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.

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).

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.

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.

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..........

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

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.