Bob and Big Lou - Livin' the Dream

2011-10-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

I should think, blog readers, that it's time to announce to you the birth of our first grandchild. He was born on October 5th in Denver and he weighed 7 lbs and 13 ounces. His name is Jack, Jack Robert, and he is very fine. Bob and I flew to Denver on October 14th and returned on the following Tuesday. He likes my singing and he likes crossing his arms and legs. Adorable. It was hard to pry him away from Grandpa, (who is the baby whisperer)

Whichever one of us wasn't holding Jack, got to hold Bonnie, the Barbarian (almost as good) We so enjoyed our short time there - didn't do anything except watch football and catch up on the laundry. We only cooked one night, and Lindsey made the salad from the Casa restaurants. I thought it was pretty close to the real deal, so I'm posting it below.

I am working as a math interventionist at an elementary school until Christmas. Elementary kids are so darned sweet. I can't walk through the cafeteria or library without somebody popping up to give me a hug. And they all wave at me in the hall. I am working very hard to try to unlock the math doors for them. Not being a math whiz by any stretch of the imagination, I can appreciate the struggle. Honestly, I don't know what God is trying to tell me about math. He know that I don't like it. WHY DOES IT KEEP COMING BACK FOR ME?

Here's the salad recipe, as promised. Enjoy.

Casa D'angelo Salad II

Salad

12 ounces iceberg lettuce

12 ounces romaine lettuce

1 red pepper chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup garlic flavored croutons

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Dressing

1 & 1/2 teaspoons anchovy paste

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon oregano

3/4 teaspoon pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

1 cup olive oil or vegetable oil

Toss lettuces, pepper, bacon, mozzarella, and 1/4 Parmesan cheese into large bowl and set aside. To prepare dressing, combine anchovy paste, vinegar, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic, sugar, cornstarch, and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese into blender. Mix in blender and slowly add the oil. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Combine salad, croutons, and dressing and serve.

2011-08-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

Ah, summertime, the season of baseball, watermelon, sweetcorn, and wine-gnats. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. You pick up your goblet to take a sip and there, floating on top is a gnat. Sometimes, if I see he's still alive and flailing around down there, I'll run and get a paper towel and stick it into the wine, close to where the gnat is struggling. Usually, he'll step right on the towel and then fly off on his merry way. And I feel like a Good Samaritan. But sometimes.....I just drink them.

Well, wow, what a July it has been, Blog Readers. On the fourth, Bob and I went to Rome, Italy! We took in the Colosseum, the Forum, Vatican City, The Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. Then we took the train to Florence to see Michelangelo's David, and the Basilica di Santa Marie del Fiore, and Bob's cousin, Elaine. Then we went on to Venice, then back to Milan, where we caught a flight to Paris. This was our second visit to Paris, so we'd been to some of the major spots. This time we enjoyed a concert at the beautiful Sainte Chappelle, and went to Julia Chld's favorite kitchen store, E. Dehillerin. I got a huge pack of paper doilies there for nine Euros. 250 count - I thought it was a real deal. We also went to La Closerie de lilas on the Blvd du Montparnasse, the bar where Hemingway is supposed to have written most of The Sun Also Rises, and where Lenin and Trotsky played chess. Here I am in front of the Duomo in Florence.

On July 30th, we hosted a baby shower for Lindsey at the Propylaeum in Indianapolis. Twenty-seven people showed up for lunch and a swell, baby shower kind of time. It was so nice to see her and so nice for her to get to see all her old friends, co-workers, and family members. Here's a picture of Lindsey and two of her cousins, Megan and Baleigh. I bet you guys won't even recognize Little Baleigh. What'd I tell you?

Finally, if you're my Facebook Friend, you know that the last two Sunday evenings in a row we've hosted Ribfest in the Hood, the Hickory Hill Hood, that is, swimmin' pools, movie stars. Both weeks we used a dry rib alone on some of the ribs, dry rub and barbecue sauce on some, and plain barbecue sauce on the others. On week one, we were joined by our dear neighbors, Cathy and Mike. Week two, we added more guests. Here's the group, sans Rob, who is off taking a test online, and Bob, the photographer.

And, here's the dry rub recipe:

Rib Dry Rub
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper.

2011-06-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last week we made a trip to Effingham. We had tickets to see Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers at the Effingham Performance Center. It was a great show, with lots of Steve Martin humor sprinkled amongst some very worthy, Grammy-winning bluegrass music. They even managed to pull off a rousing King Tut as their final number.

The next day Lori, Baleigh, Maw-Maw and I set out to find the "best burger in the world" in Moonshine, Illinois (population 2) . CBS Sunday morning did a story on this place some time back. It's very entertaining and you can view it on youtube. This couple, Helen and Roy Lee Tuttle, live above their general store and they've been frying up cheeseburgers there for years. Helen says that each burger is God-blessed and that's what makes them so good. They were good and good-sized. We made it there around 11:00 and inside the store there was chaos, albeit friendly, polite chaos, and people were happy to help steer us first-timers to the right line. We got to see Helen, herself, frying up the juicy patties. They lock the store at 12:30 to watch a soap opera in the back of the store (or, so we're told) and if you get stuck inside, you have to help clean up.

We ate our burgers outside at the picnic tables and we all bought Moonburger t-shirts. This place is located out in the sticks - somewhere south of Casey. If your GPS sends you on a wild goose chase, (as ours did) just keep your eyes peeled for a wooden arrow-shaped "Moonshine" sign. It's about the size of a ruler and it'll be tacked on a telephone pole. Good luck!

A couple of graduation cakes I did for a lovely young lady. I did her baptism cake when she was born. My, my, time flies.

2011-05-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

Things I like and will continue to stick with

By Big Lou

#5. My Nalgene water bottle

No. of years in my possession: 8

Do you know how many water bottles this thing has kept out of the landfill? Well, I don't either, but I promise you, it's a bunch.

#4 Maddie, The Amazing Barking Dog

No. of years in my possession: 11 1/2

A pain in the behind at times, and occasional dribbling on the floor in her declining years, but it's 'till death us do part

#3 My Etienne Aigner Luggage

No. of years in my possession: 13

So easy to spot on the baggage carousel. Still some good years ahead, I think. Probably shouldn't have them up on the bed, though (bed bugs!)

#2 - Bob

No. of years in my possession: almost 31

No dribbling on the floor yet; shows only slight signs of wear. Still low-maintenance and reasonably efficient.

#1 - The Toaster

No. of years in my possession: 47

Still toasting one perfect slice after another!

2011-04-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

We really had to scrounge around to find guests for Easter dinner this year. For those of you who used to grace our holiday table and moved to other states, please take comfort in knowing that we served the exact same traditional fare that you've become accustomed to over the years. Well, okay, not the "melt-in-your-mouth crescent rolls," I did not make them because I thought-why go to all that trouble for the three of us (um-four of us) when Aunt Millie makes such a nice fluffy white dinner roll for the holidays.

I still have not produced the dessert I mentioned last Sunday night, but there has been progress. The heavy cream is in the fridge now, so... it should be happening soon. I must get back to doing more cooking and baking. The problem with cooking and baking is that they tend to be followed by chewing and swallowing. (sigh)

Happy Easter, Blog Readers! He is risen, as He said.

2011-04-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Sung to the tune of She'll be Comin' Around the Mountain:

Oh, I've got bone chips stickin' out my gum

And I can't keep from pokin' at em' with my tongue.

Could be cow

Could be cadaver

I guess it doesn't matter

Oh, I've got bone chips stickin' out my gum

Yes, those grafted bone chips (whate'er they may be) are working their way out, which isn't a big deal at all, hardly worth mentioning, were it not for this great little diddy I wrote.

I just finished up an 8-week high school English teaching gig, seniors this time. Two of my classes did a unit on the Romantic poets. Because we were running out of time, I pared it down to six poets: Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats. I wanted to come up with a way to help the students keep them all straight in their heads for the test, so I made up a little review activity. I made six nameplates, one for each poet and had students stand up front wearing them around their necks. The name plates had some helpful clues drawn on them. Here's Shelley's. He drowned in a boating accident and his wife, Mary, wrote Frankenstein. I wrote test identifications and poetry lines on strips of poster board, and stuck masking tape on the back of each. Then I gave these to students at their desks and had them walk up and physically attach the correct term/lines to the right poet. We called this "Stick it to the Man." Most everybody did well on the test and the highlight of my time there came when one student told me that he couldn't believe how much "Stick it to the Man" helped him do well on that test. I know. They say we remember about 97% of what is taught to us through movement or music or "Stickin' it to the Man."

The Book Babes met at my house recently to discuss Lunch in Paris, by Elizabeth Bard. This book has several recipes in it that I'm anxious to try. The first one is Chocolate Cream with Creme Anglaise. I'll make it this week, and report back soon.

2011-03-27T17:53:00.001-07:00

Hola, Blog Readers! Have you been missing me? What, really, you have, because I don't see any comments posted on here trying to woo me back or to encourage publication. Well...... I'm here anyway. I've been on another long-term subbing adventure. It's senior English this time, well five classes of seniors, and one class of sophomores. That's a whole bunch of kiddos to learn how to identify and the tricky part is that it seems almost one third of them are named either Katelyn or Courtney (with various spellings). We're just coming off of spring break and last weekend we made a trip to Cleveland to meet up with Stormy and Nick. We celebrated my 55th birthday with dinner out, and then the next morning, we met Emmet and Emily and their almost-one-year-old twins, Henry and Eli. This is not a good photo, I realize, but it's Grandma Stormy chatting it up with Eli at one end of the table.... ...and this is Henry down at at the other end, by his dad and me. Henry is distracted by a fetching young lady at the table behind us (one of his own kind). Even though my school was on break, West Noble School Corporation was not, which meant I still had to teach GED classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I also graded tests and put in grades and I had two teeth pulled. The intent is to put in implants, if I have enough bone to support them. To help with this, some bone grafting was done. I was originally told that the bone would either be cow or cadaver. (either would make an interesting ice-breaker topic in social or team-building settings, I thought) But, I forgot to ask them which flavor I got. So, I guess it'll always be a mystery. Cow....or Cadaver? Yesterday, we drove down to Indy and visited with Lindsey, who just began the second trimester of her pregnancy (see Lindsey's blog, if interested) We watched basketball, went to Scotty's for dinner, watched more basketball, went to church, went to Granite City for Sunday brunch, did a little shopping, and watched more basketball. This is Puppa Bon-Bon giving me the "Please don't put me in my cage, Grandma, while you go shopping" sad look. Good news, Puppa. You're going to help Grandpa spread mulch. No cage for you! Well, this is all I have for you. I must get back to class preparation. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. How could we spice that up, I wonder?

2011-02-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

I know you haven't heard from us in awhile, blog readers. I've been pretty busy, of late, but wanted to post this news bulletin for all you devoted (?) readers. This is the first picture of our grandson/daughter. There - to the right of the word BABY. It might look like a gummy bear alright, but it's already the light of our lives. And now we can be real grandparents to people, not just dogs - not that that hasn't been good too.

2011-02-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

Dogs are such creatures of habit. They all seem to have their particular rituals - things they just have to do all the time, the exact same way. When Madddie goes out the front door, she veers to the right, potties, and then trots around to the north side of the house, and commences to bark in the general direction of the house where the old rottweiler lives. Our previous Sheltie, Tess, used to go flying out the back door like a bullet - running clear to the property line. That's where she skidded into a skunk one night. Bonnie, the Barbarian, exits, pauses on the front step, then trots to the left side of the driveway and begins to bark.

Bonnie likes to sit on the heat register in the winter. Maddie lays on my rugs - not the one that is under the side chair in the living room , that was placed there for her use - no, not that one, the other rugs, located in strategic places like at the top of the stairs and in front of the stove - where people will have to step over her. Yeah, dogs are creatures of habit. If they went to church, I bet they'd always sit in the same pew.

The small appliance du jour appears to be something called a cupcake maker. It sits on your counter and you use it to whip up cupcakes in minutes. I guess you need this because "sometimes you just want a cupcake. You're not dressed nicely and you don't want to get dressed nicely to go out to one of those fancy bakeries just to buy some towering buttercream priapus for $3.50 when you can make your own at home." I found that quote online - written by somebody who was making fun of this appliance - which is what I'm also doing here.

Who would need this appliance? Kids in college dorms? I don't think they're supposed to be plugging such things into the walls. People in hotel rooms? People who don't know how to turn on their OTHER CUPCAKE MAKER - the oven?

When I was checking out sunflower seeds at Rural King on Sunday afternoon, I saw a Cheese-making magazine that was promoting, on it's cover, an article entitled "Make it your Whey!" Ha-ha. which is a good segue to the Recipe of the Week -Great dinners made quickly - No Pressure!

I am lovin' me some pressure-cooking. I did another chicken recipe in the pressure cooker a couple of weeks ago, and then last Saturday, I made a pot roast that was delicious!. Great gravy- great leftovers. I hope you'll give it a try. I'm going to make it again, very soon.

Pressure Cooker Pot Roast

1 pot roast, rump, sirloin tip, etc., about 4 pounds

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 large onion, chopped

1 cup red wine

1 & 1/2 cups beef broth

2 carrots, coarsely chopped

8 small potatoes, halved

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons cold water

Brown meat in oil in the pressure cooker. Add the salt, pepper, onion, broth, and 1/2 cup water. Cover and bring to full pressure. When steam appears, reduce heat to low and cook for 25 minutes. Reduce pressure completely and add the carrots and potatoes. Cover and simmer (not under pressure) for 20 minutes, until tender. Remove meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon and skim off excess fat.

Combine flour and 2 tablespoons water until smooth; stir into the simmering brother. Continue simmer, stirring, until broth is thickened.

2011-01-09T19:07:00.001-08:00

Here it is, January 9th, and I've yet to properly blog about Christmas or New Year's or resolutions, or anything - so I'll try to cover it all quickly. The kids got here on Christmas Day in time to enjoy a late beef tenderloin dinner. Our dear neighbors also joined us for the meal. Later, we played some cards. Here's a picture of Lindsey, trying out the new chair in the library....

...And here's Rob in the church pew...where he belongs.

One of my gifts was the publication of season II of this blog, Bob and Big Lou, Livin' the Dream. I just love it.

Bob and I went up to Shipshewana's Ice Festival and watched the ice carving competition. It was a pretty warm day and they were definitely struggling with some of their artwork.

I believe they must have commissioned one of the artists to do this grand piano, and the nativity below, as they weren not part of the competition.

This dragon got third place.

And here I am, posing with an ice nativity.

On New Year's Day (we did nothing on New Year's Eve) we went down to Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream in Carmel with Brent and Lindsey. We were anxious to sample one of Bub's Big Ugly Burgers that was featured on Man Vs. Food. The Big Ugly starts out as 22 ounces of ground beef, but it cooks down to about 16. If you eat one, you get your picture on their wall - two, a larger picture - three, even bigger - four, a life-sized cardboard cut-out of your own bad self. Adam Richman, the host on Man Vs. Food, vowed to eat four of the Big Uglies when he visited Bubs last summer, but he only managed to conquer two and one quarter of a third B.U. On the show they said that a stick of melted butter was brushed on the buns of each burger.

Well, Brent already had his picture on the wall. He ate one and considered taking on another. He was pretty sure he could do it, but didn't really want to. Bob ordered one and cut it into fourths and I enjoyed one. Very tasty, but I doubted that a stick of butter was on the bun. We asked the young waitress who agreed with us. She thought they just brushed the bun with melted butter. So, I don't know if they just did that to Adam's burgers when he was in their establishment, or if there was some embellishing done or what, but anyway, it was a really good burger, considering its size.

I'm not making any resolutions this year, but I, and the ladies in my step class (Step Sisters) have (once again) taken on the Big Loser Weight-Loss Challenge. We've all weighed in and we all have our goals. We'll weigh in each week for eleven weeks. The competition will end the week before spring break in March.

Speaking of weight loss, Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog has really been enjoying the Good Dog Cookies she got from Santa. She could use a little exercise herself, but then, she is getting up there in years - she celebrated her 11th birthday over the holidays.

Recipe of the Week: Is for Maddie's Good Dog Cookies. Enjoy.

Good Dog Cookies

2 & 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup nonfat dry milk

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup oil

2 beef bouillon cubes

3/4 cup boiling water

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water and allow to cool. Combine the flour, dry milk, egg, oil, beef broth, and brown sugar. Mix well and knead dough for about 1 minute.
Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut out bones. Bake on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes.

2011-01-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

Book Babes Make Merry in Hickory Hill Hood - Here are just a few pics from the Book Babe Christmas Dinner held here on the 22nd of December: Since we were having sixteen for dinner, we needed to extend the table, and as luck would have it, Rural King was having a sale, so we purchased a six foot table to add on to our existing one.

Here's a shot of the Babes and their menfolk from one end of the table....

...and from the opposite end

After dinner, we played "Two Truths and a Lie," and Fred was the winner.

2010-12-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

Great nephew, Landon, insisted that he saw a man dressed in a Santa suit in the backyard when they arrived at Maw-Maw's on the Sunday before Christmas. He was right. Landon was not intimidated by the "man dressed in the Santa suit" at all and he talked his ear off, telling him what he wanted for Christmas and what he had already received, and commenting on upcoming sporting events and North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Little brother, Grant, (the G-Man) didn't mind having a sit-on-Santa, either.......

...and neither did the Tiny Terrierist, Bonnie the Barbarian

2010-12-26T18:54:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Blog Readers! We, like most of you, have been busy with holiday visiting and merry-making. I ended up ringing the Salvation Army Bell on Christmas Eve, in fact, I was the last ringer of the season. The store was crowded and people were generous. I chased one man outside because his milk had fallen off the bottom of his cart and he gave me a hug right there in the parking lot. Anyway, I was having a good time and didn't even want to stop, but Skip came to pick up the bucket and close up shop, so I went home and baked dog cookies for The Amazing Barking Dog and The Barbarian, and they seemed to really like them. More Christmas info to come......

