There's something about the name Betty...
Yesterday at Cub Foods, I helped a friendly mid-70's-something woman reach a box of angel food cake mix on a top shelf in the baking aisle. Betty could have gotten it herself with a bit of extra stretching, but I am used to performing community service for short people in grocery stores.
She had a choice of two brands of angel food cake, and said it didn't matter which one I grabbed for her, since she'd be tearing the cake into pieces anyway, and had I ever made the layered dessert that combined angel food cake pieces, Cool Whip, strawberries, etc.? Betty makes the dessert at Christmas time very year--her family's favorite. I told her I'd never thought of making it at Christmas time, as it seemed like a summer dessert to me, but then remembered the similarly-pink frozen cranberry dessert I crave during the holidays whether anyone else likes it or not.
That struck a chord with Betty, who proudly told me she makes the best cranberry salad of anyone she knows. Did I want the recipe? Not especially, but I didn't have the heart to say no thank you. I scratched it down on the back of my grocery list, where I found it this morning.
Meeting Betty started me thinking about Other Bettys I Have Known. Here are a few..
1. Teresa's friend Betty, of Betty and Tom, who lives up Church Street in Marci Baker's old house. Very nice person. So is Tom.
2. Betty Timm and Betty Zins, former Special Education teachers in the local school district.
3. Betty Borchardt, who is married to Bill. This Betty was my advisor at MSU when I went back to school for my elementary degree. I love Betty Borchardt. She helped me redistribute my previous college degree courses so I was able to cut down the time necessary to finish my degree. And, she's a great friend.
4. Betty Burke, who was married to Bill (not the same Bill as in #3, in case you're wondering). This Betty taught mostly 7th grade math at St. Peter Middle High School (that's what it says over the door). I don't know which was the greater burden for this Betty, her husband Bill or the effects of the end-of-the-day goat smell in her classroom after teaching an overload of 7th graders. Six sections of math a day x 30 students in a class = one powerful early adolescent odor. When it was Betty's turn to host an after school meeting of some sort in her classroom, the committee members opened the windows, and some of them even hung their heads outside to re-inflate their tortured nasal passages part way through the meeting. Betty never flinched. Her olfactory center had been destroyed years before.
There are other Bettys I could name, but that's enough for now. Back to Cub Foods Betty... here's her recipe. I asked her for her name so I could give her credit.
Betty's Best Cranberry Salad
(as told to me by Cub Foods Betty)
-lemon Jello
-1 cup sugar
-bag of fresh cranberries chopped in food processor
-Some pecans or walnuts, if you like nuts
-Oh yes, you make the Jello with one cup of water
-When it sets, cut into squares. Put some whipped cream on top.
-And there's celery in it, too. Chopped celery. Chop it really small.
I'd rewrite it so it is in "recipe format" but this is so much better. I mean, so much Betty-er. I'm not endorsing the recipe (although it's nearly identical to one my mom made) but I AM endorsing conversations with Bettys in grocery stores. It might brighten up your day like it did mine.
If you know a Betty, let me know about her!
7 comments:
First of all, bravo for helping short people at grocery stores. What do you do if you happen upon a ploog at Target?
Secondly, cranberry frozen dessert. Mmmmmmmmm...........
Love the Betty story, Ma.
I often help short people in grocery stores, but never a Betty that I know of! Then there is Betty White, mom's fav from the Golden Girls. I STILL watch the reruns!
Don't forget Betty Boop, our nickname for Elisabeth when she was about 3 years old.
I like this story a lot, dear one. It would be a good one for publication if you smoothed over poor old Bill Burke's trouble.
Hahaha. Great story, Jill. I like the comments from your editors here, too. I can only think of one more Betty and that's Betty Hannah, my mom's neighbor. She's lovely and elegant even in her garden clothes and she kind of swoops around instead of plodding like most people do. She's married to Gary, my driver's training instructor from Canby High School (no middle) and it's his fault I almost ran over three bicyclists on 169 one time a few summers ago.
Remembered another Betty story. When my cousin Deb called her grandma to tell her she was getting married (the first time), her grandma said, "Oh no, Betty!" Which is funny on several different levels.
Loved the Betty story. I, too, have been known to be tall enough to be of help to short challenged people in the grocery store. In fact, when I worked at Krogers all through high school and college I was often able to help our shorter friends with their high purchases.
As for a Betty...there's Betty Gebhard, my first, second Mom. Love her! These days I'm often caught visiting with my friend Betty Reisdorf. Some of Betty's children were my students in Cleveland years ago so I've known her for a LONG, LONG time. Most recently she was married to "Whiskers" but is now divorced from him. You may have seen Whiskers around town a few years back when they were living in St. Peter. He had/has an impressive white, somewhat scraggly beard and longish hair and always wore a pair of Zubas!! Ah, Betty.
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