The Grove, Nuts to You, and a Stump or Two

I grew up in the midst of a bunch of nuts
AND stumps.

No, not my family, although we have lots of 'characters' to say the VERY least, I literally grew up surrounded by pecans.




Vintage print of pecan varieties.
Our grove was made up of both Schleys (pronounced Sly and spade shaped)
and Stuarts (thin shelled and easiest to crack)



In my earliest childhood, the age when Christmas is truly magical and memories of a lifetime are made, we lived on our cotton farm on the Coldwater River in the Mississippi Delta.

Christmas morning in the house on the river
ca 1966

Our home was situated in a curve of the river on the edge of a forty acre pecan grove. 

 A gravel road, then known as Bell's Road after my grandfather Frank A. Bell, ran along the eastern length of our yard coming from the direction of Lambert, curved with the river, and ran along the northern length of our yard as well, heading toward Marks. 

This land right on the river was some of the most fertile on the farm, and my grandfather, Grandpa Bell as we have always called him,

planted it in pecan trees in the early 1930's.

Frank A. Bell, my Grandpa Bell, died when my Mother was only three.
He planted "The Grove" in the early 1930s
and three more generations enjoyed its abundance.

By the time my middle sister Susan and I were old enough to rip and roar and do some general outdooring, the pecan trees were well mature.

They provided us with a wonderful world.

In spring, the red clover that Daddy had seeded, just like Grandpa Bell had done, was Dorothy's field of poppies and we were

 "Off to See the Wizard".

Several times in the summers during bad storms, huge trees would be blown down, becoming enchanted bower houses that we could enter, roam around in the topsy turvy 'rooms', and play house with our dolls and dogs, tea partying on
stumps and downed trunks.

Susan and I would use the summer green pecans for our tea parties,
placing them on our little plates and one in each cup in our little tiny muffin tins.

But late fall and Christmas were the best. 

Daddy devised a tree shaker that reached the tallest part of the pecan trunk and, powered by a tractor, would literally shake all the pecans loose, creating a pecan rain and a pecan carpet.

The orchard would be filled with people, quickly scooping handfuls of the pecans and filling huge burlap bags, or croker sacks as they were called, which Daddy hauled to Clarksdale for cracking.  



Susan and I would scoop up a few nuts in our little sacks and haul them to the house, where we would try our hand at
manual cracking.

But the big reward came a couple of weeks later. Daddy would come home with dozens of brown grocery bags full of mostly perfect pecan halves and cracked shells,
 ALL FOR US!  

Susan and I would sit with a sack and 'help' pick out pecans.  We mostly wound up eating pecans until we were about to burst. 

We gave huge buckets of picked pecans for Christmas presents to friends.

We enjoyed many cookie sheets of toasted pecans and lots of homemade Karo Pecan Pie.

And our freezer was jam packed with pecans.

The first recipe, other than something from Easy Bake, that I ever made was 

'Pecan Pralines' from the red checked "Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook" when I was about eight, with my grandmother Nanny's help of course.

I had eaten pralines in New Orleans

and

I wanted to make candy for Christmas. 

My beloved grove is now gone, destroyed by a bad ice storm in the mid 1990's.  The wrecked and beloved trees had to be pushed down. 

I am so glad that my oldest son Trainor was old enough to have memories of
 'The Grove' though.

My son Trainor standing in our beloved grove, which was planted by
 his great grandfather more than sixty years earlier,
 the day it was pushed down after a severe ice storm during the winter.

I have not lived on the farm since I was nine, but pecans and nuts have always been a big part of Christmas for me ever since. 

I miss the big brown paper bags full, but

I still love to cook with pecans during the holidays.

This year I am trying out Pecan Punch from Drew Stevens of Oxford's Snackbar.
(see recipe below)

And of course we are having
 Nanny's Cheery Cherry Christmas Salad
with pecans.

Nanny's recipe, in her writing, for the Cherry Salad. 
She always made it at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Yes, it is a congealed salad, but I still love it for its tartness and crunch.
Use DARK cherries and the wild or dark cherry jello, and of course pecans!
The color is an exquisite jewel.



