Red Velvet Wisdom » family

Alias Names. Don’t you have one?

Dena — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:08:23 +0000

Many years ago, before the times of caller ID and internet tracking, I was quite good at prank phone calls. I also kept an arsonel of fake names at my disposal and had fun using them when signing in to restaurants, shopping, or anywhere that a name is called out.

In later years, Joy chose her name. It was from the show, Friends, and when I send pictures to Wal-Mart, she has to pick them up under the name Anastasia Beaverhousen.

That's MRS. Beaverhousen to you.

Of course, the kids wanted a name.

I'd look you to meet, Harry Bison'.

He will kill me for telling this, but many years ago we were at a restaurant and he looked at a bison burger. (Long I, means buffalo) “What’s bison’?” (Short I, sounds French)

What one has, so must the other.

Bunny O'Hare

The husbands must be named as well. My husband:

THE Lanny Poffo

But, there really is a Lanny Poffo. I guess he is Lanny the 2nd. When we went to New Orleans I signed in as Mrs. Lanny Poffo. (nobody cared)

Joy’s husband was recently christened with his alias name.

This is Manny Quinn.

I’m sure he wonders what he has married into.

Me? I’m Mitzi Von Muffington. Over the years we have sent mail, birthday cards, and many other fun things with these names. I guess it doesn’t take much to amuse us.

Emma Mae

Dena — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:07:36 +0000

Things have been wild and crazy in our worlds. It has been almost like December around here! No matter how busy we get with dance recitals, try-outs, and life in general we don’t forget birthdays. Today would have been our great-grandmother’s birthday.

Mama Snooks

Her name was Emma Mae but we called her Mama Snooks. Nobody really knows why. She was a soft and gentle lady who made her own clothes and scoffed at the store bought “off the rack” items. Nothing fit her small frame like something she could make herself.

I remember once when we were little she babysat us and my brothers, who were about 3 and 5 or so, asked to practice their calf roping skills on her. She said yes and was soon tied to a chair, unable to move!

I was asked to bring something sentimental to a workshop next week. The first thing I thought of was the baby doll quilt she made for me from her dress scraps. I can still picture her wearing those dresses. Or, my wedding ring. After she passed I was given her engagement ring. It is white gold with a flawless ruby and hand carving design on the setting. Like she was, it is unique and beautiful.

Happy Birthday Mama Snooks.

Family Reunion Part Two–The BEST part!

Dena — Fri, 07 May 2010 23:46:13 +0000

Every good meal should end with a good dessert…………………or twelve. Our family reunion did NOT disappoint in this department. There were cookies, cakes, pies, puddings, cupcakes, candy, brownies and any other sort of gooey confections that you could possibly want to eat. We all sampled a little bit of everything, because let’s be serious, it was a buffet which is an invitation to eat more than one dessert at a time:)

Honestly, there’s nothing better than a group of little older ladies cooking and baking desserts. They tend to REALLY make the goodies, whereas the younger generation tends to think a pack of Wal-Mart cookies constitutes making a dessert. For my part, I made another version of the better than sex cake, and everybody loved this one just as much.

The cake we took…

Chocolate Better Than Sex Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1/2 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces caramel ice cream topping
3 (1.4 ounce) bars chocolate covered toffee, chopped
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

This cake is very easy but still impressive. Bake cake as directed. When it is hot, poke holes in the cake with a fork and pour the condensed milk over it. Cover and chill. Then cover with whipped topping ( made from whipping cream is better) and toffee bits. I substituted the toffee with chocolate sauce and caramel sauce and it was still amazing!

Wordless Wednesday:Family Reunion

Dena — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:48:33 +0000

Mama Sue

awww...

Cupcake

Yum

lunch

Family Reunion….Part 1

Dena — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:10:50 +0000

For our family, the first weekend of May always means the Bowman Family Reunion. Mama’s mama was a Bowman, and some of Mama’s best memories are centered around that side of the family. They gather annually in what used to be a little schoolhouse in a place called Wilton in Southwest Arkansas. I’m not even entirely sure that Wilton is actually even considered a town it’s so small. The building has high ceilings, hardwood floors, and no central air conditioning. Thankfully this year it was cloudy enough to provide a little bit of cover from the heat.

the food line!!

joy helping arrange part of the buffet table

Reunions with our family mean lots of delicious food, and lots and lots of laughter. Every year, no matter what happens, the one story in particular that makes us laughs the hardest is the story of the year our Aunt Marie brought the “Better Than Sex Cake, ” to the reunion. This cake has been around long enough that lots of people have heard of it, but Marie was a bit of a maverick and brought this cake to the reunion about 25 years ago, long before there were movies and TV shows with sex in the title and it wasn’t something that everybody talks about every day in front of whoever.

