raining indoors and lunch with a friend

We have had rain, rain, and more rain around here.
Not as badly as some have had,
but just over 4 inches in one 24-hour period last week was plenty.

And, when it's raining indoors, you know you've had enough rain. :)

I didn't take a picture,
but I am so glad that I collect antique porcelain wash tubs...
I had e. v. e. r. y.  wash tub that I own
parked around my hearth and wood burning stove in the living room.
In between showers on Wednesday evening,
my Sweetie was on the roof,
with my warehouse-sized jumbo roll of plastic wrap.

Yes, he wrapped the chimney in plastic wrap.

(We didn't have a large enough tarp on hand.)

We were laughing at ourselves and our dilemma...

 with a ladder up to the roof edge, 

and a ladder ON the roof against the chimney, 

and the warehouse-sized jumbo roll of plastic wrap in hand

and wrapped around and around and over the chimney.  

We were laughing at ourselves, laughing at ourselves.

 

He promises that the plastic-wrapped chimney is only 

until the rain stops long enough to get a roofing guy out here 

to see what's up.  Or off.  Or something. 

The rain continued Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 
so I was still drip-catching through the weekend.
Thankfully though, not as much rain indoors those days.
 
Raining indoors day 
was supposed to be the day that I went to lunch with a friend.
We'd talked about going a week or so before,
but something came up then, so we changed it.  
Then we changed it again when it rained indoors.
Anyway, we finally made it and it was so nice and relaxing...
Good company, good food and a nice place to visit.

We lunched at the Morgan House, in Dublin, Ohio.
Morgan House is huge - with different sections that include:
restaurant, gift shop, home decor and furniture, and gourmet foods.
We were seated in the original dining section of the restaurant - the log cabin.
It truly is an old log cabin!!! - 
it was erected from the original log cabin
named after famed Civil War Veteran John Hunt Morgan.
Shortly after the Civil War, the log cabin was dismantled and reassembled on Glick Road, here in central Ohio.

This picture was taken with my phone, so not the greatest picture.
(: Or maybe operator issues :)
But hopefully you can see the original log cabin wall in the background, with a great quilt hanging on it, and yummy lunches on the table.

Thankfully, the raining indoors has ended, 
as I'd rather be stitching than catching drips. :)

Hope you are having as wonderful a start to your Summer
as I've had!

ready or not, Autumn! quilts and stew

I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to let Summer go.
The Autumnal equinox is today.
Well, actually tonight, around 10:30 EST.

Crisp, cooler nights,
shorter daylight hours,
comfort food cooking,
and time to get the quilts changed around.

A table quilt that I made a couple of years ago,
with great Civil War reproduction fabrics and muslins -
a great scrap quilt that I love!

I pulled the summer-y table-topper quilts (from every flat available surface in the house), and threw them all in the wash, then hung them out on the porch to dry.  And, I even dusted a little
before throwing the Autumn inspired quilts
onto the tables and stands
where they can be admired for the next couple of months.

I don't have the wall quilts changed out yet, but that will happen sometime this week.  Maybe.  Probably.

And, since the weather has started it's Autumnal change, 
I even made a Stew for dinner.
My favorite Stew recipe came from 
a quilt shop owner/friend (Thanks, Linda!- I miss you guys!) ,
and I like it because it can be made as is, doubled or even tripled EASILY as needed for family gatherings.  It takes just a little (easy) prep time, then slide it into the oven to finish up while you go to church or play outside with the grandchildren.
And, since Autumn has arrived, ready or not,
I thought I'd share my Stew recipe with you...

Oven Beef Stew
3 tablespoons olive oil, heated in dutch oven on stove top
1 1/2 pounds beef cubes - 1 inch, browned in hot oil on stove top
After browned, remove from heat and top with:
1 pound carrots, cleaned and cut into 1 inch chunks
~1 pound new potatoes, cleaned and quartered
half of a large, sweet onion, quartered (or jar of 12-16 small white onions, not pickled)
10 oz. peas, frozen

In skillet, make a sauce - start with:
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 1/2 cups cold water  
Stir over medium heat until thickened and smooth, then add:
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 bay leaf, whole
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Bring sauce to a boil, then pour over beef and vegetables.**
Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one and a half hours.
Makes 6 hearty servings.

(** at this point, you can put it (covered) into the fridge overnight, 
then just pop into the oven the next day - just add an extra 15 minutes baking time.) 

Remove bay leaf and serve with a green salad and some crusty bread or biscuits.
Delicious!!

Oven Beef Stew - half gone,
because we ate before I remembered I was going to take a picture!!

