gingerbread recipe

OK, here's the recipe for my friend Shirley, and anyone else who'd interested.                                   

                                    DE LUXE GINGERBREAD  

(from Betty Crocker's   1960's picture cook book)    

Mix together thoroughly: 1/2 cup shortening 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg   Blend in: 3/4 cup dark molasses 1 cup sour milk (you can sour milk by adding a tablespoon or two of vinegar to fresh milk)  

Sift together and stir in: 2 1/4 cups sifted flour 1 teaspoon soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ginger 1 teaspoon cinnamon  

mix well; pour in greased and floured 9" square pan,  bake at 325 for 45 to 50 minutes.

Gingerbread

Cliff's sister saves their garbage for our pigs; she keeps it in a bag in the freezer, and when they come to visit (which is most every weekend) the pigs have a treat.  A couple weeks ago, along with her frozen stuff, she brought a bottle of blackstrap molasses for the hogs, too.  It was a full bottle, and I really hated to see the pigs get something I could put to a better use.

I've always loved gingerbread warm from the oven, topped with whipped cream or Cool Whip.  But after years of making it fairly often, Cliff broke the news to me a long time ago that he really didn't care that much for it, and I stopped making it.

However, with the granddaughters here Sunday, I figured it was as good a time as any to get creative and use the molasses, so I made a nine-serving panful.  I had a piece, warm, with Cool Whip, and it was as good as I remembered.  Cliff even ate some, with Jello AND Cool Whip, and pronounced it "pretty good".  Natalie, my granddaughter, took a piece home with her (I don't think her sister was so crazy about it).  This morning when I went to work, there was one piece of gingerbread left, in a Rubbermaid container.  Cliff doesn't like it, right?  So all day, at work, I thought about that last piece of gingerbread awaiting my return home.

Well, I've looked the kitchen over with a fine-tooth comb, and that gingerbread is nowhere to be found.  Obviously, my husband (the gingerbread-hater) has eaten MY treat!

As I type this, there's another pan of gingerbread in the oven, making the kitchen smell divine.  And should this panful disappear (the next-door twin boys often eat lunch with Cliff), I think there's just enough blackstrap molasses for one more batch.

Oh, and here's an update:  there may be a waffle maker on my horizon:  Someone who shall remain nameless knows of one that has never been used, and if she can sneak it away from her grandma, it's mine!

I Wish I'd Written That

If there was ever a song that spells "fun", this one's it.  And I recall my son (my only baby boy, and the most handsome child that ever drew a breath) singing this with some of his friends, when he was perhaps in the fifth grade.                                

                         DELLA AND THE DEALER  

It was Della and a dealer and a dog named Jake,
And a cat named Kalamazoo,
Left the city in a pick-up truck.
Gonna make some dreams come true.
Yeah, they rolled out west where the wild sun sets,
And the coyote bays at the moon.
Della and a dealer and a dog named Jake,
And a cat named Kalamazoo.

If that cat could talk, what tales he'd tell,
About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well.
But the cat was cool,
And he never said a mumblin' word.

Down Tucson way there's a small cafe,
Where they play a little cowboy tune.
And the guitar picker was a friend of mine,
By the name of Randy Boone.

Yeah, Randy played her a sweet love song,
And Della got a fire in her eye.
The Dealer had a knife and the dog had a gun,
And the cat had a shot of rye.

If that cat could talk, what tales he'd tell,
About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well.
But the cat was cool,
And he never said a mumblin' word.

Yeah, the Dealer was a killer; he was evil and mean,
And he was jealous of the fire in her eyes.
He snorted his coke through a century note,
And he swore that Boone would die.

And the stage was set when the lights went out,
There was death in Tucson town.
Two shadows ran for the bar back door,
But one stayed on the ground.

If that cat could talk, what tales he'd tell,
About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well.
But the cat was cool,
And he never said a mumblin' word.

If that cat could talk, what tales he'd tell,
About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well.
But the cat was cool,
And he never said a mumblin' word.

Two shadows ran from the bar that night,
And a dog and a cat ran too.
And the tires got hot on the pickup truck,
As down the road they flew.

It was Della and her lover and a dog named Jake,
And a cat named Kalamazoo.
Left Tucson in a pickup truck.
Gonna make some dreams come true.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If that cat could talk, what tales he'd tell,
About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well.
But the cat was cool,
And he never said a mumblin' word.

