Well, I promised you lots of pictures today from our "Wild Lunch" yesterday with fellow blogging friend Barbara and her hubby Gary from My Journal Memories.
We met at noon at The Yearling Restaurant in Cross Creek, FL. You can click on the link below for more information about the restaurant.
Internet Photo of the Yearling Restaurant
Here's our friend Barbara and hubby Gary now! This is not our first meeting. We have been blessed with their friendship for several years now, and since they only live about an hour away from us, we have enjoyed getting together for lunch on several occasions!
Here I am with my hubby as well. Barbara and I both lamented later that we forgot to ask our server to take a picture of all of us together...but you can trust us...we were truly there together, sitting across the table from one another. Barbara will be posting her own photos of this occasion soon on her own blog. We may have many of the same blogging friends, but we also have others who do not know one or the other of us, so who knows? We may make some new friends out of this connection! That would be fine with me! Any friend of Barbara's is surely a friend of mine!
Before I get into why I called this a "A Wild Lunch", let me just get our foodie pictures out of the way first!
Because this is a truly old Florida country establishment, to me it was only fitting to have something to eat a little more in keeping with the locality...I could've had some of their "Cross Creek Traditions" menu items (click on the link for the menu), such as frog legs, free range venison, or Florida Gator Tail, but I chose something a little less exotic as in the fried catfish sandwich. That was "wild" enough for me, and it was very delicious, along with some cole slaw on the side.
This 13 foot alligator was caught in one of the lakes in the area...
These animals are all typical of what could be found in and around Cross Creek and still can be found in parts of the Ocala National Forest today...
Because this is a truly old Florida country establishment, to me it was only fitting to have something to eat a little more in keeping with the locality...I could've had some of their "Cross Creek Traditions" menu items (click on the link for the menu), such as frog legs, free range venison, or Florida Gator Tail, but I chose something a little less exotic as in the fried catfish sandwich. That was "wild" enough for me, and it was very delicious, along with some cole slaw on the side.
And after we finished our entree's the server asked if we'd like dessert, and Barbara and I both decided we would like to share their house specialty of "Sour Orange Pie". She brought us a plate with a large piece divided in two so that we could both enjoy it together. The guys weren't interested in dessert, although I think Gary did sample a bit of Barbara's. I have attached a link to a recipe for Sour Orange Pie below. And yes, it is made with true Florida Sour Oranges, which I call "wild oranges"...and you can read more about that in the link below.
It was good, if you like a tart fruity kind of pie...similar to a Key Lime Pie with an orange flavor. I think I would've liked it better without the drizzle of chocolate and maybe with a whipped cream topping to help soften the tartness. But it was good and fun to try something different!
Now for the "wild part". I don't know if you are familiar with the story, "Cross Creek", written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings...or perhaps you saw the movie "The Yearling", which she also wrote. Well, if you know anything about those stories, you will know that they take place in a very rustic and wild time of old Florida history, and "The Yearling Restaurant", located in Cross Creek and right down the road from The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Park (see links down below), gives us a "taste" of that old Florida era and culture...back when this part of Florida was still largely uncivilized in the ways we know it now...and the people of that area were mostly known as the poor and wild country "Florida Cracker"...(click on that link for more information).
And this link goes to information about the movie by the same name, starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman, and which was filmed not too far away in the Ocala National Forest, which is not far from where we used to live in Salt Springs.
This 13 foot alligator was caught in one of the lakes in the area...
I'm glad I wasn't in the same water when he was there...although, if you get into any lake in Florida, there's a pretty good possibility there could be another one just like him...so beware!
These are just some of the taxidermied animals that are on display throughout the restaurant...there's so much more than what I am sharing!
This is a painting...
Another feature of the restaurant are books lining almost every wall in every dining room area...and they are for sale. I wish I'd had more time to look them over!
There was so much more to see, but I need to stop somewhere! It was truly a fun place to visit and to dine with our good friends. I am looking forward to going again sometime perhaps with our family. It's only about a half hour away from our house! I never realized it was so close!
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings home~Internet Photo
Here is a link to the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Park.
After I came back home I found my copy of the book "Cross Creek". Here are some pictures of the book jacket, which is in a rather fragile condition, so I don't keep it wrapped around the book...
Well, I hope you enjoyed this "Wild Lunch" today. I'm so glad Barbara thought of it and invited us to join them there! We had a great time!!!
