A trip through the past

A housefull of home folks, Sunday dinner.

Had a wonderful, wonderful trip back home over the weekend, and a couple of fine meals, as well.

The above would be a view which covers maybe half the people who were eating dinner following the Homecoming service at Liberty United Methodist Church in Camden, TN, on Sunday.  The fellowship hall, maybe a 40 x 80 room, did not have an empty seat; some folks scattered out to the Sunday School classrooms.

Back in the center back of this photo, you can see two of my kids’ heads. But you can see us all better in this one, taken after dinner.

From left, Child C, AGC2, Self, AGC3, AGC1, Child B, Child A. A fine-looking crew, if I do say so myownself.

Amazing Grandchild 3, who was somewhat underwhelmed with the whole thing, was snoozin’. AGC 1 was her general whirlwind self, and managed at one time to color on a pew and the sanctuary door with a marker before we snagged her. AGC 2 ate. A lot. And smiled. A lot.

And I had a marvelous time, and got to see a lot of old friends and kinfolk.

The food was as plentiful as I remember. There’s a counter separating the kitchen from the seating area, about four feet wide, and every square inch of it was packed with food. Fried chicken. Baked ham. Meat loaf. Barbecue. Casseroles of every description. Green beans. Creamed corn. Sweet potatoes. Potato salad. Cole slaw. Salads, both fruit and green. Cornbread. Rolls. Biscuits. I touch only a tiny portion of the abundance that was there.

Desserts and drinks took up four 10-foot folding tables of their own, elsewhere around the room.

It certainly did not matter to be the last in line. They were NOT going to run out of food. Except for deviled eggs. I hated that. Guess I’ll have to make me some this afternoon, being I have a gracious plenty of eggs. Oh, and they ran out of the cherry cream cheese pie, which was always one of my favorites (cream cheese, condensed milk, cherry pie filling, among other things), so I contented myself with two kinds of fruit salad.

Cooking for the home folks

Dinner here. Sunday. Y’all come.

You may have perhaps noticed a dearth of posts of late. I’ve been in a blue funk all week, in large part due to a tragedy suffered by a dear friend, who lost her 20-month-old granddaughter in a house fire on Saturday. After a funeral yesterday, there’s a sad road trip today to Central Pennsylvania to lay the little angel to rest in the family plot where her ancestors can watch over her.

Which put me in mind of my own upcoming road trip to visit the family church, and the graves of my parents, this weekend. It’s Memorial Day.

Not Memorial Day the holiday created to honor the war dead across the centuries; Memorial Day to honor the ancestors who built the church in which I grew up, which is always the third Sunday in May, which was noteworthy when I was a kid because there was no Sunday School so I got to sleep late, and there was Dinner on the Ground.

(N.B. I’ve never been sure if it’s “dinner on the ground,” or “dinner on the grounds,” as in, the property. If anyone knows, please enlighten me.)

Cooking for the kids

I’m  back in Nashvegas, having responded to an SOS from Child B upon learning that her husband was afflicted with strep. And since I have a couple of appointments up this way next week, and since I have some favorite Civil War sites I haven’t visited in a few years, Lucy and I are hanging here until then.

I’ve been cooking, but — no photos. Because, well, I haven’t taken any. Not sure why. It just hasn’t been on my priority list. But we’ve had some fine meals.

I got here Friday, after a six-hour drive and a stop off in Marion to see Child A. Also had previously made a stop at one of the culinary treasures of Eastern Arkansas, the Big Bayou Market in Bald Knob. (Yes, that’s the name of the town. Shut up.)

Easter with a twist

And a fair-to-middlin’ Easter dinner it was.

This was Easter dinner: Ham, potato salad, asparagus, pineapple, deviled eggs.

But it wasn’t just your ordinary Easter dinner. Oh, no, I was not going to do something as routine as THAT.

So I glazed the ham with char siu sauce and grilled it. I sprinkled the fresh pineapple slices with curry powder and grilled them (I was rummaging  for my Jamacian jerk seasoning, ran across the curry powder first, decided that would do nicely). And I tossed the asparagus spears with olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest, grilled them as well, then dusted them with freshly grated Parmigiano.

The potato salad was normal, which is to say, outstanding. The eggs I deviled with some of the leftover dressing from the potato salad. Bad choice. Won’t do that again.

