30 Clove Garlic Soup

I made this soup for supper tonight and I'm very impressed.  I've seen recipes like this before where you use all this garlic in chicken and it comes out really mild.  I was curious about the soup so I made it.  I have to admit I've been in a cooking slump lately and even though I've tried different things, none have been good enough to post, until now.  It was also the first time I roasted a whole head of garlic.  The house smelled delicious!  No vampires here, that's for sure.  The recipe also said it had a soothing effect and also helped if a cold was coming on.  I don't know about that but it was tasty.  The next soup on the menu is Roasted Red Pepper Soup.  I'll keep you posted.

Flour or Corn Tortillas

Flour or corn  -  that is the question, at least, on the Top Chef show from last week, where someone failed to specify which one she wanted and she got the wrong one.  I didn't realize there was such a controversy over which tortilla to make enchiladas with.  I've made them and probably used flour since I stopped using corn for tacos.  We didn't like how crunchy they got and broke up before we could eat them.  So since then I always buy the flour, until this weekend.  I wanted to make a new dish with my turkey leftovers called Turkey Taquitos.  It called for corn tortillas so I bought white corn tortillas.  I thought they might be different so I felt it was worth a try.  Well, I found them to be very difficult to roll up, they cracked very easily and they seemed to absorb way too much oil when I cooked them.  They were definitely crunchy but not like those old ones I used for tacos.  Then I had an idea to use them in my quesadilla maker with the same ingredients.  Big mistake!  It's been awhile since I used it and forgot that it said not to use corn tortillas.  I still have a little filling so I might make a regular quesadilla with my flour tortillas.  I guess I'm not up on all the Mexican food formalities and what I use where.  I do know what I like and I guess it's back to the drawing board for me.

Local Pharmacies

Ok, here's something I've been obsessed with since last night.  Maybe I'm over sensitive to this stuff but it bothers me.  A little background  -  I called in my refill on Friday am and was told it would be ready Monday after 2pm.  I'm thinking that seemed a little long but I didn't need it immediately so I didn't choose that option.  I figured I'd go down Sat. afternoon and it would be ready anyway.  Wrong assumption!!  The tech informed me that it had been sent away to be filled and they didn't get their shipments on the weekend hence the Monday pick-up date.  Whoa, let's back up here.  I thought this was supposed to be my local pharmacy where they are taking care of me on a personal level.  I guess what startled me most was the fact that there were signs everywhere welcoming the Lakeside Pharmacy patients to Giant Eagle.  I assumed the only local pharmacy in the area went out of business and of course GE was there to pick them up.  I realize that this GE gets a lot, I mean, a lot of prescriptions but I thought they were handling it.  Apparently not!  So who is filling my prescriptions?  Not George or Michelle, evidently as I never ask for them right away knowing they're busy and want to give them a little time.  How nice of me!  In all fairness the tech did offer to cancel the order and fill it there with a half hour wait.  I was stunned anyway so I said no I'd come back Monday.  Now my choices are different in my eyes.  Either I can always say I need my prescriptions right away so I'm sure it will be filled there or go to another pharmacy.  I started taking my mail order stuff to CVS so I don't have to deal with the mail so that is always an option.  Maybe I should have been trying to support that local pharmacy that went out of business so we all would have a choice. I don't think GE would have suffered any.  Things sure have changed since we had our little pharmacy by Shur-Fine.

Black Friday, Black Friday

I hear that remade version of It's Friday all through my head this week.  I've never been one to take on the crowds on Black Friday but the last couple years we've been heading out somewhere to do a little shopping.  We've found that since the outlet stores in Grove City open early, the traffic is fine mid-morning to head to Volant.  No one is there!  That used to be the extent of our shopping but as stores close in Volant, there's less to visit.  Then last year we stopped at Grove City on our way back and found most of the shoppers were done by that time.  So this year that was our plan again.  We were on a tight schedule so once we got to GC we had to split up to get everything done.  The only line we saw as we were driving in was at Coach.  They were only letting a few people in at a time.  Otherwise traffic was moderately light, parking was OK, the deals were great and lines in stores were small.  It was really busy there though and people were coming from all over such as NY, Canada and OH.  I personally found all that I was looking for which was a small list anyway.  This has been a tradition we started years ago before the grandkids came along and has included my dil, brother and sil, niece and her son and now my daughter's fiance. We'll see who we can recruit next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  By now we're all probably knee deep in preparations for that holiday dinner or at least have a good idea of what direction we're going.  This year it seems Food Network is not helping matters much.  I'm saying this because of what I've seen the last week or so with all their special shows concerning Thanksgiving.  The one person in particular that I think we could do without giving us his so called "expert advice" is Alton Brown.  In fact, I'm afraid he's useless.  We used to love his show "Good Eats" and get a kick out of it but I never really got into the " Iron Chef" shows. Since I'm always looking for new and different ways to do things, I've been tuning into Food Network to see what's shaking.  One of his recent shows on thawing a turkey involved rigging up a fountain through a cooler so you would have fresh water flowing around it at all times.  Are you serious?  Do you really think the average joe would go to these lengths to thaw a turkey?  To me that goes against everything Food Network stands for, which is appealing to the at- home cook.  That's what they emphasize during the Next Food Network Star shows.  It has to be easy enough for a viewer to understand and willing to do.  He also gave a recipe for gravy where he said you needed 2 types of thickening  -  flour/cornstarch and potato starch.  The latter is a commercial grade thickener that most of us don't have access to.  The real clincher was the Thanksgiving Live show they just aired.  He was the moderator, Iron Chef style, that took phone calls and e-mails from people for the chefs such as Bobby Flay, Rachel, Sunny, Melissa, etc.  He was downright rude to some of them and had such an uppity (no racial slur intended) attitude.  I was appalled by him.  He was such a turn-off.  I hope Food Network takes a close look at this and reevaluates their need for someone like Alton Brown.

