Deep Fried Kudzu

Twenty-plus years of documenting the South’s vernacular art, visionary environments and traditions… plus modern art exhibits, Faulkner and Eudora, and This Week’s Various. Welcome.

Doll parts and old tools hung on a whitewashed wall
Jeff Koons, a Christie’s Auction, and His Art Across the South Jeff Koons, a Christie’s Auction, and His Art Across the South

October 11, 2026

Jeff Koons, a Christie’s Auction, and His Art Across the South

Jeff Koons work at The Broad, 2025 Christie's will hold a sale on November 17th called Heroes & Lovers. From Christie's: Heroes & Lovers: Property of a Distinguished Collector unites an extraordinary group of works spanning the Renaissance to the 20th century, placing four paintings…

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The Wyeths and Homer

The Wyeths and Homer

The Winslow Homer: Painter, Etcher exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art closes October 18th and I'm so glad that Shugie, Brent,…

Oct 2, 2026

Primp My Ride

Primp My Ride

Bedazzled Birmingham AL, 2026.

Sep 30, 2026

Make it Pastis, But Nashville

Make it Pastis, But Nashville

This was our first visit to Pastis in Nashville, and there are so many terrific places there, this may be our one…

Sep 29, 2026

Hermes x Prattville

Hermes x Prattville

Last year, Brent and I wanted to have lunch at the new Pastis in Nashville, and Hermes had also just opened. I…

Sep 24, 2026

Stirring the Pot

Stirring the Pot

Crystal Preserves New Orleans LA, 2025.

Sep 21, 2026

About

Ginger

Hi — I’m Ginger. I document vernacular and visionary art and art environments, and study Southern folkways, currently documenting 100+ Alabama graveshelters.

Besides those things, I like to share recipes and visits to fab restaurants, museums, and hotels, and I’m so happy you’re at DFK today. You can email me with anything you’d like to share.

Careers

I’ve had two careers: first as CPO from a subsidiary spinoff of IMAX, then once I decided to return to an office setting when my boys were old enough to go to school, I became Creative Director at a boutique publishing company.

Family

Two fabulous, very active teen boys, one a sophomore at Alabama (RTR!) and the other a high school senior at ISS who also attends Bama Early College and Harvard Summer. I grew up a small-town girl and am the 7th generation of my family born in Alabama.

Volunteering

  • Leadership Birmingham ’24
  • President, Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood
  • 2nd VP, Cliffside Garden Club; Immediate past president, Forest Park Garden Club
  • Board, Alabama Holocaust Education Center; B’ham Hadassah
  • 2026–27 President, Indian Springs School Parent Association
  • 2023 Junior League of Birmingham Provisional of the Year
  • Honored to be introduced by Gov Ivey at her 2025 Chanukah reception at the Governor’s mansion and light the menorah

Have a good project? Let’s hear!

The lists

Recipes

The 20 most popular. All the recipes live on their own page.

  1. Pralines2005
  2. Lemon Bars2006
  3. Watermelon Rind Pickles2006
  4. Strawberry Pretzel Salad2006
  5. Creole Cream Cheese Cheesecake2007
  6. Comeback Sauce2007
  7. White Chocolate Bread Pudding2007
  8. Homemade Creole Cream Cheese2008
  9. Liver with Hot Pepper Jelly Appetizers2008
  10. Fantail Rolls2009
  11. Pot Likker Matzoh Balls2009
  12. Hummingbird Cake2009
  13. Alabama Caviar2009
  14. Glorious Fruitcake2009
  15. Original Lane Cake2010
  16. Tomato Pie2010
  17. Fork & Plate Fried Pies2010
  18. Fried Matzah Balls2011
  19. Passover Baby Bites2011
  20. Espresso Sorbet2012

Let’s Eat

Favorite restaurants.

  1. 01Le CirqueLas Vegas
  2. 02Commander’s PalaceNew Orleans LA
  3. 03Doe’s Eat PlaceGreenville MS
  4. 04Gibbes StoreLearned MS
  5. 05Chez FonfonBirmingham AL
  6. 06Taylor GroceryTaylor MS
  7. 07Lucky CheetahPortland ME
  8. 08Arnaud’sNew Orleans LA
  9. 09Bombay BrasserieSan Francisco CA
  10. 10Antoine’sNew Orleans LA
  11. 11Ninfa’s on NavigationHouston TX

Extra credit

Let’s Stay A While

Favorite hotels.

