All About Women July-August 2021

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Southern Charm in the High Country

HOME · GARDEN · GIFTS

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215 Boone Heights Dr., Boone

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bbandminteriors@gmail.com

Two Locations :

960 Main St Blowing Rock

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www.thebeeandtheboxwood.com

215 Boone Heights Dr., Boone

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828.386.6212

What is an odd food combination that you like to eat, or one that others enjoy that you find strange?

PUBLISHER Gene Fowler

Catherine Perry “(I enjoy) pistachio ice cream on fried dill pickle slices.”

Hollie Eudy “A food combination that I question in retrospect is one that my grandmother seemed to love: a thin layer of mayonnaise spread between two saltine crackers. I remember piling up on the bench at her table and...being awarded with this post-nap treat. As an adult, I cannot tolerate mayonnaise. But, back then, as my grandmother placed that treasure in front of me, there, honestly, was nothing better than gooey mayo and salt.”

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Tom Mayer

EDITOR Kayla Lasure editor@aawmag.com 828.278.3619

CONTRIBUTORS Sarah Rodriguez “As a Maryland girl at heart, I love putting Old Bay seasoning on my food. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner — Old Bay just makes everything better!”

Bonnie Church “Limburger cheese smells like dirty socks.

I love a thick smear with mustard. Raw fish sushi? Now that is disgusting.”

Barbara Holdcroft “For me, it’s the food that others enjoy that I don’t: sauerkraut. My family heritage is German, and most of my family loves sauerkraut, but I don’t enjoy it at all.

My lineage comes into question.”

Sophia Lyons “I love crunchy cookie butter with cheese — gouda and brie are my favorite pairs. On a cracker, the sweet, spiced cookie butter is a dream combination with salty or creamy cheese.”

Ansley Puckett “I love chocolate ice cream with Xtreme Cheddar Goldfish.

I have no idea how I discovered this combination, but I have a feeling it was child innovation and curiosity.”

Mary McKinney “The main thing most people notice as strange related to how I eat is that I like the temperature of my food and beverages to be far hotter than other people! The food combination I like that catches others’ attention is sliced cucumbers, drizzled balsamic vinaigrette and covered with sunflower seeds. I consider it to be a delicacy!”

Heather Brandon “I enjoy apple pie topped with sharp cheddar cheese, especially if the apple pie has fresh rosemary in it.”

4 | July-August 2021

Ansley Puckett Bailey Little Barbara Holdcroft Bonnie Church Catherine Perry Heather Brandon Heather Jordan Hollie Eudy Jessica Isaacs Marion Edwards Mary McKinney Natasha Fuller Sarah Rodriguez Sophia Lyons Sue Spirit

PRODUCTION & DESIGN Meleah Bryan

ADVERTISING 828.264.6397

COVER PHOTO

by Jessica Isaacs

Any reproduction of news articles, photographs or advertising artwork is strictly prohibited without permission from management. © 2021 Mountain Times Publications aawmag.com

CONTENTS features 18 Juice Boone: Paula Medley 20 Generation to Generation:

Lupe Ruiz & Arcelia Alvarez 22 Maw’s Produce 24 The Sweet Life: Elizabeth Cole 27 Artful Food: Charcuterie Boards 30 Hook’d on Smoke: Kristin Howell 33 Busy Life, Happy Life:

Jessica Clearwater 36 Combating Food Insecurity

24 27

relationships 12 Mom’s World: Food is Love, Or is It? 14 Marriage & Family Corner:

‘Duh Epiphany’ 16 Breastfeeding Support

health 40 Living Well: Learning to Love

Your Veggies

18

42 Beauty: Beauty From Your Garden

style & leisure 45 Travel: Eight Ways to Love

the World’s Food

in every issue 06 Editor’s Note

30

07 Women in the News 09 Young at Heart: The Art of Cooking 46 All About Town

July-August 2021 | 5

editor’s One of my favorite things about food — other than the obvious,

eating it — is that food brings people together.

Most celebratory occasions involve food, like weddings and birthdays. Food can even be seen as a gesture of support when given to those close to us who are going through difficult times. We may bake cookies and give them as gifts, whip up a covered dish to take to a family function or just gather with loved ones for dinner at a local restaurant. Whatever the reason, there seems to be a universal language of

One of my favorite pizzas in Boone is the Margherita pizza from Lost Province.

Stick Boy Kitchen is one of my favorite local eateries.

6 | July-August 2021

note

togetherness when food is involved.

This edition of All About Women explores several women in the High Country who are contributing to the feeling of community through food. Whether they are cooking, serving, preparing or ensuring more access to food, High Country women are there every step of the way.

In this food-related edition, we highlight the work of a baker, food truck entrepreneurs, a restaurant owner, charcuterie board curators, a caterer, a juice therapist, a local grocery shop and women working to relieve food insecurity. Additionally, columnists discuss topics such as breastfeeding, eating disorders, learning to love vegetables and food from around the world.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020, I knew Watauga County, where I live, is a special place. It was evident with events each year such as Empty Bowls in Boone, which raises funds for food insecurity, or the Hometown Harvest event in Blowing Rock when community members gather for fellowship with a covered dish dinner. It was even more solidified when I watched the community come together this past year with innovative ways to get food into the homes of those who found themselves struggling during the pandemic;

An ice cream cone from Kilwin’s always hits the spot!

this included organizations such as Ransom — a restaurant in downtown Boone — partnering with others to quickly turn around operations and distribute food boxes to food service workers who were left jobless and without an income. All of these efforts have a common theme: food.

I could even go on and on about the High Country food that I love, such as Havana Café in West Jefferson or Stick Boy Kitchen in Boone.

This past year we’ve likely spent less time gathered around with plates of food amongst us, probably now feeling more gratitude for those we are able to share a meal with. So here’s a toast, to finally being able to gather once more around a dinner table and share some togetherness! Hopefully, during this pandemic, we’ve all learned a little more compassion and can start to open our dinner tables to others as well.

aawmag.com

Women in the News Three women at the helm of organizing Antlers and Acorns songwriters festival

B

OONE — Three friends have come together to organize a new local festival featuring interactions with songwriters — the ones who write the hits — from across the country with Boone itself as the venue.

Antlers and Acorns: The Boone Songwriters Festival is a production of Working Title Farm that will take place Sept. 9-11 with songwriters performing their songs and telling stories.

Three women — Shari Smith, Nicole Sarrocco and Kim Bost — are leading the charge in creating this new Boone-area festival. Smith had the idea after going to Key West and writing about a songwriters music festival there for Broadcast Music Incorporated.

One year when she was at the Key West music festival, Smith inquired with the event organizer how the festival got its start.

“I kept thinking I could do this,” Smith said. “I’ve always been interested in who wrote the song. The idea of a songwriters festival just really appealed to me.”

Smith brought the idea of a music festival back to Boone with the hope of enhancing the creative world that she already knew was in the area. She had a jumpstart on the idea, as she had already been using her home as a space for musicians to practice and write songs.

She said she met with David Jackson, the president and CEO of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, to pitch her idea.

Smith then needed help with getting a songwriters festival off of the ground, so she enlisted the help of her two friends.

Bost was at the end of running for a North Carolina House of Representatives seat when Smith asked her to join the project with her.

“I could think of nothing better,” Bost said. “Everything was going for the election and then to have this thing to look forward to is awesome.”

Sarrocco on the other hand had

Smith said. “The deer leave their antlers, just finished a book and said she never the trees leave their acorns. I hope that envisioned herself being involved in a what these songwriters are leaving besongwriter festival. hind are these little gifts to song lovers.”

“Everything has changed in such big As of early July, the festival had about ways that I’m just grateful to be involved 30 songwriters lined up to perform. The in something that we started planning festival was also planning to feature a during COVID-19,” Sarrocco said. “We Saturday Night said, ‘OK, we have Spotlight Show at got to do somethe Appalachian thing.’ We want to Theatre titled be ready to enter“Voices,” which tain people. We would showcase want to be ready an all female line to help shape what up. the literary world Sarrocco said and the music the festival is all world looks like about the audiwhen everybody’s ence being able to ready to be enterinteract with mutained again.” sicians in intimate The three are and deeper ways. from all over the “We were just state with Smith Nicole Sarrocco pictured with songwriters Eric Erdman and thinking what residing in Boone, Radney Foster. can we do to give Bost in Hickory people a chance and not just stand in and Sarrocco from Pittsboro. But despite line and shake someone’s hand,” Sarrocnot all being in the same geographic co said. “It’s just kind of a fun way to do location, they are still bound together. something with somebody that you like “One thing I think that really does and see another side of them.” unite us is that we’re not bound by any The Acorns and Antlers festival is artistic description,” Smith said. also being put on in association with The The three friends are all artists in their Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, the own ways with Smith and Sarrocco being Downtown Boone Development Assowriters while Bost is a more visual artist. ciation, the Blue Ridge Conservancy, That artist aspect came in mind when Booneshine Brewing Company and Lost deciding on a name for the festival: AntProvince Brewing Company. lers and Acorns.

Smith said songwriters will perform “I love alliteration,” Smith said. “I was at locations in Boone including Lost trying to think about what September Province, Booneshine, the Appalachian means to me. How can I combine the Theatre and the Jones House. authentic outdoorsness of Boone and just The full schedule has not been rethis creativity, this music. On every one leased as of early July, but more informaof my hikes, I pick up all the acorns that tion on tickets and who will perform can land on the path and put them around my be found at antlersandacornsboone.com. house.”

Acorns, along with antlers, are what — Moss Brennan get left behind in nature, Smith said.

“It’s the things you leave behind,” July-August 2021 | 7

Women in the News Longtime community member Bettie Bond honored with Lifetime Community Service Award

B

OONE — An award that has only been given out twice since 1986 was recently presented for the third time to its first female recipient by the Boone Sunrise Rotary Club.

Longtime Boone resident Bettie Bond was honored with the Lifetime Community Service Award during the June 21 Rotary Club meeting at Booneshine Brewing Company surrounded by familiar faces from her 50 years in Boone.

“I'm just really tickled,” Bond said. “The people that were there I just love. These were all people that I have worked with on different committees and had such good times with.”

Bond joked that because the award was given during the week of her and her husband's 56th wedding anniversary, they gave the wrong person the award. She joked that it really should have gone to her husband, John James Bond. Someone who overheard Bond say that joked that he deserved a Purple Heart instead.

“It's been a real blessing," Bond said.

This is wonderful because this is community based.”

Bond was also named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation, which is the charitable arm of Rotary International. She was honored with that "in appreciation of the tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world,” according to the award citation.

Bond first came to Boone with her husband in 1971 to join the faculty at Appalachian State University. About 14 months later, they moved into the house they still live in nearly 50 years later.

Over the years in Boone, Bond has served a variety of roles for the community. One of her current roles — of many — is on the board of the Appalachian Theatre.

“That has been just so much fun,” 8 | July-August 2021

Bond said. “It's been almost 10 years now.

There's not a week that goes by that I'm not doing something.”

This past year, Bond said it’s been really crucial for the theater to keep going and remain engaged with the community during COVID-19.

“It would be so easy for us to just pull back and pray for the end, but instead we have kept our donors and our volunteers and the whole shebang engaged,” Bond said. “That's really, really been important.

We've kept that momentum.”

Bond is also president of the Watauga County Historical Society, which she said she has loved being a part of as she is a former faculty member of the Appalachian State University history department.

One of her favorite achievements with the historical society was helping create the Digital Watauga archive. The archive — a collaborative effort between the Watauga County Historical Society and the Watauga County Public Library to preserve and display the High Country's archival memory — was started when a community member gifted more than 200 postcards about Boone.

Some of the postcards were on wood and dated back to the 19th century. When Bond saw the postcards, she didn’t know what to do with them right away, but worked alongside others and determined that the postcards should be digitized.

“But I said if we're going to do it, we have to do it right because if we do it right, we are going to get a tsunami of material,” Bond said.

“And that's exactly what happened.”

Bond said the digital database — which can be found at digitalwatauga.org — now has nearly 30,000 images and about 20 collections in the queue.

Those two service positions — Appalachian Theatre and the Watauga County Historical Society — are her top two favorite positions she served in. But those aren’t the only two community service positions she holds.

She is also on the board of the Watauga County Community Foundation and the board of the App State University library. In the past, among other boards, she was also on the board for the Watauga Humane Society.

Bond sees these boards as a vehicle to be a mentor and an example for other community members.

“The boards are the vehicle that you use to make those things happen,” Bond said. “I can't ask people for money if I haven't given myself. I can't ask somebody to serve on a committee that I'm not going to serve on.”

Instead of a biography, Bond was honored at the June 21 meeting with a reading of a poem of her achievements.

