OMG—it’s
hard to BELIEVE that all these old people were in my class at Trousdale County
High School/Hartsville, TN. But time cares for no man (and even LESS for a
woman) and here we were, gathered after 50 years of livin’, lovin’ fussin’,
fightin’, marryin’, unmarryin’, procreatin’, grand-procreatin’ and puttin’ on
airs.
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| Class of '64! We are a great lookin' group! Can you find The Elf? |
So
off Big Solid and I went to the lovely foothills of middle Tennessee.
Fortunately, I laid some vegan groundwork prior to our departure so the trip
would not only be filled with fun reminiscing but also meet my need to eat.
This endeavor only added credence to the theory that if you make plans, call
ahead to ascertain vegan options and politely offer to contribute your own food
if it’s OK. Remember that not EVERYONE
understands what a vegan is so questions and suggestions should be fielded with
aplomb. For example, when talking to a restaurant about the vegan options on
their menu, the young woman said, “Well, we have appetizers and some salads.
You can have some fried cheese.” It was a teaching moment.
We
were most definitely prepared with a cooler FULL of stuffs…vegan pimento
cheese, tomato and cucumber salad, avocados, vegan Andouille sausages (for the
reunion meal), non-dairy creamer, Boca crumbles (always a good salad topping),
vegan Parmesan cheese, and Daiya vegan cheese shreds (for baked potatoes). Of
course, the trick to carrying all these wonderful vegan options it to actually
REMEMBER to take them with you to the restaurant or eating establishment
instead of leaving them in the hotel ‘frig.
We
decided to take the lazy route to Nashville and avoid the traffic of the big
cities (Memphis/Nashville) or Birmingham and drove up the lovely Natchez Trace
Parkway. And it was indeed lovely for about the first 6 hours…neither one of us
had ever been on the AL/TN portions of the Trace and the topography, scenery
was just beautiful. As was the fauna…we saw lots of deer and a bazillion wild
turkeys. HOWSOMEVER, bein’ as we are senior citizens, our rear-ends got
increasingly achy so by the time we were approaching Nashville, desperation to
get the end point of the trip in Lebanon TN increased exponentially. I’ll spare
you the gory details of getting off the Trace at the wrong place and the testy
conversations that followed.
Our
first dining experience, once we made it thankfully to Lebanon and the Hampton
Inn, was a conveniently located Outback Steakhouse within walking distance.
Perfect as we were NOT getting back in the car. We met my cousin and her
husband there; I had a baked potato with broccoli and my cheese. Was so hungry,
I didn’t even THINK to take a picture of it but I suspect you can conjure up an
image. Big Solid had grilled salmon and a Manhattan. Sandra Lynn and Jerry split
an appetizer (crab stuffed mushrooms) as they’d eaten a while back. It had been
several years since we’d seen each other, so we had fun visitin’ and makin’
plans for our big meal together the next night.
Breakfast
at the Hampton is doable vegan wise if you choose the oatmeal. Otherwise, it’s
very limited. So, I had toast with avocado and tomato/cucumber salad. The
non-dairy creamer is a life-saver on the road as almost NOBODY carried
non-dairy milks.
 |
| From that cooler! Breakfast! |
We
drove over to my home town of Hartsville TN later that day to just sort of soak
up the memories of my grandparents, their lovely home (which was actually a
funeral home and they lived upstairs), to visit my Mama’s grave (some of
Daddy’s ashes were sprinkled over her years ago so they’d be together). We naturally plotted the trip to arrive at
lunch time so we could visit and eat at Dillehay’s Café…an institution in
Hartsville for many many years. If you EVER want a great home cooked country
meal, Dillehay’s is about as good as it gets. My brother always makes it his first
stop when he visits. That being said,
there was nothing on the buffet line that I could have…including the vegetables
which were cooked either with meat or with butter. The slaw had salad dressing
in it…but you know what, I DIDN’T CARE. It was so nice to be there, see folks
I’d not seen in many years and watch Big Solid eat and ENJOY THE HELL OUT OF a
piece of friend chicken, cornbread and slaw.
I had a glass of tea—thoroughly fun.
 |
| Dillehay's home cooked FOOD!! |
Since
I was pretty hungry, we found a newly opened Mexican restaurant on the square,
Hartsville Taco Factory—what a FIND!! I got them to veganize a Veggie Quesadilla (no cheese and no sour cream) and HOLY JUMPING BEAN BATMAN…it was
OUTSTANDING. It was also HUGE!!
 |
| Vegan Quesadilla |
Hartsville
TN is a very small town of about 2000 folks; there is no stoplight in town. It
was taken down a few years back when deemed not necessary; a 4-way stop
would work just fine. That’s how much traffic in the downtown area has slowed
down. As a former tobacco production/auction center, the decline in the growth
of tobacco and the economic downturn has had a significant impact on the area.
