Georgia is known as the Peach State, and if you’ve ever eaten their fresh peaches when they start coming in, you know why! They are sweet and juicy and you don’t even have to peel them. Georgia also produces a lot of pecans, and the recipe I share today marries those two ingredients beautifully. But as with many of my recipes, this one comes with a wonderful memory as well.
After my dad died, my mother and brother came often to visit, and they could stay as long as they wanted. Mom enjoyed day trips, so one summer while she was here we drove to Atlanta for lunch. On our way out of town we stopped by the visitors center and picked up a Georgia magazine full of interesting facts about the state and places to visit. As I drove, mother read aloud to me and, once again, she became the teacher and I the student. We learned how Georgia has mountains for climbing and hiking with enough snow in the winter to do a little skiing, rivers for white water rafting, lakes for boating and fishing and on the east you have the ocean. History is very important, and Georgia schools still teach the Civil War and how President Lincoln, as a Christmas gift, saved Savannah from destruction. As we drove we saw some beautiful southern homes with impeccable landscaping. We both knew more about Georgia now on our drive back than we had known before we started. As she turned to the last page and saw a peach bread recipe, she said it was a must for us to make it in honor of our Georgia day, using the basket of peaches we bought at a road side fruit stand. We all liked it so much she hand wrote it in family recipe book. I found that recipe again today and made this bread using fresh peaches. The bread is wonderful but the memories of that day are even more so.💕
When my sister and I were in junior high and our mother was teaching school there, a terrible thing happened to one of her students. Her family lost everything in a home fire! Mom knew how hard it would be for a junior high student to change schools in the middle of the year so she arranged for her to move in with us. There was no money involved, just love. My sister and I were used to having extra people stay with us. It might be family members down on their luck, or grandparents who could no longer maintain their homes, or long distant friends who often came to visit. So a young girl moving in with us was a treat. She came from a family with eleven children, and you’d think to loose one for a little while would be a welcomed change. After all, that would be one less mouth to feed, a little less laundry to wash, and one less voice you’d hear arguing with siblings. But it was just the opposite! Even with all those other children around, she was missed terribly. It was the love of her parents that gave them the courage to allow her to stay with us for awhile so she could finish out the school year and start fresh in the fall at her new school. Mother and her teacher friends arranged for clothes to be given to her and, of course, my sister and I were more than happy to share our things as well. Her name was Darlene Adams, and with so many sisters and 2 older brothers, she knew exactly how to get along with all of us without any jealousy. She admired Mom so much and appreciated what she was doing for her that when Saturday’s came and we had our chores to do, she willingly joined in and made it so much fun. The time flew by. She was always laughing about something and had us laughing, too.
Food Tells Its Own Story 