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Show The Emery County Review, Tuesday, December 2, 2008 AT YOUR LEISURE Casey’s Pockets Swell Book Reviews Swell Recipes B3 Entertainment SWELL RECIPES Shirley Begay Shares Some of Her ‘Back to the Basics’ Recipes Pistachio Tort Kathy Ockey Shirley Begay was born in New Mexico and raised near Cougar Canyon on the border of Arizona. She has three brothers and five sisters. She met her husband, Joe, at a Pow Wow held in Salt Lake City and they began dating and were soon married. They started their lives together in Provo and in Weber County. Joe’s transfer to the Hunter Power Plant brought them to this area. “I never knew Emery County existed. We drove through here and I thought, ‘I’m not living here,’” Shirley said. “I love it here now and it is a special place to raise a family. You could say, ‘you cry coming here and cry leaving.’” Joe has now worked at the power plant for 33 years. Joe and Shirley are the parents of five children, three girls and two boys. Jacob, the youngest, recently went on a mission. They have four grandchildren and said they try to visit their family as often as they can. Shirley said she works in her yard, but it is so large it never all seems to get done. She also enjoys painting and photography. She said it is fun to share pictures with her family over the Internet. Shirley, like most women, loves reading recipes. She said she prepares a lot of traditional foods that she grew up with but a lot of other people probably wouldn’t like. These foods include a lot of plain ingredients, and she suggested we need to go back to eating the basics. Shirley is contributing several recipes that she makes often and hopes that you will like them too. CASEY’S POCKETS In Search of Christmas Traditions Casey D. Wood As the Christmas season truly begins, my family has started to bring the Christmas spirit to our household. As we were decorating the tree and listening to good ole’ Bing Crosby, Nat King Coal and the Carpenters, we began to discuss Christmas traditions. As we thought about Christmas traditions, some especially fun ones I have heard of came to mind. It’s interesting to think about all of the different things people do at this time of the year, and to wonder where these traditions came from. Some families make it a tradition to watch a certain movie on a certain night at a certain time each year. My brother-in-law for instance insists that he and his family watch Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Christmas Eve. Other families plan activities, such as Christmas parties, or Christmas visits to certain people. Some have an annual party, scheduled a year in advance for a certain day, such as the second Friday in December. These parties’ itineraries are the same each year, such as dinner, followed by a white elephant gift exchange, and then watching a Christmas movie. Some families read Christmas books each year, sometimes starting as earlier as Dec. 1 and reading a book each night until Christmas Day. Some may read “Twas the Night before Christmas” right before bed on Christmas Eve. In any case, it is without debate that reading together as a family not only brings families together, but helps bring the excitement of the season into homes. As we sat around the tree, remembering passed Christmases, my dad asked what we would like to do for Christmas traditions. Before much could be said my mother pointed out that we already have many Christmas traditions in our home. Each Christmas Eve, the children at home open a Christmas present. Doing so is one of my earliest Christmas memories. Each year my parents, generally led by my dad, say that we are not going to open a present on Christmas Eve, and each year the kids, usually led by me, protest the idea until our parents change their minds. In our household the debate has almost become a Christmas tradition in itself. We also realized that our way of decorating the tree was a tradition. Mom hands out ornaments to the kids, who put them on the tree, while dad sits on the couch and watches, singing along to the Christmas music we always have playing. Some generic bulbs are placed on the tree, but many of the ornaments we have are child specific. Each child has certain ornaments that they have made or been given, along with certain ornaments they have put on the tree as long as they can remember. Now after considering all the talk of traditions, I realize that talking about our lack of traditions could probably at this point be considered a Christmas Tradition. Each year a child brings up how few traditions we have while decorating our tree, and each year we eventually realize that we do have traditions. If you don’t think you have any traditions, step back and take a look and you may find, like my family did, that some of the little things you do each Christmas are tradition. Whether your family has many or few Christmas traditions, and whether they are listed here or not, it can certainly be said that traditions help bring the spirit of the season to our homes and families and help us to grow closer together. 1 cup flour 2 tablespoons sugar 1 cube butter 8 ounces cream cheese 2/3 cups sugar 1/2 of 13-ounce tub of Cool Whip 2 1/2 cups milk 2 packages of instant pistachio pudding Mix flour, sugar and butter and press into a 9 by 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese, sugar and Cool Whip until creamy. Spread over cooled crust. Mix Pistachio pudding with milk and spread over cream cheese layer. Spread remaining container of Cook Whip on top. Peach Muffins 3 cups flour 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil 3 eggs 2 cups white sugar 2 cups peeled, pitted peaches 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon almond flavoring Mix together and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Shirley Begay Blue Bread (One of my traditional recipes - it’s delicious) 4 cups blue corn meal 1 handful sugar 1/8 cup cedar tree powder About 4 cups boiling water (Never cold, it will