Raising Southern Girls

I failed with Helen. She doesn’t like to eat unless it’s junk food. Yesterday, when she discovered that the house was entirely devoid of junk food, she said, “Mommy, can we go to the grocery store? We need some junk food. Four junk foods. Tangly Cheetos, regular Cheetos, Fish Sticks, and Oreos.”

I’m not entirely sure how “fish sticks” got on the junk food list because, all things considered, among the things that Helen is willing to eat right now, they’re quite the gourmet fare.

Anyway. We went to the grocery store, and of the junk foods she mentioned, I only bought Tangly Cheetos. BAD Mommy.

Alice, on the other hand, is the Anti-Helen. She’ll eat anything.

Tomorrow my dad and brother return to town from 10 days in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the EAA Air Show. Pete, who lives in Virginia, really misses Southern pit barbeque (not to be confused with Texas barbeque or North Carolina barbeque, which are both completely different). He has one particular kind of BBQ that is acquired 20 minutes out of town that he LOVES (Meridianville BBQ, for you locals). It is purchased from a shack next to a gas station as you head towards Tennessee, and yes, it is amazing.

(Yes, this story does actually have relevance to the Helen-won’t-eat-anything-and-Alice-eats-everything way that I started. Just be patient.)

However, we want to test his theory that Meridianville is the BEST, so Mom and I are hostessing a side-by-side blind taste test of three different barbeque joints (Gibson’s, Lawler’s, and Meridianville), and inviting several family friends that would enjoy seeing Pete.

I picked up the Gibson’s and Lawler’s today (all of these places are closed on Sundays because of Jesus, so we had to go obtain the barbeque today. Mom’s in charge of getting Meridianville’s), complete with slaw from both places (we’re also going to taste test the slaw). I also got fried okra from Gibson’s and turkey barbeque from Lawler’s for our lunch today.

We know from previous experience that both Helen and Alice like the turkey barbeque. Helen even had a sandwich today! I was impressed. And she even tried the white sauce. Things are looking up! Yay for Helen!

Alice-who-eats-everything continued her streak, and with true Southern Grace, she sucked down about 10 pieces of fried okra. That’s my girl. 🙂

Next Southern Taste Test for Alice: cheese grits. I have the materials to make them IN MY POSSESSION… We’ll probably have Breakfast For Dinner sometime this week. Wheeeee!

Warping young minds: it’s how I entertain myself.

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Alice-Helen

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5 Responses

  1. Far be it for me to deny a young child something she loves.

    Alice can have my portion of fried okra.

  2. Elaine

    The Real Person!

    Author Elaine acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.

    So, Nancy, is the jury still out on the grits? Are you waiting to taste them before deciding to sacrifice your portion?

  3. LOL… I’m sure Jesus would mourn if he knew he were the cause of any southerner being without bbq.

  4. Elaine

    The Real Person!

    Author Elaine acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.

    Yeah, I think Jesus is much happier now that we can purchase alcohol on Sundays. I know *I* am, and Jesus and I — we be like THIS.

  5. Jesus was all about the alcohol. Used his miracle powers to make sure it was available to all and everything. Praise God and pass the wine.

    I bought hominy the other day. It was white hominy. I think it was defective. I always had yellow hominy and it tasted like popcorn. White popcorn tastes white. As in “without any flavor whatsoever”…much like white bread. I was disappointed.

    Have I HAD grits? I would think that one of my aunts would have served grits to me (and I would have had to dutifully eaten them) at SOME point in my life.

    But CHEESE grits? CHEESE? My mother would put cheese on everything to get me to eat it. I still think the only proper way to eat zucchini is baked with cheese on top. Fried cheese is a delicate treat….. I’m very willing to give cheese grits a try. I’m also willing to arm wrestle for my cheese…..

    Alice is going DOWN.

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