Duchess & Sadie's Mtn Domain

Bayfield, CO - It has been a chilly, dry week in Southwest Colorado Rockies, but we hear tell that the Eastern slopes of the Rockies around I70 and Copper mountain have had some snow and ice that closed parts of the interstate. From what the weather say, it sounds like another storm is heading to the Eastern slopes this coming week.

Do you have your winter/snow tires ready just in case?

Did you survive the Trick or Treaters this weekend? Did they still trick or treat in the neighborhoods, anymore? Or do they gathering in the downtown square for a spook parade?

NW Okie was telling me about the good old days when she was just a young girl, dressing up in semi-spooky costumes w/paper sack in hand to hold her treats while she canvassed the neighborhoods around Seventh, Church and Maple street, ending back at home in a two-story, spooky, white, wood-frame house at 703 7th Street, with a semi-large sack of candy. NW Okie never did any of the Tricks that some did.

There was a time that some teenagers stole NW Okie's sack of treats, though! We hope the tricks and pranks have ceased in NW Okie's small rural hometown!

Good Night & Good Luck! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Cookbook (1934) - Roast Turkey

America - With the Thanksgiving holiday just a few weeks away, we thought it appropriate for some Home Comfort Cookbook hints on Roasting that Thanksgiving Turkey. Will it be Wild or frozen?

Home Comfort says that poultry and game are to be primarily classified as meat. Their proper cooking is governed by the general instructions given under "Methods of Cooking" and "Meats and Meat Specials" (See in Other features of this week's newsletter).

However, they require a somewhat more delicate treatment than the more mature or coarser joints and cuts, and, as a rule, a much longer time for proper cooking.

In preparing poultry and wildfowl for cooking, there is little variation from the regular methods employed with coarser meats. Cooking authorities do not agree as to the proper method. However, some cookery experts contend that poultry should never be wet or washed before cooking, holding that it has a tendency to make the skin and flesh soft and sodden. This is not only poor advice, but surely a weak reason for the practice, for one of the first and most important principles in all cookery is absolute cleanliness.

In dressing all poultry and fowl for whatever method of cooking, after carefully removing all pin-feathers, and thoroughly singeing, a good cook will use many clear, cold waters -- washing and rewashing until absolutely clean, using a small quantity of soda in the let rinsing water. She will not allow the bird to remain in the water while dressing, but will accomplish the washing by frequent dipping and spacing in order that the water may not remain long enough to penetrate the tissues. After sufficient washing, the bird must be immediately dried by the use of a soft, clean cloth, merely blotting the surface lightly, inside and out, instead of roughly wiping. Lightly sprinkling with salt and allowing to remain for a few moments rolled up in a dry clean cloth, will insure a sufficiently dry, unshrunken bird diesel for even roasting or baking.

Roast Turkey

After properly plucking, dressing and cleansing, prepare for the roasting pan; cut off some of the neck if too long, and tie the skin over it; prepare a dressing of double the quantity in the bread dressing recipe, stuff the crop, and then the body, carefully stitching up the openings.

Tie or skewer the wings and legs in folded position and close to body; rub over with soft butter, sprinkle with slat and pepper, and dredge with flour; place on rack in dripping pan, our in 1 to 2 cups water, and set in hot oven for 30 minutes to the pound.

Baste frequently while roasting; if any portion should seem to be browning too readily, protect it by pinning a piece of buttered paper over it; turn frequently, that all portions may be evenly baked and browned.

When pierced with a fork, and the juice runs out perfectly clear, the roast is done; serve up on hot platter; stew the giblets separately until tender, remove them and chop fine, thicken the gravy in which they were stewed with flour and butter rubbed together, return the chopped giblets, and serve in gravy dish on the side. Serve with cranberry sauce. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

NW Okie's R & R

Bayfield, CO - Thanks to Homer Hawkins for reminded us this last week of our oakiepics Webshots collection on Webshots (Oakeipics) that we took in 2002 of the Alva Downtown Square.


Alva Downtown Square 2002

Checkout the other Oakiepics Webshots in this week's OkieLegacy newsletter.

Don't forget to THINK Twice and VOTE once, Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Perhaps you are one of those who VOTE early! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Working Together In Hard Times & Moving Forward

America - It is all about working together, meeting halfway and reaching a reasonable outcome on both sides ... instead of some saying, "NO! We want you to fail!" Bravo to Jon Stewart and his Rally to Restore Sanity Saturday, October 30, 2010.



