Jaymes

Why aren't any of the party-goers wearing their Pig Pickin' Tee Shirts???

Wow. This has been just awesome. And, Varmint, I especially loved the photo of the Li'l Varmints helping out with the Nanner Puddin'. You may not realize it, but you have given them an incomparable memory. They'll tell this story the rest of their lives.... "And I remember this one time when my daddy had this great Pig Pickin' and people came from all over everywhere and we kids helped..." And who knows...maybe the story will go... "And every October, my daddy gave these great Pig Pickin's, and people came from all over everywhere and we kids helped and that's why I'm continuing the tradition...." Or maybe not.

Dark rum. Yum. I often use bourbon, but dark rum sounds yum.

Just grabbed the list of ingredients and tried to do the rest from memory. Whoops. I'll fix that. Also, in addition to the "orange," a squeeze of any citrus can really jazz it up. Sometimes I put just a touch of lime or lemon juice in. For the "orange" flavor, I add a tsp of frozen OJ concentrate. Oh - and here's another tip from my granny. While you're beating the mixture, if your sweet potatoes have any long stringy bits, they'll wrap themselves around the beaters. I actually know some people that push the mixture through a sieve to remove these strings, but my granny just stopped occasionally as she was beating the pie, and took the strings off of the beaters. That worked fine, too.

Here's my friend Gayle's recipe: Sweet Potato Pie 2 C mashed, cooked sweet potatoes 1/2 stick butter, room temp 3 eggs, beaten 1/2 C white sugar 1/4 C brown sugar 1/2 t cinnamon 1/2 t nutmeg 1 small can evap milk Mash the butter together with the sweet potatoes. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into 9" pastry shell and bake at 375 for approximately 50 minutes, or until center doesn't "jiggle" when moved. Tip: When selecting the sweet potatoes, I always scrape back a little of the skin to be certain I'm getting those beautiful bright orange ones. Also, you can add any other flavors you like to this basic recipe - ginger, orange (try a little frozen OJ concentrate) or lemon juice, bourbon, allspice, pineapple.... whatever. Want to add: in the matter of the pineapple - Sweet Potato Pie purists wouldn't want to add any pineapple that changes the texture - because we like that smooth creaminess. But my grandmother often added a little pineapple juice that she drained from a can of sweetened pineapple as her secret ingredient.

Damn. That was funny.

And I am just completely and totally bummed that I'm not there. Unfortunately, my life has taken a last-minute turn south, and not in a good way. And reading this stuff, I am as torn as that pig. Happy for y'all of course, that you're having so much fun and everything.... BUT - also, dying of envy. Thanks to everyone that is posting updates, and especially the photos of course. It's really fun to read along!

I lived in Panama for four years. We lived in a community with many North Americans that were down there working. These American coworkers came from all over the US. We got together to celebrate US holidays - July 4th, Thanksgiving, etc. And my best friend was Gayle - a sweet Georgia girl. I noticed after a couple of years that everytime we had one of these community feasts, she'd say "And I'll bring the pumpkin pie." She was insistant. I don't think anyone else noticed, but I did. So finally, I said to her, "Why is it so important to you that you always be the one to bring the pumpkin pie?" And she said, "I don't like pumpkin pie. I like Sweet Potato Pie. I figured out long ago that I can just bring Sweet Potato Pie and no one ever notices the difference. They just think it's pumpkin pie, but better." So here's the lesson: Some people, maybe even most people, wouldn't notice the difference, especially when they're being told its pumpkin pie. But other people, most obviously in this story Gayle, certainly do seem to notice the difference. I like them both. Although of the two, I'd probably agree with Gayle that Sweet Potato Pie is my favorite. Sweet Potato Pie is the the typical dessert of choice in most African-American run BBQ joints in the South. I think it's wonderful.

Best meal eaten while drunk: Always and forever - Chili & Eggs - my kitchen - 3 o'clock in the morning - surrounded by at least twenty of my friends that are equally inebriated. The absolute best.

Exercise all the personal freedom you want. So long as in doing so, you're not directly affecting my health. It's bad enough that I have to walk through a fucking cloud of noxious fumes everytime I go in or out of a building in this city, I shouldn't have to endure the same hazard inside the building as well. People can eat themselves into obesity and diabetes if they want, they can smoke themselves silly for all I care. But the second any of it affects my ability to go out in public with a relative degree of safety, THEN it becomes an issue. Telling people to go find a smoke-free environment in this city is ridiculous, there aren't (or weren't) any. Hell, you can hardly walk down the sidewalk without some ignorant tool blowing smoke all in your face. So boo-fucking-hoo that people now have to walk 8 yeads to the front entrance of a club to smoke. I was never able to walk 8 yards to the front entrance to get away from the smoke, cuz it's outside too. Please make sure you don't stand near any buses Jaymes, I don't know why allowing establishments to build separately vented areas such as some restaurants have done in Toronto would not work. I also agree, you shouldn't have smoke in public places with children, which is why in Toronto, you may declare yourself to be a 19 year and over establishment, and thus can permitt smoking in those separately vented areas. You DO realize, don't you Marlene, this isn't MY quote you cited above? I'M the one that said I thought we should be able to work it all out as long as each side accepts the others' concerns as being legitimate and worthwhile. Although, I will admit, I'm not in the habit of hanging out at the ass end of busses, so think it will be easy to follow your suggestion in that regard. And I think that businesses that provide "separate(ly vented) but equal" ("equal" being the key word) smoking/non-smoking sections, and give their employees the right to choose which to work in, might be quite a doable solution.

