Month: March 2010

Posted on

Truck. Stop. Tacos! And Tamales On Trikes! And Something Called A Hawaiian Haystack.

This morning’s e-newsletter from Garden and Gun (what a gorgeous magazine) listed five locations for great street food…

Austin’s Mighty Cone, Harvest Moon Grille in Charlotte, Farm 255 in Athens (GA), Daisy Cakes in Durham (red velvet cupcakes!), and in B’ham, Taqueria Guzman (215 West Valley Ave):

We’ve been there before – cabeza, buche, carnitas:

I like these, but the corn tortillas are *so*…um…corn-y they aren’t my favorite. The meat, though, is wonderful. If you’re ever in that part of town, Gordo’s (433 Valley Ave) is always fantastic:

Tacos From Gordo's, Birmingham AL

—

Early this month, there was an article in the Times-Picayune about Holly Hawthorne – Holly’s Tamales – riding her pink tricycle around the Marigny selling (what else?) tamales. From what I understand, there’s a city ordinance that only Lucky Dog can vend in the Quarter proper. Of course I had to tell my friend Amy at the SFA (Tamale Trail!) – and I emailed Holly who was super-super nice too.

—
I don’t remember how I found this, but last week in The Atlantic, there was a post called “Jell-O Love: A Guide to Mormon Cuisine“. It reads in part:

Because Utah is the most homogenously religious state in the nation, social life tends to revolve around LDS church functions, church potlucks being the nucleus of Mormon cuisine. Any budding culinary anthropologist can touch down at the Salt Lake City International Airport, shout “Take me to a ward potluck!”, and discover the bedrock of Mormon food.

—

At most social functions, there will be funeral potatoes. Not just for post-burial buffets, the dish is comforting at any social gathering. Calorically astronomical and dense with melted cheese, funeral potatoes are a casserole of shredded cooked frozen potatoes, canned cream of chicken soup, and sour cream, topped with crumbled cornflakes and baked until molten. This food, along with green Jell-O, was immortalized in a set of collectible pins from the 2002 Winter Olympics.

There will also be frog’s eye salad, an ambrosial addition to any potluck. This is made from small pasta balls called acini de pepe—Italian for peppercorns (fregola or orzo can be substituted)—that have been cooked, drained, and cooled, then mixed with a tub of whipped topping, canned crushed pineapple, and canned mandarin orange segments.

There might be Hawaiian haystacks, an economical and engaging dish made from a pot of white rice and refrigerator scraps. Boiled chicken, Tuesday’s ham, microwaved corn niblets, and shredded lettuce are set out in little bowls. Gravy, fried wontons, and pineapple rings are essential. Guests pile their plates with a heap of rice and add toppings as they please into a loaded stack.


Wow.
Posted on

Trying To Keep Austin Weird: Cathedral Of Junk

One of my friends who has his own art environment in Austin – Scott Stevens – is really good friends with Vince Hanneman who has the Cathedral of Junk. I’ve been meaning to post about the CoJ *forever* – it’s been in books, television shows… Well, the city of Austin has cited Vince and the Cathedral for code violation.

Image used courtesy That Other Paper under Attribution – Share Alike 2.0 Generic. Thank you!


The Austin newspaper has an article that reads in part:

The Cathedral of Junk has to go.

The enormous stack of old hubcaps, bicycles, blenders, crutches, urinals, computer guts, lawn mower wheels, kitchen utensils, shopping carts, typewriters, sewing machines and other stuff reaching 33 feet toward the sky in a South Austin backyard is a building, the city’s code compliance officers say. Worse still, it’s a building without a building permit.

Image used courtesy Mr. Kimberly under Attribution – Noncommercial – Share Alike 2.0 Generic. Thank you!

Fans and friends of Vince Hannemann, the artist who began creating the Cathedral of Junk behind his Bubbaland home on Lareina Drive in 1988, say it’s art. Either way, it’s beloved and famous. The Cathedral, featured on RoadsideAmerica.com and a book called “Weird Texas,” is a well-known tourist destination for folks who vacation in, say, VW buses and are bored with normal stuff like Six Flags.

“This whole structure is wired together with wires, and I don’t think an engineer would stamp it as structurally sound,” said Ronald Potts, an assistant division manager for the city’s code compliance department. He points out that people climb up into the tower. “There’s hallways. There’s ladders. There are people going in and out of there, so it is a structure or building, by code.”

On Wednesday, the city posted the Cathedral as a dangerous structure, Potts said.

Image used courtesy CC Chapman under Attribution – Noncommercial – No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic. Thank you!

More here.
Save the Cathedral of Junk Facebook group is here.
Posted on

Tomatoes, Pottery, Music, And…Well… Snakes.

