Grown Folks
Greenville MS, 2005.
Donna T’s Tea, Tang Tea, and High/Afternoon/WhatHaveYou Tea
The mom of of my best friends from college made the best iced tea. Okay, two people in my life have made the best iced tea, actually. The other was my aunt Helen — my grandfather’s sister — whose secret ingredient (remembering that she was a housewife in the ’60s after all) was TANG. And it was fabulous.
Anyway, I asked my friend’s mom for her wonderful tea recipe, and you know it’s gonna be sweet because she started her message back to me with “Hon”:
Love her. She won’t mind me sharing.
It’s two family-size bags of tea to a kettle of boiling water, add a heaping cup of sugar, take the kettle off the heat, and add water to the pitcher to taste. That turns out to be not some crazy secret recipe like I thought maybe. No doubt what made it so good was that SHE made it. And Shugie approves.
Now, Aunt Helen passed away in the late 90s so I never asked her what the recipe was for her Tang tea, and I’m not sure I have the hang of it, because whatever I do, it’s not as great as I remember hers tasting. I even tried it as some sort of takeoff on an Arnold Palmer, but…
If you know the secret to Tang tea, pass it on! Would love to hear how to do it the right way.
Now, two quick good natured things before we do the really terrific tea services:
Still life of Po Folks tea gallons, Manischewitz, and Kedem bottles at a luncheon in Florida from a few years ago,
and at Rojo in Birmingham, this is how they label their tea urns:
One of my besties treated me to Independent Presbyterian’s 73rd annual tour of homes and afternoon tea last month. We loved it! IPC’s sanctuary:
upstairs, the tea:
Served in beautiful silver
We really enjoyed our table guests too, and had a lovely time, and the treats were terrific
Destination Tea is the best tea room finder I came across when looking for establishments just now.
There are certainly teas going on at some higher-end hotels in Atlanta and New Orleans. Shugie’s favorite hotel in Atlanta, and maybe mine there too, is the St Regis and they have a tea at their Astor Court.
St. Regis, Buckhead
Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
Windsor Court, New Orleans
Year round, there is a tea at Le Salon at Windsor Court in New Orleans, but I wind up going upstairs at their Grill Room which is a terrific meat & three at lunch. Saturday afternoon tea is served at the Davenport Lounge at the RC.
When Sucre had its Salon in the Quarter, I did that once with a blooming marigold tea:
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The best, best, best has been the afternoon tea at the Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas a few years ago. The hotel is now the Waldorf Astoria and still offers that service
If you know of a fab tea room or a fun tea experience, please share. xoxo!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
We’re not doing the polar dip at the Flora-Bama this year (this was from 2007 when Av gave it a try), but did just get back from the beach, where it was gorgeous but the waves were too rough (and cold) to get in the water.
Hope you’re enjoying blackeyed peas, collards or another of the greens, cornbread, some yummy casseroles, and a terrific dessert or two with those you love. I’m thinking besides all that, some cheese straws might a nice addition today.
PS: If you find a live Christmas tree on the curb and you’re into Southern folklore, remember that those will make great bottle trees for at least a few years. xoxo!
Miss Alice to be installed to the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame
My first time to attend an Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame installation was in 2015, for Kathyrn Tucker Windham. It was at the lovely (closed last year) Judson College in Marion, Alabama. The school was established in 1838.
Lunch was served on this pretty Judson motif china
I am beyond thrilled to report that after months of work, I turned in the application nominating Alice Finch Lee back in August, and heard last month (it was embargoed ’til December 1) that she will be inducted in the 2023 AWHoF on March 1.
She was one of the first female lawyers in the state of Alabama, and when she retired at 100, was the oldest practicing attorney in the state. I sent just an incredible list of her merits in the application.
(Fun fact: she was Nelle Harper Lee’s older sister, and that’s the Old Courthouse Museum in Monroeville in the pic above, the model for the final scenes in TKAM)
So so so happy that Miss Alice will be inducted into the 2023 AWHoF. Yay!!
