Knuckle Duster Rings

How nice is it to be included in a blog like Daily Candy??!
http://www.dailycandy.com/dallas/article/84238/Dallas-Events-and-Diversions

Our rings got top billing, I love it! We've been down in Tallahassee at Lulu's farm for the weekend. A lot of family came in from all over the country and the highlight was Dan, Luz, Sondra and Luis making two massive pans of Paella for all the people coming out to the farm for the Tomato Festival. J and I had an excellent time cruising back and forth across the south in the Scion, though we did develop a crack in the windshield around Baton Rouge.
Apparently Scion's are developing cracks due to poorly fitted windshields. We had just received the notice about it right before we left and I set it aside thinking, glad we don't have one.. ha

We left Austin early and hit Gulfport MS at around 9pm, just in time to have an excellent dinner at the Half Shell Oyster House on the beach. I had BBQ Shrimp and grits for the first time and am a total convert. We managed to snag the last room at Holiday Inn as everything in Gulfport has been taken over by white collar types trying to stop the oil spill. The Holiday Inn in Gulfport is brand new and looks like the Standard Hotel on a budget, really well designed for a hotel. They put some thought into it.

The next day we decided that Tallahassee was fairly close at 6 hours and decided to 'meander' our way down the coast. First we took a walk on the beach, which looks a bit like Waikiki, but not really. I managed to step on the one and only tar ball in all of Gulfport. It's yellowish green and has the consistency of gluestick. Fortunately we keep hand lotion in the car and like dissolves like.
For breakfast we stopped at some crab shack and had a mess of fried grouper and crab claws. We ambled down 90 and in Alabama made the requisite stop for boiled peanuts (Spicy AND Regular) then headed for the Mobile tunnel, which was stacked and packed so we took the loop north to the Mobile bridge, that was fun. Mainly it was a good trip.
The Farm is outside of Tallahassee and almost everyone was camping at the farm. Saturday night we had a family dinner for 25, the highlight was Harriet's keylime pies and fresh arugula from the farm. Fun fact: Arugula is extremely peppery when it's fresh, this stuff was FRESH! Zippy doesn't quite cut it, it almost stings.

Lulu imports the craziest selection of balsamic vinegars from Italy, our favorite was the espresso balsamic syrup. If you can get a hold of this stuff, do it!
One of the vendor's for the festival was Sweet Grass Dairy from Georgia, they have a brie that will just knock you out!
There was a serious rain storm on Saturday night which took the heat out and everyone moved to the back porch for a cool breeze. Herman had made some sort of blackberry juice slurry that when mixed with apple juice and vodka makes a killer cocktail.
I bought a ricer today so I can make some of that to keep in our fridge. Luz brought Jim a double pint of homemade peach preserves so he's a happy camper. It was a super food weekend.

On our way home we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Lafayette and the girl at the front desk sent us to "Crayfish Town USA" for dinner. Not kidding, it's in a giant red barn on the side of the road.
It's one of those things where you ask yourself if this is the right thing or if crappy Landry's is the safer bet. It's not.
Crayfish Town USA for one, was packed, with locals. And it's not cheap junk food. They had the most divine sweet potato fries I've ever had. Not sure what they did to them but the outside was SUPER crisp, the inside was wonderfully soft and they didn't have the slightest hint of oil or grease residue. The crayfish were huge and clean, the entrees were wonderful, everything was just really well done. Jim was especially into their rolls which were sweet like King Hawaiian rolls but went somewhere over the rainbow when swabbed with a touch of etouffee.

It was one of those places where you wouldn't mind being stuck for a few days. We now have Lafayette marked as our overnight place for southern road trips.

On our trip we picked up some goodies for Etsy. Today I bought a KILLER champagne bucket and stand by a well known Tulsa jeweler. It needs a couple solder repairs but it's a beautiful piece. Also a great little Blanc de chine chinoiserie centerpiece stand made in Italy circa 1960s.

When I was catching up on my emails this morning, I found we had an order waiting for one of our favorite Mid Century TV shows on AMC! I love prop orders. I don't know why but I get a big kick out of seeing stuff on a big or little screen and thinking, "I sold them that!"

Things continue to roll along. Our peach trees are putting out fruit like little organic factories, and big trash is next week so we'll be able to put out a bunch of stuff that has been waiting to go to the dump. Bonus!