Week in Review: Uneventful except for a lot of subbing, and it is foolhardy to sub this late in the school year, even if you go into the trenches armed with Popsicles. But ta-da! It's Rhubarb Week, and the squirrel gets into the festivities with a stalk of the delicious pie plant. "Oh rhubarb, it doesn't take much to make you sing!" (just a bunch of sugar).



Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, proudly sports......okay, not proudly. The hairy arm in the background indicates that she is sporting this "Hail to Rhubarb" hat against her will. Bob promised her two treats if she would cooperate, but then he said he wasn't pleased with her attitude and only gave her one. I bet she's plotting revenge, even as I type.



In 2700 BC China, rhubarb was cultivated for medicinal purposes. (it's a powerful laxative) Hmmmm


The sodium oxalate found in rhubarb can chemically break down chlorofluorocarbons that are eroding the earth's ozone into four harmless compounds or elements - sodium chloride, sodium fluoride, carbon and carbon dioxide. Hmmmm.

Rhubarb leaves and roots are poisonous. The stems are not. Hmmmm








Even these chickens are getting in on the rhubarb fun.





For Christmas, I gave Bob a gift certificate to the lumber yard, and this weekend, he cashed it in and began working on his shed. It'll even have a small attic, in which to store duck and goose decoys. While I was taking this picture, Bob was explaining to me just how he was going to do something or other. I listened attentively.




From the Archives: Since this coming Friday is the anniversary of one of the two best days in my life, Lindsey's 25th birthday, I thought I should post a picture of her. On Rob's birthday in January, I put up a picture of him with a salmon. Well, here's Lindsey with her fish. She's about three and a half.



Recipes of the Week: Are rhubarb recipes, of course. There's nothing like rhubarb pie, and this one was delicious. I also made a rhubarb cake using my mom's recipe. This is one of those cakes that gets moister and better-tasting with time. For the pie, as always, start with Opie's No-Fail Pie Dough recipe.


Rhubarb Pie
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 3/4 cups sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

Combine rhubarb, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. put into pie crust and dot the top with the butter. Bake for 10 minutes at about 400 degrees, then turn the oven down to 350 and bake another 50 minutes or so. You might even want to use a little more sugar than this recipe calls for. I did.



Rhubarb Cake

Cream together:
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Add:
1 egg
Sift together:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Add alternately with flour mix:
1 cup buttermilk

Mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 and 1/2 cups diced rhubarb

Sprinkle topping on cake before baking:
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes



" I hope some animal never bores holes in my head and lays its eggs in my brain, because later, you might think you're having a good idea, but it's just the eggs hatching."
Jack Handey

Week in Review: This poor little guy was wandering between our house and Dinehart's early this afternoon. Where his mother is, we just don't know, but he was very frightened, so we took his picture and then left him alone. Another critter-close-call occurred yesterday when Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, encountered Hickory Hill Hans in the front yard. Maddie was thinking about mixing it up with Hans, but with some hysterical carrying-on, I persuaded her not to.

I subbed one day for sixth grade and two afternoons for 3rd grade last week. Lindsey and Brent came up for the weekend. We went to Lucy's bridal shower (here's Lindsey and Lucy) on Saturday afternoon. It was lovely. After the shower, we drove back to K'ville, collected our menfolk, and met Stormy at Casa Grille for dinner. Then we dropped Lindsey and Brent off at Pierre's to see Blind Melon and Bob and I went over to the Embassy to see Martin Short. Martin was pretty entertaining. He showed clips from his career and came out dressed as some of his characters. He interviewed Fort Wayne Mayor, Tom Henry, as the puffed-up Jiminy Glick.

Brent has a special connection to Blind Melon as his former babysitter/neighbor/friend, Lisa, was Shannon Hoon's longtime companion, and is the mother of his daughter Nico Blue Hoon, for whom an album is named. Nico caught the bouquet at Lindsey & Brent's wedding. She's about 11, and has sung with the band some recently.

A couple of new pictures of the cutest baby in Springfield, Illinois, Landon Kutscher - picking up pebbles at the farm, and riding in the wheelbarrow with Stella, who got her first outside bath of the season this weekend, I understand.

From the Archives: This is a new feature of the blog, a little something from the photo album. Here we all are 31 years ago, July of 1977. Brian, me, Jeff, John, and Little Lori, at our Mom's wedding to M.J. (Paw-Paw).

I know that last week, I promised a tribute to rhubarb, but I'm afraid it will have to be postponed, because my rhubarb is not quite ready, and I couldn't even find any to buy. I asked the guy who was stacking broccoli at the grocery store if he had any rhubarb and he said yes and pointed, and I looked.

"Those are rutabagas,"I said.

"Oh, they are?'

"Umm-hmm - but you got the roo part right," I said.

This produced hearty laughter from the produce man.

Just be patient, gentle readers, the rhubarb celebration is forthcoming.

"Please have a look around. Try not to brush up against my walls. I do hate it when people brush up against my walls." Hyacinth Bucket

Recipe of the Week: This recipe also comes from Aunt Bee's Mayberry Cookbook. This potato dish has been pretty much a standard at the breakfasts I've catered, along with a sausage casserole, Karen's punchbowl fruit salad, (that would be a good recipe to share with you) and the cake mix cinnamon rolls that I featured some weeks back.

Hash Browns Helen

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 10 & 3/4 ounce can cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 32-ounce package frozen hash browns, thawed (southern-style)

1 cup crushed corn flakes

2 tablespoons melted butter

Grease a 9 X 13 ounce baking dish. In a large bowl, combine the cheese, soup, sour cream, onion, peppers, melted butter, salt and pepper. Mix well and fold in the thawed potatoes. Put mixture into baking dish. Toss together the corn flakes and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Sprinkle over mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. Serves 8 to 10.

"As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way." Jack Handey

Week in Review: Ah spring! a bluebird has been patronizing our finch feeder, but we haven't been able to get a picture of him because he is an elusive bird and nervously avoids the paparazzi (Bob hiding on the deck with the camera) Listen to me carrying on about birds at our birdfeeder. Man, oh man, are we getting old! The lilacs are glorious this year, and Bob and Rob found a few mushrooms. I'm still working on the English minor. I had a final on Tuesday, and then started on my 19th century British fiction class. I read Pride and Prejudice in two days. I just subbed one day and, we had another FIRE DRILL! On a sad note, Bob's Aunt Laverne passed away and we made a quick trip to Steelville, IL for her funeral. She was 93 years old and a wonderful aunt to all of us.












Rob: Money-Making Man
Rob has always been a bit of an entrepreneur. His knack for making money started early - when he was about three, and he discovered that he could color pictures and sell them to me. He could also glue rocks together and sell them to me. I think once he sold me a toad. He used to root around in the closet checking coat and jacket pockets for money. He'd come and tell me he found two dollars in my coat, and "did I need that money, by the way?" (wait, I think he still might do that)




On vacations, Rob didn't see too much of the Smithsonian, or Jefferson's home at Monticello, or any Civil War battlefield because he was too busy checking pop machines, public telephones, and the ground for money. My very favorite Rob-money-making-scheme? He kept a spare pair of shorts in his high school gym locker. If some poor kid forgot his shorts, for the fee of one dollar, he could rent Rob's extra pair. Yikes.








"Frivolity? in 30 years married, I can't remember a single frivol." Richard Bucket



Recipe of the Week:
I made a Pavlova on Sunday afternoon. The Pavlova was created in 1935 by a chef in Australia, to celebrate the visit of the great Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. Some say it was really invented in New Zealand, but I don't know about that. It's a meringue shell filled with whipped cream and fruit. Very light and tasty - great for summer.

Pavlova
3 egg whites
1 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Beat egg whites until stiff. Add sugar, 1/3 cup at a time beating well between each addition. Beat until the mixture is stiff and shiny. Fold in cornstarch, vinegar, and vanilla. Pile the meringue onto the parchment paper. Form a 9 inch round circle with the meringue and make sure there is hollow in the center. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hour - until pale brown and dry. Allow the shell to cool then top with whipping cream and fresh fruit.
I don't bother buying superfine sugar - regular sugar is okay.

Next week on the Blog -LET'S CELEBRATE RHUBARB!!!!!!


"When you die, if you get a choice between regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if not, ummmm boy."
Jack Handey

Week in Review: Just a typical Saturday in Kendallville. Got up. Drank some coffee. Walked down to the Number 2 Fire Station on Drake Road to hear what Bill Clinton had on his mind. Drove to Fort Wayne for a haircut. Came home and made seven (7) SEVEN pans of lasagna for a confirmation dinner on Sunday, then made a couple of sheet cakes for a birthday party. I also subbed three days last week, and managed to get in on a tornado drill, a lockdown drill, and a fire drill. Also, on Friday I subbed for 4th grade, and when we were outside after lunch, some crazy dog was running around on the playground. He jumped into the sandbox, flopped down, kicked sand, ate sand, and threw sand, then he'd run around the swings and dive back into the sandbox. Very entertaining

That bit about the nose hair scissors for Mother's Day last week, I was just kidding. Oh, you can get me nose hair scissors, if you want to, but I suggest you tape them to the side of a bottle of Chanel No. 5 cologne or body lotion.

Bob and I, we are not crazy about chocolate Tootsie Pops. We don't know why they even make chocolate Tootsie Pops. Of course, we strive for the chewy, chocolate center, but we want a fruity outside, not a chocolate one. Anyway, we're getting quite a collection of chocolate pops, so if you like them, let me know. I'll bring them over - but not to Ohio or Michigan - just if you're in the vicinity. I'll put them in a decorative bag and hang them on your doorknob - like a May basket. Seriously, leave a message on the blog if you want them. (They're delicious, long-lasting, and only 50 calories!)

Here's Rob and Candace at prom last week.

More pictures from Melissa's wedding last week.

"I have to hold my head up in this community. I'm looked up to. What are they going to think if I go three days without mail??? "

Recipe of the Week: At our Sunday Night Candlelight Supper we had lasagna, (wouldn't you know it) salad, fluffy white rolls, and for dessert, key lime pie. Here's the recipe:

Key Lime Pie

3 egg yolks

2 cans of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 cup Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice

1 graham cracker crust

Mix egg yolks, milk, and lime juice. Pour into crust and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Chill and garnish with lime slices and whipped cream.

"People just naturally assume that dogs would be incapable of working together on some sort of construction project. But, what about just a big field full of holes?" Jack Handy