David B. Hazelwood
The Books
Animals Who Own Us
Be careful what you own; it will eventually own you. It’s true of houses, boats, cars, and especially living things like lawns, gardens and pets. At first, you’re putting them in their proper place, making them look the way you want, and training them to obey your wishes, but soon they are telling you what to do and when to do it. They punish you when you don’t.
“I need to go out,” the dog says. “Open the door now. Take me for a walk.” I ask her, “Do you want to come inside?” She gives me a blank stare as if to say, “No, I’m not ready now. Feed me. My foot hurts, take me to the vet. Buy me some more food. Buy me a new collar.” She owns me. That’s why people see our Golden Retriever, Lane, and ask, “Is this your dog?” I reply, “No, I’m hers. She’s my master. She owns this place and I work for her. She tells me what to do and when to do it. She’s the CCO, Chief Canine Officer.” I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’ve had animals constantly all of my life, usually several at the same time. When one would leave, I would start looking for another. I must have been a slave in a previous life. I’ve been owned by cows, pigs, chickens, horses, ponies, ducks, peacocks, turkeys, rabbits, parakeets, goldfish, guppies, Cocker Spaniels, Beagles, Irish Setters, Great Danes, Springer Spaniels, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Strooches (half stray, half pooch), strays, Calicos, Tabbies, Manx, ferals, drop offs, loaners, Angus, Herefords, Jerseys, Holsteins, Charolais, Simmentals, Limousins, Chianinas, Black Baldies, and Beefalo. (In case you didn’t know, those last ten are all cows.) No sheep, goats, emus, or llamas yet, but life isn’t over. I’ve always thought I wanted a monkey, but never had to say, “I’m owned by a monkey.”
Do you need to be told what to do? Go to the pet shop and pick out a new owner. Need something to do twice a day, every day? Get a dairy cow or goat to milk. Live in an apartment and never seem to get out? Need exercise? Get a dog that can’t pee or go for a walk without your help.
Having a thumb is the only evolutionary advantage I have over all the animals that have owned me. I’m using it to write their stories. They told me to do it. I’m sure this is volume one because there will always be more animals to own me and they will all have stories to tell. About the time I think I’ve seen all of the situations animals can get themselves into, I come home and find my dog with a trash can stuck on its head.
After sharing several of the stories in this book with my reading and writing mentor, Mary Driscoll, a retired English professor, she suggested I send a couple of the stories to a national magazine for their consideration. Their editor was considerate and kind, but said, “Sorry, we only publish true stories.” Folks, like I told him, everything in these stories is true. I couldn’t make up these things. When they happened, I was as surprised as you will be when you read them. Since you are reading this book, my audience is now two!
David B Hazelwood
Mooing at the Opry
When you come to Nashville, attending a showing of the Grand Ole Opry is a must. It makes no difference that you prefer real opera or classical music and hate the sound of country or bluegrass music. It’s a cultural event. I’ve attended quite a few shows, but none had the sound like the one in 1975. It was loud and melodious to my ears. They were having a cattle auction on the Opry stage. Cows, bulls, and heifers came to center stage and stood in the spotlight where Roy Acuff, Porter Wagner, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Minnie Pearl would perform the next night. The American Beefalo Association was holding its first national sale and wanted a grand stage to display their new breed.
The spectacle started the night before at a prime rib banquet at Roger Miller’s King of the Road Hotel. I got my first taste of Beefalo meat and my first glimpse of a live Beefalo. For those who know more about opera than cattle, a Beefalo is 3/8 Bison and 5/8 domestic cow. I won’t bore you with how they get those fractions to work out. It’s enough to know that the meat is lean, low fat, low in cholesterol, and tastes like beef.
The view I got at the banquet turned out to be a little too close for comfort when they led a two thousand-pound bull into the banquet hall. It came down the aisle beside my seat at the end of the table. I could feel his breath before he got to me and looked up at his big glassy eyes larger than a silver dollar as his head passed a foot away from me. If they wanted to impress me with how big this guy was, it was working. I felt small all of a sudden. I was tempted to reach out and let my hand flow along his fluffy furry coast as his massive side passed by blocking my view of the rest of the world. It’s a good thing I didn’t because those thoughts were a split second before a near disaster began to unfold. The bull’s handlers had rolled a plastic sheet down the aisle to protect the floor from, let’s say without being too graphic, an accident. But their protective measure nearly caused an accident. Beside my seat the floor changed from carpet to a wood parquet dance floor under the plastic. The bull’s hooves had a good grip walking on the carpet, but his first hoof hit that wood floor and the plastic made it like an ice rink. Before he could regain his balance the second hoof slipped and then he had both legs clambering for some solid footing. He began to lose his balance as his head, legs, and body were all going in different directions. Unfortunately, that giant fluffy furry wall of his side started coming my way. Before I could get up out of my chair, he weaved in the other direction and landed on his side in the middle of the aisle with his feet nearly in my lap. I was hoping I wasn’t about to get kicked as he struggled to get up. There was as much clattering as he got up as there had been when he went down.
Fortunately, the bull was calmer than most of the guests. Even though most of them were cattlemen or maybe because they were cattlemen, they knew what could happen with an angry bull in a crowd of people in a ballroom. I have one piece of advice if one is thinking of taking a bull into a ballroom. Don’t!..............
“David’s stories appeal to lovers of all animals. Having lived with them, he has captured their true spirit.”
• Mary Driscoll, retired English professor
“This is a winner! If I hadn’t been owned by animals myself, I would have thought this was a work of fiction.”
• Anne Craig, Saddle Up volunteer
Click here for link to Amazon for Pre-order
Lists for Ainsley
We’re all list makers. Some of us do it on scraps of paper, printed notepads, or I-pads, others in their head or on the back of their hand. We make grocery lists, to-do lists, guest lists, check lists, shopping lists, gift lists, and address lists.
Inspiration for my list making gone wild came from a May news-paper column by Nashville’s legendary sports writer, Fred Russell. He was about to make his annual drive to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. His column was excerpts from his 1944 “Mental Ramblings in Spring” in “I’ll Go Quietly” and listed things he was looking forward to experiencing the first Saturday in May. Here’s a sample of the elegance that inspired me.
“Maybe it is because of the glorious weather, the warm sun, trees leafing, and the sparkling freshness of everything. Maybe it is because of another Kentucky Derby and the remembered exhilaration of early morning along the Ohio River, the spires of Churchill Downs, a bugle call, horses snorting, bright-colored racing silks, form sheets, the pack at the head of the stretch, bourbon and branch water, twilight dinner, moon over Louisville. Friends….Spring and apple blossoms and dogwood….Golf first tee double talk, sun-splattered fairways, shady greens, long putts that drop….Locker-room laughter….Stuffed eggs….the smell of new-mown hay….a rubdown….Bing Crosby….Rain on a tin roof….Reader’s Digest…. Mild panatela cigars….Snoozes.”
We all have the same words to choose from, but journalists like Mr. Russell choose and arrange them better. My 125 lists range from sublime to ridiculous. I made them all for myself. Some were fun and others gave me time to reflect on what’s important. I hope they make you think of what you would include in your list.
Things to Say (Lies to Tell)
When Opening Gifts
It’s just what I’ve always wanted.
I’ll keep this forever.
What is it?
You shouldn’t have spent so much.
It’s my favorite color.
Oh!?You shouldn’t have.
I was needing one. (To put with the others, I never use)
Let me read the card first.
This sure is wrapped well.
Will someone help me here.
It’s too pretty to open.
Let me try to guess what it is.
How did you know I wanted one?
(Shaking fragile box) It sounds delicate.
Save the bow for me.
Don’t tear the paper, I’ll use it again.
Who is this from?
I must have the wrong gift.
Is this a joke?
It will go perfect in my attic.
It’s just my size.
I almost bought one last week.
You really surprised me.
I can’t get it out of the box.
This tape is strong.
Is this supposed to be in two pieces?
I thought it was a __________.
I’m so proud of this.
Oh no!
Mine had worn out.
How can I say thanks?
Thanks!
Sweet Things to Do for Your Wife
Whisper “I love you” in a crowd
Ask for her opinion
Walk the dog on a cold night
Let her have the last ______
Take out the trash
Wash her car inside and out
Bring her flowers for no occasion
Spend the weekend at a local hotel
Take her to work in a limo
Cook her a candlelight dinner
Tell her “I’ll do it”
Tell her she looks nice
Give her a night out with the girls
Buy her the latest perfume
Give her a backrub after a hard day
Take her to see a chick flick
Bring her orange juice in the morning
Empty the dishwasher
Have a hot bubble bath and candles waiting
Give her a day off from everything
Leave love notes for her to discover
Send her a rose every Monday morning
Spray your cologne on her pajamas when you’re away
Have a cleaning service come for a day
Bring home her favorite food
Have her favorite drink waiting
Join her on the diet
Hold hands on a walk
Always kiss her goodbye
Make her a calendar with family photos
Give the TV remote to her
Be her slave for a day
Remember to put the toilet lid down
Words of a Country Squire
Show me a certain faith and I’ll show you a small faith.
