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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781456726706 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 07/11/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 29 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
Read an Excerpt
Davey's Half-Way Home Cafe
By Davey Doby
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 Davey DobyAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-2669-0
Chapter One
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH LOVE TO MY SONS MELVIN SHIPP, ARTHUR AND DAVEY DOBY, AND MY PARENTS EDD AND LELA EDISONEARLINE BROOMFIELD CHILD NO. 8
I am writing this book from the suggestion of the many people who came into Davey's Restaurant and pretended this was the best food they had ever eaten.
To my surprise, collard greens was always the topic for discussion. People would say things like "What is your secret on cooking collard greens?"
SO HERE IS MY SECRET!
Pick 'um, wash 'um, cut 'um, put meat in 'um (bacon grease or lard), salt in 'um with fresh jalapeno pepper in 'um, cook 'um, serve 'um, and EAT 'UM.
My mama, who I believe was the best cook who ever passed through Mississippi, handed down this recipe. She never had a job except cooking for her family and cooking for what she called her tractor meeting, which is now called revival.
Good Hope Church was built six miles south of Hickory, Mississippi. This day has been a special day. First Sunday in August for many years, at least before I was born, a young bull (you call it a steer) was killed for fresh meat. The first sweet potatoes were scratched (dug) by Papa, so Mama could make her good sweet potato pie.
Ever since I can remember, I was excited about the cooking and was always trying to help. Your Uncle Ardell said Mama left the cooking to me when I was about 9 years old while she took the boys and went to the field to chop cotton or thin the corn. I know this is all Latin to you. So anything you do not understand, ask some one born before 1945 or soon after. Davey, before you and Arthur came on the scene, I had been taught how to take very little food and make a meal "fit for a king".
I cannot remember many times we ate without meat. Your grandfather always kept a hog in the pig pen ready to kill, especially in the winter time. My father would preserve the meat by packing it in a lot of salt (I call myself writing modern now by using the word 'preserve') such as the hams, front shoulder and middling, which you call the bacon. Meanwhile, Mama would cook the fresh backbone and ribs we canned in jars. Therefore we had fresh meat way over in March (all winter) which used to be the spring of the year. We even canned the sausage. I told you all this to let you know we always had meat, peas, bread and Kool Aid for dinner, that was at 12 o'clock noon. I had to cook enough for supper, which was when we came out of the fields - at sundown. Supper had no certain time. It is supper time when you finish milking the cows, feeding the horses, chickens, hogs and bringing in stove wood. We would bathe in the No. 3 tub before the water got cold (which had been set out in the sun to warm. "You did not know that did you, Davey!")
There is so much I would love to tell you about old times, but the most important old things for me are very new for you. These things will stand throughout eternity such as morals, self-respect and respect for other people. Be truthful and treat people like you want to be treated, give to people who need a helping hand, in other words: Read and do Exodus, 20th chapter, verses 12-17 and Matthew 22nd chapter, verse 37; and always remember "If Jesus can put money in a sh's mouth, He can put money in your pocket." To nd these words you must read your bible a little further (it is in there). For me those were the good times, because I know my mother and father loved and protected us and taught us to love one another. About the Jolly Aid Kool Aid - Mama traded eggs for it if she did not have a nickel. We would meet the store truck over on the main road and buy a candy bar for a few pennies, which was so hard to come by. "Davey let me tell you about the ice. We were so glad to see the iceman coming!"
Papa or Mama would save that dime to give the iceman for a small block of ice and Mama would wrap it up in an old raggedy quilt, kept especially to wrap the ice. We had a hole dug in the ground filled with sawdust to keep the ice in so it would not melt so fast.
Now I will tell you about Fourth of July. It was a doozy (it was a ball). About this time we would almost be finished with chopping and hoeing the cotton and thinning the corn. Mama would get her molasses can and make it full of ice cream. Then we would put the can in a foot tub and put ice and salt around the can. We would hold the wire handle and twist it back and forth until Mama would open the can and scrape down the sides. This made it freeze quicker. Meanwhile, Papa had gone to Hickory, MS in the wagon and bought a whole 24-bottle case of RC Cola, peach and grape Ne-Hi drinks, and a big hunk of bologna and cheese. Man, we had a ball under the four oak trees in the yard. Three of them are still there. Lightning struck one the day your grandfather died. Last, but not least, Papa had marked the first watermelon that came on the vine, so he would know which one was ripe for the fourth of July. That is the day the first watermelon was pulled and put in a tub of cold water so it would be cool when we cut it. Those were the best days- "I do not want to go back too, far, just remember."
To Davey my son:
This being my last book, there are so many things I want you to know. I am so proud to be your mother. You are the light of my life. The Lord saw t to take Melvin & Arthur (the sons I miss so much) away from us. I can not tell you the whole story because it is so unusual. I hope that is the right word to use. So I will put it another way. God gave me another son. A man that had already been taught to love God by loving people. I knew his mother & father had prayed that he would have a good life when He saw t to take them to a better place. God gave this loving man to me. I am so proud to be called Mama Earline by him. When you are in other countries working, he makes sure I am o.k. I want you to call him when you need a brother. You can depend on him. I know, because he promised me he would be there for you. His name is Glenn Parker. You will find a cake I made up and named The Glenn Parker Cake in this book. His band plays at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS.
Davey, let me tell you where you came from because I can not tell you where you are going. You must set your own goals in life.
This is your grandmother on my father's side. My love for cooking came from Mattie Edison. I remember she stopped people who passed by her house and said, "Stop and eat. I just cooked some peas and bread and made a cake." Davey, she would take one egg and make a cake that would melt in your mouth. She cooked cakes for everybody, white and black, for $1.50. Davey, she made it up by hand. There was no electricity. She made icing by beating it with a fork. It was always perfect. Her meringue stood high.
Now, today, 76 years later, I need at least 8 eggs and an electric mixer. I get $30.00 dollars for my cake and still fail sometime. Your great grandmother lived on what is now Highway 15; only a dirt road then. She lived on the Rozey Farm. The Rozey Descendants are still living there on Highway 15 just before you get to the Southern Pine Light Company. She lived on the right side of Highway 15 going north which is now pastured land.
Now for your great grandparents on my mother's side. My grandmother said she was an only child. She never knew her father. She remembered when she was about 6 years old, standing on a block along with her mother, being sold to a man named Sutton. She grew up as Betty Sutton. She never went to school, but she was smart, wise, and intelligent.
Davey, she made all her clothes by hand. I wish everyone could have seen the short stitches she made when she was sewing. She made most of her clothes out of fertilizer sacks and our sacks. She made her underclothes with the our sacks because the material was soft. The fertilizer sack had a number or writing on them. I remember one sack number very well: 6.8.8. She would wash it with soap she made up herself. I know some of the things she used to make the soap: the ashes from the re place, if we had burned oak wood that day. She would save some in a bucket until she was ready to make her soap. She never used pine wood ashes only oak! We never knew why. She also used Red Devil Lye. Red Devil Lye is stronger than anything I can tell you about (maybe acid) just to give you an idea. She called it Lye Soap. She would boil those sacks in an iron pot until they were white as snow. Sometimes, it took 2 or 3 boilings to get them like she wanted them (white). She made her skirts, blouses, panties and slips. She called them petticoats.
Davey, she wore her apron to church starched and ironed. She made her starch out of our and water. She always made two pockets on her apron. All her grandchildren tried to sit next to her in Sunday School because we knew she had some homemade tea cakes in her apron pocket. If we were good we'd eat tea cakes when church was out. Davey, she died at age 104 years old. I was fourteen years old when she died.
Now, your grandfather was Philmore Johnson, my mother's father. Back then, he was what you would call today, a pimp. I hate to tell the world but you must know the truth. He was mean as Hitler. He died at age 96. I was about 12 years old. I knew him and his two brothers. Davey, he told us the he and his two brothers were sold into slavery to different families. He knew his mother and father. He knew all three brothers and lived around Hickory, Mississippi when they got old because they kept up with one another. My grandfather and his brothers all could read. My grandfather was a Johnson. Your cousin, Robert Johnson, the richest black man in the world, is his great grandson. He now owns the NBA Bobcat basketball team. His brothers were raised as Pertery and one Uncle Preston. I remember all three.
I could tell you more This is enough to let you know. You must stand tall. Don't attempt to make yourself ask God to make you what you aught to be. You should live by His rules and not man. Love people. Treat people like you want to be treated, you don't have anything in your background to be ashamed of, unless it's your mother who picked cotton until cotton left this county (smile). Let these words live through your daughter, Loran and my grandsons, Christopher and Melvin (Poochie) Shipp. Last but not least, my God-given son, Glenn Parker. And don't forget Kenneth (Fire Truck) Jones, my steak cooker and friend. I love you, Fire Truck.
