The Original Fruitcake, Did It Taste Better?

My aunt called and asked for my grandmother's fruitcake recipe. After digging through several recipe boxes, I found three of my grandmother Rachel's, and one from a magazine. I remember helping make a table full of fruitcakes for Christmas. We spent all day cutting the 16 cups of fruit and 7 cups of nuts that when into the cakes. Then we poured the heavy batter into tin cans, such as green bean or soup cans, and even coffee cans. Those with a wider diameter had toilet paper rolls placed in the center. The recipe said to bake them 3 hours and 45 minutes. Wow! That's was like baking a large turkey. None of the recipes gave a yield of cakes. I can't remember who my family gave the fruitcakes to, but they were always loved and devoured. Perhaps we have changed in our tastes or maybe good desserts are so available to us that fruitcakes are not appealing. Or maybe the ones mass produced are not really as good. I know that I will NOT be making any from scratch so that I can compare. I wonder if any of grandmother's fruitcake recipients still have a cake or two?

Black Friday Yields Bounty of Flannel

We did it! My husband and I stood in line, in the freezing cold, to buy flannel material for the construction of Diapers for Haiti for 2011. We found the flannel aisle first and quickly began snatching the thickest bolts off the racks. When hubby pulled our number for the cutting line, we were the second one in order. We piled two shopping carts completely full and headed to the cutting table. Several of the bolts were full and did not have to be measured which saved us time. Bolt by bolt the lady unrolled and measured, handed the piles to us to fold and put back in the carts. This process continued till every piece was accounted for and recorded. There were many customers with smiles on their faces and full carts also, but there were others who had only a few things to cut and were indeed miffed at the long wait. If I could have told them the reason for our large load, perhaps they would have understood. Several people asked us what we were going to do with the material so we were able to share our ministry. At the end of 90 minutes, we pushed our carts out of the store, having saved $1,886, and racking up 425 yards!!

Happy Thanksgiving and Bring on the Turkey Math

I am cooking a big turkey today for our entire family gathering. That I have done before. But this time I am cooking it in an electric roaster. I googled how to do it and received numerous hits with instructions with lots of variations. The roaster temperature given ranges from 325 to 375 degrees. Okay, so guess I'll go with 350. The time for cooking a 12-14 pound turkey was 3 to 3 3/4 hours, while the time for a 14-16 pound turkey was 3 3/4 to 4 1/2 hours. So it looks like I should cook the 14 pounder for 3 3/4 hours. The turkey needs to be finished at 12, so I need to back up the time to cook it till 8:15. But since I need to get it out of the fridge, wash it, remove the neck and bag of innards, I need to back up the time a little more. Phew! I hope when we sit down to enjoy this bird that my math was correct.

Time for Turkey Memories

I have so many memories of Thanksgiving Day, especially those when I still lived with my parents. My brother, Joe, and I were active in cooking the huge meal. It started early in the week with taking our mother to the different stores to buy everything she needed to make the perfect meal. I hated going in the poultry store where Mom bought the freshest turkey she could buy. (If we got it any fresher, it would have been running around.) The store reeked of a strong odor that attached itself to our clothing and lingered in our nostrils. Even the paper bag had the peculiar smell forever. (As I think about it, I can smell it now. Yuk.) Then the night before Thanksgiving Day, we prepared the dressing, made the noodles, finished the pies, ground the cranberries for the cranberry salad, and cleaned up the kitchen. On T-day, we got up very early to begin the actual cooking. Dad would build a fire in the stove in the basement to keep us warm. And we always had to open the doors to cool off! With the living room television tuned in to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the three of us began the masterful task of creating the best Thanksgiving meal ever made. And we did. I am so grateful for those times together as family and for learning how to cook the big meal. After Mom passed away, Joe and I continued the tradition in my home or his, making many more memories. My brother has passed on too. I have many fond memories and no regrets, but do so miss them both.

Duct Tape and Faces Do Not Make Good Combinations

Our preacher had a very unusual sermon this past Sunday. We were featuring 30 of the ministries people can be involved with in our church. For example, I manned the booth for Diapers for Haiti, Gifts for the Nations, and CARES. We need help sewing, clipping threads, turning, and stacking the diapers that are sent to a birthing center in Haiti. Well, the minister had a lady from the congregation tape his mouth shut with duct tape to illustrate, well, I'm not sure what it meant. Anyway, he had balloons with the names of each of the ministries written on them. He ask the lady to juggle two, then three, then more. He eventually had the congregation try to keep the balloons going. His point was to show that the ministries are in need of people. It was a great sermon, very effective. Then he had a man rip off the tape! The preacher was stunned, speechless again. The tape ripped off part of his skin and sideburns. OUCH!

Uninvited Guests Overstay Welcome

We have a problem in our house. We have guests that have come uninvited and are not leaving soon. They have not manners. I have found them going through many of our things. How dare they check out our towels? When I tried to persuade one to leave my kitchen, he took offense at my words and tried to push me down. But the absolute intrusion was the one near my living room ceiling checking to see if I had swept away those spider webs. How dare she be so bold!

Your Shirt Talks

I was daring yesterday. I was bold. I could have been reprimanded. But I did it any way. I wore a shirt with a Christian message on it to school. The shirt even said the name of a very important person. I figured that since the students were wearing shirts covered in skulls, my shirt would be acceptable. And it was.

Bring On the Christmas Music, Just Hold the Twelve Days

While driving to an appointment, I decided to switch from the Christian radio station to one that is playing Christmas music 24 hours daily. I almost turned the dial back when I heard the first one--I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. I wasn't anticipating such frivolity in the music, but, it fits the genre. And before my short trip ended, I heard the ever-present, always annoying Twelve Days of Christmas. It was a rather ornate version with many liberties taken to change the style. I wondered how many different artists have recorded the song and in how many different styles of music. Then I was horror-struck with the fear that maybe the station would play all of them back to back to back. Oh, Christmas Hurry Fast.

Sing, Any Song, All the Songs, All Day Long

I love songs. They fill my head and pour out of my mouth. I can think of a song for almost any subject. (And now that I said that, I may have difficulty coming up with the songs as needed.) When giving spelling words, I have to resist the temptation to burst out in song with every other word. I use to do that until I graded the tests with words that were parts of songs, but not on the spelling list. Now I have to resort to singing in my head during the tests. With Christmas songs Christmas songs are being played quite early this year, I will have so many more songs from which to choose. I love them, but I am so afraid someone will add more to the Twelve Days of Christmas. Or should it be called the Twelve Weeks of Christmas?

Fall Back an Hour Means Go to Bed an Hour Earlier

Ok, I know we are suppose to fall back an hour. But how do you train your body to fall back one hour? My body has this internal clock that keeps very good time. My body did not fall back one hour. My body got up very early today, because my body didn't change time. Where is that switch? How do I turn it back? If I don't find it soon, my body will be going to bed at 8:00 and arising at 3:00.