Cookie Day 2011

I hadn't realized how long it's been since I'd written or how many life things had happened in the meantime, until yesterday when I was visiting with a friend about Christmas plans and was asked when my family was doing Cookie Day.  Well...
"We did that two weeks ago!" I replied. 
"Thanks for telling me..."

Oops.

I forget that there are some Chronicles readers who have been here long enough that they share quite a history (virtually) and look for certain annual events to be reported. And this is my online album and journal...not like I'm keeping this big scrapbook on my table that I'm adding memories and pictures to all the time. 

So.
Cookie Day.

It was little and quiet, nothing like the big, noisy apron-smocked gathering of last year!  In fact, due to distance, work schedules, illness and other appointments, everyone but Cari Mae and my little family missed it this year.  In looking back at all the Cookie Days we've had...8 in all...we're the only two who've never missed!  (A point we want highlighted and underlined in the annuls of Cookie Day History...)  Thanks to SKYPE, we were able to spend a little long-distance virtual time with Meghan and B.J. and their families, but it only made us miss them more, I think. 

When the kids and I got to Dad's, we hauled in tons of food and cookies, looked around at the tons of food and cookies that Cari and Karen had already prepared, and decided that we needed to call in reinforcements.  But who would answer the phone? Who would brave the waves of cookies and appetizers?

I'll tell you who....
Maggie's teacher and her husband, who don't know what Cookie Day is!
(We like to put them through all sorts of acid Eastern Montana endurance tests...and they keep answering the phone, if you can imagine.)
They called it Cookie-palooza and chalked it up to another "You people are nuts!" experience.  So far, they've noticed the common theme in all our gatherings is Excessive Food. 
Hey, we have to have SOMETHING!

Not many pictures because I just wasn't thinking.  In fact, most of the pictures were taken by Cari with my camera!  But such as I have, give I thee...


Great Grandma Dutton gave Angus one of Gramps' cowboy hats and he wore that thing all day!  And all day the next day.  And the next.  He's still wearing it, two weeks later, playing "radio" (which we finally figured out was "rodeo") in the porch. But that's another post...)

Piles of cookies...about half of what we usually have, though!  But still a respectable showing...
This year, Cari suggested we have a prize of some sort which turned out to be for Best New Recipe (after much discussion).  We tried to get Aaron Carroll to judge the cookies, but he wimped out after about three. Amateur.  :)
I think we decided that Cari won the prize, but I'm doing research for next year already....

Let the decorating begin! See the apron?  We have been waiting all year to bring them back for Cookie Day!

Every job needs an onlooker with good ideas...
Cari and Angus are a team and have been for a couple years now.  I don't know how that got started, but it works great and they're cute!

Great Grandma, getting in on the action...I don't think she ended up with frosting in her hair, even though she sat by Msr. Dollop.

We really are quite serious about our cookies...

Maggie Belle, taking a little break...

Painstakingly placing the final touches on the snowman.  They laughed at my detailing!  But if I'm gonna make a snowman, I want a little orange carrot nose, darn it.  And the only way to find a little orange carrot nose is to pick through all the little shaker thingees until I can find one.  It's a process.  And apparently it's an artiste quirk-y thing that not everyone has....?

This was the first year that Angus didn't end up with more frosting on his face than on the cookies!

Believe me, he got PLENTY of frosting on his cookies. 
Exhibit A:
(We couldn't lift them or they'd break....we had to SLIDE them to move 'em.)

Maggie incorporated all the possible components to make pretty, sparkly cookies!  I love the star on the stocking; that's hard to do, with a butter knife!

The little overdone snowman and his pal in green pajamas....

I'm not kidding; they laughed at the little touches, like blue eyes and stickie-uppie hair!

 THIS snowman made ME laugh, though, because he looks like he's spent some time at the cookie table and is a bit sugared out...
Love his snazzy red scarf, too!

 

Grandma Mosby

When Angus and I got back from preschool, today, there was a very quavery message from my Mom on the answering machine, telling me to call her back right away.  My heart fell, because I could tell it was something awful; I had an idea, but it was still hard to hear that my grandma had died this morning. 

The Mosby side of my family is very private...to the point that sometimes we don't even know what's going on with each other.  We don't pry, we don't share good news or bad unless it's the big stuff like heart attacks, births and deaths, we don't call just to catch up on how life is going.  It's not that we don't love and care for one another, it's just always been like that, you know?

For that reason, I'm not going to do a huge old tribute post about my Grandma Mosby, even though she was a huge influence in my life.  But I want to say SOMETHING...

She's the reason I know there's a difference in off-white paints.  They have undertints that can completely change the tone of the room; pinkish makes it more cheerful, bluish is more calming.  Grandma repainted her rooms almost once a year, in different shades of off-white.  She'd have little paint samples tucked behind picture frames and quiz me about the subtleties of each strip. 

I get my love of strong coffee from her.  Grandma's house always smelled like coffee and Dawn dishsoap. 

Grandma Mosby was fiercely competitive.  She didn't "let" us win at cribbage or other games...if we won, it was because we played well.

She had the most beautiful garden and lawn! I loved helping her in her garden, and laying out on her lawn, listening to the pine trees blow.  I don't know who lives in their old house in Lewistown, but I've been tempted to knock on the door someday and ask if I could lay on the lawn for a little while, remembering...

She could get silly, and giggle.  As bullheaded as she was, Grandma was also able to see the funny in a lot of things, too. 

Grandma had a great sense of style and color, and even though she SAID she didn't like the color red, she looked wonderful when she wore it.  She always had a little scarf over her hair when she went out, to protect her hair from the wind, and she put pink powder on her cheeks to dress up to go shopping. 


There are so many other things, but I will stop there because no one needs to know ALL  the family secrets, right, Brett?  :)

Need....Coffee.....

I guess you know we live 25 dusty miles from the nearest espresso shop and three hours from the nearest Starbucks.  (In Eastern Montana, we don't talk about how many miles away towns are; we say how many HOURS away they are.) Coffee should just be coffee, but it's not, at my house.  I need variety. And good stuff. 

About 6 or 7 years ago, I found a little aluminum, stovetop Italian espresso pot in World Market and immediately knew I had to have it!  It's tiny, but it makes THE BEST espresso and I think it may be fairly common in Italy for homes to have these.  I don't know. (Sara?)  Anyway, I thought I'd post some pictures and see if any of you have one or have used one.  It's been one of those months where I've used mine a lot, needing afternoon caffeine almost daily, but not wanting to make plain old coffee. 

The water goes in the pot under this little strainer...

The fine espresso grounds get tamped down as tight as they can in the little strainer cup.

And the top part of the pot is screwed on, creating one little unit about 8 inches tall from the top of the knob to the counter.

The water in the bottom comes to a boil and the pressure pushes it up through the screen, through a little spout into the top part of the pot...

See? The whole house smells like espresso, now!  This is about a 4 shot serving, which is what I use in my...

 ...Vat O'Coffee!  I heat the milk/cream/sugar in a saucepan on the stove while the espresso is being made, frothing the cream with a regular old wire wisk and a lot of elbow action.  But it's worth it!  No fancy froth designs, but to me it's still beautiful...

Voila!

Ho, ho, ho!

Turns out, Santa was in Miles City on Saturday, doing a little PR.  He stopped by the Airport Inn for fingersteaks and fries before heading back to the Pole and we happened to be eating supper there, after Christmas shopping all day.  Maggie couldn't believe our good fortune and was so excited that she was almost in the door of the men's bathroom to fetch up her brother before we got her stopped!  When Angus FINALLY came out...AGES LATER...Santa came over to say hello and hand out candy canes.  He asked them if they'd sent their lists for sure and Maggie had, indeed, but Angus had not.  But ever prepared, he grabbed his little notepad, whipped one out while Santa was talking to other little kids, and presented it to the jolly old elf forthwith. 

Santa sat down across the way to have HIS supper and the kids didn't take their eyes off him the whole time, poor fellow.  Maggie noted that he wore jeans to Miles City because it's a cowboy town and also that he didn't bring the reindeer because they needed to rest up for the big trip next weekend.  After we finished eating, she was dancing on one foot and then the other, asking permission to take Angus over to sit on Santa's lap.  She ALSO wanted photographic evidence of it, so I had to hustle out to the car for my phone as directed. 