  1. 01Urban CowboyNashville
  2. 02Ritz-CarltonNew Orleans
  3. 03CosmopolitanLas Vegas
  4. 04Mansion on Forsyth Park – Hotel BardoSavannah
  5. 0521C Museum HotelBentonville
  6. 06Dwell HotelChattanooga
  7. 07The DriskillAustin
  8. 08St RegisAtlanta
  9. 09St Anthony HotelSan Antonio
  10. 10Ritz-CarltonLake Oconee – Reynolds

Making Little Maps

I make niche-y little maps.

  1. 01Indie Bookstores in AlabamaIndependent, new-book-forward bookstores across the state. Excludes shops focused mostly or entirely on used books.
  2. 02SlugburgersDocumenting the places that still make and serve the slugburger.
  3. 03Original Whataburger A-FramesStill functioning as Whataburgers.
  4. 04Old Soda Fountains and Dairy Bars in AlabamaNot comprehensive (yet).
  5. 05Opry Houses and the LikeIn Alabama and Mississippi.
  6. 06Revolving Table and Family-Style RestaurantsMenu-less: all dishes automatically served.
  7. 07Historic Alabama Theatres / TheatersMany no longer in regular use, but all still displaying their marquees at the time of last visit.
  8. 08Covered Bridges of Alabama= treasures

Shop my bookshelf

Books I’ve read or mentioned here, April–September 2026. Bookshop ships from indie bookstores; Amazon sometimes has better inventory.

Visit the shop

  1. Family RomanceJohn Singer Sargent and the Wertheimersby Jean Strouse
    BookshopAmazon
  2. Southern Women, Southern LandscapesCultural Reflections on the Garden, 1870–1970
    BookshopAmazon
  3. One Writer’s GardenEudora Welty’s Home Place
    BookshopAmazon
  4. The Art of George Rodrigue
    BookshopAmazon
  5. The Louisiana Houses of A. Hays Town
    BookshopAmazon

Being published

I’m grateful that my images, written work, and creative concepts have been published, and that I serve as a source and consultant on Southern folklife and foodways.

