Day 3: Southern Gluttony Begins

Surprisingly, the first two days of my Tour du Sud have been relatively tame.  A few caveats: we got to my father-in laws house last night.  Normally we are here during the holidays and there are always 600 bowls of candy and treats.  I was anticipating that not to be an issue since it’s June.  Wrong.  Not quite the same as Christmas for Thanksgiving, but none the less there are bowls of candies and nuts stashed in every corner.  I have inadvertently inhaled WAY too many cashews since arriving.  I know those certainly are not low in point value!  (Speaking of points I did take out my calculator to point out my lunch yesterday…hard to point while away but I am trying!).  Second goof up…while I managed to eat a small portion of meatloaf and sides for dinner, I did not have the same luck controlling myself during dessert.  My mother-in-law made banana pudding.  No, this is not just banana flavored pudding.  It’s like a trifle.  Nilla wafers, pudding, and bananas.  The kicker is that the pudding is homemade…no boxed stuff down South!  By homemade I mean sugar, flour, whole milk, and egg yolks.  Never have I tasted such rich pudding.  With each bite I died and went to Heaven a little more.  So yeah, not my finest moment, but I didn’t polish off the entire container either!

I wish I could say the same about my pseudo self control for today.  Once again I began with the mindless cashew snacking.  We ate out for lunch at a wonderful local establishment called The Round Table (notice the hazy quality of the picture....that is the air....you can literally see water droplets suspended).  

This place was my introduction to actual home style Southern Cooking 7 years ago when I made my first trip to Mississippi.  I ate like a hog on my initial visit…MM was actually embarrassed by my gluttony.  I have to say the second time around I exercised EXTREME restrain given the options at my finger tips.  First let me give you a brief description of the restaurant.  You walk into a very homey open room (there are several other rooms through doorways all of the same setup).  The tables are giant lazy susans with 20 or more dishes and desserts.  About 16 people sit around each table and you spin the center piece and continue to reload your plate time and time again.  Take a look at some of the options below.

It's hard to capture the sheer volume of food items at the table (and people don't like it when you stop spinning the wheel...they be hungry!)

Creamed Corn (aka sugar and cream with some kernels mixed in)

Turnip Greens (Note the yellowish buttery color in the liquid AND the bacon pieces...a standard way to cook any vegetable down here)

The piece de resistance...FRIED CHICKEN...it doesn't get any better than this folks!

REAL Chicken and Dumplings (You'll note my diet version looked NOTHING like this)

I will not even include pictures of dessert.  There were pies and custards and cakes of all kinds.  On the entire table there was only one item I would consider diet conscious...cantaloupe.  This is not the kind of place you go if you are dieting.  This is not the kind of place you quietly sip water and munch on melon as an army of Southern women in green shirts work feverishly to refill the bowls at record pace.  The owner is on hand to make sure you are enjoying your meal.  It would be rude not to engage in the art of eating at this fantastic and  authentic local joint.  All things considered, I think I managed AMAZING restrain and did not offend my hosts with my "pickish" eating (by their standards).

Note my father-in-law's plate (remember..this is lunch....we still have dinner to go later today!):

Note my plate (aside from the larger helping of my favorite Chicken and Dumplings I tired to taste a few of the more unique dishes, one being a squash casserole with hamburger meat.  I'd be a liar if I failed to note to you all that I did have a second small helping of C&D's and picked at some fried chicken - bad me!!!)

After our meal we shuffled through the 100% humid soup for air, all the way feeling the urge to be sick.  My semi flat belly had been replaced by what could be easily mistaken as a 5 month maternity stomach.  Ah, I love my food baby so.  I'm still waiting for her to deflate.  I'm baffled that we have another meal to go (dessert is defiantly crossed off the list for me this evening).  With any luck where ever we go (we are to eat out again because it's just too hot to cook) there will be a salad I can call my own.

Even as I've been writing an elaborate plan to head to the Big Easy (New Orleans) has been hatched for tomorrow.  Of course the focus of this entire trip has been where to eat...the walking/eating tour of a Southern gem.  I've never been and am looking forward to this excursion.  However, my diet is not.  Obviously I can't diet in New Orleans any more than here!  So, tomorrow should make for more interesting food choices.  I've decided that Sunday (another travel day back to Jackson, MS) will be dubbed "anorexia Sunday" and I plan to eat nothing!  

Stay tuned for more chronicles from the South.  Posting tomorrow may be late depending on when we return from our little trip.