Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween! Don’t you just love this old building? We found it along our fall Road Trip in Chattanooga. It even had broken windows to add to the effect.

Road Trip:Pardon me, boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo? Pictures Part 2

All pictures are from www.sweeticedtea.wordpress.com

Road Trip:Pardon me, boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo? Pictures Part 1

 

Road Trip: Memories of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo

You know how sometimes when you look back on something you did as a kid, it’s always warmer, more colorful, exciting, and spectacular than the real thing?

If you get the fortune to go back and experience a beloved memory as an adult, it often isn’t as fun as your memory pedestal has made it. This was the worry I had when pulling up to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo on the first night of my second annual road trip with Becky. Here I had dragged her all this way out of the way to head to Tennessee, feeling responsible for the state, as I spent a good part of my teen years growing up in good ol’ TN. So I felt obligated to give disclaimers all along the way. “I hope it’s what I remember. You never know how something might change in 10 years…”

You see, I remembered the Chattanooga Choo-Choo as this bright, colorful place, full of action and laughter. But then again, I hadn’t been there since a silly 8th grader, fresh off a musty bus full of other junior highers, bursting with energy from a long ride. Bright-eyed, young, surely crushing on some boy, with my best girlfriends around me, we had tumbled out, and been let free to roam around, chaperone-free until the technical guys had set up our equipment and stage and the time had come for us to give our show.

So this is what the experience had to live up to.

And it did.

Ah, sigh of relief and delight to my dear Chattanooga. We arrived after dark, so while the bright memories of my trip looked instead warm and dark, and just straight like something from a 1940’s, it was still, just as I had remembered it. Maybe better.

The gardens were still just as immaculately kept, fountains sprinkling. The shops just as quaint and charming. The trains just as brightly painted.

We had a grand old time just walking among the trains and exploring the train station (now a gorgeous hotel). So grand, in fact, that we had to go back early the next morning before we snuck out of town for one last look.

So now I know. The memory is just as good as the reality. That’s the South for you. Always surprising, never disappointing. I should have known.

What childhood places would you like to go revisit?

A Little Housekeeping

Hi, Friends!

We try and keep this blog solely about the South that we all know and love. But what’s more Southern than Sweet Iced Tea?? So from time to time, we’ll have to let you in on a couple of “housekeeping” memos, just between us friends. Then we’ll get right back to the good stuff.

I’m sure most of you have noticed our “Pages” over there to the right. We’ve got a little About Us, our page of “Southern Sayin’s,” and a whole lot more coming.

So you might have noticed our “What in Tarnation?” page has changed to “Odds ‘n’ Ends.” This is just a little about technology. We’re no spring chickens, but we try to stay up on all the latest technologies you readers might be using. That way, we can all stay in touch! And, let’s just face it… nothing is more fun than to glance at your cellular and realize you’ve got a Twitter (especially if it’s from SIT)!

One of our favorite recommendations we’ve added for you “readers” out there is Google Reader. If you already use a Goggle account for anything – email, news, maps, and other applications – you should really check out the Google Reader feature. For instance, instead of typing in www.sweeticedtea.wordpress.com everyday into your web browser’s address space, you can just go and check Google Reader, and this uploads any new content we’ve posted since the last time you checked. The genius of this feature is that it keeps you from typing in all those fun sites you check most often. As you know, we’re big fans of other blogs and shops and such too, so instead bookmarking and directing your browser to each individual site every day, it’s all in one place.

Go ahead, give it a try. We won’t mind! Just make sure you “subscribe” to Sweet Iced Tea. Now, we can talk every day! (Psst, just a hint for the rest of you just figuring out this newfangled technology stuff… you might of heard of an RSS feed (that pesky orange box with the three arches popping up everywhere)… turns out that’s what this is. See, you learned something new!)

While I’m at it, just a reminder that if y’all ever have any questions, suggestions, hopes, complaints (oops!), or just thoughts you might like to share, feel free to email us at beckyandginger@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Still Looking for a Halloween Costume?

 

Halloween is on Saturday, and in case any of you are still looking for a costume, here’s my pick. Anyone who knows me knows one of my favorite characters of all Southern literature is the spirited Scarlette O’Hara. Anytime something stresses me out, I just quote, “I’ll worry about that tomorrow!” in my best Georgia drawl.

 

So, this year, for man, woman, and child… Gone with the Wind inspired costumes.

Road Trip: Music Highway

Interstate 40 (I40) in Tennessee covers a long stretch of road.  This time of year (fall) the leaves are changing and it makes for a beautiful drive.  If you are a car sleeper, this is the drive to stay awake for.  I was excited about this bit of interstate in Tennessee as it is uniquely called, Music Highway.  I40 connects the Nashville and Memphis, the biggest music towns in the south.  Ginger and I took I40 twice on our little road trip and the musing of Music Highway sent me reeling in excitement.  

