High East clouds
Vinca ground poppers
Big leaf magnolia
Waiting wisteria
Milky white mayhaw blooms
Shadowed sunset
Last Week of February
Harbingers of Spring
I did no work at my house today. We were celebrating; it was my grandson’s birthday. He is now a big 2 years old.
The daffodils in the backyard are up and cheerfully blooming. Camellias of every color are opening, even though some cold nights have bitten them back. A bouquet for my daughter-in-law was picked.
I have a countertop full of seeds. Vegetable packets from Johnny’s and flower seeds from Wildseed Farms are yearly harbingers of Spring. Now, if only the pecan trees would bud out, I could plant them.
Blessings from the Exiles Kitchen.
Chocolate Coffee Cake
The Mardi Gras creep has hit our part of Mississippi. It used to be that if you wanted to celebrate, New Orleans, Louisiana or Mobile, Alabama was your party destination. Now the once Catholic-only observance has crept into small towns all over our area. I said all that, because getting to my farmhouse this morning meant taking the long way ’round. Magnolia has become part of the Mardi Gras creep, offering not just a family friendly parade, but also a carnival. Shutting down the streets for the parade made navigating through town and out to the country difficult. A thirty minute drive wound up taking twice as long.
Clean up around the barn has started. We’re turning an old garden spot into an area to raise bottle calves – for the freezer – not for pets. Won’t be giving them names… Unless we christen it Barbie for barbecue!
While I waited for my helpers to arrive, I put together the following recipe: Chocolate Coffee Cake. Super simple.
Chocolate Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
1 small boxed chocolate cake mix (I found the mix I used today on the $1 aisle of the Piggly Wiggly. Pick up a couple. They’re great for a quick mix-up.)
1/2 cup of water
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
What to do:
Preheat your oven to 350°. Spray a 9″ cake pan with vegetable spray. In a medium bowl, mix the first 4 ingredients together and pour into prepared cake pan. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Shake the cinnamon sugar evenly over the top of the cake batter. Place cake pan in the center of the oven, baking about 30 minutes or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan or a knife, inserted into the center, pulls out clean. Cool in the pan and then transfer to a pretty plate.
After stringing fence, we went inside and enjoyed coffee and cake on a drizzly, February Saturday afternoon.
Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen .
Furnishings
The single Jenny Lind bed had been my Aunt Irma’s when she was a little girl. Loaned to my mother for my use, it was the bed that I slept in from the time I climbed out of the baby bed, till I got married and left my mother’s home. When my mother moved to Mississippi nineteen years ago, my aunt said that I could have the bed. I was thrilled. Family heirloom. All three of my sons have used the bed as their own, during their growing up years.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I- we- had emptied the storage units I had been renting for so long. I couldnt wait to set up the Jenny Lind bed in my room.
I have been gathering furnishings for a few months. The area rug came from Wayfair. The gray bedspread was bought at the store with the big “W” on it. Amazon was where I found the pretty curtains. The pinwheel patterned quilt is one I made myself many years ago. The colors match nicely and I was pleasantly surprised. I guess we all gravitate to certain colors our whole lives. Soft blue and white have shown up over and over in my life.
The pine floors were refinished a year ago. See the contrast from these new pictures to the top one? They had actually been painted to look like mahogany. And whatever your opinion may be about maintaining a true Craftsman vibe to a farmhouse as old as mine and keeping the floors dark, I love the lighter, more natural pine color. 
Miss Marigold and I walked the property this afternoon. A visit to the barn first. I love the ancient barn; wouldn’t trade it for anything! You step back in time when you step into its shadows. We also surveyed the perimeter of my big field, picking up trash thrown out by passersby. I was happy to see that the daffodils I planted a year ago have begun to stretch from the sleepy ground. Can Spring be close? We can hope.
Worship this morning. Homemaking at noon. Being a landowner this afternoon.
Blessings from the Exiles Kitchen.
MaBell Simple Supper
(Hey, folks. I am excited to let everyone know that there is Now a source for shipping MaBell Sausage to your favorite people around the United States.
