A cup of kindness to
one and all
2014
one and all
2014
Monday, December 30, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Marzipan and Pumpkin Pie Part 3 by KimB
For holiday dinners I do try to keep it simple. This year I thought I had it dead simple. Silly me.
I'd done all my shopping early, I knew exactly what I was fixing, what I could fix ahead of time, I figured everything out … except, the pumpkin pie part. The one thing I fail at year after year. It's amazing how many ways I can wreck pumpkin pie, I do seem to be able to come up with new variations on awful each season.
This year I thought I would have Advantage Kim by buying a can of premixed organic pumpkin pie filling. It had all the spices, organic sugars and was supposed to be “pour and bake”. I suppose it might actually work that way for someone else, but as I was the one with the can opener something odd was surely about to happen.
No fear. It did.
I had decided to eliminate the pie crust problem with the pie and make a pumpkin custard instead. By removing 50% of the problem making pumpkin pie, which is the crust, I figured I'd be 50% head of the curve.
You do know, statistics lie....
I had downloaded a very simple pumpkin custard recipe from the Internet. Not too many lines. Not too many directions. The picture looked good too. I read the first few ingredients about pumpkin puree, spices and sugar and went Directly To Go. I opened the can of pumpkin pie filling and into a bowl it went. SUCCESS! Oh... wait, 2 eggs... OK, in went the eggs. WOOTS! I was on a roll. The next line was the killer: Evaporated Milk. And you know how that's spelled? Oh @$%#.
I headed for the PC and the Internet again looking up how to make evaporated milk. Lots of recipes, I found one I could do. Evaporated milk is just regular milk cooked down to less volume. I had purchase a small quart of milk as a “just in case” item and this certainly qualified. I duly measured out 2 cups of milk into a saucepan and put it on the stove to reduce.
I waited for it to reduce, stirring, not stirring, removing surface scum. I waited and waited and waited. Dinner time came and went, and I was still waiting and Allen was waiting too. There's not much you can do with milk on the stove, you just have to “watch and wait”. Allen went off to read, nap, play with the cat, eat snacks and wait for dinner while I played with the milk on the stove and waited for it to reduce.
After what seemed like hours, the milk reduced sufficiently and I mixed it into the bowl with the pumpkin pie filling and eggs. It formed a very uninteresting pumpkin colored slurry. I began to realize that yet another pumpkin pie disaster was in serious danger happening. In short, I began to panic. I had to figure out what I could do to avoid it.
I had the custard cups all ready to go. I grabbed the maple syrup from the fridge and poured a nice splotch into the bottom of each cup. I figured it couldn't hurt. Next, I needed something to cover the top of the pumpkin slurry in each cup. Whatever was going to come out of the oven after baking would surely need to be hidden.
It didn't take me long to figure I could kill two disasters at once. I got those chips of marzipan-rock out and put them on top of the pumpkin slurry. I grabbed some of those toasted almonds too and decorated some more with them. Into the oven they went.
While they were baking, I was able to get the rest of the dinner together and we had the traditional everything: turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. A bit later than expected but tasty and filling. We both avoided talking about the custard in the oven.
When the hour was up and I got them out of the oven, they didn't look too bad. In fact they looked pretty good.
Allen said “I'm not trying it....”. Wise man.
After they cooled I wrapped them and put them in the fridge until I got the courage to taste one. Carefully, I spooned up a glob and standing over the sink, just in case, I took a taste.
Hmmm.... Hmmm... Yummmm!!!
I was so excited it tasted good, I forced Allen into trying it. He was surprised to say the least! One bite, two bites, the spoon was moving faster and faster; then he said, “This is the BEST pumpkin pie you've ever made!”
I'm so pumped! I wonder what kind of disaster I can come up with next season?!!!
[Editor's note: This story is Part 3 of 3 and was written by KimB.]
I'd done all my shopping early, I knew exactly what I was fixing, what I could fix ahead of time, I figured everything out … except, the pumpkin pie part. The one thing I fail at year after year. It's amazing how many ways I can wreck pumpkin pie, I do seem to be able to come up with new variations on awful each season.
This year I thought I would have Advantage Kim by buying a can of premixed organic pumpkin pie filling. It had all the spices, organic sugars and was supposed to be “pour and bake”. I suppose it might actually work that way for someone else, but as I was the one with the can opener something odd was surely about to happen.
No fear. It did.
I had decided to eliminate the pie crust problem with the pie and make a pumpkin custard instead. By removing 50% of the problem making pumpkin pie, which is the crust, I figured I'd be 50% head of the curve.
You do know, statistics lie....
I had downloaded a very simple pumpkin custard recipe from the Internet. Not too many lines. Not too many directions. The picture looked good too. I read the first few ingredients about pumpkin puree, spices and sugar and went Directly To Go. I opened the can of pumpkin pie filling and into a bowl it went. SUCCESS! Oh... wait, 2 eggs... OK, in went the eggs. WOOTS! I was on a roll. The next line was the killer: Evaporated Milk. And you know how that's spelled? Oh @$%#.
I headed for the PC and the Internet again looking up how to make evaporated milk. Lots of recipes, I found one I could do. Evaporated milk is just regular milk cooked down to less volume. I had purchase a small quart of milk as a “just in case” item and this certainly qualified. I duly measured out 2 cups of milk into a saucepan and put it on the stove to reduce.
I waited for it to reduce, stirring, not stirring, removing surface scum. I waited and waited and waited. Dinner time came and went, and I was still waiting and Allen was waiting too. There's not much you can do with milk on the stove, you just have to “watch and wait”. Allen went off to read, nap, play with the cat, eat snacks and wait for dinner while I played with the milk on the stove and waited for it to reduce.
After what seemed like hours, the milk reduced sufficiently and I mixed it into the bowl with the pumpkin pie filling and eggs. It formed a very uninteresting pumpkin colored slurry. I began to realize that yet another pumpkin pie disaster was in serious danger happening. In short, I began to panic. I had to figure out what I could do to avoid it.
I had the custard cups all ready to go. I grabbed the maple syrup from the fridge and poured a nice splotch into the bottom of each cup. I figured it couldn't hurt. Next, I needed something to cover the top of the pumpkin slurry in each cup. Whatever was going to come out of the oven after baking would surely need to be hidden.
It didn't take me long to figure I could kill two disasters at once. I got those chips of marzipan-rock out and put them on top of the pumpkin slurry. I grabbed some of those toasted almonds too and decorated some more with them. Into the oven they went.
While they were baking, I was able to get the rest of the dinner together and we had the traditional everything: turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. A bit later than expected but tasty and filling. We both avoided talking about the custard in the oven.
When the hour was up and I got them out of the oven, they didn't look too bad. In fact they looked pretty good.
Allen said “I'm not trying it....”. Wise man.
After they cooled I wrapped them and put them in the fridge until I got the courage to taste one. Carefully, I spooned up a glob and standing over the sink, just in case, I took a taste.
Hmmm.... Hmmm... Yummmm!!!
I was so excited it tasted good, I forced Allen into trying it. He was surprised to say the least! One bite, two bites, the spoon was moving faster and faster; then he said, “This is the BEST pumpkin pie you've ever made!”
I'm so pumped! I wonder what kind of disaster I can come up with next season?!!!
[Editor's note: This story is Part 3 of 3 and was written by KimB.]
 |
| Pumpkin Custard with Marzipan Rock Topping |
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
2013 Blog Round Up
[Note: Editor's Post]
Nine years ago when MrsB wanted to start a family blog, we had no idea how it would turn out. She wanted to capture the wonderful family stories of days gone by and also share current stories with family as if we were all sitting around the dining room table, relaxing after eating a great meal, exchanging the news of doins' hither and yon.
As time went on, it became more. A source of connection to family members who have moved to other parts; a place we can all stop in and enjoy the latest escapades and conversation in a virtual and timeless setting that mimics the family gatherings of the past. A place of our own. A place we can call up the memories of those who are no longer with us and can hear their voices again.
What was surprising is that our family is not the only family to join our conversations. People from all over the globe drop by participate in our family gatherings. Like any good 3 Hop Query, the spread of our family stories has grown to include far away countries and towns across America, where others take the same comfort that we do. They hear the stories, read the poems and copy down the recipes. They laugh when we laugh and cry when we cry too.
Our family is unique but it is also like every other family too. We have our foibles and follies as well as serious moments. Our stories touch many we do not know, because they are the stories of all families. They are memories of the past and hopes for the future. They represent our connection with each other and with them too.
Some of our viewer's locations:
Our thanks to all the family members who have taken the time and effort to share their stories of good times and bad, of happy endings and uncertain outcomes, of sharing their lives with us. And thank you to the people who come to read the stories. Our memories are yours to share and laugh at and ponder.
There are always new stories to tell, tall tales to exchange at and new memories to share. 2014 will be like all other years with it's own share of special moments. We look forward to sharing those with you too.
KimB Editor
Nine years ago when MrsB wanted to start a family blog, we had no idea how it would turn out. She wanted to capture the wonderful family stories of days gone by and also share current stories with family as if we were all sitting around the dining room table, relaxing after eating a great meal, exchanging the news of doins' hither and yon.
As time went on, it became more. A source of connection to family members who have moved to other parts; a place we can all stop in and enjoy the latest escapades and conversation in a virtual and timeless setting that mimics the family gatherings of the past. A place of our own. A place we can call up the memories of those who are no longer with us and can hear their voices again.
What was surprising is that our family is not the only family to join our conversations. People from all over the globe drop by participate in our family gatherings. Like any good 3 Hop Query, the spread of our family stories has grown to include far away countries and towns across America, where others take the same comfort that we do. They hear the stories, read the poems and copy down the recipes. They laugh when we laugh and cry when we cry too.
Our family is unique but it is also like every other family too. We have our foibles and follies as well as serious moments. Our stories touch many we do not know, because they are the stories of all families. They are memories of the past and hopes for the future. They represent our connection with each other and with them too.
Some of our viewer's locations:
USA: CA, CO, GA, IL, LA, MI, MO, NV, NY, OR, PA, TX, UT, WAThe blog is not only our blog but theirs too.
World: Canada, UK, Australia, France, Mexico, Germany, India, New Zealand, Philippines, Italy, Brazil, Greece and many more.
Our thanks to all the family members who have taken the time and effort to share their stories of good times and bad, of happy endings and uncertain outcomes, of sharing their lives with us. And thank you to the people who come to read the stories. Our memories are yours to share and laugh at and ponder.
There are always new stories to tell, tall tales to exchange at and new memories to share. 2014 will be like all other years with it's own share of special moments. We look forward to sharing those with you too.
KimB Editor
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Marzipan and Pumpkin Pie Part 2 by KimB
Those simple words “soft-ball stage” meant a disaster was on the horizon.
First, every attempt I ever made at making fudge, which requires cooking to a soft-ball-stage, was an unmitigated disaster. In fact, I blame all my pumpkin pie failures on the fact I never made decent fudge. Second, I never owned a candy thermometer and I wasn't going to go buy one just for “this”.
I spent few minutes, maybe 5 in all, considering my alternatives and decided to “Just Go For It”. The mix went on the stove, a small bowl of cold water to test, and away we went. I figured it couldn't come out any worse than any of the fudge I ever made, so what's to lose?
After a cooking, stirring, not stirring, dropping bits into the cold water, I made the Official Determination that it was DONE and turned it out to into a cooling dish. It looked like beige fudge.
In fact, it looked good.
I rolled it into small billiard ball size lumps as directed. I was actually rather pleased with myself. It looked like it was supposed to. I put some in the freezer and some in the fridge so I could start making those cute little almond fruit shapes.
You ever notice how when things look like they are going well, they are actually going over a cliff?
A few days later, after my fingers had recovered from their “almond peeling experience”, I decided it was time to start making those nice fruit shapes. I envisioned apples, pears, bananas, cherries, maybe some flowers too. I took one of the marzipan lumps from the fridge and …. it was like a rock. Oh? Maybe it needs to warm up some so I let it sit a few minutes. Hmm, still like a rock. Ok... I put it in the nuke for 15 seconds. It came out warm but the rock like quality was still there. In fact I realized it WAS a rock. Oh Oh.
I took out the meat tenderizer which has a bit of weight to it, and gave it a whack, just to test. The meat tenderizer bounced off the surface confirming its rock qualities, which showed no dents or dings. I had to get a hammer to get in a good smack just to chip off an edge. I worked up a light sweat smacking it into small chips. You ever want to take out some frustrations, I can recommend my marzipan-rocks and a hammer.
Since it was pretty plain that no cute little shapes were going to appear from this lot, I re-wrapped the chips placed them back in the fridge. I had no idea what I was going to do with it all.
[Editor's note: This story is Part 2 of 3 and was written by KimB.]
First, every attempt I ever made at making fudge, which requires cooking to a soft-ball-stage, was an unmitigated disaster. In fact, I blame all my pumpkin pie failures on the fact I never made decent fudge. Second, I never owned a candy thermometer and I wasn't going to go buy one just for “this”.
I spent few minutes, maybe 5 in all, considering my alternatives and decided to “Just Go For It”. The mix went on the stove, a small bowl of cold water to test, and away we went. I figured it couldn't come out any worse than any of the fudge I ever made, so what's to lose?
 |
| Marzipan Cooling |
In fact, it looked good.
I rolled it into small billiard ball size lumps as directed. I was actually rather pleased with myself. It looked like it was supposed to. I put some in the freezer and some in the fridge so I could start making those cute little almond fruit shapes.
You ever notice how when things look like they are going well, they are actually going over a cliff?
A few days later, after my fingers had recovered from their “almond peeling experience”, I decided it was time to start making those nice fruit shapes. I envisioned apples, pears, bananas, cherries, maybe some flowers too. I took one of the marzipan lumps from the fridge and …. it was like a rock. Oh? Maybe it needs to warm up some so I let it sit a few minutes. Hmm, still like a rock. Ok... I put it in the nuke for 15 seconds. It came out warm but the rock like quality was still there. In fact I realized it WAS a rock. Oh Oh.
I took out the meat tenderizer which has a bit of weight to it, and gave it a whack, just to test. The meat tenderizer bounced off the surface confirming its rock qualities, which showed no dents or dings. I had to get a hammer to get in a good smack just to chip off an edge. I worked up a light sweat smacking it into small chips. You ever want to take out some frustrations, I can recommend my marzipan-rocks and a hammer.
Since it was pretty plain that no cute little shapes were going to appear from this lot, I re-wrapped the chips placed them back in the fridge. I had no idea what I was going to do with it all.
[Editor's note: This story is Part 2 of 3 and was written by KimB.]
 |
| Marzipan Rocks |
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
MrsB's PDF Book for 2012
[Note: Editor's Post]
MrsB's blog stories from 2012 are now available in pdf format for download. 2012 was a great year for stories and good memories. Download a copy to share with family and friends.
Don't forget to download a copy of the cookbooks too. Need a special recipe for the holidays? Try Esther's My Nana's Cookbook. Need something to warm you up during the cold winter? Check out the stew recipe in Marion's Recipes Vol 1. Need cakes or cookies? Both cookbooks have some great dessert offerings.
The Recipe Box section of the blog can rustle you up some great food in short time too and these are included in the separate yearly download pdf files.
Click on the link in the download side panel to get your copies.
MrsB's blog stories from 2012 are now available in pdf format for download. 2012 was a great year for stories and good memories. Download a copy to share with family and friends.
Don't forget to download a copy of the cookbooks too. Need a special recipe for the holidays? Try Esther's My Nana's Cookbook. Need something to warm you up during the cold winter? Check out the stew recipe in Marion's Recipes Vol 1. Need cakes or cookies? Both cookbooks have some great dessert offerings.
The Recipe Box section of the blog can rustle you up some great food in short time too and these are included in the separate yearly download pdf files.
Click on the link in the download side panel to get your copies.
Saturday, December 07, 2013
Marzipan and Pumpkin Pie Part 1 by KimB
Nearly every holiday, I attempt to make pumpkin pie and I fail. It's almost a tradition now, Kim's annual attempt at pumpkin pie, a valiant effort to make something edible. I know it's supposed to be easy but somehow I manage to make a mess of it and it comes out in various forms fit only for the garbage can. Every holiday, Allen groans – Not again... PLEASE??? Of course, I ignore his pleas and continue to plan my attack. This year was no exception.
Marzipan. I love marzipan. Almonds made perfect. Eons ago, I made marzipan into fruit shapes and used food dye to color them. I made apples and pears and bananas. Bits of cloves made stems and blossoms, toothpicks dipped in the food dyes made fine out lines and highlights. It was great fun.
My friend D, lives on a ranch and they have some almond trees. Her husband, G, is an expert in machinery and big farm equipment. He's very clever and can make all sorts of tools and add ons for the tractors and other equipment. He made a tree shaker to harvest the almonds from their trees and then he made a mechanical nut cracker to shell them.
Every year she gives me a big bag full of shelled almonds. I put them in the freezer and eat them over the year. We have far more than we can eat though, and so there's quite a bit left over.
This year, as I thought about the pumpkin pie, I also thought about marzipan. Wouldn't some marzipan fruit be nice and it would go so well with that pumpkin pie I'm going to make? I decided I would attack on both fronts: one side marzipan and the other pumpkin pie. What could be simpler?
As I could not remember how I made the marzipan, I did the usual DuckDuckGo.com search for a recipe. The recipes seemed simple but it also was a bit more complex than I remembered but undeterred I began.
First you have to remove the brown skin from the almonds. For this you use boiling water and it appeared to be very straight forward. So I boiled the water and poured it over my almonds and then attempted to remove the skins. Hmmm, something not quite right there. The skins didn't come off that easily, at least not how the videos showed them. So I did a number of remedial actions but in the end it was 2 days and some very raw fingers before I had the skins off the almonds.
Then came the grinding part. I only have a small onion chopper that does a half onion at a time, but in went a handful of almonds and after a lot of grinding occurred, a very small amount of ground almonds remained. I looked at my BIG bucket of peeled almonds and the tiny grinder, then dashed into battle once again. About a week later, I ran out of steam and decided I'd ground all the almonds I was going to grind.
The leftover peeled almonds I toasted in the oven, which was its own side procedure, as I hadn't planned on toasted almonds but my fingers were sore and I was getting worried my little grinder would burn out if I keep on grinding.
Then I read the next part of the recipe, which was to mix up the ground almonds with brown sugar and using a candy thermometer heat to n-degrees or soft-ball stage. Oh-Oh. As soon as I read that last part I knew things were going to go down hill fast.
[Editor's note: This story is Part 1 of 3 and was written by KimB.]
Marzipan. I love marzipan. Almonds made perfect. Eons ago, I made marzipan into fruit shapes and used food dye to color them. I made apples and pears and bananas. Bits of cloves made stems and blossoms, toothpicks dipped in the food dyes made fine out lines and highlights. It was great fun.
My friend D, lives on a ranch and they have some almond trees. Her husband, G, is an expert in machinery and big farm equipment. He's very clever and can make all sorts of tools and add ons for the tractors and other equipment. He made a tree shaker to harvest the almonds from their trees and then he made a mechanical nut cracker to shell them.
Every year she gives me a big bag full of shelled almonds. I put them in the freezer and eat them over the year. We have far more than we can eat though, and so there's quite a bit left over.
This year, as I thought about the pumpkin pie, I also thought about marzipan. Wouldn't some marzipan fruit be nice and it would go so well with that pumpkin pie I'm going to make? I decided I would attack on both fronts: one side marzipan and the other pumpkin pie. What could be simpler?
As I could not remember how I made the marzipan, I did the usual DuckDuckGo.com search for a recipe. The recipes seemed simple but it also was a bit more complex than I remembered but undeterred I began.
First you have to remove the brown skin from the almonds. For this you use boiling water and it appeared to be very straight forward. So I boiled the water and poured it over my almonds and then attempted to remove the skins. Hmmm, something not quite right there. The skins didn't come off that easily, at least not how the videos showed them. So I did a number of remedial actions but in the end it was 2 days and some very raw fingers before I had the skins off the almonds.
Then came the grinding part. I only have a small onion chopper that does a half onion at a time, but in went a handful of almonds and after a lot of grinding occurred, a very small amount of ground almonds remained. I looked at my BIG bucket of peeled almonds and the tiny grinder, then dashed into battle once again. About a week later, I ran out of steam and decided I'd ground all the almonds I was going to grind.
The leftover peeled almonds I toasted in the oven, which was its own side procedure, as I hadn't planned on toasted almonds but my fingers were sore and I was getting worried my little grinder would burn out if I keep on grinding.
