Showing posts with label Stuff. Show all posts
I’m Too Excited to Cook Today!
in Matt~Kathy, Stuff on Monday, March 12, 2012
I’m too excited to be cooking today, which is a rarity for me!
We had quite an amazing, surprising weekend ~ to say the least! We had a garage sale over the weekend, the first one in many years and the last one! And we also celebrated Bill’s birthday, which was Saturday. Thankfully, he is once again my age.
To top all of that, our son, Matt, and his wife, Kathy, arrived carrying a basket. Matt said he would like to put the items in the sale but wanted us to look at it all first and voice our opinions. I thought that was a little strange; then he insisted his Dad and I look at it together.
I removed the paper and saw a bib on top that read, “I love Grandpa.” Now I thought it was REALLY strange and wondered if they were now in the business of selling bibs. I’m a little slow! I lifted the bib and underneath laid a framed photo of a ultrasound. I screamed and yelled over to the next county! I got it!
I’m going to be a grandmother for the first time!
It was a birthday Bill will never forget and one of the best days of my life!
I'm Celebrating Today!
Today is my birthday and I’m not saying yet how old I am but, gas cost 15 cents per gallon the year I was born. The average new car was $1,020, a portable typewriter (remember them?) cost $68.37, and World War II ended. And sadly, my favorite baseball team, the Chicago Cubs lost the World Series to the Detroit Tigers ~ 4 games to 3.
The microwave oven had not been invented yet, nor had diet soft drinks, the hula hoop, Frisbees, the juke box and credit cards; not to leave out computers, cell phones and McDonalds.
In Bubba’s words on his blog today: “Today is the sixth anniversary of the thirtieth anniversary of Mrs. Bubba Sr.’s thirtieth birthday.” I thank God for every one of them and especially my loving family!
"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."
Lucille Ball
Here's wishing you all a wonderful day!!!
I’m Taking the Day Off!
Today is my birthday and I’m taking this rainy, stormy day off! There will be no cooking today. I’m not saying how old I am but let’s just say I’ve reached a milestone with lots of papers to sign.
I’ll be celebrating the day ~ wrapping it up with Bill taking me for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.
Happy Day to all of you and I wish you all the good that is wished for me on this day!
And remember, birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake, so I’m off to eat cake…
Best to Study French Before Ordering a Meal in Paris
I’ve taken a lot of Spanish classes throughout my life and even though my maiden name is French, I never studied it. I should have though because…
Many years ago, before we were married, Bill and I and my parents liked the looks of a quaint restaurant in Paris for dinner. The waiter, along with everyone else didn’t speak English any better than we spoke French, which was none. I saw Steak Tartare on the menu and said we should order it. I thought for sure I knew what it was: “rare steak.”
All too quickly, the waiter arrived with our meal. Bill and my parents took a look at the plates laden with raw chopped beef steak with a raw egg sprawled over the top and then glared at me. Unfortunately, we then made a huge mistake ~ we told the waiter as best we could with a lot of gestures that we didn’t want the meat and sent the 4 plates of Steak Tartare back to the kitchen. With that the chef flew out of the kitchen toward us, swinging his knife and told us exactly what he thought. Of course, we couldn’t understand a word of it but swiftly got the gist of what he was saying, re-ordered, ate something I don’t remember now and paid for 8 dinners.
I should have studied French back then, but lucky for those who are studying French now as StudyPoint offers French tutoring programs. What a great way for students to learn the language! By having his or her own private French tutor, he or she is enabled to confidently use the language as well as raising test scores in school.
Obviously, steak tartare is not my favorite way of enjoying beef ~ cooked rare on the grill works for me. When grilling filet mignon, or really any steak, less is more; less seasoning, less grilling time and less stabbing time with a fork.
First of all, I let it rest on the kitchen counter to come to room temperature. Then Bill fires up the grill and I season my steak with a sprinkling of garlic powder and both of them with a little salt when it comes off the grill. It only needs a little seasoning as the meat stands on its own when it comes to great flavoring.
Bill makes sure the grill temperature is just right; a high temperature to sear in the juices. Sear for a couple of minutes, flip it with only using tongs and allow it to continue cooking to your desired doneness. Here are some tips for using the “finger test” for doneness by gently pressing the steak with one fingertip:
- It’s rare if your finger leaves an indentation.
- It’s medium-rare if the steak just barely springs back.
- It’s medium to medium-well if it springs back quickly.
- If it is tough to the touch, it’s well done as in inedible, ruined.
When grilled to perfection, remove it from the fire and serve.
Cooking steak on the grill is easy; remember less is more and be sure you know what you are ordering in a restaurant!
Visit my friend Linda’s blog @My Kind of Cooking for great tips, recipes and cookbook giveaway!
Today is Our 44th Wedding Anniversary!
in Stuff, Wedding anniversary on Thursday, December 15, 2011
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| Our wedding day! |
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| Las Vegas, one of our fave vacation spots! |
When it comes to anniversary gift buying, I read that “groceries” is the gift for a 44th wedding anniversary. That doesn’t sound real exciting to me and Bill doesn’t even like to go grocery shopping so we won’t be giving each other groceries today. Instead, Bill is taking me out to one of our favorite restaurants for a delicious dinner this evening. There won’t be any cooking or recipes here today!
It has been an incredible 44 years and I am astonished with how fast these years have flown by. Bill is a kind and caring man ~ the love of my life. It was his great sense of humor that attracted me 46 years ago and there’s still no one who can make me laugh the way he does.
We have been blessed with 2 incredible sons, Bill, Jr. and Matt; Matt’s wonderful pretty wife, Kathy and their darling son, Matthew: our amazing grandson. And, by the way ~ Bill has already given me the best gift ever ~ his love!
Hi!
in Stuff on Thursday, December 8, 2011
I have not posted for a couple of days as Bill had minor outpatient surgery yesterday and I am a little busy. :-)
I will be back at it soon and will be catching up on all your posts!
I will be back at it soon and will be catching up on all your posts!
Congratulations, Matt and Kathy!
in Matt and Kathy Wedding, Matt~Kathy, Stuff on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Congratulations, to the new bride and groom!
It was a wonderful day, even with the 2” of snow! We all had a fabulous time and have many good memories of it now.
We are so happy for you, Kathy and Matt! We wish you many, many years of love and happiness with a dose of humor and heaps of romance. May your days ahead be filled with joy! You are truly a couple that is a perfect match for each other; a match that seems made in heaven for sure!
Time for the reception!
Their gorgeous cake!
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One more dance!
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Love and blessings!
A Wonderful Thing is Happening Tomorrow! And an Award!
in Matt and Kathy Wedding, Matt~Kathy, Stuff on Saturday, November 19, 2011
I am ecstatic and overjoyed!!! I will not be posting for the next couple of days as we have a great event happening in our family, Matt and Kathy are getting married tomorrow! This is the first wedding in our family.
They have been going together for 2½ years and I have patiently (Bill probably doesn’t agree) been waiting for this day and am beside myself with excitement now and can hardly contain it.
I have never attended a wedding where I didn’t have tears in my eyes when the bride walked down the aisle so I think I should have taken lessons in self-control before this. I will probably fall to pieces when I see beautiful Kathy walk down the aisle and then be sobbing as I turn around toward the altar and see Matt and Bubba standing there! Bubba sent an email this morning about his little speech at the reception when toasting the bride and groom. My eyes were glassy just reading it….
Before I close here, I would like to tell you about an award I received:
A wonderful, formerly Midwest lady, was gracious enough to give me this lovely Happiness Award. She has a great attitude and tells interesting stories along with gorgeous photos of her life in England
Here are the rules:
1. When you have received this award you must thank the person that awarded it to you.
2. Name the 10 things that make you happy.
3. Pass this award onto 10 other bloggers and inform the winners.
TEN THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY
Obviously my family, our 2 cats and friends make me happiest so I will not place them on the list. They are my rock and at least one of them makes me laugh every day. So, here is the rest of what makes me happy:
- That first cup of freshly brewed coffee in the early morning along with the quiet.
- The chaos in the kitchen with the family at holiday time and the anticipation of a delicious meal forthcoming.
- A good belly laugh.
- Listening to music or reading a good book, cookbooks included.
- The smell of fresh cut grass.
- Playing golf with the league, and others too.
- Freshly laundered sheets and hopefully ironed also!
- Sitting on the deck with Bill on a warm summer evening enjoying a cocktail or two.
- A loaf of home-made bread just out of the oven.
- A thunderstorm, just as long as it is not severe!
I could go on and on but, lucky for you, I will stop here. I hope you all out there are thinking of those things that really make you happy!!!
Now, here are the 10 bloggers I would like to pass the award to:
Coralie @ charmsofdays
Joni @redcouchrecipes
Jake and Addie’s mom @ corginews
Kim @ theungourmet
Ally @ sweetandsavoryfood
Karen @ ohboykarencooks
Annalisa @ atthehob
Zia Elle @ incucinaconziaelle
Mia @ mimis-kitchen
Kathleen @ gonnawantseconds
I’m looking forward to reading your lists and seeing what makes you happy!
Have a great weekend and…..
