Talk of the Town: Give us moist turkey and grandma’s stuffing — please!

Reasons to be grateful — or not!

Our friends at AOL Food polled its readers and came to the conclusion that people like traditional fare at the holidays.

In fact, there are some seasonal eats that nobody’s grateful for. Here’s a list of foods not to bring to the banquet table, according that AOL poll:

Dried out turkey. Blah! There’s no excuse for serving tasteless turkey slices when you can flavor and moisten a bird with butter, brine, bacon, or a self-basting cooking bag.

Keep the stuffing simple! All people really want is grandma’s basic seasoned stuffing --— the kind memories are made of. Avoid the unnecessary nibbles like nuts and water chestnuts-, oysters and dried fruit. A basic recipe keeps most tummies happy.

Candy canes should taste peppermint. Let’s face it, grabbing a candy cane expecting peppermint, only to get butterscotch, bubble gum, or sour lime, is enough to give Santa heart seizures.

And chuck the exotic cranberry sauce. Most people prefer the plain stuff, like the easy fruit-and-sugar recipe on the package of raw cranberries. In fact, the poll revealed that most of us would prefer canned cranberry sauce to a “Cranberry Smash Compote with Port and Cinnamon” or your “Hot Sauce Spiked Cranberry Chutney” for fish or fowl. Yikes!

Gelatin salads can be scary. It’s OK if you stick to bananas or other fruits in orange and lemon Jell-O, but the minute you stray from simplicity and add vegetables, mayonnaise, or anything non-vegetarian to gelatin, it spooks people out.

What other foods do holiday guests not necessarily crave, according to our poll takers? Scalloped potatoes. For most folks, the holidays mean mounds of mashed potatoes-- — maybe enhanced with a pat (or two) of butter. Stay away from three-cheesy potato slices.

Surprisingly, there a holiday treat that your guests won’t hate as much as you think? It’s honest-to-goodness, genuine fruitcake! According to those polled by AOL Food, real fruitcake — with pecans, figs, dates and candied cherries held together with a minimum of batter — is something that they’d actually eat and enjoy.

Personally, I’ve never understood the appeal of holiday green bean casserole — you know, the one with the cream of mushroom soup and fried onion sprinkles on the top. Give me plain old green beans, please. I’ll even eat them raw!

Well done to Serina J. Stabenow of Serina’s Salon & Spa in the Green Valley Village. Stabenow was a platinum sponsor (donating $1,000 or more) of the Miss Pima County Scholarship Pageant this past October. Tanya Valladares of Sierra Vista bested a field of 15 contestants to be named Miss Pima County 2009 and qualify for the 2009 Miss Arizona Scholarship Pageant.

Stabenow was on hand at the contest helping the contestants with their hair and make-up. Stabenow started working in the beauty field in 1993 and her Green Valley salon is the first business she’s ever owned herself. Serina’s Salon & Spa is located in suite #101-48 next to Lordex Spine Center in the Green Valley Village. The telephone number is 648-1677.

The Wisconsin Club of Green Valley has named it’s club officers for the year 2009. At a time when finding willing volunteers to accept organization officer positions, the club membership has met the challenge according to two-term and current president Richard Brown. The officers taking over on Jan. 1 are: Robert Guelzow, president; Richard Pomo, vice president and secretary; Bruce Garnett, treasurer.

The club is looking forward to a successful and fun-filled year in 2009. Meetings are on the second Thursday of the months of January through April and November and December at 5 p.m. at the Green Valley Elks Lodge. The new president says, “If you are from Wisconsin, have driven through Wisconsin at least once or know how to spell Wisconsin, you are most welcome.” Please call 625-9294 for more details.

The Santa Cruz Shoestring Players, a Community Theatre in Green Valley, announces auditions for “A Woman of No Importance,” by Oscar Wilde, Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 3-4 at 6 p.m. at the Community Performing Arts and Learning Center, 1250 W. Continental Road. Visit www.scshoestringplayers.com or call Susan Voorhees at 625-7242 for more information.

Auditions! Auditions!

“Valley Players’ March production will be a stellar, fun, bright and breezy musical, “Cinderella in Hollywood,” written by our very own Cal Lambert.

Roberta Konen, who will be directing the show, has set auditions for Monday and Tuesday nights, Dec. 8-9 at 6 P.M. Monday night auditions will be at the West Center and on Tuesday night they will be at Desert Hills.

This delightful musical features a cast of 10 — six women and four men. One of the female roles has been precast as the role requires the actress to play the piano and lead the music — thus musical director, Tamara Kahrimanis, will be playing that role. As a result of this there are five female roles remaining.

All roles require singing and dancing ability to go along with the usual acting ability.

“Besides actors, we always need backstage people, for they are the spine of any production,” Konen says. “Needed most especially for ‘Cinderella in Hollywood’ are costumers -— so, if you love to sew and want to help conjure up the glittery, glitzy costumes for this Hollywood production, contact master costumer, Jane Bristol, at 393-1680. Also, always needed are set builders, so if you can help with that part of the production, contact Al Konen at 625-8070.

Production dates for “Cinderella in Hollywood” are March 11-14 in the evening with a matinee on Sunday, March 15.

Scripts are available now for reading. Call the show’s producer, Joyce Finkelstein, at 648-1936 at the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council, and then they may be picked up there. If you any questions, call Konen at 625-8070.

Give me plain sweet potatoes. No marshmallows — no how!

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740