Newspaper Page Text
June 22, 2016
PAGE 5A
ft
Reporter
Outside Looking In...
Hello From High Falls
Good news: The county re-paved Westbrooks Road. Bad news: Two cars can’t
safely pass one another on it.
Your tax $$ at work?
By DON DANIEL
tullaybear@bellsouth.net
have had the opportunity to travel
all over the United States and
Europe. Everywhere I go, the
cuisine of the different regions of
the USA and Europe, combined
with dulling hunger pangs, causes me to
search out food other than fast-food joints
and franchised restaurants. Although I
did have a Big Mac on the Champs De
Elysees in downtown Paris, I try to find
“hole-in-the-wall”, Mom-and-Pop, and
locally-owned restaurants. I have dined
at several Michelin Five-Star
restaurants and had a pig ear
sandwich in Jackson, Miss.
I have seen “Southern
Cooking” advertised as far
north as Maine, as far west
as South Dakota, as far south
as Key West and in New
York. What absolutely defines
southern cooking escapes
me since there are different
ways to cook southern. My
definition is any vegetable
seasoned with lard, fat back
or a ham hock, chicken fried
in grease, pork barbecued,
not fish filets, the bone-in fried fish.
Southern gourmet is chicken gizzards
and livers, fried of course. Chitlins I don’t
care for but will eat them if fried.
And of course grits. I like ’em plain with
a lot of butter and cheese grits are gour
met. I collect grits and have several bags
when I want to vary my selection. But,
they are still grits. Then there are collard
greens and turnips with pot likker and
com bread, rutabagas, com on the cob
and sweet potatoes (don’t particularly
like them and that’s another growing up
story). A hamburger steak and country
fried steak smothered in gravy with rice
or real white potatoes is palate-pleasing
and better than a filet mignon or t-bone.
There are attempts by those advertis
ing southern cooking to prostitute the
southern cooking method. For example,
an uppity restaurant in Atlanta has
collard greens on the menu. I ordered
them but had them returned because the
collards had carrots and onions cooked
in them. Just give me a bottle of pep
per sauce to sprinkle on the collards or
turnips and combread to sop up the pot
likker.
Now after all that, my appetite is whet
ted. I enjoy cooking and have a collec
tion of cookbooks, regional, local, from
France, Ireland and England. Every once
in a while, I will pull one down from the
kitchen bookshelf, find a recipe and ven
ture into the cooking world. I sometimes
don’t necessarily follow the step-by-step
ingredients, adding herbs from my herb
garden, of course lard or bacon grease
to the vegetable recipe. Yes, I always
over cook the vegetables, which southern
cooks are accused of doing.
I gave up on having a garden a couple
of years ago finding fresh vegetables at
our local farmers markets in Forsyth,
Bolingbroke and roadside sellers. Of
course, ‘tis the season for tomato sand
wiches which become at least a one-time-
a day staple. I consider myself a purist
when it comes to tomato sandwiches: A
thick slice of tomato between two slices of
fresh white bread slathered with mayon
naise, heavily sprinkled with pepper and
a dash of salt. Every once in a while, I
add a couple of slices of bacon cooked to
a crisp and some fresh basil. I call my
tomato sandwiches “sink sandwiches”
because I have to stand over the sink as
the juice and mayonnaise drip from the
sandwich.
My daughter once cooked a “tomato
pie”, not a desert, which I have now
become specialized in cooking and shar
ing. Don’t know where she got the recipe
but it is good and I cook them often, and
share if a slice is left or if I cook two as I
often do.
When the spring and summer fresh
vegetables begin to wane, I don’t let them
disappear without stocking my freezer.
I have learned to blanch them, ice bath
cool them and put into freezer bags for
a winter time fresh vegetable feeding
frenzy.
Back to my collecting cookbooks. My
daughter-in-law compiled a cookbook
with just about every member of our
family contributing favorite recipes.
Reading that cookbook brings back a lot
of memories of my grandmothers’ cook
ing, not necessarily my mother’s cooking.
She did not like to cook and was “notori
ous” for cooking anything and just about
everything on the stove’s highest setting.
Cooking on high was her cooking meth
od. It was still good, just “fast food”!
Every year for the past many, many
years, the Walker side of my family holds
a family reunion and everybody brings
something to lay out on the very long
table. I always look for the home-cooked
foods, particularly the chicken and dump
lings. I stay away from the buckets of
Kentucky Fried Chicken looking
for the “real” fried chicken. There
are some folks that still bring the
home-cooked variety. Some fam
ily members are known for their
attempt to disguise and sneak in
their store-bought chicken, emp
tying the bucket in a platter they
brought along.
Now, I need your input. How
would you define “Southern
Cooking”? Send me your
definitions or experiences with
southern home cooking. Share
a recipe if you wish and I will
aslo.
THIS from my correspondent in Texas,
Caleb Pirtle, who posted this on his
Facebook page: It’s so hot in Texas, farm
ers are feeding their chickens crushed
ice to keep them from laying hard-boiled
eggs.
