Saturday Treats & Surprises

• A mimosa at the beauty salon. Vamp serves them on Saturdays.
• The snappy, bright green new pickles from Pickle Licious at the Montclair Farmers Market. And two pots of petunias to put in my planter.
• Neighborhood fair on Walnut Street--with cookie samples at Gina's Bakery and at Red Eye; iced coffee, chai rice pudding and braised duck sandwich bite at Le Salbuen; meatballs and pignoli cookies at Cucina 98; and a booth set up by Susan of The Chocolate Path. I bought a little 4-pack of lavender fleur de sel caramels from Lillie Belle Farms in Oregon. When Susan gets them, I don't have to pay to ship a tiny box like that from the other end of the country.
• Michael Kors store at Willowbrook Mall! I went looking for the little Godiva shop--to get my monthly free truffle as rewards club member--and it was gone. I love the Michael Kors line. Guess I haven't been to that mall for a while.

Good night.

TCOY

1. Support group.
2. Nap.
3. Iced coffee.
4. Glass of cold Almond Breeze Original almond milk. It tastes good.
5. Taking care of business.
6. Salon blowout.
7. When I took Fig and friend to mall for jeans shopping, went to Bloomingdale's and got a dress on sale and control-top pantyhose for work meeting on Monday. I like the dress.

More Jottings on Tennessee

Wednesday morning, we took a Blue Moon cruise on the Tennessee River with captain Dave Anderson. We saw herons swooping into their nests. It was cool. Dave told me some really great names of animal groups: a charm of hummingbirds; a murder of crows; a wake of vultures; a gaze of raccoons; a ballet of swans. Beautiful.

Moon Pies were introduced in Chattanooga in 1917. The company says they were popular with coal miners and laborers. The line goes far beyond original chocolate-covered marshmallow now. You can get banana; orange; vanilla; peanut butter; mint; and varied sizes, like minis and double-deckers. We popped into the Moon Pie store--Kim, a writer from Michigan, got Moon Pie earrings. I won't lie. Moon Pie fans need to taste the Nabisco Mallomar if they like marshmallow and chocolate!!!

The Tennessee Aquarium has penguins, jellyfish, seahorses and fiddler Matt Downer, who plays a few days a week in the Tennessee River Valley exhibit area. I loved hearing him play "Oh Susanna" as we walked around. Felt like I stepped back to a simpler time. Here's a YouTube link to him playing banjo. Figgy would have dug all the sea life.

 

And if you're in Chattanooga, I recommend Urban Stack Burger Lounge restaurant for a hearty side of Gouda creamed corn, made with sweet white corn and melty Gouda. They serve their burgers on white and whole-wheat buns specially baked by Niedlov's Breadworks on Main Street. The Niedlov's guy told us Urban Stack requested a roll sturdy enough to handle serious burger toppings and a little firm because the meat is juicy. Challenge met. I had the whole wheat. The burger place also serves bacon-infused martinis and lots of local brews. Speaking of bacon, Link Forty One, a sausage shop on Main Street, served us excellent baconage--sausage made with ground bacon and sorghum.

TCOY

1. Boot camp in the park. Hard to be back after all that time off.
2. Walked Sug around block.
3. Watered garden.
4. Took nap.  
5. Went shoe shopping with Pats--a very quick jaunt--because have work interview on Monday and my shoes were worn. We went to DSW--Designer Shoe Warehouse in Paramus. Really well-stocked, good amount of size 11s and substantial markdowns.

Heaven @ Brookdale Park, Montclair, NJ

Flowering tree this afternoon.

Took a break to walk with Elly this afternoon for a walk in our hometown, Montclair: Brookdale Park, over through Yantacaw Brook Park and into Bonsal Preserve, with its sweet bridge over a running creek. Heaven indeed. I find it intriguing that Yantacaw Brook Park has an entry in Wikipedia, but it does. I think of it as a small park that H. and I once biked to, Figgy in a child seat on the back, wearing her big bike helmet with bumblebee design. We took a picnic supper.

I hope you can breathe in some sunshine and pure air today, even if it's in the dark of night. That counts, too--just without the Vitamin D benefits.

Back Home

I have some more Tennessee photos but I'm tired and hope to post them tomorrow. It's hard being back home. It's as though I'm instantly making up for all of the worrying I missed as Figgy's mother. Five days away, time to pay the piper. What an unhealthy way to think. Will try to remember words of a wise professional: "Anxiety is contagious."

