Steel Magnolias - Uplifting Conversations About Life in the South

In today’s episode we are sitting down with Ami Gangemella, aka Ami on Cloud Wine, to discuss holiday wines as we approach Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas. Wine could be a part of the host gifts you’d like to consider or the menu for your special occasions.    Ami is going to help us understand how to evaluate a wine and help us confidently pair wines with the upcoming holiday meals. ____ 

There are a LOT of wines mentioned in today’s episode....

• To follow along with all that Ami mentioned visit AmiOnCloudWine.com/SteelMagnolias

 

• For our list of US wineries, specifically Southern wineries, check out our full listing at SteelMagnoliasPodcast.com/Blog/Holiday-Wines

 

• To check out all the southern wineries that you can visit across the region, check out this list from Southern Living: https://bit.ly/3mOzOdj

 

• Connect with Ami on Cloud Wine: AmiOnCloudWine.com or on Instagram @Ami_OnCloudWine

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Negro Spirituals consist of a set of songs that were created by slaves during their time of slavery and were sung from spirit to Spirit. They carry messages from God to us, and today we can still build inspiration from these songs.    The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an American a cappella ensemble that performs Negro spirituals originally sung by slaves prior to the Civil War. The first group of Singers arranged the music and took it on the road beginning in 1871 introducing the public to a new genre that remains a vibrant musical tradition today.   We had the chance to speak with Dr. Paul T. Kwami, Musical Director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.   Kwami was born in Ghana, West Africa, one of seven children. His father, a musician, taught him piano, violin, theory, and conducting. He studied music at Ghana’s National Academy of Music and taught there until immigrating to the US in 1983 as a student at Fisk University. He promptly joined the Fisk Jubilee Singers.After graduating Fisk in 1985 he continued to study music at Western Michigan University and graduated in 1987 with the Master of Music degree. In the spring of 1994 he was solicited to serve as part-time director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. In the fall of the same year, he was promoted to full time faculty member in the music department and became the Musical Director of the ensemble. He is the first African to direct the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and the first to hold the Curb-Beaman Chair position. He is currently the Mike Curb Jubilee Singers Endowed Chair. Kwami received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the American Conservatory of Music.   Kwami, a composer and arranger, feels a deep connection between Negro spirituals and the music of his Motherland. “The music we sing today helps to bridge the gap between Africans and African-Americans,” he says. “I am reminded of my life in Ghana whenever I hear the Fisk Jubilee Singers sing the Negro spirituals.”   As the Fisk Jubilee Singers are celebrating 150 years this year, we thought this was the perfect time to cover this topic.  Check out the Grammy-award winning album here: https://amzn.to/3w3Vh4X   __

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This episode is releasing on Laura Beth's 40th birthday! When we were discussing topics for fall, it felt right to put out an episode on southern adventures from the sky to release today because people tend to want to have adventure on their birthday, especially milestone birthdays.  Mentioned on the show:

• If you were to sky dive from Key West, Florida you’d have views of Florida Keys, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean.. WOW. Check out SkyDiveKeyWest.com
• For paragliding or hang gliding check out Lookout Mountain Flight Park, the premiere flight school of the southeast. https://www.flylookout.com
• Middle TN Hot Air balloon: https://www.tnballoon.com

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A nickname is usually reserved for your closest of friends, but given that every state in the U.S. has a nickname we are going to dive into the southern state nicknames and figure out where they heck some of them came from…and maybe rename a few, just for fun!  

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Native to the southern United States, muscadine grapes love the heat and grow wild all over. They can be eaten whole, used in jams, jellies, smoothies, or fermented into sweet wine.    We visited a muscadine winery just outside of Centerville, Tennessee.. Grinder’s Switch Winery which we are excited to tell y’all all about. They ship their wines to most of the United States: https://gswinery.com   A few resources mentioned: 

• Recipe for "Drunken Chicken with Muscadine Grapes and White Wine” - https://ediblepiedmont.ediblecommunities.com/recipes/drunken-chicken-muscadine-grapes-and-white-wine

 

• To buy muscadine juice (not fermented) check out MightyMuscadine.com

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Deep in the hills of Tennessee, midway between Nashville and Knoxville lies a little community called Muddy Pond. During September and October, you can smell the aroma of freshly made sorghum syrup being made by this family-run farm. We had the opportunity to visit last weekend and are excited to share all about our adventures!       The sorghum plant, which is a grass, arrived with the African slave trade and spread throughout the American south due to its resilience against hot temperatures and dry conditions. In this episode we are focusing on sweet sorghum; discovering the process from plant to bottle and how to use it.   

