“Yes, I did.” I was glad that they had seen what I had known for a long time, but I was also burdened with incredible sadness to know my friend was gone.
“How?” Teddie said. “How did it happen? It’s not possible! Is it?”
“Well now, let’s think about it…isn’t Christmas a charmed time, when anything is possible?”
“Why are you crying, Gigi?” Andrew said.
“Because Pearl was the best friend I ever had in my whole life. She was.”
I knew there would be rounds of discussions. Barbara would accept Pearl’s arrival and the report of her departure because she had seen what Pearl could do. Cleland would want to hear the story again and again, and instead of a cocktail, he might opt for decaffeinated coffee for the recitation. Camille would commit herself to a stint in a rehabilitation program, from fear if nothing else. She didn’t want some ghost coming back to get her! George would be incredulous but then say something like Anything’s possible in this crazy family. We would all laugh at that. Grayson would say he had seen things like that all his life, that most people just wouldn’t know a miracle was happening to them if it bit them on the nose! And Lynette? Our country girl, Lynette, would sum it all up with something like Anything that could bring us all back together again can’t be a bad thing! They were all correct.
I went to bed that night as tired as if I had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Holding Fred’s picture in my hands, I kissed it and pressed it to my chest. I would see him soon enough. There was no reason to rush my demise, as things around here were finally worth living for.
I slept hard. Without warning, Pearl’s face came into view.
“So, tell old Pearl. How was your Christmas?” she said.
“Fabulous, thanks to you, old friend! I miss you already!”
“I’m always just a thought away, Ms. Theodora. Just a thought away. Don’t worry about that.”
“Well? Did you get your wings?”
“Hmmph. Don’t know yet. I think I shouldn’t have used so much Gullah magic or drunk up all that brandy.”
“What does that mean, Pearl?”
“It means you fools better watch yourselves or I might just come back!”
“I would love it if you did…”
Smiling and wagging her finger at me, she faded away. I drifted into a blissful state of rest, thinking how wonderful it was that everyone I loved was only a thought away. I could live with that. I could live for it, too.
Author Note
The following recipes are from my family, notably our mother, Dorothea Blanchard, whose exit prompted a career change for me. However, it is my sister, Lynn Benton Bagnal, who truly makes these goodies every single year. No one has ever used her fruitcake as a football.
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Mint Julep
several mint leaves
sugar syrup (2 or 3 teaspoons)
crushed ice
2 ounces Maker’s Mark or a good bourbon
1 sprig mint
Crush leaves and let stand in syrup. Put into a cold, silver julep cup or glass and add crushed ice. Pour in whiskey. Stir, not touching the glass, and add sprig of mint. Serve immediately.
YIELDS 1 GLASS
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Sugar Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Melt in saucepan. Syrup can be stored in a Mason jar in refrigerator.
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Breakfast Casserole
12 slices white bread, crusts removed
2 to 3 tablespoons butter, softened
½ cup butter
½ pound fresh mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
2 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
salt and pepper
1½ pounds mild Italian sausage meat (out of casing)
¾ to 1 pound grated cheddar cheese
5 eggs
2½ cups milk
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, butter the bread with the softened butter and put aside.
In a skillet, melt the ½ cup butter and sauté the mushrooms and onions over medium heat until tender (6 to 8 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Cook the sausage meat in same skillet breaking up the meat in small pieces as cooking. In a greased shallow casserole, layer 6 slices of bread mushroom mixture, sausage meat, and cheese. Repeat layers ending with the cheese.
In mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, mustards, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Pour over the casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Before baking, sprinkle parsley over the top of the casserole. Bake uncovered for 1 hour or until sides bubble.
Serve immediately with a fruit salad and bread.
SERVES 6 TO 8
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Cheese Straws
¼ pound butter, room temperature
1 pound sharp cheese, grated
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
13/4 cups plain flour
more cayenne pepper for garnish
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cream butter and cheese with salt and pepper. Add sifted flour. Put in cookie press or chill, and then roll thin. Cut with 1-to 1½-inch round cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until light brown. Sprinkle with cayenne to taste. Remove from baking sheets before they are cold. May be stored in tightly covered container.
