Dancing in Front of the Whole School and Huntsville Heritage Cookbook's Corn Fritters

Oh goodness!!  I have decided I like being in my 50's because it gives me permission to do things that earlier in my life I would have rather died than do. With that said, about a month or so ago, the high school where I teach wanted to raise money for United Way.  So the SGA came up with the grand idea to have a contest where the students would nominate their favorite teachers to participate in a dance-off at the next pep rally.  I thought "No way!"  The next day, I had several students tell me that me and my partner in crime - Kim - were nominated.  I thought "No way!"  Then I get an e-mail from the SGA sponsor who confirmed this horror of horrors.  Again I think "No way!".  She said to let her know if we wanted to proceed to the next step which would be to put a bucket on the cafeteria stage with our name on it, and the students would vote by placing money in the bucket.  The 5 teachers with the most money would have to dance in front of 1000 screaming adolescents at the pep rally that next week.  I thought "No way!"  But the students begged and begged and begged, so I thought "OK!  I will let them put my name on a bucket!"  I again thought "No Way!" would it go any further than that. 

Well, it did.  Kim and I were two of the 5 teachers to get the most money.  No way!  So now my students want to see me dance in class that whole week to get me ready for my dance debut.   I let them show me the newest dance moves at the end of each class.  They were enjoying the training, but by the horrified looks on their faces, I could tell they felt very sorry for me and my definite lack of rhythm.   I was the kid who tried out for her high school dance team to "Kung Fu Fighting".  Do you remember that horrid song?  Well, let me tell you one thing....  Every time I hear that song, I get sad because I was the only one of my friends who did NOT make the dance team that year.  I definitely didn't deserve to, but oh,  I was so sad.  I am also the woman who watches "Dancing with the Stars" and thinks "Oh I could do that!"  I need to say to myself "How about you bought the Dancing with the Stars Exercise DVD, and you cannot even do that Sister!!"  No you cannot do that. 

On with the story....Friday arrives, and I am nervous as a cat.  The students continue to practice with me.  2:08 pm arrives and I must go to the gym.  Well, it is 100 degrees in there and between that and my nerves, my face is blood red.  I am sweating and thinking that I am going to pass out.  They call our names to go out on the court, line us up, and start the music.  The first song is "The Twist", and I think to myself  "You've got this one Sister!"  I start twisting and going lower and lower, and I am thinking that my knees are going to give out.   They stop the music and cut the first teacher.  It was not me.  HAHA!!  I begin to have an inflated sense of self.  The joke is on me though.  They start playing music for us to do all the new teenager dances like the "Dougie" and the "Wobble", and who knows what else.  I didn't know how to even begin to do those so I just start free-styling and going nuts!!  I must confess that I don't remember what I was doing.  I think I started doing my Kung Fu Fighting routine.  Who knows???  I got too caught up in the pandemonium, and if I ever see myself on video, I will have to lay down, crawl in a hole, and die.  I know there is one out there because all the students had their phones pointing at us.  I don't know what came over me.  I guess it was the pent-up frustration of being a closet dancer and not making the dance team in high school.  Well, the end of the story is that Kim and I won the dance off!!  I could not believe it.  But I paid for that win.  My knees were so sore the next day that I could hardly get off the couch.  My arms hurt from waving them around like a fool.  But the United Way got over $500.00 so it was worth it.  I am going right now to look at YouTube and see if anyone has posted that video.  AGH!!!

Now on to the recipe.  The game chose Corn Fritters.  I had never made these before so I thought this should be good.  I decided I would serve them alongside some vegetable beef stew.  "Oh son they are good!"  I have to credit Son-in-Law for adding the exclamations "Oh Son" or "Son!" to my vocabulary.  What is so funny is that all my friends at work say it now as well.  But oh son, they are good.  You need to try them.

You will need self-rising corn meal, an egg, salt, sugar, one 8-oz can of cream-style corn, milk, and a little margarine.  The recipe calls for bacon grease but Oh son, could you imagine the reaction that would get from Food Police?

Combine the first six ingredients and mix well.  Add enough milk for thin pancakes.

This is how big I made mine.  Cook on a fairly hot pan.

Brown both sides.  I think I got them a little too brown.  Whoops!

And here you go.  Corn Fritters!  They were delicious.  They kind of taste like Paula Deen's hoe cakes.  Oh son!!!

Here is the recipe...

Corn Fritters

Huntsville Heritage Cookbook

1 cup corn meal

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs sugar

1 8-oz can cream-style corn

2 tbs bacon grease (I used Smart Balance margarine)

Milk

Combine first 6 ingredients;  mix well.  Add enough milk for thin pancakes.  If batter thickens, add more milk.  Cook on hot greased griddle, browning both sides.  Serves 4 generously!!

Now go have a great day!