Walmart on Black Friday, A Course In Communication and Personal Strength

     My mother has unheard of strength.  She spends days and nights preparing for Thanksgiving, baking cakes and pies, cleaning chinaware and rearranging the house to accommodate family and friends.  On Thanksgiving day she sets the table, she carves the turkey, she makes sure everyone has enough to eat and sits and talk for awhile. After hearing conversations about the good 'ole days and who has the best potato salad, she slips out of  the living room and heads to her bedroom to prepare for Black Friday.  She returns to the living room geared up in her jogging suit and tennis shoes. With her purse placed strategically on her shoulders, she fixes her mouth to ask the 11-year-old question that I dread hearing each year after second rounds of dressing and collard greens. "Are you going with me this year?"  
     What kind of daughter would I be to send her out alone to Walmart on Black Friday.   Black Friday at Walmart is not for the timid and although my mother is equipped with strength from the Harriet Tubman days, she can be a little shy at times.  You must be brave when shopping during this mega event because you may need to stop the shopper, who is flying by you with the one item in their basket for which you have left behind the ham, dressing, potato salad, sweet potato pies, and ask them "Where did you find that?"  Also,  you can not be afraid to speak up and perhaps say to the lady who is itching her way towards the front of the line, "Uh 'mam, the end of the line is ten isles down at the Automotive Center." You see, when you are stuffed and sleep deprived, it takes tact and mindfulness when expressing yourself to fellow Black Friday shoppers.
     You must be focused and strong to survive Black Friday at Walmart.  When you're making your way pass the line that stretches from the Jewelry Department to the Gardening Center and you see scuffling occurring between shoppers who are losing their patience because they have been waiting in line for hours to get the 40" flat screen TV, you must not get involved, stay focused and keep it moving.
     A true Black Friday shopper is strong.  Strong enough to stand in line to get a ticket number, then stand in line for another hour to use the ticket and finally wait in line for another hour to check out.  My mother's strength and tenacity is to be admired in the kitchen as well as in Walmart on Black Friday.  I don't know many women who can, in one day, unload two stuffed turkeys, feed a house full of guests, and leave out of Walmart after midnight asking with a smile, "Where are we going next?"

Far from Simple

     After spending four hours of a beautiful day with the lovely folks of Dekalb County Traffic Court, I dove into the kitchen with inspiration that was sparked by a self reflection of my life's journey.  A 30 year plus journey that has been shaped by choices that have produced both desirable and less desirable results, but nevertheless they have all been my choices, whether good or bad.

     I remember when my cousin and I would take just about every seasoning in my grandmother's kitchen and mix it together. We weren't trying to make anything in particular but we always managed to make a mess.  We were imitating our grandmother who cooked without recipes or measuring cups. She would always make it seem so simple.  Our young minds did not understand at the time that she had years of cooking for the church and for her family under her apron and probably could do it with her eyes closed, we couldn’t. 

     I've managed to create concoctions in life with some of my decisions, but like we did to the mess that we created in Momo's kitchen,  I’ve cleaned it up, let it go and started over many times.

     This was my first time making the dish of which I have no name because it came and went so quickly.  I creatively used mini pasta, sausages, spaghetti sauce, onions and peppers, lots of peppers.  I was pleased with the outcome and very happy that I received a simple but good review, “This is good, ma.”

A Simple Song and Dance

     Lately, dinner has consisted of packaged, quick and on the go meals.  Chicken nuggets, boxed macaroni and cheese, hamburgers, etc. A few nights ago, I made the time to prepare a long overdue home cooked meal.  Rice and gravy, stewed chicken and baby carrots cooked in cinnamon, butter and brown sugar were on the menu. While I was preparing the vegetables and flour for the gravy, I noticed a change in the kids’ mood.  Instead of tormenting each other and complaining about their homework, they were moving about the house singing and dancing.   At first, I heard humming.  But while I was giving the rice its second rinse like mom taught me years ago, I heard my son singing words to his own simple melody, ‘We’re going to eat good tonight, eat good tonight, woohoo.’  I knew then that the sudden outbreak of song and rhythms  were inspired by the aroma of onions, garlic and peppers sautéing in my great-grandmothers Dutch Oven skillet.

