Lee Magazine - November 2011

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FROM SUPER BOWLS TO MIXING BOWLS!

NOVEMBER 2011 FREE

VOLUME 4 • NUMBER 5

TOMMIE AGEE:

Event THE

Center

DOWNTOWN

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is the season for friends, co-workers and family to come together and celebrate ......Let us make this year's holiday event ONE TO REMEMBER!

Event Center Downtown, located in downtown Opelika, less than 10 miles from Auburn University campus, is a venue versatile enough of handling events from 6 to 1500...

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334-705-5466 www.eventcenterdowntown.com info@eventcenterdowntown.com Visit http://www.facebook.com/eventcenterdowntown

The Place to Find

Your Healthy Balance

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For the smart, savvy Alabama woman Publisher: Beth Snipes Editor: Jenni Laidman Design and Photography: Beth Snipes Sales manager: Meg Callahan Sales reps: Judy Simon Web Designer: Brock Burgess Distribution: John Snipes

HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY

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eople are searching for a hormone replacement therapy regimen that provides a resurgence of energy. You don’t have to have headaches, hot flashes, and a decreased sex drive. You can say farewell to mood swings and insomnia. With the results of a one-day saliva test, June Adams, a compounding pharmacist and bio-identical hormone counselor, will provide the natural human-identical hormones that your body needs. June’s problemsolving pharmacy provides natural progesterone cream, DHEA, estrogen, and testosterone. For some, it will mean an enzyme to reduce stress, or a glandular complex to support your thyroid.

Both men and women can benefit from this simple test for a personal hormone profile.

Accelerated aging, fat gain, mental fogginess, and general fatigue are not natural. They can be symptoms of a hormone imbalance for which there is a natural treatment. Find the right dose without the concerns of side effects from synthetic products.

Contributors Food: Fashion: Fitness: Garden: Momitude: Smarts:

Heida Olin Taylor Dungjen Lisa Gallagher Patti Householder Kelly Frick Janeane Barett

CONTACT US AT beth@lee-magazine.com editor@lee-magazine.com

334-332-2961

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VISIT

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leemagazine.com Published by Pickwick Papers Publishing, LLC. Copyright ©2008 Lee Magazine.

All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited without approval.

For more information, contact editor@leemagazine.com.

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November2011 6 Organize

Three simple steps and a time machine is all you need!

8 Food Say Cheesecake!

12 Garden

pay bills

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h lis po er silv

Decomposing for fun and flowers

sort

take a bat h

f i nd lost sock

14 Brawn

Should you let your kids lift weights?

You might be surprised by the answer

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16 Momitude

10

Why cursing created a runaway hit

18 Fashion Cuddlewear

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12

20 COVER

CORRECTION: The cover story about Patty Householder in the August/September issue of Lee Magazine gave the incorrect name for Householder’s husband, as well as misstating the location of her undergraduate work, and the name of the college located in Blacksburg, Virginia. Householder’s husband’s name is Jerry. Her undergraduate work was at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Virginia Tech is in Blacksburg.

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COVER PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BETH SNIPES

6 LEE MAGAZINE

How three kitchen magicians learned their craft TOMMIE AGEE: Grandmama’s Lessons LUCY LITTLETON: The Entertainer JUDY SIMON:

Thanksgiving Challenge

29 Calendar Plenty to Do in Lee County

Tell you what...

pay bills

h lis po r ve sil

sort

take a bat h

f i nd lost s

ock

How to Organize Your Life

By Jenni Laidman

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oday I and my team of crack organizational experts will provide you with cannot-fail advice on how to organize every single thing in your life, from preparing your Christmas list, to making your holiday meals, to keeping your finances in order.

Follow our simple plan and you will never be disorganized again. You will say, “Oh thank you for saving my disorganized life! I would like to send you four hundred dollars! I love you! Would you rather have five hundred? OK!” But before you write that check – we prefer cash or credit cards or cashier’s check – take our simple little test to see how disorganized you truly are:

6 LEE MAGAZINE

When strangers walk into my house they think: A. Was your home just featured in Architectural Digest? It’s flawless!

B. What a comfy, homey place. A little clutter makes it look lived in.

C. Are you saving those magazines for a reason? I haven’t seen a copy of Look in years! Wait! Is that a mood ring?

D. I hear your voice, but I cannot see you! Is that you behind the rotting fruit?

Oh my goodness! What IS that?

When preparing to file taxes, you: Simply pick up the files you have carefully maintained all year and carry them off to your accountant.

Spend a few days getting your files in

order. You have them, but you are a few weeks behind.

Dump out your giant paper bag of receipts and pray. Sort the information into piles on the dining room table. When you run out of room on the table, make more piles on the floor. Start over when the dog runs through the room.

File for an extension and begin calling merchants to ask them for receipts for things you bought in June. Make up numbers.

When preparing a holiday meal for thirty guests, you: Establish a schedule and a shopping list.

Begin two weeks ahead of time, freezing what will tolerate freezing. Have cocktails

Using your best at-death’s-door voice, express your surprise that it is Thanksgiving, because you have not been out of bed in a week, you have been so sick. You don’t think it’s contagious. Or not very. Your husband may remember. Offer to wake him up and ask him. He came down with this thing three days ago.

with your guests while the very last items are finishing on the stove.

Hire a caterer a few months in advance to beat the rush.

Serve lots of appetizers and drinks because dinner may get to the table a few hours late. uss your hair, throw your robe over your clothing, and answer your doorbell after it’s been rung several times. Using your best at-death’s-door voice, express your surprise that it is Thanksgiving, because you have not been out of bed in a week, you have been so sick. You don’t think it’s contagious. Or not very. Your husband may remember.

Offer to wake him up and ask him. He came down with this thing three days ago.

If you selected C or D for any of the above answers, or you thought, “Set house on fire,” should have been an option for questions 2 and 3, boy do you need our help. Right away.

Get ready to change your life with these three easy steps!

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STEP 1: It all starts in childhood. Begin by

finding more orderly people to raise you.

Find the kind who will make you actually pickup after yourself, instead of letting you get away with murder. Do not settle for one of those mothers who like to be a martyr to your slovenliness. She should make you clean your room. If she doesn’t, find a different mother.

STEP 2: Develop good habits. By age six, you should be making your bed every day. Also, help with the dishes and do your homework every afternoon before you go out and play or watch television. Do not minimize the importance of youthful effort to create lifelong routines. Help with the dusting. Do you think we’re your servants?

STEP 3: Maintain to-do lists and take pleasure in crossing things off. Do not get carried away.

A to-do list that is fifty pages long can be a tad oppressive. If you are color coding everything, and have an established system of symbols to guide you along – stars for completed tasks; triangles for tasks that you need someone’s help on; circles for tasks

that can be delayed twenty-four hours but not forty-eight hours; parallelograms for tasks that can be delayed forty-eight hours but not longer than seventy-two hours; dodecahedrons for tasks that require a deep understanding of quantum mechanics as well as some smattering of advanced calculus; tori (plural of torus) for tasks that involve time travel and/ or the presence of extinct mammals; the outline of a hippopotamus for tasks you probably will never complete in this or several more lifetimes; a star in a circle in a square with horns for tasks that you probably should not complete if you expect to maintain the respect of your neighbors – if you have this system, then you are spending way too much time organizing, which is just another form of avoidance and procrastination. Return to Step 1 immediately.

We know if you follow these three simple steps, your life will never be the same again. Disorganization will be conquered, and you will accomplish everything you have dreamed of doing. So start today! Somewhere out there is the perfect mother waiting to raise you! -lm LEE MAGAZINE 7

Say CHEESE cake!

Making this dreamy dessert is easier than you think

By Heida Olin

Cheesecake. I love to make it. I love to eat it. The texture – smooth, creamy, with bits of crunchy – is so satisfying. And I would never say no to adding a bit of fruit.

People think it’s hard to make. They will not believe me when I tell them it’s easy.

But believe me. It’s true.

If you’re a beginning cook and want to impress dinner guests, make a very basic cheesecake and top it with sliced fruit macerated in sugar, honey, or rum, or use a store-bought praline sauce. Even Hershey’s syrup can make plain cheesecake decadent. You don’t have to use a springform pan to make basic cheesecake. Feel free to substitute a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or a casserole dish.

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A few hints for fabulous cheesecake: Take all your ingredients out of the fridge about an hour before you’re ready to start working. You want everything at room temperature for easier blending.

Eggs will incorporate faster so you won’t be tempted to over beat.

It’s not essential to use a bain-marie (water bath), but if you want the top of your cheesecake to be smooth, not cracked, I’d recommend it. It’s not that hard. First, wrap the outside of your spring-form pan with aluminum foil to keep water from seeping in. Place the foil-wrapped pan in a larger pan of water that you’ve brought to a simmer in the oven – that is, just below boiling. The water should reach about

halfway up the side of the spring-form pan.

Baking this way will take a little longer, but the even heat of the water means the cake bakes consistently.

The center of the cheesecake, about the size of a small cookie, will still be a bit jiggly when you pull the cake from the oven. Set your cheesecake on a rack to cool and do not touch it for 2 hours. I mean it! Put the cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before cutting.

Don’t use low-fat cheese. It won’t set up properly. You want the full-fat version.

CHEESECAKE CRUSTS I’m not impressed with graham cracker crusts.

It’s usually the “go to” crust for cheesecakes, but be adventurous and try one of these.

F O O D

Oreo Crust 24 Oreo cookies, finely crushed ¼ cup butter, melted 1 tablespoons sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it looks like wet chocolate sand. Press mixture into the bottom of a 13-by-9-inch pan or a 9-inch spring-form pan.

Bake 10 minutes. Cool before filling.

1 ½ cups crushed pretzels 2 tablespoons sugar 1 stick butter melted Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place pretzels, sugar, and butter into the food processor and process until mixture looks like wet sand. Press into the bottom of a 13-by-9-inch pan or a 9-inch spring-form pan. Bake 8 minutes. Cool completely before filling.

Graham Cracker Crust

Gingersnap Crust

Just to be traditional…

This crust is great for peach and mango cheesecakes, but I love it with a holiday eggnog filling.

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (about 10 whole graham crackers) 1/3 cup white sugar 6 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup ground pecans 1 cup gingersnap crumbs, about 20 cookies crushed 1 tablespoon flour 1/4 cup granulated sugar 6 tablespoons butter, softened Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grind the pecans in a food processor, pulsing until finely ground. Do not over process.

You do not want pecan paste. Add the crushed cookies, flour, sugar, and butter to the food processor, and pulse 10 times. Press mixture into the bottom of a 13-by-9-pan or a 9-inch spring-form pan. Bake 10 minutes and cool completely before filling.

Butter Cookie Crust I really like this crust. It’s a little crumbly and delicate but delightful. It works well with fruit cheesecakes or white chocolate. But I wouldn’t use it on bold flavors like Key Lime or Margarita.

Cooking spray 2 cups shortbread cookies (such as Lorna Doone) crushed 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 13-by-9-inch pan or 9-inch spring-form pan with cooking spray. In a processor, grind cookies to a coarse crumb. Add butter and blend until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture on bottom and up the sides 1 inch pan. Bake about 8 minutes. Cool completely before filling.

Pretzel Crust This is really different, bringing together salty and sweet. Try it with a Key Lime cheesecake or the Naughty Girl’s Night Out Margarita cheesecake

Stir together the graham cracker crumbs and the sugar. Stir in butter with a fork until it coats all the crumbs. Press into the bottom of a 13-by-9-inch pan or a 9-inch spring-form pan. Bake 8–10 minutes. Cool completely before filling.

BASIC CHEESECAKE I’ve used this tried-and-true recipe for many years.

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese (at room temperature) 1 ½ cups sugar ¼ cup cornstarch 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 3 large eggs 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream Prepared crust Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place one package of cream cheese, half of the sugar, and the cornstarch into a mixing bowl.

Beat on low for 3 minutes. Add the rest of the cream cheese, one package at a time. Beat each well, on low, before adding the next.

Increase the mixer speed to medium, and add the rest of the sugar and the vanilla. Scrape the bowl, making sure no hunks of cream cheese are stuck on the bottom. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until just incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape the batter down after each egg. Reduce mixer speed to low and stir in whipping cream until just incorporated. Do not over mix.

Pour cheesecake batter into prepared crust; smooth to distribute evenly. Bake about one hour for a 13-by-9-inch pan and 1 hour and 15 minutes for a 9-inch spring-form pan. The top of the cheesecake should be a golden brown and the very center will still jiggle a bit.

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1 cup sugar 4 large eggs ¼ cup fresh lime juice ¼ cup tequila ¼ cup triple sec Prepared crust ½ cup of strawberry puree (Process 1 cup of hulled strawberries in blender or food processer until smooth.)

Beat cream cheese for 5 minutes until very fluffy. With mixer running, gradually add sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium until just incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl after each egg. Mix the lime juice, tequila, and triple sec, and add to the mixing bowl mixing on low speed until just incorporated.

Pour cheesecake batter into prepared crust; smooth to distribute evenly. Drizzle the strawberry puree, and with a spatula, gently swirl the strawberry mixture. Bake about 1 hour for a 13-by-9-inch pan and 1 hour and 15 minutes for a 9-inch spring-form pan.

The top of the cheesecake should be a golden brown and the very center will still jiggle a bit.

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE Who can resist a chocolate-topped, chocolate crust, and chocolate-filled cheesecake?

EGGNOG CHEESECAKE I prefer a gingersnap crust for this recipe.

Use basic cheesecake recipe, but substitute 2/3 cup eggnog for whipping cream 2 tablespoons brandy or dark rum (optional) 1 ½ teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg Prepared crust 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ cup sugar Prepared crust ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg Mix the eggnog, nutmeg, and brandy. Follow the directions for the basic cheesecake, substituting the eggnog mixture for the cream.

When cheesecake has cooled and is ready to serve, whisk together whipping cream, vanilla, sugar, and nutmeg, beat until soft peaks form. Dollop on the cheesecake, and lightly sprinkle with nutmeg.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT MARGARITA CHEESECAKE This cheesecake has a softer, creamier filling because of the extra egg and liquid. Make this with a pretzel crust. The salty and sweet is just like a margarita.

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese (at room temperature)

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3 8-ounce packages cream cheese (at room temperature) 1 1/3 cups sugar ¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder 3 large eggs 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips melted (should be just warm) ¾ cup whipping cream 1 tablespoon sugar Prepared Oreo crust ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips Beat cream cheese for 5 minutes until very fluffy. Whisk cocoa powder and sugar together. Add to the cream cheese and beat on low until just incorporated, then beat at medium speed for 1 minute more. Add eggs one at a time, beating at medium speed until just incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl after each egg. Add the melted chocolate and mix just until incorporated.

Pour cheesecake batter into prepared crust. Smooth to distribute evenly. Bake about 1 hour for a 13-by-9-inch pan and 1 hour 15 minutes for a 9-inch spring-form pan. The top of the cheesecake should be a golden brown and the very center will still jiggle a bit.

Cool for 2 hours before adding topping.

Topping: In a small saucepan, bring the whipping cream and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat, and, stir in the chocolate chips until melted. Beat for 30 seconds until glossy. Spread on top of cooled cheesecake and refrigerate. -lm

Heida Olin is a local caterer and educator. You can reach her at heida@lee-magazine.com.. Please visit her blog at www.lee-magazine.com

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VOLUME 3 • NUMBER 5

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VOLUME 4 • NUMBER 5

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IN EVERY ISSUE: MOM ITUDE:Emma wants a cell phone. John fell SANDRA TAYLOR:

Her Brothers’ Keeper

FOOD: Whether it’s cooking for the family, impressing your guests, or fixing savory tailgating treats, Heida Olin’s has the recipe secrets that will win fans.

GARDEN: You don’t need a green thumb.You

need Patti Householder to tell you how to do it all in the garden.

BRAWN: She’ll motivate you and then she’ll help you reach your goals. Lisa Gallagher knows fitness like nobody’s business.

FASHION: Stripes or dots? Jewel tones or pastels? Sweaters or Blazers? Taylor Dungjen helps you make the perfect choice.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR: Doings in Lee County OUR COVER STORY: MEET YOUR FASCINATING NEIGHBORS

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off the swing. When Kelly Frick talks about being a mom, mothers everywhere chuckle in recognition.

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219 S. 8th Street . Opelika, Alabama 36801 Subscriptions start with our February/March issue Lee Magazine is published bi-monthly by Pickwick Papers Publishing

G A R D E N

Good compost piles have four important characteristics: green stuff, brown stuff, water, and air

BL ACK GOLD Garden help is right at your feet

By Patti Householder

Are you throwing money away?

You are if you are raking or bagging your leaves and kicking them to the curb. his time of year you may see me prowling neighborhoods for those bagged leaves waiting for city pickup. For me it is “black gold,” or it will be soon.

I run the leaves through an electric leaf/ limb shredder or put them in a trash can and shred them with a Weed Eater. Then I use them to mulch around my shrubs and put the rest in my compost bin.

It’s free, it looks good, and it helps to retain soil moisture.

Composting is a great way to amend soil and provide slow release fertilizer for your plants. Start by collecting yard, garden,

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and kitchen waste. A compost area can be as simple as a pile of yard waste in the back corner of your yard. You can construct a nice looking compost bin using chicken wire or woods. The Internet is a great place to find plans for compost bins both simple and elaborate. You can also buy bins at local garden centers. ood compost piles have four important characteristics: green stuff, brown stuff, water, and air. Green stuff includes coffee grounds, fresh grass clippings, kitchen waste (no meat or dairy products), manure if available (chicken, cow, goat, horse, pig, sheep), and weeds.

People miss some great compost sources.

Don’t forget dead bouquets, flour, and

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grains that have expired or gone buggy, stale bread, crackers, cereal, and tea bags.

The nitrogen in these ingredients helps raise the temperature of your compost.

When it hits one-hundred-and-forty degrees, weed seeds die. You can buy a thermometer to check the temperature, but feeling the warmth as you turn your compost is usually sufficient.

The brown stuff includes aged sawdust, dried leaves, dry pine needles, shredded paper or cardboard (but no shiny paper), straw, tree branches, and soil. Layer the brown and green in your pile for the best results.

Compost breaks down faster when you shred the source material into smaller

Concrete MakeOvers We make concrete beautiful!

CONCRETE MAKEOVERS WILL GIVE YOUR CONCRETE NEW LIFE WITH THE LOOK, TEXTURE, AND COLOR OF INLAID BRICK, SLATE, MARBLE, OR A UNIQUE CUSTOM SURFACE.

before

CONCRETE NEVER LOOKED after THIS GOOD!

after

Patti Householder mixes ingredients for her black gold

bits –this is most important for the brown stuff. Citrus rinds are especially difficult, but a bit of good garden soil or rotted manure, or a commercial compost booster, will add the microorganisms and proteins needed for that tough job. he third important factor in composting is air. This means turning your compost pile with a shovel or pitchfork.

You can also poke the compost in several spots with a four-foot piece of rebar, rotating the bar to make the holes larger. I have a compost-aerating tool that has two wings on the end that open up. The wings pull what was at the bottom of the pile to the top.

Finally, you need to supply water. The compost should be moist but not soggy. That means during dry weather you will need to moisten it.

How long before your compost pile is garden-ready depends on the size of the particle in the compost and how often you turn it.

If you stick to small particles and turn it weekly, you should have useable compost in one to two months. Go to www.aces.edu and type in composting for more detailed information on any aspect of composting.

Or − wait a second. Don’t. Keep putting your leaves and grass clippings on the curb. I know someone who needs the supplies. -lm

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Master Gardener Patti Householder is a member of the state Master Gardener Association board and a past president of the Lee County Master Gardener program. She lives in Waverly.

INCREASE YOUR HOME’S CURB APPEAL

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SAVE MONEY WITHOUT SKIMPING ON BEAUTY

OWNED AND OPERATED by DAVID CLAY AUBURN ALUM AND NATIVE

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Weighty Matters

B R A W N

ENDING THE MYTH ABOUT CHILDREN AND RESISTANCE TRAINING

By Lisa Gallagher At eight, Julie was my youngest client.

She didn’t hire me, of course. Her parents approached me to pick up “Boo,” as she was called, after school and work with her for an hour three days a week. Dorie and Hugh were concerned that Boo “took after her Daddy,” and was gaining girth faster than height. They also told me that she was born prematurely and was behind other kids her age in coordination and agility.

My three children were all older than Boo. My youngest, Kirsten, was ten, Caitlin, twelve, and Jen, a surly fifteen. I had always insisted that they sign up for at least one physical activity, but not more than two. I knew my limitations as a soccer mom/taxi driver.

Jen was playing fall soccer under duress and would show up for practice without her shin guards hoping to be sidelined.

She regularly quit her winter sport, but

14 LEE MAGAZINE

her basketball coach was a friend of mine.

Coach Josie would call every time Jen quit and instruct me to grab Jen’s uniform and bring her to the game. So she was active; you can’t play basketball sitting down.

Caitlin loved soccer and gymnastics and even won first in the state on the uneven parallel bars. Kirsten played soccer and basketball and finally settled on volleyball.

She plays for the Division I University of Alabama at Birmingham team.

Given this backdrop, Boo came as a surprise. She climbed tentatively onto our trampoline and plopped onto her belly, where she knew she wouldn’t fall. I never knew a child who was so careful.

Over a year’s time, Boo and I went hiking and bike riding. We played basketball and practiced jumping rope. When the weather warmed, we went swimming.

Boo was bright, talkative, fun, and – as we both came to discover -- as courageous

as she was thoughtful. After just a short time training, she would try anything once. We had a new, not-so-careful Boo. Soon Boo took an interest in my Bowflex. I had a few adult clients who came to my home office to work out on this resistance machine. Should I let this now nine year old lift weights?

According to a paper published by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, the answer is a resounding yes. The vague but persistent myth that resistance training will stunt growth and cause injury is just that – myth. There has never been a single report of growth plate damage in preadolescents involved in strength training.

Childhood obesity is epidemic, and the prevalence of super-obese boys and girls is increasing. But exercise that builds lean mass – which also builds a sense of achievement -- is a significant step toward

The vague but persistent myth that resistance training will stunt growth and cause injury is just that – myth dealing with this problem. And as every parent knows, the exercise has to be fun.

Resistance training may be the answer, especially for overweight children. These kids can’t do body weight exercises such as push-ups and pull-ups, and they have a very hard time doing sit-ups – their little bellies getting in the way. But as they increase muscle, the fat takes care of itself.

If you decide to try resistance training for your child, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology recommends it include the following:

maturity, and training experience.

• An organized approach to training that

• A safe and hazard-free environment.

progressively cycles various aspects of

• A program that begins with five to ten

the training program over time as the

minutes of a warm up that keeps the

child improves in strength, flexibility,

child moving and stretching muscles.

and cardiovascular fitness.

Julia – she doesn’t go by Boo anymore – just passed her driver’s license exam. She is fit and healthy, goes to the gym regularly, and is now a vegetarian. Her early exposure to strength training and physical activity in a positive environment didn’t hurt. She found out that fitness could be fun. -lm

• Instruction by a certified fitness

• Inclusion of balance and coordination

professional.

exercises.

• A program designed suitable for the

• A cool-down period with activities of

child’s cognitive development, physical

lower intensity as well as stretching

• Strength training sessions scheduled for two or three non-consecutive days a week.

