Clam Chowder

A cold front moved in overnight as the weather forecast had predicted.  The wind speed picked up to over 25 mph, but we had the foresight to bring in the deck furniture before dark.  All night we could hear it roaring.  When the wind speed is that high it makes a peculiar vibrating, roaring sound, which I have concluded must be the result of it blowing through the metal railings on the deck; since this is an end unit, the empty space next door is surrounded by railings as well, so it is even louder.  I remember that a year or two ago, some new arrivals announced after a similar night that they would be checking out.

We spent the morning making some more improvements in the condo.  The bathroom exhaust fans have never been replaced, I think, and had stopped working.  Old and new - quite a change!

This afternoon, we drove to Beaufort to an event that I think we have attended for three years now, the Ninth Annual Clam Chowder Cook-off.  The wind had died down just a little and the sunset across Taylor Creek was gorgeous.

The Cook-off is held in an interesting building directly across from the N. C. Maritime Museam called the Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center, which is an actual working boathouse.

The adjoining room is filled with power equipment, clamps, glue, and everything else needed for the esoteric craft of boat building.  My friend Skip, who makes and restores fine furniture, would have found it interesting.

The main room is large enough for a very big boat, but this evening the paint-splattered floor had been cleared and replaced with tables, and was soon milling with people eager to sample clam chowder and corn bread, ourselves among them.

The woman in charge of organizing the event, Gina, knows us by now, and remembered that we had driven 500 miles for clam chowder.  Our ticket numbers were No. 1 and No. 2.  We do enjoy this event!  And it is a fund-raiser for the Maritime  Museum.  Participants sample four different kinds of chowder and corn bread and then vote for the best, although this year one of the chefs had made crab cakes instead of chowder, an error we quickly forgave.  (Note that the crab cakes are not shown below because they were immediately consumed.)

Martha and I are compatible in many ways, including taste in food, and when we compared our choices on the ballot we were not surprised to find that we agreed:  the best chowder was the down-east style, we thought (the one with the spoon), prepared by Dawn Freeman and Michelle Stout (the blue cup), who had won last year, and the best cornbread was Deborah Van Dyken and Bill Blair's in the orange paper, on the right.

It was a hard choice, though, and I had to go back for a second sample of each!  Just to be sure.