My other new neighbor

Thanks to my courageous and protective son, the previous neighbor is no longer with us. We do  have a much larger and MUCH friendlier neighbor to share with you all.

Please say hello to Octavia Barr!

Stay tuned for stories and pictures:)

My New Neighbor

E.B. White graced the world with the adventures of Wilbur and Charlotte. I don't know how friendly our new Mississippi neighbor will be, but I will be fine as long as she stays on her side of the glass!

What is a blog for...

if you can't post a video of your daughter's voice recital? On a very rainy Sunday afternoon, we went to hear SG and 22 other amazing young voices at the Cincinnati Museum of Art Auditorium.  SG's voice teacher, Lynne Miller, has been a delight and SG has really enjoyed everything she has learned this year. 

P.S.  It has only taken me 4 days to figure out how to post this...not sure I want to know if it doesn't work:)

Blame it on a lack of green...

      EEEEKK! It has been over a month since I have posted!  In my defense, February was a busy month(I will post some pics tomorrow). March started with T home from college for Spring break, then I had the flu:(  I am back, but definitely suffering from a lack of anything green in my life.
     February in Cincinnati may be the grayest experience of my life. The sun does not shine. Is it a river effect?  Is it that Cincy is on the western edge of the eastern timezone? Rick and I lived in San Francisco's "Fog Belt". As the name implies the rent was cheap and  it was foggy all the time, but never cold.Cold is not such a problem for me as it means I actually can wear the sweaters that I love to knit. No kidding, there was one  slightly sunny day the whole month. Between the snow blanketing the ground( white) and the temperature that barely made it above freezing, I felt the lack  of color.  The combination of the  gray and the  cold  makes me desperate for color.
      I have been canning marmalade and champagne jelly just to see the color in the jars!  The instructions and recipes in this book are fabulous.

The marmalade has not lasted long...

    
Today I swung by the grocery and saw ...cabbage.  Green, glorious cabbage!  Green in shades from bright to  so pale that it is almost almost buttery in  appearance.  I don't know how to cook cabbage so anyone will actually eat it, but again my canning book came to the rescue.  For 66 cents, I bought a one and a half pound head  of the Spring GREEN veg.  I was so excited to start the recipe, that I didn't take a pic of the intact head.  Instead, I slivered it up, dumped it in a bowl, sprinkled on 4 teaspoons of kosher salt and played in it by squeezing.  Do you know what happens?  I had no idea... The salt draws out the water, and before you know there is an easy 2 cups of brine.  You have figured out where this is going, haven't you?

SAUERKRAUT

This is Krissof's small batch recipe which fills  one two quart Ball jar.  You use a water filled baggie to gently press the kraut down in the brine while allowing the brine to trickle out as the cabbage compresses.  That is the reason for the bowl.  The green leaves are from B's pottery class, just liked the way they looked with the kraut.  The best part of all is that it the sauerkraut will sit on my kitchen table for ten days while it pickles.  By the time I put a lid on the jar and put it in the refrigerator,  hopefully there will be green outside:)!!

Funnel Cakes

SG had some delightful friends to spend the night  Saturday night.  They were polite, enthusiastic, and the perfect group to sample the latest sensation to hit our kitchen! 

Need I say more!! Funnel Cakes...who knew?!  Tom Hudgens knew and is now elevated to  genius status in my mind and the minds,hearts, and stomachs of hungry teenagers!

As a family, we have never been able to pass any funnel cake stand.  The state fair, the rodeo, any major league ballgame, a major part of the fun is the "scald your mouth" hot twisting, twirling mass of freshly fried dough.  Watching the  cream batter hit the grease, see it sink in a pile, then pop to the top and float around the vat a silky brown mass.  Then the glorious moment when the vendor flips it on the paper plate to both drain and carry.  While the powdered sugar  absorbs onto the cake, you are practically tossing the cashier your money. Then comes the moment when one of the children says "I want to carry my own."  For a split second you are torn, as this is a moment of independence for your child, you should let him or her carry it.  "Tell you what, you carry the cokes, and I'll carry the cake." Really, who cares if cokes are spilled , the worst is when the funnel cake hits the ground, lost forever! Well fear no more as homemade funnel cakes are here!

