Going home is always such a treat. I just love my parents and they have always, always been my rock and are to this day. Mom still cooks up a storm and last weekend was no exception. She whipped up this meal of fresh veggies for our lunch last Friday and man, oh man, was it good. Fresh tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, along with green beans, potatoes and dumplings, sauteed squash and that dish in the middle is fried eggplant. She uses Panko Japanese breadcrumbs for those and it is delish! I came home with a pile of veggies myself and cooked it up this week. I still can’t fix my veggies quite like my mama does though! She’s had years of practice.
Mom taking out the cornbread from the cast iron skillet. She can make some mean buttermilk cornbread.
Mom sent us home with some of her homemade pepper sauce. The best on turnip and collard greens, which Peter hopes to grow at our house this year.
This is the house I grew up in from the time I was 16. We lived in the house next door to this one originally (a 3 bedroom brick ranch) and then my dad built this house when I was a teenager. The cabinets are painted blue and my mom still has plenty of blue and mauve around. She is NOT into decorating, so I have no idea how my sister and I got so much into it, but we did. She cares not a whit about keeping up with trends, much less with the Jones’s. They live a simple and frugal life and that’s no doubt why they are so blessed with good health. It is not a fancy house at all, very basic, but it’s home to them and they have no desire to move anywhere else. Many a fabulous meal has been cooked in this tiny kitchen over the years.
As I mentioned, we celebrated my day’s 82nd birthday over at my sisters. I forgot to take a pic of the food, which was pork chops with side dishes (got too excited and dove right into the food), but I did take a pic of the pound cake I made. Here are my parents sitting on the deck enjoying the good weather we had that day. It wasn’t too humid for a change. Buster’s getting some attention from my dad. Buster is a lap dog.
I made this pound cake again (only this time I substituted cream cheese for the cream), a good Paula Deen recipe. My mom made a churn of homemade peach ice cream and we all pigged out.
I sliced up fresh peaches to go with it and it was absolutely a perfect summer treat. We grew up making homemade ice cream with a hand-cranked churn (I always sat on it to keep it from moving) and I have some very fond memories of eating that homemade ice cream, usually vanilla.
(me, Beverly, and my sister, Renee)
This is Beverly, an old friend of our family, and we invited her and her hubby over for our celebration. It was great to see her again. You see, we go way back with her big, extended family in Marietta, since her daddy and mama were one of the original families in the church when we moved to Marietta in 1963, the summer before I would turn 7. My dad became the pastor of the small church that he led for 27 years and her parents and mine have remained close over the years.
There are 7 siblings in her family, so they are a big bunch and here’s a fun little tidbit for you. She’s Travis Tritt’s aunt. Yes, the grammy-award winning country singer. Travis’s mother and Beverly are sisters and we know all of their extended family. Precious people. Travis grew up in my dad’s church as a little fellow, singing and playing his guitar in church. He had such a great talent, but we didn’t dream he would make it as far as he did, but he certainly did make the big time in country music. We’ve stayed in touch with this wonderful family over the years and after Beverly’s parents both passed away in the last 5 years, her daddy just in the past couple of months, my dad officiated the funerals for both of them, as well as Travis’s own father, who also passed away very recently. A finer family you will never find and it was great to catch up with her and hear about the rest of the family. The last time I saw Travis was over 4 years ago at his grandmother’s funeral and he was just as friendly as he’s always been, hugging each of us and catching us up on all he’s been up to since he became a country star. We have fond memories of Travis growing up as a small boy singing in church.
In fact, he wrote a song later on during his career called Bible Belt, which was written about a scandalous time in our little church involving a sordid affair with some youth leaders, when Travis was in the youth group choir which was traveling and singing that summer. It all came to a head during that trip while they were in fact, in Alabama at a church on a Sunday morning and the incident left an indelible mark on all of those young people, I’m sure. When the song came out and we heard it for the first time, we had to laugh all those years later at how awful the whole thing was at the time. That was just one incident that my dad had to deal with as a Pastor. Ahhh, the life of a Pastor is not easy. I was away at college during that time and my mom filled me in on the phone of all the goings-on.
Now, here’s something I’m going to put on here that I’ve never done before. My mom likes to keep busy during the winter months and has always done some sort of needlework. She got this set of 7 dish or hand towels out when we were home recently and showed me what she had been working on over the winter. These are all angels, all hand stitched by my sweet mama on a white cotton pique dish towel. She just does it for fun and had never thought about selling any of these, but she really didn’t want to keep them, so I told her I would put them on my blog to see if anyone would like to buy them.
I figured a fair price would be $42 for the set of 7 towels and I’ll even offer free shipping. So, if you are interested in buying these towels, please let me know by leaving a comment OR by emailing me. The first person to let me know will get them. That’s $6 each.
She did a great job with them. Neither me nor my sister or niece really collect linens like this, so none of us wanted to particularly keep them, so I hope one of you would like them for your collection. Especially if you love angels.
Thanks for going home with me!
See you Sunday afternoon for Thrifty Treasures.
I loved the story of your family and the wonderful food prepared.
Nothing like home cooking.
Although I now live in Upstate NY, my father's family is from Oklahoma. He is one of 6 boys.Love the Southern Food and remember making homemade ice cream with a machine we cranked by hand.
