I declare I am getting senile

I titled my last entry "Squishy Squash" and plum forgot to put anything in there about squash. I am not old enough to be senile and not blond enough to be called ditsy, so I have no excuse.

My intention was to talk the other "southern" favorite. My hips are a testament to the fact that I have the southern fried food affinity affliction. I love my fried squash but, like my aversion to boiled okra, I can not stand it stewed.

I love to add squash to bread recipes though. I had thought I might use your okra bread recipe Miss Etta and try substituting some squash.

I like to take that jiffy mix cornbread mix and fry it up like a pancake. Add a bit of sugar to the batter and it is absolutely delicious. Fry it up and you have the two weight-devils in one batch for a good breakfast. I used to slather it with butter and syrup but all those years of fried foods, sweets and sugar laden desserts now keep me from the sin of butter sadly.

When I am old I will wear purple and I will eat all the fried foods, desserts and breads covered in butter that I want. Until then, I diet and abstain.

I'm off for good this time!
Miss Faye

Squishy Squash

Miss Etta that okra bread sound interesting so I think I may just skitter round to the local food store and buy all the fixings. It might be good with some corn tossed into the mix, too. I never have been one to leave well enough alone, although I prefer to think of it as adding my own touch to every little thing. As they say, I make it my own.

With this crazy weather I don't know if I should be making chili or eating watermelon. Only in Georgia can you find weather that can't make up its mind from day to day.

And yes, Miz Vul, although you have come new to our little front porch, you are missed already when you don't add your two cents worth to our discussions. Looking for a yoga dvd is not excuse enough to ignore us unless you happen to get tied up in some knot while doing one of those crazy contortions. Just how does it make you relax to twist a leg behind your neck? I tried some classes and I kept falling over. The only animal that should practice standing with one leg in the air is a dog.

I am short on time but did want to at least say hello. I will try to catch up later this evening if life permits.

Miss Faye

Old Enough to Be Young

My, my. My face is turning red as yours should be, Miss Faye. Just know that I'm too young to be this old.

I recall when I was a child that my sister was only one year older than me. Apparently time passed by more quickly for her than for me because she has a child who is old enough to make her a grandma. Me? I'm much too young for any of that nonsense. I even told her so recently, too.

Speaking of age, one time my youngins asked me what it was like living with the dinosaurs. I told them they shouldn't call their father names! Hmmmmmppppphhhhhhh.

Okra Bread is so simple to make, although I'm not sure if I should share the recipe with you, after asking me a question that no polite southern gal would ask anyone Lawd, next you'll be trying to figure a way to get me to say it by asking who was the first president I voted for. Just know, it was a one term winner. Ok-- here it goes... Take another sip of Julep Juice and sit down so you don't miss it. I'm, oh, about...

Okra Bread

1 c. chopped fresh okra

1 c. chopped onions

2 eggs
1 c. chopped fresh tomatoes (or one can of tomatoes, drained)
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix above ingredients until it sticks together with muffin mix. Pour into greased pan. Dot with butter and bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until brown.

Talk to you later. I've got to stop and have some more Julep Juice.

Miss Etta

Snow Jam and Okra Bread

Goodness, ladies! Can't a good old (do not snicker) Southern gal take time to watch the weather forecast? And for the sake of our friendship, leave okra alone!! I adore okra. Most anyway I can find it. Boiled, fried, soup, cake, and my favorite, Okra Bread. Ah, the memories of it just warms the cockles of my heart.

Now that I've got that off my mind, let me talk about my day. I've been so busy just wondering if we're gonna have another Snow Jam in Atlanta. It's been so many years since we've had a really big snow jam. Why, I remember back in the early 1980s that we had them on a fairly regular basis. If I recall correctly, it also seems like they were usually around Martin Luther King Holiday. And it seems as if all our really bad snowstorms come from Bama.

Why, I remember when I was working just north of downtown Atlanta when the telephone rang at the office back in '82. One of the girl's husbands, who was an attorney, said his Birmingham office called and said get out of Atlanta. Snow is a coming. And, boy did it come. I was stuck at the office for two days. Couldn't get my car out of the parking lot.

Now I had a miniature poodle named Killer. Before you laugh too hard, my daddy said if I had to have a sissy looking dog, I couldn't give it a sissy name. So, the dog was named Killer. He was most definitely a "lady killer." Of course, he was great at nipping my dates too. Let me get back to my story before I tell you some really hilarious things that Killer did.

