Month: August 2012

Barbecue and Chicken Stew at the annual Labor Day event at St. Michael’s in St. Florian.  Chicken stew is a tradition in this part of Alabama.

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Amish-made chairs from Ethridge at the new Silo restaurant in Germantown (Nashville).  I think it’s the same gentleman who made our rockers.

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Gothamist on where to get the best pimento cheese sandwich in NYC; while lunch counters and mothers have been putting together pimento cheese sandwiches here for decades, they’ve also been putting it on hamburgers for decades (don’t know why some people think that’s new)…it’s been the best way to order a cheeseburger at The Varsity for…forever.  This last time, though, they went a little overboard!:

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Who Will Save Salvation Mountain? in the Desert Sun.

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Chefs in attendance at Sunday Supper South on October 28 ($225 for James Beard members, $250 others) in Atlanta have been announced: ‘ …Sean Brock of McCrady’s and Husk in Charleston, South Carolina, Mike Lata of FIG in Charleston, John Currence of City Grocery and SnackBar in Oxford, Mississippi, Justin Devillier of La Petite Grocery in New Orleans, La., Richard Blais of HD-1 in Atlanta and Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner, Beasley’s Chicken + Honey, and Chuck’s in Raleigh…’

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PBA Galleries Fine Literature – Cooking and Gastronomy sale this week auctioned one of Faulkner’s pipes, estimated at $3-5k (not sure yet what the hammer price was). From the listing: The present pipe was owned and smoked by author William Faulkner, tobacco residue is still present in the bowl. Faulkner was a well-known pipe smoker and photographed many times with a pipe in his hand. It is uncertain whether the present pipe appears in any of those iconic images. This pipe was one of several that were removed from Faulkner’s home following his death by his stepson Malcolm Franklin…

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In the NYT, ‘Passion Plays: College Football Rules the Land in the South‘…and Suzan McClelland’s act at the field just made me cry:
The 69-year-old McClelland had left her home in Prattville, Ala., that morning and made the two-hour drive to the stadium in Tuscaloosa with her husband, John (Field) McClelland, riding shotgun. It was a trip, she said, “very reminiscent of the many trips we’ve made together to attend games over the years” as longtime Alabama season-ticket holders. John was alive for those trips. As Suzan navigated her car through rural Alabama this time, however, only her recently deceased husband’s cremated remains, along with a photograph of him, rested in the passenger seat beside her.

Once she reached the city limits, Suzan met up with her brother, Ted, a Tuscaloosa resident, and the two had lunch at a restaurant Suzan described as being “very New York.” Suzan had the shrimp and grits.

After lunch, Ted and Suzan, now with her husband’s ashes lovingly tucked away inside one of her pants pockets, joined a few thousand of their fellow Alabama fans inside the stadium. With her brother by her side for emotional support, Suzan walked down from the stands and made her way to the stadium’s aforementioned brick partition, right next to yours truly. I then watched Suzan — clearly a bit frightened, but determined — reach into her pocket, pull out the plastic baggie holding John’s remains and empty its contents onto the field.

“Excuse me, but did you just pour someone’s ashes out onto the field?” I asked before Suzan and Ted could scurry away unnoticed.

“Yes, I did; it was my husband,” she replied nervously, her voice cracking slightly. “I was worried I’d get arrested doing this, but he loved Alabama football and wanted to have his ashes spread on the field here. I was worried I’d get arrested, but this was his dying wish, and I didn’t want him to haunt me for the rest of my life if I didn’t do it.”

After Suzan and her brother disappeared into the crowd, I found an online obituary for her husband on my phone. It read like the numerous other obituaries that run in newspapers across the country every day, with the exception of its final line, in capital letters, “Roll Tide!”

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Black Belt Bamboost, a new bamboo park being built in Northport.

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There’s a new sandwich shop in Muscle Shoals called Boo Radley’s Deli.  I think there are two TKAM-named businesses in Monroeville: Radley’s Fountain Grill, and Mockingbird Grill.

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In last week’s various, I mentioned that the Big Jones Southern supper was from recipes in Dishes and Beverages of the Old South — that’s available here, free either to read online as an eBook or to your Kindle.

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Having to explain the hurricane this week, I remembered something one of my sweet friends posted, from Mr. Rogers:
Fred Rogers often told this story about when he was a boy and would see scary things on the news: “My mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers-so many caring people in this world.”

