Week in Review: All the Book Babes were on hand to witness the marriage of Sandy and Jan on Saturday. Beautiful wedding. Great food. Good times. Here's the happy couple. We also attended a bachelorette/bachelor party in their honor on Thursday evening.




"There was something in the air that night,
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me,
For liberty, Fernando"


On Friday night Bob and I drove down to Conner Prairie to get our Mother's and Father's Day gift from Brent and Lindsey, a night at the Marsh Symphony on the Prairie. We took Stormy along with us. The featured performance was Abba The Hits, a tribute band backed up by the Indianapolis Symphony, with special guest Ulf Andersson, the original saxophonist for the REAL ABBA! In this picture, Bob and Brent are deciding whether or not they're going to trot down to the stage and shake their groove things to "Dancing Queen." They decided to stay where they were and have another piece of cake.

Speaking of Bob, he is not happy with me because on Wednesday he looked out the kitchen window and saw three groundhogs shuffling through the yard. I'm guessing that Hans told the other hogs in the Hickory Hill Hood about how he had just been sitting in his hole one afternoon, thinking about how nice it would be to have an apple, and POW, one hit him right on the head ( See previous post) Anyhoo, apparently that's too many groundhogs and he's thinking maybe I shouldn't feed them anymore. Perhaps. Perhaps.





Stella has been in the dog house lately for, once again, failing to demonstrate her dog skills by alerting the family to possible trouble. Last year she allowed raccoons to break in and this time she ignored a flood in the basement. STELLA!!!!!









From the Archives: 1958. There's nothing we enjoyed more than eating sandwiches in the back of a truck.








Recipe of the Week: Here's the recipe for the yummy crab cakes we enjoyed at our April Book Babe meeting.


Crab Cakes with Jalapeno Tartar Sauce
1 lb can crab meat
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
2 jalapenos (seeds removed)
1/2 small yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 egg
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups saltine cracker crumbs

Remove shells from crab.
Pulse peppers (including jalapenos) and onion in food processor to medium dice and add to crab. Add cilantro and toss to distribute.
Add mayo to crab mixture, then egg, Dijon and cayenne. Toss to distribute evenly. Mix with cracker crumbs and let it rest a few minutes.
Form desired sized cakes. Place on buttered cookie sheets. Brush with butter and sprinkle with lemon pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, rest for 5 minutes, turn and serve.



Jalapeno Tartar Sauce
3 fresh whole jalapenos
1/2 small yellow onion
2 tablespoons honey
3 cups mayonnaise

Process jalapeno peppers and onion until fine. Add mayo and blend. Drizzle honey and blend slightly.






"If there was a big garden convention and you got up and gave a speech in favor of fast-motion gardening, I bet you would get booed right off the stage. They're just not ready." Jack Handey