Birthdays and Fun

   Times have changed. (As if you didn’t know.) Yesterday’s birthday for a 4 year old meant a  special cake with candles. Recently I was happy to participate in my great grandson, Fletcher’s, 4th birthday celebration and it was a WOW. 
   Pizzas from Papa John’s, fruit and veggie snacks, bottled water, and cupcakes designed to make a birthday cake. 

 The designation was the school where momma teaches.  The school was a learning experience for me.  The big attraction was the gymnasium where the children attending the birthday party were able to entertain themselves by jumping on trampolines, tumbling and for the young ones, little slides I had never seen the like of. Of course, there were balloons, but no games.  The walls of the gym were lined with trophies; trophies for cheerleading.  My exposure to the school was limited to the gym and the cafeteria.  However art work  and posters on the walls indicated there is some serious stuff going on. 

   A few weeks later they came to see me.  E bundled them up and with the help of J, drove  across the state for a night-over.  They brought more food, toys and stuff than you can imagine.  E thought of everything, well just about everything.  Meals without catsup?  I was not prepared.  It was a dilemma. J came to the rescue with a Styrofoam box from a fast food place with left-over plastic silverware, napkins and, and catsup packets!  At last food was edible. 

   Times may change, but some things remain the same.  Loving families who want the best for their children

Trip to Indy-Family, Fun an Food

   For me, a trip to Indy is like a trip to another world.  A world of city life, theater, movies and someone else’s food.  It is a different lifestyle,  young people off to class, boyfriends and crazy work schedules.  I loved it.

   My outings to Indy in the winter  seem to bring on ice.  Ice so bad one must drive the pick-up to get to the mailbox.  But not bad enough to close schools.  Off this senior went; driving the best car in the garage to get to class.  I took an anxiety pill, but it was just a normal day for her parents.
   Since the subdivision was icy, thankfully B drove us downtown to the Murat Theater for the performance of Shen Yun.

   Years ago Bob White of the Oxford Press reviewed theater productions, I wish he  could have seen and written about this one.  It was very special.  The music, the costumes, the dance and the technology combined to provide a look into Chinese culture and history.
   Five Shen Yun companies travel the world simultaneously performing and telling their stories.  From the Shen Yun program book I quote the following.
         A Lost Treasure
   Nowhere else can you see the authentic Chinese culture that Shen Yun presents.  Sadly, this culture has been almost completely destroyed in China under communist rule.
   China’s ancient civilization was, in fact, deeply spiritual.  Traditional Chinese culture is based on the idea of harmony among Heaven, Earth and humankind.  But the Chinese Communist Party’s doctrine teaches just the opposite; officially atheist, it sees this culture as a threat to its power.  For decades it has tried to destroy this ancient heritage.  It nearly succeeded.
   Yet in 2006 a group of artists in New York formed Shen Yun and have brought this culture back from the brink of extinction.  Even today, Shen Yun is not allowed to perform in China-but the company is now sharing this heritage with millions; people fly from China especially to see Shen Yun.
    They will be performing in Cincinnati in May.
   Indy was not all Chinese dance.  Young people like food.  E and I made the familiar Texas Sheet Cake.  Our take on it was with different pans.  A round cake to sit on the glass cake stand.  This old stand-by is so easy and can be adjusted if you exchange the ¼ cup cocoa for ¼ peanut butter. The chocolate icing would be great on the peanut butter cake or peanut butter icing might be good on the chocolate cake.  We went with the standard chocolate on chocolate. 

                                                                   Texas Sheet Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 stick butter
½ cup Crisco
¼ cup cocoa
1 cup water
½ cup buttermilk
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 lightly beaten eggs
   Combine flour and sugar and set aside.  In heavy pan bring butter, Crisco, water and cocoa to a boil.  Remove from heat, add flour mixture.  Combine remaining ingredients except nuts and add to flour mixture.  Stir well. Pour into a greased rimmed cookie sheet.  Bake 20 minutes at 350. Prepare icing while cake is baking.
1 stick butter
   
6 Tbsp. milk
¼ cup cocoa
1 pound P. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Chopped nuts if desired
  Remove cake from oven, wait only 5 minutes then pour icing on cake. Add
Nuts on top.  Everyone loves this and it is easy.
 
