Becka's blog

We have a winner in the name that vegetable/fruit contest. The winner is...

She was the first person to guess that the picture was OLIVES.

I had never seen fresh olives before and as I mentioned in the last post, I was greatly intrigued by them. Megan and I purchased a few and I tried them when we got home. They tasted awful! They were extremely bitter. I did a little research on the internet and found out that they have to be brined or soaked in water for a couple of weeks to take out the bitterness and then they are brined or salted for several months to preserve them. Who knew it took such preparation to make olives edible? It gives me a whole new appreciation for that 99 cent bottle of olives I can pick up at the grocery store.

Here are a couple of links that talk about the brining and preparation process the olives go through for those who are interested in learning about it.

Thanks for all who sent in possible guesses.

Becka

One place I enjoy visiting when I am in Michigan is Randazzo's. It is a very nice market that specializes in fresh fruits and vegetables. They also have a small bakery, a deli department, and a fresh meat department. It is a veritable feast for the eyes. I wish I had thought to take my camera while I was there so I could include some pictures of all the lovely fruits and vegetables so nicely displayed.

It's always fun to see unusual things there. This time I saw bundles of fresh dandelion leaves and tiny baby artichokes about the size of lemons. I also saw these and couldn't resist buying a few to try:

Would you like to guess what they are?
I'll give the answer in my next post.

Becka

I was able to find a pretty cheap airline ticket and just got back from spending a week up in Michigan with Megan, Jim, and little Drew. We did a little shopping, a little cooking, went to church several times and basically did the things that they normally do during the week.

I thought you might like to see some of Drew's normal daily activities. Right now he is terribly obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and all his railway friends, so several times throughout the day we played with trains.

His name for this activity is "choochooing."

Drew also enjoys puzzles. I brought him three little cardboard puzzles which I doled out over the week. On the first night I asked him if he was ready for a challenge. From then on he started calling the puzzles "challenges."

He also loves to "read" books. He enjoys being read to and he also will go into his room and plop down in his rocking chair and spend a half hour or so just "reading" to himself.

The local library has a preschool story and craft hour most Tuesday mornings with stories and a craft for the children. Last Tuesday while I was there the children dressed up in costumes and the story lady read fall stories and each of the children did a pumpkin coloring craft and received a bag of treats. There were many cute little costumes and it was fun to see the children responding to the finger plays and doing the hokey pokey.

Sunday night at church there was a missionary speaker from the Ivory Coast on furlough with his family. I had actually been his ninth grade English teacher. He gave a very good presentation (I was relieved that it was grammatically correct!) and it was nice to meet his wife and all eleven of their children! They had quite a nice display table with many African artifacts. They also brought a snake (an American corn snake) which they allowed anyone to pet or to hold after the service. Drew held its tail and petted it. Wednesday night after church he told us he wanted to see it again, but unfortunately it had moved on.

Both my flights were direct and were blissfully uneventful. I'm thankful I got to go up to visit and spend time with them. It's hard to live so far apart but it's a blessing to know that they are serving the Lord in the place where He has appointed for them.

Rob had to stay at home since he had students "thirsting for knowledge", as he likes to put it. It's hard to get a sub when you teach French. He did a superb job of holding down the fort and had the house in good order when I got home and he even fixed supper for me!

So, that's been the last week for me. Back to reality now.

Becka

I don't often bake cookies any more since it's just the two of us. I actually kind of miss making them. It seemed like when the children were all at home someone always needed cookies for some event or another. Just last week Rob mentioned that he was hungry for these Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies. I got this recipe from my Aunt Nana several years ago and it has become one of our favorites. These are a puffy, soft, cake-like sugar cookie.

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

1 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
4 cups flour (I use bread flour)

Cream margarine and sugars. Add eggs. Stir together dry ingredients and add alternately with the buttermilk.
Chill this dough for several hours or overnight. You can either roll out this dough and cut with cookie cutters or prepare it the lazy way that I do it by scooping it out with a scoop and flattening the balls of dough with your floured fingers. I find that these bake best if you bake them on parchment lined baking sheets. I have small cookie sheets and find I can only put six on a sheet at a time. I get about two dozen cookies from this recipe. Bake at 400 degrees for 9-10 mins. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheets. Frost with the following icing:

Browned Butter Frosting
6 Tbsps. butter or margarine
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 Tbsps. milk or cream

Heat the butter over medium heat until a delicate brown. (A stainless steel pan works better than a non-stick pan for this so you can see how it is browning) Remove from heat and mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and the milk. Spread on cookies while still warm. Let dry completely before storing the cookies. It works best to place waxed paper between the layers. This should be enough for one batch of cookies.

Scooping out the cookie dough:

Patting out the cookies:

Becka

Fall has definitely fallen here this past week. The temps have gone down and we have had several rainy days. It has been perfect weather for soup! We actually eat soups year round, but we especially enjoy them in the fall and winter months.

I think soups are one of the ultimate convenience foods. It's nice to fix a big pot of soup and then have those leftovers in the refrigerator for later in the week for another meal or to have as a "soup course" to help round out a rather skimpy meal. Many years ago I read a book where the mother of a large family said that when her children were teenagers the only way they survived all the diverse schedules was because she prepared a big pot of soup each day and the children could eat when they came home from their various activities.

I especially like to make this soup in the fall when we can get such good mountain cabbage. The heads are huge, solid, and crisp. Cabbage, potatoes and onions are all high in vitamin C and the carrots are a good source of vitamin A. I have made this soup when we were in Germany and in China as well. We found that these ingredients were available and fairly inexpensive in those parts of the world too.

Cabbage Soup

1 large onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
2 stalks celery (w/leaves) sliced
1 Tbsp. oil
5 cups water
1 1/2 Tbsps. chicken soup base
4-6 carrots, peeled and sliced
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
4-5 cups coarsely chopped cabbage
1/3 cup spaghetti sauce*
pepper to taste
1/2 pound smoked sausage, sliced

Heat oil in large soup kettle and saute onions and celery until wilted. Add water, soup base, carrots, and potatoes. Heat to boiling and then reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 mins. Add the cabbage and simmer 5-10 mins. longer or until cabbage is wilted down. Add the spaghetti sauce and sausage and season with pepper. If it seems too thick for your taste add more water.

*This soup needs just a touch of tomato in my humble opinion. I like the spaghetti sauce and I often have a partial jar in the fridge. You can also use a small amount of catsup, a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste or canned tomatoes, or a small fresh tomato that has been peeled and chopped.

So, the next cold, blustery day give this one a try.

Becka