Would MKR Twitter?

After all, she says on page 218 of Cross Creek Cookery, " And the hostess who twitters might just as well announce that the company is unwanted." Of course MKR was talking about the self-effacing hostess who pretended to apologize for the meal, not the 144 character cyber Twitter thas is a ubiquitious part of today's world. I think Marjorie would have been appalled by the onslaught of words that purport to capture modern reality. Words really were the clothes that thoughts wear for her. They were not the equivalent of the bluejays strident cry, " I'm here, here, here."

If I were to Twitter, my morning post today would read, " Cooked Norton's Spanish Omelet today. Guests loved it."

Pecan Toast to Bread Pudding

ROF made bread pudding for Christmas dinner. Using leftover pecan French bread toast, he created a miracle in a crockpot. We thought about offering Orange Sauce ( CCCpg. 167) as the accompanying sauce, but ended up with traditional Hard Sauce. Having no brandy, we rummaged around in the bottom of the cabinet and retreived La Sabre, Israeli liquor from the dusty depths. According to the label, it is an orange, chocolate sauce. It was delicious, utterly delicious.

Parsnips, You Betcha

Marjorie says," Folks who would rather starve than eat parsnips would make a sizeable army." She goes on to describe her famous Parsnips Croquettes on page 61 of CCC. The croquettes are good butrequire a few more steps than my hectic existence allows . To simplify for Christmas, I roasted some parsnips along with cauliflower, red potatoes, rapini, carrots and onions. It was the basic roasting winter veggie recipe. Cut up everything, douse with olive oil, sprinkle rosemary and roast for 30 minutes at 425. You can sea salt to taste later. YUM.

Overnight Cookies

My hand reached out for the supermarket premade cookies recently. I was tired. It was one day before Christmas. I had written no cards. I still had a full house at the B&B. But sanity prevailed just as I was about the contact the plastic sheath of the premades. "MKR must do something that I can do in advance," said the calm voice of sanity. And , on page 165 of MKR's Cross Creek Cookery, I found her overnight cookies. I can make them in advance and toss them in the oven when I need the wonderful fresh baked aroma.

The door of the world's house is shut....

...and there is no breaking of bead with the wayfarer." page 2 CCC. Many folks ask me how I can run a B&B with a central table. "Folks don't like to sit together, " one prominent magazine photographer told me when I was a neophyte." You should have a variety of two person tables."

Never! One of the ministries of B&B is to have folks break bread together. Good talk is the soul of the Southerner. When I walk by a restaurant table and see Dad on a Blackberry, mom on a cell, brother and sister on videos, I have a bone deep sadness.

Don't Shut Those Pearly Gates

" Soup comes into its own, poor man style, as a main course. One small serving of a ravishing soup is infuriating. It is like seeing the Pearly Gates swing shut in one's face after one brief glimpse of Heaven." page 5 CCC.

Just finished a bowl of corn chowder vaguely reminiscent of Marjorie's Cream of Fordhook Soup ( page 18 CCC). Cheated a little with a can of creamed corn. Microwaved the potatoes and added them to the corn and the cream. Added a can of non-creamed corn and 6 oz of smoked ham. Tossed it all in the crockpot and went to work in the garden. When I came from collard care dirty and tired, the soup was fabulous with rosemary bread from this morning.

Holiday Ginger Snaps

I've always loved them. MKR's page 163 recipe is the best except for the vague reference to the flour. I always get nervous when it says, " as much as can be worked in." With great effort? Some effort? We'll see. A friend of mine puts blue cheese on her ginger snaps and eats them as an appetizer. I think it is an acquired taste.

Dummet Groves Center of Citrus Universe

On the bike trip, I went through Merritt Island and stopped by the sign that gave the history of the Dummett Grove. The sign did not say that the Dummet Grove had the only oranges that survived the early 1800's freeze that killed all of Florida's citrus. Salt water froze in lagoons.

The industry was wiped out in North Florida and did not return. It had been a thriving industry. Mandarin, south of Jacksonville, is named for a type of orange and was an orange growing area before it became part of Jacksonville's sprawl.

The ruby red grapefruit that I have harvested for my guests the last two weeks survived the freeze four years ago that killed the oranges grafted to it. It was called a fruit cocktail tree with grafted oranges, limes and grapefruit. Only the latter lasted.

