Monday, February 27, 2012.
Wifeless. Oysters, Oysters, And More Oysters.
Mary Ann was up at four-thirty and gone by five-thirty. I got up to watch her leave. She gave me a kiss and a hug and told me to go back to sleep. Which I did, and the clean sheets she was nice enough to wash yesterday, alone with all my other clothes. I am perfectly capable of washing my own clothes and willing to do so. (I was single until I was thirty-eight.) But she says laundry is her job, period, and that I should shut up about it.
After a good day's work at home, out to supper. My first inclination was to try a new Chinese restaurant near I-12 and LA 59. But a look at the place revealed that it's a buffet and take-out, as so many Chinese restaurants have become in recent years. (To their detriment, I would say.)
Well, I tried to go someplace new. On my way back was the second restaurant under consideration. Not a new one: the Camellia Café. A half-dozen of what they call char-broiled oysters. They're really just plain broiled, with butter and parmesan cheese on top. Good enough, but too much cheese. Almost all broilers of oysters make that mistake. I think even Drago's uses too much parmesan cheese on their original version of the dish. Next time, I will work up an herb-breadcrumb concoction and ask them to broil the oysters with that instead.
Second course: oyster-artichoke soup. Very, very creamy--almost sinfully so. And very hot. Excellent.
Entree: a fried oyster platter, with a side of red beans. About fifteen oysters, medium-large, crisp and good. Would they give me indigestion, as fried foods in too large a portion have been lately? (They didn't.)
So that's fried oysters and oyster-artichoke soup both eaten on consecutive days. I don't think I'm in a rut. I just love oysters.
Camellia Cafe. Abita Springs: 69455 LA 59. 985-809-6313.
It's over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
