Bena Mae’s Kitchen: How we feel about our hometown

How we feel about our hometown

From horse racing and Bourbon Country, to the culture of Appalachia, Civil War significance, and Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky is a state enriched with deep traditions, important history and authentic heritage.
But even deeper than that is the pride of being a Kentuckian and beyond that of being from Corbin  where the conversation is usualy sports related.     Spot a group of men seated  at a table in a restaurant and it doesn’t take two guesses to  figure out what they’re talking about.  Want to know the football or basketball stats? Just ask any one of them.  Like The Lord’s Prayer, they’re inbred in each of them.  From childhood  on.
What is it, I wonder, that instills the deeply seated love of the old home town that brings the wanderers back home to Corbin so often?  The stirring in the heart when they near the exit to the place where they grew up?  Is it the place that makes them feel grounded?  Welcome, not just a number?
Ex-Corbinites who have strayed near and far from the town of their roots, often take the values that were shaped by the place where they were born.  Tongue in cheek, some of mine are:
Remembering some of the teachings of your mother–even though you half listened when she was trying to teach them to you.  Don’t  lie unless you have a good memory. Be less judgemental unless you’re sure you’re right. Avoid people you don’t like–saves on Maalox.  Don’t answer the door if it’s someone you don’t want to talk to.  There’s no law that says you have to.
Joking aside, here is a note I found while shredding some old mail. I don’t know who sent it but it sums up how we feel about being  living in Corbin and being a Kentuckian;
A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book  about churches around the country.  He started by flying to San Francisco working east from there.  In each church he visited, he noticed a golden telephone  with a sign which read “Calls: $10,000 a minute.”
Seeking out a pastor, he asked about the phone and the sign.  The pastor answered that the golden phone  is a direct line to Heaven and if he pays the price he can talk to God.  As he travelled eastward, he found the same kind of phone with the same sign in every church he visited.
Finally, he arrived in Kentucky.  Upon entering a church in Southeastern Kentucky he saw the usual golden telephone.
But THIS time the sign read” Calls: 35 cents.”   Fascinated, he asked to talk to the pastor.  “Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone and have been told  it was a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God , but in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads only 35 cents a call.  Why is that?”
The pastor, smiling benignly, replied, “Son, you’re in Kentucky now…..You’re in God’s country. It’s a local call.”
 

* * * * * *

This is a good one-dish meal your kids will love it.

 Tamale Casserole
 
Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 can Manwich
1 can corn, I assume whole kernel drained
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese,
    shredded and divided
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
1 Tbsp butter

Directions

Brown the beef until done; add Manwich, corn and 1 cup cheese. Stir to combine.
Set filling aside.
In a saucepan, combine cornmeal, salt, water and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.
Spread half the cornmeal mixture in the bottom of a greased 8×8 pan. Pour in the beef mixture. Top with the rest of the cornmeal mixture. You may want to double the cornmeal mixture when making this.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until the topping has set. When there are only 5 minutes remaining until done, sprinkle with remaining cheese.