Is this some kind of off-color version of that old "Who's on First" thing?

And speaking just for myself, I agree with that. Although exactly how to accomplish it eludes me. But I do know that the first step is for everyone on BOTH sides to understand that the other has a LEGITIMATE concern. And work from there.

Yes. So attention, men: that had better not be a ferret in your pants.

Okay. One last time. "It would be great if smokers could recognize what the real issue is; understand that people that don't want to inhale their smoke also have true and real and valid concerns (OTHER THAN BEING 'SANCTIMONIOUS'); and attempt to work on THAT problem in order to find a solution."

Just blow the other way, Darlin'. Just blow the other way. Jeeus, don't tell my husband that! Darlin. Who knows -- he might like a little variety.

Just blow the other way, Darlin'. Just blow the other way.

I'm going to repeat this, and then I'm done. It would be great if smokers could recognize what the real issue is; understand that people that don't want to inhale their smoke also have true and real and valid concerns; and attempt to work on THAT problem in order to find a solution. Instead of just insisting that we all "deal with it."

And since you are fond of hypotheticals, try this. There's a famous restaurant in California. Let's call it, just for grins, The French Laundry. In addition to serving some of the best savory food in the world, they are famous for their desserts. You are going to be spending a week in Northern California. You are interested in food. You have always wanted to go to the French Laundry. You are a diabetic (analogous to being asthmatic). You discover that it is part of the French Laundry's policy that everyone that eats dinner there MUST have at least a bite or two of one of their desserts. You think that infringes upon your rights. You are told, "Well, fine, then go somewhere else." Which is just what the handicapped people were told when they complained that they couldn't even get into some places. "If you don't like it, go somewhere else." Honestly. It would be great if smokers could understand what the real problem is, and try to deal with that, and help to solve it, instead of totally dismissing the rights of others.

Tryska - There are many, many "bad things" that humans do. That's not the point. The point is that your rights to engage in whatever "bad" behavior you mention here, regardless as to how it compares to smoking, does not include the right to force me, or anyone else, to engage in it right along with you. THAT'S the issue. Debating which is "worse" is totally irrelevant.

You completely miss his point. His point is that sugar may indeed be bad for you. But it is ALREADY against the law to force others in the restaurant to eat some, just because YOU are. Unlike smoke. Which, if the people at the next table are smoking, I TOO have to ingest some.

I think it's already against the law to run around a restaurant or bar with a funnel and force feed sugar to everyone in the room.

I've got a Thanksgiving cookbook, too, that I think has pretty good info. It's called "Thanksgiving 101" and it's by Rick Rodgers. Many excellent recipes in it. He's also written "Christmas 101" and "50 Best Stuffings and Dressings."

Southern Bourbon-Pecan Pie Want to add a little tip here about the pecans in the pie for those folks that haven't made pecan pie before. You have to scatter them into the shell before you pour the mixture in. That way, the pecans get covered with the syrup before they float to the top, which they will. You have a choice as to whether or not you want to use whole pecan halves, or pecan pieces. Each choice has its advantages and disadvantages. The whole pecan halves look prettier. When I use them, after they float to the top, I always turn them all over so that the "pretty" side is up. But the pie doesn't cut as evenly with these larger pecans. If you use pecan pieces, they don't look as pretty on the top of the pie, but it is much easier to cut even slices. So there you go. Put 1T of molasses and/or 2T of maple syrup into measuring cup Add dark Karo Syrup (or Blue Ribbon Cane) to make 1 Cup 1/2 c white sugar 1/2 c dark brown sugar 1/3 c melted butter 3 T bourbon (or 2 t vanilla if you don't like bourbon) 4 eggs, beaten until mixed but not frothy 1-1/2 c pecan pieces Combine syrups and sugars and mix well. Add butter and bourbon. Stir in eggs and combine well. In bottom of pie shell scatter pecan pieces. Pour pie filling over. Bake 350º for 35-45 minutes. Pie is done when center no longer ripples in middle when moved. Cool well before serving. This makes enough for a big pie (10"). If I haven't made a shell that large, I just pour the leftover filling into a smaller pan and bake one sans crust. Keywords: Dessert ( RG729 )