A couple of notes that came in with subscription renewals– Calhoun natives Hattie Morgan of Mobile paid for her and her brother, Buford Clark, in Bonifay, Florida.
Mrs. Morgan said she is 93 and her brother is 91, and they may not ever be able to make the trip back here, but enjoy keeping in touch. She said she understood why Sea Rhyder, the lady who traveled coast to coast on her horse, chose Calhoun for her permanent home.
Calhoun native Maxine Ledbetter White, of Wynne, Arkansas, said she has missed coming to Bruce this year, but reading the paper is like going home.
Lisa McNeece
She said she doesn’t have many cousins in the county any more and not many of J.C.’s 1942 classmates are still around. She said J.C. is temporarily in the nursing home.
Carol Norwood Ainsworth, who lives in Idaho, said she especially likes the Glance Into the Past from 60 years ago. She graduated from BHS?in 1954.
She said they had a super good football team that year and even before with William Otis Hurst, Bobby Archer, Tiny Murphree, Ottis Crocker, Jr. Easley, Red Logan and others.
The girls’ basketball team, coached by Q.T. Crowson (who later became mayor of Bruce) went as far as North Division.
She recalled some of her basketball team-mates– Bobbie Ruth Brown, Paula Edwards, Joan and Oleta Brown, Margaret (Puddin’) Arrington, Betty Collins and “There is a strong connection to Calhoun from those who were born or raised here that one cannot explain to others that live in other states,” she said.
After several years, we have our Christmas menu for our house with the kids and grandkids pretty set. We always have lasagna, broccoli and romaine salad, rolls and fresh fruit salad. This year we added fresh green beans.
The lasagna recipe came from the Rebel Recipe cookbook that came out more than 20 years ago. I wore one of the cookbooks out and got another one along the way. I have requested the new edition of the book for Christmas.
The lasagna is the best recipe I have gotten from there and love to make it for Christmas. I can make ahead of time- usually the day ahead and just refrigerate it.
The broccoli/romaine salad is a combination of several versions and tweaked it to our liking. I brown walnuts and Ramen noodles in butter to mix in with the broccoli and romaine and then use a dressing made from red vinegar, sugar, Canola oil and soy sauce.
The fresh fruit is one of Whitney’s aunt’s recipes that uses a simple syrup, and this year we had Sister Schubert rolls.
The dessert is something we haven’t made a tradition of. First off, Joel wants pecan pie. I don’t really care for it, neither does Marshall, so I don’t make it. Marshall doesn’t care for chocolate, so that knocks my favorites out. And usually we are so full, that it’s not that big of a deal. Whitney is not a big dessert eater either and the girls are content to eat M&M cookies.
But this year I wanted to try a new recipe– Chocolate Cake Roll with ice cream–jelly roll type of cake. I planned to double the recipe and have one for my house and take one to my mother’s on Christmas Eve.
It was an epic fail.
I cooked chocolate cake in two jelly roll pans using parchment paper and Pam. When the cake is done, the instructions are to turn it out on a clean kitchen towel and peel off the parchment paper. Then you roll the cake in the kitchen towel for one minute– jelly roll style. Unroll it and let it sit for five minutes. Then roll it back up until it is completely cooked. The towel roll is to shape the cake to be rolled with the ice cream.
The cake came out of the pan fine, but stuck to the kitchen towel, pulling it apart. I tried to shape it back together, but it just kept pulling apart. I gave up, and we ate cake scraps throughout the day.
Marshall ended up making a Lemon Icebox Pie for dessert. We still haven’t found that one dessert that will become our tradition, but will continue to work on that.
In business news this week, Carnaggio Accounting and Tax Service in Calhoun City is now Keeton Accounting and Tax Service owned by employee Tommy Keeton.
The transfer of ownership will go into effect January 1, but Joe Carnaggio is not going home. He will continue to work as an accountant in the firm.
The Journal will be closed Wednesday and Thursday for Christmas. We will reopen Friday, Dec. 27. The paper will come out next Tuesday, Dec. 31 and we will be closed New Year’s Day only.
Journal subscription renewals are due Dec. 31. If you are not sure of your renewal year, check your label for the date above your name.
E-mail Lisa McNeece: lisamcneece@gmail.com follow her on twitter @lisamcneece