the sugar is in the tea !!

hey ya'll today i'm gonna answer some questions about sweet tea yes ( tha house wine of the south ) any southerner's home you walk into the first thing you hear is hey ya'll come on in, yall want some tea ... now for you northerner's we aint hatin we just stick with what we know i been up north lots and lots of times and i love it up thar but ya'll aint got sweet tea or grit's which is probably why i just visit... sweet tea to us is like cake to a fat kid ... and fat kid's i know love cake well cause i is one ... tea is drank in good time's and bad, happy time's, sad time's, and it's always the first thing you make sure there's enough of when ya all get together now when we say " ya'll want some tea we aint talking bout hot in a fancy china cup tea we mean cold full of sugar tea the kind you pour out of a Tupperware pitcher that's been used for years and has probably got stains in it so bad that even pure Clorox wont take it out ... so here's a lesson on how to make tea
#1 place 5 to 8 tea bags (or 2 family size ) in a pot of cold water bring to a rolling boil( bout 1 1/2 quart's )
# while that boiling fill ya pitcher with half full of cold water and add sugar to taste ( i use 2 c. per gallon)
#3 after the tea has boiled bout 7 mins ( give or take ) pour it into your water and sugar this will dissolve the sugar and ya'll got perfect tea
now i put lemon in mine, but not everybody likes lemon but that's how granny did it and that the way i been drinking it all my life i even think it was put in my baby bottle as an infant so now ya'll know how we make sweet tea ... so fix ya a gallon and sit down with a good cook book and enjoy some me time !

the chest at my feet

As i awaken to the sound of my rooster outside my window scramming come feed me ! and the crispness in the fall air i have to ponder ... how'd i get so lucky ? granted life is hectic busy and a non stop merry go round but sometimes you have to look at what you have to be thankful for ... this lil fit of nostalgia has been brought on by something i did yesterday i was cleaning out a storage building and came across my granny's ceder chest , now this chest once belonged to my great granny's then granny then mama now me in it is 3 generations of wedding lining's, letter during the war WWII tickets for sugar during the depression my daddy's baby booties ( had to laugh cause well you now how girl's feel about there daddy ) postcard's from all over the world baby books death book's as i sat going through all this stuff and crying most of the time , it made me realize how lucky i am that the women in my life have kept all this stuff to past down it made me realize how tight those family ties are bound this chest with it's brittle papers clippings old pictures mostly during the turn of the century , and most of the men look like gangsters everybody back then looks like AL Capone or Clark Gable ( wow what a time to have lived ) and the women are all dressed to the nine's ... this precious chest now sits at the foot of my bed to be filled with all the things form my life to be passed to my kid's for there life .. i woke up and realized that i had 4 generations of keepsakes at my feet , to protect me , keep me happy, and to make sure i do the right things ... not to mention all the old old old recipes i found that you cant even get the ingredients for anymore my how fast life has changed so I'm thankful for my past and the strong women who have lived to make me a better person .

FAT GIRL IN THE KITCHEN

well ya'll after a bunch of emails of how'd you learn how to cook that way , i'm gonna give ya'll the details the history of a fat girl in the kitchen ... this all started when i was about 6 or 7 like most southern kids i didnt go to day care i went to grand parents after school and weekends prents have there own buniess so i grew up in my nana's and granny's kitchen ... well cause thats what you did the old fashion way there was no little debbie's there was pound cake and mater sandwich's ... the treat was cheerwine ( its a soda drink only in the south ) being from a small town there was no malls there was bread bags on a hill of leaves in the fall ... bikes up and down the dirt road in the summer etc etc ... but i wanted to be in the kitchen i watched tasted( mostly with a deer in the headlights look ) but i paid attention i heard everysecret form them both they taught me everything from sour cream pound cake to the perfect fried chicken . every bite filled with love ... cooking good is not something u get from school it something you feel it's love ! when i say lovin from the oven ! thats what it is pure love the smell, the look, the bubbling over from a pie even the floping of a cheese cake it's all love i can alway's feel my grandma's looking over my shoulder and i even catch myself talking to them asking for advice i know there in my heart my story is one of family ties to the past ... if you dont know where you came from you wont know where your going ! take your time don't stress the looks of it and anyone can be a good cook , just get in the kitchen and cook ask questions if you dont know and don't be scared and lastly HAVE FUN COOKING IS FUN !!!!!!

stop and smell the pie !

as i woke up this morning and faced taking my child to school, i doned on my flannel pj's and fluffy house coat ... ( which she's not embaressed no more cause that's what i live in all i can ) i drive her the full 10 min's the the school to the rat race that is drop off all the ppl rushing to work or shopping and my only mission is get back home cause there's a pie in the oven already ... mornins here are great. i watch the mom's hollering hurry up im late for work are quick doddling cause ya'll know teens are on there own speed... slow i hand my child her book-bag say have a good day i love you as she trollops off to school... when did the world get in such a hurry ? why dont we take our time ? when did checkin emails and pda's and i phones replace a hug a laugh or a smile or the simple i love you ! i'm glad im not a rushing kinda person i love my simple laid back kind of life next time you find the world rushing around you or the bustle of ppl STOP AND SMELL THE PIE !!!

HAIL TO THE COUPON USER'S !!! power to the walmart coupon shoppers the people that scavenger the sales paper the double coupon day !! yes that's me i know im not alone i was standing in line at the grocery store and a lady in front of me was behind one of my own kind the coupon lady was there ! as she hoofed on puffed at the time it was taking for the lil lady to arrange all her marked down coupon finds i had to wonder " if it such a pain then go through self check out ! better be glad u aint behind me cause i got twice as much as she do and double the coupons " prissy people really get on my nerves as she mumbled under her breath i said excuse me ? she gripped about having to wait, i informed her where self check out is she said she was better than self checkout ! well touch you miss prissy !!! as she enlightened me that she don't like poor people well well aint we just the end all that be all !!! as i informed her that 75% of the country today was "poor" including me well middle class poor i looked at her and get this ya'll... i didn't punch her in the mouth ya'll should be proud ! ... i said in my sweetest southern voice why don't you go shop in the city ? cause im sure there aint no coupon user's thar and you wouldn't have to wait ... as she hoofed again the next lane opened and i informed her why don't you go ahead of me i'd hate to tie up your precious time with my poor coupon 's as i shook them in her face !!! I JUST LOVE TRIPS THE THE LIL OL GROCERY STORE !!!

well after some time away from blogging i thought i would rant today ... yesterday a lady faced me with a statement" no wonder you cook all the time u don't have lil kids !!" WHAT ! well not anymore they seem to grow up on ya, well if you feed them they do ... but ill tell ya what i do have ... i have a blind handicap father that lives with me and i spend my day's steppin and fetching for him , i have a 15 yr old who is in high school and if u think that's a breeze well lets see she's in the band so we got practice till 8 and 8:30 every night games, competitions, uniforms to clean to use the next day trips to wal mart for stuff for her homework test essay's and the other drama a teen girl has to live in , and then i have a husband 3 chickens, 2 dogs and a bird, oh and dont let me forget i don't have a maid so i have dusting , laundry, mopping , vacuuming, picking up stuff that just cant seem to make it back where it comes from , trash to take out err ens to run grocery's to get meals to plan and i;m writing a book and yes i cook so next time you think someone has an easy life try walking in there shoes for a day !! it's not the rosy time you thought it might be !! but i wouldn't change my life for anything .. i think staying busy keeps me out of trouble... so today after i do all the thing's a mom and wife has to do I THINK I'LL COOK !!!!