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.