Tara picnic thread

zadaconnaway wrote:

Where's Pam? She is going to really want this recipe!

I cannot beleive that I missed this thread. What the heck is the matter with me?? These recipes are great, and on another thread Brew put a link to his wife's famous fried green tomatoes that I cannot wait to try!

If you guys ever really do plan a picnic, I certainly want to be a part of it. I'll try to bring in some kind of Canadian picnic food (what the heck would that be...hmm...and I am bringing a water pistol! No chewing tobacco though. Not yet anyway.

On the spicy foods and peppers vs. milk or water thing, this is my understanding of the cooling effect of milk (or something creamy like sour cream). Milk products will temporarily neutralize the heat by coating the spice, giving you a temporary barrier and reducing the heat effect. If you drink water, it just spreads the spice around the little grooves in your tongue and actually spreads the heat effect. However, if the spice is actually infused (i.e. cooked) in oil, milk does not do much to help get it off your tongue because the milk and oil stay separated. If that's the case, use bread to soak up the oil and take it off your tongue. Not pretty, but very effective.

My recipe for fried green tomatos, which was posted on a thread that I have not found since, is this.

Pick two medium sized plump green tomatos.

Cut tomatos into just right slices, not too thin, not too thick.

Mix one egg and one half cup of buttermilk in a bowl and beat with a whisk until blended.

Prepare a mixture of one and a half cornmeal and two tablespoons of flour in a plate. (Depending on how much mixture you need)

Put four table spoons of lard into a frying pan and preheat it.

Dip tomato slices in milk/egg mixture and then lightly salt them.

Roll tomato slices in milk/egg mixture and then place into hot grease. Fry until golden brown. Be careful not to burn, as cornmeal will burn.

Place on paper towel to absorb the excess grease.

Toss the fried green tomatos into the trash can and eat the paper towel. (This was my idea, and not my wife's, who gave me the rest of the recipe. Oh, she used Crisco instead of lard, but lard is more of a southern tradition.)

The hottest parts of any hot pepper are the seeds and ribs. Get rid of those,(then immediately wash your hands before you risk touching an eye) and the pepper will be much milder. I have a recipe for jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and sausage that is actually quite mild.

Ann

E Don, it's true. Lard is better for you than Crisco. Frequent frying is not good for you regardless, but when you decide to go for it, go for it with the good stuff.

Next time I do, I will try your recipe.

Ann

The lard is ok, Ann, but you might want to forget the part about eating the paper towel. I don't think it is good for you, and I'm pretty sure it would be hard to digest.

As for me, I would substitute New York strip steak for the tomatoes, leave off the mixtures of stuff, and just grill the sucker till it was about medium rare, salt and pepper it, and eat it. I suppose I could call it a fried green tomato, and just not tell anyone what it really was.

I missed this thread totally. someone mentioned it to me today and since I didn't recognize it, I went looking. Glad I found it! I would love to attend a picnic or reunion or anything to be able to meet all of you! We would need more than one day, I am sure. *grin*

Anyway, thank you for a very enjoyable evening!

What happened to the mud wrestling and wet T-shirt competition?

After David was born, I got this idea that, if he never had a toy gun to play with, he would never want to use one. That seemed to work until he was in high school. About that time, he and his friends in the neighborhood (this was about the time of the movie, Gotcha!) "invested" in some high-powered water rifles that would shoot bursts of water over great distances. they went to the Army Surplus store and got some camouflage jumpsuits, and began playing war games in the woods behind our subdivision. So much for my theories.

Ann

No mud wrestling for me, Dick. But if you insist, I suppose you and I could put on a T shirt and let them spray us with those dang water guns.

That sounds like a good plan, Don!

Wow! Look at that dapper gentleman all decked out in a suit. When was that taken, Don, and for what occasion? Was it at a signing?

It was taken on September 20, 2008, in Springfield, Tennessee, about 30 miles north of Nashville, at the official release and book signing of The Last of the South Town Rinky Dinks.

We expected maybe 30 or 40 people, somewhere near 300 showed up. We sold all of the books we had with us, including a few copies of born wolf DIE WOLF, and we took over a hundred pre paid pre orders, which we shipped out the next week. For a memoir, and by someone that the world doesn't know much about, we think the signing was a huge success. I now have copies of the book on sale at the Robertson County Historical Society and the Furniture Center in Springfield, which is where the event was held.

For a lot of pictures of the signing, and of the night before when I appeared on stage with my good friend Tresa Street and her band Street Talk, visit

http://www.southtownrinkydinks.com

And thanks for asking Brenda, as well as your very kind remarks.

I'm loving the old photos, Don, but have to leave for an appt. I've bookmarked them for later. What an event that signing was. You must've been thrilled.

A success indeed, Don.

As for being shot with a water gun, forget it.

We always have many people at our house for Thanksgiving. One year many years ago, there was a snowstorm. Our living area was on the second floor with the patio below and a deck over the patio. A snowball fight began which went on for hours. Some would go below and throw snowballs on those on the deck and vise versa. Even my son-in-law with his foot in a cast participated. When one person got tired, there was always a replacement ready to go.

I can imagine our water pistol fight something like that snowball fight!

Carol

Dick's living up to his name. Stodgy! No water pistols. *grin*

I'm an old hand at avoiding them, Marie. It might depend on just who is trying to ambush me, of course.

I'm easily distracted by ladies. Some of them, anyway.

This picnic is starting to look really interesting -- I especially want to see just how Dick avoids the ambush. I suspect that he and E. Don will be dug in somewhere and all the ladies are going to have to search them out.
I think we had better set a date

I want to come to the picnic I will eat before I come--none of your delicious dishes are on my diet.

I will love watching you eat though and the sight and the oder from the food wll be most welcome.

Marie said:

"I don't think anyone has ever left my house hungry."


True 'southern hospitality' is what I get from that! I'll bring my coffee pot and lots of coffee. It sounds like we may never sleep again! (In case we might miss something!)

Marie,

Not a problem--I saw the bushels of brocooli. I can even eat them raw!

I am so glad Marie kidnapped me. I would have brought apple pie, but she said there was no time. It saved me peeling all of those apples.

Or bury it in hollandaise sauce?