  There is more to Indy than theater and food; there is the Indianapolis Public Library.   The original structure was built on ground donated by James Whitcomb Riley.  The latest addition combined with the original, covers a city block, opened in 2007 at a cost of $150 million.  It showcases a 6 story atrium of curved glass and steel. 
   Let us appreciate our libraries.  Sidney Sheldon, author and poet had this to say: Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination.  They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and contribute to improve our quality of life. Works by Indiana authors, James Whitcomb Riley, Kurt Vonnegut, May Wright Sewall, the Wooten Family and Booth Tarkington are on exhibit. 

Happy Valentine's Day

                           Valentine’s Day

   This one’s for you.  Valentine, that is.  Forget the roses and the candy, all we need are kind and loving words.   Such as:
“Consider not the gift of the lover, but the love of the giver”
                           Ellye Howell Glover(1907) taken from With Love and Affection by Pat Ross
   It is always best to give of your own production or discovery.  For instance these treasures saved from other Valentine’s Day.

     From an old book of poetry entitled “The New Home Book of Best Loved Poems” edited by Richard Charlton MacKenzie comes this jewel.
   If You’re Ever Going To Love Me
If you’re ever going to love me love me now, while I can know
All the sweet and tender feelings  which from real affection flow.
Love me now, while I am living; do not wait till I am gone
And then chisel it in marble-warm love words on ice-cold stone.
If you’ve dear sweet thoughts about me, why not whisper them to me?
Don’t you know ‘twould make me happy and as glad as glad could be?
   This is just a part of this piece written anonymously.

   Another gem from this same volume is  “Will You Love Me When I’m Old”
I would ask of you, my darling,
      A question soft and low,
That gives me many a heartache
  As the moments come and go.

Your love I know is truthful,
  But the truest love grows cold;
It is this that I would ask you:
  Will you love me when I’m old?

Life’s morn will soon be waning,
  And its evening bells be tolled,
But my heart shall know no sadness,
 If you’ll love me when I’m old.

From Pat Ross' book, With Love And Affection

Down the stream of life together
  We are sailing side by side,
Hoping some bright day to anchor
  Safe beyond the surging tide.
Today our sky is cloudless,
  But the night may clouds unfold;
But, though storms may gather round us,
  Will you love me when I’m old?

When my hair shall shade the snowdrift,
  And mine eyes shall dimmer grow,
I would lean upon some loved one,
Through the valley as I go.
I would claim of you a promise,
  Worth to me a world of gold;
It is only this, my darling,
  That you’ll love me when I’m old.
                            Anonymous


 Oh, go ahead and enjoy your chocolate

People, Cornbread and FriedApples

                 People, Cornbread and Fried Apples
   Mary came for supper last evening.  City folk have dinner in the evening
But I was raised in the country where the big meal, dinner, was at noon.
   Without any advanced preparation I decided I needed a friend for supper.
I had hoped to have her over during the holidays but that didn’t happen.
And January is almost over.

   Supper would have to be simple.  She loves cornbread, I could do that.
My go-to bean ingredient was down to a can aof kidney beans, but--.  The head of cabbage in the frig needed to be used; there was a little meat to be had and there were apples in the deepfreeze.  It was a go.
   I forgot about the house; I knew the bed wasn’t ;made, but she wouldn’t be taking a nap. 
   Our conversation was light; she is always cheery.  We talked about the weather and flowers.  Would a bale of straw protect the dahlias, or would
They be lost?
   She declared she wasn’t going to can vegetables anymore.  She has more in the cellar than she can use.  I wished I could still plant peas and lettuce, but now that strawberries have taken over there is no space.
   She regretted that she won’t be wintering in Florida  with her granddaughter.  Her broken wrist took its time in healing.
  We were both thankful for what we’ve got; loving families who check on us; who see we don’t run out of bananas.

 Don’t buy that box of cornbread mix, making your own is so easy.  Here is my recipe.

1 cup flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
4 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Combine previous ingredients with a sifter or a whisk.
1 cup milk
1 egg
¼ cup oil
Combine and add to flour mixture.  Stir briefly, bake at 400 in a greased
9 inch square pan; I like pyrex, but a cast iron skillet would be great.  Bake for about 18 minutes, or until it is a little golden on the top.

