February 2011 • Deep Fried Kudzu

February 28, 2011

Morrison’s To Blackberry Farm To Reverie

Dinner at Belle Meade Cafeteria, Nashville TN

This, alas, isn’t a pic of food from Morrison’s but from another cafeteria we’ve been to that has since disappeared — the Belle Meade Cafeteria in Nashville.

For whatever reason, the other day I came across this very nice remembrance of Morrison’s at the Creative Loafing – Tampa site called ‘Morrison’s Cafeteria as Theatre: Memories of Perfect Shrimp and Tartar Sauce’.

The most popular restaurant in my very young (pre-high school) life was Morrison’s Cafeteria. It was my grandparent’s go-to place if we were eating out. “Home base” was the one at the Gadsden Mall, very close to one of the entrances. Hot, wet trays. Green cloth-wrapped silverware. Salads (which included glass cups of sparkling jello cubes), desserts (they deliberately put the desserts early on so you got one before realizing at the end you didn’t need it, didn’t they?) vegetables, entrees, breads (remember those *huge* slices of garlic bread? and the cornpones? and the giant rolls with a smudge of flour on top? and the mexican cornbread?) red- or brown- colored plastic tumblers for the beverages, and finally the wait at the register while the bill was tabulated. Oh! And if you needed help with your tray, the buzzer was rung.

Ah, Morrison’s.

It actually began in Mobile in 1920 and at one time was a chain of 150 or so restaurants.

I got a student loan once to attend the University of South Alabama (USA) in Mobile — at the time, I wanted to be a teacher (as it wound up, I graduated from a different college with a BBA, and also a BS in Lib Arts, and never took a single class to be a teacher). One of my best friends was also going to go to USA with me — but wound up graduating from Texas. We went apartment shopping and found a sweet carriage house apartment behind a larger very nice home off Old Shell Road.

Trying to figure out how our lives in Mobile would differ from our lives in our hometown, we talked about where we would worship (I liked Springhill Avenue Temple) and how we would spend our time (going to classes, studying, and working like crazy – probably at a restaurant somewhere like so many other college kids) and what we’d do for fun (driving over to the beach every chance we got). I remember my friend saying “I don’t even know what they eat in Mobile,” and I said “well, they have a Morrison’s so we’ll never go hungry.”

I didn’t yet know about Wintzell’s or Brick Pit or Tiny Diny or Pollman’s Bakery or the Dew Drop, even. Back then, Nan-Seas and The Pillars were still around. I had no idea what West Indies salad was at the time. As it turned out, USA wasn’t the college either of us would graduate from. But I felt reassured that if we had stayed, we would not waste away knowing that there was a Morrison’s in town.

That Morrison’s in Mobile is still open. I think every other one is now owned by Picadilly, which is based in Baton Rouge, and…it’s not the same. Back in the ’80s, Morrison’s purchased Ruby Tuesday, which started in Knoxville. To make things interesting: if you’re familiar with Blackberry Farm, the people that started it also founded Ruby Tuesday. Oh, and Morrison’s for a time also had L&N Seafood which had those great biscuits, and the one remaining L&N even sells the biscuit mix.

Morrison’s still holds fond memories for me. Memories of being with my sweet grandparents.

—

Back to Blackberry Farm: the owners’ home there was featured in a 2009 issue of Architectural Digest — the article includes a slideshow and the interior designer was my favorite, Suzanne Kasler from Atlanta.

They’re beginning to sell private construction on the Farm property (est. $1.7 million for a three-bedroom cottage on a half-acre lot) also.

Me? I’d **save $1.3 million** and forget the cottage on a half-acre. I’d buy antebellum Reverie in Marion and never even give a moment of thought to the Blackberry Farm amenities I’d be missing. Oh Reverie!

…elaborate plaster moldings and inlaid flooring, double parlors, magnificent dining room, 5 bedrooms with three full baths and a half bath. Greek Revival architecture, the home was patterned after the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, VA. Points of interest include a ‘widow’s walk’ around the top of the home, a curved staircase with leaded stained glass windows above the landing. The grounds include a koi & gold fish water garden, outdoor room, knot garden with fountain, converted green house (conservatory), brick smoke house, spacious picket fenced dog run, carriage house (two car) and a wisteria arbor that is believed to be older than the home. Over 5,000 square feet. AC & htg. central upstairs and downstairs, modern kitchen, keeping room with working fireplace. Screened porch full length of rear of home with overhead fans.

Yes.

February 28, 2011

‘Take Time To Appreciate’ Exhibit

Ending today (today!) is the exhibit at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art — really, a great small museum — in Laurel, Mississippi of ‘Take Time to Appreciate: Photographs of Mrs. L.V. Hull and Rev. H.D. Dennis by Bruce West‘.

Well of all the art environments in Mississippi, Bruce picked two great ones. Av and I have visited Miss L.V.’s and Rev. Dennis’ places several times – following are some pics we’ve taken. This set is of Miss L.V.’s home in Kosy, taken about a year after her passing:

Here at home, we have a shoe that she painted several years ago:

There’s nothing Miss L.V. wouldn’t paint.

