As always, all images here unless otherwise noted are copyright deepfriedkudzu. Like to use one? Contact me first.
If you have been following The Times’s cleareyed coverage, you know that Carter participated in a meeting in 2011 with a Sotheby’s specialist and Lee’s former agent, in which they came across the manuscript that turned out to be “Go Set a Watchman.” In The Wall Street Journal — where else? — Carter put forth the preposterous claim that she walked out of that meeting early on and never returned, thus sticking with her story that she only discovered the manuscript in 2014.
But the others in the meeting insisted to The Times that she was there the whole time — and saw what they saw: the original manuscript that Lee turned in to Tay Hohoff, her editor. Hohoff, who appears to have been a very fine editor indeed, encouraged her to take a different tack. After much rewriting, Lee emerged with her classic novel of race relations in a small Southern town…
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above: one of the best things I’ve ever eaten: the curried cauliflower hummus at Shaya in New Orleans. He shared the recipe here.
The 21 Best New Restaurants in America at Eater includes
The Grey in Savannah
Leon’s Oyster Shop in Charleston
Little Bacch in Atlanta
Olamaie in Austin
Shaya in New Orleans — I can vouch for Shaya. Crazy delicious in every way.
Noticed at the Olamaie site, their intro:
Olamaie, for more than a century, has been a name and a birthright to four Southern matrons. Each generation proudly passed down years of heritage to their daughters. With each young woman, the weight and heart of what it means to be Olamaie has grown. They each possess an acceptance of others, unending patience, boundless love, and soulful allegiance to food.
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From the National Post: The Management of Harper Lee’s Estate is Rife with Controversy
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Yes yes yes yes and yes: Willie Nelson on the Hidden Kitchens Texas podcast:
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above: inside the original Dreamland in Tuscaloosa. In the list below, the ribs at the location in *Huntsville* were mentioned. Which, what?
At First We Feast, The Most Underrated BBQ in Alabama which…thanks for mentioning white chicken sauce…but otherwise the list is a really odd collection.
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From Slave to Celebrated Chef: the Surprising Story of Nat Fuller
In April 1865, one of Charleston’s most prominent chefs held a dinner to celebrate the end of the Civil War. According to published reports, toasts were made, lavish dishes were served, and songs were sung about President Abraham Lincoln and freedom. The chef was Nat Fuller, a celebrated culinary personality and recently freed slave. Prior to that evening, his guests had never dined together; they were black and white residents of Charleston, assembled by Fuller in the spirit of reconciliation.
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above: their pretty labeling
Olive and Sinclair Chocolate in Nashville has just developed their new ‘Seersucker’ line of chocolate spheres (like Lindor maybe? I can’t find a pic on their website). From The Tennesseean:
The “original” is a soft version of their sea-salted dark chocolate bar, and is filled with ganache. The “muzzle loaders” have salt and bourbon-flavored caramel. My favorite, though, was the “cherry bomb,” with the sharp blast of a pickled cherry inside.
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above: from a visit to Paradise Gardens
Smithsonian on Finster’s Paradise Gardens:
But rock musicians, including the legendary ’80s band R.E.M., recognized Finster as one of their own: an unschooled genius who shrugged off the establishment’s condescension to enjoy the last laugh.
After R.E.M. filmed its first music video at the fellow Georgian’s home studio in 1983, Finster and lead singer Michael Stipe then collaborated on the cover for the group’s 1984 album, Reckoning. The New York band the Talking Heads commissioned Finster to paint the cover for their 1985 album, Little Creatures; it was named “Album Cover of the Year” by Rolling Stone. Another Georgia musician, the Vigilantes of Love’s Bill Mallonnee, wrote a song about Finster: “The Glory and the Dream.”
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*Wow* at the ‘David Adjaye Selects’ exhibit display of African textiles at the Cooper Hewitt. BTW, Adjaye has just been named architect of the Studio Museum in Harlem project.
And Damien Hirst is opening his own gallery.
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above: the Armadillo at Goode Company in Houston
Florida wildlife experts are urging the public to stay away from armadillos due to leprosy scares, but apparently getting leprosy from an armadillo is pretty unlikely (thanks NPR). They mention 95% of humans are immune(!).
Also: only 21 pairs of Alexander McQueen’s famous armadillo boots were ever created, but here are three more. From Christie’s:
As part of Christie’s Handbags and Accessories auction running from 14 July through 23 July, three pairs of the Armadillo Boot have been authentically reproduced exclusively for the auction, with 100 per cent of the net amount from the auction sale of the boots to be donated by Alexander McQueen to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in order to support earthquake relief efforts in Nepal. For the first time since the 2010 collection, the Armadillo Boot has been handcrafted in Italy from both wood and authentic Python skin. A runway relic no more.
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From Curbed:
A Literary Map of Harper Lee’s Hometown
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More on Kevin Gillespie’s Revival, opening this week with supper, serving lunch August 10. From Atlanta Magazine:
It’ll be the quintessential Southern-style service. You choose your entrée and the table shares cold and hot hors d’ouerves, cornbread, fresh country vegetables and sides, and then you choose your own dessert with coffee or tea. It’s almost an outlandish amount of food—that’s how your grandmother would have wanted it. On Friday nights maybe we’ll do more fish; on Saturdays maybe we’ll do a steak. I’m thinking about the way people eat—more celebratory meals toward the weekend.
Here’s the sample menu:
Hors d’oeuvres
Sliced local tomatoes with cucumbers and sweet onion
Toasted deviled ham tea sandwiches
Local kale salad with old-fashioned boiled dressing
Revival relish tray
Old-fashioned skillet-fried green tomatoes
Entrées
Chicken-fried prime beef round steak with skillet pan gravy
Revival fried chicken
Grassfed beef and pork meatloaf wrapped in bacon
Creamed Georgia white shrimp and Savannah red rice
Wood-grilled Berkshire pork steak
Spiced Mississippi catfish in low country tomato gravy
Wood-grilled South Carolina quail glazed with roasted honey and garlic
Mushroom-stuffed cabbage dumpling with spicy roasted tomato sauce
Trimmings
Fatback-fried silver queen corn
Hickory-smoked local greens
Old-fashioned creamed potatoes
Fresh field peas and snaps in sweet cream butter and dill
Green cabbage with confit ham
Revival mac n’ cheese
Pan-roasted mushrooms with celery and lemon
Local zucchini fritters
Desserts
Geneva’s toasted vanilla pound cake with peach fool
Butterscotch trifle with butter pecan cream
Lemon icebox pie
Rustic peach and nectarine tart à la mode
Awesome chocolate cake
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above: Bryant’s Grocery in Money MS
HBO will air a miniseries in development now on Emmett Till.
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above: the Red Hot sign in Meridian
At the Washington Post: Europe to America: Your Love of Air Conditioning Is Stupid. Take a look at the average temps in July in Berlin and, say, Birmingham and what was that? Ever noticed how far north most of Europe is? Not to go all James Spann, and there are a zillion other things having to do with that kind of weather a place experiences, but most of the South is on the 33rd parallel. So is Algeria, Libya, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan. You know. Hot places.
Parchman doesn’t have air and I wonder how many other prisons don’t either (they were in the news this week because the well went out and they had to hand out bottled water).
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From Georgia Public Broadcasting: Tubman Museum Will Keep Displaying Controversial Painting
The mixed media painting called The Preacher Pimp depicts a pastor laying hands on a congregent. Text next to the image describes how a pastor took advantage of his position. Museum board members met with a group of pastors who wanted the artwork removed. But the board voted to keep the painting displayed. Tubman Museum Executive Director Andy Ambrose said taking it down violates free speech.
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Southern Fiction that Stands the Test of Time — and from NPR, what the college kids are reading. The 10 Books Carrie Brownstein Couldn’t Live Without.
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Hattie B’s family roots run generations deep at The Tennessean. They will be opening a Hattie B’s in Birmingham early 2016.
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above: the Faulkner monument at St. Peter’s
From the C-L: William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County goes online
More than 50 years after William Faulkner’s last book, educators are creating an online database of his books and short stories, featuring maps, characters and other information that can be accessed online by scholars and the public.
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Truly odd — if you’ve spent much time on the square in Oxford, you may have met or just seen Anthony Hervey. The AP reports that MHP investigators are looking into the circumstances of his death.
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above: the Barber’s Best sign in Pontotoc MS
As per Tennessee state law, raw cow milk must be labeled for pet consumption only. Well, Sequatchie Cove Farm in Tennessee has $8/gallon raw cow milk for your pet.
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At The Guardian: Joseph Cornell: how the reclusive artist conquered the art world – from his mum’s basement
Thinking inside the box: romantic, obsessive and shy, Cornell never moved out of his mother’s house, yet his strange, exquisite art brought him fame and friendships with Duchamp, Dalí and Warhol
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From the 2015 Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation:
27% of children in Alabama live in poverty. In 2008, it was 22%.
29% of children in Arkansas, up from 25% in 2008.
27% of children in Georgia, up from 20% on 2008.
28% of children in Louisiana, up from 25% in 2008.
34% of children in Mississippi, up from 30% in 2008.
27% of children in Tennessee, up from 22% in 2008.
25% of children in Texas, up from 23% in 2008.
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above: Smitty’s Market in Lockhart
Tickets go on sale August 19 for the 2016 Camp Brisket in College Station.
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From the Post and Courier: Charleston Kiss Pie traces lineage to 1850s and debut of lemon meringue pie
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Really random:
Bears like pie, but pass on strawberry rhubarb
Posthumously, Dr. Seuss’ What Pet Should I Get is published.
Kudzu saved somebody
What’s going on in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan and how to help