The Port Lavaca Chamber of Commerce invites you to their first B2B of the new year. It will be held Wednesday, January 18, at the Bauer Community Center in Port Lavaca. Meet and greet at 11:30, and lunch will be served at noon. Cost is $10.00 for members, $15.00 non-members.

The speaker will be Marie Lester with the City of Victoria’s Environmental Services. Marie is an Environmental Program Coordinator and has been instrumental in helping the PL Chamber with its recycle contest, as well as working with Allied Waste to make the local landfill easier and better for recycling. She will be giving tips on ways to recycle as well as recycling 101 ideas.

Call 552-2959 to RSVP or email cathy@portlavactx.org .

At the December meeting in Seguin, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) Board of Directors re-elected current board officers for 2012. Grace Kunde of Guadalupe County, will continue as chair, Oscar Fogle of Caldwell County as vice-chair, and Arlene Marshall of Calhoun County as secretary/treasurer.

Kunde, Fogle, and Marshall are appointees of Governor Rick Perry.

Other members of the GBRA board of directors are Rusty Brockman, Comal County; Myrna McLeroy, Gonzales County; Tommy Mathews, Kendall County; James L. Powers, Hays County; Dennis Patillo, Victoria County and Frank Pagel, Refugio County.

The GBRA was established by the Texas Legislature in 1933 as a water conservation and reclamation district. GBRA provides stewardship for the water resources in its 10-county statutory district, which begins near the headwaters of the Guadalupe and Blanco rivers, ends at San Antonio Bay, and includes Kendall, Comal, Hays, Caldwell, Guadalupe, Gonzales, DeWitt, Victoria, Calhoun, and Refugio counties.

The story of THE BLACK EYED PEA being considered good luck relates directly back to Sherman’s Bloody March to the Sea in late 1864. It was called The Savannah Campaign and was lead by Major General William T. Sherman. The Civil War campaign began on 11/15/64 when Sherman’s troops marched from the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia, and ended at the port of Savannah on 12/22/1864.

When the smoke cleared, the southerners who had survived the onslaught came out of hiding. They found that the blue belly aggressors that had looted and stolen everything of value and everything you could eat including all livestock. Death and destruction were everywhere. While in hiding, few had enough to eat, and starvation was now upon the survivors.

There was no international aid, no Red Cross meal trucks. The Northern army had taken everything they could carry and eaten everything they could eat. But they couldn’t take it all. The devastated people of the south found for some unknown reason that Sherman’s bloodthirsty troops had left silos full of black eyed peas.

At the time in the north, the lowly black eyed pea was only used to feed stock. The northern troops saw it as the thing of least value. Taking grain for their horses and livestock and other crops to feed themselves, they just couldn’t take everything. So they left the black eyed peas in great quantities assuming it would be of no use to the survivors, since all the livestock it could feed had either been taken or eaten.

Southerners awoke to face a new year in this devastation and were facing massive starvation if not for the good luck of having the black eyed peas to eat. From New Years Day 1866 forward, the tradition grew to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck.

Editor’s Note: The Dolphin doesn’t know if this is actual fact, but it’s an interesting explanation of our “good luck black eyed peas”.

Gather all ingredients and utensils; prepare the pans, and turn on the oven.

In a large bowl, add the following ingredients:
Butter
Sugar
Cream together until smooth.

Add two (2) large eggs.
Carefully remove the egg shells. They represent all the hurt from others, i.e., broken marriages, idle hurtful gossip, etc. The egg shells can destroy the cake before you really get started. Be careful to deposit them directly into a container to be discarded in the garbage.

Now add Flour
Baking Powder
Extract
Salt

Lumps can appear. These represent the things that require just a little more attention, i.e., rude people, some children and/or relatives, and friends that at times are not very thoughtful. Or, the lumps could be just someone who is having a bad day! Work on these lumps; try to reduce them. You may just have to remove them from the batter. Deposit them in the container along with the egg shells. But, we must remember Matthew 6:14, for God will not forgive us if we do not forgive others.

Pour the batter into the already prepared pans. Bake for the required time. Since I like warm pastries, I can occasionally turn the cake out too soon. When I do, part of the cake remains in the pan. This represents my ugly old cancer. Sooo, put the piece back on the cake, glue it down with some icing, and move forward. I refuse to have my cake ruined. It takes me just a little longer to accomplish some things. I do have some good and some bad days also – just like other people!

Now the frosting is put on the cake; spread it all around with a spatula. Well, would you believe when I got around the cake, I found the frosting sliding off? OK, what next? I figure this is representative of my daily problems. Therefore, I will patiently wait until the cake cools, and using my trusty spatula, put the frosting back in place!

Looks good! But something is missing – color. I’ll sprinkle some multi-colored candy pieces all over the cake. These represent all the friends and associates I know. They are all different, and I truly enjoy each of them.

Oh, oh, something is still missing. To make the cake more appealing, I’m going to put a post through the cake, right down the middle to the platter. I’ve found out that this post keeps my cake from sliding off the platter. As I said before, I tend to skip ahead. The rod is my Lord; He keeps me in line! He offers me stability, love, joy, and peace…

Now then, I can offer you a piece of my life cake. If you want to copy the recipe, you are welcomed. If I had had this recipe earlier in life, I could have enjoyed it sooner. Now I have cake all the time and will keep a piece reserved for you!

-Submitted by a member of Fisherman’s Chapel

January 16: Religious Freedom Day Each year, since 1993, the President declares January 16th to be Religious Freedom Day. The day is the anniversary of the passage, in 1786, of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom. Thomas Jefferson drafted the legislation and considered it one of his greatest achievements. It stopped the practice of taxing people to pay for the support of the local clergy, and it protected the civil rights of people to express their religious beliefs without suffering discrimination.

January 16: Martin Luther King Day

January 17: Benjamin Franklin was born on this day in 1706.

January 21: National Hugging Day Here is an excuse to give and receive hugs. It’s National Hugging Day. A hug will make you feel good and appreciated so give away as many as you can on this day. National Hugging Day was created in 1986 by Rev Kevin Zaborney from Caro, Michigan.

January 23: National Handwriting Day The purpose of this holiday is to make people realize the importance of handwriting. With computers everywhere, people are less inclined to use writing tools like pens, pencils and other stationery. This holiday was created by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association in 1977. They of course wanted to promote the sales of pens, pencils and other writing instruments. This date was chosen because it was the birthday of John Hancock who was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence.

23rd January, 1986: The first ten musicians are inducted into Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame including James Brown, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.

And, January 23, 2012 is the deadline for news, photos, and ads for the next Dolphin Talk!