Bogue Inlet Pier, Birthday Dinner.

I have posted pictures of Bogue Inlet Pier before, this is what it looked like after Hurricane Irene. I saw this picture in a friend’s copy of The Tideland News of August 31, I googled and found the picture which I really wanted to share. What a mess. According to the article there was 225 ft. sheared off. Our friends said people had sent in donations, but the pier owner doesn’t want donations, he says come in, have a beer, and enjoy the pier instead. The pier is a very popular fishing spot, especially since there are almost no other piers left any more, most people find them too expensive to repair. Such a shame as they were such a feature of the Carolina coast for many years.

In the afternoon we went to the pier and walked along, had a couple of beers to do our part in rebuilding. The end doesn’t look quite so bad on top although the birds seem to have taken over the bit which is fenced off. There are lots of gulls here and they have decided they like the area and no-one can get at them. We basically saw several types of gull – sorry I know nothing about gulls other than they are usually raucous and noisy. We also saw a pod of dolphins playing around the end of the pier. Must have annoyed the fisherman, but it was lovely to see. When we got back into the car it was like an oven turned on full. Yuk.

 

Water looked really lovely and there were people surfing but the waves were nowhere near big enough.

 

 

As I mentioned yesterday, we went to Floyd’s 1921 for dinner last night – we ended up with 7 of us after starting with a possible 13 or so. Even I nearly didn’t go as I had been having so much pain in my neck and really wasn’t feeling up to it earlier in the day. Then it turned out our friend from Canada who was ill the day before nearly drowned himself on the beach. I guess it was shaping up to be an unlucky event. However, in the end it was great.  See the pretty white hair!! I guess that will stick with Matt forever now.

I didn’t really see what everyone ate, the people closest to me had things like steak and ribs. However, Matt and I started off with appetisers of Miniature Beef Wellingtons for me and Baked Almond Encrusted Brie with a Peach Jalapeño Chutney which basically we shared with each other. Both dishes were very good. This was followed by a crab bisque which was delicious. The bisque was actually part of the meal when you ordered the main course.

Matt loves crab cakes and that is what he ordered and they came with fried okra and whipped potatoes. The specials sounded good, one was trigger fish which I haven’t eaten in years, however, I chose another special, Flounder and Scallops in a Champagne Sauce with Grapes. Mouth wateringly delectable. The scallops were so tender and the fish was beautiful. We accompanied the whole with a glass of Pinot Grigio. Sadly the pictures have all turned out rather dark and I don’t have a really good editing programme on my laptop. When he had eaten his crab cakes, Matt swore he was really full and couldn’t eat anything else. However, they brought out desserts and offered me one free, and suddenly Matt decided to have a chocolate cheesecake which was delicious, I swiped a bit. I had a Crème Caramel, also to die for. I forgot to take pix of the desserts, however, as the pictures are so dark anyway, probably doesn’t matter. I hope you can make out enough from these pictures.

I finally got the recipe for sausage cheese balls, I couldn’t leave them alone when we were at our friend’s house the other night.

Sausage and cheese balls

1lb of sausage (mild or hot, however you prefer)

8 oz. sharp cheese grated

3 cups of Bisquick

Mix all ingredients well, shape into balls, cook in 425°F oven for approximately 15 to 20 min.

Have a great day.