CATFISH, HUSH PUPPIES, AND COCA COLA CAKE

I must tell y'all that I'm having somewhat of a pity party this weekend!

Husband just got back in town. He has been gone all week to our other home--DeSoto County, Mississippi...visiting old friends and playing poker at Harrah's in Tunica (of course, he got to enjoy eating great Southern food at the Paula Deen buffet there!) Boo-hiss, I was not able to go!!!

I'm also missing out on a family gathering in South Georgia with my mama's relatives...they always get together on Labor Day Weekend and "fry-up" catfish and hush puppies all weekend!

So what's a girl to do??? I cooked my own catfish and hush puppies!!! Catfish, hush puppies, french fries, corn bread, and tartar sauce...

Us Southerners LOVE our fried catfish with the de rigueur hush puppies...we consider catfish as the other white meat. 70% of the world's supply of catfish comes from the Catfish Capital of the World--Belzoni, Mississippi. Belzoni hosts a World Catfish Festival every year...of course there's a beauty pageant with the crown going to the "Catfish Queen!" Lord have mercy...

Catfish is on the menu of every small-town family restaurant in Dixie! Southerners love all kinds of catfish, but of course, we are partial to the fried catfish! The de rigueur side is hush puppies. A lot of y'all Yankees probably have never tried hush puppies. Well, they are delicious and I have included a recipe* below. How did hush puppies get their name? The story goes that after the Civil War, when people were cooking fish, they would throw the scraps of the batter from the skillet to the barking dogs and yell "hush puppies"...a Southern tradition was born!

Now, we Southerners also love our Coca Cola, which of course was invented in the South. I decided to serve Coca Cola Cake for dessert. This cake is so popular in the South that my beloved Cracker Barrel offers it on their menu! "Thank you very much Cracker Barrel people...throw two pieces of that yummy cake in a bag to go!" Love it y'all!

I made some iced cold sweet tea and served the dinner. Husband liked it all. Thank you very much! When I served the cake, he snickered and asked me "Is this homemade?" Good Lord, why does he ask me such a silly question? Do y'all hate it when people ask you if a dish you serve them is homemade? It's like if you say "No, I bought this at Publix, they might not like it then." It's not an etiquette faux pas, but it certainly gets on my nerves when people ask me if I made something. So for that reason, I love these little napkins...

*Recipe for Hush Puppies:
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tblsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups corn meal
1 sm onion, finely chopped
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk

Stir together dry ingredients. Add onion, then add the beaten egg and milk, stirring lightly. Drop a tblsp of the mixture into hot deep fat, frying only a few at a time till golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

I do hope y'all are having a fabulous Labor Day Weekend. As I mentioned above, mine will be a quiet one. I will be back on Monday with "Miss Janice's Labor Day Fashion Rules."