[Nota bene: A contribution from Brother Piper]It is a good thing that we here at the Chesapeake table get along so well, because we sure have been seeing a lot of each other this month. June started out with a welcome home tip-a-few, for Brother Limey and Captive Holly. A large crowd met down at Paradox Restaurant at Bay Point Marina, which if you remember, until recently was the marina for a number of Brothers. The well ordered yet slightly unruly group started the evening at one large table on one end of the covered deck, but soon we took up half the place as people broke off into groups, swapping stories, jokes, and drinks. The waitress did a great job with keeping the beverages flowing but resorted to just bringing out the food and asking if anyone knew who had the fish and chips. After a couple of hours with our bellies full, we wished Limey and Holly another Bon Voyage as they would be continuing their cruising up the Bay.
About a week later the Table rallied again, This time Brother Boats and Captive Trish invited everyone over to their Tiki bar for a true hot dog eating event. Grill Master Boats threw five different brands of dogs on the grill. Numbered yet unnamed. We, the willing, ate our fill and after much educated discussion voted for the “Best Dog in the House”. It is always humbling to find that the dog you would normally buy was not the dog you picked as best in show. I believe that everyone is looking forward to another round with new breeds to discover.
Let me see...that was on Tuesday. That Friday we all met at Rebel Marina, to see Brother Scorch (Dave Sowers) and his lovely Captive Miriam who were up from Fort Lauderdale visiting family in Virginia. Brother Piper and Captive Maria hosted the table for hamburgers on the deck. I would like to thank everyone who provided side dishes. As always there was plenty of delicious food on the tables. Rebel Marina is now the home to 7 Brothers. The next
event started the very next day but as I was not able to attend this historic event I must leave the telling to another.
PIPER
The August Chesapeake Table get together was a pot-luck dinner held at the home of Ann and Scott Ripley at Chic’s Beach in Virginia Beach. The theme for this event was the “Foods You Grew Up On” or rather just some of the foods your parents fed you as a child. Each couple was told to bring a dish or two that they remembered eating as a child. This event really grew legs among the Captives and the Brothers. Instead of the usual one dish per couple that we expect to see at a pot-luck dinner, almost every person brought their own dish. Even Scott Rogers made his own dish of ground baloney and relish sandwiches with Miracle Whip on Wonder Bread (builds strong bodies 12 ways). It looked pretty scary but actually tasted very good.
As we sat down to dine, Scott and Ann called on each person to talk about their dish and the usual atmosphere surrounding its consumption. People really got into discussing the ingredients and how they had to check with their mom or dad to make sure that everything in the preparation was authentically correct. Then it was “we used to have this dish every time Mom and Dad went out for the evening” or “we had this dish every Friday night because we were Catholic” or whatever. Upwind actually brought his mother but she couldn't remember what she used to make and neither could he! Everyone seemed to really enjoy sharing their past experiences growing up with the group.
After dinner and several rounds of (demon) rhum with many ORZAs, the party broke up and everyone went home. Everyone except Mark Eller who ended up spending the night as he was overserved in all of the excitement.