Sweet Potatoes not in Orange Baskets

Taters...lots of CSA taters. Bought a wonderful potato cooking pouch at the Riverside Arts Market. It looks like a square cotton envelope. I stuck three small potatoes in the pouch. Hit the potato icon on the microwave. A few minutes later, I have wonderful potatoes read to eat. Mashed them up with Marjorie's directions for her orange basket potatoes....salt, honey, cream, clove, rind, orange juice and rind. Yum! Didn't add eggs because I wasn't going to bake them. Nuked them two minutes. Yum.

The Southern Dames Speech

Just gave a speech to the Southern Dames. Here is part of it.

I don’t serve some of her dishes: no Cooter Soup or Pot Roast O’Bear. Both are illegal. And my older son is a Special Agent for Fish and Wildlife. Nor do I serve the New Yorkers Jugged Rabbit or Alligator- Tail Tidbits….all of which are in her cookbook.

What I do bring to the table are Idella’s Crisp Biscuits, Oven Cornbread, Sour Cream Muffins, Crab Soufflé, Shrimp and Grits and Loquat Preserves. I also cook out of other Florida cookbooks using Marjorie’s guidelines. The food should be fresh and that means local.

Hyacinths Adrift Very Adrift

 
Marjorie went down the river with Dessie about 75 years ago. At the end of the bike Odyssey, I went the river in a houseboat back to Palatka. When this picture was taken, I was wishing I had packed some Florida Backwoods Biscuits in my backpack. Instead I gobbled handout Musketeers. Riding through the country that she immortalized in her books, there were moments when I was tired to the core and then suddenly I would see something incredible....sandhill cranes or a tree filled with snowy egrets.

Black Chocolate Cake page 159

For my Medicare birthday, my much younger baby sister invited me to come to her house in the pecan grove and eat ten layer chocolate cake. Of course there were a few other dishes: ham and yams and green beans and turkey and gravy and dressing and fresh bread--- but none of that mattered beside the cake. Moist and chocolate filled, the cake was the dazzling centerpiece of the dinner. Marjorie does a single layer version in CCC pg 159 that is wonderful too. Just add nine other layers.

After the meal we hopped on the bicycles, cycled 11 miles and read bumper stickers and country signs. I found out the meaning of No Dog Running. I also found that Jesus and Sarah Palin are the two most recognizable names on the pickup truck bumpers. What a fabulous way to enter elderhood.

Wild Turkey Memories

Growing up in the world of post war Miami, we were one of the only families that ate wild turkey for Thanksgiving. Courtesy of the Captain, the delicacy would appear each November. I confess, I was slightly ashamed of the bird since no one else I knew had a dad that painted his face and crawled around in the Everglades to provide the Thanksgiving entree.

Although Marjorie has no recipe in CCC for cooking wild turkey, her humorous description of the professor finding bird shot in his chicken ( CCCpag103)comes after her description of a wild duck dinner. For Thanksgiving 09 I am roughly following the wild duck dinner menu. We'll start with sherried grapefruit then giblet gravy, turkey, wild rice, tiny cornmeal muffins, sweet potatoes in oranges and a light salad with citrus dressing. Calamondine pie will be the dessert. I think Marjorie would approve.

Sweet Potatoes

Found three at the ends of the garden vines. They were not the smooth grocery store perfect potato. Each one of them looked battle scarred like it had gone a few rounds with Rocky. Scrubbed them clean and made MKR's Sweet Potato Croquettes.pg 67 They were exellent. CCC

Peace and Plenty

Marjorie says that country foods possess these two attributes. Cracker quiche is peace giving indeed. There is something about shredded red potatoes filled with cheese, onions and eggs that gives one a new view of reality. If the garden supplies a ruby red tomato that is a fine addition also.

Surviving Time, Tide, Transportation

Marjorie says few veggies survive time, tide and transportation. Perhaps that is why the collards are so good now. I cut big leaves, julienne them, and make Ga.Gov's collard salad. Even folks who don't like collards, love the Gov's salad. The steps are easy. 1) Get several FRESH collard leaves. 2) Remove central veins 3) Roll them like a good Cuban cigar 4) Cut them until you have a pile 5) Grate a carrot 6) Thin slice a Grannie Smith apple 6)Dress with roasted sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Eat.

 

Back in the kitchen

The bike ride was wonderful. I toured a part of the world that MKR knew well_---Florida's east coast. Part of the tour was St. Augustine, Norton's place of business. Pedaling south we landing eventually in Titusville.

