Indian Summer and thinking about Tennessee

As Indian Summer has arrived the nights are chilly but the days very hot. It's the time to clean up the garden and beds and prepare for the winter ahead. I can't help but think of my time in Tennessee at this time of year especially. I miss it.

The diversity of plants in the Smoky Mountains is hardly surpassed throughout the country. Every season has a display and there is no better time to visit than autumn. As it is diverse in plant species it is diverse in elevation. I drove into the Smokies in November to witness this array of colours. The mountains are so high that at the top I was barely travelling at 15 mph. The fog was thick and the road switching higher all the time.

 

There are 1600 species of flowering plants alone, including 100 native trees and over 100 shrubs.  There are 450 varieties of bryophytes which are the mosses, liverworts and hornworts and 50 ferns.

 

I miss the Smokies and forever thankful I had the opportunity to spend a few months in the South.

Old Barns of Tennessee

A year ago I was house sitting in Tennessee.  I arrived late in August and stayed for over 5 months.  I am thinking about my friends that I met while I was down South.  This is a little tribute to the barns of east Tennessee.  And one picture of the Smoky Mountains in autumn.

For Fresh Friday with Roz at La Bella Vita I am revisiting the barns of east Tennessee that I would drive past almost every day.  Most are amidst lush greenness but you can see the change of the season with the barn still used to dry tobacco and with the old fashioned cantilevered barn.

This is also my entry for Seasonal Sunday with The Tablescaper.

Hummingbird Cake

It is my Aunt Agnes' 80th birthday this weekend.  She is a very special aunt and spent a lot of time with me as a young girl.  My own mother was not well so she was always there to step in and help us.  

Her children are planning a tea.  This is a very small town Saskatchewan thing to do.  I love it!  I will be able to visit with all of my cousins, aunts and uncles at the same time without driving all over.  


As a birthday present I am baking a cake.  Can you think of a better birthday gift?  And, can you ever have too many birthday cakes?

My inspiration for this cake comes from my house sit experience in Tennessee last year.  It is a very Southern cake.  They love their layer cakes in the South.  I heard about this cake but had never tasted it and I really wanted to try it.

 

Hummingbird Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups chopped firm ripe banana

 Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 pounds confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together into mixing bowl several times. Add eggs and salad oil to the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple and 1 cup pecans. Stir in the bananas. Spoon the batter into 3 well-greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes,or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Combine cream cheese and butter; cream until smooth. Add powdered sugar, beating with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.
Frost the tops of all 3 layers, stack and then frost sides. Sprinkle top evenly with the 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans.

Chicken Fried Steak

This is the Little Bighorn River in Montana.  It looks rather lazy in this picture but it was quite wide and had a good current.  It was so beautiful with all the hoar frost.

 According to The Dictionary of American Food and Drink by John Mariani, the term "chicken-fried steak" first appeared in print in the year 1952. It has long been a favorite dish in the South, Midwest, and Southwest United States.

I am now in Malta, Montana.  I am hitting all the hot spots!  Tonight's dinner was at The Great Northern Steakhouse or GN Steakhouse, for short.  This was undoubtedly named after the Great Northern Railway which was opened in 1890 in this area.  I am only a couple of hours from the border now.

I had my first Chicken Fried Steak tonight.  Stupid me, I didn't read the menu and thought it would be chicken!  Needless to say my first bite was a bit of a surprise.  But it was good.  Nicely prepared and served with milk gravy and a choice of potato. 

Chicken-fried or country-fried steak is usually made with round steak, tenderized then dipped in an egg and milk mixture, then dredged in seasoned flour or bread crumbs. The coated steak is then fried in hot fat until the coating is crispy and browned, much like fried chicken. A milk gravy is often made to be served with the steak, along with mashed potatoes.    

It was a very lonely drive, just like New Mexico, but with snow!  This vulture was feasting on a roadkill deer.  His buddies flew away but he stayed near his dinner.

