My great-grandmother was a very special person to me & lots of other people. She ran a boarding house in Lynchburg, TN for a long time. As a result of that, she met thousands of people that came to eat lunch at her place. For me, she has been a role model & inspiration since opening my cake shop, Sugary Creations. So in her honor, anyone named Mary or Bobo can have a free cupcake on me. Be sure to tell us you saw it on my blog or twitter to get your free cupcake.

Here’s to you Mama Bobo!

PS. If you’re a Bobo, let’s figure out how we’re related!

Don wanted to interview me about my great-grandmother, Mama Bobo. Of course, to most of the world, she is known as Miss Mary Bobo.

My great-grandmother, Miss Mary Bobo, standing in front of The Hotel in Lynchburg, TN.

Frankly, the interview was a ton of fun! Don has done several pieces on the distillery & the boarding house so he is very familiar with the area.  It’s very easy to talk to Don, which I’m sure, is a lot of the reason he is so good at his job. Not sure which I enjoyed more, picking out old pictures to share with him or showing the pictures to him. Thanks to my cousin, Sherrie Moore, it was easy to find some pictures Don would like. (Sherrie has taken on the role of family historian & has diligently been scanning & uploading old family pictures for all of us to be able to access.)

We went through several pictures of Mama Bobo & her sister, Ophelia Motlow. It was delightful looking at the pictures of the two of them when they were young.

A picture of the very young Miss Mary Bobo & Ophelia Motlow. Taken way before Ophelia married the famous Lem Motlow or Miss Mary Bobo had become famous.

My guess is that Mama (Miss Mary Bobo) was probably 15 or 16 years old at the time. This guess is based on the fact that she is still not in an ankle-length dress, the attire for a young woman of the time.

As happens, the two young ladies grew up, married & had children. Unfortunately, it’s also pretty common for such ladies to end up widows eventually as happened to these sisters. But they remained close & talked on the telephone frequently.

Ophelia Motlow on the left & her sister, Miss Mary Bobo on the right, visiting with a friend.

Mama was a delight to know & a huge inspiration. She never outgrew her love of children as can be seen in the photo below.

I look at this photo & I can hear Mama saying "gimme some sugar" right before she leaned over to get a kiss from her great great grandson.

Drained macaroni

With all of Jim’s health problems, it’s no wonder I’ve been craving all kinds of comfort foods. Sarah’s been wanting me to fix some macaroni & cheese for awhile now so I’ve decided to get to it. I have several macaroni & cheese recipes I use depending on the cheeses I have onhand & which one I feel will suit my tastes better at the time. Some of them are very simple & easy with only 1 cheese involved; some are more complicated & use several cheeses. Today, I don’t want to have to pick up more cheese & just want a simple basic macaroni & cheese. As usual, I have cheddar cheese onhand.

Layered macaroni, cheese, & cracker crumbs just needing milk poured over them.

That’s why I went with the simplest & most basic one I have. Once again, I’m using one of my great-grandmother’s, Mama Bobo. Cook 2 cups of macaroni in boiling, salted water until it’s tender. Drain the macaroni. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish. Place 1/4 of the macaroni in the casserole dish  & pepper it to taste. Taking 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese & 2 cups of crushed cracker crumbs, layer a 1/4 of the cheese over the macaroni & cover with 1/4 of the cracker crumbs. Continue this until all ingredients have been used. Then pour 2 1/2 cups of milk over the layers in the casserole dish. Place in a 350 oven, uncovered & bake for 50 minutes. Try to refrain from eating it until it has cooled enough you won’t burn your tongue!

Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers with parmesan cheese

Tonight I did something different. I usually use the whole wheat Ritz crackers for the cracker crumbs. We have some Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers that are made with parmesan cheese. Nobody in the family has liked them that much. Not wanting to waste them, I decided to use them for making the macaroni & cheese. You wouldn’t think such a small detail would matter, but frankly, we liked it even better than usual. I have some more of those crackers left so will try it again & see if they do work better or if it was just we were so hungary.

Oops. Somebody has already been in the mac & cheese!

Mama owned the boarding house in town & ran it for years. In 1908  she & her husband, Jack (Lacy Jackson) bought & opened the Bobo Hotel. As far back as I can remember, it was always referred to as the Hotel, but it was a boarding house not a hotel. For many years, Mama fed guests of Jack Daniel’s Distillery there at dinner time. The dinner bell would be rung & everybody that was eating would go in to sit down. The tables of distillery guests always had a woman from Lynchburg as their hostess. She would encourage talk, answer questions, make sure everybody had plenty to eat & make it a pleasant experience. Meals were served family style with a waiter keeping full dishes on the table. The food was excellent and in the summer the vegetables came from a garden for the hotel.

