“In my South, the most treasured things passed down from generation to generation are the family recipes.”
Today is already hot, but I am cool here in the den though I do expect the air conditioner will be needed in the not too distant heat of the day. The breeze is steady. I can see it ruffling the leaves in the backyard. I’ve started a new book so I may relocate to the deck a bit later and read the day away.
My neighborhood is quiet now. I could hear mowers earlier, but they’ve moved on. The birds are singing. My feeders are filled so they’ll be dropping by to munch. I saw chickadees earlier.
I have to water the deck plants. That’s it for the day’s chores. I suppose I could find more to do but I can’t imagine why I’d look.
Yesterday I read a book and munched on Twizzlers while I was reading. An order had come from a candy site. The box had those Twizzlers, anise bears and some candy and nuts for movie night. I love the taste of anise especially those round cookies with white frosting and colored sprinkles. My uncle used to make some for me every Christmas. He did share his baking secret. Use anise oil, not anise extract. He even gave me the recipe.
My mother once gave me a small, three ring notebook. It was for recipes. The cover had pots and pans and kitchen utensils on it. My mother had given some blank pages to mostly relatives and asked them to write down recipes for me and to sign each page. I thought that one of the greatest Christmas gifts. I have made apple cake, the anise cookies, a strawberry dessert, some bread, a grasshopper pie and a couple more. Three of the contributors have passed, but I have this wonderful legacy from each of them.
The clouds have started coming and going though rain is not predicted. The breeze has picked up a bit; maybe it has even become a wind. I can feel it blowing through the back door screen. I may just sit here with my Twizzlers and watch bad black and white science fiction. I’m thinking that’s a perfect Saturday afternoon for me.
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Tags: grass mowing, hot, recipes
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July 14, 2018 at 1:21 pm
Unfortunately, my grandmothers’ recipes went to their graves with them. My father loved his mother-in-law’s stuffed sweet and sour cabbage. When she was alive he tried to write down her recipe. It was impossible to reproduce. It began with take a pot followed by get some cabbage. When my dad tried to get her to quantify the recipe she had no recipe. It was add a pinch of salt and put in some tomato sauce. She never measured anything but cooked to her taste. After my father retired he started cooking as a hobby. In his later years his food became terrible because he lost his ability to taste. Now those recipes only live in my memory.
Today the triple digit temperature returns under clear skies. Record high temperatures here hover around 105. Therefore, 100 or 101 seems cool. 🙂
July 14, 2018 at 4:17 pm
Bob,
I have my grandmother’s date nut bread recipe. It is about the only recipe I’d want. She was a horrible cook. My other grandmother was a good cook but there were no recipes which were distinctly hers.
It turned into a cooler day than I expected. Never needed the air conditioning. I think I may end up shutting the downstairs windows tonight.
July 14, 2018 at 2:42 pm
Nasty hot again today but it was expected, we got a cool wind later in the day so I went out to pick some more raspberries and black currants, otherwise we’ve done very little today. We only took two walks because of the heat but Albin decided he should take a couple by himself 🙂 It was the beekeeper who came and told me, I had forgotten to block the lower part of the gate so he snuck out from under there 🙂 🙂
I have my mormors old cook books but she did much as she pleased when it came to cooking. I guess she sort of followed the recipes but added and retracted after her own taste, it always tasted delicious though 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
July 14, 2018 at 4:23 pm
Christer,
The day turned out not to get as hot as I expected. The breeze stayed around, and downstairs is nice and cool.
Albin always gives me a chuckle. I expect he smiled in his own way to find out he could get out the gate. Gracie was my escape artist. Henry is still too nervous to venture out of the house.
I didn’t take any of my mother’s cookbooks as I had many of them myself. One she had hand written, and my sister grabbed that one. I have a few of my favorites of hers.
Have a great day!
July 14, 2018 at 3:32 pm
Hi Kat,
That was a lovely and thoughtful present to give you. I have my maternal grandmother’s recipes for date nut bread along with the note she sent with the second one that said she thought it was the better of the two. My mother used to make date nut bread a lot but I don’t know which of the two recipes she used.
