Ernest Hemingway - grace grits and gardening

Strawberry Goat Cheese Thai Basil Crostini

September 27, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Foodie Friday

made with Strawberry Fruit Spread from Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum

This is a great brunch appetizer, snack or dessert.

Toasted Sourdough

Drizzle of Olive Oil

Berry Jam

Goat Cheese Crumbles

Thai Basil

Thai basil is a peppery, anaise-flavored version of basil with smaller, deep green leaves and purple-hued stems. The flowers make a nice garnish and are edible as well.

Thai Basil

For this recipe, regular basil or fresh sage works great too.

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life

It is very hot and dry here…We have had an abundance of fine fruit so far this season. Cherries, berries, plums and early peaches but the dryness is affecting the apples and everyone’s disposition.—Mary Pfeiffer, July 1933 (in a letter to her daughter Pauline and son-in-law Ernest Hemingway in Key West…)

Hemingway Connection

June 7, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Waiting to board the plane, we stood nearly touching. Everyone queued up in typical Southwest Airlines kindergarten style, according to boarding pass number order.

I was B1.

He was B2.

B3 and B4 stood directly behind us wearing matching orange travel pillows around their necks like life preservers.

Is Little Rock your home? B2 asked B3.

Yes, thank goodness. We will never ever EVER go back to Austin. It was just too weird!

Yes too weird. B4 echoed.

B2 glanced at me and shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and noticed the time. The flight was already thirty minutes late leaving Dallas.

The Austin haters yammered on oblivious to other B-numbered boarders standing single-file. They clutched paper sacks of Dunkin Donuts like carry on bags. Sugary sweetness mixed with the awkward closeness and made me nauseous. Plus I had consumed too much coffee.

Is Little Rock your final destination? B2 asked while scanning his iPhone for text messages. Scruffy facial hair, maybe two days’ growth, gave him a relaxed yet cool appearance.

No, I’m headed to Piggott.

Piggott? He had dimples.

Yes, Piggott.

What’s in Piggott?

The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum. I’m going to a writer’s retreat.

As in Ernest Hemingway?

Yes. Ernest Hemingway’s second wife was from Piggott, Arkansas. After they married, he spent time there and even wrote a portion of A Farewell to Arms in his barn studio.

Really?

Yes, really.

Rummaging through the duffle, he pulled out a worn paperback. I started reading this a few days ago…

talya

written at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Creative Writers’ Retreat, June, 2013.

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ernest Hemingway

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

Piggott Arkansas -The Breakfast Table at Downtown Inn

June 8, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

The Downtown Inn B&B
Piggott, Arkansas

Everyone brings something different to the table. Literally. For the past week we have gathered each morning around the antique table in the dining room at the Downtown Inn in Piggott, Arkansas. We came to the writer’s retreat from various places with different levels of writing experience, assorted backgrounds and unique viewpoints. We leave as friends.

Brenda, our amicable host, provides an amazing breakfast each morning – scrambled eggs with bacon, breakfast casseroles and breads, fresh fruit with cream, biscuits and gravy, hot coffee and orange juice – something different every day. She wears a red toile apron and is the organized sister who makes certain we start each day with the most important meal. And a prayer. And a laugh. In only one week, we are a family.

Brenda

We discuss the prior day’s writings, our plans for the next day and the train that runs beside the Inn, so near the bed vibrates like a New Madrid earthquake several times each night. The whistles disrupt sleep, but less so as the week passes. Brenda says a first timer guest reports the train passed by “twenty-two times in the night” but a few days later only twice. We acclimate.

Families don’t eat together anymore, not regularly. When I think about the conversations we have had over a few days at the table in Piggott with complete strangers, I realize all the conversations missed not eating as a family because of working late or soccer practice or Dancing with the Stars.

I’ve met seven wonderful ladies this week at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Creative Writer’s Retreat along with a few good men. Each person brought something a little different to share. I will miss these ladies and the uninterrupted time I’ve had to write.

Today is our last day. Tomorrow I return to eating power bars for breakfast. We came to the table as strangers. We leave as friends.

talya

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