We always sat at a round table in the corner in the dining room closest to the kitchen. Quite simply, it was called the family table. The only way you were seated there was if you were a relative, friend or invited guest of Mama’s. Quite simply, us kids loved it. When we finished eating, we would run into the kitchen to tell Mary Lou, Dill & the other cooks that it was good & off we would run. A favorite spot of mine was Mama’s private quarters “playing the piano”. I put that in quotes because I didn’t & don’t now play the piano. In actuality, I banged away on it. But it was grand fun.

Lynchburg Courthouse

Brown Foreman, the current owner of both Jack Daniel’s Distillery & Mama’s boarding house, just finished restoring the boarding house. That was one of things I wanted to see. First, I parked downtown & Sarah & I walked around the town square & wandered in a few shops. It has changed so much from when I was young & was allowed to walk to town by myself on visits. In fact, the only thing on the square that is still there besides the courthouse is Farmer’s Bank! Nothing else remains from my childhood.

The Bobo Hotel as it has been restored by Brown Foreman.

After that, due to the cold, we got back into the van & drove to the hotel. From the outside, I can only say they did a beautiful job. It looks grand. It was open so we wandered inside. I was overwhelmed with memories. However, I will admit that I was very upset to find Mama Bobo’s private living quarters a gift shop. I have to admit that business-wise it made good sense, but it did make me a bit sorry I had gone inside. That’s what’s wrong with going back to important places from our past. What is important to us, probably isn’t to others & may well be totally changed or changed in ways we don’t like. I have to say though that I am grateful to Brown Foreman for restoring the hotel.

My grandparent's home & I have many happy memories of it.

I fixed a chocolate pie yesterday at Jim’s request for him to take down to his co-workers. That left me with an empty pie shell from the package. This little detail has been nagging at me as the pie shell has begged me to do something with it.

Look carefully at the side of the pie crust. You can see the fork prickings.

Holidays have a way of reminding us of all the goodies we grew up with & Christmas is no different. After debating about fixing a coconut cream pie and deciding against it, I dug out Mama Bobo’s recipe for the coconut custard pie.

Pull out the pie shell and pricked it with the tines of a fork. Put the pie shell in the toaster oven on steroids to bake for 10 minutes in a 400 oven.

The coconut custard pie ready to go in the oven

Melted a tablespoon butter in a medium saucepan. While the butter is melting, beat 2 slightly beaten eggs & a cup of milk together. Add the egg mixture to the butter. In a separate bowl, stir together 2/3 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon flour. Stir the flour mixture into the milk/egg mixture. Stir in 1 teaspoonful vanilla & 1 cup shredded coconut.

Pour this mixture into the bake pie crust. Bake in a 400 oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake about 30 minutes longer, or until the filling is set. Transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.

Coconut Custard Pie

1 pie shell                                                   2/3 cup sugar

1 cup milk                                                   1 tablespoon flour

2 eggs, beaten slightly                                1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon butter, melted                        1 cup coarsely shredded coconut

Prick a 9-inch pie shell all over with a fork & bake in a 400 oven 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, off heat, beat the milk and eggs into the melted butter in the saucepan. Stir together the sugar and flour and beat into the egg mixture. Stir in the vanilla and coconut.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake in the 400 oven 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake about 30 minutes longer, or until the filling is puffed and set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pie to a rack to cool. Serve at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers.

The coconut custard pie right after coming out of the oven.

Yeast rolls rising.

I can remember my mother, Anne Crutcher having the oysters on the family dining table for Thanksgiving or Christmas many a year as I was growing up. Having gotten them into my mind, I can’t get them out so we’re having Scalloped Oysters this year. Hope I still like them! Even as picky an eater as I am, I remember liking them so hopefully that hasn’t changed.

Drained the oysters and saved the liquid. Next I crushed lots of crackers, 2 cups of them. Placed half of the cracker crumbs in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Next was a layer of oysters. Half of them were used. Poured a cup of half & half into a 2 cup measuring cup & added the saved oyster liquid until I had 2 cups. Stirred the mixture & poured half of it over the oysters & cracker crumbs. Dotted it with pats of butter & repeated the layering. Now all I needed to do was slide it in a 400∘oven for 20 minutes. Yes!! I still like the dish and it brought back fond memories.

Oysters ready to go into the oven.

Scalloped Oysters as they look coming out of the oven.

As always, everybody ate a lot & watched a lot of tv. It’s Thanksgiving & a wonderful time to just enjoy your family. Hope all of you did the same!

Cranberries cooking on the stove.

The cooked cranberries ready to go in the refrigerator. Cranberries have been served in this bowl for @ 50 years. I got it from my grandmother, Louise Crutcher.

Cranberries are first. The reason for that is that fixing cranberries is so dog-gone easy. A total of approximately 10 minutes time &  one dish is ready for the family feast. Take a large pot and add 2 cups of sugar to it. Stir 1 cup of water into the sugar and bring the mix to a boil. Once the sugar water mixture starts boiling, add 1 package of fresh cranberries to it. Add the cranberries a handful at a time. Adding them this way allows you time to check for stems on the cranberries and remove any you find. The bag should be a pound of cranberries. Turn the heat down until the mixture is simmering. Stir constantly and cook for 5 minutes. Pour the cranberry mixture into the serving bowl you plan to use. Cover the bowl with Saran Wrap if it doesn’t have a lid. Place the bowl of cranberries in the refrigerator. They will be thoroughly chilled and ready to eat by the time you serve your Thanksgiving meal.

Cutting board full of cut pieces of sweet potatoes ready to be cooked.

Next, I peeled some fresh sweet potatoes and cut them up into chunks. Place them in a pot with about 2 inches of water and turn the heat on medium. Once the sweet potatoes are fork tender, pull them off the heat & carefully drain them. Very carefully as the hot water would make a painful burn if you get it on you. Add a tablespoon or 2 of butter depending on how many sweet potatoes you have. Sprinkle approximately 1½ teaspoonfuls of cinnamon and ¼ teaspoonful of nutmeg on the potatoes. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the potatoes the same as you would do mashed potatoes. Pour small amounts of orange juice in as you beat the sweet potatoes until they are smooth but thick. Add raisins to suit your family’s taste and stir them in using a large spoon. Spoon the mixture into a casserole dish and top with a handful of miniature marshmallows. Cover the dish & store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake them. Then place in a 350∘oven & bake 30 minutes with the dish covered. Take the lid off & bake another 10 minutes or until the marshmallows are golden brown.

The baked sweet potatoes are just out of the oven.

Like millions of other people in the U.S., I use Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie Recipe for my pumpkin pies. Personally, I prefer using a deep dish pie crust to make my pumpkin pies. Follow the recipe carefully & shortly you’ll have 1-2 pies ready to go in the oven.

While the pies bake, I mix up the yeast rolls. They need to rise overnight in the refrigerator for the first rising so they need to be mixed the day before you plan to bake them. I think everybody on Daddy’s side of the family uses Mama Bobo’s roll recipe. Fresh from the oven and put a pat of butter on them and you’ll think you’re in heaven. The recipe will be posted in the recipe secion of this blog. I’ve eaten rolls for over 50 years and I have never had a roll better than these.

Once the dough is in the refrigerator, I clean out the thawed turkey and season it. Then it’s a matter of roasting it. I won’t be giving directions for the turkey as the way my mother & her mother & now me roast it is not approved by the “food police”. So now it’s off to bed so I can get some sleep before the big day, Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin pie just waiting to be placed in the oven.

However, today, I did get all the pears sorted out & pulled all the ripe ones out. We had our production line going again this evening long enough to do another batch of canned pears. Another batch of 4 beautiful quarts of pears just ready to be put up.

Once the jars were sitting in the water bath, I started supper. Fixed pork chops. As I put them in the skillet, I got to wishing I had some apples to cut up. I love fried apples with pork chops! Next thing I knew, I was convincing myself that there was NO reason I couldn’t cook pears the same way. So I cored & cut a handful of pears. Once my iron skillet was hot, I added a couple of tablespoons of butter to it, poured some honey in there & let it all mix up good. Then I added the pears that were cut into the melted sweet butter simmering in the skillet. Shook a little cinnamon over the pears & stirred them as they cooked for a few minutes. Jim & Sarah were both intrigued with the idea of fried pears when I was cooking them.

We were all agreed they were really good. In fact, Sarah fussed at me for not fixing a bigger batch of fried pears. I reckon while they last, we’ll be eating quite a few of the pears that way. A sense of adventure is all you need to discover new favorite foods for your family.

The only ingredients in this preserve recipe are pears & sugar. I added about 1 tablespoon of FruitFresh to keep the preseves light in color.

After supper, I peeled and sliced 6 cups of pears. Tossed them with some Fruit Fresh and 3 3/4 cups of sugar. Covered the bowl with Saran Wrap. Now it sits in a cool spot until in the morning when I’ll finish making the pear preserves. I love the recipe because there’s nothing in it but pears & sugar. This year I wanted it to be a lighter color so I added some Fruit Fresh so the pears wouldn’t darken as much. I’ve had this recipe for pear preserves so long, I can’t remember exactly where I got it. Probably came from my mother or grandmother on my father’s side as I can remember making preserves with Mother years ago. Grandmother always had the best pear preserves to eat. My great-grandmother, Mama Bobo had a big old pear tree that everybody in the family would get pears from to make preserves. Wonderful memories.