• Recipe mentioned by Lainie for “Bacon Sorghum Vinaigrette”: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a16482/warm-mushroom-salad-bacon-vinaigrette-recipe-fw0711/

 

• To visit Muddy Pond or purchase their sorghum check out: https://www.muddypondsorghum.com

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Today we are excited to introduce to you the founder of Raleigh, North Carolina’s first pay-what-you-can cafe, A Place at the Table.
  Maggie Kane is the Founder and Executive Director of A Place at the Table. She graduated from North Carolina State University in 2013 and began working for a nonprofit with people experiencing homelessness. By befriending many people living on the margins, she knew something needed to be done. February 2015, A Place at the Table was birthed and Maggie never looked back, opening in January of 2018 serving thousands of people in Raleigh with a dignified and an affordable meal. Maggie has a heart to serve, a desire to always be inclusive, and a passion for loving people.

• To learn more or donate: https://tableraleigh.org

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/table.raleigh

 

• If you’d like to hear Maggie’s TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpYBd9bdV9k&feature=youtu.be

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Bourbon and horses are the main drawing forces when it comes to Kentucky tourism, but we are going to give you lots of insider tips and recommendations on this barely-in-the- South city.    

• Where to stay, what to eat, what to do, attractions, sports, and outdoor fun, Louisville has much to offer! A full blog of recommendations can be found at: https://steelmagnoliaspodcast.com/blog/visit-louisville-weekend-edition

 

• A great resource in general is https://www.gotolouisville.com/myexperience

 

• You can listen to the Kentucky Derby Episode we did here.

 

• If you are NOT able to visit Louisville, but would like to experience their food and beverages, they have a cocktail & culinary cooking show on YouTube that’s called Bourbon & Biscuits. 

 

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In this episode we are talking about a dessert that you might see at a community gathering, especially in the mountains of Appalachia. It’s pretty tall, not too sweet and as the story goes even a community effort. The Apple Stack Cake is a labor of love. It looks more like big thick pancakes with filling in between each layer. 

This cake screams fall - the filling is dried apple slices, brown sugar, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground allspice and ground nutmeg.   In the South, this time of year you are very likely to see or hear about other stack cakes as well. These all have frosting: Caramel Cake, Fig Cake, Italian Cream Cake, Coconut Cake, Black Forest Cake, Lane Cake, Carrot Cake, Red Velvet Cake and the infamous Hummingbird Cake.   Additional Resource mentioned:  "United Tastes of the South” by Jessica Dupuy https://amzn.to/2XgFkLV   If you’d like to join our Patreon Community to support us monthly for perks and exclusive content check out https://www.patreon.com/steelmagnolias   Other Places to Connect:

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Judy Blume once said "Librarians save lives: by handing the right book, at the right time, to a kid in need."    Librarians play an important role in the lives of those who love to read. But what if you had no access to a library nor books? Today we are discussing some heroic librarians that filled a gap in a time of great need in the South.    Under President Roosevlet, The Pack Horse Library initiative provided women jobs as  librarians sent deep into Appalachia on horseback to deliver books. The project was implemented by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and today we are honoring these steel magnolias that saved lives in Kentucky through books.  Additional resources mentioned: 

• "That Book Woman" by Heather Henson 
• "Along a Storied Trail" by Ann H. Gabhart
• "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" by Kim Michele Richardson
• "The Giver of Stars" by Jojo Moyes
• "Down Cut Shin Creek" by Kathi Appelt and Jeanee Cannella Schmitzer

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