the weather down in South... whew!

[Firedome]

Just back from 3 days (family member wedding) in SC and TN... holy moly, the humidity and heat was jungle-level! 3 days of partly cloudy, mid 90s temps and humidity nearly 100 due to heavy rain at night, occasional day sprinkles and just enough sporadic sun to make things really steamy. TG we had a nice Air-b-n-b house with great a/c, however going outside was like getting into a spa steam bath. Winters may be mild there but NO way could I live in the SouthEast except for right next to the FL coast where you get nice sea-breezes, and run for the hills when the hurricanes threaten! lol

[electra225]

Dry heat here in sunny AZ. If you can stay in the shade, you can get along just fine at 115 with 7% humidity. You will fry your brains if you are in the sun at that temp.

[19&41]

I could've told you it was like that, but you wouldn't have believed me without experiencing it. One develops a tolerance for it. It's funny to see it be sunny in the front yard and raining in the back. You can drive in an area where you can have a few miles visibility and see patches of rain moving along with dry areas between.

[19&41]

I could've told you it was like that, but you wouldn't have believed me without experiencing it. One develops a tolerance for it. It's funny to see it be sunny in the front yard and raining in the back. You can drive in an area where you can have a few miles visibility and see patches of rain moving along with dry areas between.

[Firedome]

Well I knew what it was like 50 yrs ago, my folks lived in Greensboro NC 1968 to 1974. 1 sister lives in Greenville SC ( it was 98 and 95% humidity while we were at her house!). The other lives in Charlotte NC (they have a horrible airport btw, it needs a major expansion, they should check out Denver's to see how it[s done! ) and my younger bro lives on Lake Hartwell GA and in winter in Asheville NC.

But I hadn't been there in 20+ years and guess I repressed or forgot how horrible summer there can be!
TG for A/C, it takes out the humidity. I'll take the NE, winter and all... gives me time to work on my electronics and we appreciate Spring, Summer, and Fall all the more! LOL.

As for AZ, I have a feeling my Cornell Master Gardener now mostly retired wife would not like gardening there! It's not only a hobby for her but her raison d'etre!

[19&41]

It looks like the temps are beginning the sloow creep down from the upper 90's.

[electra225]

My grandmother's people were from Stone County, GA. We would visit them in the fall, when they were "puttin' up" "terbacky". I don't remember the weather being all that disagreeable. That time of the year would find Indiana rainy and blustery, so the Georgia weather was found quite agreeable.

[19&41]

It can get pretty tolerable here during the fall, also the early early spring.

[electra225]

Grandma had a cousin named Billy Dan whose wife was Corrine. He was either sheriff or deputy sheriff, because he always had a black Ford with white doors and a "bubble gum machine" parked in his driveway. He drove Oldsmobiles as his personal cars. I'm not sure if they were in Stone County or not, but we always visited Stone Mountain when we were there. I haven't seen him since my grandparents passed. I'm sure he is gone by now. He was a big man with a deep southern accent. When grandpa and grandma started wintering in Florida, I would drive them down in their car then come home via driving a Sam Tanksley semi home. They would let you make one-way runs to get their trucks to their home terminal. I would generally have a load of citrus going to Indianapolis. I would stop off at Billy Dan's and Corrine's place coming back for redeye gravy and her cathead biscuits. Corrine is making those baking soda biscuits at the right hand of God as we speak.......

[William]

I love biscuits and because I'm dumb, what the heck are cathead biscuits?

Bill

[Firedome]

When we got home 82 felt downright pleasant, and the humidity rarely gets anywhere near as oppressive here either.
Today's pleasant enough not to have to use the A/C, which we don't like anyhow. I doubt we use it more than 15-20 days a summer, fans usually suffice.

As I recall from visits to Greensboro while in college in MD, Fall was pleasant in NC after Oct 1 and Spring came early. But I worked in a dirt-floor steel fabrication factory as a welder (fully clothed at all times) in July/Aug of '69 and it was absolute "deleted". Never liked the South much that time of year ever since, and last weekend was abruptly reminded why.

[electra225]

Cathead biscuits were poor man's biscuits, made with flower, baking soda and water. I don't know how or why they were called cathead biscuits, but they were recognized by how they were "choked off" when they were made. Big, light fluffy biscuits that tasted good with almost anything, fancy or plain. Corrine would take a small handful of dough and kind of plop it on the baking sheet. Wonderful with redeye gravy. And almost any kind of jam or jelly you could imagine, "maple drippin's" almost anything. Cathead biscuits were a family delicacy and Corrine was THE master, hands down, bar none.

Redeye gravy, for any of you unfortunate souls who have never had any is this. Basically, "dirty" gravy with week old, much boiled coffee and Tobasco sauce. Another southern delicacy and one of Corrine's specialties. You would dump left-over coffee into a "pote", place that on the back of the wood cook stove. That would boil down to a syrup that you would use for redeye gravy. The "dirty" part came from the fact that grandma would cook breakfast meat in her big iron skillet. She would save the drippings all week. Then on Saturday morning, she made redeye gravy. There would be all kinds of meat drippings in there. Ham, bacon, chicken, whatever meat she had cooked all week. I haven't had any in probably 40 years, but I remember it like I had it for breakfast this morning. My wife is from Michigan and will quarter no such "garbage" as redeye gravy or mashed potato salad.

Grandma would make a big bowl of mashed potatoes, bit enough to feed an army, for supper thru the week for the five of us. You knew when you saw that big bowl of mashed potatoes that grandma was going to make "tater salad". No chunks, it went down real smooth. I liked it with her homemade barbecue sauce on the side. Kind of a sweet/sour combination. My wife won't even try it. She thinks it's "unnatural". She is missin' out........

I believe there are many different recipes for redeye gravy. Personal preference, the part of the country you were in, all varied the recipe somewhat. Same thing with biscuits.

[William]

Thanks, Greg, for sharing. Since I love biscuits, I need to Google Cathead biscuits to see how to make them.

Bill

[electra225]

Just baking powder, flower and water. Look up baking powder biscuits. I'm guessing the cathead part was more colloquial than technical. How they were "choked off" or prepared was the colloquial part and probably where the cathead part started. It was impolite to ask questions like that when you were a kid. When grownups said something, you were to assume it was correct and not them pulling your leg.

With sincere apologies to Roger for beating up his topic, I found this for you, Bill. Real cathead biscuits!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16720 ... iscuits-i/

[William]

Thanks, Greg, and sorry Roger.

Bill

[Firedome]

S'OK, they look good so I printed it off too.

[electra225]

Like White Castle hamburgers, there is a skill to making cathead biscuits. You take a "right smart pinch" of dough and kind of plop it down on the baking sheet. That is the secret, how you "choke 'em off". Too big and they don't bake all the way thru. Too small, they are overdone and tough.

I'd like to find grandma's recipe for baking powder biscuits if one exists. I remember the "right smart pinch" part. She said that to everyone who asked about her biscuits. Just how big a "right smart pinch" is may be lost to history......

I also mentioned a baking sheet. Grandma baked her biscuits in a big cast iron skillet. I'm not sure she owned a baking sheet, per se. I figured more of you would have a baking sheet than a big cast iron skillet.....

[William]

I have both, and part of the secret of a golden-brown biscuit would be baking it in cast iron.

Bill

[Firedome]

Also have both, you need a well seasoned cast iron skillet to cook scrapple properly, which we eat 2, 3 times a week.

[electra225]

I'm surprised anybody has cast iron cookware anymore. You're not supposed to use them with glass-top ranges are you?