Tomatoes

Its tomato plantin' time again, but I don't think I'll bother planting any this year.

The beautiful ones at the market are so much nicer than the pitiful harvests my little garden usually produces. The store I shop in sells clusters of 4 or 5 vine ripened tomatoes still attached to a portion of vine. They're large, red and juicy as only perfect tomatoes can be.

They bring to mind the tomatoes my mother grew in a small kitchen garden when I was a child. I was about 8 yrs old and on warm summer mornings I would come downstairs for breakfast only to find breakfast over, and my siblings out playing with friends.

I'd go searching for Mom and find her picking tomatoes in the little garden near the back porch. She would let me pick one to eat as I sat on the back porch steps. I'd often choose a 2nd and even a 3rd.

I can still smell the distinctive odor of tomato vines as I walked thru the rows to find the biggest, and juiciest ones, and recall slurping tomato juice as it dribbled down my chin.

Those delightful red tomato breakfasts and golden sunshine mornings are among the fondest memories etched in my memory bank.

Tomato Cluster

The 17 Year Spread by Barbara

It was back in 1987 when my sister Allene had come to visit with Mom and Andy in Abbeville Louisiana for a couple of weeks and of course her husband was with her.

Our visit was going great. We girls would sit around and talk about things we wish we could get and things we really didn't need of course, as our closets were bulging at the seams already. But you know how we girls are, if any thing new comes out, we want it!

Mom and Allene had gone shopping and bought each of them some new yarn to start new throws with the new colors that had come out. Not that they needed one more throw, because they had plenty all ready.

When Andy and James saw all the new yarn they asked them what in the world are you doing buying more of that stuff, you all ready have a closet full!

They answered, but we don't have any in this color!!!!

Then the guys wanted to know what's for supper.

Oh, okay, we'll fix your supper but then we're going to sit down and get started on our new throws.

So this is how it went for a few days. Cook, clean up the kitchen, sit crochet for a while, take a break have a cup of coffee and a slice of cake or maybe eat some good cookies.

Once supper was over, then the guys had to get their own eats and drinks 'cause the girls had done their job for the guys for the day, and now we can sit and work on the throws as long as we want. Yeah!

After a few days, I wanted to join in too, so I asked Sis (as I called her), if she would show me how to crochet. Of course she would be happy to! Then all three of us could sit and work together on our throws.

I couldn't just do something simple, oh no not me! I wanted to do a bed spread not just a throw.

Well, my birthday was coming up, so she told me we would go to TG&Y in the morning and she would let me chose the colors I wanted. So after taking care of breakfast and cleaning up, we head off to do our thing.

Now, don't ask me why I chose the colors I did, because I couldn't tell you. Only thing I can say is, I like fall, and browns, oranges and cream colors remind me of the fall colors. So there you are!

Sis even bought the needle for me. We check out and home we go. I'm so excited I'm going to learn how to crochet, and not just that simple throw either, mine will be a bedspread! Hallelujah!!

Now I'll confess I'm not too smart. I didn't see the days or the hours that it was going to take me to get this job finished. No sir! I had not a clue.

When we get home, its time for lunch so we set the stuff down; get in the kitchen (again); get through that and now time for me to learn! Yeah!!

We sit down and Sis gets it started, hands it to me and says make a long chain so I work and work. Finally, I ask if its long enough. She says lets go check it on the bed if it will go all the way across. Well of course it didn't. Back to chain a little more. Finally I have it long enough and its time to start doing the shell stitch, making a shell in each one of the holes.

By now its time for a break, so we relax for a while and have a cup of coffee. This was back in the days when I could drink a pot by myself. Can't do that any more, thank the good lord.

Any way, we worked on our projects for the rest of the week. I learned how to get to the end, turn around and come back. I had started off with the brown now it was time to start another color, so Sis showed me how to tie the thread and start again.

I did a little more work on it then put it away, so we could spend time talking before they left for home in Georgia.

I thanked her for my gift and for teaching me the art of crocheting. I hated to see them leave, but maybe they would visit again soon. Well that didn't happen.

Now, I never pulled that project back out for at least three months. I finished the orange did the cream color and put it away again. Only this time, I didn't pull it back out for at least one year.

One day, going through the closet, I came across the unfinished bedspread and thought how nice and warm that it would be for the coming winter, so I pulled it out once again. This time i finished it, except for the edging, but at least I could use it. Now its 1980.

Jerry and I move here to Groesbeck, Texas in 1988. We live in the country 'till 1990, when we buy this property; I want to say, maybe in 1995.

