Catch youse dufes later!

[Thumper]

I hit a quick estate sale this morning and loaded up on goodies, but they'll have to wait. We're about finished packing up and gonna head over to the beach for the weekend (Ft. Meyers). I have a few estate sales scoped out to hit while we're there also, so I'll make it a "working holiday"! :D

Have a good one, but don't think you'll have full reign. I'll have my laptop with me and WILL check up on you bozos while there! :D

[Thumper]

At the hotel kicking back and relaxing (nice suite) a bit before heading out. Gots dinner reservations for 7:00, so I'm just sittin' here working up an appetite. ;)

[BarryBobPosthole]

Have fun Jim!

BKB

[Thumper]

Just had a killer meal at an Italian/Latin fusion restaurant.

I ordered one of my favorite appetizers (escargot), but I was a bit surprised when it arrived. I expected the usual butter/garlic sauce ... but it arrived in their signature house sauce instead. I was a bit disappointed at first, but once we had a taste, Lynn and I both agreed it's the best escargot we've ever had! This thing was LOADED with escargot ... prob. is, we'd already eaten quite a bit of it before I realized I hadn't taken a pic. Trust me, it was larrupin! ;)

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Lynn had the salmon with pasta (there's a HUGE chunk of salmon in there) and it was to die for.

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And I had the filet mignon strips with tomatoes, a serving of beans and rice, along with their house hot sauce. The hot sauce was HOT and extremely flavorful!

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All in all, it was a good restaurant choice and everything we had was excellent. We'll have a big breakfast here at the hotel tomorrow, but have Korean planned for tomorrow night's dinner. It's gonna have to be a good one to beat tonight's meal.

[Hombre]

Escargot is on the top of my favorites list

[BarryBobPosthole]

Mine too. There used to be an Italian place in Chesterfield, Mo -John Mineo's- that had the best steak-escargo combination in the world.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yep, escargot and calamari are probably two of my favorite appetizers. We've never had this style escargot before, but were pleasantly surprised.

[johnboy]

I lived in France when I was a kid (6 to 8 or so) and remember well going snail hunting with my best bud who was a local. We would bring back a big bucket full and his Mom would cook them up. Just a normal meal. Lots of butter and garlic and fresh baguette. Good.

[Thumper]

Johnboy, there is NOTHING in the world better than REAL French bread. The only places I've had it is actually in France, in Vietnam and in Laos. The last time I had it, my SEAL buddy and I were in Northern Laos and we were standing at the door of a small village bakery at about 6:00 am when they opened one morning. We had a half-pound of butter with us and the bakery owner handed us a loaf straight out of the oven. We sat in front of the bakery and ate that whole loaf while it was still hot! Nobody has lived until they've had authentic French bread! You can NOT buy the real thing here as, the way I understand it, something about the yeast is banned by the FDA here. I have been to Quebec many times (all over Canada actually), but I've never thought to check the bread there. It may be the real thing, don't really know. (Do you?)

[Thumper]

We had Korean for lunch and I had my old favorite, Bulgogi. I'm stuffed!


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[Big Skyz]

Okay to me snails are bait and I'm not eating that stuff, but that Korean meal has me hungry and envious at the same time. That is an excellent choice for dinner.

[Hombre]

Kimchi is another favorite of mine, loved Korean BBQ in Seoul. ...thump I think we could go on a foodie travel around the world

[Thumper]

Hombre, I am SO ready! Traveling is a passion of mine and I've pretty much had my wings clipped for the past few years, both medically AND financially. You just don't know how much I miss it. Admittedly, we still get some in, but it's more the touristy type travel that I've always despised previously as I was always more into what I'd call "adventure travel" ... waaaay off the beaten path as far as tourists are concerned. I'm not so sure I'll ever be able to physically handle that again. As an example, just before my medical problems, my buddy and I were planning to head to Myanmar (Burma), purchase a small (canoe like) boat, head down the Mekong River through Burma, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, then end up in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam where we'd planned to donate the boat to a small village. We'd planned on eating and spending our nights in small riverside villages during the trip. After a short visit in the Delta, we'd head up to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), then catch a flight to Thailand for a bit of R&R before returning home (via Korea). A pretty aggressive plan, but doable. We were ready to do it one year, but a severe drought (and record low water) shelved our plan at the last minute. Now, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do it.

BTW, I've NEVER been into airport food, but one of my favorite sushi places is in the (new) Bangkok Airport! Whenever my bud and I would be ready to fly home from Thailand, our final stop would always be to exchange any of our left-over Baht to USD. After they built the new airport, we were looking for a money exchange counter before boarding our return flight and we came across a small kiosk type sushi place in the center of an aisle in the International departure terminal. We figured what the heck? We'll just spend our left-over Baht there. We talked extensively to the sushi chef and the guy was not only the owner of the "restaurant", but EXTREMELY knowledgeable when it came to sushi. He was telling us about the different seasons, the best sources, a TON of info ... and he was just an interesting guy to talk with. He even made us a couple of "special" creations to sample and he wanted our opinions. From that point on, any time we were ready to fly home from Thailand (twice/year), we'd sit at the counter, empty our pockets of any left-over Baht, shove it into a pile on the counter, then we'd tell him to just make us whatever sushi he wanted to and keep going until the pile of cash was gone. From that point on, we never once hit the currency exchange counter before returning home! That's one stop I really do miss.

BUT ... "foodie travel" is quite a bit easier to accomplish, much to the chagrin of my doctor who's been constantly telling me to lose weight. :(

[BarryBobPosthole]

Jim, I was at my youngest grandson's first birthday party and me and Grampy (his great grandpa who is just a few years older than me) ended up with our coffee and conversation like we almost always do at those functions: ten adults and a bewildered little kid.
Anyway, he spent a couple of tours in Viet Nam and was telling me about having to spend a couple months in Thailand to recover from some wounds and how he found a lady with a little stamd that made fried rice in a great big skillet. He said she charged a nickel a plate. And by the time he left there he'd told a bunch of people about it and she'd raised her price to a quarter. He said he's never had food that good since anywhere.

Made me think of you, buddy. You'd like old Don. He's one of the few in that family that
i do.

BKB

[quercus alba]

fortunately I'm married to an asian lady that knows how to use Youtube and has learned to cook delicious asian food. Her specialty is mexican tho.

[Thumper]

Yessir P-hole ... that "great big skillet" would be a wok. ;)

Fried Rice is a street food ANYBODY in the world would love. That's Khao Phat (or "Cow Pot" as us honkies pronounce it). I used to have a VERY close Thai friend (he literally saved my life once ... long Thump story) who had a little Khao (rice) Phat (stir-fried) stand right next to one of the bungalows I lived in for a while up north. His name was Phi Piek (Phi means brother) and I was Phi Jim to him. He made the best Khao Phat in town IMHO and all I had to do was lean out my bungalow window and holler (in the best phonetic spelling I can muster here), "Phi Piek, Yaak gin khao phat, nung jhan!" ... and a few minutes later he'd have it at my door wearing that huge smile he had that never seemed to go away.

One day, ol' Phi Piek picked up a baby Gibbon (ape) that was still clinging to it's dead mother (she'd been shot) in the Cambodian jungle and presented him to me. He was so young, his eyes were just opening. I named him Chico and he grew up thinking he was a human! I had that little gorilla for 3 years and had to leave him there with a Thai friend when I left because he was a protected species and I had to go through a million miles of red tape to try bringing him home, not to mention a period of quarantine. Heck, when I returned to the world, I couldn't find an apartment in L.A. that would even allow dogs, much less a "monkey"! But I digress, that's another long story ....

I'm sure Grampy and I would get along just fine!