See ya! Monday!!!
Our Great Valentine Gift ~ 4 Days Early and Appalachian Stack Pie!
I am thrilled to say that I have been a Grandma and Bill a Grandpa since 4:25 a.m. Thursday, February 10th! This is our first grandchild and we are looking forward to many years of loving and spoiling him.
Our younger son Matt, and his wife, Kathy, are the proud parents of Matthew, who weighed in at 6 pounds, 6 ounces and is 19 inches long. He’s tiny, adorable and perfect.
Mom and baby, and Dad also, are doing great and I know Matt and Kathy will be wonderful loving parents. The world is already a better place now that Matthew has arrived!
He is the absolute best Valentine’s Day gift ever! And speaking of Valentine’s Day, I have a great recipe for a Valentine’s Day treat!
Maybe you’ve heard of or even enjoyed Appalachian stack cake. It’s usually filled with dried apples and lots of spices. With wedding cakes being so expensive, the legend goes that stack cake was a community-baked wedding cake. The dough for the cake was rolled into 9-inch very thin layers and baked in cast-iron skillets. Each family attending an Appalachian wedding baked one of the 6-12 cake layers and carried it to the wedding. The bride’s family was in charge of cooking the apple filling and assembling all the layers into the finished cake. It is a practical wedding cake that supposedly took 3 hours or more to make.
A modernized version of it was in the Chicago Tribune the other day. It’s made with pie crust dough, resulting in 3-inch miniature Appalachian stack pies, instead of stack cakes. Practical, delicious and easier to make!
The filling takes about 30-60 minutes to cook, so it could be made the night before you want to serve the dessert. The rest is easy as it uses one roll-and-bake pie crust from the refrigerated section of the market. Cut a dozen 3-inch pastry circles; it’s enough for 4 sweet pie stacks that look pretty also! Serve them immediately after stacking them or the crisp pastry rounds will get soggy and your stack will topple.
Appalachian Spiced Apple Stack Pie
Pie circles:
1 roll-and-bake ready-made pie crust
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Filling:
1 package (6-ounces) dried apples
2½ cups water
1 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
Pinch each: sea salt and ground nutmeg
½ cup cream, whipped, optional
Method:
For pie circles:
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Roll out crust and cut into 12 three-inch circles.
Place on parchment lined baking sheet.
Prick each circle several times with a fork.
Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and sprinkle a little on each pastry circle.
Bake until golden, about 5 minutes.
Remove sheet to cooling rack.
For apple filling:
Place dried apples in microwave-safe bowl with 1 cup of the water and ½ cup of the apple juice concentrate.
Cover bowl and microwave 10 minutes.
Pour apple mixture into a saucepan, cook over medium heat, gradually adding remaining 1½ cups of the water and ½ cup of the apple juice concentrate as liquids reduce.
Cook until apples are soft and the liquid has reduced, about 40 minutes.
Add the spices and salt; cook stirring often, until liquid has reduced to a small amount of syrup, 10 minutes.
Remove spiced apples from heat.
Place a round of pastry on each of 4 plates.
Spoon some of the apple filling onto each round.
Top each with another round of pastry.
Spoon on more apple filling.
Top with third pastry round.
Spoon a small dollop of whipped cream on top.
These little pies are perfect ~ however you stack ‘em!
Happy Valentine’s Day to you all!
Welcome to the world and our family, darling baby Matthew!
BEAR DOWN!
in Stuff on Friday, September 23, 2011
I usually only post recipes but today is an exceptional day! For those of you who don’t know, DA BEARS are playing the Packers (cheese heads) today.
The Chicago Bears are the NFC Division Champions and today, in Chicago, they are ready to take on the Green Bay Packers, for a spot in the Super Bowl. To Chicago Bears and Green Bay fans around the country and around the world, this is THE GAME! It may even be better than the Super Bowl!
In their 90-year rivalry, the Bears and the Packers have only met once to decide the NFC Championship, which was in 1941 with the Chicago Bears winning ~ so today is an amazing day for both teams.
I have been a Bears fan for more than 30 years when we moved here and Bill has been a Packers fan forever, even though he grew up here in Illinois. Later today, Bill will be wearing his cheese head and I’ll be wearing my Bears sweatshirt, ready for the action to commence.
Jay Cutler may get knocked around but he’s one tough cookie who perseveres with his teams help. May Da Bears send the Packers packing back to Green Bay to commiserate with their fellow cheese heads!
History is in the making today at Soldier Field and here’s hoping Da Bears march victoriously out of Soldier Field on their way to the Super Bowl!
Cheer on DA BEARS to win!
BEAR DOWN!!!
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