Her Kentucky Entertaining: A Piece of Home in the Big City
Her Kentucky is thrilled to present a guest post from Amy Hille Glasscock. Amy works on energy issues
as a lobbyist by day, and by night she likes to throw parties of all
sorts. Amy is from Berea, Kentucky, holds degrees from Berea College and
the University of Kentucky and currently lives in Washington, DC with
her husband, Will and their cat, Kira. When she isn't planning a party
she likes to blog about her party adventures at MidCitySaturdays.com.
This past weekend my husband and I held our annual holiday party at our apartment in Washington, DC. I think the most comments I received came from one item of holiday décor we had prominently displayed over our dining table. It was rustic, yet elegant, modern yet timeless, rough yet sparkling. And I’m going to tell you how to make it too!
You see, a few years ago I saw a picture of a white branch with Christmas ornaments hanging over a
dining table as a DIY suggestion in the cb2 catalogue. It seemed like a fun idea, but utterly impossible to recreate in an apartment in the city. First of all you have to find a branch. This requires some sort of recent severe storm to have occurred so that you can walk to a park and find a branch worthy of your project. If I were to find the perfect branch I would hope that it would be in the exact length I desired because I certainly do not have a saw in my small tool box! Then I would have to walk to the local
hardware store and buy a can of spray paint, which wouldn’t be that hard, but there also wouldn’t be a great selection (I do love and support my local hardware store though!). But then where do I spray this thing? The only options would be to borrow a friend’s yard (I have no friends with yards) or carefully cover my patio in newspaper so that I do not spray any of the concrete. It’s just not easy.
When my husband and I decided to drive home to Kentucky this Thanksgiving instead of flying, a light bulb popped up over my head and I thought “branches, painting, sawing, crafting, Kentucky!” Yes, my old Kentucky home, where all things are easier. As soon as I got to Kentucky, I picked up a can of glossy white paint at Lowe’s. Then my dad and I walked around in the woods at their home outside of Berea looking for the perfect branch. His recommendation was to look for cedar or pine as most of the bark would already be gone. After about 45 minutes of searching (so many options!) my dad went to get his saw and I sawed a great branch off of a fallen cedar tree.
I was able to spray to my heart’s content outside at my parents’ place without ruining anything except
for some grass that will grow back. It took me a couple of days to spray the branch. I ended up getting
a different can of paint with a built in primer which worked much better than the first can (dried wood is
very absorbent). It didn’t end up being super glossy white, but it looked more rustic and I was definitely
okay with that. I asked Dad if he could spare some extra fishing line for hanging the branch, and he
gladly cut off about six feet. When it was time to load the car and head back to DC, the branch fit in the
back seat easily.
Fast forward to last week (oh, and yes, we had a lovely Thanksgiving, and you?). We used the fishing
line to attach the branch to our light fixture above the table and found some sparkly purple and silver
ornaments at Target to hang from the branch (with white thread). I saw a similar purple and silver branch
display in a Manhattan store front the week before and was inspired by the color combination.
Come party time last Saturday, with the lights down, and candles lit, our branch looked suspended in mid-
air and absolutely fantastic! The total cost was about $15 and the new ornaments accounted for $10 of
that. You may already have some you’d like to use!
While the hanging holiday branch was beautiful, it also represented in some ways a combination of
where I’m from and where I live now. I couldn’t have done it without the resources available to me back
home and help from my parents, but the inspiration came from a catalogue and a city sidewalk dressed in
holiday style.
Kentucky Places: Shaker Village
When I was in the fifth grade, we took a field trip to the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. I can still remember the village like it was yesterday.
Shaker Village is located in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, which is about 45 minutes from Lexington, Kentucky.
Shaker Village is an original Shaker Religious Community that was active from 1805 to 1910. It is now a preserved National Historic Landmark.
The Village has a Living History museum where you can watch craftspeople display broom making, woodworking, spinning, and weaving. 
Writing the South
Recently,
I found myself working on a piece of fiction. For reasons that aren't really important, a
small portion of the prologue took place in Atlanta. I found myself struggling, because while I
have been to that city several times, I don't really "know" it.
