An Hour And A Half From Everywhere

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin
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Early Easter dinner

After an early Easter dinner for some family members that can’t make it tomorrow, I took a stroll around Magnolia. Where is Magnolia, you ask? I have been asked this many times and usually answer, “In the middle of Nowhere and an hour and a half from Everywhere.” Tucked away off I55 South, close to the Louisiana line, this small town is the center of a cross that’s relatively 90 minutes from Baton Rouge, LA, Natchez, Jackson, and Hattiesburg, MS.

Magnolia is the county seat of Pike County and as I write this I realize that I neglected to take a picture of our courthouse. The grounds are quite pretty with lots of azaleas and magnolias.

Here are 3 of the churches in Magnolia: Episcopalian,  Presbyterian,  and United Methodist. There is also a Catholic and a Southern Baptist Church.

Down the block and around the corner is the Magnolia post office.  Built in the 30’s,  the architecture is very pretty and you step back into a less busy era when you walk through the front doors. Three murals painted by J.H. Fyfe depict rural life of nearly 200 years ago. The dark stained wood work in the foyer is remarkable for a little town like Magnolia. It’s worth a day trip to come and see.

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Missing  a ‘p’, but full of charm
Magnolia Post Office

Another block and you’re at the old depot. It was completely renovated a few years back and is now the town hall.

The park in the depot is planted for Springtime and the Magnolia trees are all in full bloom.
City Hall is now in the depot.

At the opposite corner of the depot grounds and catty-corner across the street is Handy Hardware. This old fashioned hardware store lives up to its name. From live crickets for fishing to plumbing supplies; You need something,  they’ve got it. And in the middle of West Railroad Ave a new consignment shop has opened up. The Me’lange Market has some interesting pieces. And like Handy Hardware you’ll be pleased with what you find in this shop. Another staple and anchor in Magnolia is the Corner Drug Store. It started out on the other end of Railroad Ave,  but was moved quite a while ago to its current location.. It has been in business well over 100 years. Their slogan is ‘right on the corner and right on the price’. I clerked there as a newlywed 30 years ago and now college man works there in the afternoons. Go by and tell him, “Hi!”

Handy Hardware
Me’lange Market
Corner Drug Store

I continued my walk and returned home. The huge ancient live oak greeted me in the early evening.

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Magnolia, MS is a nice place to take a respite in Nowhere, while  traveling from Everywhere else. Stop and get a bite to eat at one of our restaurants,  fill up your gas tank , and enjoy the slower pace.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen for a Happy Easter.

New Power

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

The 1950’s electrical panel was the best there was. Sixty years later, and circuit breakers getting temperamental, an upgrade is in order. New power for an old house.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is no more and the new life has begun.  Amen and amen!
So many people try to light their lives with old wiring. They prefer the familiar, because they are scared of the unknown. At least they know the probable outcome, even though it may not be good.
In the movie Chariots of Fire, Abrams is talking to his friend Aubrey. He tells him that he knows first hand the fear of losing, but he had come to the conclusion that he was more scared of winning. Abrams was afraid of the unknown. He had the strength and talent to win, but his past losses kept him from winning. The darkness in his head hindered his light from shining.
Abrams needed a new electrical panel, modern circuit breakers. Don’t we all? With Christ we have a new power. Hebrews 12:1 and tells us that since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of everything that hinders us and the sin that entangles us, and run the race set before us.
The old electrical panel hindered the lighting in my house. Dwelling on his past second place finishes hindered Abrams winning. Throw off the things that trip you up. Remember, if you are in Christ, you are a new creation.
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Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

Where Did My Spring Go On Pi Day?

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

It’s National Pi Day (3.14 – something to do with geometry, I hated math class),  and just for fun, earlier today I reposted a couple of my favorite pie recipes: Lemon Meringue and Sweet Potato.

We were getting geared up for Spring, but a cold front has blown in and dropped the temps in our part of the world. Comfort food was a must for supper. Nothing more comforting for us than mac and cheese. And no such thing as boxed macaroni and cheese – homemade and creamy, darling.

 

Creamy Pepper Jack Mac

Ingredients:

12 ounce package of rotini pasta, cooked to package directions

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup milk

1 package Greek cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces

2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese

Salt and pepper

Vegetable spray

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a casserole dish with the vegetable spray. Drain boiled pasta and set aside. In a 3 quart pot, melt butter over medium heat and add flour. Stir together till bubbly. Slowly add the milk, stirring till thickened. Then slowly add the Greek cream cheese, stirring in 2 pieces at a time. When the mixture is smoothe, add the pepper jack, again stirring till mixed well and creamy. At this point, turn off the fire and pour the pasta back into the 3 quart pot.  Season with salt and pepper. Stir to coat pasta well and then evenly spread into casserole dish.

Topping:

Cut 3 pats of butter into a bowl with 30 crushed Ritz crackers  and zap in the microwave for 20 seconds. Stir together and then top the creamy mac and cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes. Serve as a side or as the entre’.

We had sausage dogs along with our Creamy Pepper Jack Mac.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

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It’s A Pecan, Not A PeeCan

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

Another pie recipe for National Pi Day. Blessings and enjoy from the Exile’s Kitchen.

theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin's avatartheexileskitchen

A pie guard keeps the crust from getting g too brown A pie guard keeps the crust from getting g too brown

Sweet potato pie: good for breakfast, lunch, supper, snack, hot or cold Sweet potato pie: good for breakfast, lunch, supper, snack, hot or cold

It’s a little cooler this week. The temps are only suppose to be in the high 80’s to low 90’s, instead of triple digits. Even though it’s still August, here in our part of the world, school has started. There was a big jamboree at my kids’ old high school yesterday. Proud to announce that their Alma mater pulled out the win over a school in the area that they’ve never played before. This other school is a big public school and the one that my boys attended is a small independent school. There has been a lot of boasting over the years from both schools; both believing that they could beat the other. Well… that was settled last night. Good sportsmanship prevailed on both sides. Each…

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Lemon Meringue Pie

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

In honor of National Pi Day. Enjoy again.

theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin's avatartheexileskitchen

Life has given me a bowl full of lemons; Not just a small bowl, but a great big, earthen ware, workhorse of a bowl. Do I want to make lemonade with those yellow, sour fruit? No. I want to make Lemon Meringue Pie.

In the country, I had a flock of bantam hens. In that flock were some Silver Duckwing bantams. There was a rooster: he had an attitude and his name was Jack. His crow wasn’t cock-a-doodle-do. He said, “Happy Easter!” Their little eggs made the filling color of Lemon Meringue Pie look like the summer sun.

I made this beautiful pie for special occasions, usually at Christmas and Easter or church choir parties. Today is Homemade Pie Day. That’s special enough of a reason to whip this up in the Exile’s Kitchen.

1 frozen pie crust, baked

Filling Ingredients:

4 eggs, seperated (yolks in a bowl, whites in…

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Build The Wall: A Non-political Post

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

A week before Christmas the sand mortar chimney was persuaded to come down. My oldest son climbed up into a hole in what will be the new kitchen ceiling, placed boards crosswise to create a make shift floor in the attic,  then asked for a ladder to be handed up to him. He stood on the ladder and still worked over his head, to knock the chimney down brick by brick. Being December, it was quite cold that Sunday, but we had a fun day and a fun time doing it. And now we have plenty of artisan brick for walkways and a pottager. Exciting!

The tongue and groove boards that covered the chimney breast were sorted and stored. Tenpenny nails had kept them secured to the rough hewn studs for over a 100 years. They had to be removed so the chimney could come down. In the chimneys place there will be a shiney new refrigerator. Possibly a cabinet of some sort.

Guess how I spent my Friday evening  and my Saturday morning? Yep, yanked all those giant nails from the tongue and groove boards. It was kind of therapeutic.  If a nail proved to be a little recalcitrant, I imagined someone’s face (will remain nameless) on the nail head and whacked away at it till it came out.

I had a birthday party to attend: my grandson turned one. He is so stinking cute! He smiled when he saw me and reached out for me to hold him. Best thing ever, being a grandmother. We get to relive the days when we were raising our own children, see their faces in their children’s faces and say “He gets that grin or that pout from So-and-So.”

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Brentlee Gabriel. Isn’t he a cutie!

Out at my house the azaleas are in full bloom, almost. They are way early, because even though it was very cold in December, this winter has been a mild one. As I always do, I walked my gardens and took a few pictures.

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In the curve of that shadow are huckleberries. They too are blooming.
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Pride of Mobile at the base of the cowcumber.

I hope your weekend is a good one, whether spent with family or enjoying a solitary refresher.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

Checked Out

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

Payday equals grocery run. Groan with a slight snarl. It’s just the three of us, in our multigenerational household: my Same-age-as-her-tongue-and-a-little-older-than-her-teeth Mother, my 19 year old college aged son and myself. My son requested apples and vanilla Activia yogurt. My mother asked for two bottles of cranberry juice, a bag of marshmallows and Pop Tarts.

The grocery side of the store with the big W on it was packed this evening. In the frozen food section, buggies and people congested the aisle, so I decided that we really didn’t need any quick frozen dinners; I’d just go home and make something instead. As I turned my buggy around, I noticed a guy on his phone and thought to myself, ‘Probably calling his wife to ask what he needed to pick up on his way home. How thoughtful of him.’ Well, then I saw that he noticed me too and did 180 watching me as I passed down the aisle. I thought, ‘Do I know him?’ Then I got a little aggravated.  ‘Jerk,’ I said to myself. ‘There he is on the phone with his wife and he’s eyeing me in the frozen foods section.’ I gave him a shoulder as cold as a Stouffer’s lasagna.

I finished my shopping and got in the shortest check out line. And guess who was ahead of me? Yep. Mr. Frozen Foods. He was unloading TV dinners for one and granola bars from his shopping cart and again he turned to look at me. Not rudely, just trying to see if he wanted to start a conversation. I gave him a tiny, polite smile and noticed two things: he had a case of water under his buggy and he wore no wedding ring.

I began to wind back my first assumption of Mr. Frozen Foods. Maybe he wasn’t married. On the back of his work shirt was a logo. A quick Google search and I found out where he worked. Kinda. The company sells o-rings and hydraulic lift things.

As I had checked out the contents of his buggy, he covertly spied my shopping items. Apples, cranberry juice, yogurt, bacon, milk, Special K, Pop Tarts, marshmallows and a small stack of baby books for my grandson-it’s his birthday, by the way.

Did I see a tiny flicker of disappointment in his eyes? Then I realized he had done the same thing with me that I had done with him- he presumed. I had presumed he had a wife. He figured I had a bunch of kids at home. The look on his face said, ‘Hmmmm. I wonder how many she’s got at home?’ I wanted to tell him, you know with all the charm and flirtation I could smash together (God knows I’m out of practice), that the books were for my grandson and the Pop Tarts were for my mother. And why shouldn’t she enjoy her Pop Tarts? If you get to be her Same-age-as-her-tongue-and-a-little-older-than-her-teeth years you could eat whatever you wanted to, too.

Oh, well. He paid for his groceries and politely told the cashier to have a nice evening.

I went home and joked to my mother that her Pop Tarts and marshmallows had cost me a date.

I got checked out while waiting to be checked out.

Happy Birthday, Brentlee!

Blessings.

Patience

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

Ecclesiastes 3 says “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” 

Time at my farmhouse today was quiet and solitary. Old brown painted back porch walls became a serene blue. The sun slow danced across the restored pine floorboards. The 2″ angled brush was rinsed and reshaped and put away for another weekend.

As I always do, I took a walk around my property before leaving this sunny, winter afternoon.

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The cowcumber  (big leaf magnolia) soared to the clear sky. Country blue, and looking a little forlorn, the mailbox yawned open. George Taber shyly peered through a tangle of limbs. Yellow daffodils waved in the light breeze at the back patio. A broken wooden backboard wobbled under the giant and waxy magnolia.

Like the farmhouse, the old gardens need refurbishing. Someone else’s past is my future. The azaleas are impatient and blooming early. They may get a lesson in patience, by way of another super freeze. Patience…learning it is never easy.

“A time to tear down and a time to build.”  

Patience.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.