A Plowboy's Breakfast

Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

Kieran Kane ~ A Prayer Like Any Other

It's way past midnight, everyone asleep
Outside the window it's quiet on the street
My bags are packed, my guitar too
Taxi's coming, nothin' I can do
Oh Lord, keep your eye on my friends
I’d just feel better knowing you're watching them
I've got to roll, take a little spin
While I’m gone, keep your eye on my friends

Gotta get home the only way I know
The long old road, steady and slow
One of these days I’ll come back
If the creek don’t rise and stuff like that
Oh Lord, keep your eye on this place
Keep it warm, keep it safe
You know I depend on your saving grace
While I’m gone keep your eye on this place

Bridge:
This is just a prayer like any other
Nothing more, nothing less
Just a prayer like any other
One more time could you just say yes

Oh Lord, keep your eye on me
You know how foolish and reckless I can be
Light up my way, so I can see
Oh Lord, keep your eye on me
Oh Lord, keep your eye on my friends
Oh Lord, keep your eye on this place

~~Written by Kevin Welch

Mississippi John Hurt - Lonesome Valley

PeeDee River Swamp Sauce

This is one of my favorite bbq sauces ~ not your typical sweet tomato-based sauce that is so common in the midwest, but rather a delicious blend of mustard/vinegar/tomato all in one unique, kicked-up sauce. It's made by my buddy Tim Pattan and his wife Julia ... two of the nicest peeps you're ever gonna want to meet. To learn more about Swamp Sauce <---click here

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Keb Mo ~ Hand It Over

Meat & Potatoes

OK ... I'm a meat & potatoes kinda guy ... I like meatloaf, so sue me. Never met a meatloaf I din't like ~ take for instance this one filled with lotsa caramelized onions and glazed with a homemade chipotle catsup....side it up with some real mashed potatoes with horseradish and butter, and you got yerself some good eatin', ah garrontee.

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Ernest Tubb ~ Blue Eyed Elaine
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FAT JOHNNY FOR PRESIDENT

Frozen In Time

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Ramblin' Jack Elliott ~ Black Snake Moan

Homemade Chipotle Catsup

I took inventory of my pantry today, found a lil' jar of homemade chipotles in adobo that I had made last summer ~ and since I am going to be making another batch of homemade chipotles in the next few days, I figured I better do something with this last jar of '07 chipotles ... so I hauled off and made a batch of kicked-up, smoky chipotle catsup. With the football season upon us, gonna be grilling lotsa burgers & hot dogs ... and this kicked-up catsup will be just the ticket, ah garrontee!

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Dickey Betts ~ Long Time Gone
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Dave's Not Here, Man...

Hot Buttered Rolls

Is there anything mo'better than fresh baked, light & buttery yeast rolls ... I think not. Praise the Lord & pass the jelly!!

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IIIrd Tyme Out ~ Erase The Miles

Do you miss me in Carolina
Well I miss you in Tennessee
Do you wish I was there beside you
Well I wish you were here with me

I know its not the ideal situation
My heart's become a part of the band
It's a common hazard in the occupation
You know I'll love you just as much as I can

So I'll dream til I hear you love me
And I'll hope til I see your smile
Wish I could hold you forever
And somehow erase all the miles

Well tomorrow its Pennsylvania
Then its on to the city of sin
I'll hold to your love and to your memory
Until I can see you again

So I'll dream til I hear you love me
And I'll hope til I see your smile
Wish I could hold you forever
And somehow erase all the miles

Wish I could hold you forever
And somehow erase all the miles

Penne Quattro Fromage Al Forno

Creamy oven baked penne pasta with 4 cheeses, homemade sausage, chunks of ripe red homegrown tomato, diced onion and jalapeno ... whooooooboy, hamburger helper never tasted like this.