MaBell’s Simply Shipping (601-522-5954)
Call and order today!)
Simple suppers are a must during playoff season – well, any season that you’re busy. We’re watching the Saints get spanked by the Vikings right now. Sigh.
Oh well, supper will be good.

I cooked extra MaBell Smoked Sausage for this mornings breakfast, and now it’s anchoring our supper dish: Red Jambalya. Here’s what to do~

In a skillet, heat up 1 tbl of cooking oil. Add 2 ribs of chopped celery and one small, chopped onion. Soften up, but don’t over cook it. Throw in 1 pound precooked MaBell Smoked Sausage. Add cup white rice. Then, add a medium-sized can of diced tomatoes. Fill the can with water and pour over the rice and meat mixture. Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Cajun seasoning. I like mine a little spicy. Cover and cook over medium heat until the rice is cooked through.

MaBell’s Smoked Sausage is packaged by King’s, a local meat processing company in Southwest Mississippi, and their smoked sausage has made them famous. If you would like a sampler of their products, here’s their address:
King’s Packing Company
3066 Hwy 570
Summit, MS 39666
Happy simple supper from Exile’s Kitchen.
(An update on King’s Packing Company: Due to Covid-19, they are having trouble getting meat to process, and the plant has been temporarily closed. When King’s opens back up, I will let y’all know. 4-27-2020)
(As of this week, June 14, 2020, King’s Packing Company is back open and making sausage.)
Empty
Happy New Year
That’s it. No punctuation. 2017 was a roller coaster. We had some very good days, like Sunday, December 31. My granddaughter was baptised. That was a wonderful way to end the year.
But there were many days last year spent in the hospital with my mother. And I said final, earthly good-byes to cousins and friends. Good and bad equalled out, I guess. Felt like a roller coaster, though.
I did, finally, get to empty the storage units that I had been renting since September 2014. That was a burden lifted from my shoulders- my sons did the heavy lifting. Ha! It will also free up funds to go to something else.
At my farmhouse the empty boxes piled up on the porch, as the collections found a permanent home. Tea pots, Fire King mixing bowls, Flora Gold depression glass. Sadly, many pieces of the depression glass did not make it out of the storage unit whole. Delicate cups and saucers, an oblong butter dish, footed scalloped dishes and a big platter were shattered. Oh, well. I had fun all those years ago searching to build the collection and now I get to do it again.
Three years ago when we were packing up my belongings, many cookie jars in particular, my eldest son told me: “Mama, when you eventually get settled somewhere, I know one thing; when I come to visit, there better be cookies in everyone of these cookie jars!”
I found them as I unpacked. I can tell you where they came from and/or who gave them to me. There’s a very inviting and satisfying sound to a lifted cookie jar top. Washed and dried, then lined up on the kitchen counter.
Thinking about what my son said, and seeing how cheery they all looked grouped together, cookie recipes starting coming to mind. Expect a cookie of the month recipe for 2018. There that’s my New Year’s resolution. Let’s see if I can keep it.
I also found all of my cookbooks. Many Southern Living cookbooks, including the two that have my recipe for Granola Muffins. I had originally called the recipe Cereal Muffins, but the kitchens at Southern Living renamed it.
I know I’m not suppose to write about the weather, but I just can’t help myself. It’s cold, folks! The high temperature for our part of Mississippi is 34°. You Yankees are probably telling me not to complain. Remember, I’m Southern. My blood is thin. As soon as Christmas is over, I long for warmer weather and planting flowers and vegetables. I’m excited about the prospect of homegrown food and flowers on my table again.
New Year’s Blessings from the Exiles Kitchen.
Miscellaneous Fun Stuff
Blessings from the Exiles Kitchen.