One of the stanzas read, “She’s chaired the Heart Ball on countless occasions; ‘Horn in the West’’ and Boone Gardens add to her equation. The Humane Society and their Fur Ball, too, there’s simply no end to what this woman can do.”

For Bond, the Boone Sunrise Rotary Club telling her “thank you” for her service, it was the icing on the cake.

“Everyday in Boone is a bonus,” Bond said.

— Moss Brennan aawmag.com

YOUNG AT HEART

The Art of Cooking A Foodography Essay My mother is an artist; therefore, I am often asked, “Are you an artist?”

My answer: “I cook.”

I sincerely believe that cooking is an art. And, like any form of art, cooking requires time and thought. How do I do it? Two words: menu planning!

I meticulously keep an inventory of dry ingredients, as well as stuff in the refrigerator and freezer, and I plan a weekly menu based on what needs to be used and what is seasonally available and/or on sale at the store. I should also mention that I have a database of my recipes — 220 and counting — that I pull from when making my weekly menu.

I’d like to give you a little taste (see what I did there) of what I cook and eat over the course of 10 days — 10 courses if you will (I did it again). I’ve also shared a few of my favorite recipes. Bon Appetit!

Day One

Smoked Turkey Sausage, Spinach and Corn Tacos • 2 links smoked turkey sausage, halved and thinly sliced • 2 bags baby spinach • 1 small can corn, drained and rinsed • 1 tsp. chipotle olive oil* • 1 package Goya Sazon Culantro y Achiote seasoning • Shredded Mexican cheese • Corn tortillas Heat a large pan to medium-high.

Add the olive oil and sauté the turkey sausage until slightly charred. Add the spinach and corn and cook until the spinach is wilted. Season with the Goya Sazon Culantro y Achiote packet. Serve on griddled corn tortillas and top with shredded cheese and chipotle yogurt.

Chipotle Yogurt • ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt • ¼ cup Chipotle or Spicy Ranch dressing In a small bowl, combine the yogurt and dressing.

Day Two

Smoked Turkey Sausage, Spinach and Corn Tacos on a Corn Tortilla with Chipotle Yogurt

Let’s begin with tacos! These are super fast and oh so tasty. My husband, Roger, says that he could eat them everyday.

The scones are from a mix; I do not enjoy scratch baking.

Spinach Quiche • 1 rolled pie crust • 6 large eggs • 1 cup milk • 1 bag fresh baby spinach • ½ cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese • 1 tsp. garlic olive oil* • Salt and pepper to taste Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Allow pie crust to rest on the counter for approximately 15 minutes before unrolling and placing in a pie pan. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, milk, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Mix well. After placing the crust in a pan, layer the fresh spinach and sharp cheddar cheese to the top. Pour over the custard mixture.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until the crust is golden; If using a convection oven, cover with foil for the first 30 minutes and uncover for the final 10 minutes. Rest five minutes before serving.

Kale Salad topped with a Crab Cake Spinach Quiche with Turkey Sausage Links, Seasonal Fruit and Fresh Baked Scones

This is a typical weekend breakfast. I make a variety of quiches — this one combines fresh spinach and sharp cheddar.

One of my favorite easy meals — the salad consists of citrus-massaged kale, baby beets, shredded carrots, goat’s cheese crumbles and candied pecans in Continued on next page July-August 2021 | 9

a poppyseed dressing. The crab cakes are store bought and cooked on my panini press. From start to finish, it takes approximately 15 minutes to make.

This dish has layers of Moroccan couscous, baby arugula, cherry tomatoes, sautéed spinach, roasted cauliflower and seasoned ground lamb. It’s topped with homemade cucumber yogurt sauce, storebought harissa and feta cheese crumbles.

Not a fan of lamb? Substitute ground beef or turkey or crumbled tempeh.

Day Three

Day Six Roasted Broccoli and Garbanzo Pasta

Fried Egg Salad with Blueberries, Strawberries, Brie and Crumbled Bacon in a Poppyseed Dressing

Salad for breakfast? Yes, please! Roger and I eat this often for breakfast on the weekends. It’s quick and delicious!

Orange Shrimp with Vegetables

I cook a lot of Asian food, and this Chinese-inspired dish combines plump shrimp with broccoli, red peppers, yellow squash and water chestnuts in a sweet and spicy orange sauce — homemade, of course. It’s better than takeout.

Day Four My weekday breakfast of choice is hard boiled eggs. A little boring compared to my weekend breakfasts; however, my morning boiled egg works with my busy schedule and helps fill me up until lunch.

A note about lunch: Roger and I are big fans of leftovers, so I always try to make enough of whatever we are having for dinner to have leftovers for the next day’s lunch. That’s why there are no pictures of my lunches.

This satisfying pasta dish is garlicy, lemony and cheesy and perfect for weeknights or any night. Also, it’s full of broccoli, which is my favorite vegetable.

10 | July-August 2021

Roasted Broccoli and Garbanzo Pasta • 3-4 medium-sized broccoli crowns, cut into bite size pieces • 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed • 3 cups pasta of your choice • 1 Tbsp. garlic olive oil* • 1 Tbsp. Milanese Gremolata olive oil* • ½ tsp. garlic powder • ½ cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano • Zest of one lemon • Salt and pepper to taste Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the broccoli in the olive oil and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Spread on a baking sheet and roast for approximately 30 minutes or until slightly charred.

Heat a large pan to medium-high.

Add the olive oil and sauté the garbanzos for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the roasted broccoli and stir in the lemon zest. Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain well, and combine with the other ingredients. Stir in the cheese and serve. If desired, drizzle with more olive oil before serving.

Green Curry with Tofu and Vegetables

Roger and I love a good curry. My recipes are courtesy of my Uncle David who attended a cooking school in Thailand many years ago while on vacation.

This classic green curry with flavors of coconut, lime, Thai basil and jalapeño, combines air-fried tofu with eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red bell peppers and carrots. It’s served with Jasmine rice.

Day Seven

Day Five Colombian-style Beans and Rice

Mediterranean Lamb and Couscous Salad Bowls

We enjoy some version of beans and rice almost weekly; this recipe, shared by our friends, Sharon and Carlos Robledo, is a favorite. It is simply canned light kidney beans — we use three cans — combined with one onion that has been sliced and caramelized and seasoned with two packages of Goya Sazon Culantro y Achiote. aawmag.com

It’s served over garlic rice and topped with fresh avocado and cilantro.

Day Eight

Savory Turkey Burger Sliders

Grilled Chicken Caesar with Multigrain Croutons

This entire dish is grilled — the chicken, the Romaine and the bread for the croutons. I enjoyed a version of this dish at a little Cuban restaurant in Aruba and it was my first time trying grilled Romaine. Now, I grill Romaine regularly to use in salads. Additionally, the chicken gets marinated overnight in Caesar dressing before grilling.

Day Nine

Savory Turkey Burger Sliders • 1 lb 93 percent lean ground turkey • 1 Tbsp. plain Greek yogurt • 1 Tbsp. garlic olive oil* • 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce • ½ tsp. garlic powder • ½ tsp. Herbes de Provence • Salt and pepper to taste • 8 slider-size buns • Your favorite toppings In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, garlic oil, Worcestershire sauce and dry seasonings. Add the ground turkey and mix well. Let rest in the refrigerator for an hour before forming into eight slider-sized patties. Grill over medium heat for approximately five minutes on each side. Lightly grill the buns and serve with your favorite toppings.

Day Ten

Gallo Pinto with Scrambled Eggs and Turkey Sausage Links

Remember the beans and rice from earlier in the week? Even after having portions for lunch the next day, there was leftover beans and rice. What to do?

Make gallo pinto! Roger and I discovered gallo pinto in Costa Rica, where it’s a typical breakfast dish that’s served with scrambled eggs and sausage. I could eat it everyday.

If I say so myself, and I do, my turkey burger sliders are everything burger should be — savory, juicy and perfectly sized! Toppings vary, but on this particular day, I paired the burgers with melted Brie and basil mayonnaise.

My step-father, Curt, prefers that I cook for him on Father’s Day instead of going out. This year, we got together for brunch and I made an Italian Bread Pudding, which includes toasted cubes of an Italian-style bread mixed with panfried diced prosciutto, sautéed spinach, caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes and shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano.

An egg custard mix gets poured over and the pudding is baked until golden brown and topped with fresh basil from my herb garden. On the side, we had airfried potato cakes and berry and yogurt parfaits. There were also mimosas. Curt was happy!

Grilled Andouille Sausage and Vegetables with Couscous

To end, one of my go-to summer meals that’s perfect for using up whatever veggies you have around. I also vary the type of sausage — pictured here is Gilbert’s Andouille Chicken Sausage.

Everything gets tossed in garlic olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then, it all goes into my grill pan and onto the grill over medium-high heat until slightly charred. I like to serve it over couscous, but any grain would work. It tastes better when enjoyed al fresco with a nice glass of rosé! *All of the flavored olive oils mentioned above are available at Art of Oil (theartofoil.com).

heather brandon

Father’s Day Brunch: Italian Bread Pudding, Potato Cakes, Berry and Yogurt Parfaits

Considers life to be one big anthropological field experience. She observes and reports. She enjoys travel, food and wine and adventures with her husband, Roger.

July-August 2021 | 11

Relationships

MOM’S WORLD

Food is Love, Or Is It? I think most people have a complicated relationship with food. While none of us would be here

if we didn’t take in calories so that our bodies could have energy and carry on all our primary functions as human beings, the way that food governs our heart and our head can be quite overwhelming.

My biggest downfall is a sweet tooth to which I find myself enslaved, always craving some sort of dessert after the meal. My husband used to joke that dinner was just a “minor inconvenience” prior to dessert at the Wagner

12 | July-August 2021

household, and he wasn’t wrong. I grew up on brownies, chocolate mayonnaise cake, Nestle Toll House bar cookies and too many other baked goods courtesy of my mom. Getting to indulge in all of these delicacies was amazing when I was a teenager and had a “hollow leg,” as my mom used to say.

Now my peri-menopausal body is way less forgiving. So I try to reign it in, exercise and find substitutes that are not as bad for you when I can.

As a mother, I feel that I have always tried to express my love for my kids through my baking. Making and eating cut out cookies at all the various holidays throughout the year is one of my favorite things to do, and it still happens — just sometimes with my friend’s kids instead of my own.

Raising three sons who have all wrestled creates a backdrop for food that is not always healthy. I cringe at the wrestling culture that glorifies “cutting weight,” but also have seen my kids over the years do just that. With my oldest son, Will, it seemed that he would never have to worry about the pressure of losing weight every week. He was about 85 pounds in middle school and was constantly being told to eat more and gain weight, since the lowest high school weight class was 106 pounds. However, the weight gain didn’t happen.

aawmag.com

As time passed, it became apparent to me that he was much smaller than most of the other kids in school, and then I began to notice some food behaviors reminiscent of some teenage girls that I had encountered in both high school and college.

Many people have known someone that has struggled with an eating disorder. Certainly, adolescent girls and teenagers are taught from an early age in our culture through TV and other media that a thin figure is desired. I love that Girls on the Run was created as a healthy program to address self esteem issues in adolescent girls and have seen it gain success since its inception. But adolescent boys can also struggle, as I started recognizing in my own son.

First, I saw him pushing food around on his plate. Then I saw his portions get smaller and smaller. He became fixated on super-healthy foods such as quinoa, whole grains, tofu; he even did an English class project on the use of crickets — yes, you read right — for a sustainable source of protein that required far less resources than the cattle industry. He seemed to love trying just about anything, especially ethnic foods. We cooked, a lot. But then his eating was not a lot. His exercise simultaneously was increasing, and I noticed that after eating he would often do a work-out routine almost immediately.

When I brought up my concerns to a psychiatrist, I felt blown off. Then, I took him to a counselor because he had been dealing with anxiety and depression. The counselor did a brief screening tool and immediately walked us over to a pediatric office to weigh Will and start making a plan.

I write with my son’s explicit permission nearly ten years later and happy to say that after counseling with a therapist specializing in eating disorders, he started gaining weight and is a relatively reasonable weight for his height as he approaches his 23rd birthday. At the time, the therapist drew out on a paper the number of calories he needed “to just breathe” plus the calories he needed to fuel his two-plus hours of exercise with wrestling five days per week in addition to the calories he needed to grow. He admitted to counting calories and having a goal of not taking in more than 1,000 calories per day, which was around 1,800

calories less than what he needed at the time.

As his stress and anxiety levels escalated, the counselor said his eating disorder became a way for him to cope with that stress by finding something that he could control. Looking back, it seemed to arise around age 13 or 14 and resulted in delaying of his growth. He eventually caught up on growth for the most part — he’s taller than me — but his relationship with food seems forever altered. I’ve seen him enjoy food still at times, but by and large it seems to still create some stress.

