Guess what I found?

Today, I spent some time going threw some boxes that have been upstairs for awhile. They are some my X left with me and I though I would go see what I might be able to reduce the STUFF I have laying around up there.
But look what I Found!

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book!

Compiled by Fannie Merrill Farmer.

First published in 1896! And Revised and copyrighted last in 1928!.

I have not had much of a chance to read much of it, Just a fast skim. But there are over 600 recipes in there! And there is an inscription on the inside cover page:
" To Gladys From Fannie"
2 Teaspoons fulls of pure cream of tarter, mix with 1 teaspoon full of baking soda is the best baking agent for biscuits, cakes, and pastries. This mixture is the equivalent of 1 Tablespoon full of baking powder".

How cool is that?
And there are recipes in here that I have never see before!
French White Soup
Milk and water bread
Eggs au Beurre Noir

And in the back of the book are 33 pages of adds from companies that you may know:
Walter Baker & Co., Ltd
Fleischmann's Yeast
Kitchen Aid Manufacturing Co. (This had a picture of what had to be one of the first stand mixers ever and it was HUGH!
And how about the "Walker & Pratt Mfg. Co." Makers of the "Crawford Ranges"

This is just a few of the ones I know. There are a lot of them that are not around any more.

I think I will have a lot of fun using this book and cooking some of the recipes! they are over 100 years old. And our Great, Great Grand-Mothers may have made some of the recipes for their families.
And that is also COOL!
Tom

What is this?

The first Spring after moving here, The hardware store in town had a lot of starter plants for sale and I got some for our first garden. On July 4th week-end, they gave away the plants they still had, Mostly Tomatoes and Peppers.
But there was one plant there that was not going into the garden. It was small and near death and I took it to see if I could save it. It was put into a bigger pot with fresh potting soil and placed in the kitchen window.

It now is in a bigger hanging pot in the Bathroom window.

I re-potted it to a hanging pot and it seemed to do better in that window. It doesn't grow vary fast, But the main branch got to the point where it kept falling into the kitchen sink! Its been in this window since last fall and that branch grew almost to the floor! So I wrapped it around itself and as you can see it is trying to get to the window again
I have no idea what it is and it has done something it has never done before!

It Bloomed!

One very small Pink Flower!

Just three little pedals! This is on the end of the main branch and like I said, Its never done this before!
Does anybody know what it is? Sorry the pictures are so bad! Cheep Camera! GRRRRRRRR!
Am I a happy Daddy? You bet! :0)
Tom

The Cake

I have been asked to post the recipe for the Cake, So Here it is. I doubled the recipe for the one I made and I will make the adjustments That I will use the next time I make it.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE PUDDING CAKE

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp Baking power

2/3 cups sugar (I used Splenda)

5 Tbs unsweetened Cocoa powder (I will use less next time, maybe 2 Tbs)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cups milk

2 Tbs oil

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cups nuts (called for Walnuts, but I used Peanuts and Almonds, All I had)

1 cup Brown Sugar (I used the Splenda Brown Sugar)

1/4 cup unsweetened Cocoa powder (again I would use less, 1 1/2 Tbs?)

1 1/2 cups boiling water

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or oil a 9 x 9 pan (As I doubled the recipe, I used a 9 x 13)

 Whisk flour, Baking Powder, 5 Tbs Cocoa Powder and Salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Mix in Milk, oil and Vanilla (Batter will be vary stiff! More like a Browne batter!)

Mix in the nuts

Spoon Batter into the Pan and spread evenly as possible.

Next, in a separate bowl, mix Brown Sugar and 1/4 cup unsweetened Cocoa powder together.

Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the Batter

Slowly pour 1 1/2 cups bowling water over the top (It will look like a soupy mess, But trust me! It will turn out Great!)

Put into the oven and bake for 40 minuets. DO NOT OVER BAKE! The cake will set and the bottom will be soft, Kind of like a Chocolate cobbler!

Place on a wire rack to cool. If your like me, At this point you have to try it to make sure it's good enough for Family and Friends. (Next time I make this, I will eat the whole thing myself!!)

To serve:

Using a big serving spoon, Scope a big portion into a bowl white it is still warm, turning the whole thing over so the cake is on the bottom and the sauce is on the top! (reheat in the microwave for a bit if it has cooled to much) and add a big scope of Vanilla Ice Cream or Whip Cream.

And stand-by for requests for seconds!

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Tom

A Summer day in February!

Was up late last night and I slept in until 0830. Got on the computer to read my morning Blog Posts and the weather read out said that it was 58 degrees already! And was going up to 72!!
Finished my ice coffee and put on my work boots and headed out side! I still have a lot of standing water from last Sundays attempt at Winter (Rain all day Sunday and Snow flurries Sunday into Monday morning). But the Sun was so warm and it felt good to be outside without a sweat shirt on! And speaking of Sweat, I really worked up Sweat for the first time in months!
And here is a photo of a house flower enjoying the Sun!

Not sure what it's called, But I love the color!

It reminds me of the flowers of mid Summer. And there are more buds that are ready to bloom!

Any way, On to the first job of the day! Feeding the worms and laying in more Bedding Material.

I have pulled the old bedding to one side and will place new food material down the middle.

This is some of the food I put in about a week ago. Coffee Grounds and filters. See the one and only worm on the filter?

Well turn the filter over and there they are! Getting their morning coffee. The group to the left are the ones I have seen playing Porker in the late afternoon!

But as you can see, They are not a lone! I could dig around some and find lots more! If I had to guess, Each bed has approx 20,000! I need to build two more beds in the next couple months!

And I had to prepare the food before I placed it into the beds.

Yep, more winter squash! This has been sitting in a tote on my back deck for a few months. I was hoping that it would get cold enough to start it to break down. But as you can see, not a lot. So I just chopped it up!

Using a edging hoe! I did not worry about removing the seed this time. The Worms will not eat the seeds, But if they sprout in the bed, I will just pull them up and toss them back on top of the other food and they will break down there. And the Worms will then eat them!

New bedding over the food and ready to have some water added. Before I added the bedding, I noticed that the Worms had vanished. And that is as it should be! They hate the light and will dive down into the bed to get away from it!

So once I closed up the beds, It was on to other jobs!
Weed the Garlic bed.
Weed and clean up 4 other raised beds. If this weather holds, We might plant a bed or two of PEAS this week-end. Even tho we got a lot of rain this past Sunday, The beds drain real good and I did not hit wet soil until I got down 2 or 3 feet.
Did two loads of laundry and hung it on the line to dry.
Added material to the compost tumblers. Kitchen Scraps and crushed egg shells.
Set up and burned a brush pile.
Inventoried the seeds we have and though about what and where we were going to plant every thing!

And then it was time to think about Dinner! With Terri in school on Thursday until 1820 (And a 1 1/2 hour drive home!), I normally cook.
So tonight was BBQ Ribs, Roasted vegetables and for desert.....Chocolate Pudding Cake

I make this a lot. Because we like it a lot! Potatoes (two kinds), Onions, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage with lots of Rosemary and Garlic!

Sorry about the fuzzy picture! Ribs have been cooking in a crock pot with a little chicken stock for over 4 hours. Once they are done the way I like them, I lay them out on a try and let them cool for a while. Light up the grill and let it get good and hot. Slather the ribs with BBQ sauce and place them on the grill. Turn once or twice, allowing the sauce to char a little.

All that's needed is a cold BEER a long side. That my friends is a warm summers night meal!

O' and desert? It may not look very pretty, Boy was it good! With a scoop of Vanilla ice cream, warm from the oven! You may notice a little missing from the corner? I had to try it, didn't I? Wanted to make sure it was good enough for Mark and Terri! I made this from scratch! Got the recipe for "BACON AND EGGS"baconandeggs.scfichick.blogspot.com, A new Blog I found the other day!

