Our Breakfast Menu Has A Strong Tradition

The South has a reputation for some of the finest cooks in these United States

Fortunately, my Mother was from the South and so I was exposed to good food since my earliest memories. Conversation around our table often turned to talk about what we were eating, planned to eat, would like to eat, or had eaten! Since I cooked my first full meal at age eleven, cooking has been my pleasure, my pastime, and my favorite hobby.

Food, in our family, didn’t mean gourmet or fancy, it meant food that tasted good. And Mama made everything taste good. (Well, there were those dandelion greens that we all agreed did not bear repeating!) She always had a garden so we enjoyed fresh produce all summer and fall. One of my most memorable meals was a breakfast fish fry for neighbors when we lived in Nebraska. It consisted of crisp fried perch and catfish, caught that morning – moist and flaky inside, hot buttermilk biscuits dripping with butter and home made chokecherry jelly or apple butter and steaming hot coffee (milk for the kids). Simple but no five star restaurant could make a meal that surpassed it in flavor.

Mama was a Southerner who was transplanted a few times but she always had a way of taking whatever was available and turning it into some of her favorite southern dishes as well as including new foods and recipes from whatever part of the US we lived in. One example was Brunswick Stew. Traditionally squirrel and chicken are used in the stew. Well, in the panhandle of Nebraska jackrabbit was what we had, so Mama made Brunswick Stew with the older jackrabbits that my Dad shot.

I can’t imagine it could have been any better made the traditional way…

Gracious hospitality is also associated with the South and one of the Southern cooks’ greatest pleasures is cooking for others outside the family–church dinners, those in need, those in mourning, those whose menu is limited (by illness, for example), entertaining guests at home or, going all out on an open-house during the Holidays. No one ever dropped by our house at mealtime without Mama setting another plate on the table. And no one ever dropped by at any other time without being offered cookies, a cold or hot drink or, a snack. Mama’s hospitality was put to the test shortly after she and my (step)Dad were married. The custom in that part of the Midwest was to give the newlyweds a shivaree shortly after they returned from their honeymoon. A shivaree is a “serenade” to the newly married couple by banging on pots and pans during the middle of the night. Custom was that the serenaders would then be invited into the house for some snacks. Mama had planned and prepared for this–we all had on new pajamas and, there was food for the neighbors who were expected. Several nights went by with no shivaree. Finally Mama and Daddy decided it wasn’t going to happen so we ate the food and Mama told us it was time to put our new PJ’s in the wash and wear our old ones. Well, sure enough, the first night in our old pajamas we were awakened by the sound of banging on pots and pans as well as a few gunshots thrown in for good measure. As was the custom, the “serenaders” were invited in but all Mama had to serve them was cold cereal and milk with a bit of bread and jam. It was hard for Mama not to be able to extend the hospitality that she had planned but she did the best with what she had and everyone had a good time. It was a story Mama told a number of times while I was growing up…

Good food and gracious hospitality are traditions I was raised with and value. It’s my goal and pleasure to provide these to my guests. I have had the opportunity to be exposed to Southern cooking, Midwestern cooking–which encompasses the traditions and recipes from the Pennsylvania Dutch, Bohemians, Scandinavians and Dutch–and, Pacific Northwest cooking which is largely based on an abundance of fresh produce from the Willamette Valley and seafood from the Oregon Coast.

Breakfast at Betty’s Bed and Breakfast incorporates seasonal produce, including fresh fruit and, in the Southern tradition, you might find a plate of mouth-watering sliced tomatoes, fresh from my garden, on the breakfast table during the summer and fall–or savory fried green tomatoes accompanying your more traditional breakfast fare. A typically Pacific Northwest dish, smoked salmon hash served topped by poached eggs, is a favorite among all. Other menu items you might see included in your breakfast are…