Hickory Hops Festival Today!

Today Only! Master brewers and microbrewers from all across the region will be in downtown Hickory today. Beer and music - what could be better? For Christmas, I went to the Old Hickory Tap Room to purchase some locally brewed beer for all of the guys on my list. I had no idea that one beer could make a small person drunk. Be warned, they're BIG bottles! When I was presented with a menu, I was very confused. There were dozens of beers on the list. I got a microlesson on microbeers! In the end, I bought a special Christmas ale. It's an ale brewed with honey and spice. What attracted me most though, was the label. The Olde Hickory Brewery does a wonderful job of labeling, and I could just feel the love! Below is what a sidebar on the label says: "We believe our Christmas Ale is the perfect beer for a merry season. Brewed from fond childhood memories of fresh baked cakes and cookies, Christmas Ale is made with Local Honey, Fresh Grated Ginger, Cinnamon Stick and Fresh Orange Zest together with the finest two row barley, pure water, hops, and love. This special Holiday beer is best enjoyed in the company of family and friends." This beer would complete my family celebration! But, I digress. On this occasion, I feel sure that the Olde Hickory Brewery will have us dazzled by some special Spring concoction, so if you go to the Festival, pay close attention to the labels and please post some of the interesting beers that you find!

Bon Appetit

This is a Third Rock from the Sun story.

Summer Vacation 1993. The kids were out of school, and being the responsible, prudent, and perfect parent that I am, I felt it was important for Laura and Charles to continue reading and writing. So, every day, the kids and I brainstormed different "fun" activities to keep them engaged. They read books, wrote reports (yuck)-you know, the usual stuff. Laura quickly tired of all of these "fun" activities, and it became my challenge to think of something different.

One day, I suggested that she write a recipe. as an incentive, I said that after she wrote it, we would attempt to make it. She liked that idea. It would be a short assignment, and she could go on to more fun and exciting things.

To my surprise, she took the assignment quite seriously and soon produced a recipe that really was reasonable. It was called Sweet Bread and included all the necessary ingredients for a successful product. It had eggs, flour, milk, spices, shortening and sugar. At 10 years old, I was most impressed! A chip off the old block!

Well, I had to put my money where my mouth was, so we went right to work preparing the recipe. As we began to mix the ingredients, we'd add a little more or less of each ingredient as we went along if we thought it didn't look right and noted the changes on the card accordingly. When it looked right, we put in in the pan and slapped it in the oven. as it baked, we watched as it rose just like it was supposed to. When it turned golden brown on the top, we opened the oven door and gave it a jiggle. It didn't jiggle, so we decided it was done. We took it out of the oven, noted the time and waited for it to cool. We would celebrate at the evening meal. Everyone would have a slice, whether they liked it or not.

What a surprise it was to discover that it was really good - really! Dad was proud.

Tom was so proud, in fact, that during one of his business trips, he had the uncanny pleasure of being seated next to the editor of Bon Appetit magazine and told the guy about his gifted daughter's original recipe. The story impressed the editor, and he encouraged Tom to send the recipe to him.

Well, one thing led to another, and after forwarding the recipe to the test kitchen, the recipe actually appeared in the October 1995 issue!

It just goes to show, you never know where one small thing might lead.