So, around 1995, I pull that bedspread out and completely finish it off. Praise the lord and hallelujah! Job well done, even if it did take me 17 years to complete. Like they say, better late than never. Right?

Hope ya'll enjoy my story.

P.S. My sweet loving sister got to see the finished project before she passed away in 1996. A good ending, huh?

[Editor's note: This story was written by Barbara.
Apologies from the Editor for not getting this wonderful story on line a lot earlier. At least is not quite 17 years.]

[Who is Barbara? Barbara is the widow of MrsB's brother Jerry (Gerald Dean Abbott October 6, 1931 - July 25, 2010). MrsB's brothers and sisters are: Adeline, Esther, Richard, Jerry, Elbert, Charles and Mickey.]

Fall Trees

500 Post Milestone!

[Note: Editor's Post]

MrsB's Blog has hit a new milestone: 500 posts! Amazing!

It's hard to imagine all the work and effort that's gone into the blog over the last decade but the proof is right there: 500 posts and MORE to come!

As always, the thanks belong to those who take a bit of time to write up interesting stories, or share memories with us. The readers of the blog get extra treats, insights and a chuckle, now and then, as we tell the story of our lives.

It's not too far off to say, a LOT of people read the blog and come back again and again to follow our family saga: fights with gophers, heroic efforts to get potatoes to grow, commentary on current events and historical musings.

500 stories have been told so far and here's hoping for 500 more.

KimB Editor (post 501)

Rhinos

Cory Knowlton and a secret partner's bid of $350,000 wins the auction held by the Dallas Safari Club to kill a black Rhino in Namibia. The Rhino is said to be old, non-reproducing and showing signs of aggressiveness, which could be a danger to young Rhinos.

Allegedly, the money will be used to help in the conservation of black Rhinos. In short, they want to kill a Rhino in order to save Rhinos.

I don't understand why the animal can't be moved to another area where it's no longer a danger to young Rhinos so it could live out its life, and perhaps, even allowed to be a tourist attraction.

The inborn urge to kill something is a trait that I have never understood. Killing animals just for the 'experience' is repugnant to me.

I hope those in charge of the shooting, will have second thoughts and just make a gift of the $350,000 to the conservation efforts to save black Rhinos.

Afterword

The National Geographic (Dallas Black Rhino Hunt Auction) has a good article expounding on the why this particular hunting permit is available in the US where trade in rhino products are illegal.

The countries where rhinos still exist do have limited permitted hunting of them and normally those permits are not seen by outsiders to the Big Game Hunting industry. The money obtained from these permits does help conservation. In this case, Namibia decided that they could obtain more money from selling the permit directly to a wealthy individual than from selling the same permit to one of the Big Game Hunting safari companies.

The value of an animal whether legally shot or poached, reduces the overall economic value of the eco-tourism safari industry, because that animal is no longer there to be "seen". If it's poached the carcass is left to rot while the "important parts" become a by-product, and if it's a "trophy" it's still dead; with the head stuffed and mounted on a plaque nailed to a wall in the home of it's killer, collecting dust.

[Editor's note: The Afterword was written by KimB.]


Black Rhino

Missing flight 370

I've listen to every snippet of information that's reported on television about the mysterious disappearance of the Malaysian plane, flight 370. Speculation of what happened, how, why and where has the whole world wondering if this mystery will ever be solved.

When I first heard there was a missing plane, I lamented the tragedy of such a horrific lost of life, 500 souls at one time.

In recent years, we have become used to (if not blasé), about mega deaths and mega happenings.

Before WWII we used to shudder when reports of events listed several fatalities. The prior patriotic deaths during wars were deemed acceptable, but the shocking Holocaust in WWII prepared us for mega deaths and mega events. Since then, genocides and wanton killing of citizens by tyrants and dictators is daily fare on TV. Fanatical religious groups plan and study the killing of large numbers of people and elements of extreme nature, floods, hurricanes and winter storms are causing mega disruptions of towns and cities. Severe droughts are turning agricultural lands into mega deserts. We are getting used to mega changes in mega bursts. Is it any wonder that flight 370 has become a mega mystery?

The history of planes being hi-jacked by religious extremists has led to speculation that flight 370 was deliberately flown off course for nefarious reasons. Reports of data being pieced together by manufactures and aviation agencies allows imagined scenarios of what may have happened in the cockpit and may even solve the mystery.

Regardless of the real happenings, I imagine a scenario that is one of heroism and bravery. In my alternate history, the pilots, honest, brave and dedicated to the safety of passengers, surreptitiously left clues as they were overwhelmed and control of the plane was taken from them. The odd remark, “good night” at the last check point which didn't follow protocol may have been their last indication that something was wrong. In my scenario, the pilots, under supervision from some criminal element, made every effort to keep the plane in the air as long as there was fuel. Contemplating what transpired on board then is just too horrible to think about.

