JULY 15, 2021

Here’s the latest installment of Our Town Temple. Grab a taco (keep reading) and enjoy! Several new features are in the works.

Reeling in the Cure for breast cancer

By DAVID STONE, Our Town Temple exclusive

Leisha Loggains had a frightening moment back in 2006. The Copperas Cove woman was conducting a self-examination and found a lump in her breast. It turned out to be benign, but it definitely gave her a scare.

“I started doing research on the Internet and I came across Pink Fishing,” Leisha said this week. “My husband Earl and I fish, and with my scare we decided to get involved.”

Pink Fishing is an organization that raises money for breast cancer research and helps cancer sufferers financially.

Eventually, Leisha and a friend, Carolyn Nichols, decided to purchase the company, and today Pink Fishing raises money through bass, trout, saltwater and ice fishing tournaments across the country. Two of the biggest bass tournaments are held in Texas.

“We’ll be holding our sixth Reeling in the Cure Bass Tournament on Lake Belton in September,” she said. “It’s held at Cedar Ridge Park, and we already have several entered.”

The local tournament has divisions for kayakers and motorized boats. Last year — during the pandemic — 10 kayakers and 58 fishermen in bass boats competed and Pink Fishing raised more than $8,000.

Pink Fishing has another tournament in October at Cedar Creek, and two more Texas tourneys are in the works, she said.

“We are a non-profit organization and 100 percent of what we raise is used to help people,” she said. “No one at Pink Fishing gets a paycheck.”

“We donate $10,000 every year to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for research, and we help women with breast cancer by donating gas cards and paying hotel bills when they are having treatments.”

Leisha said taking the reins of Pink Fishing was an easy decision.

“When your hobby becomes your passion and your passion becomes your mission, you no longer observe from the sidelines but jump in heart first,” she said. 

“Our main goal is to spread awareness and prevention, to reach out to those in need, whether it would be a local cancer center, homeless shelter or a stranger who approaches us with questions about Pink Fishing.”

Some of the women who compete in Pink Fishing tournaments are breast cancer survivors who want to support others suffering from the disease. But, not all Pink Fishing supporters are female.

“We have incredible men on our team,” Leisha said. “Many of them have experienced firsthand what breast cancer can do. They have watched their mother, wife, sister, relative, friend go through this horrible disease, and it has changed their life forever.”

“Being a part of our family gives them a feeling of giving back and it brings honor to their loved ones.”

For additional information about the Belton Lake tournament, call (254) 681-0102.

COMING FRIDAY: GET THE SKINNY ON OUR FAVORITE SALSA CHEF!

2 restaurants headed to Temple Mall food court

By DAVID STONE, Our Town Temple exclusive

Two restaurants are preparing to open in the Temple Mall Food Court.

Bell Tokyo, a Japanese cuisine food truck usually found on Central Avenue in Belton, has a sign posted that they are moving to the Temple Mall. The food truck is very popular and draws big weekend crowds.

“We’ve been much busier than usual for the past few weeks,” said Laarni Bounds, who owns Bell Tokyo along with her husband, Thomas.

“We are hoping to open at the Food Court on Saturday but I guess it really all depends on how fast our contractors can work,” she said.

“We had always planned to open a location in Temple but wanted to keep our main kitchen in downtown Belton, where more people were familiar with who we are.”

“Unfortunately, with no available indoor locations in the area that met our budget and the hot summer weather making weekends unbearable in the trailer, we decided to try a spot at the Mall,” she said.

“They have a spot with a great kitchen with nearly all the equipment we needed to run Bell Tokyo on a larger scale. Now we can serve ramen more often and on the same days as our weekday menu.”

“We are very excited to get started,” she said.

The second restaurant is La Sultana Snack Shop of Killeen. La Sultana is not moving but is opening its second location. The Snack Shop sells tacos, burgers and Mexican-style desserts.

According to Veronica Carrizales of La Sultana, the Mexican-style snack shop will open this week.

Taste of history: A taco story

By DAVID STONE, Our Town Temple exclusive

Today’s little history lesson took place far from the streets of Temple, yet it’s a huge part of our lives, our economy and our diets.

I’m talking taco, Baby!

Tacos in some form have been around for centuries, but those early forms looked quite different from today’s popular and portable entrees. Long before it was known in the good ol’ USA, natives in Mexico were eating fish and organs wrapped in a corn-based flat tortilla to supply them energy for mining.

Mexican immigrants likely brought this tradition to America in about 1905, but it wasn’t until December 1920 that they were Americanized with ground beef and chicken, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, lettuce and sour cream.

The change came as Americans in the Southwest began to customize the dish with familiar ingredients. The original organ-filled tortillas were heavily seasoned with spice, and American’s looked to tame that spice with other ingredients.

Although our version of the taco isn’t that old, the name “taco” is. It probably started in Mexico during the 1700s as a convenience food for the working class, including miners.

Gunpowder was wrapped in a paper-like “taquito” and set into rocks prior to detonation. As the meal gained popularity, they were sold on the street as “tacos de miners” — miner’s tacos.

These were soft corn tortillas with spicy filling and were affordable for the working folks.

The taco first appeared on street carts in Los Angeles and were sold primarily by women. Mexican immigrants bought them, but American’s just couldn’t wrap their palates around them. So, in 1920, tacos began to change. Hello cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and familiar meats!

It wasn’t until the 1940s that “American” tacos became crunchy.

A Mexican company patented the fried U-shaped tortillas in the 1930s, but a decade later Glen Bell took the idea to new heights — Taco Bell.

So, that’s my story, and now for an important question: Past or present, who made the best taco in Temple?