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.