A real Southern meal is called "dinner," even when it's eaten at noon. Clockwise from top: fried green tomatoes, candied yams, butter peas, flat green beans cooked in pork, collard greens, and fried chicken livers.
I've been in Georgia visiting our relatives for the past nine days. Yesterday my sister and I took my parents to lunch at the Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle. Don't you love that name for a town?
The Blue Willow Inn is, naturally, in a big Southern house with lots of Blue Willow china. It may be a slightly exaggerated version of the Old South, and the food may not have quite the freshness that a foodie would prefer, but I did see lots of foods that made me homesick for my grandmother's kitchen--butter peas, collard greens, the flat kind of green beans that are cooked with a piece of pork until they fall apart, cornbread, biscuits, fried chicken and livers, fried green tomatoes, candied yams, one of those Jell-O salads that remind me of neighbors bringing food after a funeral, banana pudding, lemon meringue pie, and more.
When we arrived at the restaurant, the entire elementary baseball team of Athens Academy was sitting in the front yard listening to a man play Christmas carols on a plastic keyboard. A young woman was roaming around in a dress that was a cross between antebellum and 80s prom, serving lemonade. Flags were flying, and a bit of everyone, wearing a bit of everything, was lined up at the buffet.
We were there to celebrate my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary,
which will actually occur about the time we move to Italy. We would have raised a toast of sweet tea, but no one could have heard us in that festive atmosphere, least of all my hard-of-hearing dad. Nevertheless, as they say in the South, a good time was had by all.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The Blue Willow Inn is, naturally, in a big Southern house with lots of Blue Willow china. It may be a slightly exaggerated version of the Old South, and the food may not have quite the freshness that a foodie would prefer, but I did see lots of foods that made me homesick for my grandmother's kitchen--butter peas, collard greens, the flat kind of green beans that are cooked with a piece of pork until they fall apart, cornbread, biscuits, fried chicken and livers, fried green tomatoes, candied yams, one of those Jell-O salads that remind me of neighbors bringing food after a funeral, banana pudding, lemon meringue pie, and more.
When we arrived at the restaurant, the entire elementary baseball team of Athens Academy was sitting in the front yard listening to a man play Christmas carols on a plastic keyboard. A young woman was roaming around in a dress that was a cross between antebellum and 80s prom, serving lemonade. Flags were flying, and a bit of everyone, wearing a bit of everything, was lined up at the buffet.
We were there to celebrate my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary,
which will actually occur about the time we move to Italy. We would have raised a toast of sweet tea, but no one could have heard us in that festive atmosphere, least of all my hard-of-hearing dad. Nevertheless, as they say in the South, a good time was had by all.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Athens, GA
4 comments:
That plate of food is appealing. Is the crispy-crunchy item the fried chicken and livers? I love collard greens. Your travelogue is wonderful...is Social Circle a newish community or is that name vintage, too?
Alright GretchenJoanna, now I've labelled the plate for you so you can tell what's what! ;-) And oh, yes, those livers were crispy-crunchy!
Social Circle is an old name, I'm pretty sure. The town itself is old, as American towns go. The house itself is no doubt 19th century, and unless I mistake, antebellum.
Thanks! Until I zoomed in and saw your labels, I didn't even notice the tomatoes or green beans. What a feast...and if I ever go to Georgia I hope I make it to Social Circle just so I can feel it.
I'll eat it all except the chicken livers. I've always wanted to stop at the Blue Willow and eat. Maybe next time through Social Circle....
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