• Exercises that target upper body, lower body, and midsection muscles.

• Sessions that emphasize correct technique and safety.

Lisa Gallagher, director of the Fitness Center at the Opelika Sportsplex, is a wellness coach, personal trainer, and group fitness instructor. You can contact her at lisa@lee-magazine.com.

DEAR RHONDA, I once enjoyed getting my nails done and wearing jewelry, but now I want to bring as little attention to my hands as possible. Last week one of my first grade students asked, “what are all those dots on your hands?” First grade boys say what they think! Now I’m wondering, why do I spend so much time and money for my face to look young, but no time on my hands? Maybe there is nothing I can do, but if there is, I bet you will know. I trust you with my face, please help me turn back the hands.

Sincerely, HANDS OF TIME, AUBURN

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DEAR CONFUSED, Nowadays many people have cosmetic procedures to make their face look younger, however their hands still reveal their age. When someone’s hands look years older than their face it can be a tell-tale sign that the person has had facial cosmetic surgery. Aging, hormonal changes, exposure to sun and chemicals create unsightly brown spots, uneven pigmentation, and skin cancer. Women ten to have more issues with thinning and drying of the skin due to the drop in female hormones during and after menopause.

I would recommend a gentle TCA (chemical peel) or IPL (photo-rejuventation) to reduce or eliminate those brown spots. The TCA peel can even significantly improve the wrinkles and the texture of the skin.

Call today for a free consultant and let’s get those hands looking as young as your face!

Hy d Sincerely, Fa ratin cia g l

R honda

Stewart Dermatology

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25 Medical Arts Center, Opelika • 334-749-5604

He’s too hot.

He’s too cold.

It’s too noisy.

It’s too quiet.

He had a bad dream.

He had a good dream that he needs to wake me at 3 a.m. to tell me about.

WHEN MOMMY CUSSES Go to sleep! Go to sleep! Oh please go to sleep!

By Kelly Frick

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lease excuse me if this topic seems a bit tired. I’m sleep deprived.

Why? I’ll start with the baby shower I was at last week.

The party was typical until the honoree opened the mysterious but modest flat package. It was a children’s book – but not really for children. The title was “Go the F*&% to Sleep.” If you haven’t heard of it, you must have been in a coma last spring when the book topped Amazon’s bestseller list before it was even available.

You couldn’t get on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter without seeing a mention of it.

The book, by Adam Mansbach, is written almost as a lullaby, except there’s cussing involved.

At the baby shower, the book elicited a few laughs and a few incredulous stares.

A children’s book that uses the F-word?

Really? Is that necessary?

Maybe not. But for those of us who have

16 LEE MAGAZINE

children who refuse to go to bed, it’s a welcome acknowledgment that parenting can be a frustrating, headache-inducing venture – particularly at bedtime.

I speak from experience.

For the past nine years, my son has been a terrible sleeper. He fights going to bed, wakes frequently in the middle of the night, and greets the morning like Oscar the Grouch. This isn’t a phase. It’s his life.

All nine years of it.

If that doesn’t make you want to swear, I don’t know what will. nd before you start telling me about how I just need to – insert your favorite bedtime routine here – let me tell you I have tried everything. Snuggle time, quiet time, bath time, tough love, threats, treats, promises. I admit I didn’t try the shot of whisky and honey remedy my dad said his mother used to give him because … well, I just can’t condone giving whiskey

A

to a nine-year-old. Although the thought has crossed my mind more than once.

John is just one of those kids who doesn’t sleep well. My daughter is an excellent sleeper and always has been. But John gets up multiple times in the night to tell me he needs to use the bathroom, get a drink, or check on the dog. He’s too hot.

He’s too cold. It’s too noisy. It’s too quiet.

He had a bad dream. He had a good dream that he needs to wake me at 3 a.m. to tell me about.

I’m betting at least half of you can relate. From talking with other parents, and reading the frustration behind Adam Mansbach’s words in his unconventional book, I’m certain John isn’t alone.

Why don’t kids want to go to sleep? Why won’t they stay in their own beds? What is so much more enticing about sleeping in my bed with a leg over my stomach and an arm across my face? Why do children

only need a drink of water at 2 a.m.? Why do monsters only appear at 11 p.m.? Why can’t my kid just go the bleep to sleep?

I don’t know. ou may not like naughty words, and I can understand that, but the beauty of Mansbach’s book isn’t because inserting a bad word into a “children’s” book is funny. The beauty is in the realization that other parents are just as tired and cranky about their children’s sleep patterns. One of us, however, was brave enough to send it to a publisher.

I may not be able to solve John’s sleep habits, but I take comfort in knowing there are other parents who also do not get a good night’s sleep. Other parents who pray for their child to just go to sleep and give them a few hours of peace.

That doesn’t make us bad parents. But it should entitle us to an afternoon nap. -lm

Y

Kelly Frick is a writer and mother of two.

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By Taylor Dungjen

H

Photo by Beth Snipes

ave I ever told you about how much I love sweaters? It’s a perfect kind of love, or nearly perfect anyway. The only thing that could make it better would be living in an area where climate permitted me to wear one every single day.

Really. I have more sweaters than it makes sense to own – I have a cardigan in nearly every shade, and I’m working on expanding my collection to incorporate more patterned choices. But my closet doesn’t start and stop with cardis.

Honestly, I rarely meet a sweater I don’t like. I had one in college that was totally eighties (probably in all the wrong ways) and I loved it.

One great thing about sweaters is that they will never go out of style. Unlike fleeting trends – harem pants, gauchos, and overalls (avoid all three, please) – sweaters are not going anywhere … Ever.

Or at least until global warming really starts to kick our butts.

This fall and winter, sweaters allow you to recycle your spring and summer wardrobes. The chunkier the sweater, the

Caitlin Gallagher, Auburn, combines texture and color for this season's must have look.

Dressed To CHILL

The wrap that’s never out of style better it is to pair with a spring skirt or to layer over a summery dress. Wear with tights and a pair of cool boots and you have a perfect cool-weather outfit using what you already own.

When designers were showing fall and winter collections during Fashion Week, major players such as Max Azria and Tracy Reese were dressing their models in maxi skirts – another example of remixing your summer wardrobe – with sweaters. And,

18 LEE MAGAZINE

honestly, nearly any sweater will do. You could opt for a loose-fitting sweater for a comfortable weekend chic look – totally fab for a stroll through the farmer’s market on a fall morning. Or select a long and lean sweater with a chunky woven belt worn at the hips. This could finally be the answer to the “but they’re so comfortable” sweats-in-public excuse.

Sweaters can even take on a more structured appeal this fall, almost rivaling

the work of your favorite blazer. In fact, in the past year clothing retailers have started carrying sweaters that look exactly like blazers, fitted with buttons and collars.

The whole nine. They’re pretty fabulous and perfect for the office – way more range of motion in the arms and shoulders. I’ve seen these types of sweaters at a variety of retailers. I’d give a gold star or bonus points if you could snag one with elbow pads, which will forever be wonderful

F A S H I O N

– they remind me of my Opa. (My dad’s dad.)

There’s almost no wrong way to do a sweater, but for ultra trendy, look for patterns that are a loose interpretation of camouflage or polka dots. Polka dots are going to be huge for the next few seasons.

Shades of mustard, jade, and rust will also be big news, and you’ll look like a million bucks in any of them.

There’s a good chance you have something that fits the bill in your closet already so don’t be afraid to take it out and dust it off.

If not, or, like me, you have a constant case of the shopping bug, a trip to the sweater racks will be money well spent. -lm Taylor Dungjen is a freelance writer who often covers fashion. Write to her at taylor@ lee-magazine.com

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TOMMIE AGEE:

ANOTHER BOWL CONQUERED!

By Mary Wood Littleton

T

ommie Agee knows his way around more than the football field. The former NFL running back and veteran of two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys is no slouch around the mixing bowl either.

Today Agee works at the Opelika Sportsplex and Aquatic Center, where he is assistant director of Parks and Recreation. But you’re almost as likely to find him in the kitchen, whipping up sweet potato soufflé or cherry pie.

Agee, who was a running back for the Auburn Tigers, grew up surrounded by good cooking about 100 miles west of Lee County, in Maplesville, Alabama. He and three older brothers were raised in their grandmother’s house. Both his mother and grandmother were cooks, and his grandmother also fed a number of elderly relatives in her home. Grandmother’s influence was strong.

“I learned to cook country food, because that’s what Grandmama cooked,” he says.

It is all about the flavor.

20 LEE MAGAZINE

“People don’t know how to put a ham hock or a ham bone for seasoning your greens. They don’t believe in putting a little fatback or a little bacon into food to season it. But that’s what I call real Southern cooking.”

“When Mama and Grandmama worked, the cooking fell to me. It fell to all three of us. All three of my brothers can cook.”

Now Agee and wife of twenty-four years, Anchylus, share cooking duties, with Agee handling much of the day-to-day meal prep since leaving football, and Anchylus, a teacher at Southview Primary School in Opelika, putting together the big Sunday meal. The couple has three children: Tyler, a sophomore at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, where he runs track; Torey, a straight-A student at Opelika High School, who recently committed to play football for Vanderbilt University in Nashville; and Angelic, a ninth grader and member of Opelika High School Marching band “Showstoppers,” a dance and kickline performance group.

“I feel like I have 375 children, when you count all the kids down at the Sportsplex,” Agee says. “I like to help them out and keep them on the straight and narrow path.”

Agee and his family love living in Opelika. He likes how people rally around different causes. It reminds him a lot of Maplesville — a slow, quiet atmosphere with everything you need nearby.

When Agee was in the pros, including seasons with both the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs, his wife was a stayat-home mother and did all the cooking for the family. During the off-season, he loved to get in the kitchen. These days, likes to use his lunch hour to prep for dinner — starting the sauce for spaghetti or preparing a salad. He likes cookbooks that feature quick and easy recipes with plenty of variety.

But he still loves the recipes he learned from his grandmother, although he says he has trouble remembering ingredients and amounts at times — something he blames

on football — so he has to call up his grandmother for reminders. “She keeps all her recipes up in her head,” says Agee.

“She’s not into precise measurement, though, and she’ll say ‘a pinch of this’ and ‘a handful of that.’ You can probably imagine that my handful is a lot bigger than hers.”

When Agee has company over on the weekend to watch a football game, he loves to grill a feast in the backyard. Burgers and dogs are great sometimes, but his real specialty is fried fish with all the trimmings — hushpuppies, cheese grits, and fried green tomatoes.

When Anchylus makes the Sunday meal, he makes the dessert. At Thanksgiving, they will work together to prepare the feast for twenty to twenty-five people. She’ll fix the turkey, and he’ll make desserts and help with the cornbread dressing or cleaning and cutting the vegetables.

Sisters-in-law Margaret and Vivian Walker pitch in with their famous collard greens, and Joann Walker brings what Agee says is “the world’s best potato salad.”

When Agee is cooking, he likes to keep things interesting. “I like to change recipes around and surprise folks,” he says. His signature dessert is always a showstopper.

“Most people think they see a red velvet cake, but when they cut it open, it’s green.

It’s my Key Lime Cake.”

Although Agee’s sons have not followed their father into the kitchen, he has schooled them on the basics. “I’ve taught them how to make a good breakfast,” he says. “That way, they can always make themselves a meal instead of going hungry.”

His oldest son, Tyler, enjoys barbecuing in the back yard, and his daughter likes making cakes and other desserts. Torey, Dad says, isn’t quite the chef. He puts stuff in the oven and forgets about it.

There are a couple of items that Agee says he will never be able to make as good as his grandmother’s, despite trying for years. The first is a pork chop (bonein) casserole with rice, pimentos, Lipton onion soup mix, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and cream of mushroom soup. “She cooks it all in one pan in the oven,” says Agee. “It all just melds together into this perfect combination of flavors, but I just can’t get mine to that.”

The other is her caramel layer cake. Agee isn’t happy with the consistency of his caramel icing, although he intends to keep trying. “Hers is like you take a huge piece of caramel candy that is melted and runs all over the cake and between the layers.”

He’s glad he can still consult her for advice, he says. At eighty-nine, she still has a lot to teach him.

KEY LIME CAKE

1 cup butter 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 2¾ cups Swan cake flour 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt 1¼ cup orange juice 1 teaspoon lemon flavor 1 3-ounce package lime gelatin

Frosting

1 stick butter, softened 8 ounces cream cheese 1 box confectioner’s sugar 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each.

Add flour and dry ingredients, starting with flour and alternating with orange juice. Add flavoring and gelatin, beat well.

Pour equal amounts into three greased and floured 8-inch pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool on rack.

Frosting: Beat butter and cream cheese in a large bowl until creamy. Add lime juice and confectioner’s sugar. Mix until creamy and fluffy. Frost cooled cake.

EASY CHERRY CREAM CHEESE PIE

1 large graham cracker pie crust 8 ounces cream cheese ¼ cup lemon juice, or to taste 1 can Eagle condensed milk 1 can cherry pie filling

Beat together cream cheese and condensed milk. Add lemon juice. Pour mixture into piecrust and refrigerate for 4

hour. Spread with cherry filling and serve.

SWEET POTATO CRUNCH This can be served as a dessert or a side dish.

3 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes 1 stick butter, melted 1 ½ cup sugar ½ cup evaporated milk ½ teaspoon cinnamon ½ teaspoon nutmeg 2 eggs, beaten

Topping

1 cup flour 1 cup chopped pecans 1 cup brown sugar 1 stick butter, melted

Mix all ingredients and pour into a casserole dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Make topping while casserole is baking by simply mixing topping ingredients. Sprinkle topping on casserole.

Then bake casserole for another 15 minutes.

EASY HERSHEY BAR CAKE 1 box Duncan Hines Swiss Chocolate cake mix

Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese 1 cup confectioner’s sugar ½ cup sugar 12 1.5-ounce milk chocolate Hershey Bars 1 12-ounce container frozen whipped topping

Make cake batter following the box directions. Pour into three greased 8-inch cake pans. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes.

Cool cake before frosting. To make frosting, beat cream cheese and sugars until creamy. Finely chop eight candy bars, blend with cream cheese, and whipped topping. Chop remaining candy bars and sprinkle over frosted cake. -lm LEE MAGAZINE 21

N

By Mary Wood Littleton

ovelist and poet laureate Robert Penn Warren.

Historian Shelby Foote. Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey and British broadcaster David Attenborough. Lucy Littleton fed them all.

Evolutionary biologists Stephen J. Gould and Richard Dawkins.

Novelists Joyce Carol Oates, William Styron, and Eudora Welty.

Historians David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and C. Vann Woodward also shared a home-cooked meal with my mother.

For twenty years, my mother welcomed visitors of national and international reputation who came to Auburn through the Auburn University Franklin Lecture Series – today, in its fortythird year, known as the Littleton-Franklin Lectures. My father, Taylor Littleton, an English professor and vice president of

22 LEE MAGAZINE

academic affairs at AU, directed the series for more than three decades.

Numerous Pulitzer Prize winners — including McCullough, Daniel Boorstin, and conservative columnist George Will — as well as Nobel Laureates, such as physicist Leon Lederman and economist Gary Becker, came to lead classroom discussions with students, give a public lecture, and then dine with faculty, alumni, and friends at our home on Norman Circle. For many of the lecturers, this was their first visit to Alabama.

Home-cooked menus for these gatherings of fifteen to twenty people were varied, as were the necessary appetizers. The American poet Archibald MacLeish remarked of one, “First time I’ve eaten a mushroom sandwich!” Main dishes might be Oysters & Wild Rice or Chicken Veronique with a salad and a vegetable.

