend and dog – and come to think of it, a bunch of house plants. It's good to see your friends grow.
The two hours we invested on Thursday evening paid off the next morning. We were able to get a leisurely start at 9:00 a.m.; Hilton Head was only five hours away, according to our handy Yahoo map. Knowing better than to trust the Yahoo map's final few steps of driving instructions, we printed out the hand-drawn map that my dad scanned and sent via e-mail. The high-resolution image printed out on six sheets of letter paper, so Christina's morning project was to tape them together into a mega-map. It actually looked pretty cool, kind of like a treasure map.
About 1:00 in the afternoon, we were approaching Savannah and we still hadn't eaten. Since I'm convinced that my parents know all the good places to eat in the South, I gave my dad a call on the cell phone and asked for a recommendation in Savannah. His driving directions on finding "The Lady and Sons" restaurant were frustratingly vague, but as it turns out they were perfectly adequate. Just pilot into the historic district and it's incredibly easy to find. Parking is somewhat more difficult, but manageable if you're willing to throw a few bucks at the problem.
The restaurant was packed, of course, but we were patient and got seats about twenty minutes later. The lunch buffet was the perfect plan for two hungry road trippers, piled high with fried and baked chicken (both excellent), mac and cheese, grits, collard greens (no thanks), and more. But the main attraction for my carb-addicted palate was the bread plate that made its way around the restaurant, depositing hoe cakes (like pancakes, but smaller and with corn meal) and cheese biscuits at each table. I like to think I know a little something about biscuits, but these were so light and fluffy as to defy description. At the end of the meal, our waiter told us that the buffet includes a dessert. I opted instead for another biscuit and a copy of the cookbook, which "The Lady" signed for me in between rounds of refilling our drinks.
After scrutinizing the biscuit recipe, I think I see how she gets them so light (added sugar and a bit more baking powder than most recipes), but only experimentation will provide me with the same results in my own kitchen. Repeated checks of the oven thermometer confirm that my oven heats 25 - 50 degrees too hot, but thankfully biscuits are more forgiving than that.
Speaking of our own cooking, Christina and I conquered the vat o' cheese sauce. Another batch of mac and cheese will do us for a few meals. Cheap eats.
Leaving The Lady and Sons behind, we found the highway again and made our way to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where the wedding weekend would unfold. But that's for tomorrow night.
If you'd like to see some pictures from the wedding weekend, they're in one of my Yahoo photo albums. I haven't labeled any of them, so if you don't know my family you'll just have to guess at identities. Good luck.
I promised a journal of the weekend's events, so I'll cover it in stages and be done with the whole thing by the end of the week.
On Thursday Christina and I lit out of St. Petersburg at about 5:30 p.m. Our plan had been to depart mid-afternoon, but my boss Rob asked specifically if I'd be staying through the day, so I was stuck. About 4:30 he came by with a bunch of questions about orders I'd placed on his credit card (annual audit, coming through!), which made me grateful that I'd spent so much time saving electronic invoices into PDF files. The delay put us in Orlando at about 7:30. I-4 was eerily empty during rush hour, but we knew better than to complain.
We stopped in Orlando at the home of Jeff "Filmboy" Stanford and Loren Faust, where we had dinner. This included the company of long-time friend L and her new husband A. L&A recently moved to Orlando from their previous homes in Boston, which I consider an extremely wise move. So does Liz, although I suppose lifelong Boston-native A still requires convincing. I expect that the 60-degree February weather and absence of state income tax will soon win him over.
Much of the evening was spent attending to the needs of Mr. Cavanaugh, the aging Scotty dog that Loren inherited from her mom, who passed away early last year. Cavanaugh likes to be the center of attention and will let you know when he's unhappy with your performance. Still, he's a pleasant enough presence in the house and it's amusing to see Jeff interact with a dog in his domain. Previously, Jeff didn't so much as share his abode with a house plant. Now he has a live-in girlfriend and dog – and come to think of it, a bunch of house plants. It's good to see your friends grow.
The two hours we invested on Thursday evening paid off the next morning. We were able to get a leisurely start at 9:00 a.m.; Hilton Head was only five hours away, according to our handy Yahoo map. Knowing better than to trust the Yahoo map's final few steps of driving instructions, we printed out the hand-drawn map that my dad scanned and sent via e-mail. The high-resolution image printed out on six sheets of letter paper, so Christina's morning project was to tape them together into a mega-map. It actually looked pretty cool, kind of like a treasure map.
About 1:00 in the afternoon, we were approaching Savannah and we still hadn't eaten. Since I'm convinced that my parents know all the good places to eat in the South, I gave my dad a call on the cell phone and asked for a recommendation in Savannah. His driving directions on finding "The Lady and Sons" restaurant were frustratingly vague, but as it turns out they were perfectly adequate. Just pilot into the historic district and it's incredibly easy to find. Parking is somewhat more difficult, but manageable if you're willing to throw a few bucks at the problem.
The restaurant was packed, of course, but we were patient and got seats about twenty minutes later. The lunch buffet was the perfect plan for two hungry road trippers, piled high with fried and baked chicken (both excellent), mac and cheese, grits, collard greens (no thanks), and more. But the main attraction for my carb-addicted palate was the bread plate that made its way around the restaurant, depositing hoe cakes (like pancakes, but smaller and with corn meal) and cheese biscuits at each table. I like to think I know a little something about biscuits, but these were so light and fluffy as to defy description. At the end of the meal, our waiter told us that the buffet includes a dessert. I opted instead for another biscuit and a copy of the cookbook, which "The Lady" signed for me in between rounds of refilling our drinks.
After scrutinizing the biscuit recipe, I think I see how she gets them so light (added sugar and a bit more baking powder than most recipes), but only experimentation will provide me with the same results in my own kitchen. Repeated checks of the oven thermometer confirm that my oven heats 25 - 50 degrees too hot, but thankfully biscuits are more forgiving than that.
Speaking of our own cooking, Christina and I conquered the vat o' cheese sauce. Another batch of mac and cheese will do us for a few meals. Cheap eats.
Leaving The Lady and Sons behind, we found the highway again and made our way to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where the wedding weekend would unfold. But that's for tomorrow night.
If you'd like to see some pictures from the wedding weekend, they're in one of my Yahoo photo albums. I haven't labeled any of them, so if you don't know my family you'll just have to guess at identities. Good luck.
