More Of Rosie And Xmaskatie's Trip And Some Good Food.

Here's the money shot. I put that first so bloggers who have me on their blog list will have a pretty picture to see. Now I'll backtrack.

On our way to Norfolk the other day, Xmaskatie and I crossed the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, a 3000 mile waterway running most of the length of the Eastern Seaboard.

Congress authorized the creation of the ICW in 1919 and it is maintained by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers.

This video was taken driving north, looking to the east, on our way to Norfolk.

This is the home of the famous monster truck, Gravedigger, in Poplar Branch. Check out the buried school bus at the end.

And here's the view of the Intracoastal Waterway driving south, looking west, as we're driving home.

We decided not to stop and eat anywhere up in Virginia, since we couldn't decide where and figured anywhere would be a mediocre, disappointing, waste-of-money meal, and there's no where along the way back to North Carolina to get a decent meal. And by this time, both Xmaskatie and I were starving. Luckily, Xmaskatie brought along a snack baggie of pretzels, so we jumped on that like Pauler Dean on a stick of buttah. And that sustained us until we got home, where Mr. Hawthorne was preparing a pesto pizza for us. I guess my hunger was causing a bit of delirium since I passed this sign and wanted to take a picture of it since I actually thought it was advertising an eating establishment called "Eat 'n Barf." But no, it was actually "Eat 'n Barn." Then I realized I still had my camera on video. So once again, it's cutting edge videography like this that keeps you coming back begging for more. Whoa .... Back up the truck. What did I just write? And that sustained us until we got home, where Mr. Hawthorne was preparing a pesto pizza for us. Yes, you read that correctly.

I had called Mr. Hawthorne on the drive back, and asked him please, please, please to fix us a pizza since we were really, really, really hungry. I'll admit he copped a bit of an attitude when he told me he was "busy waiting for the exterminator." By "busy waiting for the exterminator," I gather that's Man-Speak for, "sitting on the sofa watching TV." Now, I'm getting a bit indignant and I can be a bit cranky when I get hungry. Rosie: "Well, why can't you do BOTH? As in make a pizza while waiting for the exterminator." Mr. H.: "What the hell do you want? You want the pizza or do you want me to do all these chores on your toilet paper list you left for me?" Ahhhh... I'm getting somewhere! (I had left a list of things that needed to be done. Things I wouldn't need a list for. Things I would do automatically. And I did not write the list on toilet paper.) Rosie: "I want you to do both. No, wait. I want you to do all three, since 'waiting' is such a Herculean task." Hrrrmph. So, imagine our surprise when we got home and there was poor Mr. Hawthorne, working his fingers to the bone, kneading his pizza dough.

He'd made the dough all by his lonesome and he'd made the pesto, too. Man, it's taken me so many years to train this man properly but he's still a whiner.

It sure is nice just to sit back and watch somebody else do it. Here's his toasted crust, with Mozzarella cheese on the bottom, the glops of pesto all over the cheese, sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, onion, and orange pepper.

More cheese went on top.

Looking pretty good, isn't it?

And here's his finished pizza.

And it tasted even better than it looks. Check out his thin crust. Xmaskatie took some slices to Glowria and she declared the crust to be the best she ever had.

Here's Dixie's Cousin Katie. Dixie and Katie get along very well together. They respect each other and each other's space, unlike some other little whippersnappers that Dixie can barely tolerate.

Dixie and Katie waiting for pizza. Xmaskatie had read my post about the fried plantains and put in a request for fried bananas for breakfast and I was happy to oblige.

It's a very simple, light batter: 1 cup flour and 3/4 cup club soda The last time I made it, I used vanilla, but I forgot that this time, which is good, since I might want to try shrimp in the leftover batter tonight.

Mr. Hawthorne lightly scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese.

I sprinkled powdered sugar over top the bananas.

And here's a mighty fine breakfast: fried bananas bacon creme fresh with orange juice and zest and sourwood honey scrambled eggs.

I do believe this hit the spot. Fried bananas are a thing of beauty.