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Congrats to Grad’s Parents

Posted on May 27, 2021 by susanrray

He wore his blue mortar board and blue gown with pride.  When his name was called, he held his head high and grinned ear-to-ear as the school’s headmaster placed a diploma in his hand.  Like all graduates, he’d successfully completed the course of study, but no one needed to ask what his plans were after graduation.  When the next school year begins in August, Micah will be in first grade.

            As parents and grandparents took pictures, I thought of my longtime friend who questioned why schools held graduation ceremonies for young children.  In fact, she hardly recognized her children’s high school graduations because they were expected to graduate from universities and then complete masters’ degrees, and preferably, doctorates.  After that, the family would celebrate. 

            Thirty years ago, I understood my friend’s reasoning, but now I’m glad to celebrate each and every successful step of education.  I applauded my Grand as he graduated from kindergarten and his big sister who graduated from 8th grade.

            Across our county many graduation ceremonies, ranging from preschool through doctorate degrees,have been held recently.  Children can graduate many times, depending on the exit grade of their schools: preschool, kindergarten, 4th grade, 8th grade, high school, Tennessee Tech University.

            During graduation ceremonies, speakers congratulate, challenge, inspire, and encourage the graduates.  But who does the same for the parents?  Why isn’t there a graduation speech for parents?

            Congratulations, parents!  Enjoy the moment.  Breathe deeply.  Relax. You did your part. Take a few days off and gloat.  Pat yourself and your new graduates on the back.  Your children’s successes are your successes. 

            You fed, clothed, transported, and bought books, paper, pencils, and poster board.  You helped your children with school work at home and patiently watched, or did your own work nearby, while they finally figured out how to solve the last math equation. 

            You wiped tears and hugged. You heard about teachers who gave too much homework and teachers who didn’t grade fairly and friends who weren’t really friends. 

             Now, challenge your children to continue learning.  Show them, by your example that in real life, outside a classroom, there are opportunities to learn. Challenge them to learn something new every day, even though it won’t be on a test. 

            Read. Read. Read. Read aloud.  Read silently. Read together. Read signs and books and newspapers (printed and online) and the back of a cereal box and Lego directions. 

            Show children that learning is fun.  Play games. There’s a fine line between letting children win and squashing children’s confidence by always losing.  Let them experience victory and defeat.  

            Encourage children to try. The quote I kept on my classroom wall read, “It’s okay to try and fail, and try and fail again.  But it’s not okay to try and fail, and fail to try again.”  Share your successes and failures.

            Parents, no matter the age of your graduates, they will always be your children.  And they’ll always want you to celebrate with them.  So, celebrate all graduations.  You’re making happy memories.

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Bacon is Mighty Good Eating

Posted on May 20, 2021 by susanrray

Bacon doesn’t have to be cooked in long, flat slices.  Twist it, roll it, or fold it.  

            Bacon spirals are the all the rage, according to some online sources, and they are simple to make.  Preheat the oven to 350º or 375ºF and line a baking sheet, that has sides, with aluminum foil.  Spray the foil with a cooking spray.  Twist each piece of bacon a few times and place it on baking sheet.  Bake about 30 minutes until the bacon is browned and crisp enough to hold its shape. 

            Because the bacon is twisted, many slices can be baked on one pan.  To make Spiced Bacon Twists, coat slices with a mixture of brown sugar, mustard powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper.    

            While reading online about bacon spirals, an advertisement for bacon roses popped up.  A half-dozen bacon roses in a vase is $45.00 and a dozen in a loose bouquet is available for $66.00.  Prices don’t include tax and shipping.  There are special offers for Father’s Day gifts, and the ad boasts that bacon roses were popular gifts for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

            What’s a bacon rose?  A bacon slice rolled tightly and topped with brown sugar.  You can make this special gift.  Thread a toothpick through a bacon strip at one end, then roll up tightly about one-third of the way.  Twist the bacon strip clockwise to form points for rose petals.  Secure the bottom of the rolled bacon with two crisscrossed toothpicks so the rose will stand up. 

            Place bacon roses on a foil-lined baking pan with sides or in a muffin tin. Sprinkle each rose with a pinch of brown sugar and bake about 20 minutes in a 400 ºF oven.  Cool, remove the toothpicks, and stick a skewer into the bottom of each rose so it looks like a rose on a stem.  Your cost will be much less than $66.00 per dozen.

            Bacon roses aren’t as delicious as Special Oven Bacon, a tried-and-true recipe. Lay thick bacon slices, cut in half, on a broiling pan or a baking pan. Sprinkle a mixture of ¾ cup brown sugar and one heaping tablespoon flour over the bacon.  Then sprinkle with ½ cup finely chopped pecans and bake at 350º F for thirty minutes. 

            Have you tried folded bacon?  When my friend served really thick short slices of bacon, I learned a new way to cook it.  Fold a slice in half, end to end, and then cook your favorite way – fried in a black skillet, baked in the oven, or microwaved.  Folded bacon cooks evenly and the perfect size for a BLT, and it’s easy – much too easy – to pick up for a mid-morning snack.

            I baked a whole pan of bacon – some twisted, some rolled, some folded.  No matter the shape, crispy bacon is mighty good eating.  As long as it’s ‘pig bacon,’ as my Grand said when he was 5, and not turkey bacon that his mother sometimes served.

