Southern Living May 2022

Emily Nunn FREELANCE WRITER A food writer and home-cooking evangelist, Nunn lives in Atlanta. She is the author of the memoir The Comfort Food Diaries, and she has a popular newsletter, “The Department of Salad: Official Bulletin.” In this issue, she shares her passion and expertise on the topic in “Lost Salads of the South” (page 86). Kendyll Hillegas ILLUSTRATOR Happiest with a paintbrush in hand, studying the intricacies of a slice of cake or a rose petal, Hillegas loves finding the transcendent in the mundane. She lives in rural Pennsylvania with her family (including preschool-age daughters) but has roots in the South with relatives in Birmingham and New Orleans.…

MY MOTHER’S HOUSE has always been full of music, which is hard to miss if you ever come over. She has two baby grand pianos (one was her grandmother’s), pictures of performers on the walls, and stacks of classical CDs in the living room cabinets. When she’s not playing the piano, she’s often blasting Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, or some Italian opera loud enough to rattle the windows. Sometimes I hear it in the background when she answers the phone, shouting, “Oh, hey, honey. Let me turn that down!” As a kid, I didn’t always appreciate this—I remember trying to do homework while she practiced Tchaikovsky down the hall—but Mom has spent her career bringing music into people’s homes. For 33 years, she has run an organization called the Memphis Chamber Music…

WHAT WE’RE LOVING, SHARING, AND CELEBRATING Mint Julep Sweet Tea Combine 6 cups water, 1 ½ cups fresh mint, and 1 cup granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over high, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a boil, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 6 mint herbal tea bags. Steep until cooled to room temperature, about 1 hour. Strain into a pitcher, and stir in 1 ½ cups (12 oz.) bourbon and 1 sliced lemon. Serve over crushed ice, and garnish with additional fresh mint. ACTIVE 10 MIN. - TOTAL 10 MIN., PLUS 1 HOUR COOLING - SERVES 8 No-Churn Fresh Mint Chip Ice Cream Combine 2 ½ cups heavy whipping cream, 2 cups fresh mint, and ⅛ tsp. kosher salt in a saucepan over medium, stirring occasionally, until it…

NESTING SEASON Rattan nests can be grouped together to create a centerpiece or displayed individually on tables and shelves to bring a touch of seasonality to a space. Line each nest with florist foil or a plastic sandwich bag, and then tuck in a small piece of florist foam that’s been soaked in water to act as the base. From there, layer in flowers purchased from the grocery store. Work using odd numbers—here, three blooms in varying sizes (we chose two garden roses and a spray rose) are the focal points. Rosemary and snapdragons (trimmed down to fit) add texture, while variegated pittosporum can be called on to fill in any holes around the perimeter of the arrangement. BEAUTIFULLY BUNDLED This charming bouquet is as simple as casually gathering hypericum berries, spray roses,…

“WHEN I WAS growing up, my Daddy always told us that before we started something, we should do our homework—cross our t’s and dot our i’s,” recalls Michelle Ducworth, the owner and operator of Twin Creeks Lavender Farm in Williamston, South Carolina. So that’s exactly what she did when she decided to plant lavender in an area that was really better suited for corn than for a crop that has a disdain for both red clay and humidity. Ducworth and her brother, Scott, spent their childhoods helping their parents raise crops and cattle on their farm. “My family had been on this land for over 100 years. Watching my Daddy on his tractor, I got a sense of the dedication and love that went into it,” she says. When her father,…

We Scream for Sunscreen The founder of Supergoop! is on a mission to put SPF lotion in classrooms across the country AFTER HER FRIEND’S skin cancer diagnosis, Holly Thaggard had a conversation with a dermatologist that changed the way she thought about sunscreen. “She told me, ‘It’s not about beaches and bikinis,’” says Thaggard. “My wheels began turning. There were no good options [at the time]. Sunscreen was an icky, sticky mess that you put up with only when you had to.” The San Antonio entrepreneur partnered with a chemist to create an appealing sunscreen—made without oxybenzone—and launched her SPF line, Supergoop!, in 2005. The former teacher originally intended to supply classrooms with her product, but a law deeming sunscreen an over-the-counter drug prohibited its presence in schools unless a student had a…