Page 40 - Spring 2022

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Cookin’ with Rosemary
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Vinnie’s Vault
Editor’s note: The following story about Rosemary Stancil’s microwave cooking book was written by The Oconee Enterprise Publisher Vinnie Williams and published Thursday, May 17, 1990. Stancil worked for the University of Georgia for 10 years and coordinated the nutrition education program for the statewide Extension Service. She also revived the Oconee County Library Friends. She earned a distinguished alumni award in 2010 from the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences. In 2018, she was awarded the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation’s Volunteer of the Year.
By Vinnie Williams
Probably one of the most widely read—and best selling—writers in Georgia is not gothic or romantic novelists from Atlanta or the Golden Isles. It is Rosemary Stancil of Oconee County.
Stancil is the author of two books on microwave cooking and a is widely read columnist. Her cookbook reviews are published in 10 states.
Now Stancil and her co-author Lorela Wilkins have published a blockbuster of a book titled “The Microwave Cook’s Complete Companion.” It is 484 pages, including the index.
The “Companion” takes both the owner of her first microwave by the hand and leads her gently into the glories and mysteries of the little countertop stove. A microwave can heat apple pie a la mode without melting the ice cream, for instance.
“We don’t forget pets or children either,” said Stancil. “There is a section in ‘Our Companion’ called ‘Potpourri,’ which is a collection of further uses, not necessarily cooking food, for a microwave.”
These include making baby food, toasting nuts and seeds for company or the birds and the making of apple butter,
play dough and dog biscuits.
“The Companion” went on sale April 2
and has already had a remarkable response, according to Sandy MacPherson at Trade-a-Book.
In many ways, “The Companion’s” forerunners, “Simply Scrumptious Microwaving” as well as Stancil’s columns and both women’s workshops and seminars, have encouraged the warm reception to the big new book. Fans of microwaving knew they were in for more of what they loved best: cooking with a microwave and with masters.
Microwaves are a safe way of cooking for children and older people. Also, the real benefit of microwaving is that it works well with other appliances, she said.
Stancil is a small and pretty, gentle-voiced woman whose low-key approach to the world conceals the fact that she is a perfectionist. This is revealed in her 4-year-old home near Athens Academy, which is filled with fresh and dried flowers, beautiful and homey touches and the elegant lunch plates that she serves.
sVinnie Williams was the owner and publisher of The Oconee Enterprise newspaper in Watkinsville, Ga., and OCONEE THE MAGAZINE. PAGE 38 | OCONEE THE MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022