PUPPY LOVE
BY JERRY CLOWER

I’m not so sure that none of us have ever been loved by an earthly creature until we have been loved by a dog.

I remember we got a letter from a lady up in Okolona, Mississippi, that said, “Dear Mr. Clower:  Please don’t rob me the joy I will receive by giving your little daughter, Katy, a world famous, black, toy, registered dog.”

Now I wanted this lady to go to work for me.  Do you hear how she put it?

She said, “Are you going to rob me of the joy I’m going to have by not letting me give your daughter this dog?”

Now, I knew not to discuss it with Homerline.  Sometimes you just need to make a decision on your own and let ’em find out about it after you done done it.  I wrote this woman back and said, “Yes, we want the dog.”  And then I eased into it with Homerline, gradually.

The day was set.  We were to go to Okolona to pick up the dog.  We drove up the Natchez Trace, got to the lady’s house.  I found out this wasn’t just no normal dog — I mean this dog’s mother was the world-famous show dog, Boogewah PittoDo Lafeet.  Oh mercy!

I said, “Is that right?”

“Yeah, and her daddy’s more famous than that.  He’s Mopasaunt Tibbido Lafayette Napolean.”

I said, “Good gracious.”

So we got the dog.  Driving back down the Natchez Trace, it done come up one of them hurricanes.  I mean, the wind and the rain was bad, shoe-mouth deep, windshield wipers a flopping, and you can’t see nothing.  We’re driving home, and Katy is on the back seat holding this beautiful little poodle dog.

Katy said, “What we gonna name it?  We’ve got to have a registered name.”

My wife said, “Name it after me — name it ‘Crazy Trouble”:  Trouble for what the dog’s causing, and Crazy for me having little enough sense to come up here in this hurricane after it.”

Katy said, “Mama, the registered name of this little dog will be Katy Burns Clower Tandy Rice Marcel Freckles.”

~ copyright STORIES FROM HOME, by Jerry Clower
reprinted with permission of University Press of Mississippi

2 RICE & 2 MEAT CASSSEROLE

As I was digging through my recipe box today — I came across this one penned in my great-Aunt Beth’s handwriting.  The recipe is stellar.  I’ve made it many times and so has my family.

My great-Aunt Beth lived in San Francisco and Carmel, Ca.   She was a classy, very proper, talented and successful interior designer and enjoyed entertaining friends — more often than not preparing her own recipes.

She also was one of the only 61 survivors (out of the total 583 fatalities) at the Tenerife airport disaster in 1977 that day – when 2 Boeing 747 jets collided on the runway.  According to Wikipedia — the deadliest accident in aviation history.

My great-Aunt Beth suffered a broken leg and her feet were never totally the same from her jump at the end of the wing of the plane to the ground.  She spent months in hospitals.  The nightmares of that experience never left her.

There are plenty of Youtube videos out there regarding this crash that are intriguing should it be of interest to you to check out.

That being said — here we go to the recipe:

HERE’S HOW THE RECIPE GOES — and I am typing it exactly as she wrote it on the index card I look at right now:

• 1 # fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 small onion, small diced
• 1/2 # each veal and lean pork (cut into 1″ cubes or smaller)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup each — wild rice and white rice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups celery, cut into 1/2″ slices
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup

Thoroughly wash rice, drain until dried off a bit, then and add mushroom soup – combining well.

IN THE MEANTIME MELT BUTTER IN A SKILLET:

Saute mushrooms, onion, celery  and meat cubes in butter until well browned over medium-high heat.

TURN RICE, MUSHROOMS, ONION, and MEAT CUBES into a 3 QUART CASSEROLE DISH

POUR SOY SOY SAUCE + 1/2 CUP WATER EVENLY OVER RICE + MEAT MIXTURE AND GENTLY STIR IN

COVER TIGHTLY WITH FOIL AND BAKE @ 325* FOR 1 1/2 HOURS

Her notes at the bottom of recipe card reads — you can add to or subtract from — I do.  Serves 8

** Serve with a light side salad of butter lettuce, red onion, sliced fresh tomatoes and a favorite vinaigrette dressing and fresh slice of artisan bread **

(( My personal note – I haven’t ever made this recipe with veal.  Often times just 1# chicken cubed and skipped the pork, too.  And I also like to add about 1/2 cup sliced almonds to the mix.))

Additional side note – # in recipe = a portion of a pound of meat.  That # sign means numerous things these days.  Ha

~ Hippie Cowboy recipe box