Judy Edmonds
Telling the Backstory of Schoolfield p5
Page 2 December 2021
Evince Magazine Page 3
Editor’s Note
Celebrating Happy Holidays
R
emember the past. Live in the present. Plan for the future. Those ideas are personified in Judy Edmunds, pictured on the cover standing in the front yard of her Schoolfield home. Read about life in the former mill village within walking distance of the future casino (page 5). December is the perfect month to reflect on the past year and celebrate the beginning of 2022. For good food and wine suggestions at your celebratory
gatherings, read “Serve This Grand Finale at Your Holiday Dinner” on page 13 and “Planning a Holiday Dinner? Think About This” on page 12. During the quiet times, snuggle up with a popular book reviewed on page 14, Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci.
These wonderful stories, articles and more are our gifts to you made possible because of volunteer writers and loyal advertisers. Please thank them for their generosity.
There is a humorous true story on page 10 “Making Room for the Holidays by Decluttering” that you’ll enjoy. Then turn to page 13 and find out what “The Most Meaningful Job of All” might be. (It’s another holiday tale.)
Sincerely,
Happy Holidays!
Credits: Amber Wilson: hair; Catherine Saunders: skin care and makeup; Genesis Day Spa & Salon, 695 Park Avenue, Danville. Janelle Gammon: nails; Salon One 11, 111 Sandy Court, Danville. Clothing: Rippe’s 100 Years of Fashion, 559 Main St.
On the Cover: Photo of Judy Edmonds in front of her Selma Avenue home by Michelle Dalton Photography
CEO / Publisher / Andrew Scott Brooks Editor / Joyce Wilburn (434.799.3160) joycewilburn@gmail.com Copy Editors Jeanette Taylor, Larry Wilburn Contributing Writers Diane Adkins, Mary Lee Black, Sue Brooks, Lewis Dumont, Helen Earle, Barbara Hopkins, Telisha Moore Leigg, Linda Lemery, Lois MacFadden, C.B. Maddox, Kevin Matheson, Carla Minosh, Bernadette Moore, Dave Slayton, Cheryl Sutherland, Joyce Wilburn, Annelle Williams, John Wilt Art & Production Director Demont Design (Kim Demont) Finance Manager Cindy Yeatts (1.434.709.7349)
December 2021
Content
Most 13 The Meaningful Job of All by Carla Minosh
3 Editor’s Note
9
Spotting
Exceptional Customer Service by Lois MacFadden
10 Making Room for the Holidays
Serve This Grand Finale at
Your Holiday Dinner Chocolate Bread Pudding with Hard Sauce by Annelle Williams
by Decluttering
5
Telling the Backstory of Schoolfield by Joyce Wilburn
6 Danville
The City I Can’t Escape by Joyce Wilburn
8 Calendar
11 Tuesday Before
Think About This by Dave Slayton
Kim Demont Graphic Design, Marketing (434.792.0612) demontdesign@verizon.net evince\i-’vin(t)s\ 1: to constitute outward evidence of 2: to display clearly; reveal syn see SHOW
Evince is a free monthly magazine with news about entertainment and lifestyle in Danville and the surrounding area. We reserve the right to accept, reject and edit all submissions and advertisements.
Fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg
Dinner?
Kenny Thornton Jr, Account Executive (434.250.3581) kenny@showcasemagazine.com
Editorial Policies
Christmas
a 12 Planning Holiday
Lee Vogler Director of Sales and Marketing (434.548.5335) lee@evincemagazine.com
Deadline for submission of January stories, articles, and ads is Sunday, December 19, at 5:00 p.m. Submit stories, articles, and calendar items to joycewilburn@gmail.com.
by Linda Lemery
Judy Edmonds
Marketing Consultants For ad information contact a marketing consultant listed below.
14 Book Clubbing Taste: My Life Through Food
by Stanley Tucci review by Diane Adkins
EVINCE MAGAZINE 753 Main St. Suite 3, Danville, VA 24541 www.evincemagazine.com For subscriptions to Evince, email info@evincemagazine.com. Cost is $24 a year. © 2021 All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in whole or in part in any medium without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.
Page 4 December 2021
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Evince Magazine Page 5
Judy Edmonds
Telling the Backstory of Schoolfield by Joyce Wilburn
There are 39 White House Christmas ornaments on Judy’s patriotic tree. This is the 2021 ornament. Photos by Michelle Dalton Photography.
F
or every story, there is a backstory. If the topic is Schoolfield, Judy Edmonds knows it all—the past, present, and future of the small community that was annexed by the City of Danville in 1951. The active mother of adult children and grandchildren has lived most of her life in the former mill village, renamed The Schoolfield Historic District, and most recently selected as the site of a future casino. “I was born in Glade Hill, Virginia, but moved to Danville when I was five years old. Both of my parents had jobs with Dan River Mills. My father was a supervisor which is the reason why they were able to rent this six-room house in 1944,” she explains while sitting in the living room of the beautifully decorated, modest home built in 1909. “As a child, I loved having more space here, being near people because the houses were close together and having lots of other children in the neighborhood,” she remembers fondly. “I had a mom at every house who corrected me if needed,” says Judy while laughing. She continues wistfully, “We walked to school through the alleyway regardless of the weather. I was fortunate.” The only time Judy didn’t live in Schoolfield was for six years after her marriage to her late husband, Ken, returning in 1961 to live in her childhood home, when her parents moved to Charlotte. “I loved coming back to Schoolfield. I wanted my children to attend Schoolfield Elementary School because it had a very familiar and nurturing atmosphere,” she says.
Judy has childhood memories of playing on the unpaved streets covered with coal dust and having coal cinders embedded in her knees after falling. “We had no playgrounds; our entertainment was in the middle of the streets,” she recounts. Coal bins located behind the houses were empty during the summer so the youngsters hung sheets across the bin openings and the vacant spaces behind the makeshift curtains became backstage. “We’d come out of the coal bin to do our acting,” she says while laughing at the mental picture, adding, “My mother was a stickler for being clean, though. She’d put down an old rug so we wouldn’t get too dirty.”
on the Schoolfield site were salvaged for bricks between 2008 and 2012. “I hope the casino will bring some new venues to Danville that people will enjoy,” she says. She’s also anticipating that the new investment of money in the area will have a positive ripple effect on the
entire Schoolfield Historic District. Judy has already seen the old Schoolfield B.C. (before casino) and is ready to enjoy the newest version of the community she has loved for seventy-one years. For more information visit www.newschoolfield.com.
Also in the backyard was an outside johnny. “When I was old enough, it was my job every Saturday morning to clean it with a type of lye and Clorox,” she says with a smile on her face. “Dan River Mills delivered toilet paper (maybe two rolls at a time) and light bulbs to every home in the Village on a regular basis. “We lived the good life!” she comments with credibility. Judy could talk for hours about her childhood memories of Schoolfield, her current life in the village house that has been completely renovated for modern living, and the future of the district named for the founders of Dan River Mills. “I am delighted that the property will have a nice landscape now,” she says referring to the eighty-two acres that have been vacant since the Dan River Mills industrial buildings
Judy plays with “Happy” the fluffy, white dog while decorating. Photos by Michelle Dalton Photography.
past this stately home on the West Bluff overlooking the Straits of Mackinac. The Victorian home is decorated with filigree woodwork that resembles icing on a wedding cake. Danville’s Wedding Cake House is located at 1020 Main Street near The Wednesday Club and was built in 1897. Architectural historians have said that only 400 houses in the United States have this designation.
Page 6 December 2021
Danville The City I Can’t Escape by Joyce Wilburn
D
anville, Virginia, was a steadfast friend even after I traveled 700 miles north on a recent vacation to get away from her. Reminders of my hometown’s existence popped up serendipitously everywhere. Of course, I made a list and took pictures. Here’s is what I discovered while on my short journey. I encourage you to do the same thing on your next getaway.
