Coastal Bounty

Ah, fish for dinner. And lunch. Some folks here have it for breakfast but I’m not quite there yet. Fresh fish is not necessarily a benefit of living in the South, per se, but rather a benefit of living near a coast. Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle all have great fish without being anywhere near the south. But here I am, in Florida. It’s pretty hard to live and Florida and NOT be near a coast (‘Near’ being relative, I understand). Now that my husband has joined me we’ve been on a bit of a quest. I’ve always been a red-meat gal, and I would still go out of my way for a good steak, but lately I’ve been craving fish. I've used 'fisherman' photos for scale.

I’ve had most of these, and they are by no means all which are available, but I *have* encountered all of these fish on menus in the South. I’m referring to ocean fish here, which you can’t reliably get with decent quality in the Midwest (unless you pay high prices at a fancy restaurant).

Since I’ve moved to Florida, I’ve tried fresh pompano, grouper, tilefish, sheepshead, red drum, dolphin fish (Mahi Mahi) and triggerfish. I’ve seen amberjack and fresh red snapper on menus and spotted snook in a fish case once. And eel, though I don’t know if it was ‘local-caught.’ 

Up north, for typical dining you are mainly limited to walleye, whitefish (usually from Lake Superior), lake perch, and northern pike. There are innumerable panfish, though you don’t often see them on restaurant menus or in the fish case, as is the situation with bass and muskie. You eat those when you catch them yourself. You may notice in the photo that some of these fish require ice fishing, a wonderful experience unknown in Florida.

I’ve really developed an appreciation for a hearty slab of fish, simply prepared (usually pan-fired or broiled – never deep fried) and when I was in Wisconsin earlier this month I ordered Walleye just to keep my fish consumption at my usual pace. We may move back to the Midwest, where some of these fish will be simply unavailable, but for now we are chomping our way through the bounty of the coastal waters.

Tour of Wisconsin

Ah, Wisconsin. My friend. The visit to IL was a trip home, but Wisconsin involved quite a tour, from the Milwaukee area to nearly Minnesota. I have always loved Wisconsin, and spending so much time seeing both the familiar and the new sights really hit home.

I saw Necedah Wildlife Refuge, with bald eagles, great egrets, and sandhill cranes spotted. Tomah with its Ocean Spray plant and the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, near Black River Falls. 

All the way, due to poor planning on my part, I was relegated to local radio, but it turned out to be fascinating. Most of my drive to and from Eau Claire I was listening to a show called Central Time, on Wisconsin Public Radio. The only other options were miscellaneous music, which went out of range quickly, but WPR has an overlapping map so I could tune a bit and pick it up again. I heard stories about bees, the bird flu in the chicken flocks in Juneau County, extra-aged cheddar cheese, and discussing how much time the governor spends out of state.

In  the South, you eat catfish and banana pudding. In Wisconsin, you eat walleye and cheese curds.

I see bald eagles, cranes, and egrets in both places, but they simply are more special up north because they are less common. And robins. I have yet to see a robin in Florida, even though I am on the border between the wintering and breeding range. I was so happy to see robins up north. Florida is quite flat (outside of the panhandle) but near the Wisconsin Dells area there are large rock formations along the Wisconsin River.

I'm still adjusting to life in the South, but after 2 1/2 years, I'm not doing it alone. Hopefully I can move forward and not look back quite so much. But in the end, I plan to return to the land of snow and robins.

Back in the Chicago Area

Still out and about, so I am late in posting. I’m in Wisconsin this week, but last week I was in IL, visiting with family, working, and going to the parade. I miss the area, and the food (Portillo’s, Sawa’s) but it may be the combination of familiarity and family that makes the difference.

Illinois and Wisconsin

Today, I head north for the longest trip back north in quite a while. for eleven days I will be in northern IL and Wisconsin. I'll be visiting family, taking some training, instructing several groups on a regulatory topic, and doing a LOT of driving. The longest single stretch will be from Eau Claire, WI to Muskego, WI (just outside of Milwaukee). I don't often have a four-hour drive between sites, but this time I do. I'll see the area again, eat the food, and interact with good ol' Great Lakes folks. We'll see if it is the way I remember.

Visiting Georgia

For the first day of my Georgia trip, I was in Ball Ground. A small community of about 1500 people ~40 miles north of Atlanta, in Cherokee county, it is a fairly well-off town with a median income upwards of $62k (compared to ~$47k for the state overall). The County seat, Canton, is larger and to the southwest of Ball Ground.
 

Despite being a small town, Ball Ground was nice. The hauling company and landfill I visited were on the outskirts, of course. Active landfills are usually away from residential communities.
 

I drove around with the safety manager and a couple of supervisors looking for trucks for a job observation, so I got a decent sense of the town. Nice homes, newer with the oddest driveways/garages I'd ever seen. I'm not certain exactly where they were - the routes that day went into Dahlonega, but most of the houses in that subdivision had a three-car attached garage, but it was three separate garage doors, which were at a right angle to the driveway. I have no idea how they got cars in them. 

We had lunch at Rooster's Cafe in Dahlonega - I had the fried chicken sandwich upon recommendation from one of the supervisors. It was prepared more like regular fried chicken than the usual 'crispy' chicken sandwich and was quite tasty. 