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From the NYT, the inspiration for Beasts of the Southern Wild = Isle de Jean Charles, subject of a documentary yet to be released:

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Imagine the Bible, as screenplay:  The Voice.  The AP reported on it earlier this month.  You can compare Bible passages here.

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This year, Artists for Pasaquan will be a two-day event, November 3 and 4.

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Texas Monthly: There are Still Some Things to Deep Fry.  The eight finalists for the State Fair of Texas Big Tex Choice Awards are: Chicken Fried Cactus Bites, Deep-Fried Divine Chocolate Tres Leches Cake, Deep Fried Jambalaya, Deep Fried Mac-N-Cheese Slider, Fried Bacon Cinnamon Roll, Fried Mexican Fire Crackers, Picnic on a Stick, and Fried Pork Wing.  This is the part where everyone remembers that this is a specific…tradition…at state fairs and does not speak to any particular cuisine.

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NPR does a piece on what people leave at Andy Warhol’s cemetery monument.  I found these cans of Campbell’s in honor of Andy’s work at Target this week:

My friend Larry Harris, who has/is the most excellent repository of art environments anywhere, had something wonderful happen this week.

Larry was friends with the late world-famous artist Mr. Imagination for many years, and about ten years ago, Mr I took one of Larry’s grandfather’s straw work hats and covered it with bottlecaps (he was known for working with bottlecaps and other found materials).  More of Mr I’s work here at the Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago.

After Mr. I’s passing, Larry tried to think of different ways he could display the hat, and one friend came up with the idea that it sit on a kind of wooden bust of Mr I.

Larry contacted his friend, the artist Charles Gilliam of New Orleans, chairman of the Algiers Folk Art Zone, who said he would like to create this piece, as Charles had spoken with Mr I in the past about collaborating on the Folk Art Zone.

This week, evacuating from home due to Hurricane/TS Isaac, Charles brought with him to Houston the piece you see him holding above.

How fantastic is that!?  Larry and Charles, it looks great! Mr. I would love it.  Mwah!

We love Middendorf’s.  It’s on the water in Akers, Louisiana, and they are *famous* for their thin (super-thin!) fried, greaseless, delicious catfish.  How do they slice it so thin? It has to do with the temperature at which they do it.  Whatever they do, though, it is perfection.

And the deck/beach…is terrific:

Shug and Shugie approve:

…and so do we:

…so we were *terribly* sad to see this picture tonight, that Middendorf’s has flooded.

Update: more pics from the owners.

Last month when we were in Houston, one of the places we visited was Smither Park, just down the street from the Orange Show (more about that later).  Work began on the park last year, which is expected to include an amphitheater, meditation garden, 400′ memory wall, serpentine tunnel and half tunnel, 12′ tower with coin maze, long-sweep swings near a grove of orange trees, and open spaces and walkways.

Work has begun on the long, long, long memory wall (you can contribute bits and pieces, like seashells and dishes…whatever has significance to you, to be included):

Yes, yes, yes, to angel:

Dan Phillips, who I’m a big fan of, is the designer of the park, and said, “A park that caters to all ages is always good. But a park that caters to the human spirit is simply magnificent.”  He’s probably best known for his founding of the Phoenix Commotion, which builds affordable (and beautiful! and interesting!) homes from cast-off, salvage materials. From the website:
The Phoenix Commotion is a local building initiative created to prove that constructing homes with recycled and salvaged materials has a viable place in the building industry. This process uses only apprentice labor and teaches marketable skills to anyone with a work ethic who is willing to swing a hammer. By keeping labor costs low and using donated or found materials, the homes created are truly affordable. No two are alike due to the myriad of materials used, so there is an artistic element that makes Phoenix Commotion homes unique. We target single parents, artists, and families with low incomes. We require the homeowner to be involved with the planning and construction of his or her own home. The result is a person who is empowered, not only by the useful knowledge of building skills, but by the opportunity to become part of a community as a vested participant.

Ooooh and when Dan talks about how ‘human beings have a need for maintaining consistency of the apperceptive mass’ — the expected pattern and unity of structural features — then goes on to talk about the psychology of pattern/repetition…I *love* that kind of thing (seriously).  Then he talks about Nietzsche and Apollonian and Dionysian views. And Plato and perfect forms, and Sartre and consciousness, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It’s music to my ears, don’t ever stop talking!  In other words, this is one of my favorite Ted talks of all time:
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

Here’s the 2009 feature on Dan in the NYT; amazing slideshow here.