Part of me said that I should just keep
plugging along, because the setting itself didn't really have any bearing on
the plot of the piece. I could email one of a dozen friends -- a few of
whom even contribute to this blog-- and familiarize myself enough with the
neighborhood bars/restaurants/boutiques that I would need to populate the pages
of the story. And yet, it didn’t feel
authentic. It wasn’t set in a city like
Nashville or Louisville – someplace where I had lived and that I knew well. It wasn’t set in a city like
Lexington—someplace that I had grown up visiting so many times that I didn’t
need a map when I finally moved there.
The entire scene just felt flat, and I soon abandoned that portion of
the story.
I
am a writer. I am from Kentucky. Does that make me a “Kentucky writer”? Does that mean that I need to give all my
essays and short stories a Kentucky setting? I’ve
struggled with variants of this question for years. Is it absolutely crucial for me, as a writer,
to limit my writing to Kentucky or the South?
 |
| Image via Garden & Gun. |
Often,
I think, a writer, painter, or songwriter’s incorporation of a region into her
work is crucial to the work itself. The August/September issue
of Garden and Gun magazine was devoted to Southern Women. It was a charming retrospective of the role
of the postmodern Southern Belle. As I
thumbed through the pages of this issue, I noticed a portrait of a couple of
Southern-based artists whose work I happen to know quite well. There was Joy Williams, the female voice in
the Nashville-based duo The Civil Wars,
and Emily Giffin, the litigator-turned-chick
lit-maven, who lives in Atlanta. Because
I enjoy the work of both Ms. Williams and Ms. Giffin quite a bit, I found
myself a little perplexed. Ms. Williams
is a California-born singer. Ms. Giffin is
from Illinois, and lived for many years in New York and London. Yet, I would classify Ms. Williams’ roots-Americana sound as perfectly in keeping with the funky, post-country ethos of her adopted
hometown of East Nashville. On the other
hand, while Ms. Giffin attended some of the finest schools in the South and currently
lives in Atlanta, her novels are generally set in New York, Boston or
London. Her only novel with a Southern
setting is told from the point of view of a character who generally hates the
South. While I truly enjoy Ms. Giffin’s
fun and romantic stories, this hardly seems the work of a “Southern Belle” to me. At the very least, she's hardly the Southern writer that Kathryn Stockett (also featured in this article) is.
A
few weeks ago, University
of Kentucky professor Nikky Finney
was honored with the National Book Award for poetry. Her powerful acceptance speech referencing
the advances made by African-Americans in the South in recent decades has become
something of an online phenomenon, and rightly so. As an alumna of the University, I was
thrilled to see such an incredible award being presented to such a wonderfully
deserving talent. Ms. Finney’s works evoke
the memories of her coastal Carolina childhood far more than her Lexington
professorship. Stories of shrimpers and
tides are far from the Bluegrass landscape.
And yet, Ms. Finney plays a driving role in Kentucky’s current literary
landscape.
As
I look at the previous four paragraphs on my computer screen, I wonder if I
sound like a hopeless pedant. (That
particular aspersion, believe it or not, has been cast my way a time or two…) The labels “Southern” or “Kentuckian” really
don’t matter as much as establishing a connection with one’s reader. I’ve never been to Northern Sweden, and yet, Stig Larsson’s work is my guilty
literary pleasure. I’ve never lived in a
North London council flat with an array of immigrant families, yet I adore the
work of Zadie Smith. On the other hand, as a writer, I’m far more
comfortable with creating characters who work in big law firms (as both my beau
and I have) or who live in the Kentucky and Tennessee towns where I have lived. Maybe the key really is the old cliché of writing
what you know. Or, just maybe, it’s a
blend of writing what one knows and writing something engaging enough to
transcend setting or experience.
Do y’all think a writer needs a connection to the place she writes about?
