grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Arkansas in Retrospect.

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Saturday night when I arrived in Fayetteville, I became instantly annoyed. Our UVerse was on the brink—And.On.College.Football.Night!

In retrospect, this turned out to be a good thing, not because the Razorbacks lost in grand form but because of the UVerseless events to unfold…

I poured myself a glass of wine, calmed down, and remembered the reason we bought our cozy place—to escape Dallas, to escape constant news and noise, to rest and think and write.

At a scant 893 square feet it’s filled only with things we absolutely love such as vintage Fiestaware, second hand books, beds covered in heirloom quilts, and leather club chairs from Paris I feel certain Hemingway once sat in.

Arkansas in Retrospect
Hemingway sat here? 
In reality, with only 893 square feet there isn’t space for okay or average or it’ll do. And there really isn’t room for UVerse…

With no sound other than leaves turning, I settled in to read.  
I read a Margaret Atwood poem. 
I finished a book of short stories by Dot Hatfield. 
I read an article about Northwest Arkansas museums. Located in Berryville, the Heritage Center Museum sounded interesting with collections of pioneer and artifacts from the early 1900s. With no real agenda, I decided to make a side stop in Berryville on my way to Eureka Springs the next day. Berryville was only a few miles off my regular route.
What to read next?

On the bookcase lay an old hardback book I found last year at Long Ago Antiques in Fayetteville, a place I am convinced is as magical as the Narnia wardrobe. The sturdy cover of the book was ridged like burlap and the center bore a faded drawing of the Arkansas state capitol building. It felt substantial and important yet was small enough to carry in my bag.

Inside, the first page was tagged Arkansas Collection then stamped ‘discarded’. 

Arkansas in Retrospect
Arkansas in Retrospect by William Henry Ingersoll
Clearly the book needed me. 
Although I had never heard of Arkansas in Retrospect, nor the author, William Henry Ingersoll, his surname reminded me of a Donald Harington character. Ingersoll stuck with me as Harington’s characters often do.

Donald Harington Books - arkansas author

The book (published in 1943) was one long poem about Arkansas. 
The first four lines…
In Arkansas where I was born,
Some fifty years ago or more,
A thousand tales do now adorn
And grace the State her sons adore.

Clearly I needed this book. It was speaking directly to me.

With heavy eyes, I fell asleep thinking when I get to Dairy Hollow, I’ll do some research on Mr. Ingersoll…tomorrow…

Tomorrow brought a truly AMAZING turn of events.
For the rest of the story, click HERE…
talya
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Halloween Shadow

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wordless wednesday

Halloween 2012
Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, Ar

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

How to Dice a Bell Pepper (and add years to your life)

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During the holidays we spend precious time in the kitchen dicing and chopping, prepping for cornbread dressing and an assortment of sinful casseroles. For me, chopping was the most difficult part of cooking until I attended a Knife Skills Class at Central Market. 
Chef Tre Wilcox (Top Chef) – Central Market Cooking School

Seriously Life Changing. No joke.
If you learn the proper way to chop—and there is a trick to each veggie—you can add hours (years?) to your life.

Learning to dice a bell pepper was one of THE coolest things I learned. And yes, I am easily entertained, BUT if you have wrestled a bell pepper, attempting to remove the seedy-meaty part without it sailing across the countertop and/or without slicing off a finger, only to end up with oddly misshapen chunks, this is amazing.
Ok, ok, OK! So many people don’t eat bell peppers. First I say to you, the yellow and red ones are amazingly sweet and pack double the Vitamin C of the green ones, so give them a shot (Doug Henard) before you completely discard this veggie. Secondly, this chopping method works for tomatoes… Who doesn’t eat tomatoes? (Doug Henard?)
Rinse and dry the pepper. Be sure your knife is sharp.
This goes without saying, but I said it anyway.
Dairy Hollow cutting board/pepper/knife:)
Slice off both ends of the pepper so that it will stand level and upright (as if you were planning to stuff it.)
Slice vertically through one side of the pepper so that you can
lay it on its side to open it up like a book. 
Now you can easily get at the meat and seeds.
Lay your knife flat on the edge of the pepper 
where you opened it, with the blade facing toward the center meat.
Carefully unroll the pepper as you firmly slide the blade
over the pepper, slicing
away the meat membrane in one piece.
(Careful of your fingers…)
(I should have my left hand on top of the pepper, 
unrolling it, but that
hand holds the camera…)
pictures are blurry as my left hand holds the camera…

Voila! 
Now you have one strip of pepper that can be divided into two pieces,
making it easier to handle.
Discard the inner workings of the pepper into your compost or trash.
(This part is made almost entirely of water. If you use it in a sauce,
it will be soggy.)
Cut the individual pieces into sticks.
(The proper word is julienne.)
 These are perfect for a veggie tray w/ Ranch dip…
Line up the sticks and dice them.
 Now you have uniform diced peppers to stir fry or to top your salad.
Salad I made at Dairy Hollow:)
Yay! I told you. Cool beans.
talya
Musical Pairings:

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!