Sonnet XXIX

By William Shakespeare

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

       For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

       That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King

Motel in Memphis
By: Old Crow Medicine Show

Were you there when the man from Atlanta was murdered in Memphis?
Did you see him layin' at the Lorraine Motel?
Did you hear them say that the CIA is witness -
To the murder of a man at a motel in Memphis?

Motel in Memphis
Motel in Memphis
Run and tell somebody there's blood on the riverside
Oh muddy water, rollin' to Memphis
If you were there, you'd swear it was more than a man who died

Did you see Coretta? She was sobbin' on the corner in a black veil.
Did you see Mr. Crump in a white coat grin?
Did you walk downriver where the cottonwoods are swingin' -
With ghostly bodies of men?

Motel in Memphis
Motel in Memphis
Run and tell somebody there's blood on the riverside
Oh muddy water, rollin' to Memphis
If you were there, you'd swear it was more than a man who died.

(Instrumental)

Were you there with Mahalia wailing at the funeral?
Did you watch them lower his casket in?
Did you tremble when you thought about the future?
And cry out for a martyred man?

Motel in Memphis
Motel in Memphis
Run and tell somebody there's blood on the riverside
Oh muddy water, rollin' to Memphis
If you were there, you'd swear it was more than a man who died.

Christmas Cranberries

Christmas has come once again! It’s a time for joy, faith, peace, and love.  Most importantly, it’s the time to celebrate Christ’s arrival and the beginning of His amazing journey toward the salvation of the world.  It’s a beautiful time of year, and one I love to share with friends and family. Of course my favorite thing to do for loved ones is to cook. What can I say? Food is my love language.

This year I played with several new recipes and focused on one very special ingredient: cranberries. Of course I’ve served cranberry sauce with Christmas dinner every year. It’s a delicious holiday staple, native to North America, and the clean, tart taste breaks up the heaviness of the other holiday foods. But I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve always used canned cranberry preparations. Maybe it was habit. Maybe I was intimated by the texture, but this year, I broke out of the yoke of processed food bondage.

My inspiration for elevating this ingredient started with my travels this year. As you may recall from previous installments, I had the pleasure of spending time in both Nova Scotia and Wisconsin. These lovely, northern locations are both cranberry producing areas, and I brought home some choice flavors to save for the Christmas season. From Nova Scotia, I brought Lake Rossignol Cranberry wine from the Lunenburg County Winery at Hackmatack Farm. From Wisconsin, I brought Fireside Jam, a delicious blend of cherries and cranberries, purchased from The Summer Kitchen’s booth at the Dane County Farmer’s Market.

To build the rest of our holiday meal, my family and I made an expedition to the Dekalb World Market in Atlanta. My regular readers might be getting the idea that this is one of my favorite finds in Georgia, and they would be right. I’m generally a huge advocate of local food, but the atmosphere, incredible variety, and great prices at this international market have become something of a moral splurge for me.

After stocking up on Sunday afternoon, we spent most of Monday (Christmas Eve) preparing a big family meal. It included mascarpone chive mashed potatoes, green bean and artichoke casserole, double cranberry apple sauce, and a grilled beef tenderloin all served with whole wheat rolls and cranberry wine. The mashed potato recipe came from a fellow food blogger at http://www.goodlifeeats.com, although I did add extra mascarpone cheese. The green bean casserole preparation was the same as described in my November 2012 Thanksgiving post. And although I modified it a bit, I have to give props to http://www.myrecipes.com for the original cranberry apple sauce idea.

Double Cranberry Apple Sauce

6 small to medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced to 1” cubes

1 (12 oz) package of fresh cranberries

3 tsp lemon juice

1 cup granulated white sugar

3/4 cup water

¼ tsp ground ginger

1 cup sweetened, dried cranberries

Combine the apples, fresh cranberries, lemon juice, granulated sugar, ginger, and water in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the cranberries pop and the mixture starts to thicken (still stirring often). Remove from heat. Mix in the dried cranberries for texture. Pour the mixture into your serving dish and chill in the refrigerator. Serve cold.

My husband was the grill master for our tenderloin. He and I agree that the most important trick for any meat course is to start with a high quality cut. Don’t be afraid to ask your butcher what they have in the back. In our case, we had a perfectly sized section cut from the middle of the loin by the helpful people at the Dekalb Market, and we still spent less than at a traditional grocery store. We seasoned it simply with salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and garlic powder and cooked it to a medium rare over hot charcoal.

