Off the Farm – My Little Country

One day, Jason said out of nowhere, “If I’m ever terminal, do you know what I want to do?”

I turned my head to look at him and wondered what it could be. A cross-country trip? Visiting ancient ruins? Throwing a huge party? Whatever it was, I was sure his last moments on earth would be spent with the ones he cherished the most.

“I want to travel across America and eat at every buffet I can find.”

Enter: The sad trombone sound. Enter: Crashing cymbals. Enter: My stare of shock that only a wife of many years can give.

As he was daydreaming of weeks of never-ending buffets, I was thinking how our familial unit had just been usurped by chicken fried steaks, mashed taters, and cream gravy. I knew the man loved his food, but I didn’t realize exactly how much until that moment.

And that, friends, brings me to this post.

Part One: I Take Thee, Buffet Plate, To Have and To Hold…

There is this place. A very magical place that sits at the intersection of Highway 84 and Interstate 45 in a little town called Fairfield, Texas. It is home to a restaurant called Sam’s Original Restaurant & BBQ. It also houses the longest buffet bar that I’ve ever seen in my life. The impressive length of the buffet, however, pales in comparison to the quality and sheer amount of the food that is contained within its copious collections of steam trays and canisters. On any given day, you have the choice of at least six main entrees, and this isn’t including the sides (at least five) or the immense salad and soup bar. There is also a heated table just for the cobblers and a chiller just for the pie slices.

We discovered Sam’s by complete accident a few years ago when we met a woman in Fairfield who adopted a foster kitten we had. By the time we made it to I-45, we were all very hangry and I desperately searched Google for a restaurant. Sam’s came up on top and it was listed as a “buffet restaurant”. Now although I grew up in the time of restaurant buffet dominance (think: 1980s-1990s Golden Corral, Jason’s Deli salad bar, Ryan’s, Pizza Hut, Chinese buffets, and the like), I also was around when buffets fell from grace. And boy, some of them fell really hard, and for good reasons. So I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a slight sneer on my face when I found Sam’s. Still…thousands of four and five star reviews? The hanger won. To Sam’s we went.

The interior of the restaurant is a little bit Cracker Barrel (there is a cute gift area up front) and an old school buffet. The floors are carpeted, the tables and chairs are wooden. It has a very vintage feel about it. I’m pretty sure that the steam table for the cobblers has hit its 30th birthday. All that aside, it was extremely clean. Waitstaff buzzed around like bees on a warm day. We were seated and within five minutes, we had our drinks and a loaf of homemade bread with butter. I don’t remember what we had that visit, but I do remember what happened later that day.

I need to tell you that Fairfield is a little less than an hour and a half away from our house, so it’s not like a short hop, jump, and skip down the road. After we had gotten home that afternoon and took our daughter to her grandparent’s house, we had a few hours to ourselves. The day wore on and upon the cusp of evening, we found ourselves hungry again.

I said, “You know what sounds really good right now?”

Jason looked at me and he knew just what I was going to say.

“SAM’S!” we both shouted in unison.

Yes. We were the weirdos that drove to the same restaurant, an hour and a half away, twice in a single day. Thank God by then the lunchtime waitstaff had gone home, so we wouldn’t be recognized.

Part Two: To Love and To Cherish

Visiting Sam’s became was now a semi-sacred thing. It was too far to visit with any great frequency (my pants appreciate that fact very much). The inconvenience made it become a *Very Special Place* that we only went to on *Very Special Occasions*. Just like the other day after we went on a three hour hike. Nothing to celebrate a day-long, healthy and fitness packed adventure like ending up in a place guaranteed to put you in a caloric coma.

Yes, we made the trip yet again and all of us were silently dreaming of what we’d be stacking on our plates. This time, I got pictures!

Tonight’s entrees: Chicken Fried Steak, BBQ brisket, fried chicken, tacos, cheese or beef enchiladas, and pozole…I think.

Close up of the homemade mashed taters, CFS, pepper cream gravy, BBQ sauce, and brisket.

The salad bar was hit hard, but this was right before the refill.

And let’s not forget the complimentary homemade bread!

Now just to finish off with a piece of pie!

After you roll yourself away from the food, there’s another room with gifts and a lot of “this n’ thats”. Socks! Stickers! Retro toys! Pajamas! There’s something for everyone. My particular favorite was the shiitake socks:

And last of all, should you need to recharge your EV Porsche, Sam’s can help with that, too!

On the way home, we mostly rode in silence due to the fact that we had completely overstuffed ourselves and had to keep our mouths shut to hold everything in. Somewhere about ten miles from home, Jason suddenly spoke up.

