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Sleep in a Wigwam

Loved getting sunset pics of the Wigwam Village Inn #2 in Cave City, Kentucky

Wigwam Village No. 2, Cave City KY Wigwam Village No. 2, Cave City KY

Wigwam Village No. 2, Cave City KY Wigwam Village No. 2, Cave City KY

Wigwam Village No. 2, Cave City KY

Seven wigwam villages have been built; it was a chain from the 1930s and 40s. Only three of seven are left, and they’re all on the National Register. Two of them are on Route 66 — Holbrook, AR and San Bernardino-ish, CA. This one in Cave City, Kentucky is the only other one in existence.

 

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Lotus of Siam (and how that actually inspires us on Matzah Ball Monday)

I’ve been to Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas twice now — it’s the Northern Thai restaurant there that’s gotten so, so, so many accolades. The original location is in a scruffy shopping center away from the strip. Their new restaurant is really pretty, on E Flamingo.

The seating at the first location can get pretty close. Once, I had my purse looped on my chair, and I reached in to get something, and ::eek:: the lady behind me had done the same thing and I actually had my hand inside her bag. I was thinking huuuuuhhhhh this doesn’t feel like my things and looked back to see I wasn’t inside my Louis Vuitton, I was in HER Louis Vuitton. I was so apologetic but she understood, thankfully. Can we just talk one more time about how genius it is that restaurants have little tuffets for bags, like Restaurant R’evolution in New Orleans and Wing Lei in Las Vegas?

Lotus of Siam has even changed how we do Matzah Ball Monday here at home — more about that at the bottom of this post.

Anyway, this time, we started with garlic prawns. They’re fried with their shells, in a garlic sauce. Crazy delicious.

Garlic Prawns, Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas Garlic Prawns, Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas

Duck Khao Soi — egg noodles in curry, with duck atop. Oh, and those crispy crunchies. Yes.

Crispy Duck Khao Soi, Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas

Stuffed chicken wings. So delicious.

Stuffed Chicken Wings, Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas

Now, at our home, we have three specially-themed supper nights: Taco Tuesdays, Whatever Wednesdays (whatever I want to try super new, you’re gonna be surprised), and Matzah Ball Monday. That’s Shug’s favorite food, so he’s super happy. For Shugie, because he’s not a matzah ball person, I cook pasta in the matzah ball pot, drain those noodles of whatever shape we’re doing that week, and top it with either alfredo or marinara — so he’s happy too. Because I’m not big on either of those, I follow Lotus of Siam’s recipe for Chicken Panang Curry that Saveur published. I take stock from the matzah ball soup, add curry paste, fish sauce, and coconut milk, and voila. We’ve got three dishes coming from one pot, and takes maybe ten minutes extra time. Fab.

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Saving Margaret’s Grocery, and a New Documentary

A 501c3, the Mississippi Folk Art Foundation, has been set up to save the art environment known as Margaret’s Grocery just outside Vicksburg, Mississippi. From the gofundme, the mission was put:

The funds we raise will help in a multitude of ways. From purchasing paint and brushes to moving the bus to its new location. (the wheels on this bus do not go round and round anymore). The bus also needs to be repaired,  replace the tires, to repainting.   The masonic art works need to be expertly moved and then repainted, (requires a crane) religious signs  need to be repainted also.  In addition to rebuilding the signs, relocation of all the art and brick work to a new location and purchasing the land for its new location to reinstalling this iconic folk art creation. All of this requires experts to help with this process and funds to pay to move the masonic art and reinstall in its new location.  

I’m among the donors from a couple of years ago — and gofundme gifts are going on currently —  and much work has been done already and is continuous. I’ve been visiting Margaret’s Grocery since the early 2000s when it appeared more like this:

Underneath all this: a trailer and a little store. Margaret ran this with her previous husband until he was murdered in a robbery. Later, she met Rev Dennis who asked Margaret to marry him and promised he would turn her little store into a palace. And he did.

Some very early pics of Margaret’s Grocery here.

I try to visit at least once a year, and it’s always something of a surprise to see how much worse it looks since each previous visit. These pics were taken in December 2016:

Some of my pics of Margaret’s through the years here. All the following pics are mine, different dates:

older:

Margaret

since:

Since I took these pics, the school bus was removed to undergo restoration at anther location.

Here, Eric Feldman’s visit where he visits with Margaret and shows the interior.

Here, pics by the UCM Museum in 2001.

On March 7, 2020, the MS Folk Art Foundation’s documentary, “The Oral History of a Southern Vernacular Palace,” will be shown shown 6p at the Strand Theatre in Vicksburg. A panel discussion will follow, and the event is free. The gofundme campaign is going on currently.