I heard some bad news today....

Don't call it grits. Call it polenta. ;)

And I serve polenta with braised lamb shank.

I also grill polenta to make hors d'oeuvre, topped with prosciutto. :cool:
 
Car-Guy said:
WHAT? :confused:


Maybe it's a southern thing, but everyone around here (well the natives anyway) eat black-eyed peas each New Years day. (For good luck)
Click to expand...

Once a year would be all I could take of them, turns out I don't like them.
But based on our Southern Members, probably the way they were cooked was the issue.

I tried grits once when in the South. From then on, I had fried eggs for breakfast :)
 
Last edited:
NW-Bound said:
I also grill polenta to make hors d'oeuvre, topped with prosciutto. :cool:
Click to expand...


It does help to chill the polenta (grits) in the refrigerator for a few hours so It can be sliced first. Grits straight from the pot to the grill would be a little messy. :D A fried slice left over from the day before is also good in the morning with a couple of eggs.


NO sugar on grits! Everyone will know that "you ain't from around here are ya?"



Cheers!
 
I make it denser with less water. Then, it's ready when cooled down.

Here's a typical presentation from the Web.

grilled-polenta-bites-with-roasted-red-pepper-feta-spread-3127.jpg
 
Last edited:
YUM--
black eyed peas cooked in the slow cooker all day with a smoked ham hock, onions, carrots and celery, along with a side of greens cooked with bacon!!
Cheesy grits and fried egg--best breakfast ever.
As for cholesterol and sodium content, well, forget that, just enjoy! And go for a long walk afterwards.
 
My father, who has been dead for almost 40 years, grew up in Springfield, Missouri. He loved black-eyed peas and navy beans, not to mention other strange foods and nearly any kind of beans.

I grew up in more urban and cosmopolitan surroundings. This probably explains why I have always disliked black-eyed peas and navy beans, either of which frequently appeared on my plate but which to me seemed pretty weird. But I must admit that other kinds of beans are not that bad.
 
I've never had black eyed peas, never saw them on a menu despite all my travels, but I do love my grits. I never had them until DW introduced them to this Yankee 38 years ago, with plenty of butter. Occasionally I'll have some with crumbled bacon mixed in but, even dirt tastes good with bacon!
 
ckelly78z said:
"Wheres The Confounded Bridge".....Led Zeppelin.
Click to expand...
Ah, "The Crunge", one of my favorites. This is a play and homage on James Brown, both in the guitar riff, and that famous ending line.

Ronstar said:
“As he passed around the blackeyed peas”. Come to think of it - I don’t think that I’ve ever had blackeyed peas. I need to find some.
Click to expand...
See Hoppin' John for some good recipes. When megacorp moved me to the south, they still employed their own cafeteria people. We had black eyed peas as an option every day, usually in the form of Hoppin' John.

Alas, the cafe was outsourced and the good, authentic southern food was a casualty.
LRDave said:
All the production and takes for the original recording were for the accompanying strings. The guitar and vocals were from Bobbie Gentry's original demo tape.
Click to expand...
I've heard other performances from that era and she nails it every time. It is always a bit different, but always good. No auto tune crap back then. Her voice is great, but the tiny flaws that do get through make the song so authentic.
 
Winemaker said:
I've never had black eyed peas, never saw them on a menu despite all my travels, but I do love my grits. I never had them until DW introduced them to this Yankee 38 years ago, with plenty of butter. Occasionally I'll have some with crumbled bacon mixed in but, even dirt tastes good with bacon!
Click to expand...
It's not really "restaurant food" unless you go to a southern themed restaurant.

I have heard (though I'm not sure it's true) that peas were animal food up until the civil war when that's all there was left to eat. (Hence the name "Cow peas") That's how they ended up being southern "peasant food"
 
Last edited:
Well, I gotta ask. Sounds like there's been research (and speculation) on the song, anyone care to reveal any theories as to exactly WHAT they were throwing off the bridge? And for WIW this is one of those songs that takes me back to exactly that time of my life, summer I met my now DW. I have this strange memory quirk that as time goes on, hearing a song (well one that has not been over played) will immediately take me back to the first time i heard it. I'll remark about such a recollection and DW will go "REALLY?" This song takes me back to a donut shop at a shopping center called RanchMart in Prairie Village KS, name is lost and I'm sure it's long gone. Minds (well my mind) is/are strange.
 
