Trick or Treat

It all started years and years ago

When I chose to make a Halloween costume for

Daughter Sarah's second Halloween

A clown costume

Big enough that she wore it 3 or 4 years before we had another costume

She was a cute clown!

Last year, she asked me to make Grand girl Lucy's costume

And chose Little Red Riding Hood

This year, she asked once again for a costume for Lucy

Alice in Wonderland!

Last year's pattern refitted to make an Alice dress

And of course, Alice has a white apron

Which I had no pattern for --

But I was able to somehow make an apron!

She wanted Grand girl Piper to be 

"The White Rabbit"

and I said that I'd make her a costume

but Sarah said "no"

I don't always obey so . . . 

I took a pattern for a "dog" and made it into a rabbit

Alice's dress finished

And Piper's White Rabbit

(complete with clock -- for the rabbit is always late!)

All finished and pressed

ready to be folded and packed into a box and mailed.

They arrived

Sarah was surprised (and pleased) by Piper's costume

And since I had made the costumes

"blind"

(not being able to have a fitting before I finsihed them)

Piper's fit's perfectly

(and she seems intrigued by her "watch")

And Lucy as Alice . . .

It fits as well.

Why, you might ask, does she have a black boot on her left foot?

(why, she fell down a rabbit hole, I answer, and broke her toe!)

The girls have worn the costumes twice already

Once to a trunk or treat in their town

And again to their day care Halloween party

But tomorrow night is the night

And I can't wait to see Alice and The White Rabbit

all ready for Trick or Treat!

A Fall Tea

This summer

My alter ego,

Mrs. Simkins

gave a program at our county fair

on afternoon tea

We had quilt cookies, thimble cookies and spool cookies

(because quilts were the highlight of this year's fair)

And pots and pots of tea

Whenever I give a program,

I usually donate a luncheon

or a tea

And today, the lucky winner came for tea

A fall tea because it is, after all,

the end of October

Served in the dining room

with my beloved blue and white

The yellow mum centerpiece was a hostess gift from the lucky winner

An old embroidered tablecloth

The blue and white is my beloved Spode Camilla

edged in gold

All of the food is on the table

But we still eat by course

The silver curate

(from bottom to top)

Sandwiches, scones and sweets

The top plate holds some of the sweets

Cherry cookies, chocolate tarts and cinnamons

The middle plate holds the scones

While the bottom plate holds the sandwiches

Cucumber today

And a Spode Blue Italian sandwich tray held some cutout cookies

frosted to look the the leaves outside the window

And every tea needs a cake

Because it is fall, ours was gingerbread

One of my favorite courses are the scones

With cream and jam

Spread cream on the scone and top with jam

h e a v e n!

And gingerbread is always a good cake

(and since this was America, leftover cream was used to top the gingerbread!)

It's Thursday and I'm joining Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for Tablescape Thursday

Halloween Week Tea

I always enjoy teas during Halloween Week

For I'm often in the kitchen

baking treats for the oldest Grand girl --

the youngest, after all, is still on mother's milk

Next year!

In the breakfast room, of course

With the Spode blue Italian

and a pottery jack o lantern

That I rescued from the basement

A souvenir from Silver Dollar City long ago

And the tea treat is cookies

Cutout cookies

Some frosted and some sugared

My favorite cut out cookie recipe

It makes just the best cookies!

The Front Porch

When we moved to Linderhof, the front porch was covered 

in 

indoor/outdoor green carpet

You know the kind . . . artificial turf

is another name for it!

We soon took it out

And a few years later, I painted the porch to look like big stones

But that was several years ago

And, it was "tired"

And worn, very worn!

(In fact, only in the far corner could you see the old "painted" stones!

And so, we moved all of the furniture to the drive

Cleaned the screens and washed the floor

And painted . . . 

A porch floor gray

And after the floor dried, all of the furniture was washed and wiped down

and then moved back inside

It's fall

and so there are no plants on the porch

They're all inside!

With the "haint" blue ceiling

and the grey floor

The porch looks, well, it looks like a porch!

I'm loving my new spiffed up porch!

It's Monday and I'm sharing my porch transformation with Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for Met Monday.

Cookbook Book Club - Volume X - German

The October volume of the Cookbook Book Club

was held at

Linderhof

It's October . . . 

We're at Linderhof . . . 

The theme is

German

In the parlor before dinner

appetizers

and German beers and Rieslings

and

Angela's German Egg Salad and Pumpernickle

Liz's bratwurst, dill pickles and mustard

Dinner was served buffet style in the breakfast room

The hostess always provides the meat

And instead of doing an old favorite German entree

I went outside my comfort zone and prepared sauerbraten

First time ever

From an old German cookbook?

No, from Betty Crocker

(I had looked at that recipe since I was a preteen!

Took me all these years to try it!)

And to go with . . .

Rhonda's RotKohl

(red cabbage, sweet and sour with apples --

was very tasty)

Michelle's potatoes

(Every German meal has to have potatoes!)

And salad!

First time ever that two people brought the same dish

Not the same "sort of" dish

but the very same dish!

Even though they were the same, they were different

And both were good!
I'll not tell you which is Sarah's and which is Donna's
But, hey -- "great minds"!

We had a good laugh about that!

And the plate of German food

If you notice, except for the red cabbage, it's all brown and beige!

German's don't go for a lot of color!

But they do go for hearty stick to your ribs meals!

And dessert was Rita's

Rhamkuchen

(Cheese Cake)

She brought some apples to go alongside

It's a delicious cheesecake

much lighter than most

And to celebrate a wonderful evening,

I broke out a bottle of St. James Winery's Late Harvest Syval

(Not German Ice Wine, but close -- at a fraction of the price!)

We're taking a break in November

(Cookbook Club Night falls on Thanksgiving)

and we'll celebrate the holidays with a restaurant meal in the city.

It's been a fun year

A fun group of ladies

And an amazing lot of good food!

We'll see what Cookbook Book Club II, Vol. I brings in 2016!

Rescues

When I was a gradeschooler and a pre-teen, I adored dogs

I was going to raise dogs for a living

(ah, the dreams of youth)

And I did have one real dog

But not a kennel full.

Heck, I didn't even have a kennel!

So my "kennel" consisted of ceramic dogs

Bought at T G and Y and Kresges

whenever I had any spare change

or could wheedle the purchase of a new dog for my "kennel"

from my maiden aunt or my grandmother.

Of course, when I grew up and moved away,

the dogs didn't go with me

I had packed them away long long ago

And when my mother passed away and we were cleaning

out her estate, I found them

Of course, they came home with me!

Where to put them?

In the guest room, on the shelf above the window seat

(you can barely see them)

In front of some of my childhood classics

As a child, I was so proud of my dogs

that I even took pictures!

My "kennel" on my dresser in my pre teen bedroom!

Now, I decided to "rescue" the dogs!

That high shelf was no place for my precious dogs

And so I moved them

To the sunroom

In the bookcase which I had brought up from the basement

that my parents started housekeeping with

The dividers on the upper shelf makes each pup look like it's in a kennel

and awaiting attention!

I was eclectic in my selection of breeds

There are a lot of cockers

(I adored Gladys Taber and she raised cockers)

and German Shepherds and Collies were other favorites

But there are poodles and boxers and dalmatians and a beautiful Scottie

and Chihuahuas!

And the picture of the dogs on my childhood dresser

is framed and is on a shelf in the bookcase!

I love pairing reality with history!

But we believe in real rescues, too

Our latest . . . 

Doogie

The pup that was dropped in our back garden,

found the doggie door, came into the house, saw the sofa,

jumped up and was HOME!

At that time we were a one dog family and liked it that way

But Dolly took to this little guy and so much to husband's saying "we've got to find a home for this dog", he stayed.    You see, he found his home and his sofa!

Husband Jim's heart melted and he and Doogie are buddies.

And we found that two dogs really are better than one!

And we found that two dogs really are better than one!

When we lost Dolly this Spring,

we searched on line

And found this girl

After a meet and greet with Doogie, we decided that she needed to come home to Linderhof

Daisy

Definitely a rescue, she was transported from Louisiana (a kill shelter) to a Kansas no-kill shelter.

She'd been there 10 months

It was time that this girl got a home!

In fact, of all of our dogs, only two have not been rescues

And we got them from breeders

Because we wanted that breed

But we always have a soft spot for rescues

And I'm on the board of Lee's Paws and Claws

our local no-kill shelter

And who can not love

Two rescues snoozing the afternoon away on a comfy sofa

With their own blanket?

