Gail Weintraub (Stern)

Linda, thank you for posting the photo from Mike's Celebration of Life and for physically representing our WHHS Class of '64. Besides my remembrance, did any other classmates send in remembrances to be read at the event?

Laura Reid (Pease)

Linda, how wondeful that you could be at Mike's memorial!  What a great photo.  Love to you!!

Bruce Bittmann

Was watching the UC football game today when all of a sudden the announcers launched into a discussion about Mr Giacometti!  Was very great.  I didn't know anything about his background.  But, I do now.  And so does a national audience about this 102 year old Walnut Hills HS teacher and coach.  Wow is all I can say.  Hat a role model.

Bruce Bittmann

Whoops.  He's only 101.

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Funny you should mention him. His picture just popped up in my Facebook memories from a WHHS Foundation dinner in 2015 (it's 20th year). He was only 95. You may also recognize a couple of "youngsters" who also attended. 

Dale Gieringer

And speaking of UC football, GO BEARCATS!  My father & I used to root for them at Nippert Stadium.  One year they briefly edged into the top 20 in the national rankings before being whipped by Wichita, but we never dreamed they'd ever make the top 4. 

Larry Klein

Here's the interview of "Coach" Giac referenced by Ann earlier. (You may need to hit your backbutton to get back to the Message Forum). Link was provided by Ira.

https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll27/id/2582/

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Another classmate from that WHHS Alumni Foundation dinner six years ago. 

Steven Levinson

Apparently Dean Giacometti entered the Army Air Corp at the age of 15.

Paul Simons

I'm putting this up because a good number of WHHS alumni live or have lived in the general San Francisco area. I did for a while, early 1970's. It's also likely that many didn't have to or get to do this type of work. I certainly never did anything this dangerous and demanding, day after day, year after year.

It's thought provoking. A great challenge, a great undertaking, requiring unanimity of purpose and application. Although some deny it, we are confronted with a more daunting challenge today, and like then, the technology to address it does exist. In light of what they could do with the technology they had in the 1930's, we have no excuse...

Bruce Fette

I think it must be time to try to get the Message Forum going again on a topic that all will respond to. So here goes. November is a month for many celebrations. And so is December.

My guess is that many of you are hoping to see family again, for the first time in a long time. Perhaps your kids are coming to see you, or perhaps you are going to go see your kids, or perhaps you are planning to do something new and exciting over these Holiday months.

So I propose that each of you tell all your WHHS friends what you are planning to do to celebrate the Holidays.

So I am going to ...............(fill in the blank here).............! Who is going where to do what?

PS. If you are coming to the greater DC area let us know!

Barbara Kahn (Tepper)

I wish I could answer that question about holiday plans. This past year my family has loosened restrictions since we're all vaccinated except the babies. I have resumed regular babysitting. Roy and I had boosters too. I'm hoping we will all have Thanksgiving together but the strangest thing happened during our covid separation - we each made our own turkeys and we liked it. My family doesn't plan much in advance so if they want to go back to the old way and have Thanksgiving here, I'm up for that too. 

Bonnie Altman (Templeton)

I am going to California to see my kids and grandkids. My daughter-in-law cook Thanksgiving dinner while imbibing a bottle of wine. Whenever one of us starts to get cranky, the other says lubricate and we both take a sip of wine😊

Jeff Daum

We normally have everyone come to our place outside of Vegas for Thanksgiving, but this year, our West Coast son asked to have it at his new home outside of Seattle.  So we are driving up there while our East Coast son and family are flying out.  It will be the first time the three Granddaughters (9 months for our Seattle born, and 2 years and 4 years for the Boston born) to all be together.

It will also be the first full family reunion since prior to Covid.  The second full family reunion will occcur at our place on the Big Island in January 2022.

Paul Simons

Thanks Bruce for idea! To try to answer the question, I'm not going anywhere but will try to change the focus of the Thanksgiving traditional meal from a gigantic baked turkey, meaningless stuffing and cranberry sauce (which if it was any good how come you eat it only once a year?) to broiled salmon and fried okra.

Bruce Fette

Great to see Barbara, Bonnie, Jeff and Paul's plans. Love to hear from more of the folks out there! In fact, maybe we should try to hear from every member of the class. It would be great to hear from everyone.

Stephen Collett

How do you do that okra Paul?

Paul Simons

Thanks for the question Steve. What I do is cut the tops which are harder stuff off, then cut them in half long ways, then fry them up. The upscale term would be sautée. Sometimes with everyday vegetables oil, sometimes EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil - I don't know how they determine if there's an extra virgin or just the standard number of virgins pressing the olives) and sometimes add in some toasted sesame oil. That stuff just seems to go with Okra. And soy sauce.

This is what they come out like:

Laura Reid (Pease)

Paul, I was so surprised to see a picture of okra on the message forum!  And then Steve asking for the recipe.  I love okra and use it in soups a lot, especially vegetable beef.  And fried, nothing better, but most don't like it, especially my family.  When I fry it, I cut off the top and then cut it crosswise into 1/2" pieces.  I dip it in an egg wash (but not always) and then in yellow cornmeal to which I have added a little salt and pepper.  Then I fry it, like you do Paul, in oil on medium-hi until browned.  Delicious, but you need to eat it right away.  This is similar to the way I cook fried green tomatoes which I also love.  I grew up eating both, so they remind me of childhood....Happy cooking!

Paul Simons

Oh my! This is fantastic! I woke up yesterday thinking I was the only one but no - there is a whole Okra COMMUNITY here!!

Here's the next batch with a few onions thrown in, a few minutes into being fried up. That's the correct terminology. "Okra" and "sautéed" don't belong in the same sentence.  And just curious Laura and Steve - with  salt? Pepper? Soy sauce? Something else? The egg-and-cornmeal treatment sounds fabulous - photos please- but beyond my capabilities. Interesting yours remind you of childhood, must have been a good time. For me it means more mundane stuff - Campbell's soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and of course for a Hebe like me matzo ball soup and for all of us from Cincinnati White Castle and Skyline as I might have mentioned about 1,539 times previously.

I found out about this from renting a room from a gentleman from Louisiana who owned a rooming house in Tucson where I lived for a few years back in the'70's. He was an Elder in the Black church, had known Dr. King and also Muhammad Ali, a devout Christian and also vegetarian. I learned a bit about southern food and music just sitting on the porch listening to him talk about a life very different from my own. But my Okra trip is not New Orleans bouillabaisse style, it's just what makes sense to me.

Stephen Collett

Thanks Paul and Laura. Okra is definitely a specialty item in Norway but it can be found in what we call the "Asian stores", and now I am inspired. The egg batter and cornmeal will get a go.

Allen Fisher

Definitely put a little South in your mouth. Okra heaven down here!! C'mon Man-----Have a great day everyone

Dale Gieringer

Okra is a staple in chicken gumbo, one of our favorite dishes around this time of year.

But not for Thanksgiving. Our family doesn't think much of turkey.   Instead, we do cornish game hens with all the fixings - wild rice stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberries.

Barbara Kahn (Tepper)

Fascinating to be talking about Okra today! I love it in gumbo.  It's also a great appetizer breaded and fried. I've had it at Cahill's Market in Bluffton SC. 

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Jon Singer

Slime.  Green slime.