August 2008 Archives
Fried Green Tomato Salad: If there's one thing better than a beautiful and ripe Alabama tomato, it has to be a tart, green Alabama tomato fried up crisp and delicious.
Pretty simple dish, really. I soaked the green tomato slices in fat-free buttermilk (They'll be fried later so they'll get plenty of fat that way!). After a little soak, the go into a mixture of bread crumbs, flour, cornmeal and a little cornstarch for good measure. Be sure to season the breading with salt and pepper. I use cayenne and garlic salt.
After a good coating, I let them rest and add panko breadcrumbs (big, flaky breadcrumbs) and canned Parmesan cheese to the remaining breading. Back in the buttermilk go the tomatoes--but only to coat and then into the breading again for another light coating. Fry in plenty of oil until golden.
For the salad I used mache, but arugula would also be great in this. Only a handful is needed for each plate. I dressed the greens with a little olive oil, sherry vinegar, dry mustard and a hint of Alabama honey. On top of the greens go the still very hot green tomatoes. Surrounded by some sliced cherry red tomatoes, they made a nice presentation. The topping is a combination of mayonnaise, malt vinegar, olive oil, a pinch of sugar and cayenne pepper and fresh Alabama goat cheese with some fresh chives from the garden. Oh, and that fried thing on the very top: a jalapeno stuffed green olive fried with the tomatoes. (This seemed like a better idea than it turned out to be. The olive was good, but would have been just as good without frying.)
It made a very tasty salad or, in smaller portion size, an even better first course.
Alabama Tomato/Goat Cheese Sandwich
Sorry, no photo--lazy, I guess. For lunch today, we had a simple and delicious tomato sandwich. Fresh, local ingredients are the key:
1 to 2 ounces local goat cheese (Belle Chevre from near Huntsville, AL was my choice)
2 teaspoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
freshly ground pepper and garlic salt
4 slices Big Sky Honey Whole Wheat bread (a local bakery in Birmingham) or other artisan-style bread
Fresh sliced Alabama tomatoes
arugula or mache greens
Mix first 5 ingredients together to form a smooth spread. Spread on sandwich bread. Top with tomatoes and greens. Yum!
Sorry, no photo--lazy, I guess. For lunch today, we had a simple and delicious tomato sandwich. Fresh, local ingredients are the key:
1 to 2 ounces local goat cheese (Belle Chevre from near Huntsville, AL was my choice)
2 teaspoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
freshly ground pepper and garlic salt
4 slices Big Sky Honey Whole Wheat bread (a local bakery in Birmingham) or other artisan-style bread
Fresh sliced Alabama tomatoes
arugula or mache greens
Mix first 5 ingredients together to form a smooth spread. Spread on sandwich bread. Top with tomatoes and greens. Yum!
I don't normally post videos to my blog, but after the workshop on Wayfinding we had last week at the Barber Motorsports Museum in Leeds, Alabama, I ran across this video on signage. It seems to fit pretty well with what some people might think would be important on their scenic byways signs. Maybe not. Funny anyway!
It has been a busy week. Monday was filled with the usual Monday busywork, along with catching up on several projects that are ongoing. Plus, I spent some of Monday on last minute details for the workshop we held at the Barber Motorsports Museum. Yesterday was taken up with a full day of a somewhat participatory workshop on Tourism-oriented wayshowing (helping travelers find their way to the places that they are looking for). It was a good workshop and we brought down a couple of people from the America's Byways Resource Center in Duluth, Minnesota. 40 people attended the workshop from around the state. We hope to have more.
Below, my Uncle Lauren (actually Great Uncle) poses in front of Pike's Peak, along with a large number of Skinner family members. Imagine traveling out west in that one car with all those people! Uncle Lauren continued to travel much longer than his ability to drive safely (I think he grew up when his was the only car on the road and he sort of couldn't understand that he needed to be concerned about other cars). (Uncle Lauren was uncle to my father--Clark Watts.)
Still working on this calendar, but the front is looking pretty good so far (similar to last year's calendar, but with different art and colors).
Sent this one off to press on Thursday. As always, J.S. Printing does an amazingly fast job with newsprint. I submitted the newsletter just before 4 p.m. (their cutoff time) on Thursday and it is shipped Friday afternoon to the mail house for sorting and bulk mailing. Extremely fast. The print quality (black and white only--the color version shown is for the web only) isn't extraordinary, but it is printed on recycled material for an extremely good price and at an amazing turnaround.
I'd suggest using them for any newsprint needs that require a quick turnaround at an extremely competitive price.
Now, I'm off to finish the Alzheimer's of Central Alabama Art Calendar (*Vance, are you reading?) before tomorrow.
Three photos from Octagon, Alabama. These must have been taken in the early 1950's? In the first photo is Papa (A.A. Hinson) and his wife (my grandparents). In photo 2 is one of their children, though I'm not certain who (help?) and in the final photo is Clark Watts with dog. (As is usually the case, just click the image for a larger version. I try to upload photos that are large enough to get a decent 4x6 print out of.)
Graduation Day. Mama, Cynthia?, and Papa (love those gloves Mama was wearing). And look, the handbag matches her shoes. Very stylish.
