Sunday, May 6, 2012.
Back On Deck.
The Jazz Festival managed to play out this year with almost zero interference from the weather. A few drops, and that was it. At the Cool Water Ranch, however, two big thunderstorms rolled through, more full of water than wind. For now.
The rain overcame my urge to cut the grass. It would be the first time I mowed since fall 2010. The infamous broken ankle had me on the injured list all last year. But I think I'm ready to get back to the task, which I kind of enjoy.
Doug and Karen Swift crossed the lake to have supper with us at The Chimes. It was the call of the outdoors again for Mary Ann, of course. The thunderstorms cooled the air down to the seventies, with a breeze. The small stream that meets the Bogue Falaya River here was babbling beneath us.
It seemed to be Shrimp Day at our table. We passed around an order of the bacon-wrapped grilled shrimp with a very zippy sipping sauce to get things rolling. Beer: Brooklyn Dark Ale, hoppy and appetizing. Then we shifted to salads, but the shrimp kept coming. The grilled shrimp remoulade salad is, I think, second only to raw oysters as the best dish in the house. Even though I had that on two of my last three visits here, I had it again.
And I know why. I come here thinking about grilled fish, but that's not something The Chimes does well, or hardly at all. Seems to me a nice grilled filet mignon or pork chop or veal round would fit right in, but the only one of those here is the pork chop, and it's not very good.
Or it could be that we eat here too often. But it's Mary Ann's favorite North Shore restaurant, and my tastes take a back seat to her delights.
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.