Memphis and Nashville, independent of each other, arguably birthed some of the best music in the world. It was a music revolution.  Nashville, the country music capital and Memphis, the home of the blues and the “birthplace” of rock and roll couldn’t be more different, but with music in their roots the musicians coming from these cities are endless.  Of course, I couldn’t go without naming Elvis, Furry Lewis, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, B.B. King, Otis Redding…and these are all from Memphis. 

On your next trip to Tennessee do not forget to take I40.  Music Highway is a callin’. 

Fall Cookies

“I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address,” is one of my favorite lines from the movie, “You’ve Got Mail.” I also dearly adore a few other lines, well truly, I love the entire movie, but “don’t cry shopgirl,” “daisies are the happiest flower,” “Mr. one hundred and fifty-two insights into my soul,” and “It’s like they’re an entire generation of cocktail waitresses,” are some of my favorites.  The fall introduction to the movie was the perfect accompaniment to our fall cookie night.  

Every year my family sets aside almost a whole day to create Christmas cookies, people sometimes even stop over to help.  We bake and decorate for hours.  It is the real deal.  Our colors are vivid, the cookie cutters original and we adore the entire process.  Last year we extended our tradition to include fall cookies and continued again this year.  There is just something so relaxing about icing cookies. You can lose yourself in thought while enjoying the happy moments of decorating with your family and friends. 

Here is the recipe for our happy cookies. They are best covered in icing (which is the easiest part). 

Sugar Cookies:

½ cup unsalted, softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking powder (fresh)

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp or dash of cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbl milk or water

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Use parchment paper on your cookie sheet to ensure a quick transfer after baking.

In a large bowl, combine the butter with sugar and beat until fluffy.

Beat in the egg(s) until creamy.

Add dry ingredients and beat together.

Add milk or water to make dough pliable.  Once this is mixed thoroughly, gather the dough into a ball.

For baking purposes you will want to roll out the dough to a ½ inch thickness.  Cut out your cookies. Bake for 15 minutes. Hint: if you can stick a toothpick in the dough after 15 minutes and it comes out clean, the cookies are ready.  After removing the cookies from the oven, transfer them to a cool surface. Keeping them on the cookie sheet will continue the baking process and they might become hard. 

 Icing:

Sift 1 cup of confectioners (powdered) sugar in a bowl and mix in 1 tbl of water.  We like to make our icing goopy and add more water depending on how much we want to make. By separating the icing into smaller bowls you can use food coloring to mix new colors or use the standard ones. 

Released Released

Released by Tina Thompson

You’ll all remember my wonderful mother (whom I affectionately call Lady) who wrote for us a great post a while back about her historic home. Well, she’s not just a great guest blogger, she’s a published author.

Today, my sweet mom’s book Released was, well, released!

About her experience of struggling with depression and anxiety, she wrote this practical guide to help those struggling with the same through it. But it’s so much more than just a guide.

She shares her experiences, troubles, and how she found answers, ultimately in God, with us all. While I feel like I knew my Lady better than almost anyone, I was shocked and surprised to learn about how deep a depression she went through when I was much younger, too young to remember. What a strong Lady! (And not technically a Southerner by birth, but she got here as quick as she could, and has lived in the South more than half her life.)

While hundreds of thousands of folks write books every year, few of those ever get read by publishers. And even fewer of them get picked up to be published. And for most of those, it takes years of submission.

Tate Publishing picked hers up almost instantly. We tease because my dad is a writer by trade, and my mom is the first in the family to complete a book. (Though my third pursuit starts on Sunday!)

If you know anyone who is struggling or has struggled with depression or anxiety, this book is worth a read. At 96 pages, it won’t overwhelm someone going through these types of trials. And if you’re fortunately enough to never have undergone such a time, I can tell you from personal experience, I’ve learned so much from this book. We as humans are designed to live and work a certain way. Our souls are designed, while not to always be happy, not to be in the bondage of depression or anxiety. So it’s definitely worth a read.

Pick it up here at her site, or at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.

Congratulations, Lady! We’re so proud of you for overcoming and for writing this guide to help others through it!

Food Network’s 50 States, 50 Burgers

(above Neely’s Mini Memphis burgers via the Food Network.com)

I have a confession. I probably watch more meals prepared on the Food Network than I actually prepare for myself.

I can sit, mesmerized for hours by the mastery and creativity of all those personality-filled chefs. Now, of course there’s my favorite and yours, Paula Deen, but when I want a taste of food outside my homeground, I love to watch Giada, Bobby, Nigella, and Ina.

So when I heard the Food Network traveled around the country collecting the best of the burgers, I just had to see who won out in our beloved South. Go over and check out the burger joint nearest to your hometown and pay a visit to such delicacies as the Cousin’s Hamburger in Kentucky, the Creek Bank Large Cheeseburger in Alabama, The Slugburger in Mississippi, and the Frita Burger in Florida.

Do you have a favorite home-grown burger in your town?