The last post in my "Ghosts of DFW Music History" series was on April 30th, a full 3 1/2 months ago. I managed to get the post up just before starting my sabbatical from work and embarking on my long road trip up to Alaska. Since my return, following a couple of weeks taken to recharge and recover, I resumed work on my other long-term projects with the aim of returning to the "Ghosts" series in a couple of weeks. Those couple of weeks have, without my ever intending them to, extended to over three months. I have been at work gathering historical materials and following up on a couple of leads, but overall I have been focusing heavily on getting all my other in-progress tasks out of the pipeline - clearing the table, so to speak. Vintage photo galleries, research on a few historical DFW sites, working on my long-delayed road trip travelogues, and, notably, finally getting some business cards created, have been my main priorities since returning from Alaska. But now it's time to get back to work on the "Ghosts" series. If all goes according to plan, I hope to edit and post about half a dozen more entries over the next few months, and to wrap up the entire series by the end of 2024. I'm also strongly considering making an eventual print edition of the completed project, which would not only allow me to expand upon a few things that were left out of the online posts, but also to update the overall text with additional information I've gathered since the original versions went up on the site. I have a potential cover image and design already put together as a proof of concept, and I have some ideas on whom I would like to tap for a potential foreword. This won't happen until sometime in 2025 if I do indeed proceed with the idea. In the meantime, be on the lookout for new series installments in the coming days. I'm waiting to hear back from a few sources and have found new wells to tap for memorabilia, so fingers crossed.
I gave up most dairy products a long time ago, and I've never looked back. Cow's milk isn't something meant for humans to consume, as evidenced by the fact that most of the world's people develop an intolerance to lactose as they get older. But like a lot of people, I have my food weaknesses, and two of my most particular weaknesses are breads and fried foods. And two of my favorite breads from back in the day are pancakes and biscuits.
Unfortunately, despite various attempts over the years to come up with a good replication of the baking powder biscuits I grew up with, I always came up short when it came to replacing the buttermilk and nailing a good texture. Finally, after gaining some new knowledge concerning buttermilk substitutions, and after some more trial and error and tweaking, I came up with the recipe that I'm presenting here. These biscuits aren't quite the same as the ones I grew up eating - they have a softer texture and some natural sweetness due to the use of sweet potato - but they are good enough to keep as my "go-tos."
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