My brother, Jarvis, married a city girl. She proved to be a blessing to our family. Certainly, parents wonder what kind of girl their son will marry. Jarvis was sent to A&M at the age of 16, the U.S. Army took him when he was a junior. The entire senior and junior classes taking ROTC were drafted an...

The Aztecs, Incas and Mayans enjoyed salsa in the Americas centuries before the Spanish arrived. By 1494, the first chili peppers reached Spain. Their heat must have been astonishing, but they were ignored. Three generations later, a priest accompanying Spanish Conquistadors in Mexico noted that Azt...

Studying the history of strawberry shortcake was surprising. I had always thought it American — something Jefferson or Franklin might have wanted to make our national dessert. Apparently, not. Mysecondsurprise—onlyoneStrawberry Short Cake recipe ever appeared in the Fredericksburg PTA Cookbook serie...

Iremember my Uncle Ben once giving us a quart jar of blackstrap molasses. It had a distinctive taste and was tantalizingly delicious, especially when ...

In 1953, I accompanied my sister to the Big Bend. We crossed the border at Del Rio, but the closest we came to Mexican food remained the chili and bea...

At the age of 4 in the summer of 1945, my dad took me to his office on Main Street. It was in the building he had built in the 1930s — today’s Segner’...