Of Ancient Indians and Modern Day Chile ( the food not the country)

I don't know who took this delicious photo. If you do, let me know.

John returned from New Mexico this weekend and brought pots and pots of red and green chile back with him. Hot, mild, medium, roasted and regional, my dearest covered the chile gamut on this trip and I was delighted to see him come home toting this treasure trove. This is uniquely New Mexican cuisine (note it is "chile" not "chili") and I am totally hooked on it. Red chile stew with pork or lamb, green chile over huevos or on a burger, red chile posole...you name it, I'll eat it and when I'm in New Mexico I'll eat it every day. When John was performing at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Conference at UGA in Athens, Ga., this past spring, the keynote speaker was Simon Ortiz, the esteemed Native American poet and writer from Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico. On the second night of the conference he and I were talking about our respective homelands and I mentioned how much I loved the western U.S. and in particular, New Mexico. "You have great food there." I told him.
Sure," he answered with a soft smile, "If you like red and green chile."
"Which I do!" I exclaimed happily.
"Me too." he said.
There's a lot to like about red and green chile.

We got through one package of the green before taking off today for Moundville, Alabama and the Moundville Archaeological Park south of Tuscaloosa. It was a bright, clear fall day and the temps were perfect to explore around the site where 800 years ago a city of Mississipian Indians, ten thousand strong, thrived on the banks of the Black Warrior River. Called "The Big Apple of the 14th Century" by National Geographic magazine, this community was America's largest city north of Mexico. The park itself preserves 326 acres of where the busy ancient metropolis once stood. There are 28 large flat-topped mounds (much like earthen pyramids with the tops lopped off) arranged in sequence around a central plaza. The mounds were man-made and created for civic and ceremonial purposes and for the houses of the nobility of the tribe. The large population farmed, fished and foraged in the area and traded with communities from hundreds of miles away. Their pottery and artifacts are both beautiful and utilitarian and their history fascinating and mysterious.



After climbing the big mound (60 feet high) to take in the view, following the walking trail and checking out the small "Indian village" exhibit we had a picnic by the river and feasted on goat cheese, Greek olives, hummus and Dr. Pepper, while we watched a huge barge make its way around the bend and down the Black Warrior river ( "Tuscaloosa" is a Choctaw word meaning "Black Warrior").


Part of the University of Alabama, Moundville Archaeological Park is well worth a visit if you're traveling near west central Alabama. There's an RV park and campground on the site, with bathhouse. It's a very attractive area to bike, run, picnic or take your boat out on the river. Admission to the park is about $5 per person. Tent camping and RV parking is $8- $12 per day with a 14 day limit (that can be extended by permission) and pets are welcome.

A Southern Version of Heaven (or a Vegetarian's Nightmare)

The whole RV park has a haze hanging over it this weekend. But it's not fog and it's not smog. It's the multitude of meat smokers all fired up for the 12th Annual Pig Iron BBQ Challenge, held this year in Hoover, Alabama. To set it up and host thousands of attendees, they cordoned off 3/4 of the park, made us all move (I was sure it would be worth it) to one small section of the park, filling up all the rows at the entrance. By the time the Challenge opened at 5 pm on Friday evening, people were pulling into the Regions stadium parking lot and heading towards the smell of 'Que, as we like to call it around here.

Bar-B-Que, for those of you who don't know this, is a noun in the South (smoked meat, with a flavored sauce of your choice... a messy delicious treat) and a verb out West ("to cook out"). BBQ is a very serious thing in the South and as long as I've lived here I've never eaten as much that tasted as good as the restaurants make in Alabama. I will say this: Alabama can make some dang good BBQ. Holy cow. Or holy pig.

Our RV friends Peggy (a fellow writer) and Howell, who were volunteers, were kind enough to invite us to the event and we loved every minute of it. With themed booths, some decorated quite cleverly and named just as cleverly ("Butt Masters" was my personal fave, John enjoyed the Batman-themed "Got Ham City") the businesses that participated were cooking for a good cause. The Pig Iron BBQ Challenge is a contest to "find the best backyard BBQ in the state". It's held every year to raise funds for Children's Harbor, a charity that helps seriously ill children and their families through their children's camps and hospital-based family center and services. Looking at the attendance this time, it looks like they did well. Forty businesses participated. Thousands of people showed up. And why not? You pay $10 at the door and get to wander down rows of tents and booths and taste what they have served up for the judges and you, the salivating public. Some of the food was good, some was great and the general competition for the trophies was fierce.

