When I was first married in the 1970’s, I worked during the Christmas season at an Indianapolis department store icon L.S. Ayres. For those of us who grew up in an era when downtown department stores were the rage, L.S. Ayres was the cream of the Indianapolis crop in the same league as Chicago’s Marshall Field’s and New York’s Macy’s. There are many stories shared over the years about “Breakfast with the Bunny” Easters, glorious Christmas decorations, and the fate of the L.S. Ayres Cherub, who took its proper place at the corner of Washington and Meridian Streets every Christmas shopping season perched on the landmark L.S. Ayres clock. In fact, here’s a link to a little history of the Ayres clock and cherub from Historic Indianapolis.
I had no idea where I would clerk when I applied for a part-time job at the Glendale store on North Keystone, but I was offered a position in the housewares department. I couldn’t believe my good fortune. See, I’m addicted to housewares of all kinds. I was quite happy to help customers find the perfect holiday, shower or wedding gift. And I envied the gift recipients who were going to benefit from the newest set of fabulous pans, the sharpest knives, the quirkiest gadget, shiny new flatware, beautiful coffee mugs – I was in my element.
When I was raising my family, I bought whole chickens and cut them up. Happily, our family was split in half, as far as chicken meat preferences were concerned, so everyone got the pieces they wanted. Besides, whole chickens were always cheaper (remember 29¢ per pound whole chickens? ah, the good ol’ days), and I always made homemade chicken stock out of the leftover skin and bones. A very frugal and delicious use of an inexpensive protein. One thing I’ve noticed is that as America’s chicken preferences changed, many more preferring white meat, the size of the breasts of whole chickens really changed. Now, if I buy a 4-pound broiler/fryer, the white meat is about 2/3 the size of the other combined parts. Leaves pretty slim pickings for those of us who love the dark meat part of a bird.
As I wrote in March, our wedding anniversary was March 28. Guess who forgot? Yes, none other than my husband, Richard.
Before we were married and over the years, he and I have joked about our “marital contract” – the one written on the back of our marriage certificate, artfully negotiated the night before our wedding. The contract joke always came in handy, like when Richard stands in my way while I’m cooking, or when he forgets to turn off his closet light and close the door, or when he’s late to pick me up at the airport. On those not so rare occasions, I would threaten to review the contract to make substantial and punitive changes. Of course, he’s never had the opportunity to review those provisions that affect the wife’s parts of the contract, because I’m perfect in every way!
I worked on these afghans for Quinten and Joshua for several months. I was a bit apprehensive about giving them as gifts. After all, they’re little boys. Why should they get excited about handmade blankets from their Mimi. When I watched this video, I was overjoyed. Quinten’s remark that didn’t make it on the recording was his exclamation, “I always wanted a blue blanket!” Well, that made my heart melt. I guess the afghans weren’t such a bad idea afterall.
After many years away from needlearts, I have found a new affection for them. My mother and grandmother taught me how to knit and crochet when I was in elementary school. They are hobbies I’ve enjoyed very much through the years. Crocheting is easy, and there are hundreds of free patterns on the web. If you don’t know how, there are also hundreds of free videos on the Internet where you can learn.
I like the ability to pick up the work whenever I’m in the need for something to do. I can crochet for one-half hour or off and on all day. I can even do needlework in the car, which I did during our 24-hour car trip from Montana to Indiana for Christmas.
The pictures I took of the two project aren’t great, but here are links to the pattern for the boys blankets.
Happy 15th Anniversary to my wonderful husband, Richard! Wow! On this date in 1998, Richard and I were married at my parents home in New Chicago, Indiana. I couldn’t imagine being married anywhere else, and my mother made our wedding such a special event. She decorated the far end of her living room to look like a wedding chapel. The minister who married us was a friend of my dad’s from the U.S. Steel Mill in Gary. And my Grandma Szewczyk, who was 97 years old, was able to join, along with my sister, Carol who traveled from Pennsylvania, and my daughter, Jessica. Jessica sang Mom made us all a special lunch. She even went to the trouble of making Swedish meatballs – Richard is part Norwegian from a group who settled in North Dakota. We ordered an “atomic cake” from a small family owned bakery in Lake Station – it was yellow cake layered with fruit and whipped cream – it was a special cake our family ordered for special occasions.
Happy Anniversary, to my sweetheart. I love you so much!
On this day In 1982, I gave birth to the first of my two children, Jessica Marie.
She was a much anticipated granddaughter, the first after my brother and his wife had three sons. This picture was taken in the Spring of 1983, just before her first birthday. We were living in Canfield, Ohio at the time. The house we rented had a huge screened in porch, and if I had something to do, I would put Jessica in a playpen, bring my project to the porch, and she and I would play and visit. By the time this picture was taken, Jessica had already lived in three cities: Indianapolis, where she was born, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where we moved just after she was six weeks old, and Canfield, which is a small town outside of Youngstown, Ohio.
I made her a birthday cake in the shape of a rabbit, and thought she would be so pleased. But, Jessica cried and wouldn’t have anything to do with her bunny birthday cake. I’m not sure why she was so bothered, but it was so funny! We celebrated her first special day in Ohio, and then went to visit my parents in Indiana for several days. The first birthday of my first child! Such a special time, and I couldn’t wait to see her pictures. But things happen . . .