P. S. Because I made only 4 roses, I baked them in ramekins.

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How to Cook Bacon

Posted on May 12, 2021 by susanrray

It’s easy to fry bacon like our grandmothers did.  They put bacon slices in black iron skillets and fried it until it was done. Now, detailed directions are printed on packages:  place bacon slices in a single layer in an unheated skillet.  Cook on medium heat 8-10 minutes or to desired crispness, turning occasionally. 

            You might follow the microwave directions.  Line a microwavable plate with three layers of paper towels.  Lay bacon slices in a single layer on the towels and cover with another towel.  Microwave about one minute per slice, depending on desired doneness. 

            What if you want to cook a lot of bacon? Bake it in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with foil. Place bacon slices in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Bake until desired crispness, 15 to 25 minutes. 

            I’ve used all three methods and there are pros and cons. Bacon is crispier when fried the old-fashioned way in a skillet.  To get good bacon drippings for a mess of fresh green beans or to grease a black skillet to bake cornbread, fry bacon.  But frying makes a mess; the grease splatters everywhere. 

            A slice of bacon never gets done evenly in the microwave.  It’s hard to know how long to cook it because some slices are thinner, some thicker, and microwaves are different.  A friend owns a pan especially made for cooking bacon in the microwave and she swears by it.

            I bake bacon if I need more than a few slices.  About thirty years ago when I worked in the kitchen at a boys’ summer camp, I learned to bake it. It takes a lot of bacon to feed 100 boys!  After cleaning up after supper, we kitchen help filled huge pans, the size that fits inside industrial ovens, with over 300 bacon slices.  The next morning, we put the pans in cold ovens and turned the oven temperature to 400°F.  The bacon cooked while Mrs. White mixed, rolled, and cut out biscuits, and the rest of us cracked eggs to be scrambled and got out fruit, jelly, and juice.  By then, the bacon would be done. 

            A few years ago, Husband helped at a fund-raiser pancake breakfast and learned a different way to cook bacon.  Drop slices in a big kettle of hot grease.  No doubt that works well if you’re outside and have a long-handled scooper.

            I’m told that bacon cooked in an air fryer is the best ever. “Crunchy outside, chewy inside, dark around the edges…just perfect!” an ad reads.  When I get an air fryer, I’ll try it.

            I was inspired to write this column when I read that spiral twisted bacon cooks best and I saw a recipe for bacon roses, but I got side-tracked thinking of the many ways to cook one of my favorite meats.  Next Wednesday, I’ll write about spiral bacon and bacon roses. Be sure you have brown sugar on hand.

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Celebrate Mothers

Posted on May 5, 2021 by susanrray

Anna Jarvis who organized the first Mother’s Day celebration wouldn’t be happy with the ways we celebrate this day.  She wanted to honor her deceased mother, an activist that campaigned for more sanitary conditions during the Civil War. After the war, her mom worked to reconcile Confederate and Union families in their community.

             So, on May 10, 1908, Jarvis held a small service to honor her mother at her West Virginia Methodist Episcopal Church.  The idea caught on quickly and spread across our country and celebrations were held in churches.  In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation making the second Sunday in May an official holiday.  

            But a few years later, Jarvis was horrified that the day had become commercialized and she campaigned to have the national holiday rescinded.  One biographer wrote that Jarvis had envisioned the holiday as a homecoming, a day to honor your mother, the one who dedicated her life to you. 

            No doubt Jarvis never imagined Mother’s Day as we know it.  For the past two decades, it has been the most popular day of the year to dine out.  National florist associations rate the week as the most important holiday week and for the greeting-card industry Mother’s Day is the third-largest holiday, behind Christmas and Valentine’s Day.   Americans spent almost $26 billion – yes, billion – on Mother’s Day in 2019 according to the National Retail Federation.  Jewelry, restaurant meals, special outings, flowers, and gift cards topped the spending list.  The average spent per person was almost $200.

            Those large numbers surprise me, but celebrating mothers is worth every effort, every penny.  I say that as a daughter, a mother, and grandmother.  As a kid in a small-town church, I liked Mother’s Day when I wore a red carnation corsage and Dad stuck a red rose in his lapel.  Granny’s white flower corsage honored her deceased mother.  I liked when mothers – the oldest, the youngest, the one with the most children – were recognized at church and given pots of blooming flowers.

            I liked that Dad took our family out to eat on Mother’s Day.  Although, the Dixie Café’s fried chicken wasn’t as good as Mom’s, it was the one day that she didn’t cook Sunday dinner.  I treasure wearing the mother’s ring that Mom and her two sisters gave Grandma Gladys for Mother’s Day; those stones carry love thru three generations.

            My favorite cards were the ones my children made from construction paper and drew lopsided flowers and crooked hearts.  When Daughter was a teen-ager, she and her friends gave their mothers a surprise luncheon to celebrate Mother’s Day.  One year when only Son and I were home, he bought Kentucky Fried Chicken and we ate while sitting at a concrete picnic table at Burgress Falls.            

Now, I’m happy to celebrate Daughter and Daughter2, the mothers of my Grands. They should be honored because Anna Jarvis was right – they dedicate their lives to their children.  They deserve every chicken dinner, every ring, and every card.

Filed under: Mother | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »