Archive for October, 2009

October 7th, 2009

Sonny’s Diner

by Dena

RVW 011As soon as I walked into Sonny’s Diner, I overheard another patron say, “this chicken and spaghetti is so good, it’ll make you slap your mama!”  That pretty much sums up the entire experience of eating at Sonny’s.   It has that classic home-cookin that takes you right back to your mama’s table.  (Though God knows if I ever actually had slapped my mother, my sister would be running this site solo as I could not run it from my grave!)

The food is reason alone to go to Sonny’s. Open only at lunch on weekdays, you have a plate lunch waiting for you that is homemade and hot.  Chicken fried steak is offered each day, along with a variety of other lunch specials.  But as far as I’m concerned chicken fried steak is pretty much always a good decision.  Just listen to the words:  chicken, fried, and steak.  It should be its own food group.  But I digress.

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As wonderful as chicken fried steak sounded, I decided to try their meatloaf.  I was sure my husband would get something different as he always does so we have more food to sample, but of course to when I am trying to write a restaurant article he gets the exact same thing.     Sometimes he’s a tad oppositional.  But as always the food was right on in it’s delicious homemade flavor.  Just posting these pics makes me hungry again!

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Another reason I love to go to Sonny’s is the history of the building. It is located in one of the old ice houses. People in Texas sometimes refer to an ice-house as a place that serves cold beer or what our daddy likes to call a “beer joint”. However, this was an actual building that was used to store ice back during the times when not everyone had readily available access to refrigeration.   As you can see from the pictures, the old doors add an interesting architectural element to the decor, and add a bit of nostalgia from a time long gone in Texas history.

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This small windows outside the building are where people could pay a quarter for a large block of ice.

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The main reason I adore Sonny’s? It doesn’t matter if you have been there one time or a hundred times, Nelwyn knows exactly who you are,  and probably knows your order before you do.   She has been in the restaurant business for over 25 years, and Sonny’s has been in this location for a little over three years.

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It’s always a treat to go to Sonny’s and today was no different. If you are ever in northeast Texas and want directions, e-mail me and I will gladly let you know the way.

CategoryOut of the frying pan | Comment4 Comments »

October 5th, 2009

Lottie Faye

by LanaJoy

I can’t even remember the first time I actually met Lottie Faye.  She is the grandmother of Shelia who has been my best friend since the age of 12, and that’s going on 20 years now so you can do the math there I guess.  Everybody who knows her refers to her as Mamaw, and she has that kind of sweet grandmotherly spirit you expect in a Mamaw.  She’s always there to offer you advice (sometimes even when you don’t want to hear it), and even though she is now well into her 80’s, she loves to help her granddaughters cook a good family meal when she can.  I have been lucky enough to have a few of these and I can tell you it’s always a treat.   At the end of this post I will even share one of her best recipes with y’all!

Lottie Faye remembers being a young woman during the depression, and she spoke very earnestly about how hard it was for everybody growing up during those times.  She grew up on a 60 acre cotton farm in Arkansas where she and her 5 siblings worked hard with their parents to provide for their family.   She describes in vivid detail how she milked cows, killed chickens, and ate almost every thing off of a wood burning stove, which she swears made everything taste better.   Lottie Faye said she first remembers her mother trying to teach her to cook around the age of 12, starting off with biscuits.  According to Lottie, “they were a FLOP.”  Never one to be deterred, she kept at, honing the skills that would one day feed her children and grandchildren.  She speaks fondly of her siblings, and remembers collecting something called “possum grapes,” with her brothers.  ( No idea what they are, as Mama says you may have to Google it).  She would take these possum grapes, and along with sugar and water, she would mash them up and then let them ferment in hidden jars in the barn.  Then she and her siblings would sneak out and have a little possum grape wine.   Apparently her parents never knew of this little detail, and you can see Lottie still has a devious little laugh about it, even after all these years.

Lottie Faye in her twenties.

Lottie Faye in her twenties.

Around the age of 18, Lottie’s father passed away, and her mother was left alone to finish raising the children.  It was a hardship on everyone, but Lottie made her contribution by working at the phone company.  Around the age of 23, she met a man named Milton on a blind date.  Lottie remembers that she wore a very brightly colored pants suit to the date, and Milton commented the he didn’t care for it at all.  Now normally this would seem like something that would run a girl off, but Lottie Faye herself has a very tell it like it is personality herself, and I think she must have appreciated it because a year later they were married. (To demonstrate how blunt Lottie can be, she once told me, “Joy, your hair is almost back to a natural color, I’m really happy for you.”)

Soon after getting married, Lottie Faye and Milton added two boys to their family, Rodney and Tony.  Over the years the boys grew up and had families of their own, and so Lottie Faye was christened Mamaw, which she would be called frequently for the rest of her days.    She raised her children and helped care for her grandchildren with the same no-nonsense style that she still speaks with even now.  I remember Shelia saying on more than one occasion that
Mamaw had to discipline her and sister Nicole after one of their rowdy childhood battles with each other (some of which were epic, to this I can attest.)  In the late 1990’s Lottie lost her beloved Milton, and in 2006, she endured the loss of her son Tony.   She still talks about both of them in the present tense at times, and it’s plain to see that though she has persevered, and seems to be enjoying her life in Central Arkansas these days, those men are never far from her heart and mind.

Lottie Faye today.

Lottie Faye today.

And now, without further ado, here is one of her best recipes.  It is the most requested from her family, and I feel very privileged to be able to share it with you all.

Chicken and Dumplings

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 can of cream of chicken soup
  • 1 can of chunky chicken soup or a can of chicken spread
  • 4 cups of all purpose flour

Boil the chicken until it is cooked through and tender.  Add salt and paper (to taste) to the water that the chicken is boiling in.  Take the chicken out to cool, and reserve 2 cups of the broth and set aside.  To the remaining water in the pot, add cream of chicken soup, the chunky soup or spread, and at this point you will want to add enough water so that it is the consistency of stock that you want to boil your dumplings in.   This may be a little thicker or thinner for everybody.  Let this simmer on a low heat while you make your dumplings.

For the dumplings, you will take the reserved broth (after it has cooled to at least room temperature) and add the two eggs and mix together until well blended.   Slowly add the broth mixture to the 4 cups of flour until it is “about right” for dumplings.  Roll the dough out flat  onto a floured surface (you will probably want to split the dough in half to make it easier to work with).   Mamaw likes her to be rolled thin and cut into small strips, but again you can make this somewhat to you own liking, but make sure you cook them accordingly.   Drop the dumplings in as you cut them, now turning up the heat so you can cook the dough (don’t overcook them or they will get too mushy she says).  Add your de-boned and de-skinned chicken to the pot, and again add salt and pepper at this stage if you feel it needs more.

CategoryWell Seasoned | Comment4 Comments »

October 4th, 2009

Tater Man

by LanaJoy

Now that Mama is getting used to the idea of being an international superstar on a food blog (ok that may be an exaggeration but I can dream!), she has started making notes about stories she wants to make sure we tell.  One such story is that of the tater man.

I can remember being a little girl and sweet potatoes being a major staple in our diet.  Mama knows a million ways to make them, but one of my favorites was always when she would just bake them, and then slice them open and top them off with butter and brown sugar.  Totally simple but always amazing.  As a child I went on a million shopping excursions with her and she asked me today if I remembered going to get sweet potatoes with her from a little old man in the College Hill area of Texarkana.  I told her I didn’t recall, but was curious to hear about it nevertheless.

She said for about 5 years in 1980’s there was an older man who rented out a little building down from a laundry mat.  It didn’t even have electricity, but that was ok because he usually just put all of his fruits and veggies out front.  She said she loved to go there because from the late summer to fall he always had a good selection of stuff, but among others, he had the best sweet potatoes.  Every year she would go and get sweet potatoes and shoot the breeze with the man.  He told her how, during the Depression his family was poor along with everyone else’s  but his daddy was able to grow sweet potatoes really well.  This led to the incorporation of sweet potatoes into everything from biscuits to cornbread to pancakes, and even soups and stews.  Rarely did they ever have meat, and they were so hungry and poor, sweet potatoes had to become the main ingredient in much of their diet.

