Time for Random Tuesday

Dear Little Mouse,

I know the weather is a little chilly outside at night. I also know that you are cute, and fuzzy, and look adorable when you chew on a corn kernel. However, you may not know that this is my house and it is not acceptable to leave your little presents on my counter or under my sink. Mice are to live in the wild and my house is not the wild, thank you very much, despite what you may have heard. You are to be evicted immediately and I don't care how cute your little whiskers or paws are. It is also not acceptable to be sneaky and lick the peanut butter right off the trap without setting it off. Therefore, I have placed more presents for you around the places where you left us presents. I am sure you will not enjoy them, but I hope your life is quick and short and painless and I can then get on with mine.

Thank you.

 

House Mouse

Dear Little Chipmunk or Ground Squirrel or whatever the heck you are called,

I know you think you're cute, with all your aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings living under our garage and in our house walls. However, when one of them dies inside those said walls, the stench is pretty nasty. If you're going to live there, have the courtesy to die elsewhere so our basement does not smell like death. In addition, we could live with seeing one or two of you around, but now there's a whole commune and we do not want to see more holes in our yard or foundation wall. Therefore, Mr. Wild left you some tasty treats that may make your stomach hurt. Please be sure to have that stomach ache away from our house, so we don't smell your rotting carcass when it finally gets to you. If you want to go move to the neighborhood park, I think that would be the best for all of us. But if not, share the tasty poison pellets with your aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings and we will deal with the stench until it goes away.

Eastern Chipmunk

I wouldn't have such a problem with wildlife, if it would just stay in the wild and not invade my space.

Go visit the Un Mom by clicking on the label for more randoms.

Foodie Friday (with a little history)

I was at a gathering earlier this week and this is what I made for the food table.

Blintzes with...

blueberry sauce

I made the crepes, cheese filling and sauce from scratch.

Sorry there's no picture of the sauce on top of the blintzes.

They do taste as good as they looked, if I may say so.

So the history lesson is that when I was maybe 10 or 11, we went out to Ohio to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins who were (are) all older than me.  My oldest cousin was graduating and at her graduation they served blintzes with cherry sauce.  It was really yummy and my first exposure to something that is often considered a Jewish food, though I didn't really know it was that.  My uncle is Jewish.  I think on this same trip I was also introduced to bagels, lox, and cream cheese.  I thought that was a pretty tasty treat, but didn't know its cultural background until I was a lot older.

I was going to do cherry sauce, but cherries cost more.

If you're absolutely dying for the recipe, then maybe I'll post it, but I think it came from the Food Network and is very long, which is why didn't spend the time copying it and posting it.

Bon Appetit!

Random Tuesday Thoughts going strong...

Way too much candy, but healthier kids and a fun weekend nonetheless:

Snow Princess (good choice for the chilly weather)

 

 

We found a snow man, an orange snowman, but a snowman anyway.

Had a great time trick or treating with our friends, Bumblebee the Transformer and Spider Girl.

(Why is it that most superhero women are Something Girl, where their male counterparts are Something Man? Like Super Girl, Super Man, Bat Girl, Bat Man, Spider Girl, Spider Man.  There is only one Wonder Woman.  Wonder Boy sounds better than Wonder Man, don't you think?)

You will notice that there is no older child in these photographs.  I have hit a milestone I was not ready to hit.  The "I'm too old for trick or treating and a costume" milestone.  Made me feel sad that the end of an era was here.  We did buy him something earlier for a costume, when he was having a school party and I told him he should have a costume, but he missed the school party and refused to go out in the costume.  Mr. Wild also recently overheard him telling his sister and her little neighborhood friends that he didn't think Santa was real, that it was really just his Mom and Dad.  He hasn't said anything to us and I'm still not sure how to deal with it.

I'm so not ready for this next stage of childhood development....middle school!

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Foodie Friday

I pretend to being a foodie.  I like good food, but my cooking repertoire is not as varied as I would like it to be.  Perhaps that has to do with my children's, and, for that matter, husband's, limited tastes.  Mr. Wild is much more adventurous than he used to be, but there are many dislikes of his that limit my cooking and many of my childhood foods do not get made because he just doesn't like it (chicken divan comes to mind as being one of the dishes I miss on occasion).

But today is about some lovely items with which I created a new tradition in my own little family.  And it's about time to start making them for the holidays.  In fact, I have geared up by buying some supplies for the season.  They can be kind of a pain in the butt to make, but are so gorgeous and yummy to boot.  My own brother is perfectly satisfied with two tinsful of them for his Christmas present.

