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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Aunt Ozelle's
It’s a sure thing that
when family gath
ers at my house for
Thanksgiving dinner, there
will certainly be a hot, gooey
dish of homemade macaroni
and cheese on the table.
It is my Thanksgiving spe
cialty, leading my brother-in
law to nickname it “Ronda’s
macaroni and cheese,”
though it really isn’t mine
because I secured the reci
pe long ago from my Aunt
Ozelle, one of the family’s
best cooks. In the past few
years, I have made it on tele
vised cooking shows, given it
to magazines that asked for
my favorite recipe and posted
it to my web site where it
won rave reviews from those
who tried it.
In short, I have shared
its glorious glory across this
nation. Many years ago, when
Aunt Ozelle gave me her rec
ipe for what we call Glorious
Macaroni and Cheese, she
was specific about one ingre
dient.
“It calls for one cup of
Gentlemen - don’t clean up too much
I woke up one recent
Saturday morning
ready to clean.
That’s about as common
as me waking up ready to
dance.
Most
Saturday
mornings,
I wake
up ready
for more
sleep. But
for some
reason I
.still can’t
fathom I
wanted
Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
to clean up that particular
morning. My wife and fam
ily were out of town. For the
first time in seemingly forev
er, I had the house to myself.
History shows my M.O. on
such occasions is that I five
like a complete slob until 22
minutes before my wife is
scheduled to be home. Then
I feverishly straighten up the
massive mess I’ve made, fin
ishing in a fury and jumping
on the couch as she walks
in. But Saturday, my mood
was different. I vacuumed. I
washed clothes. I painted the
trim around the windows that
I was supposed to have com
pleted in 1999.1 washed win
dows. I scrubbed toilets. I did
some electrical work. I was
a man possessed - although
at one point, while wash
ing dishes, I was wearing an
apron, which places my man
hood in serious doubt.
I cleaned and straightened
and organized and rear
ranged from sun-up until
sundown, only electrocuting
myself twice.
The next morning, I awoke
LETTER 1
From page 6A
Mayans had their own meth
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ficed and prayed to their rain
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fence was sure to make it
rain; at least that’s what I was
told. All of these actions had
the same effect: none. Rain
is caused by special weather
conditions that when working
in proper concert cause rain.
If prayer could change the
weather, we would not have
droughts, floods, hurricanes,
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;' W
m ay o n
naise,”she
pointed
out then
added, “I
always use
Duke’s.”
She
shrugged
in her
casual way
Ronda Rich
Dixie Divas
where she tosses her hands
up and purses her lips tightly
together. Since Aunt Ozelle
is wedded only to the law and
gospel of the scriptures and
little else, I paid no attention
to that directive. After all, she
didn’t act like it was a very
important detail. She gave
me every reason to believe
that any ol’ mayo would do.
So I bought expensive may
onnaise because I wanted to
make the best possible dish.
Although Glorious Macaroni
and Cheese, with a pound of
sharp cheese, sauteed onions
and pimentos and cream of
mushroom soup - the übiqui
tous ingredient of Southern
cooking - claimed whatev
to the horror of what I had
done. It was then that I real
ized that in my cleaning fer
vor, I had forgotten one of
the many life lessons taught
to me by “The Andy Griffith
Show” - you can clean too
much.
In one episode, Aunt Bee
goes out of town and right
before she comes home, Andy
and Opie have the house
spotless. But then Andy real
izes that if everything is per
fect, Aunt Bee will be disap
pointed, because she wants
to feel needed and believes
that Andy and Opie can’t
do without her. So, moments
before she walks in, they
have to mess up what they’ve
cleaned up. And while I don’t
think my wife would be upset
if the house was spotless, I
don’t want to set a danger
ous precedent - her expect
ing this every time she leaves
for a couple of hours. So I
went to dirtying.
It wasn’t hard. In fact, it
was a lot of fun. I made some
popcorn, stuffing as much as
I could in my mouth - letting
whatever I couldn’t fit in my
mouth fall on the floor as I
walked around the house in
boots that I had just traipsed
through a mud puddle with.
I read three Sunday newspa
pers and left parts of them
strewn throughout the house.
I found a wet, smelly dog on
the street and wrestled with
him on the living room rug.
I didn’t go back and unwash
the windows or scrape off the
paint. No, you have to find a
happy medium - clean up just
enough to show an effort, but
not so much that there is no
room for improvement.
tornadoes, etc. All our crops
would be bumper crops, and
all would be well in the world.
Now, if the governor would
pick a spot around here,
let’s say the Houston Home
Journal office in Perry, and a
time window of, let’s say, from
9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Sunday
and have it rain at least one
inch on that property within
that window; he could then
join forces with Pat Robinson
who can change the path of a
hurricane with a prayer; or so
he said years ago.
They could both get richer
by controlling the weather as
their hearts see fit; for a price’
of course.
Walter Huckeba, Perry
glorious macaroni, cheese
Glorious Macaroni
and Cheese
1 8 oz. box of Elbow
Macaroni
1 can Cream of Mushroom
Soup
1 cup Duke’s Mayonnaise
1/4 cup diced pimentos
1/4 cup onions diced
1 pound cheese grated
Cook macaroni. Saute
pimentos and onions light
in three tablespoons of
margarine. Add all ingre
dients and mix together in
large bowl. Salt to taste.
Pour into greased casse
role dish. Bake for 25 min
utes on 350 degrees.
Courtesy of Ronda Rich and
Aunt Ozelle
er fame it has through me,
mine has never tasted nearly
as good as Aunt Ozelle’s.
Sometimes - though not
always - when folks bragged
on my dish, I would say,
“If you think mine’s good,
Gentlemen, rememberyour
lessons from Andy - before
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110 1
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OPINION
you oughta taste my Aunt
Ozelle’s.”
I couldn’t figure out the
difference then last year as I
was preparing Thanksgiving
dinner and setting out the
ingredients, it hit me like a
bolt of lightning.
“Duke’s mayonnaise!” I
exclaimed to myself. “That’s
it!”
I rushed to the grocery
store only to find that they
had put Duke’s mayonnaise
on sale and sold out of it. I
was soon to discover that the
brand has a cult following in
the South. Somehow, I had
missed out on that.
To another store I went,
bought the last jar on the
shelf and went home to make
it with the mayonnaise devel
oped by Mrs. Eugenia Duke
of Greenville, SC in 1917
then sold by her to the Sauer
Company of Richmond, VA in
1929. Over the years, not one
ingredient has been changed
from Mrs. Duke’s original
recipe and it is still made in a
plant in Greenville.
you do something foolish like
clean up.
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2007 ♦
Not to one soul did I men
tion the change in mayon
naise brands, really not
thinking it would be much
of a notice anyway. However,
it caused quite a stirring
around the table.
Aunt Kathleen spoke
first. “Oh my goodness!
This Glorious macaroni and
cheese is better than ever.
It’s out of this world.”
“This is wonderful,” Mary
Nell commented. “Is some
thing different?”
“Ronda, this is the best
you’ve ever made,” mama
said. “This is delicious.”
I set down the pitcher of
sweet tea on the counter
Michael Proscia Organbuilder
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and folded my arms. “I can’t
believe you noticed. I changed
mayonnaise. I used Duke’s
like Aunt Ozelle does.”
Now, Dukes’ is the brand
I 1
of choice for all my cooking
because a smart Southern
woman figured out how to
make mayonnaise with an
undeniable kick.
Thanks to Mrs. Duke, it’s
going to be another delicious
Thanksgiving at my house.
Hmmm. I can taste it now.
Ronda Rich is the best
selling author of What
Southern Women Know
(That Every Woman Should)
and The Town That Came
A-Courtin’.
7A
155537