THE GREAT CHEF and ray too!

In my years on this ole' earth, I have discovered that life is a lot like good cooking ... you just mix a bunch of folks together with a little bit of this and a little bit of that and you never know what you might get. Sometimes it makes you nauseated, but sometimes it's so good you just want to stand up and yell.

The Great Chef whipped up one of His best recipes yet in out family and to extend this analogy a little further, He used a real-life chef to accomplish the task.

Confused? Let me explain!

Several years ago my sister's husband ,Joe Newton, died of cancer and a few months later a lady named Sandy Williams died from a stroke! So far this story doesn't sound too good does it? Hang on! Being the son of a funeral director and being from a family that has been in the funeral business for 5 generations, I have learned one thing for certain ... LIFE IS FOR THE LIVING! After the respective grief periods, living took over. To make a long story short, a few years later the Great Chef brought my sister, Kikky, and Ken Williams (Sandy's widower) together and mixed them up in a bowl, added a few spices, a little salt of the earth and a little red pepper. He baked them at 350 degrees for about 2 years and a wonderful new dish was born. Bam! Dr. and Mrs. Ken Williams!

Our family has had a blast getting to know the Williams clan. From youngest to oldest: Blaine, Erin, Jill and Gigi; Karen, Bobby and Angela; Bill, Paula, Will and Grant; and Ray and Kendra. Ray is a chef, and a great one, and hence the reason for this story.

On our yearly foray to the Georgia-Florida football game we stopped at the Sapelo Station restaurant in Eulonia, Georgia on Thursday evening. We had warned Ray and Kendra that we were coming ... there were 10 of us and Kendra bravely joined us at our table. None of us had any idea what we were about to experience.

We didn't just have seafood, we had SERIOUS seafood! I have never had anything like the Cajun Crawfish Egg-Rolls and the dipping sauce was out of this world. ( I am salivating as I write this). The Grouper Fingers were a close second followed by the Grilled Oysters and to top off the appetizer parade was the soup of the day ... Crab Stew! My friend Tommy Lanier and I love the She-Crab soup at the Crab Trap in St. Simons, but Ray's Crab Stew put it to shame. The best crab-anything I have ever had, period! By the time the entrees arrived, we were all stuffed, but we put up a gallant effort anyway as we demolished Kool's Voodoo Skillet, Crawfish Etouffee, Blackened Grouper with Mango Salsa and the McIntosh Mahi-Mahi. On the side we had Ray's Twice Baked Potatoes and Cole Slaw (with the dressing on top???). There were several offerings of Salad Dressings (all homemade) and the Key Lime Pie would make one slap his grandma! It was an interesting evening of conversation, great drink and taste-bud pleasing recipes from Chef Ray. In addition, Kendra sat with us and explained each dish to us.


This was the first time I had spend any amount of time around Ray and Kendra, but I assure you it won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with them at their Sapelo Station Restaurant.

As I thought back on this wonderful evening, I came to an understanding of what had just transpired thanks to Chef Ray Jarreau. My senses and tastebuds were stimulated by his magic and I suddenly realized that in a world full of mediocre restaurants that cater to the masses, we had just experienced something quite unique and wonderful. And the Great Chef has cooked up a recipe that is even more unique and wonderful and it was all brought forth out of the stench of death. I like this new "family recipe"!

Kendra pointed out to me that because I am Kikky's brother ... that makes me her uncle. I suddenly realized that in this new "family recipe" I have suddenly become Uncle George to Ray, Kendra, Bill, Paula, Karen, Bobby, Blaine and Erin. I hope that entitles me to the "family discount"!

So the next time you're heading down I-95, get off the exit to Eulonia, Georgia. Turn left and go to the blinking light, turn left again and start looking to your right. Tell Ray and Kendra that Uncle George says hello.

www.sapelostation.com

The World's Largest Outdoor Something or Other

It was the fall of 1970 that I attended my first Georgia-Florida football game. I was a freshman at UGA and the draw of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" was more than I could bear. My sister and her husband lived in Waycross, Georgia so I had a good spend-the-night point to simplify matters ... and she would certainly feed me also! I piled in the car with some new friends of mine that just happened to hail from Waycross and away we went.

I had never seen anything like it! There was a difference in the attitude of the fans at this stadium in Jacksonville ( a neutral site for those who don't know) versus the attitude at home games in Athens. Fans from both sides came here to raise a little "Cain", eat a lot of seafood, drink some adult beverages and watch a little SEC football. Combine this with the fact that everyone was away from home and you had the makings of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"! And that is exactly what it was! The stadium has been upgraded to meet the increased demand, but the old stadium was known to rock back and forth with the weight of the Bulldog and Gator nations engaged in a Saturday afternoon ritual of good old fashioned hate.



I remember coach Erk Russell's bleeding forehead as he butted heads with Georgia players. I remember seeing people as drunk as one could possibly be and yet still manage to get to the game. I remember the gentle banter between Georgia fans and Florida fans. Yeah, Right!!! I remember the many "beach music" parties throughout Amelia Island, Jekyll Island, Brunswick and St. Simons Island. I even remember Emmeline and Hessie's restaurant. I cannot even remember how many times I have made the trip.

During the Georgia-Florida weeks, I have eaten untold amounts of fried shrimp and fried scallops and oysters. There was no place on earth where more drunks gathered, many having camped-out in vans, busses and trailers for days before the game. And the city of Jacksonville understood and let the festivities take place unless they really got out of hand.

The Georgia-Florida game has been the source of many pleasant memories (which are better made by younger folks) and just the mention of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" causes me to smile even to this day.



But things have changed! For one thing, the students of today don't listen to "beach music"! The crowds today are much larger and the traffic ... my goodness the traffic! It took our group 3 hours to get from our St. Simons condo to the stadium. There are not nearly enough port-a-toilets and the atmosphere is not that of a "cocktail party" but rather that of a public lynching. Cocktail parties I have attended in my life were fun ... there was food and beverage with lots of conversation. I don't think that the word "fun" was mentioned my anyone in our group.

Don't get me wrong. I still enjoy getting together with my old friends and staying in a condo or hotel for 3 nights and I certainly enjoy the seafood and the beverages (if you can find a toilet)! But the experience of going to the game itself has lost its lustre. Maybe I'm just too old to have that much fun! Several years ago my friend Tom Lanier started the custom of Thursday night seafood on the trip down and then Friday morning golf. I love all of that and the excitement that goes with all of the fans gathering in St. Simons and other places for the game. But the actual experience of the game itself should no longer be considered the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

The city of Jacksonville, the University of Georgia and the University of Florida have been heavily quoted in all of the media that they collectively wish to shed this moniker, "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"!

Mission accomplished. It should officially be called "The World's Largest Outdoor Something or Other"!