What I Miss Most About Memphis

Yesterday, not only did the Grits & Soul Band get some press in the DeSoto Times-Tribune and in the Jackson Free Press, but I had my first ever post as a guest blogger, too!

I Love Memphis Blog is written by a terrific gal named Kerri Crawford who works for the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau.  We have been twitter friends for some time but it took us both flying into Austin for SXSW in March that we actually got a chance to meet up and talk.

Kerri is super cool and I absolutely love reading her blog.  She's officially on vacation this week and about a month ago, asked me to write a guest post for her while she is out. 

Here comes my disclaimer:  I post this  link a little sheepishly because I know my Jackson, MS peeps might get up in arms about my love of one city over the other.  Those who know me well already know this, but I have to admit that I didn't immediately fall in love with Jackson when I moved here in 2004.  There were several reasons for that.  (Ask me in person and I'll be glad to fill you in.) 

I guess the need to explain myself comes from the fact that I don't want my folks to get offended - because I love Mississippi and have a terrific life in my new hometown. 

So many opportunities have come my way since I moved here.  Hands down, it was the best decision of my life and it dramatically rocked my world.  I want you to know I have become quite smitten with Jackson; but you also have to realize the torch I'll always carry for Memphis.  After all, there's no place like home!

Read my blog post here.

GritsNSoul Confessionals Continue...

It's been great because a friend of mine works Downtown and just recently we've realized that.  We've been so glad to have each other as an available lunch buddy!  So, on a cold, windy day like we had earlier this week, Southern comfort food was in order.

Maybe because it's spring and it is time to figuratively shed my skin.  Maybe because when living in denial one can never truly move forward. 

GritsNSoul Confessional of the Day: 

I ate lunch at Two Sisters Kitchen for the first time on Tuesday.  (I know, I know!)

(exterior pictures taken Summer '09 when it was sunny and green)

So now that it's off my chest, the next admission is that it was an affair to remember. 

Two Sisters is located in a large, old two-story former residence on Congress Street next door to the Welty Commons (aka the site where of the home where author Eudora Welty was born, turned cool art/music/community space complete with coffee shop).

It's got an almost kitschy feel to it but not surprisingly, very homey.  (I have a soft spot for old houses as it is.) When you enter through the front porch door, especially on a chilly day like we did, greeted with the site of a buffet, well, that's comfort food at its peak.  

Honestly, it's hard to remember what all was there but you can see from my plate below the smattering of everything I got.  What's fun is there is seating upstairs and downstairs.  You grab a plate, fill 'er up and find your table.  Ours was "upstairs, second door to the right."  It was a little confusing because I didn't want to sit in the wrong place.  I found the room and even the lady upstairs was a little confused where we should set up camp for lunch.  They have a speaker system to talk back and forth with, thank goodness.  Everything got cleared up, I sat down and ordered my sweet tea, then went downstairs and readied my plate like so:

Now about that fried chicken:  I spoke to owner Diane Alford several months ago when I stopped by to take photos for Culinary Trail-related things.  She told me that Cat Cora had nominated her as the best fried chicken she ever had for the Food Network Show "Best Thing I Ever Ate."  Don't know what happened with that, but nevertheless, I can second that emotion.

The mac and cheese was a little on the dry side but the crispy fried okra made me very happy!  And the black eyed peas, turnip greens and yams hit the spot.  We had a fun lunch.

And the sweet tea? 

It got a 3 to 4...overall pretty good but not as good as Catfish Country.

p.s. 
thank you, Neola, for the use of your camera!!

p.p.s. 
Neola says they ain't no chicken like Mr. D's fried chicken at the Old Country Store in Lorman.  
I've heard about this place a few times before and it warrants a road trip.  Very. Soon. 

p.p.p.s.  
Any place that has fabulous fried chicken has probably got a level 4 or 5 sweet tea.
I'm absolutely sure of it.

Our First Snow

QB and I had been inside playing Parcheesi when I wondered about the weather. After pulling back the curtains, I saw snow on the ground and he opened the door to discover it was really coming down.

Here was the view from our porch:

So, we bundled up and took a late-night walk around the neighborhood, hand in hand, under the heavily falling snow - a near miracle in these parts (not the hand holding, the snow)!

A view of our house from the street.

We walked past Miss Eudora's house on Pinehurst. I tried to take a picture of her house, but it was dark and my camera didn't cooperate. Maybe she just wanted to be left alone! So, here's a picture of the street sign.

