Brown Meal on a Red, White, and Blue Day

Grilling out these days is a little different from my younger years, when the grill turned out mainly hotdogs and hamburgers.

We grilled the chicken, rubbed with Penzye's BBQ 3000 seasoning, and grilled the corn (picked up at a roadside stand in the Georgia mountains yesterday) in the husks. We added RiceSelect Royal Blend Texmati White, Brown, Wild, and Thai Red rice, and accompanied that with a loaf of pesto and parmesan bread we picked up at the Sandy Springs Farmers Market Saturday.

After which I retired to David's Man Cave and finished the meal off with a glass of golden-brown Bushmill's Black Bush whiskey, distilled in County Antrim, Ireland, and contemplated the life of my 4th great-grandfather (and ultimate namesake) David Peden, born in County Antrim in 1760, arrived in America in 1772, who along with all his brothers and his father fought in the American Revolution which we celebrate today.

From The Pedens of America:
"At Cowpens ... the three youngest brothers, Samuel, Alexander and David, were among the picked men of Pickens ; men selected with the greatest care being brave and daring, all young unmarried men, they were culled from the whole of Morgan's army and stationed loosely, even carelessly, in the front line. Their names should have been preserved, but no record can be found. This front line or decoy were instructed to "mark the epaulette men." It was a favorite recital of David Peden to tell of this scene to his sons long winter nights, how they stood in very unmilitary positions waiting the charge, but the rustling of the wind, the fall of a dead twig, put them on the alert ; how when they fell back in such perfect order as to throw the enemy into the arms of their army; how the color bearer tripped and fell; how he snatched the colors and ran on with them until his comrade recovered and took them back.

Then the last scene at Yorktown, when Washington reviewed his army, just before the battle, "when he and his staff neared Morgan's 'split-shirt men,' he dismounted from his charger, gave the reins to one of the officers, took off his three-cornered hat, removed his gauntlet from his right hand, held both hat and glove in his left, advanced the entire length of the line" shaking hands with all whom he could reach.

David Peden said, "That was the proudest moment of my life, to clasp the great general's hand, sufficient reward for all the hard marching."