Photo by Beth Snipes

Lucy Littleton’s parties A WHO’S WHO OF DINNER GUESTS:

“One evening, I forgot to turn on the oven, and dinner was forty-five minutes late,” my mother said. “Taylor just made everybody more drinks while they waited. I think I got the most compliments that night.” - Lucy Littleton

Dessert could be Sherry Cake, a Chocolate Roulade, and Lemon Curd Tarts. We Littleton children acted as servers and passers. As the youngest, I stood at the door in my pressed pinafore to greet guests and take their coats and purses before passing the hors d’oeuvres. his was an era when elegant restaurants were scarce in Auburn, and catering services were nearly non-existent. For faculty members and spouses, entertaining was simply part of the job. Dinners, luncheons, cocktail parties, even for large numbers of guests, were home affairs.

Conservative commentator William F. Buckley, Jr., a guest at one soiree in 1990, stepped into the kitchen and asked if he could lend a hand. He wrote to my mother later, thanking her for “the fine reception and dinner.”

“I should be used to Southern manners by now, exposed to them as I have been for so many stretches of my life. But yours are truly distinctive.”

Things didn’t always run perfectly. “One evening, I forgot to turn on the oven, and dinner was forty-five minutes late,” my mother said. “Taylor just made everybody more drinks while they waited. I think I got the most compliments that night.”

Entertainment was not limited to the international glitterati. My mother invited my father’s students over for dinner at the end of each term. “I decided it would be all right to use paper plates for the students,

T

but I still used the silver. Fortunately, I discovered in time that the students had thrown their paper plates in the trash along with their silver forks. Taylor and I had to go through loads of trash to recover them all.”

Learning to prepare a variety of elegant dishes was not an easy undertaking for a person living in a small college town, even though my mother had studied home economics at Florida State University in her hometown of Tallahassee. She read many cookbooks and took classes from a woman who had studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris. Many of my mother’s friends also entertained, and each became known for their own special creations.

This prompted my mother and colleagues Helen Baggett and Jeanne Blackwell to publish “Auburn Entertains” in 1986. Now celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary with a new printing, the book includes a rich assembly of recipes — the legacy of many of Auburn’s finest entertainers, including AU President Harry Philpot, First Lady Caroline Draughon, and even Sue Dye, wife of Coach Pat Dye. After a successful first effort, my mother wrote another cookbook in 1994, “Picnics on the Plains: The Owl Bay Guide to Auburn Tiger Tailgating.” With a change of covers and a different introduction, versions were published for the Crimson Tide, the Tennessee Vols, Ole Miss, Miami Hurricanes, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Penn State, Wisconsin,

Michigan, Texas, Notre Dame, FSU, and many other universities. The cookbooks — a collaboration with her son George, daughter-in-law Dorothy and me — generated the money needed for George and Dorothy to adopt their youngest son from South America.

My mother says the most fun party she ever had was a bridesmaids’ luncheon, cohosted by the bride’s aunt and the threeyear-old flower girl, Lucy Littleton, my mother’s granddaughter. According to an established dictum for fine Southern dining, every Southern table should have five things — antique linens, family china, family silver, fresh flowers and place cards.

“We used old embroidered cloths and napkins. For centerpieces at each table, we filled silver tussie mussies (bouquet holders) with sweetheart roses, baby’s breath and maidenhair ferns and propped them up with silver napkin rings. Silver cake charms tied with ribbons were tucked under the ferns and connected with place cards at each of the bridesmaids’ plates to be pulled out at dessert time.” he groom’s mother, who was visiting from Montgomery, admired my mother’s embroidered guest towels and told a story about one of her friend’s daughters, who had married a man in the military. The mother told her daughter to keep linen guest towels in the bathroom, so that her new acquaintances would know she came from a nice family.

“Now that I’m in my eighties,” my mom

T

LEE MAGAZINE 23

Fold egg whites into whipped cream and add ½ cup sugar. Fold in custard. Alternate layers of cake pieces and custard, ending with cake. Chill overnight. To serve, unmold and slice. Serves 12 or more. This can be frozen.

MUSHROOM SANDWICHES A favorite of the distinguished American poet and Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish.

You can juice an onion using a fine grater.

1 tall can mushrooms, drained Juice from large onion Mayonnaise Fresh or dried parsley White sandwich bread

Chop mushrooms with a knife.

Pour onion juice on mushrooms. Add mayonnaise to bind. Set in refrigerator in the morning to use in the evening. Chop parsley finely and mix with above. Spread mayonnaise on bread slices with crusts removed. Spread mushroom mixture on one slice of bread, top with other slice, then cut into two or three finger sandwiches.

These keep well in Tupperware boxes in the refrigerator.

Lucy Littleton

told her, “I’m ready to pass down my linen towels to my daughter and my three daughters-in-law, who are all great party givers, and just enjoy their wonderful hospitality.”

Try as I have, I am a weak imitation of my mother when it comes to entertaining.

I have my strengths, the least of which is cooking, but my three sisters-in-law and I realized long ago that it takes all of us to pull off the grand family occasions that my mother did for years all by herself.

Although I recall her managing these monumental events with ease and aplomb, she reminded me, “I was always a nervous wreck before the parties, certain I’d never have everything ready. But when everyone arrived, it somehow came together, and I always had so much fun.”

24 LEE MAGAZINE

Oil to grease pan 4 eggs, separated 1 cup sugar ½ cup sherry 1½ envelope plain gelatin ⅓ cup milk 1 pint heavy cream, whipped 1 angel food cake, crust cut off, pulled into 1-inch pieces

SARAH’S DEVILED CRAB 4 tablespoons butter or oleo 2 tablespoons flour ½ cup milk ½ cup sherry 2 teaspoons lemon juice 1 teaspoon prepared mustard ½ teaspoon bottled horseradish 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper sauce or Tabasco 2 hard-cooked eggs, minced 1 pound crabmeat ½ cup bread crumbs, optional

Grease large tube pan with oil. Beat egg yolks with ½ cup sugar and sherry. Cook in double boiler until thickened to hot custard, stirring constantly. Soften gelatin in milk and dissolve in hot custard. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.

Make cream sauce of butter, flour, and milk. Add sherry, lemon juice, mustard, horseradish, salt, Tabasco, eggs, and crab.

Put into casserole dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs. Heat in 325-degree oven until bubbly — about 20 minutes. Serves 6-8. -lm

SHERRY CAKE Wonderful for buffet dinners.

Photo by Beth Snipes

PRESSURE COOKER:

Judy Simon

How Judy Simon turned trials into tasty meals

By Mary Wood Littleton

Baptism by fire — that’s how Judy Simon has twice made giant leaps forward in her mastery of the culinary arts.

The first time was when she was only fourteen. She always loved cooking with her mother, helping her in the kitchen, and making the occasional meal on her own. This Thanksgiving, she came to the kitchen prepared to help her mother prepare the big meal.

“The bad news is that you will be cooking all of the Thanksgiving meal,” her mother told her. “The good news is that I’m going to supervise you.” Her mother had sliced open her palm while opening plastic packaging. The bandage on her hand prevented her from preparing the meal, which would be made entirely from scratch. So with her mother guiding her, Simon attempted to make many new recipes — some of which her mother had brought with her family from England.

At the end of the day, an exhausted young Simon had a greater sense of what she could accomplish in the kitchen.

The second cataclysmic event that changed the course of

Simon’s culinary journey came a little over a year ago, when her husband Gordy was diagnosed with colon cancer, and, at the same time, diabetes. Simon began reviewing all their favorite dishes to see how they stacked up against Gordy’s new dietary restrictions.

Knowing what foods to avoid was easy: fatty red meat, organ meat, highly processed food, fried food, fast food, high cholesterol food, and foods rich in saturated fat.

To fashion a new repertoire, she had to understand the way the body breaks down food. This wasn't difficult for Simon, a registered dental hygienist in the practice of an oral surgeon.

She knew that carbohydrates, which break down into the sugar glucose, have the biggest impact on blood glucose levels. More complex carbohydrates, such as peas, beans, whole grain breads and cereals, and vegetables, take longer to break down, helping to stave off spikes in blood sugar.

A diabetic diet doesn’t mean eliminating all old favorites, but they do need to be prepared differently. When I visited Simon in LEE MAGAZINE 25

her kitchen, she was preparing something I’d never seen before — red okra. She sliced the okra, dredged it in cornmeal, then placed the slices on a cookie sheet to bake. The final product was virtually indistinguishable from fried okra. “I’ve found lots of new ways to prepare the foods we love in a much healthier way,” said Simon. “And they’re just as good or even better.”

Planning ahead is the key to adopting a healthy regimen. Simon plans her menus for the week, then she does all of the shopping.

This eliminates the temptation of buying junk food or eating out too often.

But what Simon might be best known for is bread. Seventeen years ago, a friend gave her some sourdough starter, which she has perpetuated and shared with countless friends. About the same time, the rector at Simon’s church asked her if she’d be willing to bake bread for the communion. She agreed, not realizing that she would be the sole baker of the communion bread every Sunday for the next 11 years. There appeared to be a direct correlation between Simon’s bread making and the growth in the number of congregants at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in those years.

Finally, a team of bread makers was formed around 2005, allowing Simon to share her duties.

“FRIED” OKRA 2 pounds okra, red or green, cut into bite size pieces 1 egg, beaten 1 cup Italian bread crumbs Salt and pepper Yogurt Horseradish

In gallon zip-lock bag, shake okra with beaten egg until moistened. Pour in bread crumbs and shake until coated. Spread over olive oil sprayed cookie sheet into single layer. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, flip to turn and let brown on the other side, another 5 to 10 minutes until crisp. Salt and pepper to taste.

Combine yogurt and horseradish to taste for a dip.

ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS 2 pounds Brussels sprouts, washed and halved Sea salt 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

Heat oven to 420 degrees. Toss Brussels sprouts in olive oil.

Place sprouts in a large jellyroll pan and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Roast 20 minutes; turn with spatula and continue until crisp.

ROASTED ASPARAGUS

2 pounds asparagus, washed and tough end snapped off Olive oil

26 LEE MAGAZINE

Sea salt 1-2 tablespoons Herbes de Provence

Spread asparagus evenly in jelly roll pan. Drizzle with olive oil and toss. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and Herbes de Provence.

Roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

DECADENT CHOCOLATE CUTIE MUFFINS

The sweeter the fruit, the less sugar any recipe needs. The citrus fruit in this recipe can be replaced with a half-cup fresh or frozen raspberries.

Shortening ¾ stick butter, softened ½ cup sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt Zest from scrubbed Cutie tangerine or small juicy seedless orange Juice and pulp from 1 Cutie tangerine or small juicy seedless orange ½ cup whole wheat flour 1 ½ cup bread flour ½ cup vanilla yogurt ¾ cup dark chocolate Ghiardelli chips

Grease muffin tin with shortening. Mix all ingredients until just blended. Batter will be lumpy. Bake at 400 degrees in mini muffin pan for 22 to 25 minutes. Muffins will be firm to the touch when done. Makes 20.

APPLE CRANBERRY MUFFINS Shortening ¾ cup butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apple, pared and diced 1 cup Craisens 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1 ½ cup bread flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg ¼ cup ground flax ⅔ cup vanilla yogurt

Grease muffin pans with shortening. Mix all ingredients up to flax in a large bowl until just moistened. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Mix yogurt and flax and add to batter. Bake in mini muffin tins for 22 to 25 minutes at 400 degrees. Muffins will be firm to the touch when done. Makes 20.

FIRECRACKER CHICKEN Serve with brown rice or wild rice tossed with pickled jalapeños and slices of red bell peppers.

Olive oil spray 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs ½ cup whole wheat flour 1 cup whole grain Wheat Thins, crushed 1 egg, beaten Hot sauce

Spray cookie sheet with olive oil. Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Mix egg with hot sauce in one bowl and place Wheat Thin crumbs and whole wheat flour in two separate bowls. Lightly coat chicken in flour, then dip in egg mix, and finally in Wheat Thin crumbs.

Place chicken on cookie sheet and bake about 30 minutes, until juice from pierced chicken runs clear. You can substitute any whole grain cracker if it is low sugar and high fiber. Serve with brown rice or wild rice tossed with pickled jalapenos and bell pepper slices.

SOURDOUGH BREAD This recipe will make three small loaves or forty rolls. If you chose to make rolls, bake them for about 20 minutes at 325 degrees.

6 ½ cups bread flour

1 package rapid-rise yeast ¼ cup sugar 1 tablespoon salt ½ cup canola oil 1 ½ cups warm water 1 cup sourdough starter (recipe below)

Mix 6 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, water, and starter in a large bowl, and let rise one hour at room temperature. With oiled hands, knead in a ½ cup flour. Separate dough into three small loaf pans and let rise another 45 minutes. Bake loaves for 25 minutes at 325 degrees.

SOURDOUGH STARTER ¾ cup sugar 1 cup warm water 3 tablespoons instant potato flakes

Mix ingredients and allow it to sit overnight at room temperature until fermentation begins. This can take as long as two days. When starter gets low, add more of the same ingredients at the same proportions and let sit overnight. -lm Mary Wood Littleton is a freelance writer from Auburn, Ala., and executive director of the Greater Peace Community Development Corporation in Opelika.

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LEE COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY, 1140 Ware Drive, Auburn. Adoption hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Drop offs strays or pick up found pets: Tuesday through Sunday, 8:30 to 5 p.m.; Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Information: 821-3222; lchs@leecountyhumane.org.

LEWIS COOPER JUNIOR MEMORIAL LIBRARY,

200 South Sixth Street, Opelika. Hours: Monday and Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Information: 705-5380 LEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 6500

Stage Road (Highway 14), Loachapoka.

Hours: Second Saturday of every month, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Information: 8873007, webmaster@leecountyhistoricalsociety.org.

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NOVEMBER

ONGOING: the Lee County Humane Society, 1140 Ware Drive, Auburn, continues Tuxedo Tuesday discounts for “tuxedo” wearing pets. All adoptions of black-and-white cats and dogs, as well as solid black cats and dogs, are $50. Information: 821-3222.

ONGOING THROUGH NOVEMBER 15: Vendors wishing to rent table space in the Auburn United Methodist Holiday Bazaar Crafts, Art, and Antiques, must register by November 15. Rental is $50 per six-foot-long space, for a maximum of three spaces. Paid space requests have priority.

Information: 539-1124 or aumwbazaar@aol. com.

ONGOING THROUGH NOVEMBER 26: East Alabama was the home of exceptional pottery making in the 19th Century, and a new Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art exhibit brings it to light with Bacon Level, Hickory Flat, and the Illustrious Potteries of Randolph and Chambers Counties, Alabama. On the same dates, visitors can also see, On the Silk Road and the High Seas: Chinese Ceramics, Culture, and Commerce, featuring more than seventy porcelain, stoneware and jade pieces. Admission: free.

NOVEMBER 5, 12, 19, 25: Fresh Farmers Market at Sikes Pet and Farm Supply, 1780 East Glenn Avenue, offers fresh produce and homemade preserves, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Information: 502-2469.

NOVEMBER 5, 12: Yoga for seniors at the Frank Brown Recreation Center, 235 Opelika Road, Auburn, 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Admission: free. Information: 501-2930.

LOUISE KREHER FOREST ECOLOGY PRESERVE,

3100 Highway 147 North, Auburn. Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission: free. Information: 707-6512.

TELFAIR PEET THEATRE, at the corner of

NOVEMBER 1, 8, 15, 28: Baby Time, 10 a.m., Auburn Public Library, stories and crafts for babies (and parents) six months to eighteen months. Admission: free. Information: 501-3196.

Samford and Duncan avenues. Tickets: 8444154 or http://goo.gl/Osvn. Information: 844-4748 or theatre@auburn.edu.

NOVEMBER 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 AND DECEMBER 6: Enjoy traditional Irish music or per-

28 LEE MAGAZINE

form some of your own at the Olde Auburn Ale House’s Auburn Irish Music Session, 127 Tichenor Avenue, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Information: 821-6773.

AND NOVEMBER 3, 10, 17, 30: Preschool Story Time, 10 a.m., Auburn Public Library, for children ages three to five and their parents. Admission: free. Information: 501-3196.

NOVEMBER 3, 10, 17, 24 AND DECEMBER 1: Learn jewelry making, at Wire Wrapping and Wine Night, Perch Bead Studio, 416 South Gay Street, Auburn, 6 p.m. Reservations required: 209-1378.

NOVEMBER 3, 10, 17, 24 AND DECEMBER 1: Make Beads and Bagels, 10 a.m., Perch Bead Studio, 416 South Gay Street in Auburn. Reservations required: 209-1378.

NOVEMBER 2, 9, 16, 29: Toddler Time, 10 a.m., Auburn Public Library, for children eighteen months to three years and their parents, includes a story and crafts. Admission: free. Information: 501-3196.

NOVEMBER 17: American Girl Club, for kindergarten through fifth graders reading the American Girl series, 3:30 p.m., Auburn Public Library. Admission: free. Information: 501-3196.

NOVEMBER 3: A lecture about “The Potters of Bacon Level and Hickory Flat” by Joey Brackner, director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 5p.m., Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art. Admission: free.

NOVEMBER 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12: Auburn Area Community Theatre presents “Hairspray!” 7 p.m. at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center. Tickets: $12, adults; $10 for students and seniors.

NOVEMBER 5: Kids and their parents draw animals at Saturday Art Club, 10 a.m., at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art. Admission: free.

NOVEMBER 5: Learn about Wild Ducks! and take a short drive for a tour of the duck preserve in Opelika, 10 a.m., Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve. Information: 7076512.

NOVEMBER 14: Auburn University Trumpet Ensemble Concert, 7:30 p.m., Goodwin Music Building Recital Hall. Admission: free. Information: 844-4165.

NOVEMBER 6 AND 13: Auburn Area Community Theatre presents “Hairspray!” 2 p.m., Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center.

Tickets:$12 for adults; $10 for students and seniors.

NOVEMBER 15: Auburn University Symphonic Band with Opelika High School Bands Concert, 7:30 p.m., Opelika Performing Arts Center, 1700 Lafayette Parkway. Admission: free. Information: 8444165.

NOVEMBER 6: Auburn University Fall Choral Concert, 2:30 p.m., Auburn United Methodist Church, 137 South Gay Street.

General admission: $10; student admission, $5. 844-4165.

NOVEMBER 15: Reading and Book Signing: “Keeping the Faith: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives” by Wayne Flynt, 4 p.m., Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art. Admission: free.

NOVEMBER 7: Auburn University Campus Band Concert, 4 p.m.. Goodwin Music Building Band Hall. Admission: free.

844-4165.

NOVEMBER 16: Auburn University Percussion Ensemble Concert, 7:30 p.m., Auburn Performing Arts Center, 405 South Dean Road. General admission, $10; student admission, $5. Information: 844-4165.

NOVEMBER 8: Auburn University Community Orchestra Concert, 7:30 p.m., First Baptist Church of Opelika, 301 South Eighth Street. Admission: free. 844-4165.

NOVEMBER 17: Auburn University Jazz Band Concert, 7:30 p.m. at the

NOVEMBER 8: The film “Welcome to Shelbyville” screens as part of The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art at 6 p.m. Admission: free.

NOVEMBER 9: Almeda Trio Guest Artist Concert, 7:30 p.m., the Goodwin Music Building Recital Hall. General admission: $10; student admission, $5. 844-4165.

NOVEMBER 10: Auburn University Trombone Studio Recital, 6 p.m., Goodwin Music Building Recital Hall. Admission: free. 844-4165.

NOVEMBER 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18: Auburn University Theatre presents “Season’s Greetings,” 7:30 p.m. , Telfair Peet Theatre. Admission: $15 for the general public, $10 for seniors, AU faculty and staff, students from other schools; free for Auburn University students. 844-4748.

NOVEMBER 10: JURGEN TARRASCH talks about his paintings at “Artists Talk,” 5 p.m., the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Admission: free.

NOVEMBER 13: The Sundilla Acoustic Concert Series presents Michelle Shocked, 7:30 p.m., Auburn Unitarian Universalist Church, 450 Thach Avenue. Tickets: $20.

Children 12 and under admitted free. Information: www.sundilla.org.

Goodwin Music Building Recital Hall. General admission, $10; student admission $5.

Information: 844-4165.

NOVEMBER 30: Auburn University Indian Music Ensemble Concert, 7:30 p.m., the Goodwin Music Building Recital Hall. Admission is free. Information: 8444165.

DECEMBER 3: Kids and their parents curate a mini-exhibition at Saturday Art Club, 10 a.m., the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art. Admission: free.

DECEMBER 3: The 2011 Annual Holiday Bazaar Crafts, Art and Antiques takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 137 South Gay Street. Information: (334) 539-1124 or aumwbazaar@aol.com.

DECEMBER 3 AND 4: Auburn University Singers Concert, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Telfair Peet Theatre. General admission, $10; student admission, $5. Information: 844-4165.

Trash 2 Treasure 2 Success Former AU football coach Coach Pat Dye joined Jonna Chizik, wife of current AU head football coach, Gene Chizik, at the Tornado Trash2Treasure Art Gala & Concert on Oct. 13 presented by the Chizik Family YouTurn Foundation. Over 100 pieces of tornado debris were transformed by area artists into new treasures of art and sold during a silent and live auction that raised $40,000 for tornado victims in the Dadeville/Lake Martin area! Details and more pictures: www.allinforyouturn.com

Place your bids!

Photo by Beth Snipes

The Chizik family was the winning bidders of a genetically authentic clone of a Toomer's Corner oak tree that the AU Dept. of Horticulture donated to the Tornado Trash2Treasure auction. This oak was cut from the original roots of the Toomer's Oaks. It's been growing under close supervision by AU in their greenhouse since 2006. They want to "pay it forward" and to sell their special tree to raise more money for the kids in need who their foundation Photo by Natalie Nettles supports.

Coach Dye auctioned his clone of a Toomer's Oak for $9,000 for the School of Nursing.

Naturally, in the name of healthy competition, the Chizik's want to "beat" Coach Dye and would like to have "bragging rights" that they sold their tree for at least $10,000!! YouTurn Foundation is officially a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization so this donation would be tax exempt! First come, first serve to the highest bidder, starting at $10,000! Submit your bid to info@allinforyouturn no later than Dec. 1. Winner must be able to pick up to pick up the tree in Auburn.

LEE MAGAZINE 29

Kristen Martin and Jay Conner, both of Auburn, listen closely to their tour guide.

Guides Lucille Hoyt and Elizabeth Ferrell.

Jacque Kochak plays Alma Newton Shafer, the long-time society columnist for the now defunct Auburn Bulletin.

A tour guide directs visitors through the cemetery.

PINE HILL CEMETERY TOUR More than sixteen hundred people are buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, Auburn’s oldest, and some of them took part in the eleventh Cemetery Lantern Tour in early October. Volunteers in period dress take the role of Auburn residents buried in the

cemetery, providing a glimpse of Auburn in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. The tour of the six-acre cemetery on Armstrong Street, donated by city founder Judge John J. Harper in 1837, benefits the Auburn Heritage Association.

Amanda Kaye Bain plays Virginia Howe. She sits on a representation of Uncle Billy’s bed. Uncle Billy, the Rev. William Mitchell, was buried in a feather bed with his shoes beneath it.

Auburn University student Rebecca Bargainer is Marye Tamplin, captain of the university’s 1922 women’s basketball squad. Erline Lingle of Auburn looks on.

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