Christmas Spirit

This has been a great week for getting into the Christmas spirit.  I did some shopping last week and even though I couldn't find all that I wanted, I was given options to have things sent home with no shipping charge and they already arrived!  That was great.  I spent Fri. with my daughter at the Christmas Connection in Cleveland and had a wonderful time.  Things have changed there so no Christmas CD which I always look forward to but we more than made up for it with the shopping and food.  Sat. I took off to the cabin and on the way found a Christmas Festival of sorts called Once Upon a Christmas and the first place I saw was the quilting store in Knox.  That was all that I had time for that day but I did manage to buy some fabric on clearance for a project for the coming year.  It's always fun to talk to other crafters.  Then on the way home we decided to try some of the other stops on this Once Upon a Christmas.  They were close so it didn't take up too much of our time but how nice they were decorated.  The one stop I particularly liked was at the Wolf's Head Campground.  It was a very rustic building with a restaurant inside that I'd like to try some other time.  As you walked in, all you could see were Christmas lights and it was beautiful.  Even on the ceiling beams  and fireplace mantel there were wrapped presents and other decorations.  It all certainly got me into the Christmas spirit. 

Another Batch of Cider

Another batch of cider is done!  This was a two day project, mainly because we didn't feel like going any later in the evening than 8 pm with it.  We were tired, had seen enough apples for one day and that was that.  It went smoothly though so we can't complain about that.  At the end we found ourselves struggling to find more storage containers to put cider.  Now the chore of finding somewhere to put those containers or people to pass it on to.  I think we have a pretty good plan this time so time will tell.  I'm also going to look up some recipes of what to do with cider.  Once I had a recipe for Apple-Cinnamon Syrup to use over pancakes which sounds pretty good.  I'll keep you posted.

Sewing Machine Update

You may recall my previous post about my sewing machine breaking, the rude behavior at the sewing store and the guy who supposedly fixed it.  When I returned with the machine I did try it and it sounded good and seemed to work fine.  I commented on the short amount of time it took to fix my machine but I was glad it didn't cost more than it did.  I've been busy with shopping and other chores but yesterday I decided I better get to work on my project.  At first it was going very smoothly, then it froze up like it did before.  I do remember telling the sewing lady that this issue and the thread tension problem came and went.  As long as it goes in a timely fashion, I guess I can deal with that.  However, more things started to happen with my bobbin so I took it out and found the one side was bent and that was what was making it jam up.  It still seems like the tension is not on track but it's working.  Also the last thing to happen was my needle falling out.  I realize I've been pulling a lot of material through that small space under my machine and theoretically the screw holding the needle could loosen, but I know he replaced the needle and this has never, I repeat, never happened to me before.  So I replaced the bobbin and screwed the needle in, tighter this time.  But now I'm thinking  "Did he really service my machine and fix the problem or did he do a bunch of little things and as long as it seemed to be working, didn't dig any deeper?"  I think he just put the thread tension knob back together despite me telling Kelly that it wasn't working before I took it apart.  Why did that bobbin get so bent anyway and will it do it again?  He was a nice enough guy but if I take my machine to another store next time I need it fixed, will I get the same guy?  All I have to say is thank goodness I didn't have to pay more than I did however another $50-$100 and the assurance my machine was good to go would be priceless!