You can never get there. You’re always here.
“I don’t know” is sometimes the only right answeryou can give.
Success comes in cans − not can’ts.
Before you roam the back forty to find a lost cow,look in the barn.
Something the parents of Jesus never said to him.
“Shut the door Jesus! Were you born in a barn?”
Be careful what you own. It will slowly change you.
The extinction of some endangered species isn’t all bad.
How would we live if dinosaurs roamed the earth?
I want to live a long life. Deep and wide too.
There are times when our feelings of loss are so great; it’s
hard to celebrate what we had.
May all of your problems be little ones and
may none of you little ones be problems.
Wake up in the dark. Wake up the rooster.
Wake up the sun. We’re in for a day of fun.
Only three reasons for being late.
You didn’t start soon enough.
You didn’t come fast enough or
You stopped on the way.
Blackberries are red when they are green
I’ve never had a bad day in my life,
but some have been better than others.
I’m doing normal today. Not good, normal.
Some days I aspire to normal.
Did I call and interrupt dinner? No.
OK, I’ll call back later.
If you don’t have time to floss your teeth,
only floss the ones you want to keep.
Don’t read good books.
There isn’t enough time to read the best ones.
Have a nice day! Sorry, I’ve made other plans.
Are you having a good day? Yes, but there are
people out there trying to change that.
Even God can’t control a pup.
May I speak to David Hazelwood? Senior or Junior?
Senior. Oh, you want my dad, he’s not here.
If we save much more money buying things on sale,
we’ll be broke.
How can we improve the image of mother-in-laws,
postal service, and cafeteria food.
Easy. Improve mother-in-laws,
postal service, and cafeteria food.
I’ve reached the age I don’t do anything where
there’s a chance my butt will be over my head.
Any jobs available? One is coming open soon. Which
one? I don’t know yet, but I’m sure one will.
How many work here? About half.
How long have you been married? 20 years.
Yes, 15 of the happiest years of my life.
“Reading these lists made me think about what I would include on my lists.”
• Jim Adams
“After reading this, I feel like I know the author. He’s being very transparent.
• Kathy Ardmore
“What a sweet thing to give to your granddaughter. It makes me want to make lists for nieces.”
• Nell Magee
Book - $10.00
Shipping - 3.00
Sales Tax .98
Total $13.98
Make check payable to WUFU3.com
Mail to: WUFU3.com
930 Cortner Road
Normandy, TN 37360
Questions?
Email: david@wufu3.com
Phone 800 798 8252
Cortner Mill Cookbook
We don’t have any secret recipes. Our attitude toward recipes is a little different than most. If you eat something at Cortner Mill and want the recipe, we will gladly share it with you. There are three reasons for this. First, no one really has a secret recipe. Given a little time and a few tries, a good cook will be able to get so close to the secret recipe that few would recognize the difference. On our last Internet search we found 247 versions of KFC’s “secret herbs and spices.” Second. We consider it a compliment when you ask us for the recipe of one of your Cortner Mill favorites. Third, when we give away one of our recipes, you will think about us often and tell your friends too. Years from now when you come across a recipe from Cortner Mill, you will be reminded of your good times there and when your guests compliment the dish you made with a Cortner Mill recipe, you can tell them where you got it.
Fresh ingredients have been a mantra from day one. You are already a step ahead of the crowd when you peel, cut, and core, instead of opening a can and pouring. Paying more for convenience is like saying I don’t have time for the best. Not only do your ingredients need to be fresh, they need to be the best. Using bargain ingredients, even if they are fresh, results in a second-class dish. Ethel, one of our cooks, said, “If there’s a spot on an apple, it’s not a bad spot, it’s a bad apple. Where does the bad flavor stop?”
Our chocolate desserts are made with Ghirardelli cocoa shipped in fifty-pound bags from San Francisco. Our pecans are shipped in twenty-five pound bags from Georgia only in cool weather and stored in our freezer. Our pecan pie recipe in this book tells the secret to the best pecan pie.