not stick together) Mix first three ingredients in large bowl and gradually add boiling water. Until it forms a semi-stiff dough. Make patties and cook over hot griddle. SWELL BOOKS ‘Interred with their Bones’ a Real Page Turning Mystery Kathy Ockey Adrienne Carter is a ninth grader at San Rafael Junior High and reading is her passion. She said when she was younger she would use a little flashlight under the bed covers so she could read at night and no one would know. Her mother, Diane, said at Christmas Adrienne doesn’t usually ask for games or toys, but she always asks for a Barnes and Noble book card. One of Adrienne’s favorite school memories was acting out the book “The Magic Tree House” at school. She also said she is a compulsive reader – she reads everything and exchanges books with Tanie Worthen because they enjoy reading the same types of books. Adrienne has other interests, such as chorus, piano and ballet. She said she loves piano but when she got her ballet point shoes and tutu she was truly happy. Another of her passions is baseball and her favorite team is the Colorado Rockies. She said she loved going to the World Series last year with her dad and watching their favorite teams play. Adrienne really enjoyed the book, “Interred With Their Bones,” by Jennifer Lee Carrell. Adrienne said the title of this book comes from William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar.” She quoted “The evil men do lives after them. The good is often interred with their bones.” She said this was more of an adult book but her mother had read it and approved it for her to read. Adrienne said the main character in this book is Kate Stanley, a Shakespearean scholar who is directing the play “Hamlet” at the rebuilt Globe Theater in London. She gets a surprise visit from her mentor, Roz, a Harvard Shakespearean professor who asks for her help and gives her a wrapped package. When the professor is suddenly killed, Kate opens the box and finds a clue that begins an international treasure hunt for one of Shakespeare’s lost plays. As Kate travels from country to country, she is followed by a string of murders, the Adrienne Carter police, and a killer who’s planning a terrible death for her. Every murder that is committed is in Shakespearean fashion – stabbed like Julius Caesar, or hanged as in Henry V. It even men- tions the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City. Adrienne said, “If you like Hamlet you will love this book.” Library Corner A Love of Reading Christmas Story Beulah Oveson Times were hard for Laura Simmons and her two young children, especially with Christmas only two weeks away and Laura’s job being cut back to just three days a week. Alex and Megan’s father had passed away nine months earlier from a bad car accident, leaving Laura and the two children practically penniless. But Laura, being a proud and independent woman, was determined to take care of the children as best she could without accepting outside help. Keeping up with household bills and keeping the children clothed and fed took just about every penny Laura could make, and it saddened her that it would be a very meager Christmas for the children this year. Maybe next Christmas she would have a better paying job and she could make it up to Alex and Megan; she would just have to explain to them her financial situation this year so they would not expect to see more than one or two presents each under the tree. Megan would get a new Sunday dress and a pretty new slip and Alex would get a new Sunday shirt and a pair of pants, and then maybe next summer they could both find small jobs in the neighborhood to help out the with their clothing needs. Laura knew they would be expecting two or three new reading books each, since every other Christmas they had looked forward to receiving new readings books, but Laura just could not swing it this year. They would just have to read their old books over again, even though they had already read them all several times. The children loved reading and they read whenever they could find time. Laura had noticed that the more they read, the more they wanted to read, and they both seemed to be well ahead of others in their school studies. Laura attributed this to their love of reading, and then sharing with each other exciting things they had just learned. She was also grateful that the children would rather stay home and cuddle up next to the warm fireplace with a book in hand rather than leave home to find something to do in their spare time, as many of the other kids their age seemed to do. The very next morning as Laura was walking to work, she noticed large lettering being added to a new building she had watched being erected, and she had always wondered what the new building would be. It didn’t look like a restaurant, or a clothing store. What could it be? Well, maybe by the time she finished her day at work the lettering would be up and she would then know what the building was to be used for. That evening, tired and anxious to get home to the children, Laura walked at a fast pace to keep warm and so she would arrive home before dusk. She almost forgot to look at the new building, but when she did her heart jumped with excitement. She almost could not believe her eyes. “Now,” she said to herself, “The children can have both clothing and reading books for Christmas.” Across the building, large and bold, were the letters: Colton City Library. Never had there been a library in Colton as long as Laura had lived there, which had actually been all her life. After Alex and Megan left for school the next day, Laura anxiously made a quick trip to the new library, and again her heart did a little jump; the library was actually open for business. The shelves had already been stocked and were sectioned off with signs that read: “Kid’s Corner,” “Teen Scene,” “Biographies and Auto-Biographies,” “Fiction and Non-Fiction.” There was just no end to the variety of books the library had stocked for all age groups. Continued on Page B4. |