Preserving (rec.food.preserving) Devoted to the discussion of recipes, equipment, and techniques of food preservation. Techniques that should be discussed in this forum include canning, freezing, dehydration, pickling, smoking, salting, and distilling.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,415
Default My competition!!!

The original article with picture can be seen (probably today only) at
www.journalnow.com. Here is the text portion. Note how many ribbons
she has won. Her first was the year I was born.

Thursday, September 27, 2007 Winston Salem, NC Journal
One Hot Oven: Germanton woman, 93, has drawers filled with ribbons
she's won at fair

By Lisa O'Donnell
JOURNAL REPORTER

Katie Gilbert shows off only a few of the many ribbons that products
from her kitchen have won at the Dixie Classic Fair. No one is
absolutely sure, but she may be the winningest entrant in the fairs
history.
Katie Gilbert shows off only a few of the many ribbons that products
from her kitchen have won at the Dixie Classic Fair. No one is
absolutely sure, but she may be the winningest entrant in the fair's
history.
(Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll)

GERMANTON - Katie Gilbert and her canned goods and pound cakes are as
much a part of the Dixie Classic Fair as cotton candy and the
Tilt-A-Whirl.

When the fair opens Friday, it will include more than 30 entries in
food preservation and baking from Gilbert, who, at 93, is probably the
oldest exhibitor.

Gilbert won her first blue ribbons at the Dixie Classic Fair in 1941
for fudge, sea-foam candy and penuche, a type of fudge made with brown
sugar.

A few days ago, Gilbert read aloud a list of all the food she had to
bake before yesterday’s deadline.

“Biscuits, light biscuits, cheese biscuits, corn muffins, cinnamon
buns,” she said, then sighed. “I don’t know when I’m going to get time
to make all that stuff.”

She planned to spend all day Tuesday and much of yesterday baking in
her small kitchen, which has just a few patches of clear counter space
and no microwave oven.

Labeled jars of quartered tomatoes, pumpkin slices and grape juice -
her entries in food preservation - sat on a table next to a picture of
Jesus, ready to be packed and taken to the fair.

Kathy Nelson got to know Gilbert while working as special-events
coordinator at the fair. She savored Gilbert’s biscuits, pies and
cakes.

Gilbert’s biscuits were consistently round and perfectly colored,
never too dark or light, Nelson said.

“They were always so flaky,” she said. “They would melt in your
mouth.”

Gilbert baked moist layered cakes topped with creamy icing, and her
pie crusts were always tender and flaky, Nelson said.

“When I saw Mrs. Gilbert,” she said, “I knew quality was walking up to
that table.”

Gilbert has entered the Dixie Classic in most years since 1941, and
has also exhibited regularly at the N.C. State Fair and the Stokes
County Fair.

By Gilbert’s calculation, she has won 1,942 ribbons at those fairs.
Some entries, such as the Red Band biscuit competition, might earn her
a ribbon from Red Band and a ribbon from the Dixie Classic.

David Sparks, the director of the fair, said he can’t say for sure
whether anyone has won more ribbons than Gilbert, but she is
definitely among the most-winning entrants in fair history.

“Since I came here in 1988, I heard people talk about her. ‘Katie’s
won another one. Katie’s winning more blue ribbons this year,’” Sparks
said.

Gilbert takes meticulous care of her ribbons, some of which hang like
artwork from a wall in her dining room.

The drawers in her buffet are filled with boxes of purple, blue and
red ribbons - sorted by year.

“There are oodles in here, honey,” Gilbert said.

She learned to cook from her mother, who was known for her biscuits
and corn bread. Her mother, who never cooked from a recipe, encouraged
her children to experiment.

“Messing around in the kitchen,” Gilbert called it.

As a young girl in Mount Airy, she would pour the skim from her
mother’s homemade jellies and pretend that she was making candy.

She got a job at Hanes Hosiery, where she worked for 36 years. Among
her duties was folding hose and stuffing them into packages.

“I’d work at Hanes, then go home and bake a cake before supper,”
Gilbert said. “And now, it takes me all day.”

She entered the Dixie Classic Fair just for fun. Winning those blue
ribbons surprised and excited her.

Gilbert’s first husband, Asa Ladusau, died in 1969. A few years later,
she married Pete Gilbert, who died 11 years ago. He was proud of her
accomplishments, she said.

Pete Gilbert was retired from Hanes and preached once a month at a
church in Stuart, Va. He made toys such as slingshots and popguns, and
took roosters to the fair to compete in crowing contests.

He also helped his wife by cleaning up the dishes while she baked all
day in preparation for the fair.

These days, Gilbert does all the work herself except for loading and
unloading the entries.

She said she will go to the fair sometime in the next few days to see
how she did. While there, she will check the other food exhibits and
the vegetable exhibits and visit with the fair staff.

Della Stephens, who worked at the Dixie Classic Fair for more than 40
years, said that Gilbert is well-known among the fair personnel.

“She was one of the jewels,” Stephens said. “She’s one of the most
lovely persons I have ever met.”

When she is not baking or canning food, Gilbert keeps busy with
activities at her church, Bethany Baptist. They include a social club
and a twice-weekly exercise program designed for senior citizens.

Carla White said she used to wonder when her grandmother would quit
competing.

“She just keeps on. I don’t foresee her giving it up all together at
this point,” she said. “It’s very important to her. She likes to be
around the people, and she really likes the competition, too.”

Gilbert said that her pastor and White’s pastor have encouraged her to
keep entering her goods at fairs.

“I’ve been doing it so long,” she said. “I don’t think I can quit.”

--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)
  #2 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,415
Default My competition!!!

On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:57:11 -0500, The Cook >
wrote:

>The original article with picture can be seen (probably today only) at
>www.journalnow.com. Here is the text portion. Note how many ribbons
>she has won. Her first was the year I was born.
>

(snipped the article)

Mrs. Gilbert was at the fair checking out her winnings at the same
time I was. I got a chance to meet her and got a picture with her.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=25k37km&s=2
She's 93.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)
  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,906
Default My competition!!!

The Cook wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:57:11 -0500, The Cook >
> wrote:
>
>> The original article with picture can be seen (probably today only) at
>> www.journalnow.com. Here is the text portion. Note how many ribbons
>> she has won. Her first was the year I was born.
>>

> (snipped the article)
>
> Mrs. Gilbert was at the fair checking out her winnings at the same
> time I was. I got a chance to meet her and got a picture with her.
> http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=25k37km&s=2
> She's 93.

Lawdy, she's only six years younger than my MIL. How old does that make me?

George
  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,415
Default My competition!!!

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:17:45 -0500, George Shirley
> wrote:

>The Cook wrote:
>> On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:57:11 -0500, The Cook >
>> wrote:
>>
>>> The original article with picture can be seen (probably today only) at
>>> www.journalnow.com. Here is the text portion. Note how many ribbons
>>> she has won. Her first was the year I was born.
>>>

>> (snipped the article)
>>
>> Mrs. Gilbert was at the fair checking out her winnings at the same
>> time I was. I got a chance to meet her and got a picture with her.
>> http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=25k37km&s=2
>> She's 93.

>Lawdy, she's only six years younger than my MIL. How old does that make me?
>
>George


It makes us spring chickens. I told her that I was born the year she
won her first blue ribbon.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)
  #5 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 12,124
Default My competition!!!

In article >,
George Shirley > wrote:

> The Cook wrote:


> > She's 93.


> Lawdy, she's only six years younger than my MIL. How old does that make me?
>
> George


Dirt's younger.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
Dinner at Yummy! 9-15-2007 Pictures included.


  #6 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,906
Default My competition!!!

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> In article >,
> George Shirley > wrote:
>
>> The Cook wrote:

>
>>> She's 93.

>
>> Lawdy, she's only six years younger than my MIL. How old does that make me?
>>
>> George

>
> Dirt's younger.

Hey, just because you're still spry don't be poking fun at your elders.
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Competition BBQ Thomas Prufer Barbecue 0 12-07-2016 08:45 AM
BBQ Competition [email protected] Barbecue 3 08-03-2011 06:35 PM
PBS n' FN have competition notbob General Cooking 2 29-09-2010 10:36 AM
Competition Clyde Winemaking 6 09-01-2004 01:50 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:19 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 FoodBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Food and drink"