Around the 4th year of her visiting him, she went one day and there was a sign on the door that said “ill”.  He didn’t return to sell anything else that season, and it wasn’t until the next season when his crops came in that he returned.  That year Mama said he had grown the best sweet potatoes she had ever had.  One day, later in his selling season, Mama asked him what his favorite sweet potato dish was, and he told her to be honest he “hated the damn things.” In case you can’t tell, Mama is a talker and has a Barbara Walters-esque ability to make people tell her everything.  But then the old man paused and he told mama there were two ways he like them, but nobody ever made them.  The first was fried sweet potato pie, and second is sweet potato cobbler.  Mama (much like myself) never met a cobbler she didn’t like, and asked the man how his mother had prepared it.  He gave her a vague outline, and told her how he hadn’t really known anybody besides his mama who had ever known how to make it.  Then he told Mama that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and the doctors had told him it didn’t look good.  Mama made her purchases and went on her way, but she was armed with an idea.

She went home and in the way that only she can, she figured out the sweet potato cobbler recipe, and made one for the old man.  The next day, she drove to town, stopped by the Piggly Wiggly to get some whipped topping, and took the cobbler to the tater man.  When she arrived and presented it to him, he immediately took a bite, and then he began to cry.   He was so moved by the gesture and how it reminded him of his mother he wouldn’t let Mama leave without a bushel of sweet potatoes.   That was the last time she ever saw him; a few days after she gave him the cobbler he stopped showing up, presumably due to his battle with cancer.  She never did know his name and always referred to him as “tater man” due to the little paste board sign in front of his shop that simply said taters on it.  I was totally moved by this story and I am very pleased to share with you the recipe for sweet potato cobbler.

Sweet Potato Cobbler

  • 4 large sweet potatoes
  • 1 1/2 C. of light brown sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp of vanilla
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 2 pie crusts (you can use the frozen kind from the grocery store)

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1/2 inch thick round slices.  Spray a large cookie sheet with non-stick spray and spread the potatoes out and bake on 350 until they are about 3/4 of the way done.  Unroll one of the pie crusts and lay it into a 13×9 inch baking dish. poke a few holes in it with a fork and then bake it for about 10 minutes on 300.  Remove the crust and layer the potatoes on top.  you may have to cut the potatoes up more, and you can put them up the sides if you need to.   In a small saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla together until the sugar is well melted into the butter.  Pour this mixture over the potatoes, then place the other pie crust on the top.  Again, make sure to poke holes in the crust, and place it back in the over at 350 til the crust is golden brown.

CategoryUncategorized | Comment2 Comments »

October 3rd, 2009

Erma and Crew.

by Dena

I’m blessed to work with people who love to give gifts for Christmas. Sometimes my haul at work is more than I get from Santa. One of my most memorable gifts was a jar of homemade peach preserves from my friend Erma.   These were so delicious that I had to take the jar home to Mom and Dad for them to try.  Now one thing you should know is that Mom’s favorite fruit is peaches.  This will help explain the later shenanigans in this story.  Now fresh peach preserves are not easy to come by around here. My mother took one taste had suddenly had the crazy eye. She took the jelly and wouldn’t give it back. She was obsessed with it. She hid it from everyone. This may sound like an exaggeration but it’s totally true.  She was bent on not sharing a bit of it. especially with Dad.   My dad apparently doesn’t have taste buds and just eats whatever he can get his hands on until he’s full.  He will just take jelly or some other condiment and smear it on a cracker, with no concern at all for trying to ration out portions, etc.  He eats for sustenance.  He has even eaten cat treats unknowingly on more than one occasion simply trying to satisfy hunger.  So of course she was afraid he would get into it and there would be no more preserves.

Now flash forward a few days later to me being told I have a call in the office.  It’s Mom, frantic on the other end, “I heard a noise in the night. I knew as soon as I heard it what it was. It was the sound of a knife scraping the bottom of a glass jar. My preserves are gone!”    Somehow, despite her best efforts of hiding it, Dad had clearly found it, and the rest as they say is history.  To this day 15 years later, Mom has never forgotten that incident and if  you so much as mention the word peach we have to relive it once again.

