Pumpkin Soup, Fresh Green Salad, Grapeleaves, and (still) Roses on November 23, 2009

The late fall bounty from the London Ferrell Community Garden (tender fresh lettuces) and the Campsie garden (fennel, chives, mint, parsley, and toasted butternut squash seeds) led us into Thanksgiving week with proper gratitude.

We also had a luscious platter of Middle Eastern goodness from Sahara.

Late fall roses and double-blooming Korean lilacs formed the centerpiece.

We enjoyed a cornbread casserole with Stone Cross Farm bacon and Blue Grass Parmesan, and an upside down caramel apple cornmeal cake that did not do justice to the wonderful Reed Valley Orchard apples involved.
Israeli saffron couscous (veggie) cast a lovely yellow light.

Spicy candied pecans inspired a left-behind love note from a young member of the group, who said, "The candied spicy pecans were so good. I would eat them every day if I had a box of them."

Late arrivals were welcomed - both the people and the foods, which included a lovely pasta dish and a Black Bottom Banana pie from local favorite Missy's Pies.

It was the pumpkin and sage soup (vegan) from Winston Avenue that went first.

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Boone Tavern Spoon Bread, the 1950s recipe

We have tried spoonbreads (soft, luscious, buttery—described by James Beard as a "heavy, dense soufflé") as Cornbread Supper mainstays before, and used great recipes, but the spoonbreads always did what spoonbreads (and soufflés) do: deflate. Through serendipity, and thanks to a Cornbread Supperian, I lucked into the old Boone Tavern (Berea College) recipe for spoonbread, and it is far less droopy. Perhaps Boone Tavern developed an approach to spoonbread that preserves all its goodness while still working for a busy restaurant. In any case, with thanks to Kentucky food and foodways author and guru John van Willigen, here's an excellent recipe for that can be doubled, tripled, and quadrupled to feed spoonbread to a crowd. It did just that on Monday, February 25, 2013. From Richard T. Hougen. Look No Further: A cookbook of favorite recipes from Boone Tavern Hotel, Berea College, Kentucky. New York: Abingdon Press. 1955. Southern Spoon Bread 1955 Ingredients 3 c...

We remember Vicky Schankula, 1947–2016

Vicky Schankula, at right, in purple One of life's most gracious and delightful people, Victoria Fairbanks Schankula, found Cornbread Suppers early on, and took joy in the weekly gatherings. She came to Cornbread Supper faithfully, bringing beautiful food, laughter, a camera for her "picture of the day," a lovely British accent, a commitment to helping clean up, and a constant interest in each other person in the room. When Vicky entered the house on Monday nights carrying a particular large round plate, children (and a few adults) trailed her to the dessert table to see what she had brought. The favorites: lemon bars, brownies and her mother's most unusual, delicious carrot cake. Vicky graciously shared and allowed us to publish recipes for Lemon Bars and Isabel Fairbairns's (Gangy's) Carrot Cake on this site. Gangy's Carrot Cake on Vicky Schankula's special dessert plate When illness prevented Vicky from returning to Cornbread Supper...

Cornbread Supper now is resting

For all the Cornbreadians and would-be Cornbreadians -- it was a good run. A bit more than nine years. You came on Mondays. Conviviality ensued. You made community. Gratitude to all. It was a gift to us.

Cornbread Supper

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