eating.

Introduction

Hello, Ruby Ann Boxcar here! Bein’ a well-known temptress of song, confidante to the jet set, former beautician extraordinaire, and world traveler, I always tend to find myself eatin’ in a whole lot of high-class restaurants and fancy homes. You can’t begin to imagine some of the things that have been in my mouth! In all fairness, let me just say that some of the eatin’ was good. As for the majority of what I was served, well, I wouldn’t have fed it to a dog! I kid you not! I wouldn’t have given that food to a crippled beggar in India in fear that after one bite he would get up and hit me with his crutch! Lord, was it nasty! Now as sure as I say that, I know that a few of y’all would probably find that food tasty, and that’s just fine. To each his own, as I always say. But for a small-town gal with a down home trailer park palette, eatin’ most of those dishes out of kindness was pure hell. Maybe I’m just spoiled when it comes to food. After all, I have been blessed by growin’ up with a momma and a Me-Ma that can cook. Lord knows our trailer was always full of blue ribbons from both the Arkansas state and county fairs. As a matter of fact, my momma still enters one or two of her delightful dishes, and she always manages to take first place. And my dear old Me-Ma, God bless her soul, was always poppin’ somethin’ into the oven. Hell, I’m sure that precious woman would still be cookin’ to this day if I hadn’t finally hauled her butt into a nursin’ home.

There just ain’t nothin’ like good trailer park cookin’! I know that for some of y’all this is hard to believe. It seems like every time I tell this to people, they always think that I’m kiddin’. I remember one evenin’ after eatin’ an awful dinner at one of them snooty French New York restaurants, my dear friends Jackie O., may she rest in peace, and Luciano Pavarotti were at each other’s throats over which style of cookin’ was the best. She was goin’ on about French food while he insisted, rather vocally, that it was Italian. Well, not bein’ one to hold her tongue for very long, I finally told ’em that they were both wrong. There just ain’t nothin’ like good trailer park cookin’, I toned in. They stopped, looked at each other, and broke into laughter. Fine, I told ‘em, just wait till we get back to Jackie’s place, and then we’ll see who’s a laughin’! Just as soon as Jackie unlocked the door, I hit the kitchen. Within no time I had cooked up a dessert that’s a staple in every trailer dweller’s diet. Needless to say, after one bite of my tomato soup cake they were forced to eat their words about trailer park cuisine. By the time Luciano and I had said our goodnights to Jackie and headed off to our separate hotel rooms (I am married after all), the once doubtin’ friends had forced me to hand over the recipe for my tomato soup cake (which is included in this book). They, like many others, have found that when it comes to trailer park cookin’, the proof is in the puddin’ (Ruby Ann Boxcar’s Dirt Bag Puddin’ to be exact)!

There are three things that trailer park women are good at: holdin’ our liquor, jackin’ our hair to Jesus, and cookin’. Even when we get so old that the liquor runs right through us and there ain’t any more hair left to jack or tease up, we can still cook up a meal like there’s no tomorrow! Yes, bein’ able to slam together a great-tastin’ meal with whatever happens to be in the fridge is somethin’ that’s in our blood. It’s a gift that the Almighty has seen fit to bestow on us common folk. It’s like I told his Holiness, Pope John Paul II, durin’ one of my many requested visits to the Papal Palace, This Old Rugged Cross cake with sanctified sour cream frostin’ is goin’ to knock that beanie right off of your head. We trailer folk know that our cookin’ is good, and we’re doggone proud of it! You see, trailer park cookin’ is more than just a way of preparin’ a meal. It also happens to be a tool of comfort, which we folks turn to in times of need. Your son’s been arrested... whip out the skillet! Your husband’s cheatin’ on you ... fire up the stove! A tornado’s been spotted a few trailers down ... grease up a pie pan! Or, God forbid, the bingo bus has broken down right outside your door, and your car won’t start ... put your dauber down, and crack open some eggs! Yes, dear reader, trailer park cookin’ plays a very large role in our everyday lives. Heck, why do you think Wal-Mart carries 3XL- to 5XL-SIZED stretch pants and caftans? Cookin’ is the backbone in the trailer park skeleton of life.

Over the years we folks have hoarded our recipes like tickets to a championship wrestlin’ event. We ain’t told anyone their contents, and in some cases, have even served TV dinners to visitin’ outsiders just to keep our secrets within our own community. Sure we’ll go on national television and air our dirty laundry, but when it comes to our cookin’ we’re tighter than Jimmy Swaggart’s hands on a widow’s checkbook. I, too, must confess of only sharin’ my personal titillatin’ concoctions with a few of my closest friends and clients. But the last time I had to eat one of them terrible meals that I spoke of at the beginnin’, I turned to my husband, Dew, and told him that it was time to throw open the trailer park recipe vaults for all the world to enjoy. After all, why should we be the only ones to enjoy a good meal? It just ain’t fair! So, here they are! Here are some of the finest dishes that you will ever put a fork or spoon to. I, however, can’t take all of the credit. No, I must share a tiny bit of the spotlight with all the members of my family and the rest of the inhabitants of the trailer park where I live. I told my family and all of the other residents at the 20 Lot High Chaparral Trailer Park about my idea for this book. Many of ‘em were happy to hand out their own recipes, which you will find on the followin’ pages. And then there were others that flatly refused to give away their secrets, so I swiped ‘em from the recipe holders durin’ a visit while the hostesses were in the john. Seein’ how the closest thing to a Barnes and Noble Bookstore in my hometown of Pangburn is the adult bookstore by the highway, and the last book the Pangburn Library purchased was Valley of the Dolls, I can safely pass these recipes on to you without fear of my amateur cat burglary of the recipe boxes bein’ disclosed.

In order to give you more of a feel about where these recipes came from, I’ve included a little bit about all of the people that live in the High Chaparral Trailer Park along with a map that shows you where everyone lives. When I have talked to folks about the trailer park life, I’ve been surprised by all of the misconceptions about our homes. Many folks think that trailers are cheap tin cans with fake wood panelin’ and pressed wood furniture. In some cases this is true, but you would be astonished at the modern trailer home. To prove this I’ve included a guided tour of my own trailer followin’ this introduction. Yes, seein’ how I make a damn good livin’ bein’ a star and all, my two-story double-wide trailer is a bit better than most, but you can still get an idea of what is on the market nowadays. And hopefully this will help to put an end to all of those trailer myths.

With all of that said, it is time to take a trip into the recipe world of the trailer park. In the words of a dear friend and fellow cook, Boner petite! (I still have no idea what those words have to do with cookin’, but in my younger single days, I did go out with a guy that had one of those. Needless to say, we didn’t go out on a second date!)

NOTE: There are a few things concernin’ the recipes in this book that I would like to address.

*Many of the recipes tell you to use government cheese. If you ain’t receivin’ cheese from the government, feel free to use whatever kind of cheese you like just as long as it’s a hard cheese (Cheddar, Colby, etc.). You can use VELVEETA if you got that kind of money.

*Many of the residents in trailer parks are either inbreeds (none of my family mind you) or elderly and suffer medical conditions, so some of the dishes in this book may not be seasoned to your likin’. Feel free to add more salt or pepper than the recipe requires.

*Don’t be fooled into believin’ that you can substitute ham for SPAM! If you use any other meat you will lose the true flavor of the dish. If it calls for SPAM, use it!

*Don’t let the ingredients frighten you! Trust me when I say you’ll be surprised at how good the dish will taste. Now, if you don’t like a kind of food or drink to start off with then you won’t like the dish. For example, if you hate apples then you won’t like apple pie. But if you like apples and the recipe for potato soup tells you to put apples in it, don’t worry about it. Just do what the recipe says, regardless of how crazy or weird it may sound.

*Every recipe in this here book is EDIBLE! That is, every recipe other than the ones that where given to me by my Me-Ma. She’s old and sometimes doesn’t live in this world, if you know what I mean, but knowin’ that she’ll read this book, I had to include the recipes that she gave me. Don’t worry, she won’t read this paragraph. I’ll mark it out with a black marker in her copy. Just remember that if a recipe has Me-Ma at the end of it, don’t try to make it! You’ll only get upset, and somebody might get hurt.

And now the traditional good feelin’ corny recipe for life that must start off all down home cookbooks.

HAPPINESS CAKE

1 cup good thoughts

1 cup kind deeds

4 cups consideration for others

2 cups sacrifice

2 cups faults, well-beaten

3 cups forgiveness

Mix thoroughly addin’ tears of joy, sorrow and sympathy, love and kindly service if needed. Fold in 4 cups of prayerful faith. Pour into your daily life and bake well with the heat of human kindness. Serve with a smile anytime, and it will satisfy the hunger of many souls.

—AUTHOR UNKNOWN

If that don’t make you want to up and vomit, I’ve got some nude pictures of me that my husband, Dew, took while I was semi-comatose after a bout with some bad mail-ordered fish! To this day, even the slightest smell of seafood just turns my stomach and arouses my husband, Dew.

Chapter 1

Standin’ in front of our trailer are Trixy, me Ruby Ann, Shady Lady, my husband, Dew, and Silver Fox.

A Trailer Fit for a Queen

Yes, I’ve truly been blessed in my life. The Lord has seen fit to give me a good husband, many talents, tons of friends (famous and not), great family members, and a wonderful home. Because of my singin’, I’ve been able to own a trailer that is fit for a queen. My two-story double-wide pink trailer home is not just a thing of beauty for all who see it, but it’s also a shrine to fine livin’. As I stated in my introduction, many people who have never lived in a trailer home almost always have the wrong idea about ‘em. They’ve bought into the myth that a home on wheels is nothin’ but a cheaply constructed firetrap with bad decor and furniture. Needless to say, nothin’ could be farther from the truth, and I feel that my home proves it.

I must point out and warn you that not everyone can have my kind of taste. As a matter of fact, one time while I was playin’ canasta with Ralph