Monday, February 16, 2009

Sweetwater, Texas Blow me away


Sweetwater Texas is primarily known for wind. When we passed through the winds were blowin' mighty hard. In fact it is the center for wind generation in the Nation. I nominate Sweetwater for the 2009 No Calorie Left Behind Fried Chicken Award.* Our muse and guidebook Road Trip USA recommend Allen's Family Restaurant and boy were we glad we exited Interstate 20 and heeded his advice. It was 11:30 in the morning, church had just let out, and the families were sittin' down to some good Sunday eats. Check out the sides: We had the okra gumbo and the yellow squash with a maple glaze. The gumbo wasn't too slimey and just enough bite. The spelling of potatoe salad I am sure is a tribute to Dan Quayle, one of the patron saints of road food. The chicken was crispy, juicy and crunchy. Perfection. Way too much. We each had three pieces, and our fill of veggies. The peach cobbler was super. Soggy chewy crust, big hunks of peach and not overly sweet. We ate this picnic in the car, at a rest stop while the winds were howling around the car at 60 mph! Chum, I admit was the beneficiary of some white meat chicken. He approved!
*"No Calorie Left Behind Tour" coined by Michael Ventre October 2007.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Demopolis, Alabama -Last Jew Standing

I spent some time in the Jewish Cemetery in Demopolis. No Newhouses to be found. I guess they assimilated early and often. We didn't have time to go through the big city burial ground. The architecture in Demopolis ranges from plantation houses fit for the Tarleton twins to picturebook Carpenter Gothic cottages. Of course most interesting to me is the one building that is not there anymore. Like Selma, the Jewish community in Demopolis started about 1844 with an influx of Jews from Germany. The community prospered and built a Moorish Revival synagogue that looks pretty quirky. This photo was given to me by a lady at the book store of Bluff Hall.
The synagogue was built in1893 and torn down in 1959.The building that remains a
s Bnai Jeshurun was given to the Episcopal Church a few years ago. It now serves as a food pantry. It is a unremarkable brick structure.
There are tw
o Jews left in Demopolis. Their family owned the furniture store which was founded in 1895. The Rosenbushes are now quite old and when they go, that is it for the Jewish community in Demopolis. If this subject interests you, you can read more about it on the Institute for Southern Jewish Life webpage.
There was one house that I saw in Demopolis that I couldn't get any information on. It had a remarkably elaborate stained glass window in the front and looked like a Greek Revival transistioning to a Victorian !
The window was reminiscent of John
LaFarge. I could only do two drivebys so I didn't get as close as I wanted to. If anyone finds ANYTHING out about this house, I would love to know more. I am thinking about sending photos to the Demopolis Chamber of Commerce or the Mayor's office to see if they can tell me more. I will post updates I promise.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Shalom Y'all


When I think of Selma, Alabama -immediately I flash on the Rabbi of my childhood congregation pontificating on "walking with Martin" and his involvement with the early civil rights struggle in the South. I went to Selma to just poke around and see what was there. I found the most lovely Romanesque abandoned synagogue. Just exquisite. Jews showed up in Selma as early as the 1830's and The Jewish community established Mishkon Israel in the mid 1800's and laid the cornerstone in 1899. I don't know when the last Jew left, but trust me, there aren't any lulav-esrog superstores close by. On to Demopolis to track Sadie Fink's mishpucka.
On the way to Demopolis, I exclaimed "be still m
y Greek Revival loving heart!" Julie and I spotted Gainswood through the schmutz filled window of the Pruis. (Thanks Chumley). We couldn't get a tour, (The docent was "runnin errands") but a lovely caretaker took us around. He knew EVERYTHING about the place, and history in general, and my mind was boggled. Constructed in 1843 - 61 The house is sort of an amalgam of pattern books and various references. An extraordinary curved bay window in the rear is unique and uncharacteristic. Here is my heretical thought for the day: the architecture of our newly formed country that represented Greek ideals of equality and representation was built by slaves. Suck on that. And another thought, how about all those Jewish plantation owners, and there were some, celebrating their Passover Seders and repeating the phrase "We were slaves in the land of Egypt.." while being served Charoses by "Mammy." More about the lost tribe of Demopolis at the next stop.

Abilene miracle

Comfort Suites in Abilene provided a make-your-own waffle maker, this was the second time on the trip we had landed in the lap of luxury. Virginia also provided a waffle-maker. It produced pretty good, crispy round waffles after the staff gave guests a complimentary and brief training course on how to portion, flip and remove after two minutes.