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Kieran Kane ~ Eight More Miles

Eight more miles and I'll be home
Back in your grace where I belong
Tonight I'm sleeping in my own bed
With my blue tick feather pillow underneath my head

I feel the wheels on 65
I don't know when - felt so alive
Eight more miles
Eight more miles and I'll be home

Since I've been gone everything's changed
There's been two weeks of steady rain
And the dogwoods bloom - pink and white
And that damp smell of new cut grass is everywhere tonight

Sweet sunny sound - I never knew
Just how much I could miss you
Eight more miles
Eight more miles and I'll be home

I crossed the Rockies on a silver train
I've walked from Burghan in a pouring rain
I met with strangers I came to love
And I've gotten drunk with Chieftans in a Dublin hotel pub

And I dearly love these memories
But all that matters right now to me
Is eight more miles
Eight more miles and I'll be home

Eight more miles
Eight more miles and I'll be home

Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

The Carter Family ~ Church In The Wildwood
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Buttermilk Biscuits & Homemade Wild Sand Plum Jelly

Bluegrass Royalty

Deviled Ham & Eggs??

Just made some homemade ham salad (still on this damn soft diet) ... and decided to boil a few extra eggs & make some kicked-up hammy deviled eggs ~ mixed a bunch of the ham salad into the deviled egg filling ~ badda boom, deviled ham & eggs? It ain't no big ribeye steak, but it beats the hell out of oatmeal!! LOL

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Tut Taylor & Brother Oswald ~ McKinley's Blues

'Tis The Last Rose Of Summer

'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming all alone
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone
No flower of her kindred
No rose bud is nigh
To reflect back her blushes
Or give sigh for sigh

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one
To pine on the stem
Since the lovely are sleeping
Go sleep thou with them
'Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead

So soon may I follow
When friendships decay
And from love's shining circle
The gems drop away
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?

~~Sir John Stevenson

Cowboy Candy

Made some sweet candied jalapenos today (aka Cowboy Candy) ~ stocking up the larder for winter. I used both green and ripe red jalapenos, onions, thin sliced lemon & whole pitted cherries ~ why cherries ... because I had some on hand, dat's why. Sweet brine also got whole cloves, peppercorns, mustard & celery seed, and cinnamon sticks in it. Instead of using all white sugar in the brine, I sub some brown sugar ~ dat gives the brine a nice amber color. Love these things with pepperoni/cheese pizza ... or just with cream cheese & crackers fer snackin'.

First ... You Make A Roux

This is a great cookbook, by one of my favorite celebrity chefs. Chef John Folse has long been a champion of the Cajun culture and cuisine, and this cookbook is the result of his 40+ years cooking in the kitchens of South Louisiana.

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Harry Choates ~ She's Sweet Sweet
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Fat Johnny's Sausage & Smoked Chicken Gumbo

Soppin' The Gravy

Mais ... I hauled off last night & baked some scratch buttermilk catheads, for to sop up some SOS gravy ~ chipped beef. Seemed only fittin' to dig up this old-timey tune, so I could eat dem biscuits good'n'proper. Y'all keep yer skillet good 'n greasy now, y'heah.

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Georgia Mudcats ~ How Many Biscuits Can You Eat

Geezer Grub

Sooo ... I'm having some dental work done and my dentist, Dr. Ima Sadist, hauled off and pulled ALL my dadgum teeth. Sheesh, dat's makin' it kinda hard to eat real food ~ chewin' anything is like tryin' to drive a nail with a marshmellow. So I been on this geezer grub diet of oatmeal, tomato soup, yogurt, applesauce, cottage cheese, etc. ~ it sucks. After 5 days of oatmeal (hey, my cholestrol is way down) I graduated to a grilled cheese sandwich last night, topped with some slices of broiled homegrown tomato. Not exactly a big thick ribeye steak, but it beat the hell out of oatmeal. Ol' Doc Sadist, him, he say it might be 2-3 mo' weeks before he gits my new wooden teeth whittled & sanded down ... so my food porn is liable to git real ugly next couple weeks. Lord Have Mercy....(g)

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Black Oak Arkansas ~ Lord Have Mercy On My Soul

Bellavia ~ A Beautiful Union

This past weekend, two of my oldest and dearest friends got married. Although life is filled with doubt and uncertainty, this is one of those rare moments when all the planets aligned. There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two kindred souls who see eye to eye set up housekeepin' as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends. Bellavia, in Italian, means "beautiful union" ... and as you listen to this music, you will hear two very distinctly different scores, one masculine and one feminine, and how they intermingle & ultimately come together in a crescendo of glorious harmony ~ a beautiful union indeed. Bellavia!

