The Best of Auntie Mae’s Various Ramblings on Life in a Small Town Series

Ida Mae Nowes

Nubbins Special Correspondent 

Editor’s Note: 

Aunt Ida Mae has given  Slippery Rock readers the benefit of her wit and wisdom for the past 10 years. 

In tribute to her early retirement, we are pleased to present some seasonal and monthly highlights of some of her – and our – favorite past columns. 

We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Best Regards,

Larry M. Hood

Editor

Slippery Rock Gazette

 

It’s July and I am up to my elbows in broccoli.

“Broccoli” may not jump to most people’s lips when they think about July, but it sure does in Nubbins.  

It’s a little known fact that Nubbins is the Broccoli Casserole Capital of the United States and probably the world, for that matter. And since Nubbins/Broccoli Casserole Day is celebrated each year on the fourth of July – well, you see where I’m headed here.

As usual, I got roped into making eight pans of broccoli casserole, since the Nubbins Women’s Society sells big scoops of it on a paper plate for $1 at their booth in town square on Nubbins Day. You can also buy chicken and corndogs and ice cream and funnel cake and that kind of thing, but nothing sells quite so well as that infamous broccoli casserole. People come from all over the county to get some; they really do.

Nubbins folks are quite proud of their broccoli-casserole heritage, so they celebrate it in style. While the normal, everyday fourth of July festivities are going on – namely the red-white-and-blue decorated bicycle parade, the 3-legged and sack races, Bessie Lou-Lou Tuten Tador singing the Star-Spangled Banner, and the Nubbins-Volunteer-Fire-Department-sponsored fireworks later on – we also embrace all things broccoli.

There’s barbecued broccoli on a stick (only 50 cents!), the flower-and-vegetable arrangement contest which must include at least one head of broccoli (it’s amazing how beautiful broccoli is, really), the broccoli-casserole-eating contest (Boyd Boober usually wins that one), the blue-ribbon broccoli-casserole contest (Myrtle Butts will win again), and the crowning of Miss Broccoli Casserole with a real broccoli tiara.

Now, I don’t want you to get Nubbins confused with the Broccoli Capital of the World, which is somewhere in California, I think. No, people in Nubbins don’t grow their own broccoli. Some people do, I guess, if they can keep the deer and rabbits from eating it, but usually we just get what we need from the Piggly Wiggly. But where Nubbins citizens really excel is in the fine art of cooking with frozen broccoli.

Before you go turning you nose up at the idea of broccoli casserole, let me tell you I’m not talking about your run-of-the-mill school cafeteria broccoli casserole, here. This is the real deal –a true art form that has been perfected in Nubbins kitchens for years and years. Some of the more competitive ones guard their recipes like gold, often growling with suspicion if you even hint at trying to pin down one of the secret ingredients (“Is that bittersweet paprika I taste, or perhaps cinnamon?”).

Making broccoli casserole is one of the things we are good at. That, and tomato aspic – but it’s hard to put aspic on a stick. And why not celebrate the things we do well? It gives us a sense of identity and pride in our community, which is really what the Fourth of July is all about, anyway, don’t you agree? And think about it. If broccoli casserole has to be one of the staples of life, don’t we want it to taste really good?

Oh, dear, I’ve gotten on my broccoli casserole soapbox again. I do believe all those things I just said, really I do. But between you and me, I’ll be glad when August rolls around. I’m starting to get a little green around the gills.