Church Treats and Oddities

Sorry not to have posted in a while, Genetics is taking all my brain and time. Really, all of it. This sort of thing used to be easier, but then I only had a couple of other things (beer and Paul Ose) taking up room in my head. Stay in school, kids.

I'm also worried about a possible backstabbing/power grab at my church. Yes, my church! Since this is also where I work, it is very disturbing. People are up to something sneaky and I don't like it. It looks like it will be a real treat. On the other hand, it is good to know who your enemies are. I'll let you know how it turns out.

My side of the family got together a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Christmas. It was nice, low key, we had a good chance to catch up. I did remember to take pictures of more than just the two youngest members of the family, but I can't help it, they are just too cute!

This is Kristine. She was surprised when Uncle Erik reminded her that he was her Godfather. She turned to Ben, pointed at Erik and gasped, "Look! It's God!"
Ben wasn't buying it.
This is Erik. Good looking, yes, but not a God. Although he is a minister. He got his qualifications over the internet and has performed two weddings, now.
This is my sister, Sarah. She is wearing her new scarf around her tiny little hips. Sigh. It did say it was a "magic scarf", but there isn't enough magic (or vodka) in the world to get a scarf over my butt.

I've seen a couple of funny things in the ads in the Sunday paper lately. The first is this new make-up from L'Oreal. It comes with it's own paint roller! Paul always says that women who wear to much makeup are "troweling it on". This is pretty close to troweling, I think. None of my friends wear much makeup, (or if they do, it is so skillfully applied that it doesn't LOOK like they are wearing much.) It just seems a little crazy to me.The next thing that caught my eye was this package of "Party mix". FOR YOUR CAT! Look at the cat on the label, is he happy that cat treats are falling from the sky like confetti? Not so much.

Nick is trying to get our cat to learn tricks with cat treats as a reward. It's kinda hit and miss. Merle is not getting any party mix, however, he is not a party animal. Although he is relentless in the pursuit of catnip, which I grow in the garden. ("It's a nice blend of Kentucky bluegrass and Northern California Sensimilla") Quoting from Caddyshack means my fried brain has to be turned off.

I will leave you with a recipe from a nice church in Church's Ferry, North Dakota. These are Paul's favorite cookies.

Church's Ferry Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp hot water
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups "quick" oatmeal
1 small pkg chocolate chips

Cream shortening and sugars, add eggs and water, then all the dry ingredients together. Mix in chocolate chips and drop by rounded Tbls onto cookie sheets. Bake at 375 until brown around the edges.

One fish, two fish, red fish, EEEWW fish!

We have another entry in the "Weirdest Thing" contest! Sandy of Springvale Campground found this goofy bug-eyed fish in a furniture store, of all places. It is made out of flexible, rubbery stuff. You see that it has a zipper on the back. Why? Is it a pencil case? For toothbrushes? Hmm..it is stamped "made in Munich", so it is a German fish. Maybe it holds sauerkraut! Thanks for sharing it with us, Sandy.

I'm back at school. This semester/trimester will be a killer. I am taking Genetics, which meets 4 days a week, so close to the time I get out of preschool that I leave there 5 minutes early and then run all the way across campus. It's been 25 years since I took a science class, so I'm playing catch-up, big time! Can't wait for the part where we breed fruit flies, maybe I'll catch some of the ones from home and breed a prettier bug. That'll shake them up!

I have a good fish recipe for you. It comes from Paul's Grandma Emily, who was a terrific cook. She made this with lake trout, but we are all out of lakers, so salmon works great. I'm sure any fish would be fine.

Baked Fish Fillets

1 lb fish fillets
1 Tbls lemon juice
1/4 tsp paprika
1 Tbls butter or margarine
1 Tbls flour
dash of salt and pepper
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup buttered bread crumbs
1 Tbls chopped parsley (optional garnish)

Cut fish into serving sized pieces. Place in greased, foiled shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice, paprika, salt and pepper. In saucepan, melt butter, blend in flour and a dash of salt and pepper. Add milk slowly, cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Pour white sauce over fish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until fish flakes easily. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Of Mice and Men

Do you see that? Right in the middle of the chocolate frosting? MOUSE TEETH MARKS! The smear on the lower left? WHERE IT RESTED IT'S NASTY LITTLE BODY WHILE EATING MY CAKE! Bastard! I had to throw the whole thing out. That mouse has to go. I have already trapped one (very plump from eating the butter last week!) and the traps are still out. I don't want to use the super 5-gallon bucket trap yet. GRRR! But wait, you say, don't you have a cat?
Why yes, yes I do. He says he cannot eat them because they have not bathed.
Our family has joined an archery league. This seems like it might be really fun! We went to the first shoot the other night. The place is (not surprisingly) full of men! There were only 2 other women. (If you are a single girl, it is a TARGET-rich environment!) I had thought there would be more families. With more moms like me. (Yeah, I know, there IS nobody like me!) (and that is a good thing!) All the fellas were really nice and helped us get up to speed on how the league works and the proper archery etiquette. Nate has good form.
Look! Those are my arrows with the red feathers on the top left target. Right in the middle. Unfortunately, that is also my arrow on Nick's target on the lower left target. I didn't get any points for that one. When we practice in the yard I only shoot 20 times or so. League shoots 60 arrows a night not counting warm-ups! My arms are a little sore still. I'm pretty sure this counts as exercise, yay. I'll let you know how it goes, maybe I'll win an award for "most improved", like when we were in bowling league. (There was nowhere to go but up for my bowling average).

