Cookbook benefits CHKD

Published 9:39 pm Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Members of the North Suffolk Circle of the King’s Daughters meet regularly at Driver’s Berea Church. The fundraising group has released a cookbook packed with recipes passed down through members’ families.

Sazerac New Orleans Drink, featured in a cookbook launched by a local group to raise money for the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, doesn’t seem so complicated.

Take a little bourbon or rye whisky, some Angostura bitters, Peychaud’s bitters, sugar syrup and lemon, mix it up in a cocktail shaker and pour it into a Pernod-coated, pre-chilled glass.

North Suffolk Circle of the King’s Daughters member Esther Hall is in her 70s, and the recipe on page 11 is dedicated to her father, John Zollinger.

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In fact, “Cooking with Friends of the North Suffolk Circle” has 226 pages packed with recipes, passed down to group members, which have sustained generations of Suffolkians.

Pamela Hare, who worked on the project with Kelly Buley and Nancy McCrickard, said, “We were going to do a calendar, then we decided that the cookbook would make more money and be easier.”

Morris Press Cookbooks published the book, and the ladies were able to upload recipes for inclusion over the Web, or hand them to the production team trio to do so.

Production costs were kept low by utilizing the talents of local photographer Meghan Morris, Hare’s daughter.

Special pages dividing sections in the cookbook feature stories and photos of Suffolk children who have benefited from the Norfolk children’s hospital formed in 1896.

The final divider features the great-granddaughters of the oldest group member, Joan Mayo, to whom the book is dedicated.

Taylor and Tori Boyd were born 10 weeks premature on June 15, 1997, and spent three months in CHKD.

“I am so thankful that they saved my twin daughters’ lives,” wrote Heather Boyd, the twins’ mother. “If it weren’t for them, they wouldn’t be here today.”

Priced at $20, the cookbook has been placed for sale with various businesses around the area. Folks can also call 636-5111 or 679-2489 to reserve a copy.

An initial run of 500 copies was increased by another 500 due to demand. The group wanted to make sure it had plenty of copies for Driver Days on Oct. 20-21, Hare said.

While the first King’s Daughters circle was formed in Norfolk in 1886, Priscilla Jones, who moved from Norfolk in 1981, founded the first and only Suffolk circle in 1987.

After starting with close to 50 ladies, the North Suffolk circle now has 30 members, about 18 active, Mayo said.

The group’s many other fundraising initiatives include a scarecrow project with McDonald’s Nursery, a food booth at Driver Days, fashion shows, and serving as host at Homearama.

“We work hard,” Mayo said.