By Kathleen Foster

Sarah and I became honorary members of The Panhandle Peanut Growers Association the other day. Looking to round up people for Phil to interview, we stumbled into a peanut meeting. Okay, we were not just looking for interviewees, we were looking food too. Because like gas stations, places to eat are also few and far between in these parts.

A farmer in overalls named Tommy brought us in and gave my card to the meeting’s leader. He introduced me and for a few minutes I told the group of about 30 to show up at the Quail Store Cafe the next day to talk politics live on tv. The meeting’s leader joked that we better have someone on hand to bleep out cuss words. They gave us trucker hats a bunch of bags of peanuts.

Before going to the meeting, Sarah and I tried to eat at the Quail Cafe. But it was closed! Turns out, Mary, the cafe’s owner was feeding all the guys down at the peanut meeting.

When Tommy told her we were “real hungry” she took us down the street and fed us the leftovers: beef brisket, potato salad, beans n bacon, banana pudding with ‘Nilla wafers and the best homemade biscuits we’ve ever had.

This is Mary, her daughter in law and granddaughter at the Quail Store Cafe, Quail TX

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