Well that's the first day of Spring. Now my only question? Will it last??
Tom

Is That a FROG in Your Pocket OR........??

When I went out to get the mail today, There was a large envelope in there and I did not recognize the return address at first! But when I opened it, this is what I found!
Sorry for the BAD photos!

Yep, Mama Pea mailed "HER" to me! And this was what I won in her giveaway! OMG, Are you sure I won?

 

Mama Pea, Tell Papa Pea I may want my MONEY BACK!!! That's Daisy at the top of the photos and she gave me a look of "Better you them me, Pal!!

Notice the Name Change? I do not see any "MALE Parts" (Foggy Penis, Carolyn, Do You? I think not!!!)

So the Rules are I have to sew this thing up and stuff it, Right? And I can not ask for any FEMALE help! I have to do the work my self. OK, I can do this, but I need advice!

Mama Pea,
What kind of stitch do I use to put it together. As I will be doing this all by hand, Its going to take a lot of time and I have to learn how to do it without a machine!
Mama Pea, I though you liked me??
And I can just hear Carolyn about now! STOP LAUGHING! You will get Tears on the keyboard! I will be thinking of you as I put in each stitch!

OMG!!!! What did I do? I will never enter a "GIVEAWAY" Again! (Unless it's for FOOD or BEER!). As if I do not have enough problems all ready!

OK, Deep Breath! I can do this (no i can't!), (YES I CAN!), (no i can't!!!!!).
 Just Shoot me now!!
 I will need  a LARGE AMOUNT of Adult Beverage for this!

I WANT MY MOMMY!!!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
TOM

Was that Winter?

It rained all day yesterday! Cold, wet and bitter outside! It was raining when I went to bed at 0900 and is was still raining when I got up at 1430! And it was raining as I left for work at 2030!
Then about 0030 this funny looking stuff started falling along with the rain! Yep, It was SNOW! And the temps started to drop. Got down into the low 30's and we watched the stuff on the monitors, Thinking that we might have some that might stick!
BUT NO, at about 0430 it stopped! The rain, the snow and the wind! And temps started to climb. And by the time it was for us to get off, IT WAS 41 DEGREES and still going up!
The sun worked on the white stuff and by the time I got home, It was gone!
Was that F&*#@^%$#$ WINTER? COME ON! Now it's 1515 and I just got up and it's 48 degrees out side and the Birds are singing, Frogs croaking for Pete's shakes! And by Wednesday, It's suppose to be 61 for a high!
Like I said, WAS THAT WINTER?
Tom

Awards, Awards Galore!

I have needed to do this for quite some now! Back on 7 February, Carolyn over at "Krazo Acres"krazoacres.blogspot.com
gave me the two following awards!
To accept them, I have to follow the rules!
But like Carolyn, I will combine the two together!
The rules:

1. Copy and paste the awards to my Blog
2. Give the awards to 5 other Blogger's that have less then 200 followers






So thank you too Carolyn and here are my 5 Lucky Blogs!

Rea over at Blissful in the Boonies blissfulintheboonies.blogspot.com
This is a new Blog I just found when she made a comment on one of my posts.
Her Blog deserves more followers!

Mama prepper over at mamaprepper.blogspot.com
Another newbie to the Blog World! House wife and Grandmother, She has a lot to teach anyone who wants to learn!

Scroungman AT scroungeman.blogspot.com
He has been Blogging for quite some time and has to be the Comic of the Blog World. And he does just what his name implies! He rescues old tractors and other farm equipment and rebuilds them from the ground up!

Terry at tea4oo0.blogspot.com
Has a great Blog! And she could use some more followers as well!

And Emily at emilysincerly.blogspot.com
A young farm wife who is Just starting out in the Blogging thing. Give her a look see too!

I have other things to "Brag" about too. But I need to get ready for work!
So tomorrow, another post!
Tom