2010-12-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

I rang the Salvation Army Bell with Santa this afternoon at Wal-mart. Mercy me, was it cold and windy outside. Bell-ringing volunteers who have little kids with them always rake in a lot of dough. I don't have any small children to help me, so I thought the next best thing might be to ring with Santa. We also gave out Tootsie Roll Pops to the kiddos. It was cold, but it was fun, and Santa got some hugs

This is the "quiet bell" I made last year, so I wouldn't irritate anybody inside the store. I used it this afternoon to push the folding money down into the kettle, and to occasionally smack Santa on the behind.

Here are a couple of photos from Thanksgiving.

The table, set and ready...

...The guests at the table, Brent, Lindsey, Rob, Bobalicious, Jeff, Lori, Baleigh, and Maw-Maw. We ate, we played cards, we Black-Friday shopped.

Recipe of the Week:

Cream of Chicken Soup

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 medium Spanish onion (I used a plain yellow onion - did not see any onions from sunny Spain)

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 medium carrots, chopped

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

7 cups chicken brother, homemade or low-sodium canned

3 sprigs parsley

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

2 & 3/4 cup chopped chicken

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 & 1/2 teaspoons dry sherry

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and cook, covered, stirring occasionally until soft, about 12 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes more.

Pour in the broth and and bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Tie the parsley sprigs, thyme, and bay leaf together with kitchen twine and add to the soup. Lower the heat ans simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Whisk the heavy cream, sherry, and salt into the soup and season with pepper to taste. Remove and discard the herb bundle. Divide in bowls and sprinkle the top of each with the flat-leaf parsley.

2010-12-01T08:40:00.001-08:00

Here's an interesting tidbit, dear blog readers: About three weeks ago, a producer from the Oprah Winfrey Show called one of the Book Babes (Megan, who had written her a funny letter back in August) and asked for information about our book group. She wanted us to send a photo, a group biography and individual ones, as well. She also asked if any of us had read the book, Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen. Well, we sent everything they asked for and then we ran out and bought that book and started reading it, but....we haven't heard anything back from them. They discuss the book on the December 6th show, so.....I guess the Book Babes won't be on that day.

We meet on Thursday night to discuss our scheduled book, The Glass Castle, and probably the book, Freedom, and also, most likely, reasons why Oprah has not gotten back to us.

2010-11-24T18:54:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving Blog Readers!

Very busy week around here with subbing and teaching GED classes in the evenings and trying to get Salvation Army Bell Ringers and so on and so forth. Bob is on vacation and being very helpful around the house. Today he got out his leaf vac and sucked up almost every leaf in the Hickory Hill Hood. Not kidding! Hope all the neighbors wanted their leaves sucked up because, that's what they got.

The Amazing Barking Dog and I struggle on in our lonely crusade to promote the celebration of Thanksgiving BEFORE putting up Christmas decorations. It's just wrong. Anyway, that's what we think.

Also, Happy Black Friday Shopping! Have fun and get lots of great deals. And, remember Big Lou's rules for the special day:

1. Run a little, if necessary

2. Bob and weave

3. NEVER push or shove.

Our motto: Aggressive, but friendly!!!!

2010-10-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

The many leaves decorating the Hickory Hill Hood have turned the Amazing Barking Dog into more of a gatherer than a hunter. Happy Halloween, Blog Readers! I confess that I was not home last night to greet and treat the neighborhood goblins because we went to the Purdue/Illinois game in Champaign. (which is quite a drive)

We met Brent and Lindsey at the game, and we had a good time, despite the Purdue loss because the weather was great, and well, we like Illinois too, of course.

On the drive home we stopped at one of the Stevenson family's favorite restaurants.......

At the Beef----House
Yummy, yummy, just lettin' it all hang out
At the Beef---House
Yeast rolls stacked, and that's a fact
Ain't holdin' nothin' back

Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now

When Brent's Dad, Larry worked for Fed-Ex, he would stop here for lunch every day. The food was delicious. I think he and Brent's mom went on their first date here, but don't quote me on that.

Book Babes:
Here is the 2010-2011 reading schedule for the Book Babes of Kendallville, if you have any interest at all.

October Jasmine by Bharti Mukherjee

December The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls

January Blink Malcolm Gladwell

February Snow Flower & the Secret Fan by Lisa See

March Lunch in Paris Elizabeth Bard

April The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay Beverly Jensen

May Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Stout

June Pending

July Pending

Recipe of the Week:
I made these pecan pie bars and took them to our Beatles concert on the prairie a couple of months ago. I think they're a good pick-up-and-eat summer alternative to the real, heavy-duty pie we like to put on our Thanksgiving dessert table. Here's the recipe:

Pecan Pie Bars

2 cups flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

4 eggs

1 & 1/2 cups white syrup

1 & 1/2 cups white sugar

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 & 1/2 cups chopped pecans.

Stir together the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Cut in the cup of butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the bottom of a light-greased 10 X 15 inch jellryoll pan and press in firmly. Bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Mix together eggs, syrup, 1 & 1/2 cup sugar, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the pecans. Spread over the filling as soon as it comes out of the oven. Bake for 25 minutes or until set.

2010-10-24T15:44:00.001-07:00

"I saw three ships in my backyard
On Saturday,
On Saturday.
I saw three ships in my backyard,
On Saturday in the morning."

Okay, clearly, one of these ships is in the front yard, but that would ruin the song.

Rob, my little ginger snap,

SELL...A...SHIP!

Ah, oak leaves and acorns.

My Disturbing Breakfast Story: Last Friday morning, at 8:15 AM, I watched a high school student pull from her book bag, a spoon and a can of Betty Crocker frosting. And she commenced to eating it right there. Was that breakfast, you think? I looked on slack-jawed (kind of like when I saw those little bitty girls eating the broccoli in Wal-mart) Fortunately, I was behind her and she didn't see my shocked expression. Oh, it's not that I'm some kind of food-pyramid fanatic. I've been known to spoon a little of the frosting myself. Only, I would do in my pantry - with the light out- and the door closed. What was she thinking? Later I thought, well, maybe she needed that sugar boost, you know a low blood count. And if that was the case, I humbly apologize. But, I'm really thinking that wasn't it at all. It was breakfast.

My mother-in-law, Darlene sent me this cookie recipe via Facebook. I made them today and they're very interesting, crunchy and tender, a lot going on here. I liked them. You might want to give them a try:

Grammy's Cookies

3/4 cup Crisco
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup salted sunflower seeds

Combine ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

2010-10-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Another Disturbing Scissors Story - But not sharp scissors this time, big, BIG scissors - giant ones - the kind you use to cut ribbons at dedication ceremonies, which is what we did on Sunday, when we dedicated the new Common Grace/Friendship Food Pantry Facility. I was in charge of getting the ribbon and the giant scissors, but for some unexplainable reason I FORGOT TO PICK THEM UP AT THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ON FRIDAY!!!!! I didn't even think of it until late Saturday afternoon when I was printing out the program for the dedication. I left a message on the chamber director's home phone, but sprung into action on a "plan B" which was to decorate these hedge trimmers shown above. Pretty spiffy, right? The happy ending to this story is that the chamber director called me back on Sunday morning, and she was a real peach about the whole thing. She met me up at the office at noon, where I secured the giant ribbon-cutting scissors. And here they are in the back of the Jeep. My, they were heavy. It was a wonderful afternoon. The Apple Chords barbershop quartet sang, and everybody spoke for just the right amount of time. It was a wonderful afternoon. On the front page of Monday morning's News Sun was a picture of four laughing people trying to cut the ribbon with those heavy scissors. Whew.

Seems that all the young, busy, working women are big into preparing freezer meals these days. I decided to try this with my chicken casserole recipe to see how it would work. This is the old Tri Kappa Salad Bar casserole recipe. The salad bar was abandoned in favor of Basket Bingo several years ago, so I don't think they'll mind if I share this recipe with you. It will make enough to fill three 9 by 13 pans, so, we're talking about major casserole. I'm experimenting. I baked two of the casseroles and then divided it up into containers. I did not bake one pan, but put it directly into the freezer. We'll see how that works.

Chicken Casserole:

8 cups chicken

2 lbs noodles- medium, cooked

5 cans cream of chicken soup

2 - 13 ounce cans of evaporated milk

3 teaspoons salt *

1 & 1/4 lbs Velveeta cheese

5 cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped green pepper

2 cups crushed corn flakes

Combine all ingredients. Top with corn flakes and bake at 370 degrees for one hour.

* The recipe actually calls for 5 teaspoons of salt but, seriously that's too much. I usually only put in two teaspoons, so just put in a couple and then taste.

2010-10-10T18:47:00.001-07:00

I must confess that I've been withholding some bad news from you, gentle blog-readers. You see this hole in the ground here? Well, this is where our beloved squirrel on a giant acorn stood. The poor squirrel has been decaying for some time, now. I've tried to hide it from you - photographing him from only certain angles, tying wire around his tail to hold it on there. But a couple of weeks ago, Bob just walked over and gave him a kick and that was all she wrote. We'll miss the squirrel, for sure, and hopefully, we'll get another someday. Let's take a walk down memory lane and revisit the squirrel in happier days:

Squirrel as patriot

Halloween Hi jinks!

Celebrating Rhubarb!

Spreading Christmas Cheer.

It was a gorgeous weekend in Kendallville. Have I mentioned how much I love it here in the Hickory Hill Hood? Well, I do. Hickory nuts, beechnuts, walnuts, and my personal favorite....the acorn. Sing along with me:

Acorns in my driveway
Big wind knocked them down.
Make the squirrels step lively,
They put them in the ground.
They stick them in my flowerpots
And in my flower beds.
We've got a bumper crop this year
So, watch out fur yur heads.

Recipe of the Week:

Recently I came across a cookbook entitled Perfect Pressure Cooking - nothing but pressure cooker recipes. I tried this one this weekend. Once again, I underestimated the power of the pressure cooker and overcooked the dish a tad. Still, it was pretty good. My next attempt will be Chicken Marsala.

Chicken Piccata (in the pressure cooker)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 lemon, juice and zest
1 cup white wine
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 tablespoon green olives, chopped
1 envelope chicken gravy

Place all ingredients in pressure cooker; secure lid. Set pressure cooker to MEAT (I don't have this - could be part of the problem) Set timer to 10 minutes (don't have a timer either) When cooking is complete, transfer chicken to a platter, pour sauce over chicken and serve.

From the Old Farmer's Almanac: "Every man must climb out of his own hole." (ain't it the truth, ain't it the truth).

2010-10-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

I'm a little slow to report, but the 25th Annual Apple Festival of Kendallville went off without a hitch last weekend! (oh, except for that attempt to pass counterfeit hundred dollar bills). I found three lost children - which wasn't really too tough considering they were all three wearing pink. I just knew where to look. Bob and I did our usual shift at the information booth, and I worked the front gate on Sunday, but for the first time, I took a turn loading buses at the shuttle stop. Now, I think I've done about every job at the festival. Above is a picture taken at the Friday night anniversary reception and special showing of Raise-a-Ruckus. It just so happened that the five of us who walked over to help serve apple crisp and cider were all past presidents of the festival. Not planned at all. Darlene, on the left end, and Barb, on the right, were given silver apple necklaces because they have both been on the committee for twenty-five years! I've been on for fifteen.

At left is a picture of most of the 2010 committee taken Saturday evening. None of us are looking too fetching, but then, most of us were standing out in the cold, off-and-on drizzle all day. I was so proud of the festival this year, listening to all the praise from out-of-towners. It has evolved into a huge family reunion, with fantastic food.

My Disturbing sharp scissors story: You know how every summer there are those college kids who, because, I guess they couldn't find any other work, are reduced to selling knives? Well, I let one into the house this summer. She was the sister of my friend's neighbor, and I thought, oh, it wouldn't kill me to listen to her presentation, so I said, "okay."

She was very sweet. I sat her up the kitchen counter, and got her a beverage, and then she proceeded to unfold some black material and produced a pair of pretty nice looking scissors. She took out a penny, an honest-to-goodness copper penny and she cut in right in half with those scissors. She asked me if I would like to have a pair like that and I told her I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I had a pair of scissors that sharp in my house. She thought I was kidding, but I wasn't.

Then she made me show her my paring knife and a steak knife. She gave me a one-inch thick piece of twisted rope and told me to cut it with my steak knife - the idea being to make fun of how long it took me to saw away at this rope compared to the way she could cut through it like butter with her super-duper knife. I tried to explain to her that we rarely served a cut of meat that was as tough as that rope, but she wouldn't listen. I purchased my paring knife in 1978 from Delbert Morgan's Sunday School class, so I don't think I have to tell you how it fared in the competition.

End of the story is that I bought a three-knife set. Yes, YES, I DID. I was suckered in by the French chef knife because of its awesome slicing/dicing capacity. They came to the house and they looked beautiful, but the first time I used one, I cut myself three times. I kid you, not. I thought about sending them back, but then it got too late. So now, they're mine and I'm trying to be really careful when I use them, and when I put them away, I hide them, so I can sleep at night. I guess some things are just way better than they need to be.

2010-09-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

We knocked out a wall last fall and added this dining room onto our house. I wanted a table that could seat at least ten people and we can actually seat twelve comfortably here.

Local Amish craftsmen made the table and corner hutch out of maple.

I purchased the baker's rack in the other corner from overstock.com. An antique sideboard is on one wall and two sets of windows on the opposite wall offer a view of the woods in our backyard.

2010-09-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog Readers: Are you bothered by all this bedbug buzz? In a recent phone conversation, Lindsey mentioned to me that she was creeped out about this newest public panic. To help her put it all in perspective I talked a little bit about global warming, and unemployment, terrorism, Alzheimer's disease and brain cancer, and I think I made her feel a lot better. But then the October 4th issue of Time magazine arrived in the mail and it featured an article entitled "This Really Sucks," which I read late at night, in bed.

Did you know that there were 82 cases of bedbug infestations in New York City multifamily residences in 2004, and in 2009 there were 4,088??!!!! Did you know an adult bedbug can go 550 days without food???? Did you know that when Bob returns home from his many business trips he flops his folding travel bag right down on the bed????

Apparently bedbugs can cause real psychological damage because they're creepy. "They're invading your sanctuary, your bed, and suddenly you can't sleep because they're coming out of your walls, out of your box springs, to feed on you in the night."

I turned out the lights and lay there in the dark, feeling itchy, thinking about being psychologically damaged (and bitten) by a herd of stampeding stinkbug cousins. Then I jumped up, turned on the lights and did a quick mattress and box spring check, and I am pleased to report that the Hickory Hill Hood (at least, 1109) is bedbug free.

I subbed in second grade today, and it was a long day, and I'm tired, so goodnight blog readers, sleep tight and don't let..........

2010-09-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

I baked this cake on Friday for Dave and Jean Baker's 60th wedding anniversary. It was an attempt to recreate their wedding cake, only not really, because this is three layers of carrot cake. The cream cheese frosting is not that easy to work with - hard to get perfectly smooth. This is their original wedding cake topper and that's Jean's wedding gown hanging in the background. Still lovely after sixty years. Congratulations to them!

Still Reading: The Postmistress

2010-09-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful weekend this has been! I snapped these pictures this afternoon. I've tried planting sunflowers in my front yard flowerbed for the last few years, but critters always dig up the seeds. The birdfeeders are posted at the edge of the garden and I guess the critters just can't get to every seed back there. I call this: "Sunflower with Bumbly-bee".......

And this is "Sunflower with Butterfly."

And this would be "Little Roxanne comes to visit Grandma and get some chicken snacks and cheese chunks"

Lindsey came up on Saturday for a special Book Babe meeting. We decided last fall to end our year by inviting our daughters/sisters/moms to join us in reading and discussing the book Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. We had one heck of a time scheduling our meeting, postponing it a couple of times and finally settling on Labor Day Weekend. Brent and a friend went to the Notre Dame/Purdue game. The friend dropped him off in Fort Wayne last night and we enjoyed a late dinner at Casa Grille. Today, the kids and Bob played golf (less than half price with our Groupon coupons) at Noble Hawk. Then the kids went on to Chicago to meet friends and then attend a Cubs' game tomorrow.

Last weekend we drove down to Noblesville for our annual Symphony on the Prairie. This year - The Beatles. Mom, Aunt Kae, Jeff, Conni, Lori, Baleigh, Brent, Lindsey, Bob and I picnicked and and sang along with all the great Beatles tunes. WE HAD A REALLY FUN TIME! We decided that next year we're taking a table along too.

Jeff and Conni drove Mom and Kae back to Effingham that night, but Lori and Baleigh and Bob and I spent the night at Lindsey's and did some shopping on Sunday afternoon. We left the boys at home. Bonnie kept an eye on Grandpa to make sure he didn't get out of line.

Reading: The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Recipe of the Week:

I was cleaning out my recipe box and came across this one. I think it was on a package of frozen chicken breasts and I had never tried it. I fixed it on Friday night and it was very good. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough yummy sauce. I cut the breasts in half for quicker cooking time. When I make it again, I think I'll just use three breasts and cut them each in half. I also might double the sauce recipe because it was really good and you'll want plenty.

