Week of February 8th

All of us thought of the same thing when we picked Tennessee out of the hat – Elvis! We immediately threw out ideas about an Elvis night, good old-fashioned Rock ‘n Roll, sequined costumes, Peanut Butter & Banana sandwiches and bad Vegas style impersonators.

But before we get too deep into the celebration, I wanted to know where the “Volunteer State” nickname came from. As with everything else on-line there are multiple explanations, but I’m going with this one. The “Volunteer State” refers to the record number of soldiers from Tennessee who served under General Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812. Okay, schools out.

Unfortunately prior commitments interfered with finding a time that we could all get together for the Tennessee celebration so the plans took a dramatic turn. It would have taken an act of God to get my husband into a sequined costume or even Blue Suede Shoes so we broadened our celebration scope.

We planned our celebration for Sunday night but another one of those fluky coincidences occurred Saturday night. We decided to take in a movie but after reviewing all the movies playing at our neighborhood theatre we were left kind of flat. I’ve wanted to see “Blindside” ever since it came out but it always got trumped by something else and by this time it had run its course in our back yard. Since our neighborhood AMC has 12 theaters we rarely go out of the area. We even have an indi theater less than a mile down the road. So when we decided to go 20 minutes away to see a movie our friends wanted to know if we had booked a room. Anyway I digress. The coincidence I spoke about (pages ago) is, of course, the fact that we almost waited too long to see “Blindside” and when we finally went to see it, it was Tennessee week. You see, we didn’t know it took place in Memphis. What a great surprise and a great movie.

Back to the planned celebration. We didn’t want to ignore the Elvis connection altogether but Fried Peanut Butter & Banana sandwiches definitely got crossed off the menu. Instead I found a great recipe for Sweet Potato Pudding from the “Presley Family Cookbook”. My husband doesn’t really care for them but anything with sweet potatoes in it starts my heart a fluttering. And it greatly complimented the Memphis style barbecue beef. With Elvis music in the background during meal prep and “Walk the Line” planned for dinner entertainment we felt we have covered a good cross section of Tennessee’s high points. Add a glass or two of Jack Daniels on the rocks and the Volunteer state was properly saluted.

Before we move on, however, one note about the Tennessee image on the map. We have been driving through Nashville on our way to Florida (remember the snow globe hunt in week one) for many years. Not one time went by without at least a mental skyline search for the “Batman” building while traveling down highway 65. So here’s to you “Batman”.

Color in the “Volunteer State” with the sounds of Rock ‘n Roll, Country and the Beale Street Blues and travel south, southwest to the “Pelican State” - Louisiana. 16 down - 36 to go.