come have a mess of greens!

hey friends....
i'm working on a new blog as a shrine to southern food and hospitality and wanted to share it with you... i'd love to know your favorite recipes or southern eateries so i can keep exploring, trying, and sharing!

it's still VERY MUCH in the works, and when work starts back things will be wild again, but the two things i do every single day is cook and eat, so i have a feeling this one might get updated more regularly...

xoxoxo

the hog coming down the snake...

it's been a really busy few weeks,  folks. we went up to NC to see boone's family for Easter, Boone started his new job (!), i've been wrapping up the year with my teachers, and then we went BACK to NC for a wedding last weekend. on top of these things we adopted a stray kitten and have been wringing our hands about the mississippi river and all it's tributaries that have been and will be flooding for the next month or two.

on the news this morning the today show talked about the flooding in cairo, talked a little about memphis, then jumped straight down to baton rouge and new orleans, completely skipping over tunica, greenville/lake village, and vicksburg, all of which will likely be hit hard by the flooding. just like in 1927 and 1937.

we're going to be safe, i think...although IF (big if) the yazoo river levee's breached, we may be in some trouble. like, serious trouble. maybe i'm putting too much faith in the levee board, but i believe them when they say that things are looking ok on the eastern side of the delta. the cassidy bayou in front of our house looks full, but not it's flooding, so i don't think we need to evacuate. 

but what about all the people with homes and jobs and lives even closer to the river? they're DEFINITELY going to be affected...plus the economic impact of this flood will likely further cripple mississippi, and none of the national news people are even talking about it.... none but NPR and the NYT. bless you for taking the threat to the mississippi delta seriously, public radio and hoity toity newspapers.

 

how are things actually going for the delta? 

The most accurate and up to date information i could find was at the delta council's website. friends, as of yesterday it didn't look good. memphis is cresting, but even that amount of water is more than will reach greenville and vicksburg. Our eloquent governor called the waters, "the hog coming down the snake" which, although oddly worded, is a pretty accurate piece of imagery. what about rosedale? friar's point? rolling fork? and the other teeny little towns that touch the levee?

if you love the delta like i do, cross your fingers, say your prayers, and get ready to support the Red Cross as the waters rise over the next few weeks. i think we'll ultimately still have a mississippi delta at the end of all of this, but lots of families close to the river are in trouble, and they'll need lots of help.

i thought you might want to see some photos from the 1927 flood in the delta, just to help you picture the worst case scenario. we're hoping for the BEST case scenario, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

all my love... and please keep the delta in your thoughts. and if you want to know more about the earlier floods, read rising tide.

superhero sweet potatoes!

one of my all-time favorite foods is the sweet potato...when i start talking about all the ways i love to eat them i sound like bubba from forrest gump talking about shrimp. in fact, my first year in graduate school i made a new friend, craig, who had just moved to the south. somehow, somewhere he also discovered the excellence of sweet potatoes and so, for his birthday that year i made a sweet potato feast... sweet potato fries, brazilian stew, casserole with marshmallows, and a sweet potato, spinach and g nut and special sauce dish were all on the menu.

anyway, i was playing around on the interweb today while boone and his folks watched football and found this fantastically exciting article. did you know that my favorite starch is being used to battle malnutrition in mozambique and other african nations. another thing to be thankful for!

there are a few other s-p related articles out there today...want to learn more? click here, or here.

oh...and here's another thing i want to share... an old friend's semi-new investment...a sweet potato butter business. want to try some? read about it here and buy it here.

images here and here.

it's true....

so,  i mentioned that i've been super into sexy vampire books recently...is this incredibly mortifying for me? yes. did it stop me from proclaiming it on the interweb? no.

what i didn't mention was that the sexy vampire tv show, trueblood is what got me into the sexy vampire books on which the show is based. sure, i have to close my eyes at the really raunchy parts and the awful southern accents make me cringe but for some reason i just CAN'T get enough of this show. this isn't the first awful tv show i've fallen head-over-heels for. one february it was smallville, then gilmore girls, then it was NCIS. now, trueblood. anyway, since stores have started selling halloween costumes and trick-or-treat bags i thought i'd share some set photos from my fave new guilty pleasure  because i really love the way the sets look AND because trueblood is really addictive. don't take my word for it...rent the DVDs and see for yourself. and lust after the sets...or just lust. whatev.

bill's house

inside bill's house (so fab, right?)

sookie's kitchen..i love the light!

the vampire bar. too much blood red? nah.

oh mpb...

