Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Remembering School Days

The beginning of the new school year 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, B’rer Rabbit…Heidi.  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 wonder how many of us are left today, but alas, with the passage of time it only stands to reason that too many have embarked upon that journey that awaits us all in the end.
I remember some of the faces, but 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. Especially that little boy I had a crush on who gave me my first kiss at my sweet sixteen birthday party.

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I can’t think of anything that tasted better than baked apples from my mother’s oven.  She fixed them often in the fall.

BAKED APPLES WITH CRISP TOPPING

Ingredients
2 apples (recommended: Fuji or McIntosh)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup strawberry jam, jelly or preserves
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, cold and diced
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup oats, uncooked
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut each apple in half along its equator. Using a melon baller, cut out each side of the core, creating a rounded hole. Rub exposed apple flesh with lemon juice. Place 1 tablespoon of jam into each hole. For the topping: in a small bowl mix together flour, butter, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt. Press this mixture on the top of each apple, covering jam. Place in a baking dish filled with about a 1/4-inch of water. Bake until top is golden brown and apple is tender, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Total Time: 55 min
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 40 min
Yields: 4 servings
Level: Easy