Bena Mae’s Kitchen: The Wish Book

Including the Bible, it was the most pored over, devoured, widely read book in our house when I was growing up. Hours were spent in thumbing through its worn pages, wishing for things we couldn’t buy or afford in our small town.
 After years of supplying rural customers of “city goods” that could not be obtained locally, the Montgomery Ward Catalog went defunct some time in the 2000’s, a victim of vast competition by other retailers. The catalog was founded by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872, who had a vision of making its goods available by mail to rural customers who could purchase them and have them delivered to their homes. It is a part of Americana that I miss most, although there is an abundance of catalogs arriving in the mail every day. But they don’t have the nostalgic feeling of the old Montgomery Ward.
Most of my dresses were “knock off’s” from the Montgomery Ward Catalog. Mama would see a dress and copy it by cutting out her own pattern out of newspapers, and sew the dresses up on her Singer sewing machine. I don’t think that old Singer got any rest from making clothes for her many daughters. And she did a good job, our clothes could compare with anything you could find in a department store. And they were much cheaper, which was key back then.
I was reminded of this when I received an email from my sister-in-law Judy Estep that included pages from a 1934 Christmas issue of the catalog. It brought forth a flood of memories of those days I remember so well. The catalog was not just for ordering things, it was a Sunday afternoon of pure entertainment of things hoped for and imagined. It filled many an idle hour of wishing and dreaming.
Imagine buying a house from a catalog. You could get a whole house, and Montgomery Ward would send a crew to assist you in building it. Many people are not aware of this, but some of the houses are still around. There is one in my area that I saw many years ago that is still standing. But it was so long ago when I saw it, that at the time I didn’t appreciate its historic history. Imagine paying $668 for a five-room house. 
From lady’s and children’s and men’s clothes, to flashlights, and light bulbs, and tools, the items ran the gamut. It was a smorgasbord of anything and everything you needed or desired. And it was available through the mail. You didn’t even have to leave your house. (Note to the Internet: You weren’t the first one to offer this convenience.) And it was such fun to anticipate the mailman’s delivery and open the looked for treasure, be it a cooking pot or a fancy new pair of shoes.
I think about kids of today and their hours of playing computer games I don’t even know the name of. I know that some of them instill wrong messages in the minds of the young people who haven’t the experience and knowledge to analyze the subtle dangers that lie there. And I don’t envy them…I worry about them.
And I wish for the day when a Montgomery Ward catalog provided so many pleasurable afternoons.

If you like corn, you’ll like this corn casserole, plain and simple. It’s a great accompaniment to burgers, ribs, hot dogs…all that summertime food we’ve all been looking forward to!

Cast Iron Corn Casserole

¾ cup (a stick and a half) butter
1 onion, finely chopped
2 (14 ¾oz) cans cream style corn
2 eggs, beaten
1 (8oz) box cornbread mix (I use Jiffy brand)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350°.
In a cast iron skillet or large frying pan, saute the onion in the butter until it’s soft.
Add the cornbread mix, cans of corn, eggs and salt and pepper to the pan and mix well until completely combined.
If you’ve been using a cast iron skillet, cover it with aluminum foil and place in preheated oven. If you’re not using a cast iron skillet, transfer the mixture to a 9×13 baking dish, cover with foil and place it into the oven.
Bake for 45-50 minutes.