They trotted over to see him, very politely saying, "Excuse me, Santa...can we talk to you for a minute?  And take your picture?" to which Santa replied that he had a little time and found a comfortable seat with good photo backdrops. (I'm always suprised to remember that he's a professional sort, with more experience than George Clooney in setting and ambiance...)

First, the obligatory "Good Kids" shot...

 Then I was excused (but stuck around, anyway) so Maggie could remind him that she wanted a real puppy, a bouncy spring rocking horse and a detective kit.  She informed him that she was a real detective, then added, "If only I could find a crime..." 

Angus is a victim of setting suggestion and couldn't think of anything he wanted except an airplane. (There are model airplanes hanging from every corner of the ceiling at the Airport Inn, of course...)

Maggie kissed him a couple times and they both hugged him big, then took their cautionary "Now be good kids!" statement to heart and told him to fly safe.

We all skipped out to the car...

I thought I didn't believe in Santa, anymore, but now I do, again.

There really IS a kind, jolly man who listens to kids' wishes and cares about thier happiness, who has candy cane breath and knows about reindeer! (Or, as Maggie believes, in Montana he uses mule deer.)

And I'm happy to see that he eats fingersteaks and winks at Martha, the waitress who never takes a day off, EVER.

So, this is Christmas...

Every Christmas, with blind optimism and incredible hope, I think I will have a Christmas that looks like THIS:

(I particularly like her shoes.  I really need to start wearing heels around the house...)

And every year, just as sure as the swallows return to San Capistrano, I end up having a Christmas that looks like THIS:

(You'll note the lack of cute shoes in this picture. Yup...that's how it ends up!)

The Happiest Farmer in Garfield County

Angus brought me this picture of him in a tractor, wearing John Deere clothes, with ONE skinny old stalk of corn and a very hairy looking bale of hay. I can honestly say, I've never, ever seen a farmer THAT happy...period.  Isn't it funny?!  Makes me grin, everytime I look at it!

Out of the blue...

I've been going through hundreds of pictures, trying to sort out good images for the family book I try to put together for the grandparents at Christmas, and found some that I wanted to share with you back in October, but life got busy.  So they are chronologically out of place, here, and will seem really strange now that it's November, but I'm going to post them anyway.

Pluhar Ranch (what it was when I married in), now Lang's Fork is opposed to horses on the place. Pretty adamantly opposed, I might add.  Neither Wayland or his dad are riders; in fact, I think Wayland has only been on a horse twice in his life and never cares to try it again.  Some people are born farmers (this is not a bad thing) and are much more comfortable with machinery as means of moving livestock.  I grew up on a ranch that used ONLY horses (and the occasional bumper of a pickup on bulls) and miss them.  I've been here 13 years and have never seen a horse even come near the border of the place.  So, when my father-in-law told me that our neighbors, Jack and Glen, were bringing their horses over so we could doctor some BIG steer calves, I thought he'd been drinking.  This is big, folks! 

Of course, we took the camera.
It was Wayland's little camera, because I was helping with the process, too, and couldn't very well have my big old Canon hanging around my neck, so the pictures are snapshots.  But still....they're proof that there WERE horses on the place.  And nothing apocalyptic happened! 

Sizing up the bunch...the calves are really big, in October, so it's not like roping them for branding in June.

Caught one!

You see the wrestlers, wisely moving out of the way.  They took a lot of abuse that afternoon and had to step lively on several occasions!

Turned the calf to heel him....

Moving in to doctor.

Concerned mama cow, certain that her baby was being tortured, and not happy about the proceedings!

I love this picture! Check out the cows in the background; you see how they stretch their necks out to bawl for their babies? In books, they're always standing there, rather pleasantly moo-ing, but in real life, when they want to make some noise, they use their whole body.  And they can sure make a ruckus!  The cow in the forefront is suspicious of me with the camera, but she has no time to investigate, really.  We had a tough time with her because she kept rushing the gate when we tried to turn the calf back in with the cows. 

This picture has no significance, other than I liked the perspective and the ropes.