Christmas Time/ Bad Dog
I haven’t written much lately; just haven’t been inspired by much of anything. The flu has kicked our behinds the last three weeks, with my mother in the hospital for one of them. It snowed while she was in the hospital. It was like a giant baker had taken his sifter and sprinkled the whole area with confectioners sugar. Driving home from the hospital that Friday afternoon, I thought I had taken a wrong turn and wound up in Narnia. White was everywhere. Beautiful and cold. I didn’t take a single picture.
My mother’s health has not improved much since we’ve been home. Saturday I listened to Christmas carols, while I baked sugar cookies and fought the dog, trying to keep her away from the bowls of icing. She managed to lap all in the green. No, I didn’t use it. I made more. Bad dog.
I had thought about sharing a recipe for sugar cookies and decorating sugar cookies, but it’s late in the Season and really, do I need to add my trivial offering to the plethora of cookie traditions?
This was as far as I got on documenting my baking yesterday. I finished them, filling them in with tinted icing to look like reindeer. They taste good- small bob of the head to acknowledge my accomplishment.
I mentioned the bad dog. Early yesterday morning I had her on her lead in the back yard. She slipped said lead and disappeared for a couple hours. The animal control officer was about to pack her in when I found her. Back at home, she acted a little off. She disappeared into the hallway and upchucked… Twice! Yeah…. Called the vets office. She’s fine and back to her normal self. Bad dog.
Not much in the mood for Christmas this year. Well, the commercial side of it, anyway.
I lost a sweet friend a month ago. Scrolling through my contacts today, I saw her number and the heart emojis she had typed in answer to a text I had sent back in August.
Also yesterday, in between batches of cookies, I washed a quilt that had been given as a prize at a family reunion a few years back. Each family member present had signed it. As I pulled it out of the washer to put in the dryer, the first name I saw was of my cousin Homer. He passed away in January of this year.
I guess I’m just sad this year and missing many people from my past. My Daddy. My grandmothers. My cousins. My friend. I’m glad, thankful, that one day I’ll see them all again.
We get caught up in the hustle of a secular Christmas. Hey, folks, it’s not your birthday! It’s the Savior’s birthday. Remember what is important.
Christmas Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.
Two Weekends
via Two Weekends
Two Weekends
Nottaway Plantation held its second annual wine walk a couple of weeks ago. I fell in love with this white castle when I was a young girl in 1980. It had been restored and opened to the public for tours. My parents and I took a road trip and we were some of the first visitors through their renovated doors.
Nottaway in November
So, when I saw on social media that Nottaway was having a wine walk, I wanted to go. Problem was I know nothing about wine and didn’t want to go alone. Enter my birthday sister Trina. When I asked if she would go, she was all in. And even though the home was serving heavy hor dourves, we made it fun, by bringing our own: Plain and Barbecue Vienna Sausage. You know, real foodie minds have tried to answer the question for years: Which wine to serve with Vienna Sausage?
Eight stations for wine tastes were set up in the beautiful home. We test tasted sips of different wines and only the sommelier at table five gave us legit suggestions as to which wines would go better with Vienna Sausage. There was a sparkling Brut Rose from J Vineyards that was just lovely to sip. Another I liked was an inexpensive Charles Smith called Kung Fu Girl Riesling. So, to answer the question of which to serve with your chicken meat sticks, go with a sparkling white wine or rose.
This past weekend, we had an early Thanksgiving at my farmhouse. This year is the only time that all three of my sons will be in their twenties, so to commemorate that milestone, pictures were taken. Out to the big barn we all went.
Team Player became a brotherhood catch phrase many years ago. The three were playing football with their Uncle and my oldest scored. My middle son kind of pouted and their Uncle said he needed to be a team player. The youngest eagerly announced that he could be a team player. He was no more than 5 at the time, hand caught up in his sweaty t-shirt, exposing his belly, he asserted: “I team player! I team player!”
The three brothers have been just that: team players. We nicknamed them Adam, Hoss and Little Joe Cartwright. They have always had each other’s backs. They are fun to be with. I hope that you have the same blessing with your children.
And speaking of children! I have two more grandbabies on the way!
Thanksgiving Blessings from the Exiles Kitchen.
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