My notes:

• When I make this, I usually double the carrots & peas, and make a double sauce, too.

• Sometimes I set the oven at 325 degrees & bake for 2 hours, if I need the extra time to play!

• I use a cast-iron/enameled dutch oven, and this seems to cook a little faster.  If you don't have cast iron, you may have to add 15 minutes baking time to the above times.

Busy: quilts, flowers, food

Just like everyone else, I have too many, too little...

projects/commitments are on the list of too many,

and time, or the lack of, is the main thing on the too little side.

I also have an issue (surprise, surprise) -

as in I need to say no occasionally :) 

But everything is just so much fun!!

Anyway,
Quilts #1:  I'm working on a couple of LQ shop pieces (: don't have a pic of the almost finished quilt from the hand-applique class I get to teach - don't know how I always forget to take a pic of my own stuff :) 
Quilts #2:  some meandering for customers -

First is Janet's dinosaurs...

so cute with dinos and dots. 

So I quilted dinosaur "eggs" :)

This quilt is for her new nephew - isn't he so lucky?

Next is Louise's cute quilt for her great-grand daughter

that is coming any day now!

In this one I quilted daisies

to go along with the theme of the fabrics used. 

Another lucky little babe.

Flowers:  The niece's wedding was beautiful.  Of course, with our usual typhoon weather and another couple of inches of rain blowing through each day, the wedding was held inside, but it was still a beautiful wedding.  

Here's a pic of one of the tablepiece groupings-

(so some of the flowers I did)

Food: I catered the local seniors luncheon again - the menu was good for the hot, humid, summer weather we've been having - sloppy chicken (you know, like sloppy joe, but with chicken in it's own thickened broth), loaded baked potato casserole, almond green beans, cole slaw, beets, homemade rolls.  And for dessert?  Pecan brownie sundae drenched with caramel and chocolate sauces, then topped with banana, ice cream and a cherry on top.

(Just typing that makes me want to go make another dessert and have that for dinner!)
Anyway, Sonny-boy was off work that day and was able to help me load/unload, serve and visit.   It was a great day (it sure is nice to have family to help out).  AND, left-overs were great for lunch/work the next day.

So that's that for now.
I'm stitching on my Lucy Boston - Patchwork of the Crosses blocks.
I might be a couple blocks behind right now...

Thanks for checking in on me, &
Happy Stitching!

Smokin' !!!

Wait, NOT me! 
It IS smokin' hot outside!!!!
Waaaay too hot. 
When it's 100 degrees without the heat index?
Multiple days weeks in a row?
Add unsafe air-quality to that, and forget it!
Asthma and poor air-quality do NOT go together well!
Makes me feel very unproductive.

Wait.  Yep, I am unproductive!

So, I found something less taxing than pulling weeds and prepping for parties...

A quick read that seems appropriate for the weather:

If you've missed the whole series of

"numbers" from Janet Evanovich,

well, what can I say. 

Laugh out loud funny is the first that comes to mind.

Just a little on the raunchy side, but not too much so.

Hilarious beats out the little raunch in my opinion.

One of her first books in the series I was reading in an airport,

then on the plane,

and seriously, I was laughing out loud. 

I had tears in my eyes. 

People were concerned,

or thinking I had serious issues,

and moved away from me. 

Others evidently had read Evanovich before

and smiled or laughed with me, as they KNEW.

Anyway, Smokin' Seventeen is a quick read

(and, a little better than the last two have been).

and the

laughs are worth the avoidance

if you are reading in public!

Back to the Smokin' Hot:

when it's

hot enough to keep caramel soft:

you just have to make some turtle brownies...

So I did.  With a side of ice cream, of course.
And I shared with the Friday night volleyball friends.
Not that we played much volleyball.
It has rained monsoons for most of the Friday nights this summer.
Which then adds to the humidity and poor air-quality.
But this past Friday it rained monsoons in the early afternoon,
so we gathered
to pretend we played volleyball on Friday nights.
Mostly we sweated. 
And, we ate melty-caramel topped brownies.

(I have stitched a little this past week, but that's for another day)
Happy Summer Stitching!

Happy Independence Day

to you and yours!

We, Sweetie and I, did enjoy the

Down-Town fireworks a couple of nights ago...

I tried to video and share a little of it here,

as it really is a spectacular light show...

But that didn't work, so,

OK, OK,  I know, I should keep my day job,

as a videographer, I'm not!

Did I mention that it was

90 degrees and humid

at 10 o'clock p.m. the night of the fireworks??

And that we were with

a half-million

of our closest, sweaty friends???

That was fun, and smelly!

