Newspaper Page Text
Mansion PatigHlnurmtl
Good
to be
home
Welcome the
Winstons!
My life will never
be the same! For the first
time in 11 years, I have
family right here in middle
Georgia. While I was away
this summer, my son Jeff
Winston (a former Northside
High School English teach
er and coach) and his wife 1
Mendi Smith Winston (a
native of Warner Robins and
graduate of Northside) and
their three children, Zach,
13, Courtney and Keeley,
10, small dog and four cats,
moved into my house - tem
porarily - while they scoured
the area looking of a house
to buy in Houston County.
They bought one, and they
will be moving out of my
house shortly (smile).
Since they are now mem
bers of the Perry communi
ty, I want to introduce them
to you and extend to them a
warm Georgia howdee!!
Jeff is
teach
ing ninth
grade
English
at Perry
High
School
and doing
some
coach
ing. Prior
to mov
ing from
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Jane Winston
The Left Rail
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Indiana, he was the varsity
tennis coach, and the varsity
golf coach. He has taught
English grades eighth-12,
coached men and women’s
basketball and is a certified
basketball referee. Mendi
is in the special education
department of Perry Middle
School and is the coach of
the seventhth grade girl’s
softball team. Mendi was
a scholarship softball play
er at Macon State, and she
coached the girl’s varsity
softball team in Indiana.
John Zachary (Zach) is
an eighth grader at Perry
Middle School. He is 13
and has done it all: football,
basketball, golf, tennis, the
atre and band (saxophone)
plus serves as a class officer
in his seventh grade class
in Attica, Indiana. Courtney
and Keeley are the 10-year
old twins, and they are fifth
graders at King’s Chapel
Elementary School. They
are great softball players as
well as bundles of energy
and fun, and whereas they
are not identical, I challenge
you, when you meet them,
to figure out which one is
which. I am delighted to
have them here. This means
I don’t have to move north!
A Good Read
Last count, I read a dozen
books since early May ...
some good and some bad,
real bad. I will skip the
sharing of the bad ones,
OK? The Glass Castle - I
learned of this book while
traveling through Michigan.
It is required reading for
all incoming freshmen at
Michigan State University,
plus the book is being used
as a “one book, one com
munity” project (a proj
ect I hope to launch in the
area this year). No writ
ten assignment is attached,
but students are required to
attend the assembly where
the author speaks and signs
autographs. Additionally,
they are required to attend
discussion groups held on
campus and in the commu
nity. These provide students
the opportunity to meet and
learn with other students
and members of the com
munity. Another plus is that
each new student will have
See WINSTON, page 4C
SATURDAY,
AUGUST 19, 2006
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Josie Piotrowski and Hank Dean welcome guests at their Warner Robins restaurant, which opened in March.
Couple providing WR new menu delights
By JOE SERSEY
Journal Correspondent
It’s true! The way to a
man’s heart is through
his stomach. Just ask
Josie Piotrowski.
She met Hank Dean
and the two of them
opened Sumthin Diffrent
Restaurant off Watson
Blvd., in Warner Robins
in March.
At the time the two
met, Dean owned Macon
Cycles, a Harley Davidson
repair and service center.
He and his four employ
ees were subsisting on TV
dinners.
“We were eating what
ever we could find,” Dean
said. “I started seeing
Josie, and she started cook
ing for all of us.
“We were flipping out
over her food.”
He grew tired of the chop
per business and started
thinking restaurant. He
said that everybody who
worked at Macon Cycle
told him, “It would be
great if she had her own
restaurant.”
Piotrowski had been
a chef for 25 years but
had never owned her own
place. Her good fortune
was meeting a man who
had spent most of his life
self-employed.
Dean, an Albany native,
has spent most of his
working life as his own
boss. Before his foray
It’s all simply just a matter of taste
I couldn’t believe my
eyes. It was something I
never in my life thought
I would witness: my sister
eating a green bean and
enjoying it!
My sister is well-known
for her dislike, even hatred,
of green beans, something
she proved to my brother
in-law early in their rela
tionship by gagging and
running to the bathroom
when he cajoled her into
eating one.
But there she was, munch
ing away. It seems she likes
this particular veggie if
it is stir-fried and still on
the crispy side. What she
doesn’t like is green beans
cooked the Southern way
- soft and mushy and sea
soned to perfection with
some fatback.
Lifestyle
”1 used to get
excited about
motorcycle psrts.
Now I get excited
about kitchen
equipment."
- Hank Dean
into motorcycle repair, he
worked in web design.
He also had his own
country/rock band that
attracted the attention of
people from Nashville.
His band was called
Hank and Hard Knocks,
and he played guitar and
sang.
“We played on Farm Club
in Hollywood (Calif.),” he
said. “It had a television
audience of four and half
million.”
Dean still plays and also
masters CDs, but his first
interest is his restaurant.
“I used to get excited
about motorcycle parts,”
he explained. “Now I get
excited about kitchen
equipment.
“You can always get
another bike, but you can’t
always open another busi
ness.”
In fact, he is so com
mitted to the success of
this restaurant he sold his
2002 Harley Fat Boy to
help with start-up costs.
See COUPLE, page 4C
My family can rarely get
together without discuss
ing everyone’s various likes
and dislikes. For instance,
neither my sister nor I like
nuts in sweets. No brown
ies with walnuts, no con
gealed salads with pecans,
no white chocolate maca
damia nut cookies for us,
thank you very much. I say
why put nuts in a cookie to
take up space where choco
late could go?
Ah, but that’s where our
taste bud similarities end.
She likes bell peppers; I
can only eat them if they’re
cooked beyond recognition
or diced so finely I mistake
them for celery. I like turnip
greens and collards. To her,
they’re right up there with
green beans. And she likes
coconut.
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ENI Gary Harmon
Dean watches as Piotrowski gets ready to cook food that will have their customers
“flipping out.”
Ugh. Just the thought of it
makes me shiver and makes
my taste buds cringe.
* rr
Sherri Martin
The Front Porch
Anything that hints of
the word gelatin makes him
jiggle inside. He says there’s
just something not natural
about it.
My mother also likes
just about anything, except
salmon. If we have salmon
croquettes for supper then
go over to her house for a
visit, she’ll sniff and say,
“You had salmon for sup
per, didn’t you? Blech!”
I have taken to planning
ahead; if I know we’re going
over there, I’ll just think of
something else to cook.
Then there is my hus
band, who has his own set
of strange likes and dis
likes. He calls himself a
“super taster” after hear
ing a news report of people
who have and more sensi
tive taste buds, and more
of them, than most people,
so their likes and dislikes
are more extreme. I think
they are also super smell
ers, because the other day
when I closed up a package
of baked cheese chips I had
been entertaining our sons
and myself with while rid-
M y
brother
in-law, on
the other
hand,
prides
himself
on liking
justabout
anything,
except
jello.
SECTION
c
ing in hjs truck, he said,
“Finally!*
I didn’t know the smell
had been bothering him. He
elaborated, “If y’all weren’t
missing most of your taste
buds you would know those
things taste yucky!”
He’s quite the critic.
Of course, his super taste
buds sometimes don’t real
ize they like something
until he has no choice but
to give the food a good try,
which is how he came to
love asparagus.
So I have hope that some
where out there will be a
few more foods he will give
another good try and come
to like. Then I will be able
to expand our menus.
Hey, if my sister can eat a
green bean and smile, any
thing is possible.