Good friends and Florida Seafood!

Fun to get together with great friends and enjoy a ton of fresh Florida Seafood! 

GREAT FRIENDS!

Florida Stone Crabs 

Fresh Gulf Shrimp 

Grouper on the Griddle! 

Fresh Cole Slaw 

Twice baked potatoes 

A plate full! 

Chowin Down!! 

Always a great time with good friends and was more than happy to share! 

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

New Place - Funny how stuff Happens!!

Furniture and other stuff ordered started to arrive this week, so was starting to get things settled...After my recliner broke at my old place I was looking forward to receiving my new one...well it arrived and happens to be the MOST uncomfortable recliner in the world...not bad to sit in, but no way comfortable enough to sleep in...well shit just keeps happening, I decided to sleep in the old recliner leaning to starboard as more comfortable than the new one! Lo and behold on Thursday night I was sound asleep in the old chair and was startled awake by a loud screeching sound from my swamp cooler then the blower suddenly quit...look at the clock, go pee and open the front cover, move the fan by hand it is a drum fan, try the power again and realize the motor is shot...

Pack up Coffee pot, sugar, coffee and some silverware and at 4 am load the golf cart and head to the new place...at least it will be cool, 4 am and still 94 degrees...made the new chair work at least for a few more hours sleep.

When the new chair arrived Spectrum Cable had also installed cable and internet, so I was all set, but nothing set up, TV settings and no WiFi until I moved over my router, all set now, but the first night was a little rough.

Tons of boxes this morning as I put things together!! 

New Loveseat 

Worlds Most Uncomfortable Recliner!!! 

Safety Valve sleeping substitute 

Have had this for a while - in the shed so decided it was more comfortable than the recliner... 

Got Cable and Hockey so life is good 

Computer and Internet and Soundbar!

Desk and a few more things to assemble or put away!! 

Need a shelf for the Freezer...moved it all over yesterday evening. 

Plenty to eat!! 

Need to bring over some cooking stuff so I can start using my larger kitchen and also bring my grill...still a ton to do!

The fridge was made for me - came with a can dispenser until the kegerator gets a new keg and moved over! 

So far I love the place and it is really comfortable and when I get everything moved over it will be really nice. Gonna be a long move - as the daily temp now is over 110 everyday and now without a cooler in the old place you can only work a short time before the heat gets to you!!

Stay Tuned! 

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

Cleaning Day at New Place

Spent this afternoon over at 11 doing some cleaning and assembling some end tables and a floor lamp that arrived. This past week or so the TV has been installed and the shower doors removed and a new shower rod installed today I hung the curtain, a new hot water heater has been installed and the swamp coolers cleaned and serviced.

Things are starting to come together - Got a sign it was time last evening when I plopped down in my recliner for the night and the one side of the back broke so a little lopsided now, hopefully the new recliner will be here in a day or two and I can start sleeping in the new place, so kitchen and food will be moved first, bathroom stuff, some current summer clothes and a few other things to survive until the weather breaks then I will start to really empty the shed and trailer.

Nice side porch where my Oasis Furniture will go - hope to add a porch roof this fall!!

New Shower Curtain Rod installed!

Curtain up!

TV Mounted now to call Dish & Spectrum and compare!

Carpet Vacuumed!!

Nice Dining Room Set - 4 guests max unless 4 outside on porch!

New Floor Lamp

Great Swamp Cooler - today 108 - inside was 78

End Tables assembled!

Stove cleaned and propane on!

Great Big Microwave - brand new!

Cleaned and ready to cook!

Freezer cleaned

Fridge cleaned ready for some PBR!

I have a small Love seat ordered and a new recliner, once those are here I will be spending more time here and gradually moving more and more over to the new place - hope to have the old trailer cleaned out and gone before Thanksgiving or at least Christmas. Much easier to work when it is not 110 degrees out, so when the weather breaks I will start cleaning out the old place in earnest.

Stay tuned for more details...

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

Garlic Butter Herb Crusted Prime Rib

I have had numerous people ask me about how I slow cook a prime rib. First - don't skrimp - go to a reputable meat market or butcher and buy a nice 5-6 pound prime rib. Some people will trim some of the fat off the bottom side, I prefer to keep it on and let it melt as juices into the roast.

If you froze it, let it thaw completely in the fridge. Now for the prep work.

You will need:

3 or 4 softened sticks of real butter

Full medium sized fresh garlic bulb - I plan on the whole bulb - just can't have too much garlic in a prime rib!

Your favorite rub and herb mixture.

5-6 pound thawed prime rib!

Garlic

Break and peel the garlic into cloves and reserve at least 4-6 full cloves for later!

Garlic Mincer

Mince the majority of the garlic and mix with the butter, I sometimes saute the minced garlic before mixing in the butter.

Real Butter - soften enough sticks to fully cover the roast!

Rub - My favorite rub is made specifically for Prime Rib - Carl's Prime Rib Seasoning

I mix several tablespoons of this in the butter and then liberally rub the roast before I rub with the butter. This includes Sea Salt, Paprika Oregano, Celery, Garlic, Onion, Pepper, Rosemary and Parsley.

BAM

I like the flavor and kick that Emeril's Steak Rub adds it has crushed red pepper flakes, so I put several teaspoons of this in the butter mix.

Mix the spices and fresh minced garlic well...

Now turn the roast on it's side and make three slits in the meat and insert a clove of garlic in each slit, do that on both sides of the roast then liberally coat the entire roast with the butter mixture and place on a plate and put in the refrigerator for 24 hours before cooking.

Tomorrow we will fire up the griddle and sear all four sides of the roast and then put on a rack in a pan and low temp slow roast in the oven - stay tuned!

Resting in the Fridge

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

Photo Wall Slide Show

I am creating a photo wall in the game room at the RV Park of some of my better work featuring National Parks, State Parks, Alaska, national Forests etc.

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest