Recipe(tried): Tourmalines Pecan Dip

Hello Friends;
I was up real early this morning and was lookin over the mountains and saw the bright star that I know is the planet Venus, it was early, but the sky was about like dawn, and that star was so bright and vivid, and the rest of those gang of stars had gone on to bed, so I knew it was Venus. I got in my old car and drove on down to Mary Lou's to get some milk for my cats and my cereal. On my way back home I noticed all these little things flittin through the air, and I realized they was shootin stars! I had also bought a newspaper when I got the milk and no sooner then I opened up the "New Today" page, then I read about something called the "Persied" meteor shower, and it's jus about to happen! It seems that every August our lil' ole planet passes through something in it's path around the sun that has alot of cosmic dust, and we get a show of fallin stars. I think the whole gang of 'em are sappose to happen later in the month, like around the 20th, but I sure got a glimpse of 'em this mornin, the whole sky was just full of shootin stars, and I nearly drove off the road tryin to look at 'em all!
Now Granny always said that a shootin star was a sure sign of good luck. She somehow survived the trauma of the depression, and the yellow fever epedemic, polio, and a hole host of things that just befell those folks of the early years. She was somewhere between folklore and "The Church"! Somehow the two of 'em married, and she practiced them both.
Now later on in years something came about that got Granny and Tourmaline rather interested in, and it was called BINGO! Now Granny never ever allowed cards in the home (works of the devil), nor could anyone bring "sippin stuff", as she called wine, or beer or anything that contained alcohol! But, somehow that alure of bingo was somethin that just caught her fancy. It was always hosted by oustanding members of the community, and although she didn't agree with the Methodist and their affiliation with the VFW Hall, she did have some experience with Bingo with the Baptist and occasionally, she'd slip on over to the Catholics if the stakes were high enough. But, my, "LORD HAVE MERCY"! The Methodist had posted a prize, and it was a biggun, it was $500, and Granny felt sure she could win it. The game was set in stone, it would be on Saturday night, and at this point Granny jus said "I'll be there with my chips",and my goodness, all of Hinton was afraid!!!
One of the prerequisits to the game was that you had to bring something for the refreshments, served dureing the intermission of the bingo games. Granny was all amuss about the idea of winning $500, and Tourmaline just said that she would jus love to make something in her "name" as a contribution. Everyone in Hinton knew of Granny Church's kitchen skills, so anything that was put up in her name would be "Blue Ribbon" stuff. Tourmaline did make something quite wonderful... It was a Baked Pecan Dip, and delicious it was!

Here is the recipe! Then the rest of the story.


Baked Pecan Dip

1 8 oz. Pkg. Cream Cheese
2 Tblsp. Milk
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/4 Cup Green Pepper (chopped)
1 Tablsp Onion (minced)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 21/2 oz jar dried beef
2 Tblsp. butter
1/2 Cup Pecans (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Blend together the cream cheese, milk and sour cream. Add green pepper, onion and garlic powder. Shred dried beef into small pieces. Fold beef strips into cream cheese and turn into an 8 inch pie plate or ovenproof dish. In small skillet melt butter. Add salt and pecans. Saute' until crisp. Sprinkle on top of cheese mixture. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes. Serve hot with crackers.

My, I can still see the the bingo hall fillin up with folks. It's funny, they all just got so dressed up to go to these things, to them, this was very important stuff! Harlow Cales, who was to call those numbers, came out of the little side room in the VFW hall. Granny and Tourmaline were dressed up to the hilt, complete with matching lavender shoes and purses! This was the height of "Society" in Hinton! The game was just about to start and I know that Granny had ten cards in front of her, and Tourmaline had ten also. Anxious as they were, Granny had the "Urge" to go to the ladies room! She jus said she'd hold it as long as she could.
"B" 9, was called by Harlow, and in scattered frenzy Tourmaline and Granny searched the cards for the sacred riches that may await them, and on and on it all went. Twenty minutes later two girls from the Presbyterians had bingo'd on the postage stamp round, and the four corners was won by the Catholics, but Tourmaline and Granny were still in the running for the "Grand Prize"! Then, Harlow announced it was time for the "BIG" game. Granny Church was about to bust and all she said was "Tourmaline, honey, play my cards, I jus gotta run to the ladies room for a second, I'll give ya half of what I win". I know she ran by me like a bullet, stuck two crackers into the dip that Tourmaline had made, grabbed a coca cola, and then off to the ladies room she went.
Harlow Cales kept hollerin out "I 19, G 3, N 12, I 17" Well, then it all happened rather quickly. B I N G O ! And, no sooner than BINGO was hollered out that Granny Church came runnin out of the ladies room hollerin "Tourmaline, SOMETHING IS WRONG, TOURMALINE, I THINK I'M ILL HONEY", and Tourmaline was too busy hollerin "WE WON WE WON WE WON" My, now that was pandamonium! One woman thought she was dyeing and the other was crazy with "Riches" from a bingo game!
Granny was beside herself, she thought that she was dyeing, something "Jus ain't right with my system, Tourmaline, I got blue pee"! Tourmaline just asked what in the heck she was thinkin of.. "Blue Pee"??? Granny was in total fear! She then learned that she and Tourmline had won the "Grand Prize", then she went back to the ladies room crying, Tourmaline was on her heels asking what in the dickens she was talkin about with "Blue Pee". Granny looked into the toilet and said... It's blue.... "Why Tourmaline, I flushed it, but it's still there", it's blue! (Granny never heard of the Tidy Bowl). Tourmaline hadn't seen that either, and they flushed the toilet again, and it came up blue. They flushed it again, and again... Why's the water blue? Harlow knocked at the door and said "You laides alright in their?", they opened the door and just asked if the water was blue all over Hinton. Harlow got the biggest old laugh outta that. He then told 'em about the tidy bowl man, and that it was just somethin that freshened up the toilet bowl!
They both went home together up to the homeplace on Chestnut Mountain, laughing away over the incident... It was just another one of those new fangled things that they kept discoverin, but it was ok with them, they'd split $500, and at $250 a piece, that wasn't pocket change, and it certainly was worth the trip to the bingo hall in Hinton. My my my, that $250 was like a million dollars to 'em, bless their hearts, they just did the best they could with what they had, but, goodness, they had so much!

Ok, friends, you look out for the shootin stars later on this month! They are just a little reminder that we arn't in the Universe alone. Ya'll take care and give me a line if ya get the chance,m love to hear from ya.

David In Va
DvdnVa40@aol.com