Picture Girl

Pam set out to get a few 'candid' photos of the granddaughter.  Oops, I think she has seen the camera.

She was going to take a nap with her animals. Oh well, no nap now.

Kira with "Pink Bear".  Boy, what a smile! What a ham!

Flower Girl

Kira is making preparations for her Flower Girl responsibility at a recent wedding. Her mother's friend, Monica, may not have realized what she was starting when she asked for a 2 1/2 year old to act as flower girl in her recent wedding ceremony.

How do you keep a 2 1/2 year old flower girl busy during the wedding ceremony?

Smile!

You're On Candid Camera.

This is a recent picture of our granddaughter, Kira, showing off one of her birthday presents. Look closely at the jewelry set she is wearing. This set includes the tiara on her head, the necklace around her neck, and the dangle clip on earrings on her ears. This beautiful heart shaped set includes all three heart shaped, pink plastic 'stone'. The set does include a ring with the pink plastic heart, but is not visible in this picture. This beautiful jewelry set was given to Kira by her cousins from Corpus Christi, Texas. They were in town visiting for the party. This was the social event of the day with a 2 year birthday party hosted by the grandparents, Lance and Pam, at a local eating establishment. Numerous friends and relatives enjoyed hamburgers, chicken nuggets, fries, and drinks accompanied by ice cream and cake. Happy Birthday Kira!

Spinning and Grinning!

Ain't it great to be the baby sitter. I recently took this video of the grandkid, Kira, while she was playing with one of her toys. Here she is on her 'Sit & Spin' doing what a kid is supposed to be doing on a 'Sit & Spin', she is spinning and grinning!

For more information on the "Sit and Spin" see:

http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/

Recipe Wednesday #17

This week I am taking another recipe from Creative Cooking. Follow this link for the whole story concerning this Recipe Booklet:

First Recipe Wednesday for Wednesday, April 30, 2008

You may also find this page by going into the Blog Archives for 2008. Look for the Wednesday, April 30th Blog post.

Now for this weeks recipe:

Guacamole

Bobbie Horst

2 medium very ripe avocados
2 medium ripe tomatoes
1 small onion, finely grated
2 small Serrano or any hot chiles, chopped, or 2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. lime juice
2 tsp. lemon juice
Dash paprika
2 tsp. salt (more or less)
Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. coriander

Mash avocados with fork. Add the other ingredients and stir into paste that is not too smooth. Note: This dish is best if made immediately before serving, but if made ahead of time put avocado seed in the spread and cover tightly to prevent darkening.

This recipe was submitted to the recipe book by my mother, Bobbie Horst. Please see the Archive post for Wednesday April 30, 2008 for the story behind the cook book.

Recipe Wednesday #15

I was looking through Pam's recipes for this week. I found an old loose leaf type notebook with pages for copying recipes, tabs for separating the meal types, and envelopes for cutting and inserting recipes from magazines or newspapers. Here follows one of the recipes I found copied in Pam's handwriting onto one of the loose leaf pages in the recipe book:


Cool Tuna Noodle Salad


Ingredients:

1 Can Cream of Celery Soup
1/2 Cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp. chopped pimento stuffed olives
2 Tbsp. grated onion
8 Oz. corkscrew macaroni, cooked
1 Can tuna (6 oz.)
1 Pkg. frozen mixed vegetables (10 oz.)

Directions:

Mix first 5 ingredients
Add macaroni
Add tuna and vegetables
Mix, cover, and refrigerate


She confirms that it is written in her handwriting, but she does not remember where she got the recipe. Try it out and enjoy! This sounds like a great spring or summer time salad or perhaps even a light dinner or supper meal.

Recipe Wednesday: # 14

Pam's Favorite Breakfast

This is the recipe for French Toast which I believe may be Pam's favorite breakfast. I'm not really sure why! She is not French and as far as I know her primary heritage is Italian and American Indian. We have never been to France and she has never really expressed much interest in going there. I found a possible clue as I was researching a possible recipe for this week. I was looking through the Recipe Book she had as a child, Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls, and I found the following recipe for:


French Toast

With beater blend -----------2 eggs, beaten, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cut in half -------------------6 slices stale bread

Heat frying pan or griddle moderately hot. Grease with butter or bacon fat.

