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.
—
Amish-made chairs from Ethridge at the new Silo restaurant in Germantown (Nashville). I think it’s the same gentleman who made our rockers.
—
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!:
—
Who Will Save Salvation Mountain? in the Desert Sun.
—
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…’
—
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…
—
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!”
—
Black Belt Bamboost, a new bamboo park being built in Northport.
—
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.
—
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.
—
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.”
—
From the NYT, the inspiration for Beasts of the Southern Wild = Isle de Jean Charles, subject of a documentary yet to be released:
—
Imagine the Bible, as screenplay: The Voice. The AP reported on it earlier this month. You can compare Bible passages here.
—
This year, Artists for Pasaquan will be a two-day event, November 3 and 4.
—
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.
—
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:
