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Leita Pritchett of Marengo County says she has always loved to cook, and she credits her love of cooking to her mother.
“Mother was always a big cook, and I grew up loving to cook with her. Most of my recipes come from mother. And she still tries new things. Sometimes the family fusses at her a little for changing recipes on us. We like the originals just fine,” Leita says.
Leita and her husband, Charlie, live in Nanafalia where they moved five years ago to be closer to their forestry business, Pritchett Forestry Services. And like Leita, Charlie also comes from a family that loves to cook.
“His mom still cooks a lunch for her family every Sunday, and we all joke that if she doesn’t have twenty people to feed, she’s mad. Charlie and I built our house when we moved to
Nanafalia, and we built a kitchen big enough for both of us to get in there and cook,” she says.
Charlie serves on the Co-op Board in neighboring Choctaw County.
Before retiring, Leita spent 25 years working in the District Attorney’s office for Choctaw, Clarke, and Washington counties. “I loved working there, and taking that job was probably the most interesting choice I ever made. It was a fast-paced environment and a demanding job. Over time the District Attorneys started getting younger, and one young man was elected who had worked for us one summer. It seemed like things had come full circle, and it was time for me to move on. People don’t realize how much responsibility an office like that holds,” says
Leita.
Since retiring, Leita says she’s had enough to keep her busy when she’s not cooking. “I’ve had to fill in as secretary for Charlie a time or two, and I do run to get a part or something occasionally, but at least I’m on my own schedule now. And of course, I keep my grandbaby whenever they let me,” she says.
Leita’s son, Cory, and his wife, Emily, made Leita a very proud grandmother with the birth of their son Canon. “He’s just wonderful,” she beams.
In addition to cooking meals for herself and Charlie, Leita enjoys preparing food for church meals and family gatherings. “For Christmas all of our family gets together, both Charlie’s and my extended families, for a meal. We fix a big spread of seafood, and everybody eats and talks. It’s a nice tradition,” says
Leita.
Leita shares with us this month some of her kitchen traditions, including two cake recipes she’s made often. “The Chocolate Pound Cake was my mother’s grandfather’s maid’s recipe, and it’s my son’s favorite. He always wanted it for his birthday every year instead of a traditional birthday cake. And the Punch Bowl Cake makes an impressive presentation, but it’s really not complicated. It’s an easy summer favorite,” Leita says.
Kellie Henderson is a freelance writer from
Troy. |
