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I could not help but wonder, “why is a full moon in a clear sky so beautiful?” as I walked along Wildcat Boulevard one early morning last week.
No matter how often I see this sight I am amazed. God must like beautiful things, as He provides so many for us to enjoy.
When I speak most people realize I was born and raised up north. I have never lost the Northern accent.
After living in Missouri for many years and being married to a southern Oklahoma girl, I have realized there are a few differences between where I was raised and here, especially in the food. For example, I never ate okra or black-eyed peas until I married a Southern Belle.
Pinto beans (always called by Kay’s family red beans) cooked with a ham bone was a new food to me. Having potato salad made with mashed potatoes was different. Homemade beef soup (stew) with a tomato juice base was different, too.
Yet of all the Southern foods I have learned to love, sweet potato pie has to be the best. I had eaten pumpkin pie all my life. I ranked it high, with fresh peach and pecan pie — until I ate Mississippi sweet potato pie.
I was introduced to Mississippi sweet potato pie by the Neosho Lions cooks Cathy Mosby and Margie Wiley. These ladies make some wonderful pies. They are former Mississippi girls and have brought their Southern cooking expertise north to Neosho.
Their fried chicken is better than “finger-lickin’.” A graham cracker dessert is worth fighting the devil for. Their meat loaf is mouth watering. Yet the sweet potato pie is best.
When we have special events such as a Christmas dinner, sweet potato pie is always what is requested of our cooks first.
Other than at Lions Club meetings, I do not recall ever mentioning my love for sweet potato pie to many people. Then on Christmas morning we were surprised when Dave Hendrix stopped by with two, still-warm, sweet potato pies for us to share with our guests at dinner.
Of course, most people know Dave Hendrix as the manager of the Neosho National Fish Hatchery, but he is a fine cook too. He makes some fine sweet potato pies. Must be because he was raised in Louisiana.
Our eating habits change as we age. Also, the food selection today is much greater than it was when I was a kid. Still, I feel blessed to have been introduced to “Southern cooking” and sweet potato pie.
Take a walk, look around, if you have not, try some sweet potato pie, use those signal lights, and see what you notice while passing along Wildcat Boulevard.
Russell Hively writes a weekly column for the Daily News.
I could not help but wonder, “why is a full moon in a clear sky so beautiful?” as I walked along Wildcat Boulevard one early morning last week.
No matter how often I see this sight I am amazed. God must like beautiful things, as He provides so many for us to enjoy.
When I speak most people realize I was born and raised up north. I have never lost the Northern accent.
After living in Missouri for many years and being married to a southern Oklahoma girl, I have realized there are a few differences between where I was raised and here, especially in the food. For example, I never ate okra or black-eyed peas until I married a Southern Belle.
Pinto beans (always called by Kay’s family red beans) cooked with a ham bone was a new food to me. Having potato salad made with mashed potatoes was different. Homemade beef soup (stew) with a tomato juice base was different, too.
Yet of all the Southern foods I have learned to love, sweet potato pie has to be the best. I had eaten pumpkin pie all my life. I ranked it high, with fresh peach and pecan pie — until I ate Mississippi sweet potato pie.
I was introduced to Mississippi sweet potato pie by the Neosho Lions cooks Cathy Mosby and Margie Wiley. These ladies make some wonderful pies. They are former Mississippi girls and have brought their Southern cooking expertise north to Neosho.
Their fried chicken is better than “finger-lickin’.” A graham cracker dessert is worth fighting the devil for. Their meat loaf is mouth watering. Yet the sweet potato pie is best.
When we have special events such as a Christmas dinner, sweet potato pie is always what is requested of our cooks first.
Other than at Lions Club meetings, I do not recall ever mentioning my love for sweet potato pie to many people. Then on Christmas morning we were surprised when Dave Hendrix stopped by with two, still-warm, sweet potato pies for us to share with our guests at dinner.
Of course, most people know Dave Hendrix as the manager of the Neosho National Fish Hatchery, but he is a fine cook too. He makes some fine sweet potato pies. Must be because he was raised in Louisiana.
Our eating habits change as we age. Also, the food selection today is much greater than it was when I was a kid. Still, I feel blessed to have been introduced to “Southern cooking” and sweet potato pie.
Take a walk, look around, if you have not, try some sweet potato pie, use those signal lights, and see what you notice while passing along Wildcat Boulevard.
Russell Hively writes a weekly column for the Daily News.