I kept thinking of her words in the intro to CCC. " The world is hungry for food and drink--not so much for the stomach , but for the spirit." Long conversations with fellow bikers prove MKR true. Almost everyone is hungry for something----adventure, commaraderie, love and yes, good food.

Marjorie would definitely have approved of two meals. Amy,a serious biker,cooked fresh mahi one evening for the entire ECG group. It had a light crust and an incredibly fresh from the sea taste.

The pancakes at the Old Sugar Mill in Deland would have met Marjorie's approval also. They were whole wheat rather than thin bread. The stir ins were varied: blueberries, pecans, bananas, chocolate chips. All good.

At the mills gift shop, I bought St. Augustine Snakebite sauce, a datil pepper sauce with a truly frightening serpent on the label.

Gone Biking

I know Marjorie and Dessie Smith took a famous ten-day boat trip up the St. Johns River and they found their way by watching the direction of the hyacinths. I am leaving for a six day bicycle ride. No floating hyacinths for me. Hopefully the road from Palatka to Daytona to St. Augustine and back to Palatka will be well marked. The group I am biking with is building a bicycle trail from Key West to Maine, kind of an Appalacian Trail for wheels rather than boots. They are called the East Coast Greenway and I have been a minor supporter of their efforts for a few years.

Like Marjorie, I want to be out in the world and experience the sights,sounds and smells of real Florida. I feel like the Greenway folks need to be supported in their effort to provide a non-petroleum based path up and down my beautiful state. Biking always lets me contact the flora and fauna in my area. Hope I get to show the New Yorkers a gator....at a discreet distance of course.

Marjorie Does Not Approve

Marjorie and I meet every A.M. Her photo sits on the pine desk in the kitchen.In the sepia toned photo she is wearing a suit, pearls and the expression of a thesis advisor whose graduate student is not pleasing her. I am usually wearing workout pants and a teeshirt proclaiming a race from my speedier past.

If I am deviating from the sacred text, ( Cross Creek Cookery) I confess instantly. This morning I said, " Marjorie, I am going to do Norton's grits with goat cheese. I am out of sharp cheddar and goat cheese is classier anyway. "

She did not flinch but I felt her displeasure.

The Blessing

Marjorie quotes her father's blessing on page 2 of CCC. He says, " Receive our thanks, our Heavenly Father, for these mercies. Bless them to our bodies' good.for Thy name's sake. Amen."

Our bodies good? If I will remember that, I will avoid the two bite brownies that always seem to jump into my basket at the grocery store. Two bites always turn into twenty-two. Always.

Eggs with Spanish Sauce

My guest this morning really likes eggs. To embellish the basic skillet of free range, organic eggs ( the only kind MKR would actually have), I made Marjorie's Spanish Sauce ( pg 98 CCC). Sent ROF out to the garden to cut a green pepper from the urbfarm. Why do I love it so when I can eat from the earth? The pepper was 30 seconds from the plant when it went into the savoury sauce. I omitted the can of tiny peas and the mushrooms were fresh. Other than those two changes, the sauce was all MKR. I loved her comment at the recipe's bottom about folks of delicate stomach who perish either of disgust or frustration.

Mrs. Chancey for Carolyn

My Zumba friend Carolyn cooks only one recipe out of MKR's cookbook, Mrs. Chancey's Black Bean Soup CCC pg 8. I decided it was chilly enough ( below 85) to try a little hot soup myself. I used low sodium canned blackbeans so I didn't have to soak them overnight. Everything else was directed by Marjorie. They are even better the next day. The aroma is all love.

Waffles and Cool Weather

Cool weather has finally hit Florida, at least for a nanosecond. The beautyberry bush ,often mentioned in The Yearling, is bright purple. This morning I read MKR's waffle recipe pg.36 CCC. She talks about, "smoking hot waffle irons." I did substitute Canola oil for Wesson oil as a tiny nod to conventional cardio consciousness. Served with Jimmy Dean bacon, the waffles were a wonderful intro to autumn's more substantial breakfasts. The orange butter was a perfect addition.

The Doors of the World's House have Closed

Marjorie's statement about the doors of the world's house being closed ( page 2 CCC)is a powerful one. True, she was writing to troops during wartime. She could,however, been writing an op ed after 9/11. In too many places fear-- economic or physical-- stands at the threshold and feeds travelers plastic wrapped muffins and styrofoam coffee, a repast MKR would have considered abominable.