He admits that cooking is no longer that enjoyable to him and his diet leaves a lot to be desired. However, he certainly has more tools to cope with his anxiety and stressors, which is good.

Reflecting back on that time, I tend to think first of the fact that my maternal instinct knew there was something wrong, despite being told there wasn’t, and secondly that our food relationship can definitely be affected by our stress levels and coping. I am grateful that Will does still participate in some baking — he makes an awesome beer bread — and that we have moved beyond that time in

his and our life. I bug him about eating a more varied diet beyond the coffee, oats and peanut butter. Because it’s what I do, I still send him cookies in a care package when exams or big projects are coming due.

What I hope for is that my kids learn that fine balance between indulgence and restriction, so that they neither eat their way into happiness or starve themselves out of it. While living a healthy life necessitates some restraint in how often you allow yourself to eat what you want, appreciating a great meal, the love of a home-baked cookie or loaf of bread, and the joy in making something with someone you love are some of life’s finest pleasures and shouldn’t require penance to enjoy.

heather jordan, CNM, MSN Comments or questions?

828.737.7711, ext. 253 landh@localnet.com

July-August 2021 | 13

Relationships

MARRIAGE & FAMILY CORNER

‘Duh Epiphany’ Even the best plans are only beneficial when we can realize that it is time to use them.

I recently had one of those days, maybe you know the kind. During

the day, I was absorbed in meaningful connections with loved ones. Still, as the day drew to an end, I found myself feeling heavy, physically and emotionally in ways that I had not anticipated.

As I contemplated this heaviness, I readily assessed the impact of having eaten fried food and more of it than was comfortable. This dinner choice had been the result of calculating the least bad of the bad choices that seemed viable as the hour grew late.

However, in the stillness of my drive home, I realized the heaviness was more than the physical effects of the food and that the food choice was more than a result of the poor planning. In hindsight, I recognized that I was unsettled by some unexpected information received that day. As I considered the influences on me 14 | July-August 2021

and thought more fully about the connections between my food choice and emotional impacts around that day, I received what I’m calling a “duh epiphany.”

In addition to general layers of awareness of emotional eating, a new layer of understanding also emerged about opportunities to simply notice the unsettledness in my body without having to do anything about it immediately. This duh epiphany revealed that this sort of mindfulness is both fundamentally beneficial on its own and it is also the most likely way to access any of those other layers of insight anyway, since by noticing my body, I may be more able to take care of it when I eat. As with most duh epiphanies, this one was both profound and simple.

With this hindsight, I noticed my pattern of holding distress tightly inside while moving through what I perceive as the most appropriate or, when rele-

vant, the safest actions. This pattern has numerous benefits. Yet, as seen in the impact of the mindless food choices I made that evening, immediate expediency for one factor is sometimes to the detriment of another.

We all have blind spots of vulnerabilities in our automatic responses to stress.

The higher the level of stress, the more these vulnerabilities might be beyond our awareness or at least seem beyond our ability to manage. I did not believe myself to be in danger on this particular day. Ironically, that fact is part of what blinded me to my own needs. Since the distress I experienced was mostly a result of past reminders and it was able to perceive the difference between history and the present — seeing that everyone was safe — I did not notice the impact of the reminders. I did not listen to the tightening of my muscles that were trying to tell aawmag.com

me of my need.

With the clarity of hindsight, I was able to notice the tightness in my neck and shoulders and to realize I had been building it through the day. I was able to consider the positive impact that would have been likely with even briefly taking time to observe this communication from my body earlier.

It is easy to find articles, books and encouragement from friends and family about understanding common causes of emotional eating, identifying your own patterns of emotional eating, making a good plan to take better care of the emotions and eating patterns, enacting the plan and adjusting the plan; this can include professional help when that is useful. All of these steps are vital.

Though, with this day, I was reminded that even the best plans are only beneficial when we can realize that it is time to use them. Allowing even a little space of time to notice need can be an enormous step. This step can naturally point attention to any of the information that may have been gathered or plans that have been made, allowing an opportunity to try. I missed that chance on that day.

Make Your Dream a

REALITY

Allowing even a little space of time to notice need can be an enormous step.

I frequently comment to clients and others that “growth happens backwards.”

That is, we start to grow when we recognize a pattern that we want to change.

But then, we almost always still repeat the same pattern and do not even realize it immediately. At some point later, we look backwards and identify the pattern again.

It is tempting to feel discouraged and even be self-critical when we see this repetition. Indeed, I was discouraged and self-critical for a while on my drive home.

After all, I “should” have known better.

In fact, I had been thoughtful in advance about my emotions and about ideas for

my dinner.

So, I have to practice what I teach about growth. With backwards growth, we have repeated occasions for learning, adjusting and practicing, which generally builds progress across time toward what is more beneficial and sustainable. To be sure, I expect a lot more backwards growth to apply this duh epiphany.

Emotional eating is common and each person’s vulnerabilities vary. But we each have the possibility to pause even briefly to check information our muscles, breathing or any other part of our body might give us about our needs as we are managing stressful situations. And, thankfully, we can each learn backwards and can boost that benefit by reminding ourselves of its usefulness.

As we repeat our backwards growth, our body can point us to needs so we can have more options to take care of ourselves.

MARY MCKINNEY, MA, LMFT McKinney Marriage and Family Therapy Call and texts: 828.263.4113 mmftinboone@gmail.com mckinneymft.com

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Relationships

Jared and Makala Howell enjoy time with baby Darcy Howell.

Area Agencies Offer Breastfeeding Support For Families Mothers-to-be spend a lot of time preparing for the birth of a child. The list is long, beginning with

planning what baby items are needed, to reading the many pregnancy books, to packing hospital bags; all the while hoping when labor begins they’ll recall the breathing techniques they learned in birthing class. If all goes well, then all of the boxes are checked. However, for many moms, a very important topic does not make the list: breastfeeding education.

As a postpartum nurse making home visits, one of the comments I hear most often is, “I wish I had prepared more for breastfeeding.”

During a recent visit with first-time mother Makala Howell, she stated, “I spent so much time preparing for the birth and not enough time thinking about 16 | July-August 2021

breastfeeding. I didn’t consider that it would be so challenging. I have been telling my friends who are pregnant to take classes and get support for breastfeeding as soon as they have an issue.”

Makala sought help from a local lactation consultant and from her Family Connects’ nurse home visitor.

A majority of moms I visit start out breastfeeding. But many encounter challenges for which they did not feel prepared. Most mothers who continued breastfeeding found support when an issue occurred in the early weeks of

breastfeeding from a lactation professional, or a friend or relative with breastfeeding experience.

Current breastfeeding rates of women in America who breastfeed immediately after delivery are 84 percent, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention breastfeeding report card. By 6 months of age, that number drops to 58 percent.

One of the main reasons for the big drop is lack of breastfeeding support for moms. When moms do not have support within the first weeks of breastfeeding, a feeling of hopelessness and disappointment can arise. When moms receive support during the first weeks of their infant’s lives they will have a more positive and successful breastfeeding experience.

Every breastfeeding journey is unique. aawmag.com

I spent so much time preparing for the birth and not enough time thinking about breastfeeding. I didn’t consider that it would be so challenging.

- Makala Howell While each mother and baby will be learning throughout their journey, the more learning that happens before birth, the better prepared mom will be. Having support along the way can make breastfeeding easier. Moms like Makala agree that breastfeeding education is equally important as breastfeeding support during the postpartum period. Luckily, our community has resources for both.

Support can come in the form of a postpartum home visit with Family Connects Northwest Region. Every parent with a newborn — residing in Ashe, Avery and Watauga county — receives a free visit from a qualified nurse at three weeks postpartum. Family Connects is an evidence-based home visiting program that provides reassurance, connection to resources and emotional and physical support while addressing common concerns that many new parents may have. Family Connects’ nurses are trained in lactation support and can offer education and guidance for many of the common questions new mothers have about breastfeeding. In partnership with the pediatrician, nurses can offer weight checks, latch support and information about supplementing when needed.

At Family Connects we support all parents’ rights to an informed decision regarding infant feeding choices. The process of making an informed decision includes the understanding that the cells, hormones and antibodies in breastmilk help protect babies from illness and miraculously change every day to meet babies’ nutritional needs. Breastfeeding is associated with a reduced risk of diarrhea, ear infections, chest infections, obesity, diabetes and SIDS in infants. For mothers, breastfeeding reduces the risk of health concerns such as postpartum bleeding, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Many families experience obstacles to achieving their breastfeeding goals while some families choose formula for personal reasons. Several parents meet barriers to breastfeeding such as poor family and social support, lack of health services or knowledge, lactation problems and employment and childcare hurdles. Moms can feel guilt and shame for not breastfeeding their infant due to societal formula stigma. However, all families deserve to feel supported to make the autonomous decision to exclusive breastfeeding, mixed feeding or formula feeding. Family Connects believes that every family needs non-judgmental support after bringing home a baby.

Our goal is to ensure families have access to resources that nurture the whole family and support the baby. Participation in Family Connects is recommended by area pediatricians, obstetricians and family practitioners. Family Connects does not replace a pediatric visit but is an additional chance to spend one-on-one time with a healthcare professional in the comfort of your own home.

To schedule an appointment, parents can register at familyconnects.apphealthcare.com, or call (828) 795-1917.

Other opportunities in the High Country for successful breastfeeding are listed below. Due to COVID-19, the Children’s Council suggests calling ahead to ask specifics about each resource: • Watauga Medical Center offers free breastfeeding classes at the Paul H. Broyhill Wellness Center. Free Prenatal Breastfeeding consultations are also available with a lactation consultant if parents prefer a one-on-one meeting. To see dates offered and to register go to apprhs.org/ childbirth-classes.

• Inquire about breastfeeding concerns with the lactation professionals at the birthing hospital before being

discharged. Watauga Medical Center employs two lactation consultants: Melonie Formwalt, IBCLC and Kate Houck, RN, IBCLC. • At Blue Ridge Pediatrics parents can ask for a visit with a lactation educator for extra breastfeeding tips and help.

• Bunny Osborne RN, IBCLC, LCCE, at Boone Bellies and Babies offers phone consultations and home visits. Connect with her at boonebellies.com, or (828) 263-3604.

• Women, Infants and Children (WIC) at AppHealthCare offers Breastfeeding Promotion and Support, Nutritional Assessment and Counseling. Call to find out if you are eligible at (828) 264-4994, or www.apphealth.com/wic-nutrition.

• High Country Doulas offers postpartum care including breastfeeding support. To find out more, visit highcoutrydoulas.com, or call (828) 278-8949.

• La Leche League meets on the third Saturday of each month at Bluebird Exchange (the same shopping center as Harris Teeter) at 240 Shadowline Drive, Suite AA5, in Boone. Contact Shannon for details at (704) 340-3975.

Through an innovative partnership between the Children’s Council of Watauga County, AppHealthCare, Smart Start, Blue Ridge Pediatrics and Watauga Medical Center, Family Connects is offered to all families in Watauga, Avery and Ashe counties, free of charge.

Natasha Fuller, RN, BSN Natasha has supported High Country families during the prenatal and postpartum period for the past 16 years. She is a birth and postpartum doula and NC Lactation Educator with training in Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders.

July-August 2021 | 17

Feature

Juice Boone

Maddie Amato, Paula Medley, Bella Espinosa, Ethan Taft, Tyler Trudo and Michaela Valentine pose together at Juice Boone. Photos submitted

Owner Hopes to Inspire Wellness Journey in High Country With impassioned intentionality, Paula Medley shares her

wellness mantra: “We are living creatures and our bodies need living food!”

As such, she continues to create juices, smoothies and meals that are both medicinally beneficial to the body and pleasing to the palate while adding a host of superfoods to Boone’s menu du jour. Paula plans to continue to enhance the quality of life in the High Country through her business, Juice Boone.

18 | July-August 2021

Originally from eastern North Carolina, Paula is the daughter of a restaurant entrepreneur. Although her father’s family-owned bar and grill was not focused on healthy menu items, Paula explains, “I learned so very much about creating and managing a business. Not to mention the best customer service skills.” Nonetheless, she jokingly admits, “After years of working and basically living there I swore I would never own a restaurant. Never say never!”

Using the lessons learned from her father’s business and knowledge gained from years of work in various areas of the wellness field, Paula’s choice of venue is infused with quite a different focus. A staunch believer in Hippocrates’ maxim: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” Paula believes that the connection between food and wellness is paramount in understanding how to live our best, most vibrant lives.

