Ken Steinhoff, Author at Cape Girardeau History and Photos

November 14, 2025November 14, 2025

I Used to Rue Roux

The first time I attempted Cajun cooking, Wife Lila said, “Oh, you had to make roux. That’s not always easy.”

Ignorance is bliss. I didn’t know it was hard to make until she told me. That intimidated me after that.

I had a craving the other night and found I had most of the makin’s in the cupboard: sausage, chicken thighs, shrimp, okra, potatoes, carrots, the holy trinity of onions, peppers and celery, plus various spices.

Almost all of the recipes I read started off with “make roux” from butter or oil and flour. They called for whisking the mixture for nearly an hour in some cases.

Easy dry roux

Then, I found one that let you create dry roux mix that could be stored for future use. It called for a pound of sifted flour poured into a 9×13 baking pan and put in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

After the 20 minutes were up, you stirred the mixture, resifted it and put it back into the 400-degree oven for another 20 minutes. It was starting to get a rich, brown color.

One more sifting, and baking, and the roux-to-be had a nice caramel color. I put half a cup of this in my instant pot along with half a cup of oil. It turned a beautiful brown.

The process wasn’t much shorter than doing it the normal way, but it meant that I could be prepping the other ingredients without being a slave to whisking the roux.

Blackstone to the rescue

I had already sautéed my onions, peppers, celery, and garlic, and browned the sausage and thighs on my Blackstone griddle. The 36-inch surface gave me lots of real estate to be able to spread the stuff out. I started with the veggies, then moved them over to a cooler zone while I did the meats.

I put that mix in the Instant Pot with the roux, poured in four cups of chicken broth, some spices, a box of Zatarain gumbo mix (mostly for the rice), and some microwaved baby potatoes. After giving that a good stir, I put a layer of shrimp and frozen okra on top.

I switched the IP to pressure cooking for seven minutes, with a 12-minute natural release after that. I had planned to add fresh mushrooms, but my six-quart pot was already above the max fill line, so I left them out.

It tasted good, and I have enough of the dry roux in a jar so I can duplicate the dish with minimal hassle in the future.

November 10, 2025

OK, It’s Winter

I emptied the water from the kiddie pool water trough and filled it with fresh water on Saturday before the temps dropped.

The wind chill in Cape dropped into the lower teens Sunday night. When I looked out the window this morning, I saw what must have been a Jesus Bird walking on water.

A closer look showed that he wasn’t walking on water, he was on ice, looking for a place where it had thawed so he could have a drink.

That revelation caused an ecumenical downgrade to Regular Thirsty Bird.

October 22, 2025

Football and Fine Arts

I’ve been on an orgy of scanning lately. I digitized all of the 1967-68-69 and 70 Ohio University football games, and printed more than 600 pictures for a reunion of my old paper, The Palm Beach Post.

I created a subset of the football pix that showed the OU Marching 110, considered one of the best college bands in the county, because I have two grandsons in marching bands. The older of the two was recruited out of his middle school by the local high school. Both boys were recognized as section leaders.

I guess I should explain this photo

Anyway, I need to explain why my eye kept coming back to this photo so that I don’t come across as a dirty old man who has a picture taken as a dirty young man.

When my high school buddy Jim Stone convinced me to transfer to Ohio University in Athens my junior year, I have to admit I didn’t realize that it was a fine arts school, not a journalism school. I felt as welcome as a beer can at a Baptist picnic. Some of my classmates called me a prostitute because I took pictures for money, not “art.”

So, let me give a fine art spin on my cheerleader picture. That’s a bit of a departure for me because I always contended that my photos stand by themselves with maybe a little who, what, where, when, why and how help.

I wanted a machine that would freeze time

I’ve written before how most kids wanted to build time machines that would let them jump behind or ahead of the present day. I wanted a machine that would freeze time, and that’s why I became a photographer.

This young cheerleader is frozen in mid-cartwheel. Her hand is reaching out to land, her legs haven’t begun their transition over the top, and she’ll be in that pose forever. The other thing that strikes me is the complete disinterest the folks in the crowd showing. She’s giving her all, but nobody cares.

I captured a young woman in the prime of her life who is probably a grandmother today.

The band was a family

Curator Jessica and her sister, Elizabeth, were both in the Marching 110. Jessica would describe how close her bandmates were then and now. I’ve seen pictures of her marching with alums down Court Street. As a mature woman, she admits being a little sore the day after, but she’s still glad to lug her trombone down the bricks and gyrate with the youngsters.

I was never a jock or a frat boy, but I had the same sense of belonging as a member of The Ohio University Post newspaper. We lived an breathed the news biz and put out a darned good paper every day.

2013 OU football

At Jessica’s urging, I returned to Athens in 2013 to cover a game honoring the 1968 MAC winners. Since I didn’t have to come up with action pix for the next day’s paper, I took an unconventional approach.

Trimble took football seriously

I was roaming around SE Ohio in 2014 when a guy at the Glouster fire department said there was going to be a big playoff game that night, but they were afraid the home field was going to be too wet to play. They brought in a helicopter to hover over the grass to dry it out.

I had a wonderful time photographing the fans who took an intense personal interest in the game.

Sikeston Bulldogs bite the Tigers big time

When I heard that the Cape Central High Tigers were going to clash with the Sikeston Bulldogs in 2010, I thought it would be fun to relive my old high school football games with a modern digital camera that would let me shoot color where I had struggled to shoot black and white. Both teams were undefeated going in, but the Bulldogs ran all over Central 21-0. Fan spirit can go only so far.

Enough words. Here’s a gallery

Here’s a gallery of Ohio band photos. Click on any picture, to make it larger, then use the arrow keys to step through the collection.

October 17, 2025

It’s Birthday Season

This is the time of year when I’d saddle up the pony to head to Cape Girardeau to celebrate Mother’s Birthday Season that centered around Oct. 17. I always felt guilty because I always wanted to head back to Cape at vacation time. In fact, I don’t think we did more than half a dozen trips as a family that didn’t pass through my hometown.

Sometimes we’d end up at Kentucky Lake with Brother Mark.

Other times, it would be at Christmas

This was our first Christmas after getting married in the spring. I put together this photo book for a class project.

The Last Rose of Summer

I wrote a blog post about the Last Rose of Summer in 2015 after Mother’s death. Friend Shari was over enthusiastic in her pruning of the rose bush, so I’ve had to replace it.

This rose bush next to the mailbox got mowed down by a guy who ran off the road, but it survived that and a near-drought.

Time to whine about walnuts

Birthday Season is also the time for my annual whine about walnuts. We’ve had a bumper crop again this year. The first year I stayed in Cape by myself, I was freaked out by the sounds of the nuts bouncing off the roof.

If you don’t believe me, here are some of my walnut rants.

Tamed jungle

I’ve had some yard guys try to time the jungle on the east side of the house. There are still some limbs down, but it look a whole lot better than it did a couple of years ago.

A Furry Lawn Ornament

Phoebe the Bleeping Cat wasn’t around in the Mother era, but she enjoys playing furry lawn ornament when I let her out.