Pick up bread on fork, by half-slices. Dip both sides into egg mixture and put on hot frying pan or griddle.

Brown on both sides, turning with pancake turner.

Serve hot with syrup or jelly.



I believe I have used this little Recipe Book on previous posts as it was the Cook Book my wife had when she was very young. I don't have any publication information like date and publishing house for the book since it is missing the first few pages. I would surely give that gredit to the original publisher if I knew. I suspect the book was printed some time in the early or mid 1950's. Pam may have had the French Toast from the Cook Book and it is now one of those "fond childhood memories". I do know that she uses a variation of this recipe and no longer uses the butter or bacon fat and now uses olive oil (that shows her Italian heritage) for greasing the pan. She doesn't use the salt in the egg and now substitutes cinamon instead. She usually uses the whole piece of bread without cutting it in half and I don't believe she is likely to use "stale" bread. She is more likely to throw that away and get the fresh stuff. I'm not so sure about the "stale" part either. I'm not sure if that would be advisable today. What if someone got sick from your French Toast. I don't suppose we could just blame it on France. That might not be politically correct. Oh well, that could be another whole story.

I hope you enjoy the French Toast!

Recipe ......day # 13

Oops! I missed the normal Wednesday Recipe again. Maybe there is something about that #13 thing. Well I'm not normally superstitious about these things, so I will proceed with the Recipe after this brief disclaimer. We were very busy on Wednesday with a trip to the airport. Kari will be participating in the wedding of one of her best friends who lives in Sweden. I'm sure she will take the opportunity for some vacation activities with her friends and family as well. Here we are at the airport just before boarding the flight to Sweden.

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When the rest of us left the airport we went back into Houston for a visit to the Farmer's Market on Airline Drive, to eat lunch at The Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Houston, and to take a brief shopping trip before our return home. Some of the produce items we bought at the farmer's market included fresh green beans, new potatoes, and onions. I cooked the green beans, thus we get the following recipe:

Farmer's Market Green Beans

2 -3 "handfuls" of fresh green beans, snip ends and peel strings if any

8 - 10 new red potatoes, whole or cut in half

1/2 onion, sliced or coarsely chopped

4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced or minced

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

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Prepare first 3 ingredients as described or as you prefer and set aside. Combine the remaining ingredients with the onions in a large pot and heat on medium high on your cook top. Cook these ingredients until the bacon is done and the onions are translucent (5 - 10 minutes). Add the remaining ingredients to the pot with enough water to completely cover the ingredients in the pot. Raise the heat as needed to bring the water to a boil and continue to boil until the beans are done and the potatoes are soft (20 - 40 minutes).

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This recipe is original and was not copied from any particular cook book. I did refer to several different cook books for suggested recipes and cooking ideas for fresh green beans. These are the books which I have previously cited for some of the recipes I have already shared with you in this blog. Feel free to follow this recipe or change it as you desire according to your own tastes or preferences. You may copy, edit, and share this recipe with you family and friends as you desire. Please enjoy your Farmer's Market Green Beans and reply or comment with any changes or additions you might suggest to the recipe.

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Hello Dolly

Oops! Wrong Dolly.

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Tropical Storm Dolly has been upgraded to Hurricane Dolly. At this point the storm seems to be coming ashore well south of our location. We will continue to monitor the situation and remain vigilant to any changing conditions. Pam and I have weathered a number of these storms and we always try to prepare in advance with supplies of food, water, batteries, and other emergency items. Our most notable hurricane experiences were with Alicia in 1983 and Rita in 2005. We rode out Hurricane Alicia in our home and the eye of the storm passed directly over our house in the early morning hours of August 18. With visions of that event in our mind we decided to evacuate on Wednesday, September 21 for Hurricane Rita. The hurricane itself was pretty much a "non-event" but, the evacuation became the most grueling and tiring experience I can remember. What would have been a 3 or 4 hour drive in normal circumstances turned into a 28 hour driving ordeal with a caravan of 4 cars full of our valuables and each member of the family, including 2 friends of the family and their dog as well as our own 3 dogs, 6 cats, 2 chinchillas, and 2 cockatiels. Our only stops were for gas until we reached our destination. We are still thankful to my brother and his family and to Pam's brother and his family for putting us up in their homes for the few days we stayed away before returning home.

Recipe Wednesday #12

This week I found a recipe in one of those advertising inserts from the Sunday newspaper. It was one of those inserts with all the grocery and other coupons and other advertising for most national name brand products. This recipe looked like a quick and easy recipe and something which might be good to prepare and cook out on the grill for great weekend or family event. It was found in the insert with an ad and a Manufacturer's Coupon for Owens Fresh Roll Sausage. You may follow the link for more information about the Owens company, their products, and more of their recipes. Here follows a recipe for:

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Owens Backyard Burgers

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1 lb. Owens Original Roll Sausage

1 lb. ground beef

2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. ground pepper

8 hamburger buns

Lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced onion (suggested toppings)

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In a large bowl, combine first five ingredients. Form into 8 patties. Over medium heat on grill, cook burgers on each side until done (no longer pink), about 10-15 minutes. Serve with buns and favorite toppings.

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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10-15 minutes

Yields: 8 burgers

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I hope you have an opportinity to try this or any of my other recipes and have a pleasant eating experience with your family and friends. Enjoy!

Recipe Wednesday #10

While looking for a recipe this week I found a sheet printed from a computer printer which was a recipe printed from a website. The recipe is printed on the page below a brief story explaining the circumstances behind the recipe, very similar to what I do here on this blog. Instead of simply giving you a recipe, I try to give you the story behind the recipe. Rather than simply reprint the recipe directly into my blog post I thought it might be interesting to simply add a link and let you follow the links to get the recipe. (As I was typing the website into my browser I'm thinking how similar this is to one of my brothers new blog sites, Links 2 Oblivion. I believe the title makes it self evident about what the site is about so I won't explain that here. You may follow that link to learn more about Web Oblivion!) Now, back to the recipe story. . . I was completely surprised when the web page came up in my browser window. What I saw was the entry page into an Adults Only website. I quickly checked back to the the recipe page and I checked the web address I had typed into my browser. I even opened a different browser to see what would happen with the site in another browser. Oh yes, the same results. I looked again at the page I had with the printed recipe. I had typed the web site into my browser correctly but, the date was printed at the bottom of the page. It was somewhat difficult to read since the printer settings had cut it off partially because it was printing near the margin. I could just make out what appears to be the date, 10/30/00. That made this original site almost 8 years old. Knowing that things may change quickly on the internet, I figured that someone else must have acquired that URL Address. Boy, what a shock for moms with their kids who may be innocently searching for a cookie recipe! Not to be undone by this shocking glitch, I tried a different approch to see if I could find this recipe at a link for you to follow. Success! As I reread the introductory paragraph on the recipe page I noted that the recipe stemmed from an Urban Legend. (Again, I won't go into that story here. Maybe my brother will do that in his new blog.) I tried a search using the words "urban legend cookies" and I found what I was looking for:

Urban Legend Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Please follow the link above for the recipe and the story. I believe you and your family will enjoy the cookies from the recipe, as well as the story about them. Incidentally, the recipe sheet I have simply titles them as "Legendary Cookies" and a brief story about the urban legend. Enjoy!

Picture Frenzy

My wife, Pam, recently went into a picture taking frenzy. Several years ago I gave her a digital camera for Christmas. Of course there was a liberal dose of Christmas pictures that year. Then as special occasions came up we would have a new set of birthday pictures and an occasional picture for Mother's Day, Father's Day, a set of vacation pictures, or whatever the occasion might be. Then the camera seemed to go dormant for a while. It came out ocassionaly and was shoved into my hands to snap a few pictures. Recently I got my own digital camera as well as a one of those inexpensive HD video cameras. Pam's camera seemed to have disappeared for a while. Then, with the Grandaughter, Kira, growing and changing so fast the camera has recently been resurrected from the closet. Here follows some of Pam's recent photographic endeavors:

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Here is a really good picture of Kira taken recently.

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Next is a picture of Kira with . . . ?

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Kira with . . . ?














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Wait a minute! What happened to the grandbaby? These are pictures of clouds.












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I'm looking through pictures from Pam's camera and all of the sudden I come across a whole set of pictures of clouds. It seems Pam has a particular fascination with clouds. One recent afternoon, just before sunset Pam went out and saw these clouds. She came back in for her camera and went out taking pictures of every cloud in sight. She tells me these are Mammatus Clouds and are usually seen after a severe thunderstorm has passed. Earlier that day we had experienced a set of passing thunderstorms, which is a usual weather occurence for this part of Texas at this time of year. For more information on Mammatus Clouds you may follow the links to the Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Recipe Wednesday #9

Well let’s try to get back into a routine. This is Wednesday and I did miss a recipe day last week. More about how busy I’ve been and why I missed last week’s recipe at a later time. Let’s get right to the recipe.
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This week I have taken the recipe from Creative Cooking, you may remember that was the cookbook inspired by and dedicated to my sister, Michal. (Refer to my previous Recipe with the Creative Cooking link. [Mouse Hint (no not the mice in your attic): When you put your cursor over the link, right click and choose "Open in New Window" or "New Tab" and you will not have to keep using the 'Back Arrow' in your Browser.] The recipe this week is another one of her recipes and is entitled Five Can Stew. I don’t remember if she ever made this when I was visiting with her. She did not do a lot of cooking when I was around. I do remember her cooking once and inviting me over for a special recipe she wanted to try. As I recall that recipe was Swedish Meatballs. I can’t seem to find that particular recipe and there is an interesting story that goes along with that recipe but, that will have to be at a later time. For now, the Five Can Stew seemed to be a proper substitute. Please try this recipe and enjoy Five Can Stew with your family and friends.
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Five Can Stew
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2 lb. ground meat
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (No. 303*) can mixed vegetables
1 (No. 303) can tomatoes
2 (No. 303) can whole new potatoes, diced
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce (such as Hunt’s new tomato sauce special with tomato bits, onion, celery, and green peppers)
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Brown Meat and onion. Drain excess grease. Add vegetables, tomatoes, diced new potatoes and tomato sauce including all juices from cans. Bring to boil; simmer 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 4-6 generously.
Easy and the perfect solution to what to fix quickly after work for super.

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*Please note: A No. 303 can is a measurement of 2 cups or 16 oz.

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Disclaimer: Please remember that I type these things in just as they are printed from the original source in order to retain the original flavor (more than obvious reference to recipes and food) of the recipe as printed. Please note super at the end of the recipe. I guess this is supposed to be supper. I guess it could be a reference to a super supper or perhaps a super husband for whom you are preparing this supper. When I type these recipes the ‘spell checker’ and ‘grammar checker’ go wild. Recipes seem to be filled with phrases, incomplete sentences, and run-on sentences. I guess I need a ‘Recipe’ setting in the word processor which will allow these kinds of phrases which appear to be numerous in older recipes. At any rate, I hope you will try this recipe from my sister Michal. I’m sure she would hope that it will bring you and your friends and family a bit of enjoyment and fellowship at your next meal whether it is super or supper!

Oops! You can't do that.

