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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1975-06-05, Page 17, '1 LOTS OF HOMEMADE PIE — Agri& Eyre and Verda Sinclair get pieces of Velma Miller's homemade pie ready for the hungry people who will eat one of Mrs. Miller's famous meals. Many of Mrs. Miller's staff members have been with her for many years. (Staff Photo) SURROUNDED BY FOOD — That's the way Velma Miller often is, as she runs a busy catering business from her home.When this photo was taken Mrs. Miller was getting food ready for a Lions tlub banquet in the arena kitchen. Staff Photo) 'Anton THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JUNE 5, 1975 SECOND SECTION1A — 4A 7 Planning a wedding? Call AArs Miller first Ito To be able to cook is an acquired skill, but to be able to do it well is a gift. Velma Miller, 65, has such a talent. A newcomer in town need only ask the name of a really good cook and most residents would offer her name. As one young man said: "If you get a chance to go to one of the banquets she's catering, don't miss it.You'll never regret it." When wedding plans are being made, the first person to visits is not the minister or priest. If a bride and groom, want Mrs. Miller to cater they go to her to find out When she's available. Mrs. Miller said it has to be done this way if they want her. "I have no Fridays or Saturdays free until December," she said. "I've had weddings booked as far as nine months ahead," she .• said. Mrs. Miller caters in Seaforth Clinton , Goderich and has prepared foor for parties as far away as Toronto and Ottawa. She charges a maximum of $3.95 for -a basic dinner that would include ham, turkey, tomato juice, scalloped potatoes, rolls, relishes, cabbages and three kinds of pie. She said she's Often been told she under charges "One man told my husband after a banquet if he had the same thing in Toronto, it would cost him $20. But try charging that here, people would think I'd flipped," she said. She said she was not out to get rich but to make enough money to do the things she wants to do such as fix up her Seaforth home. Mrs. Miller is married to William Miller, who works at Seaforth Community Hospital and has two married children and three grandchildren. Valma Miller ices one of 5 slab cakes she made one week recently. by Nancy Andrews . / • 'CARVE UP THAT TURKEY — Jean Simpson, left,helps Valma Miller carve a turkey that will be served to a Lions Club dinner later that night. Mrs. Miller has been catering to banquets for Seaforth and area people for more than 20 years. (Staff Photo) Although she is now enjoying the fruits of her labor, things have not always ben so good. Unlike mdst girls she never learned to cook from her mother, who died when she was about eight or nine years old. Lacking any, culinary diplomas, Mrs. Miller learned to cook in the school of survival. All a girl on a farm had to learn in the old days, was how to cook, she said. She didn't make her first cake until she was about 14 years old. She made the cake after she finished her chores on the farm where she was working. "The first cake I ever made went to a lodge do. It must have been alright,"- she said. The depression years brought her to Seaforth. She was 21 years old when the Manpower office in Stratford sent her to Seaforth for a job at the Queen's Hotel. "I hadn't had any ,idea where Seaforth was• and I didn't want to come," but those were depression days 'and one was lucky to get a job, she said. "My first impression of Seaforth was, I tell you, it wasn't very good. "If I had money to go back I would have taken the next train." She worked for $15 a m onth as a dining -room girl from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. with every other Sunday off. The first time, she did any cooking was when the cook became sick. She had fifteen hungry men to feed and "It was a matter of do it, or they weren't getting fed, " she said. Mrs. 'Miller only started catering after she married and her sister-in-law, told her the Lion's Club needed someone to cater for them. She attributed her success to the fact that many Likes to eat and she likes to cook. Mrs. Miller employs about 15 girls to help her cater. One of her girls who had been put in charge of a kitchen at Ontario Place, was told that "w'ho'ever taught y ou, taught you well." "I feel I must be doing the young people some-service," she said. Although she denied she had any good cooking hints to pass on to other would-be chefs,she said: "A thing's only as good as the things you put in it." Mrs. Miller said everything is prepared that day whether it's a small or large affair. She has three, stoves in her home and if she gets stuck some of her helpers cook the meat in their ovens. "I always liked to cook. It just seems like I know what the public would like," Mrs. Miller .said. At one time she wanted some training to get "that piece of paper," but a woman told her "you don't need it, I'll recommend you anywhere." Mrs. Miller said: "The people of Seaforth have helped me a lot with their encouragement and with " ou can do it" sort of thing, ' she said. Her recipes are not originals, but recipes she's compiled over the years from other people. "If I get a new recipe, I try it as given, and if I think it can be imporved I'll switch some of the • ingredients," she said. Mrs. Miller said she enjoys making the things that are fussy, anything different I love to try". she said. She said she doesn't feel she's a perfectionist because "unless) you accept the fact that other people can show you, you'll never learn anything new, and I don't thnk you'll ever get anywhere." When asked what meal she was most proud of herself she said; "That would be hard to say. Every dinner you do is a challenge," she said. She said 'you have to plan ahead or you're in trouble." She has had her nightmares like the time she arrived in Stratford to start to prepare the meal only to find the stoves hadn't been delivered to the hall, and she had nothing to cook on. "That was the nearest 1 over came to panicking." she said. Imagine 300 people waiting to eat add not having any stoves! Finally we got the stoves and the meal was only a half an hour late, she said. "I think if you're going to a banquet it should be a banquet. You can have just a dinner at home or at a restaurant but if you go to a banquet it should be outstanding," she said. Sometimes you don't get enough money to do it, she said. The largest group she's ever served perhaps was the christening for Dr. and Mrs. Charles Mayo's daughter Massasa. Although she expected 250 people. 500 turned out. The lawn was a "moving sea of people" and a calf was roasted. "It's the only time we had to come home to eat ourselves, but everyone got enough to eat," Mrs. M iller said. One can't cater for years without having plenty of unusual experiences, but Mrs. Miller thinks that perhaps the most "posh" affair she served, was in a pink and white marquis tent. 4 4 '1'