Wednesday, June 8,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3B
Salad ideas to liven up summer dinners, gatherings
I love salad—especially
during the hotter months
of the year. As all of you
know, the hot weather is
here and it is here to stay
for the next few months.
Salad makes a wonderful
dinner and you don’t have
to heat up the kitchen
with the stove or the
oven. In addition, even a
big salad won’t leave you
feeling bloated—it is a
great way to get your
daily intake of healthy
vegetables. Salad doesn’t
have to be boring!
Think ahead when you
are cooking other things
for dinner. For example,
on taco night, double up
on the taco meat so you
can use the leftovers in a
taco salad. When grilling
chicken breasts, cook
extra to slice and throw
into a salad. I always
have extra boiled eggs in
the refrigerator—perfect
for topping a chef salad.
Vary the lettuces you
use. Add some radicchio
or napa cabbage to the
lettuce to change up the
texture and taste of the
salad base. Don’t forget
fresh herbs—add them to
the salad dressing or
straight into your salad.
ROBINSON
Columnist
Make your own salad
dressing, and make extra
dressing while you are at
it. Homemade salad
dressing—even if it is just
good olive oil and quality
vinegar, is infinitely bet
ter than the bottled kind
at the grocery store. Here
are some of my favorite
salad recipes, along with
some classic salad dress
ings. Enjoy!
Taco Salad with
Mexican Salad
Dressing
• 4 cups crisp
Romaine lettuce,
tom into bite sized
pieces
• 4 cups Iceberg let
tuce, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper,
stemmed, seeds
removed and
chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and
grated
• !/2 Vidalia onion,
thinly sliced
• 1 cup cilantro
leaves
• 1 cup cherry toma
toes, halved
• 1 avocado, seeded,
peeled and chopped
• 1 !/2 cups favorite
cheese, shredded
• 2 cups cooked taco
meat, cold
• 1/3 cup black
olives, sliced
• Vijalapeno, sliced
• 2 cups tortilla
chips, crushed
• Mexican Salad
Dressing (recipe
follows)
In a large salad bowl,
toss together lettuces, bell
pepper, carrot, onion,
cilantro and cherry toma
toes. Divide into four
salad bowls. Top with
avocado, cheese, taco
meat, black olives, jalape-
no slices and tortilla
chips. Top with salad
dressing.
Mexican Salad
Dressing
• 1 cup sour cream
• !/2 cup favorite
salsa
• V2 lime, juiced
• Pinch of salt and
pepper
• Dashes of hot
sauce
• Combine all ingre
dients.
Just ask your deli to cut
a few slices of ham, tur
key and cheese a bit
thick—tell them you are
going to cube it up for a
salad.
Chef Salad
with Buttermilk
Ranch Dressing
• 4 cups Romaine
lettuce (or your
favorite lettuce)
• 1 cup napa cab
bage, chopped
• 1 cup radicchio,
chopped
• 1 Vi cups cubes of
deli ham
• 1 Vi cups cubes of
deli turkey
• 1 Vi cups cubes of
Swiss cheese (or
your favorite
cheese)
• 1 cup cherry toma
toes, halved
• 1-2 carrots, peeled
and grated
• Vi cucumber,
peeled and sliced
• 2 boiled eggs,
peeled and quar
tered
• Buttermilk Ranch
Dressing
In a large salad bowl,
combine lettuce, napa
cabbage, radicchio, ham,
turkey, cheese, tomatoes,
carrots, and cucumber.
Divide salad into salad
bowls and top with eggs.
Add Ranch dressing and
serve.
Salad with Grilled
Chicken and
Balsamic Dressing
• 4 cups spring mix
lettuces
• 4 cups Butter or
Bib lettuce, torn
into bite sized piec
es
• 1 cup radishes,
trimmed and sliced
thinly
• Vi cup cucumber,
peeled and thinly
sliced
• 1 cup cherry toma
toes, halved
• 2 grilled chicken
breasts, thinly
sliced or chopped
• % cup blue cheese
crumbles
• 2 cups croutons
• Balsamic Salad
Dressing (recipe
follows)
In a large salad bowl,
combine lettuces, cucum
bers, cherry tomatoes,
chicken breast slices, blue
cheese, and croutons.
Pour balsamic dressing
over all and toss well.
Divide into salad bowls
and serve.
This is by far my go-to
salad dressing recipe. The
better quality of balsamic
vinegar and olive oil you
use, the better the dress
ing is. You can make this
in minutes. You can make
the basic dressing, or you
can add some extras such
as minced garlic, minced
shallots, fresh herbs, or
different mustards.
