Unshared (I think) recent photos

Bouquet for '54 Girls' breakfast, August 4

Mother's Day pot verbena, summer '18

Aunt Olive's

 jade plant, plus others

Living room floor with door open to sunshine

Closeup of sunshine on living room hardwood floor

Encroaching on porch apron-purple jew & coreopsis

Wild coleus (comes up hither & yon) in back yard square

Yucca blooms, roadside

Beautyberry purpling

New plants I must get in the ground or in pots, pronto

c 2018, PL d/b/a lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Recipes: where do we get them? How do we use them?

I liked Tammy Keith’s column in a recent Sunday’s Tri-Lakes supplement of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about her husband cooking dishes from recipes in OLD cookbooks. Though I have a shelf of cookbooks, when I need a recipe now, I cheat and go online instead of pulling down one of the books. I have a pear-motif, straight-sided bowl in which I deposit those recipes I clip or copy.

The latest addition to the stash is a Breakfast Casserole that I thought I was going to make when the classmate who usually brings one said she wasn’t coming to the breakfast at my house. I had all the ingredients. I had just gotten the Pyrex dish down from the cabinet when she emailed that she could come after all and bring a casserole. I hoisted the dish back to the cupboard. When other overnight company comes, I’ll be ready.

Next is a Five-Minute Fudge recipe from Heloise. Then a Grandma Murray’s Apple Cake recipe from July 2017’s Arkansas Living that I DID make, only I used pears instead. That dish went to a family gathering last October.

From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, I clipped Murlene’s Black-Eyed Pea Salad I (one) in December of ’17. As I look at it now, I realize I have all the ingredients on hand. Excuse me while I whip it up—kitchen-test it, if you will. . . .

Okay, all done. Now it must cool and absorb the flavors.

The next in my bowl is Heloise’s recipe for peanut brittle. For some reason (I haven’t yet asked) Harvest Foods quit stocking raw peanuts, which I’ve been buying and parching for a long spell. The ones already roasted aren’t nearly as flavorful as the raw ones.

Then here’s a Pumpkin Pie Cake from ADG’s Joe Riddle, clipped in the fall of ’14. When Billy was little, and we had a jack-o’-lantern each year, I’d make pies after Halloween, freeze them and take to our Thanksgiving gatherings. I have a poem somewhere that essentially says, “Halloween’s Jack- o’- lantern is Thanksgiving’s pie.

Now, my mouth’s watering. A Southern Pimento Cheese recipe, clipped back in 2014, makes me hungry. But I don’t have pimentos on hand. (Put them on the grocery list, please.). I also like onion rings.  Here’s a recipe that BAKES them. I’ve written “Doable” on the yellowed paper.

If a recipe turns out well, even eight Christmases ago, tape it to an index card and write when/ where it was served. This one, Mom’s Easy Pound cake I made for the choir party and the poets’ meeting. Here is the recipe: 1 box yellow cake mix; ½ cups water, sugar, oil; 2 tsp. melted butter; 4 eggs; 1 tsp. vanilla. Mix ingredients. Bake one hour at 325 degrees in a Bundt or tube pan. Also freezes well.” – from Sharon Ridgeway, Alexander AR. My note says, “Delicious!”

Finally, let me taste the Black-Eyed Pea Salad . . . You get veggies and protein in one dish, plus the tang of vinegar! Not bad, as our choir director used to say after an anthem. Not bad at all.

               

c 2018, PL d/b/a lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Finally, it cooled off—and rained

                                                       Well, it didn't rain THAT much.

          Last weekend, the rain that stormed through while I read the state and local papers provided both a respite from the near-drought and a reason not to finish my project of cleaning and grooming the corner iris bed. I’d begun working early the day before, bending, clipping, tossing detritus into Mom’s discarded shredder-cum-yard waste container.

          With an early lunch meeting in town, I had to stop, shower, and dress. An Aleve would (ahem) eventually alleviate the soreness. After the meal, I drove a short, back way to Home Depot for landscape materials. I hauled down a huge bag of potting soil. But I waited for an assistant to load the marble rocks and bags of pea gravel I wanted for the south yard.

          But then, I needed a few things from the dollar store, so I stopped. I took only a yellow basket with me, but halfway through the store, I picked up a second one and filled them both. I left with five bags of merchandise on one arm and a bag of cat food in my other hand—by this time, it was early afternoon—and I suddenly felt old. I felt like I walked like an old person—for the first time in my newly-82 years. At the car, unloading my arms and hand, I talked severely to myself. “You ARE old!”

         Obviously, I said that in a weak moment, tired from the early yard chore, dressed too warmly for that time of day, not to mention the oppressive humidity. After a longer-than-usual nap, I recovered both my strength and my positive attitude. So, I moved on as we all must do at certain times.

        The next morning, I arose early to water the roses, but the sky looked bluer than usual. Weather sources said 100% chance of rain, and a map showed a storm moving our way from the west. Sure enough, thunder pealed and eventually, the rains came.

        The rain was no flood--an inch deep in my garden wagon--but it helped. After it stopped, I finished the iris bed and de-grassed part of the sidewalk--until ants appeared from under a paver.

           I had one more responsibility before that day ended: baking a pear cobbler for Ebenezer UMC’s Fifth-Sunday potluck, a new church activity. I intended to use a 9x13 dish, so I lifted three packages of al-ready-stewed pears sans sugar and cinnamon from the freezer and set them to thaw. Before the storm that morning, I had “run” to Harvest Foods for a pie crust to make decorative strips.

           After an unrestful nap, it was time to begin. Using a recipe I found online and printed out, I substituted for fresh ginger, half as much of the ground spice. For the lemon zest, I substituted twice as much lemon juice as called for—both suggestions from online.

                In my ignorance of this church's potluck "doings," when I signed up for "dessert," I figured it would be the only dessert, so I'd better make as large a dish as I could. I filled a 9x13 Pyrex dish to the brim, added the cut strips of pie crust, Voila! Enough for all two dozen or so folks. I took whipped topping, too.

          But when I got there, I saw 2 store-bought pies, two homemade cakes, cookies, candy. . . I'd forgotten that when "potluck" is mentioned in a United Methodist Church, it usually means each family brings at least 3 dishes. True this day!

          Three of us took small helpings--to sample some of all, of course. I took the rest ofit home where it sat in the fridge for a day or three. Finally, I filled 8 coffee cups (not mugs) packed down, topped with (ahem) topping, and placed them in the freezer before covering with plastic wrap.

          I'll know next time.