Tom Hudgens doesn't assume you have a deep fat fryer. I do own a "Cool Daddy" fryer  but please don't tell as so many people believe a deep fried food held in your hand will extend evil tentacles grabbing your throat and choking the life out of you on the spot!  Please people, this is an OCCASIONAL treat and treat it is! He recommends using a narrow deep saucepan with about 3 inches of  vegetable oil. Heat the oil to 375 degrees.

While the oil is heating, mix the flour, eggs, milk, butter, baking powder and vanilla in a bowl.  The batter was  slightly thick, but dripped from the spoon.

Using you kitchen funnel, plug the hole with your finger, and fill it  with batter using a ladle.

Holding it over the oil, move our finger, and voila!!

There it goes slithering into  the oil.

After cooking on one side, use a slotted spoon to flip it to the other.

Ok, so I might be showing off a little with two in the pan:)

Drain them on paper towels.

Into the delish powdered sugar and flip,  A small  wire sieve would work as well but this way the powdered sugar is on both sides.  Might as well go for broke...

Here are some of the remaining ones. Sorry I don't have pictures of the girls eating them.  Teenagers refuse to be photographed early on Sunday morning in pajamas with bedhead  eating deep fried foods.  I might have negotiated with them, but I had already played my trump card by making the funnel cakes!  The only thing missing were the paper plates.

Queso Blanco

After the milking, I had lovely whole milk.  It is hard to see in the picture, but there is a faint line as the fatty cream rises to the top and the milk sinks to the bottom.

Now I just had to figure out how to separate them.  I headed to the local DEAL$ (the girls hate the  dollar sign on the end, but agree it is better than DEALZ).  I am on the lookout for a glass jar with a metal spigot, but this will have to do for now. For $5, I did get 4 matching drinking cups:) Two other flaws in my plan, the pitcher was green and  hard to see the line, plus after pouring it into the new container, I needed it to  sit for 12 hours rather than 6 to fully separate again.

All the recipes I have been using have come from this amazing cookbook.  I found it in the library and was so impressed that I asked Santa for my own copy!  The instructions are clear, the recipes delicious, and it is a great resource. He even has a recipe for making soap using 61/2 pounds beef kidneys and a picnic cooler...I am desperate to locate kidneys and make my own soap!

The recipe calls for fresh milk, vingegar, and salt-that is it! The  8 cups of milk  are heated  to 180 degrees. 

                        Meanwhile line a strainer with wet cheesecloth and place over a bowl.

Here I added the 1/4 cup vinegar and you can see the clumps or curds forming and separating from the whey.

 I dumped all of it in the strainer, then I put the curds back in the pan to salt it and then back into the strainer       to finish draining.

               It is draining  and has a consistency at present of a lumpier ricotta.  The whey is very warm                     below in the bowl-more on it in a minute.

  Wrap the cheese and place the strainer over the bowl.  Place saran wrap over the whole thing and let it sit in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days, turning it once. In a million years, I would never have thought of the use for the whey, but it is in the cookbook.

I poured the warm whey into a pitcher and added a cup of sugar stirring to dissolve it.

                                                          I added the zest of a lemon.

 Then I added the juice of 3 lemons.  As warm milky lemonade, it was different but ok.  After the whey lemonade chilled, it was really good.  It might be good for a glaze as well, either  with powdered sugar on baked goods or on meat...hmmm.

After the cheese sat for 2 days, I crumbled some of it in a pan with olive oil and heated it, browning it slightly and then put it over a salad of winter grown greens, almonds, radishes, and carrots!  It was so good that Rick and I started to eat and forgot to take pictures!

What I wear everyday...

This is what I wore this morning to brush off the 6 1/2 inches of snow and ice off the car.  The  temperature at 8:30 was 6 degrees and with the windchill it was -5degrees.  The hat, gloves and boots all contain thinsulate. My jeans are flannel lined and my coat might as well be a sleeping bag!
SG made the indoor snowflakes out of coffee filters...Aren't they awesome!?

The cat who got the cream

Through a series of lovely occurrences, on Tuesday I was able to fulfill a long held ambition to milk a cow! I am volunteering at a nonprofit self sustaining farm which grows over 35,000 pounds of produce for a CSA as well as provide educational opportunities from school trips to teaching plowing using draft horses. Here is the link to the farm's website.http://www.turnerfarm.org/

When the  the volunteer coordinator and I spoke about volunteering, she asked if I would be willing to  milk a cow as one of the chores.  Would I be willing...you betcha!!!