Most of the stores that I knew as a kid are no longer there but the square
looks good and the new Mexican place shows that there is still an active dining
population. I was going to include a picture of my grandparents’ home (one of
my most beloved places EVER) but it is now so run down, I just could not even
bring myself to photograph it. It is occupied and the folks who live there have
dozens of old/junk cars lining the street and in the yard (at least an old RV
in the yard). There are piles of old building materials stacked on the front
porch where my cousin and I spent many a night swinging on the porch swing and
listening for my Grandfather’s feet shuffling loudly up the walkway from his
nightly trip to town to buy some Bull of the Woods chewing tobacco. Instead, I
show you a picture of how I remember it as painted by my Daddy several years
ago.
 | ||
| 'Papa's House OR Throp and Oakley Funeral Home...est. 1852 |
Friday
evening, we went to a lovely restaurant in Lebanon TN that is housed on the
grounds once occupied by the famous Castle Heights Military Academy (1902-1986). The restaurant was Sonny’s on Castle Heights
and was in an old home. The city of Lebanon has done a marvelous job of
preserving that whole campus and many/most of the beautiful old buildings that
housed staff and students (including Duane and Greg Allman of you-know-who).
 | |
| Great Old Castle Heights Main Building |
 |
| Sonny's On Castle Heights |
Serving primarily Italian food, I called them a week in advance to discuss
vegan options and to arrange for a little birthday surprise for Big Solid. They
were MOST accommodating and also included advice to be sure to meet James, the
most famous bartender in the area. Apparently James has a following all his
own, garnered from the past 44 years of mixology. So, six of us (my cousin and
her husband, their older son and his wife and Big Solid and the Elf) were
seated on a sun porch with views of the campus. That in itself brought back
memories of seeing the cadets marching and parading back in the day.
 |
| James and The Elf |
My
meal was lovely…a regular small salad with a nice blood orange vinaigrette. I
DID remember to bring my Vegan Parmesan. My entrée was a grilled vegetable
pasta with a very light olive oil and balsamic sauce. The pasta was gluten-free
(they had assured me that all their pastas were egg free, so I thought I’d try
the GF) and it was a bit on the tough side. But the flavors of the vegetables
and sauce was lovely.
Big
Solid’s chicken piccata was not particularly to his liking but he soldiered on
(pun intended). The wait between courses
was a bit long as the restaurant began to fill up and it appeared that our
server was over-whelmed (we sat down at 5:30 and left at 8:20) Everyone else
seemed to love their meals. Big Solid was served their signature Italian Almond
Cake for his birthday surprise while others had another signature Italian
dessert, Tiramisu. I enjoyed the desserts vicariously.
REUNION DAY!!
The
big day was on us before we knew it. Spent some time in the exercise room (had
to look slim and trim) and visited Sandra Lynn and Jerry (my cousin and
husband) for a while. It was so nice to sit out on their front porch with a
cool breeze blowing and just talking about everything—that’s an always
connection, isn’t it? Got back to the room, gussied up and headed
out. Along the way, we visited some more old friends in Cottontown TN and
gradually made our way to the Cherokee Steak House for the BIG DO!!
I
had talked with the staff at the restaurant and was cleared to bring my own
vegan stuffs (Andouille sausages/plant-based of course). The turnout was great
and I saw people I had not seen in, well, 50 years. I told Big Solid, who was a
SAINT for coming with me in lieu of the fact that he was missing the MS
STATE/LSU game AND it was his BIRTHDAY, he would just have to introduce himself
in case I found myself staring at a fellow classmate like they had two noses.
The meals were served and I got my sausages (after a slight snafu that was
quickly remedied) along with a nice BIG pile of steamed broccoli. The baked
potato that I ordered never made it to the table but that was fine…I had plenty
to eat. We watched some slides of ourselves at a much younger time in our lives;
laughed, giggled, winced, and groaned through it. After all was done, we
excused ourselves and returned to the hotel…did catch the last quarter of the
MSU/LSU game and HOLY COW what an ending.
So
thanks for the attention to this modestly vegan focused and heavily reunion/old
times centered blog. I wish someone with some real energy and drive would do to
Hartsville what the B.T. C. Grocery has done for Water Valley MS (see blog post
of 8/6/14 “You CAN Go Home Again"). Hartsville has some great people and a great
history. Wouldn’t it be awesome to generate that into growth and prosperity?
 |
| The 1964 Yellow Jacket women's basketball team. We were awesome! |
OTHER IMPORTANT
STUFFS
SPIDEY-NURSE
Spidey-Nurse
is knee deep in IMPORTANT NURSE WORK and will get back to us next go ‘round.
NEW FEATURE
I
am working on a new feature we are calling “The Venerable Vegan” and I
am soliciting your participation, if you please. It would be fun to see/read the stories of
old farts like me who did not become vegan until later in life. So, IF you did
not jump into the VEGAN lifestyle until you were eligible for AARP (50 years
young) AND would like to share how you came to that decision, it would be SO
COOL!! Would love to hear not only how you decided but the impact it has made
on your life/health, the challenges you’ve face, your go-to
places/recipes/resources and any other pertinent information as well as a
picture. Before and after pics are also encouraged, if you have them. It is NOT
a forum for selling anything, for advancing a political agenda, for railing at
the universe about a cause or issue, or personal gain. It is strictly sharing
how becoming vegan rather late in life has made a difference for you. Let’s
have fun with this. Please contact me at jswearen@gmail.com
if you are interested.
Til
next week, y’all, breathe deep, eat plants and love life.
The
Elf
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