My favorite recipe - Oct. 8, 2009

Oct 08, 20090

Meet Kynda Browning, Tekoa City Clerk

Katra, Kolby, Ashley Roechs and Kynda

After walking into a job as city clerk in Latah 15 years ago, Kynda Dye Browning is now taking on bigger things as the city clerk for Tekoa.

Kynda was working part-time as the clerk for Latah and Worley when Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger approached her about taking the fulltime opening at Tekoa.

“John wooed me away,” she noted.

Kynda grew up in Grangeville, Idaho, but her family moved north to Spokane and then to Latah. She attended and graduated from Liberty High School. As a teen, Kynda worked at the IGA store in Tekoa.

She went to a community college in Seattle and earned a degree in fashion merchandising. She worked as a secretary at a wholesale jewelry store, eventually working her way up to office manager.

In 1984 her high school sweetheart, Dean Browning, graduated from the University of Washington. They were married and moved back to Latah. Dean’s family has a farm in the Fairfield area.

The young couple moved to Plummer where Kynda worked as a secretary at the school. She also taught aerobics in the morning before school in Plummer and then started teaching in Tekoa three mornings a week for 11 years.

Kynda quit her job at the school after the birth of their daughter, Katra.

Kynda took the part time position at Latah as city clerk because it allowed her to bring her baby. She only had two hours of training.

“It was like trial by fire,” she commented on the first year.

Two years later she started as the part-time clerk for the town of Worley as well. In 2002 they had a second daughter, Kolbey.

Kynda worked two days in the office and also did a lot of work from home while raising the girls.

Over the years she also worked in Spangle, Malden, Oakesdale, Rosalia and other towns training new clerks and working as a temporary clerk.

Kynda likes to run and has competed in five marathons with running partner Joy Puckett. She used to compete in triathalons and pentathalons.

“No time to train like I used to,” she noted.

Boating, skiing and camping are other activities the family enjoys, but they have curtailed their schedules since Katra has participated in school sports.

This summer the family went with Katra back east for an FFA Leadership Conference. They visited New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Even after 15 years prior experience as a town clerk, Kynda is still learning. One of biggest things is how to process city loan paperwork, something she didn’t have to do at Latah or Worley.

The family now lives on the Browning farm outside Fairfield. The farmland is leased out, and Dean works for Cenex out of Rockford.

Katra, 15, and Kolbey, 7, both attend school at Liberty, and Kynda serves on the Liberty School Board.

Kynda likes to cook, especially desserts. She has cooked, sewn and knitted since she was in 4H.

Chicken Pie

1 (2 to 2 1/2 lb.) chicken

2 cups water

1/2 cup white wine

1 stalk celery, sliced

1 carrot, peeled, sliced

1 shallot, peeled, chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning

4 slices crisp bacon, crumbled

2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, quartered

1 medium onion, peeled, diced

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

1 1/2 cup mushrooms, cleaned, quartered

3 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. flour

2 cups reserved stock

Salt and pepper

2 Tbsp. cream

2 frozen puff pastry shells (from 10 oz. package), defrosted

1 egg yolk

Wash chicken, pat dry. Place in large saucepan with water, wine, celery, carrot, shallot, 1/2 tsp. salt and poultry seasoning. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low. Cook 40 minutes or until cooked through. Strain; reserve stock. Cool chicken; skin, bone and cut into 1 inch pieces. Combine chicken, bacon, eggs, onion, parsley and mushrooms in 9 1/2 inch pie plate; set aside.

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add flour; cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir in 2 Tbsp. cream. Pour over chicken mixture.

Lightly flour pastry cloth. Stack puff pastry shells one on top of other; flatten with heels of hands to 4 inch circles. Very carefully roll with floured rolling pin to 9 1/2 inch circle; place on top of pie. Turn edge of crust under; do not attach to pie pan. Cut small circle from center of crust to serve as steam vent. Roll scraps for decoration. Cut into leaf shapes; place on crust.

Beat together egg yolk and 1 tablespoon cream; brush crust well.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees; bake pie 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees; cook 20 minutes. If crust begins to brown too quickly, cover lightly with foil. Serve hot. Yield 4 to 6 servings.

Mother’s Rug Hooking Beans

6 slices bacon, diced

4 onions, chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. Mustard

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 cup vinegar

1 can green beans

1 can red kidney beans

1 can baked beans

Fry bacon and onions until soft, add spices. Drain all beans except baked beans. Mix all together and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Or put in slow cooker until heated through, or heat through on stove.

Oven Carmel Corn

2 cups brown sugar

2 sticks margarine

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

8-10 oz. popped corn

Boil brown sugar, butter, syrup and salt five minutes. Remove from heat and add cream of tartar and soda. Pour over popped corn, stir until mixed.

Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour, stirring in oven every 15 minutes.

Pear Nut Bread

2 to 3 Bartlett pears