Week in Review: Another pretty uneventful week here. The beagle won at Westminster, Everybody came home. Lindsey made it back from New York, Bob returned from Memphis where he was helping some guy celebrate his retirement by playing harmonica at a blues bar on Biel Street, and Stormy returned from her Portugal/New York vacation. She brought me a little dish, some Christian Dior paper dolls, and an evening bag. She stayed for Sunday night supper. Here I am stirring the spaghetti sauce on the second day. It makes our house smell like an Italian restaurant.

Do you wonder, sometimes, how you are perceived by others? I recently got a phone call from a woman (an acquaintance, not a close friend) who had spilled red wine on her blouse and wondered if I knew how to remove the stain. I didn't, but I ran downstairs, got on the computer and googled red wine stain removal. I relayed my findings to her and hung up the phone, feeling good about being able to help out another human being.

Then I started to wonder, "Why did she call me with this problem?"

Does she:

A. Think I look like I know my way around a stain?

B. Think I'm a clumsy person, who probably creates a lot of stains?

C. Think I drink a lot of red wine and therefore, am probably sloshing it about on clothing, furniture, and pets????

Hmmm

Recipe of the Week

Classic Vanilla Creme Brulee

1/2 vanilla bean

2 cups heavy cream

4 eggs yolks

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup plus 8 to 12 tsp. sugar

Position a rack in the center of an oven and preheat to 300 degrees. Have a medium saucepan of boiling water ready. Line a shallow baking pan with a small kitchen towel.

Using a paring knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise down the middle and scrape out the seeds into a 2-quart saucepan. Add the cream and the split vanilla bean, stir to mix and set the the pan over medium heat. Warm the cream until bubbles form around the edge and steam begins to rise from the surface. Remove from the heat and set aside to steep, about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, salt and 1/4 cup sugar until the mixture is pale yellow and thick ribbons fall from the whisk, about 5 minutes. Gradually add the cream mixture, whisking until blended. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Divide the mixture among four 6-oz ramekins and place the ramekins in the prepared baking pan. Add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the side of the ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the custards are just set around the edges, 3o to 35 minutes.

Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 3 days.

To serve, sprinkle 2 to 3 tsp. sugar over each custard. Using a kitchen torch, melt the sugar until evenly melted and golden.

Week in Review. It was a pretty quiet week. Yes, Ashley, you are lucky to have a birthday in February because that spices up the month for you, but the rest of us are really hurting here. I guess we do have the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show to look forward to this week. I always try to get Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, interested in the herding dog competition. She's not one to watch much TV. Speaking of Maddie, I noticed a hint of skunk aroma this week and was told that February is a big mating month for skunks. That figures, Valentine's Day and all. In October of '06, The Amazing Barking One was sprayed twice in less than a week. I'll have to go outside with her when she potties at night.

Famous quotes from Pepe le Pew

"I am your peanut. You are my brittle."

"Zee cabbage does not run away from zee corned beef!"

I think Pepe associates love with food. (Hey! I think I do that too)

"You know, eet may be possible to be too attractive."

Lindsey will be working this week in Rome, New York, separated from her Valentine on February 14th and not able to eat at St. Elmo Steakhouse, as they planned. I'm going to suggest that she rent a romantic movie to watch that evening. I checked the American Film Institute's 100 most romantic movies and here are their top picks:

1. Casablanca - (We agree - great dialogue, World War II, and a tormented Bogart)

2. Gone with the Wind
(A great story, but not really a great LOVE story)

3. West Side Story
4. Roman Holiday
5. An Affair to Remember

6. The Way We Were -"Your girl is lovely Hubbell."

How about a movie that isn't even on the list, like 1956's Friendly Persuasion with Gary Cooper as one pretty hot Quaker? Or, how about

25. When Harry Met Sally

Harry: There are two kinds of women; high maintenance and low maintenance.

Sally: Which one am I?

Harry: You're the worst kind. You're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance.

Stormy is flying from Lisbon to New York on Tuesday and then she and Nick will see Carmen at the Met on Valentine's Day. That Stormy is one lucky duck. Bob will be in Wisconsin and then Memphis. I'll be here, on Hickory Hill Drive trying to keep the Brad Miller Snowman out of the hands of invading marauders, and Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog out of the range of lovesick skunks.

Recipe of the Week: This is a great way to cook a standing rib roast. The secret is to keep the oven closed at all times. This recipe came from the Vera Bradley Cookbook. It just doesn't get any easier than this.

Forgotten Roast

1 standing rib roast (any size)

seasoned salt

pepper

Place the roast on a rack in a roasting pan. Sprinkle generously with seasonings. Place in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let the roast remain in there all day. Turn the oven back onto 400 degrees for 30 minutes for medium-rare or 45 minutes for medium. At this time, you can add some par-boiled potatoes, if you want. So good, so easy, and so juicy!

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you can never tell. Joan Crawford

Week in Review: Happy Groundhog's Day! Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow on February 2nd, but Buckeye Chuck, in Ohio, didn't see his. We have a groundhog who lives out back by our woodpile. I haven't seen hide nor hair of him. I guess his name is Hickory Hill Hans, and if he did stick his head out Saturday morning (unbeknownst to me) he did not see his shadow, which means SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!


Wednesday was Rob's 19th birthday. He was not receptive to any of my ideas for a birthday present, so I just wrote him a check. He did let us take him and Candace to dinner at the Shady Nook on Saturday Night. Here is a picture of Rob from last summer





I'm taking a 20th Century American Fiction class so that I can also teach English, and this week we're starting to read The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. Have you noticed that when you go into a bookstore, you can purchase classic books, the finest literary works known to man, for peanuts?? I bought a hardcover book that contains, not only The Sun Also Rises, but also A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea. It cost $12.00. That's $3.00 per literary masterpiece. Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton costs $25.95. Hmmmmmm. Shouldn't we be disturbed by this?





Speaking of Books, the Book Babes met on January 23rd at Vicki's, and I forgot to mention that last week. Our book was Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. We just love her. In this book, Aunt Elner falls off a ladder while picking figs in her backyard. She dies and makes a brief trip to heaven where she chats with God, who appears to her in the form of Neighbor Dorothy who used to do the radio show from her living room in Elmwood Springs, Missouri. It's a great story, maybe not quite as good as Standing in the Rainbow, but certainly worth your time.





Ooh! Last summer, our Landon won the Babes of Summer radio contest as the cutest baby in Springfield, Illinois. His prize was a free photo session and pictures from photographer, Kimberly Smoot. Here's one of them.






Recipe of the Week:

This cheesecake recipe comes from the Great American Brand Name Baking cookbook. It's a very popular cheesecake and not difficult to make


Heath Bar Cheesecake

Crust:
1 & 3/4 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 Tablespoons sugar

Filling:

3 packages Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 package Heath Bits

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For crust, combine crumbs, butter, and sugar and press into a 9-inch springform pan. Refrigerate. For filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in sour cream adn add vanilla. Pour into crust and bake for one hour or until filling is just firm. Let cool for about ten minutes then sprinkle Heath Bits over the top. Cool completely on wire rack and then refrigerate.