I tried to post the pictures in a larger size, but it cuts off a lot of the image and you miss the WHOLE scene...I think you really need the "big picture" for things like this.

Now.

I'll probably be in trouble for revealing to the entire world that there were horses, here; after all, we have a reputation to uphold.  But I'm guessing it's sort of like those comets that only pass by once every 40 years or so, and there should be some evidence of it for posterity.

JOY

Thanksgiving Pics

This is what the train looks like to a 5 year old....(except more clear in real life, I would hope)

I love watching the country go by, especially in the mountains.

Angus was a curtain nazi, though, and HAD to have them closed.  Whoever sat with him spent the entire time shielded from the light, and sadly, the view.

The kids had a clubhouse (that you can't see in this pic) and they decorated it for Christmas, along with their "yard"! It kept them busy for hours, this clubhouse.

Wayland and Ivan, shooting clay pigeons.  It was so cold that the hand launcher wouldn't work, so they just pitched 'em. 

All dressed up to go to the Nutcracker!

I wish we had pictures from that experience, but this is pretty much it.

Thanksgiving, at last...

We had a great Thanksgiving, in Bigfork! I've been trying to write this post for almost a week, getting all bogged down and overwhelmed with the magnitude of it; I get halfway through the train ride, quit writing because I have to do something silly like make dinner or shower or pick the child up off the bus, and I can't figure out where to pick it back up, so I trash it and start over....
But I want to do it!
SO.
To make it manageable, it's going to be a Top Ten post.  It won't be all-inclusive, but we'll just have to live with it and move on.
Without further ado:

Top Ten Great Things About Thanksgiving 2011

1. Riding the train with my family. We had a great time and the kids were unbelievably good!
2. Seeing the Nutcracker ballet in Bigfork...I can't begin to describe how magical it was.
3. Having everyone together for Thanksgiving for the first time. It was crowded, but we weren't missing anyone and THAT was a blessing.
4. The food.  (I know you were wondering when I'd get to that...) There was a LOT of food and it was all good.  Every day.  Except Frank took the gravy home (accidentally, he claims) leaving us with naked leftover mashed potatoes, but I'm not bitter or anything.
5. Shooting (at) clay pigeons on Thanksgiving morning with Wayland, Ivan and Jenny. I didn't hit many, but remembered that I like shooting!
6. Running in the mountains...it's just flat gorgeous, there. My runs were longer because of the scenery.
7. Morning coffee with Celestia, in our jammies.
8. Doing dishes after Thanksgiving dinner, all us "kids" laughing and visiting, Pink Martini playing in the background.
9. Cheesecake. 'Nuff said.
10. Making a new friend, a kindred spirit.

Top Ten Not-So-Great Things About Thanksgiving 2011

1. Delayed train...three hours delayed...for the return trip. We got home late and grumpy.
2. 14 bodies in an 8 body house. Everyone got along and it was cool, but it was FULL. It would be better in the summer, when we could all set up tents or something.
3. Did I tell you that Frank STOLE the gravy? (Now I'm just picking on him...) :)
4. Some varmint got into the pie and cheesecake, that we were storing outside since the fridge was too full. We're not pointing fingers and understand how a critter would not be able to stop eating that stuff.
5. We swapped germs and came home with colds. I have no idea what we shared with everyone else, but I'll just apologize right here.
6. Not enough time with each person I wanted to have time with...across the board.
7. I didn't take my big camera and I wish I had.  I felt handicapped, artistically speaking!

I really can't come up with any more things for that list; technically not a TRUE Top Ten list, but it'll have to do. I think I have about 4 photos that I'll attach here later!

I don't know why, but this makes me grin....

We take a break in our regularly scheduled posting...

...to bring you Crazy Mary Q and A.
That's right.
TOASTBA wants to know:

1-What is your favorite holiday cartoon/TV show? Feature length movies are strictly prohibited, here, but all holidays are eligible.

This is tough.  I have two that are near and dear to my heart, that we almost always saw at Grandma's house every year: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Charlie Brown Christmas. I absolutely LOVE the little dog Max, in the Grinch.  I also like the animation, the crookedy trees with bobbly ornaments, the Who-Hash, how completely wicked the Grinch is about pulling the nails out of the stockings, how he sews his costume like a first grader would and yet it works...all of it.

