Today I cooked some chicken in my little red casserole. I got that from my grandmother. When I use it I think of her. Quite often she did the meat in the little red casserole.

I have no idea what material it is made from, but it has been durable. It is quite heavy but not non-stick. I am glad that it is not the non-stick kind because they tend to lose that coating and then they are no good.

There is a black basket that goes with it. It is a good way to take the casserole out of the oven because it has handles. You can take right to the table and it looks just fine.

I remember where that casserole came from. The local radio station had a weekly contest. They read the questions every once in a while. If you did not know the answer, you went to Ludlum’s Variety Store to look it up. They posted the answer on the door that went downstairs. Sometimes Grandma sent me to look up the answer. Sometimes she went into the store herself.

I think you submitted your name, then waited to be called. One day Grandma got called and of course, she knew the answer. She won a whole lot of things. I remember she got some Constant Comment tea bags. They were something new. Once we tried them, we bought some more. She also got this little red casserole. She thought it was kind of cute. I think she tried it right away and found out that it was superior to cook meat in. From that day on we used the little red casserole.

I think various merchants contributed items for giveaway. For that prize they got some free advertisements for their store. It was win/win for everyone.

That is not the only time my Grandmother won that contest. She continued to follow it and kept going to find the answers. Of course, that meant that we frequently purchased things at Ludlum’s.

It really was a neat little store. It had so many things. You could get everything from grocery items to sewing materials.

When I was in high school, I had a friend who worked there as a stock boy. Since I also worked, we often went to events together. He had a car to drive so he picked me up after work. Sometimes we went to the beach during the summer, then he brought me home, I changed my clothes for work and he picked me up to take me to the store.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.