Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Memories that won’t go away

The neighborhood I grew up in, in Corbin, ran from Ninth Street to Eleventh Street. It was a very cohesive part of town. Everyone living within its confines knew everybody else.
We cut through each others’ yards for a shorter route to town, borrowed sugar or flour from each other, gossiped over fences, lent a helping hand in case of a crisis, kept an eye on each others’ kids, sat up with the sick or dying, in other words the neighborhood was an extension of our own family. And the hub of it all was Freeman’s Grocery, or Elsie’s Store as we called it which was in the center of the two streets.
Elsie died last week at the age of 97 years-old. She took with her a lot of memories, our memories because there would have been a big gap if those years had been left out.
She ran the store with a benevolent but strict hand and probably helped more people in those hard scrabble years than we’ll ever know. It was in the days when working people paid their grocery bills by the week and she carried them all, sometimes letting them over-lap into the next payday.
But the little store was much more than a place to buy groceries or sliced bologna, or yard goods or nails. It was a second home for people to congregate and get the latest news, shake and howdy a bit, just hang out and pass the time of day. In modern terms, you might call it our internet because it was there that we learned what was going on in the neighborhood or the outside world.
Elsie was also the second mother to all the kids who wandered in and out of the store all day. Most of them were well behaved but she had rules for those who tried to practice a little slight -of-hand when she wasn’t looking. Her sharp eye spotted them immediately and they soon found she was no patsy for their shenanigans.
 When she got tired of their hanging around, she said “Git” and we “Got.” We knew when she meant business. But we were back the next day.
When I pass my hand over my eyes, I am back in that little store scanning the large candy jars, trying to decide how I wanted to spend my daily nickel. It was a magic place for me and one of the most rewarding memories of my early life.
Elsie was an integral part of life in those days and I hope she knew it. I can only imagine how dull life would have been without that little store on the corner and Elsie, presiding as the major doom of it all, never knowing how important she was to all who trekked in and out of her store every day.
Rest in peace, dear Elsie, and thank you for the wonderful memories.

White Castle Casserole

Yield: 8 servings

2 lb. ground beef
1 box dry onion soup mix (you will use both packages of soup mix)
2 tubes (12 oz. each) crescent rolls
8-10 slices American cheese
Mustard, to taste
Dill pickles, chopped, to taste
Additional condiments, if desired

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spray a 9×13-in. baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
In a skillet, brown and crumble the ground beef with both packages of dry onion soup mix.
Drain meat into a colander; using paper towels or a clean dish towel, press down on the beef and squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible.
Unroll one tube of crescent rolls into the prepared baking dish. Flatten slightly to seal the seams and cover the bottom as necessary.
Top with ground beef. Add cheese slices. Top with pickles and drizzle with mustard. Unroll the other tube of crescent rolls over the top, sealing seams and covering the contents in the pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
To serve, cut into squares and serve with additional condiments if desired.