I wanted to give you the recipe for the banana cake, but frankly, it wasn't all that. My friend Martha (not Stewart) has promised to give me her recipe which really can't be beat. I'll pass that along later. I don't have any mouse recipes, so I will give you a manly one.

A note on the Redneck Coq au Vin recipe: When I have made this before, I have omitted the lemon pepper because I didn't have it. It turns out lemon pepper has lots of salt in it and made the dish too salty, I think. I suggest you just put in some black pepper and call it good.

Manly Meatloaf (My mother-in-law's recipe)

2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups crushed crackers (MIL uses saltines)

Mix, shape in a loaf, bake (with potatoes and carrots maybe) for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.

Party Hardy

"Party Hardy" was a message on the Recipe Czar email I received last week. Now, I am old enough to remember when "party" was only a noun ("I am going to a party"), and not a verb ("I am going to party like a rock star"). Language is a fluid thing, and I'm trying to keep up. However, "party hardy" seems wrong. I think it should be "party hearty". These are quite similar, but... Let us consult my 1977 dictionary, shall we?
Hardy: inured to fatigue or hardship, robust
Hearty: enthusiastically or exuberantly cordial, expressed unrestrainedly, exhibiting vigorous good health, abundant
So we have "Revel without tiring" or "Revel enthusiastically". I still like hearty. Too many people get confused by words which (not witch) sound similar. It annoys the pants off me when I see writers mixing up yore, your and you're. Also frequently misused: their, they're and there. These are completely different words with different meanings. Are all the writers ignoring the green underlining from spellcheck? Or are our computers not catching such misuses? I'll test it. They're is a cat. Yeah, not flagged as wrong, sigh. We are on our own. We are doomed. We are NOT smarter than fifth graders.

I'm off to party like a rock star. (If rock stars enjoy sitting on their couches with kids and watching an "Indiana Jones" movie marathon, that is.) Nick received a chocolate fountain for Christmas and we're going to give it a workout. We can think of LOTS of things to dip in chocolate!

Here is a quick appetizer recipe. Oddly, there are 3 variations of this in my archives. 2 cook the sausage, one does not. Suit you'reself. (Ha! it flagged THAT one!)

Sausage Balls (Maybe they are SHWEDDY BALLS!)

1 lb pork sausage
10 oz shredded cheddar
3 1/2 cups Bisquick

Fry sausage until brown, add cheese, stir until melted. Add Bisquick, drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheets, bake at 350 for 10 - 15 minutes.

Tend it like Beckham

This is Victoria Beckham (the former "Posh Spice"). Posh has trouble. While I was at the gym yesterday (my radio is out of batteries so I was reading the closed captioning on all the screens) I read that poor Posh panics at the thought of Christmas dinner. No, not at the thought of entertaining/cleaning for lots of people (she has staff) or cooking it (Gordon Ramsey from TV's Hell's Kitchen will be preparing their meal) but at the thought of eating it!

Poor little Posh only eats 700-900 calories a day and works out like a crazy thing to maintain her size zero figure. Her solution to the frightening idea of good food is the "three bite rule". She will only eat three bites of anything to maintain the size zero. THAT'S what I've been doing wrong! I've been having FOUR bites! The next time I go to the gym, I'm going to entertain myself (if I forget the new batteries again) with the image of Gordon Ramsey having a meltdown when the hostess refuses to eat his dinner. Maybe he'll throw stuff.

Did you ever see the movie "Bend it like Beckham"? It's pretty good. The main character (played by the same actress that played ER's Neela) is torn between playing soccer and being an obedient daughter.( In one scene her relatives compare breasts to "juicy, juicy mangoes". Mr. Ose has never forgotten this phrase.) One of her soccer buddies is played by Keira Knightly (as a blonde!) The title is about playing soccer as well as Posh's hubby, David Beckham.


Today's recipe is not posh. It's a redneck version of the posh french classic, "Coq au Vin"(chicken in wine). In that, chicken is braised with shallots, red wine and cognac to make a yummy sauce. It's good, I'll throw a recipe for that on the ol' blog someday, but today we're having a redneck holiday. My sister-in-law once said I should make a redneck/dirtball cookbook, featuring lots of hotdish. I'm not really sure she meant it as a compliment.