Hotel Gourmet

After another long day of driving from Colorado Springs, CO I am exhausted and so is Miss Sugar.  She needs a bath (but don't tell her).   I had lunch in Chugwater, Wyoming.  It is such a little place.  This little place has built a business around their chili.  Chugwater Chili is a going concern.  Sadly, I did not try it.  I am not a chili fan at the best of times.  Perhaps it was overdone in my childhood.  But this little lodge was a going concern.  Definitely worth a stop.

I have now reached Sheridan, Wyoming.  It is such a nice town.  I have been told that it is artsy and a retirement mecca.  I can see why!  The main street is lined with turn of the century buildings, in good repair I might add and with businesses in them.  There is also a new part of town with those amenities.  I might spend a bit of time tomorrow downtown.

Tonight I am too lazy to eat out.  I am digging through my travelling food and I have a microwave.  So I am having my home made pita chips with the grated parmesan cheese in my sack and melted it like nachos.  Not bad!

This is a picture from the short-cut road I took in New Mexico.  I drove for an hour and only saw 4 or 5 cars and even fewer homes.  It was desolate!

I had lunch in Roy, New Mexico.  That was a dive if I have ever seen one.  But tell me if this is normal Mexican food.  I had a combination plate that had two enchiladas (?), pinto beans and a lettuce salad all swimming in a green chili sauce with cheese.  I couldn't even see what I was eating because there was so much sauce.  I do know that there were nice chunks of beef in the green chile.  I also had a basket with a beef taco and a flour tortilla and salsa in it.

Memphis BBQ

The year was 1922, a time widely accepted as the beginning of Memphis' love affair for pit-smoked barbecue. For this was the year Leonard Heuberger opened his little stand of 5 stools, selling his creation, a barbecue sandwich, for just five cents. He couldn't keep up with demand and that modest beginning soon became the largest drive-in restaurant of its time. People came from near and far to pig-out on pit-cooked ribs and pork shoulders that Leonard's popularized. The "King" was a regular. Elvis would bring his friends for after-hours parties that lasted 'til sunrise. 


I did have a chance to have a quick bite and learned about Leonard's from Chowhound.  I was exhausted from the drive and wasn't all that hungry, unfortunately. But I did order their combination dinner with dry BBQ ribs and the BBQ pork shoulder with coleslaw and baked beans for $11.


The food was fantastic!  I was too shy to take my big camera into this little diner.  As it was everyone seemed to look at me.  I don't know if it was my unkempt look (remember, no running water at the house) or my Canadian accent.  You could tell that they were all regulars and most of them had the buffet.


You can order the ribs wet or dry.  But I understand that Memphisites like theirs dry.  I like them that way, too.  They were so tender that I ate them with a fork and knife - no fingers.  How does one describe the flavour of ribs - salty, very lightly smokey, perfectly seasoned. Also a bit crispy on the surface, some tomato flavour and not spicy or hot at all.  Not black but nice and browned.


The pulled pork serving was huge.  It was served with a generous portion of barbecue sauce on top.  The coleslaw had more vinegar than I have tasted before.  The cabbage and other veggies were shredded very finely.  I can't see very well things are that small (hones, it was a very fine shred) so not sure what was in there - probably onions, celery and red bell peppers?  It was good but a lot of vinegar.  It still was creamy.   And the baked beans had lots of the pork in them, too.  They were very rich and flavourful.

I wish I had the energy to have the buffet but it would be way too much food and I don't have good luck with buffets.


My servings were huge.  I have enough left for another meal.  This was in a bit of an out-of-the-way location but the GPS took me right there.  They had a security guard in the parking lot!  I think that is quite normal in Memphis.


The decor was fun.  They had a vintage delivery wagon with a beautiful paint job right in the middle of the room.  There was another wall with a great mural depicting a 1920's era soda shop with teenagers.  That is where they placed 5 stools and a diner bar like in the original Leonard's.  It was very clean and well organized and trained staff.

Tennessee-isms

Apple Stack Cake from my neighbour, Ersie.  This is a traditional Appalachian cake.  She made it just for me!