As a marathon runner, Paula said

aawmag.com

she discovered that exercise — even when burning thousands of calories at a time — does not override the necessity of eating healthily. She began to notice a connection between what she ate and a number of injuries she endured. She also detected a correlation between food and her moods. She recognized changes in attitude, thoughts and emotions when eating more healthily.

“Tweaking my diet changed my emotional issues,” she says.

Juxtaposed with that empowering knowledge and the helplessness she experienced in witnessing her father’s declining battle with dementia, Paula was overwhelmed with a growing awareness of her community’s dire need for food education. Through The Juice Guru Institute — an international online institute in Redondo Beach, Calif. — she received certification as a Juice Therapist. Pairing this degree with her Nutritional Science studies at East Carolina University as well as other programs to receive her Holistic Health Provider certification, Paula explains, “I had been chipping away at growing in all the wisdom and knowledge made available to be a help and service to others in the journey of wholeness.”

From here, Juice Boone as it is today was on its way. An existing business since 2017, Paula and her husband were initially enthusiastic patrons of the store and, through a series of events that included an unforeseen pandemic, they became the owners. Through solely plant-based, vegan and 100 percent organic dishes, Paula’s goal is to continue to find ways to add a vibrant variety of nutritious and delicious items to her menu.

With no hesitancy whatsoever, Paula describes her “going all in” approach to her business, her employees and her community. “Wellness to me is the recognition that your body is a temple and should be treated as such, Paula says. “That means you feed and nurture your body, mind and spirit in a way that promotes joyful living and allows you to be free from disease and illness that is the result of nutritional neglect. We make

a promise to our for healthwise or just customers each day coming in to grab to start and land in a a quick smoothie position of blessing or juice. Our shop our community is a judgment-free with the best quality zone and all we nutrition that helps want to do is impact them to experience you in the best way joyful living.” possible.”

Currently, Paula’s Paula explains team of 16 employthat a great place to ees work as juicers, start when diving food preps, dish into learning about washers and front wellness is to first of house smoothie realize it is a journey. and smoothie bowl “There is no quick makers. Juice Boone fix or one-size-fits-all also partners with in health or fitness. the Nutrition and DiThis is a custometetics Department ized journey that at Appalachian State Paula Medley is the owner of Juice Boone. is unique for each University, whose individual,” she says. graduate interns help with this list of duShe also advises to start slow. ties as well as assist in Wellness Wednes“Begin with smoothies and gradually day Tutorials and menu creations. move to juices,” Paula says. “Take the time A proud employee of Juice Boone, to notice the positive changes in the way Madelaine Amato’s role ranges from you feel, think and how you are in your making smoothies and juicing, to taking world.” orders and prepping menu items. Prior Following her own advice, Paula to working at the juice bar, she was not a shares ways she incorporates health in customer of the venue. She explains, “My her daily life. She says, “Waking up early, sisters always told me about it, and I just taking time to move my body and fuel never got around to going.” She continues properly, I am ready to begin work on our to describe that “my health was not the farm with my husband and two children. greatest before working there due to nevOnce I make it to the store, I am ready er reaching the recommended number of for a day filled with community and the fruits and vegetables in my daily diet.” promotion of health and wellness intelliThrough research and testing, Madgence.” elaine discovered health and cognitive Paula’s perfect day would include issues that could have been treated with “a refrigerator fully stocked with every prescription medication. She chose Juice vibrant color of the rainbow and lots of Boone’s holistic approach instead. customers telling me they are glad to find “Paula recommended a more plantus and how much they love the shop. The based diet that was nutrient dense. Once joy of knowing I’m making a difference I started to incorporate more fruits and truly makes every day at Juice Boone a veggies, I immediately noticed a change. good day!”

I just feel better as a whole,” Madelaine Paula’s impassioned philosophy said. “when the fork goes in you’re either feedEqual to this newfound vibrancy, ing or fighting infection” resonates as a Madelaine describes the atmosphere at wake-up call to health, to wellness and to Juice as saying, “The staff is willing to the vibrant journey of our best lives. Juice help anyone find what they are looking Boone could be the first step.

“Our mission is to bless our community with organic, cold-pressed, raw, superfoods that benefit the body, mind and spirit. To create an understanding of the earth’s colorful, edible delights that provide wholeness, wellness and joyful living.”

— Mission Statement of Juice Boone

Hollie Eudy Hollie Eden Eudy is a high school English teacher whose passions include reading, writing, and running. She lives with her husband, daughter, and Pekapoo, Presley, in Dahlonega, Ga.

July-August 2021 | 19

Feature

Generation to Generation Lupe Ruiz (right) poses with Karla Sanchez and Christina Chavez. Photos by Kayla Lasure

Boone Women Continue Passing Down Family Mexican Food Recipes Arcelia Alvarez and daughter Elizabeth operate Taqueria Doña Chelo.

Just outside Cornerstone Church in Boone, Taqueria Doña

Chelo, a little red food truck sits. Just nine minutes away, on N.C. 105, is the red and teal building of Taqueria El Paso. Connecting these two businesses is not only their authentic Mexican food but also the years of history behind the restaurants’ meals.

Backing their recipes are the generations of women that came before Lupe Ruiz, owner of Taqueria El Paso, and Arcelia Alvarez, owner of Taqueria Doña Chelo. Both women co-own their restaurants with their husbands, but both places are a family affair.

Lupe first learned how to cook when she was a child in Mexico. Her mother taught her and her siblings how to make the family recipes passed down to her from Lupe’s grandmother, leaving her

20 | July-August 2021

with fond memories of learning how to make homemade tortillas, enchiladas and other recipes that have become a staple in Taqueria El Paso.

“It was a great experience because now we have our own restaurant, and we know how to make tortillas by hand, so that’s great,” Lupe says.

In 2002, at the age of 15, she moved with her mother and sister to Boone to live with her brother. In the beginning, Lupe struggled with the transition but continued her love of food in the U.S. In high school, she took cooking and nutrition classes, where she learned about the food industry and how to prepare food. While taking classes, Lupe worked at a restaurant washing dishes and cleaning the tables.

“It was hard in the beginning, but then I learned that you need to work to

succeed,” Lupe says.

When her husband wanted to start a business, her time working in restaurants and learning how to cook from her family and school helped prepare her.

Taking recipes from both her side of the family and her husband’s, they built the menu around tradition and authenticity.

Now, customers can also experience Lupe’s family recipes, including her favorite — tacos with her mother’s homemade tortillas.

“I think tacos are my favorite because we make the corn tortilla for the tacos, and that gives you a really good taste for tacos,” Lupe says. “If you want a chicken taco, it’s a homemade corn tortilla. That makes it a really authentic flavor.”

However, using her family’s recipes isn’t the only thing she enjoys about aawmag.com

running a business. Lupe says Taqueria El Paso helped her become less shy, and now she loves interacting with customers and meeting new people through the restaurant.

“I love to talk with people,” Lupe says. “It’s a way that you can display a love of God on people, to love everybody.”

Across town, Arcelia also serves Boone with her family’s recipes.

Similar to Lupe, Arcelia learned how to cook from her mother, who began to nurture a love of food and cooking into Arcelia at the age of 11. Her mother taught her the importance of seasoning, which she says is the “critical component” of Mexican cooking.

Growing up with little money, Arcelia says her mother showed her that anyone could cook well, not just those who had the financial means.

“We were poor, and she had minimal ingredients to cook, but she did magic, transforming the food with those elements,” Arcelia says. “That is how I learned that cooking is something that you can do even if you do not have many means.”

Originally from Querétaro, Mexico, Arcelia moved to the United States in 2004, spending six months in Florida before moving to Boone. Arcelia’s husband had been living in Boone and visiting Querétaro, but Arcelia says the city was becoming dangerous, pushing her to move to Boone so the family could all be together.

Before she opened Taqueria

Doña Chelo, Arcelia shared a food truck with a family member.

However, when that truck broke down, she wanted a food truck of her own.

Bringing the idea to her husband, they saved up their money and searched the internet for the right fit before finally finding the Taqueria Doña Chelo food truck.

The couple made renovations before taking the truck to get inspected. Upon passing inspection, Arcelia and her husband named the food truck Doña Chelo — after what one of Arcelia’s sons would call her. The food truck officially opened on Dec. 18, 2020.

Like Lupe, Arcelia says she loves serving the community through food and sharing her family’s recipes with Boone.

“The most satisfying feeling is when I hear people saying that they love my cooking,” Arcelia says. “Those comments about my cooking are what push me to create more and continue serving.”

One of her favorite recipes is Mole and Tamales, which she says her mother had to go over with her several times as the dish is tricky to make.

“Regarding the Mole, the chile guajillo is the essential ingredient. That is what gives it the flavor,” Arcelia says. “If the chile gets burned, then it ruins

Arcelia Alvarez uses passed down family recipes in her food truck.

the taste. It is very delicate to cook. It has to be crispy but not burnt.”

Both Lupe and Arcelia say they love how food can bring people together and connect them despite their differences.

“America showed me and (taught) me that it’s a lot of countries, a lot of different people, but we love food,” Lupe says. “The university has a lot of different people from all over the world, so it’s so nice that food can be for one people.”

In the future, Lupe and Arceila plan to continue connecting people through food and hope to pass down their recipes to their children and extended families.

Lupe hopes to involve her two sons in the business, while Arcelia says she knows her recipes will live on through her daughters and daughter-in-law despite any changes they may make.

“Even if I pass (on) some of my recipes, they all tend to taste a little different because each person is unique to what they cook,” Arceila says. “It also means that my recipes will continue on.”

A Spanish to English translation of Arcelia’s interview was provided by Yolanda Adams. An English to Spanish translation of the entire article, also completed by Yolanda Adams, can be found at www.wataugademocrat.com/aaw.

Ansley Puckett Arcelia Alvarez whips up some Mexican food dishes at her food truck.

Ansley is a junior journalism major at Appalachian State University from Columbia, South Carolina. When she’s not writing, you can find her with her nose in a book.

July-August 2021 | 21

Feature

Maw’s Produce Roadside Shop Offers Friendly Atmosphere, Local Products The staff at Maw’s Produce

seek to make their customers feel welcomed and valued while producing friendships that have spanned many years. This is clearly evident in the long list of those receiving their monthly mailing, the repeat customers that span several states and the many vendors who contribute to the ambiance and charm of the business through a lifelong partnership.

Locals have likely driven down N.C. 105 in Foscoe and seen the sign for Maw’s Produce shop along the road. The savvy shopper will indeed find food that has been grown (usually locally) including a variety of fruits and vegetables, cakes, pies, frozen meals,

Above: Karen McCard is known as the “Peanut Queen” at Maw’s Produce.

Right: Maw’s Produce is located on N.C. 105 in Foscoe. Photos by Barbara Holdcroft

22 | July-August 2021

cheeses, “Shindig Rolls,” sauces, jams and jellies, to name a few.

Additionally, the upstairs of the shop displays homemade items such as children’s clothing, knitting, quilts, decorative woodwork, jewelry, pottery and paintings.

The business concept was developed by Danny Kirkland, owner of LettUs-Produce — a larger wholesale operation that supplies produce to over 100 resorts, restaurants and grocery stores in Watauga, Ashe and Avery counties. He wanted to develop a retail outlet as a complement to the business and tapped his newly retired mother, Sue Kirkland, to operate the shop in 1995.

The shop was run by Sue from that first location in 1995 until her death in January 2020. During that time she also served on the Board of Grandfather Home for Children and was

Brenda Jackson serves as the manager of Maw’s Produce.

an elder and deacon of her Presbyterian church. Now her daughter-in-law Jackie Kirkland is involved in the bookkeeping for both Maw’s and Lett-Us-Produce, as well as being the supplier of the pies that are sold there.

Since its first small outdoor stand near Foscoe Mining, its popularity grew quickly and has moved locations four times. Manager Brenda Jackson says that the business is still growing, but that the current location across from the Salvation Army on N.C. 105 seems “to fit” with the size of their parking lot and their facility. They have been at their present address since 2000.

Over time, Maw’s has proaawmag.com

vided employment for many of the local women who have been engaged in the business for several years. With the passing of Sue, Brenda — who has been with Maw’s for over 20 years — took over management responsibilities. Produce manager, and dubbed the “peanut queen” at Maw’s, Karen McCard has been there more than 10 years. This is the third year for Mary Holstein, but only the first for Jessica Shoemake and Jada Tourville.

The family name lives on in Molly Kirkland, granddaughter of Susan, who has been working there before heading off to college this fall.

The lone male employee is Charlie Gough, who is the third of the Gough boys to be given their first job at Maw’s.

Both of his older brothers began their work experience at the produce stand.

When asked about the name of the shop, son Danny admitted that he never called his mom “maw” while growing up.

