Christmas Dolls

If you have a daughter, Christmas means dolls!

In 1978, for our daughter Sarah's second Christmas

"Santa" gave her a new doll

From Fisher Price

It was "Beth's" birth year.    For 1978 was the year they introduced Beth.    She was made through 1980 -- a rather short run.

She was a sweet baby doll with a plastic head, arms and legs and a soft stuffed body.

She has  blonde brushable hair and big brilliant blue eyes

She came with a pink knitted sweater, bottles and cap.

Sarah loved her Beth

She was a very serious "mommy" to Beth!

Her second doll was another Fisher-Price -- My Friend Mandy.

Mandy was not a baby, she is a little girl, the perfect age to be a best friend.

I'm not sure what year Mandy came to live at our house -- but it was after 1978 but before 1982.

I'm thinking perhaps 1980.

Mandy (and her other friends) was the biggest and most successful doll line ever made by Fisher-Price.     She was in production until 1985 and the My Friend dolls are currently the most collectible Fisher-Price doll line.

In looking at Mandy and her friends, she was a "pre" American Girl doll.    

A similar style except she, like Beth, had a soft body.

And I'm not sure why, but I have no pictures of Sarah and Mandy!

But this isn't a story about Christmases past

It's about Christmas present

And a Christmas present

for the Grands!

What mothers save of their children's childhood

often does not make sense.

It did at the time . . . 

But not after 40 years!

But I did save Beth

and

the clothes I made for Beth

(as well as the other clothes I bought for Beth)

And I decided Christmas 2018 would be a good year for Beth to have a new home! I washed Beth I washed her clothes I had also saved Mandy But alas, all I had for Mandy was the outfit she came in! (including the hat!) So I spent many hours in December using mostly fabric scraps to make her some clothes! For we decided that Christmas 2018 would be a good time to pass these dolls on To the grands . . .  Piper (the three year old) got Beth and Lucy (her older sister) got Mandy And the trunks that I had for my dolls  and Sarah had for hers have been replaced by telescoping handled rolling suitcases! They were thrilled! Sarah was thrilled!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

from

Linderhof

Lunch Bunch Christmas Lunch

We've been entertaining all December --

from the adult group at Church

to the

DAR

to

friends children

We've had parties galore!

But the best party is always

The Lunch Bunch Lunch!

It was this week

and we were ready --

The Magical City of Scott sparkled,

the tree held center stage between living room and dining room!

The table all set for lunch!

A "new" Quaker Lace cloth

(I've worn out the old one!)

The Christmas china

(Royal Doulton Tartan)

Jim's grandmother's cutlery

wee poinsettias in Waterford cache pots

damask napkins in the Christmas silver rings

And just before the ladies got here . .  .

14 salad/dessert plates came

In the Royal Doulton Tartan pattern

(an always wanted but couldn't afford)

But prices have come down drastically, so . . . 

They replaced the Lennox Holiday

(I do mix and match but I really like to match)!

The luncheon:

Indian-Chutney Spinach Salad

(loved that it had the red and green of the season and it looked so festive on the Tartan)

Apricot chicken

Served with garlic sour cream "noodles"

A peppermint cheesecake pie

Served with coffee

After dessert we opened presents

And the girls were more than generous --

A wonderful winter table runner from friend Joyce as well as a jar of

her homemade jelly

Sally's mustard (Christmas just wouldn't be the same without it)

And some wee paper dolls and a mixing bowl set

(to help me be a better Nana!)

It's always a fun day when The Lunch Bunch comes

but the Christmas luncheon is always THE BEST!

Mrs. Boland, Winston Churchill and Dundee Cake

Dundee Cakes are a tradition at Linderhof

Because for five years we lived across the hall

from Mrs. Boland

She was our landlady and friend

and since she was an older lady,

even Mother called her "Mrs. Boland"

rather than by her first name.

She was English

and always had a "cuppa" in the afternoon

With a nosh

Mother was a new bride when she moved into the apartment

owned by Mrs. Boland and her husband Charlie

When Mother had a cooking question,

she asked Mrs. Boland

And sometimes we would go across the hall

for tea.

We have several of Mrs. Boland's recipes

And one of them is Dundee Cake

Every year in early November,

I make them

Mrs. Boland's recipe makes one loaf

But I prefer to use my mini pans and make 4 small ones

A small one is a perfect size for tea

for one or two or even four!

 Slices showing the raisins and currants and the cherries

It is a fruitcake of sorts

But Mrs. Boland just had currants, raisins and cherries

Decorated with more cherries -- glace cherries

Not maraschino ones.

Everyone has a birthday saint

and mine is

Saint Nicholas

(for I was born on St. Nicholas  Eve)

I've always been partial to St. Nicholas

And so to celebrate his day, we have our first Dundee cake for tea that afternoon

And our St. Nicholas Teas Throughout the Year:

In the breakfast room, Christmas china and silver tea service --

it is a special tea, after all!

Tea for two in the living room

Christmas china, a silver bread tray holding the Dundee cake, and the Christmas china

Poinsettias make a great centerpiece for a St. Nicholas Tea

with the silver teapot and the Christmas china.

BG*, we used our breakfast room for casual meals during December

AG* it holds the Magical City of Scott

(BG - before grandchildren/AG - after grandchildren)

Another St. Nichols Tea in the breakfast room

with the Christmas China and the Dundee Cake on a favorite Christmas serving plate

How does Winston Churchill fit into all of this?

Well, we got to meet Sir Winston in March

(really Randy Otto who is a Churchill reenacter -- but meeting him

you feel as if you had met Churchill himself!)

He even came to lunch!

And he mentioned that one of Sir Winston's favorite tea treats was Dundee Cake

And I told him that I made them every year for St. Nicholas Day

He was amazed that someone in a little town in Kansas not only knew what a 

Dundee cake was but actually made them!

I said that I would send him one when I made them this fall!

And I did --

make them

And sent him one

This week I got this note from Randy:

I am sharing the precious Dundee morsels with Jonathan Sandys (Churchill’s great-grandson) his mother, sister & nieces.
...and it has created a terrible problem for me personally...they tell me that I MUST bring your Dundee cake whenever I visit.
What do you say to a Churchill?

Imagine -- a Churchill ate my Dundee Cake!

And they approved!!!!

And it appears that the Churchill family will be on my Christmas list from now on

with a Christmas gift of a Dundee cake!

How thrilled am I!

And I thank Mrs. Boland for giving Mother the recipe all those years ago.

I did make some changes -- mostly because of difficulty in buying ingredients here.

It's a wonderful cake and it is our first fruitcake of the Christmas season

And it's a perfect tea cake!

Mrs. Boland's Dundee Cake

2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 c. sugar

4 eggs

2 T. fresh orange juice (I also add the zested peel)

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. blanched chopped almonds

2 1/2 c. cake flour

1/2 t. salt

1 t. baking powder

1 c. raisins (I use a mixture of dark and golden)

1 1/2 c. currants (if I can't find them I just use 2 c. raisins -- one dark/one golden)

1/2 c. ctiron, chopped (I rarely use this because it is hard to get here)

1/2 c. candied cherries

Preheat oven to 275.    Grease and flour 2 41/2 x 9 inch loaf pans.   (I always use 4 small loaf pans)

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar, mixing well.   Add the eggs, one at a time, beating 5 mintues after each egg.    Stir in orange juice, vanilla and almonds (this is when I stir in the zest).

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl.    Add the fruit and mix by hand until well floured.   Add the fruit to the butter/sugar mixture and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans.    Decorate with cherries and almonds in festive designs.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven.    Check with doneness with a toothpick or cake tester.

The little cakes take a lot less time -- I just watch and pull them when the toothpick comes out clean.

DO NOT OVERBAKE!    When the cakes are done, cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.    When cool, wrap in aluminum foil and freeze.

✌🏻

Thanksgiving Weekend Activities

This is an odd year --

there's a whole week of November left after Thanksgiving

before December

Husband Jim has decided that

"The Magical City of Scott"

will go up this weekend

And until it comes down,

the breakfast room

holds this magical village

and all of our meals 

are taken in the dining room!

(But until we added the breakfast room,

we ate all of our meals in the dining room for our

first 20 years here!)

A look at how

"The Magical City of Scott"

comes to be:

Chairs are moved out and tables moved in

It's not "smoke and mirrors"

but rather

"toilet paper and mirrors"

We found that toilet paper makes a sturdy base for the tiers

And those door mirrors that are cheap at WalMart make perfect tiers!

I'm a "take it out of the box and put it somewhere" person

Jim is a "gotta see it all before I decide where to put it" person

And so the houses are placed on the dining table so he can pick and choose

(The good news is that the boxes get carried back down to the basement

sooner!)

Photos from last year help with placement

(although he changes things a bit every year)

And once it is all put out

And accessorized

It truly is a Magical City!

Although the city will be built this weekend,

other Christmas rites will wait until December . . . 

like getting out the Christmas china

(the first Sunday in Advent)

Decorating the tree

(after December 5)

Happy Thanksgiving

We at Linderhof

wish you and yours

a

Happy Thanksgiving

A November Lunch

I had company for lunch last week

The Lunch Bunch came for November lunch

It's November

Thanksgiving month

My "Thanksgiving" dishes are my Spode blue and white

(they are my "good" transferware" but I also use them for Thanksgiving"

Garden mums

picked before we had the killing frost

in a turkey vase that I bought 49 years ago

when Jim and I shared our first November

at a dime store in downtown Kansas City.

Some things are not forever but that turkey has always held my heart.

The matching salt and pepper were bought a few years ago

Found on eBay because I decided that centerpiece turkey needed matching salt and peppers!

The menu:

A simple "old fashioned" (iceberg lettuce)

salad with a local restaurant's blue cheese dressing

A shrimp and grits casserole

Not authentic but definitely tasty!

And quite unexpected for my guests

No yeast dinner rolls

They're everywhere on facebook

And I decided to try them

They are simple, but don't make a lot

(what you see is one recipe)

Mine didn't brown as nicely as the ones on the internet

They're tasty but more of a biscuit than a dinner roll

But they are quick and I will make them again!

Dessert service on the sideboard

A cranberry sauce cake

That was perfect  for a November dessert!

The recipes:

SHRIMP AND GRITS CASSEROLE

1 T. olive oil

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup celery, minced fine

1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped (I used a red one because I had it)

1 3/4 c. milk

1 c. chicken broth

1 c. uncooked quick cooking grits

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. freshly ground pepper

1 container Boursin cheese with garlic and herbs

1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and halved

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 T. fresh or 1 t. dried parsley

2 T. fresh or 2 t. dried thyme leaves

Heat oven to 375. Spray 11 x 7 inch baking dish with Pam. In a skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Cook vegetables, stirring occasionally until tender.

In a heavy saucepan, heat milk and broth to boiling. Gradually add grits and salt, stirring constantly with whisk. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat.

Stir in pepper and cheese. Stir in vegetable mixture, shrimp, eggs, parsley and thyme. Spoon mixture into baking dish.

Bake uncovered 25 minutes or until set.

NO YEAST DINNER ROLLS

1 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/2 c. milk

2 T. mayonnaise

Mix dry ingredients.    Add milk and mayo.    Stir into greased muffin tins.     Bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes until golden brown.

CRANBERRY SAUCE CAKE

3 c. flour

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 c. mayo (not Miracle Whip)

1 (16 oz) can whole berry cranberry sauce

1/3 c. orange juice

1 T. grated orange peel

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 t. orange extract

1 c. chopped Nuts (recipe called for walnuts but here in Kansas we're partial to pecans)

Icing:

1 c. powdered sugar

1 - 2 T. orange juice (I needed a bit more)

In a mixing bowl, combine cake ingredients except for nuts. Mix well. Fold in nuts. Spray bundt pan with Pam. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350 for 60 to 70 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing to a wire rack. Combine icing ingredients and drizzle over the warm cake.