Apple Stack Cakes were an Appalachian wedding cake.  Wedding cakes were expensive so friends of the bride would each bring one layer.  The brides family would make the dried apple filling and they would put it together for the wedding.  The taller the cake, the more popular the girl.


Well, this is my last day!  I am anxious to get home to Canada but I will miss my new friends here in Tennessee.  I have some 'saved' blog items that will come on in the next few days, but unless I find a restaurant worth sharing or an interesting roadside site, you won't hear from me for awhile due to the drive home.

It has been a journey of learning a new culture.  Not only am in a different country, but I am in a very distinct culture within that country.  I look back and laugh at the misunderstandings I have had due to the accent and vocabulary. 

The latest experience with not understanding what was being said to me was the evening I went to an Italian restaurant here in Maryville.  The waitress asked if I would like garlic nuts.  By now I know I cannot trust anything I hear but, what the hay, sure I'll have some garlic nuts.  Finally, a second person asked if I would like garlic nuts.  Sure!  I'm sure you know the results - I was served garlic knots.  I think it was pizza dough made into knots and slathered in butter and garlic.

I have been introduced to 'shoepay corn' which of course, was shoepeg corn (of which I never heard of before), fried okra and collards.   I was at a B&B and there was a 'pahsef' in my bathroom for storage.  Did you guess it?  It was a pie safe - the olden cupboard for storing pies.

I am still not a sweet tea addict.  I really would like to know how to make it but they can't seem to pass it on to me.  The recipe is, well, in their bones.  How can they explain it to me?

Barbecue is not grilling.  Biscuits don't tower high.  Ham is served for Christmas.  The trinity is not always holy.  And gravy isn't always brown.

The Food Channel is dominated by Paula 'butter' Dean, Emeril 'essence' Legasse and The Neely's.

I have been introduced to Hummingbird Cake, stack cake, fried green tomatoes, a kazillion types of bacon and the best smoked hams in the world.

My pantry now includes sorghum, Chesapeake Bay seasoning, White Lily flour, vidalia onion relish, chow chow, pure cane sugar, white and yellow grits, Hatch chiles, Tony Cachere's cajun seasoning, Zatarains Shrimp and Crab boil, Stubbs BBQ Sauce, Slap Ya Momma Cajun seasoning, sourwood honey, and file (pronounced FELA).


I have been to church suppers, Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners, fine dining restaurants, southern buffets and dives.

Bottom line?

I'll miss this place.

This is me with Miss Ruth.  She is 93 years old and still lives alone.  Her son drove down from Atlanta to tour us around Gatlinburg, Cades Cove and Bald River Falls.  Isn't she sweet!

My Last Supper

My time in Tennessee is coming to a close and a new chapter begins.  This has been a wonderful five plus months and I have made so many wonderful friends that I will dearly miss.  I will miss the politeness in the language.  I will miss being called honey, sweetie or Miss Sarah by complete strangers who just want to be nice. 

This also takes me into a new chapter with my blogging.  To celebrate this milestone I have decided to enjoy meals from my blogging friends.  I started with the thought it would be a 'Last Supper'.  But  that left out too many people.  So I have decided to have a 'Last Breakfast', a 'Last Lunch' and a 'Last Supper'.

I am choosing recipes from many of my new blogging friends.  I am doing this backwards because I thought the title of this blog was catchy.  So today honors my blogging friends with their input to my last real cooked dinner before I start my long journey back to Canada.

I have chosen Chicken a la Nantaise from lostpastremembered as my entree.   This was way easier to prepare than it looked from her beautiful presentation. 

This is a tough act to pair.  Her meal is so complete.  I want just a little pre-dinner bite.
You all have such hearty appetizers!  It was difficult to choose one.  But I did find a nice little bite from Tomatoes on the Vine - Prosciutto Wrapped Greens.  This also honors another blogger, La Table de Nana, because I will be using her recipe to prepare the prosciutto.

I used mache greens with a light lemon vinaigrette.  It was perfect - almost an amuse bouche.   Making the prosciutto was a no-brainer, just like Nana said.  I like it sliced very thinly so I will be buying a meat slicer.

