Local Is Good

Check out the blog for my bluegrass buds, Kenneth Berrier and Linda Wright, hosts of Local Grass Internet Radio. I'll be joining them at a point in the future. We'll keep you posted! Aren't we fortunate, Friends, that distance doesn't keep us from enjoying one another and music from all over?

Kenneth and I have known each other a long time, since the days he and his brother, Barry, formed the phenomenal group, Summer Wages. Check them out on Youtube and give a listen. What talent! What energy! By the way Kenneth, we need more of those bumper stickers that say, "What would Ernest Tubb do?" I could move a lot of those out here!

Linda is my new friend, another mountain girl with lots of talent and just cuter than a June bug on an organ grinder's monkey! She's smart, too, and lots of fun and I just can't wait for us all to visit.

Yesterday afternoon, I dropped some books by Kansas Guitar Exchange so if you're in the neighborhood of 8th and Gage stop in and tell Rick that Dixie sent you! Rick is a fine guitar player, in addition to being a very nice guy. In fact, just in case you missed it, my cousin, Deb Goodrich Bisel, wrote a fine article about Rick in the last issue of TK Magazine. Go buy and ask Rick for one of those, too. While you're there, ask him to autograph it.

While I was visiting with Rick and Doug Ruth, he reminded me that the Iwig Dairy Store had opened next door to him. I stopped in for milk, cream, and butter. This butter is soooo delicious, you could eat it like cheese!!!! Stop in and say Hey to those good folks and pick up some good, local, good-for-you, good-tasting stuff. They have ice cream and flavored milk, too. Tell them Dixie sent you!

Local is good! Whether it's right here or somewhere else.

Last Minute Valentines

Last night, we made Valentines.

At the fundraiser for Midland Care and the Community Health Ministry, I took google-eyes and construction paper and we made Valentines. I am sure there are some among you who have not yet purchased a Valentine for your beloved. How fortunate because I can help you create an original, heartfelt Valentine. With y'all in mind, I wrote some verses that you can use if you can't think of your own.

Like,

I sent you a card scented with butter,

I love you and not any utter!

or,

I love you more than my first car. Almost.

or,

Your cookin's not as good as my Mama's but your kissin' sure is better!

Now put some googley-eys on that and a couple of feathers and sign it with love.

Credit me or take all the compliments for yourself.

Potato Soup Days

Here in Topeka, the snow keeps a fallin,' to paraphrase Loretta Lynn. . . .

The temperature last night was 1 degree. Yes, Friends, O-N-E degree. I mean, why bother? It makes us want to crawl into an overstuffed chair with Dixie Lee's potato soup.

I am blessed with an overstuffed chair, given to me by my friend, Marvelous Mona. Marvelous Mona modernized, something that really doesn't happen in my house, so she sent me her overstuffed chair. I curl into it with the cat, my laptop, a pile of cookbooks and correspondence, a cup of potato soup, and the snow piling into the white pines outside my window. It is, altogether, very pleasant.

For potato soup, we start with bacon. Fry you up some bacon, maybe 4 or 5 slices. Depending on how much grease is in the pan, drain off until you just have a skim coat of bacon grease. Add half a stick of butter and brown a whole onion and maybe some chopped celery if you like that. Now, put all this into a soup pot and cube 4 - 6 good-sized potatoes. Cover with water and boil til tender. Then add 1 can evaporated milk, liberal salt and pepper and mix in half a cup to a cup of instant potatoes. This is the ONLY valid use for instant potatoes. They are never to be served as if they were really potatoes, but as a thickening agent for potato soup, they are excellent.

Some folks like to add cheese. If you want, that is fine. This is not a low-calorie food so be sure you shovel some snow after you have curled into your chair and warmed your insides. There are enough calories in this for you to clear the entire neighborhood of snow.

Cowboy Wisdom of the Day from Cowboy Culbertson:
There are two theories to arguin' with a woman. Neither one works.

Photo: My neighbor's yard

Meeting Fans

. . . is so much fun!

Lloyd Zimmer Books and Maps is a dangerous place for me or Deb. There is ALWAYS something among his voluminous treasures that I want. On Friday night, he was host to my first booksigning event for Dixie Lee Jackson's Guide to Cookin' and Kissin.'

Very, very top photo-- Chris Meinhardt learns to make crust and buttermilk pie; Very top photo -- a gentleman and a scholar, Lloyd Zimmer; Top photo: Melessa Moran and me -- I'll bet you could see us from outer space; Left, my new-found Cousin Judy. She's so purty I know we're related! Right, below -- signing a book for Doug Wallace while adoring fans, Lee and Alice Wright wait their turn.( There's also one happy bookseller in the background.)

Then on Sunday, the official launch party was held at the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library and it was a wonderful event as well. Special thanks to D. K. Clark who drove down from Lansing and Beth Meyers who came over from Lawrence. Chris Meinhardt and Preston Miller (who plays in a band with Woodrow) "volunteered" to help me out on stage. It was more fun than a batch of baby pigs! Les Glenn, from #1 ranked Oldies 99.3 came by. His car, a 1960 Pontiac Bonneville, is featured on the book cover and he's awful proud of it!

Unsweetened Sweets

Y'all know I have a sweet tooth. But too much of that white, crystalline stuff can be hazardous to your health. (I'm all for getting your sugar somewhere else).

If you want something decadent for Valentine's Day, but you or your Sweetheart need to limit your sugar, have I got something wonderful for you!!!!

Amanda Lanum and Dave Johnson helped me make this on WIBW TV this morning and I'll already been swamped with requests for how it's done.

First, play Cally Krallman's torch-music CD. Woo! It's some sexy stuff! Wear your see-through apron. (Dave looked so cute in this!)

I get Pillsbury Sugar-Free Brownie Mix. Then, INSTEAD of oil, egg, and water, use a half cup to a cup of buttermilk. Buttermilk is magic. Now bake according to directions, about 25 minutes on 350 degrees.

Now for the topping: Take one package of cream cheese, softened, and cream together with a half cup or more of sour cream. Add Splenda to taste. Add vanilla. Add ALMOND flavoring. All to taste. This tastes so rich you can't believe it.

Now, to top that get sugar-free cherry pie filling. The only sugar in this dish is the natural sugar in the cherries.

Another variation on this brownie mix: Instead of oil, water, and egg add a half cup or so of buttermilk and about a cup of peanut butter. This is incredibly good!

Guiltless indulgence!!!

Snowed In

I am watching Paula Deen. She and her girlfriend, Edie, are making cinnamon rolls. They just slathered two sticks of butter on the dough, then about ten pounds of brown sugar, half a cup of cinnamon, pee-cans -- this is the most incredible looking cinnamon roll I have ever seen. Paula kept looking over shoulder for the po-lice it is so decadent. I can smell these through the television screen. OMG, now they are deep-frying them. I believe you could get a heart attack walking past the screen.

Am I going to make cinnamon rolls? No, my chickadees. There is a blizzard outside my door and I'm going to make snowcream with 2 percent milk and Splenda and VANILLA. I figure there's about 50 calories to a mixing bowl.

This is my version of eating healthy and living large at the same time.

Oh, wait, what's that I smell? My beloved is in the kitchen making omelettes. . . .

(Moral of the story: Sit on your butt long enough, and your man will cook for you! If you're lucky, you have a man who cooks good like my Woodrow!)