My good friend and renowned publicist, Leigh Cort, announces a contest that could win you a vacation to my hometown: St. Augustine.
Sherry Stoppelbein’s line of Datil B Good hot sauces, jams, jellies, pickles, relish, salsa and BBQ glaze usually make the coveted lists of “Ultimate Southern Food Guides’ with their fresh sweet heat zing. The hot little datil pepper is a great inspiration for recipe contest aficionados to enter a favorite meatball recipe in the Sweet & Sassy Meatball Contest. And the holiday season is a perfect time to get creative and put some sweet & sassy meatballs on the menu whether you prefer them made with pork, beef, chicken or vegetarian.
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Hot Shot Bakery, the Top 10 finalist recipes for Sweet & Sassy Meatballs will be invited to join Sherry Stoppelbein on Saturday, November 15 at the Hot Shot Bakery in historic St. Augustine where their meatballs will be sampled and judged by regional celebrity judges.
“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea,” said American writer Henry James. While Americans usually think of the British taking time for a spot of tea, our country’s early settlers arrived with a fondness for the beverage and also enjoyed the respite it provided. Most of us have given up this lovely afternoon tradition.
Abigail and Rose host teas in the Colonial Quarter
Now, residents and visitors can indulge again at Abigail and Rose’s Tea, a recent addition to the activities of the Colonial Quarter in St. Augustine. Dressed in colonial attire, Rose and Abigail explain afternoon tea through a living history lesson, a delicious one at that. This tea time does not require you to dress up, nor dine on fancy, high tea cucumber sandwiches and decadent desserts. Rather, Abigail and Rose serve more modest fare with scones, real clotted cream, jam and chocolates in a friendly environment. The specially blended tea comes from the St. Augustine Spice and Tea Exchange and is brewed as in colonial days, right in your cup.
Before I moved to Florida, I would have expected a place named the Alligator Farm to be a tacky tourist trap. But, not so at the St. Augustine site which is official known as the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. It was founded in 1893 and is one of the oldest zoos in the country, and also accredited with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The American Alligator
One of my earlier visits came in 2007 when I took my 4-year-old grandson and 2-year-old granddaughter. RJ, my grandson, wanted to have his photo taken with an alligator and we agreed. Don’t know if that experience turned him onto reptiles but he is now the proud owner of a leopard gecko named Percy and a walking encyclopedia on the creatures.
RJ and the Albino Gator
Since I now live in St. Augustine, I buy an annual membership to the Alligator Farm because I love to photograph the birds that return to nest. Seems the gators keep their predators away and birds flock here by the thousands between February and May. So do photographers from all around the world- that’s part of the fun.
RJ with a gator and snake.
But, RJ and Kyra were in town for Thanksgiving and they wanted to see the animals. We watched and listened as a zookeeper feed some of the biggest gators and then followed him down to the swamp where everyone got to throw large pellets of alligator food into the water. The area under the walkway churned with gator jaws and tails. It was pure mayhem. You might think it was frightening, but most of the people loved the show. The trainer threw in a pumpkin as an object for enrichment. Gators don’t usually get this kind of treat and many of them seemed intrigued, others totally ignored it. For a while the squash bobbed around like a greased watermelon, and then one gator took a big chomp and scurried away with it in his mouth. Eventually the pumpkin was shared by others.
Kyra makes a new friend.
We also observed a female Komodo dragon down a Cornish hen. Now, that’s something you don’t see everyday. She had a little trouble getting the whole thing in her jaw, but once she did, she swallowed it whole! Amazing critters.
Komodo Dragon eats a Cornish Hen.
We continued through the Land of the Crocodiles where all 23 species of crocodilians in the world are on display. Most of these animals were simply lazing in the sun or in the water.
Gators grabbing at a Pumpkin.
We also saw some exotic birds and good old Maximo- a 1,250-pound saltwater croc. On the way out, RJ bid good-bye to the two albino alligators (one was the former little one he had held in 2007.) Indeed, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm is a wild and fun place. We’ll all return again.