OK, the glasses were awful; but can't you see how proud I was?  That's me with my firstborn, Jimmy.

Cinnamon flat

I got up at four AM, wishing I had time to make cinnamon rolls for the girls and Cliff, but knowing there wasn't time, before early church.  The girls had left one of my cookbooks on the table, and I picked it up and looked at coffeecake recipes.  I found a simple one with nuts and raisins, and mixed it up.  This took me back to the time when I first met Cliff's family; his mom was a "hillbilly" from the Lake of the Ozarks area, and sometimes for breakfast she'd make "cinnamon flat".  It was really just a simple coffeecake.  Since then, any home-made coffeecake I make is dubbed a cinnamon flat. 

I've been feeding Cliff breakfast in bed for years now, when I'm not at work.  I don't see how he can eat laying down like that, but he has no problem at all.  I'd get heartburn!  Not to mention the coffee running out the corners of my mouth.  He was very pleased with my cinnamon flat idea.  That's his second piece.

Patrick's Saturday Six

1. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #38:  If you could live in a foreign country(or city) for one year, which would you choose and why?

England.  There's so much history there; I'd love to see the places all those famous poets and writers spoke of, and I've always wanted to visit the Yorkshire Dales ever since reading, "All Creatures Great And Small".

2. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #39:  Did you have a security blanket, stuffed animal or toy that you were attached to as a child?  Do you still have it?

I don't remember anything like that as a child.

3. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #40:  Favorite alcoholic beverage?

white wine, most especially sauvingnon Blanc. 

4. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #41:  What was your favorite cartoon as a child? 

Dagwood; I thought his huge sandwiches were so funny, and I loved the way he always missed the bus for work.

5. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #42:  Is there a chore you enjoy doing? 

Anything involving animals.  I loved milking my cows for twenty-five years; now I enjoy grooming my horse.

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #43:  A time machine will let you travel 10 years into either the past of future.  Which would you choose and why? 

No doubt about it, I'd go back.  I'm sixty, and have enough aches and pains without rushing to seventy.  Besides, fifty was a great age for me.

something received in e-mail

         

                My sister, my mom and me, Mother's Day, 2002

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
" Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONIST.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all those peas are gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."

17.. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18 My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand"

25. And my favorite: - My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"

old hillbilly music

From my travels around J-Land, I gather a majority of our bloggers prefer some form of rock music.  Please accept my disclaimer for this entry:  Today's topic won't interest you.

One of the reasons I love the Internet is that you can find virtually ANYTHING!  I mentioned that song, "The Blizzard", in a recent entry, and decided I simply must hear it.  Within five minutes, Jim Reeves was singing it on my computer, with the wind blowing in the background as he slowly froze to death.

Since my bout of strumming and singing the other day when we were without power (I have blisters on my fingertips from that, by the way), I've been thinking about my old friend, Leona, now deceased.  She introduced me to several of the songs I most enjoy singing.  I stopped in the middle of singing, The Root Of All Evil Is A Man to tell Cliff, "I first heard that from Leona."

As I recall, Lee had an uncle in prison, and he had left behind a spiral notebook of country song lyrics he'd collected, from which she sang often.  Many of the songs were old, obscure country numbers I'd never heard of, so of course when I think of those, I hear Leona singing them in my mind.

Yesterday I got thinking about a song whose title I didn't even know.  It was one Leona sang, and there's a line in it that says, "I wanna drink my java from an old tin can...".  I Googled that line and found out the title of the song is "Texas Plains".  Then I went to the best site ever, for a sixty-year-old who sometimes longs to hear songs she heard on the radio as a child:  The Record Lady.

My daughter, and others in her age group, won't find this site useful.  Just my hillbilly senior citizen readers... which may only be a couple of people!

Keep in mind that the Record Lady is a listener-supported website.  I occasionally leave a paypal donation, because I don't know any other place to find these old songs and actually hear the original artist singing them. 

While on that subject:  sometimes I'm strumming my guitar and want to sing a particular musty old country song, but don't know the lyrics.  When that happens, I go to Cowpie Song Corral, print the words off, and sing my heart out.

Have a great weekend, folks!  I look forward to watching a half-hour of Green Day on FUSE tonight with my granddaughter, Monica.  See?  I listen to a wide variety of music!  I'm still hoping Green Day comes to Kansas City this year.