Southern Musings

Growing up, there were certain foods that were part of every get together. If it was just the weekly family get together, we had a certain set of foods. If it was a holiday or some other special occasion, we may have a different set of foods. There were some foods that were a daily staple. As time has passed and we have all grown up and went our seperate ways, the foods of yesterday are often only a memory.

Memories of favorite foods can be brought to mind at some of the most inconvenient times. This very moment happens to be one of those times for me. Right now, I would simply love to have one of my grandmother’s dishpan full of banana pudding. Yes, you read right. She often made it in a dishpan. Hey, she had to! We had a large family and it was wonderfully heavenly that we all wanted more than just a simple serving. When that pan was set on the table, you best have your plate ready. If you thought you would be nice and wait until everyone else got served, you would not be getting any pudding.

The pudding was definitely a taste of heaven. No matter what was going on in your life, for the few moments you were eating that pudding, nothing in the world could bother you. Maybe that is why she fixed it so often. She knew that we all needed a break from our troubles from time to time.

As much as I crave the sweet, mouth watering goodness of my youth, my husband has a craving for his mother’s coconut cake. In all honesty, I’m petrified at the thought of trying to find the recipe for it. She has yet to share it with me. Instead, she simply tells me a day and time to pick it up. It is her way of saying that she loves him. How could I possibly break her heart by telling her that I want to let him know that I love him enough to try to bake something similiar. Believe me, his mom can far out cook me any day of the week. I just simply hope that my trying would be one of those rare times when it is the thought that counts.

I’ve tried looking for the recipe. I’ve even had several nice people share their recipe with me. I’m just too chicken to actually try it. Maybe I should take the time to find a recipe to try for him but instead of making it, first build up my confidence. I think if I could find a comparable recipe to my grandmother’s banana pudding, then I might be fortified with enough courage from eating that to allow me to at least attempt the cake for him. If not, at least I will have a few minutes of total bliss trying to build up my confidence. Hmm… I wonder, what other foods from my past could I attempt?

Honestly, I enjoy eating out. I particularly love to eat out when it is good old southern food. There is nothing in the world as comforting. You can imagine my reaction when I read an article about a restaurant that serves southern food with a twist. Shh, don’t tell anyone, but it is healthy.

The restaurant is in Charleston, so it is highly unlikely that I will make it there in the near future to write my own review. So, I thought I would share the link to one written by David Quick. Check out his review at http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/sep/08/feeding_soul_body_mind53250/.

After reading his review, consider your favorite southern recipes. Is there a way you could make them healthier? Would you truly want to? I must admit this challenge has me slightly intriqued. I think I will have to pick one of my favorite recipes and see how I can bring it into a healthier state of creation.

When someone comes into my house, they do not have a lot of choice in regards to drinks available. I do keep bottled water on hand, since our tap water has a bad taste to it. Sometimes I have some soft drinks. I generally have the ingredients to make Kool-Aid. Rarely will you enter my home and open my refrigerator that you will not see a pitcher of tea. For those of you that may not be very familiar with my tastes that would be sweet tea. I am southern after all.

If it is fresh made, help yourself to the crushed or cubed ice in the door. If it has been in there awhile, you can still help yourself to the ice, if you want. It has to be cold. The weather outside is just too hot in the summer. Our winters are generally mild, but even if they were freezing, we would just use the weather to chill our tea. Who could do without the tea? That would be like asking me to stop breathing. I will not give up either one willingly.

If you are diabetic or prefer unsweet tea, you better stick with the bottled water. There is no way that I would be able to make you a pitcher of tea that is either hot or unsweet. I will show you where the kitchen is so you can make your own. The Luzianne website refers to sweet ice tea as the “house wine” of southerners. For this southerner, it is my lifeblood.

Sweet tea and iced tea go way back in history. According the Luzianne website at www.luzianne.com, iced tea may have began in the early 1800’s. It was first recorded in cookbooks as being made with green tea leaves and usually included alcohol in the mix. Over time, it has evolved into the almost syrupy concoction that is often ordered in southern restaurants as “sweet tea” or “unsweet tea”.

Even though the history of sweet tea and iced tea goes back much farther than I do, I am definitely old enough to be a stubborn southern woman. When you come to my house, I will offer you a glass of tea. Expect it with ice and with tons of sugar. That is, if you get there before I empty the pitcher. If that is the case, give me a few minutes and you can have some fresh tea. Same rules apply though.

I’m sure you are getting the idea that I do not follow directions very well in the kitchen. Sometimes I even forget my own versions of recipes. When that happens, it isn’t always good, but sometimes it is truly wonderful!

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What do you do when you send your son in after chicken and then never get around to cooking it that day? If you were planning on making a chicken finger recipe that takes two days to make and you are too lazy to start it like I was, you improvise.

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In the rush of everyday life, finding a few minutes is a treasure. Especially when those precious minutes were found by doing less of the things you rather not do. I love to cook. I just do not enjoy cooking every day. So the thought of walking into that kitchen each and every day to deal with the torture of finding a suitable meal that my picky family will enjoy is enough to send me running out of the house screaming my head off.

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