Jacquie Campbell (Biggs)

Hey Ben, Joe Matranga's was one of Pete's family's favorite places, so when we got married he took me there.  Of course their spaghetti sauce was the best and over the past 47 years, I have attempted to duplicate it to Pete's satisfaction.  I do not have a recipe.  I have just tried various combinations.  Would your aunt consider sharing her recipe?  I think Matranga's closed. jbiggs

Linda Marmion (Linder)

Hey Woody, how about a cooking class?

Roger Felton

Thanks Woody for the receipe.  I'm not much of a cook as I even tend to burn Kool Aid.  But I think I could salt and pepper flour without messing up too bad.  Gonna give battered fries a try.

For some reason when I think of Woody I remember Black Jr High.  I was too short to play football so I worked the chains on the sidelines.  If my memory still works, I believe I remember Woody on the Panther team...not sure what position he played but when Woody got the ball he'd run like a gazelle on two legs with his tail on fire.  Not really a run...more like a gallop but smooth as glass.  Great fun to watch ole Woodie lope along and kick butt.

Arletta Parnell (Glankler)

Barbeque Inn has always had the tradition that they closed down so all employees could have vacation at the same time.  It is a wonderful place to eat. New subject!  We adopted a new family member today.  Her name is Missy short for Miss Demeanor, lol.  She is an American Pit Bull Terrier mix, 1 yr old, and has never lived inside until she was rescued.  She was abused terribly.  She is also heartworm positive.  The Memphis Humane Shelter is paying for her total heartworm treatment and she will be well from them.  They did catch that early praise God.  She has had a fun day, made at least 100 trips all around the house lol.  She loves to cuddle, has never seen tv, so that scared her a bit, but by nightfall she was cool with it.  She was abused by men, yet she has totally fallen for her new daddy. Giving a dog a new chance in life is a wonderful feeling I must say. I am happy we did this. Here is her picture curled up in daddy"s lap,

Stephen Ray Puckett

Obit of Joe Matranga, owner of the 'Oldest Italian Restaurant' in Houston.  I think he retired in the 1980s.  http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?pid=164847021   I heard about it but never made it over there.

Stephen Ray Puckett

I bet that Houston girls are happy they don't have to wear those gym outfits anymore.

A onesie from Black Jr High.  So lovely:

High school girls were more sophisticated - they got to wear twosies.  These looked much more graceful:

Ad:

Houston girls trying to look sexy:

The gym suit had not changed much since they were worn by Reagan girls in this 1935 photo:

Woodrow Wilson Traylor

Thanks Roger for the kind remarks concerning my athletic prowess.  You are now my official PR man and goto guy for all things historical.

Let me know how the fries turn out.

Jan Barnes (Nimtz)

Sorry, back to restaurants again. Fae, you mentioned Schobel's in Columbus (in business since 1979) and they are still there. Owned by (of course) the Schobel family of whom all three Schobel sons were outstanding football players at TCU. All three went on to play professional football.

• Aaron Schobel, defensive end with the Buffalo Bills
• Bo Schobel, defensive end with the Arizona Cardinals
• Matt Schobel, tight end with the Philadelphia Eagles

We always plan our trips to Houston so that we are at Schobel's around lunchtime. They have a huge, home-cooked buffet which is well worth the (sometimes) wait. Soup, salad bar, choice of 4 entrees (any or all), numerous fresh veggies, fresh breads and dessert are all included.

Then back to Barbecue Inn on Crosstimbers. No one mentioned their crab cakes. They are also very good! And for "seniors" you can order a half order of anything.

Stephen... thanks for the laughs from your gym suit photos. Those things were pretty funky even way back then. Everyone's legs (at the time) looked like little stick legs hanging from gigantic balloon-bottomed shorts. When I was in parochial school before Black Jr. High I remember that our moms even had to have them stiff and starched every Monday morning so that we could "pass inspection".

