Cornish Pasties from Governor Rose Mofford

The first female governor of Arizona was Historymaker Rose Mofford in 1988. Growing up in Globe, she came from a mining community and gave us the family recipe for Cornish Pasties for Tastes & Treasures cookbook. On her 90th birthday, celebrations are in order:

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton designated June 10 “Rose Mofford Day” and renamed a section of 17th Avenue leading to the Capitol “Rose Mofford Way.”
“In our centennial year, as a native son of Arizona, 90 of those years were blessed by Rose Mofford’s leadership,” said a beaming Art Hamilton, former Arizona House minority leader.
Secretary of State Ken Bennett was a co-master of ceremonies with Hamilton for the birthday celebration. A letter of congratulations from President Barack Obama was read aloud. State historian Marshall Trimble sang a song.

When handed the microphone, Mofford noted that she had driven the section of 17th Avenue renamed for her about 51,000 times in her 51 years of state service.
“Little did I think that I would have to drive down Rose Mofford’s Way to get to Wes Bolin’s Plaza,” Mofford quipped.
“I have some breaking news,” she continued. “I am the richest person in the world.”

Cornish Pasties page 133 Taste & Treasures
Pastry Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup shortening

1 cup beef suet, finely chopped

4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

Filling Ingredients:
2 pounds round steak or other lean beef, cut into ½ inch cubes

2 or 3 potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 or 3 small onions, coarsely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

butter

For the pastry, mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add the suet and toss with a fork until combined. Add just enough of the ice water to make the dough adhere and mix well. Knead lightly and shape the pastry into a ball. Chill, covered , for 1 hour.

For the filling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the steak, potatoes, onions, salt and pepper in a bowl. Pat the pastry on a lightly floured surface into ¼ inch thick rounds 8 or 9 inches in diameter. Press on the pastry to flatten pieces of the suet. Spoon ¼ to ½ cup of the filling onto half of each dough round and dot with butter. Moisten the edge with water and fold over to enclose the filling. Press the edge with your fingers or a fork to seal. Arrange the pasties on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour.
Makes 8 pasties

Staff Appreciation Luncheon

How can you show your appreciation for the wonderful staff at AHS Museum? Once a year we honor them with a luncheon and present the Grants for the next year. It is always exciting to learn the details of the Grants and get to know the staff better over lunch. Each staff member introduced him/herself. Museum Director Kyle McKoy accepted the Grant certificate and told us many new happenings at the Museum.

Peggy Murphy wins Cookbook Contest

Peggy Murphy has been a tireless worker for the Historical League since she joined in 1992. Chairing many positions from Treasurer to Cookbook to Fundraiser and more, we are so grateful for her dedication. Her husband, Gerry, has been very supportive as well.

It is most fitting that her name was chosen to win a copy of Tastes & Treasures with her recipe for Pumpkin Cake. Find this recipe on the May 28 blog.

Thanks to all the volunteers that continue to support the AHS Museum at Papago Park.

Cookie Dessert at Spring Recognition Luncheon

Cookie molds come in so many shapes but this one closely resembles our Old Ned logo. Great job and delicious. These came from Barb's Bakery in Phoenix. You can try them on your own with unique cookie cutters.

Thanks to Janie Burke for her creativity with this cookie cutter.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional to dip the cookie cutters
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and baking powder, set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla.

4. Gradually blend in dry ingredients.

5. Roll in balls or you can lay the dough out onto a clean area and mix with more flour to make the dough stiff enough to use Christmas cookie cutters with.

6. Bake 8-10 minutes Makes about 25 cookies.
   

Historymakers Oral Histories on www.HistoricalLeague.org

One of our Centennial Legacy Project commitments is to have all 58 Historymakers Oral Histories on www.HistoricalLeague.org. It's a BIG job but Zona Lorig and Joan Robinson continue to work on it. All the official portraits, biographies and some pictures have been on the website but now there is more.

Joe Beeler and Esther Don Tang's pages have recently been updated to include their Oral Histories. It is exciting to see this happen. Now these amazing stories are available to the public through www.HistoricalLeague.org. Teachers, students, history buffs, geneologists, researchers and families can enjoy these interesting life histories as told to us - "In Their Own Words."

Jim Turner - Guest Speaker

Historian and author Jim Turner gave us a fascinating look at Arizona as she became the 48th State. On Feb 14, 1912 every church bell in the state was ringing. All train whistles were blowing. And Bisbee thought they would celebrate with 48 sticks of dynamite. After about 10 ignited and blew out windows in town, they stopped the fireworks. Wonderful stories and photos can be found in his new Centennial book, Arizona A Celebration of the Grand Canyon State.

Jim was the guest speaker at our Spring Recognition Luncheon. Janie Burke and Lindy Isacksen did a wonderful job on the event.

Tastes & Treasures cookbook and Arizona Recollections and Reflections were also sold.

Thank you in Thyme

At the Spring Recognition Luncheon, Jackie Berkowitz announced the volunteer hours for 2011-2012. The Historical League has a cumulative total of 110,394 volunteer hours to the AZ Historical Society at Papago Park. President Sharron McKinney thanked her Board and we were all given a great gift of Thyme. Such a thoughtful, clever and useful idea.

Garlands Oak Creek uses Thyme for Roast Pork page 44, and for Red Lentil Chowder page 42 in Tastes & Treasures cookbook.

Thyme, botanically-known as thymus vulgaris, gets its name from the Greek word thymon, an herb used as incense or as a fumigator during sacrifices.

Native to the Mediterranean region, thyme was brought to Britain by the Romans. Long-prized for its medicinal uses, ancient Egyptians used thyme oil in their embalming process.

Legend has it that thyme was an essential ingredient in a magic brew that allowed the drinker to see the fairies. It was also considered an aphrodisiac.