Just wrapped up a newsletter for CGH Insurance Group (The CGH Insider). It is an online only newsletter. This marked the 53rd issue of the newsletter I've completed. For this issue, I went back and compiled the interviews I've done over the years--pretty standard stuff, but still... www.cghinsurance.com/newsletter/. I've also made a few corrections to the Tombigbee RC&D Council's website: www.tombigbeercd.com--more to come on that website in the next couple of weeks.I'm about to finish my monthly newsletter for the Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club (The Alabama Sierran). I'll be sending it to the printer tomorrow. I finished a postcard for Alzheimer's of Central Alabama last week, but, since I don't have anything else to post today, thought I'd toss it out here--very nice photos of some Alzheimer's patients--not taken by me... Now, back to working on the Alzheimer's art calendar.
This week is dedicated to wrapping up the remaining newsletters for August and the Alzheimer's calendar. Next week is all about Alabama tourism: a major redo of the Alabama Scenic Byways website (www.alabamabyways.org) along with some substantial work on a website for Bibb County and updates for the Alabama Front Porches website: www.alabamafrontporches.com.
Wow! I didn't realize that we were among the first families to enjoy a beautiful above-ground swimming pool. Here sisters Julia and Madeline enjoy a cool and refreshing dip in the luxury pool in the front yard. (I'm not sure what this large tub was meant to be--maybe a cow watering tub?)
Those must have been the days!
Recipe to come. The Sweet Potato Hash Browns aren't mine--I pulled them from Frank Stitt's cookbook, and they are fabulous.
Not much to report on the last week. Good progress on the Alzheimer's of Central Alabama calendar along with a quick "Save the Date" postcard for their fall fundraiser. Got a partially complete website for the Tombigbee RC&D Council (www.tombigbeercd.com) that I'll be filling out in the coming weeks, started gathering information for the next issue of the Sierra Club newsletter, Alabama Sierran, and the CGH Insider newsletter--both to complete next week. Oh, and I completed another AIA Birmingham newsletter along with a couple of additional pages for that website (aiabham.org). I added a Joe Watts biography page here on my blog.
Here we are having a great time on the swing in Octagon, Alabama. Julia, Joe, Stacy (in my lap--my first niece!) and Cynthia: a nice selection from the Watts family!
Good times. I still love that old, rusty swing.
Scanning in old slides again. Any help is greatly appreciated. Who are these children?
Well, this was actually January 1964 and the person shown is my sister Margaret. Nothing like a good hot summer day in August in Birmingham, Alabama to make you wish for and appreciate the cold snow found in January in Octagon, Alabama. I wonder how many times it has actually snowed there. This is in front of our house in Octagon, Alabama: the house my mother (Inez Hinson Watts) was raised in as were all of my siblings.
Suzanne, Cynthia and Julia Watts Portrait. Anyone care to date this?
Lots to do this week, but have gotten a few things behind me. I finished a quick brochure for Alabama Communities of Excellence last week. More work to do for them in the coming week.Now, I'm wrapping up a web newsletter for the American Institute of Architects, Birmingham Chapter this afternoon. Tomorrow, I've really got to get going on the Alzheimer's calendar for 2009 before an afternoon meeting with my friend from ALZCA, Vance Holder.
Also on the agenda this week, the Bibb County tourism website, more preparation for the Alabama Byways Signage workshop and a quick update to the CGH Insurance Group website--it seems we broke it when moving it to another server (well, it didn't really break as much as get replaced with an older version).
There's always something, but tonight it is time for another sourdough pizza--last night's was extremely good, if I do say so. The new, wetter dough I'm experimenting with in my recipes seems to be making a difference with a more flavorful, more bubbly dough. Let's see what a night in the refrigerator will do for it!
Last night's dinner. Not really worthy of an actual recipe due to simplicity. Simple grilled mahi-mahi sprinkled with fresh chives and a pat off butter (well, I made some garlic-chive butter, actually) served over creamed corn. The creamed corn was basically a traditional recipe (I looked it up in Frank Stitt's cookbook) with a couple of variations. I added chives and garlic to the butter and cut corn along with a splash of olive oil. Toward the end (about 20 minutes in) I needed to add a splash of water. And, in the background, fried okra. Simple meal but very tasty.
Those were the days! From left to right: Cynthia and Joe Watts at Alabama's Desoto State Park near Fort Payne, Alabama (no hat this time, but a headdress); Madeline, Joe, Cynthia and Margaret (nice pants!) at, I think Desoto State Park; and on the right Joe Watts and Bill Golden in Octagon, Alabama (I have a hat, a gun, some arrows, boots and a very stylish Western shirt--a reference to an earlier comment from a cousin who remembered my love of hats, boots and guns).
Well, I signed up for Amazon.com Associates about a year ago because I got something in my email box asking me to do so. I forgot about it until the other day. Ann's mother was buying a television and, instead of going to Best Buy or somewhere like that, we got online to do the research. That's when I remembered the Amazon.com Associates thing. I looked it up and we used a link to buy the television. I didn't really think it would work, but wow! I made $39.00 (4%) off that purchase. Certainly not an astonishing amount, but, if you think about it and would like to buy something from Amazon, just type in your desire in the Amazon.com search box in the right hand column. Let's see if it will work again! If it doesn't work well or is a pain to use, forget it and the search box will disappear eventually.
(And I know some of my family shops on Amazon.com a lot!) And, if you use the link below to buy gift cards (not for me, sadly, as those won't pay me!) I'll get 10%. Pretty cool.
(And I know some of my family shops on Amazon.com a lot!) And, if you use the link below to buy gift cards (not for me, sadly, as those won't pay me!) I'll get 10%. Pretty cool.