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Chuck Mangione ~ Bellavia

Watermelon Rind Pickles

Fresh-cut watermelon rind pickles

In the brine overnight

The finished product ~ sweet watermelon pickles w/cherries

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Red Clay Ramblers ~ My Dixie Darling
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Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

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Red Clay Ramblers ~ Meeting In The Air

You have heard of little Moses in the bull rush
You have heard of fearless David and his sling
You have heard the story told of dreaming Joseph
And of Jonah and the whale you often sing

There is going to be a meeting in the air
In that sweet sweet by and by
I am going to meet you meet you over there
In that home beyond the sky

The singing you will hear never heard by mortals ears
Will be glorious I do declare
And God's own Son will be the leading One
At that meeting in the air

There are many many others through the bible
I should like to meet them all I do declare
By and by the Lord will surely let us meet them
At that meeting in the air

GONE FISHIN'...

Instead Of Just A Wishin'

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Kitty Wells ~ Honky Tonk Angels
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Fresh Brewed Watermelon Sweet Tea

yep, i went fishing this morning ... temps in the low 60's ~ beautiful day. i go to a lil' state lake out in the boonies about 20 miles from my house ... nobody there but me. caught a few fish ... threw'em back 'cause i cain't eat'em ... got home & had a powerful thirst, so i brewed me up a batch of sweet tea, luzianne don'tcha know.

so, while dat tea was steepin' i decided to cut into a lil' black diamond watermelon dat i had in the fridge & have me a slice of cold watermelon for lunch. did dat. watermelon was very good & juicy ... left a bunch of watermelon juice on the plate, and i started to drink it right off the plate ... then it hit me like a bolt from the blue ~ watermelon sweet tea

lickety split i commenced to trimmin' all dat watermelon rind & saving all the red trim and juice ... into the blender ... pulse pulse ... then strained it into the brewed sweet tea ... stir stir ... poured it over ice ~ voila ~ nectar of the gods!! lol

and if you think i throwed dat watermelon rind away ... think again. i trimmed it all up ... discarding the green skin ... gonna make some watermelon rind pickles soon as i eat the rest of the watermelon & harvest the rind. btw ... sweet pickled watermelon rind chunks, wrapped with a slice of bacon & smoked, is very good eats. tru dat. country boys can survive!!

How Can A Po' Man Stand Such Times And Live

Roadside Chicken

Roadside Chicken is all about the marinade, and the hot & nasty char ~ kinda like an American version of Jamaican Jerk Chicken ... without the scotch bonnets, eh? Although it's considered bad form to serve any kind of sauce on this chicken, I make a sauce called *Golden Embers* sauce that is very good with this chicken ~ the Alabama White BBQ Sauce is also good with this chicken. But before you pour any sauce on it, just try a piece with nothing but a lil' fresh squeezed lemon juice & see what you think.

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Peter Rowan & SCI ~ No Woman No Cry

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Roadside Chicken Marinade

3/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Worchestershire
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp white pepper
2 tsp celery seeds

Mix well - pour over cut up chicken & marinate overnight

Golden Embers BBQ Sauce

3/4 cup salad oil
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. grated onion
2 cloves garlic, cut in halves
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup ketchup

Combine all ingredients in jar & shake thoroughly. Let stand several hours before using. Good on grilled chicken.

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Mais, since posting this original recipe above for Golden Embers BBQ Sauce a couple hours ago ... I made a batch, and made a couple of mods to accomondate the ingredients I had on hand ... and I really like it. This is a good example of why I don't like to post many recipes on this blog ... because in my kitchen, recipes are ALWAYS in a state of flux. I'm constantly tweaking them & pushing the envelope. In this case, the results were very good: I used country-style grey poupon mustard, used smoked paprika, sliced the garlic thin instead of halves & omitted the catsup and tabasco altogether...used 1/4 cup Dirty Dick's instead. Here's a pic:

The BBQ That Made Kansas City Famous

Famous cartoon of St. Peter greeting Arthur Bryant when he arrives at the Pearly Gates.