Chicken Breast Stroganoff

Boneless breasts (6 pieces)

1 & 1/2 Tablespoon butter

1 & 1/2 cup fresh sliced mushrooms

2 Tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

2 teaspoons dried chives

1/4 teaspoon dill weed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup chicken brother

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup sour cream

In a large skillet, melt butter and brown breast fillet on both sides: remove chicken and reserve. Add mushrooms, parsley, chives, dill, salt, and pepper; cook until mushrooms are softened. Stir in chicken broth and return chicken to skillet. Cover and simmer 15 minutes or until breast fillets are tender. Remove breast fillets from skillet and place in a heated serving platter. In a small bowl combine flour and sour cream. Stir sour cream mixture into skillet; cook until heated through. Serve sauce over breast fillets.

2010-08-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

Kid City happened yesterday at the fairgrounds. Painting this fence is a kid-favorite event there. The local paint store allows kids to choose and mix (with help) their own paint colors. Then, they get to paint a portion of this fence and they can take their leftover pint of paint home with them. Looks like blues and greens were big this year. I helped out at the KPC Design an Ad Booth. Fun times. Kid City is a wonderful event for families in our area. It's held each year on the first Saturday in August.

Happy 30th Anniversary to us! On August 10th, Bob and I will celebrate 30 years of "Livin' the Dream." We were married on an extremely hot day and we honeymooned in St. Louis. There we took in a Cardinal game and then toured the Anheuser Busch Brewery where we were privileged to view the back sides of several of their top Clydesdales. I don't think many young couples today would choose that locale for honeymooning. Brent and Lindsey went to Hawaii. Heck, Rob and Candace went to Hawaii to get engaged. Times change. By the way, this picture is part of the Church Directory/Obituary package.

Reading: I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets last night. Yes, yes, I know - an action-packed weekend here in the Hickory Hill Hood.

Recipe of the Week: I decided it was finally time to take on some of the recipes in the Julia Child: Mastering the Art of French Cooking book. I started with Gateau a L'orange et Aux Amandes (Orange and Almond Spongecake) because it reminded me of a couple other cakes I like - Gateau Ganache and the Orange Poppy Seed Torte. (recipes for both in the blog archives) Alas, I was not altogether pleased with the results, so I am not going to post the recipe here. The jury is still out on this one because I don't know if it's me or the cake.

2010-08-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

This and That: A Catching Up Post. I realized last week that I did not mention to you, blog-readers, that Bob made a trip to Turkey in June. He went over to check on a paper problem and he was in Istanbul and Ankara. Bob said the food was good and the Turkish people were very accommodating. But, FYI, if you're ever over there printing textbooks for their government, you might want to know that they are very serious about the correct color of the Turkish flag.

This is a cake that I baked to celebrate Landon's half-birthday, because last December there was so much going on at the Kutscher house, the special day just didn't get the celebration it merited. For those of you who might not recognize these characters, they're Otis and Maddy from "Back to the Barnyard." Otis is a man-cow, but for some reason, he sports a nice set of udders. I don't understand why that is, so I just went with an Otis bust. (which is pretty masculine)

Sung to the tune of "I've been Workin' on the Railroad"

"Bob's been workin' on my backsplash

All the live long day."

And that's all I've got , so far.

READING: Last week, I finished up Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, which is the Book Babes' next discussion book. This week, I 'm reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Recipe of the Week:

I made these deviled eggs yesterday and, at first, I didn't think I cared for them that much, but after they had set covered in the fridge for a while, I realized that - yes, yes I did like them and so did Bob. Here's the recipe:

Savory Deviled Eggs

6 hard cooked eggs

1/4 cup mayo

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon dill weed

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

From the Old Farmer's Almanac: If you receive a bag of walnuts, your wishes will come true.

2010-07-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

Two Busy Weekends, and really not much time to blog in between. On Friday, July 16th, Bob and I picked up Lindsey in Indy and went to Effingham, where we watched my cousin Rich's band (The Naked Sissy's) perform at the Orchard Inn. We hadn't heard them and tried all last summer to catch them, but it never worked out, so we decided early this summer that this would be our Naked Sissy's Weekend. We were joined there by Jeff & Megan, cousins, Lisa and Cary, Lori and Dan, and ran into many other noteworthy folks. Sidenote: I wonder why they use the possessive form of Sissy's? and not plain old Sissies?? The Naked Sissy's....what? I saw four sissies in that band. Hmmm. I wanted to ask but didn't want to come off like some nitpicky English teacher....I took this crappy picture of my cousin, and then my camera battery ran out of juice and I was finished taking crappy pictures for that weekend.

On Saturday, Bob and Lindsey and I drove down to Lori and Dan's in Carbondale to see their house and to tour the wine trail in Shawnee National Forest. It was very, very hot there, and a huge dog followed us into the tasting room at one winery, seeking refuge in the cool air. He hid under the counter between us and slapped a giant paw on my sandled-foot, in some kind of desperate plea not to rat him out or the proprietor would toss him back out into the hot parking lot. He was a big Newfoundland named Bandit. Here he is with Lindsey. Note that Lindsey is not holding a wine glass, but a bottle of Saluki Dunkeldog beer, bottled by Big Muddy Brewery. After tasting some wine (and beer) we went back to Dan and Lori's lovely house and grilled some brats and began food preparation for the Hankins' family reunion to be held the next day back in Effingham. Here's a picture of Lindsey and Baleigh taken just before serious cookie baking commenced. (Baleigh after a long hot day of tournament softball) To the right of Lindsey, you might notice a piece of my luggage, which I love dearly. It's Etienne Aigner and I've had it for eleven years. It's very distinct and easy to spot on the baggage carousel. I never want to part with it.

Sunday, the 18th began like Saturday the 17th had ended - hot - very, very hot. But, as we were driving north a big storm passed through the area and we arrived at Community Park just as the rain was letting up, and the temperature dropped significantly and there was a breeze, and well, I think God must have been smiling down on the Hankins' reunion because it was the best day they'd had there in weeks. Here's a picture of most of the family members present that day. I took the liberty of having some shirts printed up that said "Hawkshawfest 2010." That's because our grandpa used to tell us that we were part Hawkshaw Indian, which of course, we aren't, as there is no such tribe. However, some younger cousins, not wanting to doubt his word, bought into the notion. So anyway, it's a running joke and here are some of the Hawkshaw tribe members - Scotsmen and women posing as Native Americans:

Last week I filled in for Sally at the park department for the very last time because Sally is retiring at the end of this week. She's worked there for 23 years, and I've been filling in for her when she goes on vacation for the last 12 years or so. There will be a doin's for her on her last day. On Saturday morning, Bob and I traveled to Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania to surprise our dear friend, Stormy for her birthday. We were waiting for them at one of their favorite restaurants, and I do believe that she was truly surprised. Here we are at the restaurant. On Sunday we went into New York to see an exhibit at the Metropolitan Art Museum. American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.

We drove back to Wilkes Barre Sunday evening. I had baked a carrot cake for her birthday and here we are eating it.

And one more shot - but is this a picture from the Met?

Heck, no. This Winged Victory replica is in Nick and Stormy's bedroom! How cool is that? All we've got in our bedroom is a silk ficus, which really should be pitched in the trash.

So, there you have it. I've got nothing going on this week at all, so maybe I'll get some cooking done. Thanks for stopping by!!!!

2010-07-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

All My Saplings. A couple of posts ago, I complained some about Bob's campaign to replenish the forest by nurturing every little seedling that manages to take root in our yard, no matter where it might choose to call home. If it happens to be a flower bed, well, I'm supposed to leave it alone. If it happens to sprout in the yard, he protects it with some black plastic tubing, and I'm supposed to mow around it. Here are some of Bob's children. This first one is at the edge of the garden. Bob says it's going to have a beautiful shape when it grows up. Hi Maddie. She decided to pose here without even being asked.

This is a beech tree that will replace the one we had to cut down in order to add on the dining room. Umm, that's my finger in the shot. Sorry

This one is is marked by a couple of green sticks that alert whoever might be mowing or trimming to "back off!"

This one is in the middle of my flower bed and I have to let it grow there, but I don't know why or for how long.

This is the small elm that we have to let grow because it will replace the big Happy-Face Elm, should it ever decide to keel over.

I have no idea what the heck is going on here, but I have to mow around it.

And finally, the piece de la resistance. I like to call this oak tree, "Bob Junior," who began as just an acorn. Bob has been encouraging and nurturing Junior along for some ten years. (again, with the finger at the top) Sorry.

These are also Bob's saplings: Kacey, Lindsey, and Rob.

My Disturbing Church Directory Story: Yesterday Bob and I had our picture taken for the church directory and the young lady photographer encouraged us to celebrate our upcoming 30th anniversary by buying a special three picture set in a frame that featured the two us in the center and individual shots on each side. She said it would be a good idea for us to have some individual pictures taken that could be used as obituary shots, if needed!!!!!!!

Yes, you heard me correctly. Well, I admit I was shocked at first, but Bob and I, we looked at each other like that was a perfectly reasonable thing to do and we bought the *@#!!! thing. Can't wait to get it. As I told my Facebook Friends, last week's insult of finding a sensible footwear catalog in the mailbox pales in comparison to this week's recommendation that we get ourselves some obituary pictures ready in the desk drawer.

Tip of the Week from my Farmer's Almanac Calendar:

To climb a coconut tree, place one hand high on the back of the trunk and the other at chest level on the front of the trunk. Put your bare feet on the trunk, one on each side, frog-legged. Push on the trunk with hands and feet and lift your body up. Get back into frog position and start again. (sounds simple enough) PRACTICE CLOSE TO THE GROUND!

2010-07-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hope your 4th of July weekend was full of family, friends, fun, food, and fireworks. Here we are setting out to watch the display on Sylvan Lake, courtesy of Rick, Cathy, Kevin, and Tina. Their two boats were tied together and sported thirty fireworks watchers and one Turner Cup, which weighs as much as a small person. Cathy took this picture of the four of us and I pilfered it off Facebook. Thanks, Cathy. You're the best.

My Disturbing Walmart Story.

Yesterday I went to Walmart and I was trying to get to the broccoli, but this family had the produce aisle blocked. The mother was feeding a bottle to a baby in the cart and talking really nasty-mean to the "father-person" in the group. Apparently he wasn't doing something right. I circled around and came at the broccoli from the other direction and encountered more family members - blonde twin girls, about three years old. They were both taking bites out of the broccoli crowns and then putting them back. And they were biting that broccoli with a vengeance! Well, I just stood there, slack-jawed and flabbergasted because, well, first of all - three-year-old's eating raw broccoli like little rabbits in a garden is odd in itself. There was no raw broccoli being consumed by children in the Pillers' home, not-nobody, not-no-how. I was also staring because the mother and "father-person" were allowing this produce-molestation to happen . And to make matters worse, the "father-person" notices me staring with astonishment, so he whacks both little girls in the head!

I opt to go with the cellophane-wrapped broccoli and hurry away. I try to report the crime, but could not find any floor workers, so when I paid, I told the checkout lady, who summoned a manager, and I'm telling them both about the family, and the dirty-deed, and the whopping, and the manager says "Oh, I bet that's them right there." They're in the next lane behind me, checking out.

Since my job was done there, I scurried to the parking lot (avoiding eye contact) where I immediately called Lindsey and told her my disturbing story. She told me to just stay out of Walmart.

I needed that broccoli so I could make pasta salad. There's nothing like cold pasta salad on a hot summer evening. I made two kinds, the creamy shell pasta salad (recipe in the 2009 archives) and a sweet pasta salad, which I had never tried before. I really like it and Bob liked it too, so here's the recipe for you to try, if you want.

Sweet Pasta Salad

1 lb tri-color rotini

1/3 cup oil

3/4 cup white vinegar

3/4 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 Tablespoons parsley

1 medium purple onion

1 diced cucumber

1/2 cup diced green pepper

1 cup chopped celery

Boil pasta. Drain. Dissolve in separate saucepan: oil, vinegar, water, sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder and parsley. Combine all and chill for several hours.

2010-06-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

"These are the daylillies of our lives." I grow fonder every year of my daylillies. They make me want to plant more and more of them. Although, I guess, I like all the the flowers. I refuse to plant gladiolas, though, as they tend to remind me of funerals, and you have to dig the bulbs up (right?) and frankly, I don't think they would be worth that effort.

Here's the whole flowerbed in the front of the house near the road. I REALLY need to do some work out here. One problem is that there are tiny oak trees growing in here, courtesy of our squirrel friends, and my husband is hell-bent on nurturing them. I pull them out when I think he won't notice. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about oak tree nurturing, but I have my own ideas about where they should grow and where they should not grow.

I like daylillies, but here are three things I don't like:

1. Being without electricity - which we were from Wednesday night until Friday noon - and then off again for a couple more hours. It seems that us, thirty-two poor schmucks hooked up to this one particularly faulty (voodoo cursed) grid are always the first to lose power, and maybe, (but can't be sure) the last to get power restored. A sub-annoyance in this category would be having to sleep with your windows open, listening to the loud generators that your neighbors all ran out and purchased.

2. Getting old lady shoe catalogs called "FootSmart" in the mail - featuring Orthaheel, Podiatrist-designed for heel pain relief. I just plain don't want them coming here.

3. That loud humming noise at World Cup 2010. It makes me think there's a hornet's nest nearby. It's unnerving and irritating. I simply cannot stand it.

I guess I'm done.

2010-06-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

OMG - This coconut cream meringue pie is heavenly and I wish you were all here to share a slice with me. No, really, I wish you were here because I am afraid to be alone in the house with this pie!!

2010-06-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

Bob, his mom, (Darlene), Lindsey, Brent, and I all went to the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach on Friday, but since one is not allowed to take a camera (0r anything else for that matter) onto the grounds, I have no proof of this trip, except for our Friday grounds passes, so here they are. Lindsey bought us all US Open lanyards. Thanks Lindsey! We had a picture taken of us all at Ghiradelli Square, so maybe she'll post that on her blog. We had a great time at the Open cheering for Phil as he shot five under that day. If you happened to be watching when he putted on the 18th green, you surely saw us all standing right behind the cup. We were on the course for about twelve hours. It was pretty cold and windy and Lindsey ended up paying a pretty penny for a U.S. Open blanket, but it was a great day. Bob and Darlene and I returned home on Saturday, but Lindsey and Brent went on to Napa Valley and Sonoma. Good times.

I'm not going to post much more, as it's 2:30 AM (still on CA time). I've got this recipe to post, and just as a sidenote - Hans apparently has THREE children, not two, as stated last week. Not sure if we can accommodate four groundhogs in the Hickory Hill Hood. I wonder if groundhogs kick their adult offspring out or allow them to live in their basements. I also see them scurry under the Dinehart's sunroom, so maybe some of them will want to move over there. We'll see.

Recipe of the Week: is for old-fashioned coconut cream pie. Who doesn't like a coconut cream pie? Well, Stormy, for one, and all those other misguided people who hate coconut, but if you're not one of those guys, you'll love this pie!

Coconut Cream Meringue Pie

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 cup flaked coconut, finely chopped

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 9-inch pie shell, baked

Meringue

3 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

6 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup flaked coconut

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir in milk until smooth. cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of the hot filling into egg yolks; return all to pan, stirring constantly. bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Gently stir in chopped coconut, butter and vanilla until butter is melted. Pour hot filling into crust.

For meringue, in a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time on high speed until glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Spread evenly over hot filling, sealing edges to crust. Sprinkle with flaked coconut. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until the meringue is golden brown.

2010-06-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

Son of Hans: Big news in the Hood - Hickory Hill Hans has a family. That's correct, two young 'uns that we saw for the first time on Friday afternoon, frolicking in our garden. Here's a picture of one of the offspring, peeking out from behind the beech tree.....

and here's Hans, himself. Rob and I were just trying to figure out how many years he's been living under our woodpile - at least four or five, maybe more, although we do think he has a vacation home over at the Dinehart's.

Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog cares nothing about Hans or his children, or the birds or squirrels, or even the chipmunks, anymore. She only cares about what I might be up to in the kitchen.

Some weeks back, I promised a recipe for stuffed meatballs. I got it from Stormy, who made them once when her family was all home. They're certainly good meatballs, alright. My only issue with them is that the recipe calls for ground beef, pork, and veal, which makes for a whole lot of meat, and makes them a little pricey. Here 'tis:

Spaghetti with Stuffed Meatballs

1/2 cup milk

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 lb each ground pork, veal, and beef

1/3 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/3 lb. mozzarella or provolone, cut in 1/2 inch squares

Olive oil for frying

About 6 cups tomato sauce

2 lb. spaghetti, cooked and drained

Grated Parmigiana-Reggiano for serving

In a large bowl, combine milk and bread crumbs. Add meats, 1/3 cup parsley, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix briefly with hands. Form into 2 inch balls. Seal a cheese cube into the center of each ball. In a large skillet, heat 1/2 inch oil until almost smoking. Brown meatballs 1 minute per side. Transfer to paper towel-lined tray.

Discard oil in pan. Pour tomato sauce into pan; bring to simmer over medium heat. Add meatballs, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until cooked through. 3o minutes. Uncover; cook 10 minutes more. Serve over pasta with cheese. Serves 10-12.

'The promised land always lies on the other side of the wilderness." Havelock Ellis

2010-05-30T20:20:00.001-07:00

All these buggies parked around the baseball diamond can only mean one thing: 8th grade graduation! It was really hot on Friday afternoon, but I did walk out to take this picture, which is not very good, because I needed a wide-angle lens, and maybe, also to walk out by the road to get a better view, but, like I said, it was really hot.

School is over and I have a week off before I start teaching summer school. Here is a list of most-often-asked questions posed to me, in an effort to divert my attention from poetry:

Mrs. Pillers....