We had our own small-scale snowball tussle, took some photos and enjoyed the moment. Below, a house on Poplar with their Christmas lights aglow.

We heard the Belhaven college students thoroughly enjoying themselves - yelling and laughing. We walked across the campus to find them sledding down the hills into the soccer bowl and having snowball fights. Photos of the campus:

QB wrote "I love U" in the snow.

We made our way here and there in the neighborhood, passing a house on Linden where several people were out on their porch, each wrapped in a blanket, talking and watching the snow. What a special and fun way to ring in our 1 week wedding anniversary!

Locust Grove Berry Farm

For an early heads up on getting fresh fruit for the spring, take a look at the blog post that went up on Locust Grove Berry Farm in Jackson.

I visited in July and unfortunately missed the blueberries but there were lots of muscadines and figs growing!

The Moment I've Been Waiting For! (Almost)

I'm really excited about our engagement shoot!

Last week, it rained all day solid on Monday, which effectively nixed our engagement picture shoot. There was a very specific window of time during which we could take the pictures because of the rain forecast during the week and QB being out of town during the part where it completely clears up and turns lovely…of course!

Wednesday afternoon we took advantage of slightly overcast skies – compared to dark, rainy skies – and a timid sun peaking through the clouds to visit the fair for our engagement pictures.

Rather than being cooler outside, it was a bit humid (why am I surprised?!) but a nice breeze was blowing so that helped matters tremendously.

We had such a fun time finding interesting, colorful shots on the midway, next to Ferris wheel, carousels and roller coasters. There wasn’t a huge crowd but of course everyone stared a little bit because, well, you have to make out for the camera and be disgustingly cute and lovey-dovey. Over the past year, we have both noticed that more often than not our cheesy lovey-ness disgusts people as it is, so we threw caution to the wind and had a great time! Erin is such an incredible photographer and it seemed like she had a blast. She always photographs colors really well, has a keen sense of lighting - and the state fair is the best place for lots of cheery, bright color.

I wore a pair of red and white striped flats that I claimed from my Mom’s closet during a visit a few weeks ago! They were cute and I had to have them.


The photos are fantastic and she did a wonderful job...we are getting a little Freudian flack and Carnie sex references about the corn dog pic, though!! (not posted here...haha)

(Photos by the lovely and talented Erin Fults below)

For a few more pictures, check out her blog post.

If you would like to post these on your wedding website,

email me: anna (at) gritsandsoul [dot] com or erin, of course.

Travels in Mississippi...so far SO FUN!

Below is where we've been so far. Once everything is underway (October), full blog posts will be on http://www.visitmississippi.org/ along with video footage and other interesting facts and photos.

The Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson: The Palette Cafe by Viking. Interviewed Chef Emily Burgess. She treated us to lunch and it was delicious.

Below is a "plantation sandwich": a Cornbread sammich made with turkey and roasted asparagus, topped with hollandaise and garnished with bacon with a side of fresh dill tomatoes. note: sweet tea in the background. She's been visiting the Farmer's Market on High Street to use in her culinary creations and also offers a "Green Plate Special" with all fresh veggies.

Chef Emily Burgess

Mr. Bill's Catfish Chips for sale in the Cafe. They are delicious.

We also interviewed Katy Simmons (of Simmons Catfish heritage, see below) who, with her sister and a catfish salesman, Mr. Bill, came up with the concept and have begun to market them.

Road Trip: Yazoo City
I was so disappointed that this wasn't our road trip vehicle:

Ubon's BBQ Restaurant: Championship Memphis-style BBQ and home cooking. Absolutely loved the shirt tacked up on the wall. We interviewed Leslie Roark Scott and her father, Garry Roark. They have been competing since 1989 and have the trophies to prove it. Their food was incredible and the interview was a lot of fun.

leslie roark scott and garry roark

the masterminds of Ubon's BBQ

pulled pork, beef brisket and the most decadent ribs evah.

home fries & sweet 'tater fries with a special comeback sauce made with a splash of their BBQ sauce in it...yum yum.

Garry and Leslie made some good friends at the Big Apple Block Party a few years ago. These fans were so impressed with their BBQ, they shadowed the Roarks and pretty soon started their own team. As Garry says, "I've heard of backslidin' Baptists Before but I've never heard of a backslidin' Jew!"

