This was inspired by our August-September Cook the Books pick: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. You can read the announcement here.
On the Page
I have had a busy month and almost didn't participate, but once I started the book, it was a breeze and a much needed distraction from what is going on with my mom medically.
The premise, I'll be honest, felt more than a little hackneyed - a motherless girl with a bigoted, abusive father on a peach farm in South Carolina. The book's saving grace: Kidd's prose. Her writing - the voice, the pacing, the diction - is all captivating. So even if the story was predictable and you literally cringe from the teenage angst and racial clichés, it was a joy to read. On the run with her black housekeeper, Rosaleen, Lily's story reminded me of something Mark Twain would have written except with female protagonists.
This is also the pick for this month's Movies & Munchies. I am not sure I will be able to get to the movie in time. But I look forward to reading the posts of those who read the book and watched the movie.
One of the passages that I enjoyed - about the symbolism of bees - was this: "Zach sat with his elbows on his knees staring at the circle of grass, still fat and emerald green from our dance in the sprinkler. 'When a bee flies, a soul will rise,' he said. I gave him a blank look. 'It's an old saying,' August said, 'It means a person's soul will be reborn into the next life if bees are around. ...back when Christians hid from the Romans down in the catacombs, they used to scratch pictures of bees on the walls. To remind each other that when they died they'd be resurrected'" (pg. 206).
On the Plate
The obvious pick for an inspired recipe would have been something with honey. But there was actually quite a bit of food on the pages - from Jell-o to pimiento cheese sandwiches and from sweet tea to banana cream pie. I headed to the kitchen, inspired by the funeral food.
They got under way slicing ham, laying out fried chicken, shaking paprika on the deviled eggs. We have green beans, turnips, macaroni and cheese, caramel cake - all kinds of funeral foods. We ate standing in the kitchen holding paper plates, saying how much May would have liked everything (pg. 207).
Deviled eggs are the quintessential finger food. I love making - and eating them - and it's pretty simple to add ingredients to match whatever flavors I want to achieve. So, for this batch, I used smoked paprika to make some simple, but exotic deviled eggs. I served some chorizo roses on the side.
Ingredients
serves 2
3 large organic eggs
5 Tablespoons organic mayonnaise
1 teaspoon organic mustard
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika
Cajun seasoning for garnish
Also needed: chorizo roses, little gems leaves for serving
Procedure
Hardboil your eggs. Cover eggs completely with cold water by 1 to 2" in a heavy saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer eggs, covered with a lid for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and let stand - covered - for 15 minutes. Transfer eggs to a bowl of ice to stop cooking. Let stand 5 minutes.
Peel eggs and halve lengthwise. Remove yolks as carefully as you can and mash in a bowl with a fork. Add mayonnaise, mustard, smoked paprika, and hot paprika. Stir with fork until smooth.
Fill egg whites with deviled egg mixture and garnish with a sprinkle of Cajun seasoning. Serve with chorizo roses and little gems leaves.
I am also adding this to the September #FoodieReads link-up.
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