WS Chronicle

By Robin Hurdle

Growing up in the South, our holidays were always highlighted with my grandmother’s cooking. As soon as you started walking up the sidewalk, the wonderful aroma of fresh baked rolls and the sweet smell of cinnamon in the candied yams would fill your nostrils.

Holidays were always about the three Fs: family, friends, and food. As more people would arrive, the crazier the house would become. The men would start bringing in card tables and folding chairs while talking about football games. We would have these tables throughout the house, one in the kitchen, another in the dining room, and TV trays in the living room. My grandmother wanted to make sure there was always room for one more at the table and drop-in visitors were always welcome.

As the women folks arrived, they would join my grandmother in the kitchen to see what she needed them to do. Normally, it would be at least two of them washing and drying dishes as food was prepared and moved to serving bowls. My grandmother was an amazing cook, who seldom used measuring cups. It was usually a handful of flour here and a pinch of this and that there. Many of her dishes were not written recipes, but from memory and always made from scratch. She would never use a store-bought pie shell, so if the crust was too heavy, she would throw it out and start over.

The holidays were her time of year to shine. She would start baking cakes the week before and kept them in the refrigerator or freezer that was out in the garage. She would make red velvet cake, coconut cake, Italian cream cake. She would bake several pumpkin and pecan pies.

She cooked as if it was for an army, with everyone in mind. I think the reason she made so many different dishes was she did not want anyone to go hungry. She knew the kids would want macaroni & cheese with banana pudding for their dessert, while the adults could not wait to taste her homemade creamed potatoes and turkey gravy, finishing off their meal with a cup of coffee and samples of several different desserts on one plate.

Once everyone’s bellies were full, it was time to drag out the Christmas tree, put it together and start decorating. Even the little kids had a hand in placing the ornaments on the tree, although theirs mostly covered the lower branches. The tree served as a reminder that just a few weeks later, the tradition would be repeated for Christmas. 

I love reminiscing about this time in my life. The sounds that would fill the house as the meal was served. The glasses and dishes clinking together. Laughter coming from every part of the house. Stories being shared and memories being made. No one was forgotten, as my grandmother would set up an assembly line preparing meals that would be delivered to those who were alone or could not travel.

It was a time when family was the foundation and everything else was built around it. My grandmother taught me that you did not have to be born into a large family to have people who treated you like family. It was a beautiful time to be a child who saw the adults in my life come together to share special moments in time with the people they love. 

We may not be able to open our homes for people this year like we have in the past, due to COVID-19. But that should not keep us from making a covered dish of food and dropping it off to someone who is alone this holiday. We all know someone who will be struggling throughout the holidays, so let us not forget them. Perhaps it is time to welcome back some old traditions to create some wonderful new memories for all. 

May each of you have a blessed holiday.

Robin Hooper Hurdle and her husband Scott live in Lexington and have two grown sons. Robin loves to cook and hopes to honor her late Grandmother Hooper by carrying on her tradition and give the same gift of love to her family and friends.

Grandma Hooper’s Italian Cream Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups sugar

½ cup Crisco

1 stick of butter or margarine

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

5 eggs, separated

1 cup buttermilk

1cup coconut 

1cup chopped pecans

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream sugar, butter, and Crisco together and set aside. Beat egg yolks and then add to mixture and beat well.

In separate bowl add dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and sift together. Add to mixture, alternating with buttermilk.

Stir in nuts, vanilla and coconut. In another bowl, beat egg whites until they make stiff peaks as you pull the beater up. Fold the egg whites into mixture. Bake in greased & floured 9-inch cake pans. (You will need 3 or 4 pans). 

Bake for 35 minutes or until the cake springs up with light touch to center of cake. Allow to cool fully before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick of butter or margarine

1 box of powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature. In mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Slowly add in the powdered sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.