Carolina Moon...

                                                                           

Carolina Moon

Nothing quite compares with sending your eldest child off to college.  Oh, there was summer camp and sleep-overs and a Teen-Tour out West when he was 15, but this was The Big One!  ...This was college and the beginning of his adult life...I was sending a boy away and he would come home a man!  A packing frenzy was under way.  Even though my mother-in-law lived in Durham, I felt as if I was sending him off to the farthest corner of the earth.

UNC Chapel Hill had been his choice ever since he was ten years old.  We had been  visiting my in-laws in Durham, North Carolina.  His grandfather was looking for something to do with him while I took the two younger ones off with me. He suggested a trip to Chapel Hill for my son to see where his daddy had gone to college.  It was love at first sight. From then on it seemed a fait accompli ... he would attend college there.  When the time came he applied but an out of state applicant was not considered until in-state applicants were selected and then, only the cream of the crop.  He applied elsewhere and even received a scholarship to an excellent college in Boston , but his heart was set on UNC.  Other acceptances arrived but not the one he was looking for...and then...it arrived...and in the land there was rejoicing (and in our household we could resume normal living)!!!!  So my first born would be in school a 10 hour road trip away.

At last the car was packed.  Stereo with an 8-track player (it was the 80's!!) ...check.  New electric typewriter...check. Bedding...check.  Clothes...check.  Just about everything one could possibly need, even in the event of a nuclear attack...check!  Mom, Dad, and brand new Tar Heel...check!  And off we went.

                                                                   
The beginning of the trip was uneventful.  It was August and very hot but the air-conditioner was cranking out chilled air and by the time we reached Washington, D.C. we were ready to stop for lunch.  It was sweltering there.  We had a quick bite to eat and when we returned to the car the air conditioning was making an odd sound.  As we drove on the air was no longer being cooled.  The windows began to fog and and the car kept stalling. HOT!  By Petersburg,Virginia  the car was chugging it's last breaths. OMG...SO HOT!  The humidity was about 95% and rivulets of condensation were pouring down the windows.  We pulled into a service station and got the depressing diagnosis...the compressor was going.  They sent us to a repair shop a few miles into the countryside where, we were informed, the" best mechanic in Virginia" would be able to help us.

 It was a twenty minute drive in the sweltering car.  These were traumatic moments for a Jewish Princess being forced to endure extreme heat and humidity without benefit of air-condioning.  Hair frizzed like a British Beefeater's headdress, red-faced, sweating and whining, I was literally a Hot Mess!  We finally saw the sign for the mechanic's garage.  As we pulled in we thought perhaps we had arrived on the set of Mayberry RFD, and half expected Aunt Bea to come out wit cold drinks for us!!

On a wooden rocking-chair, in front of the ramshackle building that housed the garage, sat the barefoot and shirtless "best mechanic in Virginia"  At his feet sat an ancient hound dog who synchronized each wag of his tail with his master's rocking on the chair. Was this for real?  You can't make this up! The proprietor jumped up from his chair and disturbed the dog at his feet, who looked up, gave us a annoyed glance and returned to his repose as his master  attended to us ...after the car cooled a bit he went right to work.  I stationed myself in front of a gigantic fan in the garage and watched my husband and son as they became immersed in Guy Heaven, surrounded by tools, machinery and a man who actually knew how to use them!.  TBMIV sent for the part, and after several hot, sweaty hours we were on the road  again.  However,  we were cautioned to use the AC very sparingly so as not to overwork it until we could have the major work done in Durham. 

We pulled into my mother-in-law's driveway at ten o'clock at night. 

As we passed through town the thermometer on the bank read 110 degrees!!! The air hung heavy and sodden with humidity as we stepped onto her porch ...oh, wait, we were in the South... as we stepped onto the verand-ah.  I could hardly wait for the door to open and feel the blast of chilled air hit my burning face.  My mother-in-law opened the door, ...no chilled air!  She announced that her AC was not working but was to be serviced first thing in the morning!!!  PANIC...THIS WAS NOT HAPPENING!!! There was no way this princess could sleep in that scorching heat after the day we had gone through. I suggested going to a hotel but my husband did not want to hurt his mother's feelings...so, in desperation I asked for the AC service's phone number.  The little card I was handed said "...24 Hour Service..." so I called, ...and in 15 minutes a man arrived to fix the problem...MY HERO!  (This would never have happened up north...I would have waited for days for the repair!)

The next day we delivered our son to The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In the oppressive heat we shlepped his belongings into a dorm packed with the new arrivals, their parents and the Orientation Committee students who were there to greet and help them. 

The Dorm

We set him up in a nice but very hot room, met The Roomate and attended a Welcome Party and campus tour. 

                                                                                                                                         

Then we left...I worred about him in that hot room, with just the huge fan we had installed in his window. It seemed to suck in and re-circulate the boiling air.  Not to worry...this was MY son...he met a somone with asthma who had permission to have an air conditioner in her room and he finagled, with several others, to be invited to sleep in there!

We went to North Carolina frequently over the next four years (in our new car, I might add).  I loved this gorgeous, busy campus and it's traditions... the city of Chapel Hill ...and the charm of the south.  I also loved southern cooking. Needless to say, Southern Fried Chicken recipes were plentiful and offered graciously wherever we went.  I have tried many truly wonderful ones, but the one that I actually use is that of a N'oth'n Gal, Ina Garten...(The Barefoot Contessa) because it is not all fried and seems more healthful...and it is fabulous!

Ina Garten's Oven Fried Chicken



2 chickens cut in 1/8ths

1 quart buttermilk

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp. kosher salt

1 tbsp pepper (fresh ground)

(I also add about 1 1/2 tsp of garlic powder)

vegetable oil

1- Place chicken pieces in large bowl, cover with buttermilk and refrigerate at least 8 hours (over night)

2- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

3-Put flour, salt pepper (and garlic powder) into a large bowl...

4-pour 1 inch of oil into a heavy bottomed saute pan or stock pot and heat to 360 degrees on a thermometer

5-Take each piece of chicken out of buttermilk and coat thoroughly with flour mixture...then, working in batches  so as not to crowd chicken pieces place chicken in hot oil, fry to light golden brown... about 3 minutes on each side

6-Place a metal rack on a sheet pan and place fried chicken pieces on it...when all chicken is fried, place the rack on the sheet pan into the preheated oven for another 30-45 minutes ...until chicken is no longer pink inside.

I serve this with my "semi-home made" corn pudding...

                                                                   

Ellin's Corn Pudding

2 boxes corn bread mix (I use Jiffy)

2 eggs

2 big tbsp. sour cream

2 cans creamed corn

1 can corn niblets, drained

Combine all ingredients and pour into a greased baking dish.  Bake about 15-20 minutes so it still has a pudding consistency...

Done!!  Isn't this the easiest thing ever?