Homegrown

Fun with Wax and Wicks

By Karon Warren Photography courtesy of Girls Smell Great/Channon Mickens

Candle-making parties are the newest crafting event and perfect for spending quality time with friends and family members.

There are many popular choices for outings with best friends and family members, ranging from spa days to painting parties to singing your favorite tunes at the karaoke bar. Now there’s a new activity gaining favor for spending quality time with those you love: candle-making parties. Whether honoring mom on Mother’s Day, celebrating with friends at bridal showers, or just getting together for some much-needed girls-only time, candle-marking parties offer a fun way to catch up, brush up on craft skills, and commemorate the outing with a lovely memento. Participants bring home a unique souvenir that may spark memories of the special event every time it’s lighted. “Everybody likes making their own custom item,” says Channon Mickens, owner of Girls Smell Great in Collierville, Tenn., where she hosts in-store candle-making parties. “They can create what they like and want.” Mickens opened Girls Smell Great in September 2019 and began researching candle-making for her customers because she wanted to offer something new and fresh that promoted interaction among the participants, something not

already available in the community. She already knew how to make candles herself, but wanted to develop a DIY activity for groups. Today, customers can book a candle-making party at Girls Smell Great, wherein they choose their candle container and scents and then make their candle under the Girls Smell Great staff’s guidance. Containers include 4-ounce, 8-ounce and 11-ounce vessels, with more than 80 scents available to be included in the candle. If that sounds overwhelming, relax. Mickens stands at the ready to help customers narrow down those choices. “I have a knack for being able to feel out what a person likes,” she says. “Their personality and likes can help determine what they like to smell.” Mickens says the candle-making parties are a popular choice for birthday parties, bridal showers, wedding party-only parties, women’s book club meetings, and more. “It’s so fun, and it’s a way to awaken things you didn’t know you enjoyed,” Mickens says. “Plus, these candles are all-natural, last longer than many other candles, and you can customize the scent.” Mickens says she even has corporate groups booking candle-making parties as a way to promote not only team building but also team bonding. “They wanted the group to have the ability to get along outside of work, not just at work,” she says. Although walk-ins are welcome, Mickens recommends calling ahead to make sure your group can be accommodated, especially if you have six or more participants. There is no cost for a public party other than the cost of the candlemaking products. It takes approximately 30 minutes to create a candle, with another hour to 90 minutes for the candles to dry. Customers can remain at the store until their candles are ready or go shopping or out to eat nearby and pick up their candles later.

Customers also have the option of booking a private party for three hours for $150. For a private party, participants may arrive an hour early for decorating the space and bring their own food and drink. For both public and private parties, Girls Smell Great can accommodate up to 16 people for a candle-making session. Another great option for candlemaking parties are the virtual workshops available through Paddywax Candle Bar. This company — which operates storefronts in Birmingham, Nashville, Philadelphia, Reston, Va., and Charlotte, N.C. — sells athome kits so customers and their friends can make candles in the comfort of their own homes.

Each kit includes candle containers, wicks, glue dots, wick brackets, soy wax chips, signature fragrance oils, and directions. At-home candle makers will need a double boiler, tempered glass pitcher, and candy or meat thermometer, the latter two available to purchase as add-ons to the Paddywax candle kits. Kit buyers may also take advantage of the optional 30-minute virtual Q&A with a Paddywax Candle Bar associate, with the option to purchase additional time. Pricing for kits start at $45 with tools and $30 without tools. There is a $20 flat rate for shipping up to 20 kits to one address. If shipping to more than one address, shipping is $8 per kit. Whether you choose an in-person party or a virtual candle-making workshop, getting together with your closest friends and loved ones is sure to be a good time, one you’ll remember every time you light your candle.

girlssmellgreat.com thecandlebar.co/pages/virtualworkshops

A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Karon Warren covers lifestyle, travel and other topics for several media outlets.

Smokin’ Dreams Come True

By Jason Frye | Photography courtesy of Pit Barrel Cooker

Navy veteran Noah Glanville has created the Pit Barrel Cooker that finely smokes everything from ribs and wings to whole turkeys.

Some of y’all fine Southern Gentlemen are going to be glad to hear this: I’ve found an idiot-proof smoker. I know because I’ve tested my Pit Barrel Cooker extensively — my wife might say obsessively — since it arrived a couple of months ago. My clothes smell like smoke; I’m going through charcoal like I’m practicing for Memphis in May; and the butchers at three Harris Teeter’s and two Lowe’s Foods know me by name. But I can’t stop. That’s music to U.S. Navy veteran and Pit Barrel founder, Noah Glanville’s ears. “It took us 29 prototypes to get the design dialed in and create something that anyone can use,” says Glanville. Glanville, who served six years as a Navy Corpsman, much of that attached to a Marine Corps unit in Iraq, has a lifelong love of cooking. “Every grill I had or came near, I saw how to cook on it,” he says. “I had a knack for understanding the way they worked and I knew that after my time in the Navy was up, I wanted to get into the restaurant business.” Things didn’t go exactly as originally planned. After his stint in the Navy, he joined a private security firm and headed back to Iraq and Afghanistan. “Two or three months on, one month stateside, repeat. I saved every dollar, worked every holiday, and after a while I was ready to head home and open a restaurant.”

Except he got talked out of it and changed his plan. After one tour in Iraq, Glanville and his unit were greeted by a barbecue hosted in their honor. A group of veterans had assembled a fleet of grills and the smell of it — the smoke, the fire, the food — and the camaraderie he found at the gathering welcomed him home. Something about that memory took root in Glanville’s mind and after dropping the restaurant plans, another plan took shape: he decided to pursue the perfect smoker design. I think he succeeded. And I’m not the only one. A few years ago, a good friend introduced us to the Pit Barrel. When we arrived at his house, we found a squat black drum puffing smoke in his driveway. “That’s the Pit Barrel. You’re going to want to order one,” he told us. After eating what seemed like a wheelbarrow full of wings and a healthy portion of leftover barbecue we agreed. Over the next couple of years, the Pit Barrel began to appear in our driveways and back yards, and I started spotting them in my travels: fishermen on the Outer Banks had theirs propped up in the sand; at a campground in the Smoky Mountains, I saw one smoking away; on the Blue Ridge Parkway I noticed one in the back of a truck. This stands as testament to Glanville’s design and his desire to put “gourmet barbecue” in the hands of anyone who can light a fire and season a piece of meat.

The Pit Barrel has one ventilation opening near the bottom of the barrel and you adjust the air flow according to your altitude. At the top, two short pieces of rebar serve as hangers for hooks onto which you can attach ribs (dear Lord the ribs are good), a whole chicken or turkey, pork butts, steak, and, well, just about anything you want. Don’t want to hang? Use the grill grate and cook as normal. Want to hang some ribs and do veggies or a pile of wings or a butt? Put the hinged grill grate in there and go for it; the ribs will hang through the opening and you still have half a grill to use. And unless you’re doing a big cook — throwing 20 pounds of pork butts on there, hanging a dozen racks of ribs, doing a Thanksgiving turkey to feed 14 — you’ll use one basket of charcoal (less than half a bag of Kingsford). If you’re like me and you’re coming to the Pit Barrel from the world of slow and low, you’ll notice this cooker runs a little hotter. Don’t worry, it yields the same result: tender, perfect barbecue with a lovely smoke ring and a tasty bark. That’s thanks to what Glanville calls a “smoke fog” — a swirling vortex of meaty, fatty, juicy smoke whirling up from the coal bed below — which he goes into more detail on his website. The site’s loaded with recipes and tips, but above all else, remember this: you cook to temp, not to time, so you’ll want a good instantread thermometer The one thing Glanville recommends cooking on the Pit Barrel? It’s not a pork butt. It’s not belly. It’s not tri-tip — specialty of Glanville’s native California — or brisket. It’s lamb. “Come to my house and I’ll pull a rack of lamb off the Pit Barrel that you won’t believe,” he says. “I live on the coast,” I tell him, “what about fish?” He laughs, pauses a second, “Well, you don’t want to hang it, but you’ll swear the Pit Barrel was made to cook fish.” Maybe it’s time to leave the butcher’s counter behind and head back to the fish market. I’ll bet they’ll miss me by now I have a few new things to cook on my Pit Barrel.

PitBarrelCooker.com

Jason Frye, a North Carolina-based writer and Pit Barrel Cooker addict, is seeking patrons to keep him supplied with charcoal, brisket, butts, and ribs. Interested parties should inquire through Instagram where he’s @beardedwriter. Jason’s latest book, “Moon Blue Ridge Parkway Road Trip,” hits shelves in late May.

No Time to Slow Down

By Pam Windsor | Photography courtesy of Nate Griffin

His outdoor adventures — like the 2021 Iron Dog Snowmobile Race — are thrilling and chilling, but creating timeless music is what warms Craig Morgan’s heart.

Craig Morgan rarely slows down. During a year where artists and musicians were forced to stop touring, Morgan released a new album, performed before an empty Grand Ole Opry house to help continue the tradition of live radio shows, did some acting, worked with a co-writer on an upcoming book, and in February traveled to Alaska for the 2021 Iron Dog Snowmobile Race. He joined in for the last 100 miles or so. “It was exhilarating!” Morgan says. “I love the idea of testing my physical, emotional, and mental limits.” The Iron Dog is the longest, toughest snowmobile race in the world. Morgan served as an exhibition rider as part of a small group in partnership with Monster Energy that ran the last leg of the 2600-mile Pro Class race. “On the day we rode,” Morgan explains, “it was 25 below zero. So, you have to be very conscious of everything going on with your body, in and around, you’ve got to be in great health, and you’ve got to know your machine and the limits of pushing it.” A longtime endurance athlete, Motorcross fan, and avid outdoorsman (many are familiar with his “Craig Morgan All Access Outdoors” television show), Morgan has a deep love for Alaska and even owns a home there. Next year, he plans to run the entire Trail class of the Iron Dog, which covers more than a thousand miles. “I’ll be going up there to train every chance I get. And I can’t wait.”

He’ll train in-between touring, working on music, and a host of other projects. His live-performance schedule is ever-evolving as COVID restrictions ease and new dates added. Morgan is currently promoting his latest album, “God, Family, Country.” “We released that album during the pandemic when there was so much uncertainty in our lives. I questioned whether or not we should have been doing that, but we did it, and it was unbelievable. I think I had the biggest first week sales of any album I’ve ever had.” That covers more than two decades in the music business. Morgan has a long list of familiar songs like “Bonfire,” “Almost Home,” “Redneck Yacht Club,” “International Harvester,” and his signature hit, “That’s What I Love About Sunday.” Some of those songs are featured on “God, Family, Country,” along with five new tracks, including a faith-filled tribute he wrote following the death of his son, Jerry, in 2016. Although Morgan has performed “The Father, My Son, and the Holy Ghost” a number of times now, it still affects him deeply.

“There are times I can sing it without issue, but there are still times when it’s almost impossible for me to do it. I think it’ll always be this way. Having a child die, there’s no getting over it, there’s no getting past it or beyond it. It’s forever and ever, until I’m gone, which is what I say in the song. It’s going to be this way until the day I see him in heaven again.” Other new songs are “Whiskey,” “Sippin’ On The Simple Life,” and his version of Gavin DeGraw’s “Soldier.” “Every lyric of that song really does represent the

soldier,” Morgan says. After 17 years in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserves, he remains a strong supporter of the U.S. military. He has traveled overseas to perform for the troops 16 times, and in 2018, was awarded the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Medal. He also works closely with Operation Finally Home.

“There are a lot of great organizations that provide homes for wounded warriors and their families, but I love how Operation Finally Home does it. They don’t just hand over the keys and say, ‘thank you for your service.’ They create this relationship between the family and community that will last forever. And to me, that’s as important, or maybe even more important than just the home. Because, quite honestly, that’s the struggle for a servicemember — coming back into society.”

Although Morgan is best known as a singer/songwriter, he has also done some acting with appearances on “Rizzoli & Isles,” “Army Wives,” and roles in a couple of made-for-TV movies. And while he can’t share details yet, he hints there will be more of that — in the future. He is also working on a book expected out next year. Still, despite his many interests, music and songwriting remain closest to his heart. He knows it is through songwriting that he makes his strongest creative connection. Songs, he hopes, that will resonate with people for years to come. “With every song I write, I want it to be something that people can listen to at the age of 16 when they’re sitting in the parking lot with all their buddies talking about their trucks,” he says. “And then, when they’re 45 there is something in that song they can listen to and attach themselves to that they didn’t hear when they were 16. For me, that’s what makes a hit song. One someone will be able to relate to throughout their life.” Songs that are timeless.

Pam Windsor is a freelance music, feature, and travel writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

Muddling 101

By Cheré Coen | Photography courtesy of Woodford Reserve

The quintessential Southern cocktail associated with bourbon and horse racing has a long and celebrated history.

The secret is in the muddling. That’s what the representative of Woodford Reserve distillery instructed a group of food and travel writers on a tour of Churchill Downs, home to the celebrated horse race known as the Kentucky Derby. We were being served mint juleps in traditional silver julep cups, garnishes of mint leaves springing out the top while learning the history of the famed horse track. Not a fan of mint juleps, I listened intently because what I was drinking changed my opinion of the sweet Southern cocktail. Woodford Reserve, a Kentucky distiller of fine whiskeys, is the “official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby.” Almost 120,000 mint juleps are served annually over the two-day period of Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby weekend at Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, says Elizabeth McCall, Woodford’s assistant master distiller. The sweet drink can be traced back to colonial Virginia, where the addition of mint to a number of spirits helped to mask the medicinal taste, according to Jerry Slater, author of “The Southern Foodways Alliance Guide to Cocktails.” The drink soon found favor among Southerners and it’s believed was served at Churchill Downs when it opened in 1875.

“Our ancestors brought with them their stills and their horses,” says McCall. “They were drinking and racing, so bourbon and horses have been connected as a social intercourse for several generations. The first mention of a mint julep was in 1816 actually, when it was awarded as a racing trophy somewhere in the Lexington area. In fact, we have it on record that mint juleps were served at the very first Derby on May 17, 1875. By 1938, it had become a staple at the Derby, and Churchill Downs made it the signature drink, selling them in celebratory glasses.” Woodford Reserve became the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby in 2018, but the brand has been involved in the most famous of horse races for more than 20 years, says McCall.

“Each year, Woodford Reserve releases a one-liter Kentucky Derby bottle featuring the work of an artist selected to shine their perspective on the event,” she explains. “This year Louisville artist Richard Sullivan, a former Atlanta Braves baseball player, created a stunning watercolor image of thoroughbreds as they thunder down the stretch. It was designed as a complement to last year’s Derby bottle artwork, which Sullivan also created. This year we released our 22nd edition.” In addition, Woodford Reserve offers its annual charitable program, the $1,000 Mint Julep, to raise money for local and national charities that are important to the organization, McCall adds. But, back to that muddling. I’ve found poorly made mint juleps overly sweet and tasting akin to a badly sugared iced tea. The key, our Woodford representative insisted—and McCall seconds—is muddling the fresh mint at the bottom of the glass, letting the herb’s oils emerge and coat the inside of the glass or julep cup. “What makes a great mint julep is quality, simple ingredients,” McCall insists. “The Woodford Reserve mint julep is made with three simple ingredients: Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon, simple syrup, and fresh mint leaves. The key is to express the essential oils from the mint and rub them inside the glass. To the same glass, add your simple syrup, bourbon and crushed ice. Stir all ingredients together, and garnish with more ice and fresh mint.”

Woodford Reserve Mint Julep 3 fresh mint leaves 2 ounces bourbon whiskey 1/2 ounce simple syrup Crushed ice

Directions: Express the essential oils in the mint and rub them inside the glass. Add bourbon, simple syrup, and crushed ice. Stir.

DeSoto Co-editor Cheré Coen lived for a while in Louisville, which is where she developed a love for bourbon and the annual Running of the Roses. She’ll be singing “My Old Kentucky Home” on May 1, even though she now lives in the Deep South.