1. The Tuscarora: This painting by Geoffrey Harding is on display at Old Fort Niagara in New York. European explorers first encountered the Tuscarora people on land later incorporated into the colonies of North Carolina and Virginia. Conflicts with the settlers led the Tuscarora to migrate to New York. There is an area in Pittsylvania County named for these indigenous people. Just outside Danville’s city limits are Tuscarora Golf Club, Tuscarora Farms, Tuscarora Drive, Tuscarora Village Shopping Center and probably more. 2. The William Backhouse Astor home: William Backhouse Astor (17921875) ran the American Fur Company business from his Mackinac Island, Michigan, home. His father, John Jacob Astor, was worth
at least $20 million when he died and left most of his fortune to his son. There are many branches on the Astor family tree. One limb includes Danville native, Nancy Langhorne Astor, wife of William Waldorf Astor, a cousin to the Astors in Michigan.
3. The Grand Hotel: This National Historic Landmark on Mackinac Island, Michigan, has the longest porch in the world (so they say) and over 300 guest rooms. Twenty-eight of the rooms are classified as named rooms. Number 440 is the Lady Astor Room and Room 442 is Lord Astor Suite. Lady Nancy Astor was born in Danville in 1879. She made international history when she became the first woman to be seated as a Member of Parliament in London before women in the United States could vote.
4. The Wedding Cake House: While touring Mackinac Island, the guide led us
5. The Grand Hotel Stables is home to twelve horses and twenty antique carriages. John Jacob Astor’s name is listed as an owner of this type of carriage along with other wealthy men of that era: Vanderbilt, Carnegie, and Rockefeller. No, Danville doesn’t have a stable museum, but the Astor name is enough to remind me of
the Langhorne House Museum, the birthplace of Lady Nancy Langhorne Astor, at 117 Broad Street.
6. The Market and Astor Streets intersection on Mackinac Island marks the spot where John Jacob Astor located the headquarters for his American Fur Company in 1817. Danville has several roadways with this name: Astor Street, Astor Court, and Lady Astor Place. After seeing all these reminders of hometown, my heart knew it was time to return. I remembered the words of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz: “There’s no place like home,” and I agreed.
Evince Magazine Page 7
Page 8 December 2021
December
Calendar of Evince
Danville Symphony Orchestra Concert: Home for the Holidays 7:30pm Danville City Auditorium, Floyd St. Program features the Nutcracker, Frozen, Charlie Brown Christmas, I’ll be Home for Christmas, carols, and Santa’s sister presenting The Night Before Christmas, maybe a visit from Santa. free DSO asks attendees to bring food items for God’s Storehouse.
December 14 Abbreviation Key • AU = Averett University, 434.791.5600 www.averett.edu • DMFAH = Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. 434.793.5644 www.danvillemuseum.org • DSC = Danville Science Center, 677 Craghead St. 434.791.5160 www.dsc.smv.org • PA = Piedmont Arts, 215 Starling Ave., Martinsville 276.632.3221 PiedmontArts.org • The Prizery = 700 Bruce St., South Boston, 434.572.8339 www.prizery.com • LHM = Langhorne House Museum, 117 Broad St. Danville, open by appointment for fully vaccinated visitors 434.793.6472 • Wed Club = The Wednesday Club, 1002 Main Street 434.792.7921 www.TheWedClubDanvilleVa.org
Ongoing Guided Walking Tours: Millionaires Row, Holbrook Street and Tobacco Warehouse District. 434.770.1974 www.danvillehistory.org Camilla Williams Exhibit: Exhibit features her opera costumes including Madame Butterfly. DMFAH Danville Civil Rights Exhibition: The Movement on permanent display. DMFAH Attic Sale Donation Drop Off: DMFAH Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm; Sat12-5pm; Sun 2-5pm no clothes, no electronics furniture accepted with appointment davidc522@comcast. net 305.766.2979. Yoga on the Lawn: Saturdays DMFAH Call to reserve a spot
December 2 Averett Celebrates Christmas: AU Pritchett Auditorium, 150 Mountain View Ave. 7pm free Christmas Tree Lighting: 4-6pm PA Gravely-Lester Art Garden