Churchill verdict from a Keeneland Purist
A few weeks ago, I made my first pilgrimage to Churchill Downs. For many biased Lexingtonians, Keeneland is the "best" race track in the state. I've heard from the Lexingtonian's that Keeneland is prettier, people dress nicer, and it is just a better overall experience. My only Churchill Downs experience has been through my television, where I watch and judge those in the Kentucky Derby infield.
 |
| At Churchill Downs |
For my first trip to Churchill Downs, hubs and I were guests of my friend Melinda who is a Kentucky Colonel. Perhaps my experience was tainted by being on Millionaire's Row, which was nicely decorated for all the Colonels, but all the areas seemed great to me.
 |
| Horses are pretty no matter where you are. |
The track was well maintained, bathrooms were clean, service was good, drinks were tasty (yum bourbon), and food was as advertised. It was noticeably larger than Keeneland, but that's to be expected.
 |
| The room setup with balcony access |
All in all, I don't get the fuss between one track being better than the other. They're both Kentucky gems that we should experience as much as possible. Both are the same in one key aspect: I can't seem to win money at either of them.
So, who's taking me to the Derby this year? :)
Kentucky Places: The University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center
When you're from a rural Kentucky town, you tend to identify yourself with a "home city." You go to Lexington, Louisville, Nashville or Cincinnati for big shopping excursions, social events, and healthcare. You don't really even think about the distance. It's just where you go.
Last week, my father had surgery at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Now, Lexington is my family's "home city", despite the fact that it's a nearly two and a half hour drive from my parents' house. Similarly, UK is our "home school", despite the fact that most members of my family hold degrees from other universities. We all cheer on our Wildcats, we've all attended meetings and classes on campus, and we all revere the first-rate healthcare services that the University provides.
 |
| Commonwealth Stadium, #RISE |
It was an interesting experience to walk the University's campus with a focus on the Med Center, rather than on the school itself. I went past so many sites that held rich memories of my own grad school years and beyond. As I took breaks from the waiting room, I walked past the football field where I've tailgated so many times and noted the Greek housing where many of my friends once lived. I passed the buildings where my beau and I each earned our graduate degrees. I stopped for a second to salute Memorial Coliseum, where I've had the good fortune to watch some of the University's basketball greats practice. So many campus buildings held such specific family memories -- there's a building named for my grandfather's least favorite professor, there's the building where my beau conducted a hilarious B-school project -- and yet, I was rushing back to the hospital, a site far removed from these happy memories.
 |
| Photo Wall, Chandler Medical Center |
At some point during our hospital visit, I stopped focusing on the dichotomy of school and fun versus the scary hospital. I listened to my aunt's stories of bringing my cousin (a toddler at the time) to the Med Center Courtyard to visit my uncle during the few brief breaks he could take during his medical residency. And, I started to really focus on the hospital's decorations -- a dynamic photo wall of Kentucky images, a painting by my dad's distant cousin, quilt wall hangings -- which reflected the communities from which the patients and employees hailed. The Chandler Med Center, I realized, was embracing its role as many Kentuckians' "home hospital."
 |
| Waiting Room View |
Aunt Marie's Bourbon Balls
Here in Kentucky, we take our bourbon seriously. We all have a favorite brand (I'm a Maker's Mark girl). Some of us even
dress our bourbon up to keep it festive
.
In my family, it just isn't the holiday season until somebody makes a batch of bourbon balls. These are adapted from my Great-Aunt Marie's recipe, and are my go-to holiday treat. I love to make up little bags or boxes to give as last-minute presents or to take to holiday gatherings. The melted chocolate is a little tricky, but they're so worth the hassle.
- 1 to 2 cups good bourbon whisky (preferably Maker's Mark)
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 to 1 cup whole pecan halves (optional)
- 1 two-pound bag of powdered sugar
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1-2 bags semisweet chocolate chips (preferably Ghiradelli)
- paraffin wax
- Place 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped pecans in shallow bowl. Pour Maker's Mark over nuts, immersing completely. Cover and let soak 12 hours to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pecan halves in shallow pan and toast lightly for about ten minutes.
- Cream butter in stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Combine bourbon-pecan mixture with just enough powdered sugar to form a stiff ball. Refrigerate to let stiffen slightly.
- Roll dough into walnut-sized balls.
- In double-boiler (or a sauce pan placed over a cooker full of boiling water), add a third to a half a bag of semisweet chocolate chips and a small shaving of paraffin wax (no more than 1/4 cup). Heat until just smooth. Dip dough balls into the chocolate mixture. The key is to coat them quickly and make small, frequent batches of melted chocolate.
- Place bourbon balls on wax paper to cool. Top each with a toasted pecan half, if desired. Results are better if you leave them to cool at room temperature rather than in the refrigerator.