Lacking Liveliness

MKR made that observation about her orange marmalade before Martha led her to the discovery of the Seville orange on the grove property. I think she would have found my calamondine tarts lively enough. Guests seem to love them. There are never any left over on the cake stand. The Ruby red grapefruits are ripe now. Slicing into them the perfumy citrus smell wafts through the kitchen. I am thinking about grapefruit marmalade if I can find out what a flannel bag really is.

Collards Redux

Just found out today that Marjorie and I share another love--- etymology. I was reading a scathing letter she wrote to the editor of a newspaper who has panned her short story " Cracker Chittlins." She mentions her love of etymology in the letter.
I,too, love tracking the history of words. When I learned that the word for cooked animal flesh is almost always French( pork) and the animal name itself is Anglo-Saxon (pig). I could remember who conquered whom in the time before Walmart.

On the cooking front, I cooked another collard quiche. This time I baked the potato shell first. It was quite acceptable...crunchy but done. The important part about the collards is the cutting. They must be cut so that they resemble Easter grass.They should also be tiny and new.

I also found a cute picture of MKR for the table on the back of When the Whippoorwill. She looks coquettish and utterly enchanted with a black and white spaniel. It is a person very unlike the stern one on the cover of the literary magazine.

No Fried Asparagus

Was given some gorgeous asparagus and went to CCC. The only recipe is page 61's Fried Asparaus. Nope. I'll steam it and wrap very thin slices of roast beef around two spears at a time. Marjorie would let me get by with this one. I know she would.

The 30 mile bike ride to Baldwin and back was challenging. Saw one snake on the asphalt and one bull with a set of horns wider than I am tall. Two dogs watched as we rolled by. One, a black lab, was obviously playing hookey. The other, a big white dog, look lonely and lost. " Could you be the one who will take me home?" he seemed to say.

About ten miles down the trail, a man on a bulldozer sat and watched a fire on his lot. The smell of pine smoke scented the air.

My Sweet Potatoes in Orange Baskets

There they were. Fat orange blobs at the end of wine colored vines. They did not look like the wire brushed sweet potatoes of my preorganic period. My Urbfarm potatoes looked more like the Elephant Man in vegetative form. Still I plan to mash them, salt them, honey them, cream them, stir in one egg a dash of clove and a bit of grated orange. Then I follow Marjories orange half filling directions and bake. She said, " Handles may be made or orange rind if one wants to be very fancy." I don't.

Cheese Grits Souffle

I did a fairly acceptable immitation of MKR's Cheese Grits Souffle which is found on page 74 of CCC. I'm always nervous about any recipe that has souffle as its last name, but I shouldn't have been. I followed her directions and the result was delectable. The only change I made was to use smoked gouda in the original recipe. Yum.

Had a strange thought while sitting on the porch looking out at the three giant oak trees that border the B&B to the left. These trees weren't much smaller when MKR saw them. Given the very real possibility of her having sat on my porch in the 50's, the oaks were full size then. I know she visited Crawford and possibly discussed her case on the porch. The oak trees have seen much history.

Around 3:00 a neighbor came with a tiny squirrel in a box with fluffy kleenex bedding. It was a baby that had fallen off the power lines and was stunned. The neighbor was going to host a Brownie meeting and wanted to know if I could babysit for the stunned squirrel.

I did.

Cold Bread to Our Enemies

Marjorie didn't leave a recipe for pecan bread, but she certainly used pecans. CCC has recipes for pecan cream torte, pecan patties,pecan pie and pecan souffle. Marjorie spoke of the power of bread quite often. As she said on page 19 of CCC, "Yet a part of the placidity of the South comes from the sense of well-being that follows the heart-and-body warming consumption of breads fresh from the oven. We serve cold baker's bread only to our enemies, trusting that they will never impose on our hospitality again."

At HOCS I bake pecan bread weekly in the bread machine. As someone who came to adulthood with the Tassajara Bread Book where one became " one with the dough", machines are almost sacriligious. Nevertheless, my trusty bread machine can turn out a fine loaf of warm, nutty pecan bread while I am getting a little more sleep. The aroma of the bread is guaranteed to rouse even the most reluctant of guest.

Slathered with Dora clone butter and calamondine preserves, the pecan bread is easy to make. Select any classic white bread receipe from a bread machine cookbook. Substitute 1/4 cup of ground pecan meal for 1/4 of the bread flour. Then bake according to the white bread directions. Yum!

