I met David and Mary Nevin when I became involved in the Union County United Way a number of years ago. David taught school here for several years. They have since moved into Knoxville. I think about them often but seldom hear from them anymore. Our paths don't cross like they used to do. Doesn't that happen with a lot of people we know? Time marches on.

I like chicken. When I was growing up, chicken was for special occasions. When we needed one for a meal, Mother went to the chicken coop and selected a non-laying hen. How did she know which was which? Easy. She would catch one and lay two fingers between the hip bones just below the tail. If that space was wide, she was a lying hen. If it was narrow, her laying days were over. She would be the star of that Sunday dinner.

What did you have for breakfast this morning? Sausage gravy and biscuits? Ham and eggs? Lucky you! What did I have for breakfast back in the Great Depression days of 1934? It wasn't that, for sure. Did I have cornflakes and ice cold milk? Or Frosted Flakes? Or one of the many boxed cereals on the Food City shelves today? I wouldn't have known what you were talking about.

What do you do with overripe bananas? I make banana bread, banana pancakes or banana cookies. I have good recipes for all three. Let's talk about bananas.

In the early years of my marriage, in the 1940's, Egg Salad was all the rage. Every lady in the neighborhood had a favorite recipe. It was cheap to make. In a farming community everyone had chickens, so we all had eggs.

I enjoy cooking and do a fair bit of it. One of the recipes my wife and I like is Homemade Baked Fries.

Potatoes are loaded with potassium and when I was on dialysis a few years ago I was on a low potassium diet. One trick we used to lower the amount of potassium in potatoes was to soak them in water. While this did not remove all the potassium, it did allow me to have some potatoes while on dialysis. Come to find out later, soaking potatoes in water for two hours is a key step in making homemade fries.

There are pears and there are pears. By that I mean some are more desirable than others. There are winter pears, Kieffer is the one that comes to mind. They are small and hard as a rock. They are called winter pears for a reason. You must wait until after New Years to eat them.. only then will they be softened, but they are still small. By the time you peel them, there is not much left. I never could understand why anyone would want to grow winter pears. I guess there was a time in the dead of winter, when fresh fruit would be a luxury.

I hope most of you already have on your calendar Open House on September 30 from 2:30 to 4:30 at Historic Oak Grove School. Just in case, I'm including an invitation just for you!
In researching and preparing for the restoration, as well as, the open house, I discovered that Bertha Cox was the school cook, and she was a good one. Students loved her Raisin Squares, and if you come to Open House you should get to sample some of these cookies. Just in case you want to try a batch, here is Bertha's recipe:

Bertha Cox Raisin Squares

It's Fair time. I take my appetite to the Fair. There are many exotic foods to sample that aren't available other times of the year. Corn dogs with a squiggly line of mustard are my favorite. I can fix them at home, but Fair time is Corn Dog time in my mind. Elephant ears are good, too. The list goes on and on, but my Corn Dog recipe is where I'm heading today.

Chow Chow is delicious. I wondered where that name came from. Taking a jar in hand, I looked at it straight on. Why is it called Chow Chow? Curiosity got the best of me. I checked it out online. I am now more confused than ever. Consider these possibilities:
1. There are "Northern" and "Southern" varieties. Mine is Southern.
2. Some say it came South with the Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia.
3. Others cite a connection with the Chinese rail workers in the 1800's.
4. A chutney from India is made from chayote, hence "chow chow".