A number of the employees were Hispanic, which was unexpected t me. Hadn't thought of that. Checking the stats, Canton is over 25% Hispanic. Very pretty area, and the folks seemed happy, healthy, and friendly overall. Outside of the accent, it felt like many towns I've been to in other areas. Checking the stats again, Ball Ground/Canton/ have a population base which shows: Unemployed percentage significantly below state average, Black race population percentage significantly below state average, Median age significantly below state average. Young, employed, and white. Not exactly a typical slice of the South overall.

Next up was Atlanta. I finally feel I’ve seen the city (a bit).  

I took the MARTA from the airport where I’d returned the blasted Prius I had rented for Ball Ground, and headed over to the Hyatt for my conference.
 

I met up with a coworker, and she had bought tickets for the Braves game that night. We again took the MARTA train, then a bus, to Turner Field. Hot dogs were eaten, a keychain was purchased,  and there was a beautiful sunset. We won, 4-8, though we left a bit early since it was getting chillier than we’d anticipated. Bus to train and back at the hotel.

 
My drug conference was downtown, at the Hyatt. It was a very nice hotel in a business district.  
 

Numerous restaurants were in the area. I ate twice at Sway, in the hotel; Cuts – a nearby steakhouse; Meehan’s – an Irish pub downtown; and twice at White Oak. The steakhouse was a generic steakhouse, very good but nothing to tell you that you weren’t in Kansas anymore.  The other two had a taste of the South, though higher-end. At Sway, I had Peaches n’ Cream Waffles for breakfast and a blackened tuna salad for my lunch visit. Cuts served me pecan salmon, and at Meehan’s I had a venison burger with (gasp-battered!) onion rings. At White Oak I had a lamb burger with fried green tomato on it for lunch, and a grilled tilefish for my dinner visit.

 

The conference itself was great, as usual, though my old buddy Joe was MIA.  The conference was the initial reason for the trip to Georgia, and I added the site visits to each end.

Lately all of the conferences have been at a Hyatt, and I can’t say I didn’t like the service. On the last day I bought the obligatory keychain, checked out, hopped back on the MARTA to go back to the airport to pick up another car for last part of the trip.

The MARTA goes directly into the airport, which is very handy. After the icky Prius (drove like a tank) I snagged a cool Beetle. First time in one. Poor visibility over the shoulder for this short gal, but fun nonetheless. I was off for a two-hour drive south to Macon.
 

Macon is larger community of about 91,000 people ~80 miles southeast of Atlanta, in Bibb County. It is a less affluent town with a median income upwards of $23k (compared to ~$47k for the state overall). It is the County seat, and the Macon Metropolitan area has a population of about 155,000.  Checking the stats again, the Macon metropolitan area has a population base which shows: Unemployed percentage above state average, Black race population percentage above state average (66%), Median age below state average, Median household income below state average. Young, poorer, unemployed, and largely black. A bit more like the South I hear about.
 

Lunch was at The Bear's Den, billed as "The South's Best Homecooking." It has a rotating daily menu. "Friday Meats" were Baked Chicken & Dressing, Chicken Parmesan, Fried Catfish, Chicken Tenders, Beef Stroganoff on Noodles, and Fried Chicken. Friday Sides were Squash Casserole, Cabbage, Baked Beans, Green Beans, Macaroni & Cheese, Turnips, Cole Slaw, Cheese Grits, Dressing, and Corn Fritters. You got one meat and two sides, so I chose catfish, squash casserole, and mac n' cheese. Casserole was ‘eh’, but the mac n' cheese was creamy and browned on the top, and the catfish was crunchy and flavorful (and came with two hush puppies.) I had sweet potato pie for dessert, because everyone gets dessert.  

I was with the Safety Trainer on Friday, and after lunch we drove around the town. I’d found an older postcard picture which I had posted on FB, and he recognized the locations right away. One was on Washington Avenue, approaching St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on the left and the First Baptist church ahead. The flags pictured in the postcard apparently have been removed. The Cannonball House, named for damage sustained during the War Between the States, was built in 1853 as a planter’s townhouse. It was smaller than I’d expected from the postcard, and there were no Southern Belles lounging on the porch.

While touring the area, we passed a “Little Library” which looked like the Tardis. I didn’t know it was a library until I looked it up. My photo is pretty bad (I wasn’t expecting it) but I found a better one.
 

Atlanta was very nice, with enough South to let me know I wasn’t in Chicago. The Ball Ground/ Dahlonega area that I saw was plain vanilla typical subdivision houses. The different trees were the only sign you weren’t in suburban Detroit. Admittedly, I was following a residential garbage truck – the towns themselves might have been very distinctive. Overall, I liked Macon the best. It had character, despite the economic challenges. Ray knew the area well, and was proud to show me the town. I let him know I didn’t want to go to a big chain for lunch, so he took me to a small local place. I really ‘knew’ I was in the South I’d read about. I was glad to *not* see Confederate flags everywhere – actually I saw not a one the whole trip. Stereotypes can be wrong. Georgia is not what I’d thought. At least where I’d visited, I could see myself living here if circumstances brought me to Georgia.