Just kidding, maybe...

We were up on a roof top

with only about 200 of our closest friends,

12 stories up in the air,

where it was only 80 degrees 

and there was a slight breeze

that blew the schtink into someone elses area :) !

It was a wonderful night

and great food was brought in by all.

Here's the recipe for one of the dishes that I took to share:

Italian Tomato Salad with Pasta
A few hours before dinner or the day before,
mix together the dressing:
1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 cup red Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Sea Salt
1 Tbsp. basil*
1 tsp. black cracked pepper
1/3 cup parsley*
     *Refrigerate this for a couple of hours if using dried herbs (*see below)
1 lb. pasta, cooked, drained, cooled to room temperature
6 - 10 medium, fresh tomatoes, wedged and drained
1 large sweet onion, sliced and roughly chopped
Optional: fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed
Put all of these last ingredients into a large serving bowl and toss together.


Whip the EVOO and vinegar dressing with a fork before pouring over the pasta, tomato and onion.  Serve immediately or cover and chill before serving- I like to serve a few hours later or even the next day, as this dressing mixture is very generous and there's plenty to be absorbed into the noodles overnight.


*You can use dried basil and parsley - fresh is better, but not always in season, so this recipe uses the dried herbs, you just have to let the dried herbs re-constitute a little bit by refrigerating a couple of hours before dressing the tomatoes, onion and pasta.

Hope your holiday is a safe and happy one!

It's that time again!

Time...
it sure seems like it has been flying, lately...
And, since it's almost the end of October,
that means it's chili cook-off time again!

Can't wait for Saturday night this week!
Nice, cool, fall weather with a bright moon and clear skies.
A great bonfire,
and a Party!!!

I invited the neighbors and friends and family.
So far, RSVP's are great!
Among others, these are the cook-off chilies that are coming:
a "famous chili",
a "turkey-10-alarm-chili", and
an "Italian chili"!   

Going to have to step up my recipe, it sounds like!!!

Oh, yeah, and get some more tables down to the fire pit!

blue plate special

Remember the " blue plate special"?

I remember the local mom & pop place in town

always had a sign outside for a "blue plate special".

Do you suppose they really had blue plates?

But, that is not why I bring up the "blue plate"...

I recently read

some study

that was about eating habits

and how those eating habits are affected by the

color of the plate you eat from...

Supposedly,

the color blue is not pleasant to your senses when combined with serving food,

therefore, you would unconsiously eat less if served on a blue plate...

Don't know if this is true or not, but,

just in case...

this is the color of my snack plates:

And this is the snack

that I put on my snack plate last time:

Yep, that's my turtle cheesecake...

I don't know for sure if

the blue plate/eat less thing

is working for me, though...

I still ate the whole thing!

well, Cheesecake!

No, that is not an expletive!

It's just that - cheesecake!

I have been in the mood for cheesecake lately,

but if you have ever made a cheesecake,

you know that they are not small!

So I waited.

And waited.

Patiently.

Not my best attribute, waiting patiently.

I think I used to be more patient.

Maybe I have become accustomed to

our life of instantaneous results...

Like microwaved food - almost instant hot food.

Pop it in the little box,

poke some numbers,

and just a minute later:

WaLaa! Hot food!

Or maybe like fast food restaurants -

drive through, pay and pick up a meal.

Or maybe the worst culprit: 

picking up your cell phone

and texting or calling someone RIGHT NOW

and having them answer AND

not having to wait until you get to a Pay Phone or back home.

Pay Phone??? What's a Pay Phone???

Well, anyway,

back to the cheesecake...

I had to wait until I had a reason

to make a cheesecake

that feeds 16.

And the occasion arouse over the past weekend.  Yay! 

And I had a cutie of a helper...
(this pic was before we started licking the utensils
and before chocolate was on the white t-shirt! 
Oops, time to get out the aprons!)

I made this scrumptious

Turtle Cheesecake:

It was well worth the wait! 

Scrumptious!

a crust of pecans and flour and butter!

(whole wheat flour, of course)

Then the filling of

Two pounds of cream cheese,

eggs, sugar;

Dark chocolate mixed in with some of the cheesecake,

for a bottom layer of chocolaty goodness,

and a "turtle" layer of caramel and pecans!

Bake for a couple of hours...

then chill and cover with a ganache.

Ganache is that french goodie

that includes warming some whole cream

and pouring it over a good, dark chocolate, stirring until smooth.

What could be better?

Now,

I am going for a walk...

a very long walk!

I think it counts

breakfast:

dairy, oatmeal, peanut butter, dark cocoa powder

(add a little butter and whole sugar)......