One of my own items on the Summer "To Do List" for this summer is to organize and clean up some of the photos and videos on my computer. I was looking through some of the earliest videos taken and I found some interesting mistakes which have been made. Here I'll share one of those earlier problems which I didn't give much thought to at the time. A couple of years ago I gave one of those small digital video cameras to Pam for Christmas. You know how Christmas goes. You open the package and want to start using it immediately. No one has time to read instructions or look at the sugggestions for use. We really never did that as I remember and we have been using that camera occasionally to get short, quick videos at various special family events. What follows is one of those early videos we took at the Birthday Party for Quianna at her second birthday. She is the daughter of my niece, Meridith, and her husband, Victor. Take a look at this video:

Did you notice the problem with this video? I'm sure you noticed it needs to be rotated for the image to be upright. I knew that rotation of photo images was possible in several of the photo programs I currently use. Oops! It never occured to me that I would not be able to rotate video images, or at least if it is possible, I have not yet found the program which will do this. I would appreciate any comment which might help me with this problem.

More Than a Day, More Than a Dollar!

Well the Father's Day Off ended up being a little more than a day. Hey, it's summer, what can I say? I will soon fill in for the missing Recipe and Family news items. I have been extremely busy with a few of those "Honey Do" projects helping Pam around the house and in the yard. Janna and I have been busy with some "summer training" for school and for some personal interests which we are trying to develop. I've also been online attempting to plan a brief summer vacation and to do research into some of our "developing interests". Sometimes when online I may get sidetracked and spend more time with the interesting and funny things found online. I'm not sure what category the following web site would fall into. You can decide for yourself. The following website is one designed by a young man attempting to use the internet to become a millionaire. I think he may have done it! Take a look for yourself at what is reportedly a Million Dollar Website!

$ $ $ Million Dollar Website $ $ $

Father's Day Off!

To all you dads out there, Happy Father's Day!

Enjoy your day.

Recipe Wednesday #8

This is Wednesday and it's on schedule for this recipe. This is a recipe which I found in a small, brown ring binder with 4x6 inch pages. Some recipes are handwritten and some are newspaper or magazine cut-outs of recipes which have been pasted onto the pages. This notebook of recipes is another one of those items found when we cleaned up the house after my mother-in-law passed away. The recipe this week is obviously a yellowed newspaper clipping. I have no idea where or when it was originally printed. Please try the recipe. I'm sure your family will enjoy:

Lemon Chess Pie

6 eggs

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons butter

juice of 2 lemons

pinch of salt

Put eggs in blender and let whirl for a few rounds. Add 1 cup of sugar and turn blender on and off. Add 2 cup sugar and to the same. Add melted butter, salt and juice and whizz it a bit more. Pour into an unbaked 8 inch pie shell and bake in a 350 oven for 35 minutes.

Please note! The word choice and all spelling is exactly as printed on the original clipping. I'm not sure about the technical or official cooking definitions for "whirl" and "whizz". I'm not real sure but, I think you should "do" something with the sugar not "to" the sugar. I guess this newspaper article was probably done without a spelling or grammar checker. Maybe the Food Editor was having a bad day. At any rate, I hope you will enjoy the Lemon Chess Pie!

Recipe Wednesday #7 - Oops, It's already Friday!

I guess this will have to be 'Recipe Friday #1' or maybe 'Late Recipe Wednesday #1' or perhaps it should just be 'Recipe Wednesday #7 - Oops, It's already Friday!'

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I apologize for the late Recipe posting. I was extremely busy with close out procedures and other duties at my place of work. Some of you may know that I work in the field of education. For those who do not know, I work at a large public high school as a counselor and some of my duties include such things as preparing student schedules for next school year as well as grade and credit verifications for all grade level of my high school students, especially for those senior students who are graduating from school. This does include the unhappy task of helping those students with the upset of failing grades and incomplete credits. These students will either not promoting in grade level or will not graduate. They must plan for summer school or some other means of recovering the grade and credits required. As you can imagine the end of the school year can be one of the busiest times of our year. For another perspective and for a look at a different level of education and how busy the school year can be for educators you might be interested in my brothers Blog post "It's Always a Learning Experience" or "The End of an Era-Sort Of". These give his "perception of the world" as another educator. He is a kindergarten teacher at his current school assignment in Central Texas.