Stewart ended the rally with, "Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the promised land. Sometimes it's just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together ..... Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you."

Bravo Jon Stewart! Thanks for the Rally For Sanity when we needed it the most! Thanks for reminding us that we CAN, SHOULD work together in reasonable compromises, even if they are small, to move America FORWARD!

As this NW Okie's older sister (DoRight Dorthy) reiterated in her Northwest Oklahoma campaigns for State Representative, in 1988 and 1990, "We Are All In This Together!"

We have the power this Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to THINK Twice - VOTE Once - Work Together through these hard times (not end times) and Move America Forward, NOT Backwards! View/Write Comments (count 2)   |   Receive updates (1 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

This Day In History - November 1st

America - On this day in 1930, President Herbert Hoover turns a telegraphic "golden key" in the White House to mark the opening of the 5,160-foot-long Detroit-Windsor Tunnel between the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan, and the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. The tunnel opened to regular traffic on November 3. The first passenger car it carried was a 1929 Studebaker.

* On this day in 1861, President Lincoln names George Brinton McClellan general in chief of the Union armies, replacing the aged and infirm Winfield Scott. In just six months, McClellan had gone from commander of the Ohio volunteers to the head of the Union army.

*On this day in 1952, The United States detonates the world's first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. The test gave the United States a short-lived advantage in the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. Following the successful Soviet detonation of an atomic device in September 1949, the United States accelerated its program to develop the next stage in atomic weaponry, a thermonuclear bomb.

Popularly known as the hydrogen bomb, this new weapon was approximately 1,000 times more powerful than conventional nuclear devices. Opponents of development of the hydrogen bomb included J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the fathers of the atomic bomb. He and others argued that little would be accomplished except the speeding up of the arms race, since it was assumed that the Soviets would quickly follow suit.

The opponents were correct in their assumptions. The Soviet Union exploded a thermonuclear device the following year and by the late 1970s, seven nations had constructed hydrogen bombs. The nuclear arms race had taken a fearful step forward.

* On this day in 1924, On this day, William Tilghman is murdered by a corrupt prohibition agent who resented Tilghman's refusal to ignore local bootlegging operations. Tilghman, one of the famous marshals who brought law and order to the Wild West, was 71 years old.

Known by friends, enemies as "Uncle Billy." Tilghman, an honest and effective lawmen, was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1854. He moved west when he was only 16 years old. Tilghman earned a reputation for treating even the worst criminals fairly and protecting the rights of the unjustly accused. Tilghman had little tolerance for those who took the law into their own hands. In 1898, a wild mob lynched two young Indians who were falsely accused of raping and murdering a white woman. Tilghman arrested and secured prison terms for eight of the mob leaders and captured the real rapist-murderer.

In 1924, Tilghman did not quietly retire. Here was an the old lawman, unable to hang up his gun. He accepted a job as city marshal in Cromwell, Oklahoma. Tilghman was shot and killed while trying to arrest a drunken Prohibition agent. READ MORE about William "Billy Tilghman>

* On this day in 1914, a German naval squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee sinks two British armored cruisers with all aboard off the southern coast of Chile on November 1, 1914, in the Battle of Coronel.

* On this day in 1941, President Roosevelt announces that the U.S. Coast Guard will now be under the direction of the U.S. Navy, a transition of authority usually reserved only for wartime. The Coast Guard was established as the Revenue Marine Service by Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, in 1790. In 1915, the U.S. Lifesaving Service, formed in 1878, and the RMS combined to become the Coast Guard. During peacetime, the Guard was under the direction of the Department of Treasury until 1967, when the Department of Transportation took control. But during war, it was under the control of the U.S. Navy. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

1930s - Methods of Cooking

America - Home Comfort Cookbook for young cooks back in the 1930s suggested the following for Methods of Cooking, as seen on page 37 of the Wrought Iron Range Home Comfort Cookbook. do you remember your mother or grandmother's methods of cooking? We would love to hear from you!

Roasting -- The basic, oldest, method for cooking, from which practically all the other methods have been derived. It consists of the direct application of even heat, intensively at first, say for the first ten minutes, that the outside may be quickly seared in order to retain the juices. Then allowing to cook more slowly, frequently turning, so that ll sides may be cooked uniformly. There are tow methods of roasting: direct and indirect.

