When I was a little girl, one of the things that I remember the most was my grandmama’s ritual of making cornbread. She made it from scratch with the cornmeal, eggs, oil and milk in same square pan.
The cornbread wasn’t sweet, but it was just good. Sometimes if my grandmama wanted to pull a fast one on everybody, she would put raisins in the mix to give it a little sweetness or add corn and jalapeños to give it some Mexican flair.
Well just before I left to LA, I guess I had a nice and unexpected Southern sendoff by way of cornbread.
On Thursday, Saturday and Monday, cornbread showed up on my menu. A furniture store, a horse race and an airport restaurant served me up their interpretation, and you may be surprised to learn the result.
IKEA: Did you know this Swedish furniture retailer serves up 49¢ squares of cornbread? Up until several weeks ago, I did not know. However, on Thursday nights the cafeteria at their Atlantic Station location in Atlanta, GA is packed with people eating the $1.99 Roasted Chicken Special. One quarter of chicken with mashed potatoes and the optional gravy are included in the special of the day. For an additional 49¢, I had a piece of some cornbread that was a perfectly soft rendition of our favorite Jiffy cornbread. It’s worth a try, and at such low price, you can get a second square!
CAROLINA CUP (VONNIE HOLLIDAY TENT): On Saturday, I joined scores of people as guests of Vonnie & Eboni Holliday at the 2011 Carolina Cup in Camden, South Carolina. It was a day of 70 degree sun, great people watching, interesting conversation and entertaining horse races. Underneath the Holliday corporate tent, there was a smorgasbord of southern favorites, including none other than…cornbread! The cornbread was so good that I believe I made a noise of approval as one of my tablemates, David Thornton from the Tennessee Titans, looked on…haha It was a winner!
PASCHAL’S (HARTSFIELD TERMINAL A): Since I was heading to a place that I feel is deficient in Southern cuisine, why not get a sendoff from a place that I heard was a “soul food institution” in Atlanta. The line at the Paschal’s Terminal A location was long line, and I was excited to know that it would be worth the wait. Well, the excitement of a $16 meal which included baked chicken, black eyed peas, string beans, cornbread, sweet potato pie and sweet tea quickly subsided; and in the end, my cornbread rolls were hardly touched. Where’s a This Is It or Busy Bee when you need it? It hurts my heart to do it, but Paschal's cornbread was thumbs down.
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