  Have you had those delicious fried apaples at Cracker Barrel?  So easy to make.
  In a cast iron skillet, or at least one with a heavy bottom, melt some butter.
The amount of butter depends on how many apples you have.  I used
2 cups sliced apples, ½ stick of butter.  Cook the apples on low to medium heat for about 6 minutes.  Add 2 Tablespoons brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
   In a cup of water add 1 heaping teaspoon of cornstarch, stir and add to the apples.  Cook until apples thicken and cornstarch is cooked. That’s it.
   Supper was that easy; cornbread and beans, coleslaw, a little meat and fried apples.
   Don’t forget: It’s what you do with what you’ve got.

January--Chicken-N-Dumplins'

           January--Chicken ‘N Dumplins

   January may be ice and snow, but it’s also chicken ‘n dumplins.  Chicken, one of the favorite foods of the nation, can be prepared in so many ways.  Once it was just Sunday dinner, and we were glad to have that.  Every woman could fry a chicken, now hardly anyone does. KFC  does it so easy and tasty.  Chicken wings are one of the most popular party dishes for the young crowd. 
   For easy, delicious, and inexpensive, you can’t beat chicken, gravy and some kind of dough.
   If time is an important factor in your meal preparation, the super market rotisserie chicken is a help.  Take as much chicken off the bone as you can, put the bones in a pot, add chopped celery and chopped onion and simmer . After an hour or so, strain and cool-chicken stock.  Chop onions, celery, potatoes and carrots and add to the stock, cook until almost tender.  Add the chicken meat, and you are half way there.
   Dumplings come in many forms, all wonderful.  Here is a basic recipe.
                                            Dumplings
4 Tblsp. Shortening
1 tsp. salt
Pinch of sugar                  1 1/2cups flour   ¼ tsp. baking soda
½ cup buttermilk              1 egg beaten
Combine dry ingredients,  with a fork, cut in shortening.  Combine egg
And buttermilk, add to dry ingredients.  Mix well, form into 2 balls and
Chill. 
    For drop dumplings, drop  small tablespoonfuls into boiling chicken and vegies, cover with a lid.  Keep heat on low.  Don’t take lid off for l5 minutes; test dumplings with a toothpick for doneness, may need to cook a little longer (Size of dumplings).  That’s it.

If you have made 2 balls of dough and used only one, roll second ball out thin.  Cut into 1 inch square pieces, freeze individually.  The next time you cook chicken drop these into the boiling stew, cover with lid, cook for 15 minutes.  This is called slick dumplings.  This is what you get at Cracker Barrel that is so delicious.
        If you prefer to cook your chicken you can start with as little as 2 or 3 chicken thighs. Add 1 or 2 bay leaves to chicken.  When chicken is done, debone, add chopped vegies, cook until vegies are almost tender. Add dumpling mixture and follow top recipe. 
   There is another chicken and dumpling recipe.  My Grandma McDonald
always did it this way.  She stewed the chicken, added no vegies, made a gravy; combine flour and milk, (amount changes with amount of chicken cooked).  Add flour and milk, (no lumps) to chicken broth. Now you have chicken and gravy. 
   Then you make little biscuits.  They must be cut little to absorb the gravy.  I have the inner piece of a donut cutter that I use.  You can use Bisquick (just add milk) or any biscuit recipe.  Canned biscuits cut into pieces would work.  Bake the biscuits in the oven, then add to the chicken and gravy. 
   The thing you must watch for is: if you make chicken and gravy, then add the dough, lid and simmer for 15 minutes, the chicken may stick to the bottom of the pan.  The first recipe without gravy, was nice and brothy and did not stick to the bottom of the pan when dumplings were cooking.

   Then there is the case of chicken pot pie.  I was blown over with KFC flaky potpie.  But have not been able to duplicate it.  January has a ways to go, and I am working on it.
   In the good ’ole days we raised our chickens, dressed them, and sometimes froze our own.  Probably some  taste has been lost in our progress.  Buy the best chicken you can find, it will be worth it.   
   If you want something different, try Chicken Wings.
                             Chicken Wings
1 bag frozen chicken wings
1 pound light brown sugar
5 ounces teriyaki sauce
Little minced garlic
Combine and spread over wings. Bake at 400 until done.  Delicious!

    Correction: In December blog the Pistachio Crinkle Cookie Recipe
was incomplete.  “Where’s the Flour?”  Add 1 ½ cups flour to recipe and
it should be fine.  Sorry about that mistake. 

