SUPPER TIME

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Think of Things,
you find sometimes that a Thing which Seemed very Thingish
inside you is quite different when it gets out in the open and has other people looking at it.

.....Pooh

I think of all these things and they are so very dear to me, as I hope they are to you, dear reader. When I remember suppertime in our home I see us at the table together, and most of the time there was cornbread on the table to go with the peas or greens that we brought home from Middleton Creek. Our years at that precious Church hold cherished memories for us; the brethren graciously shared their harvest with us and their story could fill blogspots for many days. (As our preachers frequently say, "The Lord willing we'll come back to that another time.") If you possibly could set aside at least one, maybe two? days a week to sit down to supper with those in your home and anyone else who stops in (It seems like there was always somebody for supper) I believe it will quickly create a sweet time out for you all. Sitting down to supper together used to be required by family law and logic, but alas many obligations and activities preclude this delightful tradition.


"Come home, come home, it's suppertime, the shadows lengthen fast!" Of course, the children were playing outside, (you might have to explain that concept) and sometimes I had to call out twice, but strangely enough, when their DAD called, only one call was necessary. Anyway, whatever we had to eat, it was pretty much guaranteed that Tony would not like it; so along with the cornbread and peas, there were french fries. Remember?


Many of my memories of suppertime go back to my own childhood with my sisters and brother. At the time the picture within this picture was taken, we had not heard of french fries, and many days cornbread and milk were the only foods on the table. The pie safe on the wall always had milk in various stages. One pitcher held fresh milk, which the cow gave that morning (explain that process) and in which we crumbled our cornbread for supper. Another bowl held cream, which would be churned into butter, and still another jar was for the buttermilk that resulted from the churning process. Nevertheless, we had Supper, not Dinner. Dinner is at midday.

In the picture you can see these eager faces of long ago, each now and long since has his own table, (most likely not with cornbread on it) . There is Lucille (she has walked with kings and kept the common touch), Mary (our dear aunt Mae), John (a man for all seasons) and the waif in the pigtails is Nenie (to all of her coterie.)

So, since cornbread and suppertime conjure so many delights for me I hope you can find time to integrate both into your schedules. To that end I send you my encouragement and my cornbread recipe.

Preheat the oven to 450. Grease your pan generously with Crisco. This will make the crust crispy. You can use any baking pan or skillet, but you must grease it liberally or the bread will stick. If you will make cornbread often, try to dedicate an iron skillet to cornbread baking only.

After a few times it will become seasoned and you can just use a little oil in the bottom of it.

Measure 2 cups of self rising corn meal mix (Aunt Jemima, Martha White, or any name brand, not store brand) will do nicely. Add 1 measured cup of buttermilk (be sure to shake the buttermilk before you measure it), 1/2 cup of water, and 1/4 cup of oil to the cornmeal. Stir until well mixed and pour into prepared pan. Cook for twenty minutes and check. Cornbread should be slightly brown around the edges and appear to be done. Turn on the broiler, do not walk away, and remove perfectly browned and memory making cornbread from the oven.

Invert it onto a plate, get out the milk, and call them all in to supper; the shadows lengthen fast!

A MADCAP ADVENTURE

But I don't want to go among mad people; Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat:"we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Once upon a time,way down yonder in New Orleans, the paths of one young lady and a dashing young man met and merged (and that has made all the difference!)

This is the beginning of their story ; a beginning that defies all logic and reason (and my mother).

Brother Lonnie and his brother,Roy, and two of their cousins came to New Orleans to visit a cousin who had been in an accident. Since I lived next door to this hapless fellow, I spent a lot of time with him and thus was on the scene, a sitting duck, as it were. If you knew brother Lonnie you are aware that it was not long before he had cornered me in the kitchen and stolen a kiss. Now I, having stars in my eyes and rocks in my head, was the proverbial fly, gazing at myself in the looking glass. I'm sure you've heard the saying,swept off my feet, well that perfectly described the situation. Then and there, in that kitchen, in November of 1954, I hitched my wagon to a star ; and in retrospect I can say with clarity and conviction that this was my finest hour.

This was my mother's response: here paraphrased by the Queen." Now, I give you fair warning," shouted the Queen, stamping on the ground as she spoke; " either you or your head must be off, and that in about half the time! Take your choice!"

Well, in less than half the time (three months) we were off !! Thus begins our saga, our great adventure. And did we succeed? Yes! We did, indeed!

Biscuitology 101

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

--Dr. Seuss


I believe that anyone can be a good cook. It's all about the "want to" and the patience to try again. So if you want to make biscuits, don't hang up! Complete directions for my "world famous"(don't forget there is more than one world to consider--and this is one of the smaller ones) recipe are herein recorded. Please do not tamper with these instructions , as in using less fat or no butter, because the moment you do I cannot be responsible for the mutiny and carnage you will deservedly face. However, if you will steadfastly refuse to compromise, I will guarantee complete satisfaction. You must set aside all guilt , forget all the so called healthy rules, and go for it!