Anyway, I was living in a townhouse in Doraville. I called the manager of the complex and asked them to check on little Killer, seeing how I couldn't get there to take care of him. The manager called me back shortly at the office and told me Killer was just fine. He, in fact, had bitten her when she went in to feed him and take him for a walk. She didn't complain though, because poor little Killer was up to his kneecaps in extremely cold water. Yep, while I was at work for that long period of time, my water pipes broke. Actually broke in 16 places. And, yes, there was a ton of water in the townhouse. They shut off my water and went ahead and got someone in to take care of some of the damage before I could get home.

So, you see, I learned another valuable lesson from a dog. They are great indicators to use when water pipes break. If water gets up to their kneecaps, have someone turn off the water and call a plumber. Of course, now I have a much bigger dog so his kneecaps are much further off the floor. Find it cuts down on having to call the plumber, don't you know.

I'm ready for Snow Jam '08. I just baked a cake and went to the store to buy carbs. Who knows, if the power goes, I'll need the extra carbs to stay warm. And if the power doesn't go off, well, I just can't let that food go to waste now, can I.

Miss Etta

Chocolate On My Mind

Hey Miss Faye,

Glad you gave the chirpers a listen. Hope you listened to the slowed-down version 'cause it's amazing how much their slowed-down version sounds like humans making beautiful music. Makes me wonder how much better we might all sound if we slowed down just a smidgeon, you know what I mean? Hope all that cricket music didn't make you have to bring out the calamine lotion last night.

So you don't like to feed one breathing thing to another, eh? Sure do wish more people felt the way you do - especially when it comes to breathing human beings. Non-breathing humans, too, for that matter, tho' I've found that as a rule, folks are much kinder to dead folks. It's also interesting the transformation that takes place when somebody dies. But we'll save that for another day's posting.

I'm with you on the boiled okra. Blechdkdt. It may taste fine, but the texture is what keeps me from partaking. And I don't really see how anybody could tell how it tastes cause it's so slippery it likely slides right on down without waking up the taste buds.

I am what's known as a picky eater, and now I'm old enough my mama can't make me eat anything regardless of the condition of those poor hungry children in China. And I don't have to hide things under the sofa either, thank goodness, cause now I am the one that has to sweep out from under the sofa.

As for dunking things in chocolate, yum yum. I'll coat most anything with chocolate and call it good. Reminds me of the Christmas I bought a jar of chocolate and a coupla paint brushes for my father-in-law and his new bride. (She was That Kind of Woman, dontchaknow.) (And he sure didn't seem to mind. Not one bit.) Well, I ordered it out of a catalog, and as usual, I did my shopping early and stuck the presents in the closet as they came in. Then, when it came time to wrap presents, I couldn't find that chocolate anywhere.

I did eventually find it, though.

When my 15-year old teenage nephew boy opened his present (ordered from the same catalog), out rolled that chocolate followed shortly by the his 'n hers paintbrushes.

Nephew boy was mightily disappointed to find that it wasn't his, I tell you what.

Think I'll go see if I can find that Little Debbie chocolate thing I hid for just such a day as this.

Miss Etta, you doin' okay?

Till next time, Miz Vul

Boiled Okra and Fried Crickets

Well, Jimminy Cricket Miz Vul! I had to go out and listen to those crickets you told us about in your journal entry. I could not believe that the beautiful sounds could be those noisy little pests. It just goes to show you that there is good in everything.

Except I do have to wonder, like you, just how much time those people had who put all that together.

I listened to that and now I know I will be dreaming of crickets tonight. I saw there was a full one hour version of those crickets making music. I started itching while listening to the short version. My Mama always told me I had much too much of an imagination. Once I knew it was crickets I might be able to appreciate how beautiful they sounded but I could not help but think of those jumping little creatures trapped in a jar waiting to become fish bait!

Now Miss Etta may already know that I don't like to fish and I don't like taking God's creatures and feeding them to another. I'm never quite sure how much Miss Etta has learned about me as we share our thoughts in these journals!

While I might not like the idea of feeding crickets to fish, if I were hungry enough I suppose I'd be soon figuring out how to put them on a fish hook.

Do you know that in some places they put chocolate on crickets and eat them? At least I have been told that before. I have seen boxes of chocolate covered ants but haven't had the displeasure of seeing crunchy cricket delight yet.

In case you were wondering, it is not on my list of things I have to see before I die.

Have you ever thought about who in the world figured out that some foods were OK to eat? Who decided to boil okra? Who was brave enough to eat it first? I dearly love my fried okra but I have yet to acquire a taste for boiled okra. I like it well enough in a soup as long as there are plenty of other vegetables in there with it. Mix it up with some tomatoes and put it on top of rice and I am in my own little food heaven! Yet I will not eat it plain boiled.

Miss Etta I almost forgot! I surely did laugh so hard when I read your cousins saying about first babies! There are a lot of half-baked babies running around in this world today.

I'll be talking with you soon,
Miss Faye