Cornbread and buttermilk, Part Deux. ~ 2 comments.
Cornbread and buttermilk, that's what I actually wanted to talk about yesterday, but I never got around to it.
I don't know if it is still that way today, but when I was living in the South, cornbread and buttermilk were very common. I remember seeing my grandfather eating cornbread and buttermilk, and my dad was very fond of it also, which may explain why it's a favorite food of mine.
For those of you unfamiliar with this southern comfort food, it's quite simple and very inexpensive, which probably explains why it was popular among poor folks in the South, as was much of southern cooking. Preparation was quick and easy; you put a piece of cornbread in a bowl and pour some buttermilk over it. And since cornbread was often baked daily, it was usually lying around most southern kitchens, so the preparation couldn't be simpler. There was even a movie starring Robert Duvall that had a scene in it showing him eating cornbread and buttermilk.
Cornbread usually tastes about the same, so it was really the buttermilk that could make or break the recipe. I'm finding nowadays that good-tasting buttermilk is hard to come by, not so much in the South but in the West. In Florida, we had standalone stores that sold only dairy products named "Farm Stores". And the stores had the best buttermilk called Butter Flake buttermilk, which was made from whole milk, and not the weak 2% stuff that normal grocery stores sell. And it was without a doubt the best I've ever tasted, and with some homemade cornbread, it made a lunch fit for a king.
Unfortunately, the buttermilk I get in the West is barely fit to drink, but sometimes I get a hankering for cornbread and buttermilk, and at least it brings back memories of how good it used to be.
But the reason I'm writing this is that cornbread is supposed to be baked, and that's the only way I've ever seen it cooked, but the last few campers I've lived in haven't had an oven to bake cornbread in, so I've been unable to make cornbread and buttermilk when I felt like it.
But not long ago, I accidentally stumbled onto a recipe on the Internet of how to make cornbread on the stove without having to bake it, so I tried it, and it actually tasted like real cornbread. Needless to say, this made me very happy, and I can add cornbread to the list of the only other thing I know how to cook, which is popcorn..... Now, if I could just find some "Butter Flake" buttermilk, I would be in hog heaven.
Theboondork
If you look closely, you can see a water skier on one of the many lakes in the area. When I lived in Florida, we always referred to water skiers as "trolling for sharks."
I was asked, "How close do the cows get to the camper?" ….. They get this close.
Now, cows don't bother me, but this big guy is the range bull, and his job is to protect the cows, so when he's peacefully feeding in the yard, I stay inside and leave him alone, and hope he doesn't want to use the camper as a scratching post.
Every once in a while, another camper will stay for a night or two.