Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Is it memory loss or brain overload?

Since I think about memory loss more and more as I get older, I was glad to read that experts disagree on whether short-term memory declines with age in healthy individuals. They go on to say that it is not loss of memory as much as a problem of distraction which can occur at any age at any time.
Whew! What a relief. No longer will I think of my short term memory loss as an affliction of aging. I can think of it as a distraction when I’m looking all over the house for my reading glasses only to find them hanging from a chain around my neck.
I look at these little bumps in the road in this way. I tell myself that if my brain were an 86 year-old computer, it would have imploded years ago from all the stuff that has been stored in it. Makes sense to me, so why should I get rattled or paranoid from a little break down now and then.
I find that the best way of dealing with this is to find the humor in it. And human nature is the best way in which to find it. Like the elderly fellow who was brought home to his daughter in a police car.
“We found him wandering in the park” the policeman said. “He said he had forgotten the way home.”
“I hadn’t forgotten where I live,” the man told his daughter after the policeman left. “I was just too tired to walk home.” Now this was creative, ingenious, you might say. Nothing wrong with this old fellow’s mind
I’ve written before of the ultimate embarrassment of forgetting a friend’s name when attempting to introduce her to another person. I stand there and pray to the Almighty to give me a name, the name of the person who has been my friend for years. But the name doesn’t come. So I stand there and squirm and sweat and wiggle my way out of it. I think this is called “brain blot” which has happened to many of us at one time or another.
It reminds me of one of my favorite stories about the brain deserting our mind in a social situation.
The story is about two polite elderly ladies who had known each other since they were little girls. It was their habit to meet up and play a little bridge every Friday night.
One such evening when their gentlemen partners were discussing the ways of the world, one of the ladies speaks suddenly to her friend. “My dear, I am frightfully embarrassed to ask this, as it may hurt your feelings, but you know I cannot remember your name.”
She blushes and a little tear comes to her eye as she watches her friend go through all sorts of horrific emotions at what she had just said.
“How soon do you need to know?” her friend said.
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My prayer: Dear Lord, as you know it is football season all over the nation as well as in Tennessee. All I ask is that you help me endure 4 or 5 months of listening to Rocky Top over and over and over again. Amen.

Cornbread, Beef, Bean and Cheese Casserole

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 pound ground beef
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
1/8 teaspoon chili powder (more if you like the heat)
26-ounce can Ranch-style pinto beans, drained
14-ounce can whole corn kernels, drained
14.5 ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes (or substitute Rotel, if you desire more heat)
1 pound Velveeta cheese, diced
2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix, prepared (you’ll need eggs and milk)

Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.
Using a large skillet, heat the olive oil while you’re chopping the onion. Carefully add the onion to the heated oil and saute for about 7-8 minutes, until the onion is soft. Add the ground meat. Brown for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring often and breaking up the larger clumps of meat with a wooden spoon.
Add seasonings and stir well. Add the beans, corn, and tomatoes. Taste it. Add more salt if necessary. Remove from heat. Stir in diced Velveeta cheese and mix well. Turn the cheese/meat/veggie mixture into the prepared baking dish.
(At this point you can refrigerate it for up to a day.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the cornbread according to box directions. Pour cornbread over the meat and cheese mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the cornbread is done (golden brown) and yummy gooeyness is bubbling up on the sides and/or until all the male species in your house are lining up in your kitchen with their plates in hand.