Dessert posed a particular challenge.  I have no pie plates, muffin tins, springform pans, hand mixer, stand mixer, nada.  I only have a baking sheet.  So that leaves out all pies, tartes, ice creams, meringues and almost everything that comes to mind.  But no fear!  Winter Guest gave me a wonderful dessert called Postre de Musico.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed simple raisins with the Moscato.  I also included  marcona almonds, dried apricots and my candied Meyer lemon slices.

Chickens a la Nantaise

2 boneless chicken breasts (the original recipe called for pieces)

2 T butter

½ c mushroom broth (from rehydrating dried mushrooms)

½ c Madeira Wine (Charleston Sercial)

1 ½ c béchamel sauce

½ c cream

3 small artichoke hearts

2 thin slices ham

1 egg, beaten

1 c breadcrumbs

6 jumbo shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp chopped herbs

Chop the artichoke hearts and ham into small dice. Season with salt and pepper and moisten with ½ c béchamel sauce. Make into tablespoon size croquettes and freeze for 20 minutes as they will be very sloppy.

Take them out and roll them into the egg, then the breadcrumbs and refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat oil to 350º to deep-fry the croquettes.

Fry the chicken breasts in 1T butter until gently browned and nearly done and remove. Deglaze the pan with the mushroom broth and Madeira and reduce while scraping off the brown bits in the pan. Add the béchamel sauce and the cream. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer the chicken gently until cooked through.

Sauté the shrimps in butter, add lemon and herbs. Keep warm and set aside.

Fry the croquettes in the oil until brown.

Place the croquettes and shrimp decoratively on the plate with the chicken. Spoon the sauce over all. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Serves 2, generously

To  make the prosciutto, purchase a small pork tenderloin.  Lay out a linen or cotton tea towel and envelope the tenderloin with sea salt and Herbes de Provence.  Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 4 or 5 days.  Voila!  It cures and makes a nice prosciutto.

I will be posting my lunch and petit dejeuner next.

Boredom, Crafting and Goats......

What do you do when you are housesitting a home that is almost devoid of furniture?  My kitchen is bare bones and I mean...bare bones...    I only have a few pots and pans, a baking sheet and a few things I bought like a mini food processor, Le Creuset cocotte, and a saute pan.

I can almost recite the dialogue of every rerun of CSI, Law and Order, First 48 and Criminal Minds.  My cat is even becoming bored and is watching television.  There is no sofa, no table,  nor a bedside table let alone a lamp.

I am cooking out of the pantry and freezer so they will be empty when I leave.

Today I made sushi rolls with some frozen crab legs and avocado.  That was nice!

And I am crafting!  Yes, moi, crafting.  I saw some nice little Victorian lady paper chains over a fireplace at the Biltmore Mansion.  They caught my eye and now I am making paper chains galore.  I have two Victorian lady chains, teacups and kitty cats!

One day at a time!  I can look forward to my walking buddies tomorrow morning :)  And the robins are here!

Last week we gathered a herd of goats (are they 'herds', I don't know).  On the way home from walking we saw at least 10 goats in the middle of the road.  Ersie hops out of the car and starts to herd them back through the hole in the fence from whence they came.  So, what could I do?  I hopped out of the car and helped her.  All in the day of the life of a country person!

Dried Berries and Orange Drop Cookies

It is only half way through January and I am making cookies again!  It is so difficult to stay on a diet.  My walking partner brought her husband over to my house today so he could change a bulb in my daytime running light on my car.  I knew it was a big job but I don't really think they believed me.  He has to almost take off the front bumper of my car to do it!  So he will come back when the weather warms up and he can spend two hours!  Just to change a light bulb.  It is ridiculous but necessary.  And Viv, his wife, will come to hand him tools.  So you see, I have to make cookies.  I have to at least make coffee for them.  My Tennessee friends are so good to me!

