Southern Sundays

I love it when Sunday morning last til about 8:30 or 9 p.m. I like to start those days with a large plate of grits and eggs, bacon, toast, jelly and juice. Read the New York Times and maybe something else. Watch t.v. or a movie and end the day with a large plate of eggs Benedict. I haven’t had a day like that in a while. I am due. Been working way to many hours.

I finished the tailgate cocktail table. I built the undercarriage and painted it black. I distressed that and put a protective clear coat on next. I sanded and cleaned the part of the tailgate to be the surface. I painted the word FORD on it and distressed that once it dried. I then clear coated the top a few times. Here’s a photo. Remember you can click on photo and enlarge it. Then you will see the licences plate is Alabama and from 1959.

I am also working on a large order for a bakery/deli. I am building a bread unit, about 23′ of counter top made from antique pine and 17 table tops 24 ” square. These are for the lunch and coffee area and will also be made from antique pine. Finished with paste wax. The counter top will have to be finished with something more durable. This is a fun job. Big stuff, the bread unit is about 10′ wide and 8′ tall. A metalsmith will finish the unit out with steel. I will take photos.

JK

I’m not sure where I ran across a copy of Talk Stories, I think it was in the airport. I am sure that I noticed the authors name as someone who had written for the New Yorker Magazine. By the the time I was getting the New Yorker in the mail Jamaica Kincaid wrote full length pieces and not very often. But I remembered her name. She had written a piece about gardening. I think it was about a seed catalog that she used.

Anyway I found this book and found a beautiful voice. Talk Stories is a book of 77 short pieces that Jamaica Kincaid wrote for the New Yorker column, “Talk Of The Town”. She wrote the column from 1974 til ‘83. I love the way she wrote these columns. It was almost as if you were reading a list, a list written by a very good writer. At the time she began writing Talk of the Town, I think she was just starting to write. So this is how she cut her teeth, learned her chops if you will.

I had been reading the New Yorker and the Talk column for years before I found her book. Looking back, not one other Talk writer was able to do what she did for that column. She made the most mundane events, political rallies and such, sound like a fun day in the city. She always wrote in the “we” voice, I don’t know why, maybe she was told to.

I quit taking the New Yorker about a year after the war. I am so tired of hearing about how we botched that effort to hell and back. I guess that is the same reason I don’t listen to NPR’s show Fresh Air as much as I used to. Both of these vehicles were once a great source for information into the arts, science and current events. Not so much these days. I look at it as another casualty of the war.

Anyway if you get the chance check out this book Talk Stories. It’s good stuff.

Southern Condiments

There is a South everywhere. And usually those Souths have flavors distinct to it’s culture. I remember chutney since I was a little kid. We didn’t eat it at our house, but I always saw it at the store and I think my grandfather ate it. As I got older, I remember seeing it at farmers markets, flea markets and anywhere handmade country crafts were sold. Chutney is probably something that has been prepared in southern kitchens forever. There is probably a type of chutney connected to the south. I don’t know much about it, I just remember seeing it around.

Chutney is originally from South Asia. It has made it’s way around the world bearing many different names. It’s called relish some places and it’s called salsa others. It is usually made to be eaten fresh using local ingredients. A chutney made in our South would have been prepared to be stored. Usually, fruit, sugar and vinegar are cooked down to a reduction.

I guess what I am trying to say is people are all the same. Everywhere. They just make their chutney a little different than you and me.

This is how Stacey does it. She uses Kumquat (usually JoAnn’s) . It is great with everything. Cheese, grilled meats, toasted breakfast breads. Hell, it probably tastes good on ice cream. Stacey took this photo of her latest batch of Kumquat and Jalapeno Chutney. Her recipe follows. I also found an article on Chutneys in the December Gourmet. On page 156 there is a recipe for a Kumquat Chutney made with ginger. We have been using ginger around this house a lot lately.

Yield - 2cups Long Shelf Life

1 1/4 pound Kumquats sliced 1/8″ thin (do not peel) (can take seeds out - I don’t)

1 Jalapeno - julienne

1/2 cup Rice Wine Vinegar

1/2 cup Sugar

Salt

Combine Vinegar and Sugar in a non-aluminum pan and bring to boil.

Bring to boil until all the vinegar has evaporated. Once the sugar begins to take on the slightest hint of brown, add the kumquats and jalapeno. Toss until kumquats begin to turn limp (about 3 to 5 minutes).

Season with salt (to taste. Allow to cool. Store in air tight container.

Happy Birthday,from the Southside

Last night we had a Birthday party for my oldest sister. My other oldest sister told me she was the oldest now that she turned 49. I really didn’t know she was 49 and I didn’t know one could be older then a person at some point of their life and then have the younger person somehow become older then the person who was once oldest. But Pam said so, so I believe it. The person that was once my oldest sister would not lie to me, would she?

Anyway the important part was the party and all the good stuff we had. We all started with cocktails of course. Ginger and Mary Ann’s. For these drinks you take 2 jiggers of bourbon, 1 jigger of fresh ginger juice, poured over ice in tall glass. Add Limeade til glass is almost full and top off with a little sparkling water, mix well, drink many.

We also enjoyed a very large party tray of assorted meats and cheeses, with a loaf of fresh baked ciabatta bread. We had Italian meats such as, Capicola, Prosciutto, Sopressata and Salami. The cheeses we had were, Gorganzola Dolce, Pecrino, Taleggio and a blue cheese from the Basque region.

We sipped Processo and white wine and had a really good time celebrating Kim’s birthday. To bad she wasn’t there. Wish she could have been there so we could have told her “We love you and Happy Birthday”. Maybe next year.

About last night…..

Last night we ate at the Feed Store again. It was as good as the first time and we got a chance to speak with the head chef. The guy is passionate about what he does. He ask what we ate and as we told him he gave us a little background on each dish.

We had Crab Cakes with Shrimp and Andouille sausage, with a sweet potato Aioli. We have had eight dishes so far at Feed Store and this is the only one Stacey says was just O.K. It was good, and reminded me of a dim sum dish. It is also the only dish not prepared in-house.

We also had a Duck confit with Pomegranate BBQ Sauce, cracklin chip, which I missed, and cornbread and slaw. Another great dish, it was like pulled duck in a really good BBQ Sauce.

The fried Calamari with homemade Pepper Vinegar and crystallized Ginger was real good. There was no dipping sauce and none was needed, it was already drizzled on the Calamari, as in “Pepper Vinegar”. There was a nice pile of Crystallized Ginger which went great with a bite of the Calamari.

We tried the Panzanella, it’s like the classic day old bread salad with a homemade vinaigrette. At the Feed Store they take a small cornbread muffin and deep fry it. That’s right, deep fry it. In the mean time, and this is what the chef said, he’s got a pot of Ham Hocks that have been cooked down. Once that’s done he pulls the meat off and mixes it with his vinaigrette. It was like a fine french wine with hints of dirt and dung. So he takes this Ham Hock Vinaigrette and tosses it with lovely mixed greens. Nice and fresh. With tomatoes. This salad is especially good. I bet one could do something like it at home.

The waitress talked us Stacey into a IceBox Apple Crumb delicious as shit desert. It, like the rest of the meal was really, really good.

Tree Man, Only in the South.

Check this guy out. He was at Serenbe Sunday. Word is he is part of a large, annual festival, the Renaissance Festival. I guess he some how fits in with jousters and people speaking like Shakespeare. He was very cool and spooky, the way he moved. You could see his eyes and he would stop and just stare at you for a second. There were a lot of people around and everyone got real quite. My friend commented on how everyone kinda whispered. Some of the kids were really scared and some loved him. There were lots of photos taken.

I think you to can hire him for you kids birthday party. This is his web site http://toddkeyjuggles.com/walkingtree.html Check out the video of the Treeman in action.

Southern Changes

The other day I tried being a king for a while.

Then I tried being a queen for a while. I wore sun glasses so no one would recognize me.

I was doing a good job at being a queen when I almost put my foot in my mouth. I knew I had to be careful or I would really get into some trouble.

Well it wasn’t long before I was tired of being a women so I became a dog. Now that was fun, I chased a squirrel and bit it. Then I went out of town and left myself with the dog sitter. She rocks, and is very sexy.

Well all good things come to an end and I just decided to be Tracy, again.