Sounds like a good start for the day, don't you think?

Really,

it was

a glass of milk

and

a dark chocolate no-bake cookie...

That's what I call a breakfast!

Taste of Home Cooking show and more quilting

This weekend in Columbus the Taste of Home Magazine held their cooking school, and I was able to attend with a couple of friends, Diane, and Ms. Vonnie.  Ms. Vonnie is a local field agent for Taste of Home Magazine.  That means that she gets to send in recipes and .... she has been "published" in the Taste of Home magazine and one of the annual cookbooks!   So, Ms. Vonnie was asked to help out when the show was in town and was given a ticket for herself and an extra for a friend - me!  The show was great,

 Ms. Vonnie looked great and did a wonderful job rolling out dough and helping to making a breakfast apple twist up on stage. 

She said she was a little nervous, but you couldn't tell at all. 

In the pictures above that's Cheryl, the hostess, on the left

and Ms. Vonnie on the right. 

The last picture shows Ms. Vonnie's hands, 

"up on the BIG screen", rolling out dough for the apple twist.

This afternoon I did some more quilting:

Another quilt by Billie - it's a block of the month and I think she is getting things lined up for Christmas.

Wish I was that far ahead!

I put a few free motion pictures around the pieced blocks.  I think she'll like it. 

On a different subject, my cracker and soup party was a smashing hit a couple of nights ago.  I think we were all ready for a nice night in with friends and great food.  J&D brought a great green salad with all kinds of chopped veggies in it.  R&T brought a gourmet style apple pie to put in the oven while we were visiting and eating.  I had the tuscana soup with potatoes, spicy sausage and kale, along with the Grandma B's crackers and I whipped up a few small loaves of dilly bread.

AND...just like usual, we ate way too much, 'cause everything was way too good!  And even though most of us had to work the next day, we still visited way too late in the evening.  And we all commented that we should do this more often...don't know if we should eat too much more often or get together more often for no reason, or visit too late on a work night!!  I vote for all of the above!

Hope your weekend was as good as could be.

Cool, Autumn nights: makes me think of crackers

O.K., crackers and soup!  Don't you just love the weather?  Sunny or mostly sunny days with cool, wrap-up-in-a-quilt weather nights.  Ninety days ago, the Cicadas started their evening chirping.  I wrote it on my calendar for this week, Wednesday. 
Calendar note:  90 days ago:   heard Cicadas chirping. 
Do you know what that means?  My great-Grandma was a born and raised farm girl, through and through and she would tell you if she was still here:  "You hear those cicadas? Frost in 90 days".  I always just thought it was an "old wives tale".  Or "old great-Grandma tale".
Guess what, the local weatherman just predicted frost for Wednesday night.  There really is scientific reasoning for this.  Daylight, temperatures, photosynthesis and more, I suppose.  Old great-grandma's tale or not, it's feeling like soup and cracker weather!
So, speaking of crackers, have you ever made them?  Here's my favorite recipe, the basic recipe from my great-Grandma B, my additions follow. They're just named "Crackers", but I call them great-Grandma B's Crackers, so you can, too, if you want.  They're easy to make.  And, Bonus!, you get to play in flour with cookie cutters and measuring cups!  And they go great with any soup....since it's beginning to be that time of year!
Great-Grandma B's Crackers
1 1/2 c flour, maybe a little more
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp soda
Mix well, add:
1/4 c oil (I use olive) and stir in until crumbly.

Add:
1/2 c water, stir until forms a dough ball.
In seperate bowl wisk together:
1 egg
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar (whatever you have on hand, I have used balsamic, apple cider, and rice wine)

Turn dough onto floured countertop and roll out very thin.  Brush with egg mixture.  Cut into cracker shapes, or just tear into strips.  (Great-Grandma B just knife-cut them into squares.) Sprinkle with salt.  Transfer to oiled baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on how thinly they were rolled).  Cool and store in air-tight container.  If needed, re-crisp in oven at 250 degrees for 2 or 3 minutes.

Additions:  Whatever you like, basically.  I like to add cheese and herbs.  Blend the following mixture(s) in a food processor and add this mixture to dough after the addition of water, above.

Cheese: 2 heaping Tblsp Asiago or Parmesan Cheese, (dry cheeses work best)

1-2 tsp dry or 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped finely

and about 2 Tblsp olive oil to moisten the dryness of the cheese (I go heavy on the basil, 'cause I really like it) 

Garlic: 2 good sized garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced

Other Variations:  Sprinkle egg-brushed cracker tops with any seed, herb, or seasoning you like:  poppy, sesame, pepitas (pumpkin), dill, rosemary, thyme, cracked pepper, etc.  They only take about 10 minutes prep, then bake and enjoy!

