Tuesday, July 21, 2009

and to think I discovered it in a COOK book!


I love the library and I'm in and out of Central and a couple of branches usually twice a week or more. As much as I try, I can never leave without checking out a book or two - even when I've told myself I'm only dropping in to return some.

That was the case today. I was only going to return a couple. But I'm there, so might as well at least breeze by the browser right? Just see what might be there.

That's how I came to bring home a cookbook. A cookbook is proof that, not only do I love to read, I'll read pretty much anything. I don't expect I'll try any of the recipes* in the book I found, "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea - Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook", but I am enjoying reading it.

These are Southern recipes so you know there is a story for every one. Would you believe there is one about an embroiderer?

Ethel Wright's father eventually consented to her marriage in 1924 to Hassan Mohamed and they worked side by side at the General Store he opened in Belzoni, MS until his death in 1965. Insomnia brought on by her grief kept Ethel up at night and she turned to embroidery in order to relive the joyous days she shared with her husband as they raised their eight children.

Many of her memory pieces are displayed in the family home, preserved as "Mama's Dream World", and her work was featured in the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folklife, a commissioned piece was on the exhibit catalog's cover, and some of her work is held in the permanent collection.

see exhibit catalog cover (pg 9) here

*but if I do try one, I'd be willing to bet it is the Caramel Cake. I'm weak in the presence of a good caramel cake.

1 comment:

Mary said...

What an exciting find!