December 3 Christmas on the Plaza: JTI Fountain Main St. Danville 5-9pm hot chocolate, cookies, entertainment, tree lighting ceremony. Light on Early Literacy: a fundraiser for Halifax County South Boston Public Library Early Literacy Program. Bid on 12 lamps created by local craftsman Adam Smith with lamp shades decorated by local artists to go with
the books they’ve chosen from the Shine a Light series. Hors d’oeuvres music wine 6-8pm $10 South Boston Library 509 Broad St. 434.575.4228 Festival of Carols, Grand Illumination, Yule Log Ceremony: presented by Chatham First 7pm in front of the Courthouse Main Street
December 4 Kiwanis Club Pancake Breakfast: 7-11am First Baptist Church, 871 Main Street $5 curbside service or sit-down in Fellowship Hall Weave a Bread Basket & Open House: 11am-3pm $40 326 Main Street Art Collective, Danville, Mainstreetartcollective.com 434.602.2017 Bright Lights & Holiday Nights Parade: hosted by Riverview Rotary 5pm begins at Main & Broad Streets Danville Chatham Christmas Parade: sponsored by Chatham Volunteer Fire Dept. 6pm Main Street
December 5 Christmas Concert: Rainier Trio and soprano Leslie Mabe 3:30pm donations accepted Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 66 North Main Street, Chatham www. ClassicStringsDuo.com Roanoke Symphony Holiday Pops Concert: 3pm Martinsville High School Auditorium; tickets at PiedmontArts.org $5-$15
December 8 Pianist Telly Tucker: The former Director of Economic Development in Danville will play. The Wed Club, 3:45pm free and open to the public
December 9 (thru 12) It’s a Wonderful Life Live Radio Play: Smokestack Theatre DMFAH www.eventbrite.com
December 11 48th DHS Holiday Tour: 11am-5pm Schoolfield Rising $20/25 eventbrite. com 434.709.8398 See ad page 4 and story page 3. Langhorne House Museum: The birthplace of Nancy Langhorne Astor, the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament in London, and the childhood home of her sister, the Gibson Girl, will be open 11am-5pm. free 117 Broad St. For tours and info, call 434. 793.6472.
Wreaths for a Cause Open House: The Institute for Advanced Learning & Research 150 Slayton Ave. Decorated wreaths will garner votes and donations for non-profits. 5:307:30pm hors d’oeuvres cash bar $10
Visit IALR’s atrium December 1December 14 from 8am-5pm to vote for wreaths with a donation. www.ialr.org.
December 18 Cars & Coffee: hosted by Old Dominion Classic Sports Car Club See classic cars, sports cars, muscle cars, and more in the parking lot at Crema & Vine, 1009 Main St. Danville 9-10:30am 434.548.9862 Mandalas for Christmas: Make four coaster-size ornaments or one large ornament instructed by Felice McWilliams. supplies provided 11am-2pm DMFAH $35 Register at fefee.fm30@gmail.com
Evince Magazine Page 9
Store Manager, Lee Hall, shakes hands with Kathy Hilton, VP of the Langhorne House Museum.
Spotting
Exceptional Customer Service by Lois MacFadden
A
grateful Langhorne House Museum in Danville nominates Lowe’s Home Improvement and its associates for the Spotting Exceptional Customer Service Award. Santa and his elves arrived early at the Langhorne House Museum, 117 Broad Street, Danville, when it was the selected recipient of this year’s Lowe’s Hero Project. Corporate Lowe’s conducts this program annually as a way of offering assistance with donated goods plus manpower. Individual stores find one local organization to be the beneficiary by having their associates make nominations. Then, a single final selection is made by each store. The Langhorne House Museum was nominated for this year’s Lowe’s Hero Project by Kathy Hilton, who serves as Vice President of the Langhorne House Museum Board. She recognized the need to renovate a recently vacated apartment on the second floor. The rent from this apartment provides operating revenue for the Museum. Preparing it for new tenants was urgent. Donated appliances and other supplies were delivered to the apartment and Lowe’s associates arrived on November 7, 12, and 13 to provide the necessary labor. The associates came from different departments because of their needed expertise. They hooked up appliances, replaced worn plumbing and electrical fixtures, hammered, painted and made the apartment ready and appealing for its new tenants.
