southern breakfast

Southern -



Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia,
West Virginia, Delaware, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas



Breakfast -

The word is a compound of "break" and "fast",
referring to the conclusion of fasting since the previous day's last meal.

Nutritional experts have referred to breakfast as the most important meal of the day,
citing studies that find that people who skip breakfast
are disproportionately likely to have problems with concentration, metabolism, and weight



Collard Greens -



The name collard is a shortened form of the word colewort ("cabbage plant"),
but does not have the usual close-knit core of leaves ("head") like cabbage.
It has an upright stalk, often growing up to two feet tall.

Collard greens are in The Acephala Group which includes kale and spring greens.
They are loose-leafed cultivars of Brassica oleracea (or wild cabbage).

They are a staple vegetable of southern U.S. cuisine,
often prepared with other similar green leaf vegetables,
such as kale, turnip greens, spinach, and mustard greens in "mixed greens".



Grits -



Grits is a food of Native American origin that is common in the Southern United States;
it mainly consists of coarsely ground hominy.

Hominy is dried corn kernels which have been treated with an alkali.

In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element.
Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water.
The word "alkali" is derived from Arabic al qalīy = the calcined ashes,
referring to the original source of alkaline substance.
Ashes were used in conjunction with animal fat to produce soap,
a process known as saponification. (Also used to process cereals)

Saponification are chemical processes that produce soap from fatty acid derivatives.



The state of Georgia declared grits its official prepared food in 2002.
Similar bills have been introduced in South Carolina, with one declaring:
Whereas, throughout its history, the South has relished its grits,
making them a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality,
and whereas, every community in the State of South Carolina used to be the site of a grits mill
and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its product;
and whereas, grits has been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income;
and whereas, grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State,
but also the world,
if as Charleston's The Post and Courier proclaimed in 1952,
"An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food,
[grits] should be made popular throughout the world.
Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about.
A man full of [grits] is a man of peace."

It is sometimes said that dry grits can be used to kill ants
by causing them to 'explode' as the grits expand inside them;
however, laboratory tests conducted on fire ants suggest that grits are ineffective.



Red-Eye Gravy -



AKA poor man's gravy, bird-eye gravy, bottom sop, or red ham gravy.

The gravy is made from the drippings of pan-fried meat,
sometimes mixed with black coffee (Mississippi uses red wine)
The same drippings, when mixed with flour, make the flavoring for a white gravy.

Red Eye Gravy's name comes from it's principal ingredient: coffee i.e. "red-eye".
Also, the water-based coffee sinks to the bottom
and the oil-based grease forming the top layer
looking like an iris.

Red-eye gravy is often served over ham, cornbread, grits, or biscuits.
It's popular to serve with mustard or ketchup mixed in,
and biscuits dipped (or "sopped") in the gravy.

Less traditional preparation techniques do not always result in "red eye" appearance,
leading to folk legends surrounding the origin of the name.
For instance, that former United States President Andrew Jackson
requested ham with gravy as red as his cook's eyes,
which were bloodshot from drinking the night before,
or that the black coffee in the gravy will keep people awake.



(thank you wikipedia)

Katharine Hepburn

During my Grace Kelly phase, I rented High Society from the Seattle Puplic Library.
It was alright. My favorite part was hearing Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby sing together.
All in all, I've been a bit disappointed by Grace's performances...
Besides being beautiful and kind,
I'm really not too impressed with her acting or presence.

The next movie I started watching that night was The Philadephia Story.
Which, it turns out, is such a strange coincidence,
because High Society is a REMAKE of the The Philadelphia Story
(completely freaked me out, because I had no idea!).


















Anyway, comparing the same role with two different actresses,
there was NO contest.
And now, my new obsession;
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003).
Who, unlike most of my other fascinations, had a happy, full life.
She gorgeuous, intelligent, witty, captivating, inspiring... OH and stylish.

She holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscar wins with four, from 12 nominations.
Won an Emmy Award in 1976 for her lead role in Love Among the Ruins,
Nominated for four other Emmys,
two Tony Awards and eight Golden Globes.
In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema.




Especially enjoyed swimming,
and regularly took dips in the frigid waters that fronted her bayfront Connecticut home,
generally believing that "the bitterer the medicine, the better it was for you."
She continued her brisk swims well into her 80s.

In 1923, she found her older brother Tom, whom she idolized,
hanging from the rafters of the attic by a rope, an apparent suicide.
For many years she used Tom's birthday (November 8) as her own.
It was not until 2001 she revealed her true birth date of May 12, 1907.

Was suspended from college for breaking curfew and smoking.
She confirmed that, after dark, she used to go swimming naked in the college's fountain.
She received a degree in history and philosophy.

Often, she'd come to interviews dressed in men's suits,
saying that it was "comfortable".
Without meaning to, she made a fashion statement,
and women who admired her started wearing trousers,
which was not encouraged at the time.

The Daily Telegraph observed,
"Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were at their most seductive when their verbal fencing was sharpest:
it was hard to say whether they delighted more in the battle or in each other."

The trip and the movie made such an impact on her that later in life
she wrote a book about filming the movie: "The Making of The African Queen:
Or, How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind",
which made her a best-selling author at the age of 77.






Katharine Quotes...



"I'm an atheist and that's it.
I believe there's nothing we can know
except that we should be kind to each other
and do what we can for other people."

"Prizes are nothing.
My prize is my work."

"Dressing up is a bore.
At a certain age, you decorate yourself to attract the opposite sex,
and at a certain age, I did that.
But I'm past that age."



"I never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun."

"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased."

"If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun."



"If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one,
go ahead, get married."

"It would be a terrific innovation if you could get your mind
to stretch a little further than the next wisecrack."

"Life is to be lived.
If you have to support yourself,
you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting.
And you don't do that by sitting around wondering about yourself."

"My greatest strength is common sense."




"Never complain. Never explain."

"Plain women know more about men than beautiful women do."

"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other.
Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."

"To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts.
It makes it easier to stoop the next time."

"We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers
- but never blame yourself. It's never your fault.
But it's always your fault,
because if you wanted to change you're the one who has got to change."

"Without discipline, there's no life at all."

". . . as one goes through life one learns that if you don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move."

vivre dans l'instant‏

July 11th was one of my most peaceful days ever.












It’s been a stressful last few months.
A terrible break-up started an avalanche of giant, life-altering decisions.
New budget, new maps, new outlook, hair, clothes...
My mind’s been busy either analyzing the past or planning...
Couldn’t recall the last time I was unrushed or content.

Then, it completely snuck-up on me,
as things do when one stops looking...

It was after bicycling around town on a mission for new jeans.
In the most downtown of Seattle,
there’s a clearing on 4th and Pine.
Just a simple open space,
some tables and chairs,
a hot dog joint,
a fountain,
old people playing chess,
teenagers skipping class (during the week).

I stopped and bought a veggie dog,
took a seat and started to eat,
when i found myself in a most remarkable moment;
Instead of worrying or plotting or even thinking,
I was blissfully clear-minded and content.
Happy, even.
Comfortable in my own skin,
with the people around me,
everyone’s kind disposition,
the weather,
my appearance,
my apartment,
where I have been,
where I’ll be going,
and most importantly;
completely present in the moment I was living.
Appreciating every breeze.
Every quiet plane distant in the sky,
the people who are surely looking down from it.
What a great taste Dijon mustard and ketchup make,
thanking whosever idea it was to carbonate grapefruit juice,
that it got made, and bottled, and arrived, and in my hand.
Grateful to each person for strolling by in an unrushed manner,
for behaving and being relaxed together,
for belonging to me, and belonging to them,
for sharing the sun and sidewalk and the city.

Remarkably, on a gorgeous 75 degree Sunday,
there were no tourists around
(you can spot em, once you’ve lived in one place long enough).
It was just for us Seattleites.
Our city belonged to us.
It embraced us.
Even the homeless were in a good mood,
looking up at the birds and such.
Everything is OK at this moment!
It’s warm outside!
We have a neat Space Needle!
Folk music has made a comeback!
Our president is cool!

Completely enjoying the moment,
I took as long as possible to eat my hot dog.

I took these pictures in attempt to capture some of it,
and to not forget (not that I could, but).

I’m already nostalgic about Seattle...
appreciating it as much as I can.

Bobby

Facsinated by Robert Kennedy for the last week or so.
What a great president he would have made.

The footage of him meeting people, and the looks on their faces...
I've never seen anything like it.
Especially black people, and Mexicans.


from wikipedia:

"Kennedy's policy objectives did not sit well with the business world,
in which he was viewed as something of a fiscal liability,
opposed to the tax increases necessary to fund such programs of social improvement.
When verbally attacked at a speech he gave during his tour
of the universities he was asked,
'And who's going to pay for all this, senator?',
to which Kennedy replied with typical candor, ;You are.'"


Here he is with Jack;

Bobby, Jack, and Ted:




RFK quotes:


"All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world,
but we don't.
And if our times are difficult and perplexing,
so are they challenging and filled with opportunity."


"If any man claims the Negro should be content...
let him say he would willingly change the color of his skin
and go to live in the Negro section of a large city.
Then and only then has he a right to such a claim."


"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."


"Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom."


“The greatest truth must be recognition that in every man,
in every child,
is the potential for greatness.”


"If we believe that we, as Americans,
are bound together by a common concern for each other,
then an urgent national priority is upon us.
We must begin to end the disgrace of this other America.
And this is one of the great tasks of leadership for us,
as individuals and citizens this year.

But even if we act to erase material poverty,
there is another greater task,
it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction
- purpose and dignity - that afflicts us all.
Too much and for too long,
we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values
in the mere accumulation of material things.

Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year,
but that Gross National Product
- if we judge the United States of America by that -
that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising,
and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage.
It counts special locks for our doors and the jails
for the people who break them.
It counts the destruction of the redwood
and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl.
It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads
and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities.
It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife,
and the television programs which glorify violence
in order to sell toys to our children.

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children,
the quality of their education or the joy of their play.
It does not include the beauty of our poetry
or the strength of our marriages,
the intelligence of our public debate
or the integrity of our public officials.
It measures neither our wit nor our courage,
neither our wisdom nor our learning,
neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country,
it measures everything in short,
except that which makes life worthwhile.
And it can tell us everything about America
except why we are proud that we are Americans."


"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
(From his last speech, June 5, 1968)




Hs assassination is so awful.
(I'm glad I wasn't alive yet.)

My mom says that Bobby's murder was worse than Jack's.
She said, Jack's death was a shock,
but when Bobby died, it seemed like the end of the world.
How terrible.

Apparently, the first thing he said after he was shot was;
"Is everybody ok?"
So heartbreaking.

Emotionally difficult to look at.
So dark and moving.
But, what an incredible photo.


Ted Kennedy, eulogized him with the words:

"My brother need not be idealized,
or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life;
to be remembered simply as a good and decent man,
who saw wrong and tried to right it,
saw suffering and tried to heal it,
saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today,
pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others
will some day come to pass for all the world.
As he said many times, in many parts of this nation,
to those he touched and who sought to touch him:
'Some men see things as they are and say why.
I dream things that never were and say why not.'"

jeans

looking for the perfect form-fitting jeans
for a ride on the yacht this weekend.
...ok there is no yacht.
but still looking for the jeans.



jackie. on her own in new york.



norma jean.



marilyn.

refined

I'm going through a growth-spurt.

I've found great inspiration from
Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, and Coco Chanel.
Their "classic style" was always dignified, elegant, graceful...
Not only in fashion, but in etiquette and poise.
Thinking of what they would do, wear, and behave in any given situation
has helped me become a better person.

Someone once told me,
"A certain type of man will look at Marilyn Monroe,
but every man looks at Jackie Kennedy."
That might have just been one man's opinion,
but there is certainly something to it.
Clothing will draw a specific kind of person to you.
It seems to me Marilyn dressed for men,
and Jackie dressed for herself.
In March of 1957, Marilyn was married to Arthur Miller
and taking classes at The Actors Studio.
The tasteful clothes she wore at this time,
brought out the grace and intelligence in her.


Marilyn in 1957:























Jackie Quotes:

"There are two kinds of women,
those who want power in the world
and those who want power in bed."

"Whenever I was upset by something in the papers,
Jack always told me to be more tolerant,
like a horse flicking away flies in the summer."





"You have to have been a Republican to know how good it is to be a Democrat."




"I have been through a lot and have suffered a great deal.
But I have had lots of happy moments, as well.
Every moment one lives is different from the other.
The good, the bad, hardship, the joy, the tragedy, love, and happiness
are all interwoven into one single, indescribable whole that is called life.
You cannot separate the good from the bad.
And perhaps there is no need to do so, either.”

“You are about to have your first experience with a Greek lunch.
I will kill you if you pretend to like it.”

“Being away from home gave me a chance to look at myself with a jaundiced eye.”

"Something you create yourself is the best kind of present."

Grace:






















Coco Chanel quotes:


"I don't understand how a woman can leave the house
without fixing herself up a little, if only out of politeness.
And then, you never know,
maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny.
And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny."

"The best color in the whole world,
is the one that looks good, on you!"





"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous."

"A women who doesn't wear perfume has no future."

"Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress."

"Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence,
but of those who have already taken possession of their future."

"Elegance is refusal."




"There are people who have money and people who are rich."

"Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury."

"Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty.
It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity."



"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself."

"A style does not go out of style as long as it adapts itself to its period.
When there is an incompatibility between the style and a certain state of mind,
it is never the style that triumphs."

"I invented my life by taking for granted
that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like."

"How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone."




"Nature gives you the face you have at twenty;
it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty."

"A woman has the age she deserves."

"There have been several Duchesses of Westminster but there is only one Chanel!"


Mad Men's January Jones playing lost housewife Betty:

.