I sugared fresh cranberries and slivers of orange peel for decoration.

100 Years Ago Today

The Armistice was signed

Ending

The Great War

Which meant that this soldier could go home!

My Dad -- he was in The Argonne Forest when the Armistice was signed!

Hello November!

Last Cookbook Book Club of 2018 -- It's Ina!

After September's Pioneer Woman, 

we decided to do Ina for October

Partly because . . . 

Her newest book came out on Tuesday before our Club Meeting on Thursday

(and several of us pre-ordered and so it arrived on Tuesday!)

The hostess was Barbara --

dear Barbara who lives in Sheldon

and every month travels to Fort Scott with her dish

So we got to travel to Sheldon with our dishes

What fun!

We started with appetizers

Donna

(who is our overachiever)

brought a combination of two of Ina's recipes --

Easy Cheese Board and Cheese and Bread Platter

We all agreed that it was picture perfect

And oh, so delicious!

She also brought Thyme Roasted Almonds and Rosemary Roasted Cashews

(I think many of us could have taken those dishes and just went to a corner and ate!)

Main Dish

Barbara's

Cider Roasted Pork Tenderloins

Not from a book but from her television show.     

 Barbara (for the hostess always provides the main course)

 cooked them to perfection . . . and as she said it was easy.

She also served them with a wonderful pineapple chutney

which --

a) I forgot to take a picture of

b) I forgot to get the recipe for

But it was delicious -- that bowl of chutney made it's way around the

table at least three times!

Sides:

Rita's Dish

White Cheddar Cauliflower Gratin

In today's lo-carb world, this definitely would take the place of either mashed or baked potatoes

It was so good and I'm not sure Rita had any to take home!

Martha's Salad

Beets with Orange Vinaigrette

One of the things we try to do is NOT make anything we've made before and I've cooked a lot from the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks.

The few things I had not made, I could not find the ingredients in our little town.

I finally settled on this dish -- from her first cookbook

And I could not find the whole beets so I substituted slice ones

(what are you going to do)

And our cookbook club are beet lovers!

Every. Single. One.

Bread:

Belynda

Honey White Bread

Belynda is not a bread baker -- did she say this was the first bread she's every made?

Well, it was fabulous . . I think there were only crumbs left!

But it is the purpose of the cookbook club to have us stretch . . . 

And bringing bread certainly allowed Belynda to!

Desserts:

Rhonda

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

It is a great chocolate cake.    Rhonda chose to make it in a 9 x 13 rather than as a layer cake

which was good because

1).  we all only wanted little pieces

2).  It travels much better that way!

Even non chocolate person, Michelle ate some!

Michelle

(became our second overachiever of the night!   She brought two desserts!)

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

Oh, my were they good!

Definitely a dessert to consider for Thanksgiving!

Creme Brûlée

Michelle had never made it before

but you would never know it -- it was as good a creme brûlée as I've ever eaten!

Not having a little kitchen torch

(and not wanting to buy one)

Her husband came to the rescue with the blow torch from his tool room!

A torch is a torch!

Nothing like a trio of desserts to end the evening!

Ina has been a prolific cookbook author --

since she first started in 1998

a new book every other year --

 The first 10 --

Cook Like a Pro makes number eleven

And I have all of them

They are my most used cookbooks

We enjoyed cooking with Ina

Her recipes are definitely easy

But sometimes she uses ingredients that are not available

in little towns in the midwest

which limited our choice of recipes.

We cooked with her once before

(our first year)

and I'm sure we'll cook with her again!

It's always bittersweet to see our Cookbook Club year end

But we meet on the last Thursday of the month

and Thanksgiving and Christmas get in the way

So rather than try to reschedule, we just skip those months.

And in January it's always good to get together again!

Barbara was a wonderful hostess and we always enjoy traveling

there and she likes to host our last meeting!

In January we're turning things upside down and inside out!