This time, mine have sun-dried tomato, basil and parmesan cheese.  See those bits of sun-dried tomato?  Tasty!

These are good with sliced cheeses as an appetizer, too - you can impress your friends with your "gourmet" skills if you want.  Great-Grandma and her "gourmet" crackers.  Makes me smile.  And makes me want to make another big ole pot of soup!  I'm thinking a hearty Tuscana: potato, celery, onion, kale and spicy hot sausage.  Yep, it's a plan!

One year ago, today, at 8 o'clock in the evening I had a dinner party.
I called it the Hurricane Ike Dinner Party. 

Hurricane Ike had come barrelling through Ohio on Sunday, late afternoon. The winds roared loudly, and blew down trees and power lines and ripped roofs off  houses and crushed cars and just wreaked havoc on our lives. The county fair was evacuated, there were roads closed.  The local schools closed, some for most of the next week.
(I know there are some great pics somwhere of this event:  imagine some here!)
So, I decided to have a party, not to celebrate the hurricane and destruction, but to celebrate our lives and blessings.  Also to use up the food that was going to be trashed if not used as it thawed, as we still had no power 3 days later.
 
This dinner party was one of magnificant proportions.  I invited the entire neighborhood. 
My invitation was done in person, as there were very few phone calls made. Word of mouth.
It was casual, but formal.  Candlelight and only the musical sounds of a light breeze and crickets.
I mentioned the inviting was done in person:  The phone lines were down.
I mentioned the candlelight:  The power lines were still down.
I mentioned the musical sounds of a light breeze:  Most generators were off, as we learned to cycle them on.
I mentioned the musical sounds of crickets:  no chain saw noise as they were turned off as daylight waned.
I mentioned the 8:00 time: It was getting dark as dusk approached, we had no light by which to work.
I mentioned casual:  come as you are-jeans, t-shirts and sweat from no air conditioning and from hard labor.
I mentioned formal: candlelight, as there were only a few homes in the neighborhood to have power restored.
I mentioned magnificant proportions:  Any food that started to thaw in the last 3 days was going to be on the menu.  Bring anything and everything that had to be used.  The outdoor grill and firepit would be going.

And in the invitation, if you came earlier than 8 o'clock, you were to bring your chainsaw!  I said this part jokingly, as everyone had their own clean up to do.  But don't you know, some did come early and bring their chain saws and help with our mess!
(Imagine more pics here:  especially the ones of the very large bee hive and honey comb found in the largest of the downed trees in the front of the house.)
The Hurricane Ike Dinner Party was a great success!  Over twenty people came and sat on the deck, in candlelight, and ate and visited and talked and laughed and ate some more.  It was a very varied menu:  at least 12 kinds of meat were thrown on the grill or roasted over the fire, a soup, vegetables, fruits, yogurt and milk products.  Even a few desserts.  The evening was a hit.  I don't know if it was the promise of great company or the need to get out of the dark house after three nights of going to bed with the sun!  Maybe a combination of both.  The funny thing to me was that some of these folks had their power restored that evening.  They could have been eating in their own bright kitchens, totally bathed in unnatural light! 
Great neighbors, great life!

cooking and lovin' it

Well, today was another busy day.  I worked at the quilt shop all day, stopped at the grocery, then came home and cooked for 3 hours!  My son has asked me to "cater" his OSU tailgate parties for every home game. So...only about 40 people for the home opener.  The weather is going to be wonderful, and the guys are very appreciative of home cookin'.  This week's menu is breakfast of hickory smoked ham, cheese, and egg soufle'.  Lunch is:  quarter pound (yes, Quarter Pound!) all-beef weiners with homemade chili sauce, diced onions and cheddar cheese; a taco dip with fresh tomatoes, green onions, and grated cheese on a bed of homemade bean dip and taco seasoned cream cheese;  and dozens of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. 
As the season progresses, the food quantities increase, as do the number of fans.  I have the usual standbys planned:  chili in a bag, chicken and noodes, brats and burgers.  If you have any great suggestions for tailgating food for crowds that can be heated on grills, let me know.  I'd love to hear from you.  Oh, yea, GO BUCKS!

p.s.  Friday, I will be working at the Circleville Quilt Show for Always in Stitches Quilt Shop.  It's held at the Trinity Luthern Church, 135 E. Mound St.  9-5 both Friday and Saturday.  It's a good show with over a hundred quilts and 10 vendors.  Stop and visit if you are in the area.