Columns

D o n ’ t Forget To Take Care of Your Men

My husband has been asked to lead the men’s ministry at our church. I am very excited for him because he has been part of some most excellent ministries in other churches. Now he has an opportunity to grow and develop his own ministry. He immediately called his mentor and shared his exciting news. He also asked for suggestions and ideas. His mentor offered to help in any way possible and they began to brainstorm.

I love that my husband has a mentor, especially since his father has passed away and he doesn’t really have another man to connect with. He has several friends, and I am grateful for that as well, but friends fill a different role than mentors.

Kitchen Knives

Knives are one of the most used items in the kitchen. And every knife has a purpose. There are small knives used in formal place settings to spread butter, paring knives to peel an apple, all the way up to cleavers and butcher knives. But do you know what each type is, and what it is used for? Maybe this list can help:

Paring - Usually 3” to 4” in length. Use this knife for small jobs, such as peeling fruit, hulling strawberries or other thing a chef ’s knife is too large to do.

8” to 10” Chef (also called a ‘clip point’, cook or kitchen knife) - This is the one knife you will use the most for prep work. It is used for chopping fruits, vegetables, herbs, and meats. The length and width may be unwieldy at first if you have never used one. But because of the size, it is relatively safe to use. Do not use this knife to peel hard rind vegetables, such as winter squash, as a carving knife, or to debone or cut up chicken.

I think we all have had some of the popular old school dish at one time or another while growing up. Some of us really liked it and still keep a box in the pantry at all time - AND you can include me in that latter group. The other day a big steaming helping of Rice-A-Roni sounded real good but I couldn’t decide what to have with it. I decided to chop up a leftover hamburger patty and add to the mix and felt pretty clever about this inspiration. However, when I read the box directions they suggested several things to add such as my hamburger, corn (probably not), shredded cheese (Hmmm, don’t think so), ground turkey (nope) or topped with salsa (What?!). Who would have thought? We always just had it as a side dish. Don’t even start with hash brown potatoes because it’s called RICE-A-Roni not HASH-A-Roni although that does sound kinda good.

It is not a practice of this writer to insert himself into an article, however, this is not exactly a regular article. In 1932 my father bought about 100 cows from several people west of Carroll’s Sawmill near Keachi. Being an 8-year-old boy who thought his help was needed with the cattle drive, it became necessary for him to ride a mule with a burlap sack for a saddle. If you ever experienced a 30 mile cattle drive on a mule you can imagine why this was a memorable trip!

Now to the reason for this article – this was my first meeting with 18-year-old Frank Carroll. Friendship was not renewed with Frank for approximately ten years. Sometime later he related the following story concerning the history of Carroll’s Sawmill.

Five Ways To Help Our Hurting Adult Children

My friend’s son just retired from the military-he had hoped to be promoted one more level, but had been turned down twice. He knew it was time to leave. Jim has a wife and several beautiful kids. He has a lot of people counting on him financially.

Make It Your Own

Some of you may remember me talking about my favorite basic recipes that have resisted changes or additions. It seems no matter what I did to “Bonnie McCullough’s Chicken Enchiladas” or my own Mom’s “Hamburger Hash” the basic recipe always seemed better. However, in today’s NYT Cooking Section Editor Sam Sifton asked the rhetorical question, “How Do You Make A Recipe Your Own?”

Sam’s article was about his attempts to make Tajin Chicken (What?!) Yeah, … I know – but his point was that every time you make the dish and change one little thing like a dash of cayenne, or some chives you are making the recipe your own. I thought Tajin Chicken would be from India but turns out to be a chili-lime seasoning powder from Jalisco, Mexico and, now, I’m gonna have to find some to try!

Mary Lilline Ricks was just 16 years old when she graduated from Mansfield high School and enrolled as a Junior in Mansfield Female College (MFC). She was thrilled to be a student at the first female college built west of the Mississippi River and it was in her own home town of Mansfield, La. Her parents were pleased, too, that she wanted to attend MFC because they really couldn’t afford for her to attend a college in another town. “I was too young to leave them,” she said as she began her sentimental journey back to the days of her youth. “And, anyway, they couldn’t afford to send me anywhere else.”

Are you looking for reliable, easy-care color for the landscape this summer? Look for new and improved petunias that tolerate the heat. Petunias of the past couldn’t handle the heat, but newer varieties have improved tolerance.

The LSU AgCenter Louisiana Super Plants program has promoted two such improved varieties. First is the Supertunia Vista Bubblegum petunia. This is one of the bestperforming petunias in the landscape. In trials at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station, Supertunia Vista Bubblegum was a top performer. The flowers are bright pink and prolific.

The other day I had a conversation about the food for the winter of this area about 150 years ago that stirred my “Historical Senses”. During and shortly after the Civil War hard times for everyone, especially rural and small towns of North Louisiana. The population was largely Anglo-Celtic or African in origin with some Spanish-French along the eastern edge of DeSoto Parish and to Natchitoches. Southward. Corn and pork were the main crops but there were three times more hogs than beef cattle. Irish potatoes and some sugar cane for making syrup. Cotton was by far the major money crop.

Wow! What have y’all been doing since we have had such nice temps all week?! I don’t know about y’all, but I love it. It puts you in a good mood and you can be outdoors and not get hot!

I want to talk about Community Support here in DeSoto parish. We have great support from our community, and that works in both directions. We also support our community. Last week was EMS week. Our

Administrator, Mr. Jacoby Beene, cooked hamburgers and all the trimmings for DeSoto EMS in celebration of the great work this group of people do on a daily basis. They see some very ill and critical people and I’m sure sometimes its gets stressful. Hats off to you DeSoto EMS!