Green Tomato Pickles

Ahhh, a cool down in Arkansas. What a nice change this past weekend. Dickson Street was jumping Friday night, though I don't jump with it quite as well as I used to. Being in that environment takes you back to your college days and makes you glad you lived through them and can enjoy watching the next generation. Despite a terrible loss by the Hogs, we still had a nice family watch party with an all-to-rare treat...pinto beans, fried potatoes, cornbread and green tomato pickles.

What the heck? That's right, green tomato pickles. They are a southern delicacy and go great plopped right on top of your pinto beans. I will include a recipe for them in the recipe section, but for those of you who do not want to make your own, House of Webster does a great job with theirs. The Amish Wedding Foods green tomato relish is also good.

As far as beans go, I like to get the bagged dried ones. You can also get them canned, but that takes out the fun of walking back into your house and smelling the beans cooking. I love the smell of beans on the stove. It's a childhood memory I have of going to my great-grandmothers house. I also like them flavored with pork. A ham steak is a good choice and you can get one for cheap. Overall this is an inexpensive that can feed a large crowd. That's why my great-grandma's house ALWAYS smelled like beans. And thats why, when I walk in and smell them, I can picture her in her flowered house dress standing over the stove.

Fall is a particularly sentimental time for me. A battle rages within between the urge to migrate to warmer temperatures and the internal calling to stock up for a long winter. I have a love/hate relationship with autumn as do several in my family. I call these restless fall feelings my nesting instinct. My sister calls them the pull of the autumnal solstice. Dad doesn't really talk about it. It's a sad time when summer seems to be passing away along with all its greenery. But its also a happy time because we can work outside less and concentrate on quieter nights with family under a cozy flannel quilt. We can all gather around a big pot of chili and plate of cornbread to watch the football game. We can make caramel apples and popcorn balls. No matter how our moods may swing, it's important to look for the positives in life. After all, any season that beckons for beans and bread and caramels and football and leaf piles and pumpkins can't be all bad.

Amish Wedding Foods

House of Webster 

You can go home again...even if it's someone else's home.

A tough week can make us question if we are the right kind of person. Developments in my so-called “professional” life as well as criticisms from peers in all aspects, made me wonder if I should be a different kind of person. After a week of dealing with mean and just downright rude people, I had to take this weekend to try to make a few decisions.  Luckily I have a very supportive family.

I needed to get away from all of them to clear my head, so I headed to Cane Hill, AR. Where? Exactly! Cane Hill is a little outside of Fayetteville and this weekend just happened to be the Harvest Festival. Now if you are looking for rides or electronic entertainment, this is not your place. But if you are looking for history, preceded by a HUGE all-you-can-eat breakfast including gravy, sausage, and homemade apple butter in a family-style sitting, this is it.

I will save the history lesson about Cane Hill for your own investigation or for your visit to the location. The families there, many of whom are descendants of the founders, are very proud of their history. You will get civil war reenactments from great-great grandsons. You will see quilts from the 1800's, you will witness sorghum making, and not just part of it. If you want to hang around long enough, you can see the process of the canes being pressed (complete with mule) all the way to trying the finished product. You can also watch the entire 5+ hour process of making lye soap.

More important than any of this, are the people you encounter. These are real people. And while I am sure they have regular jobs with regular bosses, for this weekend, they get to be who they really are. They are cane pressing great-great granddaughters of cane pressers. They are people who realize the importance of passing down a heritage that doesn't include coffee breaks and 401k's. They are people who like hand quilting better than machine quilting. And for this weekend, they are the kind of people who made a beat-down city girl feel good about eating a second helping of gravy. For that, I thank them.

After a trip to the past, I figured out who I am. I am not my job, I am not my third-place ribbon, I am me. I am happy to be me. I'm not saying there isn't improvement to be made. I like to consider myself a work in progress (like most of my quilts). But I also think if you are kind, if you are honest, and your intentions are good, then you are going to be okay. I find I let people judge me. I take the criticism from them without even knowing if they are even qualified to do so. Sometimes we feel a title gives someone the right to tell us that we aren't the best, or we aren't qualified, but we need to take it all in perspective. Some criticize to compensate, some out of fear of being bested, and some just out of ignorance. My best example is my third-place fair ribbon for my “dirty” witches hat...if that judge had only known how long it took me to tea-dye, coffee-stain, and sand that hat to make it look dirty...but I guess I did a pretty good job.

So what I am taking away from the last week and weekend is 1) I am OKAY the way I am, 2) Sometimes the rat-race ends on a glue trap, and 3) the next time some smartypants co-worker asks if I made my homemade candy in my kettle out by my cement pond, I am going to slam his fingers in my candy jar. Some people just don't deserve homemade caramels.

I would also like to thank mom and dad for going with me and humoring me with everything...including the merry-go-round ride that ended in near tragedy. Sorry about the backside. Mom.    



Cane Hill Arkansas

Glimpse of Fall and Old Fashioned Candy Making

Summer in Arkansas has been hotter than a snakes belly on a tin roof.    Maybe that’s why autumn is always so welcome.   It’s probably the reason we start making chili at the first hint of pre-season football…even though its still 98 degrees outside.  It’s why I bought a new pair of sweat pants even thought it was too hot to try them on.

These first signs of fall get me in the mood for certain things.  Carmel apples, chili, pinto beans and cornbread, fried potatoes… Ok, so mainly it gets me in the mood for food, but also for crafting.  This is the time of year, when we can stop fussing over the garden that pretty much burned up the first week of July anyway and start concentrating on crafting for the holidays.  I think Picasso said something like, “I am always doing that which I cannot do so that I may learn how to do it.”  Picasso is probably rolling over in his grave over my butchering of such a profound statement, but I am sure you get the jest.   The point being, try something new.

My newest interest started with a special request to the blacksmith at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, AR.  I wanted a taffy hook.  I wanted one that was functional but mainly one I could hang egg baskets or quilts on.  After one year of looking in antique stores with no luck, I decided to try to have one made.  He was very accommodating and I was delighted with the end result.

After squabbling over the proper height at which to hang it so we would not poke out our eyes, my wonderful husband, who took up woodworking not so long ago and has really impressed me and all my friends and family, made a pine base for the hook for some extra stability, I suppose in the event I want to hang a side of beef from it.. 

The hook has not had enough free time to host any of the decorative items mentioned.   We make candy every weekend and we are usually “sold out” (given away) by Monday afternoon.  Being the traditionalist, I like to stick to things I think would have been common “back in the day”: Maple syrup, molasses, vinegar.   Phil likes more adventurous and artificial flavors like cinnamon roll.   I am fascinated by the fact that the same basic recipe is used for pretty much all the candies.  The catalysts are heat and flavors…and we have had NO bad batches.   We may not get what we want, like hard candy instead of taffy, but it has all been good and it teaches the life lesson of flexibility.  Plus, if you don’t tell people you are making taffy, they are just as excited when you show up with hard candy. 

If you haven’t made your own candy, I strongly suggest trying it.  It is amazing to watch the transformation of a few ingredients into something shiny and molten, and then again into something satiny and ribbon-like just from the act of pulling it.  I will be adding recipes to the recipe tab soon.  Please send in your recipes for any old fashioned candy you have.  Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to post them.  This trip to the past will be a journey together, so if I don’t have the answer, maybe someone out there will.