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

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.

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

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

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

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

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!!!!