Don't you love taking the back roads when you go on a vacation? There are so many places you can see and visit if you get off the interstate and take the state roads through small towns. Recently as we drove back to Georgia from Florida, and we passed through Luverne, Alabama -the
Friendliest City in the South. I had never heard of Luverne but after visiting a well known restaurant maybe I agree. They serve up some great fried chicken, barbeque and home cooking at Annie's. My favorite item on the menu are the hush puppies (Hush Puppies are fried bread made of cornmeal, onions and sometimes corn all mixed together. Great stuff).
While we were in Destin we heard the latest trend is to provide cheese dip with Hush Puppies - smothered Hush Puppies. It sounds like a ton of calories, and heavenly!
There is also Brantley, Alabama, which happens to be the Front Porch City of the South. I guess I can agree though I think my neighborhood is the Front Porch Neighborhood of the South. Driving through Brantley there is no doubt, every house has a porch or is adding one.
We tried to stop and shop in Florala (it is a town just north of the Florida border, thus the name Florala... a combination of Florida/Alabama). There is a good sized cold-hardy palm tree farm but sadly they are closed on Saturday. Go figure. Beach traffic is typically traveling through the area on weekends but they can't stop and shop for a palm tree. We also missed the chance to eat at the
It Don't Matter Restaurant but I guess that shouldn't matter, should it? And we missed the World's Largest Peanut Boil and I love boiled peanuts.
Along the way we passed a great vegetable stand and purple-hulls (my favorite peas) from Florida had already made it to market. I bought a mess of them and shelled peas on the drive home. We also bought fresh tomatoes, corn and crook-necked squash. We had a great Sunday lunch. Don't you just love having fresh veggies straight from the farmers?
We live just 10 minutes from the Georgia Farmers Market and this weekend my grandgirls are coming for a visit. I thought it would be fun for us to go to market so they can do some shopping for some fresh foods for the weekend. We are going to be making biscuits to go with our great food. My neighbor shared this recipe with me and let me tell you these biscuits just melt in your mouth. They are a very easy AND DELICIOUS Paula Dean recipe.
- 2 cups self-rising flour (must use self-rising or they won't turn out).
- 2 sticks butter, melted
- 1/2 pint sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine all ingredients and spoon into small, un-greased muffin tins. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.
Our neighborhood motto is - Make Biscuits, Not War.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who responded to my post about thrifting for the less fortunate. I am noodling on a way to successfully do something positive via blog.
Today our family stopped at 3:00 in a silent to salute to those who have who have given their lives serving our country. In our family we have a long history of service. My dad's father served in WWI. Three of his brothers and one of his sisters served in WWII and my dad along with one other brother served in the Korean War. Six out of 12 children in my dad's family served in the U.S. military. I grew up in an Air Force town and I am proud to say that my oldest son currently serves in the Air Force.
As I shared with Joycee at Granny Mountain, we don't do Decoration Day as we used to growing up (though I wish we still wore poppies), but when our family comes together, we still pause to honor our family heroes.
