Just The Basics. Please!!

In my recent travels, I have done my fair share of eatin'.  Some of my eatin' has been pretty fancy.  Possibly even eatin' on a fancy eatin' table (if you understand that reference, then you are my peeps).  However, I would be remiss if I didn't express my recent dissatisfaction with the desecration of what I consider to be a favorite of mine - shrimp and grits.

Basically, I like grits, especially cheese grits.  And I like shrimp, just about any Forrest Gump way you would like to prepare them for me.  And I consider it fine dining if you would combine both into one dish and serve it up to me.  But please - keep it simple.  In fact, just use three ingredients - grits, cheese, and cooked shrimp.  I say this because in my very recent forays into shrimpandgritsdom, I have found that one person's shrimp and grits are not everyone's shrimp and grits.

In Jacksonville, this is what my ordered shrimp and grits looked like.  Fried grit patties - good.  Shrimp - good.  Glopped together with a rich thick white sauce - not so good.  And before you ask, yes - I ate it nearly all gone.  Being as cultured and as refined as I am, I thought that perhaps I needed the experience of somebody else's slant on this delicacy.  In retrospect, I didn't.

This weekend in Columbus, I again noticed that shrimp and grits were on the menu at the local eating establishment we were visiting.  Being back in the South where grits and shrimp go together like peas and carrots, I decided to give it another whirl.  Out came the plate with the fish and grits - somewhere buried underneath the spicy reddish-colored sauce.  Did I eat it?  Why yes, yes I did.  I also drank 17 pitchers of iced tea because I don't do spicy.  Was it good?  It was fine - it just wasn't what I really wanted.  So why did I eat it?  Well, the answer to that would take so many session of therapy that  would be impossible to transcribe here, so just make up your own reason why and move on.

I'm not sure what my lack of appreciation for the finer variations of shrimp and grits says about me as a gourmand.  Maybe it would help my status if I told you that I know what a pot passer and a meat stabber  is?

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The Good Stuff From Today:  getting some writing accomplished; decluttering some kitchen stuff; dinner with Steve, Gdizzle, and Anne