About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2022)
Wednesday, June 15,2022 dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3B Give Dad a treat by grilling out for Fathers Day Why not surprise dad with a Father’s Day din ner menu that highlights his grilling skills? Think apple brined pork chops, grilled corn with chive butter, grilled jalapeno poppers and pasta salad you can totally make ahead. For dessert? Make it special with my deli cious carrot cake cup cakes—you can also make those ahead. Brining your pork chops, especially when they are super thick, is definitely the way to go. The brine seasons the pork chops all the way through and ensures that they stay super juicy dur ing the grilling process. For best results, brine them for 4-6 hours in the refrigerator. • 4 cups apple cider • 14 cup salt • 'A cup brown sugar • 14 cup apple cider vinegar • 4 thick pork chops, bone-in or boneless In a saucepan, combine apple cider, salt, brown sugar and apple cider vin egar. Bring to a boil. Stir to make sure the sugar and salt dissolve. Add a few cups of ice and then cool completely. Place pork chops in a bowl and pour the cooled brine over them. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. Remove from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Grill pork chops over medium-high ADLEN ROBINSON Columnist heat until internal temper ature is 150-degrees. Remove to a platter and tent with foil. Let pork chops rest for 5 minutes. When you order jala peno poppers at restau rants, they are almost always deep fried. While delicious, these grilled poppers are so much healthier and are still fla vorful and delicious. Grilled Jalapeno Poppers • 6 jalapenos, cut in halves lengthwise and seeds and ribs removed • Vi cup cream cheese, softened • 1 piece bacon, cooked and crum bled • 14 cup cheddar cheese, grated • 2 tablespoons green onions, minced • Vi teaspoon lime juice • 14 teaspoon garlic powder • Pinch of salt and pepper Garnishes: • 14 cup tomato, minced • 14 cup cilantro, minced In a bowl, combine cream cheese, crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, green onions, lime juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Spoon filling into the jalapeno halves. Spray the grill grates with non-stick cooking spray. Heat grill to medium. Carefully place jalapeno halves on the grill and cover. Cook for 8 minutes until cheese has melted and the bottoms of the jalapenos is beginning to char. Remove to a platter and sprinkle with minced tomato and cilantro. Pasta salad goes per fectly with grilled foods — and this Mediterranean one is def initely special. Make it a few hours ahead of time so it has time to chill and the flavors have time to meld. Mediterranean Pasta Salad • 3 cups uncooked fusilli pasta • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved • 1 Vi cups canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained • 2 cups baby arugu- la or spinach • 1 cup cucumbers, peeled and chopped • 1 cup feta, crum bled • Vi cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped • 1 cup basil leaves, torn • Vi cup parsley leaves, chopped • Vi cup mint leaves, chopped Dressing: • 14 cup olive oil • 3 tablespoons lemon juice • 1 teaspoon Dijon • 3 cloves garlic, minced • Vi teaspoon dried Italian seasoning • 14 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes • 1 teaspoon salt Cook fusilli pasta according to package directions. Drain well and rinse with cold water until cooled. Drain well. In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, aru- gula, cucumbers, feta, kalamatas, basil, parsley, and mint, tossing to com bine. In a jar, combine dressing ingredients and shake well. Pour dressing over pasta salad and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours. Stir before serving. Grilled Corn with Chive Butter • 4 ears corn • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper • 4 tablespoons but ter, softened • 14 cup chives, fine ly minced Shuck com and remove silks. Brush the corn with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill over medium-high heat until some kernels are brown ing. Meanwhile, mash together butter and chives. Remove corn to platter and slather with chive butter. Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting • 11/3 cup flour • 1 teaspoon baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon cinna mon • % teaspoon ground ginger • 14 teaspoon ground nutmeg • 1/2 cup avocado oil • 1 cup brown sugar • 2 eggs • 1/3 cup sour cream, at room tempera ture • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1 1/2 cup shredded carrots (3 large) • Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows) In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In another bowl, whisk together oil, brown sugar, eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract, and shredded car rots. Using an electric mixer, add wet mixture to dry mixture. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Add batter until % of the way full. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Bake cup cakes for 21-23 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack until com pletely cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with walnuts. Refrigerate until serving. Cream Cheese Frosting • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened • 1/2 cup butter, soft ened • 3 cups powdered sugar • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1/8 teaspoon salt • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped Using an electric mix ture, beat cream cheese until creamy. Add butter and beat until combined. Add half the powdered sugar and beat, and then add remaining powdered sugar. Add vanilla and salt and beat another 2-3 minutes. Refrigerate frosting until cupcakes have cooled completely. Frost cupcakes and sprin kle with walnuts. Daddy’s heart at the core of turning out a wonderful family There’s no dis puting it. No doubting it. No denying it. The man, who was our family’s North Star, was raised in an isolat ed, backwoods shack where hope rarely appeared but then dissipated quickly like dew on a hot sum mer’s morning. I am determined to never for get the loins from which I spring, for to forget that would be a travesty. A word that Daddy liked to use. “Reckon,” “drekkly”, “umption” “learn you” are a few of the other Appalachian words that stuck to him like burrs from an untamed field. Daily, I pass a photo in our hallway. Sometimes as I sit on the second step of our stairwell and have phone conversations, my eye falls to rest on the septic toned photo. I don’t look long for I sim ply can’t bear it. Without fail, I tear up and sometimes, if I don’t escape the image quick enough, I start the shuddering heave of a child try ing bravely not to sob. He is about 13. Dressed in overalls. His feet are bare. He sits in a homemade, straight ladder chair leaned against the “rottenin”’ (another of his words) gray piney wood shack. My heart sniffles when I study on the sizeable hole where a plank met the ragged porch. It was one of several holes that they stuffed with newspaper to keep the frigid winter’s air at bay. A black and white dog, what he loved most in the world, is beside him, peering sadly into that camera. What happened to that dog was horrific. I have rarely been able to utter the words to tell the story. He never was one for school ing so the by the sixth grade, he had escaped the confines of a pitiful one room school house and set about a lifetime of hard work that calloused his hands, bronzed his skin and “brung” him up in the world. He fought a world war in a distant land, on endless sea. Came home to buy a little gas station then built a garage where he could mechanic. In betwixt all that, he yielded - quite begrudgingly - to the call of the Lord. “I make a livin’ for my family through the week then I stand for the Lord on Sunday and preach His word.” The mountain people like to say, “he made a preacher.” Though his formal learning wasn’t much, his wisdom was plenty. He quietly observed life, studied on the habits of people then harvested a basket of truths. “A man who’ll lie to you, will steal from you,” he opined, sometimes adding, “there ain’t nothin’ worse than a coward but a liar’s right up there with him.” “Put your trust in God, not man. Man will let you down but God never will.” “Never buy land without water on it. It’s the water that makes it worth somethin’ because you can water your cat- tie and tote water for your fami ly” “The saddest thing you’ll ever do is stand over the casket of a man that you know died with out a hope in God.” That, he always said, with tears pooling in his green eyes. It is a remarkable thing about this man I called “Daddy.” Though his outer body was scarred, toughened and con stantly bruised from work, his heart was soft. He often picked up the phone to check on widow women and offer money or a load of firewood. “Give,” he instructed, “until it hurts so much that it starts to feel good.” From this man, came forth a host of well-educated, well- accomplished, Holy Ghost- anointed children and grand children. Rare is a week when I don’t pick up a newspaper to see how one of our little moun tain clan has been recognized for academic achievement, community commitment, or church involvement. We each own land on which creeks, streams and babbling brooks gurgle with the promise of quenching our thirst. His wisdom, though simple, became our guiding truths. 