David Leong, 1920-2020
“The Cashew Chicken Capital of America” is a true made-in-America story delivered from the hills and highways of Springfield, Mo.
Springfield’s population is approximately 168,000 people. And nearly 100 regional restaurants serve cashew chicken.
David Leong, the beloved founder of “Springfield Style Cashew Chicken” died July 20 in Springfield. He had been battling pneumonia. David was 99 years old. He would have turned 100 on August 18.
David’s remarkable journey incorporates so many things I love: cashew chicken, Route 66, soul music, immigrant [...]
Wisconsin Wiffle Ball Field (Photo courtesy of Steve Schmitt)
MAZOMANIE, WIS.—Every kid who grew up playing Wiffle Ball understands how the game shapes your imagination. You can create a field anywhere. For me and my brother it was a Cul-de-sac in suburban Chicago. For others the game was played under the blue heavens of a soybean farm.
You can play the game by yourself. The plastic ball is light and can easily be tossed in the air with one hand while swinging a plastic bat with the other hand. Flying solo it is difficult to swing and miss ( “a whiff”), which is how the [...]
Lou. Enough said.
CUBA, Mo.—-Lou Whitney was proud to tell tourists and visiting musicians that the Carter Family lived in a two story Victorian brick house in 1949-50 when they appeared with Red Foley on the radio version of the Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Mo.
That was Lou; talking about Springfield history before he would talk about himself.
In July we took Lou to the empty lot off of old Route 66 where Mother Maybellle, Anita, Helen and June Carter once lived. Lou stood tall, like a mountain in a meadow. His eyes squinted into the Ozark evening sun. He had his [...]