This Week’s Various
As always, all images unless otherwise noted copyright Deep Fried Kudzu. Like to use one elsewhere? Kindly contact me here.
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Super short this week!
Those Wrangler x Lucchese jeans are $496.
Field trip to the Lucchese shop:
Andy Warhol’s Dolly Parton, from a visit to Crystal Bridges in 2014
Even the Art Newspaper reported on Dolly Parton’s plans for a museum and more in Nashville
Bitter Southerner calls this peach wrapping paper what it is but I’m thinking those Whelan Girls need to make it into wallpaper, and I’m not even a wallpaper person
From a 2013 visit
Country Roads on the levee bonfires, lighting the way for Papa Noel along the Mississippi. Here’s what Blood, Sweat, and Bonfires is building.
Highlands, 2017
Just ran across the ‘Best Classic Restaurants in Each State‘ at Food & Wine, and for Alabama, it was Highlands in Birmingham. I happened to have a pedicure next to someone who works for the group, and they’re still unsure if Highlands will open in weeks, months… Also getting a mention, Bright Star, Martin’s, Archibald’s, and Doc’s Seafood.
Georgia is Bacchanalia, The Colonnade, Busy Bee, Mrs Wilkes, and Weaver D’s.
For Louisiana, they mention Commander’s, Antoine’s, Arnaud’s, Galatoire’s, Dooky Chase, and Casamento’s.
In Mississippi, it’s Bully’s, Dinner Bell, Doe’s, Weidmann’s, and Mary Mahoney’s.
Tennessee = Bea’s, Arnold’s, Prince’s, the Rendezvous, Scott’s BBQ in Lexington, and the Old Mill in Pigeon Forge.
Super random:
I love that Lane Cake is Alabama’s official dessert, but wowee: the baguette has been granted World Heritage status by UNESCO (and PS, there’s a baguette problem in rural areas of France). Others with the distinction here.
Robb Report on Elvis’ private jet coming up for auction, and the plush red velvet seats are EVERYthing
Alex Hitz will be signing his Occasions to Celebrate at Square Books on Jan 26
Watched Descendant, the Clothilde / Africatown story on Netflix — excellent
Gone but not Forgotten: Louisiana’s small cemeteries at risk in changing landscapes by Brian M. Davis at 64 Parishes
Across Bayou Lafourche, at the intersection of the Southwest Louisiana Canal, parts of the Lefort Cemetery remained above the water line until August 2021, when Hurricane Ida made landfall thirteen miles to the south. What remains of brick vaults are now underwater.
Emeril’s, 2016
Emeril’s has changed (a LOT, it needed to) and here’s the latest
The Broadway and off-Broadway productions of TKAM are still…dramatic. From the NYT:
In 2019, the producers of a Broadway adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird” provoked outrage by seeking to prevent a group of small theaters around the country from staging an earlier dramatization of the novel.
Now the tables have turned: The publisher of the earlier adaptation is seeking to block the Broadway version from being staged at a wide variety of venues.
Hope you’ve been having a fun week! Big news on Monday xoxo!
LaGrange’s Eat. Sleep. Art. Repeat.
Visited the LaGrange Art Museum in LaGrange, Georgia last week. Their Eat. Sleep. Art. Repeat. exhibit is on through March 4.
Tom Patton, Olive Loaf (which reminded me of Jerry Siegel’s Carolina grocery store image)
Elsworth Kelly, Oranges
Rick Leech’s Dinner Table or Oversize Conversation Piece with the boar face jug and the poor bunny (?) all splayed
Alexia Markarian
Isabella Losskarn, Will You Cut that Up for Her
Two books, above, Salvadore Dali Les Diners de Gala and below, Andy Warhol and Suzy Frankfurt Wild Raspberries
Especially nice are the virtual exhibits that LaGrange keeps online, in particular Butch Anthony’s fabulous Art, Nature, and Intertwangleism. It is BEYOND.
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