1. What do you drive?

2. Are you married?

3. Do you like football?

4. Do you like Led Zeppelin?

5. Did you watch Glee last night?

6. There's a test today? What? Are you freaking kidding me right now?

7. Are you a tea drinker, because I can picture you sipping tea

8. Do you drink?

9. Do you think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone?

We took the May Queen and her husband to dinner Saturday night to celebrate her 27th birthday. We went to Oceanaire, downtown, Indianapolis. The food was wonderful, as usual, and Brent overheard a conversation among the staff about the Andretti party. We weren't sure if they were there Saturday night in a private room, or were going to eat there on Sunday. Anyway, we didn't see any Andretti's. We came back home and enjoyed the Dairy Queen cake that Brent purchased for the occasion. Here's a picture of the May Queen, just before she left to pick up her Race Day lunches at Marsh. They were seated at turn four for today's Indianapolis 500.

2010-05-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

I've been dealing with a health issue for the last month, but some out-patient surgery last Saturday, has remedied my problem, and I am on my way back. But, I've still been teaching full-time and tutoring two nights and week and TRYING to teach aerobics, so it's been draining, not that I'm whining, mind you, well, perhaps it might sound like I'm whining. Yes, it definitely sounds like whining when you read it back.

To make me feel better, my lovely, charming, (and generous) daughter treated me to a facial on Saturday morning. She had the deep tissue massage. After our spa time, we had lunch and then she went on to Becca's surprise bridal shower and I went home and took a nap (which I've been doing a lot of lately).

One of my sophomore students works at a place called Mr. Ed's in Topeka. ( I mentioned it a few weeks back) and he insisted that we come in on a Saturday night when they are serving prime rib. So, on Saturday evening, Bob and I went over to the art show at West Noble High School, then drove to Mr. Ed's. I ordered the baby cut and Bob got the queen, which he estimated to be about a pound and a half of meat. We couldn't believe it. We had it for supper again tonight. It was delicious and my baby cut (probably one pound) was $15.99. We recommend it if you happen to be in the mood for a big hunk of meat.

And, just for the heck of it....... I was taking pictures of the Spring Fling for the yearbook and caught this kid in his volleyball costume. The head looked to be fashioned out of paper mache. He also has a cape. I didn't get it, but I liked it. Crazy kids!

2010-05-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

After church this morning, I went to the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale at the Coliseum in Fort Wayne. I don't know why I thought I needed to do this. I've been to it once before, but not on the last day of the sale, so I guess I just thought I had to see if they really marked things down at the end of the big event. I wish I hadn't gone.

After selecting purchases, we all register ourselves and then we are directed to the room where we must pay for our items. We are herded like sheep up and down aisles - sheep carrying pink garbage bags; many of us, sheep, wearing pink. (it never crossed my mind to wear pink). Finally I arrive at my designated paying counter - one with orange balloons. We are kept waiting a long time, because processing credit cards is taking forever. They tell us it's because the Alan Jackson concert, scheduled for this evening, has just screwed up everything. They are asking people if they can pay without using their credit cards. The lady in line ahead of me is also named LouAnn, but with no "e" she points out. She discovered this because our helper-lady, Suzie, is checking my photo I.D. She is very excited to have stumbled across another LouAnne, and tells all her shopping friends about her big find. Behind me is a lady with dark hair - she seems nice enough. She asks me what I think these things are that other LouAnn is buying.

"I think they're lanyards, aren't they?'

"I didn't know what they were." she said. "They're only a dollar."

She asks other LouAnn if she can see one. She studies it for awhile.

"Do you need all of those?" she asks other LouAnn, who has about eight of them.

"You can have that one," other LouAnn is gracious.

Lady behind me studies it some more then hands it back and says,

"Oh, never mind. I don't need it. I'm trying to be better about impulse-buying. Just because something is cheap doesn't mean you should buy it. I've given more stuff to Goodwill. Yep, I'm finally getting smarter. Just because it's cheap, doesn't mean you should buy it."

"It's easy to get swept up in it all," I sympathize.

Other LouAnn takes her eight lanyards and tosses them into the "I-changed-my-mind-box" underneath the counter and says, "You're right."

Three more minutes pass and lady behind me says: "You know, I could give those lanyards to my nieces."

She dives down into the discard box and comes up with other LouAnn's eight lanyards!!!! What was that - Some diabolic maneuver to get her hands on those lanyards? Other LouAnn has been duped! How clever. HOW VERY CLEVER.

Other LouAnn keeps apologizing to me because neither her credit nor debit card will go through.
"Oh, stop." I say, "it isn't your fault. It's Alan Jackson's."

Two men come by pushing a big cart that contains more "I-changed-my-mind-I-don't-want-this" items. Women are holding onto the sides of the cart and diving down inside to get one last shot at something they might have missed. They're flapping and squawking like a bunch of chickens all after the same grasshopper...... I write a check. I am embarrassed to be a woman.

2010-04-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Oh, alright, already. Stop begging, blog-reading world. I'm really, really busy, but if it's what the people want, well, here goes: I have been hiding out and, perhaps, putting all my energy into high school English, and tutoring a homebound student. We finished A Streetcar Named Desire and watched the 1951 film starring Brando and Vivien Leigh. Let me tell you that high school sophomores are pretty hard on Blanche Dubois. I know, because I just finished reading eighty-five essays about her, and they do not cut her much slack. They will all be thrilled tomorrow to discover that we are beginning a lengthy unit on poetry - and trust me, there's nothing that sophomores like more than reading good poetry. hmmmm-mmmm.

I have been slow to announce to you that the Smithlings made their appearance in Cleveland on April 14th! They are Henry Michael and Eli Nicholas and they are small, but doing well and we are all thankful for their safe arrival here on earth. Congratulations to all the Smith's and all the Hamlin's. We are anxious to meet them.

It's mushroom and tulip time in Indiana! Bob found these in the swamp and we served them tonight with steak, asparagus and little red potatoes. Yummy. Of course, these tulips are from Wal-mart, because, once again, the deer ate all of mine except for a couple here and there.

I hosted my Tri Kappa Chapter on Wednesday night. Every April we have the AFS student come and address the group. Here's the group. Man, this is a terrible picture, by the way. I've cut people off! The student this year is a lovely girl, who told us about her country and also told us what every AFS student tells us every year, that she's gained weight during her stay in America. What does this say about us and the way we eat??? Having said that, I promise to post a recipe, yet this week, for hearty, cheese-stuffed meatballs.

"I'm afraid it's me dear. I rather think I send his senses reeling."

Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet)

2010-04-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! Happy Spring! And, Happy Spring Break to me, as I'm off this coming week. We had a wonderful holiday. I like to do our traditional Easter dinner at our house, but Lindsey and Brent had never been to Easter Sunday Services at their own church, in Indianapolis, because they've been coming up here for the Holiday, so we said we would spend Easter with them and attend services at North United Methodist Church in Indy. Bob and I went down on Saturday afternoon. He helped them put up some new light fixtures, then we colored eggs and watched some college basketball. On Sunday morning, Brent's parents drove down and we all went to the 11:00 AM service. It ended with the choir members coming down into the aisles and joining the entire congregation in the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah and it was glorious!

Afterwards we enjoyed our traditional Easter dinner: Honeybaked ham, cheesey potatoes, asparagus, walnut/dried cherry/apple salad with maple dressing, deviled eggs, coconut cake and key lime pie.

We had no kids around, so we hid an Easter egg for Bonnie the Barbarian to find. Oh, I know what you're thinking, that's weird. And, you just might be right. First, we peeled it and we let her sniff it. Then, I picked her up and let her see that Lindsey was walking off with it. Then, I turned around so she couldn't see where Lindsey was going with it. Then, I put her down and we told her to go find it. She ran out in the backyard, but then ran to the front, because she was distracted by something - who knows what. With some proddingand coaxing, she returned to the back yard and Brent's Dad steered her in the right direction and we took some pictures. Yup, that's what we did.

I have no recipe to post, but I plan to do some cooking this week and hope to have something exciting for you in the next issue. I leave you with a picture of Bonnie, the victorious Barbarian and her prize and her cartoon counterpart.

2010-03-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me
I used to be fifty-three.
Hm hm hm hm.... one more
Hmm hm hmm and so on and so forth.

Wait a minute. I'm looking at this picture just now, and it appears to me that my brother is trying to steal my birthday thunder by also blowing air in the general direction of my birthday candles! That is just so wrong.

All I did to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year was wear green on Wednesday. Bob was gone, so there was no annual corned beef and cabbage stinking up the house. On Saturday it was nice enough to take Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog on a walk, (although she limped around afterward like her arthritis was bothering her). We walked through the cemetery, and on the way home I noticed the Jansen's had their turtle decked out for the holiday. These turtles travel all around their yard and wear various costumes. Glad I snapped this because today I noticed that Mama Turtle is already sporting an Easter bonnet. I think my squirrel needs an Easter bonnet too!
Here's a shot of the cemetery. It's a pretty place to walk and Maddie and I often encounter deer there.

We had some excitement last weekend, because STORMY blew into town for a whirlwind visit. She was here exactly 13 hours. We went to Biaggi's for supper and came back home for some pineapple upside down cake. She was gone by 8:30 the next morning, headed back to Wilkes Barre. Here she is in her Dress -Club-Approved brown frock, with the cake.

This is another recipe from Wolfgang Puck's former pastry chef, Marion Getz. It's made with fresh pineapple and the cake is very dense and moist and delicious. It's made with unsalted butter and no salt is added to the batter, and I missed it a little. When I make it again, and I will make it again, I'm going with regular salted butter. Enjoy!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

4 Tablespoons light brown sugar, packed

14 pineapple slices, 1/2 inch thick, core removed

14 fresh (or maraschino) cherries

Batter

2/3 cups sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg

2/3 cup pineapple juice

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 & 1/3 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8-inch round cake pan with 3 tablespoons butter, and then sprinkle brown sugar across pan. Twirl pan until the butter is evenly coated with sugar. Press the pineapple slices evenly across the bottom and sides of the pan into the butter. Press a cherry into the center of each pineapple slice.

In a bowl, combine all batter ingredients; mix well using a whisk until smooth. Pour batter into pineapple-lined pan and smooth out the top using a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes then loosen the edges with a table knife and invert the cake onto a serving plate.

2010-03-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

So, last Friday night, Bob and I were driving over to check out the ribs at Mr. Ed's Tavern in Topeka, and I was talking to my sister, Lori, on the phone. We swerved a little to avoid a possum in the road. We'd done the same thing just a few miles back in an effort to miss a raccoon. I told my sister that "the night was teeming with critter. There was critter on the highway." Wait.....

Critter on the highway

Critter on the front porch

Critter on the hallway

Love Shack Baabeeeeeee.

How we laughed and laughed.

That's all I've got this week. No, really. That's it. I subbed three days and began tutoring a homebound student., so I have been busy, but nothing exciting to share. How about a Jack Handey quote?

"I wish I would have a real tragic love affair and get so bummed out that I would quit my job and just become a bum for a few years, because I was thinking about doing that anyway."

Jack Handey

2010-02-28T19:12:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty much glued to the Olympic games these past two weeks - cheering on the Americans like come-back kid, Bode Miller; Shaun (don't call me the flying tomato anymore) White; and Lindsey Vonn and that other American alpine skier who likes to pretend she's a princess. Now that the games have come to a close, I'm left with this thought: Why can't we Americans have a rousing sing-a-long kind of anthem like the Canadians? I got a big kick out of watching Canadian athletes belt out their song, especially skater, Scott Moir, who, head thrown back just sang his little heart out. The Star Spangled Banner is too hard to sing. Wonder what Canada would think if we borrowed their song:

Oh U.S.A. we stand on guard for thee

Oh U.S. A we stand on GUARD FOR THEE!!!

See - isn't that better?

The Book Babes met last Monday night, here at the house to discuss the book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett. We loved, loved, loved this book and highly recommend it to all of you out there. The setting is Jackson, Mississippi in the very early 1960's. If you've read this book, you know that both caramel cake and chocolate pie figure into the story, so I wanted to serve one or the other to my Book Babe friends. For reasons you'll be able to guess (again if you read the book) I opted for the caramel cake, even though I've never tried my hand at baking one before.

I found Paula Dean's recipe for caramel cake online, but I almost backed out when I read some of the negative comments posted by people who had tried the recipe -most of the complaints were about the dryness of the cake and the fact that the filling became sugary. But, no, I decided they might just have been inept bakers, so I forged ahead. I liked the cake, but yes, the filling did get sugary, mainly because you're heating butter and sugar and, well, that's what it does when it cools. This cake contains five (5) sticks of butter and five (5) count 'em, cups of sugar. Here's what it looks like after stacking and applying the filling.

And here's the finished product. A little hard to frost, because again, the frosting firms up on you and you have to add more cream to get the cake frosted. I think the Book Babes thought the cake was a little much, and I think Bob thought the cake was a little much, but I'm standing by it and I'm going to make it again. And here, courtesy of Paula Dean, is the recipe:

Caramel Cake

For the Cake

1 cup (2 sticks ) butter - room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 cups sifted self-rising flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the filling:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 cups packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the frosting:

1/2 cup ( 1 stick) butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream or more, if needed

1 16-oz box powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 3 (9 inch) cake pans.

Cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed. Divide batter equally among pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 to 4 inches above counter and dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

For the filling

While cake is baking, in a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and milk. Cook and stir over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Remove cake layers from oven and allow cake to remain in pans and you prepare to stack and fill. Remove first layer and invert onto cake plate. Pierce cake layer with a toothpick over entire surface. Spread 1/3 of filling mixture on cake layer. Top with second layer, repeat process. Top with last layer and repeat process.

For frosting:

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat and stir In brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil and transfer to a mixing bow. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat with electric mixer until it reaches spreading consistency. you may need to add a tablespoon of cream or more, if the frosting gets too thick (Boy Howdie)

2010-02-18T10:45:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day and President's Day from the Vegas Strip! Here we are enjoying our family time together, celebrating the holidays and Rob's twenty-first birthday. Lori took this picture on Saturday night. The weather was great - high of about seventy degrees, but cool at night. We took on the famous buffet at Bellagio- over one thousand different choices, and on Valentine's Day ate at Battista's Hole in the Wall. We checked out Freemont Street on Sunday evening, and on Monday night we four girls, (Lindsey, Lori, Candace, and I) went to Cirque du Soleil, the Beatles Love Show. AND WE LOVED IT!!!!

The water fountains at Bellagio.

Dan and Lori

Brent and Lindsey

Candace and Rob

Here are my desserts at Bellagio. Yes, I ate all of them.

2010-02-07T19:37:00.000-08:00

Just a short little something to let you know we're still out here livin' the dream. This upcoming week will be the last of my high school English teaching gig. The maternity leave is over and I'll be looking for other ways to amuse myself. Bob and I chaperoned the snowcoming dance last night at the high school. Here I am pretending that I don't know who these two cats are, but I really do. The theme for the dance was something about Hollywood and they had a red carpet at the door and walk of fame stars with the names of student council members on them positioned in the hallway. Bob and I were in charge of monitoring the hallway (as dancers made MANY trips from the cafeteria to the bathroom and drinking fountain) and we were supposed to take pictures of the kids with these cutout stars. But nobody seemed too interested in paying two bucks for a picture. They're going to raffle them off this week, so that might bring in some money. They did have a huge turnout for the dance. Here's Bob, also posing.

Rob turned twenty-one of the 30th of January. On the 29th we attended the Ducks Unlimted sportsman raffle night at the fairgrounds, where Rob worked one of the booths, taking tickets for some wonderful gun. I can't believe he's twenty-one. We will be celebrating this milestone this coming weekend when we (Bob, Rob, Candace, Lindsey, Brent, Lori, Dan, and I) all travel to Las Vegas for Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend. We're looking forward to it.

There's nothing like blooming bulbs to add some color to winter. I promise to get back to better blogging next week. And, P.S., Hickory Hill Hans did not budge from his cozy hole on the 2nd, but then again, why should he? There's no pressure here in the Hickory Hill Hood - no paparazzi. Sleep on Hans!

2010-01-26T18:22:00.001-08:00

Even though I claimed to have nothing to post last week, I really felt in the end that I had produced a mildly amusing post. However, dear friends, the bottom fell right out of our readership last week, the counters showing only one third the number of frequent peekers that we normally get. So, I guess I just don't know what to tell you. Well, here's a picture of a brave little doe who visited our backyard on Saturday afternoon. What do you think of that??? Or maybe.........

....you might find this picture appealing. It's Bob demonstrating for Julia, the neck stretcher he got from the chiropractor. (remember that episode of Andy Griffith when Barney used one of these in order to meet the height requirements for deputies in North Carolina?) Bob practically insisted that I take this, in an effort to boost our numbers. I swear to you that he did. I bet if you listen really carefully, you can almost hear Julia laughing

in the dining room.

Maybe a yummy recipe will help. I have a new cookbook put out by Marian Getz, a pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck for many years. She's very high on this Vienna crust. It is good, and I will use it again, but I think most of the time I'll stick with my tried and true Opie's No Fail Pie Crust recipe. I like that little bit of vinegar in the dough. The Buttermilk pie was delicious. Very caramely and rich. Hope you like it. And I'm glad you stopped by to read the blog.

Vienna Pastry Pie Crust

1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed

1 package ( 8 oz) cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups flour

In a food processor or mixer, combine all ingredient; process until a dough ball form. Shape the dough into 2 flat 8 inch round disks and refrigerate for one hour.

Buttermilk Pie

1 & 1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 cup buttermilk

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

8 large egg yolks

Vienna Pastry Pie Crust, unbaked

Combine all ingredients and pour into prepared but unbaked pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes at 325 degrees. Lower temperature to 300 degrees and bake an additional 40 minutes or until set. Allow to cool. Dust with powdered sugar and serve at room temperature.