The other part of Bruce’s exhibit is of Margaret’s Grocery just outside Vicksburg that Rev. Dennis built for his beautiful wife Margaret. These are pics we’ve taken there from several visits:

Margaret's Grocery, Just Outside Vicksburg MS

You can see some of Bruce West’s photography, and an interview with him about the exhibit, in this YouTube clip:

February 25, 2011

Colors

Early this week, the Daily Mail in the UK ran a story about Herb Williams who is from Alabama and lives in Nashville now — the article reads in part:

Meet the artist who was inspired by a dream to start making these spectacular 3D sculptures out of hundreds and thousands of Crayola crayons.
—Each sculpture then takes him a staggering four to six months to create and can sell for thousands of dollars – with a nude Marilyn Monroe portrait and a fully-clothed Barack Obama piece selling for a combined sum of $50,000.
—The Alabama-born artist, who is the only person in the world to have a personal account with Crayola due to the amount of crayons he buys from them, said: ‘My art career wasn’t really taking off and I was starving, beating my head against the wall, and alienating my friends.

‘It got to the point where I thought ‘this is not worth it’.

‘So I gave up on art and even burned a few of my works. But that night I had the most powerful dream and was inspired by someone in my dream to start using crayons as an artistic medium.
‘The next morning, as soon as I woke up, I jotted down some ideas in a notebook by the side of my bed – and I’ve been making a living from them ever since.
—Herb’s work has caused such a splash in the art world he has even been commissioned to create personal pieces for President Obama.

He said: ‘The White House now want to commission me to make 3D crayon sculptures which will be used as gifts for them to give to delegates on foreign trips, like kings, queens and important political figures.
‘Each one will be custom made for the delegate depending on which country they are from.
‘It’s such an enormous honour – I’m very humbled.’

Image used courtesy Talk Radio News under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic. Thank you!

Herb Williams’ website is here; his works can be purchased online here. NPR’s story on him here.

February 24, 2011

Veranda On Highland. Forever.

Av and I had a wonderful supper this week at Veranda in B’ham. It’s been my favorite restaurant in town — in fact, my favorite in the state. We’ve been to all the top-tier restaurants in the city and whenever we have something to celebrate, we aren’t at Hot and Hot or Highlands — we’re here at Veranda.

Ohmystars.

I started with the oven-roasted Apalachicola oysters ‘topped with melted leeks, baby spinach and Finocchiona salami, finished with an Absinthe glacage’ (that’s pictured in the center). Finocchiona salami is Tuscan salami from the area in Italy around Florence, and it’s flavored with fennel seeds — doesn’t that sound great? And the Absinthe glacage — that’s part of the sauce glazed on top of the oyster. Yessss. Crazy-good. Av started with the boudin balls and thought they were great too.

Entrees were the Hereford filet and the Fudge Farms pork tenderloin. What else is there to say? Crazy-amazing. The Fudge Farms meat is based here in Alabama and is certified Animal Welfare Approved.

Av finished with a peanut butter pie and I had the white chocolate bread pudding which they sweetly personalized for us in chocolate. Happy!

For cocktails, Av had an Old Fashioned and I went with a mint julep, so…um…very happy.

Okay, I have run out of adjectives. We’re going out with friends again next week and I think we may just have to go back already…everyone we know loves it there and I’m a fan/cheerleader/evangelist for it too. We really want to go for the Sunday jazz brunch. Oh yes. Coming with us?

February 23, 2011

Chinaberry Basket

The day that Leslie and I went antique shopping in NE Alabama, we stopped in Ashville. In the downtown square was a shop called Sante Fe South with a nice selection of pottery and baskets:

…but when I saw this basket studded with chinaberries (chinaberries! never seen a basket woven to include those), it had to come home with me:

It was made by Marilyn Huey, a Cherokee woman who demonstrates her art at festivals. So beautiful:

February 22, 2011

Dred Scott, And Oakwood University

Last month when we went to see the SPACES sculpture exhibits in Huntsville, we went by Oakwood College. My WPA book mentioned that Oakwood was built on what was at one time the Job Key and the Peter Blow plantations. Dred Scott, who became famous for suing in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court for his freedom as a slave, had at one time been at the Peter Blow plantation.

This is the slave cemetery for both plantations, where Dred Scott’s first wife and two of his children are believed to be buried. The flat monument was dedicated April 4, 1999 with the words of Delbert W. Baker, President, Oakwood College. It reads:
In the annals of history simple things often illustrate great things — sacrifice, courage, bravery, great deeds or exploits, so it is with this cemetery. Established more than one hundred years ago – slaves – Black men and women, caught up in the inextricable chains of bondage, buried their loved ones on this site. From the Job Key and Peter Blow Plantations (the latter where Dred Scott hailed) now the site of Oakwood College; from the other plantations and homesteads they buried them — slaves and former slaves, we remember them, we honor them.

The tall monument has the words of Ellen White (a pioneer of the Seventh-Day Adventist church – Oakwood College here is a SDA institution) inscribed, from her ‘Southern Work’ in 1891. In part, “…the Black man’s name is written in the book of life beside the White man’s…the character makes the man.”