Oriental

Saturday was a nice day for a boat ride so we took a trip with our friend up the Intracoastal Waterway from Morehead City to the small town of Oriental on the Neuse River. It's about a forty-five minute ride.  

Oriental is the sailing capital of the east coast and they certainly have a lot of sailboats there.  

They have a public dock downtown where you can park your boat while you explore the town or eat at one of the few resturants there. 

You will likely see a few fishing boats, but mostly sailboats. 

The public dock. 

The Tucan Resturant is right by the dock where we had lunch. It is not crowded at all this time of year. In the summer it can get a little busy. 

Photograph taken up one of the creeks there. 

It's a great day trip by boat or car from the Beaufort, Morehead City, Atlantic Beach area. It is much faster by boat. For you land captains, you have a choice of driving up to New Bern US 70, crossing the Neuse River bridge and driving east on hwy 55 to Oriental. It's about a hour and a half trip.  You can also take highway 101 to the Minnesott Beach ferry where you cross the Neuse then drive east to Oriental. The ferry is free and leaves the dock about every 30 minutes. This trip can take a little longer but the scenery is better and you get a free boat ride. 

Chicken Bog Time Again

We had several "old" high school classmates over for a low country chicken bog last night. There were about 20 people in all. The chicken bog was good and the fellowship was outstanding. 

I got the recipe off the internet. I cut back a little on the hot spices but it was still plenty hot. I think I will cut back even more the next time. It must not have been too hot, since I made a triple recipe and only four servings were left. They say you can freeze it so that what we did with the leftovers. 

Following is the recipe. 

Chicken Bog

Ingredients

1 (3-5 pound) chicken (cut into pieces)

1 pound smoked sausage

1/4 cup butter

2 teaspoons Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

1 teaspoon ground red pepper

2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pinch of salt

Dash of garlic powder

3 bay leaves

8 cups water

3 cups raw white rice

Directions:

1. Cut the sausage into 1/2-inch pieces.

2. Combine the chicken, sausage, butter, seasonings and bay leaves in a large stock pot.

3. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 40 minutes at a low boil.

4. Remove the chicken. WARNING: VERY HOT

5. Remove the meat from the bones of the chicken. (Throw away the bones and skin. )

6. Add the rice to the pot with remaining chicken broth and seasonings.

7. Bring to a boil, stirring well.

8. Boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer, cover the pot and let cook for 10 more minuets or until the rice is done.

9. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves, return the chicken to the pot, mix well, and

serve.

10. Pour your self a big glass of iced-tea and enjoy.

Grandmother's 20 gallon washpot with chicken, smoked sausage, water and spices. 

Rice with deboned chicken and sausage and smelling good. Almost ready to eat. Yummmmm!!!

Oh, I failed to mention that several people brought deserts. Banana pudding, cobbler, 2 cakes, candy.  Too much. 

Another Classmate Hits the Big 70

It has come to my attention that we have another classmate that is going to turn 70 this Saturday, March 7. 

This is a picture of Rex and his lovely wife Pat that was taken a few weeks ago. I spoke with Rex by phone recently to hear how he is doing with his recent cataract surgery. He now has near perfect vision in both eyes and no longer wears glasses. Can anyone remember when Rex did not wear glasses?

Please join in wishing Rex a Happy Birthday. 

If you are a classmate that has already turned 70 and have not been included in the blog, it is simply because I don't know your birth date. Please give me your birth date and any other information that you would like to share and I will be sure to post it.