i've been in chicago this week for a conference which explains my interweb absence and returned to find that mississippi public broadcasting CANCELED the npr program Fresh Air this week. canceled it. not because they don't have the funds to pay for it--although maybe they don't-- but because it has "inappropriate" sexual content. seriously mbp? really? i wrote them this scathing letter this morning... feel free to ignore what follows, OR better yet, write them yourself and tell them what you think!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Good Morning,
I'm a dedicated local listener to MPB because you provide programming that is insightful, engaging, and reflective. I've lived all over the state and there have been many years when I haven't had cable because MPB has exceeded my media needs! I remember sitting by the radio and listening to MPB for news of Hurricane Katrina since I had just moved to the Delta and hadn't heard from my family in for days. I've always been thankful that MPB was willing to provide programs that offered insight into news stories that went BEYOND sound bites and really uncovered meaning and purpose in current events when other news outlets fall short. I've often invited people over to listen to new This American Life programs and forwarded podcasts of the Gesalt Gardener when I've found the tips to be helpful or the conversation especially clever.
It is because I love MBP and rely on you for my news and insight that I am incredibly saddened and disappointed that you have canceled one of my favorite programs. Terri Gross is one of the most accomplished interviewers in our country. Because she prepares so fully for her interviews and allots more time to interviews than most programs she is able to extract a particular level of vulnerability and honesty from her guests that others cannot. Additionally, she interviews an incredibly broad swath of guests...I have heard her get Rainn Wilson of The Office to share stories of high school hijinx, Puff Daddy (Sean Combs) confess personal details about his family life and relationships, and world renown scientists discuss their discoveries and personal heroes. What is interesting to me is that she interviews EVERY single guest with the same level of depth and exceptional background knowledge. When she speaks to Puff Daddy and other hip hop artists, she somehow knows more about their accomplishments and personal motivations than they do... and the same is true for statesmen, diplomats, professors, and even obscure comedians, sculptors, and indie musicians. Terri Gross offers one of the most interesting and diverse programs of anyone in the media and so I wholeheartedly disagree with the comment published by MPB that,
"Mississippi Public Broadcasting strives to deliver educational, informative, and meaningful content to its listeners. After careful consideration and review we have determined that Fresh Air does not meet this goal over time. Too often Fresh Air’s interviews include gratuitous discussions on issues of an explicit sexual nature. We believe that most of these discussions do not contribute to or meaningfully enhance serious-minded public discourse on sexual issues."
Not only is the station incorrect about it's appraisal of Terri Gross's program (not being educational, meaningful, and informative) but I also believe that it is important for adults to decide what does and does not "meaningfully enhance serious-minded public discourse on sexual issues." I am certain that Fresh Air has never offered lewd or lascivious content and although at times sex is discussed in terms that do stray from clinical definitions, it should be for individual listeners to decide whether or not they would like to continue to listen to it or not. This does not happen when you censor the program from the airwaves of my entire home state. It seems that by removing Fresh Air you are not offering us the opportunity to decide for ourselves, and thus it appears you believe we are either too simple to understand complexity and nuance, or too ignorant to know to change the channel if something offends our personal sensibilities. This is not the case as I am sure you are aware, but your decision suggests that this is MPB's opinion of us.
I was thinking of another way to address the concerns brought by the person who heard FreshAir on MPB's "hold" so that everyone can breathe easier. I would suggest that you remove the program from the "hold" que. Certainly someone on hold has no choice but to listen to what is provided, so he or she did not have the opportunity to change the station...but by removing it from the airwaves, everyone else in our state who enjoys and learns from Ms. Gross suffers. This seemingly rash decision has made me reconsider supporting MPB in the future. In fact, I have an ipod, and have a great deal of driving to do across the state for my job. If MPB is unwilling to share insightful, witty, and interesting programs then I will instead download NPR podcasts directly and forgo the companionship of my old radio friend. I fear that there are many other people in Mississippi like me and that the removal of this program may prove to be a poor decision that will cost you listeners and support. I do not wish this, but fear it, and urge you to reconsider your hasty and unfortunate decision.
Sincerely, me

i love oxford american...

not only does oxford american publish a rad southern music issue every year with my fave artists, but it used to be located in our new (temporary) little town, and next weekend they are hosting a pretty fun party in the Delta next weekend. On top of all of this, they've published one of my friend's short stories!

Matthew Neill Null (Matt to me) was a college friend who tested the waters of TFA in the Delta my second year here, then decided the passion in his heart of hearts wasn't teaching, but writing. Now, after three years at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop (where Flannery O'Connor studied and Marilynne Robinson teaches) a story of his about life in Appalachia has been published in an actual magazine with actual subscribers!!! I picked up a copy of OA at off-square books yesterday and am crazily impressed and proud of him. Order a copy here.

lazy sunday.

so we're settled into our temporary little house in oxford, miss. it's so cute and in the absolutely perfect spot just moments from downtown...best of all, we're housesitting for a dear family friend, which means we get to live here for a whole month RENT FREE, (hooray!)

i really love sundays, and while most sunday mornings we're in church, we don't have one yet so yesterday we went exploring our new little town... we had breakfast at bottletree bakery, browsed the discounted cook-books and southern fiction sections at off-square books, then used the interweb at a coffeeshop down the street from our house. we made pizza for dinner and watched a movie (on HBO in HD on the house's GIANT tv). what a perfect sunday.

photos 1& 2 from caroline+lee and 3 & 4 from oh it's amanda