On Tuesday morning, it was unseasonably warm at 28 degrees,  alternately misty and rainy.  I put on 19 layers and went to the farm.    

Meet Sally, a beautiful Guernsey weighing around 1200 pounds and sweet when she sees you holding the grain and hay. She came when called and walked right into the milking stall.  A metal bracket called a stanchion went around her neck to remind her to stay in place, but as she was busy eating, she was perfectly content.  

Melinda had brought a thermos of warm water and towel and we proceeded to clean the udders. 

I couldn't milk and take pictures at the same time.

HERE I AM, milking Sally enjoying myself immensely.  She does look a little demonic, but I promise that is the flash.   Melinda was 3 times as fast as I was and got 3 times the volume of milk, but I got several cups.  After milking, we mucked the stall , swept and  hosed everything down.
I went on to work in the vegetable garden covering some Winter crops(3 to 6 inches of snow expected tomorrow), dug some carrots and several other small jobs.  When I got back to the main building, look what was waiting for me!!! I had not expected any milk, but I was thrilled with  the gift!
Here it is strained and ready to use.  You can see a faint line near the top where the cream has separated from the milk.  I want to use the milk for queso blanco and the I am torn between butter or ice cream for the cream.  I will post those over the next couple of days! 

I guess I am not the only cat who got the cream this week:) Mo was suddenly my friend when she smelled the jar.  I promise I got her off the table immediately!

(The colander was made by B in her pottery class.  I have been using it to drain the pasta I am making, but it is too cool to put away where no one can see it)

And I wonder why it has been difficult to craft!?

Thankfully the needles are more fun than the ball of yarn.  I have no idea how long that will last.

As we are in Mentone, I had great plans to finish up the quilting  on this quilt so I could move on to Sunbonnet Sue.  Ros and Lil have their own plans...guess who is having more fun?

Happy 2011!

17!

B is 17 today! When I wonder where the time goes in early December, I am always surprised to remember that the girls have birthdays 6 days apart at the end of the school semester and 2 weeks before Christmas!  I knit the handwarmers and the hat.   She is holding the hat because we  wanted you to see the cute headband from SG ! The very cute on B shirt is from SG as well!

Happy Birthday B!

As I write this T is driving back from college having finished his first semester.  Celebratory dinner will have to be squeezed between SG's rehearsal for the Winter concert and B's horseback riding lesson after Rick gets home from being oncall. They are calling for 2 to 4 inches of snow as well tonight.  If dinner ends up being tomato soup, grilled cheese and key lime pie(B's request) at least  we will all be at the same table-I am thankful!

15!

SG is 15 today.  The sweater is from B.  You can guess who the hat and fingerless gloves are from...
                                                             Happy, Happy Birthday SG!

Henagar Drive In

The sign pointing the way in to the cornfield

      Last Saturday night, we took all the kids to the Henagar Drive In in Henagar, Alabama.  The huge screen rises up from a converted field and there is room for a hundred cars.  Open year round, they play new releases, have inexpensive snacks and my carload of kids(6 of 9kids) cost $15! Does it get any better?!

Decorated for the season at the admission booth

      We have been in all types of weather, but it was 40 degrees Saturday night.  At least, there would not be mosquitoes! Arranging to go, we packed all available blankets and the pads from the lawn furniture. Coats, hats, jackets and as many gloves as we could round up!

Everyone piled in the back of T's pickup for a picture and warmth.  The girls headed to the other car to watch the movie and to use the car as a windbreak!

     The drive in always plays a double feature, but with the cold, I was good for only one.  Tangled might not have been everyone's first choice, but  at least it was a fun way to watch the movie. As for the movie, Rapunzel is strong and independant, but I couldn't shake the anxiety I felt about the story.  It is a story of a missing and exploited child, even down to the annual candlelight vigil. Grimm's Fairy tales were always gruesome, and Disney handled the original story in a typical Disneyesque manner with songs and silliness. In the end, I decided to be thankful for the children in my life, the fun and even the cold...all in all a good way to spend Thanksgiving!
      

