December 2009 • Deep Fried Kudzu

December 31, 2009

Dropping Things On New Year’s Eve

Last year was the first year that Mobile ‘raised’ their Moon Pie but it was such a success they’re doing it again this year.

Over in Tallapoosa, Georgia, they do a possum drop each year (it’s a… well he’s… um… it’s a taxidermied possum). Afterwards you can visit and have your picture taken with him.

Other Southern towns are dropping local icons like a pickle, pelican, gumbo pot, beach ball, peach, chicken, and a hog – there’s a list of what cities all over the US drop/raise here. I’d go for the gumbo pot.

December 31, 2009

Tradition And Lots Of Good Luck For 2010

I hope you will be enjoying a traditional, delicious New Year’s Day meal of…

collards and blackeyed peas (for good luck: collards = paper money, peas = coins), plus cornbread, a casserole or three, and a multitude of other delicious dishes. Happy New Year!

December 31, 2009

Gorham’s Bluff

We had been in Scottsboro to look up more on a folk custom that I recently became interested in – more about that in an upcoming post – but I couldn’t stand to be so close to Gorham’s Bluff and not actually go. Here’s why:

So pretty. This above is the lodge, where there are six suites (important: no small children are allowed – even in the restaurant there, from what I understand).

This is the icon of Gorham’s Bluff – they call it the overlook pavilion:

I didn’t see a sign outside this building, but I think it’s what they call their meeting house:

It’s a planned community, and they have available real estate here.

December 30, 2009

The Blue Willow, Scottsboro AL

On our last trip to Scottsboro, we had lunch at The Blue Willow. It’s a family-run restaurant in an older blue Victorian home very close to downtown.

To be honest, there aren’t a great deal of non-chain restaurants here; we’ve been to Liberty Restaurant which is a little meat & 3 and (this kind of thing charms me) just like at Mary Mac’s in Atlanta, the way you order is by marking your choices on a little slip of paper with one of those teensy putt-putt type pencils. Or at least that’s how it was done the last time we were there, which was ages ago…

Payne’s Soda Shop is also downtown – they’ve been in business since 1869 which makes them the oldest soda fountain in the state – but I *think* they may only be open during the week because the last two or three Saturdays we have been in Scottsboro, they have been closed. If you like coleslaw on your hotdog, they make slaw dogs here – except the slaw is red(!).

Well, the Blue Willow is something else. That’s how it was described to me a couple of months ago when I went to lunch with a couple of girls who said I *had* to go, that it was a real experience.

First of all, the outside looks like it was put together by a person who never met a yard sale they didn’t like! haha!:

Okay, the inside too:

And it’s all for sale. You can just take it pay for it along with your supper if you like.

The front sign of the restaurant says that they are the “home of Blue Willow bourbon butter”. I could taste the bourbon in the butter but…to be completely honest…I’m not sure it was an improvement on just butter in this case:

This is barbecue pork chop (I don’t even like pork chops but this was good), blackeyed peas, mashed potatoes, and cabbage casserole. Wonderful!

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And since we’re talking about Scottsboro…

February 1st of next year will be the grand opening of the Scottsboro Boys Museum, and right now in New York, casting is taking place for the world premiere of Scottsboro Boys, the musical. The musical! Okay…

December 28, 2009

"I Don’t Want To Miss It"

Ralph Lanning, who created his 8.5 acre ‘Lanning Garden’ just outside Republic, Missouri, passed away on December 19th and services for him will be held today in his hometown. He had a famous sign in his art environment that read, “If Heaven Is Half As Beautiful As Here On Earth I Don’t Want To Miss It”.

All three of the photos above are used under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic and are by Frippy.

The Springfield News – Leader had an article that read in part:

Lanning was born Aug. 22, 1916, in Greene County. He served in the Army during World War II and then worked in the construction of bridges and dams, including Stockton Dam, until his retirement.

Kahmann said Lanning’s job led to him creating sculptures out of cement.

“One job had a lot of concrete left over and he said, ‘Just dump it in my yard,’ ” Kahmann said.

Neither Kahmann nor Foster were certain what will happen to Lanning’s artwork. They said he was working a plan with Missouri State University to preserve his art somewhere, but Foster said that is “up in the air” now.

“I don’t know what will happen,” Foster added. “I’d personally like to see it preserved somewhere.”

He didn’t have any children so hopefully someone – or some group – will step in now.

December 27, 2009

To Remember

This insurance office in downtown Corinth – we passed by there today – has the best display I’ve seen all month! Hilarious!!

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If you would like to use a Christmas tree to make it into a bottle tree, the directions to do that are here. If you seal the wood with some sort of weatherproofing agent after you cut the limbs, it may last much longer; the one we did without any weatherproofing lasted right at three years before it got too ‘soft’.

…and if you’d like to make an ornament wreath for Mardi Gras, you may want to consider going to the sales right now and getting purple, green, and gold ornaments while they are still in stock. The directions for the Mardi Gras ornament wreath are here.