Monthly Archives: February 2009

Furniture

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Bedroom furnitureWhenever we’re someplace where there’s a furniture store and we’ve got a few minutes to kill — which happens maybe every other year or so — my husband and I go in and wander around and  pick out things we both like for when we (hope to) get a new house together and start from scratch. Right now we’re in the house I bought with my ex-husband years ago and raised my two daughters in as a single mom. It has a definite girly vibe with ex leftovers. My Sofehusband is a good sport and says he doesn’t mind for now but it’ll be good to have our own house together with our own things together. So on a recent weekend visit to Nashville, Tennessee, we did some furniture “shopping” and as always, I was surprised by some of my husband’s picks. For instance, I would have thought he’d dismiss this bedding set as too shiny, but he liked the sophisticated sleekness of it, I think. Sort of upscale hotel meets big-city loft — or at least what my small-Alabama-town imagination thinks that marriage would look like! He also approved of this white sofa with the blue and black pillows. Again, he said he was drawn by the simple yet substantial lines and peacefully quiet colors. Of course, my maternal inner housewife thinks, “White? Are you kidding?” And I’m thinking of myself here, since I can’t eat or drink anything without making a mess. I guess I’d have to sit on the floor. Or switch to white wine.

Food

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Fried okraAm I the last person to find out about fried okra? I’m not talking about the okra your mama slices and sprinkles with cornmeal or flour and fries in an ancient cast-iron skillet. That’s what “fried okra” always meant to me — up until this week, that is. Because now when I think about fried okra, I’ve got a completely different picture: Whole okra pods fried to light and crunchy S'moresdeliciousness and sprinkled with a bit of salt. I’d had fried green beans before and was sort of underwhelmed, but I promise you, fried okra is incredibly tasty and addictive. I found them at a Fresh Market produce section and because I’m a junk-food connoisseur and cannot resist anything new — Oil! Salt! Crispy goodness! — I had to try them. And am I glad I did. Everyone I’ve shared with loves them, too. There’s a hint of okra’s signature “slimy” taste and a definite sort of fresh-from-the-garden flavor that reminds you you’re eating vegetables. And vegetables are good for you. Okay, these are fried vegetables. But still.

On the other hand, learn from my mistake and ignore this new product at Target: S’mores Tortilla Chips. You would think that chocolate and marshmallow and tortilla chips would be a great combination — well, I did, anyway — but they are not. Somehow, the usually rich and sassy combination of sweet and salty flavors did not work here. Instead what you got was something akin to the fancy candy bar you picked up on impulse from the clearance rack right before you got to the cash register and then when you got home you realized the expiration date was 2002. But you bit into it anyway. And were very, very sorry.

Food and More

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Mexican foodI don’t care what you say — I think this is a balanced meal. Look, Mexican foodyou’ve got your dairy (cheese dip) and your grains (tortilla chips). Hot peppers are full of nutritional stuff, and didn’t I read somewhere that beer is pretty much almost nearly just as good for you as red wine? And of course, you can never have too much salsa. This is an example of the weekly date night my husband and I cling to no matter what else is going on. But not just any Mexican restaurant will do. We head to a specific one that we’ve gone to for years. In fact, the waiters don’t even ask us what we want anymore — they’ve practically got it on the table as soon as we sit down.  My husband pours the beers and squeezes the limes and always makes sure I get the coldest mug as we munch chips and dip. Sometimes we order actual food. Sometimes not. But we always have a good time.

Random thought  — Welcome back, Tiger Woods. Hope your knee is better.

Blog recommendation — For a different take on Lent, visit today’s post at A Day That Is Dessert , http://www.leciawphinney.com/. Lecia passes on a wonderful Lent idea from her pastor. Don’t miss it.

Consignment Store

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Name that store! Here is your chance to have a hand in a new business opening up in Sheffield, Alabama — and your chance to help a friend of mine. My talented and creative friend Susan and her talented and creative daughter-in-law, Freda, are opening a furniture and home-decor consignment shop. They can’t decide on a name for it and need y’all’s thoughts. Here are the two choices they’re considering: Repeat Street and Upscale Resale. They like them both equally and so are sort of stuck in the middle. Or maybe you’ve got something better. They’re open to all suggestions. What do you think? They want as many ideas as they can get so please poll your friends and pass this along so they can get lots of input. Vote here in the comments or e-mail me at cathylwood@gmail.com by Wednesday night– and then, of course, you’ve got to plan a trip to Sheffield to see their shop. Knowing them, it will be fabulous.

Update: Looks as if Upscale Resale is winning. Thanks to all for your help! Susan and Freda don’t need to make a decision until Wednesday night, so there’s still time to chime in if you’d like.

Update No. 2: Upscale Resale it is! I think cyber-voting is the way to go now when it comes to naming new businesses. Anybody else got something that needs naming???