YIELDS ABOUT 100
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Fruited and Glazed Ham
8 to 10 pound ham, bone in
whole cloves
¼ cup Dijon mustard
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
small jar peach preserves
large-size can pineapple slices, with juice
small jar maraschino cherries, with juice
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Slice bottom of ham so it will lie flat in pan. Gently remove brown skin from ham. Score the fat and lean of the ham with a knife and garnish with cloves. Mix mustard, sugar, flour, preserves, 1/8 cup of juice from the pineapple slices, and 1/8 cup of juice from the cherries in a saucepan over low heat until thickened somewhat. Spoon the sauce over ham. Decorate ham with pineapples, placing a cherry in the center of each pineapple ring, holding in place with a toothpick. Bake for one hour, basting occasionally with any remaining sauce. Remove toothpicks before slicing.
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* * *
Red Rice
6 strips bacon, cubed
4 tablespoons bacon grease
l large onion, chopped fine
1 small can tomato paste
1½ to 2 cans water
2½ teaspoons salt
2 to 3 teaspoons sugar
good dash each of black and red pepper
1¼ cups of raw, long-grain rice
Fry bacon and remove from pan, reserving grease; sauté onions in 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease. Add tomato paste, water, salt, sugar, and peppers. Cook uncovered for about 10 minutes until mixture measures 2 cups. Cool to room temperature.
Add mixture to rice in top section of rice steamer or a Dutch oven. Cover. Add 3 tablespoons bacon grease; steam for 30 minutes, then add crumbled bacon, and loosen rice with a fork. Add more liquid if necessary. Cook 30 to 45 minutes longer.
SERVES 6 TO 8
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* * *
Biscuits
2 cups White Lily Self-Rising Flour*
dash of salt
2/3 cup vegetable shortening or cold butter
2/3 to ¾ cup milk or buttermilk
1 egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Measure flour into a large bowl. Add salt. Divide shortening or butter into pieces and sca
tter on top of flour. Work pieces into flour with a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingertips until pieces are about the size of BBs. Make a hole in the center of the dough and pour in milk or buttermilk. Dough may be sticky. This is okay!
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently for two or three strokes. Add a little flour if necessary to handle dough. Using a light touch, pat or roll dough to ½-inch thickness. Chill.
Cut with floured 2-inch biscuit cutter, leaving as little dough between cuts as possible. Gather remaining dough and reroll one time. Discard scraps remaining after second cutting. Place biscuits on baking sheet with sides touching for soft biscuits, or close together but not touching for crispier sides. Brush with egg-white mixture.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until tops of biscuits are golden brown.
Serve hot out of the oven.
YIELDS 12 BISCUITS
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* * *
She-Crab Soup
1 quart half-and-half
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 pieces lemon zest
½ stick butter
¼ cup crushed oyster crackers
salt and pepper to taste
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 pound white crabmeat
2 tablespoons sherry
Put half-and-half in top of a double boiler with nutmeg and lemon zest and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes at simmer. Steam should rise from milk, but not boil. Then add butter and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Thicken with cracker crumbs; season with salt and pepper and Tabasco sauce. Add crabmeat.
Allow to stand on back of stove for a few minutes to bring out the flavor. Just before serving, add sherry. This same soup can be made with shrimp, which should be ground.
SERVES 6
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Shrimp Creole
2 medium-size onions
1 green pepper
1½ cups celery
4 tablespoons bacon drippings
1 large can plum tomatoes
½ teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups cooked shrimp
Coarsely chop onions, green pepper, and celery and sauté in bacon drippings until translucent. Coarsely chop quart can of tomatoes. Add tomatoes, sugar, and paste to sautéed mixture. Let this mixture simmer slowly to a thick consistency for 30 to 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Five minutes before serving, add cooked shrimp.
This should be served over cooked long-grain white rice. Creole seasoning salt may be substituted for salt and pepper.
SERVES 6 TO 8
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Fondant
1 egg white
2 tablespoons cold water
2 squares unsweetened chocolate (melted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approx.)
whole walnuts or pecans
Beat egg white slightly and add water, chocolate, vanilla, and enough sugar to make fondant take shape. Roll into small balls and put half a nut on each, pressing down slightly.
