Even though I have technically lived in the southern half of the U.S. for my entire life (minus 6 months in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin), I have never experienced true southern living. Arizona has more Southern California influences than I care to admit, and well, Texas is it's own country.
On my trip to Atlanta last weekend I was introduced to 2 uniquely southern culinary delights: grits and boiled peanuts. Grits I had heard of before and kind of new what to expect, but Boiled peanuts?? Really? What's wrong with roasted peanuts?
We went to visit JJ's cousin, Courtney, at her new townhouse and as we were walking up to her front door we were greeted by her neighbor. Well to be more specific, it was her neighbor's kind-of boyfriend. Kind-of boyfriend? I had to ask. Apparently he is her boyfriend depending on how much he has had to drink...too much information, sir. Other than this little bit of over-sharing, he was your typical 30 year old former frat boy, sweet Georgia drawl and all. He was hanging out in the garage boiling peanuts for his college game day party going on upstairs. He invited us over and started explaining the intricacies of peanut boiling. He also explained that he did this for a living...I'm still not sure if he meant he boiled peanuts or educated people about boiling peanuts. He was 2 beers past the point of having that intelligent conversation. He was, however, thrilled to be able to introduce me, a non-native Southerner, to this great tradition. Now for the peanuts...they tasted more like bland potatoes than anything else. A bit of a let down after the build up from Mr. Fratty Peanut. Regardless, I enjoyed the snippet of Southern education.
I'm sure there will be plenty more distinctly Southern things to discover, but for now, that is all.
On my trip to Atlanta last weekend I was introduced to 2 uniquely southern culinary delights: grits and boiled peanuts. Grits I had heard of before and kind of new what to expect, but Boiled peanuts?? Really? What's wrong with roasted peanuts?
We went to visit JJ's cousin, Courtney, at her new townhouse and as we were walking up to her front door we were greeted by her neighbor. Well to be more specific, it was her neighbor's kind-of boyfriend. Kind-of boyfriend? I had to ask. Apparently he is her boyfriend depending on how much he has had to drink...too much information, sir. Other than this little bit of over-sharing, he was your typical 30 year old former frat boy, sweet Georgia drawl and all. He was hanging out in the garage boiling peanuts for his college game day party going on upstairs. He invited us over and started explaining the intricacies of peanut boiling. He also explained that he did this for a living...I'm still not sure if he meant he boiled peanuts or educated people about boiling peanuts. He was 2 beers past the point of having that intelligent conversation. He was, however, thrilled to be able to introduce me, a non-native Southerner, to this great tradition. Now for the peanuts...they tasted more like bland potatoes than anything else. A bit of a let down after the build up from Mr. Fratty Peanut. Regardless, I enjoyed the snippet of Southern education.
I'm sure there will be plenty more distinctly Southern things to discover, but for now, that is all.
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