Bena Mae’s Kitchen: School Days

September is a happy time for mothers, a busy time for teachers and a frustrating and scary time for little ones entering unknown territory.
“Will the teacher like me? Where will I sit? Will I find a best friend?” are just a few of the questions that runs through a first-graders’ mind as he or she is pushed through the door by an older brother or sister, or so it was back in the 1930’s when I first stepped through the big double doors of Corbin Central. At that time, it was not common for a parent to accompany a child on its first day of this new world. More often than not, this was left up to an older sibling.
I have no memory of my first day at Central. My memory only reaches back to the third grade to the teacher that was straight out of a Charles Dickens’ novel, or so she was perceived by my small quavering mind each time I entered her class. She was very stern and I felt she had some kind of animosity toward me.
She taught penmanship. Some of you may remember the circles and horizontal lines that were a part of the exercise which I thought was unnecessary in learning to print my ABC’s. But this teacher didn’t like the way I was holding my pencil and she would grip my hand until I thought it would break, trying to make me do it her way. In spite of her I developed a beautiful handwriting style, but I never forgot the specter of her leaning over my shoulder and holding my hand in a vise. This only reinforces my belief that young minds can be impacted by early experiences, be they good or bad.
I liked school. And the best memories I have came about the fourth or fifth grade when it was reading time and the teacher read to the class. The teacher was a good reader and put the proper expression into the stories that filled your imagination. I still remember some of my favorites… Uncle Remus, Br’er Rabbit… Most of them had a moral but we didn’t think about that until later when we applied them to real life.
During my high school years, I devoured every book in the school library. My favorite class was Mrs. Pope’s class in English and American Literature. Her class started me on a love affair with words. I couldn’t get enough of the English poets and the American dramatists and they still fill my soul to this day.
In the front of my book “Simple Pleasures,” is a picture of my first grade class at Central. I jokingly refer to it as a group at Ellis Island who just got off the boat as they entered America. It being the middle of the Great Depression, we certainly looked like a group of refugees.
I remember some of the faces, many are no longer with us and others I can’t call to mind. But they are all an important part of the tapestry of the years I spent at Corbin Central and Corbin High School and I remember them with fondness.

Ultimate Chicken Fingers
 
2/3 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt or garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted                                  

Heat oven to 450ºF. Line cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray.
Mix Bisquick mix, cheese, salt and paprika in 1-gallon resealable plastic food-storage bag.
Dip half the chicken strips into egg; place in bag of Bisquick mixture.
Seal bag; shake to coat.
Place chicken on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken.
Drizzle butter over chicken.
Bake 12 to 14 minutes, turning after 6 minutes with pancake turner, until no longer pink in center.