The Tallahachee River is somewhat coinfusing. Is the bridge in Sumner County,.Mississippi where there are two.county seats or is the bridge in Sumner.Counnty? Or,.is.the bridge over in New.Albany (northwest of.Tupelo) where there is another Tallahachee River

No matter.where the bridge is Bobbie Gentry wrote.a.great.song.
 
Bamaman said:
The Tallahachee River is somewhat coinfusing. Is the bridge in Sumner County,.Mississippi where there are two.county seats or is the bridge in Sumner.Counnty? Or,.is.the bridge over in New.Albany (northwest of.Tupelo) where there is another Tallahachee River



No matter.where the bridge is Bobbie Gentry wrote.a.great.song.
Click to expand...



According to Wikipedia, the bridge is in Money, Ms, about 10 miles north of greenwood. Looks to be in Leflore County. Brdge collapsed in 1972 after being burned by vandals and has been rebuilt.

Coordinates : 33.6504,-90.2111
 
Wow! The memories...that smoky voice! When I was in 5th (or was 6th?) grade our teacher Mr. Auslander (RIP) told us what they threw off the bridge. The class was stunned!
 
As I recall, there was a movie made about that song (with Robbie Benson and I don’t know the girls actor’s name). The movie was about how the two young kids got in trouble and the girl had an abortion. Don’t know what they were throwing off the bridge.
 
Patricia Lyn said:
Frank2009 you are such a tease! What was it??
Click to expand...

It's obvious from this thread - black eyed peas!

More seriously, the composer says she left that open to interpretation, and it isn't important - as I mentioned earlier, the focus is the interaction and responses of the family, especially that they don't seem to realize the impact this has on the (nameless) girl's narration ("Child, what's happened to your appetite?").

Could be flowers, love notes, rings, (the idea that their love would not be approved? But why, they seem to of the same 'class' - went to the 'picture show together'. Probably not too young, she seemed to be close in age to her brother who got married, and it seems Momma was trying to set her up with a "nice, young preacher"?) and of course the speculation of an aborted or stillborn fetus. I think that is too obvious.

Maybe she broke up with Billy Joe, that is why he killed himself? That's why this song is so great, IMO, so many ways to look at it.

BTW, "Billie Joe" was a mistake, that's a female name. And it is Billy Joe in her draft. The one place we must allow for some poetic license, based on the info I've found (see Ronstar's post), any bridge over the river there would not be one you'd jump off of to commit suicide, it was pretty shallow there.

-ERD50
 
Did a little digging and the fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia, recapped the movie. The plot thickens... seams Billy Joe had a homosexual encounter with his boss after some heavy drinking. Billy Joe ultimately kills himself because of it.
 
Patricia Lyn said:
As I recall, there was a movie made about that song (with Robbie Benson and I don’t know the girls actor’s name). The movie was about how the two young kids got in trouble and the girl had an abortion. Don’t know what they were throwing off the bridge.
Click to expand...

And Bobbie Gentry rejects that. That was the movie director's choice.

-ERD50
 
The genius of the song is it doesn't matter what was thrown off the bridge. As others have mentioned, it is all about the rest of the song.

There's talk today about a lot of kids being outcasts and sadly committing suicide over that. It was no different back then.
 
Actually, she didn't get pregnant, didn't have an abortion and they didn't throw a baby off the bridge. They never had sex. They threw her childhood rag doll off the bridge (according to the novel). It represented the loss of her childhood.
 
MissMolly said:
Actually, she didn't get pregnant, didn't have an abortion and they didn't throw a baby off the bridge. They never had sex. They threw her childhood rag doll off the bridge (according to the novel). It represented the loss of her childhood.
Click to expand...

But that's from the movie, ~ 10 years after the song came out, and not the view of the composer.

I mentioned I became obsessed with this song a few years back (and always was mesmerized by it, I was a young teen when it was released). I came across a site I read at the time, I like this one, he starts out with a "just the fact's ma'am" approach, what we know, what we don't know from the song - which helps keep the interpretation in check. And then he goes on to some interpretations, and some from seemingly knowledgeable people (southern roots, songwriters, historians) add their views.

