Chocolate, Family, Late Winter

 I gathered the supplies for a new dessert from the King Arthur Flour website - Spiced Chocolate Tart
My version was not gluten free - I used my trusty food processor pastry recipe.

 While it was enjoyed - it didn't have enough ginger flavor. The directions said to strain the ginger pieces out, but Jonathan and I decided that I shouldn't do that. Thank goodness! The only ginger taste the tart had was when you bit into the bits of ginger.

 Kirk visited with us too. He is a hoot! I don't do animals in the house so he spent nights on the screen porch. He rather thought he was inside. ;-) Except when night fell...he howled. Jonathan said Kirk didn't howl...he barked and whined a bit...but did not howl. I'm sure he heard the coyotes howling.

The first day while Jonathan was out and about, he clipped a chain to Kirk's collar and put him outside under the pear trees. Kirk was NOT happy. Sam went out to check on him. He had dumped his food and water bowls, flipped his crate upside down and was in the crate barking. Poor darlin'!

My camelia bush is loaded! Won't this be a delightful site when it bursts open in red blooms?!

The first flowers of spring.

Bluebonnets!!

If you look down while walking, you'll see quite a few of these pretty little blue flowers sprinkled around.

The Good and the Pfffftttt

Sam, Jonathan, and I went to see "Parental Guidance" at the movie theater tonight. I haven't laughed that much at the movies in a very long time. 

Now - Jonathan, my 29-year old son, and I are watching television. We just enjoyed two back-to-back commercials. One was for Cialis - erectile dysfunction. The other was for RepHresh - feminine cleanliness.

Not quite as bad as when he was 14 and tampon commercials came on. At least now we can laugh about them.

On to Grander Things

Isabel's second birthday cake! She enjoyed eating the frogs...except for the legs. She gave them to me, I handed them to Colt and told him if he ate them that he would turn into a frog. He ate them, turned to his mommy and said, "Me frog." LOL

Daddy feeding Isabel some cake...see the lily pad in her hand? (LOL That lily pad has legs! Must be a frog on a lily pad.)

Isabel in Granny's arms.

The first gift she opened. She saw the netting sticking out of the top of the gift bag and wanted it. Great Aunt Carol helped her pull it out. She grinned from ear to ear while Carol tied it on her. Throughout the afternoon, every so often she would stop, kick out a leg, and watch the netting flutter. Brought a smile to my face every time I saw it.

Colt and Isabel playing kitchen.

Cain got in on the action too!

The tutu above was just "icing on the cake" so to speak. My former sister-in-law told me she still had MY baby doll bed that I had given to my niece, Lacee...did I want it back. WELL YEAH! Sam repainted it for me. I made the soft-sculpture doll, "mattress," and doll quilt. As the gift opening wound down, I pulled the goodies from a trash bag, placed the mattress in the bed, laid the doll down, and covered completely with the doll quilt. The quilt is made from scraps of Isabel's baby quilt. Isabel pulled the quilt off the doll...looked at the doll...put the quilt over her head and walked off. :D

As an aside: Christmas week, Cody and Brook sold their old home and purchased this new home. John gave or loaned them the bed Sam made for the A-frame John did live in. When he and Erin purchased their new home, the bedroom had 9-foot ceilings. The bed just did not work in there so they purchased another. Brook is very excited about the bed.

 I made the quilt for Brook and Cody when they married. It all looks pretty good together, doesn't it?!

Where?

I heard some absolutely horrible news today. When I walked in the house this evening, Sam asked how my day had gone. I started crying as I told him about the incident. I pulled up the online newspaper so that he could read it.

I think for the first time in my life I asked God "Where were you? What were you doing?!"

But then I knew. He was crying while Satan reared his ugly-ass head back and laughed and applauded at those who would blame God for this horror.  

Spelling Bee

I thought I was finished with Spelling Bees after elementary school. Da Judge asked me to get a 3-person team together from the Friends of the Library and the salon she owns (and her sister manages for her) would pay the entrance fee.

The Bee was tonight. One of our team, the most stable person I've known in a long time, called at noon and said she wasn't going to show up. I made no comment - just hung up the phone. She called back and fussed at me pretty royally for hanging up on her. LOL She was actually having a bad case of nerves! I would've never ever guessed that of her. 

We could appoint a "speller" - the third team member said she'd do it. The way it works...the word was called out, we each wrote it down, compared our spellings, then the speller stood and spelled it...she did great! 

