Month: April 2021

USPS
Rosemary Beach FL, 2018.

Thinking of parties again. These are called party crackers, but many of us grew up with these simply known as buttered saltines. My Nanny made these very occasionally as snacks, but they’re just as fine dressed up (or not) for a platter with accompaniment.

A couple favorite restaurants include these among their appetizers —

Odette in Florence, on their snack platter:

Old Town Stock House in Guntersville, on their southern nosh plate:

Making these couldn’t be easier. It’s just:
melted butter + saltines + seasoning in a 300* oven for :20 or so

Only a quick flip of both sides in melted butter, then place the crackers on a parchment-covered baking sheet. While wet, liberally season. Check on them around :15, then right around :20, they should be golden brown terrific.

Seasoning ideas include:
Italian seasoning mix // lemon pepper // steak seasoning mix // dry bbq rib mix // crushed red pepper flakes // garlic powder // Ranch dressing mix // blackening seasoning // Old Bay // Everything mix // etc etc etc

Here, I’ve done a few different options. From the top: Everything but the Bagel seasoning (whomever was the first to name this “Jewish glitter” is a genius. I put this in egg salad to chopped liver and even scrambled eggs). Everything mix is my fave party cracker among these.

Next: BBQ 3000 from Penzey’s (very good); Pilleteri’s Mr French Fry seasoning (Lawd, too salty); Rex’s Blackened seasoning; Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (they boys’ favorite — they like a sprinkle of HVR mix on popcorn, too).

There are ten thousand things these can be served with, but I like them especially with Jezebel sauce. They’re great with anything — much will depend on what you’ve seasoned with, but I like them plain with hot pepper jelly or strawberry jam or preserves, chopped liver, egg salad or olive salad or egg & olive salad, pimento cheese, vidalia dip, chopped liver…

If there’s any left (how, possibly?) crumble, place atop a casserole, and voila, one of the world’s great covered-dish crunchy toppings ever. xoxo!

Nature Connects: Art with LEGO Bricks Exhibit by Sean Kenney
Huntsville Botanical Garden
Huntsville AL, 2018.

Downtown Florence AL, 2018.

Presented to Sam Phillips to celebrate 50 years of Sun Studios
Executive suite, Marriott Shoals
Florence AL, 2018.

Spent part of the weekend going out of the way a bit. Here in the city, it’s so easy to go to an outpost of whatever chain has taken up residence in whatever shopping center but doing so lacks the…well…charm (and that warm feeling of meeting people and making connections, where you’re more than a transaction) of going to a very walkable downtown somewhere or out in the country to do business with people whose business has their heart.

Lunch this weekend reminded me of Mama & Papa B’s Bar-B-Que in Waco. In 2012, the Waco Tribune ran a story about it:

“I’m a people person,” says Mama B, 77, insisting on no other name. “I don’t care who you are: If you walk through my doors, you’re mine and I love you.”

and

Here, baked beans are served out of a bubbling stovetop pot and ice-cold homemade potato salad is scooped directly from the icebox. Meats are smoked on-site with abundant quantities of lip-smacking sweet sauce or spicy pepper sauce ready for a generous pour.

The menu is simple, inexpensive and irresistible: Slabs of meltaway beef brisket with a thick smoke ring and crisp crust. Spicy Elgin sausage that sizzles when you slice it. Pork ribs that slide right off the bone.

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It’s this kind of place, and the kindness of the owners and helpers that reminds why it’s so important to choose local over chain. We spent Saturday in Sylacauga, Alabama — passed many chain barbecue and home improvement plant places so we could visit Pete’s Feed & Seed, and Faye’s Home Cooking & Bar-B-Que. Love to all the small places.

The boys talked to the birds inside (I heard a chatty white one say “hello!” and a few other words) and we discussed rosemary hedges and a BBC gardening show I should look up with the person who helped us.

We had plate lunches from Faye’s Home Cooking & Bar-B-Que, where I’ve photographed for several years.

Where the Boss is the Sauce

2017:

2020:

chicken & dressing with peas and macaroni & cheese

rib tips with fries and fried green tomatoes

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The weather was so so so comfortable this weekend — maybe even a little cool. We were planting the window boxes with rosemary, lantana, small arborvitae, and I still need some sweet potato vines for the ends. A few years, the vines have been so happy that they’ve almost hung down from the second story to the garage doors! Shug planted a geranium, the first time we’ve ever had one of those, and Shugie wants to grow potatoes. All the herb containers are full now — plenty of them came back strong from last year, a bunch of them never really died back. Three tomato plants and an eggplant later, and I’m wondering if we shouldn’t get the Troybilt out and plow a couple of rows and get going with some serious okra this year too… Would love to hear what you’re growing.