THE CORRECT answer to last week’s
The Question goes to Carol Broykin iden
tifying “A Little Bit of Magic” to be per
formed by The Children’s Theater Troupe
at the Rose Theater this Saturday night.
She gets a certificate for Jonah’s cookie,
Dairy Queen Blizzard, two egg rolls
at Lucky Cafe, dozen Dunkin Donuts,
Whistle Stop fried green tomato appe
tizer and a Main Street t-shirt.
Here’s The Question for this week: Who
was named “Caregiver of the Year” by
PruittHealth for 2016? Hint: Go to page
1C of last week’s Reporter. First correct
answer after 12 noon on Thursday gets
the certificate.
I ENJOY reading The Vent and here
is one of the better ones: “JFK said we
could put a man on the moon. Obama
said he would put men in women’s rest
rooms. Both succeeded.”
WANT to see the most unusual and
wasteful example of using taxpayer
money for obviously self-serving pur
poses? Come out here to Blount, take
Westbrooks Road and see the quarter
mile “pig path” that was paved with our
money. Not enough room to meet an
oncoming vehicle without having to pull
into a ditch or someone’s driveway until
the other passes. Careful, it is dangerous
with several fender benders reported on
the section.
The center of the road, which has
no center line, defines the districts
of Commissioners Larry Evans and
Jared Lovett. The right side of the
road with three houses and a church
are in Commissioner Lovett’s district
and the left side, with no houses, is in
Commissioner Larry Evans’ district.
There seems to be a mystery as to
which of the two commissioners autho
rized/approved the wasteful spending,
but they could have been in cahoots.
When I brought this to the attention
with a photo to our county clerk/admin
istrator, she came out, saw and drove
the road and concurred the road is
dangerous. Supposedly she will make a
determination how this boondoggle and
politically self-serving paving will be cor
rected if it does get corrected. I will keep
you posted.
A couple of homeowners and Laodicea
Missionary Baptist Church members
came to me and asked what could be
done. When I recommended they talk
to their county commissioner or go to
a county commission meeting, they
laughed and smirked with the comment,
“won’t make no difference”. Sad!
Contact Don Daniel at tullaybear@bell-
south.net or call at 478-994-1312. Don’t
forget to listen to Die Reporter On Die
Radio on Majic 100 on Sunday mornings
at 7.
New hardware store in HF
Die Reporter this
week re-introduces our
old friend Margaret
Sigretto to write about
High Falls. Sigretto
wrote for the newspaper
several years ago and
now has time to return.
BY MARGARET
SIGRETTO
rnjpegss@att.net
ello from
High
Falls,
I am
excited to
be writing
again for the
Reporter from
High Falls
State Park.
Summer is
here, school is
out, and the
water park is
packed almost
everyday.
The number of people
that visit High Falls
every year, especially
in the summer months,
is hard to believe.
Whether you are com
ing from Atlanta,
Macon or all points
north or south, it is so
worth the trip.
The park is a beauti
ful sight to see.
We have a new hard
ware store on High
Falls Road, “Clint and
Company,” a welcome
addition to our com
munity. The store has
just about anything
you might need and
if they don’t have it,
they will get it for you
if possible. The store
is well-stocked and the
service is excellent. It is
a friendly place to shop
for all your hardware
needs.
Another new
business open
ing soon is
a four-pump
Sunoco station
and convenience
store at Buck
Creek and High
Falls Road, a
short distance
off 75 South
Exit 198.
If you plan to camp
out while you are here,
be sure to reserve your
campsite early, the
spaces go very fast. If
you happen to need
some extra supplies or
groceries, Buck Creek
Market is the place
to go, it is open seven
days a week.
I highly recommend
its New York strip
steaks, hot off the grill,
it will melt in your
mouth.
If you are packing,
gassing up and ready
for the weekend, I have
done my job. I can
promise you a fun trip
that you will want to
return to often. Next
time I will highlight
other places to visit and
activities you will enjoy
while you are here in
High Falls.
In the meantime be
safe as we go about our
lives remembering the
families and loved ones
of the horrible tragedy
in Orlando. We can’t
live in fear but we must
be aware that we are
living in these times in
a different world .
Take care and remem
ber—
These three things
you cannot recover in
life: The WORDS after
they are said----The
MOMENTS after they
are missed---and TIME
after its gone.
Margaret Sigretto
writes about High Falls
for the Reporter. Email
her your story ideas at
rnjpegss@att.net.
GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST
The Reporter welcomes
your opinions. Submit a let
ter to the editor via email
to publisher@mymcr.net,
fax to 994-2359, or mail to
P.O. Box 795, Forsyth, GA
31029. Keep it under 500
words. Include your real
name and hometown.
Include a phone num
ber. Deadline is 5 p.m.
Friday. Join the free
and open exchange of
ideas!
Get Yours Before
They’re History!
A Pictorial History of
Monroe County, GA
Vel. I & II
ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER IS AVAILABLE
This newspaper is printed on bio-degradable paper from
organically grown, recyclable trees in their natural environment.
The Reporter Recycles! Q