Keifer's and a Christmas Shower

The blog has been on a short-lived hiatus for good reasons. For the past 3 weeks we have packed up the suitcases with a few pairs of clean underwear -I know it’s hard to believe that I actually have skid-free underwear- and wandered off to Mississippi. From Kosciusko to Port Gibson, we briefly stopped off to expand my elastic waistband pants while consuming 4 Thanksgiving meals in a few days.

Still suffering from a tryptophan overdose from the Thanksgiving bird, we sluggishly packed our luggage into the car, and headed north on I-55 once again. Arriving in Jackson late Thursday night gave us plenty of time to whoop up some vittles for the upcoming engagement party. We awoke Friday morning, and got the spice rubbed boston butt braising in apple cider and the beets for the golden beet tarts roasting. With the aroma of rosemary and cider spices lingering in the air, acute hunger pains began to set in. Fortunately, Erin’s friends suggested Keifer’s for lunch. Hell yeah. Before moving to Starkville, Keifer’s was one of our weekend mainstays. We arrived in the packed parking lot and found that nothing had changed at this downtown Jackson eatery. Diners spilling out into the outdoor dining area on the porch under the large pecan trees. Gyros overflowing with tender lamb and flooded with Tzatziki sacue. Melted mozzarella and spicy feta stuffed into warm, griddled pita.

I polished off the last few bites of Erin’s gyro (as usual), and then regretted even eating anything; I had made the enormous mistake of eating before going to Sam’s. As a kid, lunch wasn’t necessary if you were going to Sam’s that afternoon. We’d make our rounds of samples throughout the warehouse-like grocery store, and then go change hats, or put on a jacket. We figured the change of costume would confuse the sample ladies and we could load up on more pizza rolls or BBQ meatballs. This time, I wasn’t so lucky. I forgot the jacket, hat, and sunglasses in the car, so I was limited to only one buffalo wing and one teriyaki meatball. Seemingly defeated we left with our 8 pound block of cream cheese and 15 bags of chips.

We got back to the house and finished throwing togehter the ever-growing spread of food and started the Christmas music. What started as a few small nic nacs (what does that word even mean?) had swollen to an overwhelmingly overabundance of Christmas time staples- homemade fudge, garlic sausage balls, apple cider braised pulled pork, Christmas cookies, cream cheese and pepper jelly, rum apple cider, black-eyed pea dip, and a house infused Spiced Apple Cider Vodka with 4 types of apples, oranges, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, allspice, brown sugar and vanilla.

Once the official shower merriment had concluded, the agenda slowly shifted to a true Christmas party. Fortunately, the ending wasn’t like the last time this group got together for Christmas. No Christmas trees were powerbombed, all doors were still on their hinges, and my Cousin Eddie ensemble didn’t end up in a parking lot.