Post by Wheels on Oct 21, 2015 11:46:24 GMT
Eight was Great!
Well, it sure seems that way. It’s hard to imagine that this year marked the 9th gathering of the Mid-Atlantic Mob (MAM), but the 8th year of our Lead Pencil, Oyster Festival. Not since 2007 have we had such a turn out. At the original MAM gathering held in Western Maryland, we had 89 Family members show up to enjoy the sights, sounds, roads, and of course food of Western Maryland. Soon after that gathering it was decided that the MAM Family needed to add more lead to their diet, thus the gathering was moved to Southern Maryland so that we could take part in the Oyster Festival. We quickly overtook the local hotel to serve as the MAM Southern Compound, and “convinced” some of the local watermen that they needed to secure the protection of the Family by working a few little deals that involved many bushel baskets of fresh Maryland Oyster over the years.
73 Family members bellied up to the picnic tables to feast on a few things fired up by our Family Arsonist like smoked brisket, pork, chicken, ribs, out of this world homemade Gumbo, BBQ’ed Oysters, steamed oysters, scalded oysters, raw oysters, fried, oysters, Puerto Rican sausage, Amish sausage, Amish Scrapple, and deserts. OH THE DESERTS. Just too many to name, but OH SO GOOD. And what was all this washed down with………………welllllllllllllllllllll…………..let’s just say that a Jacuzzi could have been filled. LOL. It was amazing to see the tables fill and empty throughout the course of the day with so many different special treats that Family members brought to share. Of course I am always amazed at watching how everyone jumps when the Family Arsonist rings the dinner bell. I now know better and make sure that I am not sitting in the way so as to be run over. LOL.
This year also marked a new high for the number of Oysters shucked by our now expanding Master MAM Shuckers. Reports are that this year the Family consumed just shy of 3 bushels of fresh Maryland Oysters. Word on the street is that a fellow from LOOOS-eeeeeeee-anna attended this year and found that the local oysters were so good that he could not help himself and found it hard to just eat one. LOL. I felt the need to balance things out with the amount of Gumbo I had. Fair is fair after all.
The newbees, along with some seasoned Family Members attended the event that made all this happen, thus we had another big turnout at the Fairgrounds. The well-seasoned members quickly fanned out and found the usual staples: Fantastic Pit Beef, MORE OYSTERS, a little crab soup, AND the Famous Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham Sandwich. After walking a bit of this off, the ice-cream stand, fried donuts, and fried dough stands were close at hand. The ladies were entertained with more craft, art, and jewelry shops than they could handle and the guys were actually caught in the local home cooking building watching the close and heated competition as chefs tried to outdo each other with wondrous creations. Some of the new ladies were rather impressed that their guy would want to attend and sit through something like this, (little did the ladies know that after each round, the audience was given the creations to eat, LOL). Of course the reason for the whole thing was also really something, which was the actual National Oyster Shucking Competition. These guys and gals really know how to shuck. Of course if you know where to sit in the stadium, welllllllll, they gotta do SOMETHING with all those shucked Oyster thus………I try to get into the front row. LOL. Of course the locals know what they are doing, thus for the poor unsuspecting Family Newbee, they are often roped into the extremely large yard (about 1 acre) sale that is well positioned on the main road between the hotel and the fairgrounds. Once everyone arrives back at the Compound it’s time to……………………………………eat. LOL
Sunday once again wrapped up a fantastic weekend with our trip over to Lenny's for the now famous Sunday Morning Breakfast Buffet. Smoked fish, made to order omelettes, and tons of other good stuff is available to make sure that no one heads home........................hungry.
Well, it sure seems that way. It’s hard to imagine that this year marked the 9th gathering of the Mid-Atlantic Mob (MAM), but the 8th year of our Lead Pencil, Oyster Festival. Not since 2007 have we had such a turn out. At the original MAM gathering held in Western Maryland, we had 89 Family members show up to enjoy the sights, sounds, roads, and of course food of Western Maryland. Soon after that gathering it was decided that the MAM Family needed to add more lead to their diet, thus the gathering was moved to Southern Maryland so that we could take part in the Oyster Festival. We quickly overtook the local hotel to serve as the MAM Southern Compound, and “convinced” some of the local watermen that they needed to secure the protection of the Family by working a few little deals that involved many bushel baskets of fresh Maryland Oyster over the years.
73 Family members bellied up to the picnic tables to feast on a few things fired up by our Family Arsonist like smoked brisket, pork, chicken, ribs, out of this world homemade Gumbo, BBQ’ed Oysters, steamed oysters, scalded oysters, raw oysters, fried, oysters, Puerto Rican sausage, Amish sausage, Amish Scrapple, and deserts. OH THE DESERTS. Just too many to name, but OH SO GOOD. And what was all this washed down with………………welllllllllllllllllllll…………..let’s just say that a Jacuzzi could have been filled. LOL. It was amazing to see the tables fill and empty throughout the course of the day with so many different special treats that Family members brought to share. Of course I am always amazed at watching how everyone jumps when the Family Arsonist rings the dinner bell. I now know better and make sure that I am not sitting in the way so as to be run over. LOL.
This year also marked a new high for the number of Oysters shucked by our now expanding Master MAM Shuckers. Reports are that this year the Family consumed just shy of 3 bushels of fresh Maryland Oysters. Word on the street is that a fellow from LOOOS-eeeeeeee-anna attended this year and found that the local oysters were so good that he could not help himself and found it hard to just eat one. LOL. I felt the need to balance things out with the amount of Gumbo I had. Fair is fair after all.
The newbees, along with some seasoned Family Members attended the event that made all this happen, thus we had another big turnout at the Fairgrounds. The well-seasoned members quickly fanned out and found the usual staples: Fantastic Pit Beef, MORE OYSTERS, a little crab soup, AND the Famous Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham Sandwich. After walking a bit of this off, the ice-cream stand, fried donuts, and fried dough stands were close at hand. The ladies were entertained with more craft, art, and jewelry shops than they could handle and the guys were actually caught in the local home cooking building watching the close and heated competition as chefs tried to outdo each other with wondrous creations. Some of the new ladies were rather impressed that their guy would want to attend and sit through something like this, (little did the ladies know that after each round, the audience was given the creations to eat, LOL). Of course the reason for the whole thing was also really something, which was the actual National Oyster Shucking Competition. These guys and gals really know how to shuck. Of course if you know where to sit in the stadium, welllllllll, they gotta do SOMETHING with all those shucked Oyster thus………I try to get into the front row. LOL. Of course the locals know what they are doing, thus for the poor unsuspecting Family Newbee, they are often roped into the extremely large yard (about 1 acre) sale that is well positioned on the main road between the hotel and the fairgrounds. Once everyone arrives back at the Compound it’s time to……………………………………eat. LOL
Sunday once again wrapped up a fantastic weekend with our trip over to Lenny's for the now famous Sunday Morning Breakfast Buffet. Smoked fish, made to order omelettes, and tons of other good stuff is available to make sure that no one heads home........................hungry.