Week of April 5th

Alabama plays an important role in so many aspects of American life. It’s obviously significance in the Civil Rights movement, the birthplace of legendary athletes the likes of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Jesse Owens, the home to important American musicians Nat King Cole, Lionel Hampton, Emmy Lou Harris and Hank Williams and how about that good ole Southern cooking.

It also serves as a backdrop, either as the subject matter or as location to a host of memorable and significant movies; Norma Rae, Phenomenon, Heart is a Lonely Hunter and Fried Green Tomatoes.

But to be honest, what came to mind the minute we pulled Alabama from the “hat” was how long it takes to get through this state on the way from St. Louis to Fort Walton Beach or Destin. After over 20 years making this yearly journey, seeing the miniature Spaceship at the 1st Alabama Rest Area still indicates that we are entering the last leg (albeit a long last leg) of our trip. From Huntsville, through Birmingham, to Montgomery and finally to Florala. We don’t actually drive through Florala but when I see the sign for it I feel like we’re almost there.

Our son was home for the weekend so good ole Southern cooking seemed like the appropriate celebration choice. Literally thousands of recipes come up when you search for “Alabama food” so planning the menu was labor intensive. We don’t do fried foods so that eliminated around half of the recipes. My guys don’t care for sweet potatoes, another quarter gone. (I did, however, keep some yummy sweet potato recipes for the future.)

We started with a Fresh Tomato recipe (neither fried, nor green) courtesy of the Alabama First Lady Patsy Riley. This was followed by a tasty shrimp Creole with just the right kick. As the site said “no Alabama food book would be complete without a grits recipe” so we included a cheese grits bake guaranteed to fill you up (and out). However, we managed to leave some room to finish with a “southern” pecan pie. Conspicuously absent from our Dixieland feast was an “Alabama Slammer” because it just sounds revolting.

After the dishes were washed, the leftovers put away and our son on his way back to school with the balance of the pecan pie, I sat down in my comfy chair with my iTouch and watched Fried Green Tomatoes that I had downloaded earlier.

Color in the “Heart of Dixie” in the spirit of green tomatoes and cross the Mason-Dixon Line to the “Heart of the Yankees” or the “Empire State” – New York. 23 down - 29 to go.