Child’s Black Cowboy Shirt
Jane Brucker Exhibit
This shirt was gifted to me from my children’s paternal
Great Grandmother who was fondly called Noni. It is the only piece of her that we
own. Lena Barbeau (Noni) was a woman with a zest for life. During summers until
Noni was eighty-five, she could be found on the south side of the Santa Cruz Wharf
in a string bikini.
Noni created jewels out of vegetables, decorated holidays with
joy, and appreciated beauty. Noni’s Great Depression sensibility taught me not
to waste the flour when creating biscotti and how to dip only the tip in white
wine.
“A glass of wine with dinner, for the soul.” Noni said.
“Harry wore this, you know, my brother who was killed in a
hunting accident.” She said when she found the shirt wrapped in an envelope the
year before she died.
The shirt fit a toddler boy, about age three. Though Noni
claimed her brother Harry once wore it, I do not think that was real. I received
the gift just before she was sent to assisted living in a dark tunnel of
memory.
Because the shirt had a ghostly feel, I never put it on my blonde-haired
boy. I planned to frame the shirt with the embroidered red ponies and build a Western
theme room like in some Presidential library. My children are seventh
generation Californians, we are familiar with homespun stories of buckaroos.
We share a piece of the cowboy past of my family and the secret
recipe for the “cantucci” (biscotti).
½ cup almond oil
1 cup white sugar
3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon anise seeds
1 teaspoon anise extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon real vanilla
1 cup salted almonds
Grease for cookie sheet
Preheat oven 375 degrees
Mix dry ingredients saving aside 1 of the 3 cups of flour
Beat by hand the eggs, oil, extracts until smooth, add sugar
and
beat with fork until combined, about 1 minute.
Cut the almonds with a sharp knife into 3 diagonal slices,
yes cut each one.
Reserve the cup of flour and mix all the wet and dry ingredients
BY HAND
Do not handle too much or knead the dough, it should be
cold.
The tricky part- add half of the remaining cup of flour to
get the dough to feel
sticky like playdough and dryer than toothpaste. The amount
of flour depends on
humidity of your kitchen. There is a balance of not touching
the
dough too much, refraining from eating raw eggs, and now sharing
a glass of wine.
Use the remaining flour sprinkle your board and roll the
dough into one rectangle.
About 1 inch thick
Grease a cookie sheet and move it to the cookie sheet.
Bake 25 minutes- then cool to touch.
Cut on diagonal into ½ inch slices.
Put back on cookie sheet bake one side for 6 minutes.
Remove from oven and carefully turn the cookies to other cut
side and bake 5 minutes
The cookies should be golden.
Then cool and enjoy the nuts that escaped, with a dry white
wine.
Much Love to Jane
Caroline Gerardo Barbeau