Georgia Ladies

Mrs. Rosalynn Carter

Mrs.Lillian Gordy Carter

We were back to the drawing board after discovering our new boys were girls! Until SG thought to look up famous Georgia ladies...  Rosalynn Carter, Lillian Carter, Scarlett O'Hara and Olive Ann Burns were all on the list.  Pet names in our house have to be literary or historical (very loose definition as the kittens were originally named after TV characters), but the names have to be easy to shorten as well.  Rick is adamant about this although he is the first to admit cats selectively respond to their names.  Here they are:

Formerly known as Luke Duke... Rosalynn Carter Barr
" Roz"

The former Bo Duke now known as Lillian Carter Barr
"Lil"

              I just hope their namesakes never went after each other like these two do all day long:-)!

Never believe what you read...

Remember yesterday when I said that we were able to determine the sex of the kittens by checking online? 

We did determine the sex, just not the right one for either of them! Dr. Applebaum, our new vet, took a look...both girls!  Thankfully, they are healthy, but we are back to the drawing board about names. He tried to make us feel better by pointing out that in his practice 9 out of 10 ginger cats are male, so it was really unusual to have two females.  The naming game has started all over again:-)

The Cat Whisperer

     We were in Mentone, Alabama for Thanksgiving. A visit to Mentone is never complete without a trip to McKay's Used Bookstore in Chattanooga.  After loading up on books on Saturday, we stopped by the Bi-Lo in Trenton, Georgia to load up on MORE food on the way back to the cabin. As we were passing the BP gas station, Rick said,"Look, kittens..."  Yes, the words did come out of his mouth.  I saw just one little orange streak out of the corner of my eye. "Stop the car, Dad,stop the car right now." We pulled over... 

      B,SG, Rick and I got out of the car. It was gray and about 45 degrees outside.  Behind the BP was an overgrown bramble and trash pit- rough combination.  We spotted two tiny kittens.  I went in to ask the clerk a  question.  "We just saw kittens behind the station.  They are your mousers, right?"

"Naw, people dump'em.  I try to feed 'em if I can get away from the counter." 

 I thought that was what she was going to say.  I asked for cat food.  There was none in the store, but  two packages of tuna fish looked like they might be effective.  

     Back outside, Rick and the girls were studying the situation.  Several attempts to coax them out by patting the ground and calling them didn't work. They meowed and watched us but would not come out.  There was no way to go in without being ripped to shreds. The praying commenced! I got milk and a cup out of the car, handed them to Rick and watched him morph into the Cat Whisperer.  He drizzled a line of milk out of the nasty bramble patch and the smallest kitten came out.  Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, Rick handed him to me. Pitiful, bedraggled little cat... The girls put him in a box with a disposable dish full of tuna, and the purr that emanated shortly afterwards was enough to jiggle the down jacket over the top of the box. Ecstatic at how easy that was we knew kitty number two would amble out shortly.  

     No dice!  The stubborn cat would look at us, cry and then walk to the other side of the brambles always out of reach.  The milk did not tempt him at all.  I cracked open the tuna.  He would come forward then retreat...for 45 agonizing minutes.  Did I mention it was 45 degrees outside, getting dark and the temperature was dropping.  Plus, we had one kitten, two girls and my mother in law in the car.  No way we could go without number two! He finally took pity on us and allowed Rick to grab him by an impressive over/under maneuver through the bramble . Though it may be that by then we were  covered head to foot in dirt and tuna and  smelled better to him. Popping him in the box, he joined his brother in eating and purring. 

     Rescuing them was nothing to the chore of naming them. In out house pet names are literary or historical.  The lists of brothers and or pairs  ranged from Stanley and Livingston to Ernie and Bert. Orville and Wilbur appeared as well in a nod to our new Ohio address. There was a moment of panic when we considered that one or both might be girls.  Who knew you could determine the sex of a kitten by checking online? The internet is a brilliant thing! In a nod to his cat whispering skill, the children graciously allowed Rick to name them. We had to wait 48 hours for them to tell Rick their names.  Allow me to present...the Dukes of Hazard.

Bo

Luke

Life is good when you are warm, dry, full and sharing your fleas with humans!