Today I drove to Biloxi, Mississippi.  I realize the last time I posted I was about Iowa.  I have much in the middle to share later.  The purpose of traveling to Biloxi was running around a beach, which we did.  I’ve got a pink nose to prove it.  Before hitting the sand, I was starving and found a buffet style restaurant serving things I had never seen before.  So, naturally, I took a picture.  From what I have heard second hand of Southern cuisine, there’s a way to add sugar or fry anything.   The restaurant I went to certainly wasn’t the epitome of home cooking, but it did confirm much of what I had heard.  The selections were not labeled, and although the person working there was very nice about telling me what everything was, I still did not inquire about everything.  There were these bananas slices in a red sauce that are haunting me as we speak…what was that sauce?  I chose not to pile the mystery side dish on my tray.   But let me tell you about what I did eat.

Fried Catfish and Shrimp

Nothing unique to my taste buds about this food.  They do have catfish all over.  They also have fried chicken everywhere.  Max ate the fried chicken.  The other day I saw a sign,  sadly I did not get a picture.  It read,

“FRIED CHICKEN CO.   WE CASH TAX REFUND CHECKS!”

So, the name of the place was not Fried Chicken Co., but like I said, I did not get the picture and the name escapes me.

Fried Okra

Not bad.  Though I’m pretty sure this is why I have stomach cramps as we speak.

Carrot Souffle

I think this was mashed carrots with marshmallows.  Somewhat like a sweet potato dish you might see on Thanksgiving.   It was amazing.  It also confirms my theory that in the South, they can add sugar to any dish.

Sweet Tea

I love tea. Iced, hot, luke-warm.  This, I did not like.  It tasted like liquid sugar.   But not when someone talks about sweet tea I will understand what they mean.

Bread

The lady asked what kind of bread I wanted.  In Minnesota this means white or wheat normally.  So I spouted off, “Wheat.” before noticing all the lovely other breads. There was something fried (seriously, have I mentioned yet that anything can be  fried here?)  Also, cornbread.

So that was lunch, super fun, huh? One thing I have yet to find is grits.  Honest to god truth, I have no idea what a ‘grit’ is.  Don’t tell me, I want to be surprised.  I think I am going to go to the Waffle House to get some.  Mostly because there are Waffle Houses every five feet.

Lastly, I would like to squash the rumor that people in the south always refer to females as Ma’am.  Not true.  Sometimes I get called Love, Honey, or Babe.  Yes, my waitress today called me Babe.  I like her.  🙂