My advice (and I think it's good) is to always read the ENTIRE recipe before you get started.


Buy a good brand of self-rising flour, like Martha White or White Lily. In this instance, the store brand is not good enough. Believe me, I use store products when I can, but this is not one of those times. Be sure to get self-rising, the baking powder and salt are in the flour. Crisco shortening is the only one to use, and finally, my only concession to low fat is the buttermilk. Whole buttermilk seems to make the biscuits a little sour, and so I use low fat buttermilk.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. I don't measure the ingredients, and as you get comfortable with the process, you will be able to make more or less batter as you wish. I made these today so I could tell you how much to use, so start off with 3 level cups of flour and three spoons of Crisco,each about the size of a large egg. Using a pastry blender, cut the shortening into the flour until it looks about like coarse cornmeal. Measure 2 cups of buttermilk(be sure to shake the buttermilk because it separates in the carton). You may need a little more or less of the buttermilk, depending on the brand you buy. Some are thicker. Do not add it all at once, try one cup, then a little more until you can stir the dough smooth and there are no dry spots in it. Sometimes you might get the dough a little too wet, don't worry, you can work a little more flour into it later. Dump the dough out on a piece of waxed paper with about a cup of flour on it. The goal is to handle the dough as little as possible. With floured hands, try to turn the dough over once. If you can't pick it up because it is too wet, turn it a few times, adding a little of the flour each time. You can gently pat it to the thickness you prefer. Using a cutter of your choice, cut out biscuits and place in pan. If you can't pick them up, they are too wet from buttermilk. Fold in a little more flour. Turn the dough over and pat it again. Now is when you get to see the product of my second field of expertise, Photography. Our next posting will be a tutorial to help you navigate the internet. But I digress; your efforts should resemble this picture. If you have something that does not even remotely pass as dough, I will have to revisit my opening remarks.
You must carefully choose your pan. Black iron skillets work very well. Other than this, do not use dull pans, as they will burn the biscuits. Ordinary cake pans are great, and this 9x12 pan is my favorite. It once was shiny , so any shiny pan will do. DO NOT use a non-stick pan. Your biscuits will burn! If you want crispy bottoms on your biscuits, you must generously grease your pan with Crisco! I can cut about a dozen biscuits from this amount of dough, but that will vary with the size of your cutter. Melt about 1/4 stick of butter, and using a spoon, smooth it over each biscuit. The tops should be wet with no dry flour on top.

Bake the biscuits for about 20 minutes, then check to see if they are brown on the bottom (by gently lifting the edge of one with a spatula). Now turn on the broiler and do not walk away from the stove. Watch carefully and when they are as brown as you want them to be, take them out, turn the oven off and take them up . If they are in a round pan, you can turn them over on a plate, if not, be sure to turn each one over with a spatula, as they will get soggy if left too long on their bottoms. hmmm.
Please keep your responses, comments, threats and murmurings to a minimum. I can't take rejection or ejection.

I hope we can at least be friends after this.

Homemade Biscuits

"When you wake up in the morning,Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.





We always had a full, old fashioned breakfast in our home. I'm speaking now about the home that Brother Lonnie and I established on February 18, 1955. Our parents had lived their young years in a time when store bought bread was not available to them, and so homemakers made their own. My mother-in-law elevated the baking of biscuits and cornbread(and everything else she cooked) to a fine art.

Enter Shirley, who had moved with her family to the big city, and whose mother left biscuit making way behind in Copiah County, MS. A biscuit in my childhood would have been as unusual as a UFO sighting. So imagine what dread Miss Lydia must have felt for her baby boy
when he brought me home! I can't look back and say that I was a quick study, either. I know I was eager to please , I remember that, but I know now that the patience and tolerance that accompanies young love must have been called on many times. When I think back on my earliest efforts at biscuit making I can understand why he often asked for toast. To quote Brother Lonnie,"I said all that to say this," Don't give up; it takes practice and patience to cook everything when you don't know anything. This house could not contain the biscuits I have since made, and some will even say they pass, (even Miss Lydia might be proud of me). Every morning for fifty years Brother Lonnie had biscuits, eggs, grits or rice, and bacon or sausage if we had it-because he wanted that and because I loved him. Occasionally he would still ask for toast, but then I knew it was because he was, in his words,"burnt out on biscuits!"

So just in case you, dear reader, might be interested, one day soon ,The Lord willing, I will post my famous biscuit lesson on this very spot.