So how exactly did Erma learn  to make jelly that warranted a frantic phone call??  Making jelly is a skill that was passed down to her from her mother and grandmother. The families lived close together in rural Texas.  Making their own jellies and preserves was something that the family did regularly, like many families did at the time.  Not wanting that tradition to stop,  Erma has passed this finely honed skill down to her daughter, and now granddaughters. In fact, it has become a thriving family business.

RVW 020 Her granddaughter Ally and her daughter, Carla, began making jelly from the fruit in their garden as a fundraiser so Ally could travel to Europe with the  Arkansas Ambassador Concert Band in the summer of 2009.  They sold jelly at festivals, fairs, and by word of mouth.
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Here is Ally with her signature ally-peno jelly behind her. She also had fig, muscadine, pear and peach.   The business was so successful that they have been approached to produce for a grocery store chain.
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Her grandma, Erma, behind her. She was being a little camera shy.
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This particular flavor is such a treat. My favorite way to eat this is to pour it over a block of cream cheese and serve it with crackers. It dresses up a holiday table in the cutest way.
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And now, directly from Erma to you is her much touted preserves, guaranteed to start a decades long argument in your family as well when not shared properly!

Peach Preserves
  • 5 pints of fresh peaches (sliced)
  • 8 cups of sugar (no wonder mom likes it)
Sprinkle the sugar over the peaches and let it sit till the juices is about half way over them. Cook over med. heat until they are thick. Stir often because they will burn easily. Put in jars and hot water bath for 15 minutes.
Jelly, jam, and preserves are common in any grocery store. If you have never had a jar from fresh fruit and skilled hands, you are missing out on a superb treat.

CategoryOut of the frying pan, Well Seasoned | Comment5 Comments »

October 2nd, 2009

Patsy

by Dena

Patsy has always credited her mother as one of the greatest influences of her life. She was the baby of the family of twelve children and learned at an early age the ethics of hard work.  This has taken her through nursing school, raising five children, and now owning a  cattle ranch in Texas with her husband. Her grandmother came from the Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma, something that is evident when you meet her. RVW 130a

Patsy has a heart for nature and animals that I haven’t seen in anyone other than my mother. Patsy will stay up all night to help deliver a calf, kittens or puppies.  Her connection to animals and nature is uncanny. I would say it is the Indian heritage but we have the same background and I can’t deliver the mail from the mailbox to the kitchen counter all in one piece.

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RVW 124aI asked how she remembers meals in a home where there so many children. She said that favorite memory of her mother’s cooking is the Sunday dinner. Her mother would have one of the older kids kill a chicken and clean it. (this only reinforces my theory that the oldest kids are basically slaves) She would then double batter it, which means flouring it, dipping it in an egg and milk mixture, and then flouring it again before frying it.  The part I like in the recipe? Season to taste. To top off the meal would be mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy. Do I have to mention that the gravy was not from a package or the potatoes were the ones she peeled and mashed by hand?

Patsy knows that the best way to bring people together is food. She is active her neighboring church where she has organized many dinners, birthday parties, ladies Christmas parties, and even a caroling with hot cocoa. She always ensures that there is something for everyone.  Although well known for her sugar free desserts, she has a natural affinity for cooking and everything comes out with an amazing taste. While she prepares dishes of all types, both old style and modern day, these are some that I associate with her.
Hot Water Corn Bread
  • 5 c. Cornmeal
  • 2 c. flour
  • 1 c. sugar
  • hot water
  • peanut oil

Combine the cornmeal, flour, and sugar; add just enough hot water to mix well. to a paste.  Make small round balls, then roll them out lengthwise. Drop them into the heated oil. Fry to desired crispness.

These are the recipes that are hard for me. To a paste? I give up and get some Jiffy.Gina left a note that said she remembers her mother saying, “Stir it til it feels right.” That is the kind of cooking that we are looking for here.

CategoryOut of the frying pan, Well Seasoned | Comment4 Comments »

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