Since the last couple of posts were about Scottsboro…

Scottsboro is in the Sand Mountain region of Alabama, where they grow some of the *best* tomatoes – you can get them in NYC labeled as ‘Sand Mountain tomatoes’, like ‘Ponchatoula strawberries’ and ‘Chilton County peaches’.
It’s also a region famous for music – Gene Ivey and his fiddles, gospel music (incl. the sacred harp / shape note singing in Cold Mountain), and the folk music attracted Alan Lomax to come and make recordings.
But if you Google ‘Scottsboro’ and ‘Sand Mountain’ the first three results you get aren’t about any of that.
Old Rock House Holiness Church, Macedonia AL

They’re about people handling snakes in church.

This is the Old Rock House Holiness Church in Macedonia, Alabama. One of my favorite authors is Dennis Covington, who wrote Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws, and the Demise of an American Dream about five years ago; back in the 90s he was getting assignments from the NYT and from that we got Salvation on Sand Mountain, about people who handle snakes in their churches as part of their religious expression. Dennis is from Alabama, so when he started researching the practice for the Times as part of his coverage of Reverend Glenn Summerford’s trial, he kept going and worked it into this book, which turned out to be a National Book Finalist.

Reverend Summerford was the leader of the Church of the L-rd Jesus Christ with Signs Following in Scottsboro. He was on trial for the attempted murder of his wife, Darlene: the charge was that at home, to punish her for something, he held her hand down in a snake box until she was bitten.
He received 99 years for it.
His cousin Billy is pastor at the church above (where they also handle snakes as part of their religious experience). That’s not my religion, but I would be so interested to attend a service as a visitor. Sitting in the back. By the door.
But respectfully. It’s so interesting how other people express themselves to get closer to the Almighty.
It’s all based on a literal interpretation of Mark 16:17-18…from the King James:

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Hopefully soon when you Google ‘Scottsboro’ and ‘Sand Mountain’ it won’t be the sensationalism of snakebites or trials. Tomatoes or pottery or music or the Scottsboro Boys Museum buying the church they’re in would be nice.
Posted on

Thank You Rev. Tom Bell!

Something Beautiful, Camellia Japonica

I received the nicest letter today from Rev. Tom Bell regarding the Scottsboro Boys Museum (original post here).
I wrote to him in part:

Reverend Bell, it would mean so much to so many people if you could reconsider the timeline for purchase of Joyce Chapel UMC, the current home of the Scottsboro Boys Museum in Scottsboro.

I realize that you have another offer to entertain from an anonymous source and you are in a position to make the best decision for the UMC, but perhaps giving the entire matter pause for a moment would show good-faith effort by the Church to honor both history and the good deeds that the Foundation/Museum is doing for people in the community, young and old.

Scottsboro always gets such a bad reputation because of the unfortunate location of the trial; showing any amount of hasty decision-making, or throwing the museum out, will only further the notion that Scottsboro hasn’t ever and never will show respect for what happened there.

I very respectfully ask that you just give the matter your kindest thoughtful consideration.

…and he so very nicely replied that (I won’t quote it word for word because it is a personal communication) he is all in favor of making everything work for the foundation/museum. It does seem as though there was some miscommunication at the city council meeting that had a lot of people surprised and bewildered. The miscommunication was not from him.

I do truly believe after receiving his letter that he will see to it that the best, right thing is done. I’ll be writing him a thank you letter today!
—
Donations to further the purchase of the property may be sent to:
The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center
PO Box 1557
Scottsboro, AL 35768
Posted on

Shut Down

Construction/Destruction in Oxford

It was on the news last night (and in yesterday’s Anniston Star) that the city’s construction at the historic Davis Farm site in Oxford was shut down by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Why? Because ***they didn’t tell*** the ACoE about the “discovery of ancient human remains”.

From the Star report:

Construction on a multi-million-dollar Oxford sports complex halted a month ago because the discovery of ancient human remains at the site was not reported to the proper authorities — an oversight that so far has forced the city to pay approximately $200,000 to its idle project contractor.

The Oxford City Council briefly discussed the situation during the work session before its regular meeting Tuesday. The council agreed to sit down with all parties involved at 10 a.m. April 5 at City Hall to learn how the oversight occurred and to get the project started again. The parties involved include a representative from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which shut down the project; Taylor Corp., the contractor; University of Alabama archaeologist Robert Clouse, who is overseeing the project; and engineering firm Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood.

—

“Every two days, we’re paying Taylor Corp. what it would cost for a new police car,” Spurlin said.

—


“As part of the wetlands permit process, archaeology is incorporated,” Holstein said. “We told them there were 24 archaeological sites on that parcel of land, including a temple mound and village areas. The Historical Commission concurred, and the city signed off on it.”

Holstein claimed earlier this year that someone had bulldozed the temple mound, which may have contained human remains. Clouse and the city claim the mound is still there.

Holstein believes the few remains the city found in January are only the beginning of what will be discovered at the construction site.

“They’re going to find more bodies,” he said. “(Indians) didn’t just bury one person in a large town like that.”

Karma, Oxford. Karma.

Powered by WordPress.com.