Breakfast of champions
Majorfathead
Published
07/16/2011
I just got back from a short vacation to Georgia (Albany, then Savannah) and I had a great time and learned the meaning of Southern hospitality.. Let me qualify that by saying I live in Florida, about 1 1/2 hrs north of Orlando, and here we can't wait for tourist season to get over so that all the snowbirds and other annoyances will be out of our hair and off our highways!
This is totally not the case in GA. Everyone I met (and I harbor no illusions that I am that likeable a person) was unfailingly polite, friendly, and did not hesitate to engage me in conversation for as long as I chose. Interestingly a common subject was family and I was often asked if I was from the north. At first these questions made me uncomfortable (were they looking to lynch damnyankees?) until a kindly older woman from Tifton GA informed me that the folks weren't prying or being nosy but instead trying to establish some kind of link or connection that would draw us closer.
Let's be honest here, I would not extend that much effort to make a complete stranger comfortable, hell I am a business traveler and even the hotel people don't go to that kind of effort . Needless to say I was completely impressed by the friendliness and helpful attitude of everyone we ran into. I do understand that the primary industry in both areas I went to was tourism and their primary goal is to make me feel comfortable and separate me from my money, but it didn't feel like that at all. Instead I got the feeling that if I asked I would have been invited for dinner over to their house to eat with the family.
With that being said lets talk about Dinner! every meal there is served (seems to me) with grits (a cream of wheat or farina type gruel made from hominy ). Now I as a northerner always treated grits like cream of wheat , and eat it with milk and sugar much to the horror and dismay of my hosts.
I had no idea a (I thought) breakfast food could be so versatile. I had cheese grits, bacon grits, grits with shrimp, crab sauce with grits, shit you name it and they''ll include grits in it somewhere.
Where am I going with this? I FUCKIN LOVE GRITS!!! as soon as I got home i had what's her name go to the grocery store and get a variety pack of grits and have been eating the shit out of them ever since! I think they are my new favorite food, and I am their new biggest fan!
Oh, I also saw some amazing historical, architectural, and inspirational sites while I was there. To sum it up GA and the "real south" is amazing and I loved it and had a great time!
Wearing a GRIT eating grin
MjrF
This is totally not the case in GA. Everyone I met (and I harbor no illusions that I am that likeable a person) was unfailingly polite, friendly, and did not hesitate to engage me in conversation for as long as I chose. Interestingly a common subject was family and I was often asked if I was from the north. At first these questions made me uncomfortable (were they looking to lynch damnyankees?) until a kindly older woman from Tifton GA informed me that the folks weren't prying or being nosy but instead trying to establish some kind of link or connection that would draw us closer.
Let's be honest here, I would not extend that much effort to make a complete stranger comfortable, hell I am a business traveler and even the hotel people don't go to that kind of effort . Needless to say I was completely impressed by the friendliness and helpful attitude of everyone we ran into. I do understand that the primary industry in both areas I went to was tourism and their primary goal is to make me feel comfortable and separate me from my money, but it didn't feel like that at all. Instead I got the feeling that if I asked I would have been invited for dinner over to their house to eat with the family.
With that being said lets talk about Dinner! every meal there is served (seems to me) with grits (a cream of wheat or farina type gruel made from hominy ). Now I as a northerner always treated grits like cream of wheat , and eat it with milk and sugar much to the horror and dismay of my hosts.
I had no idea a (I thought) breakfast food could be so versatile. I had cheese grits, bacon grits, grits with shrimp, crab sauce with grits, shit you name it and they''ll include grits in it somewhere.
Where am I going with this? I FUCKIN LOVE GRITS!!! as soon as I got home i had what's her name go to the grocery store and get a variety pack of grits and have been eating the shit out of them ever since! I think they are my new favorite food, and I am their new biggest fan!
Oh, I also saw some amazing historical, architectural, and inspirational sites while I was there. To sum it up GA and the "real south" is amazing and I loved it and had a great time!
Wearing a GRIT eating grin
MjrF
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