“I hate it when I see some old person somewhere and then I realize we graduated from high school together.” George Ewing, Landscape Architect and columnist.
This past weekend we made our way to Auburn, Alabama for a ballgame that was about as much fun as a colonoscopy.
We perched for the weekend at Lake Wedowee, where my best girl friend from high school has a lake house, about 30 minutes from Auburn.
I always like to be in charge of the food because Sandra has one of those giant juicers and she juices everything.
Paul, her husband, sells pharmaceuticals.
They eat out a lot. Two years ago we brought barbecue from Dreamland in Tuscaloosa. It used to be my favorite, but honestly it is the sauce I love, not the ribs. This year we decided to stop at The Little Dooyes in Starkville because it has been so divine the last few times we have eaten there. My plans were blown up when I was told by Sandra, “Do not bring a thing, Paul is cooking chicken and pulled pork!”
“Well just great,” I thought to myself.
All I could think of was that monster grill they have at the lake house that almost took my eyebrows off the last time I tried to light it. The temperature is either 100 degrees or 800 degrees. Very hard to regulate, but because of the size, you could easily char 12 chickens at one time.
“Super!” I said, as I unloaded all sorts of snacks from my own cupboard.
The lake was glorious as usual this time of year, the leaves were beginning to turn and it was a bit cooler there than here. The ride to the ballgame was fun, trading State and Auburn stories back and forth along with stories from high school that are not funny to anyone but me and Sandra.The ballgame itself was not quite as much fun. I was engulfed in a sea of neon orange and there was an Auburn Tiger mascot running around eating cowbells that was just getting on my last nerve!
We finally left and got on the road and I asked Sandra who the older couple was that they were sitting next to.
“That was Donna Harrington and her husband. Remember she was a Gayfer Girl with us our senior year,” she said.
Of course I just aged myself because nobody remembers who the Gayfer Girls were.
There was a time, many years ago, that the Gayfer Girls were the chosen few from different schools around the Jackson area to serve on the teen fashion board at the hip department store.
“You are kidding me! Are you sure it was not her mother or older sister?” I said.
“Nope, that was her. I think y'all did a fashion show together, “ she said.
I felt icky. I pulled out my mirror and said “Is this what I look like? Yikes!” This was worse than the ballgame I had just endured plus all of that bright orange and blue I had to ingest!
Back at the lake, Paul the pharmaceutical seller, was ready to serve his barbecue from the grill from hell.
“Wow Paul! This looks great! Did you use the incinerator grill to cook on?” I snickered at him. “Actually I used my new 2-burner grill at home, I just can’t control that big grill out there,” he said. Ahh, things are looking up I thought to myself.
We had potato salad, snap beans and some red beans that I was not familiar with and they were spectacular!
“What are these peas and how did you cook them!” I remarked. They were small, spicy and tender; not like big kidney beans or pinto beans at all.
“Oh they came out of a can, I added a little salt and fresh jalapeño, and that is it,” he said. I was shocked! Once again just shocked!
It was a shocker of a night I tell you! Shocking orange everywhere you looked! Shocked my team looked so awful! Shocked that my old Gayfer Girl friend looked 98! Shocked that Ole Miss looked even worse than we did, and shocked that LSU looked the worst of all! But most of all I was shocked that I ate some of the best beans ever that came straight out of a can! A most shocking weekend!
Shocking Field Peas
1 can Margaret Holmes Seasoned Field Peas with Vidalia Onions
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 jalapeño pepper, minced
1 teaspoon butter
In a small pan, sauté the jalapeño in the butter until tender. Add the can of peas and the salt. Stir all together over low heat. Keep warm until ready to serve.