2010-01-17T16:23:00.001-08:00

I didn't post anything last week - partly because I've been pretty wrapped up in the high school English teaching gig, but mostly because I just didn't have anything. Wait, I don't have anything this week either, but I'm not going to let that stop me this time. My very wonderful sister-in-law, Dena, sent me these canned apples. Remember, I told you they were hard to come by? Well, she purchased these in South Carolina, for Pete's sake. Then she drove them down to Florida and then back home to Illinois and put them in the mail to me. Now I can make more apple dumplings. Thanks, Dena. Bob's been traveling quite a bit this month, and we spent the last couple of weekends watching football with friends - Go Colts - Go Brett . That is all.

Musings about Facebook: Now, first of all, I really do love Facebook. It has allowed me to reconnect with people from my past and it lets me keep track of my friends, and see lots of great pictures I would never otherwise have the opportunity to see. Why, just last Friday night, in a thirty minute period of time, I was able to chat with Addie in Texas, my niece in Illinois, and Todd, the president of the Apple Festival Committee, who lives just down the road.

But, one thing I don't like about Facebook is that it is constantly reminding me how old I am in those little adds in the sidebar. Things like: "Help for overweight 53 year-old women in Indiana." How does Facebook know how much I weigh? And: "President Obama wants 53 year-old women to go back to college." He does?? And: "53 year-old women can win gas in Illinois." Hmmm. It would take me a lot of gas to drive over to Illinois and try to win some gas. The only worse thing than being constantly reminded that I'm 53 (for just another two months) is that out there in cyberspace, my age is 62. Seriously, on all those people-search websites, my age is listed as 62. What the heck? Where did they get that, and how does one go about setting the record straight, I would like to know????

The other bad thing about Facebook is that Farmville is taking up too much of my time!!!! It all started when my niece, Baleigh, begged me to send her some farm gifts to help her with her farm. She said I didn't have to really play the game to do this for her. She was wrong. Before I knew it, I had goats, and trees, and all kinds of neighbors, and I have to fertilize their crops and feed their chickens and I have to plan my day around the time my Farmville crops will be ready for harvesting because if you ignore them, THEY TURN BROWN AND DIE. And that's embarrassing. I've got so many cats, I can't keep track of them all, and I would like to know how many more red tulips I have to plant before they give me one of those cool "tulip master" signs. It's just all too much for somebody who's 62.

Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog is waiting for more snow. She just loves to help me feed all the critters in the back yard and to bark at the deer who come for corn. Maddie doesn't have a lot going on.

Recipe of the Week: I've had this recipe in my recipe box since 1992 and never tried it, so I thought perhaps it was time. It came from Winifred Winch in Wetmore, Michigan and it was published in Reminisce magazine. Winnie said, "It's perfect for parties, because it can be prepared early in the day and baked later on when the guests arrive.

Potato/Spinach Casserole

6 to 8 large potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed

1 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons chopped chives or green onions

1/4 cup butter

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except cheese. Spoon into a greased 2-quart casserole. Bake, uncovered at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Top with cheese and bake 5 minutes longer.

2010-01-03T17:59:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year to all. I know this photo has nothing to do with 2010, but I just wanted to post a couple more holiday pictures, as last week's post was getting a tad picture-heavy. I love these Christmas trees that I got on clearance from the West End catalog, but we have a dickens of a time keeping them standing. Must find a better way to anchor them for next year. Hey, maybe that could be one of my New Year's resolutions. This last Christmas pic is of our 2009 Christmas card. It's the third (and probably, final) year that I have drawn a winter scene and then had Kinkos print Christmas cards from the drawing. I called the series, "Bird and Berries," as all three featured a red cardinal and some little red berries. So, here it is for you all - to wish you Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Kickin' Kwanzaa, and Happy New Decade.

Bob and I sat here like a couple of big loser lumps on New Year's Eve. That can be another resolution for next year: "Find something to do on NYE so we aren't sitting here like a couple of big loser lumps." On New Year's Day, though, we loaded up and drove down to meet the Smith's who were celebrating the holidays with their children inside Buckeye Cabin, a cozy abode that sleeps twelve and is located on a hill in the woods near Hocking Hills, Ohio. It was cold and snowy outside, but warm and merry inside. The holiday get-together also appeared to be some kind of Smith family cook-off. (Since we're in the woods, insert Dueling Banjos song from Deliverence here). We were fed lunch at 3:00 and dinner at 7:00 and there were tasty snacks in between all prepared by various Smiths. Here are a couple of pictures from the afternoon. We left the Buckeye Cabin about 8:30 and drove to Indy, where we planned to spend the night with Brent & Lindsey and then help them install a new dishwasher on Saturday. But, Lindsey, who had been under the weather, called to say she was feeling terrible and didn't want us to risk getting sick, so we opted to stay at the Hilton, instead. The next day, we did go over and put in the dishwasher. Brent took Lindsey to a doctor who diagnosed her flu as "possibly the H1N1 - no work until Wednesday, at the earliest - go to the hospital if you experience shortness of breath."

Here she is on the couch. Even her favorite sweet tea from McAlister's Deli didn't seem to perk her up. Also, Brent presented Bonnie the Barbarian with her Christmas bone in hopes of keeping her occupied during the dishwasher installation. Mostly, she carried the bone around, making little frantic whiny noises, while looking for somewhere to bury it. Lindsey's sick bed seemed like the ideal spot. She reminded me of the dog in the Traveler's Insurance commercial. You know "Trouble, trouble, trouble trouble..."Here she is with her precious bone.

Finally now, to those New Year's Resolutions. Let's see, we've got two now: 1. Find better way to keep trees up and 2. Find something to do so we're not Loser-Lumps on New Year's Eve. That's a good start. If you check Lindsey's blog, you'll see that she has posted several lists of goals and accomplishments, starting in 2002 and building. Many of them are lofty and ambitious and some of them she has already checked off her lists. (Although, I don't believe I saw "Survive H1N1 in 2010 on any of those lists) She's very brave and she inspires me to be brave and try new things too. So here goes my big resolution. 3. Get something published this year.

2009-12-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

The stockings are left hanging, empty again. Christmas 2009 has come and gone. (insert big mournful sigh here). In the old days, I would perk myself up by going right out and buying valentines, but for some reason, valentines just don't have the appeal that they once did. Hmmm. Well, just to recap the holiday, Bob and I were alone on Christmas Eve. We went to the 11:00 PM service at church, and although it was icy again this year, I did not fall down in the parking lot. On Christmas Day, Rob and Candace, Brent and Lindsey, and Brent's parents, Larry and Diane, all joined us for dinner. We had a beef tenderloin, the apple/walnut/dried cherry salad with maple dressing, twice baked potato casserole, carrot souffle, melt in your mouth yeast rolls and for dessert, creme brulee and carrot cake. Also, Diane contributed a delicious sweet potato dish and some cranberry muffins to the meal. Recipes can be found on past blog posts. After we ate, we opened our gifts. For me, it was the year of cameras and purse holders. Not only did I receive a power shot camera, I also got a cool pix one. Maria Sharipova or Ashton Kutscher - so hard to choose. I guess I'm going with Ashton. You'll notice that I'm experimenting with it here on this Christmas post. I'm not very good with technology.

I'd say that getting two cameras is proof of the following: 1. My family isn't communicating very well when it comes to what to buy for good ol' Mom, and 2. They really all must have been truly horribly embarrassed by my old camera - often referred to as "The Zack Morris Camera." I know it was big, but I understood how it worked.

I didn't even know what a purse holder was and I received two of them. Lucky for me, my dear friend, Stormy, gave me a new purse. And now I'll have something attractive to hang it on. Here's a picture of them. One of them is Lindsey's.

It looks like Brent is really pleased with this new shirt we gave him. That's his dad, or rather, half of his dad on the right.

Rob and Candace are engrossed in the unwrapping of their gifts.

The pups also enjoyed getting together for the holiday. Here, Bob helps Little Roxanne show off her Christmas attire.....

..... snow falls on the Amazing Barking Dog, who also celebrated a birthday on Boxing Day, the 26th. She turned ten. H.B. Maddie.

...and Bonnie, the Barbarian was so tired from Christmas frolicking, that she just couldn't keep her eyes open for euchre.

How about a Recipe of the Week? This very rich dessert is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Land O Lakes Treasury of Country Heritage Meals and Menus. It's pretty heavy-duty stuff. The caramel sauce is delicious.

Chocolate Caramel Truffle Torte

Crust

1 & 3/4 cups very finely chopped pecans

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

Filling

16 ounces high quality semi-sweet real chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups whipping cream

Caramel Sauce

3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup butter

2/3 cup whipping cream

Garnish

1 & 1/3 cups whipping cream, whipped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl, stir together all crust ingredients & firmly press on bottom and up sides of 12-inch tar pan with removable bottom. Place on cookie sheet & bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Cool. In a 2-quart saucepan, cook 2 cups of whipping cream over medium heat until just comes to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until melted. Pour into cooled crust. Refrigerate until set (2 hours). Twenty minutes before serving, combine all caramel sauce ingredients (except whipping cream) in a 2 quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil. Remove from heat, cool 5 minutes, then stir 2/3 cup whipping cream into sauce. Garnish torte with whipped cream and serve with warm caramel sauce.

2009-12-21T20:19:00.001-08:00

Christmas with the family in Effingham, Illinois - at least part of the family. Here we are at lunch at the Hilton Garden Inn after church. Well, most of us went to church - not my youngest brother sitting next to me in his favorite deer shirt. This is only about half of us. Our kids were not present, and of course, niece, Megan just had the baby and didn't make the trip, and my brother, Brian and his family were not present. After lunch we went back to Maw-Maw's and opened gifts and played some games.

My nephew, Michael, protested that he would like some input into just what became a family tradition, as we, once again, performed The Twelve Days of Christmas, this time with some little signs. I told him that next year there would be costumes and interpretive dance.

Once again, we tried to do some caroling, but only Lori, Baleigh, and I ventured out. Last year, if you recall, it was raining, and this year , there was snow. Like last year, we went to my cousin Lisa's house and like last year, she had a bad cold, and like last year, we sang at their house, but we could not get anybody to come to the front door. Like last year, we went to the house of Baleigh's second grade teacher and sang, and like last year, she was not at home. However, there was a fat black and white cat on the landing of their stairs who truly seemed mesmerized by our performance. No really, the cat liked our singing.

Icy roads on Sunday evening kept us and my sister's family from traveling, so we did not get home until Monday afternoon.

I know I have not been posting recipes in recent weeks, but hope to remedy that in the future. I do have some ladies coming to the house tomorrow afternoon for a sugar cookie baking and decorating mini-class, so that should be fun. Here is the lovely Christmas bouquet that came from Verso Paper. I hope they last until Christmas Day.

2009-12-15T19:45:00.001-08:00

Book Babes of Kendallville break in new table and make merry at annual Christmas wing-ding. Yes, the Book Babes, sans Cindy and Paul, dined with us on Sunday evening. We ate a lot of food and then went around the table and reminisced about our most memorable Christmas gifts and we laughed quite a bit, and had a good time. Now, I know you're probably all sick and tired of reading about our new dining room, and I don't blame you a bit, so bear with me as I post two last pictures, because we got the granite countertop on Saturday and Bob put up the molding and trim. But after this we will speak of it no more.

I'm trying to recruit a few more Salvation Army Bell Ringers, as the kettle drive wraps up here on Christmas Eve. People have been very generous with their kettle contributions, in spite of TET (tough economic times, for those of you who are new to this blog). I've also done quite a bit of subbing and just signed a contract today to teach high school English while a teacher is on maternity leave. I'm looking forward to another go-round with To Kill a Mockingbird and some Dante's Inferno too. Here's the picture Bob took of me to show the school board. Of course, he cropped it, as we would not want those board members to see the hole in our basement ceiling. (Bob's misadventure of a couple weeks back - I don't believe I blogged about it then, but time heals both scraped legs and wounded pride.

I couldn't resist pilfering a couple of pictures from Megan's blog. Of course, you can always click on the Kutscher blog here and read about their adventures, but just in case you don't have time to do that: Here is Landon hugging one of his nurses after his LAST CHEMO TREATMENT. They gave him presents and sang to him - so very sweet. I love this picture, taken by his Grandma, Chris.

This other shot is of Landon holding his new baby brother Grant. Landon introduced his brother in a video clip on the blog. I also heard that he announced that he was giving Grant a toy to take home with him. Grandma Connie told Landon, "He is home. This is his home too," and Landon, with pensive face, said, "Oh."

Finally, and still on the subject of babies, future father of twins, Emmet, in Cleveland, practices being a fun dad. Hey Emmet, you may or may not know this, but you can also get Easter bunny ears for that thing.

2009-12-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

Show us Your Life Friday:

Show us your Christmas Cookies.

Here they are getting ready to go out to the church narthex for coffee hour last Sunday morning. These cream cheese sugar cookies are easy to roll out and delicious, but they are loaded with butter and brown quickly so keep a close eye on them. Here's the recipe:

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup butter

1 egg yolk

3 ounces cream cheese

2 & 3/4 cups flour

Mix ingredients and chill dough. Cut cookies and bake at 325 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

2009-12-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

On a late-August day in 1986, I pried this little punkin' out of my car and trotted her up to the door of Kox Kiddie Kollege, which was the name of a preschool in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. She didn't want to go. She didn't ever really want to go. She never really liked school. However, she was a co-valedictorian of her senior class and she went on to Manchester College and earned undergrad degrees in both economics and accounting. And this summer, she passed her last CPA exam (of course, you already knew that). And on Tuesday, this punkin will attend her last class before securing an MBA. After 23 years of school, you are finally done, Sugar Pie. How does it feel?

Lindsey - Ask not for whom the "Mad" Dog barks. She barks for thee. Here's your five-woof salute:

Woof, woof. Woof, woof woof.

In an effort not to irritate the hairdressers or cart ladies at Wal-mart, I devised this clever (or maybe lame) noiseless Salvation Army Bell. I did some slow-ringing. I did some fast and furious ringing, and nobody seemed to mind. One of the store managers passed by me and said "Here I thought I was just doing a good job of tuning it out." I made about four times more money with this bell than I think I would have with the real thing.

We are all looking forward this week to Landon's last chemo treatment and also to the birth of his baby brother or sister on Wednesday. Big week for the Kutscher's. We love you and we're thinking about you.

Recipe of the Week:

I used to make these biscuits in my early days of catering breakfasts, especially before I switched over to the cake mix cinnamon rolls. They are really good biscuits, and made even better when you serve them with strawberry butter, which is just made by mixing softened butter with a little powdered sugar and fresh, or thawed frozen strawberries. This recipe came from Borgman's Bed and Breakfast in Arrow Rock, Missouri.

Angel Biscuits

1 package dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (115 degrees)
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2 cups buttermilk

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Mix together all dry ingredients; work in the shortening. Add the buttermilk, and yeast water mixture and mix well. Place in a greased pan; chill. Use as desired. Makes 2 1/2 dozen biscuits.

2009-11-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it was one busy week what with subbing, and covering for the body toning class and going to a literacy workshop, and trying to recruit Salvation Army Bell Ringers. And on Tuesday night, I was throwing utensils and towels and pots and pans back into the kitchen drawers and cabinets at break-neck speed, so I could make pies on Wednesday night. Somehow, we were able to put the kitchen back together well enough to host a Thanksgiving dinner - although I have to confess that the pumpkin pies I donated for the church Thanksgiving dinner were from the grocery store. I know. People would be shocked and disappointed. I was teaching that day and I asked Bob to wear a disguise and just leave them in the church narthex and run, but I don't know if he did that or not. Here's Bob carving the bird which he declared to be"very juicy."

Nick took this picture as well as the one below. Please note that Stormy is wearing a dress recommended by the dress club, although she had it shortened.

These next photos I "lifted" from Lindsey's blog and I'm sure she won't mind because I was a little too busy to be taking pictures and they're such great shots of the kids: Brent and Lindsey (with unfinished wall behind them) and.....

...Candace and Rob....

And tired pups, Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, and Bonnie the Barbarian
.

We were up at 3:15 the next morning for Black Friday shopping. Yes. Stormy, Lindsey, and I rounded up the sale fliers, although I swear we must have made two piles of fliers - the "take withs "and the "leave at homes," and I picked up the leave at home pile because we never seemed to have what we were looking for. Plus, it was windy and our Macy's ten-dollar coupon blew right out of the car and Lindsey had to chase it in the parking lot. Our motto for the morning was "Aggressive but Friendly," and I'm thinking maybe next year we'll have that motto printed on the back of some matching sweatshirts. Wouldn't that be fun? But no antlers, we draw the line at antlers. We saw some women wearing antlers at JoAnn's Fabrics, but they looked angry. I think if you've got antlers on your head, you'd better look like you're having a good time or it isn't going to work and you're just going to look stupid. I didn't last very long that day and had to come home and take a nap. In fact, I haven't been worth a hoot this whole weekend.

Recipe of the Week: Some recipes are just classic and this is one of them. You can't go wrong with a lemon bar. They're quick, easy, and you most always have the ingredients on hand. The flaky, shortbread-like crust nicely compliments the lemon filling. Everybody loves lemon bars!!

Lemon Bars

2 sticks of butter

2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

4 beaten eggs

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel

sifted powdered sugar

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Blend butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Pat into ungreased 9 X 13 pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. For filling blend together eggs, sugar, lemon juice and peel. Pour over first layer and bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Loosen around edges, cut into bars and sift confectioner's sugar over the top while warm.

Finally, a picture of Bob reading the newspaper at the new table and waiting for me to say it's okay to eat the lemon bars.