This cookbook will help you execute our second mantra: made from scratch. When someone compliments an hors d’oeuvre, we don’t want to say, “It’s Sysco product #46726. Just heat it in the oven and serve.” Besides, wht’s in those prepared foods? Probably names of things you can’t pronounce. A lot of our recipes are quick and easy, but they weren’t chosen for that reason. The 204 recipes on 250 pages were chosen because they were so good and our guests took notice.
Our menus were first inspired by food from farms and rivers. We weren’t a seafood place. Afterall, our Cortner Mill Restaurant was on the Duck River banks of a farm. So, this recipe book features cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, trout, duck, catfish. and frog legs. Over the years we let a few things like fish and salmon slip in.
George Dickel and Jack Daniel are our community neighbors, so a lot of our recipes feature what they call at the distilleries “the product”. They are great flavorings on their own, but we also find they are a great substitute in recipes calling for vanilla, caramel, or almond flavoring. You may have your favorite brand, but ours is … Thought I was going to slip up and get into trouble with my neighbors, didn’t you?
Many of our recipes have notes about where the recipe came from. Here are six samples.
Chicken Noodle Soup
2 chicken breasts, cooked 1 C. egg noodles
½ medium onion, chopped 2 C. water
½ stalk celery, chopped 1 tsp. black pepper
4 C chicken stock
In a large stewing pot, mix chicken stock, onions, celery, pepper, and
cooked chicken. Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat. Add water
and noodles. Cook for 20 more minutes. Serve in hot bowls. Serves 10.
NOTE: Ethel said this was her favorite thing to cook. When I asked her
why, she said, “People like it.” Why do they like it? It’s good.” Why is it
good? “I put chicken in it.” Now that’s a new idea for chicken noodle soup.
Ethel Leverette
Salmon Salad
8 oz. salmon, grated 1 Tbl. sugar
16 soda crackers, crushed 5 Tbl. vinegar
1 large sweet pickle, chopped 1 egg, hard-boiled
Combine all ingredients, except egg. Refrigerate. Serve with chopped egg
on top.
NOTE: I have the salmon colored heirloom bowl my grandmother used
to serve this salad every Christmas Eve. Her recipe makes an even better
heirloom. We now serve it at Cortner Mill for our Christmas Day dinner.
Irene Hazelwood
Fried Catfish
2 (4 oz.) catfish filets
2 C. cornmeal, self-rising
Pat filets dry. Drop filets into cornmeal and cover real good. Shake off
excess cornmeal. Cook in deep fat fryer at 350° for 5-7 minutes
until golden brown. Serves one.
NOTE: Is it this simple? Afraid so. I wish there was some exotic ingredient
or secret technique that makes our catfish the best you will ever eat, but
this is it. Isabel should know her catfish. Before coming to manage Cortner
Mill from 1992 to 2004, she owned and operated The Classy Catfish in
Shelbyville, TN.
Isabel Woodlee
Escalloped Oysters
1 qt. oysters 2 Tbl. Worchestershire sauce
3 C. cracker crumbs, coarse 4 Tbl. heavy cream
1 C. dried bread crumbs 1 tsp. salt
1 C. butter ½ tsp. black pepper
2/3 C. oyster liquid
Drain oysters and reserve 2/3 C. liquid. Combine cracker and bread crumbs
with melted butter and seasonings. Blend together cream, Worchestershire
sauce, and oyster liquid. Put half of crumbs in 9 X 13 baking dish and then a layer
of half the oysters. Pour half of liquid mixture over crumbs and oysters. Repeat
layers of crumbs and oysters and pour remaining liquid mixture over oysters.
Top oysters with remaining layers of crumbs and bake at 400° for 20 – 30
minutes.
NOTE: This dish was always served at my great grandmother’s house on Christmas
Day. It’s now a standard for our family’s Christmas Day buffet at Cortner Mill.
Suzie Newman
Vanilla Ice Cream
2 ½ C. sugar 3 eggs, beaten
1 qt. half and half 1 ½ Tbl. vanilla
1 qt. heavy cream 1 dash salt
In a large bowl combine sugar, beaten eggs, and salt. Stir in half and half.
Blend well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Stir in cream and vanilla and pour
into a 4 - 5 quart ice cream freezer. Freeze 2- 25 minutes according to
manufacturer’s directions. Makes about 4 quarts.
NOTE: If you open a restaurant and can only make one thing yourself, make
ice cream. First, you already have on hand everything you need, except some
rock salt. Second, everyone will notice the difference between commercial
ice cream and fresh churched. I owe this discovery to Satsuma Restaurant
where I ate lunch every day for over 20 years.