New Orleans and Mardi Gras

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Beignets for Mardi GrasAs Fat Tuesday rolls around — it’s tomorrow — everybody has a little New Orleans in them. And if you didn’t make it to Mardi Gras this year, you can celebrate at home (and a little quieter) with your Books about New Orleansown personal tribute — and you don’t even have to wear purple beads. For instance, you can find Cafe Du Monde Beignet Mix and ground coffee in almost any grocery store. And it’s pretty good, too. Not the same of course of sitting at a Cafe Du Monde outside table and brushing powdered sugar off your clothes while you make fun of other tourists people-watch, but it’ll do until you can get there yourself. Check out http://www.cafedumonde.com/ for details. And for some delicious New Orleans Mardi Grasreading while you’re sipping your chicory cafe au lait, pick up a copy of “Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table.” Sara Roahen was a professional cook when she moved to the Crescent City while her husband attended medical school. She soon got a job as a food writer, and this book chronicles her joyous exploration of New Orleans’ food and people. She falls in love with her adopted city, and she’ll make you want to book the next flight there. Go to http://www.sararoahen.com to learn more. And for another New Orleans fix, don’t forget about “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” If you haven’t seen it in the theater, put it on your must-rent list when it comes out on DVD. This intelligent and cinematic film is so thoughtful and artistic — and the city of New Orleans should have gotten a supporting-actor award for its part in it. I thought that such a mystical and magical and slightly other-worldly film could have been shot only in New Orleans, despite the Baltimore locale of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original story. Visit http://www.benjaminbutton.com/ to find out more. Need more NOLA? Go to http://www.nola.com/mardigras/ for Mardi Gras parade webcams and up-to-the-minute details on what’s happening. Best viewed with a Sazerac in hand.

Friendship

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Dinner with friends

If you’re like me, your friendships with your girlfriends are some of your most Shoe shopping with friendsvalued relationships. We are so blessed to have these smart, strong and talented women in our lives. I am in awe of my friends and grateful every day that they let me hang around them: My high-school pals who gratefully have allowed me to grow up and out of my geeky phase, my college roommates who know the real me but love me anyway, the moms I raised my children and many many glasses of wine with, my margarita- and book-loving co-conspirators who can smell a shoe sale from 10 miles away and the wonderful women I continually am privileged to meet and get to know. What would we do without these special people? I recently witnessed once again the healing power of friends and laughter (and shoe shopping, of course) when a friend needed our help preparing for her husband’s funeral. Read about it in my newspaper column, http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090220/ARTICLES/902200301. And while you’re at it, you’ve got to read this wonderful piece from national columnist Sharon Randall: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090221/ARTICLES/902210301. It’s her birthday list of life lessons she’s learned so far. And I don’t know her, but from her list I think she’d make a good friend, too.

Fashion

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Billy Reid fashion designerFlorence, Alabama, is a small Southern town known as the home of W.C. Billy Reid fashion designerHandy, Division II football powerhouse University of North Alabama and two famous and successful fashion designers. Natalie Chanin is one of those designers (see yesterday’s post for a look at her newest collection) and the other is — have you guessed it yet? — Billy Reid. Billy was born in Louisiana and grew up in Texas (Florence is his wife’s hometown), and his men’s and women’s clothes are evocative of a gently elegant and quietly genteel Southern way of life. He has stores in New York, Dallas and other cities, but the flagship store is in downtown Florence. It’s in a gorgeous 1833 house called Pickett Place that glows with family antiques and photographs — well worth the trip to Florence just to wander around and admire. Like his friend Natalie, Billy always is friendly and gracious — they both have that Southern way of making you feel they’ve waited all day just for the chance to talk to you. They each see their work not only as businesses but as connections for reaching out and reminding others of the art and food and history and craft that’s around every street corner and county road in Alabama — and your hometown, too. Check out Billy’s Web site at http://www.billyreid.com.

And if you’re like me and have to enjoy New York’s Fashion Week vicariously, check out these Web sites: Vogue’s http://www.style.com/ for photos and complete coverage of each show (don’t forget The Sartorialist for photos of off-the-runway fashion); http://www.nytimes.com/pages/fashion/index.html for intelligent discussion and background; and http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/ for the Fugly Girls’ signature and hilarious snarkiness. But we laugh because it’s true.

Fashion

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Alabama ChaninI always forget that I know an honest-to-goodness bona fide famous fashion designer. Actually, I know two. These are normal-looking regular people whom you can see any day walking around my small Alabama town, yet they’ve got fashion awards and magazine and newspaper spreads from around the world. And they know the Vogue folks by first names. Cool! I usually just think of these two as extra-nice people who are so sweet to always say “hello,” but when New York’s Fashion Week rolls around, I remember how special they really are.

