SOUTHERN FRIED THURSDAY

September's Southern Living Magazine is titled "The Soul of the South: 25 People, Places and Traditions to Cherish and Celebrate." Of course, I loved it. You should get a copy. Eleanor Griffin is Editor in Chief of SL, and I think she sums things up rather nicely.

"The soul of the South is its people. We love to share food, stories, and advice - whether you ask us or not! There's no mistaking us. We're the women who can walk into any room and immediately find out everything about everybody in there, whether we know them or not. We're the men who forget a birthday yet memorize home game dates for out favorite college team. In our world, Coke is a food group and Mama rules the roost."

"We are a passionate people. We are the first to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, but we can't stand bad barbecue. We love who we are and where we are. And we don't take it for granted. Taylor Bruce sums it up best: "Living in the South is the next best thing to being alive." I bet you agree."

I know I do! I am out of here until Monday, at least. I am on the moving team at work and will be moving our offices all weekend.

Love

USELESS INFO TUESDAY

Thanks again to Lisa Tutb who contributed the useless info Tuesday, today. This group of useless info is about movies...

~ Wayne's World was filmed in two weeks

~ All of the cloks in Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20

~ The first word spoken by an ape in the movie Planet of the Apes was "Smile."

~ Deborah Winger was the voice of E.T.

Happy Tuesday!

ROAD TRIP!

TCW and I headed out yesterday for a little road trip. Well, it didn't start as a road trip. We were just going to get something to eat. Cracker Barrel was too full, and we couldn't decide where we wanted to eat in Decatur. TCW then suggested we head to Moulton and see what we could find. He had never been to Moulton, EVER. I said "Road Trip!" and we headed out.

We were looking for a good old home-cooking style restaurant. And we found one!
You know I just love how they spelled country with a K! Welcome to LKK - Little's Kuntry Kitchen! A meat and 3 sides was $3.99, meat and 4 was $4.99! Our total bill with tea was $12.87! We both had the country fried steak (I am sorry, I meant kuntry fried steak), mashed potatoes, green beans. I had fried okra and Tim got sliced tomatoes! It was yummy. Several people in the restaurant strained their necks looking at us. We decided they were trying to figure out who we were, or who we were related to in Moulton. I was Linda Joe's wayward granddaughter who had run off with a married man, and TCW was Jim Bob's boy from a previous marriage that had just got out of prison!

Of course, it could not be a road trip without a little drama. One of the girls who worked there got hurt in the kitchen, and they had to call 911. I begged TCW to sit there so we could see them wheel her out, but he wouldn't. What a buzz kill!

SOUTHERN FRIED THURSDAY

OK, many of you may have known that I was taking a little time off last week. So, I relaxed, spent time with Rachel, and had good time. Saturday at the LBOS dry run, Btut said she wondered where I was and why had I not blogged. She then said she had sent me an e-mail and finally called Tim to see where I was.



I got to work Monday and checked my e-mail and this is what she sent....





"It's Friday and there was no Southern Fried Thursday? What the hell?!"



Now, tell me this....should people at ACS talk like that?



Happy Thursday! Love

USELESS INFO TUESDAY ON WEDNESDAY

~ Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the popular TV sex therapist, served as a sniper for the Israeli underground. Orphaned during the Holocaust, she moved to the British Mandate of Palestine after World War II and was trained as a sniper by the Haganah paramilitary defense force.

~ The original name of the Web search engine known today as Google was BackRub.

~ The tradition to mount a horse from the left side dates back to medieval days when armed warriors found that their swords, which were worn on the left hip would not get in the way if they swung their right leg over the horse.

~ Of the 12 stocks included in the original Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896, only General Electric is still listed today.

~ The South Pole is colder than the North Pole. It sits on a land mass making it more than 9000 feet higher than the North Pole, which consists of ice floes about ten feet thick that sit above relatively warm water. (Yeah, but Santa is at the North Pole)

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

...and the chicken, and the pork? Well, Saturday it was at AndyRandy's house! My favorite BBQ team (by favorite I mean my friends that can really cook BBQ well), Little Bit o' Smoke (LBOS) had a dry run there. What, you may ask, is a BBQ dry run? It is where they cook all of their entries and prepare it for presentation just like they were at the competition. And, since they cook a lot to be able to choose the best looking entries, there was a lot of BBQ left over for us to eat! Yea!

Cheers LBOS! Having the traditional shot of Southern Comfort when the cooking was complete! Kinda reminds me of Iron Chef Kat Cora on Food Network. I think they shoot Ouzo though.

