It is good to be a lady.
With the rain moving into Mississippi, the Viking Classic PGA Golf Tournament may have been canceled Thursday, but Ladies’ Day was in full swing.
“I was not going to chase a little white ball around anyway,” Catherine Jenkins of Madison said. “What I know about golf could fill a thimble, and there would still be some space.”
Kinta Thompson of Madison, who attended a cooking class inspired by the movie “Julie & Julia,” echoed Jenkins’ sentiment.
“I didn’t come to watch golf,” Thompson said. “I came to see the cooking and do the Ladies’ Day events.”
But much to Thompson’s surprise, she was accompanied to the activities by someone special.
“My husband was going to be watching golf,” Thompson said. “Now, he is in here with me having to watch cooking.”
Throughout the day, men wondered in and out of the traditional Ladies Day activities, but the women didn’t seem to notice the men or the rain.
“For one, I think women who are married to golfers are so happy to have something to do at events like this,” said Chan Patterson, the chef who taught the “Julie & Julia” class. “It is an attractive option for these women, and I enjoy teaching them and giving them something to do.”
Although Jenkins thought there was a low turnout this year, most women agreed that it was just as much fun.
“This is my third time coming,” Liz Serpa of Brandon said. “I love learning about cooking and the camaraderie. Since Viking has come in, it has added another great element to this golf tournament.”
Serpa has been cooking for more than 50 years and always learns something new when she watches the cooking shows.
“I didn’t know I had been cutting the onion the wrong way all these years. The way they showed today, the onion just fell apart,” Serpa said. “I am going to try it when I get home.”
Pam Powers of Greenwood, who attended the Culinary Pro-Am Competition, enjoys watching chefs demonstrate recipes.
“This was so much fun because you get things from the chefs that you can’t get from reading a recipe book,” Powers said. “Like, he doesn’t like using olive oil and instead uses canola oil.”
Because of the rain, participants had to slog through the mud. Cathy Boullosa of Oviedo, Fla., who happily showed off her new blue rain boots, didn’t seem to mind.
“Everyone better go get some quick because they are going to run out with this weather,” Boullosa said to a group of wet and muddy-shoed women who were admiring her latest fashion.
Although Ladies’ Day is over, there are cooking events including Food Network Stars and a pasta party class for women, or men, who don’t want to watch golf.
For more information or to see the schedule of upcoming events, visit www.vikingclassic.com.