Dried Berries and Orange Drop Cookies

• 2 cups (packed) dried sweetened mixed berries (about 10 ounces)
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied orange with peel
  
• 3/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
• 3/4 cup chopped almonds

Butter 3 baking sheets. Combine dried sweetened cranberries and orange juice in small bowl. Let stand until dried cranberries soften slightly, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.
Whisk all purpose flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until just blended.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter and golden brown sugar in large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg, minced ginger, vanilla extract, and grated orange peel and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour-spice mixture. Stir in chopped walnuts, chopped pistachios, coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries, and dried cranberries with any juices that have accumulated.
Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing tablespoonfuls about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, until golden and almost firm to touch in center, about 18 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool cookies completely. (Cookies can be made 2 days ahead. Store cookies in airtight container at room temperature.)  Makes about 4 dozen.

Help Me Add to my Southern Pantry

As much as I am using up everything that is in my kitchen before I go home, I also want to buy a few things to take back with me.  I need your help!

I always shop for food on every vacation, everywhere I go.  This time in the South is no different.  If you have any suggestions, please, oh please!  I would love to hear what I should buy.  I am in Tennessee and will be driving west and north.  I will probably go west approximately through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and then north via Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.  I must add that I am only looking for non-perishable items.  Here is my list of take-home food so far:

1.    canned shoepeg corn
2.    sorghum
3.    annato
4.    Chesapeake Bay Style seasoning
5.    two different bags of stone ground yellow corn grits
6.    chestnut paste 'marron glace' from Brasil
7.    Lea & Perrins Thick Worcestershire Sauce
8.    The Old Mill sourwood honey with comb
9.    Demi-Glace de Veau from Williams Sonoma.  W-S doesn''t sell it in Canada
10.  Vidalia Onion Relish
11.  Mild Chow Chow
12.  Blue Corn Meal
13.  French Fried Onions in a can by French's

Merry Christmas to All from Tennessee

The Christmas season begins right after Thanksgiving!  The thought of another big meal is a bit overwhelming.  Perhaps that is why they are not compelled to cook turkey for Christmas.

I have an invitation to join an extended family for Christmas.  Brenda is cooking a ham.  This will be my first Christmas without a turkey (or chicken or duck).  I will be taking tortiere cooked as a log rather than a pie.  No pie plate in my house anymore!  But the log is so much easier to serve for a larger group.  My homemade green tomato relish will taste perfect with this.  I understand that other side dishes will include a cranberry salad, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and more, I'm sure.  There will be two different pies for dessert and I am taking Nanaimo Bars.  That is another Canadian contribution to the meal.

My special Christmas treat is to visit the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, North Carolina.  It is still owned by the van der Bilts and is the largest privately owned home in the USA.  It is a tourist site though and not occupied by the family.  It is decked out for Christmas and there are candlelight tours.  I had thought I might drive to Atlanta to pick up a friend but that would double my travel time and the weather has not been that good.  It is definitely a white Christmas in North Carolina.  In addition, there is a detour on the main highway due to a rock slide two months ago.  So I am not really looking forward to the drive but it is a 'must do' while I am down here and what a better time than Christmas.

There are definite advantages taking vacations during a recession!  Usually there is a two year wait to visit the Inn at Biltmore House for Christmas.  But this year Wednesday's during December are half price so I have decided to take advantage and stay right on the grounds of the mansion.

My final Christmas invitation is from Miss Ruth who is 93 years old.  Her son and daughter-in-law will be visiting from Georgia and they are making the short trip to Gatlinburg (like driving to Banff).  We will do that on Boxing Day, although they don't call it Boxing Day.  It is just 'the day after Christmas'.  We will hike up to the visitor centre and see the view and learn history, I am assuming.  Then stay until after dark to see all the Christmas lights.   I'm glad I am not doing the driving back in the dark on the narrow, windy mountain road.

I think Christmas is always described best in pictures.  This is a picture album of things I see at home and nearby during this season, my gingerbread house, Nanaimo Bars that I made for my neighbours, the Biltmore and the view from my bedroom window at the Inn at Biltmore.