GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS
It is currently 48 on this beautiful sunny day in the Heartland. The talking heads say that our temps will be between the high of 57 to the low of 27. We currently set at 48. I spend a very uncomfortable night up and down with trips to the bathroom. I am now trying to figure if it was something I ate or part of a bug. I don’t feel bad otherwise so it probably was that cookie dough. Will said he didn’t feel so good either so we dumped it and won’t buy anymore food products from the kids but just give them a donation for whatever outfit they are selling the stuff for. It has been working out pretty good by letting dogs eat at a certain time and then picking up the dog food. It is best for them and more work for us to remember to set it out but that is how it is going to be. No more of this “snacking” behavior. The kitty is a different story for I think we can leave his bowl out all the time since it is dry kitten food. The dogs have dry food also but Beanie was not eating much at a time where Ragg Mopp ate at 5 pm and left it alone. Beanie now eats at the same time Ragg Mopp does and no more of this snacking type eating. He isn’t an ounce overweight but we needed to regulate his eating for his necessary trips outside.
I was so jazzed last evening for I found 4 light fixtures that I had stashed away with the Christmas things. So now all the buildings have lights in them. I must have taken the lights out of the buildings I had out last year and stored them and forgot I did that. Now all 12 buildings have inside lights. I only have enough colored roof lights for 3 right now but it is looking festive anyway. (I have hopes of a trip to the city to get some more lights before they need the space for something else at Michaels.) Those 3 have little copper hooks I made and had soldered around the roof edge so the lights could be strung. At first I had used some of that putty stuff but I didn’t like the looks of that because I would have to use too much to hold the little string of tiny led lights and it looked messy. Those two shelves are getting full. I need to build some more shops for the downtown area. So far I have a flower shop, butcher shop, firehouse, and an inn. There is a barn and the rest are houses. My plan is to build a church, police station & jail, court house, post office & general store, doctor & clinic, school, library, market and a train station. I will make little signs for the front of the buildings to tell what they are. That’s my plan and it will keep me busy for awhile.
I don’t have a clue what I will be making for dinner. I really think I will just pull out a package of that wonderful chicken noodle soup I made not too long ago and have that for dinner. I can make some French bread toast to go along with it. Will did some shopping this morning and brought home a nice roast and some other needful things. After next spring we will be going to our freezer for a nice roast for our plan is to buy half a beef.
DONNA FAYE I am sure you will find something else to make with that lovely yarn. It is such a pretty color. That book is so neat for it tells a story about the folks who used a recipe and then gives it in a way we nowdays can understand like any recipe we would find in a book. In the section called Meals Without "Receipts" there is one that is called Scripture Cake and all the ingredients are scriptures. At the bottom of the page is the recipe instructions using the ingredients and lists their names. However, before I read the bottom explanation I looked up the scriptures and wrote out the recipe that way and it was a fun exercise. I'll type the recipe as it is in the book for I think you will like seeing it. It comes out of the section titled "MEALS WITHOUT "RECEIPTS".
"A few "receipts" were coded with Bible verses as a way to combine lessons in religion with instruction in cooking. Probably both the Bible and the receipt bacame smeared with flour and butter as the directions were laboriously deciphered.
SCRIPTURE CAKE
3/4 cup Judges 5:25
1 1/2 cups Jeremiah 6:20
5 Isaiah 10:14
3 cups sifted Leviticus 24:5
3/4 teaspoons 2 Kings 2:20
3 teaspoons Amos 4:5
1 teaspoon Exodus 30:23
1/4 tsp each 2 Chronicles 9:9
1/2 cup Judges 4:19
3/4 cup chopped Genesis 43:11
3/4 cup 2 Samuel 16:1
Genesis 43:11 for garnish
3/4 cup finely chopped Jeremiah 24:5
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at at time, mixing well after each addition. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and powdered allspice
Beat flour mixture into butter mixture, alternating with milk, until flour is just blended.
Beat room-temperature egg whites until stiff; fold into batter. Fold in chopped nuts, figs and raisins. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan. Put in batter. Bake at 350 until a cake tester ccomes out clean, 50 to 70 minutes. cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then turn cake out of pan. When cool, drizzle with Burnt Jeremiah Syrup (recipe for this syrup is on page 28). Garnish with whole almonds."
The Pioneer Village Cookbook; by Ann Chandonnet; ISBN 978-1-883206-60-4; page 27
I don't know how many points+ that cake is for I haven't run it through my program as of yet to find out. Before I ever bake it I will find the values though. If you also want the recipe for the Burnt Jeremiah Syrup let me know and I can easily get it to you also. I love the Pioneer Cooking Term pages. So many of the words they called things is very different than what we call them. According to the definition for instance we have "spiders" in several different sizes. According to the book the definition of a spider is a cast iron pan with legs to hold it above the coals. Schnitz is dried apples. Fun to learn "their terms" for items we use.
JEAN We will probably have a brown Christmas also but I really don't mind. I don't get excited about snow like I did when I was a kid. Prices are going up on just about everything and making our paychecks shrink in the process. Less bang for the buck. I am so thankful that Will does our shopping for he can really see where the money goes. That's why he wants to buy half a beef for it will save money in the long run. I am so glad we are going to go out for Christmas dinner for I won't have all those glorious, wonderful left-overs to deal with. The BBQ man is bringing our anniversary meal for Christmas Eve so that is taken care of. We will go out and about looking at the houses with the Christmas decorations that evening drinking our low fat egg nogg as we go.
I think I am absolutely over whatever got into my system to distress it. I feel fine now. Hallalujah. Time for me to get some work done even though I would love to just skate by and not do anything thing productive today. I fed the cat ~ isn't that enough? Well his bowl was empty and he meowed at me so I had to do at least that. Life is good.
Magnolias, have a great afternoon/evening. I am really going to get something done this day. It is 3:30 and I have not even eaten anything yet. Type at y'all later.
PS: Another thing about that book ~ Will said there was a lady that wanted to buy 20 copies to give as Christmas presents but there were only 2 left after Will bought mine. They are going to try to get her what she wants before Christmas. What a neat gift to give to friends.