With the weather so nice and summer just around the corner, we decided it was time to get back on the water, so we spent the afternoon with friends on their dock at Bailey’s Island which is out at Edisto. It was so relaxing and wonderful to hang out by the water, get a little sun, and watch Walker swim and swim. Our friends just got a new puppy, Sierra, an English Setter who is so beautiful and awesome- I mean look at this face!! So a lot of the day was watching her and her enormous paws play in the mud and chase the fiddler crabs. Finally, around sunset, we packed it in and went to the gas station where they also have a BBQ restaurant which is delicious for dinner. Sweaty, salty and totally relaxed, I went to wash my hands, and that is when it started- the invasion of the ticks. I guess it is more accurate to call it the realization of the invasion of the ticks. I found one on my jeans and another one crawling my stomach. Gross! Back at the table, it turns out that everybody had found one or two as well. Needless to say, the car ride home was rather itchy as I was imagining them all over me. And they actually were. When I got in the shower, I found three more that had actually attached. Walker had two and Corby had one. And we kept finding them for two more days. I think that we are all in the clear at this point, but it was really pretty traumatizing. I couldn’t think of anything to memorialize this event, so I googled Edisto Island recipes and found one on the Edisto Island Guide that was submitted by Cindy Hartpence. I don’t know why, but this Red Rice recipe seems to encapsulate our tick adventure.
Red Rice
5 slices bacon or side meat
2 cups cooked rice
¾ cup chopped onion
2 cups canned tomatoes
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon hot sauce
In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, cook bacon and reserve grease. Crumble bacon and set aside.
Saute the onions in the reserved bacon drippings until tender. Add tomatoes, rice, salt, pepper and bacon. Cook on low heat for 30-40 minutes, stirring and adding water as needed. Add hot sauce and serve.
