Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, exaggerates about Halloween night. It was not all that painful for her. In fact, I just stayed outside and greeted the trick or treaters. I set up a card table and served hot mulled cider from a crockpot to the adults, which I thought was a great idea and wondered why I'd never done it before. Next year, I'm expanding. Maddie watched most of the action from the front door. She joined me later, when little Roxanne came by wearing a white fur hooded pink coat that said "glamorous to the bone" on it. A two-year- old, chubby-cheeked, pink fairy was so taken with Roxanne that she didn't want to leave and kept shaking her Milky Way bar at her mother yelling "Go, you go!"

Midway in the process of plastering the dining room. This afternoon we painted our garage door and both front exterior doors, and flower boxes to match the new siding. Now all the blue is gone. We put up the shutters yesterday, so the outside is done. I'll post a picture next week of the finished exterior. This week, the focus is on finishing the walls and putting down the hardwood floor. I'm also in love with my chandelier.

Recipe of the Week: The old Ramada Inn in Effingham used to have a great restaurant. Back in the 70's it had an American history theme going on, and when we went there for lunch I always ordered The War Between the States salad. (which was a chef's salad with some delicious croutons). The Keller's owned the inn and Thelma Keller was well-known for her cooking. One of her most famous desserts was a deep dish apple dumpling. The recipe was printed in several women's magazines years ago. Thelma put out a couple of cookbooks, and I have one, so I decided I'd make the dumplings. The only problem was that the recipe calls for canned apples, and I couldn't find them, so I just sliced up some Granny Smith's and worked from there. I'm going to give you Thelma's actual recipe and maybe you can find canned apples, I don't know.

Deep Dish Apple Dumpling

2 twenty ounce cans of sliced apples, drained (save juice)

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

6 teaspoons red hots candy

butter

Mix apples and other ingredients. Roll out egg-sized ball of pastry (Opie's No-Fail, of course) into a ten inch circle; line deep dish, let hang over sides. In bottom of each, put a small pat of butter and 1 teaspoon red hots. Put in apples, dividing equally into the 6 deep dishes, fold dough over top, place on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Sauce

1 cup apple juice

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup red hots

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons cold water

Heat to dissolve the candy and sugar in apple juice. Then, bring to a boil. Mix the cornstarch and cold water and add to the mixture, continuing to cook until clear. Serve hot over apple dumplings. (Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra treat).