Pam Towery Rhea has a list. A “to-do” of things she’d like to tackle when she retires. She is business manager of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System and, as the Rev. Deacon Rhea, serves the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Columbus, and St. John’s Episcopal Church in Aberdeen.
Rhea recently began checking off a few line items on the list — but not because of retirement. That’s still off in the future. Instead, shelter-in-place has kept Rhea at home, with extra hours to devote in the kitchen.
“I’ve been working from home since March 17, and I’ve done a lot more cooking,” Rhea said. “I’ve had this list of things I’d like to do when I retire, and one was to cook some of Mama’s recipes that I remember from growing up.”
Fried peach pies and cream cheese pound cake have been among the mouth-watering results.
“And I’ve made so much cornbread — and Johnny cakes on top of the stove, because my daddy used to love those,” said Rhea. Her mother, the late Jean Towery, was born in Smithville and moved to Columbus soon after marrying her sweetheart, Coley, upon his return from World War II.
“Mama was not a fancy cook, but she made a sweet at least once or twice a week,” said Rhea who enjoyed working from her mother’s small spiral-top recipe notebook and an assortment of other recipes she’d jotted down. Like many practiced cooks, Jean was so familiar with how to make her favorite dishes, some instructions were along the line of “put in enough flour until it thickens,” so replicating the exact recipe required a little experimentation.
As Rhea thought back to familiar foods from earlier years, she discovered she didn’t have a recipe from her parent for some of them. She sought out alternatives from other sources, like the internet.
“I did an apricot nectar cake she would make. There are 50 different recipes for it, and I have tried them until (I found one that) tasted more like I remember hers tasting,” Rhea remarked.
The recipes in her mother’s handwriting, however, are the most special of all — like Jean’s specialty ham and egg pie that was a signature dish on holidays, or a tasty orange slice cake she baked.
Rhea shares three recipes today for desserts her parent often served.
The culinary excursion into her mother’s cache of recipes has been comforting, Rhea said. Hours in the kitchen with no pressure, no time limits. This is “memory food,” and few times are better suited for it than the season surrounding Mother’s Day.
MANDARIN ORANGE CAKE
(also known as Pea Pickin’ Cake)
1 butter-flavored cake mix
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
1 11-ounce can mandarin oranges (drained)
1 8-ounce tub whipped topping
1 large can crushed pineapple (drained!)
1 large vanilla instant pudding mix
(Source: Jean Towery, via her daughter, Pam Rhea)
APRICOT NECTAR CAKE
Cake:
1 yellow cake mix
1 small package lemon Jello
1 cup canned apricot nectar
1/2 cup oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 eggs
Glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons canned apricot nectar
(Source: Pam Rhea)
FRIED PEACH PIES
Pie filling:
3 (6-ounce) packages dried peaches
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Pie dough (or use own dough recipe):
1 1/2 cup self-rising flour
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup milk
(Source: Jean Towery, via Pam Rhea, “adapted slightly from sweetteaandcornbread.net for measurements, since my mother didn’t use measuring cups!”)
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.