The Simple Chicken Wing

What is a Super Bowl Party without chicken wings? Feeling confident that my favorite defensive NFL player, Clay Matthews would win a Super Bowl ring, I felt motivated to take a shot at making some homemade lemon pepper wings for our party-ready kids and their friends who were invited over to watch the game.

I fried the wings without flour, a concept  that I learned from watching Fox 5 Atlanta.  It worked.  However, the lemon pepper seasoning that I used did not.  I should have also made note of the seasoning that the chicken wing extrordinaire  used on the news special.  The lemon was overwhelming.  I felt like drinking a gallon of water after taking just a tiny bite of the first wing. I almost gave up like that Chicago Bears quarterback.  What's his name?  But I didn't. After the Packers scored their second touchdown, I was pumped up and at that point I knew without a doubt that the Lombardi trophy would return home.  So, I did the same.  Well, almost.

I went back to what I know best.  A little Lawry's, a little pepper, flour and lots of love.  The kids, both Packers and Steelers fans, loved them.  Welcome home Lombardi and welcome back to the Simple Chicken Wing.

Simple Pleasure

     We look forward to mom's biscuits like a kid looks forward to a Happy Meal.  Her biscuits are extraordinary.  Literally.  They are the size of two Pilsbury biscuits put together and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or for a mid afternoon snack.  Not everyone can appreciate the sizing of mom's biscuits.  My husband won't eat them.  He's thrown off by their grandness.  I grew up with them so I am okay with the fact that her biscuits are bigger than the palm of my hand,  I understand.
   With more than enough time on my hand during the 2011 Atlanta Snow Storm, I decided to make my own homemade biscuits.  I pulled out "The Black Family Dinner Quilt Cookbook" and got started on what would turn out to be a pleasing, therapeutic and memorable experience.
    The kids and I enjoyed the batch of biscuits.  They were no where near the size of mom's.  As many other great things in life, that will come with practice and time.  The simple pleasure with cooking biscuits on a icy, frigid day was hearing the kids say 'Mom when are the biscuits going to be ready?' as they passed through the kitchen and watching them soak up syrup with my tiny biscuits in their hand and a smile on their face.

Simply Put

     On January 1, 2011, I did something that would have my sister to think that I was temporarily insane and would want my husband to divorce me.   I had to question and re-question my own intentions..'Again, why am I doing this?'   People around the world do it all the time and many, many years ago, some people had no choice but to do it.  And it's for those who endured it that I did it.
    I admit,  I gave good reason for my sister to question my sanity and my husband to want to leave me, temporarily that is.  What I did was.... simply put......disgusting.  But with every bite and with every whiff of  the stench of chitterlings that made it from the pot, throughout the entire house, into the fabric of my clothes and through my nostril canal,  I thought about my ancestors who ate it out of necessity and in turn, passed it on to become a  New Years tradition for many African American families.

Deliciously Simple

     We can always count on mom's sweet potato pie to be rich, sweet and gone in a heart beat.  It's quite difficult, if at all possible just to eat one slice. They are tempting and mouth watering.  If she is in a good mood, mom will cook a few extra pies for the taking.  This Christmas, I decided to use mom's recipe to make our own sweet potato pies with my daughter.
      "Is that it?" was my first reaction to mom's recipe.  The most difficult part of the recipe was converting mom's "a little of this and a little of that" to actual measurements.  She doesn't use any measuring cups or spoons, just memory as with her homemade biscuits that I have been trying for years to formulate a recipe.
      Like with most things, I added my own twist.  Instead of using canned milk,  I used whipping cream. Other than taking the pies out a little too early, making the pies was unbelievably simple.