Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Nastolgic Meanderings

The brain is an awesome thing to ponder and I’m amazed at all the things it can do. Like storing up images in our mind that we think we’ve forgotten eons ago.
How smelling certain scents, hearing music, the feeling of deja vu when in a certain place and thinking we’ve been there before can trigger memories of the past. It’s an amazing sensation.
One of my keenest memories is awakened every time I open a box of new shoes. It takes me back to when I was five or six years old and it was time for a new pair to wear to Sunday school. It was a notable purchase, times being what they were.
Mama bought them at Little Ben’s Department Store on Main Street in Corbin, where she bought most of our clothes. I think they cost $1.49 a pair, not cheap at the time but cheap by today’s standards.
They were Mary Jane’s, black patent leather with a strap across the top…every little girl’s favorite. I could just see the other little girls in my class looking at me with envy when I wore them the following Sunday. And oh, the wonderful smell that emitted from the box when I opened it!
It was more than the purchase of a new pair of shoes. It was the fulfillment of a wish by a little girl. And it may have been a sign of things to come–a closet full of shoes.
Lilac bushes never cease to put me into a nostalgic mood. The memory of the fragrance of a sweet lilac under an open window, filling the room like no modern air freshener could ever do. Nothing artificial, just the perfume of nature. One of God’s special gifts.
When I hear music from the Big Band Era, I’m a teenager again. I am back in the 1940’s dancing to a 45 rpm record player to Glenn Miller’s “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” or “In the Mood,” oblivious to a world at war, at least for a few moments. But reality returned as soon as the music stopped. And music was never the same again.
In the wee hours of the morning, I listen plaintively to the whistle of a train coming into the station and I am a child back in my bed, sleepily aware of the noise of the engines at the Roundhouse on Depot Street in Corbin. They were never a nuisance, just a part of the ritual of sleep and comforting in many ways. They defined who I was, where I was from, my hometown, 
Everyone has a special nostalgia, a place where they can go and shut out the world of disappointments they never anticipated. Perhaps that is what makes us who we are today.

The three Calhoun’s Restaurants in Knoxville serve excellent food, especially barbecued ribs. Whenever a member of my family has a birthday, Calhoun’s is usually the first choice for celebrating. My daughter-in-law and I always order a popular side dish called Spinach Maria. It is delicious. I searched in vain for the recipe for years until I found it in the food section of a 1995 issue of The Knoxville News-Sentinel. Don’t be daunted by the length of the recipe. It is well worth every step.

Calhoun’s Spinach Maria

5 (10 oz.) pkgs. frozen chopped spinach
4 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1 3/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 medium yellow onion
1 Tbsp. melted butter
6 Tbsp. flour
8 oz. Velveeta cheese
8 oz. Cheddar cheese
4 oz. Monterey Jack cheese
1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese (for topping)
5 Tbsp. melted butter

Thaw spinach in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Squeeze as much excess water as possible out of the spinach. Heat milk and spices in 4-quart saucepan on medium heat to just below a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer.

Chop the onion and saute in 1 tablespoon of butter for 5 to 8 minutes. Add to saucepan. Combine the 5 tablespoons melted butter with the flour in a small saute pan. (This is the first step of making a roux which will thicken the sauce.) Mix until completely blended. Cook on low heat 3 to 4 minutes to make roux. Add roux to milk in saucepan and mix well. Cook until sauce thickens.

Cut the Velveeta, Cheddar, and Jack cheese into small cubes and add to saucepan. Continue to mix until all the cheese is completely melted and blended into the sauce. Be careful not to burn the sauce while the cheese is melted. Remove from heat. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Add drained spinach to cheese sauce, mix until completely blended. Spoon into an 11x9x2inch or large casserole and top with grated Monterey Jack cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Serves 12.