I won't attempt to tell you how succulant some of the offerings were, I can only do an interpretive dance in honor of that but I will list for you right here what we consumed in a hour:

Ribs

Chicken

Pulled pork

Grilled sausage

Corn on the cob

Potatoes

Potato chips

BBQ sandwich ( John)

Root beer float (John)

Fried catfish (Therra)

It was all free with admission. You could purchase beverages from the organizers, although I noticed some of the booths were giving away bottled water and one stylishly decorated 50's style "diner" was making the free floats. I know, I know... a dream come true! There was a blues band later in the evening and a fire truck for the kids to climb on, along with a Nascar racing car on display, face painting and clowns. After a while we sadly realized we had to stop eating for fear of developing a permanent waddle. At one tent, for a last hurrah, I got some ribs but John demurred. The man serving us stopped dead and looked at him, "You turning down my ribs?" he asked John with arched brows, forcing a slightly menacing manner. John said, "Oh, I am so full!" and patted his stomach. "You turning down my ribs?" the man repeated and I laughed out loud at John getting bullied into eating more food. John took a rib. The man looked happy. I was happy. The ribs were fantastic. Wow.

Oh, I forgot. You want to know who won? Sick children and their families. That's who wins with an event like this.

Good things happen when people care:

http://www.childrensharbor.com/

Scamper From The Camper

What's next? Locusts?

Today Tropical Storm (or remnants of) Fay -- she of the recent Florida flooding and 3 landfalls -- made her way to Alabama just in time to knock us around a bit. We had just come in from Atlanta on Sunday and had not even set our bags down when the tornado siren went off. John and I looked at each other and he turned on the Weather Channel. Bad weather to the north of us was drenching towns 35 miles away. We went ahead and set our bags down.

This morning at 9-something the sirens went off again and the alerts informed us that a funnel cloud (I almost wrote "funnel cake" - wishful thinking. Oh, to have one of those flung at me on a summer day) was spotted to the south of us and heading our way, to arrive, the alert said " at 9:55 a.m." This gave us 18 minutes to get ourselves and the dogs to safety. John threw the dogs and the leashes in the back of the Jeep, I grabbed my engagement rings, my make-up bag, my computer, my contact lenses and John's favourite pair of shorts and ran for the car. We'll talk about my priorities later. Just suffice it to say when you are trying to get out of the way of a tornado you really distill your needs and wants pretty quickly and apparently I wanted to look halfway decent when I was on the local news talking about the drama of running from a funnel cake...er, cloud. Apparently I also felt that John could stand next to me on TV and tell the heartwarming tale of how I saved his shorts.

We drove 3 miles down the road to Petsmart, reasoning of course that Petsmart is made of brick and mortar, unlike our RV, and allows pets inside, unlike, say, McDonalds, which is where we felt like going because we were hungry. We arrived at Petsmart a few minutes before the Weather Channel told us the tornado would. There was little wind and just a light rain. I fired up the computer in the car and checked weather.com, which told us that the tornado had dissipated before reaching our area and in 5 minutes the alert would expire. We sighed with relief, went grocery shopping, bought some take-out sushi and went home. Ah,the comforts of home. But don't sit down boys and girls. We're here just in time for another alert! This one was for "severe thunderstorms that are capable of producing tornadoes". We sat and munched our sushi, staring at the TV and wondering if we were going to have to make a run for the safety of Petsmart again. I didn't unpack my priorities, just in case. Eventually in the next half hour the weather went from worse to bad and we settled in for a nice rainy day indoors. The dogs snoozed and John and I made plans for Labor Day at the beach. He watched "The X Files" while I chatted with friends online.

Later I hear John's voice from the back of the RV : "There's another alert. This one is for flash flooding in our area."

"Great." I said, "This is getting biblical."

We decided to have a sandwich.

Funny Signs I Have Seen Whilst Traveling

I always encourage RVers or any fellow travelers to take a camera with them everywhere they go. You never know when you will come across something you must preserve and show the folks back home. These days, of course, you can always use your phone to take pictures of any unusual sights but I'm kinda old school. It's unnatural for anyone born before 1990 to go around pointing cell phones at people and farm animals.

I saw this sign in rural Tennessee in the summer of 2007. At the time I really wondered what the heck "chocolate gravy" was. Now I just look at the cost of gasoline and weep silently.