The first is Natalie Chanin. She’s the owner and designer of Alabama Chanin, a company in Florence, Alabama that creates handmade one-of-a-kind clothing and home decor. Under Natalie’s direction, local artisans — many of them former textile workers who lost their jobs as the mills closed — use recycled and organic as well as new materials to make these breathtakingly whimsical works of fiber art. Natalie has the soul of an artist combined with the practical good sense of a business owner. And she’s not greedy — she shares! She’s written a lovely and inspiring book with instructions for several of her signature projects (“Alabama Stitch Book”) and regularly holds hands-on workshops where she passes on her secrets. She’s a vibrant part of the community and throws an everybody’s-invited picnic and open house every year. Go to her Web site, http://ad.dev.alabamachanin.com, where you can see more photos from her latest collection, learn more of her story and even order your own Alabama Chanin original.

Tomorrow: Who’s the other famous fashion designer living in Florence, Alabama? Come back and find out!

Vegetables

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Vegetables and dipWho doesn’t know by now that we’re supposed to eat more vegetables? But you can fix steamed broccoli only so many times before your family stages a revolt. At a recent cooking class at the Shoals Commercial Culinary Center in Florence, Alabama — a kitchen incubator for small food businesses that’s part of the Shoals Entrepreneurial Center — we learned some delicious new ways to serve vegetables. My friend Sherry Campbell is the culinary center director and she’s a great cook and teacher. Here are her recipes for Creamy Red Pepper-Basil sauce that’s wonderful as a dip for fresh veggies and easy make-ahead Broccoli with Lemon-Herb Sauce that’s a perfect portable dish. Learn more about the center at http://www.shoalsec.com/facilities/SCC_index.html 

Creamy Red Pepper-Basil Sauce

With the processor running, drop 3 garlic cloves through the food chute and process unti minced. Add 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil and process 5 seconds until chopped. Add 1 12-ounce drained jar roasted red peppers, 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground pepper. Process until smooth. Serve at room temperature. Makes 2 1/2 cups.

Broccoli with Lemon-Herb Sauce

Cook 1 1/2 pounds broccoli in 3 cups vegetable broth until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Remove broccoli with Broccolitongs and chill in ice water. Reserve 1 cup broth and chill. Dry broccoli and chill. Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 cup chopped green onions, 1/3 cup minced shallots and 1 teaspoon sugar. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon minced garlic, saute 2 minutes. Stir in reserved broth, 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme and 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest. Simmer until slightly thickened and liquid is reduced to about  1 1/4 cups. Season with salt and pepper. Cool to room temperature. Put broccoli in serving bowl and spoon sauce over. Spring with 1/4 cup chopped green onion and 1/2 cup diced seeded red bell pepper. Serves 8.

Love Songs

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My wonderfully dear husband made a CD love-song mix for my Valentine’s Day present. It was one of his best mixes ever — and he’s known for coming up with some great ones. I posted about it earlier and had several requests for his playlist. So here it is, with a couple notes:

 

I Want to Hold Your Hand – T.V. Carpio (Across the Universe soundtrack)

Ain’t No Cure for Love – Jennifer Warnes (Famous Blue Raincoat)

I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) – Art Garfunkel (Breakaway)

Let My Love Open the Door – Pete Townsend (Empty Glass)

Message of Love – The Pretenders (The Singles)

This and That – Michael Penn (March)

A Girl Like You – The Smithreens (11)

Gimme Little Sign – Don Dixon w/Marti Jones (E E E)

Real Love – Regina Spektor (Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Darfur Album)

Big Love – Fleetwood Mac (Greatest Hits)

Until the End of the World – U2 (Achtung baby)

Linger – The Cranberries (Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?)*

Love is the Seventh Wave – Sting (The Dream of the Blue Turtles)

My Doorbell – The White Stripes (Get Behind Me Satan)

Genius Of Love – The Tom Tom Club (eponymous album)

She’s Changing Me – Fleetwood Mac (Bob Welch vocal) – Heroes Are Hard to Find

Warm Love – Van Morrison (Best of)

This is Us – Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris (All The Roadrunning)

I’ll Work for Your Love – Bruce Springsteen (Magic)

Mayor of Simpleton – XTC (Oranges & Lemons)

Renaissance Eyes – Don Dixon (Most of the Girls Like to Dance But Only Some of the Boys Do)**

 

* While I like the sound of this song, the lyrics ultimately may not be the best for a Valentine’s Day mix, depending on the status of your relationship. I had to delete a song to make this fit, and if I had to do it over, I’d probably leave this off and substitute “Where Do You Go to My Lovely,” preferably the version by Peter Sarstedt from the Darjeeling Limited soundtrack.


** Yes, that’s the title of the album. As I understand it, he would start with a painting by a friend as the cover image for his albums (which also included “E E E” and “Romeo at Juiliard”), then write a song inspired by that image for the appropriate album. Fans just call it “Girls LTD.”