Well, poor Marie worked hard on this cake, and proudly brought it to the reunion, only to have her pride dashed when she announced the name of the cake. Our grandmother apparently, really didn’t actually listen to Marie when she said that it was a better than sex CAKE, and only overheard Marie talking about sex. Assuming that our aunt was oversharing, our grandmother promptly screamed, “MARIE—-HUSH UP NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR SEX LIFE!!!!” Well, once our grandmother had something in her head, there was no changing it (something passed down to our Mama), and she spent the rest of that reunion flustered about Aunt Marie giving too much personal information.

This year, we wanted to make this cake in celebration of the reunion. Marie has long since passed on, so we were hard pressed to get an actual recipe. There was dispute as to exactly what the cake tasted like (everybody remembers the story but can’t remember the cake). So we found a few different versions, and made both. Both were equally delicious, and after discussing it with Mama we are fairly certain this is the correct version. Stay tuned later in the week for another fabulous recipe of this cake!

(*****we got this particular version from Paula Deen, who we worship*****)

Ingredients

1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare
1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 (3.4-ounce) box French vanilla pudding, plus ingredients to prepare
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup flaked, sweetened toasted coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare yellow cake mix as directed using a greased 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. While cake is baking, combine the pineapple and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Remove cake from oven and using a fork, pierce holes into cake. Pour pineapple mixture over hot cake and set aside.

Prepare pudding according to package directions. Spread pudding over cake and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Whip heavy cream and remaining sugar until stiff. Cover top of cake with whipped cream and sprinkle toasted coconut on top.

spreading the toppings on

Four On The Fourth

Dena — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:06:15 +0000

Today is my birthday.

I am the oldest child (a girl) of the oldest child (a girl) of the oldest child (a girl). My great-grandmother, who began all of this business, was also born on January 4. Her name was Malinda Alice (Stephens) Bowman and she was 60 when I was born. For some reason we only ever had one joint birthday party, and that was the year that I turned 10 and she turned 70. My cousin Robin who was born on the 3rd also participated in the party that year.

She bore thirteen children with nine living to adulthood. Two sets of twins died at birth, one my grandmother helped to bury. She was having children at home with no medical care, with only her oldest daughter there to help her out. As if birthing her own children wasn’t enough, she adopted one of her own grandchildren when her daughter was unable to care for him. Despite her level of hardship, she was rarely ever seen without an apron and a smile. She had an army to cook for, and she took pride in caring for her family. By today’s standards she had so many kids she would probably have her own show on TLC, but back then that was just life. One of her few hobbies was playing the piano (by ear with no training) at church. She played without shoes because for some reason she said the shoes kept her from being able to play correctly. She was a devout Christian and believed that God had a plan and reasons for everything that happened. She also believed that God sent people into your life to test your faith, and for that reason she never turned away people who came to her looking for meal, even when she barely had enough to go around. Our mother has said Mama Bowman was fond of the quote from Hebrews, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

She passed away the year that we celebrated our birthday together. It was the only party she ever had for her birthday. I wish I had a picture of that with me, but I don’t. Of her large number of offspring, I always felt special because we shared our day of birth. I also play the piano at church (I do wear shoes) and I also have adopted. I’m certainly not the cook she was known for. Mother said she could make a feast out of anything, but she was especially famous for her chocolate fried pies.

**Story that my dad just told me about my great-grandmother. She was three years old when her dad was plowing in a field. Someone shot him because he was a half Indian married to a white woman. That was 102 years ago.

After I married I found out that I now shared my birthday with two of Rod’s uncles. Both have been men that he looked up to in his life after his father passed away when he was young. Rod’s uncle Hubert and I email on a regular basis and I have found him to be one of the most encouraging people I have ever met. He speaks with great authority and wisdom that I only hope to find someday.

Below is a bit of an email where we were discussing his youth.

You know Dena, younger people cannot fathom the difficult times and discipline were were raised up under. Although, most everyone was raised under in the same circumstances. No one had anything and was grateful for any kind of delicacy that was offered. For example, cakes and pies mostly were at Christmas. The other cakes ect. we happened to get was made from sorghum syrup. There was no money to buy sugar. My first job was chopping cotton for Mr. Joe Kruse. My salary was four bales of hay per day. The older folks received six bales per day. I later got a job at a saw mill bucking slabs ten hours a day for $2.00. This type of thing was prevalent until the war broke out and RRAD was built. That’s when the standard of living began to get better. I even started working for the federal Govt. getting .59 per hour which was pretty fair. Sure beat four bails of hay or $2.00 for 10 hrs. hard work. I finally got to a dollar an hour I thought golly, $8.00 a day, what will I do making so much money.

That was Uncle Hubert. Uncle Thurman passed away a few years ago. He was also fiesty, active until the very end. He used to go have coffee a few times a week at McDonald’s just to visit with people.

I hope that since I share a birthday was such wonderful people, maybe a little bit of that spirit and zest for life will rub off on me. I’m waiting for it!

PS…don’t forget we still have a contest going on to win a copy of the book Chicken Soup For the Soul that has the story by Alexis in it here!