Direct Roasting -- In direct roasting the meat or fowl is exposed directly to the fire, upon the correct management of which greatly depends success. The fire should be kept clear, bright, brisk, and steady. Cooking too quickly all the time tends to toughen the roast. Frequent basting -- about every ten minutes -- together with steady, slow cooking makes the meat more tender since it helps to retain the juices and flavor, preventing dryness by carrying the heat and moisture into the interior. The proper time for direct roasting, if the fire has been kept bright and even, will be found to be about fifteen minutes per pound, with twenty minutes added, for beef or mutton; and about twenty minutes per pound, with thirty minutes added, for veal or pork.

Indirect Roasting -- Instead of being exposed directly to the fire, the roast is placed in the oven of the range, and is usually referred to as oven-roasting. This method of roasting is now employed almost altogether for small roasts, since by this method the roast loses less of its weight. Like direct roasting, the excellence depends greatly upon the amount and quality of basting. The time for cooking greatly varies for various meats, and depends upon the amount and regularity to the good judgement and management of the cook.

Broiling -- A modification of roasting, but applied altogether to thinly sliced meats. Like roasting, there are two methods: Direct and indirect. Direct broiling, called grilling, is done by placing the meat slices upon an open grill, or gridiron, directly over the fire. The fire must be clear, intensely hot, and high in the grate. The grill must be hot and lightly greased to prevent sticking. The meat should be turned often so the outer surfaces will be well done, while inside is but delicately cooked.

Indirect, or pan-broiling, is done on the cooking surface of the range, and by using a heavy pan, skillet, or griddle, instead of the open grille, as in direct broiling. The same precautions as in direct broiling should be observed.

Baking -- As applied to meats, baking is a modification of oven-roasting, the essential difference being that the roasting is done only after the meat or fowl has been partially boiled -- called parboiling, and the cooking completed in the oven, the same precautions being followed as in oven-roasting. Proper regulation of the heat, and frequent basting are essential to success. As applied to vegetable and fruit, baking is simply roasting whole. As applied to bread, pastry, etc., the term is familiar.

Home Comfort goes on to explain other Methods of Cooking, such as, Boiling, stewing, steaming, over hot water, frying, braising, poaching, En casserole, basting, larding, marinating, shirring and scalloping. We will continue the Methods of cooking in future OkieLegacy newsletters. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Meats & Meat Specials (1934)

America - According to Home Comfort Cookbook of 1934, page 64, here is what they suggested to young cooks cooking on the Wrought Iron Range in the 1930s when it came to the cooking of Meats and Meat Specials. Did your grandparents or parents have a special meat preparation, recipe that you would like to share? We would love to hear about it and share with the rest of our readers. Just email Linda (Email: mcwagner.lk@gmail.com).

When properly cooked, meat becomes one of the most readily digestible of foods. When improperly cooked, it is perhaps the most difficult to assimilate. Good cooking can make any meat tender, juicy and nutritious. Bad cooking can make any meat tough, destroy its nutritive value, and render it impossible of digestion, leaving illness and trouble in its wake.

The secret to proper cooking of meats, therefore, is to retain its natural juices, reserving to it their full flavors and nutrition, and neither allowing them to escape not become over-cooked. This applies whether the method is frying, broiling baking, boiling or roasting.

The exception is in the cooking of some meats, as salted or cured, meats. Those for soup-making or stewing; or those for blending as in braising -- when the object is to extract a part, or all, of the juices, instead of retaining them altogether.

To accomplish this result, two basic rules must be observed. The natural juices of meat are albuminous in character and, when meat is cut some of these juices escape, forming a thin film on the outer surface. Like the albumen of eggs, this coating may be quickly coagulated, or hardened, by the sudden application of high heat (searing), whether from boiling water, direct fire, or heated oven. On the other hand, this coating may be quickly dissolved and dissipated by contact with cold water, allowing the juices to be extracted.

Since all meats should be cooked by a moderate heat for the length of time required according to the degree of tenderness, the above basic rules are applied thus: When meat is cooked with the intention of retaining its natural juices -- as for joints or fowl -- its surface should be "seared" by the application of high heat at the beginning, and the temperature lowered to moderate to complete cooking. But . . . When meat is cooked with the intention of extracting a part or all of its natural juices -- as for soups or stews -- it should be started at low heat at the beginning, and the temperature raised to moderate to complete cooking. In both cases, the cooking temperature should be just right to properly set the juices, care being taken not to harden or over-cook them.

