Category: Southern Recipes

  • Southern Prohibition

    Today marks the anniversary of Prohibition in United States. Prohibition was the period in United States history in which the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors was outlawed. It was a time characterized by speakeasies, glamour, and gangsters and a period of time in which even the average citizen broke the law. Starting in…

  • Southern Kudzu

    I recently read the book Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes by Cathy Holton. It is a pretty funny read, especially when it gets to the part about the Kudzu Ball. Back in the day, when I was involved in politics, a woman called me in a panic about kudzu. “It’s taking over everything!” The poem…

  • Southern Catfish

    My husband has been wanting catfish all week long. I’m going to make it for him tonight. Like many in the South, we love catfish. We live near one of the best places on the face of the earth to get fried catfish, Fred’s Fish House in Mountain Home near Lake Norfork in Arkansas. We…

  • A Southern Elvis

    Happy Birthday, Elvis! Can you believe it? Elvis Presley would be 74 today. Of course, Elvis was a Southern boy having been born in Tupelo, Mississippi. Tupelo is a lovely Southern town with an interesting history. If you ever get to Tupelo, there are lots of things to see in addition to Elvis Presley’s birthplace.…

  • More Southern Manners and Jail House Chili

    Did you know that being nice is good for you? Your niceness inspires others to be nice which benefits all of us! Here is an idea from Bottom Line: Put 10 pennies in your left pocket. During the day, stop by, phone or e-mail people just to tell them how much you appreciate them or…

  • A Southern Confession

    Recently, I read the book SWAG (Southern Women Aging Gracefully). I read this knowing that at some point I am going to have to accept that I am actually aging. I’m not real happy about that. One of the ways to know if you are a SWAG is that you have stolen magnolia leaves or…

  • Southern New Year’s Traditions

    Black -eyed peas for luck and greens for prosperity. When I was a kid I didn’t like black-eyed peas but my parents made sure that I ate at least one on New Year’s Day for luck in the new year. They weren’t superstitious but it was a tradition that they had always followed and so…

  • Southern Reflections

    This is a week of reflections. Looking back at the past year before plowing into the new one. What went well this past year and what didn’t? As I grow older, I realize more and more that experiences, good and bad, are learning opportunities. The good experiences we should tuck away for good memories and…

  • A Southern Table

    My family is coming for Christmas this weekend. Because they weren’t here for Christmas Day, I served kind of a non-traditional Christmas Day meal. We’ll have more traditional stuff this weekend. For Christmas Day we had herb roasted pork tenderloin, roasted new potatoes, roasted asparagus and hot rolls. This was an easy dinner to fix…

  • Southern Christmas Pecans

    I’m watching the squirrels raid my pecan tree, carrying their treasures away to both eat and hide. I hope they leave me some. I remember picking up pecans with my mother. We would take them to a place in town that would crack them for you. All you had to do then is pick out…

  • Southern Catfish and Remoulade

    I was recently reading Julia Reed’s “House on First Street” which tells about her New Orleans experience pre and post Katrina. It is a good read and I definitely recommend it. You will get hungry reading it. At one point she talks about eating catfish with remoulade. I thought “yum!” I make a pretty mean…