Dinners, past and future

Participated in a lovely dinner party last night (no pix, but there was much food, drink, laughing, talking and general good-times-had-by-all).

When I had posted recently about my carbonnades a la flamande, two of my local friends picked up on the post and expressed near-lustful thoughts about the same. From that grew a plan; I would repeat that dish, convey it to one friend’s house, she would make sides, others would bring adult beverages, and we would be off to the races.

Woof.

Home, and feeling much like I’m trying to get sick; throat scratchy, a tickling cough, etc. Too quiet and lonely here, with Lucy still at Miss Christy’s house on her play-date(s) with Monte.

But I did eat well today. Which, considering I’ve been in airports and on planes most of the day, is no small achievement.

Twice lucky; a good start to 2013

Which, of course, I am beginning in the same fashion as I ended 2012; juggling, procrastinating, doing what has to be done first, and devil take the hindmost.

With some carrots and hummus, it made a fine, if non-traditional, New Year’s meal!

This was the meal with which I opened 2013. I am writing about it five days later, because, well, because I’ve been involved in more important things. Like holding babies. And driving home. And retrieving Lucy. And sleeping in my very own bed. And now I am contemplating this disaster area which purports to be a house, and thinking about the week I have upcoming, and wondering when I may ever find time to get done all I have left undone.

Yep, not much different about this year than last.

NOLA, and its accoutrements

A million characters in New Orleans. I wish I knew the story of this one.

I do love New Orleans. The worst thing about going there is trying to decide just which of the nine bajillion places to eat you’ll visit while you’re there.

Will you eat at Galatoire’s? Brennan’s? Two Sisters? K-Paul’s? Arnaud’s? Commander’s Palace? Any of the other big, little, in-between places that dot the narrow streets of the French Quarter, or will you venture outward?

I believe I could spend a month in the Big Easy, eat at a different restaurant every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and still find amazingly wonderful new places to try. And weigh 700 pounds.

I mean, Antoine’s has been feeding people since 1840, Tujagues since 1852. I have yet to sample either. So much Creole, so little time.

I had two dinners, one lunch, one breakfast to spend on gastronomic excess (not to mention I had an iffy stomach) on my recent trip. I guess I could’ve had two breakfasts, had I gotten my happy arse up in time to go and get back before my 9:30 meeting.

I chose, in chronological order, Brennan’s, Felix’s Oyster House, Mr. B’s Bistro, and Cafe du Monde.

Lost in translation

This would be Mt. Fuji, sideways. I cannot make it rotate, though it is in my library. Turn your head sideways.

Hello? What day is it? More to the point, what TIME is it?

Yes, I am still alive. Your Road Warrioress lives. And occasionally cooks, as she is doing tonight. Nothing exciting, mind you — just brats, mac-n-cheese, and purple hulled peas, just to remind myself how the stove works and see if my hand still fits a spoon handle.

It does.

I have been in Japan. Prior to that, I was in Northwest Arkansas (forgettable meals, but if you have not ventured to Bentonville to see the Crystal Bridges Museum, you should do so). Prior to that, I was in Georgia, which I think was the source of material for my last post.

And I got home Wednesday. Which meant I zombied through yesterday. And I am still kinda zombie-ing through today. But tomorrow, hopefully, if I do not sleep all day, I will do some serious cooking.

Breakfast buffet in the Hanamaki Onsen.

Had, as usual, many wonderful meals in Japan. Notably, I had the best Indian food I’ve ever eaten at a little restaurant in Tokyo, and some of the better Thai food in, of all things, a food court in a department store. One of the first times I’ve ever ventured into ethnic food in Japan, and I was pleasantly surprised.

I might note I also had KFC one day for lunch, and it was most excellent KFC. Rivaled any fried chicken I’ve ever had, barring Gus’s.

Hello? Anyone there?

 

This would be me, but I’m not blonde.

Well.

You might well note that, from the absence of posts and the allusions to assorted activities, it’s been an eventful, and busy, month.

Child C and Future Son-In-Law have moved in. NS has been moved out; he has some issues which require a different sort of living environment, one where he can get the help he needs. (As an aside, to any of you who cope with mental illness in a friend or family member, I understand your plight much more than I once did.) Work has showered me with projects and assignments on which I am so behind I do not see much hope of ever catching up, or at least not before mid-2013.