Dixieland Delight Dinner at Concert on the Green

I know that the school year is coming to a close when I check the calendar and notice that Concert on the Green is only days away. It is bittersweet to watch yet another school year come to a close but the lazy hazy days of summer and no homework, uniforms, book reports and packed lunches are quite attractive at this point in time...

 

So my little guys go to a small private school at this is one of my favorite nights of the year. Everyone shows up with lawn chairs and blankets and a picnic supper ranging from Subway to sushi. A few years ago, we came up with the idea to auction off the front row tables and do some themed dinners as a fundraiser. This is my third year doing my Dixieland Delight Dinner and it was still a blast!

Since I have returned to work, my time is very limited and precious but this is something that I love to do. While I themed this year "Back to Basics", I still could not bring myself to use paper plates or plastic utensils (that is why God invented dishwashers!) 

Food wise, I don't think that my diners missed a thing!

 The menu centers around my Southern roots and always included my famous
Buttermilk Fried Chicken...

Not to mention my Blackberry Cobbler!

But I think for me, the best part of doing this is being able to reflect and take a trip down memory lane. I always include a letter to my diners thanking them for the opportunity to do this,  here is what I wrote:

Hello My Concert on the Green Families!

I am covered in grease as I write this, but what a fun time I have had! I just want to say “Thank you” for giving me the opportunity to cook for you. In my family, food is a topic of constant conversation, debate and scrutiny. My sisters and I can sit for hours and discuss a shared meal, a new cookbook or the pros and cons of sweet pickles versus dill pickles in potato salad (the sweet are my choice as you will taste soon). But food and cooking are things that we all enjoy and it is a way for us to stay connected. I believe there is no greater gift than to be able to prepare a tasty and satisfying home-cooked meal for my friends and family. I only hope that I have succeeded…

I have been in the kitchen since birth and that it is no lie. I am the oldest of four girls and if I wasn’t helping my Mom with the babies, I was fiddlin’ in the kitchen. That was even before I could reach the counter. I had two Grandmothers as well as many Aunts that were amazing cooks and I have been trying to emulate the meals that they put on the table for years. While I know that what I am serving is often good, there is something to be said for the original. Those fine Southern women have impacted me in so many ways and I cherish my memories of them and the things that they taught me. I have made sure that my three little men have kept a hand in the mixing bowl  (Matthew loves to make pancakes, Michael is great at pitting cherries and Danny makes some mean scrambled eggs.) I only hope that my future daughter-in-laws will thank me as I hope to turn out men that are accomplished in the kitchen!

I was born and raised here in So Cal (like Totally), but my roots are deeply planted in the South. My Grandmothers and Aunts are from Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma.  I have always loved the South. There is something about the sense of tradition, community and grace that has always appealed to me. Many of my friends refer to me as the Southern Gal from Southern Cal! My Mom and two of my sisters still live in Greenwood, Arkansas. We would spend vacations there since my teens  and even now when I go back, I always feel like I bring a little bit of the South home with me…

It has been amazing to fill my kitchen with the smells of my childhood. I do not cook like this often. George is from the Midwest and does not have the affinity for bacon grease, butter, mayonnaise, and fried foods that I do. (Do not even ask me about the fat content in this meal-I will not answer you!) I have to tell you that the hardest part of putting together this menu was deciding what NOT to make. There are so many Southern dishes that I adore and I feel represent the cuisine-how could I leave out collard greens with pot-likker, macaroni and cheese, my grits casserole, coconut cake or cornbread and pintos? But the dishes before you are the dishes we usually ate at picnics and pot-lucks. While I know that I have taken some liberties with the ingredients (let me tell you that Grandma Hughes would have never put BOURBON, let alone chocolate in her pecan pie), I think that the flavors come through cleaner and fresher. But there are some recipes in which you just cannot mess with perfection, hence Aunt Virginia’s Deviled Eggs.  We were of meager means growing up but I would have never known it as we ate like kings. I was thinking that with recycling being all the rage, I feel like I am doing my part as these recipes have been used over and over and over again. This is truly a “green” meal!

 I am so proud to share my family treasures with “y’all”-(that was for effect. I have deep appreciation for the correct enunciation of the English language!)

From My family to Yours,

Blessings and Enjoy!

P.S

Just in case you are not familiar with the peanut and Coke thing-it is an appetizer or a dessert-you decide! Take a swig of the soda and then empty your packet of peanuts into the bottle and enjoy. Every time I have this I feel like I am 10 years old and on the lake!