fbpx
Connect with us

Magnolia Tribune

From a Hot Dog Cart

Published

12 months ago

on

Restaurateur Robert St. John shares memories and praise of Fred Cerami, a true Mississippi restaurant legend and the godfather of the Jackson restaurant scene.

This will mark the final week of my most recent work stint in Italy. I host tours in this country, and a few other European countries, 10-12 weeks out of the year. This seven-week, five-tour journey started in Rome before meeting my first group in Sicily. After that tour was complete, I flew up to Tuscany where my fourth group— in almost as many weeks— arrives tomorrow.

There are so many aspects of this country that have made me fall in love with it over the past decade. The history, the food, the landscapes, the culture, the architecture, and the ever-present arts at every turn. Though, first and foremost, it’s the people.

I love the Italian people.

Though “Italian people” is a potentially misleading term. As in America, people and personalities are different from region to region. The Romans are quite different than the Venetians. The Milanese are a world apart from the Sicilians. The same goes for the Tuscans, Bolognese, and so on. It’s been my observation that the Romans almost consider themselves Roman before Italian, the same with the Florentines, the Venetians, the Milanese, Sardinians, and so on. I sometimes forget that this country wasn’t an actual unified country until 1861.

It’s been my experience that no matter where I am in Italy, most of the people are warm and friendly. That goes double for Tuscany.

My friend, fellow restaurateur, and noted Italian progeny, Fred Cerami, is the epitome of the warm, kind, and generous spirit I have witnessed over here. Anyone who has spent almost sixty years in foodservice and still maintains a positive attitude, generous spirit, and boundless enthusiasm, with a steadfast dedication to is worthy of praise in my book.

Fred Cerami— along with the Ward brothers who ran the local Frostop burger chain— was the first entrepreneurial example I can recall. When I was nine years old, I remember seeing a guy with a hot dog cart set up on the corner of Hardy Street and Hutchinson Avenue in my hometown of Hattiesburg. My mother told me, “That young man is a college student at the and is selling hotdogs to put himself through college.” Even as a kid I admired that. I guess he’s also one of the first people I ever encountered in our industry.

It was a treat to get to eat a hot dog from Cerami’s cart and I can remember pleading with my mom to stop there, often. There was something special about buying a hotdog off the street instead of in a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

In addition to his entrepreneurial spirit, independence, and focused work ethic at an early age, he was kind, friendly, and hospitable— all traits that have grown deeper in him through the years.

If one can’t admire someone who put himself through college selling 35-cent hotdogs, then you by a different standard of accomplishment than I. Add to that the fact that he’s been in the restaurant business since the mid 1970s, and you have a true Mississippi restaurant legend and the godfather of the Jackson restaurant scene. I think Fred probably the record for being the longest-running continuous restaurateur in town who has been the sole owner of an establishment (A few other longstanding eateries— great as they are— have been passed down to the next generation).

Cerami has genuine care and concern for his fellow restaurateurs. After we opened our Italian restaurant in Ridgeland, he drove over from his Italian restaurant in Flowood and made a point to dine with us and congratulate me. I was so moved by the gesture that I stood on a chair in the middle of a packed dining room and announced his presence and asked for a round of applause for his years of service to the Jackson metropolitan area.

This summer, a few weeks before we opened the Hattiesburg bakery, he popped in while we were cleaning construction debris from the dining area just to congratulate me on the upcoming opening.

I could go on for several more paragraphs about his work ethic, Godliness, enthusiasm, steadfastness, and dedication to his restaurant and staff, but all that pales in comparison to his devotion and commitment to his special needs grandson, AJ. That young man is Cerami’s entire and Fred is completely and totally devoted to his constant care. At an age when most people would have already retired and called it quits after enduring almost six decades of brutal restaurant work, Cerami— like many of the best Italians I know, and like all of the finest I know— has prioritized his family. That is the true measure of the man.

Fred Cerami has always done what it takes— whatever it takes— to succeed in business and in life. He also has genuine care and concern for his fellow man.

The old hot dog cart that he rolled around town to put himself through college is now in the dining room of his Flowood restaurant and is used as a salad bar. It stands as a testament to his determination, grit, and tenacity. If there were a Hall of Fame of Mississippi restaurateurs, Fred Cerami would be a shoo-in for a first-ballot entry into the inaugural class, and if there were a that held all the iconic restaurant items that have made this a great place to eat and live, that hot dog cart would be front and center.

