Newsletter-Mid-Week

For my own family the holidays can’t seem to happen without at least one incident that wasn’t planned. In December of 2022 Christmas Eve exploded with excitement in my home with our oven breaking along with our stove top. I don’t know about you, But Christmas is one of those times of year that my family goes all out with food. Typically, we try to do a meal focused on a different culture. This past Christmas we focused on Southern America. We had brisket, potatoes and salad, an old-fashioned Southern meal. However, on this Christmas of 2022 we chose Mexican Cuisine for our Christmas dinner. We planned to make birria tacos which requires cooking beef on the stove for many hours to produce a delicious soup base for the tacos. However, this is difficult when your stove does not work as it is making any sort of traditional Christmas food such as cookies. We got through it by utilizing an instant pot for spaghetti on Christmas Eve and a roaster oven for cookies and the birria. This was by far one of our most memorable Christmases because we had to use our heads and come up with something innovative to fulfill our own Christmas traditions. The recipes we used on this Christmas included instant pot spaghetti, roaster oven cranberry oatmeal cookies, cookie butter cookies and roaster oven birria tacos.

Food carries memories and emotions. It carries feelings of love and memories of loved ones both here and gone. My grandmother believed this and she wanted to share those memories and emotions with my sister and me. She did this by filling two composition notebooks, one for my sister and one for me, with handwritten recipes from our extended family members. These recipes have helped keep my grandmother’s memory and love alive after she passed. In order to share this I have typed 4 of her recipes that she shared with us.

Hello to all of you Marshall Mountain Wave readers and greetings from the very Wintery cold Jewel of the Ozarks, Leslie, Arkansas. The weather has been so very cold this past week down into the teens. There is a Winter storm brewing that is supposed to bring a lot of snow and ice our way. I am hoping that we don’t get too much of either.

Our 2024 Budget was $26,100. The Greater Searcy County Chamber of Commerce does amazing things with a small budget and an all-volunteer effort! Thanks to all the members and volunteers who make us successful! We appreciate all who have renewed dues or joined our efforts! We still have one of the lowest membership costs in all of Arkansas!