Although the sixteen hour trek each summer to Edisto seems like an eternity–especially with a 2 year old in tow–the destination is always worth the wait. Late at night when we walk through that screen door Aunt Gee, as she is affectionately known, is waiting up for us. For years the Norred family has traveled those many miles to visit (and soak up her unmatched Southern hospitality.) Aunt Gee has that distinct Low Country drawl. One of her trademarks is the way she says, “I mean!” She uses it as Louisianians would use “I declare!” Except the word “mean” sounds more like “mee yun” with two syllables. Her hospitality and accent aren’t her only Southern traits. That Southern cooking keeps us coming back year after year. My favorite is her fried shrimp, but we’ll save that for another post.

Today I want to share with you the grilled corn we enjoyed at the beach this summer. We bought this freshly harvested corn at King’s Market, which was a great adventure in itself. Jack, my 2 year old, loved the Golden Sebright hen the purveyor housed behind the market. I loved the shrimp salad we bought there. I will write another post about King’s Market in the next few weeks, but…back to the corn. So I started thinking about what we should create with all these fresh finds and remembered reading a recipe for blistered corn. I decided we would take advantage of the salty ocean breeze and cook outside. We removed the corn silks and replaced the husks over the corn kernels before grilling.

The real treat was slathered on the corn. I mixed together softened butter, crushed garlic, lemon juice, salt and julienned basil leaves. Each guest painted their corn on the cob with the lemon-basil compound butter. Needless to say…it was a hit! And this easy side can be enjoyed at any land-locked destination–no ocean required. (Although the salty breeze and crashing waves do lend atmosphere to the process that could never be replaced!)

Me! I swore I would never feed my child processed food. If only I could count the words I have eaten in the two short years of his life! One night my husband asked Jack if he wanted ketchup. Jack raised his little hand and said, “me!” It was hilarious. We later discovered that Jack’s sitter fixes all the children’s plates and then asks who wants ketchup. Ketchup…well, Jack would devour it like pudding–digging in with a spoon if we let him. Figs…Jack did not touch. I asked him this very question a few weeks ago when we had an abundant supply of figs. He is a picky little eater. But his momma loves figs!

I remember my dad letting my sister and I pick figs from the huge tree in our backyard growing up. That old tree was covered in figs. My sister never really developed an affinity for this strange little fruit. But I learned to love them. Every summer we traveled to the east coast to stay with my aunt who owns a beach house on Edisto Island. Aunt Gee, as she is affectionately known, would spoil us by peeling the figs. Yes, that’s right. Her neighbors had a fig tree and always encouraged us to pick as many of those jewel-toned fruits as we could. Then Aunt Gee would peel them one by one. We would come in exhausted after spending many sun filled hours at the ocean and pop those figs like candy. I have not enjoyed this treat since childhood. Not because I haven’t had the opportunity to eat figs, but because I am not patient enough to peel the thing before popping it in my greedy little mouth!

This summer my mother-in-law brought two large bowls of freshly picked figs for me to enjoy. I knew she was going to pick them for us, so I began searching for recipes. I had grand notions of fancy little finger foods, pretty salads with fig garnishes, fig gelato and fig-glazed pork. Guess what? I did not use a single recipe. I ate them one by one, unpeeled, popping them like candy.

When my husband and I moved to Ruston, we began looking for a church home. We visited several churches and finally landed. We had been attending the church for weeks but had not formed any relationships with other members. A work acquaintance learned that we were attending her church and invited us to a small group. The group began small but grew to at least twenty couples. Eventually the large group became several smaller groups. I am writing all this to tell you this is how I met Velissa and how I came to love her spinach salad. Each Thursday night we would meet and take turns bringing supper. We gained a lot of friends, ate a lot of scrumptious home-cooked meals and always went home with a new recipe or two.

We still belong to that close-knit group eight years later. Things have changed now that most of us have children and are becoming increasingly busy as our children get older. We were one of the last couples to have children in our group, so we benefited from their child-rearing experiences. But, that is another story for another post. We now take turns bringing dessert, which is my husband’s favorite part of the meal anyway.

Velissa’s Spinach Salad

As given to me twice by Velissa. I lost the first copy. To make this salad even more special candy the pecans by stirring together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 T oil, and 1 T balsamic vinegar in a large skillet over medium heat until sugar melts and syrup bubbles, about 2 minutes. Mix in 1 cup pecan halves and stir until pecans are toasted and syrup coats them evenly, 5-6 minutes. Turn nuts out onto parchment paper. I store my greens in a salad spinner in the refrigerator. The pewter salad bowl in the picture can be popped in the freezer an hour prior to serving the salad. You would not believe how incredibly crisp the greens taste with those two easy tricks. Velissa’s recipe does not call for feta cheese, but I had it on hand and couldn’t resist crumbling some on top of my salad.

2 cups baby spinach greens

2 cups mixed baby greens

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

1/4 cup toasted pecans

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, reserving 1 1/2 t bacon drippings

Dressing

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

1 t salt

1 1/2 t bacon drippings

1 egg, beaten

To make dressing dissolve sugar in vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add salt and bacon drippings. Temper egg by adding 1 t of the hot vinegar mixture to the egg before adding to the remaining ingredients. Simmer 1 minute. Chill in refrigerator until serving.