New Year, but Old Times

   Where did I put the “thing?”    I don’t know where it is so I hunt.  The cupboard, the attic, under the bed, the kitchen drawer.  The “thing” may take a different form from day to day.  One day it is the scissors, my shoes, today it is 30 year old pictures that someone needs by Monday.
   It could be absent mindedness or it could be I have too much stuff.  All those organized boxes on a shelf-that isn’t me, sorry. 
   Old photographs should all be in one place, but sadly--.
   On the other hand, if I had not been looking for pictures I wouldn’t have spent a pleasant afternoon browsing old newspapers and clippings from long ago.
   The plastic container from under the bed was full of treasures.  There was ana envelope with newspaper clippings from the Oxford Press, my column, In The Fields from the ‘70’s.
   Here is a tidbit from a November column.
   Is this the year we don’t send Christmas cards? (Wash my mouth with soap.)  Postage has gone up from 6 cents to 8 cents.  Cards cost from 5 cents to 15 cents each.  Breathes there a soul who does not add ten names to his list every year?  Couldn’t we just say “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” to our friends when we see them at the feed mill or at the grocery?
We could inquire about their health; that’s more than some of us do with a card.

   Then there was the complete issue of the Brookville Democrat, dated 1925.  It was in pretty good condition, considering.  Why had it been kept all these years?  The paper was not yellow, but shades of brown,; the print quite legible and the news very personal.  Wedding descriptions and club news on the front page.  Advertisements for automobiles and such. 
   On the next to the last page was the reason the paper had been saved.  The obituary of Eliza Hampson Hyde; my husband’s grandmother.  She was born in 1857 in Franklin County and died in 1925; 68 years old. Her obit was lengthy; either she had been somebody or she had a good writer in the family.  When her first husband, Thomas F. Hyde,  passed away, she married his brother, Eli.  She had 2 sons with Thomas and 4 girls and 2 sons with Eli.  Despite the length of the article, her real story went untold. 
   Her 24 year old son, Samuel, died from influenza while he was in the navy;  the trials of caring for her 6 year old daughter who contracted polis.  The joys she must have known when her daughters became teachers, expert seamstresses and mothers.  Eliza had lived a full life. 

   I found  another newspaper copy, dated October, 1918, 100 years old.  Why had that been saved? The
 front page contained names of men, 18 to 45 who registered for the draft; bond drives  and a brief article on the war.  It read.
   “The American steam trawler, Kingfisher, reported to have been torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off Halifax, first was captured by the U-boat, according to information received by the Navy Department”
   On page 2 was the obituary of Samuel Hyde,.  He had volunteered in 1917.  The legendary story that I had heard was that he was too thin to be accepted by the navy. His doctor told him to eat raisins, he did and gained enough to be accepted in the navy. In just a year, he contacted influenza during that great epidemic and died.  His grieving father and brother went east to claim his body.  Mother, Eliza, stayed at home.
   I finally recalled where the pictures of my original hunt were.  Pictures of happy occasions to be used at another time of sorrow.
 

Christmas Cookies, Candy and Nuts

    Christmas  Cookies
   If all the cookies baked in December were laid side by side they would go across the United States two times.  (Just teasing, I haven’t the vaguest.)
Cookies at Christmas are as all American as apple pie.  What else can you give the mailman or the cleaning lady? (I know the answer to that, too.)
   The holiday season is a time of sharing, if you have something to pass on to others it makes you feel better.  So we make cookies and candy.  My
mother-in-law  was the best candy maker that ever was, so I never moved in that direction.  My mother baked cookies, raisin filled cookies, If you were hungry or bored you knew where the cookie jar was.
   I have baked cookies, some good and some that stayed in the oven a minute too long. There was a time when girls joined 4-H and learned to bake cookies.  They baked batch after batch before they got the perfect one that meant a blue ribbon or perhaps a champion ribbon.  I hope young girls are still baking 4-H cookies.
   As I share these recipes with you, remember if the first batch doesn’t turn out to suit you, someone will eat up the evidence and you can try again.
   Johnnye is a retired Home Ec teacher who still likes to bake.  She gave me
some good tips.  Always use cane sugar, not beet sugar (the sugar bag is clearly marked). Find the recipe that you like and add different things to it.  Her recipe came from  Martha Stewart Living.    The recipe can be adjusted for thin &crispy, soft & chewy, or light and cakey.
                                         Johnnye’s Cookies
Thin & Crisp
2 ½ sticks unsalted butter softened
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar

Soft & Chewy
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar

Light & Cakey
1 ¾ stick unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
Plus
2 ¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse ssalt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs, room temp.
2 cups chips, (any kind) I used Heath Bar Chips
Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour and baking soda.  In mixer bowl beat butter with both sugars until light and fluffy.  This takes awhile.  Add salt, vanilla and eggs.  Beat well.  Mix in flour mixture, beat only until combined.  Add desired chips.
Drop on parchment paper on baking sheet.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes, still soft in center.  Cool on wire rack.
Butter should be soft, not hard or runny.

