Happy milestone birthday to Mom and twin Aunt Patty
Our family celebrated my dad Chester’s 90th birthday in 2019, and last week, it was our same blessing to mark this same special birthday for my mom Peggy and her twin sister, my
Aunt Patty.
Such a big birthday deserves a succession of festivities.
For our family, we gathered for a feast with my two older brothers and two older sisters last weekend at William B’s Steakhouse in Michigan City. And on their Aug. 17 birthdate,
Aunt Patty’s daughter, my cousin Jill, planned another celebration just down the road in the neighboring town DeMotte.
Still known by their maiden name as “the Green Twins,” the sisters grew up with their hard-working mother, my Grandma Green, in nearby Wheatfield, a tiny “stop in the road” where the twins’ youth was shared with their older sister, my Aunt Ruby, and brothers Arthur (who I know as Uncle Sonny) and Walter (who I grew up knowing as Uncle Junior).
The year 1931 was a great year for many reasons.
The top celebrities of that year were Josephine Baker, Joan Blondell, Claudette Colbert, Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks,
Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Dolores Del
Rio, Barbara Stanwyck and Thelma Todd.
CBS launched broadcasting this same year, and the top films showing in movie theaters included the Marx Brothers’ comedy hit “Monkey Business” in contrast to some of the great Universal Studios horror classics like “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.”
The No. 1 singing talents were Rudy Vallee, Louis Armstrong, Gene Autry and Bing Crosby, and this is the same year the Empire State Building was completed in New York City.
Two of my mom’s favorite famous twins have always been the legendary syndicated advice columnist twins, the late Ann Landers and the original Abigail Van Buren aka Dear Abby, who were born on July 4, 1918.
Today, it is Jeanne Phillips as writer Abigail Van Buren, who is author of the legendary “Dear Abby” syndicated advice column, carrying on the tradition of helping others started by her wonderful mother.
Billed as “the most widely syndicated newspaper columnist in the world” by Universal Syndicate, the Dear Abby daily advice column feature appears in 1,400 newspapers worldwide and boasts a daily readership of more than 110 million people.
When I interviewed Jeanne Phillips while she was in Chicago in 2012, my mother joined me to catch-up with Jeannie, who is always a pleasure to chat with about the latest happenings in the world of newspapers and today’s media.
The “Dear Abby” advice column was founded in 1956 by Jeanne’s mother, Pauline “Popo” Phillips, who died in 2013, just six months after her 94th birthday. The rival “Ask Ann Landers” syndicated advice column was written by her twin from 1955 until Eppie “Ann Landers” Lederer died of cancer June 22, 2002, at age 83.
With ground beef prices climbing, our farm menus have included us eating more ground turkey, which offers a healthy, low-calorie bonus. Jeanne’s mom, the original Dear Abby, once published her recipe for a delicious ground turkey meatloaf, which is easy and has a flavor unmatched. I featured Ann Landers’ famed traditional ground beef meatloaf, originally shared in her own column, in my second cookbook, “More From the Farm” published in 2007.
Dear Abby’s Turkey Meatloaf
Makes 8 servings
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 pounds lean ground turkey
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup minced celery (or onion)
¼ cup ketchup
1 can (6 ounce) tomato paste
4 slices bacon
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a shallow baking pan or loaf pan.
2. Empty soup mix into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Measure out just 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon and save rest for another recipe.
3. In a large bowl, combine turkey, breadcrumbs, eggs, celery (or onion), ketchup and the measured amount of soup. Mix well by hand and shape into a loaf in the baking pan.
4. “Frost” as you would a cake, the top of the loaf with the tomato paste and top with bacon slices. Bake for 1 hour.