Broccoli A la Hollandaise pg 50

The best broccoli I have been able to grow a la Marjorie was one called Goliath....and it was. I grew one head that was icebox melon size. When FOG met here at the B&B we had broccoli dressed with rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil and later brocolii slaw. All of this is a far cry from the Marjorie's classic receipe. I do love the fact that she allows folks to leave the Hollandaise off the fire only as long as it takes to drain the broccoli...not a moment longer.

Shrimp and Grits

Marjorie said cheese grits were a Baskin specialty. This morning I did Mayport shrimp and cheese grits from CCC. I did the grits just as she suggested on page 73. The shrimp I " gussied up" a bit with fresh red pepper and green onions. My Canadian guest liked the dish...alot.

A Plump Impostor

AJ Cronin called Marjorie a plump impostor. He was the author of The Keys of the Kingdom. According to her, he questioned her ability to go off into the backwoods with a Dutch oven and emerge with " an Emily Post dinner for twelve. She said, " if this brutal description were true it would be because of Southern hot breads."

This A.M. I started off the B&B breakfast with Southern Pecan bread. This was not a sweet bread. It was a white bread, bread machine receipe that I adapted. I use a white bread receipe and substitute 1/4 cup of pecan meal for the flour. The effect is wonderful. Folks wake up smelling hot bread which can be used as a transport device for slabs of butter and spoonfuls of calamondine jelly. Oh, excellent.

No Pig's Feet

Marjorie would understand my need for soup. The temperature has dropped below 80. The cabbage still grows on the lawn. I have invested my retirement savings in saffron threads. Mrs. Chancey’s Spanish Bean Soup ( CCC7) is the soup of choice. I will not use the pig’s feet; ham chunklets must do. I will use canned beans. Somehow I haven’t learned how to soak beans so they will soften. I still have beans that taste like buckshot. Finally, I will use organic andouille sausage for the pure Spanish. New Orleans rather than Madrid. Other than that, it is true to the receipe. Yum!

Calamondines Everywhere

Marjorie's recipe for Scotch Marmalade on 208 of CCC intrigues me. I am thinking of making it with calamondines. They grow everywhere here on trees that are barely three years old. I make and incredible calamondine pie by using the quick and easy key lime pie recipe on the Eagle Brand label. It uses condensed milk. No, I don't have Dora, Marjorie's Jersey cow, but I do have Publix.

In the Beginning

Miss Marjorie and Me

The Marjorie here is Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Florida author supreme. In 2002 I started to convert my B&B into a center that stressed local food. It dawned on me that Rawlings was the original locavore. She ate what she could grow, or catch, or kill at Cross Creek. Her cookbook, Cross Creek Cookery is the original place-based eating.

I have decided to incorporate a version of some of her recipes into my breakfast presentations. Since I taught her major work, The Yearling, for over a quarter of a century, I feel like she is beside me in my tiny 1920’s era kitchen. And after all, our lives are somewhat parallel.

She moved to the backwoods of Florida. I spent ten years on Ft. George Island. Her first marriage ended in divorce. Mine did too. She was an outdoorsy individual. I raced barrels on quarter horses and visited the Seminoles with my father on his airboat. She loved to feed folks. So do I. She was a published writer who wrote for McCall’s magazine. So did I. Of course, she won a Pulitzer and my biggest prize was to have my Newsweek article published in a college writing text near Wendell Berry.

Interestingly enough, she was in my home several times. My B&B was formerly owned by one of her attorneys T.G. Crawford, the man who entered the pleadings for her famous Supreme Court case against Zelma Cason. She was introduced to him by her doctor at Riverside Hospital. I found out she had been here when the son of Crawford’s law partner, Phil May, told the Rawling’s Society about her visits. I think he was about six at the time and he remembers her as “ a kind lady.” He and his dad visited her at Cross Creek also.

Her Cross Creek Cookery is both a good read and a wonderful recipe book. While I cheat on some of the Dora’s cream recipes, I think the end result is satisfying. My purpose is to honor Marjorie’s expressed belief in the power of dining , “ The breaking together of bread, the sharing of salt, is an ancient symbol of friendliness.” In my innkeeper experience, the folks who have been traveling in today’s world of airline anxiety or on I-95’s take-no-prisoners, asphalt ribbon, need the genuine friendliness that my B&B breakfast provides.