Freezing Florida Flamingos

Santa Rosa County, where we live in the Florida Panhandle, has been under a State of Emergency this week thanks to Winter Storm Leon. Leon? Does any form of winter precipitation in the South get named? Icy Rain Rhonda? Freezing Sleet Sally? Frozen Precipitation Polly? Our power went out shortly after the sleet started and stayed off for 17 hours. Captain Goodbaby was unimpressed with the darkness and repeatedly asked for, “Light! Please! My fan! Please! PLEASE!” at bedtime. Waking up to a cold house and no coffee was…kind of like living in our Japanese house, except here we have insulation so we couldn’t feel the wind blowing. This may seem silly and trivial to all you silly people who are not Southerners, but consider this sobering fact: a 17-vehicle pile-up on Interstate-10 resulted in multiple vehicles crashing through the barrier and TWO PEOPLE falling to their DEATH IN ICY COLD WATER, which is pretty much everyone’s absolute worst fear since the movie Titanic came out. All of I-10 is still closed. Oh my word. Magnolias were not made to be this cold. We celebrated the return of the power with champagne and swordfish steaks. I cooked the swordfish with an almond-tomato-bell pepper sauce and served it over rice. Honestly, it tasted a little too…fishy. Chris gamely complimented it and ate most of it. Pounce enjoyed the rest. Well, check ‘swordfish’ off our list of food to try. Won’t be having that again! Have you tried anything new lately?