Snow has covered the ground for well over a month now, and the deer are really getting hungry. We've had them in the backyard eating at the birdfeeders every night this week. In fact, Wednesday night, when Cindy dropped me off after Book Babes, a deer was actually in the driveway. "Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you to be mindful of the deer." A neighboring farmer gave us a big bag of field corn, so we have been able to leave extra out for them. Usually there are just three or four does, but Friday night, there were eight!

Bob bought a mineral block at Rural King and put it out for them. He said it smelled good, like alfalfa - so good, in fact, that he considered giving it a lick himself. The deer don't seem to be interested in it. As we watched them from our bedroom window in the dark, Bob kept muttering behind me, "Go to mineral block. Go to the mineral block, you big dummies. I paid seven bucks for that mineral block."

The next day he put the corn on top of the mineral block, so they HAD to notice it. I did see a squirrel sitting on it yesterday, but I think he was just using it as a chair.

You might see some deer eating at birdfeeders right now if you go to http://www.snowmancam.com/. This guy up in Gaylord, Michigan, set up a webcam in his backyard so that people could see wildlife. He added the wooden snowman just to make it interesting and apparently it's a big hit, visited by about 2000 people, daily. A couple even flew in from Scotland to have their picture taken with the snowman. I just visited it and saw a deer.

The local newspaper is going to run a series called "Silver Linings," which hopes to find something positive and life-changing about our current economical climate, which is a challenging assignment, as it's hard to find anything positive about so many people suddenly out of work. Lindsey's pastor spoke about our troubled economy at her church this morning, and about how possessions don't make us happy, and that living simply clears the path to God. He suggested that we should start spending less on entertainment, inviting friends and neighbors over for the evening instead of going places and spending money. He also challenged members of his congregation to check their lives for areas of excess and ways to change.

Now, this, for some reason, immediately put me in mind of a show Bob and I were watching last week on PBS. It was about people who dress up ferrets and drive them all over the Midwest trying to win ribbons at ferret shows. One lady had these plastic tubes going up and down the stairs and all around her house, and her ferrets would run around in them. This other man had a real bed made for his ferret, and the sleeping animal was covered up with a little quilt that had ferrets on it. These very well-fed Midwesterners were all kissing and stroking their ferrets at this show and this one woman, she was about sick to her stomach with worry that her ferret wasn't going to win a ribbon.

I turned to Bob and said, "I think this might be one of those examples of American excess and mixed-up priorities, although, I could be wrong."

Oh, I know what you're thinking. This criticism from a woman who puts hats on wooden squirrels, and address signs in front of groundhog holes?? Well, okay, you got me there, although, I prefer to think of my shenanigans as "whimsical." However, the very second you hear about me driving come costumed ferret over to the Buckeye Bash Ferret Show in Columbus, Ohio, well, just come and get me.

Recipe of the Week: The menu at last week's inaugural luncheon was inspired by the favorite foods of President Lincoln. It started with a seafood stew, and was followed by herb roasted pheasant with wild rice, duck breast with cherry chutney, molasses whipped sweet potatoes, winter vegetables, and for dessert, apple cinnamon sponge cake. Bob really liked these whipped sweet potatoes. I thought they were good too, but I guess I'm not wild about the cumin.

Molasses Whipped Sweet Potatoes

3 large sweet potatoes (about 3 pounds)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until fork tender, about 1 hour. Peel the skin off the potatoes while still hot. By hand or with the mixer, smash potatoes until all large chunks are gone. Combine the potatoes, butter, salt, orange juice, brown sugar, cumin, molasses and maple syrup an a large bowl. Continue to mix all together until all lumps are gone. Adjust any of the seasonings to your specific tastes. Can be made the day before.

"You can kidnap me and force me to be your watchdog if you want to. But I'm telling you, I will bark at any sound I hear and it will drive you crazy." Jack Handey

Winter Haiku

Sixteen below,

Blowing snow,

No place to go

If you're the Brad Miller Snowman.

(but at least you have new arms)

That's right, we experienced brutally cold weather last week here in northern Indiana, as I'm sure many of you did in your own various necks of the woods. I was told that, just like the kid in A Christmas Story, little Roxanne made the mistake of licking a metal strip on the front door and had to be freed with some warm water. Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog suffered no such mishaps. She made quick work of her business trips outside. She did discover this week, that she LOVES caramel corn, as I made a batch. When I tried giving her some regular popcorn later, she spat it right back out on the floor!

From the Archives: Various snow creations from the 1990's. Snow Rabbit

Snow Bear

Little Snow Cowboy with pine mustache

Snow Dragon on Diamond Street

Recipe of the Week: I've been intending to make pizza using Granny Ruth's recipe for some time now, but just didn't get around to it until this weekend. You remember Bob's Granny Ruth, from the potato post last summer. She was married to Grandpa Harvey who loved potatoes. They got married in 1929. A few years back, I interviewed Granny for a paper that I wrote about the Great Depression. They lived out in the country and she told me sometimes she would go an entire month without seeing another human being besides Harvey. She would kill and pluck chickens for him to take into town to sell on Saturday, but she couldn't remember how much she got for them. I think she might have sold bread too. Christmas presents for family and friends during those lean years might have been walnuts or some of the better apples they had saved in their cellar. I wrote that paper for an economics class and submitted it online, and a few months later, we suffered a computer catastrophe and lost everything. I didn't have a hard copy, so I'm relying on memory. Granny Ruth was the oldest daughter in the family and she did the baking. She gave me this recipe for Pizza Hut Crust several years ago. It's kind of a strange recipe, and I don't know where she got it. I always meant to ask her about it, but never did. Here it is, as written. I'll make a couple of notes at the end.

Pizza Hut Crust

4 cups warm water

1/4 cup sugar

3 pkg dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

10 to 12 cups flour

2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon oregano

3 Tablespoons butter, softened

corn meal for dusting pan

Remove 1 1/2 cups of water from the 4 cups measured. Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar to this 1 1/2 cups of water. Dissolve the yeast in this and let stand for 5 minutes until bubble. When done, add the yeast mixture to the remaining sugar and butter and add the rest of the ingredients except cornmeal and Parmesan cheese. Add the flour mixture and remaining 2 1/2 cups of water alternately, mixing the dough until it is stiff enough to knead. Knead for 10 minutes. Place in plastic bags large enough to allow the dough to triple in size. For a 15 inch pizza, take about 2 cups of the dough. Grease a pan and dust with corn meal. Roll the dough to fit the pan. Brush the crust with oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and desired fillings. Bake at 450 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.

Notes:

1. Forget about measuring out 4 cups of warm water and then removing 1 1/2 cups. Just measure 1 1/2 cups of warm water and when you're ready for the rest, run another 2 1/2 cups into your measuring cup.

2. If you take 3 tablespoons out of 1/4 cup of sugar, there's not much left, maybe, like a teaspoon. I don't get this, but I play along anyway.

3. I don't put the dough in plastic bags, but allow it to rise in a big greased bowl. I also allow the crusts to rise again in the pans while I'm fixing the fillings. It makes three big pizzas in jelly roll pans, so be ready to share pizza with your neighbors, or somebody.

"If you're a cowboy and you're dragging a guy behind your horse, I bet it would really make you mad if you looked back and the guy was reading a magazine." Jack Handey

After reading some of tonight's new posts, I realize that I'm not the only one who had an uneventful week. Yeah, about all I did was sit around and watch my squirrels collect snow.
The Amazing Barking Dog and I made several trips out to the feeders to keep all of our critters happy. Nothing unusual out there to report, just squirrels and birds. Bob did put out some apples for the deer this afternoon. And speaking of Bob, he just gave me the business because he didn't like the way I opened up a package of cheese. Can you believe that - being taken to task for the way you open up a block of Kraft Cheddar and Monterey Jack? He knows I'm no good at opening things. It's in our contract. He's the cheese package opener and direction reader. I'm the.....umm well, I have other jobs.


We were under a winter storm warning Friday and Saturday, and we remain under a winter storm watch through Tuesday. Looks like there could be more snow on the squirrels.



The Biggest Loser: Year - Deux
Yes, our second annual Biggest Loser weigh-in was last Tuesday. We'll be weighing in every Tuesday for the next 13 weeks. Each participant is to set a goal and if we meet our goals, we'll celebrate by spending the night in Chicago, sometime after Easter, and splurging on something expensive of our choosing. My goal is twenty pounds, which might be too ambitious. I thought my reward might be a pair of those Christian Louboutin shoes, you know, the ones with the red soles? But, the way the economy is looking, my reward might have to be something more practical, like getting my old shoes re-soled, or a big bag of rice.


This Week in Cakes: There was a flurry of cake construction this weekend at our house. Lindsey came up for Ashley's baby shower, which was scheduled for Saturday, but postponed until Sunday because of the weather. Here's the cake I made for the shower. And here's the diaper cake that Becca and Lindsey made for the centerpiece at the shower. It required a lot of diapers and a lot of great big rubber bands and much discussion because those girls, they like symmetry. We had lots of fun, and you can see by the clock on the wall that we didn't get done until 11:00 PM.





And, while Lindsey was busy preparing for the shower.......

Bonnie, the Barbarian napped on Bob's great, great, grandmother's velvet-covered settee.

From the Archives: Here's a picture of my brother, Brian, sister, Lori, and me, in 1975, or maybe 1976 - not sure. I know this is a bad photo, but I like it because she's got a band-aid on her knee, which was typical. She was one tough little critter, who didn't want to come in from playing outside, no matter how cold it was, and who, played every sport in the book, and rode a motorcycle. She celebrated her 37th birthday last week. Happy Birthday, you wild woman, you.

Recipe of the Week: Not a lot of exciting cooking this week, although I did make the Best Meatballs on the Face of the Earth for Ashley's shower. That recipe is in the 2007 file. I haven't made this cake for awhile, but it's a good one - really moist. If making it for somebody, I would top it with chocolate hearts that I made by melting semi-sweet morsels and spreading the mixture out onto waxed paper, then pressing a cookie cutter onto the chocolate after it hardened.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

3/4 cups cour cream

1/4 cup butter

1 & 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

4 ounces baking chocolate

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Measure all ingredients into a large bowl and beat for 1/2 minute at low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl constantly. Then beat for 3 minutes at highest speed. Pour into greased and floured cake pans. (I just use Baker's Joy) You can use either two 9 inch pans or three 8 inch. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cook on a rack. For the frosting, in a double-broiler, melt butter and chocolate over barely simmering water. Remove from heat and cool. Add powdered sugar, then blend in the sour cream and vanilla and beat until smooth.

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you're criticizing them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes." Jack Handey

Happy New Year! We spent New Year's Eve in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania with Nick and Stormy. Again, we forgot to take the camera along, so here's a very fuzzy picture, again, taken with the cell phone, of Stormy and me in front of the restrooms at Isabella's just before it turned midnight. We had a great, late dinner there. I had chicken scallopini and Bob had the veal. Then we gathered around the bar with the restaurant staff to watch Dick Clark, Ryan Seacrest and Kelly Pickler bring in the New Year. Stormy provided the crowns, horns, jingly-sticks and glow in the dark thingees. The balloons are courtesy of Isabella's.

We shopped at the King of Prussia Mall, outside Philadelphia on New Year's Day, but had to cut our trip short because Rob, who got in to see the dentist about his wisdom teeth on Tuesday, after we had already left for PA, was told that the teeth needed to come out NOW. So, we left Philadelphia at 1:30 and got home about 11:30 PM. and on Friday morning we took him into Fort Wayne to have them taken out. He really did pretty well with it. We found out that, like Bob, he's a hard one to put under with anesthesia. He kept telling us that he was fine and he could drive, but watching him try to eat a milkshake in the rearview mirror indicated otherwise. He also passed up a funny note from the back seat inquiring about the location of his tongue. He doesn't remember any of that now.


Here we are modeling all of the law firm SWAG (stuff we all got) that Stormy gave us from her employer, DLP.




Injured in a motorcycle accident? Call us.
Victim of nursing home abuse? Call us.
Dog bite? Call us
Slandered? Libeled? Call us. Call us.
Annoyed? Irritated? Crusty? Ouchy? CALL US!




Here are some of the, more intriguing gifts I received for Christmas. A giant, "glamorous" acorn, A Louis Jadot Beaujolais bottle, flattened into a tray, a "Well, Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit" rural calendar, a "Davy Crackit" squirrel nutcracker and Slinky Dog. Roxanne is a little bit afraid of that Slinky Dog.




I noticed that many of my blogging friends have listed goals and resolutions for 2009, and I want to get in on some of that action too. Of course, we should all probably just exercise,read, pray, and smile more and eat and spend less, and we'd be in a much better state, but, anyway, here are my specific 2009 goals:




5. Lose that same thirty pounds that I've been saying I'll lose every year since Rob was born. No - let's make it twenty.

4. Have more people over for Sunday Night Candlelight Supper.

3. Break it off with the mailman.


2. Better my time in the 500 Mini Marathon (yes, I'm in)


1. Refrain from using the term "sorry carcass" when referring to my husband in this blog.




At last, the Paper Whites are blooming. They make the kitchen smell like
spring.



Coming this week: The Biggest Loser Year Deux!

Recipe of the Week: Stormy and Nick prepared this dish for us on Tuesday night. They also added shrimp, crab meat, and a few dashes of red pepper to the mix. I duplicated the meal for Bob on Sunday night. It's very rich.

Deb's Scallops Florentine

1 pound sea scallops

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie plate. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Rinse the scallops, and drop them into the boiling water; cook for 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and pat dry. Place on the bottom of the prepared pie plate.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the lour. Cook over low heat for 3 minutes. Whisk in heavy cream and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, or until thick.

Squeeze the spinach dry and spread over the scallops. Pour the cream sauce over the spinach and top with mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and bread crumbs. Sprinkle Old Bay Seasoning over the crumbs. Bake for 15 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what they are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then, on the way out, slam the door." Jack Handey