The cranberry wine was a nice touch with dinner, and the cranberry jam was perfect over toast for Christmas Day brunch. Speaking of Christmas Day, I have to take a second to brag on my foodie loot for the year. Instead of stocking up on candy that I shouldn’t eat, my family has gotten into the habit of exchanging nuts, dried fruits, and fun snacks (like the green bean and plantain chips pictured below). I’m excited to say that I also received a set of sustainably produced bamboo kitchen utensils, two new pans, two small spatulas, an herb chopper, a fun set of monster bag clips, a pie crust design cutter, and an adorable set of glass jars for herb storage. For some great culinary ideas, I received the Cooking Behind the Fence cookbook from Oak Ridge, Tennessee and the two-book set of Julia Child’s historic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The piéce de résistance of the morning, however, was my new food processor. I’m sure these goodies will inspire a host of fun blog topics for 2013. I hope you’re looking forward to it as much as I am.

From my family to yours….Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Photos by Jenn Ballard

Happy, Happy Birthday

It’s almost Christmas, and it’s already been an exciting December.  I started the month by hosting my very first five-course meal to celebrate my 29^th birthday.  The meal started with a variety of cheeses, wine, and beer while everyone arrived and mingled. It continued with a wilted green salad and bacon vinaigrette dressing; a rustic mushroom soup; an entree of fig and goat cheese stuffed pork tenderloin and roasted vegetables; and a whiskey-cherry upside down cake.  I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that made this celebration possible. It was by far the best “grown-up” birthday I’ve ever had.

The mushroom soup was delicious and super easy! The recipe came straight from my fellow bloggers at http://blog.seasonwithspice.com.  The tenderloin was also incredibly straight forward. I made it with figs from my own yard (frozen back earlier in the year) and seasoned goat cheese instead of the blue cheese recommended in the original recipe (http://www.whatwereeating.com).  The whiskey-cherry upside down cake is one of the more complicated cake recipes I’ve made, but it is totally worth the effort. For great directions on this culinary treasure, see www.endlessimmer.com.

After the birthday excitement, my husband and I celebrated another first. We bought a live Christmas tree for the very first time.  We visited Jack’s Tree Farm in Talking Rock, Georgia and picked out a fresh white pine.  Unfortunately, when we arrived home, we discovered that our tree stand was not quite large enough for our selected tree.  It spent the night in a stock pot of water before being set upright and decorated.   Aside from the natural beauty and lovely smell of a live Christmas tree, there’s a lot of peace of mind for this nature-loving hippy in knowing that this tree is produced sustainably and can be composted after the holidays.

 

Photos by Jenn Ballard, Jamie Brantley, and Maria Evola

I've Got Plenty To Be Thankful For....

Bing Crosby once sang "I've got plenty to be thankful for," and this year I'd have to agree with him. My husband and I have been blessed with two good jobs, a roof over our heads, and the best families we could ask for. We had a wonderful November full of birthdays, anniversaries, and Thanksgiving, and we're looking forward to the rest of an exciting holiday season. We celebrated Thanksgiving on the farm here in Georgia. Our meal had some great classics like fried turkey, mashed potatoes, skillet seared Brussels sprouts, and pecan pie. I also got to try a couple of new dishes:

Souffled Pumpkin Pancake
adapted from a recipe on Foodnetwork.com

5 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup pecan halves
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
dash of cloves
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs, separated
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
maple syrup for serving

Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium low heat. Add brown sugar and stir until the sugar starts to melt. Add the pecans and stir to coat them with the mixture. Cook 2 minutes and remove from heat. Set pecans aside and save skillet for pancake.

In a small mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, sugar, salt). Melt the remaining butter. In a separate bowl combine the butter, egg yolks, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add pumpkin puree and combine well.

Beat the egg whites to soft peaks (add a dash of cream of tartar if desired). Fold the egg whites into the pumpkin mixture in two parts. Mix carefully. Pour into skillet. Sprinkle top with pecans. Bake at 350 F for 20-30 minutes.  Service in slices with warm maple syrup.

My family and I usually have cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving morning while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  This recipe was a really tasty change of pace for our breakfast.

Green Bean and Artichoke Casserole
adapted from a recipe on MarthaStewart.com

1 lb green beans (fresh: washed and trimmed to 1-2 inch pieces or frozen: cut green beans)

2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups milk
1 can (12-14 oz) artichoke hearts in water, drained and quartered lengthwise
ground cayenne pepper
ground black pepper and kosher salt
1 small canister of French fried onions




Boil green beans in salted water until tender, drain and set aside.  In a dutch oven, melt butter, add garlic and cook until softened but not browned! Add flour and mix to make a blond roux. Add milk and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and allow to simmer (stirring often) until mixture has thickened. Add a dash of cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste. Add green beans and artichoke hearts to the mixture and fold until well combined. Pour filling into a baking dish. Top with French fried onions, and bake at 425 F for 7-10 minutes or until filling bubbles and topping is lightly browned.

I've been working on tweaking this recipe for the last couple of weeks.  I think it's really top notch, and I'm excited to share it with the rest of my family on Christmas. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as we did. I would love to hear from my readers. Please post your favorite Thanksgiving day recipe or memory.

"You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." 2 Corinthians 9:11

 

Photos by Jenn Ballard