 BUT....in the The Charlie Brown Christmas, there's the little tree that bends over with the weight of one lousy ornament; I've had that tree! (In fact, all the tinsel-y, tin trees in the lot convinced me to always, always have a real one, no matter how messy or lopsided they are.) There's the organizing of the Christmas play with no one paying attention; I've been there, Charlie Brown...believe me, I feel your pain.  And there's the scene where Linus tells the Christmas story onstage.  That's what makes it my favorite holiday cartoon...the absolute simple, beautiful Truth.  And I almost always cry, even though I think "This year, I won't!"

 
2-If you could get the autograph of any one person alive today, who would it be? What item would you have them sign?
Well....since I already HAVE the autographs of Homer Hickam, Susan Kushner Resnick and Shelly Reeves Smith in their books, my top three are out of the running.  :)
This question proved harder than I thought, and I put some time into it.
Here's the kicker: I don't just want a hastily scribbled signature on, say, a football that was thrust into the hands of the signer.  I want them to look me in the eye, talk for a couple minutes, and connect. I want it to mean something.  
I want Joe Montana to sign my raggedy old 49ers jersey.  
I know.
It was almost Sandra Day O'Connor on a gavel, but I went with the athlete because I've loved him since I was 15 and you know that football is a passion for me.  I greatly admire S.D.O., but it's JOE MONTANA, for heaven's sake!  There you go. 

3-What's your favorite picture that you've ever taken?
This makes me laugh! It's like asking which is my favorite child! And I sifted through the pictures, mentally, unable to choose for a long time.  I love taking pictures of people...not so good with scenery...and it was impossible to make a choice on a people picture because each one had its own special memory and weight, its own photographic composition that pleased me.  Finally, I came up with one that is just weird, but I sort of shake my head every time I look at it.  It's entirely serendipitous, completely amazing that all things conspired to make it work....and it's a cow picture.

Bull, cow, calf...standing perfectly in a row, shoulder to shoulder, looking forward, with all the right tags in a field of good grass.

This is a picture that couldn't be set up if anyone tried, but it's a great capture of the bovine family unit.  Makes me smile, shake my head, look again....and it's probably meaningful to only a handful of people!

4-How do you like Tim Tebow's chances to start for the Broncos again next year?
How do I LIKE his chances? I like them.  I think the Broncos need to get a bigger picture, though, because one man does not a football team make and their offensive line needs some sincere help.  I don't know if they need to can some guys, train 'em, get a better O coach or draft new ones, but they need help.  And Tebow can be brilliant, but if he gets taken out by a big defender while he's trying to rush, having no other choice, then there goes the team. 
Tebow's obviously going to start for the Broncos next year, no doubt there.  And he should; he's put in the work and proven that he can lead.  Or get away from the opposition.  I just don't think he should be tagged the team's savior (a title I'm sure he loathes) and their big hope for ultimate success. 
(Sorry, Steve Brock, for all the football here, but I had to! The cow picture should've helped, though, right?)


5-How do you handle the last drop of food that gets stuck at the rim or lid of a jar when you pour it out? You know--like that little dab of ranch dressing or BBQ sauce or picante that doesn't actually make it onto your plate but doesn't get sucked back into the bottle, either. Do you lick the lid? Or wipe it off with a cloth? Or just mash the lid on and throw it back in the fridge to get all crusty and nasty? Something else?
EW!
Wipe it off!
My goodness....
(I know you thought I was going to let the dog lick it off, but I'm not THAT crazy...)

Well, hello friends...

It seems like a month since I've been here, written to you, laughed about crazy things....like why our dog food bag says, "Improved Flavor!"; who would know that? Seriously? Do you think some poor guy is hanging out at Purina, tasting dog chow?
"Oh...YEAH!...THAT is MUCH improved, Bob! Slap the label on there!"

I feel almost like starting out like Garrison Keillor:
"It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown..."
Except that I haven't actually BEEN in Cohagen for the last week, really.  We loaded the family up and boarded a train in Glasgow, MT (not to be confused with Glasgow, Scotland, Alice), rumbled across the High Line of the state to Bigfork for Thanksgiving, and time in the mountains with friends we call family. 