But he decided that “maw” was a good country version of “mom” that had a good mountain feel to it.

Sue established a policy of checking each piece of produce every day before the shop opened: peaches, apples, corn, melons, tomatoes and other items. In that way, every item sold was fresh and without blemish. If an item does have a bruise it becomes part of what the store calls the “give aways” that sit on the counter and are offered for free. Another method for developing repeat customers was remembering the names of the people who shopped there. The remaining Maw’s staff say that Sue had a phenomenal knack for

Molly Kirkland helps out around Maw’s Produce.

Left: The late Sue Kirkland managed Maw’s Produce since its opening in 1995 until her death in 2020. Photo submitted Below: Maw’s Produce offers a variety of items for customers.

remembering names.

Maw’s operates from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. every day May into November, thus offering several seasons of fine and fresh food offerings, as well as a variety of gift items. The goods of over 30 local suppliers, many of whom are local women, are on display and for sale. In the edibles area of the store, offerings come from Betty Jo Hicks (apple butter); Sandra Malone and Brenda Moore (pound cakes); Peipe Church (pimento cheese/cornbread); and Marsha Moore (buckeye candies).

Sue opened the upstairs of the house for craft vendors, of which 98 percent are women: Brenda Cook (soaps); Sara Drummond and Vandi Montero (pottery); Becky Kennedy (knitting); Wendy Smith and Robin Rowe (paintings); Janice Martin (decorative rocks); Kathi Grey (quilts); Dinia and Faye Wheeler (dolls and crochet items); and Lynn Wilms (greeting cards). The woodworking section features products made by locals Patti and Kate Buck, Emily and John McCoy, and Bill Piastuch.

There is also a unique financial system begun by Sue; there is no cash register, just a basket full of change and another one for bills on the counter. She also established an unusual

system for placing orders: clothespins marked with the day of the week hold the orders that need to be placed as the week progresses. Each vendor is contacted with the details of the order, and the date for delivery of the items. These methods of doing business have lasted for more than 26 years and certainly further present that down-home atmosphere.

Visiting Maw’s, customers not only can purchase produce but can also walk away with a warm feeling of welcome in a truly Southern style. This is all thanks to the leading woman, Sue, who left her mark on the business, as well as the other women still providing hospitality to patrons.

Barbara Holdcroft, Ph.D. Barb has lived with her husband Kirk and daughter Katie in Linville since 2012.

She is the Special Olympics Coordinator for Avery County and does adjunct teaching at local colleges.

July-August 2021 | 23

Feature

The Sweet Life How Sassy Cat Bakery’s Elizabeth Cole Built a Business From Scratch

24 | July-August 2021

aawmag.com

Elizabeth Cole opened Sassy Cat Bakery in 2018. Photos by Jessica Isaacs

Local cake maker Elizabeth Cole took a leap of faith when she started her business.

Like many entrepreneurs, she’s driven by a heart to build something special doing what she loves every day. In the process, she’s teaching her family and those around her how to do the same thing.

“My daughter and her best friend came to me and wanted to start a cupcake truck, but I knew I’d prefer to have a storefront,” she said. “It started as a family thing to teach them how to establish a business, and it incorporated a love that I have for baking. I’ve always baked from my house, so this opened up an opportunity for me to do more of what I love.”

Although she’s always enjoyed the baking process, she finally started finding outlets for her creative cake making as a parent, and from there started to expand her horizons.

“I baked a little bit when I was little with my parents, cookies and things

like that. When my kids came along I made their birthday cakes, and that’s when I really started getting into baking,” Elizabeth says. “Then I got involved with community theater and making cupcakes for intermission.

That’s when I started baking more for other people, and it just kind of grew from there.”

The entrepreneurial spirit seems to run in Elizabeth’s family, too, which helped prepare her for taking her passion to the next level.

“My husband owns and operates a lawn care and landscape install business, so I’ve helped him run that one for years and years,” she says. “So I guess I had a feel for how to do payroll, pay the bills and keep a business going, although it was not on this kind of scale.”

When she opened doors to her bakery for the first time in 2018, she had one thing in mind: “I wanted people to be able to come in and get a delicious cupcake, and have a place to sit down and enjoy it,”

Elizabeth said. “My hopes were to establish a homemade bakery right here in Boone.”

As a fun nod to another thing she shares with her family, she named it Sassy Cat Bakery.

“Naming something is the hardest thing! We went through all kinds of thoughts, and the whole family sat down and thought through ideas. We have four cats in our home, so my oldest son said, ‘Why don’t you call it Sassy Cat Bakery?’ We really love our cats, so we loved the idea. It’s a little sassy, and we like that, too,” she said with a smile.

Since her first day of business, Elizabeth says they’ve been well received by the people in Boone and love being part of the small business community.

Sassy Cat has since become a local go-to for specialty birthday cakes, which has allowed her to explore her creative side even more.

Continued on next page July-August 2021 | 25

special order cakes.

“Today I’m making a regular cake, a gluten-free cake and a vegan cake, and that’s a pretty good representation of how often we make those,” Elizabeth says. “We Elizabeth Cole paints details onto a cake. have a pretty kids will want to take it over. To build even diversity, and we sell a lot of glusomething that your kids want to do is ten-free and vegan cakes.” pretty amazing,” she says. “My husband So, which recipes are her favorite? has my two sons working for him right “People always come in and say, ‘Oh, now, and he loves that, too. To build a you have a lot of cupcakes! Which one name and a legacy is a pretty awesome is your favorite?’ and I always tell them responsibility. It does come with a little that it depends on the day,” she says. “I pressure of making sure you’re getting love cinnamon coffee cake. I think that it right, though.” would be one of my favorite things to According to Elizabeth, learning and make ... and chocolate chip cookies.” growth come with the territory when As far as cakes go, she said she loves starting a business from scratch. to make a Death by Chocolate cake as “It’s been harder than I thought it it’s her all-time favorite. would be. It has been a lot of explora“Who doesn’t love chocolate? It’s a tion and learning,” she says. “It’s taught chocolate cake with chocolate mousse me some stuff about myself that I apfilling, chocolate frosting, chocolate preciate. I have learned what I’m good ganache and chocolate chips all around at, and what I’m not good at.” the outside. It’s very moist and dark, For those who dream of building a and the mousse has a smoother melt-inbusiness of their own in the High Counyour-mouth consistency. It’s everything try, Elizabeth says go for it! you want chocolate to be,” she says.

“My advice would be to do it. Boone As a business owner, Elizabeth says is very accepting of small businesses her top priority is to make a quality and helping people out,” she said. “It’s a product that people will love. As a great place to start a business. So if you parent and an have a love for something, I say give it a entrepreneur, try. You don’t know until you’re doing it she’s commitwhat you’re going to get out of it. It has ted to setting been an amazing process.” a good Sassy Cat Bakery is located at 240 example and Shadowline Drive, Suite A8, at the showing her Shops at Shadowline in Boone. The kids — and business is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. her commuMonday through Saturday. Visit the nity — what bakery on Facebook to learn more. it looks like to build a life doing what Jessica Isaacs you love.

Jessica Isaacs is a local writer, wife “I am and new mommy who loves the Lord and always keeps her eyes peeled for hoping that his mercies and miracles.

Treats, created by Elizabeth Cole, are displayed for customers. someday my

“I really enjoy the creative process, and I have grown a lot since we’ve opened with what I’m able to do,” she said. “I think the constant learning and the artistic part of the baking process is what I enjoy the most. Which is odd, because I never felt artistic before or thought that art could ever enter into what I do.”

The entrepreneurial journey has led to personal and professional growth for her, too.

“I have definitely grown in the socialization aspect, and I’ve come out of my shell a little bit. It requires you to talk to a lot more people and be really open with people, so I’ve definitely grown in that way,” said Elizabeth. “I have also learned a lot about ordering, purchasing and that kind of stuff, which I didn’t know before, so I guess I have grown in the business aspect, as well.”

Most days, you’ll find her in the bakery dreaming up beautiful cake designs and creating fabulous desserts for all of life’s special occasions. She also keeps her storefront cabinets stocked each day with freshly baked cupcakes and other goodies.

“We keep eight flavors in our case every day. Five standard flavors that we have every day — chocolate and vanilla birthday cake, chocolate chip cookie dough, red velvet cream cheese, and fresh strawberry — plus three others that we rotate every week,” she said. “We try to keep a good variety of choices.”

She also has several gluten-free and vegan options available, both in her fresh daily cupcake batches and for

26 | July-August 2021

aawmag.com

Feature

Artful Food

Pisgah Picnics can either bring charcuterie boards to a local outdoor destination or offers a location for community members to enjoy their services. Photo submitted

Local Women Skillfully Create Charcuterie Boards More than just meats and cheeses arranged in a pleasing way, charcuterie boards have skyrock-

eted in popularity on social media in the last year. With the help of a few local businesses, High Country residents are surrounded by a bounty of local meats, cheeses and fruits to suit their tastes.

At their most basic, charcuterie boards may have any combination of

meats, cheeses, fresh and/or dried fruits, crackers and breads, spreads, nuts, brined items like pickles or olives, and a little something sweet. All of this is usually spread out on a serving tray in a layout that’s both art and function, encouraging pairings for cheese and meats. Especially now, vegan and vegetarian boards are often available as well. However, pairing ingredients and laying them out is an art

that can take practice.

Arden Harter, a Banner Elk native who owns local charcuterie company Boone Boards, said her first arrangement in 2015 was “ugly,” but served its purpose: providing a simple appetizer to let off some of the stress of making her family’s holiday meal. Her family loved Continued on next page July-August 2021 | 27

Arden Harter creates a variety of charcuterie boards through her business Boone Boards. Photos submitted

it, and from there she enhanced her skills at curating boards, eventually selling them as people offered to purchase them.

Boone Boards has been a recent venture, starting in 2021.

“It’s like a blank canvas, just to put stuff together and make edible art and have people enjoy it and see their reactions,” Arden says. “People are getting significant joy from putting (boards) together and looking at them.”

Charcuterie boards from Boone Boards start with a simple proposed menu, which Arden shows the client, and from there she’ll customize to their tastes.

She said meats and cheeses tend to go together when they’re not fruity or too creamy, and spicier meats tend to go with heavier cheeses, similar to wine pairings.

“The cool thing is it’s all up to whoever’s making it to make it their own,” Arden says.

Arden crafts boards to match her client’s event theme or colors. She loves to use cranberries for Christmas and other seasonal accents when appropriate, including aromatics like rosemary, mint, sage and edible flowers from her own garden. She also sources locally when she can, including Willie Brooks Honey in Blowing Rock and Heritage Farms goat cheeses with larger boards.

Although she’s had no specific requests for vegan boards, Arden is tasting vegan cheeses to include on vegan and vegetarian boards based on her friends’ 28 | July-August 2021

recommendations. On vegetarian boards, she includes more fresh vegetables and hummus than on boards with meat.

When she adds nuts on a grazing board, she also makes sure to add the same ingredients that nuts are close to on a different side of the board so consumers with allergies don’t have to worry about cross-contamination with an ingredient they enjoy.

She suggests people new to charcuterie choose three good cheeses, local charcuterie meat if possible, a seasonal fruit, some kind of citrus food, a brined item, a dried item and a nice garnish.

“Use fine cheeses, no pepper jack or Swiss; it’s luxury and you should enjoy it,” Arden says. “Put it in front of you and say, ‘I can do this.’”

Find Boone Boards online at www. boone-boards.com and on Facebook and Instagram.

The High Country’s newest charcuterie business, High Country Boards, started selling boards in early 2021. Owners Mandy Cochran and Stacie Saunders threw parties and arranged food for a long time prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. As they started experimenting with charcuterie, people began to gather again with the easing of pandemic restrictions.

“If we had thought about it more, we might not have done it — making shareable food in a pandemic — but we jumped on a passion and ran with it,” Mandy says.

“We started growing around when people

started getting together more, having small gatherings, and a custom board makes it feel a little special.”

High Country Boards prides itself on incorporating cookie cutters to cut cheeses and meats, especially brie, into shapes; for example, they used anchor and sailboat cutters for a board a recent client ordered for a beach party. They start building charcuterie boards by outlining them based on the size of the order, arranging meats and cheeses with different extras such as crackers and fruit.

High Country Boards is also the only charcuterie company in the area selling dessert boards. Dessert boards include arrangements of cookies, brownies, packaged candies and more; they can accompany cheese and provide something sweet as well as stand-alone. Stacie says they get quite a few orders for the dessert boards, especially for events at Grandfather Winery and events where kids will be present.

Mandy and Stacie also lean heavily on their teamwork dynamic. Stacie most enjoys working with intricate food art, making flowers from meats and vegetables and learning new cutting techniques for embellishments. Mandy loves arranging the canvas itself to make art with the party’s occasion, seeking the “wow moment” when people take pictures and post to social media.

“We love a theme. Taste, season, color, that’s what makes it fun — we never make aawmag.com

the same board twice,” Stacie says. “We love events for that reason, every event is different with different colors and flowers.”

Mandy and Stacie taste everything they use, only including what they like: Stacies’ favorite is pickled watermelon rind and prosciutto picks, while Mandy goes for the peppered salami and goat cheeses first. They’ve also found sauces are especially popular, such as fig sauce, pepper jelly and olive tapenade from Stacies’ mom.

Because all boards from High Country Boards are custom, clients can choose boards based on their intended wine pairing, the rest of the meal, or their dietary needs such as allergies. Local food is also at the center; they use breads from Stick Boy Bread Company, produce from Maw’s Produce and other items to support additional local small businesses when they can.

Stacie and Mandy highly recommend researching to find the best prices and buying on sale to try new things when it’s possible, as charcuterie can get expensive.

“It’s not so fun but it’s important,” Stacie says. “You have to look for good prices, especially in the grocery store. Do research and try (items) on sale so you can try things you might like.”

High Country Boards is online at highcountryboards.com and on Facebook and Instagram.

Charcuterie isn’t just for small parties at home or big events, either. Local

service Pisgah Picnics, owned by High Country local Kappa Vasgaard, provides the whole experience in the High Country complete with food, location and guidebooks for the area.

Pisgah Picnics — which began operations in 2020 — offers complete picnics either delivered in a basket at a trailhead or in its tents in picturesque locations.

Kappa said she specifically curates High Country ingredients in her picnic baskets to offer visitors, especially from out of state, “the best of what the Blue Ridge has to offer.”

“I’m trying to create and curate a full experience, with the locations I choose and the vendors I am showcasing through the food,” Kappa says. “(Pisgah Picnics includes) the full ambiance, with sheepskin rugs and floor cushions and a typewriter for writing notes to each other while playing vintage games.”

Her charcuterie boards draw heavily on ingredients from the local farmers’ market and High Country Food Hub, which is an online local farmers’ market operated by Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture. Kappa was previously the maitre’d at the Gamekeeper, a four-diamond restaurant located between Boone and Blowing Rock known for its meats; she said their charcuterie and veggie plate inspired hers as well. She’s still looking to source closer for meats, but her eventual goal is for her charcuterie to be 100 percent local.

Because her picnics are full service, beyond the food, the experience also

includes curated guidebooks that suggest restaurants, bars, hiking trails, farms and more. Weather is notoriously finicky in the High Country, but she offers tents, including one with heating for the winter, as well as outdoor rugs. She plans to remain open all year round so far as weather, locations and desire allows.

“We are such a tourist-driven economy, and we depend on everyone coming here to enjoy the outdoors,” Kappa says.

“I’m really trying to focus on the local aspect and support other local businesses.”

Charcuterie can get complicated, with long lists of ingredients and intricate arrangements, but it doesn’t have to be.

All the women mentioned started out by experimenting with tastes community members enjoy and trying new things in food and arrangement to keep a palate fresh.

Mandy, from High Country Boards, summarizes charcuterie trial and error simply: “Get a board, get big cheese, cut things different ways, start with big shapes and fill in smaller and smaller until it’s covered. If you don’t like it, eat it and try again.”

Sophia Lyons Sophia Lyons holds a bachelor of science in journalism from Appalachian State University. She freelance copy edits and writes at sophiamlyons.com.

Mandy Cochran and Stacie Saunders can offer themed charcuterie boards through their business, High Country Boards. Photos submitted

July-August 2021 | 29

Feature

Kristin Howell and daughter Whitley prepare to serve food at Ashe County Park for the area’s Friday in the Park event. Photo by Bailey Little

Kristin’s Hook’d on Smoke West Jefferson Food Truck Offers ‘Good Times, Good People and Good Experiences’ In Ashe County, a bright orange truck offers award-winning barbecue, hospitality and is praised by both locals and visitors to the area. Kristin’s Hook’d on Smoke food truck can be spotted on weekdays in downtown West Jefferson and at festivals and events throughout the year.

“Feeding faces” and making a name for herself over the years as a mouthy, barbecue connoisseur is owner Kristin Howell.

The path which led her to this place in her life — which she said is the happiest 30 | July-August 2021

she has been —was not an easy one, with several bumps and setbacks. However, she did not give up when “the going got tough” and says joining the food truck industry was the best decision she ever made.

She was introduced to the food industry at a young age because her mother’s family owned and started Shatley Springs Restaurant in Crumpler.

“I started off underneath biscuit tables watching my great-grandma,” she says.

“And I was there all the time because my mom worked all the time.”

She soon began waiting tables, which suited her well because she is so personable. Since she was chatty and took the time to get to know the customers, she made a good living as a waitress.

In her 20s she opened up a restaurant called the Whistle Jacket Grille for a man living in Eden. She returned to Ashe County while pregnant with her daughter, Whitley.

As a single mother, she had to work multiple jobs in order to stay afloat, including waitressing jobs at several local restaurants in addition to cleaning and aawmag.com

pressure washing houses. Local business owner, Mike Aloia, contacted her one day to offer her a fresh start as the owner and operator of When Pigs Fly restaurant. She took over the restaurant in July 2013.

“I didn’t know anything about the barbecue business,” she says.

Within the first six months, she was turning a profit at the restaurant, which previously didn’t experience much business. One of the contributing factors of its newfound success was that many of her regulars that she met through her other jobs over the decades followed her.

At the end of her second year, the business struggled because their anchor store, Lowes Foods, left town and the building where the restaurant was located in Jefferson was not easily visible from U.S. 221.

It was agreed upon to relocate the restaurant and start over after securing a new location in Jefferson. They rented a unit in the building, which was formerly The Junction. The space was a fixer-upper and Howell and her father completed extensive remodeling.

“We worked our tails off and got it up, got it going,”

Above: One of Kristin’s favorite items to make for the food truck are her “messed up” wings.

Right: A popular menu item offered at the food truck are hand-pattied burgers.

Photos submitted

she says. “And it was doing fantastic, I mean the first year was just great. I’d never seen anything like it.”

She went from six employees at the West Jefferson location to 14 full-time employees in Jefferson.

Unfortunately, the restaurant took a hit when a landslide occurred and impacted all of the businesses that occupied the building. Due to an inability to open the restaurant resulting from damage caused by the landslide and legal issues, Kristin said she lost almost $28,000 in the two months they were closed.

“People were donating money; we took all of that money and we paid for employees’ groceries, we paid their electric bill, we paid their house payment,” she says. “We were trying our best to keep our head above water while fighting the landlord (and) trying to get some help.”

The restaurant permanently closed in August 2018 after Howell exhausted all of her financial options and the town requested the business purchase a water/ grease trap system and re-pave the parking lot, which amounted to $20,000, she says.

She describes it as the hardest time in her life as she endured another major setback.

Kristin returned to Shatley Springs Restaurant to run the kitchen after they agreed to take all of her staff. She said that she and her staff helped the restaurant get the best health inspection score they had in 15 years.

“Everybody was just so impressed, we came in there and we ‘cleaned house,’” she says. “We cleaned it up, the food was coming out good, the waitresses were looking good, the kitchen was on time.

Everything was spot on. It just wasn’t what I wanted to do; it wasn’t the kind of food I wanted to do.”

Local brewer Greg Hershner enlisted her assistance to open New River Brewing Taproom and Eatery in downtown West Jefferson. Along with her father, she completed contracting work, which included painting, sanding and assembling tables and chairs. She also designed the floor plans for the kitchen as well as hired and trained staff.

“I put my heart and soul into it,” she says. “Starting up businesses and creating a restaurant is just something I’m good at. I’d done it so many times at that point that I was really good at it and I was on fire.”

After a conflict with the brewery, she said she was left without a job. She went through a rough patch as she was almost 40 and unemployed while her academically gifted daughter was applying to boarding schools. During this time, she heard about a friend of hers that owned a food truck in Charleston, S.C. She called and asked if she could come down there to work with him on the truck.

“So I went down to Charleston and I went and worked on it,” she said. “And I fell in love with that truck.”

She began exploring options for available loans to help her purchase a truck. After a great deal of searching, she took out a loan from a private lender at a balloon rate.

“I took a leap for it and I bought the food truck. And it’s the best decision that I’ve ever made,” she says. “Whitley and I had struggled for so long; it had been a long, hard process to get to where we are right now.”

One thing Kristin loves about having the food truck is the freedom it allows.

She and her daughter are able to spend more time together. When she is home from school, Whitley works with her mom on the food truck. Kristin also has the ability to take a weekend off here and there to visit her at her boarding school in Virginia.

Continued on next page July-August 2021 | 31

“From the age of 7 to 13, I was working 60-80 hours a week every week,” she said.

“The only time we saw each other was if she was sitting on a barstool, or helping wash dishes or hanging out. We never saw each other unless I was at work.”

Kristin hopes to operate her food truck for at least the next decade or for as long as she is physically able to operate it.

A typical workday for Kristin’s Hook’d on Smoke consists of a great deal of preparation before rolling toward its destination. Kristin wakes up around 6:45 a.m. to drive her personal vehicle to Glendale Springs where her truck is stored.

She then drives the truck to Mountain Aire Seafood, which is her commissary.

She spends about two hours making sauces and completing all necessary prep work.

She describes it as the most physically challenging job she’s had because all of the items need to be loaded into the coolers each day to ensure they are fresh. She added that there is an extensive setup process. The burgers are hand pattied each morning the truck runs. All of the sauces, food and materials are then se-

cured inside of the truck to prevent items from turning over as the truck travels 60 mph down the road to its destination.

While Kristin can travel for events or catering, she does not travel to Wilkes County due to safety concerns.

She describes it as challenging being a woman in any restaurant business, especially in the food truck industry. Other local food trucks, which she said are all run by men, will help each other out when they are short-staffed or experience maintenance issues such as a flat tire.

“I’ve done this 100 percent on my own,” Kristin says.

She said what sets her apart from other food trucks in the area is the extensive menu Kristin’s Hook’d on Smoke has to offer. It is a full restaurant on wheels, with a quick turnaround time on orders.

Her favorite part about her job is interacting with people and feeding off of their energy. She says they make her feel like she matters.

“The customers are really what does it for me,” she says.

She has many repeat customers; some live locally and come to eat each week,

others live out of town and travel once or twice a month and bring along first-timers.

For them, eating with Kristin has an air of familiarity as she knows the community well. She values her connection with each of her customers and focuses on the details of who they are and what they like to eat. She says locals also believe in her because they have seen her rise and fall several times and they have witnessed her resilience.

Three things she values while operating her business are good times, good people and good experiences.

To keep up with the latest news about Kristin’s Hook’d on Smoke, follow the food truck on Facebook or Instagram. For information about its location, menu or catering options, visit the website at www. kristins-hookd-on-smoke.com.

Bailey Little Bailey currently works for Ashe County Schools and freelances in her spare time. She enjoys drinking coffee, listening to music and traveling.

Customers enjoy food from Kristin’s Hook’d on Smoke food truck. Photo by Bailey Little 32 | July-August 2021

aawmag.com

Feature

Busy Life, Happy Life Photos submitted by Jessica Clearwater

Moondance Catering Owner Has Passion for the Industry In retrospect, the path to being a chef and owner of a catering business has been a constant in the life of Jessica “Jess” Clearwater, owner of Moondance Catering in Blowing Rock.

Though, the journey was not always a straight one that goes from Point A to Point B. Jess admits it took a while to realize what her life’s work would be. But now when speaking with Jess, her excitement about what she does is evident by her smile and the sparkle in her blue eyes.

Moving to the High Country When Jess enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at Central Piedmont Community College, she had landed on what would become the mainstay. Yet, it still would be some years before she found her niche.

After getting a degree in Culinary Arts from CPCC, at the encouragement

of one of her long-lasting mentors Bill Bullock, an instructor in the program, she moved to Boone and completed a business degree in Hospitality and Management at Appalachian State University.

Like many, she has stayed ever since.

For a couple of years, Jess pieced together a few different jobs to make a living, such as managing the restaurant Twigs and bartending at Woodlands.

Continued on next page July-August 2021 | 33

One of her strengths is her calming nature and her ability to work through obstacles in an even-keel manner. This attribute serves her well in the catering business.

Both of these experiences proved to be instrumental in discovering her enjoyment of catering.

Through her work in the food and beverage industry, in particular bartending, she met a lot of people with whom she made connections and one thing led to another. One significant relationship that developed was with Claudia Clark, owner of Sweet Seasons, a bed and breakfast on the Chetola estate. Claudia and Jess worked together for more than six years catering events, and Jess regards Claudia as another great mentor. One of their joint endeavors was catering realtor open houses, which eventually led Jess to obtain a realtor’s license and sell real estate. Of course, this is in addition to her running the food businesses.

In 2009, when the real estate market hit a trough, Jess became the wedding coordinator at Chetola. During the four years she was there, she built their event engagements from a small amount to about 100 events the next year, she said.

During this time, Chetola’s kitchen had burned. The chef was able to work a deal using the kitchen at Meadowbrook Inn, and Jess eased the fears of the brides who were panicking. She said that some of her clients attest that one of her strengths is her calming nature and her ability to work through obstacles in an even-keel manner. This attribute serves her well in the catering business.

Jess started Moondance Catering in 1999. She has taken some time from it periodically over the years. But, she went back to the business full time in 2016.

Her Process Jess places importance on getting to know the client and gaining an understanding of what they are looking for, their ideas and their vision for the event.

There are no cookie-cutter solutions. If a client wants gluten-free, vegetarian or even vegan, she will accommodate their wishes. Of late, she has focused on

Mark Mason, Jessica Clearwater and Alice Craft cater an event as Moondance Catering.

34 | July-August 2021

As a child, Jessica Clearwater begins to learn how to cook.

micro-weddings that are typically 12 to 25 people, which enables her to provide a truly individualized experience.

After the initial information-gathering meeting, she tailors a menu specifically for the client. Jess recognizes that events, especially weddings, are now all about the food. She says, “Food has been influenced by the foodie culture”, and her clients want better food than in the past. This is what she strives to achieve — great food, fresh and based on what the season offers.

A typical day in the life of Jess starts off with shopping locally for fresh produce and meats. She visits several groceries as well as the local farmer’s market and other locations to make the menu unique. Jess likes to create beautiful, colorful dishes whether it is a charcuterie board, an appetizer or a main entree. The visual aspect is as much a delight as the taste of the food.

For the cooking and preparation, she rents kitchen space at Sunny Rock in Blowing Rock and is able to use the space after the restaurant closes at 1:30 p.m.

This is when she starts working on the courses for the event. Many times, she has gone into the kitchen the night before and started her prepping. After the food is ready, she transports it to the venue.

Jess has the help of one staff person, Alice Craft, who has worked with her for four years in setting up, serving and breaking down their setup at the end. aawmag.com

Sometimes Jess’ husband comes in and helps when needed also.

Recently, Jess has prepared pimento cheese and jalapeño peach tarts, prosciutto-wrapped breadsticks with black truffle butter, chicken with peaches and country ham, and her charcuterie boards are visual masterpieces. Visit www.moondancecateringnc.com for sample menus.

A Love for Catering It is evident when speaking with Jess that she loves what she does. When asked about specifics that keep her excited about her catering business, she talks about the ability to be creative with food.

There is no doubt that Jess is gifted in this regard. She knows the flavors to combine for a delicious, yet unique, experience.

She likes the ability to work for herself and have control of the final product. She enjoys having the flexibility to accommodate her clients’ requests and being an integral part of their special day. She develops relationships with her clients and becomes a member of the team that makes the event distinctive.

Helping her juggle a host of different activities needed to be a caterer is her organization and time management

skills. Her attention to detail is impeccable, as evidenced by the meticulous care she takes in preparing her attractive and delectable dishes.

She also credits herself as being able to think fast on her feet, which allows her to quickly pivot when the occasion calls for a quick change. Catering in the High Country usually involves being outside, which can lend itself to adventures with adjustments to plans. The main challenge, according to Jess, is the weather.

“I can control my food and my mood, but I can’t control the weather,” she says.

For instance, she recalled a time when it started raining buckets without warning and she had to walk the food back and forth carrying an umbrella from the food station to each guest in order to serve them. She added that a different time featured a bear who showed up at an event and she had to repeatedly tell an event attendee to stop feeding the wild animal. These are in addition to once when a groom went missing for an hourand-a-half, causing a commensurate delay in the wedding she was catering.

A Happy Life As one can imagine, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on Jess’s

catering business. A lover of hiking and the outdoors, Jess went on a hike one afternoon to clear her head and think of what might be in store for her during the pandemic shutdown.

“I went into the woods with nothing and came out of the woods with a hot-dog cart,” she says.

In addition to her catering business and her real estate work, she created a hotdog business called “Jess’ Weenie Wagon” and located it on U.S. 321 outside of Blowing Rock. She has Nathan’s hot dogs and makes the condiments like chili and slaw from scratch. It was a huge success and provided revenue during that very tough time.

Jess is pleased with how her catering business has developed and grown over the years and with her busy life, including her real estate business and Jess’ Weeny Wagon. There is never a dull day for Jess Clearwater in the High Country.

Catherine Perry An alumna of Appalachian State University, Catherine recently moved to Blowing Rock from the Piedmont of North Carolina.

She enjoys freelance writing, reading and spending time with her husband Ron, Westie (Bentley) and friends.

July-August 2021 | 35

Feature

Combating Food Insecurity Women in Avery, Watauga Counties on Front Lines of Feeding Families

It’s easy to take for granted

the luxury of knowing where your next meal will come from. But for women like Jo-Ann, Elizabeth, Gabby and Tina, their jobs put them face-to-face with families who are not always granted this luxury.

These caring, dedicated, and passionate women have made it their mission to fight the battle against food insecurity in the High Country.

According to Dick Larson, executive director of Feeding Avery Families, one in seven people in the High County and surrounding region suffer from food insecurity. Facing food insecurity means that during the course of any given month, there are times when one will not know where their next meal will come from.

“There’s plenty of money in Avery 36 | July-August 2021

One in seven people in the High County and surrounding region suffer from food insecurity.

County,” Dick says. “There’s plenty of food in Avery County. There’s no food shortage. Yet, we have people going hungry. There’s just no reason for it, and there’s absolutely no reason for any child in this county to be hungry and yet we do.

The issue is distribution of course. The people with great mean generally have very little contact with the people with these great needs, and vice versa.”

This is the problem women across western North Carolina have joined together to solve.

Jo-Ann McMurray, co-director of Feeding Avery Families, plays a vital role in combating food insecurity in Avery County. After retiring from her job as a nurse, Jo-Ann was looking for a way to continue serving those in need. After conaawmag.com

necting with Dick, she joined the team.

“Jo-Ann coordinates all our volunteers, and she is just masterful at it,” Dick says. “That’s a skill you have to have. You have to obviously like people but, it’s much more than just liking people, there is a real technique involved in directing and managing volunteers.”

Jo-Ann helps to coordinate volunteers for the Feeding Avery Families food distributions that provide those in need with free produce, meat, dairy items and non-perishable goods. She also helps coordinate a backpack program to provide children across the county with essential food items. A special project Jo-Ann and the Feeding Avery Families team have been expanding is the community pantry program. There are now seven free-standing storage buildings filled with food for anyone in need. These pantries are open 24/7, and Jo-Ann and Dick have been refilling them twice a week.

Jo-Ann said she is passionate about the work she does after previously witnessing single moms dealing with food insecurity at her husband’s family law practice.

“How am I going to feed these kids?” she thought.

“So I saw it all the time, and I didn’t know how to help,” Jo-Ann says. “And then, of course, Dick came along and I thought, ‘Wow this might be a good stepping stone to get involved in these problems.’ I thought this was the perfect opportunity.”

Elizabeth Young, executive director of Richard “Dick” M. Larson and Jo-Ann McMurray help in the food pantry with Feeding Avery Families. Photo submitted

the Hunger and Health Coalition in Boone, said serving in her role is an ideal blend of her passions and desire to serve her neighbors.

“Food and culture and caring for community have been touch points of my life since I was a child,” Elizabeth says.

“This role felt like a marriage of my life’s greatest passions, really and truly. It’s definitely evolved to be just that. I come from a long term care background and had been working in assisted living for a number of years here in the area and ... heard about this opportunity, and it felt just like a perfect fit in every way and has been one of my life’s greatest joys.”

Elizabeth has been working at the Hunger and Health Coalition for seven years and has enjoyed laying out the strategic vision to forge new partnerships while adapting to meet the needs of the High Country community. Elizabeth said she is passionate about providing clients at the Hunger and Health Coalition with fresh, locally grown produce. Through a multiple-year initiative, she is supporting local farmers by providing their fruits and vegetables to clients as a part of the organization’s food assistance programs.

“If you’re showing up for your people, you have to do that in a multitude of ways, and we have the privilege of being able to connect our clients with gorgeous produce,” Elizabeth says.

Under Elizabeth’s leadership, a new role recently opened at the Hunger and Health Coalition — mobile delivery program coordinator.

Filling that role is Candace Kelling-Salzler, who initially joined the organization as a volunteer before transitioning to a full-time role.

Elizabeth Young is the executive director of the Hunger and Health Coalition. Photo submitted

Candace uses her skills and her kind and loving personality to help the Hunger and Health Coalition adjust to serving clients unable to leave their homes due to a variety of reasons including COVID-19.

Whether she is working on an exciting new partnership or handling the dayto-day operations of a large-scale food pantry, Elizabeth’s years-long passion to serve her community is evident.

Just beginning her work in the field of combating food insecurity is Gabby Maze an Appalachian State University student, who helps to combat this issue through her job at the Hospitality House of Northwest North Carolina.

Gabby serves as the food service associate at the Hospitality House in Boone, which focuses on serving the homeless and impoverished community in seven North Carolina counties including Watauga, Avery, Ashe and Wilkes.

After beginning as a volunteer, Gabby joined the staff and now works in the kitchen and with the distribution of food boxes. Hospitality House serves three meals a day each day of the year to those in need in the community. Gabby helps coordinate the meals including planning out the specific food that will be served.

When someone arrives at the back door of Hospitality House with a need for a food box from the food pantry, Gabby Continued on next page July-August 2021 | 37

Volunteers help in the food pantry for Feeding Avery Families. Photo submitted

greets them with a smile on her face and helps put together a box of food to meet their current needs.

Gabby’s passion for her work stems from her love for people and getting to know their stories. As she takes steps to help fight food insecurity in the lives of those she’s serving, she’s seeking to get to know them better and show she cares.

“I absolutely love this place,” Gabby says. “It’s not even just the work I do, but the people that I’ve met. Both staff members and clients have been some of the most genuinely amazing people. When I get to speak to some of the clients, I get to hear some of their stories and it’s just mind-blowing what happened.”

Gabby said she enjoys being able to bless people with more than they ask for when they come to the door in need of food — a special way to show that she and the other staff members care deeply about all the people they serve.

“I do love making the meals and being creative, but my favorite thing to do is when people come and they say they just need one little thing and they don’t mean to bother me, but then I make them this big to-go bags of all different 38 | July-August 2021

kinds of snacks and sandwiches and treats,” Gabby says.

“They’re all such amazing people, and I’m just really thankful to be surrounded by everybody that I’ve met.”

Gabby said she gets to work closely alongside other women at Hospitality House committed to using their skills and passions to feed those in need.

Clara Coffey is the garden coordinator/ volunteer coordinator, and through her work in the garden, she provides fresh produce to the kitchen while also allowing Hospitality House residents to learn where their food is coming from.

Both Gabby and Clara serve on the Hospitality House team headed by Executive Director Tina Krause.

Tina began working with the organization in August 2011. Starting as the director of services at the time when

Clara Coffey and Gabby Maze showcase some food items available at the Hospitality House. Photo submitted

Hospitality House relocated to a larger facility, Tina saw an 80 percent increase in the food pantry services and a large increase in the number of meals able to be served with a new full kitchen and dining room.

Six years ago, Tina took over as executive director but retained the responsibilities of the director of services so that she could continue investing in the lives of aawmag.com

Across the High Country, women are making a difference in the lives of men, women and children. Together we can combat food insecurity. the people she served. She said her “heart really loves the people-side of this work.”

Day in and day out, Tina is encouraging her staff, ensuring programs are running smoothly, sitting in state meetings for homelessness and building relationships with Hospitality House clients.

Tina said since she was a young girl she has been passionate about storytelling. She is able to combine that passion with her work at Hospitality House by “hearing the stories of people, even though many of them are painful and traumatic, (and) watching their journey and watching them get to the point where they’re willing to share bits of their story, building that relationship of trust so that it takes down some of the walls that they’ve built up to protect themselves.”

Tina’s commitment to her Hospitality House clients allows her to see hope renewed in their lives. She says she enjoys “just watching that transformation

in people as they get to know you and they realize that you’re not going to be one of those people that leaves them, that you’re going to be a part of their lives for as long as they’ll let you to help them in their steps.”