Thank you, Lowes, for exceptional customer and community service. Evince wants to encourage and recognize exceptional customer service. When someone gives you exceptional service, please let us know. In 300 words or less, tell us what happened. Email your story to joycewilburn@gmail.com.
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339 Piney Forest Rd., Danville, VA 24540
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www.holleyandgibsonrealty.com
Page 10 December 2021
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W
e must declutter before the holidays to make room for all the decorations, right? That’s what I thought, too. We had a neighborhood yard sale in mid-October. My neighbor wanted to have another one three weeks later to declutter more, so I rounded up more items. I invited other neighbors to join us in my front yard. Unfortunately, our neighbors have great taste and functional stuff. I acquired a tall, metal container, two lamps and a lampshade, a portable DVD player, a carpet runner and skid guard, a suet feeder, ten books, three storage boxes and a to-die-for, shabbychic, wooden cat with peeling white paint. Who could resist that cat? In the decluttering contest, Neighbor #1 was the big winner. He had two items to sell and refrained from buying anything. Neighbor #2 brought at least four tables of things to the sale and purchased the big TV/DVD player from Neighbor #1. Neighbors #3 had chats and salted caramel lattes on my porch plus got rid of lots of stuff, but they didn’t sell everything, were exhausted, and decided not to ever have another yard sale until either they had amnesia or the pain wore off. Neighbor #4 (me) won because
Who can resist a wooden cat with peeling white paint? Photo by Linda Lemery.
my shed was less crowded. I sold air conditioners, humidifiers, air purifiers, and other items or gave them away. However, I lost by buying Neighbor #1’s gutter guards. From Neighbor #3, I also bought an AbRocket exerciser to show my noncompliant abdominal muscles who’s in charge and five pairs of blue jean shorts. (The shorts fit and the tag sizes gave me written validation that I was a smaller size. Woohoo!) But wait. There was more. The holidays were quickly approaching. I was decluttering like a maniac because I needed clean horizontal surfaces and spacious floor areas for decorations. How was I to achieve these miracles? I went through the house room by room and hid enough clutter to create vacant spots. I’ll deal with the hidden stuff later. I had extra bed risers and jacked up the guest bed so plastic storage boxes could be shoved under there. I had a wall-mount TV unit; maybe my husband could mount that on the wall and the TV clutter in our bedroom could be stacked under it. I could rearrange the deck chairs, I mean filing cabinets, in the dining room to open things up. I also needed vacant kitchen counter space for all the cookies, cakes, casseroles, stuffed acorn squash, homemade macaroni and cheese, seven-layer salad, and gifts I was going to bake, make, assemble, or wrap. Cookie Bake Day was coming and required extra horizontal space. I’d declutter more after the holidays, but, in today’s cold-snap generated decluttering frenzy, I wish Evince readers peace, harmony, and good will. Happy holidays! About the Author: When she’s not failing simple decluttering mathematics, Linda Lemery llemery@gmail.com lives and writes in Danville, VA.
