Squares: A better tale than recipe
I’ve got a quick fix for you. A Bisquick fix.
Last week, I waxed nostalgic, sharing my late Mom’s sweet, old-school recipes for candy Easter eggs (secret ingredient: Gulf Wax, which is kept by the canning supplies and not labeled as edible but provides a glossy — if possibly toxic — finish).
Not only was I two days late for the actual holiday (or 383 days early for the next), I was confusing with the amount of sweetened coconut to include. Let me use this opportunity to be even more confusing: Just keep dumping it in until it looks right!
I mentioned that Dad found her recipes folded and tucked inside the cover of the worn spiral-bound Glyndon Elementary School Cookbook that still lives on top of the fridge and in our family folklore:
Now that homespun community cookbook, a fundraiser for my school in Reisterstown, Md., long before the days of Pinterest, is still a source of humor for the family. Mom contributed several recipes to it. Tried-and-true recipes, like her Shoofly Cupcakes, were submitted under her name. And then totally random recipes she never prepared (“Reuben Squares? What in the heck are Reuben Squares?! We’ve never eaten those!”) were submitted under “Jenny” Christman’s name — that would be me.
And that’s when the corned beef appetizer story gets really corny.
I ribbed her so much about the Reuben Squares — made not with rye bread, but with Bisquick, of all things, and probably from a recipe printed on the box — that she finally did prepare the appetizer … once. Turns out Jenny Christman’s Reuben Squares were not half-bad. Maybe I’ll share that recipe at another untimely time … like 383 days before a future St. Patrick’s Day.
Well, that time is now. Consider it my two-days-late-for-Easterand-coconut-conundrum contrition.
I had several readers write in that they were interested in this
Elsewhere in entertainment and the arts:
WEDNESDAY Jazz in the Park
A+B (Adrienne Collins on vocals and Bonnie Earleywine on guitar) performs for Jazz in the Park, 6-8 p.m. Wednesday in the History Pavilion, just west of the First Security Amphitheater in Little Rock’s Riverfront Park (enter via Ottenheimer Drive off of President Clinton Avenue).
Admission is free. In case of rain, the concert will move to the River Market West Pavilion, behind the Ottenheimer Market Hall, 400 President Clinton Ave. Beer, wine, soft drinks and water will be sold, along with new Jazz in the Park koozies; a portion of the proceeds benefits Art Porter Music Education Inc.’s scholarship fund. Lawn chairs and blankets are welcome, and there is some seating in the natural stone amphitheater at the History Pavilion. No coolers are allowed.
Series sponsors are the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and the River Market. Call (501) 375-2552 or visit the website, rivermarket. info.
UCA percussion
The University of Central Arkansas Percussion Ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Recital Hall, Snow Fine Arts Center, UCA, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. The program will include Tinplay by Per Andreasson, Music for Pieces of Wood by Steve Reich and White Pines by Michael Burritt. Admission is free. Call (501) 450-5752 or email prose@uca.edu.
THURSDAY Brown Bag lecture
Laura Smith, a doctoral student at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, will discuss the Civil War’s effect on medical education in a Brown Bag lunch lecture, “Healing Arkansas: Medical Education in the South After the Civil War,” noon Thursday at the Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., Little Rock. Admission is free. Attendees provide their own lunches; the museum provides soft drinks and water. Call (501) 324-9685, email info@oldstatehouse.org or visit oldstatehouse.com.
Symposium readings
Author Janis Kearney — a former publisher of the Arkansas State Press who at one time was President Bill Clinton’s personal diarist; and poet Terry Minchow-Proffitt, a retired pastor originally from the Arkansas Delta now living in St. Louis — will read from their works at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Bradbury Art Museum, Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. The readings are part of ASU’s “Delta Symposium XXIV: Discovering the Region’s Voices.” Admission is free. Sponsor for the symposium is ASU’s department of English, philosophy and world languages. Call (870) 972-3043 or visit the website, AState.edu/delta-symposium.
Kearney will give symposium’s keynote presentation at 1:15 p.m. Thursday in the Mockingbird Room ASU’s Carl R. Reng Student Union, 102 N. Caraway Road, Jonesboro. The title of her address: “Still I Rise: A Blueprint for the Celebrate! Maya Project of Arkansas.” The project commemorates Maya Angelou’s artistic, musical and literary contributions.
ETC. Top student poets
Evie Kinsey of Benton, a student at Benton Middle School, won first place for her poem “If I could say one thing, it would probably be” in the junior division of the Poets’ Roundtable of Arkansas’ annual Sybil Nash Abrams Student Poetry Contest.
Second place went to Beth Freudensprung, also a student at Benton Middle School; Jacob McGinness of Little Rock, a student at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic School, took third. McKenzie Young of Sherwood (Sylvan Hills Middle School), Naomi Morris of Benton (Benton Middle School) and Millie Allgood of Little Rock (Holy Souls) received honorable mentions.
In the Senior Division, the first place winner was Annie Knight of Little Rock, a student at Little Rock Central High School, for her poem, “A Mother’s Arms.” Mount St. Mary students Raehana Anwar of North Little Rock, Stephanie Verdaris of Little Rock took second and third places, respectively, with Mount St. Mary students Hannah Brockette of Little Rock and Grace Cassie of Little Rock and home-schooled Grace Rew of North Little Rock receiving honorable mentions.