Of all the cities in Alabama, the one with the highest overall population percentage growth last year did it with two people moving in.

That’s because Mooresville went from 53 people to 55.

The US Census found that four cities in Alabama gained over 1k in population, but Mooresville deserves this good news — and it’s no wonder because not only was it the first town incorporated by the Alabama Territorial Legislature in 1818, it’s one of the prettiest little towns anywhere:

This is the inside of the post office, where brides send their wedding invitations because a.) it’s pretty Mooresville and b.) they still postmark the invitations by hand, so they are still gorgeous when they arrive.  I went in one day just to buy stamps so as to have an excuse to come inside!:

One of the most interesting things in town is the brick church because…

…atop it is this steeple, as finger pointing toward heaven:

Very similar is this steeple atop First Presbyterian in Port Gibson, MS:

So terrific!

While I’ve been through Port Gibson dozens of times and have taken pics of this steeple often, I’ve never been inside — it’s supposed to be gorgeous, and includes three chandeliers from the steamboat Robert E. Lee (yes, that is him on Traveller in the middle of all that brass).

Another of the chandeliers is at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans:

As always, unless otherwise noted, all images here copyright Deep Fried Kudzu. Ask me before using in any fashion. Thank you.

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In Chicago, Big Jones does cuisine-themed suppers and this week, a Southern ‘Dinner on the Grounds, ca. 1913’.  Prepare yourself a for sudden hungry feeling:
Pimiento Cheese with heirloom Sheepnose pimientos and Otter Creek summer cheddar
Salt-Rising Bread
Sliced Boiled Calf Tongue
Watermelon Pickles
New Crop Sweet Potato Biscuits
Green Tomato Preserves
Cold Fried Chicken
Cold Slaw with cabbage and summer apples
Dressed Sweet Potato Greens
Angel Food Cake
Peaches with wine jelly
All dishes are adapted from Martha McCulloch-Williams book Dishes and Beverages of the Old South.

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Forbes on 100 years of making Goo Goo Clusters.

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Auburn’s Rural Studio is working on a new playground in Uniontown.

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At Holeman and Finch in Atlanta, they’re doing a ‘silly homage‘ to Nashville-style hot chicken (even though Linton’s never had it…kudos to him for giving it a larger audience nevertheless).  Proud to say I’m married to someone who prefers (and survives!) Prince’s hottest chicken:

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Noel Polk, one of the world’s greatest Faulkner scholars (+Welty, +Robert Penn Warren), passed away this week.  Services at USM on Saturday.

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On Kickstarter: a project to document the Pawpaw, the largest edible fruit native to North America.

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At Barbara Lee Black’s window:

Ma’Cille’s Museum of Miscellanea: An incomplete catalog of the collection. Drawings by Glenn House, Sr. Gordo, Alabama: Paper Souvenir Press, 2012.

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One of Av’s friends since high school, David Oh, is living on Mars time because he’s the ‘flight director of surface operations‘ for the Mars Curiosity! Av has been sending him song ideas for when they ‘wake up’ the Curiosity each morning.

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‘Intimate Interiors‘ exhibit at the Birmingham Museum of Art, August 26-November 18.  From the BMA:
“Taken from the Museum’s permanent collection, Intimate Interiors presents portraits of intimate moments and spaces including places of religious worship, bedrooms, and entertaining. It is within these spaces that we are at our most comfortable, and oftentimes most vulnerable. The works showcased in this exhibition are alternatives to the racist images of blacks encountered daily in the global visual culture. As cultural critic bell hooks states: the image is not about good or bad, but about “transforming… creating alternatives, asking ourselves questions about what types of images subvert, pose critical alternatives, and transform our worldviews and move us away from dualistic thinking about good and bad.” By exhibiting alternative images, we encourage dialogue about the similarities we all share while celebrating black cultural experiences.”

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Design Sponge did a feature this week on Zelda Fitzgerald.

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Lulu Kalman’s food tour across the South in Paper Magazine; she mentions Tennessee, and Decatur’s Big Bob Gibson’s on day 1, then later on in the week spends time around Marion with Scott Peacock: Scott cooks for us in his candlelit kitchen, which which was painted pink by the previous owners, mixing corn muffin batter and juggling 5 different pots over finicky flames. My mother and I wander through the rooms in the house sipping wine and taking in photographs, and his grandfather’s encyclopedias, his collections of books on painting, quilting, cooking, and Alabama. Scott puts out celery with pimento cheese, almost a currency in these parts he tells me, and sugary sungold tomatoes. Dinner includes butter beans, lady peas, pink eyed peas with okra, stewed squash and sweet onions, garden tomatoes with Southern mayonnaise (peanut oil instead of olive or corn oil) and corn muffins. This is true comfort food… For dessert, we’re treated to blanc mange and shortbread with roasted peaches and figs from Scott’s tree.

Scott is giving a talk on January 25, 2013 at Auburn.

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Last of the Bohemians, the film about Eugene Walter (who left us in 1998…I will love him forever), will be on APT September 2 at 8p and September 3 at 9p.

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Our friend Amos Kennedy Jr (above, with our little Shug) will be at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in December: “The MFA in Applied Craft and Design and PNCA’s Printmaking Department welcome Amos Kennedy as part of the 2012-2013 Graduate Visiting Lecture Series. Amos Kennedy is a letterpress printer, papermaker, and builder of artist’s books based in Gordo, Alabama. He quit his corporate computer programming job at the age of 40 to follow his dream of becoming a letterpress artist, or as he calls himself, “a humble negro printer.” His work embodies his passion for stirring up strong emotions and encouraging people to think in new ways. Kennedy is the subject of the documentary Proceed and Be Bold.”

Also: There was a fabulous pic and feature on Amos in the latest Garden and Gun — they listed him as one of the ‘15 Trendsetters Shaping the World of Style‘. 

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National Geographic on the Mississippi River depth woes / the drought / the Gulf’s saltwater heading  upstream…

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Bloomberg reports that the U.S. National Slavery Museum (to be in Fredericksburg VA) is no longer in bankruptcy.  It is still only architectural drawings, though.  From the article: “Although the museum filed a proposed reorganization plan, Celebrate Virginia called it “vague and speculative” without demonstrating how the necessary $5 million in contributions could be raised. Celebrate Virginia also opposed the plan because it was based on the idea of selling off 20 acres and breaking the deed restriction requiring use as a museum. Celebrate Virginia argued at length that the deed restriction couldn’t be broken under Virginia law. Celebrate Virginia filed and won a motion to have the case dismissed or converted to liquidation in Chapter 7. The museum recommended that the judge dismiss if he was inclined to grant the motion. The judge obliged by dismissing last week.”

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The first Waffle House (now a Waffle House Museum) gets a historical marker.

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The art world, and probably the whole world anyway, was stunned at the ‘restoration’ by of an ecce homo fresco in Spain.  As you can imagine, the Photoshopping has just begun: The Atlantic.

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The Dixie Theater in Haleyville:

The NYT does a piece with nice slideshow on resort towns’ theaters facing the expense of digital projection in order to continue.

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(this is the inside, where we had greens and blackeyed peas on New Years’ Day 2007 after Av did their annual Polar Bear Dip)

The AP just got around to reporting about the ‘Worship at the Water’ UMC church meeting at the Flora-Bama.  From the article:
If Jesus returned to Earth, he’d probably kick back at the Flora-Bama, said Jack de Jarnette, a founding pastor of the church.

“It’s the sort of place he often went and hung out with people,” he said. “When you cannot get people to come to church, the alternative is to bring the church to them.”

A band in tie-dyed T-shirts played Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready,” as parishioners gathered underneath an awning adorned with rows of Land Shark beer flags on a recent Sunday. Most wore flip-flops and shorts, but some wore swimsuits.

“If you look closely, you might see a few of the churchgoers having a Bloody Mary or a bushwhacker,” longtime bar employee Blitz Poston said. “It’s really a wonderful thing that brings together people from all walks of life.”

Offerings are collected in neon tackle boxes placed throughout the bar.

Pastor Jeremy Mount wears Mardi Gras beads, shorts, sandals and T-shirt that is fringed around the sleeves.

“There are seven places to drink and no place to worship God on this key,” he said. “We feel like God has called us here to be a ministry. Where would there ever be a better place than the world-renown Flora-Bama?”

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The new-ish paper hats at The Varsity in Atlanta — celebrating 80 years of the Varsity Orange, here in Instagrammed fabulosity: