Susie's Birthday

We celebrated Susie's birthday last night with pizza, wine and chocolate cake! Dotsy is now the official pizza dough roller. Perfect circle, and nice and thin. Susie was born in Hinsdale, Illinois in 1973. Again, Peaches made the trip to help out.

Susie is the official ingredient chopper and pizza fixer. I bet she didn't know she was going to have to work so hard on her birthday! We also learned that only mozzarella is used on pizzas in Italy.

The men were in the living room saying where's my pizza? Well, the cooks had to sample it first.........

Dotsy/Dottie

Sitting around Dotsy's dinning room table the other night, we were talking about our grade school teachers, and we started talking about how Dotsy got her name.    In the third or fourth grade, Dottie Oakes and Dottie Cleaton were always getting mixed up, apparently distressing the teacher.  So, one afternoon after school, Peaches and Dottie sat down and talked about it.  Peaches came up with Dotsy instead of Dottie!  And, she has been Dotsy ever since.  We think it was in the third grade because Dotsy had Miss Evelyn Summers for her teacher.  Miss Summers was very mean, and Mrs. Hines, the fourth grade teacher  was very sweet.  I know Mrs. Hines was sweet, because I had her in the fourth grade, my first teacher in Monroe.  We also talked about our fifth grade teacher, Miss Mary Miller.  She was absolutely the most hated teacher in the Walton County School system.  I don't think we have ever had a meaner teacher.

Another teacher we liked was Miss Nancy Stephens, our sophomore year algebra teacher.  She was very nice and if it weren't for her, I would still be in high school.  Another teacher that was very kind was Annette Braswell, the home ec teacher.  Mom and Ms. Braswell were good friends, as Mom was teaching P.E. at the high school then.  I think Ms. Braswell took pity on me and gave me a passing grade even though the  bathrobe I 'sewed' , as a required project, hardly resembled a bathrobe.

International Women's Day

 International Women's Day is March 8.  Usually, Dotsy, Barbara, Lori, Peaches, and I go to Winnsboro to Lou Vinery to celebrate.  This year our favorite place is closed.    It was a very congenial place, and close by. 

The first time I heard about International Women's Day,  was from daughter Susie.  In Italy, where she has lived for a long time, it is very much a holiday, not official, but celebrated with girl friends going out for dinner, or just getting together.  Over the years, here in Scroggins, we have tried different things on March 8, such as collecting canned goods for the food pantry in Pittsburg, or money for a children's advocacy group.  

Bible verses from Dotsy

Dotsy sent these verses:

1 Peter 1: 24-25   All mortals are like grass; all their splendor like the flower of the field; the grass withers, the flower fails; but the word of the Lord endures forever. 

1 Corinthians 13:4  Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one.

Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, nor quick to take offence.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is full of many wonderful memories.  Yesterday we had our very traditional meal.  With us five of us, we have to be careful not to get carried away with the cooking.  We started our celebration with breakfast at my house: Judy's breakfast casserole, and Judy's curried fruit, and, champagne.  Dinner is always planned around the Cowboys' game, and  Dotsy HAS to make her dressing, and I have to make my sweet potato souffle. 

When we were little, Mom always used her silver,  crystal, and the  china that her Mother gave her, for our holiday meals.   I  learned early that the silver had to be counted before it was put up.  This way we were able to find any pieces that had gone astray.  Maybe into the garbage or in with the every day pieces. Grandmother's china was a set of Haviland she bought in New Orleans from an estate sale.  This was probably in the 30's??? 20's?  or possibly even earlier.

 In college, Mike started bringing some of his UGA football buddies to Thanksgiving dinner.   Mom and Dad would cook at least one turkey, a ham, and tons of food.  Pop made his famous punch, that had a motor.  One of the treats we always had for Thanksgiving, was oysters on toast points. Served with champagne.  If the football players were coming, we made sure to eat those early.  To this day, there are never enough oysters on toast points to go around when the Oakes' get together.  

This year, I did make a different sweet potato souffle: cousin Linnie's scrumptious recipe with the praline topping.  I'll never go back to mine.  The recipe I used came from Lunnie Broughton in Monroe.  It served us well for 30 years.   Catherine and Susie liked having Lunnie for a babysitter, and I certainly did.  She would iron, cook, and clean.  When the family would go off for a vacation or just to Hard Labor Creek,  Mom would have Lunnie make dozens and dozens of fried pies.  I think the apricot were the favorite.  Whenever I make sweet potato casserole, I think of  Lunnie.

I'm grateful for many things in my life.  Some are: that Catherine had friends in Maui to have dinner with, and, Susie had friends in Florence to have an American feast with, even if it was on a Saturday.

Update on the Limoncello!

Well, I was very surprised, but the limoncello was a hit!  Very Tasty!  Yes, with a capital T.  Dotsy and I made a lot pizzas for Peaches and Troy.  The Peach Pits and Sub-Pits were there, and Troy's golfing buds.  The Pits are playing bridge again this Wednesday! And, the golfers are out now as I type!!!  When we were growing up, there were always a lot of birthday parties.  My sister Judy and Older Brother shared a party for many years because they were born one day and one year apart.   Mom does like to say that she had 6 children in 8 years and Dad was away in WWII for 2 years.  She also likes to say that they all had the same Mother.  

Oldest Brother was born in Oakdale, LA, in 1943.  Dad was in the army and  training in Oklahoma.  So, Mom was staying with her parents when O. B. was born.  At about 6 weeks old, he had to have surgery for pyloric stenosis.  Mom said the doctor couldn't use an anesthetic because O.B. was so young, and, there may not have been any available during the War.  Back in Atlanta, Mom was saving grease for the War effort.  Nannie came to visit and  wanted to know how she was going to get the grease out of all of the Coca Cola bottles.  

  Peaches and Papa were married secretly for about a year, in 1940, but had an 'official' marriage in 1941 in her parents living room.  All the relatives were there and Mom had on a beautiful pink suit.   After the wedding, when Mom and Dad were getting ready to  leave on the train for Atlanta, Mom asked her sister Dottie how to cook.  Dottie told her to get a can of Spam, and open the can, stud the Spam with cloves, and bake it.  Dad would tell us that Peaches cooked Spam for him when he came home from the War.  He said that was all he had eaten for two years.  They didn't have Spam after that.

Papaw and Nannie weren't too pleased with the match, but came around when Dad had a vasectomy after the sixth child, little Dotsy, was born in 1951.  Nannie came to Atlanta to help Mom with the latest edition, and while she was there,  Dad had his 'procedure', and for the first time Nannie hugged his neck.  She also didn't mind if he had a drink in front of her, even though she hated drinking more than the Devil hates Holy Water. 

Baking for Bridge

Tomorrow, Wednesday, it's Mom's turn to have our bridge club to her house.  I've made for the lunch tomorrow: white bean chicken chili!! and a cheesecake.  This is the best cheesecake ever, and it comes from a cookbook that Dotsy gave me: Great Cakes by Carole Walter.  Since I'm doing the cooking, I picked the menu!  Usually I serve Peaches' Texas Cornbread with the chili, but we're having french bread instead.  Fortunately, the cheesecake is extremely light.  Mom has played bridge as long as I can remember.  She played with the same group of ladies for about 40 years.  Now, she is in two bridge clubs out here, and substitutes in more.  She is an excellent bridge player.  We also have a 'club' that meets whenever we can.  We call it the Peach Pits, or Peaches and her Pits.  We also have some sub-pits!  Mom, Dotsy, LarryAnn, Barbara, and sometimes Karen, and I'm always there!  We start about 1 at Mom's, the Club House, and finish when the wine runs out.    Mom's ladies in Monroe played every Thursday. They all took a sandwich, and played until school got out.  PS If you want the recipe, click on the right hand picture..

Making pizza dough

Today, I'm going to make my second batch of pizza dough and freeze it for Peaches' and Troy's birthday party next Saturday.  Dotsy and Peaches are coming over to help.  We all love to cook, and I know that is because our parents loved to cook.   Mom always, it seemed, served liver cooked with onions and bacon once a week, and fish once a week.  We actually loved the liver!  Fish would be a whole red snapper baked in the oven with bacon, or maybe a whole flounder.  We also had to have at least two vegetables.  When we had bread, it was always cornbread or rolls.  Mom did not learn to cook at home because they had someone who cooked for them, Stella.  Aunt Dottie gave Mom her first recipe as she was on the train leaving for Atlanta.

  We loved visiting our grandparents, Stella, Nannie's cook, always was cooking something good, and, the telephone was a mystery because when you picked up the receiver, the operator came on and placed the call.  I believe that if you said "I want to talk to Betty"  she would know exactly who you meant. When we lived in Atlanta, our phone number was EVergreen 9-3901, I think! This of course was before area codes and zip codes.  We lived at 1360 Fairview Road, NE.  My dog tag has name, address, birth date, and a P for Protestant.  This was at a time when we practiced 'duck and cover' in case of an atomic bomb attack.  When we lived here in the '50's, the house had a beautiful Italian tile roof.  There was a garage in the back, and a small two room house also. The porte-cochere led to a beautiful back yard with a rose garden and large spaces for all of our playground equipment.  We had monkey bars,  jungle gym, slide, swings, a climbing pole, and of course a sand box.  Dad was able to get the same equipment that schools had, so all of it was very sturdy.  I wonder if it is still there.

Election Day!

• Election Day!!  Cliff and I voted this morning at the South Franklin precinct.  Usually, we don't have a wait, but today it was about 15 minutes.  There was no grumbling about the wait.  We are very fortunate.   Peaches, Dotsy, and Troy will go to vote later this morning.  I was thinking about  Mom and Dad always  insisting we vote. From the time I was 18, I don't think I've missed any election.  My first Federal election was an absentee ballot.  I was in school in Gainesville, GA.  In order to vote, I had to take my ballot to a county office, post office? county clerk?, and vote while in the room with someone.  I do remember that he was reading  his newspaper while I sat across from him and voted.  1964.   I'm pretty sure all five of my brothers and sisters always vote, and all 10 grandchildren.  We'll see about the next generation, the 9 great-grandchildren.  Peaches and Papa believed in being good citizens.
  

Limoncello

Today Peaches, Dotsy and I zested lemons for the limoncello we are making. It was a beautiful fall day, so we sat on the screen porch with Buddy. When Mom was growing up, she says she learned to drive a Model T Ford when she was 12, and went to LSU when she was 15. There she pledged KD. In Louisiana, there were only 3 years of high school at the time. After her first year, she transferred to Lafayette to attend Southwestern Louisiana Institute, now known as University of Louisiana at Lafayette. That is where she met my Dad. At the time he was known as Curry Comb, because of his thick curly hair. Dad was on a football scholarship, when they met.