Jubon's - "At Least the Salt is Kosher!" (note: pig in yalmulke...haha)

Simmons Catfish (Farm and Processing Plant)

Awww, poor little catfish...on their way to become breaded, fileted and frozen.

that's alotta catfish!

Phillips Bros. Catfish Farms

We got to watch them feed the fish. It was so much fun to watch the frenzy.

150 ponds x 100,000 catfish/pond

Did you know that the catfish are taught to eat from the top of the water? Farm-Raised catfish are not bottom feeders. That's why they taste so good. They are checked daily to make sure their flavor is perfect.

A view from the car on the way out to the catfish farms.

Lee Hong Grocery in Louise, MS (a few miles NW of Yazoo City)

A Chinese-owned grocery famous for its "Hoover Sauce."

(I've been wondering who the namesake of this town is...who is "Louise"??)

Chick Jam 06-09

Photos by William Patrick Butler. Incredible Photographer!

This was my first gig in quite a long time. I took a break when I moved to Jackson - uh, almost 5 year ago - sad - ok, that's not entirely true, because I've had a few gigs in Vicksburg and at Songwriters Nights but it's been sporadic.

So, like I was saying, a break to decide what I really wanted to do musically. After performing predominately Celtic music since high school (about the age of 16), I needed a break and wanted to officially spread my wings a little past those boundaries.

It felt so good to be back on stage. Me & my trusty Taylor.

This is the full post on WPB's blog page so you can witness all the lovely ladies that took the stage for the fundraiser before the fundraiser.

Coming soon is a video blurb of me (along with other video clips of the other musicians) performing during Chick Weekend (July 24-25, 2009) on the Chick Ball website.

I'm performing July 24th Songwriters Night right after the play. Be there and support the cause!!

Happy Birthday, Miss Eudora!

April 13 was Eudora Welty's 100th birthday.
(She passed away in 2001 at the age of 92.)

The birthday party was at her home on Pinehurst Street in Belhaven.

Camera crews, reporters and others were there

to help celebrate and commemorate the occasion.

(Welty's Niece, Mary Alice White being interviewed)

It was a beautiful day that had been threatened with rain,
but the sun shone brightly all day long.

(The bottom fell out of the sky that very night.

QB & I got caught out in it during our walk around the neighborhood.

Were properly soaked.)

They served guests cake and lemonade.

There was even a speech by the Guv'nuh.

Two pretty little girls in matching pink dresses
were floating around the yard.

Bright pink and white striped camillia bushes on the side of her house.

Tours of her home and the gardens were given on the half hour.

A documentary film can be seen in the house
next door (which is also a part of the museum),
which I highly recommend.
I wasn't able to see all of it.
The tour of the house started at 1:30 p.m.
It was hard to pull myself away!

She donated her home
to the Mississippi Department of Archives
in 1985-6.
After her death they took pictures of everything
just as she had left it.
After the renovations
everything was lovingly restored
to its proper place.

Central heat and air was installed in the house.
Miss Welty abhorred air conditioning
and never used it.

I, personally, praise the name
of whoever invented CH/A.

Only a handful of objects are reproductions.
Everything else is original.
Books are stacked everywhere
just like she had it
and copies of manuscripts pages
that sat on the dining room table
for us to look at and touch.

I made a mental note of the P.G. Wodehouse book in her den.
The World of Jeeves.

Memorable quotes as we made our way through the house:

"I've only seen three books I've actually read!"
"Are you the last two [in the group]? The caboose?"

We saw the set of Charles Dickens books upstairs
that her mother
famously saved
during an apartment fire.

The bathroom at the top of the stairs was where she developed her photographs.

Copies of her first edition books
she gave to her mother
were kept in a secretary in the den.

Fans would knock on her door
to ask for autographs
which she gladly gave.

One fan went so far as
to send money
and asked if she would please
buy her books,
autograph them
and "Send them back to me."
And she did.

All of the prizes she won,
including her Pulitzer,
were found after her death
in the living room closet.
The one prize she did display
was a porcelain Raven statue
she received in 1995
for being the top Mystery book reader of the year.

When we were being shown through the house,
a lady named Eddie Polk spoke up.
She worked for the Weltys for 36 years.
Eddie came every morning to cook
Miss Eudora and her Mama breakfast.
Sometimes she would drive Eudora to the bank.
Other days Eudora would say,
"Eddie, let's not do anything today. It's just too hot."

It doesn't get better than that.