I know the term "Adopt Don't Shop" is gaining in momentum

And we adhere to that philosophy.

In fact, "Pound Puppies" were the only ones we considered

when we looked for a friend for Doogie.

And dogs are not the only thing we rescue --

We rescue furniture

Almost all of our furniture is "used", "second hand"

It's what we've always done

Much cheaper and much better quality than new!

Our house is full of furnishings and dishes

that we've "rescued"!

Our rescue dogs live happily amongst our rescued furniture!

Betty and Me

When one gets to be a teen, spending Sundays at Grandma's isn't as much fun as it used to be!

In fact, it was like "not again"

For you see there wasn't cousins to play with --

it was just my brother and I -- just like it always was at home

And although I had a doting Grandma and Aunt,

it was like I wished I were anywhere but there!

But we went

Because we had no other choice

(and I must admit that the fried chicken or Sunday roast dinners were wonderful

complete with homemade rolls)

And to entertain myself,

I sat in my Uncle Clinton's recliner

and read my Grandma's cookbook

It had sort of stories and there was a section on meal planning with meals from famous people, 

It's circa 1956, Second Edition, First Printing

I'm sure my Aunt Pearl got it for Grandma

And as far as I know, it was Grandma's only cookbook!

And when I got married in 1969,

my mother gifted me with my very own Betty Crocker Cookbook

It was the "New" Picture Cookbook

And it was the book that I cooked from in early marriage

My book is a little the worse for wear

Having been used to a gas stove, we lived in a house with an electric one

I didn't realize that when you turned off the burner it was still "on" and "hot"

My cookbook has a lasting memory of that!

I have my grandmother's book now and I treasure it

Like mine, it has been well used

And like mine, it is precious to me

And like, mine, I still use it!

For there are some recipes in the old one that aren't in the new one

(as there are some recipes in the new one that aren't in the old one!)

The first meal I ever cooked

was from the pages of 

The Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook

Grandma's copy

The family took a trip to Colorado

leaving me and Grandma at home

Grandma consented to let me cook.

I even made a grocery list and we went to the grocery store

and brought back bags of provisions!

It's the Spaghetti and Meatballs

As you can see there are stains on the pages

Stains I made!

When I fixed that dish!

And I still make it every once in a while.

Sure it's easy to buy frozen meatballs and jarred sauce

But the "real deal" tastes so much better!

 And it looks so appetizing on a big platter

Meatballs I now bake in the oven instead of on top of the stove

Less spattering and more even "balls"

Served "family style" after a salad dressed with Wishbone Italian dressing

and some old fashioned "garlic bread" to go with!

It makes for a good fall supper

When the temperatures fall!

My other favorite

is also my Daughter Sarah's favorite

Lasagne!

We've made this "forever"

Since early married days I think

And in early married days we could never find the ricotta

and always used cottage cheese

Now Ricotta can be found at Wal Mart!

Sigh!

This for years was Daughter Sarah's birthday dinner

And I still make it occasionally

It's a good company dish

And everyone seems to like it.

Betty calls for serving meatballs along side

We never do.  Preferring the lasagne alone.

I think perhaps Daughter Sarah took pity on me

and my fall apart Betty Crocker books

For I have the brand new reprint

of the original

The 1950 first edition

of Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook

It was groundbreaking at the time

For most cookbooks were just the printed recipe

This had pictures of "how to's", finished dishes, table settings

The one is pristine

For I still prefer to use my original or Grandma's!

I adore my three Betty Crocker books

And they have a special place on my cookbook shelf

And Betty Crocker has a special place in our lives

For Daughter Sarah works for her!

Well, sort of, I guess --

she works for General Mills

which is Betty's company!

One of the things I liked about the cookbooks

was a peek into the "test kitchens" at General Mills

And one was very modern, very 50s!

When Daughter Sarah first started working at the General Mills headquarters,

she got to visit those kitchens -- those test kitchens from the 50s

And she, too, thought they were cool!

But somewhere along the line, they decided they needed to be more updated
And so tore out the old and remodeled into efficient modern kitchens!

So our relationship with Betty goes back a long way
And often, for a new bride, if I'm invited to a shower, I gift a Betty Crocker Cookbook.
They're good basic books with lots of pictures.
Just the thing a new bride and perhaps novice cook needs!