Reviews: a couple of catch-up

 We're on our way USA

Amusing, as the British usually are to Americans like me.  They seem to see everything in a different way. In this short memoir the author and his wife move to America, specifically, Atlanta, with his job.  And the story unfolds of their trials and tribulations of getting VISAs, finding a house, establishing credit which requires a social security number, and various other dross adventures. Not gut-wrenchingly exciting, and not as snarkily funny as some other Brit-discovering-America memoirs I've read, but quite solidly amusing.

The Taste of Country Cooking
by Edna Lewis

I read this as much as I ever read a cookbook--the introduction, all the headnotes, and skimming some of the recipes. But I didn't read every single ingredient and instruction in every single recipe, no.

It was absolutely lovely. She's writing of her experiences and meals while growing up in Freetown, Virginia in the early 1900's--from about 1920 on. (She was born in 1916). I was expecting them to eat a lot of seasonal, local foods, plus hogs and chickens they raised themselves and occasional fish (always shad) and wild game. But it was amazing to read the amount of butter, cream and lard they used--in everything!  Even the green salads, and there were plenty of those, usually had a vinegar/bacon grease topping.  Much like my own ancestors did.

She was probably about the age of my Aunt Callie or grandmother, and no doubt ate much of the same foods. Probably prepared much the same way, although my ancestors grew up in the western area of Kentucky some 700 miles away. And probably--since she grew up to be a famous chef--her cooking was better. But many of the recipes sound just the same as my folk would have cooked.  I don't eat that way anymore, but it sure sounds good.