Overall, Italians are a passionate people. That’s why I think they’re so successful in the restaurant business, a profession that demands passion and perseverance. Fred Cerami is the living, breathing embodiment of those two traits, with a lot of bonus character assets thrown in for good measure.

Ben fatto, amico mio.

Onward.

#####

This Week’s Recipe: Caprice Crotini

Capri, and the surrounding mainland and rocky coast are home to beautiful vistas and amazing food. This is a perfect start to a dinner party.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 loaf Ciabatta bread, sliced 1/4” thick, about 16 slices
  • 3 cups Roma tomatoes, small diced
  • 2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp Fresh ground black pepper
  • 6-8 each Large fresh basil leaves. chiffonade

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 300.

To make the crostinis, place the sliced Ciabatta on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake until crispy, about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool completely at room temperature. If you are doing this ahead of time, store at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Stack the basil leaves, roll them tight, and slice thin with a sharp knife (chiffonade). Combine with tomatoes, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.

Divide the mixture among the crostinis, about 3-4 Tbsp per crostini. Drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar as desired.

The post From a Hot Dog Cart appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

Read More

By: Robert St. John
Title: From a Hot Dog Cart

Published Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Post Views: 443

Related posts:

  1. Shielded by Faith
  2. Mississippi unemployment rate drops for fourth consecutive month
  3. Seven mistakes economic developers should not make
  4. Reeves endorsed by Trump, Presley rakes in millions from out-of-state Democrats
Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Magnolia Tribune

Staring mortality in the face at Christmas

Published

11 months ago

on

December 16, 2023

By

My friend Jarrod is dying after an eight year battle with cancer. He’s lived a life worth celebrating, one that has drawn people to Christ.

I was going about my business this week when I received a text that stopped me in my tracks. A college friend was being moved to hospice care.

Jarrod Egley was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in early 2017. In the fall of 2018, tests revealed the cancer had spread to his lungs and Jarrod’s cancer was classified as Stage IV.

For almost eight years from the date of the original diagnosis, he’s fought. Through surgeries, radiation, endless rounds and cycles of chemotherapy, and experimental immunotherapies, he’s fought.

Last year, I flew out to California and spent some time with Jarrod and his wife, Emily. We sat outside one night. He acknowledged to me that it was not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’ the cancer would claim his . I told him I was sorry, because what else is there to say?

We talked about our faith, about the trials of Job, about Jacob wrestling with God, about Paul’s affliction. But mostly we reflected on our time together in school, on the good things, and the mundane things, that happened since.

Jarrod and I met at Tulane University. One Sunday morning in the Spring of my freshman year, I rose from my dorm room bed, dressed, and began walking down Saint Charles Avenue in New Orleans with no particular agenda. I walked until I came across First Baptist Church and the thought flickered in the vacuous recesses of my brain to enter.

Some would say it was a lark. The Calvinist in me says providence. The walk that morning changed the trajectory of my time at Tulane and my life on the whole. Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and the Baptist Collegiate Ministry became central to my life and put me in regular league with Jarrod. I met him first at the BCM and we ultimately ended up attending church together.

Jarrod was a faithful servant on and off campus. He helped organize a group of us that would weekly make our way down to the Esplanade seawall on the backside of the French Quarter to feed the homeless. On Friday nights, he could be found at chapel with a small cadre of foregoing Bourbon Street for early 2000s worship music.

Jarrod was a loyal friend in those years. Never rude or biting. Not prone to an insult for an easy laugh. Persistently encouraging. An engineering student, his mind worked linearly and was oriented to problem solving. There were never a lot of wasted words — always a lot of deliberative questions when he disagreed or did not understand a point. He exhibited intelligence, empathy, and the kind of moral conviction that sets someone apart.

He also had a wry and dry sense of humor and a penchant for beating people at Madden football. He was fair-to-midland on the ultimate frisbee pitch. Along the way, there were crawfish boils, Mardi Gras outtings, poorly attended Tulane football , and more than a decent amount of wing eating.

After college, I lost touch with Jarrod. He moved back to his home of California. He got married to his college sweetheart, who could not have anticipated her husband’s journey, but has been a steady and constant helpmate throughout. Jarrod became a very successful engineer and a bourbon connoisseur. One of his bucket list trips took him to Kentucky, where he got to meet and became friends with bourbon “Hall of Famer” Freddie Johnson of Buffalo Trace acclaim.

Jarrod at Buffalo Trace Distillery (Spring 2022).

Sitting in his backyard nearly 20 years after graduating from Tulane, I saw many of the same qualities I had grown to admire when we were students together. I saw a husband who doted on and supported Emily’s passions. But I also saw someone whose body had been beaten to hell and back, who was tired, and who, like Jacob, had been wrestling with God. We quickly fell back into friendship, which perhaps is the mark of good friendship.

We all have aspirations in our youth — for the kind of spouse or parent we might be, for what we might accomplish, for what we might experience. Along the way, dreams are satisfied, modified, or they die on the vine. The clock inevitably works against all of us. That night in Oceanside, California, Jarrod, a numbers guy, saw that time was not on his side. He believed, as we all would, that he still had more to give, more impact to be made, and more things to see and experience.

After that , Jarrod and I stayed in touch, most frequently triggered by of his cancer. It has been mostly the bad variety in recent months. Now spread throughout his body, down to his bones, he has lived in constant pain for months. Not even a steady diet of morphine and an implanted pain pump solve for it. Jarrod’s been hospitalized twelve times just in 2023.

But his matter of fact sense of humor and way of seeing the world remains in tact. So too does his faith that despite these trials, he has always been safe in the hands of Christ.

There are people in the world who believe that life is random, disordered, and without reason. I am not among them. I think my friend is staring mortality in the face at Christmas for a reason.

For thousands of years before Christ came, there was darkness and despair. Sin and shame gripped the hearts of men. Until one holy night, God, in His infinite love, mercy and wisdom, sent His son to save. Jesus is the light of the world and the hope of man. He has won victory over and Jarrod’s will not be the exception. Jesus came for Jarrod, and for you.

For thousands of years since Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, His disciples have been used as divine instruments to point the way to God. Jarrod is among them. If life expectancies were the measure, Jarrod would be at the midway point for most people. He’s made a lifetime of impact for the Kingdom and on other people.

So, to my friend Jarrod, you were placed here with a purpose. You have your race. You are loved. And when this chapter closes, you will hear “well done, my good and faithful servant.” There is no greater evidence of a life well lived.

While Jarrod and Emily have been fortunate to have insurance, their portion of the medical bills so far in 2023 have eclipsed $30,000, and Emily is facing additional uncovered expenses during Jarrod’s hospice care, a night nurse that costs over $400 a night. If you would like to help defray the cost, a contribution can be made at their Go Fund Me page.

The post Staring mortality in the face at Christmas appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

Read More

By: Russ Latino
Title: Staring mortality in the face at Christmas

Published Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2023 15:05:22 +0000

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/magnolia-mornings-december-15-2023/

Post Views: 373

Related posts:

  1. Mississippi state budget to exceed $7.6 billion for new fiscal year
  2. Gavin Newsom brings California values to Mississippi
  3. EntergyMS CEO updates Mississippians on restoration efforts
  4. What to do with a guilty conscience
Continue Reading

Magnolia Tribune

Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023

Published

11 months ago

on

December 15, 2023

By

Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.

In Mississippi

1. Laurin St. Pe’ named CEO of Singing River Health System

Laurin St. Pe

The Board of Trustees of Health System announced the immediate appointment of Laurin St. Pe’ as the Chief Executive Officer on Thursday.

“We are thrilled to announce Laurin St. Pe as the new CEO of Singing River,” said Steve Ates, Board President in a statement. “His wealth of healthcare experience and proven track record make him the ideal leader to steer our health system toward its next phase of growth and success.”

St. Pe’, who has been serving as Interim CEO since July 2023, said he is honored to assume the role of CEO at Singing River. He has worked at Singing River as Administrator of Singing River Health System’s Pascagoula Hospital and Gulfport Hospital, in addition to overseeing program service lines throughout the entire system to his subsequent appointment as Chief Operating Officer of Singing River.

The health system says St. Pe played a crucial role in the financial revitalization of Singing River Health System while steering the organization toward financial stability.

2. Gulfport-Biloxi airport, Stennis evacuated after threats

The Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport was evacuated on Thursday morning “out of an abundance of caution,” airport officials said, after receiving an emailed threat to certain transportation entities across the .

The airport was thoroughly security swept, cleared and reopened in just over two hours. Gulfport-Biloxi is now operating regularly.

The threat was also sent to International Airport. Their staff and personnel were also evacuated until the facilities could be swept and cleared.

Any passenger whose travel was affected by the evacuation is encouraged to contact their respective air carrier.

3. Cassidy arrested in Iowa for beheading Satanic Temple statue

Former Mississippi congressional and legislative candidate Michael Cassidy was this week in Iowa for beheading a statue at the state’s Capitol erected by The Satanic Temple.

Cassidy reportedly decapitated the statue and turned himself to on Thursday. He was charged with fourth degree criminal mischief. He then started an online legal defense fund where he’s raised upwards of $20,000 as of Thursday night, according to his X account.

4. “Serial fraudster” ordered to cease offering investments into companies

According to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office, on October 26, 2023, Secretary Michael Watson and the Securities Division issued an order against Stephone N. Patton. The SOS says Patton is a serial fraudster with multiple criminal convictions in Mississippi and Florida.

Through business filings with the SEC and Mississippi, Patton has held himself to be the CEO of various companies, including Star Oil and Gas Company, Inc., North Gulf Energy Corporation, Inc., Patton Oilfield Services, Inc., and Patton Farms, LLC.

The SOS says using these business filings and company websites, Patton claimed to have raised hundreds of billions of dollars through investment opportunities. Through investigative efforts and collaboration with the SEC, the SOS discovered none of Patton’s companies are operational, have any assets, or generate any revenues. Account records show Patton spent investors’ funds almost as soon as he received them on personal expenses. The total amount of known investments made to Patton’s fraudulent companies is over $80,000. Further, none of Patton’s investment offerings have been registered or notice filed with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office.

The SOS order requires Patton to cease and desist from offering investments with his companies, requiring Patton to permanently deactivate his companies’ websites to prevent any further dissemination of his false or misleading information. Patton is also ordered to pay an administrative penalty of $25,000 to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office for these violations, in addition to restitution owed to all his Mississippi investors.

National News & Foreign Policy

1. Congressional retirements mounting as 2024 election cycle nears

Retirement and departure announcements are piling up ahead of the start to the 2024 election cycle. The New York Times has developed a Retirement Tracker that currently shows 22 Democrats and 11 who are in Congress now will not be seeking re-election next year.

“Dozens of members of Congress have announced plans to leave their seats in the House of Representatives, setting a rapid pace for congressional departures, with more expected as the 2024 election draws closer,” the NY Times reports. “Given Republicans’ razor-thin House majority, the wave of exits has the potential to lead to a significant shake-up next year.”

You can find the tracker here.

2. Texas, Daily Wire, The Federalist sue U.S. State Department over media censorship

The U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center has come under fire as Texas Ken Paxton along with The Daily Wire and The Federalist have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the department funded technology that could “render disfavored press outlets unprofitable.” They claim that the department has helped social media – Facebook, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) – to censor free speech while funding technologies used to censor right-leaning news outlets such as theirs.

New Civil Liberties Alliance is representing The Daily Wire and The Federalist. Paxton and the outlets claim the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British think tank, received a $100,000 grant from the State Department in 2021, and NewsGuard, which rates the “misinformation” levels of news outlets, received $25,000 from the State Department in 2020, according to the lawsuit.

According to the State Department’s website, the Global Engagement Center’s mission is to direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate U.S. Federal Government efforts to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations.

As reported by Reuters, the lawsuit cited a GDI-produced list from December 2022 that ranked The Daily Wire and The Federalist as among the 10 “riskiest sites” for news while the least-risky included The New York Times, Associated Press and NPR. Reuters notes that the lawsuit alleges such “blacklists” are reducing revenues to The Daily Wire and The Federalist along with their visibility on social media and ranking results from browser searches.

Sports & Entertainment

1. SEC releases 2024 schedules

Wednesday evening, the Southeastern Conference released the 2024 football schedules for its member schools, including of interest in the Magnolia State the schedules for Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

It is the first schedule that includes new conference members University of Oklahoma and University of Texas, bringing the conference to 16 schools. Each SEC team will play eight conference football plus at least one required opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 or major independent, each team will have two open dates.

The 2024 season will be the first year the SEC will play a schedule without divisional competition since 1991. The top two teams in the league standings based on winning percentage will play in the 33rd SEC Football Championship Game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, December 7.

2. White, Jesiolowski, Jones honored by MAIS

John White

The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) in Mississippi, comprised of non-public schools, announced this week that Madison-Ridgeland Academy’s senior quarterback John White was named the 6A Player of the Year while Hartfield’s Reed Jesiolowski and Hartfield Chris Jones were named the MAIS 6A Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively.

All three have committed to play college football at the University of Mississippi.

White is Mississippi’s all-time leader in career passing yards with 15,259 yards, a record he broke during the 2023 season.

MAIS, like the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) for public schools, is broken down into classifications, from 1A to 6A. However, MHSAA added a 7A this season.

Markets & Business

1. Consumer retail sales up as energy, gas prices move down

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in November after being unchanged in October. Retail sales rose 0.3% in November after rising 0.2% in October, meaning consumers continue to spend at the start of the holiday season.

The CPI or rate is 3.1%, higher than the Federal Reserve target of 2% but below the 9% peak in 2022 which reached a 40-year high.

As for the energy index, BLS reported that it fell 2.3% in November after decreasing 2.5% in October. The gasoline index decreased 6% in November, a 5% decrease in the previous month.

The index for fuel oil fell in November, decreasing 2.7%. However, the natural gas index rose 2.8% over the month after rising 1.2% the previous month. The index for electricity also rose 1.4% in November, after increasing 0.3% in October.

The energy index fell 5.4% over the past 12 months. The gasoline index decreased 8.9%, the natural gas index declined 10.4%, and the fuel oil index fell 24.8% over this 12-month span.

2. Week’s market rally continues into Friday

At close of trading on Thursday, the U.S. markets continued the week’s rally, pushing the Dow up 158 points to 37,248 while the Nasdaq and S&P also made gains, 27 points and 12 points, respectively, to close at 14,761 and 4,719.

The record high for the Dow on Thursday moved futures up 102 points.

According to CNBC, the major averages are headed for their seventh straight positive week. As of Thursday, the Dow is higher on the week by 2.8%. The S&P 500 is up by 2.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.5% this week.

Stocks rallied after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged this week while members look towards cuts in the new year and beyond.

The post Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023 appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

Read More

By: Magnolia Tribune
Title: Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023

Published Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Post Views: 354

Related posts:

  1. James Meredith embarks on 200-mile walk against crime ahead of his 90th birthday
  2. New Mississippi High School football classifications hit the gridiron
  3. From Grumbling to Gratitude
  4. Mississippi Republican leaders rally behind Trump ahead of March Primary
Continue Reading

Magnolia Tribune

New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off

Published

11 months ago

on

December 15, 2023

By

Interim Third-Party Director Ted Henifin said this week that only about 59% of the City of Jackson’s water customers are paying their bills.

JXN has announced new rates and fees coming in 2024. Those who are not paying will be at risk of shut offs.

The company, which was established by federal appointed interim Third-Party Director Ted Henifin, has been overseeing the ‘s water system for the better part of a year.

estimated that the average cost for water in the city was $76 per month for residents. Henifin clarified that JXN water will not attempt to recoup any charges prior to November 29, 2022, and will work with those who have failed to pay since that time.

He said only about 59 percent of the city’s water customers are paying their bills.

“You can’t forgive bills, so we have to be creative in how we part that,” said Henifin in reference to Mississippi’s laws that prevent giving away water.

According to a release by JXN Water announcing the rate changes, residents in single households with small meters that use up to 748 gallons would see a bill increase of roughly .30 cents per day. Research indicates that the average U.S. family uses 300 gallons per day.

SNAP customers will have a new rate tier that could lower their bill by up to .69 cents per day, on average.

“Those who need to save the most benefit from saving money by drinking tap water. This new rate structure makes water affordability possible for 12,500 JXN Water customers who SNAP ,” said Henifin in the release.

Read more about the anticipated rate changes here.

New fees will also be implemented, a new service fee of $50, service deposit of $100, returned check fee of $25, service restoration fee of $100, and meter tampering charge of $500. 

JXN Water has continued to encourage residents to use the water, with Henifin going on the record in a federal status hearing saying that the water “was safe to drink.”

More conversation regarding the billing process is expected to at next ‘s Jackson City Council meeting.

The post New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

Read More

By: Sarah Ulmer
Title: New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off

Published Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Post Views: 361

Related posts:

  1. University voices ignored in Auditor’s DEI report
  2. Mississippi’s Literary Lawn Party returns to the State Capitol
  3. Meet the Man Behind ‘First Down, Ole Miss’
  4. Parrish’s 2023 College Football Picks and Predictions: Week 10
Continue Reading

Trending