Approved

We have franchise space. Approved. It's been such a long, random road that maybe it hasn't even sunken in yet. Oh wait. It just did. HOLY MOLEY WE HAVE A SPACE FOR OUR FRANCHISE.

As you may recall, we spent over a year looking. Then, when we finally located a space we thought was about as good as it could get, the Mother Ship said no. As in, no. Then they said no, unless you can get the landlord to part the sea and and do this and do that and then you jump through this moving hooping of fire and fix a cavity in a tiger. Well. Here we are.

Also, I was about to throw in the towel on White Trash Cooking. I did the Duchess's Baked Beans, and they were just odd. They were baked beans with cinnamon and bacon laid on top. Bacon doesn't bake. And with that much cinnamon, it had a dessert like aftertaste. They were icky.

The next recipe was Red Beans and Rice. I was very, very sceptical and thought this was going to be the last recipe of this project. All I did was soak and boil red beans with onions, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Please. Where's the spice? White Trash Cooking is not long on the spice. But do you know what? This recipe was fantastic. The beans had so much flavor, and even made their own gravy. What? I don't even get how it was possible but this was fantastic - exactly the type of thing I was hoping to find when I started all of this.

1. Uncle Willie's Swamp Cabbage Stew

Recipe 1. Uncle Willie's Swamp Cabbage Stew.

I want to stay as true to the recipes as possible, so you can image I was very pleased when I read, "If you don't live along the Carolina, Georgia, North Florida coast, Hearts of Palm in a can will work."

But the fatback was another story. Fatback is just that, the strip of fat off a pig's back. It's what they use to make lard and pork rinds. If I lived anywhere near a Piggly Wiggly, this might have been easier. Alas, I do not live near a Pig. I live in the land of soy and fit people. However, after much exploration and explanation, I was able to source it right here at a grocery store.

After rendering down the fatback, which smells like hell, you add the hearts of palm, onions, tomatoes, thyme and sugar. Really, this was stewed tomatoes. It looked like something I had regurgitated after a night of Chianti. Not a stellar way to start this project, except . . .

My boys liked it! My son, who doesn't liked his food mixed, asked me what it was. I thought this was the prelude to him telling me he didn't like it. Instead, he said it was really good. And my husband had two heaping helpings. Go figure. Recipe 1, two of three thumbs up.