Live to be a Hundred Eating Corn Meal and Hog Meat

I don't know why I'm doing this, but I'm doing it all the same. I'm making cornbread for lunch.

I was going to roast a turkey breast and eat healthy, but the damned thing is as hard as a rock, and it may not thaw until tonight.

I am making the perfect Southern cornbread. I'm using my mother's ancient #9 skillet, plus a quarter-cup of bacon grease I made just for the occasion. I should post a photo when I'm done. Oh, wait. I already did.

And with the cornbread: the wonderful navy bean soup I made a while back. I'm thawing a frozen container right now.

It probably sounds crazy to an average American when you say you're drooling over dry, unsweetened cornbread and plain old bean soup that doesn't even have any cute little pimentos floating in it. What can I tell you? It's an acquired taste. A Southerner will get equally excited over a pot of greens boiled with a ham hock. Either you get it or you don't.

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Oh God. Oh God. Get the smelling salts.

That was amazing. It was light and fluffy, with a hint of bacon flavor, and it practically floated down my throat. I started with a bowl of bean soup and a piece of dry cornbread, and then I progressed to a wedge of hot cornbread with salted butter in the middle.

Oh. Oh.

I hope the cornbread gods forgive me for putting a tablespoon of sugar in the batter. It's not sweet! I swear!