Balsamic Salad
Dressing
• 14 cup balsamic
vinegar
• 'A cup extra-virgin
olive oil
• 1 Vi teaspoons
Dijon mustard
• Pinch of salt and
pepper
Combine ingredients in
a small jar and shake to
combine.
Its hard to give up a dear old friend like Dinah to heaven
It was Friday
night. We had just
walked in from a
supper of ham
burgers and Cokes,
with all the family,
at the Soda
Fountain.
A friend,
Barbara, texted urgently that
our mutual friend, Dinah, was
being rushed to the hospital.
Possibly a stroke.
Dinah, a dark-haired beauty
from my girlhood, was a teen
ager when I was in patent leath
er shoes and lace-trimmed
socks. Dinah wore dresses with
swirling skirts and tiny waists.
She was kind and, though I
was little and not of much use,
she always had time to entertain
me, listening to the stories that
my five-year-old self recited.
Her laughter was like a light
weight, springtime green leaf.
Fike many mountain families,
she and her parents lived in a
neat, small house within a
stone’s throw of her
grandparents’ two-
story, frail farmhouse
that carried the scent
of a hundred years
that it had seen. They
lived within holler
ing distance so they
stood on their porch
es, talking across the yard.
The memory is faint but still
there: Daddy and Dinah’s
granddaddy sitting on that gray-
weathered porch, their chairs
rocking gently back and forth.
Both men with their shirt
sleeves rolled up and Bibles
open while I sat on the rickety
steps in my ruffled church
dress, watching the red dust
kicked up by cars rumbling
along the nearby dirt road.
I can still remember the gen
tleness of the breeze across my
freckled cheeks as Daddy and
the wise, old man discussed the
Word of God.
Dinah and her mother, seeing
our car in the drive, always hur
ried down to see us. It was for
ever joyous to see that beautiful
girl dance out from the porch,
the screen door banging behind
her.
In our living room is a black
and white photo that Dinah took
of me with my parents. My
smile is glowing and my petti
coat is showing.
“It looks dire,” Barbara said.
“Please, pray.”
I took myself to our back
porch and then to the back yard.
It was a beautiful night. An
enormous, storybook-like full
moon hung in the sky, sur
rounded by a smattering of
twinkling stars and Jupiter and
Mars. In the night’s quiet, I
stilled myself and began to pray.
Suddenly, I stopped and,
looking at the majestic sight,
whispered, “What a beautiful
night to go home.”
I could hear Sister Vestal
Goodman singing, “What a
beautiful day for the Ford to
come again.”
As I watched the sky, high
overhead, flew a southbound
passenger jet headed for
Atlanta’s international airport.
“In 20 minutes,” I whispered,
“that plane will be setting at the
gate.”
Seconds later, another plane
appeared. Turning toward the
east, I saw another jet adjust its
course toward the airport.
Apparently, a lot of jets land
in Atlanta around 8 p.m. on a
Friday night.
Still, holding Dinah’s image,
I watched those blinking lights,
pondering that a lot of people
would soon be home. I imag
ined their relief at seeing the
lights of home as the aircrafts
circled before landing. Atlanta
is a beautiful, twinkling city to
behold at night, from the sky.
In my mind’s eye, I could see
happy family reunions: a girl
friend embracing her sweetheart
while toddlers waddled toward
grinning grandparents.
Is Dinah home yet? I won
dered. Her family was waiting,
too, in long anticipation of a
family reunion.
The hardest prayer is when
we release selfishness and ask
that a loved one or dear friend
may find the peace of heaven.
The dogs took off in a clatter
after deer then, as quiet slipped
back over the Rondarosa, I
began to sing an old
Appalachian hymn. To the stars,
the moon, and the passing jets, I
used the haunting, wailing voice
of my people.
“Oh, come angel band; Come
and around me stand.”
If the angel band was coming
for Dinah that night, they turned
back to heaven. Her heavenly
family reunion will have to
wait.
And her early family is
relieved.
Ronda Rich is a multi-best-selling
author. Visit www.rondarich. To
sign up for her free weekly news
letter.
RONDA RICH
Columnist
Rio White Dawson County News
Brad Bennett performs a motorcycle stunt at
the event on Sunday.
FROM 1B
Show
wheel as well as tight turns that put him inches
away from awestruck kids.
He then proceeded to try stunts on top of a car as
well as special stunts with Fead Pastor Dustin
Gillespie.
Relying on Gillespie’s trust — and nerves —
Bennett performed several tricks that put the pastor
at the center of the program.
After that, two other members of Real Encounter
performed ramp stunts on BMX bikes. Several dif
ferent kinds of tricks were done, including some
that involved going upside down and others that
involved no hands.
At the end of the program, Bennett spoke to the
audience about his background in stunt riding and
how it tied into his group’s role in religious out
reach.
For pastor Gillespie, the event epitomized his
vision of the church as a place where the communi
ty has priority.
“To get people to come to campus to see that we
are a church that cares about our community and
that our doors are open means a lot,” Gillespie said.
“We have an open relationship with our community,
and we want to communicate that.”
FROM 1B
Vita
academic approach used
by the country’s education
system.
“I was much more
stressed out at home...I
had about 15 subjects,”
Govorkova said. “But
also, now it is easier for
me to study [in America]
having had the harder
time in Russia.”
With a greater degree of
individual education paths
offered in the United
States, she noticed that
her own workload
decreased but that each
student seemed to have
their own amount to com
plete.
Socially, she saw signif
icant differences between
how students communi
cate with each other.
On one hand, certain
ideas of American teenag
ers — as portrayed by
television and film — are
not necessarily the case.
She found that the con
cepts of cliques and strict
social classes were not
Rio White Dawson County News
Vita Govorkova runs
during a track meet
earlier this season.
present at DCHS.
“I would say that every
one was so nice,”
Govorkova said. “I like
people here...it just feels
like home.”
On the other hand, she
said that most students in
Russia keep one set of
close friends while many
American high schoolers
have a combination of
close and peripheral
friends.
Because of this, she
witnessed the often indi
rect way American teen
agers communicate, con
trasting to the blunt nature
of Russian conversations.
Despite the vastly dif
ferent social environ
ments, Govorkova found
people at DCHS who
would have an imprint on
her life.
Many of these people
came from athletics, spe
cifically the track and
field team.
While she was able to
meet the many members
of the team throughout
the season, her most cher
ished moments were with
those she got to know on
the long bus rides to the
Region Championship
and State Sectionals.
“I think State was one
of the best [experiences]
because we had so much
time,” Govorkova said.
“We were so close
because we were always
together and supporting
each other. We got to
know each other...and
now I have friends from
the track team and we
hang out.”
In fact, her bond with
the track team grew so
much that Coach Pruett
wants to bring some of
the team to visit
Govorkova at her next
stop in Arkansas.
That level of friendship
and dedication is some
thing she said was unex
pected, yet all the more
amazing.
Aside from her life at
school, she was also able
to travel to many parts of
the United States with her
host family.
She had her first snow
less New Year in Miami,
traveled to Fas Vegas, saw
the Grand Canyon and
went to a concert in
Nashville.
“One of the best parts
[of my stay] was traveling
a lot,” Govorkova said.
“Even if it’s just a couple
days, it’s just amazing
emotions with so much
energy and adrenaline.”
Overall, Govorkova’s
time in Dawsonville will
be remembered both by
her and the many friends
she made along the way.
While she has now left
to stay in Arkansas for the
summer, she has become
a Tiger for life, wherever
the future may lead her.
FROM 1B
Coaches
asset to our program,”
Anglin said. “She has been
loyal to our schedule for
the last few years as a
community coach, and it
was vital for me to help
find her a job.”
She will also be begin
ning her first year as a
teacher, joining the staff at
Black’s Mill Elementary
as a Kindergarten and 1st-
grade Focus teacher.
Two individuals will be
kept on from the previous
staff, including Anglin’s
wife, Carly, who finished
her DCHS career in 2013
as the third all-time lead
ing scorer for the Fady
Tigers.
Anglin has been on the
coaching staff since 2018
but will be tasked with
new responsibilities next
season, as she was named
head coach of the 8th-
grade team and will over
see all basketball opera
tions.
“Working with your
wife is a unique opportuni
ty that I won’t take for
granted,” Will Anglin said.
“As a coach, she can relate
with the players and give
them realistic expectations
about playing at the next
level. She will be a huge
blessing to our 8th-grade
team. She understands
what the kids need to suc
ceed at the high school
level because she has been
there for four years.”
Also kept on staff is
Natosha Beary, who has
been successful as the
Middle School basketball
coach for the past nine
years. In that time span,
her teams have won five
Mountian Feague
Championships.
She will continue as the
7th grade team coach next
season and will also over
see the youth development
programs.
“I was excited to keep
Natosha on board,” Anglin
said. “She does a great job
connecting to the players,
and they enjoy playing for
her. I’m excited about
working with her over the
next several years.”