YIELDS ABOUT 3 TO 4 DOZEN
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* * *
Light Fruitcake
1½ cups butter (room temperature)
1½ cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon extract
7 eggs, separated and at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ pounds candied yellow, green, and red pineapple (approx. 3 cups)
1 pound red and green cherries (approx. 2 cups, cut in half)
½ pound candied citron (approx. ½ cup)
½ pound golden raisins (approx. 1½ cups)
3 cups coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
¼ cup brandy or apple jack
additional brandy
You may add an additional cup of fruit, i.e., orange peel, dates, or coconut.
Preheat oven to 250°F.
Make a brown paper liner for a 10-inch tube pan or two loaf pans. Grease both sides and fit into pan(s). Cut and grease both sides of a top for pan(s).
Cream butter and sugar. Stir in extracts. Beat egg yolks and stir into mix. Fold 1½ cups sifted flour into mixture.
Combine fruits and nuts in a large bowl; dredge with the remaining flour (½ cup) and coat well. Fold this mixture into batter, gently. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold into batter.
Spoon batter into prepared pan(s). Cover. Place cake in oven over a pan of water.
Bake for 2½ to 3 hours or until the cake tests done. Remove from oven, take off cover, and pour ¼ cup of brandy over cake. When cakes are cool, remove from pan and carefully remove papers. Wrap cake in plastic wrap and store in airtight container for three weeks prior to serving. Store in refrigerator, opening once or twice to spoon 2 or 3 tablespoons of brandy over cake in order to keep moist.
YIELDS 24 SLICES
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Sands
3 sticks butter, room temperature
18 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons water
4½ cups self-rising flour, sifted
3 cups chopped pecans
half box powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Cream butter and powdered sugar. Add vanilla and water. Gradually add flour. Stir in pecans. Form into rolls as large as your thumb. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned, on a greased cookie sheet.
Sift half a box of powdered sugar into a paper bag. While cookies are still warm, shake in the bag to coat. Let cool and store in a covered tin.
YIELDS 3 TO 4 DOZEN
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Rum Balls
1 cup vanilla wafers (crushed*)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups chopped pecans
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
¼ cup light rum (or 3 tablespoons cream and
1 teaspoon rum extract)
granulated sugar for rolling
Combine vanilla wafers, sugar, 1½ cups chopped pecans, and cocoa. Add corn syrup and rum. Mix well. Shape into 1-inch balls. Roll half in fine granulated sugar and the rest in the remaining chopped pecans. Do not bake.
YIELDS 3 DOZEN
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* * *
Nut Cake
3½ cups plain flour, not self-rising
½ pound salted butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 cups chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Generously grease a tube pan with Crisco and lightly flour.
Sift flour three times and set aside. Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat only until each disappears. Blend in 1 cup flour followed by ½ cup whipping cream. Repeat with 1 cup flour then ½ cup whipping cream. Add 1 cup flour. Coat pecans with remaining ½ cup flour. Carefully fold pecans into batter. Fold in vanilla and lemon extracts.
Add batter to pan, level it, and knock bottom of pan on the edge of the counter, once, to get out the air bubbles. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until it’s medium brown on top and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.* Remove from oven. Wait 10 minutes and invert on a cake plate. Do not cover until cool to touch.
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* * *
Collard Greens
2 bunches collard greens (leaves will wilt as cooked)
¼ streak of lean or fatback of pork slices
2 14½-ounce cans chicken broth
3 cups cold water
1 teaspoon sugar
½ dried hot red pepper
1 teas
poon apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Wash greens two or three times to remove sand. Cut heavy bottom stems from leaves then chop or tear the remainder. As greens are being washed and readied for cooking, cook the pork slices in frying pan or in microwave for 3 to 4 minutes. Lift from grease when brown and drain on paper towel. Prior to cooking, place the pork and greens in a pot, cover with broth and water. Add sugar, hot red pepper, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook in 6-quart pot for approximately 1 hour or in 6-quart pressure cooker for 25 minutes.
Greens can be cooked one to two days ahead of serving time and reheated.
TOPPING
1 cup chopped mild onion
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup apple cider vinegar
4 rounds chopped jalapeno pepper
Mix all ingredients together. Do not heat this mixture, as it should be crisp when served. This may be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator if covered tightly. Yum!