To catch you up to that point, however, you need to know a couple things:

1. The Harvest Supper/Pie Auction went brilliantly, with the community coming together and supporting our little school as they usually do, whole-heartedly and appreciatively.  Who won the Pie War, you're wondering? Well....I did, between Traci and I, but I think Susie Milam took us BOTH out with her chocolate-mocha-frozen-ice cream-homemade fudge sauce on top pie.  As well she should have! I mean, my goodness...!

2. This is sad news; Daisy's calf Rosie died on Saturday before Thanksgiving, taking the OC herd back down to one.  I'm still very sad about it, and I don't really know what to say except that this is the cattle business, however small, and these things happen.  But 50% of a herd is sort of a big deal.  I have her little eartag and am trying to think about next spring and Daisy's upcoming calf.

3. I had my first root canal on the Monday before we left.  I can honestly say that I'd rather give birth than have a root canal done.  And it wasn't that I had a bad dentist...quite the opposite; Dr. Matthews is great, and listens to me as I'm drooling and shaking, adding liberal doses of anasthetic.  I'm just that big a wimp, when it comes to dentists.  But I lived and it's all much better.  Still...this was a noteworthy event in my life!

Now, then...
I feel I need to do a separate Thanksgiving post, because this is just a catch-up, clean-up, check-in post, so that's tomorrow.  This evening, I'll leave you with a couple pictures from the Harvest Dinner!  I didn't take many because that darn tooth was hurting like crazy and I had two options: slumped in the corner with a hydracodone coma...OR...alert and hurting.  I chose the alert because there WAS a Pie War going on, you know, and Traci is beguiling.  I couldn't trust that my sour cream raisin meringue, bourbon pecan, and fresh lemon meringue pie could each hold their own against her flirty ways...

We had cowboys and Pilgrims and Indians.  One Pilgrim was a bit surly, because she thought she was more suited to being an Indian, but eventually got over it.  Pilgrims don't wear feathers.  Or fringe.  Or headbands.

The tribe...

A very serious trapper with a clip on tie under his neckerchief...one never knows when one might be called upon to mediate a trade and it's vital to have the proper wardrobe.

Customers!  Friends and family! Pie bidders!

Our friendly, courteous staff is eager to serve you...

Ham, roast beef, cheesy potatoes, rolls, corn, applesauce, pie, coffee or cider, pie; you get the idea!

Traci, coercing a bid, I'm sure....or demonstrating her square-dance prowess.  Not sure, really. It was entertaining, obviously!

The Thanksgiving reader's theatre/dang cute kid display.  Mrs. Carroll just gathered up any old kid, costume or not, student or not, to join the Cohagen students up on stage.  It's not shocking at all (to us in Cohagen) that you can't tell the costumed ones from the ones off the street, so to speak. 

The lemon meringue, before it made its way to the community hall for the Pie War; isn't it pretty? But not pretty enough to beat Susie M....alas! Next year.  Watch out for next year's pie!

Mrs. Eunice Surle's Mardi Gras Party Cake

(Because I know Aunt Bert will want the recipe...)

Typed EXACTLY as it was in the cookbook!
Even with ingredients in bold type....

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt............2/3 cup Nestle's Butterscotch Morsels in
                   1/4 cup water, in saucepan.  Cool.

Sift
Together.....2 1/4 cups sifted Pillsbury's BEST All Purpose Flour
                    1 tsp Morton salt
                    1 tsp soda and
                    1/2 tsp double acting baking powder.  Set aside

Add...........1 1/4 cups sugar gradually to
                    1/2 cup shortening (part butter may be used), creaming well.

Blend in.....3 unbeaten eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.  Blend in melted butterscotch morsels;
                   mix well.

Add...........the dry ingredients alternately with
                  1 cup buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.  Blend thoroughly after each
                   addition. (With electric mixer, use a low speed.)

Turn............into two 9 inch round layer pans, well greased and lightly floured on the bottoms.

Bake...........at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes until cake springs back when touched lightly in center.
                   Cool; spread Filling between layers and on top to within 1/2 inch of edge.  Frost sides and
                    top edge with Sea Foam Frosting or whipped cream.

