PART 2
Cousin Delores Brumfield Jenkins and I descend from John Bickham, the founder of Franklinton who donated thirty acres of land for our town in 1819. Delores and my mother Margie Nell Brumfield Ellzey are among the great-great-great-grandchildren of John Bickham. Momma and Delores were first cousins. Delores's father Athan Brumfield and Momma's father (my grandfather) Thomas Colter "T. C." Brumfield were brothers and the youngest and eldest sons, respectively, of Thomas Hezekiah and Susan Elizabeth Brumfield. Their siblings were Ozzie Mae (Crain), Flora Lanora/Lenora (Crain), Effie Beatrice (Mizell), Tera Alma (Bateman), and Susan Maudine (Brown).
Growing up on the Brumfield home place in the bucolic country northeast of Franklinton with sisters Sue (Griggs), Jeanette (Cooper), Bobbie (Miller), Tommie Lou (Stafford) and brothers Murdock and Durwood, Delores is awash with fond childhood memories. One of her early pastimes was cooking, and her homemaking really gained momentum when she married Erbin "Ray" Jenkins in 1962. By the time their sons Jeffrey and Mark were born, she was a veritable expert in the kitchen.
One of Delores's personal ministries, and talents, is creating a surfeit of divine dishes and sharing them with family and friends. When a neighbor falls ill, she arrives bearing sustenance. Undeterred during the pandemic, she deposited delicious fare on the doorsteps of friends. And when a fellow church member at Ben's Ford Missionary Baptist Church passes away, Delores is part of the ensemble that provides meals to the family, whipping up egg custard pies and other welcome provisions. She is part of the culinary army that descends on the church - like manna from heaven.
At family gatherings, my better half announces in advance, "I'm having whatever Delores brings." And he enjoys plenty, for all of us. Rodney's favorite is Cousin Delores's chicken and dumplings, made from scratch, which he chases with her scrumptious coconut cake. I wish my daddy were here to taste it as coconut cake was his favorite. Kind-hearted, Delores has taught me to make some of her delectable dishes. When our daughter and son-in-law come home for a visit, my old French farm table is teeming with them.
And Delores's friends, who are dear to me, have assisted with this endeavor. Catherine Mizell generously gifted me a great gadget - a tart maker to aid me in making the miniature pecan pies for which Delores is renowned. As Catherine wrote, "It is one of those things that you don't need or use very often, but it sure is nice to have! It makes the job faster and easy." Indeed, it is and does. I'm remain grateful to Catherine, a close friend of Delores's, for her thoughtfulness. Both of them spring to mind each time I pull the terrific tool from my drawer.
I couldn't possibly close this series without divulging a couple of Cousin Delores's famous recipes. Though they may have originated with others, in my mind they belong to her and are so captioned. I'm going to share what I would call a Sunday supper. On the Sunday nights of my youth, my mother made beef stroganoff. I hadn't heard mention of beef stroganoff in years, not until the terrible tragedy in March of 2021 in the Boulder, Colorado, grocery where a young couple said they escaped with their lives, and the ingredients for beef stroganoff. But without Momma here to teach me to make it, I've come to rely on Delores who taught me to make her specialties, one of which is scrumptious crawfish chowder.
With a pretty spring weekend coming to a close, it leaves us wanting more - weekend and chowder. The recipe for the concoction, which Betsy, and her husband Erik, deem amazing, follows. And it is amazingly easy to make. I serve it in Momma's tureen, with a tossed green salad and French bread, Leidenheimer's when I can get it, on the side.
If the foregoing doesn't satiate, I recommend topping it off with Delores's delectable egg custard pie which recipe also follows. It provides the perfect finish to any meal. Following Cousin Delores's example, I've begun making it and getting rave reviews. Much like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," it's not too sweet, it's not too tart, it's just right.
And that's exactly how my relationship with kind-hearted family and friends is, just right. When it felt like the whole world had gone out - that's how it feels when an only child loses her last parent - they came in. Family and friend, Delores - a peach of a person - was, and is, there for me. The Easter season is the perfect time to recognize the blessing of family and friends. And you're truly blessed if Delores Brumfield Jenkins is among them.
Delores's Egg Custard Pie
4 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 2/3 cup half and half
1 tbsp. vanilla
9 in. pie crust
Put ingredients in food processor or combine with a mixer for 30 to 45 seconds. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake in pie crust for about 45 minutes, until the center jiggles just a little.
Delores's Crawfish Chowder
1 stick margarine
1 bundle green onions, chopped
8 ounces cream cheese
1 can corn
2 cans cream of potato soup
3 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 quart half and half
1 to 2 lbs. fresh or frozen crawfish tails
Melt the first three ingredients together in a large pot over medium heat. Then, add the next three ingredients, stirring until mixed. Add the half and half followed by the crawfish. Once everything is well heated, serve with crackers or bread.
On Wednesday of this week, I'll be bound for Boston where our daughter Betsy, a Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellow at Harvard-Brigham and Women's Hospital, lives in the Back Bay. There, our family will be celebrating not only my husband's 60th birthday but also Easter Sunday. And on the day following, we will observe, with great ardor, Patriots' Day in Massachusetts and the Boston Marathon. I wish you and yours every Easter blessing!