“I was just thinking about that huge pan of mashed potatoes.”

Crickets from the rest of the car’s passengers.

“And then that huge pan of gravy to go with it! I mean…I would take a boat and drive around that pan of gravy. And what if you made a canoe out of a potato wedge? I’d row around it all day. Better yet, I’ll make skis out of french fries and when they got soggy, you could just eat them.”

I just said, “I think you might need therapy.”

Part Three: ‘Til Death do us Part

After our semi-annual pilgrimage some days later, I heard about a man who, as a part of his funeral arrangements, had requested that his visitation be held at a local diner. I thought it was pretty funny so I told Jason about it and his eyes lit up.

“That’s what I’m gonna do! I’m going to set aside money so everyone can go eat at Sam’s in my memory!”

I stared at him in silence. He went on.

“But make sure everyone gets an extra helping of mashed potatoes and gravy for me, and make sure you get a picture.” He sighed and looked into the distance.

“You know, I love that place more than anything.”

My eyes were now semi-bulging from their sockets when he turned and looked at me.

“Besides you, of course!”

Well thank heavens for that.

“Are you here for the reading?”

After a particularly odd* dining experience, I had strolled down the street into a cute little shop, half antiques and half bookstore, to clear my thoughts and try and salvage the rest of the evening. The store was mostly empty, and I heard a woman talking softly when the proprietor approached me and half-whispered the question.

I had to blink a few times before I stammered, “N-n-no. Like a book reading?” I will mention right here that I have a strange and strong penchant for being present in awkward moments. I’m the wrong person appearing at the wrong time in the wrong place. Had I walked right into an author’s live book reading? What if you were supposed to sign up for this? Was there a room full of people staring at me for sashaying right into their sacred moment alone with an author? Even worse, was this a paid for event that you had to register for???

The owner smiled and replied, “Oh no! Not a book reading; we have someone reading tarot cards for customers. If you’d like, I’ll add you to the list. I think she’s almost finished with this client.”

Well leave it to me to find the unexpected on a Friday evening. I had to consider the offer for a few moments. I am officially in the “Why The Hell Not” phase of life and decided I shouldn’t pass up such an opportunity. Jason was waiting in the car and I called him to let him know I’d be a few minutes. He’s already used to me making new acquaintances wherever we go, talking far too long, and getting into weird situations.

The lady finished her reading and I was ushered to her table, set up behind a rack of t-shirts. She had a pleasant and approachable manner and honestly looked like anyone else. In other words, contrary to what I learned about tarot readers/fortune tellers on Scooby-Doo, she was not wearing a headscarf, big gold hoop earrings, and layers of silk shawls. Nor did she have a crystal ball, which was only a slight disappointment.

She asked me to choose a deck and there were several to select from. I picked one with Art Nouveau images and gilded edges. She then asked me to shuffle the deck as many times as I wanted to. Three is my favorite number, so that’s what I went with. Next, she asked if there was any issue or area I wanted to focus on, or just do a general reading. I stayed with the general category. After a brief pause, she dealt the cards in a spread called Celtic Cross. Some of the cards were reversed (upside down), but most were right side up. She was quick to explain what each card position meant and also that readings only offer insight and can help you make decisions in life. There was no “You will win the lotto on April 5th, 2045” or “You should avoid eating rainbow sprinkled donuts while riding on a scooter on September 15th, 2031” or anything like that.

As she touched the cards, she talked about the symbolism of the image on the card and how it might relate to my life. Then she made comments or suggestions to deepen the meanings, such as: “When you make a decision, even if it’s coming from a difficult place, always be sure to come at it with a positive energy.” and “I can see you are focusing on your health, and it’s very important to you.” A couple of cards needed further explanation, so she asked if I was okay to draw additional cards. This led to drawing four more cards surrounding the card in question. Two were reversed and two were upright. This was interesting to watch and I wish I had the photographic memory like my husband and daughter have, but I do not. I only remember bits and pieces. When we came to the future part of the spread, she said she tells people this is for the next couple of years only, it isn’t written in stone, and it’s only meant as suggestions/guidance you can take, if you so choose.

However, this section of the reading led to a funny (to me) ending and I’m glad I did it. Would I do it again? Sure. I feel like I’m set for a couple of years after that read, though. The entire experience was positive and uplifting. I would say that it was very accurate for my life and it was fun and insightful to do. I walked away from it feeling better and pleasantly optimistic, too.

You never know what will happen on a random Friday in March at a bookstore! Just another tale to add to my ever-growing collection.

*I want to say “particularly peculiar” because of my love of alliteration, but we’ll go with “odd”.