Good night.

TCOY

1. Boat cruise; saw herons and more.
2. Reading great book, more to come.

Dream Roll: Cornbread Immersion

So funny. Just dreamt about my friend/boot camp leader/next-door neighbor Patsy's husband, Andy, making cornbread. He was using fine cornmeal and a little heavy cream, too. Now you have to understand that Pats and Andy are serious athletes. They work out every day, eat grilled meats and salads for dinner, don't keep heavy foods around. :) I guess I must be itchin to make some cornbread in my new skillet. And I will bring Pats and Andy some!

I'll sure miss waking up to the country music station here...it's really full-bodied...the DJs have such rich voices. They seem to be having so much fun it would be hard to be in a bad mood. Thank you, US 101: check it out. Just realized that back home in Montclair, I can click on Listen to US 101 Live. Will do.

I like returning from trips with a souvenir like that.

A Beautiful Day in Tennessee

Time for another photo essay, b/c I'm packin' up the cast-iron skillet and cornbread mix we received and leavin' my hotel with my luggage in the morning. Blue Moon Chattanooga River Cruise, lunch and aquarium and then flight home @ 4:01 P.M.

I was struck by the beauty and history I saw today. And for some reason I just kept thinking of Al Gore calling this "the great state of Tennessee." There truly is such pride and honor here.

A few of us checked out the Chattanooga Bicycle Transit System. It was great! We went through Coolidge Park and by the Bluff View Art District. I did walk up a few big hills, I won't lie.

The cost is $75 for annual membership and $6 for 24-hour access pass. Each bike has a bell, sturdy kickstand that keeps the bike upright and chain guard so you can wear dress pants or skirts. I love being on a bike.

Deck of the old Delta Queen river boat.

We drove to the Cookie Jar Cafe in Dunlap for lunch. Go for the million-dollar view and to see the huge cookie jar collection. The rolls are also soft and good and I liked talking to an older Tennessee couple who showed us how to eat cornbread and buttermilk. Crumble the cornbread, put it in a glass of buttermilk and eat with a spoon. I didn't, but still liked hearing about it. Did order a tall glass of buttermilk.

View of gorgeous Sequatchie Valley.

The Valley again--with dairy farm.

I'm very picky--and well-versed--about my pie, so I didn't love the crust--and feel sacrilegious saying that in pie country. But I like the look of these chocolate pies with meringue tops. I especially like how they scatter chocolate chips to ID this one and butterscotch chips on the butterscotch one.

Look at these butter cookies and meringues at Rembrandt's Coffee House in the Bluff View Art District.

Carson Camp of the Dunlap Coke Ovens Museum. I liked learning about the history of coal-mining at this camp that operated from around 1902 to 1927. What hard workers those miners were. What long, sooty, strenuous days. Both of Carson's grandfathers mined here; one died from black lung at age 33. I applaud Carson and his wife and volunteers embracing and honoring what could be forgotten history.

TCOY

1. Fresh air, sunshine and biking.
2. At River Gallery in Bluff View Art District, bought a soft, pretty and hip scarf by an artist named Jen Swearington--wearable art. Check jennythreads.net.

A Thousand Stories--Here, Just a Few

We've gone to so many stops on this press trip that I again feel the need to do a photo essay, b/c the day begins early again tomorrow and I'd really like to get 8 hours of sleep....so...

Lover's Leap @ Rock City Gardens, Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga. Legend refers to 2 Native American star-crossed lovers. He went over first; she followed. Sad. 

At Chattanooga Market Sunday with Farmer Jim from Bonnie Blue Farm in Waynesboro, TN. I bought the Cave Spring cheese for H. and stashed in hotel room mini fridge.

A "living salad bowl" at the market, $20 at the Rainbow Hill Farm table.

Creamsicle ice cream cake @ Jenkins Deli in Cleveland, TN [the Bible Belt*]. I loved talking to Kat Hyde, who has worked there 30 years. Every Christmastime, she makes her Mamaw's recipe for apple stack cakes at home and sells up to 10 for $75 each. Each is made with 20 layers she cooks individually in a skillet, and homemade apple butter. When women ask Kat for the recipe for the peanut butter pie served at Jenkins:  "I tell them they'll have time to powder their faces but can act like they've been cooking all day. It's only four ingredients. So easy."