Evince Magazine Page 11
Tuesday Before Christmas fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg
A
llan, Tuesday before Christmas, we got a call from a friend of the family, Carl-Michael, who owns rental property down there on Monroe Street where your father had his storefront Holiness church. That old place was special to you even before your daddy died there, alone, holding his chest, in that make-shift pulpit he built out of pine and faith and with the hammer-down strength of his own hands. Carl-Michael knows how you feel about that place. Carl-Michael said kids, punks, were down there throwing rocks, and old Schlitz beer bottles busting out the windows of the old storefronts near the church. It was already past four and getting real dark when you picked up your jeanand-sheepskin-collared jacket in the too-bright yellow kitchen that we never painted over. “Uh-huh... okay..be right down…” you said, “I’ll take care of it…” you said, but Carl-Michael kept talking. “Maybe we should board it up with ply board in the morning; save you some change in the long run,” Carl-Michael said. Allan, you nodded like Carl-Michael could hear you through a landline, looked back at our dinner pot roast, said, “Fallen-baby, babies (to our girls), I’ll be back.” But you weren’t. Gone just then, when it was past ten; I called, then past midnight, I called over and over. Our girls slept with me, our littlest one sucking her thumb and I didn’t stop her. We didn’t know that you were trying to spend the night with your father in that old church, stretched out on one of the pews that he had built. So, yeah, on that Tuesday before Christmas, at just barely light, I’m up, girls bundled, called in sick from work, girls sleepy leaning in their car seats in the back, and we’re driving up Monroe Street, cold on the front of our lips despite the car’s heater. I played the local radio station’s commercial Christmas carols to keep the girls entertained as I strained for a glimpse of you. I see the barrel first, then the fire in it, then I see you boarding up the front picture window, and one person helping you hold an edge of the wood, or some
just watching--smoking and shooting the breeze. Here or there, some homeless people’s hands outstretched over the trash barrel of flames. People I don’t know. People I don’t think you know, either. Allan, we didn’t know what to do with that storefront your daddy pastored, even though no one really came, and now he’s gone and we’re here on a Tuesday before Christmas, still unsure. A year ago, right after he died, we locked the doors with an old, thick chain and that old Sears and Roebuck padlock your father used to keep in the back of his pickup. It’s been so long since we’ve been inside, and today of all days you forgot the key. Right after he passed, we papered the windows so folks couldn’t see in. For months, we paid for light we didn’t use, the heating for a church so the pipes wouldn’t freeze, and we learned the upkeep of faith is steep. But, today, I see you smashing a piece of plywood with your foot that you just put up, putting the parts of it into the barrel, the flames rising higher and little sparks licking delight. I’m not sentimental, Allan. I’m not. I don’t particularly believe. And, no, we did not pray or sing any carols there. But, our girls opened their eyes and looked at the barrel flame, its leaping light, and thought it was pretty. And no one bothered us. It was a kind quiet then. I swear it; I took the girls with me to The Sunrise Chicken Shack and got a whole bunch of chicken biscuits we couldn’t really afford. Something made me do it. I gave some to everyone I saw and turned up the car radio now playing Frosty the Snowman, then that Temptations’ version of Silent Night. I remember I was surprised at how warm it was inside even though you had taken that bolt cutter you got from work the night before and broken the chain. I asked you why you busted the chain and burned the plywood in the barrel. You shrugged and said, “Churches should be open to those who hurt, specially on the Tuesday before Christmas.” I know folks thought it strange that we took all the paper from the windows, faded but still blocking the light and put it in the fire too, how you told folks to come and sit in the quiet on the pews, and most did. Seven years from then, we will sell that storefront to a woman who does hair. We sold it cheap and she said we were a blessing, when we weren’t really. Allen, I think of all the Christmases we had and will have. I don’t know why I always remember this one first, why I still think it was so right. Fallen
Dedicated to helping you maintain a
lifestyle
Page 12 December 2021
Photo by Dave Slayton.