In my fictional world, I can have a miracle. I imagine the possibility that the plane flew to another country on purpose and so my imaginary plane lands safely; the authorities are able to arrest hijackers and keep pilots and passengers safe.

If only that fiction became reality...


Van Gogh In Alternate Universe
by Aisa Mijeno

Theater: R. Buckminster Fuller by Richard

Recently, Frances and I enjoyed the play R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe performed by the San Jose Repertory Company. The play was written and directed by D.W. Jacobs and starred Ron Campbell as the main character.

R. Buckminster Fuller, called Bucky by his friends, was a 20th century inventor and visionary in solving global problems.

The character of R. Buckminster Fuller, was portrayed by Ron Campbell and we were wowed as he moved from subject to subject during the performance.

The play covered 2 hours (plus a 20 minute break) and was so interesting, I was ready for more!

For my self, I am interested in all the various scientific fields depicted during the production. I would recommend this play to any one who has an interest or curiosity about the fields of science.

When the play ended, Ron Campbell received a standing ovation which was well deserved.

[Editor's note: This story was written by Richard]



R. Buckminster Fuller:
The History (and Mystery) of the Universe

The Snail Mail Birmingham Blues

Foreword

Snail mail is nearly gone, replaced by instant messaging, texting, Skyping, on-line orders, automatic bill pay, e-mail, voice mail and overnight delivery. The wonderful anticipation of the post delivery is an experience new generations will hardly be aware of. Today, you order something on-line; it arrives the next day. You want to ask your friends to go out, you send a Twitter or Facebook invite; replies are nearly instantaneous.

There was a time when we knew the mail delivery person. They came to our door bringing news from far away, dreaded bills and sometimes a bit of neighborhood info along with the weekly store ads that were so important for managing tight budgets and limited assets. They came rain or shine, wind or sleet. They knew our names and we knew theirs. They watched as neighborhood children grew up and went off to follow their own paths. They kept an eye on the seniors that lived on their circuit as they made their way door to door. We cheered them when they retired and greeted the new postal delivery person with respect and honor.

A time gone by....

[Editor's note: The Foreword was written by KimB.]

A small homage to the lost days when waiting for the post was an important part of the day.

The Snail Mail Birmingham Blues

I got the blues, the Birmingham blues
waitin' on a letter with the latest news.
I got the blues
Waitin' on a letter from you

Down in the Valley,
Where wild flowers grow,
You can hang your head over
and hear the wind blow,

My forty foot castle reaches the sky,
And I wait and wait for mail to come by,
But I got the blues,
Just awaitin' for a letter from you.

My red, red roses faded from view,
The blue, blue violets faded too
But Angles know that I say true,
The Angles know that I love you,

I got the blues the Birmingham blues,
Waitin' for a letter from you.

I'm not askin' for the Holy Grail,
Only a letter, sent by mail
I got the blues, the Birmingham blues
Waitin' on a letter from you.

Marion Bigelow February 2014

There has been a slight delay...

[Note: Editor's Post]

Sorry... It's actually a long delay and it's all on the part of the Editor. Moi.

Soon we will be back going "Full Gas On" and getting the stories out that MrsB has ready to go and catch up on all the latest doin's hither and yonder.

As a sneak preview here's some of the photos for upcoming posts in:

So How Does Your Garden Grow?

Spring Tulips and Freesias 2014

Taters Will They Be A Success?

Taters Will They Be A Success?

KimB Editor

To Knot, or Not to Knot

My interest in Celtic patterns initiated my curiosity in knots and how to tie them. I spent a lot of time watching many YouTube video instructions on tying them. The demonstrations ranged from tying knots for specific uses to decorative ones.

I marveled at the ingenuity and complexity of knots. The Turks Head and variations of the Solomon knot that are used in bracelets really caught my eye. I wasn't really interested in making a bracelet but only learning how the knots were tied in making one. The videos made it look so easy. One could watch each move and twist as the demonstrations showed from beginning to end how to wind cord, around, over and under repeatedly to create a bracelet.

Silver and gold wire can be used to make Turks Head bracelets, but 550 Para cord which comes in many colors was generally used in the YouTube videos. Para cord is lightweight nylon parachute cord rated for 550 lbs of weight.

I decided that a Turks Head bracelet, which looks like there is no beginning or ending, would be my first project. I didn't have para cord so I used knitting yarn. I thought anything you could tie a knot in would work until I had a chance to buy Para cord, but I soon found out working with string or yarn was not going to be easy.

Para cord has the diameter of clothesline rope and the thin wraps of yarn were soon tangled, making me lose track of the 'overs and unders'. Even when I was able to weave one circuit, I would lose the trace and have to start all over. Using Para cord would have made it ezpz, but with yarn, it took me three days of trial and error before I could make them without watching a video.

While learning about the different knots used in making bracelets, I discovered Survival Bracelets. They can be taken apart and the inner strands of nylon can be joined and used as rope if necessary. There is a tiny steel plate, a substitute for flint, that can be used to start a fire with some raveled string that is woven into the bracelet.

Here are some links for great how-to demos:
[editor's note: some of these videos have ads]

Scribd.com Celtic Art Tutorial

Youtube.com Endless Turk's Head Bracelet

Youtube.com Pineapple Knot

Youtube.com Survival Bracelet

Youtube.com Using a Survival Bracelet to make a fire

Yarn Bracelets

Mail

I have a post office box and what little mail I receive these days is retrieved from there and not from any of the other traditional residential mailboxes like a mail slot in the front door or from a big metal box with a small metal flag that's raised when there is out going mail or from a fancy 'one of a kind' mailbox atop a pole planted near the curb showing the house number.

I do have a mail box on the outside of the building near the front door, but there are too many homeless people meandering the neighborhood, and its a known fact that some are tempted to steal mail, hoping to find money.

Incidentally, while mentioning the homeless, I think its disgraceful that this country allows such a condition to exist! As one of the richest countries on the planet, having a single one of its citizens struggling to live without shelter is not only deplorable, but criminal. I keep hearing the excuse that those are people on drugs, but SO WHAT?

But, I digress.

Back to mail.

When I checked my P. O. box on New Years eve, among the stack of Christmas cards was a Burpees 2014 seed catalog What a delightful way to start 2014!!! I prize all seed catalogs that come my way. I spend hours browsing them. They are my 'wishing' book. As a child I browsed the toy pages in Mom and Dad's Sears catalog, but had never heard the Sears catalog called the 'wishing' book, until years later, when I heard my sister Esther call it that. Its certainly an apropos name, and I've usurped it for seed catalogs.

Burpee's catalog is the first of many that I hope will arrive in my mail. Anticipation of them is an incentive to check the post box more often.

Homeless Statistics for the USA

As many as 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year (1% of the entire U.S. population or 10% of its poor), and about 842,000 people in any given week.

23% are families with children—the fastest growing segment.
51.3% are single males.
24.7% are single females.
5% are minors unaccompanied by adults.
37 million (or 39%) of the total homeless population are children under the age of 18.

44% report having worked in the past week.
13% have regular jobs.
50% receive less than $300 per month as income

29% report acute health problems.
46% report chronic health conditions.
55% report having no health insurance.
58% report having trouble getting enough food to eat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States

Right hands

Right handed people never realize how much they use their right hand until they are forced, for some reason, to use their left. It's not a problem for those who are ambidextrous, but for the rest of us, its a challenge with a capital C.

On New Years eve, I was attempting to put a large, heavy, steel pan lid on the shelf above the stove, and it slipped off the shelf, dropping down on my forearm with enough force for me to see stars, only I didn't see stars, I saw fireworks!

Doctors in ER did the X-ray, splint routine and sent me home to wait until I could see the Orthopedic Dr after the holiday. While I was in the Orthopedic waiting room, I saw that I was one of many New Years accidents. I was the only one with an arm in a sling, but there was an abundance of braces and crutches.

Learning to use my left hand is a challenge. I've been told that after a few days, using the left hand gets easier and I can tell that even after several days, compensating movements are easier. I have even been able to write letters to my sister that are quite legible. Today my left hand writing was good enough to address the envelope my self.

I don't know exactly how long it will take for my wrist to heal, but I am determined to follow doctor's orders so the time will be shortened as much as possible.


NOT My New Years Resolution

Happy New Year 2014!

A cup of kindness to
one and all
2014

Merry Christmas!

12 Days of Christmas

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

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.]

Pumpkin Custard with Marzipan Rock Topping



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:

USA: CA, CO, GA, IL, LA, MI, MO, NV, NY, OR, PA, TX, UT, WA

World: Canada, UK, Australia, France, Mexico, Germany, India, New Zealand, Philippines, Italy, Brazil, Greece and many more.

The blog is not only our blog but theirs too.

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

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?


Marzipan Cooling

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.]


Marzipan Rocks

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.

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.]



Peeling Almonds

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....



Miniature Bell Peppers

Happy San Gibbe!!!

Happy Turkey Day!

Eat all your veggies!