Tasty Tuesday: The Int’l Biscuit Festival

This morning I should be starting to pack my bags, doing the “last” laundry, cleaning house, leaving something in the freezer, and running the final errands. Instead, (may I whine for just a minute?) I’m calling the doctor, hoping to hear about Jeff’s MRI, and waiting for the carpet guys to show up … after all, on the 2 days before you leave for 2 weeks in Asia, doesn’t it make sense to get carpet installed in the bedrooms???? After all, we’ve only waited 7 yrs to do it, so now is the “ideal” time, right? I would show you a picture of the contents of our closets, wads of bedding, and nightstand contents (not to mention “under the bed” stuff) piled in our bathroom and living room, but then YOU’d feel overwhelmed too! Seems like I’m getting to practice “Trusting in the True God” before I go teach about “Trusting in the True God.” Sigh … God always does things like that. 🙂

So while we were dismantling our bedrooms (It IS just upstairs that we’re doing), I still planned to make biscuits to share with you. I was going to make “Angel Biscuits,” which I love; they’re also sometimes called “Bride’s Biscuits,” because even a new bride can’t mess them up! They’re a cross between a biscuit and a yeast roll, and you can keep them in the fridge for days, as you make them batch by totally tempting, unresistable batch. Well … instead I popped open a red can of pre-fab biscuits (It almost felt sacrilegious) to go with our dinner, so I’d have time to dismantle the bedrooms. I’ll give you my Angel Biscuits another day. Biscuits are a big part of my family history, and my Grandma is legendary for the biscuits she made that still remain a mystery to me.

I was thinking “biscuits,” because last Saturday was the International Biscuit Festival in Knoxville. Biscuits drew people together, and a combination of honey and jam stuck them together. For my part in the Festival, I entered the poetry contest at Union Ave. Books. It’s right near my favorite breakfast spot, Pete’s Coffee Shop, on the corner of Union Ave. and Locust St. The top 3 winners had a “Biscuit Poetry Reading” Saturday afternoon, and I was completely honored to “lose” to the illustrious poets #1 & #2.

So since I have no homemade biscuit picture and recipe ready to share with you, and since the carpet guys could be here any minute, I want to share my Biscuit Poem with you. It was inspired after a breakfast meeting at Pete’s. 😉

“Morning Biscuit”

The Sunsphere

Like lines of bees the cars all turned down Locust to their hive
To parking floors and lots and spots, the worker cars arrived.
The Sunsphere still looked foggy through my sleepy morning gaze.
The outline of the Smokies soaked through clouds and bluish haze.
My lot had faded paint lines, asphalt crumbled by the grate,
Like a flaky something warm and white, with gravy on a plate.

Rumbles from within me urged me on across the street,
And painting on the window called me in to visit Pete.
I tried to keep an open mind, give something new a try,
To think about an omelette, cake, or bacon next to rye.
But images of crumbles light and airy on the dish,
Washed down by JFG could only seal what I could wish.

Pete would gently split it and lay it waiting on the plate,
To blanket it in gravy with some sausage as a mate.
Like countless souls before me waking up to Knoxville home,
Going out to work or meet, to learn or pray or roam,
A biscuit in the morning starts the day with more than bread,
But with tastes of home and comfort and with things that Grandma said.

So the biscuit came as ordered with my coffee full and hot,
And each bite satisfied me with the taste of all I thought.
As it mingled with the gravy, leaving crumbs out on my mouth,
I was thankful I was waking up to breakfast in the South.

And what did I do with my prize gift certificate? I bought a new cookbook … about BISCUITS!