After selling hand-sewn dolls and woven bags at the Oregon Country Fair for years, I decided a food booth might make more money. I enjoyed cooking, and I could draw on my Southern heritage to offer the Country Fair a unique dinner of black-eyed peas, cornbread, and coleslaw. Because I didn't eat meat, I would make vegetarian beans, and in contradiction to my theme but in keeping with a Country Fair spirit, I would offer tofu cheesecake for dessert.
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| Tofu cheesecake, with apples |
Full of naive enthusiasm, we started trying out recipes and adjusting proportions for quantity cooking and easy preparation. We gathered picnic eating ware; large pots for the beans; mixing bowls for the slaw, cornbread, and cheesecake; baking pans for consecutive batches of cornbread: one in the oven, one on the counter, and one in the making. We scrounged a propane range with four burners and an oven, coolers with ice, and a sink with separate washtubs for washing, rinsing, and sterilizing dishes. We built a booth and equipped it suitably to meet health code for a temporary restaurant.
Three days before the fair, I met Andy in the house of a mutual friend who generously gave up her kitchen for our preparations. We soaked and cooked the black-eyed peas. We made four cheesecakes (all we could fit in the coolers). We shredded cabbage and grated carrots and made lemon-yogurt dressing. We made ready-mix packets of measured dry ingredients for the cornbread. We packaged bottles of oil, cartons of eggs, and jars of honey for mixing into those dry ingredients. The Thursday before the fair, in a nightmare of logistics, we transported everything to the booth. We worked ourselves to the bone even before the fair opened.
As it turned out, black-eyed peas and cornbread were not a Country Fair favorite. Down South, Naturally didn't make us rich, but we did well enough, and we had a good time. A few people asked how we could flavor our black-eyed peas without ham, but at that time most Country Fair goers were more attuned to tofu cheesecake than to meat. Our booth was in a good location, directly across from the Main Stage but well off the main thoroughfare. During slow hours, we could watch the distant entertainment on the stage. Our best business move was to stay open after the Midnight Circus. We did a good business then because we were so close to the stage and maybe mostly because so few food booths were open at that hour.
Andy and I kept Down South, Naturally for three years, but after that the fun was wearing thin and the work growing tedious for the monetary payback. We closed shop. Andy wandered to California. I turned increasingly to teaching and writing. Neither of us continued in the restaurant business. I didn't go to the Country Fair again until my son and daughter-in-law began performing there and I could be of help to them. Now when I go to the Country Fair, I make a point to wander past the old booth for Down South, Naturally, now transformed into an Orange Julius and cookies booth. I stand on the other side of the counter where I had once waited on customers and give my order. I watch the young people squeezing oranges, pulling cookies from the oven, washing pans—having a ball. They are reincarnations of Andy and Diana, though they have no idea that I have a history with them, that they're in my booth, that I, too, at one time, was a restaurateur.
Next week: "Earning the Bicycle Cake"
Recipes from this post:
Black-eyed peas
Down South coleslaw
Oregon Country Fair cornbread
Tofu cheesecake
BLACK-EYED PEAS
Ingredients
3 cups black-eyed peas
Water or vegetable broth to cover
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
2 onions
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 ham hock, quartered (optional)
1 potato
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cup V-8 juice
1/2 can tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Soak black-eyed peas in water at least 2 hours. Drain. Peel and cut potato into chunks. Cut red bell pepper into pieces. Crush garlic. Slice onions.
To make
Saute onions and garlic in olive oil or butter in a large pot. Add black-eyed peas along with water or broth (not the water the beans soaked in), V-8 juice, tomato paste, herbs, and salt. Add ham hock, if using. Cook about 1 hour, then add potato chunks. Readjust seasonings and add freshly ground black pepper to taste. When black-eyed peas are done, let the soup sit on the stove, staying warm and deepening its blended flavors. This is a better-the-next-day dish.
Ingredients
1 large head green cabbage
2-3 carrots
1 apple
Preparation
Shred, thickly slice, or grate the cabbage. (I prefer it grated, though it's more trouble.) Grate the carrots and the apple. Mix all together. Pour dressing over the salad and toss well.
The dressing
Ingredients
1/2 cup low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Salt and pepper to taste..
To make
Mix all ingredients together and whisk well.
OREGON COUNTRY FAIR CORNBREAD
Ingredients
1 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup soy flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoons powdered milk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons oil
Preparation
Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan. Preheat oven to 375º.
To make
Mix dry ingredients together. Beat egg and add milk, honey, and oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients all at once and mix only until barely blended. Lumps are okay. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 375º for 30 minutes. Serve piping hot.
Note: This can be made into a ready-mix cornbread by using an extra 1/4 cup powdered milk, mixing all dry ingredients together, and sealing them in a zip-lock bag. When you're ready to make the cornbread, substitute 1 cup water for the 1 cup milk. Beat together the wet ingredients, and proceed as above.
TOFU CHEESECAKE
The filling
Ingredients
3 cups mashed tofu
1 cup honey
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Preparation
Mash the tofu well to make 3 cups. Blend everything exceedingly well. This works best in a blender, though it can be done with hand implements. The texture will just be a little rougher if you don't have a blender.
The crust
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Preparation
Crush the graham crackers with a rolling pin between two pieces of waxed paper if you don't use ready-crumbled crumbs. Crush them fine. Melt the butter.
To make
Stir all ingredients together. Press into a 9-inch pie pan, reserving some crumbs for the top of the pie.
The cheesecake itself
Ingredients
Tofu filling
Graham cracker crust
Fresh fruit
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350º.
To make
Spoon the filling into the unbaked pie crust and bake at 350º for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. Decorate with fresh fruit.
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