Grand Anne

by Kathy Davis
Grand Anne was my maternal grandmother.She was indeed grand, and a southern belle from Athens Georgia. I saw a photograph of her a few years ago in a line up for a basketball team for whom she played in high school. I felt such love for her with her trademark widow's peak,chiseled nose and long defined legs and clothed in her basketball uniform. The photo betrayed the "siren" that she would become as she morphed into a smokin' hot, bourbon swilling,piano playing matriarch who could cook up a batch of the best chicken 'n dumplin's in life.

When I was eleven years old her youngest daughter and yet my aunt {three years younger than I } and she moved in with us.Life was a party everyday after school with Grand Anne at the stove.She would be at the stove with a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth while tending to the ham hocks and beans, cherry cobbler or any of the southern dishes she was known for with her bourbon within reach.

Although she was "Grand Anne", to us ""chilluns" she was "Grannie Annie". She cussed like a sailor yet had the regal features of a patrician beauty.There was nothing that could not be discussed with her.She could charm a diplomat or a hell's angel, for she was comprised of the facets that could be at home with either.

Grannie Annie was a glamour queen,a hostess and an unbelievable chef.As a tribute to her,I will embark upon a car trip throughout the south,discovering my southern roots and paying homage by including her divine southern "fixin's"in the final chapter of my autobiographical cook book.
I have lived in Paris,stayed for lengthy amounts of time in Rome, Milan and loved Bangkok but never did I dream that I would return with a fervor to my southern roots and embrace all that I ever really was, and rediscover my family's cuisine wholeheartedly and without apologies.