2009-11-22T19:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody out there in Blog Land. It's going to be a busy week around here. There's still much to be done in the new addition. Bob is on vacation and working to make it usable for our guests on Thanksgiving. Stormy and Nick (future grandparents of twin-Smithlings) will be joining us from Wilkes Barre and Brent and Lindsey will be coming up from Indy. I'm teaching second grade Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I'm also subbing for a body toning class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Book Babes meet in Fort Wayne tomorrow night, and I've got pies to bake for church - plus our own personal pies. Oh, and I'm trying to schedule Salvation Army Bell Ringers. Oh, and there's Black Friday, of course. Enough already. We are thankful that we're busy. As you can see, the dogs are dressed for the occasion. Bonnie is, as you might predict, the savage.

The dining room table arrived late Friday afternoon. I'm displaying some lovely pumpkin and squash salt and pepper shakers that Cathy sent back from California with Bob. I know you can't see them, but trust me, they're great. Thanks Cathy. I love them. This tablecloth that Stormy gave me barely covers the ends, but it will work for our dinner this week. I'm thankful to have it too.

Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog wants you to know there's another new CPA in town. On Wednesday, Rachel found out that she had passed her final exam. Congrats to you Rachel with a five woof salute from Maddie and the CPA song. (chorus sung to the tune of YMCA)

Now Rachel is A CPA
It's fun to be A CPA.
She can count all your stuff,
She can take you to lunch,
Just give her the numbers
You want her to crunch.
'Cause Rachel is A CPA,
Yes, she truly is A CPA.
Hmm, hmm, hmm,
and so on and so forth.

2009-11-19T17:42:00.000-08:00

Kelly's Korner - Show Us Your Life Friday

Show Us Your Pets

These are the dogs and granddogs that we love both in the flesh (or fur, rather) and their cartoon versions, which often show up on this blog:

Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog -sporting her construction paper rhubarb crown in honor of our rhubarb celebration. Not sure she really liked it.

And, looking happier without a hat

Granddog Bonnie the Barbarian, cute as a bug, but a real hooligan, trust me.

And, granddog, Little Roxanne - little dog with a big personality who likes to run the show. Here she is sitting pretty on the back:

And as they appear in cartoon form - the bulldog, Slobbery Stella, belongs to my niece.

Celebrating Easter.....

.........and not celebrating the Fourth of July.

2009-11-15T20:29:00.000-08:00

Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, is dispensing woofs tonight in honor of some very exciting news items:

First of all, when Nick and Stormy were in Paris they were informed by their son and daughter-in-law that they were going to become grandparents, which is exciting in itself, BUT, on Friday, they were told that they will be the grandparents of twins. And let the record show that this is a natural phenomenon, created without the assistance of medical technology. Until they arrive these fetuses ( or is it feti? I am now, officially, an English teacher and should know this.) fetuses. These fetuses ( scheduled to arrive around Nick's birthday in May) will henceforth be referred to on this blog as "the Smithlings." Congratulations, Emmet, Emily, Nick, Stormy, and the whole Smith clan.

And, other big news.......

Last week I told you that Rob and Candace went to Hawaii for a vacation, but what I didn't say is that Rob was wearing an engagement ring around his neck when he left. And, we hear that he proposed to Candace on the last night of their stay, on Waikiki Beach at sunset. Congratulations kiddos. We couldn't be more pleased.

Maddie is going to have more to woof about very soon, because Lindsey will finish her MBA in just a few weeks and our dear Landon Kutscher has only two more chemotherapy treatments left and just about 30 days to go before he gets a baby brother or sister. Woof!

I did a little subbing last week and started scheduling Salvation Army bell ringers for Noble County. If you want to ring, give me a ring. Ha-ha. It's been a rough week in the kitchen and that's all I'm saying about that at this writing. My poor Bob. Here are some remodeling pictures:

Shot of the front of the house - new woodland green siding and clay colored garage.

This picture shows the new addition

And finally, something Bob has entitled" Kitchen Chaos 2.

Recipe of the Week? Of course, there's no recipe. All I've had to eat today is three slices of sourdough bread with butter and a pack of Sarburst leftover from Halloween. There's no stinkin' recipe. But, I'll leave you this week with my favorite quote of all time:

"Aunt Lou, you make everything fun."

Baleigh Bohannon Koester
I'm puddling up.

2009-11-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

I'm not feeling very bloggy this week. I conked out last night watching the Cowboys and Eagles and didn't get anything posted. So, here's a mini-blog: I worked at the park department for Sally last week. Bob took the week off to work on the dining room. We decided to have our old kitchen cabinets refinished and will put on new counter tops. He started putting down the flooring and I'm almost done with the plaster. Here's a picture of Rob and Candace at the Detroit airport on Saturday getting ready to board a plane for Hawaii. Aloha Kiddos.

It's hard to whip anything up in my kitchen these days, so I have no exciting recipes to post for you. I did help the Gamma Xi girls make their cheeseballs yesterday at the middle school. We had five assembly lines going and I believe we made 3,300 of those tasty spheres in just over three hours. Um-mm. I was a weigher, which I think is the most interesting job because you try to get faster and better at it as you go along - gauging the weight of the cheese and trying to hit it right on the mark when you plunk it down on the scale. Here's a photo from workday. I'm not in it, because I always shy away from the paparazzi when wearing a hairnet. Also, I would love to share this cheeseball recipe with you all, but I cannot because it is top secret and I will have to take it with me to the grave.

2009-11-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

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).

2009-10-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

Just to clarify, "drive by howdy," as mentioned in last week's post is a little expression I invented and it means - "just stopped by to say, 'Hey.'" It's simply a quick exchange of pleasantries, and one does not have to be in a car to execute a "drive-by-howdy." A co-worker who stops at your cubicle and asks about your weekend? Drive-by-howdy. A fox just passing through, in front of the Snowmancam? Again, drive-by-howdy. I am the sole author of that nifty saying, but only the co-author of the increasingly popular acronym for tough economic times, TET. Stormy and I made that up together. (although, teachers, don't use this one in the middle school classroom because I'm sure it would produce giggles) Here's a third one that I had nothing to do with at all: It was made up by my friend, Cindy. It's called "making the appropriate noises." Like, when that person standing at your cubicle is telling you all about his weekend and although you might not really be that interested, you're being supportive and giving him all the timely, "ah's" and "oh's" and umm-hmms, and hmm-mmms, and tsk-tsk's and shocked gasps. "He was boring me to tears, but I made the appropriate noises." Feel free to use all three of these great expressions in your daily conversations. No, really, they're our gifts to you and the world.

From the Archives: Halloween, 1987 - Lindsey as a lovely green-faced witch, and....

......Halloween 1998 - Also lovely, Rob and Mike prepare for Trick or Treat night on Hickory Hill Drive. I had to keep an eye on Rob because he liked to lay in our ditch and pretend to be a dead body to scare our Trick or Treaters. I don't know how many times I made him get out of that ditch over the years.

And, how about a bad Halloween poem I wrote in the 5th or 6th grade. It has no title.

Unnamed Halloween Poem

On Halloween night when the moon is out
And the wind through the trees sings a song.
You think there is nothing but silence about
But that's where you get me all wrong.

Down the sidewalk comes a bunch
That scares you plain out of your wits.
There's a ghost, a witch, and a goblin
And things that come out of pits.

Recipe of the Week: I tried a new chicken recipe tonight, which consisted of browning some breasts in butter, then sauteing mushrooms, black olives, and green onions in the same pan and pouring them over the breasts in a glass baking dish and adding slices of mozzarella on top. The originator of the recipe claimed that this preparation kept the breasts very moist. I thought the dish was okay, but wasn't so sure about the moist part, and didn't really consider it blog-worthy. You can't hit a winner every time.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Autumn on Hickory Hill Drive

We make these topiaries - one on each side of the driveway - every fall. My husband drills a hole in each end and drives a metal post or dowel rod down through the pumpkins and through the hole in the bottom of the pot. Wrap bittersweet around the pumpkins and, voila.

Cornstalks, pumpkins, and mums, oh my!

And, of course The Autumnal Spider

Bittersweet on the lights.....

...and on the coffee table too.

Burlap Pumpkin - please ignore the mess in the background, we're getting new siding.

And, bushel-basket pumpkin. We love autumn!

2009-10-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

I subbed on Friday and sent two kids home sick before 9:00 AM. I thought sure that one of those students was faking, but, of course, allowed her to go see the nurse anyway, who promptly sent her home with a fever. I had my hand on that child's forehead three times. Was it the Swine Flu? To quote another teacher, "Right now, everything's the Swine Flu." Hope I don't get it.

Work continued on the new addition last week. Windows and new door are in and the ceiling is finished. We've moved on to the new siding. Here's a picture taken just moments ago of the guys working on the front. The color is woodland green, a very subtle shade.

On Friday night, Bob and I drove down to Indy to attend the Indiana CPA Society's Annual Banquet with Brent and Lindsey. The theme was "Friday Night Fever," and our favorite part was when the waiters paraded out with the salads, led by some Afro-wigged ladies grooving to disco music. Those crazy accountants. Our Lindsey was recognized for passing the exam this year, as was her friend, Laura. Congratulations girls. The Mad Dog barketh for thee. We spent the night and then Lindsey and I did a little shopping on Saturday at Keystone, where I ripped open my little finger on a straight pin while trying to check the price tag on a wing-back chair at Renovation Hardware, and then was compelled to just abandon our shopping cart and run because of the chaos at Costco. While we having all this fun, Bob puttered around their house, and Brent went to the Purdue game. Darlene joined us Saturday afternoon and we went out to dinner at the Outback. She is on her way to Florida for the winter. Here's a picture of the four of us at the banquet. I know it's fuzzy and that's because I scanned it and then cropped it to eliminate a small fat bulge on my right side. Yes, that's right, I'm that vain.

Book Babes meet this week at Julia's house. I thought you might like to take a look at our 09/10 reading schedule. Here it is, although, I believe that March is subject to change.

September - The Art of Racing in theRain by Garth Stein

October - The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

November - Digging to America by Anne Tyler

December - Christmas Wing-Ding no read

January - South of Broad by Pat Conroy

February - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

March - Being Dead is No Excuse by G. Metcalf & C. Hays

April - The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Schaffer & Barrows

May - Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

June - The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by K. Howe

If you haven't checked the Snowman Cam recently, you might want to start, as I saw a fox do a drive-by-howdy on there last week. Watch for bears.

I'm the first one to admit that the blog is pretty boring this week. I should tell you that our neighbors have been so kind during our kitchen demolition. Cathy fixed supper for us one night, Monday, I think, and then Rick brought supper over on Wednesday night. We confessed to them that we'd hooked the stove back up so we could cook, but we probably should have just remained mum on the subject to see what other tasty goodies might come our way. Thanks, you guys. I did make some popcorn balls on Sunday afternoon. I have to be careful eating them though - don't want to lose any more crowns (see April post). I used this recipe and doubled it.

Popcorn Balls

7 cups popped corn

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup white syrup
dash or two of salt
1/4 cup butter

Bring ingredients to a rolling boil. Cook to softball stage. Remove from heat and pour over popcorn.

2009-10-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

Happy 45th Birthday to our Sunbeam toaster! Well, okay, I might be just a bit off - my memory isn't THAT good, but I know it's got to be close, so we're celebrating. This is the toaster we used at the old home place and I inherited it. How we marvelled as we watched the bread automatically descend into the toaster, brown between the orange coils, and then slowly reappear. Pure magic. I know it's old, but I'm not giving up on it and I don't want a new one. Sometimes when I think Bob might be questioning my frugality, you know, like, counting shoes and eyeing all my coats in the closet, well, I just make him a nice piece of perfect toast, and remind him that this toaster and I have been together a lot longer than he and I have. Toast for all my friends!

It was a cold and rainy week - too cold to live in a house without windows. Bob was gone all week, and the only thing that separated me from wild critters and other dangers was paper. As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered if it would be possible for a deer to jump right through that Tyvek House Wrap and come bounding down the hall. And, of course, we could hear the outside sounds so much better, and every time Sage, the crusty old Rottweiler from down the road, barked, Maddie jumped right out of her skin. There was extra barking on her part this week, too. Here's a picture of the addition, as of this afternoon. You can't tell too much, but it's coming along.

Bob helped me make the pumpkin topiaries this week. It's kind of hard to decorate with all that's going on here.

It's also hard to cook anything since the stove is unhooked. I went over to Stormy and Nick's house this afternoon and boiled some eggs to make ham salad. I could have done that at a neighbor's, but when Bob and I were driving home from Fort Wayne Friday night, we noticed a basement light was on in their house, so I thought I could go take care of that and get my eggs boiled too. I put a chuck roast in the crockpot this morning. It turned out well, very tasty. Easy recipe is below but first:

From the Archives: Sugarplums - 1989

Recipe of the Week:

Delicious, Easy Chuck Roast
2-4 lb chuck roast
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, sliced
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Season roast with salt and pepper. Put it in the crockpot. Add the onion and pour soup over all. Cook on low 8 - 10 hours or high for 6. How easy is that?

2009-10-05T16:05:00.001-07:00

Acorns in my driveway

Big wind knocked them down.

Make the squirrels step lively

They poke them in the ground.

They stick them in my flower pots

And in my flower bed.

We've got a bumper crop this year

So, watch out for your head.

I wrote this little song after a big storm blew all these acorns down. It's a country song. It's too bad that you can't hear me singing it for you, because trust me, it's a great song and it's got one of those tunes that you just cannot get out of your head.

The 24th annual Apple Festival of Kendallville is history. Bob and I both worked the information booth on Saturday and I helped out at the gates on Sunday - same thing I did last year, except, I also did a shift selling tokens in the ticket booth in the children's area. A damp and dismal Saturday kept the crowds down a bit, but people came out on Sunday, and Miss America was here. She performed twice in Raise a Ruckus on both days. Here's a picture that Rick took of Bob and me after our information booth shift ended Saturday morning. Or rather, it's a picture of Bob and the picture of Miss America. Very funny, Rick. I hope you know you might be jeopardizing your seat at my big new dining room table. And speaking of that dining room, great strides were made this past week, in spite of the rainy days. The walls are up and I believe drywalling will begin tomorrow. Today we got a new roof and a new skylight. I'll post some of those pictures next week.

Stormy and Nick are in Paris with Emmet and Emily - Bonjour Stormy, I know you'll be checking this. Try not to lick the delicious French sauces off your plate while you're over there. I won't have them thinking you're one of those ugly Americans.

Congratulations to our mom, Darlene, who won the Illinois State Senior golf tournament in her division. Go Darlene. We're proud of you.

2009-09-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot going on this week - went to a couple of meetings - helped bundle cornstalks for the festival next weekend. Our big project today, or rather, Bob's big project, was putting the new door on the schoolhouse. And, here it is. Getting it on there just right was a little tricky, so it took much longer than I'd anticipated. Deedra and Doug just happened to be going by, so they stopped in to lend a hand and we had a nice visit. A nice, long visit.

Our next project is to raise fifteen-hundred dollars so that we can get this back corner of the building repaired. We're going to conduct a grassroots letter writing campaign asking friends and supporters of the schoolhouse to make small contributions toward this effort. (in light of TET - Tough Economic Times) If any of you blog readers want to get in on this action by contributing a small amount - contact me and I'll give you the address of our treasurer.

I was in the bank parking lot on Friday, purchasing a round steak from the Meat Mobile, and took this picture. I tip my hat to the people who bought this house and planted all these flowers last year. They've made waiting at the Riley and Route 6 stoplight a pleasure

On Thursday evening, Erica and I went to see Julie and Julia at The Strand Theatre. There were only seven of us in the audience for the movie. The preferred choice seemed to be one of those Halloween movies - I don't know which number. I hadn't been in the Strand for a long time, but we should patronize it more, to help it stay open. The first time we went there, some twenty years ago, I remember being surprised when the movie didn't start on time. I soon learned that it didn't matter what time the movie was supposed to begin, it didn't start running until everyone in line at the concession stand had been served. I expect it was because the Raisinette vendor and the projectionist were one in the same. I thought it was funny and charming - like something they would do in Hooterville.

Recipe of the Week: It seems that Kelli, of the very popular Kelli's Korner blog, likes to lunch at the Crumpet Tea Room in Bentonville Arkansas. She recently posted a picture of her lunch - chicken salad, fruit with a sweet poppy seed dressing, and one of the restaurant's gooey orange rolls. Well, I'm not familiar with this gooey orange roll, but was dying to meet and eat one, so I did a little research and came up with this recipe to try. Bob ate two tonight while watching the Colts/Cardinals game. He said they were "Very delicious, very tasty," and oh, what was the other one - yes, "very wonderful." Hope you like them too.

Orange Rolls

1/4 cup warm water

1 package dry yeast

1 cup milk, scalded

1/4 cup shortening

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

5 to 5 1/2 cups sifted flour

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons grated orange peel

1/4 cup orange juice

Dissolve the yeast in warm water and set aside. Scald milk. Add shortening, sugar and salt and cool to lukewarm. Place in mixing bowl. Stir in about 2 cups of the flour and beat well. Add eggs and mix. Stir in yeast, orange peel, juice and remaining flour. cover and let rest for ten minutes.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place dough in a lightly greased blow, turning over once to grease the surface. Cover bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours. Punch down, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half. Roll each to a 12 by 9 inch rectangle and spread with this filling:

Orange filling

1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1/4 cup melted butter

Spread the filling on the dough and roll up like a jelly roll. Slice and place rolls on lightly greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Cover and let rise till doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes. Remove and frost with:

Orange Icing

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 cup powdered sugar

Makes 24 rolls

And Happy 2nd Anniversary to this Blog.

2009-09-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

My Most Requested Cheesecake

This is well-worth the extra effort it takes to put it together. I feature a recipe most every week on my blog. Of note are the carrot cake found in October of 2007, a pavlova in May of 08, and a delicious gateau ganache in August of this year.

Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 pound white chocolate, melted
2 eggs
3 tablespoons Chambord liqueur
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

Crust
Mix together graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into a 9 inch springform pan and set aside.

Cheesecake Filling:

Mix together cream cheese and sugar. Slowly add the melted white chocolate and mix. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well. Put the jam in a small bowl and microwave just briefly, until it thins somewhat. Add the Chambord Liqueur to the bowl and mix. Then, remove 1/3 cup of the cheesecake filling and add to the small-bowl mixture. Pour the remaining cheesecake filling on top of the crust. Then spoon the raspberry mixture onto the top of the cheesecake. With a knife, swirl the raspberry mixture throughout the cheesecake. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Remove and let the cheesecake cool, then remove the outside ring of the springform pan. Cover the cheesecake and refrigerate it overnight or for several hours. The next day, frost the cake with:

Frosting:

1 & 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese
12 ounces melted white chocolate
3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Melt the white chocolate and allow to cool to room temperature. Combine the butter and cream cheese. Slowly add the melted chocolate, mixing while pouring. Add lemon juice and mix. Frost the top and sides of the cheesecake and return it to the fridge to set up. (10 minutes should be fine). Whip or stir the raspberry jam until it thins enough to spread over the top of the cheesecake. You can add a border with the remaining frosting mixture, if you wish.

2009-09-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

I know I mentioned our one room schoolhouse door predicament on this blog a long time ago. Well, here's what it looks like. The bottom two panels had rotted through and Bob tacked on a piece of plywood last fall for at least some protection from the elements. We absolutely had to do something about it and could not let it sit like this for another winter. So Bob and I went down to the Wood Shack in Fort Wayne on Saturday and purchased a big oak door - 88 inches in length. Bob cut about three inches off the bottom, sanded it, stained it, and covered it with Spar varnish. At the Wood Shack I also stumbled upon four mahogany Grecian columns, which, I think we could utilize in our new dining room. Hmmmm. Well, probably not all four, but two anyway. Here's Bob sanding the door. And, speaking of the new dining room, I went to Middlebury on Wednesday and ordered my handmade-by-the-Amish dining room table and ten chairs. Yes, ten chairs, and I'm going to save the four from our old kitchen table in case we need more seating. While I was up there I stopped at the flea market in Shipshewana and bought half a bushel of delicious Red Haven Michigan peaches and put them in the freezer for pies. We'll be eating us some peach pie at that dining room table this winter, God willing. This is a twig stand that I also bought at the flea market for fifteen dollars. You could put a pumpkin in there too, if you wanted...and I will.

Thoughts on Football:

I am really fighting hard to resist the urge to get on board the Viking ship. But, it's very difficult.........and I am weak.

More Thoughts on Football:

Terriers Maul Orphans. Yes, the Carbondale Terriers dug a hole on the field and buried those Centralia Orphans, yet again this year, although the record should show that the Orphans are much improved. According to the radio guys, Carbondale Big Dog, Kendall Edwards, drug two of those orphans for five yards. "He really took those Orphans for a ride." The score was 54 to 18.

Recipe of the Week: This is the perfect cookie for TET (tough economic times) made from simple ingredients that we all have in our pantry. (except maybe the cream of tartar)They're also Rob's favorites. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but when measuring flour, one should NEVER EVER plunge one's measuring cup into the canister or sack of flour. I truly think this is the leading cause of sub-par or crappy, if you will, cookies. Also, make sure you use a whisk or fork to combine dry ingredients before adding them to a creamed mixture. This will evenly distribute baking soda, powder, and salt. (yet another reason for crappy cookies).

Snickerdoodles

1 cup shortening
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 & 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream sugar, shortening, and eggs. In a small bowl combine dry ingredients and then add them to the creamed mixture and mix well. Shape cookies into 1 inch balls and roll in a mixture of: 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

And one last thing: I was downstairs talking on the phone this evening - well trying to get volunteers for the Apple Festival, and I looked out the door and saw that we had captured a balloon in one of our trees. That doesn't happen very often.

2009-09-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

I went with Bob to the west coast last week. He called on printers in Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Torrence. There's no easy way to get to Reno so we flew from Fort Wayne to Detroit to Los Angeles and up to Reno. The very wonderful Bob let me sit in his first class seat from Detroit to L.A. and again on the return flight home. We actually stayed in Truckee and on Wednesday afternoon went up to Donner Pass and visited the Emigrant Trail Museum. I've always had an interest in the Donner Party. There's is a sad and "distasteful" episode in the saga of the westward movement of the nineteenth century. Here's Bob at the Pioneer Monument and behind me is Donner Pass. The moral of this story is - stay on the path and never ever take the shortcut or you might end up having to eat boiled oxen hides or worse. Also, I should report that I won $15.75 in the slot machine at the Reno airport. I think a good idea might be to put gaming machines in all the airports. Do you realize how much more palatable the wait is when you're gambling and winning money? No more disgruntled passengers slouched and scowling in their seats because of delays. And Michael, Bob says you should just stay out of Dulles airport. Go through Baltimore or Reagan. Or is it some government deal that you have to go through Dulles?

Back in L.A., we went to the taping of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, which was a little different from the two other shows I've been to - Oprah and David Letterman. The studio audience is small - 1o8 people. The opening monologue and puppet hi jinx we watched that afternoon actually aired later that night, but the first thing we were treated to was Reba McEntire, who did two numbers, however, she won't be on the show until the 22nd. So, it was kind of choppy, but fun. The warm up guy, Chuck the mediocre comedian, threw miniature candy bars at us. I have no pictures because we weren't allowed to take anything into the studio except identification. Here's Bob at Muscle Beach, where we only watched some guys working out, while eating corndogs. We also stayed at the Beverly Hilton one night (Hilton points). It even had a TV in the bathroom, and it was decorated for Christmas because they were filming a movie called "Christmas in Beverly Hills" there. On Friday night we ate at Bob's favorite restaurant Tony's on the pier at Redondo Beach. We returned home on Saturday and were welcomed back by Rob's news that the dog had severe diarrhea and exploded all over the new carpet downstairs. It was amusing to listen to Rob dramatize the horrific event. I'm positive it was his first messy poo clean up. He had given her more Mighty Dog than she's used to eating. Also, I know she gets upset when we're gone.

Recipe of the Week: There wasn't any cooking this week, only a lot of eating. I did purchase Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and plan to try my hand at some of these recipes. I've shied away from Julia in the past, thinking her recipes would be too difficult for me. Now I think I'm up to it. Hey, I might just start at the beginning and cook my way through the whole book - yeah, and they might want to make a movie out of me doing this "Big Lou and Julia."

This Jack Handey quote of the week is dedicated to Serena and her hissy fit meltdown at the U.S. Open last night. Only in Serena's case we're talking about tennis rackets and not lemons. Serena, tsk.tsk.

"If life deals you lemons, why not just go kill someone with the lemons (maybe by shoving them down his throat)." Jack Handey

2009-09-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, got nicked at the groomer's this week. We took her early in the morning and forgot to brush her out so we were wondering if we would get hit with the extra eight dollar tangle charge. She came home sporting pink bows and scarf (they haven't given her a scarf in years) and a matching pink bandage. And guess what - no extra tangle fee. Thanks, Maddie, for taking one for the team.

Our neighborly neighbors invited us up to their lake house this afternoon. We had a fun time and the lovely Beth (of Beth and Andy -newlywed couple fame- see below) beat all the men at cards. Thanks neighbors!

Last week I talked about patronizing the meat mobile that's parked at the bank on Fridays and Saturdays. I did not get down there this week to purchase any more of their products, but I do want to talk meat a little more this week - specifically speaking about the Sam's Club Gourmet Spinach and Asiago Cheese chicken sausages. They're spicy and flavorful , gluten-free and only (here's the good part) 110 calories. You might want to give them a try.

Recipe of the Week: In honor of Bob's upcoming birthday, I fixed a beef tenderloin roast Saturday night. There is nothing like beef tenderloin. It's such good meat that you don't have to do much to it. I always serve it with a delicious Bearnaise sauce - definitely worth the effort it takes to prepare it. You can find the recipe for the sauce in the December 07 posts. The roast should be at room temperature when you put it in the oven. I usually rub it with cooking oil and sprinkle it with cracked pepper, but this time I prepared it according to the directions in my Land O Lakes Country Heritage Cookbook (a really great book).

Beef Tenderloin

3 to 3 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon finely hopped fresh garlic

Brush the tenderloin with the butter mixture: place on rack in shallow roasting pan in a 425 degree oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until meat thermometer reaches 140 degrees (rare) 160 degrees (medium) or 170 degrees (well done). This goes very well with the Bearnaise Sauce. I also served rosemary and garlic red potatoes. That recipe is on here, somewhere.

"Why do people in ship mutinies always ask for "better treatment"? I'd ask for a pinball machine because with all that rocking back and forth you'd probably be able to get a lot of free games." Jack Handey

2009-09-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

Show Us Your School Pictures Friday!

Here I am in second grade in the fall of 1963 - the year President Kennedy was assassinated. I first got the news in the girls' bathroom from a fourth grader. It was hard for the teachers to get through the rest of the afternoon. At my little country school two grades shared a classroom. I loved it.

Here I am again, same school, 6th grade. I love this one because everybody looks almost angry or at the very least, annoyed. I wonder what that photographer said to us. I'm the one wearing the fetching white bobby socks standing next to the teacher, a lovely woman who taught us how to square dance.

Two shots from my senior year, one that was in the yearbook of Cheryl and me looking bored, (or maybe again, annoyed) and my senior ID. I can't believe that we wore halter tops for these pictures, but we did! We knew they wouldn't be in the yearbook but only on our cards, so I guess we thought we were being wild. Hey, it was the 70's.

2009-08-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! There's a Beef Mobile in town. That's right - farm-fresh, grain-fed, locally grown beef. No growth hormones, resulting in high quality, lean, tender beef. (got all this from the brochure). The van's in Kendallville on Friday and Saturday in the Community State Bank Parking Lot. Look, it has horns and it moos. She's got a big chest freezer in there and a mini-office. Very cool. Buying it like this is supposed to save me lots of mooola. I don't know about that, but I bought some ground beef and a chuck roast to try. Recipe at the end of the blog.

Stormy and I have started a dress club. Stormy doesn't know it yet, but she will when she reads this post. We (Stormy and I) have decided that there's a definite need for such a club because, how many times have you seen a dress online or in a catalog and thought "It looks great - what could possibly be wrong with this dress?" Then, the dress comes and you find out that there could, indeed, be something possibly wrong with it. Periodically, we will let you know when we've found a great dress (or other apparel) and when we've come across a clunker. For example, Stormy ordered a dress a couple of weeks ago, which looked great, but when she tried it on, the collar made her look like Jane Jetson!

So, here's a real gem. It's a keeper because the v-neck is not too low, exposing possible cleavage, which is not good in the workplace, and the length is just right, at least for the more mature woman who does not want the world to see her chuffy knees. I called up my sister, Lori, and told her about the dress. Now she's also in the dress club. It's from Talbot's and you can see it online. It gets a 4-hanger review from Big Lou. Stormy will be reporting in soon regarding a black cowl-necked number from J.Jill.

Sidelights:

1. Work actually began this week on the new addition. The stump was removed and concrete was poured. Our contractor guy, Jason, assures me we'll be eating Thanksgiving Dinner in it. I plan to go to Middlebury this week and order our table.

2. Headline in the sports section of the Southern Illinoisan on Saturday: "Terriers Clamp Down in Win." This would be referring to the Carbondale football team, which is coached by brother-in-law, Dan. It seems that the Terriers really sunk their teeth into the Murphysboro Red Devils Friday night. Check the September and November 08 blog posts for further explanation - or maybe not.

3. Hickory Hill Hans enjoyed two ears of corn, a peach, and three apples this week. Bob is worried he'll get stuck in his little groundhog hole door.

From the Archives: 1976. Lori and I get ready for Jeff and Conni's wedding. Who would have guessed that one day we would end up in the same dress club????

Oh, and "Happy Birthday Conni!"

Recipe of the Week:

On Sunday, I used the chuck roast that I purchased from the Beef Mobile to make this New England style pot roast. I have to admit that at first I wasn't too sure about it, but Bob and I both liked it very much. It is not a pretty dish, however, (nothing with cabbage ever is) so I did not take a photo. The horseradish gravy is good.

New England Style Pot Roast

1 pot roast, about 3 to 4 pounds

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 medium onions, cut into quarters

2 celery stalks, cut into chunks

4 carrots, cut into quarters

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons vinegar

5 cups water

1 small wedged cabbage

Sauce

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon dried minced onion

2 tablespoons flour

1 & 1/2 cup reserved beef broth

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Sprinkle pot roast with salt and pepper. Place onions, carrots, and celery in slow cooker; place roast over the vegetables. Add bay leaf, vinegar and water. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours or until the roast is tender. About 30 minutes before done, cook cabbage wedges in boilng salted water until just tender. Remove meat and switch to high setting. Add cooked cabbage wedges to the crockpot; cover and cook on high for about 15 to 25 minutes or until cabbage is done.

Meanwhile, melt butter in saucepan. Stir in instant onion and flour. Drain 1 & 1/2 cups of broth out of the crockpot. Pour broth, horseradish and salt into saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened and smooth. Serve sauce over roast with vegetables.

"It's easy to sit there and say you'd like to have more money. And I guess that's what I like about it. It's easy. Just sitting there, rocking back and forth, wanting that money." Jack Handey

2009-08-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

LINDSEY AND BIG LOU EAT THEIR WAY THROUGH AMISH COUNTRY AND OTHER PARTS OF NORTHERN INDIANA. Well, that's exaggerating a bit, but....since Bob was playing golf in CA and Brent was climbing Long's Peak in CO, Lindsey decided to bring her dog up and spend most of the weekend with ME. We stopped at my favorite Amish front yard produce mart for fresh strawberries (they'll have them until November, they tell me), then it was Jo-Jo's world famous pretzels at the Davis Mercantile in Shipshewana and a sample fest at Yoder's Meat and Cheese Shop. The sign said you were only allowed one single toothpick stab into each clear plastic container. We operated the best we could under those restrictive guidelines. We bought Swiss cheese, smoky horseradish cheese, porkburgers, summer sausage, and pecan crisps. We also got very excited over the fabric at Yoder's Department Store and may have gotten carried away with our purchases. Later we went into Fort Wayne and bought the spinach and asiago cheese chicken sausages at Sam's that Lindsey had been hearing about -110 calories. And, we picked up an order to go at Casa Grille - the house salad and six-layer chocolate cake. That night - we went through our box of fabric scraps and old patterns, and our books. Happy noises were made when we came across something we loved or forgot we had. It was fun.

Bonnie the Barbarian - aka The Mountain Goat, decided to get up on the pool table. Since we put new furniture in the family room, the blue wing back chairs have been temporarily relegated to the catch-all pool room and she used them to make her leap to the summit. Hey, climbing to the summit, just like you, Brent. What a scamp. Here's my cartoon dog reenactment of the event:

Recipe of the Week: If reading about the smoked horseradish cheese in our refrigerator isn't enough to make Bob get on a Red Eye headed for home, then the knowledge that this creamed corn dish is also here waiting for him, surely will bring him back home again, to Indiana. This will be the last post about corn for the season, I promise, so - lend an ear. Ah, ha-ha.

John Schenk, executive chef of Strip House restaurants made this on the Today Show a couple of weeks ago, and Al Roker and I were both salivating over the ingredients. I had to try it. Here it is:

Creamed Corn

3/4 pounds diced pancetta or good quality bacon
1 cup small-diced Spanish onion
2 quarts corn kernels, cut off the cob
1 pint heavy cream
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup quick cook polenta (grits)
1 teaspoon chipotle chili puree (optional)
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Reserved pancetta/bacon fat
2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
Salt and pepper to taste

Render the pancetta/bacon crisp in a sided saute pan or small soup pot and remove 2/3rds of the fat. Reserve the fat. Add the onion to the pancetta and saute until golden. Add the corn kernels and cook until the corn is approaching tender. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. While gently stirring, add the polenta in several even scatterings over the corn-cream mixture to avoid any lumps. Cook for five minutes, until the creamed corn is thickened. Fold in the chipotle puree and Parmesan cheese. Add one half of the chopped parsley and adjust seasoning if needed.

For the bread crumb topping: Heat the reserved pancetta fat in a saute pan. Add the panko and toss until golden. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add remaining chopped parsley and remove from heat.

To assemble: Put the creamed corn mixture into a Pyrex glass cake pan or other serving piece. Sprinkle an even layer of panko bred crumbs over the top and place under the broiler to gently brown.

"If you ever go temporarily insane, don't shoot somebody like a lot of people do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you'd be really surprised." Jack Handey

2009-08-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

It was a very sad, but also a very wonderful weekend as we celebrated the well-lived life of a dad and grandpa who was always there for his family. We were all proud of him and we'll all miss him.

Lori took this picture of all of us on Saturday in front of Maw-Maw's garage, looking very casual after changing out of memorial service attire. Below is a picture of Bob's mom, Darlene, with great-grandson, Sullivan.

We didn't get back into Kendallville until about 2:00 AM, and we were not very productive today, although Bob did water the flowers and he found this little bunny hiding deep in the black-eyed Susan's. Look. There's an acorn hat right beside him. How cute is that?

Recipe of the Week: I hadn't prepared this dessert in a long time and I'd forgotten how delicious it is. In fact, I became alarmed after eating a big piece of it, because I realized I might be capable of eating the whole thing, so I quickly cut it in half and ran to the neighbors, pounding on their door and screaming "Take this! Take this!" They took it. They were just getting ready to watch Big Brother. This gateau ganache is a sugary, nutty meringue cake, and the chocolate hardens when it's mixed with the whipping cream. Delicious. Dangerously delicious. The recipe came from one of my favorite collections, San Francisco a la Carte, put out by the Junior League of San Francisco.

