LADEN WITH LAURELS: Perryville native Shawn Camp, with the band Earls of Leicester, was named male vocalist of the year Thursday night at the 26th annual International Bluegrass Music Association's awards in Raleigh, N.C. Fellow band member Jerry Douglas was named dobro player of the year. The five-member group itself won four other "of the year" awards: entertainer, album, instrumental group and gospel recorded performance.
Camp, now of Nashville, Tenn., wrote Josh Turner's hit, "Would You Go With Me." Camp was mentioned in this column in April for another song he wrote, "Live This Long," which appears on Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard's album, Django and Jimmie, released this summer.
NATIONAL EXPOSURE: Entrepreneur Karmen Hart of Bryant was among the three finalists of NBC's Today Show's "Next Big Thing" competition, in which the winning invention was featured on the QVC show Saturday Morning Gifts. Hart's product? The Pedisand, a hands-free foot file.
"I feel like I've won already," Hart said on air Friday morning as judges deliberated. "This has just been such an awesome experience." Hart's product was beaten out by another finalist's invention. However, her product was available for purchase on the QVC website.
WOO PIG! Searcy-based Yarnell's Ice Cream has relaunched its Razorback-themed flavors. Look for Woo Pig Chewy and Hog Wild for Cookie Dough. The company itself was relaunched in April 2012 after it was purchased in late 2011 by Schulze & Burch Biscuit Co.
MANNA FROM HEAVEN? Speaking of desserts. ... With a sweet tooth and a strong frugal streak, I always check the shelf of reduced-price bakery items tucked away in the back of the Little Rock Kroger I frequent. A chocolate babka? From Beigel's bakery in Brooklyn, N.Y.? Seriously? Score! Thanks to my love of the former sitcom, Seinfeld, and its episode, "The Dinner Party," in which Jerry and Elaine lose out on getting the last chocolate babka at a New York bakery, I knew this was a kosher European pastry popular in cities with large Jewish populations. Combined with my interest in Jewish traditions from decades of researching genealogy on my father's side, I felt fortunate to have made this rare find.
There is also a Christian version of the cake, sometimes with rum, glazed with vanilla or chocolate icing and decorated with nuts or candied fruit.
Silvek's European Bakery, a separate business inside the Kroger, makes babkas each year around Easter, and the cakes must be ordered in advance. I told its owner, Irene Pupkowski, who's a Polish immigrant, of my discovery, and she seemed equally surprised by it.
How this New York creation wound up here remains a mystery. I shared the story and some of the babka with my mom. I know my dad, who passed away four years ago in August, would have loved hearing the tale and tasting it, too.
Contact Linda S. Haymes at (501) 399-3636 or lhaymes@arkansasonline.com
SundayMonday on 10/04/2015