Posted in #FridayFictioneers, Challenges, Flash Fiction

The Pie and the Festival – #FridayFictioneers – May 24, 2024

Photo Prompt @ Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Mollie scurried around her kitchen, cooking for the festival in her town. Food from the southern US is often prepared differently than food from anywhere else.

Mollie couldn’t decide between entering her stack cake or a cushaw pie in the competition. Her neighbor was going to enter cushaw pie, but Mollie’s pie was her specialty dish.

The day of the competition came and Mollie’s pie won the blue ribbon. Her neighbor was angry and threw Mollie’s pie to the ground screaming.

Mollie learned that real friendship is hard to find and should be cherished and nurtured.

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Note: Cushaw pie is not common outside the southern U.S. A cushaw is a gourd and the filling is used to make pie. Many think it is tastier than pumpkin pie.

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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting the #FridayFictioneers challenge.

Posted in #unicornchallenge, Challenges

The Runaway – #UnicornChallenge – April 12, 2024

The two boys hopped on the freight train as Cadot, the old Ojibwen man, watched. It was a dry, windy day, typical for these Dust Bowl days of the 1930’s in America. Even though the most profound effects were in the Midwest, most of the country was affected in some way.

The two boys were from a poor white family in town. They came out to the area around Cadot’s cabin near the railroad tracks to pick blueberries. Northern Michigan was renowned for its blueberry crop. The boys picked the berries for money to support their family.

After picking as many blueberries as they could carry, the boys would hop on a passing freight train and sell their blueberries at every stop. They would ride another freighter back.

One day, the older boy came to pick blueberries alone. Cadot asked where his brother was, and he replied that he had left home after they had fought. The boy was 15 years old. 

Almost ten years passed. The Dust Bowl was over, and World War II was firing up. Cadot had a visitor, and it was the boy who left home. He had come home to join the Navy. He had been sending his family money from Baltimore. When the boy left, Cadot grieved and didn’t expect to see him again. 

After the war was over, there was a knock at the cabin door. There stood the boy, now a man, home from the War. His seven-year-old daughter was with him.

Thanks to C.E. Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the #UnicornChallenge!

Posted in Appalachia

Appalachian Recipe: Fall Apple Cake

Hi everyone! This is a very old Appalachian recipe, handed down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother and finally to my precious Aunt Red, the lady I wrote about in the blog post,  The Most Elegant Lady. It is so old that the writing is extremely faded on the paper I have. I have to get it typed up before it completely fades away! Since it is fall apple season, I thought it was time to share this with all of you!

Fall Apple Cake

*This cake was originally supposed to be made with Winesap apples. Winesap apples are very hard to find now. Granny Smith apples are the best substitute.

2 cups sugar

2 cups vegetable oil – Wesson oil or other oil

Mix sugar into vegetable oil

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsps cloves

1/2 tsps cinnamon

1 tsps salt

1 tsps baking soda

3 cups finely chopped apples (Winesap or Granny Smith)

Optional: 1 cup finely chopped nuts or 1 cup raisins

Mix everything together

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour

Let cool on a baking rack before cutting it

ENJOY!!