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Christmas vacation
| Alabama Snapshots | Christmas vacation
The Village in Gatlinburg last Christmas.
Beau (3), Trent (5), Seth (7). SUBMITTED BY Brittany Keith, Ider.
Debra, Barcia, Peggy and Panda. Sisters
on vacation in Orange Beach, AL. SUBMITTED by Panda Carder, Harvest.
David and Angie Jones, vacation in
Pigeon Forge , 2019. SUBMITTED BY David Jones, Wetumpka.
Santa Grover out on Lake Jordan. SUBMITTED by Nan Butler, Titus.
Mike and Jennifer Johnson, John and Lindsey Woodall, Michael Johnson and Catie Sanders.
Christmas at the Ark. SUBMITTED by Jennifer Johnson, Wetumpka.
Submit “My kid’s art” photos by December 31. Winning photos will run in the February issue.
SUBMIT and WIN $10! Online: alabamaliving.coop Mail: Snapshots P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124
RULES: Alabama Living will pay $10 for photos that best match our theme of the month. Photos may also be published on our website at alabamaliving.coop and on our Facebook page. Alabama Living is not responsible for lost or damaged photos. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to have photos returned.
2020 a challenging tropical storm season for Alabama co-ops
Late October’s Hurricane Zeta continued an extraordinarily active tropical storm season for many electric utilities in the Southeast. Several times over the late summer and fall, the rural electric cooperatives in the southern part of Alabama were either repairing damage to their systems or sending help and supplies to sister cooperatives.
Hurricane Laura made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, as a category 4 storm Aug. 27. More than 1 million people lost power after the storm.
Hurricane Sally, a category 2 storm, made landfall around Gulf Shores on Sept. 16. Damage to the Gulf Coast region is estimated at $5 billion.
Hurricane Delta and its remnants produced heavy rain, strong winds and storm surge along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after it made landfall Oct 9.
These three storms required a six- to seven-week restoration process, with crews working an estimated 70,000 hours in some devastated areas.
But that wasn’t the end of the season. Hurricane Zeta made
Letters to the editor
E-mail us at: letters@alabamaliving.coop or write us at: Letters to the editor P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124
I enjoy your magazine so much. I was wondering if anyone else noticed the levitating biscuits on the cover of the September 2020 issue? At first glance, it looks like Brenda Gantt is holding the pan of biscuits, then you see both hands.
Martha Poole
Grant Editor replies: Yes, Martha, we agree it looks like the pan is suspended in the air! But Allison Law, who interviewed Brenda, says she was definitely holding the pan very carefully in her right hand covered with a potholder, because it was right out of the oven and hot!
I would like to thank you for the well-deserved article dealing with the WW II veterans (November 2020). It is indeed a privilege to share memories with those men and women who have served our great country...when many of them were little more than children themselves.
There is a small, antique village up near Muscle Shoals that is run by Louise and L.C. Lenz. In it is a small, old and original church which has a wall of honor that houses pictures of any American veterans that one wishes to post there. It is a permanent memorial to the world dealing with our past service people. The pictures of these WW II veterans belong there.
Faye Harris and Norma Winters
Hamilton landfall Oct. 28 in Cocodrie, Louisiana, but brought substantial rain and wind damage to southwest and central Alabama. It was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the continental U.S. that late in the season in over 100 years.
Zeta knocked out power to roughly 130,000 cooperative members in Alabama, with some co-ops comparing its damage to that of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
The safety staff of the Alabama Rural Electric Association (AREA) started the process of mutual aid – coordinating assistance from both in-state and out-of-state cooperatives – even before Zeta made landfall. Six states and more than 50 cooperatives sent more than 450 men to Alabama to help restore power after the storm moved on, and all of Alabama’s cooperatives sent help as they were able.
Finally, on Nov. 11, the last crews were released to go home as the restoration process for Zeta was completed. Alabama’s co-ops are grateful for the help of linemen and other support personnel who worked long and hard hours throughout the season, and did
Magic biscuits?
Well-deserved article
so safely.
Happy Holidays!
Find the hidden dingbat!
Our readers had no trouble finding the Dingbat in November’s magazine, as the cornucopia (horn of plenty) was clearly visible on Page 28. As with every month, many of you sent us poems you were inspired to write, including Susan Needham of Hanceville, a member of Cullman EC:
From turkey and dressing To pumpkin spice latte, The holidays are upon us To celebrate our way
Whether you’re all by yourself Or in a group that’s great, Check out the cornucopia In the picture on Page 28.
Robert Barrentine’s granddaughter, Katie, from Wiregrass EC, often helps her grandfather find the dingbat. She wrote to us, “Your Alabama Living magazine is super fun and interesting and I love it! Thanks to everybody who takes part in the magazine and WEC!”
And Wanda Day of Brewton from Southern Pine EC, sent us a long poem, “Thanksgiving Memories,” which we don’t have room to print, but she did add, “I love the search for the dingbat, and in searching, there are a lot of good stories and recipes to read.” That’s the idea, Wanda!
Congratulations to our winner, Brenda Gaines of Addison, a member of Cullman EC. This month, we’ve hidden a candy cane, and remember it won't be in an ad or on pages 1-8. The deadline is Dec. 4. Good luck and Merry Christmas!
By mail:
Find the Dingbat Alabama Living PO Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124
By email:
dingbat@alabamaliving.com
Whereville, AL
Identify and place this Alabama landmark and you could win $25! Winner is chosen at random from all correct entries. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. Send your answer by Dec. 7 with your name, address and the name of your rural electric cooperative. The winner and answer will be announced in the January issue.
Submit by email: whereville@alabamaliving.coop, or by mail: Whereville, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124.
Contribute your own photo for an upcoming issue! Send a photo of an interesting or unusual landmark in Alabama, which must be accessible to the public. A reader whose photo is chosen will also win $25.
November’s answer: This unique fiberglass sculpture, located at the Grand Bay Welcome Center, is one of a series created for the OysterTrail, an educational and public art treasure hunt created by the Mobile Bay Oyster Gardening Program throughout coastal Alabama. The project was designed to raise awareness of the importance of oysters in restoring Mobile Bay. This oyster, “Sweet Home Alabama” by artist Lucy Gafford, features Alabama personalities and attractions on both sides. It was sponsored by Alabama’s hospitality industry. (Photo by Lenore Vickrey of Alabama Living) The randomly drawn correct guess winner is Paul Tate of Pioneer EC.
Pike County celebrates the season with Christmas in Ansley
Enjoy a holiday experience at this year’s Christmas in Ansley event, with family-friendly activities and vendors at the holiday market.
The event is held at 7441 County Road 1101 in the Ansley community in Goshen, Alabama. A Christmas light display features a drive-through and walking portion, and will be open from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. each night through Dec. 31. There’s no charge for viewing the display, but donations are welcome.
A special holiday market will kick off the season from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 5 with several vendors, including woodworking, personalized items, treats, jewelry and more. Santa Claus is set to visit at 4 p.m. that afternoon. The entry fee is $2 or one non-perishable food item.
For the latest updates, search “Christmas in Ansley” on Facebook, or call 334-372-1029.
Take us along!
We’ve enjoyed seeing photos from our readers on their travels with Alabama Living! Please send us a photo of you with a copy of the magazine on your travels to: mytravels@alabamaliving.coop. Please include your name, hometown and electric cooperative, and the location of your photo. We’ll draw a winner for the $25 prize each month.
Douglas McDaniel of Fairhope took his copy of the magazine on a trip to Fort Collins, Colorado, to help his daughter move into housing at Colorado State University. “I had Alabama Living to pass the time,” he writes. He is a member of Baldwin EMC.
Janie Whelton of Foley visited San Jose, California, before the pandemic and had just received her magazine from Baldwin EMC. “I read it on the plane, and my daughter-inlaw and I tried a recipe from the magazine while I was there. It’s a great publication.” She visited a museum in downtown San Jose featuring art glass sculpture. Sarah Sealey took her copy all the way to Nu’uanu Pali lookout in Oahu, Hawaii. She lives in Gilbertown and is a member of Black Warrior EMC.
Kenneth Shaw of Rockford showed off his copy of Alabama Living while on a ferry boat crossing from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island in Gulf Shores, Alabama. He is a member of Central Alabama EC.
Everyone’s favorite holiday punchline
By Emmett Burnett
There is no middle ground with fruitcake. You either love it or hate it.
Indeed, few holiday foods either threaten or accentuate “peace on Earth, good will toward men” more than the cake of Christmas. Alabama is no exception.
For fruitcake connoisseurs, it is confectionary nostalgia, a reminder of relatives and friends together at Christmas. But detractors see an ominous comparison. To them, fruitcake is like their relatives, a family of nuts embalmed in booze.
Scorned or cherished, whatever your feelings towards fruitcake – when done right it is a delicacy and done wrong it is a roofing shingle – all agree, it is a survivor.
Examples of “done right” include Whaley Pecan Company’s line, Alabama Fruitcake (alabamafruitcake.com), launched in 2019. In 2020, the cloud of COVID-19 slowed but never stopped it. “We hunkered down, weathered the storm and are looking forward to the holidays,” says Melissa Boatner, fourth generation in the Troy, Alabama business her great-grandfather founded. There is always a demand for fruitcake and has been for centuries.
The yuletide treasure’s origin references ancient Rome with its pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins, mixed into barley mash. Honey, spices, and dried fruit were added during the Middle Ages.
Today fruitcake is popular in more than 20 countries. Australians, New Zealanders, and Bulgarians eat it year-round. Most countries partake of fruitcake during the Christmas Season – except Ireland where it is consumed during Halloween. And only the United States ridicules it.
“We think it started with Johnny Carson,” says Cullman resident Elliott Morgan, whose family business once made and shipped fruitcakes by the thousands from Selma, Alabama, to the world. “Carson joked on ‘The Tonight Show’ that every slice comes from an original giant cake and is passed around year after year.”
The joke continued with “The Tonight Show” host Jay Leno. It took an Alabamian to set the record straight, proving “The Tonight Show” was nutty as a … OK, that’s too easy.
Monroeville’s Marie Rudisill wrote the book, Fruitcake. “She was invited on ‘The Tonight Show’ to promote it,” recalls Gail Deas, director of development of the Monroe County Museum
Marsha Meeks shows off fruitcakes fresh from Whaley Pecan Company’s kitchen. PHOTOS BY EMMETT BURNETT
Learn more online:
Priester’s Pecans: priesters.com
in Monroeville. Leno dubbed Rudisill (also Truman Capote’s aunt) the “Fruitcake Lady.” The name stuck.
On Dec. 14, 2000, before a national audience, the Monroeville native instructed Leno and Mel Gibson on the art of making fruitcake. And indeed, it is an art.
“A good one is an expression of love and abundance,” says Isabelle Kyrk, creator of mondofruitcake. com. “It takes a lot of money to make a good one,” the Chicago blogger adds. “Fruit, nuts, and alcohol are expensive. A baker must be committed to the expense and time before taking it on.”
Cliff Burkett, manager of Priester’s Pecans (priesters.com) in Ft. Deposit, adds, “To me, the most difficult part of making fruitcakes is the chopping. The ingredients are too gooey for a food processor and must be hand chopped.” It is a sizeable task indeed for the store that will sell about 1,000 fruitcakes during the holidays. Priester’s has a six-person fruitcake team from October to early January.
“Baking temperatures are critical,” adds Morgan. “Everything has to be just right. If the oven heat is too high – even by a few degrees – pecans and fruit will burn and the batter’s moisture evaporates. If the temperature is too cool the eggs won’t cook.”
Recipes vary depending on the cake type, but Morgan suggests aging the cake a minimum of two to three days – 10 to 15 are better. Then open the cake and marinate with preferred alcohol as pecans and fruit dance with glee. Close it and let the cake sit an additional two to three weeks during the miracle of fermentation.
“Refrigerated, a fruitcake can last 6 months to a year or more,” Morgan adds. “It will still taste like just made.”
As for jokes and ridicule about fruitcake – that’s just nutty. “I don’t get it,” says Burkett. “The ones I’ve had were well made and delicious. I don’t understand the joke.”
Kyrk agrees and explains two misconceptions: “One, some people think fruitcake is dry, hard, and brick-like. Not true. It is moist, delicious, and full of fruit, nuts, and good things.” She continues, “Two – nobody likes fruitcake. Again, not true. Lots of people love it.”
Kyrk, a Chicago area resident, laments that good fruitcake is not readily available outside the South. That is not the case in Alabama.
“It’s a southern tradition,” notes Deas of Monroeville, home of the annual November Fruitcake Festival. “Years ago, everybody made fruitcake for the holidays. For many even today those recipes are handed down through generations.”
And the legacy continues in Alabama, with bountiful bakeries like Troy’s Whaley Pecan Company. Retired now, Elliott Morgan sold his family’s recipe to the state’s pecan legend. There is joy in the Wiregrass.
Whaley’s has been in the pecan business since 1937. The Morgans have made fruitcake since the 1950s. Behold the perfect marriage.
“We were delighted when Elliott offered his family recipe,” said Whaley’s Melissa Boatner. “We are dedicated to keeping that same quality.” Quality abounds – just follow your nose.
Before startup, Whaley’s baked fruitcake test batches. “The smell was wonderful,” recalls Boatner, about the euphoric aroma seeping in Pike County. Troy’s fruitcake bliss is available at its company store and website.
Also available forever in Alabama are Christmases with fruitcake, so don’t go nuts. If you want to make your own holiday fruitcake, Alabama Living partner Brooke Burks from The Buttered Home blog shares this easy favorite from her files.
Easy Fruitcake
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature 1 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 large eggs 1 and 1/4 cups self-rising flour Zest of one lemon 4 ounces dried cherries, halved 7 ounces mixed dried fruits – dates, raisins or whatever dried fruits you prefer 1 teaspoon sugar
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Butter and line the base of a loaf pan with baking parchment paper. In a large bowl, add the one cup sugar, butter, salt and vanilla extract. Whisk or beat the ingredients together until pale and creamy. Add the eggs to the bowl and mix together until combined. Add flour into creamed mixture. Add the dried fruit to the bowl, and then add the lemon zest. Using a large spoon, fold the fruit into the batter, taking care not to over-mix. Sprinkle top with one teaspoon sugar.
Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes. Cool in pan for 20 minutes and turn out.