Gateau Ganache

6 egg whites, room temperature

2 cups of sugar

6 ounces ground pecans or walnuts

1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Filling and Icing:

3 ounces semisweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

Grated semisweet chocolate for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut 2 rounds of parchment paper to fit the bottoms of two 8-inch cake pans. Spray the parchment paper and the pans with Baker's Joy. Place a paper round in each pan. Beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff. Add sugar and nuts, all at once, and fold in, gently. Add vinegar and vanilla and spoon mixture equally into the cake pans. Bake meringue for 35 to 40 minutes or until crusty to the touch. Remove from the oven, run a knife around the edges, and quickly turn upside down on cake racks to cool. Melt chocolate in top of a double boiler over simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly. Whip cream until stiff. Place half of the cream in a separate bowl and add half of the chocolate. Place one meringue round on a serving platter and cover with this mixture. Top with second meringue and cover the top with the balance of the whipped cream. With a spatula, dip into remaining chocolate and make swirls on the cream to give it a marbled effect. Grate chocolate on top for garnish. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." Jack Handey

2009-08-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

Bob's dad passed away last Thursday night. We're glad that almost everybody got in to see him and say goodbye. He was a great guy and he will be missed by all of us. Memorial service and celebration of life will be this coming Saturday morning in Effingham. Here's our branch of the family at Lindsey and Brent's wedding two years ago.

Landon is finished with week one of nineteen weeks of chemotherapy. The good news is that the tests are back from the oncologist and he is in the low risk category in regards to the disease recurring. Eighteen more weeks to go. Here's a picture from Megan's blog of Landon and Dr. Baron, the Springfield doctor who was so quick to get them in and who diagnosed the problem, and Dr Baron the bear, his namesake.

Happy 29th Anniversary to us! We celebrated tonight with a late supper at the Cork and Cleaver, which has the best salad bar in all of Fort Wayne. While we were eating, Bob asked me if I wanted him to send me flowers tomorrow, which he surely knows, by now, is very irritating, because you either just send the flowers, or you don't. You don't ASK SOMEONE IF THEY WANT YOU TO SEND THEM FLOWERS! I hope we can make it to 30 years. In honor of our anniversary here are pictures of us from the archives - our second grade school photos. Different years and different schools , of course. I did not know Bob in the second grade. If I had known him, I would probably have been scared of him.

Recipe of the Week: I've been experimenting with chocolate cakes and this is a recipe I've had on file for twenty five years, and never made before this week. It was handwritten by Cindi who used to have Cindi's Cafe and Catering on 9th Street in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Bob tried a piece and said "This is some heavy-duty chocolate." It's like a brownie, with very rich frosting.

Fudge Cake

Mix #1
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar - Beat, then add:
6 egg yolks
1 cup flour - Set aside

Mix #2
12 ounces chocolate chips
6 tablespoons strong coffee

Microwave until melted and stir into mix #1

Mix #3
6 egg whites
Beat until stiff (start slow and increase speed)
Fold all together and pour into a greased and floured ten-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Remove, cool, and pat the top down.

Frosting
12 ounces chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1 pound powdered sugar
Enough milk to make the frosting spreadable.
Melt the chips and beat in the butter. Add the powdered sugar and milk. Mix.

"If they ever come up with a Swashbuckling School, I think one of the courses should be laughing, then jumping off something." Jack Handey

2009-08-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

P.S. I forgot to add this to the Sunday night post. We had a wedding this weekend, and there was a lot of activity in the Hickory Hill Hood because it isn't very often that the girl next door marries the boy across the street. Congratulations Beth and Andy!!!!

2009-08-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

Our little Landon came through his surgery very well. He begins chemotherapy in St. Louis tomorrow, (Monday). Also, Bob's dad is not well at all. Bob spent about a week in Effingham, helping his mom, and then the kids and I were all there last weekend. We continue to be very concerned for both of them and ask that you might remember them in your prayers, too

Last Thursday was "Puttin' up Corn Day" in Indianapolis. Lindsey purchased 15 bags of corn from her friend, Betsey, whose family has the "My Dad's Sweet Corn" company in Tipton County. Lori and Baleigh decided to drive up and over from Carbondale, as they had been planning on spending some time with friends in Effingham, anyway. (they're trying to get all the gusto out of their summer before they have to start thinking about going back to school) Here's a picture of Lindsey and Bonnie the Barbarian proudly showing off our corn bags. Sorry that I chopped off the top of your head, Lindsey.

It was an afternoon of work, and we ended up with a mighty sticky kitchen, but we had fun too. Oh, how we shucked that corn. We had to keep our eyes on Miss Bonnie, though, because she also wanted to shuck corn, She kept stealing ears when we weren't watching, and she's quite the little corn shucker, or maybe I should say corn mangler. She ate some too. We even made up a little ditty about the afternoon, You know how we like to make up a ditty:

Bomp Bomp do dah
Bomp, Bomp do do do

Bomp Bomp do dah

Bomp Bomp do do

Like a thief in the yard

She'll come and grab it
She can creep up beside you

And nab it
It's too close for comfort

CORNSHUCKIA!
Are we shucking corn tonight?
CORNSHUCKIA! CORNSHUCKIA!

Little Roxanne visited us this afternoon. She had a barbecue snack, bullied Maddie around a little bit, then went into the backyard where she found something interesting in the very spot where the big oak tree fell a couple weeks back. She sniffed and sniffed and then she flopped on her back and started to roll around. I hurried over to investigate and found a smelly, dead, giant grub worm, which I immediately scooped up and out of the way. Here she is leaving with Rob. Bye Roxanne! Hope you had fun at Grandma's and I hope you don't smell like grub worm carcass!

Recipe of the Week: A tutorial

From the Garden

To the Pyrex

To Bob

Eggplant Parmesan

1 large eggplant, about 2 pounds

3/4 cup olive oil

2 cups canned tomato sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

8 ounces shredded Mozzarella cheese

Peel eggplant and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Fry on both sides in skillet in hot oil until browned. Drain well on paper towels. Place a layer of eggplant slices in a shallow baking dish; cover with some tomato sauce, a sprinkling of basil and garlic powder, a little Parmesan cheese, and a little of the Mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, ending with Mozzarella cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 4oo degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

"If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Big Man, I guess I am a coward." Jack Handey

2009-07-19T19:37:00.001-07:00

Please pray for our beloved little Landon Kutscher, as he will have one of his kidneys removed on Tuesday morning in St. Louis. Last week, a 5cm tumor was discovered on the kidney. They will remove it and analyze it immediately to find out if it is cancerous, and then proceed from there. We are all very hopeful.

This news has been first and foremost in our thoughts this week. We did get the big tree down. I made a trip to the Shipshewana Flea Market, in an effort to avoid the whole thing. (Also, I got stopped for speeding on the way, but don't worry, just a warning ticket. The officer asked me where I was going in such a hurry, "umm to the flea market, sir"). Anyway, I still did not manage to escape the tree chopping extravaganza. As I turned the corner on Hickory Hill Drive, I noted that the air was heavy with testosterone, and that the mighty trunk still stood. Oh, the men that were in my yard - crane men, tree cutting men, my men, old men, neighbor men, and boys on bikes. How they love watching a big one come down. The boys counted nearly two-hundred rings on the oak.

Recipe of the Week: I was in charge of the cookie table at church today. I made chocolate chip cookies, and these cream cheese sugar cookies and Reese's peanut butter cookies shown here. The recipe for the sugar cookies can be found in the November 2007 posts. Here's the recipe for the peanut butter cup cookies:

Reese's Peanut Butter Cookies
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 & 1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon soda
1 pkg small Reese's peanut butter cups

Mix all the ingredients, except the peanut butter cups. Form dough into 1 inch balls and place in ungreased mini muffin pans. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place a peanut butter cup into each cookie. Yields 4 dozen cookies.

2009-07-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Menarda, or Bee Balm, is a great addition to the flower bed because it looks good for a long time and the hummingbirds like it. It's prime-Menarda-time here in northern Indiana, and we're seeing a lot of daylily activity as well.

Bob was on vacation this week, but I worked for Sally at the park department. He spent his time trying to get things going on our new addition, and by that, I mean the deck and big tree removal mentioned in last week's post. Alas, it did not happen because the guys went up the tree, cut a couple of limbs, got worried, and came back down. They decided they needed a crane, and we haven't heard a peep from them since. So, we've had more tree trimmers come out and give estimates and after some discussion, it was decided that the beech tree would have to go, also, so Bob took that down, with some help from neighbors, this afternoon. We also got some new carpeting for the family room on Thursday.

My sister's dog, Puppa Sade, is missing from my family dog cartoon lineup. She's been on the drawing board for a long time and I'm feeling guilty about it. It's because she's hard to draw, and I'm not sure why, but I think it's her ears. Puppa Sade is a very nice little Shih Tzu. She sort of reminds me of a Furby. You remember Furbies. They said things like "Feed me," and "Yum," and they didn't like loud noises. Oh, and they said "Coco," and I don't know if the one we had was named Coco or if they all said that, or what. Anyway, Puppa Sade, in her Shih Tzuiness, looks a little like a Furby, and she has one eye that's somewhat askew, which makes her look a little like the late character actor, Jack Elam, who lost lost the sight in his eye when a fellow boyscout threw a pencil at him at a troop meeting.

I considered drawing Puppa Sade as the typical googly-eyed Shih Tzu, like this:

But she never wears her hair like this, so it's inaccurate. For now, this is the best I can do, unless any of you have can offer me assistance. And, I hope that I have not offended anyone in my family by making light of Puppa Sade's eye affliction, because she's a wonderful dog, who almost never barks.

Recipe of the Week: Is one that I found in the American Profile magazine that comes out with the Saturday paper. It's pretty tasty, but rich, so you might want to serve it with a simple vegetable.

Crabmeat au Gratin

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 medium celery stalk, finely chopped

1/2 cup flour

2 (12-ounce) cans low-fat evaporated milk

2 egg yolks

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 pound fresh crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 11 X 7 inch baking dish. Melt butter in a large skilled over medium heat. Add onion and celery; cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add flour and stir until well blended. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Add a ladle of milk mixture to beaten egg yolks; stir well. Pour egg mixture back into milk mixture in skillet. Add salt, cayenne and black pepper; book, stirring until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Place crabmeat in a medium bowl. Add sauce and mix gently but thoroughly to blend. Spoon into prepared pan and sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes, or until cheese melts and begins to lightly brown.

"If you're being chased by an angry bull, and then you notice you're also being chased by a swarm of bees, it doesn't really change things. Just keep running." Jack Handey

2009-07-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Flip-flops on the Prairie. No, of course these zipper-flowered flip-flops have nothing to do with the 1885 classroom, but somehow, it just didn't seem to matter to us. We made them anyway. Rest assured that we did plenty of 19th century activities and crafts. We cooked Swedish potatoes and johnny cakes over the fire and churned butter and made lemonade and ice cream (which set up in record time this year). It was a very cool summer camp - the first one I can remember that required sweaters and jackets. We jumped rope and had a spelling bee and played croquet. Lori brought Baleigh up and stayed to help. It was her fifth One Room Schoolhouse summer camp.

Here is a picture of the teams showing off their scavenger hunt finds, and another displaying all of the cool stuff we made: gourd bowls and dippers, clay pinch pots, God's Eyes, and dirt candles. We also painted on sandollars. Everybody had a great time. We always do. I think it's because the schoolhouse attracts a certain desirable kind of clientele. Hooligans and rif-raff rarely darken our doors.

On the evening of July 3rd, Bob and I packed up dilled chicken salad on croissants, pasta salad, and the world's best brownies and drove down to Conner Prairie to meet Lindsey and Brent for a Symphony on the Prairie - Stars and Stripes Concert. The concert and fireworks were great, but it was the fourth largest crowd in the 28 years of Symphony on the Prairie concerts. That's correct, the fourth largest crowd in 28 years. It took us 2 hours to get out of the parking lot. On the drive down there, I suddenly remembered that I had to have a raspberry-white chocolate cheesecake ready to be picked up at 10:00 AM on the 4th. Well, we got home at 2:30 AM and I baked the cheesecake and did't get to bed until 5:00 AM, and then had to get up at 9:00 to finish it up, as it was a two-parter. Anyhoo, I felt kind of crappy after that, so we opted out of going up to Sylvan Lake for their fireworks on Saturday night. Here's Lindsey , at the concert, wearing red and blue, and Brent eating melon, in Purdue-wear.

On Sunday, Bob, Rob, Andrew, and Mike worked on taking our deck down, because they're coming to take the big tree down this week. It was scheduled for Tuesday, but the tree guys dropped by this evening and thought it was supposed to happen tomorrow (Monday), so Bob worked until dark to get the deck off so they can proceed. I hope this whole thing comes off without injury or property damage. Michael managed to whack himself near the eye with a crowbar. I'm working for Sally at the park department this week, so I won't be home tomorrow. Please pray with me for a safe and happy ending to this project. Here's Bob hugging our big tree goodbye. How we will miss it. It supported our beloved hammock and was home to many of our critters. What a pilgrimage of retreating raccoons I expect there will be tomorrow!

From the Archives: Birthday wishes to our July firecrackers, Maw-Maw and Candace. Here's a picture of Maw-Maw and me, from 1958, and one of Candace and Rob taken in 2008 at her prom. Candace turned twenty, and Maw-Maw is older than Candace.

I even had a recipe for you tonight, but I really think this is enough for one week, already, so I'm saving it for the next post. But, I'll leave you with one last thought regarding the celebration of the birth of our nation - from Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, Slobbery Stella, Bonnie the Barbarian, Little Roxanne, and Puppa Sade (not pictured):

2009-06-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

So, we had tickets to the Saturday afternoon Cardinals/Twins game at Busch stadium in St. Louis. We, being thirteen members of my family, because my brother, Jeff, ( number 14) stayed at home as they are so behind in the planting. The temperature at the stadium was 99 degrees. Our group included a two-year-old, a queasy pregnant woman, and two 70-ish ladies. Did we have fun? Well, let's just say we were committed to following through on it. And the Cardinals won and Albert Pujols hit two home runs and my favorite player, Yadier Molina bulldozed this runner at home plate and got him out, and we all lived through it and not one of us fell out of our seats during the singing of the national anthem (which really happened there on Friday night) so we considered the whole thing a success. Here we are after the game, looking a little rough, and any money in our pockets was moist money, very moist.

Since there was such an overwhelming response to my query a couple of weeks ago about the best rock and roll song of all time, a-hum, I thought I would pose another question to blog readers. Which product brands do you buy faithfully? I'm talking about brands that you are so loyal to, that you would refuse any substitute, even if it was given to you free of charge. Here are mine:

Heinz Ketchup

Jif Peanut Butter

Kraft Miracle Whip and Mayonnaise
Tide

Oscar Mayer Bacon

Duncan Hines Cake Mix

I'm sure there are more, but these are certainly critical ones. What are yours?

Getting ready for the One Room Schoolhouse Camp tomorrow. I was there this evening, writing spelling words on the blackboards and I took this picture of some cornhusk dolls and twig stars that Debbie and I stuck on these small trees, just for fun. We used these trees at a Halloween event a couple of years ago, and certainly have got a lot of mileage out of them.

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it." Jack Handey

2009-06-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

Cartoon Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog is celebrating an occasion this weekend that merits even more fanfare than her usual five-woof salute. So, she composed a celebratory song that should be sung to the tune of YMCA by the Village People

Young Girl!

No more need to feel down.

Young Girl!

No more reason to frown.

You went there

And you gave it your best

And you fin-ally passed

The last test.

DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO

Now Lindsey is A CPA

It's fun to be A CPA

She can count all your stuff, She can take you to lunch

Just give her the numbers you want her to crunch.

Because Lindsey is A CPA

It's fun to be A CPA

Hmmm hmmm hmm and so on and so forth

Yes, we're very proud. I also find it pretty amusing that my daughter is a CPA. In fact, what I'd really like to do is call up all my old high school math teachers and give them this little tidbit of information. I think they'd be very surprised.

I spent the week reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins for my English Lit class. I also had a couple of meetings and went out to lunch on Wednesday with the Tri Kappa ladies to the Adam's Lake Pub. On Thursday, I had another lunch date that was scheduled for the park, but was moved to my kitchen because of rain. Tuesday evening was my second cake decorating class of the year. Here are a couple of photos from that evening:

From the Archives: Just a couple of years ago. Rob and I are happy grads. (But we are not CPA's)

Recipe of the Week: I fixed this pasta salad for my Thursday lunch with Vi. I've been looking for a mayo-based pasta salad for some time. I found the recipe for Ruby Tuesday's pasta salad online, but it called for ham chunks and I was already serving my dilled chicken salad on croissants, so I didn't try it. (but I will in the future). This one is pretty good. I did blanch the broccoli and carrots slightly. I would also double the recipe, as this doesn't make a whole lot.

Creamy Shell Pasta Salad

1 cup small uncooked shell pasta
3/4 cup fresh broccoli florets
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
1/3 cup cubed cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup sunflower kernels
1 hard-cooked egg, peeled and chopped

Dressing:
1/2 cup may
1/4 cup Ranch salad dressing
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon prepared mustard

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, broccoli, carrot, cheese, cucumber, celery, sunflower kernels and egg. In a small bow, combine the dressing ingredients. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

"Beauty is like a fox in winter bouncing through the snow. All is well, all is innocent. But there! Lurking behind that tree trunk is the fox's mortal enemy, the fox. He waits until the fox is within range, then he springs. Fox on fox. Man, what a sight." Jack Handey