Rosie Prepares Fried Oysters And Fried Shrimp. Mr. Hawthorne Makes Cole Slaw And Potato Salad.

Do I have your attention? I thought so. On our way home from our trip, we called Billy's Seafood in Colington to see if they had any oysters yet. Nope. So we stopped at the seafood market in Columbia on 64 and picked up a bushel of oysters for $40. Ahhh. I long for the good ol' days when I could get a bushel for $20. Our first meal back home - fried oysters and shrimp. The oysters we got in Columbia came for Corapeake and they were tiny. And skinny and kind of stringy. Not plump at all. I like the salty, plump oysters we get from Englehard.

Because of the size of the oysters, I had to adjust my battering technique. Generally I dip my oysters in seasoned all-purpose flour, then egg, then a mixture of cracker crumbs and panko. If I'd done that with these oysters, I wouldn't be able to find or taste the oyster. Instead, I just used a Cajun seasoned Shake and Blend flour - the kind you use for gravies. I haven't been able to find Pillsbury Shake and Blend for some time. And that was my last canister. It's not even on their web site anymore. But I did find Gold Medal Wondra Quick Mixing Flour which is pretty much the same thing. These instant blending flours for gravies and sauces have a different texture from regular all purpose flour. They're not powdery. They're granular. Back to the oysters.

Right before you're ready to fry, drain the oysters ...

... and place them into the flour mixture. I used maybe 1 - 1 1/2 cups of the Shake and Blend, maybe a teaspoon of the Cajun seasoning, and a few grinds of salt and pepper - more pepper than salt.

Cover and gently shake the container to coat.

If you've missed some areas on the oysters, take a spoon and sprinkle the flour over top. Don't use your hands. It screws up the coating, making it gloppy. My oysters went into a pot of 350-375 degree canola oil. I don't use a thermometer. I dip the end of a wooden spoon in the hot oil and watch for bubbles to come vigorously out of the wood. You do it enough, then you'll just know.

I fried these for maybe 45-60 seconds. Do not overcook. Also, with canola oil, I've found that fried foods don't brown as much than if you'd used a vegetable oil or my favorite, peanut oil. So don't go by color. If the temperature is right, these fry very quickly.

After I fried the oysters and drained them, I tossed some shrimp in the batter, letting the oil come back up to temp.

Again, just about 1 minute in the oil.

And drain.

Mr. Hawthorne had previously made a side dish of cole slaw - shredded cabbage shredded carrot mayo Malt vinegar (his new favorite vinegar for cole slaw) a little sugar a teaspoon of canola oil (He swears the oil keeps the slaw longer.) salt and pepper.

And he also made potato salad. He multitasks by boiling the eggs along with the potatoes. potatoes hard boiled eggs mayo celery red bell pepper sweet relish yellow mustard s & p to taste

Here's my plate. The cocktail sauce - ketchup horseradish to open my sinuses lemon juice Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce The tartar sauce - mayo vinegar dill pickles sweet pickles And the flourishes of brown are our homemade Boar and Castle Sauce. If you've never had Boar and Castle Sauce, you are truly missing out on one of the great pleasures of life. Boar and Castle Sauce was produced in Greensboro, NC, and last time we were there, upon hearing the company was going out of business, we bought up the entire stock at Lowes Foods - 3 cases. Not to worry though. Rosie and Mr. Hawthorne have been working on our own version and it's damn good. When we perfect it, I'll give it to you with exact measurements. It's funny I bring this up now, because last time we made a batch of this, I diligently wrote down every ingredient and the measurements because I wanted to post about it. And I promptly lost the recipe. I looked everywhere. (Well, except for that one place.) Nowhere to be found. On our trip last week, I happened to open up one of my bags - the one with my books and crossword puzzles (remember, I forgot the bag with my clothes), and lo and behold , there was the recipe at the bottom. I have no idea how it got in there. Life's funny that way.