Earline Edison Broomfield
Some Things I Know Not Revealed by Man
1. God is Real. 2. To know for yourself what God wants, you must humble yourself. You must ask God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, whatever you want to call Him, to open spiritual ears so you can hear. Read God's word, then listen. God is a revealing God. He talks through nature and other people. I can not tell you how many ways He talks, son. Do try Him around midnight on your knees, some people say in your closet. I want you to understand, so I say, shut the world out. Tell Him what you want, if you need it, God will give it. There is so much I want to tell you, it is impossible, so you must seek Him for yourself. 3. God sees about His children on time, because He is a timely God. He may not come when you want Him, but He is always on time.
Davey, this book is dedicated to you, but I do hope someone else will get something from this writing. Jesus saved me in 1977. I thought I knew so much about the Lord. I attended the McKinnely Seminary for years, taught by some great ministers. Man, you have never been taught until you are taught by God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself. I learned more in May, June and July 1999, than I did the 67 years I'd lived. Davey, God is real. He was real all through a heart attack, son. I give up, I can not write all I know. Seek Him for yourself.
Love, Mom
DAVEY AND GLENN When you get my age, look for this ...
Old folks are worth a fortune with silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet and gas in their stomach.
I have become a little older since I saw you last. Today is December 4, 2008. Your mother is 79 years young and holding. A few things have changed in my life. Frankly I have become a frivolous old gal. I am seeing five gentlemen every day!
As soon as I wake up, Will Power helps me get out of bed. Then I go to see John. Then Charlie Horse comes along, and when he is here he takes up a lot of my time and attention. When he leaves, Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day. He doesn't like to stay in one place long. He takes me from joint to joint. After a busy day, I'm really tired and glad to go to bed with Ben Gay. What a life.
P.S. The preacher came to call the other day. He said at my age, I should be thinking about the hereafter. I told him, "Oh, I do all the time. No matter where I am - in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen or down in the basement." I ask myself, "Now what am I here after?"
(copied)
I LOVE YOU!
Remember This... A Recipe On Life
1. An investment in knowledge, always pay the best interest. 2. The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. 3. For success, attitude is equally as important as ability. 4. A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition. 5. Success is a ladder you cannot climb with your hands in your pockets. 6. Anything unattempted remains impossible. 7. Being willing makes you able. 8. To get what you want, stop doing what is not working. 9. A champion is a dreamer that refused to give up.
10. Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
11. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
12. Last but not least - Tough times never last, but tough people do.
What is it?
It is greater than God; More evil than Satan; If you eat it, you will die; The rich don't need it; The poor got all they need.
Answer: Nothing
Given to me by Jimmy Pender, Campers on Mission
Davey, you asked me to write some more history in my final pages. So, here it is. To my sons Davey Doby and Glenn Parker, my grandsons Christopher McDonald and Melvin (Poochie) Shipp:
Today is August 24, 2008. This is my final book. I want you four to know I love you so much. You have given me so many happy years. I thank you. Davey, I never told you about the poor house. When I mention the poor house, my customer's say they thought I was talking about their house. I am giving you a little history of where you came from. There was an old man who lived in the community named Henry Bennet. His granddaughter and I were good friends. They lived next door. Now I told you my grandfather was mean as Hitler, but my grandfather was a saint compared to Uncle Henry. He was not my uncle, but we had to call him that because he was so old. I hate to say this, but you talk about ugly! All of us kids was scared to death of him! One day Uncle Henry disappeared. Mama told us he was in the poor house. We did not know where the poor house was. I did not care so long as he was gone. Now the reason I wanted him gone was when mama and papa bought a 10 lb. sack of our, the merchants would give them a pretty plate or bowl. We kids would claim the pretty ones. My plate was so pretty with pretty red owers. One day when I came home from school, Uncle Henry was eating out of my pretty plate. (Davey you know where I grew up because you bought the home place we owned. We had a 2 class room school at the church.) I think I cried all night because Uncle Henry ate out of my plate. Mama told me she washed it good and she promised to whip me if I did not shut up. And when she told you, you was going to get a whipping she meant it. But papa came to my rescue. He told me I did not have to eat out of that plate again and I never did.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Davey's Half-Way Home Cafe by Davey Doby Copyright © 2011 by Davey Doby. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Salads....................45Breads....................51
Vegetables / Side Dishes....................65
Meats / Main Dishes....................85
Desserts / Pies....................103
Cakes / Cookies....................127
Condiments / Miscellaneous....................145
Recipe Index....................155
Guest List....................159