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Well, whatever the reason for the tardiness (more than obvious reference to the classroom and education) and whichever title you prefer, here is the Recipe for today:

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Aunt Dora's Pulled Mints

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2 cups sugar, 1/2 stick butter, 1 cup water, 1/8 tsp. oil of peppermint.

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If color is used, add at the first and cook in coloring. Combine ingredients. Put on stove and boil to 264 degrees F (hard ball). Pour out on marble. Cool 2 or 3 minutes. Make a fingerprint in the center of the candy and put in it 1/8 tsp. of peppermint. Fold all edges over. Pull until stiff, with little ridges. Stretch out on the edges of marble, away from the hot-spot. Cut with scissors. Leave on marble and cover with wax paper for the night. Store in airtight box. Might need to put a little butter on hands for pulling.

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Now, for the story behind this recipe. No, I don't have an Aunt Dora and neither does my wife! I was looking through one of our family recipe books for this weeks recipe. I found a piece of paper with a recipe printed on each side of it. This is not a hand written recipe. It was printed for public distribution by some individual or group. There is no other identification or reference to anyone or anything other than the two recipes. Neither my wife nor I are familiar with the recipe or the paper and where it might have come from. The cook book in which I found the paper is entitled "The Family Cookbook". I have not used this book for any recipe yet. The paper looks like it might have been cut or torn from another part of some kind of circular or advertisement. I simply thought the recipe looked good and it seemed like it might be easy to try. Please enjoy "Aunt Dora's Pulled Mints".

Grandparents - 2, or Two Grandparents

Pam and I are doing that Grandparents thing again (see my previous Blog from March 9, 2008). We have the granddaughter, Kira, for the day since mom and dad are both at work. Although it is work tending to a young child (I'm not sure we can say she is a baby now - she is growing up so fast) it is one of those things you don't mind and one might say it is even enjoyable. This is the 'Second' Blog entry for this topic - thus the title 'Grandparents - 2' but, Pam and I usually do this together as 'Two Grandparents'. I never really thought much about what these kinds of days might be like before I actally became a Grandparent. Yes, there have been some trying and even painful times going through through that 'Parenting' process. Yet, it has all been memorable and the Grandparenting thing seems to be making it all worthwhile. My brother recently entered his Blog on "Re-Looking at Re-Cycling" and it occured to me that Grandparenting is 'kind'a like' Re-Cycling Parenting.

I will occasionally Re-visit this topic of Grandparenting to share some of my thoughts and experiences on the topic.

Now for the real reason for this particular blog post - an opportunity to share with you the joy of Grandparenting:

Nap Time, No Not Yet!

Recipe Wednesday #6

This week I’m going to give a recipe for another one of my all time favorites, a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Rather than give the simple and quick version of this all time favorite, I decided to look at some of my recipe books and see what kind of recipes might be suggested for the plain and simple Grilled Cheese Sandwich. This recipe is taken from the following source: The Modern Family Cook Book, by Meta Given. The copyright date is 1953 and it was previously published in 1942. The recipe is for ‘Cheese Toasties’ on page 175. I believe we got this book from my wife’s mother after she passed away. As you can see by the date it is no longer so “modern” but I’m sure it was for my mother-in-law when she first got the cook book. I found the recipe to be an interesting variation on one of my own personal favorites, the grilled cheese. Here follows the recipe for “Cheese Toasties” which you may share with your family and friends for a delightful summer snack.

Cheese Toasties

½ pound American cheese, grated
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
Dash salt
6 hamburger buns
Butter

Mix grated cheese with mustard, milk and salt. Split buns in half, toast or not as desired, and spread cut surfaces with butter and cheese mixture. Place under the broiler and toast until cheese is puffy and golden brown. Serve hot. 5 or 6 servings.