Holiday weekends are notorious for having few sales. Completely understandable. Yard sales are very hard work. You gather the items, price them, set them out, then be awake and ready to go and somehow remember to have change so that you can break a twenty. Who would want to do that over a three day weekend?
Having said that, I’m glad for the ones that are open. This past Memorial Day weekend, I had to head out of town for a bridal shower followed by a 2 year old’s birthday party. It was set to be a long day and I was hoping for a good yard sale or two before the road trip started. Dunc wanted to tag along with me for the birthday party, so we hit a 7am sale and as many 8am sales as we could before we absolutely, positively had to be on the way to Nana’s house by 8:30am.
Our only success was the very first sale near home. We had spotted a sign for it on Friday and we decided to make that our first stop. After we turned onto the road and went from asphalt to gravel very quickly. Plus, the road went back much further than I realized. When we finally reached the sale, I could tell that this small brick home, small and surrounded by very tall trees, was a place of quiet and solitude.
The sale was in a detached garage. Dunc and I were the only ones there and we got the first look at everything. I walked up on these and thought there were so cool:
Three rusty decorative stars.
Then I asked if there were any cookbooks. On the table behind me, the lady running the sale points to these three.
Cookies!: A Cookie Lover’s Collection (The Kitchens of Cy DeCosse Incorporated), Cookin’ Up a Storm: The Life and Recipes of Annie Johnson (Jane Lee Rankin) and Beautiful Breads & Fabulous Fillings (Margaux Sky).
I have to admit, when I first saw Cookin’ Up a Storm I thought it was the cookbook that was put together from “lost” Times-Picayune recipes following Hurricane Katrina. Similar title but a very different cookbook. It’s a brief bio about Annie Johnson, who came to work for Jane Lee Rankin’s family, and her Southern staple recipes. This is a loving and honest chronicle of their family caretaker, whose food and friendship obviously meant a lot to them.
And when I said Southern recipes, I meant it! Here are some of the breads: Banana Bread, Buttermilk Biscuits, Dinner Rolls and Hot Water Cornbread. Breakfast: Buttermilk Pancakes, Cinnamon Rolls, French Toast and Fried Apples. Soups, Sides and Salads: Navy Bean Soup, Fried Green Tomatoes, Corn Pudding, Dressing, Sweet Potato Casserole, Turnips, Cheese Coins, Chicken Salad, Chow Chow and Spice Tea. Dinner: Barbecue Pork, Chicken and Dumplin’s, Fried Chicken and Grave, Fried Catfish, Stuffed Green Peppers and Barbecue Sauce. Cakes and Icing: Apple Cake, Buttermilk Pound Cake, Blackberry Jam Cake, Chocolate Cake, Gingerbread, Plum Spice Cake, Sour Cream Pound Cake, Caramel Icing, Chocolate Icing, Coconut Pecan Icing and Cream Cheese Icing. Pies, Cobblers and Cookies: Pie Crust, Butterscotch Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Kentucky Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Potato Pie, Banana Pudding, Bourbon Balls, Cornmeal Cookies, Ginger Cookies, Sugar Cookies and Tea Cookies. Wow! Who wouldn’t want to go eat dinner at Annie’s house?!
The rest of the sales were a bust, so now that’s its 8:30am—it’s time to head on down the road to Nana’s house!