Redneck Coq au Vin

1 envelope dry spaghetti sauce mix
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 Tbls flour
1 Tbls lemon pepper
1 cut-up chicken (I like to use just thighs, 8-10 of them)
1 can beer (drink the rest of the 6-pack with dinner)

Combine dry ingredients and coat chicken with them. You can shake them in a bag together. (I remove the skin from the chicken, because I, too, have a figure to maintain, but suit yourself.) Place chicken in a 9x13 pan and pour the beer around it. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove foil and cook another 15 minutes to reduce sauce.

What will I do with myself?

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but it was finals week! I think I did okay. I even almost enjoyed the second power point. So now I can finally read for pleasure, yay! I'm so excited that I couldn't choose and now I'm reading 3 books at once. Preschool is done after Thursday, so maybe I can even quilt or scrapbook? I'm going to make the most of my Christmas break, because in January I start Genetics. I'm afraid it's going to be really hard.
Saturday was my last day of Education class. Before that I went to the Mpls. Institute of Arts to see the "Treasures of the Louvre" exhibit. I went with Deb. We paid extra for the little headsets that gave us extra information on each piece.
This painting is called "The Card-Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds" by Georges de La Tour. He painted it in the early 1600's. Look, it tells a story, the guy on the left is cheating the guy on the right at cards. Look at the women's eyes....They may be in on it! I love the stuff at the art museum. Every piece has a story. I used to volunteer and tell these stories to the kids at the elementary school.

Today's recipe is for Eggnog Pie. I apologize for the underlining, the cat stepped on the keyboard and I don't know how to turn it off.

Eggnog Pie

1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbls cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
1 Tbls cold water
1 Tbls butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup heavy cream, whipped past the soft peak stage, but short of stiff peaks
1 (8 or 9 inch) baked and cooled pie crust
Nutmeg for sprinkling over pie

In small bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt; set aside. In top of double boiler set over simmering water, scald milk. Stir in sugar mixture. Cook and stir until thick and smooth, 10-15 minutes. Continue cooking 15 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk a little of the cooked mixture into the lightly beaten egg yolks. Then whisk egg yolks into cooked mixture in top of double boiler. Whisk and cook custard 3 minutes longer. Let gelatin absorb water then whisk into hot custard. Whisk in butter. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla. Transfer to a bowl, place plastic wrap on surface and cool to room temperature. Gently fold in whipped cream in three additions. Fill pie crust, sprinkle with nutmeg and chill 3 hours.

20 years on - part 2

Paul and I had a great weekend on the north shore. We stayed in a nice condo-ish place at Superior Shores. On top of the fireplace mantel was a collection of rocks, driftwood and birchbark with names and dates of guests. We picked out just the right rock on the beach and added our names to the pile.
We stopped at this fabulous antique store on our way north. It's in Pease, which is just south of Milaca on 169. It is jam-packed full of neat stuff. Every room has a potential winner of the "Craziest Thing" contest. Rooms have just been tacked on to the main building and to each other. Paul was a little worried about the sturdiness of the floors, but they held up as long as we were there. It is quite clean, and even smells good. I bought a quilt that I estimate was made around 1880. It's in pretty sorry shape, it's a silk crazy quilt and silks from that era were dipped in solutions of lead to give them weight. This makes them crumble. It isn't worth a lot, but I'm tickled!
This is the atrium at the condo. Yep, that is a hot tub in the corner! With a view of Lake Superior!
Another cool antique store. This one is in Duluth, in an old church. They specialize in old books, and it had that "old book" smell I like so much. I bought a book about Queen Elizabeth's jewelry. It's somebody's job to keep track of her jewels, where they came from and what she wears them with. Rich people are fascinating. Paul and I imagined living in the old church. We put the bedroom in the choir loft.
We went to see "A Christmas Carol" (in 3D) at the movie theater. (You remember my need to see some version of this every year?) We smuggled in beer and enjoyed it very much. They had the nerve to charge full price for a matinee because of the 3D, so we kept the glasses. Paul and his friend the hotel lobby bear, make them look good!
We like to have breakfast at Hell's Kitchen when in Duluth. I am so happy that they have just published a cookbook with their best recipes. I love the wild rice porridge and the sausage bread. It would be wrong for me to give away their recipes, but nothing is stopping you from buying the cookbook for yourself (or borrowing it from the library). Like they say, "Damn good food!"

Since we are now in the Christmas season, I have a Christmas cookie recipe for you. I got the recipe from my friend Connie. Connie is much more highly evolved than I am. She told me a story once that began with a crabby person in line with her at a store. Connie tried to think of a way to improve this person's day. I would have been thinking of a way to get far away from Ms. Crabby! Do use real butter in these, you can really taste it.

Butter Riches

Cream 3/4 cup butter
Add 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbls white sugar
Add 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
blend in 2 cups flour
Shape into 3 dozen balls (these are not large cookies), flatten slightly, bake 7-9 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and frost with burnt butter frosting.

Burnt butter frosting (not really burnt)
brown 1/4 cup butter
blend in 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbls vanilla
Gradually add 3-4 Tbls cream. Garnish with a slivered almond.