New Dip Recipe

This was a dip recipe I have had in the back of my mind for quite awhile.  It was a couple years ago when apples and jalapenos were abundant in the garden that I found a recipe in the SureJell box for a freezer jam.  My intention was to make it, freeze it and then serve it as a dip over cream cheese.  I actually did get it out once to use but the cream cheese that I was told would freeze nicely, didn't and it was very grainy.  So it all went back in the freezer.  All along I kind of thought it would be too hot for me anyway as it had a lot of peppers.  Well, I decided to pull it out of the freezer and along with a half package of cream cheese, I tried it.  Delicious!  It was not hot at all but the taste of the jalapenos came through with the sweetness of the apples.  It was almost like a dessert dip.  If I find the recipe again, I think I would use some of the seeds of the jalapenos to add a little heat to it.  Once before I got a recipe for Cranberry Walnut Jam during my stay at preschool and that also could be used over cream cheese.  I never tried it like that, especially knowing my hubby has an aversion to cream cheese.  Now that I've had this, that other recipe sounds very intriguing.  I think it would make a good appetizer for Thanksgiving. 

Popcorn Stitch Afghan

I couldn't wait to write a blog about the afghan I'm just about to finish.  This is one I've been eyeing up for a long time but until lately never thought it was in the cards to make. That's mainly because it's done in all white and it's a popcorn stitch.  I probably could have used another color but it just seemed appropriate to use the white.  I made it for a full size bed which I only have one other one and that's the scrap afghan done in a diagonal stitch that we use on our bed.  So I needed one for the cabin and started this one a couple months ago.  Well, like I said, it's almost done.  The last couple days I've been working on the fringe.  No one around here seems to like fringe on afghans and my first thought was to do a different edging.  But the fringe really completes it and besides, it's a unique way of doing it.  To do this fringe you first sc across the row then coming back you sc in a stitch, chain 30, then slip st in the same stitch.  It really looks nice.  The chains are supposed to twist and at first, I was trying to twist them myself.  I soon realized that I like it even if it isn't twisted.  I will definitely do this version of fringe again.  I will post a picture of it soon.

What a Week!

This has been quite a week for both of us.  It began on Sat. with the end of the driveway being fixed along with the neighbors.  Those guys came on Sun,, worked very hard and finished up on Tues.  Nice job! I jumped right in this week trying to complete these sewing projects/Christmas gifts but got sidelined Mon. night.  I talked about the hospital visit in a previous blog but didn't mention the reaction I got from the owner of the sewing store.  I basically got my wrist slapped for taking apart my tension knob.  She treated me like a child and if it weren't for my machine I'd never go back again.  She also scared me into thinking this could cost more than I want to spend by saying it might be a gear.  Anyway, it only took a day to fix it and it was nothing major, at least that's how I see it.  She was nicer to me when my hubby was there but reverted to her old ways when I was leaving and no hubby around.  So I got my machine back and it seems to work great, however, there's more going on and I still won't have time to finish my projects by this Sat.  On Wed. as I was having lunch I heard a noise in the basement.  I rushed down to find the shelves holding most of my canned goods on the floor or just hanging waiting to fall.  This happened right over the sump pump, which should have been covered but wasn't.  While I was standing there in awe, looking at broken glass, tomatoes, jelly and pears all over the place, another board fell.  I jumped into overdrive at that point to save whatever I could and tried not to think about the work that went into all that.  My hubby was looking in the garage to see if the sound was out there and he came down to help.  What a mess!  We took the rest of the stuff off the shelves, turned off the sump and started cleaning up all the glass.  Unfortunately, my hubby couldn't get the pump out so he called the plumber who came out Thurs. to pull  and clean the pump.  It's running very well now with no damage done.  However, I have jars all over with no place to put them until he rigs up some new shelves.  That'll be a job for next week and it'll give me some time to sort through some stuff.  He's finally having a much needed guys weekend at the cabin with the neighbor .  And of course once he left, it snowed!  The roads are not covered and the temperature is supposed to go up so I'm not all that concerned.  Then yesterday, we were both glued to the tv and computer with what was going on at Penn State.  We both feel really bad about all that has happened all the way around.  So that's been our week and I hope the excitement is over for awhile. 

Visit to the Hospital

No, it isn't me or my hubby  -  sorry to scare anyone.  The patient is my sewing machine and this couldn't come at a worse time.  I've been struggling to finish up a few things for Christmas and deliver them this weekend but that's not going to happen.  I mentioned before about how I hate to do this stitch in the ditch quilting on big pieces with my sewing machine  -  I'm just not having fun with it.  Besides the fun part, my stitches are off, the upper thread tension knob is out of whack and last night it all froze up.  Time for a professional!  Hope it's not terminal but I don't have sewing machine medical insurance so it better be reasonable.  Who knows how long it's hospital stay will be.  I have another machine at the cabin  -  the Singer my mom had but that won't help much right now.  Anyway, instead of sewing I'll be running around today and then making candy to take down with me.  Just hope everything goes ok with that. 