We were NOT the first ones out! YEAH!!!! We came in fourth out of eight teams. And we are all happy about it! 

Absentee

 It's not that there's nothing going on..it's just that...there's nothing going on. ;-)

From the living room, it looked as though my Rhipsalis (just found out what's it's called after posting a photo on HGTV garden forum - smart people there)...anyway, it looked as though it had a fungus. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was blooming! Either that's the first time it has ever bloomed, or I just forgot. :-D Sometimes I'm like a baby goose - wake up in a different world every day.

I just had to brag once again on my delicious cornbread from scratch AND my cast iron. I have four cornstick pans and the divided pan which I use for scones as well. 

Christmas rolled around and I didn't know what to give the four commissioners. I take phone messages for them, distribute their mail, etc. I finally hit upon the idea of giving them a coupon for a "Sweet Thing" - a cake, a pie, one batch of cookies, or one batch of candy. The lone bachelor in the group cashed his coupon in last week for a buttermilk pie.  

Because my boss is actually the judge and she's is a very good boss, I gave her four coupons. She cashed in one this week for a batch of oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips instead of raisins. 

The post with the buttermilk pie recipe also has a crust recipe. While that is a good crust, sometimes I had trouble getting it moist enough. Too much water is one of those things that toughens pie pastry. When I got my KitchenAid food processor, I did some sleuthing for a recipe. I found a delicious recipe! 

I've been doing some sewing and other sewing related stuff, but can't post until after Isabel's second birthday party on Sunday just in case her parents visit here. :)

All recipe links can be find in the right sidebar.

New Sweet Potato Recipe

I'm trying to get away from ooey gooey sweet potato casseroles no matter how good they are.

 

This is what I did:

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/4" thick

Layer in a buttered baking dish

Drizzle with maple syrup. 

Spread several really thin slivers of real butter around

Sprinkle with a dash of salt and some ground cinnamon

Toss on a handful of dried cranberries (Craisin) and

about 1/4 cup of slivered almonds

Cover with foil

Bake at 400 degrees about 40 minutes.    

Jonathan's baked mac 'n' cheese. He boiled a box of macaroni. Made a bechamel sauce using whatever I had left in a pint of cream and some milk then added about 3/4 pound of grated cheese. (He used an 8 ounce bag of preshredded 3-cheese Mexican mix and some shredded cheddar.) He stirred in the macaroni. Poured it in a buttered casserole. Topped with a mixture of bread crumbs and 1/4 pound grated cheddar, salt and pepper. Bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes I think. Not that he was territorial about his recipe, but I was busy prepping something else.

My niece, Stacey, and her Ty.

...and her daughter, Brianna.

   

Colt playing with Uncle Jonathan's toys.

Rosy cheeked Cain.

The Rays...John, Sam, and Elton.

Can't remember what my own plant is, but I saw this stuff frm across the room and thought it had a fungus amongus. It's flowers! First time it's ever bloomed that I noticed...

 

Let It Snow...Let It Snow...Let It Snow!

December 24 evening

December 25 - Christmas morning

December 27 - Still on the ground, but the roads are clear.

Jonathan's new partner, Kirk. He said he wanted to be able to say, "Dammit Jim," whenever he messed up. LOL Jonathan bought the machine embroidered emblem. We raided my stash for the appropriate green. I made Kirk a green bandana fitting of his rank so that when he beams to the surface the aliens know at a glance that he is not a red shirt...and will be returning to the Enterprise.

Christmas Eve

Colt liked Granny's boots too!

He did have a bit of trouble getting them lined out in the same direction. ;-) BTW, he calls me Genie. It won't take long before he gets the hang of "granny."

I was shocked! No pictures of Isabel! She spent a tremendous amount of time in Colt's room playing with all those "new" to her toys. During the gift unwrapping, she was across the room from me with bigger kids in the middle.

The Kids

My grand-niece, Brianna (Bri for short), at her kindergarten Christmas party.

Colt and his BFF

Cain can sleep in any position imaginable! Oh to be able to sleep like this!

Um...normally aren't the Pygmies supposed to be on the outside of the pot?

Colt's favorite place to chill out.

 

Isabel and Pawpaw sharing special time on his 77th birthday.

This granny enjoys her special moments too!

My new boots! I've been wearing my old navy ropers, but they are in pretty bad shape. So... :D ...Justin boots made in the USA! I bought them at Country Outfitters - got a great buy and free shipping AND received them in just a couple of days! www.countryoutfitters.com