Our First Day, of Wine and Liquor.

We were both exhausted when we went to bed on Sunday after spending time with friends. Neither of us slept well on Saturday night thanks to that particular hotel. I am still having lots of trouble with the oedema in my left leg, the one which had the operation in June. Doc assured me the oedema would be gone in 2 months, its now about 3 months.

Monday we got up pretty early but still felt tired, gettin’ old I guess. Our main job of the day was, of course, to get some shopping. We had enough goodies for breakfast and that was about it. So headed off to Food Lion and bought the store!!! Then to the ABC which is the liquor store round here and bought a couple of jugs of whisky and gin which should last to the end of our trip! We paid about $30 for those two jugs and in Canada we would pay about that for each 26 oz. bottle we bought. We also bought wine as you can see. Two of those bottles are Rosenblum Zinfandel which is one of my favourite wines and which, for some reason, I have been unable to get in Canada lately. In my opinion you can’t beat a good rich red Zinfandel, one of the best wines around, again, my opinion. The other bottle you can see is a Pinot Noir. Actually for supper we opened another bottle. Had a fairly simple supper, I had my corn, some ham steaks and a salad and then finished with a very nice Brie and crackers. That was why we opened the wine, Brie calls for a drop of wine. Oh that reminds me, this morning I ate one of the peaches I bought on Sunday, it was delicious, one of the best peaches I have eaten in a loooooong time. It actually tasted like a peach.

I am jumping the gun, we went to Jordan’s Seafood for lunch and both had some very nice flounder. Always our first meal out when we get here. Then, because Matt is on the borderline with his blood thinner medications, we thought, on the advice of the nurse at our doc’s office in Canada, to look into getting Matt a blood test for his INR, turns out he would have to become a patient for $189 before they could then do a blood test. I nearly collapsed on the spot when she told me that. Obviously we could not claim it on insurance, not a new condition. $189, I am still in shock. Thank god for social medicine. After that, whilst I was still white <g> we went to the shrimp place but they were closed, not sure when they will be open, will check later. Matt then bullied me into a tourist type store where they sell summer clothing and all kinds of rubbish that you might need at the beach. I had forgotten a couple of sleeveless tops which I love to wear in hot weather, so ended up buying myself some there, on sale, plus a nice pair of flip flops. A friend in the UK posted on Facebook about tacky souvenirs, I saw a glass octopus which I figured was right on the money so I couldn’t resist it. Not as tacky as the item my friend’s daughter brought home the other day, but certainly up there. When we got back to the cottage we both went to sleep we were that tired still.

Later in the day it rained, we were thinking of driving to Beaufort for lunch tomorrow, about 30 miles, and right on the waterfront, but if its raining I guess we won’t bother. Later we will visit some other friends, we actually bumped into her at the store where we went for groceries, great to see her. Somewhat unexpected.

So generally a fairly quiet day. Forgot to mention, we had to get a door opened so our neighbours came (they are the owners) and happened to say they were 76 and 78, maybe they think I look somewhat younger or something, but I said “well I’m 73 on Wednesday”, the wife said happy birthday. Apparently they did get some damage to the house due to Irene, but they certainly got it repaired quickly.

Took a pic of the old man whom somebody in the lunch restaurant described as having pretty white hair, that made his day!!!!

The name of this recipe appealed to me in the first place, then the rest of the recipe got me, so here it is.

Gamma's Mistake Brownies

12 brownies

I call this Gamma's Mistake Brownies because I made the recipe without coconut/butter/flour as you would make a five layer brownie or a 'Dolly Madison Bar' These are rich, cut well, serve well, can be made without the nuts if desired.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

1 lb package of graham cracker crumbs

2 cans of condensed milk (not evaporated)

1 12 oz package of chocolate semi sweet morsels

1 cup of walnuts (toasted in a dry pan for 2 minutes and cooled)

Butter and a trace of cocoa powder for dusting the pan

DIRECTIONS

Dust a 9 x 9 inch pan with butter and cocoa

mix Graham crackers, chocolate and condensed milk together until blended

mix cooled nuts with a teaspoon of cocoa powder.

Mix in with batter

mixture will be very thick

pour into the prepared 9 x 9 pan and smooth/level the top

Bake at 350 degrees until the top is browned (about 30 to 45 minutes.

Let cool and cut into small but very rich squares.

Have a great day