By Sheri Hopkins, Lifestyle Contributor
Hello everyone! Rain is headed out way, much needed for sure. Fall is in the air.
Did y’all watch soap operas growing up? I wasn’t a soap fan, but I did watch the Guiding Light everyday with my mom and sister, Pam. They were hooked. I look back and those were the most mixed-up families. Most grandmas and moms had to watch soaps. The first soap was Peyton Place. For some reason, I remember watching this. It went off the air when I was five. I remember Dark Shadows with Barnabus Collins, he’s the only one I remember. There was As the World Turns, Another World, and “like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days are of Lives.”
Most of y’all don’t know my middle name, I just keep it to myself. The reason I’m telling it now is because I was named after a soap opera star. My name is Sheri Paulette. I have no idea what soap she starred in.
After all those daytime shows here comes a sitcom with this theme song, “love and marriage, goes together like a horse and carriage.” Yes, Married with Children. Al and Peggy Bundy were the husband and wife. This was no typical family, Peg wore leopard pants and sat on the couch watching TV all day and Al worked as a shoe salesman. On this particular episode, the doorbell rings and Peg answers the door and it’s one of Al’s buddies. He asked Peg, “is Al home?” Her reply was, “No, I’m cooking feet.” Another funny line of his was when he was talking about his driver’s license expiring and he says, “why can’t a marriage license do that?” There was another time when a plus size lady came in the shoe store where Al worked and they were not paying any attention to her and she says, “excuse me, am I invisible?” In Al Bundy fashion, he says, “possibly from Pluto.” That show was so funny to me for some reason. Poor Al had a hard life.
Then there were some nighttime soaps, Dallas, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest and Dynasty. Remember “Who Shot JR?” We all wanted to shoot him. He was so mean. We were glued to the TV on Thursday and Friday nights to watch Knots Landing and Dallas. I would always make us some popcorn for the occassion.
I had an older lady that lived in Lavaca, and I cleaned her house. She said, “honey, when you are my age, all men are looking for is a nurse and a purse.” Makes sense I reckon. She was a hoot. I learned a lot from her. Nothing wrong with love and marriage, they go together like a horse and carriage. Let me tell ya brother, you can’t have one without the other. If your married tell your husband or wife you love them every day and never take for granted the time you have with them. Take some advice from a widow woman. We used to call my aunt the widow Kemp (pronounced wider Kemp) and now I’m the wider Hopkins. Have a great week and be thankful and grin at someone in the words of Granny Clampett, “grin like a fox eating yellow jackets.”
This week’s recipe is for Ugly Duckling Cake
1 yellow cake mix
1 can 16 oz. fruit cocktail in syrup
2 1/2 cups of sweetened coconut
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 can evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9×13 pan with nonstick cooking spray. in a bowl mix with an electric mixer the cake mix, fruit cocktail with syrup, 1 cup of the coconut and the eggs. Mix on medium speed for two minutes, pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake 45 minutes until set but don’t overbake. While cake is cooking, make the topping by heating the butter, sugar and milk on medium low in a saucepan, stirring occasionally. Once it boils, boil for two minutes, remove from heat and stir in the coconut. Pour over hot cake when removed from the oven. Serve warm or cold, a little scoop of ice cream makes everything better.