Awe look, it is the Big Dawes showing off the competition entries!

Here is Btut's caramel pie. It was to die for!

You all must come to Riverfest and see how LBOS does! From top to bottom: chicken, ribs, pork, brisket.

LBOS - TCW, Btut, the Big Dawes, AndyRandy, Bear, Ken (not pictured - he was in New York with Chris Lily)

Love you guys, and I am always willing to sacrifice my time to judge your BBQ! Thanks

MEXICAN TRAIN

Miss Polly taught me to play Mexican Train on Sunday. I have played every night since then. Rachel and I are addicted. Spike wishes I had never heard of it. He wants me back on the couch like usual!

USELESS INFO TUESDAY

Special shout out to Lisa Tutb who sent today's useless info! Thanks!

~ Windmills always turn counter-clockwise - except for windmills in Ireland.

~ Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

~ You will eat 35,000 cookies in a lifetime.

~ Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.

...and last but not least....

~ There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada named Dildo.

GOODBYE OLD FRIEND...

...It was nice knowing you.

Yes, the lighter that was given to me by TCW and Btut 1 year ago has flicked its last bic. TCW brought this back to me from their trip to Florida. He got us lighters that were easily recognizable, and ones that no one else would have, so we could always keep up with them. It worked! I will miss my Bishop!
Visitation will be tonight from 7-8. A private burial will be held for family only.

SOUTHERN FRIED THURSDAY

The following information is courtesy of Cotton Country Cooking...

In 1820, President James Monroe ordered that a site be set aside near a great river and named for the War of 1812 hero, Commodore Stephen Decatur. Thus, Rhodes Ferry, nestled peacefully in a lush, green valley next to the mighty Tennessee River, became Decatur, Alabama.

Modeled after George Washington's inaugural site in New York, the Old State Bank Building is one of Decatur's earliest landmarks. Constructed in 1832, it survived the Civil War and served as a hospital and garrison for both Federal and Confederated troops.

TA-DAAAAAA

Here's the moment you have all been waiting for......
...Andrew Lloyd Webber (Andy) in all his painted glory! Yes, the portrait has arrived! Believe it our not, I think it is really cute! It is not quite as big as Purple Cat (4x3), this is 3x3. I know it is hanging crooked and needs to be lowered, but she is waiting to get her Lifesaver Church Bus. Then she will invite Ms. Jacobs over to move these around and hang the bus. Nothing like having a good friend who can hang art well.

And what is this, you ask, hiding behind the couch and the table?

Why, it is Purple Cat waiting patiently to go to his new home! Yep, you guessed it - on Pennylane! Thanks Mom!

USELESS TUESDAY

~ Fido means faithful in Latin.

~ France was the first country to use the terms "right" and "left" to indicate a persons political preference. In 1789 when the National Assembly was convened, conservative delegates representing the nobility sat to the right of the presiding officer, while delegate who were commoners sat to the left.

~ The primary source of the earth's oxygen is algae.

~ The song "It's a Hard Knock Life" from the Broadway musical Annie inspired Rapper Jay-Z's version "Hard Knock Life" which is built around the borrowed line, "steada treated/we get tricked/steada kisses/we get kicked."


~ The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. (This sentence uses every letter of the alphabet. Are you going to check and make sure like I did?)

GOT ART?

...Polly does! My Mom has a wonderful and eclectic collection of art in her home. As I mentioned Friday, her walls are pretty covered. I thought I would take some pictures and share.

Here you see a grouping over her TV. We have a Picasso ad, Monet, Matisse, Kelly Bradford. that last one is funny...the two faces on the right are by Kelly Bradford (aka Jacobs). The clay sculpture above the Picasso ad my Mom did in school. When sitting up right, it represents a mountain.
This is a David Hockney print called Mulholland Drive. It is hanging above the fireplace. You can see to the left just a little bit of a log cabin by folk artist Jimmie Lee Sudduth. You can read more about him on Wikipedia.

Opposite wall from the TV. Various artists including me! I cross-stitched the woman in the black frame with the red mat on the upper left side.

I took a picture of the blank space above the door because her latest purchase will hang here. She bought a painting by Susan Estes that is showing in the Carnegie this month. It is of an old school bus painted to look like a roll of lifesavers. The bus can be seen at a church on the way to Tunica. Mom painted the abstract on top of the book shelves when she was in college.

Of course this is my favorite. It is over the piano in the living room. It is a portrait of my baby around 6 years old. Marion Howard is the artist. She captured Rachel perfectly...her hair, facial expression, hands, even her feet bring back memories of when my baby was young!