Yard Work

We kind of seized an opportunity this weekend that's working pretty well for us.  The neighbors had mentioned that at some point they'd like to widen and redo their driveway.  My hubby's ears perked up right away because we needed just the end of our driveway fixed and it was too small of a job to get someone over to do it.  Well, Saturday when we came home from shopping we found a concrete guy over at the neighbors giving him an estimate on their work.  As soon as we pulled in we had the same idea  -  go over and see what you can do.  The guy was willing to fit ours in at the same time and it's already dug up.  It brought to mind work we've had done in the past and how we love to watch it happen.  The little girl next door even got to ride in the backhoe as he was digging up their driveway!  She sat in the garage and just watched as the magic happened.  Building our garage was the same for us back in the 80's.  The neighbor and my son parked some lawn chairs and watched the show.  There's just something about seeing a pile of stuff become a building of some kind that fascinates us  -  young and old.

Update on Pie

Yesterday I mentioned that I was trying a new recipe for pie crust.  First here's a little history of my pie making skills.  I used to play around when my mom made pies and use some of her crust to make a potpie size with strawberry jam.  Needless to say it didn't turn out.  The first pie I made by myself was when my mom and brother went out to CA to visit my sister.  I was to stay home and take care of my dad, not that he needed me to do anything but I was there.  I was in a mood to cook and do all those domesticated chores so I decided to make a pie.  My mom never had a recipe but from watching her all those years I figured I could handle it (I mean I was in college, for goodness sakes).  Well, it did not end well and my dad said even the birds wouldn't eat it when he threw it out.  For a long time after that I let the pie making up to my mom.  After she was gone I looked for a recipe and made my first good pie  -  the rest is history.  Anyway I've always used shortening but wanted to try this recipe of Martha's with butter.  On the pro side, it was much easier and faster using the food processor and it was also much nicer to roll out and handle.  On the con side, it didn't brown as nice as my other recipe and it certainly didn't taste as rich as I thought it should having 2 sticks of butter in it.  It was flaky like my other and otherwise a good pie.  I used the Granny Smith apples which cooked up well, maybe a little too much for my liking.  Those apples are very delicious though!  So my conclusion is to try the food processor method but measure, chill and cut up the shortening like the butter using Martha's recipe.  I'm sure I'll be making more pies so I'll keep you posted.

Apple, Apples and More Apples

Ok, last year I kind of missed the apples but we were so busy with everything else it was merely a passing thought.  I didn't miss all the picking, sorting, resorting, cooking, baking and then ending up realizing we threw many of them away anyway.  This year is a fairly good crop but many of them have some kind of a rust, that while only skin deep, looks really bad.   We've already made one batch of cider and even though I'm still saving jugs, we don't have enough for another batch yet.  We picked a lot yesterday and I can feel it in my arms.  I made pigs-in-the-blanket yesterday and made a side of scalloped apples to go with it.  We only had a small basket of the Northern Spies so I used those up in the dish.  I was surprised at how soft they were, especially for a pie apple like that.  Today I want to make some of Martha's pate brisee which is her fancy way of saying pie crust.  She makes it with butter in the food processor and while I've tried my recipe with shortening like that, it didn't work very well.  I think the key is to keep that butter firm so I'll try her recipe.  I have enough of our Granny Smiths to make a pie so I'll probably do that.  The other day at the luncheon, someone mentioned that Honeycrisps don't cook up that well in a pie.  Of course, I had to tell the microwave version of pie that I make.  Everyone is shocked when I say that but it really is the best I've found.  We also keep the neighbors stocked with apples.  The girls came home from school with a recipe for crockpot applesauce which they made and it was gone that same day.  I think they know by now when they see a bag or basket in front of the garage, it's applesauce time.

Halloween Time

Well, another Halloween is past, maybe the last one.  I know I've talked about things being our last here, I'm never quite sure when it will be.  The hubby's at the cabin and mentioned yesterday, that if by chance he gets a trick-or-treater, at least he has some candy.  When we first moved here we had no idea what to expect.  I vaguely recall Halloween at our apartment.  In fact, we probably weren't even home but at the in-laws.  So the first year, we did our best to buy candy but soon ran out because of all the kids.  They would come in pick-ups from the trailer court to our neighborhood.  We had to resort to Hall's cough drops and some pennies that year.  I'm surprised we didn't get egged for that one.  Times have changed around here though.  We didn't get nearly that many this year so we still have leftover candy.  Some things never change though and that's the costumes.  We always seem to have a Roger Rabbit and I'm wondering if these kids even know who he is!  Maybe it's passsed down or something.  Of course we always get the princesses, fairies, butterflies, zombies, etc. but this year my favorite was the swamp thing.  Man, it was good but a little difficult to wear.  I'm surprised he didn't lose it along the way.  And the rain held off fairly well, at least the kids didn't seem to mind.