Niki's West in B'ham. Those of you who are Martin Sexton fans like us should know that he loves southern cuisine and eats there when ever he's in town.

Almost anyone can afford a plague these day. They are not just for Europeans anymore!

Sweet Temporary Home Alabama

Oak Mountain State Park, Alabama

“Do you realize”, John asked me one day, “That we have our Jeep registered and insured in Georgia, we have an Georgia address, we have our RV registered and insured in Florida and we have a Florida address, we have an address in Alabama, you see a chiropractor in Biloxi, Mississippi, I go to my doctor’s appts in New Mexico and we have a storage unit full of furniture in Atlanta?” He spoke the truth. Our lives were, technically, all over the place. But I’ve never felt so together, so free and so comfortable as I do with this apparent dichotomy At least for now. Most of the spread-outed-ness is a result of finances or convenience or both. It is also the willingness of my ex-husband Timothy to let us use his (and my old) address as a home base and because of the fact that my mother and brother, once freed from Katrina-dom, had settled in Birmingham, Ala. Then my mother died when finally the ravages of that hurricane proved too much for her. I miss you, Momma.

Despite having more addresses than a Hollywood mogul, and decidedly less money, I am happy. I like the simple pleasure of getting up to meditate at 5 am and going outside to a wide-open sky. In Alabama there are several really nice RV parks we've stayed at. At the park in Hoover I liked the nearby nature trails that led to the Cahaba river and beyond, to a beaver pond you could walk across, making your path right over the mammal-made dam. Located next to a minor league ballpark where the Birmingham Barons play in the spring and summer and local football teams play in the fall and winter, it's very lively when it's lively and extremely peaceful when it's not. Fireworks nights at the stadium are great fun. You can sit outside your RV and watch the show and listen to the crowds cheer.

I enjoy the mountains of North Alabama and the friendly people. People in Birmingham hands down were the friendliest folks I’d ever met in my life. Kind and attentive and decent people live there. Stellar personalities that concentrate on the individual, and look at quality of life as a prime reason not to get away from oneself when it comes to bigger and better. The city of Birmingham, I noticed, did not want to be Atlanta. They like being Birmingham. Truly, they are some of the nicest and most genuinely good-hearted people I’ve ever met in my life. That is.... until they get into their cars. Then they, as a population, rise up as one and try to kill you with their driving habits. No wonder Nascar, in it’s fetus days, started as Southern moonshine runners out-driving the local cops. These people have to be their modern cousins. I’ve never seen people drive like this in my life (and I used to live in New Orleans!) If you stop too soon, too short or even if you obey the law and stop at a stop sign, you are going too slow for them and they perform the maneuver I have named “The Birmingham Go Around”. This means, no matter the weather, terrain, the written road laws or even the laws of physics, they will go around you with nary a touch of a brake pedal. Sometimes they don’t even slow below 60 mph. And that’s in their driveways. They don’t--usually--yell or beep at you, curse or make faces. They just go around like you are standing still, even if you are doing a respectable 55-65 mph. They drive like the hounds of hell are chasing them down neighborhood streets with looks on their faces as if they are simply strolling in the park enjoying a spring afternoon. When my friend Sherri, a long-time Birminghammer, took a new job and moved to North Carolina she called me on the phone to tell me about her new life in NC. "They obey traffic laws here" she said with wonder - and some confusion - in her voice, " All of them."

I highly recommend Birmingham, Alabama, for beautiful vistas, nice libraries, friendly folks, great food (do not leave the city without eating at Jim n' Nicks) and wonderful music venues and festivals. I highly recommend the state of Alabama's gorgeous beaches, lovely mountains and unique museums. But just remember, those people who almost ran you over on interstate 65 are probably some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

MY ALABAMA FAVES:

The Anniston Museum of Natural History

http://www.annistonmuseum.org/

The Shrine of The Blessed Sacrament (truly you have to see this place to believe it)

http://huntsville.about.com/cs/daytrips/a/motherangelica.htm

Orange Beach, Alabama

http://www.cityoforangebeach.com/

JOHN SAYS YOU GOTTA GO TO:

Ave Maria Grotto

http://www.avemariagrotto.com/

Jim n Nicks

http://www.jimnnicks.com/

Oak Mountain State Park

http://www.bhamonline.com/areasights/oakmountain/