Planning a Holiday Dinner? Think About This by Dave Slayton
a member of the Master Court of Sommeliers
I
f you want to serve wines to your friends and family with that special meal of the season and you’re wondering about possible food and wine combinations, here are some ideas you may want to consider. For starters, how about a sparkling wine before the meal? An icebreaker, you might say. It doesn’t have to be Champagne (unless the budget will allow it). A Spanish cava might be just the thing to start warm conversations on a cold evening. Most cava sold in the United States is in the brut category. Brut is a middle-of-theroad level of sweetness. Cava is tart and crisp with a bit of a toast note and refreshing bubbles. An excellent way for a good start to the evening. Having a beef entrée for Hanukkah or Christmas dinner? Consider serving it with a cabernet franc from Chinon in France’s Loire Valley or one from Argentina or our own backyard in Virginia. Having ham at your holiday dinner? Try a dry rosé. Rosé is often associated with the southern
France region of Provence. With its rise in popularity, a good rosé may originate from many areas, including Virginia. Chicken or turkey entrée? Consider how it is prepared when selecting your wine. With a heavy cream sauce, you may want a creamy chardonnay. On the other hand, if the sauce is lighter, try a non-oakaged chardonnay so you can taste all the flavors in the entrée without the oak influence. Have an all-vegetable dinner over the holidays? A dry riesling will probably be a good choice, and riesling can be sweet or dry or somewhere between the two. Therefore, a medium-dry riesling might be best for all at the table. For dessert, any number of sweet wines would be acceptable, including port or sherry. Whatever the entrée, the wine served with it, or the table’s location, I’m sure it will taste much better when shared with loved ones. Cheers!
Evince Magazine Page 13
The Most Meaningful Job of All by Carla Minosh
Pictured is the bread pudding on its way into the oven.
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or most people, a home renovation means updating their kitchen or bathrooms. For old-house people, a home renovation means enlarging the existing kitchen or adding a new bathroom. For old-houserestoration people, it means that there will be teams of people in your home for years and years, re-doing plaster, flooring, electrical wiring, plumbing, woodwork, and cabinetry work. We spent many years working with a plumber, mason, carpenter, faux-painter, electricians, and a decorative plasterwork expert. They were familiar faces, who greeted us as we arrived each Friday, and many worked alongside us on weekends as we inched slowly toward restoring our house. They shared our meals, our inside jokes, and our pain and disappointments when things didn’t go as planned. In many ways, they became our old-house family. We toasted the births of their grandchildren, their kids’ graduations, and their marriages. We mourned the deaths of their parents and worried through the illnesses of their family members. They knew our stories and we knew theirs. After many years of toil and labor, the house began to come together. What started out in a state of demolition and disassembly with work going on in every corner began to coalesce and resemble a home. Walls once with gaping holes as weakened plaster had been pulled out now had silky smooth planes of fresh white plaster. Woodwork once thick with 130 years of paint layers now had crisp graining of beautiful wood or at least a primer coat, smooth and fresh. Lights turned on when the switch was flipped, and water poured from faucets and showers. Windows stood where their plywood placeholders once had. In one particular year, nine years into our restoration, we finally
had a functional kitchen. Also, the dining room was finished enough that we could set up the furniture that we had bought almost three years earlier. Pulling off the plastic draped over the cluster of antique sideboards, chairs, and table leafs, taking out each piece, dusting it off, and placing it in its proper place was a wonderful thing. Eating our first meal in that room felt so good, even though there was still a lot of work to do on the surfaces of the walls and ceiling. In spite of a bare 100 watt bulb hanging from above, it was very rewarding. Our following weekend at the house was the week before Christmas. Typical for that time of year, there was always too much to do and not enough time in which to do it. We were late arriving at the house, long after dark and after everyone had left for the day. When we entered, we wondered why so many lights were on. The house was warm and cheerful. There were Christmas decorations hung here and there in the parlors. In the main hall, a garland had been threaded through the spindles of the staircase banister, decorated with colorful balls of gold, green, red, and silver. Turning into the dining room, we caught our breaths, and tears flowed as the most beautiful Christmas tree stood in the bay. The lights twinkled and the tinsel reflecting them sparkled and glowed. Our crew of contractors had picked the most perfect fir, set it lovingly in place, and had carefully placed colorful decorations tastefully throughout its branches in a gesture of appreciation! The bare bulb hanging in the room was replaced by a cute, inexpensive temporary chandelier, the glow of it adding to the whole mood of the season. Thinking about all of the work our contractors have done on our home, that is the one “job” that stands out to me as the most significant and meaningful.