   Meme and her granddaughter bake gluten free cookies.  Here is her recipe.

T.J. means Trader Joe’s.
1 cup T.J. creamy Salted Peanut Butter
1 cup T.J. organic sugar
1 T.J. large egg
1 T.J. teaspoon baking soda
1 T.J. teaspoon vanilla
Addt. Sugar for rolling
Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients in bowl.  Roll walnut size balls of mixture into addt,.sugar.  Place on parchment paper on cookie sheet.  Using a fork slightly press down on balls and create a crisscross pattern.
Bake for 10 minutes, let cool for 5 minutes, transfer to cooling rack.

  Mark likes to make his version of  peanut brittle during the holidays.
           Salted Carmel Cashew Brittle
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup light Karo
Cook in the microwave 4 minutes
Add 1 cup cashew nuts, mix, and cook in microwave 3 ½ minutes
Add 1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon carmel flavoring
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla, cook in microwave 2 minutes
Add 1 heavy teaspoon baking soda, stir and immediately spread on parchment paper.
Cool, break apart.

   My baking has been pretty easy, but tasty.
                     Linda’s Spiced Nuts
1 pound pecan halves
1cup sugar or Splenda
1 large egg white
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
Combine egg white and water, beat with fork until frothy.
Add pecans and stir until well covered
In separate bowl combine sugar, cinnamon and salt. Combine with nuts.
Spread on parchment paper on cookie sheet.  Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, stirring at 10 minute intervals.  Cool, that’s it.
   My Southern Sis has cookies down to a science.  Her husband had a side-line mowing business and at Christmas they wanted to share with their customers.  For 30 year, she, her daughter, daughter-in-law, granddaughters, and for many years, our mother baked cookies and shared.  Here is one of her favorite recipes.
                                       Pistachio Crinkles
½ cup unsalted butter softened
1 1/2cup granulated sugar, divided
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond flavoring
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon liquid green food coloring
¾ tespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup finely ground roasted, salted pistachios
1 cup P. sugar
In large bowl beat butter, 1 cup sugar and extracts until fluffy (3-4 minutes)
Add egg and food coloring, beat well.
Wisk flour with Baking powder and salt.  Gradually add to butter mixture, beating just till combined.  Add the pistachios, blend well. Chill until firm.
Roll into 1 inch balls, then in ½ cup granulated sugar, then in P.; ;sugar.  Place 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes.  Makes about 24 cookies.  Enjoy.

   The women of the Edwards Memorial United Methodist Church in Liberty have been doing a Cookie Walk for about 25 years.  They sell about 500 dozen cookies each year, plus some candy.  To paraphrase an insurance advertisement, “They know a thing or two about baking cookies.”  Sally is famous for her Candy Mice and she shared this information.

                                     Candy Mice

Chocolate Kisses (I usually use the milk chocolate and sometimes the Hugs.  The dark chocolate is O.K. but does not match the chocolate dip and the eyes do not show up as well.
Chocolate flavored almond bark
Vanilla flavored almond bark
Maraschino cherries with stems
Sliced almonds
Red decorating gel
Place cherries on a paper towel to drain.  Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper.
Mix 2 chocolate almond bark  squares and 1 vanilla almond bark square with 1 Tablespoon of oil, heat in microwave until melted.  This will do approximately 25 mice.  Hold cherries by the stem and dip into melted chocolate mixture to cover the cherry.  Lay chocolate kiss on its side and press dipped cherry onto the bottom of the kiss with stem towards the back looking like a tail. Insert 2 small almond slices between the cherry and the chocolate kiss for ears.
After completing all the mice, apply eyes using the red decorating gel.  I found it helped to put a drop of the gel on waxed paper and use a toothpick dipped into the gel to apply the eyes.  If you use Hugs Kisses you can make eyes with the melted chocolate and add a drop at the tip for the nose.

   Will the mouse eat the cookies?

   No, somebody ate the mouse!