The only Mexican food I knew growing up were the tacos my mother made, and they were awesome. Hers is one of those recipes the taste of which I have never been able to accurately recreate, and I helped her do everything but the frying. Mom would make hers with El Milagro corn tortillas that were shipped daily from Chicago. Mom was absolutely overjoyed when she reached into the box at our local Mexican food market and found the paper wrapped dozen to still be warm – that’s how fresh they would be. We never ate refried beans or rice or burritos or enchiladas – and Mom refused to try avocados Her story was that avocados were one of the highest calorie fruits, and her waistline could not afford to fall in love with another high calorie food. But now we know that avocados are an excellent source of monounsaturated fat, the good fat, the kind of fat that may actually help lower blood cholesterol levels. Ole!
Where he belongs – out of the kitchen and outdoors with a sandwich.
After extensive research, I have come to the conclusion that where ever you are working in the kitchen, your husband will be directly in your path.
Ten percent of the time, it may for some perfectly legitimate reason. The other 90%, what on earth made him decide to plant himself there? Directly between me and the television, so my line of sight is blocked from the IU/Michigan basketball game. Or, while I prepare dinner, he plants a blockade between the stove and the sink. “Scoot, scoot!”
A few months ago, I was reading a recipe from another blog, Baked Bree. It was just before my birthday, and I fell in love with her Funfetti Cake. I scrolled down through the instructions and photographs, and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the baked cakes cooling in the pans. What’s that? How did she do that??
I wasn’t the only one who took notice, and Bree let us in on her secret. She uses Wilton’s Bake-Even Cake Strips. These strips are padded strips of cloth sewn together. As you’re getting the cake ready, put the strips in a bowl and cover them with water. They should be totally submerged, and quite wet when you lift them out of the bowl.
Just before you pour the batter into the prepared pans, you remove one strip at a time, run the strip between your thumb and forefinger to remove as much water as you can, and wrap the strips around the outside of the cake pan. Fasten the strip with a T-shaped pin that’s included. Put the cake pans in the oven and bake.
The chocolate layers turned out beautifully. You can find the bake-even strips wherever Wilton cake supplied are sold. They even sell another package of four varying size strips for differently sized cakes.
This cake is perfect! I’ve made a lot of cakes in my time, almost always from boxes. Over the last few years, I’ve searched for perfect chocolate and vanilla cake recipes, and this chocolate cake was my recent discovery. My former attempts have either been dry, or the layers fall in the middle. The January/February 2013 issue of Food Network Magazine featured two basic cake recipes. From these, bakers can add flavors, fillings and frostings to make a special cake for any occasion. And FN did just that – they printed recipes for 12 unique birthday cakes, one for each month. If you’re looking for inspiration, I would encourage you to visit the site.
This is the cake my grandson, Quinten, eyed as he was looking through the magazine. Isn’t this pretty?
I was also excited to find the chocolate cake recipe calls for sour cream. I love sour cream, buttermilk or yogurt in cake batters. They taste richer to me, and produce a moister cake. So, I’m going to copy the chocolate recipe with a link to the Food Network article (above).
I always have fresh citrus fruits in the kitchen close at hand – you know, just a couple of lemons, limes and oranges. The juice and/or zest of any of these can be shaken into a fresh vinaigrette or sprinkled onto seafood or meat just before serving, or mixed with some yogurt, mayonnaise and a little sweetener for a fruit or vegetable dip. You never know when some fresh zest will come in handy as an addition for cakes, pies or frosting. As little as 1/2 of a lemon can make a big, wake-up-flavor difference. And a flavor enhancer to packaged food.
My husband, Richard, has been sick the last few days with a head cold. He’s knocked out and not terrible hungry, but I wanted to fix a quick meal that would have enough spicy heat to loosen up his congested sinuses and something pleasing and fragrant to give him hope he would recover. Normally, I don’t buy prepared, pre-packaged food, but Richard, in a weak moment, bought some frozen orange chicken at Costco. OK, not a big deal – heated the chicken in the oven according to directions, made the rice. In a small saucepan, I added the frozen, syrupy goo that was supposed to be the sauce for the meat. I dolled it up with zest from a fresh orange, squeezed orange juice, 1/4 teaspoonful crushed red pepper flakes, and about one tablespoonful of soy sauce. The orange and crushed peppers really came through in the sauce, and had the desired effect. For a little while at least, my husband was able to breath a little easier and enjoy his meal.
When I was raising my family, I bought whole chickens and cut them up. Happily, our family was split in half, as far as chicken meat preferences were concerned, so everyone got the pieces they wanted. Besides, whole chickens were always cheaper (remember 29¢ per pound whole chickens? ah, the good ol’ days), and I always made homemade chicken stock out of the leftover skin and bones. A very frugal and delicious use of an inexpensive protein. One thing I’ve noticed is that as America’s chicken preferences changed, many more preferring white meat, the size of the breasts of whole chickens really changed. Now, if I buy a 4-pound broiler/fryer, the white meat is about 2/3 the size of the other combined parts. Leaves pretty slim pickings for those of us who love the dark meat part of a bird.