Serve This Grand Finale at
Your Holiday Dinner Chocolate Bread Pudding with Hard Sauce by Annelle Williams winner of the national 2002 Sutter Home Recipe Contest
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e’ve reached the end of 2021. I’m so happy that this year our family will be able to safely unite around a decorated tree with love and gratitude for each other. I’m reaching into my recipe archives and bringing out an old favorite that the grandchildren have never tried, Chocolate Bread Pudding.
I’m adding vanilla ice cream and hard sauce as options to make the whole family happy. I believe it will be a welcomed grand finale to our Christmas dinner. I hope the holidays will be a blessing to you and your loved ones. May they be filled with joy, love, compassion and gratitude for each other.
Chocolate Bread Pudding 12 regular sized croissants, cut into pieces 3 cups whole milk 3 cups whipping cream 2 cups sugar
1 T vanilla 12 large eggs 1 large package semi-sweet chocolate chunks
Preheat oven to 350º. Bring milk, cream, one cup of sugar and vanilla to a simmer in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk eggs and remaining cup of sugar in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot milk mixture. Strain custard into another large bowl. Place croissants in a 13x9x2 glass baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with chocolate chunks. Pour custard over chocolate and croissant pieces. Let stand at room temperature one hour, gently pressing to submerge croissant pieces in custard. Place baking dish in large roasting pan. Fill pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of baking dish. Bake until puffed and golden about 45-60 minutes. Check with a cake tester to be certain it is cooked through. Cool 30 minutes. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of hard sauce, or as is.
Hard Sauce 1 cup Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey, or alcohol of your choice, bourbon or rum 1 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup brown sugar 1 T vanilla 1 tsp. sea salt 2 T butter
Simmer all ingredients over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. It will thicken as it cools, but it doesn’t have to be very thick.
Page 14 December 2021
Book Clubbing
Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci review by Diane Adkins
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inter: colder days, longer nights, celebrations. It’s the time of year when some heartier meals are in order. Stanley Tucci has written a couple of cookbooks and this latest outing is a memoir full of tantalizing recipes for Italian dishes and drinks. The recipes are interwoven with stories from his life, especially tales shaped by food. I have arrived late to Tucci’s party; I know him as an actor, starring in the films Big Night and Julie and Julia. In retrospect, the themes of those movies should have been a clue that he has a serious interest in food. His television series, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy and the
cookbooks he has written were unknown to me. Then I heard him on a podcast and thought the stories he told about friends and family were funny (dining out with his co-star Meryl Streep, for example). What drew me to read the book was the recounting of his 2017 diagnosis and subsequent treatment for cancer at the base of his tongue. His reflections on what it was like to lose his appetite and be unable to eat except through a feeding tube took his narrative to a level beyond just another “my life through food” story. Tucci says food was the “primary
family tradition cooked by his parents and despised by his wife. Funny, but also true. It’s hard to adjust to the holiday traditions of others. That dish and the stories surrounding it have become part of what it is to be a Tucci. activity and the main topic of conversation in my household” when he was young, and his mother never cooked a bad meal. His descriptions of the school lunches she packed explain why his friends envied him. To Tucci, the most precious of family heirlooms are the recipes because “They give us the story of other people in other times, and, unlike a piece of furniture, they can be re-created endlessly. In other words, we become part of the story the recipe is telling.” In Big Night, the pièce de résistance is a dish called a timpano. It is a vision of excess served on Christmas day--a Tucci
Perhaps it was the seriousness of the topic that led Tucci to tuck his cancer story nearly at the end. His first wife died of cancer, so he had difficulty believing the doctor was right, that it was striking his life again. How could oral cancer come to someone whose life is food? The story of his path through it sets the book apart from a simple “what I ate and with whom” memoir. It elevates the narrative. Come for the recipes and the name-dropping; stay for the story. Diane S. Adkins is a retired Director of Pittsylvania County Library System.
Evince Magazine Page 15
Page 16 December 2021