What a cold, rainy, nasty day today! I spent almost 10 minutes in the carpool lane at Michael's school this morning because it was raining so hard, but I didn't want him to get soaked. When we got in the car I had asked him if he had his umbrella and he said yes. "Well, where is it?" I asked him. "In my locker," was the answer I didn't want to hear. My mother laughed when I told her that. "Typical boy," was her response.
So I got to thinking, where would I rather be today, other than cold, wet Atlanta?!? Hmmm... Not surprisingly, many of my thoughts turned to food and restaurants.
One of my favorite places in all the world is Chesapeake House in Myrtle Beach. If you ever get to Myrtle Beach, eat at Chesapeake House. It's been there for many years, and is a traditional seafood place. There's always a crowd, so get there early. Right behind the restaurant is a large pond with tons of fish, turtles, birds, etc. - you have entertainment and dinner at the same time because you can look out the huge picture windows. Truly a fun place. I ate this fish stew at the Chesapeake House and loved it so much I asked for the recipe. To my shock, they handed me a Xeroxed sheet with the recipe pre printed. THAT’S a popular soup!
Chesapeake House Fish Stew
3 lb. Flounder filet [I used Tilapia, you can use cod or whatever]
1 cup chopped onions
½ lb. Bacon
1 8 oz. Can tomato paste
1 bottle catsup [14 oz.] or tomato sauce
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce [or more, if you want]
1 tablespoon Celery salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Fry the bacon. Remove bacon from pan and brown onions in the drippings. [Note: if you don’t want bacon fat, brown the onions in olive oil.] In a separate pot, put 5 cups of water and bring to a boil. Pour onions and drippings into water. Add fish, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and salt. Cook fish until completely done. Add catsup and tomato paste. Simmer for 2 hours. Serve over rice.
Another favorite place I'd like to be is The Dillard House, in the North Georgia mountains. You can order off the menu but most people choose family style. You pay a fixed price, tell them how many are in your party, and sit down. The waitress takes your drink orders. Within a very short time, a huge array of food appears on the table. There is always fried chicken, country ham, and bisquits. There is an ever-changing array of side dishes. One of my favorites is creamed cabbage. I know, sounds icky, but it's delicious. The recipe is found here. Now, in all fairness, I have to tell you something. Any time you make a good white sauce and spice it up a bit [which is why I love onion powder and garlic powder] you can take just about any vegetable and toss it in the sauce with some cheese, and it will be good.
Here's another tip on veggies: saute them in olive oil and fresh garlic and throw in some parmesan. Delicious.
Forget about finding the perfect olive oil, too. TV chefs can freak you out about that. Here's the kind I buy: whatever is on sale. Store brands won't kill you.
I do not understand the current and ridiculous craze for sticking veggies in sweets and feeding children these mixtures, like this website. You're going to raise picky, paranoid kids. THIS IS JUST WRONG, PEOPLE!!! Learn how to cook, for heaven's sake. It's not rocket science. It's not that hard.
I have seriously thought about starting my own business where I come to your house, make dinner, you pay me, and I leave. Or I make dinner at my house and take it to yours. When I was working I used to dread going home and trying to dream up something for dinner. But Rachel Ray ain't the only one who can whip up a tasty meal in 30 minutes or less. I am appalled at the lack of cooking that goes on.
I have a friend who raised 9 kids, and always worked. I asked her once how she handled meals, and she said she cooked three big meals on Sunday and re-heated everything during the rest of the week. Sounds like a good plan.
Another thing to do if you're a working person is to make friends with your crock pot. I LOVE mine. I am going to go downstairs as soon as I finish this post and put a corned beef in the crock pot, with lots of red wine and fresh garlic. Yum. Crock pots aren't expensive, and there are a gazillion recipes for crock pot cooking.
Anyway, I digressed, didn't I?! What a shock.
The third place I would rather be on this gloomy rainy day is my Mamaw's house. If I could go back in time, I'd travel back to Mamaw and Papa's house here in Atlanta, on 9th street, and settle into a big overstuffed chair with an Etch a Sketch and a Braves game on the TV. I'd have my Tupperware tumbler with my name on it, filled with sweet tea, and it would be a cool day in autumn, and Mamaw would watch the game with me, after she fixed my favorite foods - fried chicken, green beans, bisquits and gravy, and jello salad. MAJOR YUM.
Mamaw fixed her evening meal every day right after lunch, then turned off the stove, put the lids on the pots, and left the kitchen. She went back at 5:30, heated everything up, and put the food on the table at 6. If you weren't there at 6, you were outta luck.
Here I am with my brother and grandparents, circa 1965...
Here's my final thought: teach your children to like real food, good food. Don't take the easy way out and eat takeout food or frozen food all the time. You don't have to be a great cook, just develop 5-10 good recipes and rely on those. Use herbs and spices. Have one night for sandwiches or soup, and eat real food the other nights. Teach your kids the value of a garden. Help them love real food. I think it's one of the most important things you can do as a parent, right up there with teaching them about God and good manners, and how to swim.
Here endeth the sermon...
