Postcards from Snagglepuss: So fruitcake wasn’t good enough, you said….
Anyway … exit Corsicana, Texas, as in “That Famous ‘Corsicana’ Fruitcake,” as in the Collin Street Bakery. But not before a serious refill of as much gas as our vacuum coffeepot, and some convenience-store burritos which managed to come out halfway decent when you bring Dr Pepper into the equation for refreshment. Which was enough to get us on US 287 ere the afternoon segued into evening into the charming Texas community of Palestine (and the correct pronunciation in this instance is “Pales-TEEN,” I will have you know, with Huckleberry Hound, my travel companion here, seconding that sentiment).
As it was getting to be essentially the closing time of our preferred destination, otherwise known as the Eilenberger Bakery, for the day, we thought it best to as much get some decent “home cooking” dinner wise as find a worthwhile motel. The former, I will have you know, required heading out to the 287 bypass around town to find that very ideal diner making no pretense of their being the sort as actually SERVED some generous “home cookin’” of the highest caliber, and then some. Even when you consider local farmers and trucker types to be the dominant crowd that evening, we were able to get seated at the counter (as we seem to prefer it) and ordered some choice chicken-fried steaks. Absolute Texan home cooking, and then some, with some pecan pie in the bargain for dessert.
As for the motel–not all that shabby a place, yet close to downtown and offering the inevitable rolls and coffee for breakfast. On explaining that we were planning to pay a call to the Eilenberger Bakery the next day, the manager mentioned that some time might also be worth paying at Mary of Puddin’ Hill, which had moved its retail outlet from Greenville, some 130 miles to the north, a few years back (although its baking operations were still in Greenville proper). Not a bad idea, we concurred. So what else can you think of on a somewhat muggy Texas Blacklands summer evening aside from killing time in the motel swimming pool, surfing through the channels of nothing but awful TV to begin with, and having some of that Corsicana fruitcake from earlier in the day?
Still, the wait couldn’t have been more worrthwhile, even with the Continental breakfast of rolls seeming to have come from Costco for the most part and coffee, to pay a visit to the Eilenberger’s Bakery. Which may not have been as known as the Collin Street Bakery back in Corsicana, but has something of an interesting repute for Texas Pecan Cakes, particularly for such who seem fruitcaked to death. (Even more interesting: Eilenberger’s has Texas Pecan Cakes in traditional and fudge varieties, which actually won the Monde Selection gold medal. Were the jduges in Brussels, perhaps, impressed by the sheer chewiness of the whole, the excesses of Texas Native Pecans in the recipe, such as could even be enough to impress certain close friends of mine I prefer not to name at this time, rumoured to prefer Eilenberger’s Texas Pecan Cakes as their Festive Season gift of choice?)
But it’s not just the Texas Pecan Cakes as are the draw at Eilenberger’s: Not only do they also have a worthwhile fruitcake and an Australian Pecan-Apricot Cake which could make a certain Kwicky Koala envious (especially as Wilford Wolf seeks to “go for the kill,” only to have Kwicky go into his disappearing act), they also have some Hawai'ian Kona Coffees of legendary smoothness. I think I recall visiting with a few close friends some years back a Kona coffee plantation on The Big Island, and could not help but have some impressions of the coffee as actually got me through some otherwise awful surfing sessions off Hilo. So, a tasting session was at hand of their Texas Pecan Cakes and Texas Pecan Fudge Cakes, and Eilenberger’s Hawai'ian Kona Coffee … and enough to not only buy a loaf each for ourselves, but also sent one loaf each (and some coffee as well) to the likes of the Ghost Chasers crew … to my oldest and dearest buds, Ruff and Reddy … and to those swingin’ Cattanooga Cats themselves, even considering that the source for their legendary holiday-season divinity went through some recent changes because of the advancing age of the longtime candymakers.
(Incidentally, a few days later, Country, on behalf of the Cats, sent me an e-mail acknowledging such tasty pecan cakes and some equally hearty coffee.)
For some reason, it turned out, Eilenberger’s was too much temptation to prompt us to forsake Mary of Puddin’ Hill’s relocated store in Palestine … so off we went, up US 79 to Jacksonville, then Texas 135 to the outskirts of Kilgore, still proud to have a few working oil wells within city limits … then, via Longview (picking up a few groceries on the way), US 259 to a modest rest stop for the night near Lake O’ The Pines, which, thanks to controls in my Mini Cooper, as you’ve probably known, allows the front seats to become bedding.
Source: tr3forever.deviantart.com