Getting into the Swing

Ah, the chance to unload. However, I felt much more like unloading yesterday. Jetlag can really take it's toll. Today (thank you Mr. Ambien), I feel more awake and like my old self. My daughter slept through the night (hallelujah!) and thus, so did we.

We've just returned from a wonderful (and very tiring) three week holiday to America. I am a transplant. A turnip for a heart, a donkey's leg for a human's. I am an American in England. So although I never intended for all of my worldly adventures to revolve around the US (and family), they do.

This trip included a family wedding (was actually a GREAT time, my cousin looked AMAZING, and my daughter was a flower girl - what mom could say no? Show her to me if she exists!! She'll only have SONS!), a trip to Florida, a trip to New Orleans (Covington and Slidell to be precise), Jackson, Ms, Gulfport, Ms, Raleigh, NC and NYC and Long Island. Yes, alot to do and alot of people to see. Oh, and a layover at the Nashville airport. Which was a shame cause it shoulda been two days in Nashville considering I lived there for nearly 12 years. I just couldn't fit it all in.

So hence the jet lag. It really does throw you. I mean, I have mommy brain anyway but to put travel tiredness on top of it, it does feel like I had secret brain surgery whilst asleep on the plane. Maybe I did. Probably organised by my husband. Probably didn't get the desired effect. I bitched at him plenty yesterday (whipping post for my home visit being over). I apologise when I know I've been out-of-line (yes this can happen with some frequency which diminishes the sincerity of the apology, I know). I'm much nicer today.

My daughter's great comment of the day (so far, it's only 9:45am): Let me read to you mommy. Ok, me and you went on holiday and Jojo's underpants stayed home.

My husband was reading this book you see. It was called Superships. He says it got very interesting. Written around 1974 about super oil tankers. It wasn't my bag baby. I read from it one night aloud and decided that in order to make it more palatable, it would be nice to swap any mention of 'ship' 'tanker' 'super structure' to 'jojo's underpants'. Allow me to give you a taste:
'When jojo's underpants contain 4 million gallons of crude oil without a leak, the quality of the underpants...' you get the idea.

Well, my 4 year old daughter caught wind of this funny exchange and on the airplane to America decided to enjoy a bit of light reading. She took his book from him and said (and she shouts, it's just what she does) 'I'm going to read Jojo's Underpants'. She opened the book (upside down of course) and shouted 'One day, Jojo's underpants went to the shop. On the underpants train. And then Jojo's underpants...'. Great fun was had at my husband's expense. The uptight Brit behind him didn't quite seem to get it. The best moment was shouting to him on another flight as we all lined up like cattle to disembark 'Mom! Did we put Jojo's Underpants in the bin??' to which I replied, 'No, we packed Jojo's Underpants.

Another lovely shouting moment was leaving the first plane to go to immigration. Many people strung along a long echo-y corridor with lots of glass. I hear 'Mom! I need a POO!'. Then I hear laughter and snickering. 'Did you all get that?' I ask turning to look behind me at which point two people nod in earnest. Four year olds do not have a filter. Anything and everything that enters their minds comes out of their mouths. They pick at themselves quite happily in public. They scream 'NOOOOOO' at you. They ask you if they have the cutest bottom and winky in the public pool changing room. They comment on you at all times - nipples, pubic hair, your fat tummy, nothing is safe from the roving eye of a 4 year old tabloid reporter.

Alas, the sun is shining (it's in the mid-60's and gorgeous, the weather Gods have been smiling on us for weeks - here and during our travels) and our kitchen has nothing in it. The milk and bread a friend left for us upon our return is long gone. I guess it's time to get the the grocery and think about cooking again. We ate out ALOT on our trip. Having said that, we stayed with friends and family several nights, so it could have been alot worse.