Oh, but where are my manners?  Let me introduce springerle cookies to you:

They are actually very tiny.  This one is about 1 inch by 2 inches or so.  They are made using molds.

 

Coffee Break 

 

Look at the detail.  There's even steam from the cup.  You can barely see it in my actual cookie, but it is there.  The mold picture is from the enabler website from where I get most of my supplies.  I just put in for a new mold.  Mr. Wild was like, "Oh, well, Merry Christmas to you!"  But it was a really good deal, because you get 6 different cookie designs for $30, when many single molds are at least $24. So he said, "Were you getting tired of all the designs you had?"  Well, yes I was.

Here's my new mold.  I can hardly wait!

 

Holiday Delights

That and I got hartshorn (baker's ammonia) and orange oil for flavoring.  I already have almond oil in stock.  My brother and son love the almond flavors (my favorite, too), but Willa and Mr. Wild like the orange flavor.  And one year I got creative crazy and brushed the backs of the orange flavored ones with dark chocolate.  Oh, that was decadent!

So by now you're wondering about the recipe.  I could retype the whole thing here, but I use the House on the Hill recipe all the time, in the booklet where they give loads of hints and tips on how to make them.  My method may be slightly different than yours based on weather, humidity, oven temperment, and so forth, so, for me to put in my recipe is pointless.  And it changes all the time depending on the flavors.  But I would recommend the following:

1. Don't skip the hartshorn.  It really is so much better than the baking powder.
2. Do experiment with one or two cookies when baking in the oven.  You don't want them to overpuff and size of the cookie can make it change drastically.  I have a large hornbook mold and the small coffee cup and both react differently.  I bake low and slow most times.
   
3. Adjust your oven temperature a lot!  Use the tricks they offer in the tips and hints.  It really makes a difference.
4. Use real flavoring oils (and do not pour them into or onto anything plastic.  I poured it on something plastic and it kind of melted it).  Extracts are not strong enough.
5. Try to dry out the cookies for 24 hours if you can, but a couple hours will do fine as well.  Some drying time is necessary to help "set" the print.

The molds are not cheap, but buy a big one with several cookie designs on it for cost effectiveness.  I've never tried the rolling pins, so I can't say how easy they are to work with.  I prefer pressing them in.  This insanity all started when I was introduced to them while working at an 1880s German American living history farm.  I used to live near where the House on the Hill company is based and I would go in person to their store to buy "seconds" at a lesser price.  They were no less beautiful and it's amazing walking in and seeing the shelves full of all the gorgeous molds.  So addictive, you wish you had one of each.  When I first started, as I understood it, they were the only importer of these fine molds, made of resins, many copied from historic examples.  They have even been featured in Martha Stewart Living.

I am leaving you with a few more photos of my previous work.  The frenzy has yet to begin this year.  I am awaiting my new mold.

These are orange flavored which are enhanced by using fresh orange peel in the batter.

 

This says "Merry Christmas" in German.

 

 

You can find this mold here.

Both the wreath and the house were seconds. The wreath is discontinued.

Memeless: History Lesson

Attention class!  If you did not sign up for Costume History 101, you may leave the room now.

Thank you.

We're going to start today with a look at how stupid costume people on stupid television shows cannot be bothered to go do proper research, of which there is even plenty on-line and can take no more than five minutes to look up a historical painting or photograph to correlate with whether or not you got the historic clothing right.  It is especially agregious when the time period is the American Civil War and there are 50,000 reenactors as of 2000 (Wikipedia, 2009).  With so many people interested in this time period, you'd think the costume people could try a little harder.

First, let's start with the people that are supposed to be portraying "slaves" in this show:

http://www.tvscreencaps.com/

 

http://www.vampire-diaries.n

Let's compare with an 1862 photo of slaves:

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/

There are NO shirts and skirts in the 1860s!  I hate that!  Well, ok, caveat, there was occasionally, but not to the extent that all the slaves should be wearing it.  In the top photo, the "slave" has a blousy, unfitted shirt and a skirt with way too little fabric to be right for the time period.  In the second picture, what the heck is the slave companion wearing?  That particular slave lady also has a corset, which, usually, is fine, but in this case, check out the real photo.  NONE of the women are wearing corsets.  You can tell, because much is sagging or otherwise loose.  If there was a corset, you'd seen the straightness of the body up to the bust line.  Also, in the real photo, the skirts and bodices are attached and made of the SAME material.  Really, it's not that hard to put that together.  Here, get a pattern.  Or two.

While we're at it, look at the young lady in the second picture.  While the jacket she wears is decent for her age and the time period and the skirt is really not that bad, a little too much skin!  A blouse on her would have been appropriate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/

This one of the main young lady is also horrible:

http://www.vampire-diaries.net/

ACK!