Cold Blackberry Pie
¾ C. sugar 4 C. fresh blackberries
2 ½ Tbl. cornstarch 1 9” baked pie shell
1 C. water whipped cream
3 ½ Tbl. blackberry gelatin (1 ½ oz.)
Combine sugar, cornstarch, and water in saucepan and cook over medium
heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in gelatin
until dissolved. Gently stir in black berries. Pour mixture into pastry shell and
chill in refrigerator until firm. Slice and garnish each slice with dollop of
whipped cream Serves 8.
NOTE: This is my favorite Fourth of July dessert. Blackberries have just
ripened in Tennessee and this pie is so refreshing on a hot summer day.
It’s adequate reward for picking the berries among thorns and chiggers.
David Hazelwood
“If I can’t come from Utah or make a reservation, I can always choose one of your recipes to make.”
• Mary Baucom
“I’ve traveled the world and your food doesn’t have to take second place to anywhere. Fabulous!”
• Bill Cox
Book - $15.00
Shipping – 6.00
Sales Tax 1.46
Total $22.46
Make check payable to WUFU3.com
Mail to: WUFU3.com
930 Cortner Road
Normandy TN 37360
Questions? Email: david@wufu3.com
Phone 800 798 8252
Miss Lizzie’s Cookbook
Everyone remembers good things to eat from grandmother’s kitchen, but not many inherit the few recipes she wrote down.
Some people are proud to have family heirlooms like furniture, jewelry, or tools. My most cherished heirlooms are grandmother’s recipes whose smells and tastes are still alive in my brain. Our memories can be brought to life by using her recipe to make a dish.
Sometime in the early 1900s our grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth “Miss Lizzie” Boswell, bought a small, maroon hardcover, 62 blank page book with Memorandum Book on the cover and with a pencil began recording her recipes. The book has been passed along to me and its yellowed pages are almost too brittle to touch. Her forty-nine handwritten recipes are the basis for this collection. With a family of ten there was plenty of opportunity for practice, ingenuity, and creativity. She said, “My cooking was like playing the piano by ear. There was no sheet music.” Recipes called for a glass of this and handful of that. They were cooked in a hot oven until done, with no mention of splitting kindling for the stove or starting the fire. She went about the work in her sweet, gentle, warm ways, whistling church hymns as she worked. Most everything she cooked came in combinations of just four basic ingredients. Flour and sugar were bought at the store, but the milk came from a family cow or goat and eggs from the chicken house. From the whole milk, butter was churned and buttermilk remained. Hog killings provided meat and lard. Chickens were killed and plucked. There were cured hams, shoulders, bacon, sausage and seasoning meat in the smokehouse. After plowing the garden with a mule, came green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers peppers, beets, corn, potatoes, onions, cabbage, lettuce, okra, and other vegetables. Strawberries were picked in the garden and blackberries picked from the field’s fence rows. Fruit trees provided bushels of apples, peaches, cherries, plums, and pears to be stored, dried, or canned. From a 21st century perspective, these tasks to put food on the table give new meaning to “farm to table” and “homemade from scratch.” All of us marveled at the many colorful jars of fruit and vegetables in grandmother’s pantry. It was an adventure for us to go down to the cellar and see the many jars, potatoes, dirt floor and floating cobwebs. Climbing back out, seeing the sunshine, and breathing the fresh air was a welcome escape from the stale, musty air of the cellar. But we all knew that all the great smells and tastes of the kitchen were stored down there, waiting to be released.
Several recipes in her Memorandum Book have no instructions, just a list of ingredients. I took the liberty of adding my instructions, but identified my additions to her recipes. Even if we had her instructions and followed her recipe, it would not turn out to look or taste like hers. You will find some ingredients and measurements to be unfamiliar to your cooking pantry or experience. Her recipes are printed just as she wrote them. Instructions to add a glass of milk or butter the size of an egg may be new to you. Even the recipe which has no title or instructions and no one seems to know what it is for, has been included for historical accuracy and mystery. Do, some culinary detective work and see if you can help us find what the mystery recipe makes. Don’t be surprised at the large number of recipes for sweet things. Of the forty-nine recipes in her Memorandum Book, thirty-two were for desserts, candy and cookies. Take your choice of three jam cakes, for I’ve made Jam Cake One with her caramel frosting and it is authentic. You may not need her recipe for Preserving Meat anytime soon, but try her Pineapple Pie. You will be able to find all of the ingredients at your grocery. They may have not been called sweet milk, fat, lard, or tartaric acid, but I left the recipes as written to preserve history. It will change the taste, but you can substitute shortening or vegetable oil for lard. You can ask for cream of tartar at the grocery, instead of tartaric acid. However, do not add sugar to your milk to make “sweet milk” when recipes call for milk, she means whole milk, not 2%. Even that won’t be as good as the 4 ½% milk from the Boswell’s yellow Jersey cow.
