The Last Word

A PERFECT RECIPE FOR COPING WITH THE PANDEMIC

Chaplain and Children Attempt Every Pillsbury Bake-Off Winner Since 1949

By The Rev. Art Callaham

Hey Rev. Callaham, what did you do over your summer break?

As much as I would like to have said that my family and I traveled the world like we did the previous summer, life had other plans. Moving and preparing for my new position at EHS were going to be challenging enough without the added fun of COVID‑19. Summer 2020 would have to be low‑key for the Callahams. So, I decided I would do some baking during my time away from work. Little did I know that the idea would become a months‑long adventure.

The Pillsbury Bake-Off was started in 1949 as the Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest hosted at the Waldorf‑ Astoria Hotel in New York City, and has been held more‑or‑less annually ever since. During the early years of the contest, the only requirement for entry was that a recipe use Pillsbury BEST Flour. In more recent years, however, the Bake-Off has become a place where home bakers have experimented with unique ways to modify and embellish Pillsbury’s many convenience foods, like cake mixes, biscuit dough, and the ever‑ popular crescent rolls. And so, my baking odyssey began. My intention was to prepare two or three Bake-Off winners per week starting with 1949’s Water Rising Twists and finishing with the winner of the 2019 Bakeoff winner, Dublin Cheeseboard-Stuffed Appetizer Bread. There were 56 recipes in all, however. It became clear almost immediately that I was going to need some help.

Enter my kids: Hannah, age 10, and her younger brother Aaron, who is 8.

During my previous career as a parish priest, I wasn’t able to spend a whole lot of time with my kids. Days at church were long, and nights could get late. Even though our homeschooling schedule allowed for us to share at least one day off per week, educational opportunities and church commitments always picked away at our family time.

The prospect of me being home for 10 straight weeks and then with greater frequency than before once school started was a golden opportunity. Cooking, and especially baking, has long been a passion of mine. A project like this seemed like an excellent opportunity to share something of myself with my kids. And now, the reviews are in: “Cooking with Dad is really fun,” Aaron offers, “because we always have a lot of fun in the kitchen and the smell of stuff cooking in the kitchen is awesome.” Hannah agrees, adding, “Dad always finds ways to connect the ways we’re cooking the Bake-Off stuff to things we cook on other days.” Needless to say, they–along with the members of the EHS Business and Chaplaincy offices–appreciated the leftovers.

Baking our way through nearly seven decades of sweets and savories gave us a deeper appreciation for the way that American cuisine has evolved over the years. Apple Pie ’63, a recipe from 1963, sticks in Hannah’s mind because of its pronounced citrus flavors. “I don’t think I liked it that much,” she adds, “but I guess that’s how people liked their pie back then.”

Though many of the cakes and pies stand out for their flamboyance and creativity, cookie recipes were hands down Callaham favorites, with Snappy Turtle Cookies (1952) and Fudgy Bonbons (1994) topping the list. Several savory dishes were also memorable— Hungry Boy Casserole (1963) and

“A project like this seemed like an excellent opportunity to share something of myself with my kids.”

Loaded Potato Pinwheels (2013), to name a couple, if not for their flavors then at least for the way they introduced the younger Callahams to an important staple of their parents’ youth: Poppin’ Fresh biscuit and bread dough.

As we head toward the summer of 2021 wondering, with everyone else, whether or not any sense of normalcy will return to our lives, the kids and I have already begun to brainstorm new adventures. Having just purchased a countertop convection‑oven/air‑fryer combo, I’m particularly interested in seeing how my favorite baking recipes can be scaled down. Hannah is imagining a culinary world‑tour of sorts, the opportunity to bake/cook traditional dishes from across the globe. Aaron, however, is pretty confident in his baking skills, for now, and would prefer the entire family focus more attention on our other passion, board gaming. He’d like to play all of the Spiel des Jahres (international game of the year) entries and winners from that prize’s inception in 1979 until now.

Thanks be to God and summer vacation, we’ll probably do all of the above!

2020 ‑ 2021 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Chairman

The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle

Executive Chair A. Haag Sherman

Frances Alexander, Henrietta K. Alexander, Shelley Torian Barineau, J. Craig Chandler, W. Craig Childers, Jane Johnson Dabney, William A. Edens Sr., Emerson K. Hankamer Sr., Terri Havens, Andrew B. Hawthorn ’91, Thad Hill, Richard A. Howell ’01, Elizabeth K. Howley, Jenna Junell, Alecia Lawyer, Clay Manley, Laurie N. Morian, William Randall, Ned Smith, Trey Snider, The Very Rev. Barkley Thompson, John Weinzierl, James Whitehead ’94, Julius Young Jr.

Life Trustees

John F. Austin III, Edward C. Becker, The Rt. Rev. Maurice M. Benitez †, W. Craig Childers, Lacy Crain, The Rev. Laurens A. Hall, Victor A. Kormeier Jr., Frederick R. McCord †, Laurence B. Neuhaus, The Rt. Rev. Claude E. Payne, Joel I. Shannon, Lynda Knapp Underwood, The Rt. Rev. Don A. Wimberly

Executive Committee

J. Craig Chandler, W. Craig Childers, The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, William F. Galtney Jr., Melinda Budinger Hildebrand, Victor A. Kormeier Jr., Clay Manley, A. Haag Sherman, Ned Smith, Lynda Knapp Underwood, John Weinzierl, James Whitehead ’94, Randa Duncan Williams, Julius Young Jr.

LEADERSHIP

Head of School

Ned Smith

Associate Head of School

Nancy Laufe Eisenberg

Principal

Kim Randolph

Director of Finance and Operations

Evelyn Cambria

Director of Diversity, Community, and Inclusion

Wayne Jones

Dean of Faculty

Nguyet Xuan Pham

Director of Advancement

Peggy Haney

Dean of Spiritual Life

The Rev. Beth Holden

Dean of Arts and Innovation

Jay Berckley

Director of Athletics

Jason Grove

PILLARS MAGAZINE TEAM

Director of Communications

Claire Fletcher

Faculty Writer Emma Kate Tsai

Photography & Graphic Design

Lauren West

Contributors

Ikechi “Chief”Achilefu ’03 Chris Bailey The Rev. Art Callaham Scott Cunningham Claire Fletcher Mauro Gomez Ashley Long Emma Kate Tsai Lauren West Margaret Young

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