My mother used to make great apple crisp. I never got that recipe because she didn’t use one. She tried to show me but I couldn’t learn to cut the butter into the flour using two butter knives. And you have to use two butter knives. I tried it years later, once with two forks and once with a pastry cutter. Nope. I can do her potato salad and her turkey stuffing and I still have the magic bowls she made them in so all is not lost. 🙂
The weather here has been gorgeous since Wednesday. Sunny, cool, slight breeze, great sleeping temperatures. Today is cloudy but still gorgeous. We might get some rain tonight.
Enjoy the day.
July 14, 2018 at 4:33 pm
Hi Caryn,
I have my grandmother’s date nut bread recipe, and it is delicious. The woman was a horrible cook so I think I got the best of anything she baked. I have a few of my mother’s recipes, ones I asked for and she hand wrote them. I treasure them.
I never used knives to cut the butter into the flour. I use a pastry cutter. I didn’t think there was a difference. I wonder what it is.
Today turned out to be wonderful. It never got as hot as I expected. Even my bedroom is fairly cool.
July 15, 2018 at 1:11 pm
The difference might just be that my mother had to be the one holding the butter knives. 😀 I use my fingers, now. Works for me.
July 15, 2018 at 1:23 pm
Caryn,
I use my fingers to mix all sorts of things including beef for a meatloaf.
July 14, 2018 at 3:57 pm
Following yesterday’s excitement I was planning on having some spicy food but didn’t think that I could take the ulcers
The World Cup comes to a conclusion tomorrow, and I will transfer my attention to the Tour de France and the forthcoming visit of the Boston Red Sox. We are taking the Prince to next Sunday’s matinee, knowing full well that the Tigs have zero chance of slowing down the Boston Express. Still we will drink beer (me, not him) and eat hot dogs and avoid any random jelly fish inside Comerica.
I have drifted in and out of the Day, hoping for rain and being rewarded with a couple of droplets but nothing more. The sprinklers are over worked and Mrs MDHs annuals are stressed. I look to the skies knowing a red sky at night is a Shepherds delight and a red sky in the morning is a Shepherds warning.
July 14, 2018 at 4:45 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I love hot food but not to excess. The last hot food I had even burned my lips. Once in Ghana, the foods was so hot my fingers and my mouth were on fire. It was Guinea fowl. The man took it back when I yelped and he gave me my money. I figured he sold it with the one bite.
I love watching baseball, and the games at Fenway are always fun, an occasion. Hot dogs always taste best at the ballpark. The Sox lost yesterday and everyone was stunned. It doesn’t happen that often at home where they have the best record in baseball. Right now it is the bottom of the tenth, one out and the Sox have the bases loaded. I hope it is a great game for you and the Prince.
WOW!! Bogaerts just hit a grand slam, a walk off grand slam!! What a game!! They came from behind and ended in such an amazing fashion it makes me wish I was there. That’s the second grand slam of this home stand.
No rain here either. I watered some of the deck plants but need to do the rest.
July 14, 2018 at 10:29 pm
Regardless of all the new baseball stadiums, there are only two places to watch the game and get the best experience is Fenway Park and Wrigly Field. I’m waiting for the Rangers to get their new ballpark in 2020 with the removable roof before I will go to a Ranger Game. Baseball at 90 degrees in the bottom of the ninth inning at night is not much fun.
July 15, 2018 at 10:22 am
Bob,
I love Fenway and still remember my first visit, a night game. The field looked magical under the lights. I even got a ball though it was from batting practice.
Nope, watching game when it is that hot can’t be any fun. There is no relief from the sun.
July 15, 2018 at 1:36 pm
That’s cooled down to 90 degrees at 10:00 o’clock PM. They don’t play day games in Arlington Texas after Memorial Day until after Labor Day.
July 15, 2018 at 1:58 pm
I’d hate to watch any game with a temperature extreme weather heat or cold.