You may never use a recipe from Miss Lizzie’s Memorandum Book, but your memories will be stirred like one of Lizzie’s cake batters and reading the memories of others will help you whip up some of your own. We don’t have Grandmother’s cooking anymore, but we will always have sweet memories of her and her good food.
Recipes for Miss Lizzie’s hand-written memorandum book are listed as “Lizzie’s…” The recipes she passed along to her children have been included as “Mom’s…” with her child listed as the contributor. My Boswell cousins didn’t have many of Grandmother’s recipes to contribute, but they weren’t short on food memories from her table. You will like getting the book to read about my cousin Jennine’s memories of having fried squirrel during a Thanksgiving holiday visit and reading the recipe.
Lizzie’s Unnamed Cake
5 eggs (3 whites for icing) flavoring
1 C. sugar 2 C. milk
1 Tbl. flour 1 Tbl. butter
No instructions were given, so here are mine. Combine butter, 2 eggs, and egg yolks and beat until creamy. Sift together flour and sugar and add to batter. Add milk. Pour batter into three greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake in a pre-heated 325° oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Remove from oven and allow to cool. When cool, top each layer with Lizzie’s Chocolate icing.
NOTE: Pop liked dense cakes rather than light and fluffy, so he would intentionally stomp through the kitchen when Lizzie was baking a cake so it would fall. She said she didn’t know what it was going to be when she started, a cake or a pudding. If it fell, it was pudding.
Lizzie’s Chocolate Pie
8 Tbl. sugar 4 Tbl. cocoa
4 tsp. cornstarch 1 Tbl. butter
3 eggs 1 pinch salt
2 C. sweet milk vanilla for flavor
No instructions were written, so here are mine. Mix dry ingredients and add ¼ C. milk to make a paste. Separate egg yolks and whites. Stir yolks into paste. Add remaining milk. Cook on low heat and stir until mixture begins to boil. Add butter. Cool and pour into baked pie crust. Beat egg whites and add ½ C. sugar and ½ tsp. vanilla. Place meringue on top of pie. Heat under oven broiler a few seconds until golden brown.
NOTE: If your chickens are laying well and like a lot of meringue, you can use 4 egg whites, 1 C. sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla for the meringue.
Mom’s Chess Pie
3 eggs 1 level Tbl. flour
1 ½ C. sugar (white or brown) 2/3 C. milk
½ stick butter
Mix and put in an unbaked pie shell. Cook at 350° until done – about 30 minutes.
NOTE: This recipe was printed in Polly’s Memories (1994). Cousin Marilyn said, “Everyone remembers eating Grandmother’s chess pie.”
Polly Boswell Harrison
Marilyn Harrison Holland
Richard Harrison
Pineapple Milk Sherbet
1 ½ tsp. gelatin, unflavored 1 C. pineapple, crushed
2 Tbl. water 1 tsp. vanilla
2 C. buttermilk or sour milk 1 egg white
¾ C. sugar ¼ C. sugar
Soften gelatin in cold water and dissolve over hot water. Combine buttermilk, ¾ C. sugar, pineapple, vanilla, and gelatin. Mix well. Pour into ice cup tray or cake pan. Freeze until firm. Break into chunks and pour into chilled bowl. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites to soft peaks and gradually add ¼ C. sugar. Continue beating until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites int pineapple mixture. Return to cold tray and freeze until firm. Serves 4 to 6.
NOTE: No one probably has ice cube trays with removable sections anymore. You may even ask, “What’s an ice cube tray?” This has always been my favorite ice cream. When Grandmother wasn’t pulling a tray out of the freezer compartment of her refrigerator, we were walking to Bryant’s grocery to by me a cup for a nickel. Tell that to Baskin-Robbins!
Lizzie’s Preserving Meat
½ lb. salt peter 10 qt. salt
1 lb. black pepper 2 lb. brown sugar
No instructions were given, so here are the ones I learned from my neighbors, Paul and Estelle Smith. Use fresh country style hams that have been cooled out. A 25 – 30 # ham is best. The week after Thanksgiving is about the right time, providing it isn’t extremely warm, rainy, or below 20° . If it is too warm or rainy, the meat might spoil. The meat won’t take salt if it is too cold. It takes about 30 pounds of salt for each ham. Carefully rub curing mix into all crevices, hock, and around bones. Put about ½ inch of curing salt on floor of curing box. Put skin side of ham on bottom. Hams should not touch each other or the box. Cover hams with salt. Close box and leave for 6 weeks. Take up hams and brush off salt. Run wire through hock of ham. Rub hams with a mixture of black pepper and molasses. Cover ham with paper sack and hang in a cool place until fall. Hams can be eaten in the spring, but flavor improves with age.
Lizzie’s Slaw Dressing
1 egg 1 dash black pepper
3 Tbl. sugar 3 Tbl. vinegar
No instructions were given, here are mine. Beat egg, combine with other ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Do not boil. Allow to cool and pour over ¼ head shredded cabbage. Refrigerate until served.
NOTE: This recipe had no title, but it is similar to a slaw dressing my other grandmother gave to me.
Lizzie’s Coffee Cake
½ C. shortening 2 tsp. baking powder
1 C sugar ¼ tsp. salt
2 eggs ¼ C. brewed coffee
1 ¾ C. flour ½ C. nuts or raisins
No instructions were written, so here are mine. Combine shortening, sugar and eggs and beat until creamy. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and add to batter. Stir in brewed coffee and nuts or raisins. Pour batter into a 9 X 12 baking pan and bake for 25 – 30 minutes in a 325°oven.
Lizzie’s Taffy Candy
2 C. sugar ½ C. vinegar
½ C. water 1 Tbl. butter
Cook until threads, then pour onto buttered dish to cool just enough to pull. That’s all the instructions there were. It’s not this simple. Here are some more instructions. Cook over high heat without stirring until syrup reaches light crack stage 270°. Pour onto buttered dish. When it is cool enough to handle, pull with buttered fingertips into threads about 18 inches long. Fold it back on itself and repeat this motion until the candy develops an opaque satiny finish.
NOTE: This recipe was not one in the Memorandum Book, but probably came to Miss Lizzie from her mom. Granny Reid made taffy and told her grandchildren it was good for a cough. So, according to Polly, they coughed a lot when they went to see her.
“This book took me back to the sights, smells, and tastes of growing up during the Great Depression.”
• Evelyn Johnson
“I have been inspired to make a collection of my recipes to pass along to my grandchildren.”
• Carolyn Scott
Book $10.00
Shipping 2.50
Sales Tax .98
Total $13.48
Make check payable to WUFU3.com
Mail to: WUFU3.com
930 Cortner Road
Normandy TN 37360
Questions?
Email: david@wufu3.com
Phone 800 798 8252
Monday Morning Rose
“Starting with the Monday after our first date, David has sent a rose to me every week. The regular rose delivery at my office caused lots of speculation and interest from my co-workers. They would see the same delivery man pull up in the florist van or riding up in the elevator rose in hand and knew it was the Monday Morning Rose for Claudia. The roses have shown up at my offices, our homes, and even on vacations. They have rested for the week on office desks, dressers, vanities, and kitchen tables.
“Most memorable to me, they have all come with a unique card from David, usually written in his own hand. I don’t know how he manages to write something new each week. They reflect his feelings, memories of a special occasion, or the season of the year. They chronicled our relationship and our family.”
• Claudia Hazelwood
As part of our 25th wedding anniversary I used the cards Claudia had saved to compile this booklet. There were over thirteen hundred to choose from. Claudia edited out the X-rated ones!
Love:
Look for my love in the rose
that comes every week.
Future:
1) Claudia 2) Forever
Two of my favorite words.
Love:
I love you! I love you!
I love you! I love you!
I love you! I love you!
I love you! I love you!
and never tire of telling you!
Holidays:
Valentine’s Day is gone,
but I’m still here!
Metaphors:
You’re better than raspberries!
Seasons:
You make me spring forward
and fall back.
Companion:
You’re my favorite lunch date !
Special Occasions:
Being with you
is always a black tie affair.
Rose:
A lovely, delicate rose for a woman
with the same qualities.
Love:
If I wasn’t married,
I’d ask you.
Love:
See other side for what I love more than you.
“His cards are sweet, clever, and personal and have been a weekly reminder of his constant love.”
• Claudia Hazelwood
“David, you’ve done a bad thing. The Monday rose sets a new standard for the rest of us.”
• David Smith
Book $8.00
Shipping 1.00
Sales Tax .78
Total $9.78
Make check payable to WUFU3.com
Mail to: WUFU3.com
930 Cortner Road
Normandy TN 37360
Questions?
Email: david@wufu3.com
Phone 800 798 8252
Burgoo: It’s a Kentucky Thing
The mention of burgoo in most states always requires an explanation to the uninitiated. My New Orleans wife cuts it short with “It’s a Kentucky thing.” From the frontier days at Fort Boonsboro to Churchill Downs the day before the Kentucky Derby it’s always a community thing. It’s not a soup, gumbo, or chowder, but more like a stew. Combinations of frontier rabbits and squirrels have been replaced with chicken, beef, and lamb.
This book of 68 pictures and 20 pages draws on my childhood memories of burgoo suppers at Hebbardsville School in the 1950s. After getting my grandparents kettle, I introduced friends and neighbors I Middle Tennessee to burgoo with an annual cooking. This September will be our thirty-third year.
Kentucky Thing
While I remember standing in line on warm fall nights to get my burgoo in a big white, tall-sided, school cafeteria bowl, my strongest memories are of going on Saturday morning with my uncles, Arnold and Larry Hazelwood, through the neighborhood from door to door to ask for things to go into the burgoo pot. Everyone knew what day of the year it was and what to expect when there was a knock at the door that morning. Many already had their donation in hand when they saw us through their screen door. Some had Mason jars of corn, green beans, tomatoes, or lima beans that they had canned from their garden during the summer. They were sharing from the bounty of garden’s produce and he work of their planting, cultivating, harvesting and preserving. Others gave us sacks of potatoes or onions. But, the knock on the door that produced my most vivid memory was the one when an elderly widow came to the door. “We’re collecting for the burgoo supper,” my uncle announced. “Sure,” she said, “I’m happy to give you something. If you will go out back to the chicken house, there are several old hens out there that have quit laying. You are welcome to take as many as you want.” Amid considerable squawking and feathers flying, my uncle caught several hens, tied their feet together, and put them into burlap sacks. We delivered those hens to the school grounds where several men killed, scalded, plucked, and dressed them for the pot. I’ve never understood why we say we have dressed an animal by taking off its feathers or hide. Shouldn’t it be undressed?
Most burgoo days aren’t so brutal or exciting. The day is spent sipping a cup of coffee to warm up from the morning chill, snacking on sausage and biscuits left over from breakfast, napping against the wood pile in the afternoon sun, or quenching your thirst with a cold beer. Some peel potatoes and onions, while others dice them and cry. But, when the beef and chicken were done cooking, everyone has to gather for deboning. A wire basket is used to dip the meat out of the kettle and into a pan. It is then dumped onto trays t cool. People stand shoulder to shoulder around the table and dozens of nimble fingers separate the meat from the bone, skin, and gristle. The meat is then pulled apart into shreds. Deboning also prompts the repeating of several lines each year. The first is always, “Ooooh, this is too hot to handle,” as eager hands want to get started before the met has cooled. Mom usually chastises Dad with, “Archie, look there! You left in some bone (or skin or gristle). Watch what you’re doing!” He usually explains by saying it will add flavor. The appearance of a bone still in the meat is guaranteed to invoke reminders that, “Carol wouldn’t like that,” as we remember the year Carol was surprised to find a chicken bone in her burgoo bowl.
Most guests show up just in time to eat. Even though burgoo is pretty much the entire meal in a bowl, each guest brings a contribution of cheese, crackers, vegetables and dip, dessert, or wine. After the prayer, everyone digs into their bowl of burgoo and my dad makes his annual declaration. “I believe this is the best we’ve ever made.”
“I’ve never been to a community burgoo supper, but I have eaten at the in-field of Churchill Downs. This is authentic!”
• Raymond Walker
“I was leery of eating burgoo the first time because all I had heard about was wild game and possibly road kill. Now I’m a burgoo believer.”
• David Smith
Book $10.00
Shipping 1.50
Sales Tax .98
Total $12.48
Make check payable to WUFU3.com
Mail to: WUFU3.com
930 Cortner Road
Normandy TN 37360
Questions?
Email: david@wufu3.com
Phone 800 798 8252