With this basic principle in mind, and a knowledge of the proper control of the heat of the range, young cooks should soon master the art of preparing juicy, wholesome, perfectly cooked meats. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

R. Lewis Nicholson Obituary (1942-2010)

Alva, Oklahoma - Stephen Nicholson, the brother of R. Lewis Nicholson, sent us this recent 2010 obituary. Did you know R. Lewis Nicholson?

The Honorable R. Lewis Nicholson was born in Alva, Oklahoma on October 4, 1942 to Richard M. and Naomi Nicholson. He passed away unexpectedly on Friday, October 22, 2010 in Dallas after complications from surgery.

Lewis grew up in Alva, Oklahoma and graduated from Alva High School. He attended Northwestern Oklahoma State University for two years before transferring to Southern Methodist University in Dallas to complete his education. Lewis graduated from SMU with a BBA in 1965 and a JD in 1967.

He was in private legal practice handling a wide range of cases through 1982. On January 1, 1983 he was sworn in as a Family Court Master, now known as Associate Judge, of the Dallas County Family Courts where he served until his untimely death.

He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Lynda, his two daughters Monica Hensley and Catherine Nicholson, and son-in-law Fred Hensley. Lewis is also survived by one brother Steve Nicholson, sister-in-law Christen, nephew Brad Nicholson and his wife Linda.

Lewis was known for his "bah-humbug" no-nonsense style, but those who truly knew him understood his kind and gentle heart, and enjoyed his wry sense of humor. He was always available to lend an ear, offer advice, or just listen. He was a one-of-a-kind man, a devoted husband, father and friend.

A memorial service was held on Saturday, October 30, 2010 at the Restland Funeral Home Memorial Chapel.

In lieu of flowers please consider a gift to the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP) c/o Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, 1515 Main Street, Dallas, 75201 or North Texas Food Bank, 4500 S. Cockrell Hill, Dallas, 75236. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Cinema Treasures - Rialto Twin Theatre (Alva, OK)

Alva, Oklahoma - Homer "Pug" Hawkins, Lawton, Oklahoma, sent us the following information concerning the Rialto Twin Theatre, in Alva, Oklahoma, 516 Flynn Street.

Cinema Treasures says, "When it was built in 1929, it had a seating capacity for 600 people. Today, the main auditorium is still huge and features a working gold curtain. The picture and sound quality is excellent in the three auditoriums. This is truly a GRAND theatre!"

Homer says, "My first job at age 15 was running the popcorn machine at the Pix Theatre in Atoka, Oklahoma for Frank Deaton who managed the two theatres in Atoka. I met Frank in latter years on film row in Oklahoma City and he told me he had opened the Pix Theatre in Alva. I was back from the Army at the time and was managing two theatres in Britton, Oklahoma. Roy Kendrick was an employee there also. Lot of fond memories back then in my early twenties. I also remember meeting Homer Jones one evening at The Variety Club in Oklahoma City."

The March 24, 2008, EnidNews.com article, Old-fashioned entertainment: Rialto Theater in Alva has been the venue of cinematic good times since `1929, written by Tony Waggoner, Staff writer.

It mentions that the Rialto theatre had been passed down from one generation to the next. Johnny Jones grandfather, Henry Jones, purchased the Rialto, one screen theatre, in 1929. In 1948, Henry Jones and his son (Homer) tore down the old Rialto and rebuilt it with a stadium type balcony.

It was not until 1981 that the Jones family sectioned off the balcony with two screens. NOW . . . If you would take in a movie at the Rialto you would have a choice of three screens (two screens upstairs (2001) and one downstairs). View/Write Comments (count 2)   |   Receive updates (3 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Remember 22 May 2004 Fire Downtown Alva, OK

Alva, Oklahoma - The five hundred block of Barnes Avenue, in downtown Alva, Woods County, Oklahoma once housed many businesses. A few of the many businesses that we know of that occupied this spaced were the old Ritz Theatre and Hester Drugstore. The Hester Drugstore was also known as Holder Southern Drugs.

On 22 May 2004, Saturday, in an early morning fire burned this building that the Alva Sewing Center had occupied in 2004.


Alva Downtown Building Burns View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe