Two Tools

 

Pretty much what you need, I think. Also fire, you need fire.

-gh

Brownies

Had an outstanding brownie today courtesy of Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, MI.

This is not their recipe, but its a favorite of mine, and not bad either.

-GH

Pop, Soda, or Other?

How do you say it?

The research and data comes from this awesome website, and my own obsevations (and opinions).

Martha Foose Interview

Note: I published this earlier in the life of the blog, but I noticed the link had died. I’m reposting it because I think she’s a neat lady, and I’m happy I got a chance to talk to her. -gh Martha Foose was born and raised in the Mississippi delta. After attending the Ecole Lenotre in France, she returned home and opened the Bottletree Bakery which has become a culinary landmark in Oxford, Mississippi. In 2008, she published Screen Doors and Sweet Tea which won the Beard Award for best American cookbook. Screen Doors is a really marvelous work filled with incredible recipes and Martha’s rich languid prose. It’s fast become not just one of my favorite cookbooks but one of my favorite books period. Martha was gracious enough to sit down and take a few questions from me about the book, her next project, and cooking in general. What creative similarities do you find between coking and writing. What differences? Flavors are a language.  So, it is very much the same process. When you get frustrated in the kitchen where do you look to keep you moving? I seem to go back to community cookbooks and look for modern spins on classic southern fare. Did you start as a baker or did something draw you there? A day spent cleaning sweetbreads made baking look pretty darn good! I did start mostly baking and expanded from there. Working in a bookstore café got me hooked on cookbooks. What do we have to look forward to in your next book, A Southerly Course? More stories and where Screen Doors and Sweet Tea looked at the cannon of Southern cooking A Southerly Course delves into the modern/ current state of the plate. Is Southerly Course going to be a sequel to Screen Doors or a whole new project? It is a sequel of sorts. I think it is representative of what folks have ask for… more stories and expanded techniques. If you could sum up your culinary philosophy in one sentence what would it be? Let true flavors speak for themselves. What’s a dish you couldn’t do without? Pecan Smoked Catfish What’s a drink you couldn’t do without? Sweet Tea, of course, but I sure would miss Pappy Van Winkle! It seems to me that the south is really a cradle of American culture, especially when it comes to food and music. Where do you look for inspiration? The North Mississippi All-Stars, Blue Mountain, South Memphis String Band all inspire me in the kitchen. I am just about patting my foot the whole time I am in front of the stove. I see quite a bit of southern influence in Midwestern cooking, particularly where I’m from, Indiana. Where do you find southern influence in other parts of the country? Zingerman’s  Roadhouse in Ann Arbor. ( I think they are closet southerners). I also think that the localvore movement reminds me of our way of cooking and eating…we have been that way for years down here.

We’re Back! With some fine Cowboy Jazz!

Sorry for the delay.

Now, this is for real:

And who’s that guy in the turtleneck?:

thanks for your patience.

-gh

Minor League Dreams

There’s something intrinsically lovable about minor league baseball. While I know that the minors can be a hotbed of loneliness, angst, paranoia and nervous energy for the players, for us fans it feels like a pure incarnation of the game- unencumbered by the naked commerce of the majors (by the way, rumors are that my beloved Cubs are on their way to becoming the most expensive team to see in baseball. They’ve always carried a high emotional cost, but to ask for such a high monitory cost too? Seems a little harsh, Mr. Ricketts.)

I’ve been poking around the web looking for information about minor league teams mostly because we’re moving to a veritable minor league hotbed: North Carolina. Like most of the south, and virtually all of it prior to the eighties NC has always thrived on amateur or semi-pro athletics. Of course there is the incredible college basketball scene (a reassuring thing for an Indiana boy), but there is also a deep history of carolina league and minor league ball. The most famous, of course, are the Durham Bulls, made famous in maybe the best baseball movie ever, Ron Shelton’s Bull Durham. My favorites though are the fantastically named Asheville Tourists, who used to have one of the best logos in the history of logos. Seriously. That bear was on their hats! Now they have a strange little moonman, which is ok, I guess. I preferred the bear though. I also quite like the muscley little mascot of the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

For the best of the best though you have to leave NC and head to Montgomery, Alabama. There you’ll meet Monty the Biscuit. The greatest baked good-themed mascot in the world. I really like his penchant for peeking out behind things. Lansing, Michigan hosts a team with a great name: The Lugnuts. These folks are out of Arkansas, very odd. I am also fond of the Tin Cappers and The Crawdads. There are many other amazing minor league mascots worth following most of them even have teams too. The Lookouts out of Tennessee have a pretty nice logo they also have a pretty fun website: arethelookoutshome.com. It can be really refreshing to go see some ball and not feel like you’ve paid out the nose for it, and hey you never know you might get to see the next Augie Ojeda…

-gh

Make This!

I don’t have have a whole lot of experience (any) printing t-shirts, but I think somebody ought to bring this one back into to circulation:

Clothing courtesy of the model.

Mr. Brickhouse models the center piece of our new summer line… I’d wear it.

-gh