Ladies and Lees Who Lunch

I was kindly invited to attend the luncheon on the first day of the Washington Winter Show (which is the renamed Washington Antique Show).  This was an opportunity for social Washingtonians to support a fine set of charities while enjoying a “Southern Picnic Lunch” and listening to the yarns spun by two premier Southern cooks, Matt and Ted Lee.

On a soggy but not frigid day, attendees (almost all women) were met by waiters offering bloody Marys.  The tables in the light-filled rotunda of the Katzen Arts Center were charmingly set with cheese straws and deviled eggs as starters, simple syrup for the iced tea and centerpieces of either lemon trees or pots with a variety of herbs.

I found myself at a table with several representatives of PNC Bank, and next to one of their guests, Mitchell Herman, whose business interests include both the restaurant RIS, and the Shoppers Food Warehouse chain – so you can imagine we had an interesting conversation!

The Rotunda and Speakers From My Seat

The centerpieces were for sale.  They came with boxes of grits from a suitably Southern source – The Old Mill of Guilford, in Oak Ridge, North Carolina.  These grits are available from the Lee Brothers Boiled Peanuts Catalog (what a coincidence!)  There were individual bottles of Tabasco sauce at each place.  Careful inspection revealed that these had been customized for the WWS.

Table Setting

The brothers spoke winsomely of their background in food and how they researched their cookbooks.  The first two focused on micro-regional cuisine, which furnished a great opportunity to travel across the South meeting characters of all types and hearing their stories.  The latest, though, concentrates on Charleston (The Lee Brothers Charleston Kitchen), their hometown.

Customized Tabasco Label

Their early life was a progression from chicken-neckin’ to opening oysters to shrimping with drop lines.  Along the way they learned that “mulberries make better projectiles than food.”  When they moved away from the South, they found that they weren’t the only ones longing for the food of their youth.  Thus began their careers in mail-order, which progressed soon enough to food and cookbook writing.  Oh, and they are “living proof that men can teach themselves to cook.”

Matt, Left, Mostly Smiled While Ted Talked

After the Lees spoke, the main course was served.  This consisted of chicken salad with grapes and walnuts, carrot-ginger soup, and miniature toasted pimento cheese sandwiches.  For dessert, apple crisp with bourbon-caramel ice cream.  Bless their hearts!

After the lunch, I took a turn around the show.  There were many displays of antique tableware, silver, and other food-related items one would expect to see, but my attention was captured by something new to me: a row of knives at Mark and Marjorie Allen’s booth.  Ken Southand kindly showed me the nineteenth-century food choppers crafted in Europe for home use, and allowed me to take a picture.

Antique Food Choppers

I thought the rather delicate cut-out parts might make them prone to breaking, but they are sturdy enough to chop through bones.  Ken showed me the wear on the top of one which indicated a mallet was used to facilitate butchering.  Beautiful, but, like most items in the show, out of my price range.

The Katzen Center has its own little art-oriented gift shop.  I found a very cute artifact in it: Jacques, The Tea Infuser.  I really can’t think of anything to say about it that would improve on the picture!

Jacques The Intrepid Infuser