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 Current DCHS basketball player Trey Harvey leads the camp participants in a huddle chant on the final day of camp. FROM 1B Camp young athletes could take forward with them in life. While Cottrell served as the main skills coach during the camp, he also served as messenger of the ideas he wanted the athletes to remember. He reminded all of them that “the most important thing is for us to do our best.” The character develop ment did not stop at the camp participants. For members of the DCHS basketball team who helped out, the camp gave each of them an opportunity to show their leadership qualities and to show the younger ath letes the standard of Tigers basketball. “Our current players were exceptional in help ing our next generation of players improve,” Cottrell said. “If we con tinue to improve our skill, the future is very bright.” Those players will be starting up their scrim mage season soon, which will give Cottrell and Gravitt a first look into next season’s potential. Heading into the scrimmage season, the Tigers will be looking to build a roster after the departure of several seniors. Returning play ers such as Trey Harvey, Caden Reed, Ethan Parker and Joshua Priest will be leaders on a youthful team. The first home game will be this Thursday against Denmark at 5 p.m. FROM 1B Braves fifth man in the rotation during the recent upturn with 2020 draft pick Spencer Strider. He had made 11 bullpen appear ances in middle relief before making his first start FROM 1B Sapp a state playoff contender on a regular basis in an intense region. For Sapp, knowing that many of his former play ers and fellow coaches have become branches on his coaching tree is rewarding in itself. After 11 seasons at North Oconee he came to DCHS, where he made two straight playoff appearances to start and would have the opportuni ty to coach his sons Palmer and Hudson. That unique opportunity to coach his kids, com bined with a supportive athletic department at DCHS, made for an enjoyable home stretch of his career. “It was extremely mem orable because my boys came through here,” Sapp said. “I never got to miss on May 30 at Arizona. His first start ended with three earned runs in just over four innings but was affected by errors from the defense behind him. The second start at Colorado showed improvements and gave him a fairer scoreline of one earned run in four innings. His third start was the one of their games, which was fortunate.” While Sapp mentioned that the program was in good shape before his arrival, he also wanted to make sure he could sus tain its success and plan for its future to the best of his ability. He now believes that the baseball team is in a place where all of its structural needs have been met and that Burt can improve the team further. “He can do well here,” Sapp said. “I felt like it was a good time for him to take over. He’ll find his niche and his groove and everything will be good.” One of the reasons that Sapp remains confident about the future of the baseball team is the sup port it receives from both the school and the com munity. “This is a hard-working community that gets sup portive of its athletics,” Sapp said. “Because of the strongest, shutting out Pittsuburgh in 5 and two- thirds innings. Strider’s quick rise to the major league level has been due in part to his abil ity to stabilize games and periodically reach triple digits on the radar gun. His advantage against hitters comes when he uses off- speed pitches early in an traditions that are here and the people who grow up and live here, they support one school and one pro gram. That’s what I really liked about being here.” But while he may talk about his baseball career in the past tense, he will continue to teach at a junior high level and will also be taking up the role of coaching the freshman football team. Having arrived at DCHS the same school year as head football coach Sid Maxwell, Sapp will now have the chance to work for and with another coach he has built a rapport with over the years. As his career winds down, Sapp has had the chance to reflect on the important lessons he has learned over the years, many of which he shared with Burt. From recognizing pat terns to correcting mis takes to helping players at-bat to leave batters guessing before he uses his heat. “I started in Low A last year and expected to be there the entire season,” Strider told MLB.com ear lier this season. “A year ago, my vision for how I was going to get to the big leagues was a lot different, a lot longer.” focus on the big picture, Sapp has been able to learn from himself and help others as well. “My motto in life is ‘I want to be better tomor row’,” Sapp said. “Sometimes you have to tell players not to sweat the small stuff. Keep moving forward. Keep working hard. Good things will happen.” Now that he will be a fall coach instead of a spring coach, Sapp will have more time to watch his sons play baseball, with Palmer playing for Georgia College and Hudson play ing for Ole Miss. “I want to be able to watch them more and be that dad in the stands instead of looking at my phone or watching it on TV,” Sapp. “I just want to be there.” As head coach of Tigers baseball, Sapp accrued an overall record of 106-81 with three state playoff appearances.