Butterscotch Filling

Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 T cornstarch in 2-quart saucepan.  Stir in 1/2 cup evaporated milk, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup Nestle's Butterscotch Morsels and 1 beaten egg yolk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick.  Remove from heat; add 2 T butter, 1 cup coconut, chopped, and 1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped.  Cool.

Sea Foam Frosting

Combine in saucepan 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup water and 1 T corn syrup.  Cook until a little syrup dropped in cold water forms a soft ball (236 degrees F).  Meanwhile, beat 1 egg white with 1/4 tsp French's Cream of Tartar until stiff peaks form.  Add syrup to egg white in slow, steady stream, beating constantly until thick enough to spread.

Mrs. Eunice Surles

...of Lake Charles, Lousiana really couldn't believe it when her cake won the first grand prize.  She's baked many a cake in her life, often for her church suppers, but never with such a triumph as this.  The recipe is from the long-ago days of the South, high in glamour as well as the taste.

Isn't that EXCITING?!

I don't know about you, but with a billing like that on the back cover, I HAD to buy the little

Pillsbury's BEST 11th Grand National Bake-Off Cookbook

to get the high glamour, triumphant Southern cake recipe submitted by Mrs. Surles.

100 Prize-Winning Recipes for 25 cents!

I couldn't go wrong.

And I was not disappointed....

More on Mrs. Eunice Surles:

I think the dear lady also devotes much of her time to eating her very own wares, bless her heart!

Are you dying to see the $25,000 Mardi Gras cake?

(And doesn't it make you chuckle to think of Mrs. Surles baking something so daring and festive? Mercy!)

I know you can't read the text in the top corner, telling you yet MORE about Mrs. Surles, but this is what it says:

Eunice G. Surles of Lake Charles, Louisiana, is a widow who lives alone in a three-bedroom apartment.  She's a cooking hobbyist and has won a number of contests with her fancy baking.  Mrs. Surles plans to use her $25,000 Grand Prize money to improve her property.

I don't know how she intended to improve her three bedroom apartment, but I'm wildly guessing it wasn't by purchasing something so frivolous as a canopy bed....

Here's the spread on the actual contest.

Please note that everyone is polished and smiling, even as they measure their Pillsbury's BEST flour...

In the bottom right-hand corner you'll see a group of women sitting around a table.

The caption there reads:

Behind closed and well guarded doors, top food editors from newspapers and magazines judged each of the 100 best recipes of the year before selecting prize winners.

I shudder to think what sort of bribery and strong-arming would've gone on, had the doors not been well guarded.

The little cookbook really does have some good recipes, with the exception of Sheila Pittman's Cookie Cakes which not only contain small pieces of diced prunes, but also are coated in a prune glaze.

And Donna Jean Izzo's Pizza Pancakes.

And Senora Yolanda de Lizardo's Chicken Rico Ring.

(I swear, I'm not making Sra de Lizardo's name up! Isn't it the bomb?!)

There WERE a couple pie recipes in there, but I think I'll stick with my original plan.

Pie Wars

It all starts out so innocently....
with a harvest dinner to raise money for an interactive white board for the school. 
And then, in a flash of brilliance, it is decided to have a silent auction for pies!  Yes!  Who doesn't love pies?  With Thanksgiving just around the corner, folks can buy a pie at the auction, stick in their freezer, whip it out on Wednesday before to thaw and voila! baking done!

Yesterday, over coffee and amidst the clamor of tired kids, my friend Traci and I were sorting out the details of the dinner; assigning jobs, figuring out who cooks what, drawing up a floor plan (complete with little circles on the big rectangle to represent pies on a table).  We were visiting about the pie-lent auction and Traci unknowingly threw down the first challenge while I was planning the sign up sheets: "Yeah!  And we could see whose pie brings the most money!"

The Great Pie War of 2011

We both laughed and I patted her on the shoulder; in that chuckle, though,we both KNEW at THAT instant that we were destined to be fighting for the prize with our pastry.  We agreed to be friends, no matter how it turned out, but it's definitely on....

We have a little background in friendly competition.
One summer, we decided to see who could walk the most miles in a month, for fitness purposes.  It started out very nicely, each of us turning in our mileage every couple days and encouraging one another.  But then, about 7 days into the competition, the tone changed.  I HAD to win.  And, as it turns out, so did she.  We were killing ourselves to rack up the miles.  I mean to tell you...I went to Butte for a MASBO conference and worried like everything that while I was sitting in workshops on school finance that she'd be inching up in miles.  So I doubled mine up before I left, AND walked while I was there.  Just in case.  Traci developed plantar fasciitus in her quest to squash me.  It was not pretty. 

But bless her heart, she presented me with my winning trophy at one of her family functions, in front of everyone...a little tennis shoe charm that is one of my most cherished possesions.  And we laughed and hugged, realizing that perhaps we were both perhaps a little too competitive for our own good.

That was a few years ago.
I'm sure we've outgrown that silly sort of behavior...

I'd like to invite all the Chronicles readers to come to Cohagen Gym next Friday evening, November 18th, starting at 5:30 p.m. and bid on the bourbon pecan pie or the sour cream raisin pie with miracle meringue topping.  Remember...it's for a good cause!  (The interactive smart board is a pretty good reason, too, if you have to have another.)

*I was just told that my bum calves brought $800 dollars, total, at the sale barn on Tuesday.  I know my husband is going to be standing close to the pie-lent auction table, making sure I don't bid my own pies up with this funding....
**As if I'd do that....

(I'd like to note that this war is not between anyone but Traci and I.  If it was over ALL the pies, we'd just have to hand the ribbon over to Nancy Horn before it even began...)

HELP!

I need help with html.
(No, that does NOT mean "hot meal".  If that's what you thought, you are A.) obviously more into cooking than computers; call me.  or B.) not in touch with your inner nerd; really probably a good thing in the long run but of no service to me at this time, thanks anyway!)

I really want to get rid of the little "New Blog!" flag on the upper left hand corner of the Chronicles banner, but I can't find it in my html code!

Any ideas?
And it doesn't have to disappear, but I DO have to change the words.  It's not a new blog.  It's ancient. 
Any ideas on what to change the wording to?

AND...
I'm unable to comment on certain blogs!  Marina's simply hates me! I can't find ANYWHERE to comment on Christine's, but perhaps she doesn't want comments. There's THAT.  Traci's makes me use Anonymous and I'm always worried that crazy "Really-and-truly-the-original-and-ONLY-Anonymous" person is going to find me and discipline me for using that function. 

If you can,
HELP me!!!

A Veggie Tale

If you're a sensitive lover of vegetables, look away...this post is not for the weak of heart!

This is a photo of what remains of a romaine lettuce head.  Or maybe it's the heart. 
Either way, it was a disturbing find on the counter when I was doing dishes a few days ago.  Moved aside a plate and AAAAGGHGHGH!!!  Oh, the carnage...!

I have a child who requests the end of the lettuce head, who turns down cookies for carrots, who can't understand why other children don't eat red bell pepper slices like candy, who paws through the fridge for things like celery and sugar pea pods for a snack. 

In the sage words of Jeff Foxworthy: "That ain't RIGHT."

This child will take the lettuce off her hamburger and eat it first, before anything else on her plate.
She's the one who happily tells me at mealtime, "Thanks, Mom, for the salad; lettuce is SUCH a treat!!"
Other moms hide vegetables in the dishes they serve their families, hoping they'll accidentally ingest zucchini slivers in their spaghetti sauce before they realize what happened.  I just lay vegetables out on the counter and they're gone.  Handy, huh?  Sure saves a lot of scheming and fine mincing on my part! 

I can't even begin to comprehend veggie-love at this level.
I like vegetables, but I can tell you I've never been passionate about them. 
I'm more of a carrot cake sort of person. 
My kid would rather have just the carrots, thank you very much, and get rid of all that yucky sweet cake junk you have wrapped around it!

So when we come to your house for a visit, lock up your lettuce.  Hide the cucumbers in a cake mix box.  Put the pea pods under the soda pop cans.
I'm trying to save you from the horrors I encounter every day, the corpses of vegetables lying on the counter on their paper towel shrouds....