The Mystery of Ode to Billie Joe (note, even he uses 'billy' in the url ( billyjoe.htm ), the more typical male spelling, but not the Title - probably for search purposes).

So as some of us have said, the beauty/genius of this song is that it provides a framework, but leaves enough unsaid that you can create a story in your mind. No one knows what 'really' happened.

As I said, I tend to reject the obvious abortion/stillborn/miscarriage story on 'artistic' grounds alone. It's just too obvious, and I think there are more interesting thoughts. Here are some I gathered from reading, which sparked a few of my own, but first, why there are also some story-line holes in the abortion/stillborn/miscarriage story:

The narrator (no name given, other than in the draft, so I'll just say "she"/"her") was working in the fields that AM as if nothing happened. It was just "another sleepy, dusty, Delta day ". If she had gone through an abortion/stillborn/miscarriage, would she be working the fields like nothing happened? And her Mother doesn't note the loss of appetite until after the news about Billy Joe is heard. Momma was 'cooking all morning', expecting hearty appetites from all. And would they do such a taboo thing in broad daylight, for someone like the Preacher to see? I think it would have been hidden away.

Now here are some interesting (IMO) ideas:

A) There was some speculation that 'she' pushed Billy Joe off the bridge(!) after an argument. OK, seems far fetched, but hey, maybe they didn't find the body until later, and assumed he jumped that day? I don't give this much credence, she would have been affected by this, not just after she "heard the news". But it is creative, and not totally implausible. Further speculation was that this is what the preacher observed, and was trying to appeal to "her" conscience to come forward and confess? Pretty diabolical, no?

B) Here's one I hadn't considered, and find rather interesting - What if Billy Joe was suffering depression, not related to any romantic relationship with "her"? It kind of fits, mental illness was even more hidden away than now, "she" could have just been friendly with Billy Joe, sensed his darkness, was trying to help him, and was really affected, as a close friend, not a lover, by his taking his own life. I'm impressed with this one.

C) Another I had not thought of, that I think is along the lines of abortion/stillborn/miscarriage, but fits better IMO. What if what they were throwing off the bridge was blood-stained clothing from her losing her virginity to Billy Joe? That would be something to hide, in a religious community of the time, and especially since her Father didn't think much of Billy Joe. Interesting, no? I guess it doesn't go so far as to explain Billy Joe's apparent suicide though? But maybe that is related more to general depression?

D) I never really thought about this, but the only observer/reporter of "something being thrown off the bridge" is the "nice young Preacher, Brother Tom". Hmmmm? This opens up a lot of paths, including what I outlined in 'A". Let's see...

How about... she has become romantically involved with the Preacher and he has asked her (or they agreed) that she was going to break off her relationship with Billy Joe? Adding in the comment of them "throwing something off the bridge" could be an acknowledgement/metaphor that they ended their relationship. But of course, she is still affected by Billy Joe's apparent suicide.

I've always found the specific phrase to be interesting, but have not seen comments on it... maybe it means nothing, just the words that fit, but the Preacher says he "saw a girl that looked a lot like you", but he has no problem recognizing Billy Joe! Is he trying to provide some cover for her? By keeping it vague, later she could say, no, that wasn't me? IS he trying to send her a message?

Or it was the Preacher who pushed Billy Joe off the bridge? Hmmm, maybe it was a jealous argument, maybe Billy Joe was trying to rape 'her', and the Preacher defended her, but thought it better to cover it up. Or the Preacher broke it up, and Billy Joe committed suicide out of shame (how could he face the Preacher at Church?)?

That's a lot of things to draw from a few verses, which is why I feel the song is magical.

OK, I told you I was obsessed! :)

-ERD50
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Corsi–Rosenthal Box (Air Purifier)
Replies
11
Views
403
pacergal
P
T
Retired 10 years today!
Replies
20
Views
2K
walkinwood
walkinwood
Chuckanut
Airline mileage programs
2
Replies
26
Views
788
frank05
F
P
Passport renewal times have gotten much better
Replies
12
Views
1K
Kork13
K
K
Sell some VGT?
Replies
0
Views
312
kgtest
K

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom