Happy Heavenly Mother’s Day to my mom Carrie Chapple Taylor and grandmother, Estella Smith Chapple and . . .
Maternal Mothers
. . . to my paternal grandmother Louise Newsom Hubbard, great-grandmother Olivia Moten Newsom, great-grandmother Birdie Elizabeth Green and 2x great-grandmother Lula Routt Green.
Special thanks to one of my high school classmates on Facebook for taking me down memory lane with a discussion about fruitcakes and Collin Street Bakery!
Collin Street Bakery
If you didn’t know, this company is the fruitcake capital of the US of A!
I remember after moving to Dallas in 1990, if I wanted to stay in peace at my parents’ home for the holidays, I had to stop in Corsicana, TX and pick up a specialty (peach, cinnamon & pecan) fruit cake just for my mom.
If you’ve ever traveled with me on a short 2 to 6 hour road trip, you know making stops other than to take an emergency restroom break is a NO-NO! So the idea of having to add a stop, on my way home, to pick up a fruitcake meant that I would get caught up in all the heavy holiday traffic headed out of Dallas.
Will a soul food fixin’ of ‘Hoppin’ John’ be a part of your New Year’s celebration meal today? If not, it really should be and here’s why . . .
Hoppin John by Chef BJ Dennis
Hoppin’ John is a dish made of rice, peas, and pork usually served and eaten in the Southern United States on New Year’s Day! This mixture, which was the subsistence of enslaved West Africans en route to the Americas, is believed to bring good luck. Just add greens (collards, mustards, or cabbage) which represents money to your plate and you’ll have a meal of prosperity to kick off the New Year!