Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
All Credit for this article
goes to Jay Ermis
and the
Temple Daily Telegram
goes to Jay Ermis
and the
Temple Daily Telegram
Milam County Museum Director’s Delicious Tradition
by Jay Ermis - Telegram Staff Writer
Temple Daily Telegram - November 28, 2013
CAMERON — When Charles King volunteered to prepare the food for the first Milam County Museum Friends Christmas party in 1995, he did it because of a lack of funds and his love for preparing gourmet dishes not to be found elsewhere in Cameron.
Now 18 years later, the historical museum’s director continues to spend hours preparing his numerous cheesecakes, tenderloins and other delicacies because he still enjoys surprising museum friends and directors with a new dish or dishes and because they will not let him hang up his apron or avoid hours of shopping for ingredients and cooking.
The party from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at 112 West First St. is by invitation only to residents who are Friends of the Museum, but is open to anyone who has contributed financially to the museum or any couple who join the museum as Friends with the contribution of a $50 membership fee prior to the event.
Museum volunteer Ann Stanislaw describes King’s cooking as “delicious” with his savory cheesecakes and dessert cheesecakes. “He does a wonderful job. He’s done an extraordinary job with the museum.” She estimates 70 to 100 people attended the 2012 party.
Volunteers Beth and Jack Brooks will be attending their first event after becoming active in the museum. “I’ve heard that Charles fixes some very good food,” Beth said.
“I think it’s wonderful,” said Pam Schattle, vice president of the museum’s auxiliary. “We look forward to it every year. He makes good food. He puts a lot into it. The party is very festive and fun. I think he enjoys it.”
“He does a wonderful job,” said Margia Barkemeyer, president of the museum’s board of directors. “He prepares a picture perfect table of food. He does a beautiful job. He does a lot of quiches, a meat tray and sweets.
Some of us prepare things too, but under the direction of Charles. What he approves. He is very particular.”
“Everything is scratch made,” King said of the food he prepares in his own kitchen at his residence. “None of it comes out of a box.”
He prepares six to seven different kinds of cheesecakes, which King said would retail for $40 to $50 each, and tenderloins and spiral ham. Cheesecakes include pumpkin walnut, cranberry swirl, white chocolate, peppermint and dark chocolate.
“I fix a whole array of different kinds of dishes,” he said. “I try to make things a little different every year.He started preparing the dinner for the first party because there wasn’t much money available, “so caterers were out of the question.”
“There was no hiring anybody out of house to do it,” King recalled. “In order to create some kind of traditions and get people in here, I started decorating the buildings for Christmas and I started giving this party with food that people here don’t get except once a year.”
The early parties were held at the jail museum, then moved to the larger museum at the former JC Penney building on Main Street, going from 30, then 40 to 75 and up to 100 people.
“I did it as a traditional thing because I was trying to develop a Friends of the Museum [organization], getting people to contribute on a regular basis,” King said. “The only way to get people here was to offer them lots of food. It was a social thing. I try to tweak things. I get bored with doing the same things over and over. There will be some surprises of things you will not find anywhere else.”
King has been cooking for more than 30 years, starting in the business when he was 15 or 16. “I was actually known around here for my cooking more than anything.”
He learned to cook from his grandmother, sitting on the countertop in her small kitchen, “but you have to feel the food between your finge rs, a knack with food and knowing what to do. My family members were all cooks. You had to eat so you had to cook.”
King suggested not holding the Christmas party, but that didn’t fly with Friends or directors.
“Nobody wants to hear about discontinuing it or doing something else,” King said. “I intended for it to draw people to the museum. It has developed into more than that. A holiday tradition for a lot of people.”
jermis@tdtnews.com
by Jay Ermis - Telegram Staff Writer
Temple Daily Telegram - November 28, 2013
CAMERON — When Charles King volunteered to prepare the food for the first Milam County Museum Friends Christmas party in 1995, he did it because of a lack of funds and his love for preparing gourmet dishes not to be found elsewhere in Cameron.
Now 18 years later, the historical museum’s director continues to spend hours preparing his numerous cheesecakes, tenderloins and other delicacies because he still enjoys surprising museum friends and directors with a new dish or dishes and because they will not let him hang up his apron or avoid hours of shopping for ingredients and cooking.
The party from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at 112 West First St. is by invitation only to residents who are Friends of the Museum, but is open to anyone who has contributed financially to the museum or any couple who join the museum as Friends with the contribution of a $50 membership fee prior to the event.
Museum volunteer Ann Stanislaw describes King’s cooking as “delicious” with his savory cheesecakes and dessert cheesecakes. “He does a wonderful job. He’s done an extraordinary job with the museum.” She estimates 70 to 100 people attended the 2012 party.
Volunteers Beth and Jack Brooks will be attending their first event after becoming active in the museum. “I’ve heard that Charles fixes some very good food,” Beth said.
“I think it’s wonderful,” said Pam Schattle, vice president of the museum’s auxiliary. “We look forward to it every year. He makes good food. He puts a lot into it. The party is very festive and fun. I think he enjoys it.”
“He does a wonderful job,” said Margia Barkemeyer, president of the museum’s board of directors. “He prepares a picture perfect table of food. He does a beautiful job. He does a lot of quiches, a meat tray and sweets.
Some of us prepare things too, but under the direction of Charles. What he approves. He is very particular.”
“Everything is scratch made,” King said of the food he prepares in his own kitchen at his residence. “None of it comes out of a box.”
He prepares six to seven different kinds of cheesecakes, which King said would retail for $40 to $50 each, and tenderloins and spiral ham. Cheesecakes include pumpkin walnut, cranberry swirl, white chocolate, peppermint and dark chocolate.
“I fix a whole array of different kinds of dishes,” he said. “I try to make things a little different every year.He started preparing the dinner for the first party because there wasn’t much money available, “so caterers were out of the question.”
“There was no hiring anybody out of house to do it,” King recalled. “In order to create some kind of traditions and get people in here, I started decorating the buildings for Christmas and I started giving this party with food that people here don’t get except once a year.”
The early parties were held at the jail museum, then moved to the larger museum at the former JC Penney building on Main Street, going from 30, then 40 to 75 and up to 100 people.
“I did it as a traditional thing because I was trying to develop a Friends of the Museum [organization], getting people to contribute on a regular basis,” King said. “The only way to get people here was to offer them lots of food. It was a social thing. I try to tweak things. I get bored with doing the same things over and over. There will be some surprises of things you will not find anywhere else.”
King has been cooking for more than 30 years, starting in the business when he was 15 or 16. “I was actually known around here for my cooking more than anything.”
He learned to cook from his grandmother, sitting on the countertop in her small kitchen, “but you have to feel the food between your finge rs, a knack with food and knowing what to do. My family members were all cooks. You had to eat so you had to cook.”
King suggested not holding the Christmas party, but that didn’t fly with Friends or directors.
“Nobody wants to hear about discontinuing it or doing something else,” King said. “I intended for it to draw people to the museum. It has developed into more than that. A holiday tradition for a lot of people.”
jermis@tdtnews.com
Milam County Museum Director Charles King prepares a cheesecake in his own kitchen. King, a gourmet hobbyists, cooks a holiday meal for Museum supporters every year. Cheese cakes are one of his specialties.
Photo by Jay Ermis
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