In the event you love a homegrown story that takes you again to your Arkansas childhood, you in all probability already know the voice of Sandra Spotts.
“I’ve written for my very own pleasure since childhood, however started writing tales [to share] when my father died at age 94,” Spotts begins her story. “He instructed us bedtime tales about what he knew — his growing-up years in Lawrence County, Arkansas. I cherish these tales as we speak and needed to inform my tales about rising up with him.”
That is how Spotts — who has appeared on the Nationwide Public Radio program “Tales From the South” — got here up with “Homegrown Tales,” a reside storytelling night that began within the fall of 2019 at Brews in Eureka Springs. It crammed the espresso home, was recorded for broadcast on an area radio station and was an enormous hit along with her co-host, artist and creator Zeek Taylor, and friends as effectively generally known as meals guru Crescent Dragonwagon.
After which got here the pandemic. And Spotts discovered herself returning to her past love — the visible arts — particularly summary expressionist acrylic and combined media work, which she reveals at Curated in Eureka Springs and at The Showroom in Little Rock.
Spotts says her love of writing and storytelling influences her combined media portray type, wherein she typically incorporates fragments of letters, books and different discovered objects and authentic prose.
“The primary artwork that I keep in mind being fascinated by was Artwork Nouveau illustrations in an outdated ebook of fairy tales that had been left behind by the previous homeowners of our dwelling in Little Rock,” she remembers. “At a really early age, I acknowledged the intricacies and the class of these drawings.
“My inventive journey began in second grade when I discovered myself surrounded by classmates wanting me to attract a model of my ‘fancy woman’ for them. The eye was heady stuff for a really shy 6-year-old! I by no means regarded again.”
Spotts now lives in Eureka Springs along with her 17-year-old cat, Gracie Mae, and sometimes ventures into her kitchen to make dishes like this Gradual Cooker Ranch Hen. She hopes she and Taylor will be capable to convey “Homegrown Tales” again within the spring.
Gradual Cooker Ranch Hen
2-1/2 to three lbs. boneless hen breast
16 oz. cream cheese (low fats is OK)
2 envelopes dry Ranch seasoning combine
8 oz. crumbled cooked bacon (actual bacon bits will be substituted)
Mix all however bacon in a sluggish cooker. Prepare dinner on low 6-8 hours. Stir in bacon bits, shredding hen with a fork. Shredded cheddar and chopped inexperienced onions could also be added. Serve on a bun, atop cooked noodles or as is.
It can, she guarantees, “mechanically make a nasty day go away.”
Do you like to prepare dinner — or love a buddy’s cooking? Share your “Native Flavors” with our readers by emailing bmartin@nwadg.com.
Sandra Spotts hopes to convey “Homegrown Tales,” a night of storytelling, again to Brews within the spring. (Courtesy picture/Sandra Spotts)