Then I read the next part of the recipe, which was to mix up the ground almonds with brown sugar and using a candy thermometer heat to n-degrees or soft-ball stage. Oh-Oh. As soon as I read that last part I knew things were going to go down hill fast.
[Editor's note: This story is Part 1 of 3 and was written by KimB.]
 |
| Peeling Almonds |
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
So How Does YOUR Garden Grow?
Kim
Last year I started growing some special miniature bell peppers from seed. I carefully planted them indoors late winter and planned to put them out when the weather improved. Unfortunately, the plants didn't last that long and soon they withered and just looked plain awful. Some shriveled into nothing, the few that “lived” were spindly and weak.
In desperation, I put the survivors out anyway, not in hopes that they would grow but primarily so I wouldn't have to look at them and have that old gardener's complaint of: FAILED AGAIN. I deliberately “forgot” about them; I didn't even bother checking for any non-existent progress.
In the run up to the holidays and already planning a garden for next year, I went out to the side yard to see what was there, what needed fixing up and the general state of my containers. And wouldn't you know it – I had Bell Peppers! A lot of bell peppers! So many miniature bell peppers I had to take a sit down to take it all in.
About 8 plants survived the ordeal and each plant had 20 or more miniature bell peppers. I wasn't sure if they were bells because they looked a lot like green jalapeños. I picked a big bucket of them just the same and brought them indoors to show Allen.
They were quite beautiful, deep green, the biggest about the size of my thumb. We looked and sniffed but we couldn't tell if they were “hot or not”. We drew straws to see who was going to do the taste test. I lost.
Carefully, I cut a teeny tiny snip off the end of one of the peppers. Allen was ready to pour me a glass of milk, just in case. Sniff, sniff, sniff.... in it went. Long Pause..... it was SWEET! It was a real bell pepper!
I left the bells that I had harvested in the bucket on the counter, as I didn't have time right then to cut them up and get them in the freezer. They sat on the counter for a few days. And then another surprise! During the few days they were on the counter, about half of them turned into bright golden-yellow bell peppers. It was a gorgeous display of Green and Gold.
I kept some of the seeds as I cut them up. I'm not sure they will grow or if I will plant them but if I do, for sure I will not be doing them indoors this time. Then again....
Last year I started growing some special miniature bell peppers from seed. I carefully planted them indoors late winter and planned to put them out when the weather improved. Unfortunately, the plants didn't last that long and soon they withered and just looked plain awful. Some shriveled into nothing, the few that “lived” were spindly and weak.
In desperation, I put the survivors out anyway, not in hopes that they would grow but primarily so I wouldn't have to look at them and have that old gardener's complaint of: FAILED AGAIN. I deliberately “forgot” about them; I didn't even bother checking for any non-existent progress.
In the run up to the holidays and already planning a garden for next year, I went out to the side yard to see what was there, what needed fixing up and the general state of my containers. And wouldn't you know it – I had Bell Peppers! A lot of bell peppers! So many miniature bell peppers I had to take a sit down to take it all in.
About 8 plants survived the ordeal and each plant had 20 or more miniature bell peppers. I wasn't sure if they were bells because they looked a lot like green jalapeños. I picked a big bucket of them just the same and brought them indoors to show Allen.
They were quite beautiful, deep green, the biggest about the size of my thumb. We looked and sniffed but we couldn't tell if they were “hot or not”. We drew straws to see who was going to do the taste test. I lost.
Carefully, I cut a teeny tiny snip off the end of one of the peppers. Allen was ready to pour me a glass of milk, just in case. Sniff, sniff, sniff.... in it went. Long Pause..... it was SWEET! It was a real bell pepper!
I left the bells that I had harvested in the bucket on the counter, as I didn't have time right then to cut them up and get them in the freezer. They sat on the counter for a few days. And then another surprise! During the few days they were on the counter, about half of them turned into bright golden-yellow bell peppers. It was a gorgeous display of Green and Gold.
I kept some of the seeds as I cut them up. I'm not sure they will grow or if I will plant them but if I do, for sure I will not be doing them indoors this time. Then again....
 |
| Miniature Bell Peppers |
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