Back to Abilene, not-really-awake at 6:30 a.m., Judy and I stumbled down to the breakfast room. Upon removing my waffle I let out a cry of surprise "My waffle came out looking like Texas!" It was some sort of chance miracle and we would be paying for the rest of our trip with an e-bay auction -- the "miracle of Abilene" going to the highest bidder. The hotel clerk smiled - they all turn out that way, it is planned that way. They say God has a plan, but to this level of detail?


No longer a potential source of income, the waffle took a turn as modern art. The kind that needs an explanation before you realize how clever and profound the artist's intentions are. The butter is a rough distribution of the population of Texas, with the largest gathering of butterfat around Dallas-Fort Worth. Austin and Houston are slightly smaller and a disproportionate amount favors our own unforgettable Abilene.

The black camera case underneath represents the underlying "black gold" industry which lifts this state above the less prosperous levels of its neighbors we came through. This increased wealth allows the population to express values higher up on Maslow's hierarchy of needs* like make-up mirrors in the hotel rooms. Make up mirrors are listed as amenities in the state welcome center's lodging coupon books. Later it was evident a make-up mirror was NOT a luxury but an essential for Texas culture, where, to borrow from a friend's description "it looks like prom night every day of the week."

*have you ever noted that the U.S.D.A. food pyramid also puts all the good things at the top, like chocolate and dessert? Surely this was intentional.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

suggest a caption or guess where we are....







more photos


photos









I thought there was supposed to be a parade? Where is the new President? Where is everybody?










We caught Joe Biden jogging after a long day at work.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Route


Georgia on my plate.

Before I begin this blog entry, let me just say: food photographed by non professionals always looks gross. Trust me, if you don't have a stylist, gylcerine, good lighting, and lots of time it looks like it has already been eaten. That will not stop me from whipping out my trusty Nikon every time I eat an interesting morsel.
Julie and I carbo loaded between breakfast and lunch. When Michael Stern (from Road Food) casually throws around the phrase best biscuit in the South you have to be one callous foodie to keep driving. So we stopped: Julie had biscuits in brown gravy, I had grits, and biscuits with butter. Her brown gravy was so lard loaded it tasted fried. It reminded me of Zepole at the San Gennaro Festival. The biscuits were de-vine, light, creamy (the lard) melty, and just delish. Worth the stop. A mere 45 minutes later we pulled into Melear's Barbeque. Almost nauseated to the unfathomable state of non hunger by the life size cut out of GW Bush, I gathered my wits about me and ordered the non-endless pork plate. (I watched a group of phone installers get countless plate refills while I was there.) The shredded pork was frankly dry and unremarkable. The thing that made it palatable was the vinegary barbeque sauce. What I really liked was the Brunswick Stew. OH YUM. Tomato based with a distinct corn flavor and probably day old shredded pork, it really was incredibly tasty. Luckily it did not contain squirrel or rabbit which around here is good eatin' and often is included in Brunswick Stew. The pickled onions and cole slaw were good and the toasted wonder bread was handy for getting up the last bit of the Brunswick Stew. Tomorrow, I will stop gorging and look for some interesting architecture in Demopolis, Alabama, birthplace of the late great Sadie Newhouse Fink, the Miss Daisy of my extended family. A Jew in Alabama in the 1920's can you imagine? I can. Cottilions where they danced the hora. OY.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Another Cross Country Trip!


Julie and I just can't get enough of our great country! Jud
y just was looking for any reason to escape the relentless snow of Saratoga Springs, New York. Julie needed to get back to the three dimensional world beyond the computer screen. Pick any two and you are correct! We are on the road again. This time taking a southern route across the US for obvious reasons. We will stay on the interstate and take detours off. We haven't obsessively planned our route this time. But, Chumley has been bugging me to take him to meet Obama. So we detoured to Washington D.C. to see the first family. He actually wanted to pee on Dick Cheney's wheelchair first, but I digress.We plan on eating road food and regional delicacies, but last night the unbeatable combination of Comfort Inn and Ruby Tuesday's salad bar lured us in.
After scoping out the gym in the hotel, I caught Julie In flagrante delicto with Chumley!

On to Georgia today. Maybe South of the Border is still there- pink adobes and all.