Ahhhh… the Memories.
Happy birthday to your Dad!
Debra
Such a sweet story. I am interested in the towels if you haven't sold them already! Do you do paypal?
::drooling::
Rhoda, your parents are just so precious!!!! And the tea towels are just wonderful!
Thanks for sharing!
P.S. Pass the eggplant and squash, please…LOL!
Rhoda,
What a great post. I feel like I got to know you a lot better.
I have never, I mean never, had homemade ice cream. Sounds like a must. Your parents look wonderful and all the food your mom cooked looked delicious. I might check out your pound cake recipe if I have time.
Love the tea towels. I might have gone for them if your second commenter didn't. My friend, Barb, loves angels.
Blessings to you.
P.S. That was quite the story about Travis Tritt
Can I go home with you next time? 🙂
Thanks for letting us tag along, Rhoda! The food looks just heavenly – I could go for your pound cake and the peach ice cream. I also love fried eggplant, but since going gluten free have not had it in several months. My Mom always made it for me and I always wound up bringing some home. I have to experiment with corn flake crumbs to see if I can make it taste just as good.
Rhoda, I really enjoyed your blog post today. I can see you have been blessed with two wonderful parents!
The food looks wonderful, especially that peach ice cream! There was a couple at the church we attended before we moved here who were originally from Georgia. They'd always have a big BBQ on the 4th of July. They'd get out two of those hand-cranked ice cream makers, and we'd make two big batches. My favorite was the peach.
Jane
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post, Rhoda. The meal your mom served sounds heavenly to me. I don't think it gets any better than homegrown veggies from the garden and your dessert looks wonderful too. I also enjoyed hearing about how you know Travis Tritt. Very interesting.
Your mom did a beautiful job on her hand towels. I have never seen them with angels before. If your previous commenter changes her mind, I would be interested in purchasing them.
Fantastic post. Thanks for sharing it!!
Rhoda this is the kind of simple lifestyle that I hope I am creating for my own family. Your family is preacious and thank you so much for sharing them with us.
Happy Happy Times! You are very blessed to have healthy parents to enjoy. I wish them many more active years. Now, pass the peaches, please.
What a lovely post! I love people like your folks, the frugal unpretentious ones. How very nice. What a blessing they are to you.
OH! My! That food looked sooooo good. I know you enjoyed it and the fellowship of being together. Your mom did a great job on the towels.
Rhoda, your parents are so precious, and I always love to "go home" with you. Thank you for taking us. Oh, what a blessing to have Godly parents! And I didn't think their kitchen was small. Apparently it works well because your mother is able to turn out some of the best food EVER. Those veggies, that cornbread AND homemade peach ice cream looked delicious. SO did your cake!
Happy Happy Birthday to your sweet father, and wooohoooo to your mother for her lovely towels she made. Since I don't cook, it seems a bit pointless to buy those adorable dish towels, but I think they are the cutest things ever! Love the fact that they are handmade, and I think that's more than a fair price on seven of them!
Love to you…
XO,
Sheila 🙂
P.S. Interesting story about Travis Twit, and his aunt (and all of you) are some mighty pretty ladies! "Hi" to Buster, too! 😉
Hi Rhoda,
Thanks for taking us along on your visit home. Your dear parents remind me very much of my own. My Mom turned 83 y.o. just a week ago. Dad went home to our Saviour just this past March but I was blessed to have him in my life for so long, he would have been 96 y.o. this coming October. My parents also lived a frugal lifestyle but this is how their generation lived. There are many lessons to be learned from them.
Your Mom's handiwork is lovely. Those towels have a definite vintage look about them. Best wishes to your Dad on his 82nd b/day. TFS! Sheila
Hello Rhoda!!! Love southern food!! Love your family!! Love the dish towels!! LOVE LOVE it all! Have your mom do some with rabbits, I need about six of them! Thanks for a great start to my weekend. Love Mary Ann
I liked this post a lot, Rhoda! It was nice to get a peek into your life. Your parents are just adorable, and I love that they live a simple life. 🙂
It is always so wonderful to go home! thank you for sharing your precious family with us.
It's easy to see why you love your folks so much! You are blessed with such fine parents and beautiful memories. The food is so down home and yummy looking. You could never get that at a restaurant.
Next time to see them, tell them they are loved in blogland too.
I always like it when you visit your parents because you post pictures of the most awesome food and somehow I always happen to be hungry when I see them. Excuse the drool. But how do you all stay so fit and trim eating all that delectable stuff???
I'm so glad to hear your mom isn't a decorator and she's lived a long fruitful life anyway. It gives me hope. By the way, I think her kitchen is adorable and she even has a dish drainer like me. Now I know I'd like that woman!
Love those beautiful towels! She has quite a gift there.
Thanks for the Travis Tritt Trivia (say that tongue twister ten times in a row- ha ha). I knew nothing about him, but he sounds like a great guy. Your dad sounds like a great guy too to handle that scandal.
I'm off to gorge now. I think I want something sweet with peaches and ice cream on it. Wonder where I got that craving???
There is nothing like goin home. It's amazing that MOM can always prepare a feast in the blink of an eye. Your family sounds precious and it's great to visit the old homestead, always brings back good memories!!
Have a fabulous weekend!
Hugs, Nerina 🙂