Funny thing about returning home and eating your favourite foods - at first you eat them because you can. Oh! That first bite of southern biscuit. That first taste of shrimp po-boy. The fresh fish. The sushi. The mexican. Grits. It's a long list. But something strange happens. You (or at least I) can't seem to stop ordering the stuff you can't get back in England. You begin to dread it, just a little. You order it out of a sense of obligation. I CAN'T get it there so I've GOT to eat it now. My mouth is saying 'three egss over medium with homefries and a biscuit' while my internal diet policwoman/just plain common sense is saying 'fruit salad! fruit salad!!!'. Although I was offered and accepted fruit salad I never actually ORDERED fruit salad. Although I did (in the first few days of our holiday in Florida) eat ALOT OF GORGEOUS TASTING FRUIT. Thank you Grandma!

Let's just go over the list:
Raleigh: Flying Biscuit biscuits (yum), homemade pan fried grouper dredged in cornmeal (thanks Eric!), Crook's Corner shrimp and grits and tomato and watermelon salad (in Chapel Hill, BEST cornbread I have EVER had). We even had free range bbq chicken and rosemary potatoes (the meat issue is another post for another time).
Florida: shrimp, fruit, salad, sushi at Fuju (in Naples, GREAT tiny place, family run), Grandma's pot roast (a miracle considering she has no short term memory, thanks Aunt Sandy for saving the pot roast! I had a tiny taste because when in Rome!!), Yellowtail snapper breaded and sauted in butter, olive oil, white wine & lemon (Chef me, yum!), and Girlscout Thin Mint ice cream. Lots of sandwiches and thinly sliced cheese. I even ate some mesquite roasted turkey (again for another post). Let's not forget the first meal we had in FL - Waffle House!
Louisiana: Po-boys, shrimp from Bears in Slidell. Excellent!! Nothing but loads of shrimp.
Breakfast was at our b&b in Slidell, Woodridge Inn. Lovely place and Debbie - you make the best biscuits I have ever tasted and I am FROM the south and have eaten ALOT of homemade biscuits. Knocked my socks off, they did.
Mississippi: Ok, Pepitos, Negoya (both very good mexican and sushi respectively and right next store to eachother in Madison, Ms), homecooked talapia (thank you Dan!), lots of great sandwhiches, pancakes at my sisters (yummy) and all the crappy snack food you care to eat - Pizzas, Little Debbies, Doritos, Hostess DingDongs, and a real show stopper - Oreo milk shakes (again, thank you Dan!). A final farewell to Jackson was at Cracker Barrell. We then ate in Gulfport fast food (only once) and at a new restaurant called the Half Shell. Excellent Gumbo, Ellie said the shrimp po-boy was better than Bears and the cheese grits were lovely. Everyone oo'd and ah'd.
Nashville: although a brief layover, we ate at Baha Burrito in the airport. Gracias.
New York: The Diner (around the corner from Hotel Gansevoort), veggie burger, very nice. Breakfast the next day too. Ethiopian food (don't know the name of the place but around NYU and very good). City Bakery for a bit of lunch. On Long Island we ate mostly at St. Ignatius retreat center for all wedding meals. Very nice food. Back to the city we had a slice of pizza at 33 & 3 and dinner at Gobo (6th Ave at 8th and Waverly, or Beverly as our indian cab driver called it). This restaurant blew us away - even my husband who likes all kinds of food said it rocked. It is a must for anyone who visits NYC. Forget it's vegan, you won't miss the meat, my husband didn't.
Breakfast was at the Barking Dog. This place rocks. Right next to the Affinia Dumont on East 34th St near Lexington. All of our breakfasts made our jaws drop. Lunch was at Blockhead's Burritos just up from the pizza place. Grande Quesadilla was superb. We brought some back with us on the plane, popped it in the oven and called it dinner on the first night home. 9Quite a list, huh?)


So, I must head to the store and buy some average apples and hugely imported bananas because the shriveled lemon and orange in my fruit bowl are going in the trash. Rice and beans and lentils and well, that's it for a while. Our taste buds need a little rest. As do our waistlines. Well, mine anyway.

Catch ya on the flipside!