Get in touch

  1. 088Moon Winx sign in the Society for Commercial Archaeology Journal, fall 2026
  2. 087Agam memorial in Supergraphic Landscapes: From Public Art to Urban Design, coming in 2026
  3. 086Nadine Earles Dollhouse Monument, Alabama Heritage Magazine
  4. 085Dentzel Carousel photo for the Memphis Grand Carousel
  5. 084Editor, Tributaries 18
  6. 083Dual Destiny monument image in a 4th grade textbook
  7. 082Editor, Tributaries 17
  8. 081Images for the Alabama Heritage site and Instagram
  9. 080Images, Encyclopedia of Alabama
  10. 079Contributor of art environment images at SPACES
  11. 078Moon Winx sign at The Retrologist
  12. 077Speaker, Holocaust Remembrance Day at Athens State University
Show all 88Show fewer
  1. 076Successfully nominated Alice Finch Lee to the 2023 Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame
  2. 075Futuro architecture pic for the Virginian-Pilot
  3. 074Stained glass window image in an art installation at St Marks Episcopal Church, Palo Alto CA
  4. 073Reviewer, Alabama Folklife Association Fellowship applications
  5. 072Roadside religious images in Icon & Spirit, Volume 2
  6. 071Jim Bird’s art environment in Folkland AL for SPACES
  7. 070Glass restrooms in downtown Sulphur Springs TX for city planning presentations
  8. 069Mary Points monument in American Gravestone Studies Quarterly
  9. 068Old Houston Jail in Alabama Magazine
  10. 067Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery and more Wade Wharton images for SPACES
  11. 066Regions Field image for the Birmingham Baseball exhibit at Vulcan Park & Museum
  12. 065Nelle Harper Lee pic in a TKAM piece, Gorky Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences
  13. 064Coal Service Station in Business Alabama Magazine
  14. 063Photo for an Anne LeBaron CD booklet
  15. 062Various, Birmingham Wiki
  16. 061Joe Minter’s African Village in America image for Atlanta Magazine’s Southbound
  17. 060Various, al.com
  18. 059Tom Hendrix Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall at Atlas Obscura
  19. 058Roadside religious signs for Okra Magazine
  20. 057Green Warehouse pic in a William Christenberry piece, Medium Vantage
  21. 056Courthouse murals images for Hyperallergic
  22. 055Simmons-Wright Country Store image for Atlanta Magazine’s Southbound
  23. 054Images of Old Cahawba for Alabama Magazine
  24. 053Rockower Award, cover design
  25. 052Images of Wade Wharton’s art environment for SPACES
  26. 051Museum image for Eat Dat New Orleans, 2nd edition
  27. 050Hystercine Rankin quilt image at Converge Magazine
  28. 049Mound image for Architecture of First Societies: A Global Perspective
  29. 048Consulted, Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods America, Birmingham episode
  30. 047Quoted, images for a Yahoo! Shine feature on slugburgers
  31. 046Speaker, Alabama Community Scholars Institute, Alabama Folklife Association
  32. 045New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Folk Art v. 23
  33. 044Image purchased by McDonald’s for local imagery in Tennessee
  34. 043Source for Legends, Lore, and True Tales of the Chattahoochee
  35. 042Koolickle image for Scholastic’s Action Magazine
  36. 041Anniston Star feature: Deep Fried Kudzu is Alabama Blogger’s Love Letter to the South
  37. 040‘I Heart Alabama Gulf Seafood’ feature for Alabama Gulf Seafood
  38. 039Koolickle image at the BBC
  39. 038Gee’s Bend Quilt Mural for Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement
  40. 037Vincent Oliver’s Hippodrome for Black & White
  41. 036Koolickle for FoodandWine.com
  42. 035Adjudicated folk art fellowship, apprenticeship and roster applications for the Mississippi Arts Commission
  43. 034American Village sounding board pic for a Society of Colonial Wars book
  44. 033Interview about DFK and travel in Alabama on Tapestry, WBHM public radio
  45. 032Feature on DFK and Easter baskets for children in homeless shelters, with a naturally-dyed eggs tutorial, for Publix FamilyStyle
  46. 031W.C. Rice’s Cross Garden image at Art21
  47. 030Stone bath mat idea for Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine
  48. 029Consultant on the Mississippi Culinary Trail for MS Tourism
  49. 028Poster in Crit Architecture Journal
  50. 027Peaches Cafe pic for a Barefoot Workshops documentary
  51. 026Contributor, Best Road Trip Ever! iPhone app
  52. 025Howard Finster image in Glorious Constructions, on preserving salvation-themed visionary art environments
  53. 024Pics in Alabama’s Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom
  54. 023Dreidel pad game idea for Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine
  55. 022Star of David idea for Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine
  56. 021Snowman cutout yard idea for Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine
  57. 020Gift wrap station idea for Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine
  58. 019Indian mound pics in the movie The New Daughter
  59. 018Oxford Mound for the Institute of Southern Studies
  60. 017Mississippi Amish community in the Jackson Free Press
  61. 016Slugburger at Serious Eats
  62. 015Moundville pics in an educational film on indigenous people by the University of Chile
  63. 014Benjamin Butler pot in National Park Service literature at Lowell National Historic Park
  64. 013Pensacola Futuro house pic at the New York Daily News
  65. 012Monroeville Courthouse / Mockingbird pics in Good Reading Magazine
  66. 011Causeyville General Store pic in the web game ‘Adventure A-Go-Go’ for Aloft Hotels
  67. 010Doe’s Eat Place tamales image at Gourmet.com
  68. 009Montreal’s Gibeau Orange Julep in Food: Alphabet City Magazine 12
  69. 008Organizing feature at Apartment Therapy
  70. 007Pics of Joe Minter’s art environment, including him, for an exhibit at Vulcan Park and Museum
  71. 006Various pics, Encyclopedia of Alabama
  72. 005Bryant Store pic in OnStage, the Goodman Theatre magazine, Chicago
  73. 004Boll Weevil Monument pic in the French journal Insectes
  74. 003Katrina pics in the Louisiana PBS documentary Surviving the Storm
  75. 002Courthouse protest in Harvard College Economics Review
  76. 001Cover of the Juke Joint Soul CD

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