The Vegans Have Landed

Wonder what MKR's take would have been on vegans? No, Dora cream. No butter. No eggs. No meat. I can't imagine Marjorie eschewing animal products. I can't imagine myself doing without them either. Still, reading Dr. Will Tuttle's World Peace Diet has made me think about the effect our diet has on the world at large. The statistics are grim.

Max and Me

I am reading Max and Marjorie, the letters of MKR and Maxwell Perkins, her famous editor. I am amazed by how much her work depended on his suggestions. I knew that The Yearling arose from his initial suggestion that she write a " boys book" and that she was the one who changed it to a book " about a boy." Reading his suggestions for South Moon Under, I am aware of both his talent and his technique. He always began with praise and then inserted suggestions. She took most of them. No wonder she could not compose well after his death.

Last night I received a huge bag of well washed collards. I think I will create my favorite collard soup since I have smoked turkey from Thanksgiving and sweet potatoes from the river yard patch. They are slender but scrumptious. The combo is something MKR would have enjoyed with a pan of hot corn bread.

Golden Acid Apples

Trotted out today to pick the Ambersweet oranges for breakfast. Perhaps it was citrus hubris that got me but the juice made my lips pucker. I wonder if I picked them too early? Sally Morrison says leave them on the trees until the news of an impending hard freeze. Today I have on a sleeveless shirt and shorts, so I guess there is no danger of the hard freeze just yet.

I wonder,have they interbred with the calamondines? Speaking of those lovelies, I have made a wonderful waffle syrup with orange marmalade and a few tablespoons of calamondine juice. It adds MKR's beloved tartness. I am going to make the wild orange pie on page 197 of Morrison's book. The idea of low fat cottage cheese as opposed to the canned condensed milk I usually use, is appealing.

Toasty Pecan Bread

The moment it dips below 90, I'm making pecan bread in the bread machine. Because I live in what was at one time a large pecan grove, I feel like making the bread is somehow connecting with the land's history. I use a simple white bread recipe and add a quarter a cup of pecan meal. It is delicious. The leftovers are wonderful especially layered with honey ham.

Kumquat Butter

The Meyers lemon is taking the year off after its stellar performance last year. The kumquat is stepping into the center ring. Hundreds of kumquats hang from the bush that is nestled under the amber sweet orange. Can't wait to make the kumquat butter from the recipe on page 91 of Cross Creek Kitchens.

Cross Creek Kitchens II

I'm reading Sally Morrison's cookbook the way I have read some of Marjorie's short stories, delightfully. Morrison is a state park ranger and the curator of Marjorie's Cross Creek house. According to the book, she cooks and bakes on the original woodstove and fills the pantry with preserves she makes from the same trees and gardens that Rawlings once tended. This seems to me to be as close as possible to the culinary Marjorie.

Morrison's gingerbread waffles on page 87 have passed muster at the B&B table. Offered with a little orange butter, they are ambrosial.

Cross Creek Kitchens

Walking through Southern Crossings,my favorite consignment store in the cosmos, I found a copy of Cross Creek Kitchens by Sally Morrison. According to the blurb on the back, it has over 150 recipes for fresh-tasting specialties AND tales of life at Cross Creek. Can't wait to make okra pickles. The table garden is going gang busters with baby okra.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

MKR's recipe on page 68 of Cross Creek Cookery makes me skip down memory lane. Candied sweet taters were always on the menu in my home place whether it was Jonesboro or Miami. By the Miami era, we simply opened a can and out oozed the sugar sodden potatoes. Then we ADDED more sugar and stuffed them in half an orange with a marshmallow sitting perkily on top of the tater. I think there may have been some orange juice added. The dish was good even if it was not good for you.