Gorham festival’s annual barbecue a winner
The chicken barbecue from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday at the three-day St. Anne’s/Gorham Days Festival, was as good as always. Many people were served and many were waiting in line to be served, even at 7 p.m., when I left. The menu, half a roasted chicken, cole slaw, pasta salad, a large ear of roasted corn and punch or lemonade, was a filling and tasty meal.
Also, the service was excellent. I asked for a tray for my very full platter and cup of lemonade, and a lady brought one and even offered to carry it to a table for me. Also, when I was leaving and taking half of my meal home, a lady wrapped my plate in a large sheet of foil.
I was quite flattered when, seeing me use my plastic knife to cut off my corn, two young girls sitting opposite me, decided they would do the same. They did have bands on their teeth, and possibly found it easier than gnawing the corn off the cob.
The weather was very comfortable on Sunday, about 80 degrees and cool, instead of the muggy, almost 90 degree days we have been enduring. I wish I could have stayed to see the fireworks, as those at Westbrook’s Together Days, which we usually attend were postponed due to stormy weather.
I’m sure the three-day festival, put on by Gorham’s St. Anne’s Church and the Gorham Festival Committee, was a great success, with many activities.
I also enjoyed my first golf cart ride on Saturday, when we had parked in the church parking lot, but at the suggestion of a kind attendant there, we drove across the street and parked in the shade. She then had a golf cart driver follow us, and I was driven around the area. No charge for that, either!
Students’ bloopers
Here are some student bloopers, reported by Richard Lederer, from an English teacher’s notes:
When there are no fresh vegetables, you can always get canned.
Abstinence is a good thing if practiced in moderation.
At three years of age my father was killed in the war.
To be a good nurse you must be absolutely sterile.
The President of the United States, in having foreign affairs, has to have the consent of the Senate.
Koizumi, Bush and Elvis Presley
Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi was warmly received at the White House in June. It was an official two-day visit with President George W. Bush, but a highlight of his visit was a trip to Memphis, Tenn. to Elvis Presley’s mansion, Graceland. Koizumi, an Elvis fan, was born on Jan. 8, 1942 as was Elvis, who was born Jan 8. 1935 and died Aug. 16, 1977, and has erected a bronze statue of the singer in Tokyo.
President Bush presented Koizumi with a jukebox filled with old vinyl 45s, including Elvis tunes. Mr. Koizumi promptly turned it on, playing one of his favorites, “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,” for the president.
Articles in both the June 30 and July 1 New York Times have many details of the trip. Koizumi will step down as Japan’s prime minister in September. He is among Bush’s closest friends on the world stage. The trip to Graceland was both a farewell gift and a thank you for Japan’s support on the war on terror.
On Air Force One, the breakfast included peanut butter and banana sandwiches, a recipe straight from Elvis’s kitchen. Two of Elvis’s movies “Love Me Tender” and “Viva Las Vegas,” were available for viewing. Also Elvis music played loudly, “until Mr. Bush asked that it be turned down.”
At Graceland, Elvis’s famed pink Cadillac was parked outside, it ordinarily sits in a car museum across the street, but it was moved to make way for the traveling press.
Inside, in the Jungle Room, with faux leopard print chairs and green shag carpet covering both floor and ceiling, the prime minister serenaded the president. He crooned “Love Me Tender,” as Priscilla Presley, Elvis’s former wife, and Lisa Marie, his daughter, looked on.
The men had a tour of the downstairs, and were allowed to sit in Elvis’s chairs, to walk where he walked, or touched what he touched. There were no ropes that day. “When Mr. Koizumi picked up the gold sunglasses, Graceland’s curator, who had carefully carried the glasses into the room with gloved hands, looked as if she were about to faint,” said the article.
Don’t you feel as if you were there at Graceland, too? I recall that when Marion Whitcomb was our American Journal office manager, she and Roy visited Graceland on a vacation trip, and they were excited about their visit there too.
I’m surprised that the Japanese premier was such a fan of the former great American rock star, but that visit to Graceland made a great story for us.
RECIPE
ELVIS PRESLEY POUND CAKE
I’ve been waiting to find out why this recipe is named for Elvis Presley. I have the cookbook in which it appears, “Color Me Cooking,” the St. Louis Artists’ Guild Cookbook. My niece, Marianne Blanchard Pepper, of St. Louis, sent it to me and Charlotte Bennard’s name was under the recipe.
I called Marianne, and she and I decided that, like the peanut butter and banana sandwiches, this cake was a favorite of his, too.
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
2 sticks salted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
7 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsps. vanilla
Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Sift the flour twice. Beat butter and sugar; add eggs, 1 at a time. Add half of the flour into batter and beat. Add the cream; beat again, then add the rest of the flour. Add vanilla. Pour batter into pan. Put in the middle of a cold oven. Set oven to 350 degrees. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes.
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