Old School BBQ ~ Arthur Bryants ~ the real deal. This is bbq before it went all gunky sweet & metro-sexual on us. If you are ever in Kansas City, this *bbq joint* should be your lunchtime destination ~ they INVENTED burnt ends, ferchristsakes ... and definately don't forget the fries ~ they're fresh cut, fried in lard and piled high!!

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Lazy Lester ~ Tell Me Pretty Baby

It Takes A Young Girl...

...To Make An Old Man Smile

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Norah Jones & The Little Willies ~ Love Me

Grits Redux

Baked cheesy/sausage grits casserole ... made with homemade sausage, sharp white Tillamook cheddar, eggs, caramelized onions, ripe red jalapenos & butter ~ lotsa butter!

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Flatt & Scruggs ~ Worried Man Blues

Beef Enchiladas Ala Fat Johnny

What made these enchiladas special was the beef filling ~ made with tender smoked/shredded beef brisket, and the homemade enchilada sauce. Ordinary looking ~ very special tasting!

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Pink Anderson ~ The Wreck Of Old '97

Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

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Uncle Dave Macon ~ Shall We Gather At The River

The Thunderbolt Kid

Majestic old barn in Nemaha County, Kansas
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"Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young. It's a charming, funny recounting of growing up in Des Moines during the sleepy 1950s. Bryson combines nostalgia, sharp wit and a dash of hyperbole to recreate his childhood in the rural Midwest. A great, fun read, especially for Baby Boomers nostalgic for the good old days."

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Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs ~ Sugar Shack
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STRANDED

On a chain of beautiful deserted islands in the middle of nowhere, the following people are stranded:

Two Italian men and one Italian woman.
Two French men and one French woman.
Two German men and one German woman.
Two Greek men and one Greek woman.
Two British men and one British woman.
Two Bulgarian men and one Bulgarian woman.
Two Vietnamese men and one Vietnamese woman.
Two American men and one American woman.

One month later, on these absolutely stunning deserted islands in the middle of nowhere, the following things have occurred:

- One Italian man killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

- The two French men and the French woman are living happily together in a menage a trois.

- The two German men have a strict weekly schedule of alternating visits with the German woman.

- The two Greek men are sleeping together and the Greek woman is cooking and cleaning for them.

- The two British men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the British woman.

- The two Bulgarian men took one look at the Bulgarian woman and started swimming to another island.

- The two Vietnamese men have set up a pharmacy, liquor store, restaurant, and laundry, and have gotten the woman pregnant in order to supply employees for their stores.

- The two American men are contemplating suicide, because the American woman will not shut up and complains relentlessly about her body, the true nature of feminism, what the sun is doing to her skin, how she can do anything they can do, the necessity of fulfillment, the equal division of household chores, how sand and palm trees make her look fat, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her nicer than they do, and how her relationship with her mother is the root cause of all her problems, and why didn't they bring a damn cell phone so they could call 911 and get them all rescued off this Godforsaken deserted island in the middle of nowhere so she can get her nails done and go shopping!!

1918

Old barn in Lyon County, Kansas
Woodrow Wilson was president when this barn was built, and we were just coming home from WWI

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Chicken fried steak fingers on fresh buttermilk cathead biscuits
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Johnny Cash ~ Ways Of A Woman In Love

Black Blizzard Rising

pic removed

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Southern pan fried chicken
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Iris DeMent ~ Mom & Dad's Waltz

Weathered And Worn

Beautiful old barn in Osage County, Kansas
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Fresh baked sourdough honey/wheat bread ... baked in my 80 yr. old Wagner black cast iron pan, schmeared with sweet butter & drizzled with local clover honey ~ an awesome treat.

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Bob Wills ~ Corrine Corrina