Month: October 2026

AmericanColoradoRating: N/R (Not Rated)SouthernUnited States

Juniper Valley Ranch – Colorado Springs, Colorado

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life.” ~Minny Jackson (The Help) One of the most heart-warming scenes in the 2011 period drama The Help involved the character Minny Jackson (brilliantly portrayed by Octavia Spencer) teaching her employer, a lonely housewife named Celia Foote (played by Jessica Chastain), the art of Southern cooking through what has probably become the famous fried chicken lesson ever depicted on cinema.  Minny begins the lesson by delivering a sermon on Crisco, the “most important invention since they put mayonnaise in a jar.”   The naive and privileged Celia, who likely wouldn’t know…

ColoradoGuy's Grocery GamesItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Red Gravy – Colorado Springs, Colorado

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

There wasn’t much ethnic or cultural diversity in Peñasco where I grew up. Our little village was overwhelmingly (probably 98% if not more) Hispanic. One of the only other ethnic groups in the area were non-Hispanic white residents, most of whom worked either as teachers or for the forest services. Other whites were “left overs” from the years in which a hippie commune set up camp nearby. We also had a couple of families (Sahds and Owens) of Lebanese descent. Everyone referred to them as “Los Arabes” because Arabic is the principle language in Lebanon. Los Arabes were (and still…