 

This place in Madisonville looks like nothing special...until we stepped inside and met soft-spoken owner Allan Benton, who learned to smoke ham as a boy growing up poor in the Applachian Mountains of Virginia. "I'm just a hillbilly. I didn't know what a white-tablecloth restaurant was," he said. Now almost 100 top restaurants in NYC alone order his smoked, cured hams, including City Bakery. His family-recipe rub: Salt, brown sugar, red pepper. Despite his stature among the finest chefs nationwide, "I never made a lot of money. I have cornbread taste," said Benton.

Kathy Hoskins, also on the press trip. She's a writer and ad agency owner from Macon, Georgia, and I've really enjoyed  talking to her. She grew up in Alabama. Kathy is a live wire--and I asked if I could take her photo for my blog.

Good night. :)

*"We're not only the belt of the Bible Belt," said Melissa Alley Woody of the Cleveland/Bradley County Chamber of Commerce. "We are the hook that goes through the hole on the belt." [Church of God int'l hdqtrs located in Cleveland.] Woody grew up in town going to Jenkins Deli and recommended the French dip--very good, served on a soft steamed roll. That and the cheesecake were best things on menu.

TCOY

1. Good tooth care.

Batter up! Cornbread Festival

Some of the nine cornbreads* we sampled today in Cornbread Alley.

It poured on and off all day--we had to wear yellow ponchos at the annual Cornbread Festival in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. My hair is a mess of spring curls. We were out from 7:15 A.M. till almost 9 P.M.--also visiting Ruby Falls, Rock City, Tour Point Park [site of pivotal Civil War encounter], Chattanooga Market, Lodge cast-iron pan factory, and for dinner, a wonderful restaurant called Easy Bistro & Bar, where I had a Smoke on the Water cocktail, tender filet mignon with whipped potatoes and café au lait pot de crème in a petite lidded white dish. Memorable meal.

So I think a photo essay will do--but hope to fill in more details about today another time. Needless to say, we all felt stuffed to the gills by the end of the night.

Ferris wheel with corn-yellow seats near the entrance.

 

Festival cosponsored by Lodge, age-old crafters of cast-iron skillets, and Martha White, Memphis maker of cornmeal, flour, hush puppy mix and cornbread mix.

Old-time charm.

On Cornbread Alley, the contestants bake their recipes outside [see the stoves?] and guests walk along and get samples of each to put on a plate. At the end, you put money in mason jars to raise money for the charities/churches who made the ones you like best. For instance, I favored the Boy Scouts' Cranberry Cornbread Bars, so I put a couple of dollars in that jar.

Under a tent, ingredients for whipping up the recipes.

I've seen fried Oreos at the Jersey Shore, but today--battered and deep-fried corn on the cob [plus fried pickles; layered barbecue sundaes in small mason jars; and corn salad].

 

We got some sample pouches--can't find Martha White brand in New York area, so eager to try it.  I like the packaging.

Couldn't believe this one!

The badge.

Coke truck.

God and cornbread. Even birdhouse churches for sale.

Time to get some rest. Feeling bad b/c Figgy was sick today and I was many states away--but of course her good Dad was there, with Saltine crackers and soda, and I checked in via cell phone calls and texts. Good night.

*My personal favorites were the Cranberry Cornbread Bars [cookies] made by Boy Scout Troop #63 and the Toasty Hushpuppies whipped up by bakers from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. And the best quote came from the young Boy Scout at the table. "These are so good," I said. "Did you make them?" I asked about the bars, made with melted butter. "No," he said with a big grin. "If I'da made them, I'da ate them." Other recipes included Apple Cinnamon Cornbread; Hush! It's Dressed Chicken [calls for hush puppy mix]; Pepper Jack Cornbread; Cranberry Cornbread Coffee Cake; Broccoli Cornbread; Tuscan Style Cornbread; and Popeye Hushpuppies, with chopped spinach in the batter. 

Tennessee Gospel in the Morning

Bleary-eyed. Alarm went off to country music station....I love country, so had pressed that button  instead of news, rock or soft rock...lots of songs about the Lord, Jesus and even some mentions of the devil. Just sayin'. Now checked website for radio US 101:
  
On Air: 
Gospel Road
6AM - 10AM

Note on Wed., May 1: That was Sunday, so gospel makes sense to me now. Since then, waking up to true country tunes every morning.

TCOY

1. Beauty care--nice clean washcloth in hotel for face massage.
2. Good tooth care.