Through building relationships and connecting people to the programs at Hospitality House, Tina encourages those she speaks with and takes steps to combat food insecurity. Beyond passing out a food box or a warm meal, Tina wants those her team is serving to be filled with dignity. To do this, Tina has surrounded herself with strong women committed to the same mission.

“Many of the women that I’ve served with (are) inspiring,” Tina says. “They come from a place where their heart is looking at the whole person and understanding meeting the basic needs and allowing a person the dignity of having a meal in the same way that we would have it.”

Across the High Country, women are making a difference in the lives of men, women and

Resident musician Frank James and Hospitality House executive director Tina B. Krause pose together at the 2018 Hope Luncheon, which benefits the Hospitality House.

File photo

children. Together we can combat food insecurity. Contact Feed Avery Families, Hospitality House, the Hunger and Health Coalition or Ashe Food Pantry to get involved.

Sarah Rodriguez By day, Sarah works in social media marketing. But after hours, she enjoys hiking, finding the best tacos, and watching football.

Ashe Food Pantry

• (336) 846-7019 • ashefoodpantry@skybest.com • ashefoodpantry.org • 115 Colvard St., Jefferson

Feeding Avery Families

• (828) 783-8506 • FeedingAveryFamilies@gmail.com • feedingaveryfamilies.org • 508 Pineola St., Newland

Hospitality House of Northwest North Carolina

• (828) 264-1237 • info@hosphouse.org • www.hosphouse.org • 338 Brook Hollow Road, Boone

Hunger and Health Coalition

• (828) 262-1628 • operations@hungerandhealthcoalition.com • www.hungerandhealthcoalition. com • 141 Health Center Drive, Suite C, Boone

July-August 2021 | 39

Health

LIVING WELL

Learning to

Love Your

Veggies 40 | July-August 2021

aawmag.com

The time of harvest is here.

Roadside kiosks and farmers’ markets offer a cornucopia of vegetables. But not everyone is exulting in this time of plenty.

There are those among us who consider veggies “meh” at best, “yucky” at worst. Is that you?

Good news. Research shows that you don’t have to resign yourself to a life of mac and cheese. You can learn to love — or at the very least like — veggies. Dietary likes and dislikes aren’t ingrained in our DNA. Over time you can retrain your palate.

Here are the steps: Start small. Pick one or two vegetables that you are not particularly fond of. The typical ones that cause many to turn up their nose are broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, radishes, spinach and arugula.

Eat a little bit with each meal for three to four meals. Repeated exposure has been shown to actually change the proteins in saliva, calming the initial distaste.

Learn some cooking tips.

• Blanch them: Blanching root vegetables and brussels sprouts gets rid of the bitter edge. Just boil water. Put your veggies in for two minutes. Drain and then immediately cover them with cold water. Drain again.

• Massage them: This works great for raw greens, like kale or arugula. Just drizzle them with some oil and a little salt.

Use your hands to literally massage it into the leaves. This will make them less bitter, and easier to digest.

• Roast, grill or sauté them: These cooking methods create interesting textures and give veggies a sweet, toasty goodness.

• Don’t overcook them: Mushy veggies are good for toothless babies, but not so palatable to grownups. Google cooking times and suggestions.

Complement them with some flavors.

• Add flavored oils: You need a little oil over your produce whether you’re roasting, frying, sautéing or grilling. Flavored oils are an excellent way to add a ton of flavor in one little pour. Try oils infused with lemon, garlic or basil to make things super tasty.

• Season with herbs and spices: Butter, salt and pepper are quintessential favorites, but don’t be afraid to experiment with a bouquet of flavors. Sprinkle some garlic, cilantro, cumin, basic, dill or mint to add a burst of flavor.

• Serve them with a sauce, dressing or dip: Combining a taste you don’t like, with one you do will help you grow fond of your veggies. If you love ranch dressing or salsa, top your veggies with those and focus on this new taste combination.

Try drizzling cooked brussels sprouts or root vegetables with a balsamic glaze, maple syrup or honey to add a touch of sweetness. Spritz your veggies with lemon. It neutralizes the bitter taste.

When all else fails: OK. If you’re really struggling with the taste of veggies, there is always a little cheese and a few bacon crumbles.

Eating veggies pays a lifetime of dividends. They are the centerpiece of a healthy lifestyle. According to Harvard School of Public Health, a diet rich in veggies and fruits can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer, lower the risk of digestive problems and have a positive effect upon blood sugar.

All good reasons to hold your nose and take a bite.

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July-August 2021 | 41

Health

BEAUTY

Garden

Beauty from Your

Did you plant a vegetable garden this year? Maybe you’re

like me and rely on our amazing farmers’ market in the area to get great produce.

No matter if you are planting or buying, including fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet will give your body great benefits.

We all strive for healthy, resilient, glowing skin not just visible on our countenance but all over our body. Keep in mind that fruits and vegetables contain powerful antioxidants that help protect the skin from cellular damage from free radical and sun exposure. We know that free radicals and sun can cause wrinkling, dryness and age spots, and eating a colorful array of garden fruits and vegetables — red, orange and green — can have a positive impact on the health of your skin as well as the rest of you. You always want to be sure you’re getting enough essential nutrients to protect your skin, so eating fresh from a garden can be a booster.

Listed below are some of the good 42 | July-August 2021

eats we can harvest from our garden or pick up from the local farmers’ market to benefit our skin — just think, skincare in a garden instead of a jar.

Dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes and yams are rich in vitamin E and A. Vitamin E is a natural antioxidant that provides protection from free radicals and toxins. Free radicals are produced during metabolism, and they can speed up the effects of the aging process, such as wrinkles in your skin.

Vitamin E can also protect your skin membrane from UV damage. Vegetables naturally rich in vitamin E include avocados, dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes, yams, yellow and green peppers.

Carrots contain high levels of beta carotene, is a precursor to vitamin A, which is the main active ingredient in retin-A and acts as a natural sunblock; you still need to apply sunscreen. Carotenoids help prevent sunburn, cell death and dry, wrinkled skin.

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a

powerful antioxidant as well as vitamin C. This multi-purposed fruit contains all the carotenoids for maintaining good skin. Pair this with a fat source such as avocado, cheese, olive oil and boom — you increase absorption. Once again, all this helps protect against sun damage and wrinkling.

Broccoli is the source of many vitamins and minerals that support good skin health. It includes zinc, vitamin A and C. Like tomatoes, broccoli also contains lutein, which protects from oxidative damage and dryness. The florets contain sulforaphane, a powerful compound with impressive potential benefits. It may even have anti-cancer benefits including skin cancer. Studies show sulforaphane may also help maintain collagen levels in the skin.

Avocados are added to my list, though we may not be able to grow or buy fresh from the farmers’ market. They rate high on the skin benefit chart and are one of my favorites. This little green grenade aawmag.com

packs a powerhouse of essential oils, vitamin C and B complex vitamins.

It is high in healthy fats that benefit many body functions. They’re great for masking and hair treatments too. My favorite way to eat them — chopped avocados, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, a little apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, a dash of olive oil and voila.

It’s yummy and beautifying while you eat it.

I conclude with something we can all agree on, and oh how we wish we could grow this one in our garden — dark chocolate! This food source covers every food group and nutrient requirement known to man. The effects of cocoa on your skin are pretty astounding. Studies

had better blood flow.

Another study showed that eating 20 grams of high antioxidant dark chocolate per day could allow the skin to withstand over twice as much UV radiation before burning versus low antioxidant chocolate.

You will need to make your choice a dark chocolate with a minimum of 70 percent cocoa to maximize the benefits and keep added sugar to a minimum.

Eat well for beauty!

show after five to 12 weeks of eating a cocoa powder high in antioxidants each day, participants experienced thicker more hydrated skin. Also skin was less rough and scaly, less sensitive to sunburn and

Marion Edwards Marion Edwards is a Licensed Esthetician, Professional Makeup Artist and Certified Trainer for Motives Cosmetics. She can be contacted at 828.773.1500.

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Sushi Night is Always the Best Girl’s Night Out Dine in-Mon-Sat 4:00-9:00PM Take-out-Mon-Sat 4:00-8:00PM Closed Sunday

44 | July-August 2021

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Style & Leisure

TRAVEL

Eight Ways to Love the World’s Food

So many of my round-theworld memories involve food,

occasions of such ecstasy when time stops and the details are etched on my heart forever.

Tired and hungry after touring the Pyramids and the Sphinx and watching a sound and light show, we noticed that we had passed the dinner hour. We pulled up to a Cairo street café. Soon Emen, our leader, was passing out huge, still-warm homemade buns with humongous, crisp falafel patties slathered in sour cream.

“Hold the lettuce and tomato!” 20 cents each! Mmmpf!

“Come with me to the Casbah!” At last, the full meaning of the phrase came to life, as our leader, Latif, led us down a narrow, winding path in the medina of Casablanca, Morocco. Latif knocked on a jeweled door, and we were met by a robed young man, carrying a candle. He led us to a room filled with satin pillows and candlelight. Dinner was Morocco’s national dish, couscous and tagine. A plateful of fluffy, spicy couscous topped with a flavorful stew cooked in the coals in a clay pot.

Mornings in the courtyard of our Costa Rican eco-hotel meant an open-air

breakfast of black beans, rice, salsa and tortillas fresh off the grill — a simple but satisfying meal. What made it even more charming was the sight of hummingbirds motorcycling in to snack on chunks of ruby red watermelon that had been laid out for them.

We about froze as we navigated the snowy streets of Lisbon, Portugal, in December. Our day’s jaunt was made special by a surprise arranged by Eduardo, our leader. A man came up to Eduardo bearing a cardboard box. Pasteles de Belem, a typical holiday custard confection stuffed with crème!

An Easter party to end all Easter parties! In Enkhuizen, Holland, we were invited into the gnome-like home and yard of Hans and Gerry, banked with tulips growing everywhere. Indoors the table was set with more tulips and narcissus, teapots, plates of cookies, chocolates, crackers, Dutch flags and a packet of postcards for each participant.

How about dinner on a 19th century rice barge, sailing down the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand, at sunset, watching the twinkling lights onshore.

We sat at tables on deck, sipping Tom Kha, the Thai national soup, then eating a

spicy tofu dish. It could go on forever.

Ali’s Place was a bright spot in our Turkey trip, an outdoor restaurant with red and white-checked tablecloths. Its cooks cheerfully invited us into the kitchen to make dolmas. I did not succeed but it was fun. The cooks also taught us how to make gozleme, a delicious thin pancake filled with mushrooms, cheese, spinach and eggplant.

Even though, in Rishikesh, India, we supped on some amazing meals of tandoor, paneer and dosa. Our favorite had to be the meal we ate every noon with the poorest, smartest children of Mother Miracle School. A simple plate of rice, dal and vegetables was exactly what we needed and wanted.

Memories! Mmmm! Oh, those one-ofa-kind dining experiences in far corners of the world! Tucked into a ringside seat, totally immersed in making a blissful memory. What could be better?

sue spirit Writes poetry and essays about nature, spirituality, writing and travel. She has a little cabin in the mountains. degreesoffreedom@frontier.com July-August 2021 | 45

ALL ABOUT TOWN

Jenny Miller marches down Main Street in the Blowing Rock Fourth of July Parade on July 3. Photo by David Rogers

Nancy Dennett, activities director at Appalachian Brian Estates, recites a poem at a butterfly release ceremony on July 15.

Photo by Makaelah Walters

Jo Miller hand weaves baskets during the June 26 event of the Annual Heritage Day and Wood Kiln Opening presented by Bolick and Traditions Pottery. Photo by Kayla Lasure

46 | July-August 2021

aawmag.com

ALL ABOUT TOWN Mia, Marin and Maggie Kelley hold American flags while enjoying Freedom First Friday activities at the Jones House in Boone on July 2.

Photo by Kayla Lasure

Amanda Wright (right) and niece Allie Wright (left) with Hot Diggity Dog serve hot dogs during a June 26 event hosted by Bolick and Traditions Pottery. Photo by Kayla Lasure

Sandy Carr and Cyndy Burdige volunteer to help assemble to-go meals at the 50th Annual Roasting of the Hog in Beech Mountain on July 4. While it is called a hog roast, both pork and turkey were available. Photo by Marisa Mecke

Banner Elk Garden Club raised money to fund scholarships they award to Avery County students studying horticulture.

Pictured are club president Jeni Davis, Maura Day, Lorena Popleka, Susan Blalock, Louise Ward, Bonita Smith, Teresa Smith, Anne Hughes and Sandra P. Robinson.

Photo by Marisa Mecke

July-August 2021 | 47