Sticking Together - Lattimore Stickys

February has been full of friends. Many of those friends have been four legged and furry. We are really grateful for all of our friends - four legged and two legged - because friends stick by each other in tough times and enjoy each other in good times. As the saying goes, friendships double our joy and divide our grief and February has had it's share of both.

It's been fun to watch the four legged ones become friends with each other. Simba is still all puppy and we have loved watching how Dingo has settled in to her role as babysitter, playmate and big sister. Thank heavens for Dingo taking on these roles because without her, Simba's puppy energy would wear us out.

I love the picture on this post of David with Simba, Dingo AND Mr. Cat going for a ride on the golf cart. Carol said Simba's expression appeared to say, "I don't really know what's going on, but I am ALL IN!" Simba is a full time player.

It has taken Mr. Cat a little bit longer to warm up but he's caught on to the proper way to play with a puppy. Mr. Cat also knows the proper way to let a puppy know when playtime is over. Jay posted a video of such play on facebook and immediately friends weighed in on Mr. Cat's swagometer. Mr. Cat is well known for his swag.

Then it was Simba's turn to learn to play with a new friend when Scott came for a visit and brought Wilson - the 5 year old Greyhound. To Simba, Wilson probably looked about 10 feet tall. But they learned to play together too and Scott snapped the picture on this post during a morning walk. I laughed when Scott emailed the pic with the caption, "Simba going under the Wilson bridge."

It was great to have Scott back in Shelby for the first time since our 30th high school reunion. Time does fly but old friends easily pick up where they left off. Of course in this case that included lots of basketball, lots of visits and lots of meals. When you're only in town every eight years or so you have alot of catching up to do. Scott caught up with friends and relatives as well as livermush and bbq. We had a spontaneous dinner party of Cowboy Soup and Cornbread and it didn't feel like so many years had gone by. It felt like family. Old friends are like that.

We enjoyed more good friends with a trip in early February to High Point for basketball with the Staleys and a visit with Susan and Thomas for supper and the Super Bowl. As Thomas says, "we meet for a social event and a ballgame breaks out!" The first time I remember Thomas saying that was at a Charlotte Hornets game in 1991. Some things never change. Thank heavens.

On the other hand, when some things don't change it can be rather nerve wracking. Like Big South basketball games. The picture of the scoreboard on this post could be any number of games with the final score 57-56. Suffice to say that when attending a Big South Basketball game don't plan to leave early. These games can be rather sticky.

Yet another kind of sticky has been on my mind recently - the stickys that Nanny taught Nishie how to make.

Nishie and Nanny made Stickys with the leftover dough from homemade biscuits. The last bit of dough is rolled out flat and spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon and then rolled up jellyroll style and sliced. The slices are placed in a pan and baked until browned on top. There's a reason they are called stickys. When Nishie and Nanny made them, they were gooey with mass quantities of sugar, butter and cinnamon. When you picked up a sticky you knew how they got their name.

The other day I made two runs of Mama's Homemade Biscuits (recipe posted May 23, 2010) and decided to try my hand at Lattimore Stickys. It's been years since I made them and usually I don't make them because we do have to draw the calorie and sugar line somewhere. Sometimes I just draw the sugar line and make my own version of Stickys with butter, parmesan cheese and Italian spices.

But true Lattimore Stickys were on my mind so I gave it a shot. Just as I was taking the finished stickys out of the oven, Mama invited me out to Lattimore for a quick lunch. So I proudly took my stickys to Lattimore for a taste test by Dad, Mom, Libby and Penny - who quickly and unanimously critiqued that they did not have enough butter or sugar, they were not sticky enough, and they needed to be more brown on top. Somehow they were consumed despite these shortcomings.

Sticky ballgames, friends sticking together, and sticking my neck out with old family recipes. Can March madness be far behind?