IngredientsVegetable oil, for frying 2 lb clam strips 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup cornstarch ½ cup cornmeal ⅓ cup all-purpose flour 1 tsp curry powder ½ tsp celery salt ½ tsp cayenne ½ tsp salt Instructions Start by heating the canola oil in a pot over moderate heat until it reaches 380 degrees F. While the oil is being heated, rinse and drain the clam strips in a colander. Stir the clam strips together with buttermilk in a large bowl. Drain the clam strips well in a colander. Let them set over a bowl for at least 5 minutes. In another bowl stir together the cornstarch, cornmeal, flour, curry powder, celery salt, cayenne, and salt. Dredge a handful of drained clams in the flour mixture then shake in a large sieve to remove excess flour. Transfer the clams one by one in a baking sheet and then shake them again to remove any excess flour mixture. Fry the coated clams until they're crisp and golden for about 1 ½ minutes. Then, transfer them onto some paper towels with a slotted spoon for draining. Afterward, sprinkle them with salt to taste. Serve with some potato fries and your desired dipping sauce, and enjoy! should be close

Aunt Sally and Sally Ann cookies are the same creature; from the late 1930's early 40's, a molasses cookie frosted with a thick cooked frosting that hardens on the exterior but stays soft underneath. The cookie dough is refrigerated and then rolled out and cut with a Spam can to give it the traditional shape. Once baked, the cookie is hard; it seems to draw moisture from the thick frosting and softens up as the frosting hardens. It's really a magical transformation! The name difference seems to be regional (Aunt Sally=east; Sally Ann=south & midwest). My authentic Aunt Sally recipe uses brewed coffee but no eggs. The frosting is made not with marshmallows, but by cooking unflavored gelatine, water and granulated sugar, and then adding powdered sugar and beating it for 15 min. Stage Plank cookies are a different animal altogether; they are a form of gingerbread with well-documented Creole roots. The cookie is crisper than a "Sally" and any icing (the original is not iced), is a just a thin coat of royal icing. Uncle Al's Stage Planks are the archetypal modern Stage Plank cookie-- but they don't seem to bear much resemblence to the original.

Oh my - did not intend to offend so many with something that I merely found funny. In re food safety, I am very concientious about it but I think that most of our mothers or grandmothers had not nearly the knowledge that we have and did things very differently. My husband's mother (this would have been in the 60's - early 70's) would cover the leftover Christmas Turkey or Easter Ham with a tea towel and leave it on the counter for a day or two until the kids had picked it clean! My post was just really about my sudden recollection of a funny, very unprofessional cook whom I had forgotten all about. I guess I shouldn't have mentioned the soup...

Lol, agree Olliesmom. Yes, loved the Jessica McClintock Aka Gunne Sax dresses. Although even then some were too granny for me. We used to have 2 Gunne Sax outlets not too far away, back in the day of real factory outlets. They had a totally different name nothing related to Gunne Sax. You could get the dresses for 50 to 90% off, so I owned too many. My last Jessica McClintock dress was purchased at a local JM store at an upscale mall, several hundred dollars by and not granny style at all. Wore it as Maid of Honor for my mom’s second wedding, 3 weeks after the birth of my daughter. Had to guess the size, thankfully it fit.