Oh, come on.  In the time it took me to write this, the costume designer could have checked out this website: Wikipedia, 1860s fashion or looked up these lovely patterns of which there are many and decent ones that they could have used on the girl character.  Simplicity even carries some really decent 1860s outfits in their current line.  That's right.  She could have gone to the fabric store, or WALMART and looked these up in their pattern catalogs. Sheesh!  (Did you hear that Susan De Laval and Jennifer L. Bryan?)  And seriously, if you don't have the time to make the costumes, you can buy plenty of decent ones. Oh, and that's just the tip of the ice berg.

And don't even get me started on the men's clothing in these pictures.  Double ACK!

Class dismissed.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

So, I am stuck at home with two children with fevers.  I am hoping it is not the bad stuff, because we have a week packed full of fun times that we may all have to miss.  We're missing the school's monster mash fundraiser tonight already.  Willa is very sad, because in PE they learned some dances to monster mash music and now she can't join in.  I'm sorry for her.  She even wanted to try out the haunted house.  Andrew, on the other hand, really isn't bothered.  He doesn't even want to do trick or treating.  His words, "Candy isn't good for you, it will rot your teeth."  I asked, "But don't you like candy?"  He said, "Well, I can't eat most of it anyway." (he has orthodonture appliances in his mouth, not braces, other stuff)  I said, "Well, you could go and then trade for the chocolate in your sister's stash."  He said, "Nah, it just seems like it's for little kids." (my jaw drops, I'm so sad, when did he decide he was a big kid?)

We have school Halloween party tomorrow, which they may miss, then Andrew was invited to a sleep over for Friday, and we have a family Halloween party on Friday and then on Saturday.  Trick or treat is on the day of Halloween, so exciting, if we aren't all sick at that time.  Bummer!  And I was looking forward to the parties, too.  The only consolation is that this year I broke my tradition and bought costumes instead of making them.  So I'm out the money, but not the time.  Perhaps they will fit next year.

Remember that episode of Friends with the "freebie list?"  This is my freebie list.  Unfortunately, there can only be five.


Val Kilmer (have had a crush since Real Genius came out.  Unfortunately, getting older has not necessarily made him get better.  It would have to be the Val Kilmer of The Saint or Willow.)
Hugh Jackman (who didn't like him playing Wolverine in X-Men Origins)
David Tennant (most awesome Dr Who evar!)
Jack Davenport (I think I have a thing for sensitive British guys.)
Jensen Ackles (younger, but not by that much.  Guess I like some ghost hunters, too.)

Um, apparently my celebrity worship has been shaped by sci-fi and fantasy.  Ha, go figure!

Compare that to my elementary school crushes:
Shaun Cassidy
Parker Stevenson (The Hardy Boys, remember?)

Mark Hamill (now when I watch Star Wars, I just think of him as super whiny.  Why didn't I notice that at the beginning?)


Oh, then there are those really older men who aged pretty well:

Sean Connery
Pierce Brosnon
Harrison Ford

I was going to put up all these photos, but you will have to settle for the links (thanks to IMDb for all the links).  Seriously, that would have been a lot of pictures.  Plus, I'm all worried about copyright, so I think the link will do.  That took me long enough.

Both kids are quietly sleeping in the den.  No protests.  No fighting.  I'm a bit worried.

For more randomness, click on the badge above.  I'm done.

More pudding recipes

Amy over at Bitchin' Wives Club is living the dream in England.  She shared a recipe Friday that seemed suspiciously familiar to me.  I went to the cupboard to see what my great grandmother's recipe for date pudding looked like.

Here's my family recipe:

2 c. chopped dates
2 t. soda
2 c. hot water
2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 c. nutmeats
1 t. vanilla
2 T. butter

Mix dates, soda and hot water, set aside to cool.  Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, cut in butter.  Add date mix, nuts and vanilla, stir until mixed.  Bake in a greased floured 8x8 pan at 350 degrees until toothpick comes out clean, about 40-50 minutes.


My recipe is a little simpler, but it comes from a family recipe and may be 70-80 years old and is not fancied up by coffee flavors and other things.  It seems that my great grandmother truly used a recipe from Scotland, which is where my great grandfather is from.  Family legend has it that my great great great grandfather might have been a gardener at the Queen's summer retreat (this would have been Victoria) at Balmoral.  That I do not have verified, but I had great aunts attest to that fact.  I need some time and money to travel to the UK to check out my heritage.

Thanks for sharing the recipes Amy, I think I'm going to try the sauce on my pudding next time.  And maybe get cute little bowls for my puds, too.