Fae Elskes (Krenek)

I was thinking the same thing about the gym suits. The main thing I remember is they were starched stiff and I had an allergy to the starch! Didn't phase the coaches. I had to wear them anyway!  Wish I still had those "stick legs" from back then. You don't know what you've got till you lose it!!! 

Hilda Carol Smith (Godell)

James King

Sweetie, the low temp for Durango tomorrow is to be "one".  If you have a brass monkey on your porch please bring it in.

Robert (Robby) Wallis

Speaking of girls gym suits, may I direct you all to the girls archery section of our yearbook...there is one individual wearing what appears to be a highly modified girls gym suit... I have confronted this person re this horrible indiscretion and she pleads no contest.....Jim, I think Sweetie is still in Houston after WOW, obviously enjoying somewhat warmer weather....she appeared "thawed out" when I saw her last Friday....BTW, Doyle's still puts out good salads and sandwiches, dunno about the pizza and pasta...but I'd think it has to be good.....one drawback which seems to bother the women, outdoor restrooms :)

Carol Lynn Thamer (Hanson)

Hilarious. Glad I was in the Guard.  Those uniforms were bad enough.  Thanks--Carol

Lana Johnson (Horne)

What I remember about the gym suits was the fact that our first and last names had to be embroidered above the pocket on the one piece and on both the pocket and the shorts of the two piece.  I hated doing that.  My mom taught me how to do it and then it was my job every year before school started.  Stay warm!

Eileen Caudel (Key)

Oh my stars! Those gymsuits from hell!! Great pictures!  

Cute pup Arletta  looks like a lucky dog  

Joanna Hinton (Garrett)

My father refused to let my mother starch and iron those things.  He made me do it and now I hate ironing.  He was so mean he made my mother iron his boxer underwear.  Then, mom was involved in a bad bus accident and I had to take over her duties at home along with working a full time job and going to school at night.  I made her proud - I starched his underwear which became uncomfortable - in the middle of summer.  She never had to  iron his shorts again.

Roger Felton

LOL, Joanna...way to go.  My sister was helping mom with the laundry once and heavily starched my BVD's by mistake.  I knew something was wrong when I heard my underwear crackle when I tride to get my feet thru 'em.  Felt like wearing underwear made of roofing shingles.  It sure shortened my stride going down the hall from class to class.  Sitting down was no picnic either.  Couldn't sit up straight without risk to my future children.  Tuff day.

Sandy Spears (Koslosky-Siddall)

Yeah, liked PE, hated the gym suit.  One Monday I arrived with starched, ironed suit in hand (not on me) and got my grade lowered a whole letter for that 6 weeks. I had blisters all over my upper torso from a severe sunburn and had a note from my mother. Coach didn't care. Didn't like PE so much after that.

Good job Arletta. Missy looks happy.

I have a Woody story We were in Mr. Van's Algebra class when an office aide comes to the door with a pair of gym shoes. Someone ( maybe Allen Brown?) took a look at the size and said they had to be Woody's and they were. Don't know why I remember that, Woody. Sorry. (Seems Woody had forgotten the shoes and his nice mom brought them up to the school.)

Joanna Hinton (Garrett)

Only thing I enjoyed out of PE was swimming - reason why I was on the swim team.  I remember one competition day we had against another school and I was standing down at the end of the pool where the boy's locker room entry was.  Some of the guys got funny and shoved one of the guys out of the locker room into the pool area.  I think that it was Donny McPherson but I am not quite sure.  Wish we would have had other options outside of PE - like crafts.  Walking home and to school was enough exercise for me each day.

Robert (Ben) Carbo

For Jacque and all others who enjoy good alsugo here is my Sicilian Aunt Jennie's recipe as well as I can remember it. 

Basic Sicilian Alsugo Recipe (Spaghetti Sauce)

Ingredients:         4 - small cans of Hunt tomato sauce

                             1 - small can Hunt tomato paste

                             3 - 4 pods of fresh pressed gralic

                             1 - cup of fresh diced onions

                             1 qrt tomato juice       

                             2 Tbsp Sugar

Put diced onions in large stock pot

Pour in tomato sauce

Add 1 tomato sauce can of water

Add  garlic

Add tomato paste

Stir and simmer for 20 minutes

Add 1 tomato juice

Add 3/4 qrt of water, cover

Add 2 Tbsp sugar and stir

Simmer for 3 hours (add meatballs and boiled eggs at this time)

After 3 hours of simmering take cover off and cook down till the sauce thickens. This will take a while, you can't hurry a good sauce).  You will know when it is right when it is thick and not watery.  I would not advise turning up the heat to hurry things along.  Making a good sauce is an Italian family social event and the family congregates in the kitchen to enjoy the  aroma with a little vino, antipasto, stuffed artichoke and frenjuno to celebrate the event.

Of course, you can't have sauce without meatballs and boiled eggs (yes, I said boiled eggs)

Meatball Receipe

Ingredients:         2 - pounds of ground meat

                             1-2 egss

                             bread crumbs

                             diced onion

Combine ingredients and form into "meataballa's"

Brown in skillet and add to sauce at the beginning of the 3 hours simmering process along with 6 - 10 hard boiled eggs.  Be careful not to stir the sauce much to avoid breaking down the meatballs.  After adding meatballs and eggs also be careful to not have the heat high enough to burn the meatballs and eggs.  This would ruin the sauce.

As you can see by now cooking good alsugo takes all day.  If you don't have the time, don't bother trying it.  A rushed sauce is a bad sauce.  And if you really want a great sauce, let it age over night in the refrigerator and heat it up the next day.

If you are serving non-Sicilians and have some left put it in the freezer until you are ready to eat it again. The more the sauce ages, the better it tastes.

Now a word about the pasta, buy a good quality spaghetti, not WalMart Great Value paste.  Don't overcook it and drain it thoroughly.

You don't want to water down the sauce you have worked so hard on  with watery spaghetti.

Serve with a Greek salad and steamed artichokes stuffed with ground meat,  parmesan and anchovies or plain with a melted butter. 

Finally no respectable Sicilian puts Kraft canned parmesan on their pasta alsugo.  Buy a good grade of parmesan and fresh grade it and place in small bowl on the table along with some assorted Italian and Greek olives, e.g. black dried and palameta.  Don't forget the ciabatta bread (Scarpetta  - Little shoes (bread for sopping sauce from your plate).  No self-respecting Sicilian leaves his plate with sauce remaining on it.

For desert, Italian Cream cake and coffee.

Enjoy,

Ben Carbo

Dianna Dudley (Westmoreland)

Last week  five Waltrip buddies : Jean Phillips Franke, Betty Carrick Pasture, Cindy Hildabrand Levine, Sandy Spears Sliddal & Dianna Dudley Westmoreland met in Panama City for a four day slumber party!  We had a lovely condo on the beach.  Lots of chatting, giggles, wine and memories!  Hard to believe we have been friends for 55-60 years!!   Basically we each have a totally different life, yet still enjoy each other's company!   Great time, more new memories!!  

Hilda Carol Smith (Godell)

Benny - I'm game to spend a day cooking, sampling and drinking wine!  But - questions:  do the boiled eggs go in whole to cook?  And what is frenjuno???  Thanks for sharing a family recipe .

Robert (Ben) Carbo

Lindy Clarke (Hall)

Okay, Benny, now that we are salivating...
please expand on the frejuno/frejuna/frenjuno, whatever, that
stuffed bread.... I tried to Google it, but came up empty, because
I guess I'm not spelling it correctly.
I'm a semi-foodie, and love this stuff...
I recently bought some Grano Padano cheese, on sale, when the
Parmesan was too costly, and which I'd never tried before... man,
that stuff is soooo good.... melty, almost like butter... who knew...
 

Robert (Ben) Carbo