Hmmm, and who knows? 
I still love to make candy for Christmas. 
With a scant week to go, I have visions of making pecan pralines, pecan divinity, pecan brittle, and pecan toffee
dancing in my head. 

AND I HAVE TO DECORATE OF COURSE.


I think one of the reasons I have always loved Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" is that, like Clara or Marie, I too dreamed of nutcrackers as a young girl.

I bought my first German nutcracker on a trip during college and hand carried the blue soldier home with me from Rothenburg, the 'Eternal Town of Christmas' in Germany.
(see below for a history of the
 German wooden nutcracker)

When Trainor was born, I started collecting them for him, and later for my younger 
son Duncan as well, buying each of them a nutcracker every year at Christmas. 

This four foot tall nutcracker is one of Trainor's favorites. 
We bought it one year at the gift shop of a Russian "Nutcracker" performance.

I bought this precious  Mushroom Man for Duncan's first Christmas.
  It makes me want to make a Buche de Noel or Stump Cake with Meringue Mushrooms!



The meringue mushrooms are my favorite part, but of course I love the way the stump looks!



For years we have made a family tradition of attending the Ballet Mississippi's Christmas production of the "Nutcracker".  

One Christmas when my baby sister Ellen was a soldier AND a mouse, the ballet director tried her best to get Daddy to play
Herr Drosselmeyer, but to no avail!

Trainor's Clara and Herr Drosselmeyer.
We bought these at a Christmas shop in New Orleans
 that sadly did not reopen after Katrina.

Both my boys are away this year at school, so I did not attend the "Nutcracker", but this week my inspiring friend, client,  accomplished ballerina, and now choreographer Cherri Barnett invited me to the adult ballet class that she teaches at the Mississippi Arts Center.  She made me want to dance and get out the nutcrackers!

Cherri (second from left, seated on the front row, and her class).
Cherri is now the Associate Artistic Director of Ballet Mississippi.
Cherri has danced with the Fort Worth Ballet and was the
principal dancer for Ballet Missisippi for nine yerars.
She is a board member for the IBC, International Ballet Competition,
which Jackson proudly hosts every four years.

And I DID . . .

I am using our nutcrackers in the dining room this Christmas. 



I am decorating the dining room table with the nutcrackers for the first time.
I am thinking nutcrackers, small Christmas trees, moss, red roses, red tulle, plaid, and nuts of course, with my Mother's green and cream wedding china
for a woodsy Bavarian forest/nutcracker ballet tablescape.




Mother's wedding china which was our good china in the house on the river
Flintridge Avalon
The green is the color of cotton foliage and end of summer pecan foliage



With maybe a small stump or two.

 I am STILL loving stumps -- tables that
are stumps, earthy and elegant . . .

They are very trendy now, but I have loved them since I was in "The Grove".

Thierry Gerber stump stools in Broosk Saib's London home
I love the different colors and bark textures

Groundwork Group table in Ashley Stark's Manhatten apartment
shown on Elle Decor's December 2011 cover

I am giving myself something special for Christmas this year . . .

Two specially cut PECAN stump tables from Kristin Wooten's Etsy shop 
Kristin will have them custom cut and
add wheels, if you wish. 
She donates part of the proceeds to the Church Health Center in Memphis.

I am leaving mine natural, but they could be painted white or a color, and of course gilded like in my recent Midas blog.



So in wishing you a MERRY CHRISTMAS,
I say, "Nuts to You, and a Few Stumps too!"
And that is a very good thing!

 Do you say say pee-can or peh-kahn?

( I am a devout peh-kahner!)

Are nuts part of your Christmas celebration?

Do you collect nutcrackers?


What other collections do you decorate with at Christmas?

Recipe

Pecan Punch

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup cane syrup

1 tablespoon cream of coconut

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup water

1/4 cup bourbon

Bake chopped pecans in single layer in a shallow pan at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes until toasted and fragrant, stirring once.
Cool 10 minutes.
Process pecans, cane syrup, cream of coconut, cinnamon, vanilla, and kosher salt in food processor 30 to 60 seconds or until smooth. 
With processor running, pour water through food chute.
Press mixture through a fine wire mesh strainer into a pitcher using the back of a spoon.
Discard solids.
Cover and chill 3 to 24 hours.
Stir in bourbon before serving.
Serve over ice.
Garnish with sweetened whipped cream and fresh mint.
Makes 2 cups.

For Milky Pecan Punch: Add 1 cup milk with bourbon.
Makes 3 cups.

Drew Stevens, Snackbar, Oxford, Mississippi,  from Southern Living

OR
If Bourbon is NOT Your Thing
Have a Nutcracker!

1.5 oz. vodka

0.5 oz. amaretto

0.5 oz. white creme de cacao
SHAKE with ice and strain!

 SERVE in glass with crushed Butterfinger on rim

History of the Nutcracker 

excerpted from christmasdecoratingideastoday.com

Henry Quackenbush invented the first Nutcracker and nut pick in 1878.  Little did he know what he had started.

According to German folklore, nutcrackers brought good luck to your family and protected your home. The legend further states that a nutcracker represents power and strength and serves as a trusted watchdog guarding your family from evil spirits and danger. Perhaps that’s enough of a reason to use one in your Christmas decorating!

Nutcrackers embody the cycle of life. As the seed of a nut falls to the ground, it grows into a strong tree, living over hundreds of years nourishing the woodcutters and woodcrafters.  The legends tell of a feast celebrated just before harvesting the logs of the Elder trees, where nuts and fruits were eaten as if to pass on the magic and mystery of this eternal cycle… and so on to the collectors of these exquisite wooden  nutcrackers. 

Nutcrackers reflected ancestral dining customs where amusing or unusual nutcrackers were part of the social setting.  Christmas table decorations were not complete without a bowl full of nuts and an adorned holiday nutcrackers standing beside it.

photo credits: via Good Life of Design blog, Marilyn Storey, Southern Living, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, via Belgian Pearls, Kristin Wooten

The Harvest Pheasant, The Progress of a Dinner III

Thanksgiving
Third Course
Feast or Pheasant?
(NOT "Just Desserts")

I hope each of you had the happiest and most blessed Thanksgiving ever. 

I intended to post this Thanksgiving night, but I was enjoying my family too much, as it should be.  I was lucky enough to have both of my parents, both of my sons, my youngest sister with her husband and my niece, and several friends with me.

I hope that you will enjoy the post tonight and use the recipes and table ideas throughout this holiday season. 

I look forward to sharing my first Holiday Season/Christmas of blogging with all of you!

At this point, as my Father often says,
"You have labored and produced."

It is time to enjoy
and
BE THANKFUL
 just like the Pilgrims did on that first 
Thanksgiving so long ago.

You have earned your "just desserts".


NOTHING in life is perfect,
despite all our BEST efforts.

The way I approach life is:
Do everything you can humanly do,
 and then let go and don't worry about
what you have no control over.

Now is that time.
Relax now and enjoy your day, your family, your friends, your home, and of course your feast,
and NOT just the desserts!

This is the menu I shared with my family.

Thanksgiving Menu

Salmon Mousse* with Cucumber Slices and Crackers

Cheese Board, Blues and Bries

Olives

Pickled Okra

Seasoned Cashews

Cheese Straws

Champagne Cocktails*

Roasted Oysters

Wild Mushroom Soup*

Spinach Pomegranate Salad

with

 Champagne Vinaigrette

Apple Cider Roast Turkey Breast

Nanny's Cornbread Dressing*

Turkey Gravy

Cranberry Sauce

Honey Roasted Root Vegetables

Wines

Mamaw's Chess Pie*

Raspberry Trifle

Chocolate Kahlua Peppermint Cocktails*

My Recipes

Hmmm, these cocktail recipes are mine,

 and the food recipes are family recipes handed down from my grandmothers, both of whom were divine cooks.

I wonder what that says about me?

Oh well, they are all delicious!

Champagne Cocktail

These are my go to cocktail for holidays and any type of celebration.  They are festive, beautiful, simple to make, utterly delicious and not expensive, even for a party.

Inexpensive Champagne, I usually use Cook's Brut for these

Sugar Cubes

Angostura Bitters

Orange slices or rinds

Place a sugar cube in a champagne flute. 

Cover with bitters.  You will have to experiment with how much you like.  I like it heavy.

Rub the rim of the glasss with a slice or rind of orange.

Place the orange on the sugar cube.

Carefully fill the glass with champagne.

(The sugar tends to make the champagne extra fizzy.)

Nanny's Cornbread Dressing

This is a simple Southern recipe, but totally delicious.

I watched Nanny make it many times, and of course tasted and tasted for her.

It is my very favorite Thanksgiving dish.  I never actually stuff the turkey. 

I bake the dressing in a pan and put celery, onion and apples slices in my turkey cavity

with sage, salt, and pepper for flavor.  (I discard these when the turkey is cooked). 

I also pour about 2 cups of apple juice around my turkey. I tent the turkey and cook it in a covered roaster.  The breast is NEVER dry.

Nanny's Cornbread (see recipe below)

2 slices White Bread

 6 cans Swanson's Chicken Broth

Celery

Onion

Sage

Salt

Pepper

Chop onion and celery. Place about 1 1/2 cups of each in a pot with the chicken broth.

Bring to a boil.  Turn to simmer and cover.  Simmer for approximately 2 hours. 

 Celery and onion should be tender.

Break cornbread into pieces and place in a casserole dish along with the bread,

 also torn into pieces.

Using a large slotted spoon, add onion and celery pieces to the cornbread until you see pieces throughout the cornbread.

Using a measuring cup, dip broth from the pot and pour over cornbread until it is well wet,

but NOT soupy.

Add pepper and lots of sage to taste.  The broth is salty, so be stingy with the salt.

I love the sage and usually use most of a small container.

As Nanny always said though,  you can keep adding, but you cannot take it out.

So, be careful here.
I encourage LIBERAL tasting to get it just right.

Cover with foil and bake for approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Note that this dressing does not have eggs in it and will not spoil as easily.

Nanny's Cornbread

Ok, I am NOT trying to brag, but everyone no matter their age,

who eats this cornbread swears it is THE best ever. 

You MUST bake it in a small iron skillet and you must use

Martha White Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix, no substitutes.

Crisco Oil

 2 c. Martha White Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix

2 c. Buttermilk

Egg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Pour approximately 1/4 c. or a little more of the oil in an iron skillet. 

 There should be about 1/4 inch layer of oil in the skillet.

Put the skillet in the oven to heat for about 5 to 7 minutes.

Watch carefully as it can flame if neglected.

Just before you remove oil from oven,

 mix MWSRCMM and buttermilk.

Beat very well.  Incorporating air in, this I think, is why it is so light and fluffy.

Nanny used to beat the stew out of it!

Add egg, and beat some more.

Remove skillet from oven.  Carefully pour hot oil into mixture and beat one more time.

Pour back into hot iron skillet.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden with brown crust on edge.

Remove from oven and immediately run knife around to loosen and invert on plate.

I ususally make my cornbread for dressing the day ahead.

Mamaw's Chess Pie 

My Daddy's Mother was a fabulous baker, and this is her recipe

for a classic southern Chess Pie.

4 eggs

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 T. white vinegar

1/2 c. melted butter

1T. vanilla

Pie shell  (I use Pillsbury in a glass pan, Mamaw, of course, made her own.)

Beat eggs.

Add sugar, vanilla, and vinegar, then melted butter.

Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.

Chocolate Kahlua Peppermint Cocktails

1 c.chocolate milk

1 oz. Kahlua

2. oz. Peppermint Schnapps

1 peppermint stick

Mix ingredients in order and garnish with peppermint stick.

Recipes From the Silver Palate Cookbook

 When I got out of college, I realized that I truly love to cook, not just Southern recipes handed down from my grandmothers, but all kinds of things, even complicated things. 

I guess you could say I am a foodie.

Some of the first cookbooks I bought were the Silver Palate

cookbooks by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. They were and are a joy to peruse and use.

I still have my originals and use them often.  Next year the original Silver Palate Cookbook

will celebrate its 30th anniversary, which is hard to believe.

Both of these recipes are from the books and I have made and enjoyed them many times during many holiday seasons. 

I promise that you will too!

Salmon Mousse

• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise, preferably Hellmann's
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon finely grated onion
• Dash of Tabasco
• 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
• 2 cups finely flaked poached fresh salmon or canned salmon, skin and bones removed
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Watercress, for garnish
• Toast, pumpernickel, or crackers, for serving

(I also serve it with cucumber slices!)

1. Soften the gelatin in the cold water in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the boiling water and whisk the mixture slowly until the gelatin dissolves. Cool to room temperature.

2. Whisk in the mayonnaise, lemon juice, grated onion, Tabasco,  paprika, salt, and dill. Stir to blend completely and refrigerate until the mixture begins to thicken slightly, about 20 minutes.

3. Fold in the finely flaked salmon. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it is thickened to soft peaks and fluffy. Fold gently into the salmon mixture.

4. Transfer the mixture to a 6- to 8-cup bowl or decorative mold. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

5. Garnish with watercress, and serve with toasts, pumpernickel, or crackers.

Wild Mushroom Soup with Madeira

• 1/2 c. Madeira
• 2 3/4 c. chicken broth
• 1 oz. dried morels
• 3 leeks, white parts only, well rinse and dried
• 1 onion
• 4 T. unsalted butter
• 3 T. unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 c. beef broth
• 1 lb. fresh button mushrooms, stems removed
• salt and fresh pepper to taste
• creme fraiche for garnish
• Snipped fresh chives for garnish

1. In a small saucepan combine the Madeira , 1/2 c. of the chicken broth , and the morels.  Bring to a boil, reomove from heat, and let stand for 30 minutes.

2. Dice the leeks and onion.  Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add the leeks  and onion, and cook over low heat until wilted, about 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with the flour, stir, and cook an additional 5 minutes.  

3. Add the remaining 2 1/4 cups chicken broth, the beef broth, button mushrooms, morels, and their soaking liquid, and salt and pepper.  Simmer, uncovered, until the mushrooms are soft, 30 minutes.  Allow the soup to cool slightly.

4. Puree the soup in batches, in a blender or food processor.  Return it to the  pot and heat through over low heat,  Serve with garnishes.

Makes 6 portions 

In addition to the tablescape I did in my own dining room for Thanksgiving, I helped several of my clients with their
"Harvest Feast or Pheasant" tables.
I did indeed use birds and feathers in some way, shape or form on each of them!

I tied napkins with sheer orange ribbon ribbon  and jute twine with one of my favorites,
hypericum berries tucked in.



I designed the console especially for my client's dining room.  The space was very long and narrow.   The console's top is marblized and the carved edge is gold leafed.
We devised storage beneath.

The flowers are all arranged in vintage silver pieces and more are displayed around the dining room, along with antique
blue and white porcelain.  I love the old world patina the vintage silver gives the dining room.

We set up an additional dining gallery across the foyer in the library, which I loved.  I love a dining area surrounded by books.

And while we were setting up in the library, I found something
special . . . 

No Thanksgiving feast here would be complete without my client's precious pug
Izzie as "Pugahontas".

And at another client, we simply added to her year round naturalistic dining room decor for her Thanksgiving feast.

We use shells, acorns,
 dried flowers, feathers, moss and stone in her dining room year round, in tones of white, cream, tan and gray.  For her feast we simply added fresh flowers tucked in here and there, oh and of course a few little pheasants.

I LOVE the silver here too.

 

I hope your feast was a smorgasbord of delights, with or without a pheasant, AND that you enjoyed your just desserts!

What is your best NEW Thanksgiving memory?

photo credits: Gina's Recipes, Marilyn Storey

Special Thanks to my dear clients LWR and PGW.  I love you and am most thankful for you.