"Big Dog" Dills

For years I have tried and flopped every dill pickle recipe I have come across.  Really, the pickles are floppy or they simply don't taste good.  Who wants a watered down cucumber or a mix from a bag anyway?   And besides, a floppy pickle just never tastes as good as a nice crisp one!

A few weeks ago, while visiting my Aunt Bena, she mentioned making more refrigerator pickles.  I am not opposed to refrigerator pickles at all, don't get me wrong.  I just never seem to have enough room for them.  I would prefer to put them on a shelf.  And most refrigerator pickles I have tried are always Bread and Butter pickles.  Love those too, but how many can you really eat?  And again, I have a canned recipe for them that I love, so on the shelf they go!  I told my Aunt as much and she said, "Oooooh, no.  These are Dill."

Well slap me and call me a glutton for punishment if my ears didn't perk up!  She even had some for me to sample.

Oh.My.Gawd.  If these weren't the best dill pickles ever!  Lip-smackin'.  Halfway home I was still savoring the flavor...

Aunt Bena's "Big Dog" Dill Pickles

2 or 3 whole heads of Dill
4 cloves of Garlic, peeled and cut in halves
1 Grape Leaf
1 Medium Onion, thickly sliced
2 t. Alum (you can leave this out)
Cucumbers, cut into spears (roughly 4 pounds +/-)

Layer the ingredients into the bottom of a 1 Gallon glass jar.  Then pack the Cucumbers in.

Bring to a boil the following:

1/2 Qt. White Vinegar
1 1/2 Qt. Water
1/3 C (or less) Pickling Salt

Pour brine over the contents in your jar.
Cover the jar with a piece of tin foil then seal the lid down tight.
Turn the jar upside down and place in the refrigerator for 2 days.  (I used an old cake pan just in case there was seepage, which there was not)
After 2 days, set the jar upright.
As with any pickled recipe, it's always best to let them set for a few weeks before sampling.  You can remove the tin foil then.

Now, wouldn't those go perfectly with one of these?

Especially if you whipped up a batch with your own home-canned tomato juice...

I was suddenly able to find room in that fridge.  Must find more jars...

Monkey Business

Just the other day as I was scraping corn from the cob and fixing to dehydrate it, Pig Pen informed me that he had an entire case of bananas.  Really?  A case?  He wasn't kidding.

So the corn got put on the back burner and the bananas were sliced and dehydrated instead.  19 trays went on the dehydrator and another 48 bananas went into the freezer for later use in breads etc.  Peel and all...frozen in time.

From the 19 trays, we got 1 gallon of bananas put up. 

Several were mashed and frozen too.  And then there were 6.  Hmm.  What to do with those?

Banana Liqueur

from Cooksrecipes.com

1 1/2 C. Sugar

3/4 C. Water

1 t. Vanilla Extract

2 Ripe Bananas, mashed

3 C. Vodka

Make a simple syrup by bringing sugar and water to a boil on medium heat.  Stir constantly.  When clear, remove from heat and add vanilla.  Let it stand till warm.

Place mashed bananas in a 1 Qt. jar.  Add syrup and vodka.

Cover and let stand in a cool dark place for 3 to 4 days.  Shake daily to avoid clumping of fruit.

Using a fine mesh strainer, strain out solids and discard.  The mixture will still be cloudy.  Cover and let stand until it clears.

Rack into clean container.  Cover and age for 1 month.  Rack again as necessary before serving.

I made a gallon.  It should be good to go by the end of September and then I will let you know how it turns out.  At least I don't have to wait 6 months for this one. 

Let the monkey business commence!

Wild Black Raspberry Pie

Oh my!  The other day, we caught a "Bird" picking the wild raspberries.  And by bird, I don't mean bird.  I was skeptical there would be any left.  However, this is proving to be a banner year for the wild berries!  So yesterday we braved the brambles and went in the woods!

As you can see, there will be more in the next day or so.  We picked about 2 quarts of itsy-bitsy berries. 

It goes alot faster if you have helpers.  Someone needs to carry the basket, right?

One neighbor has an old Farm All parked out back.  The berries love it.  I love the tractor.

My Mom goes crazy for Raspberries.  So I decided to make a pie.  Gee...where to find a recipe?

Well as luck would have it, I cracked open my newest cookbook (compliments of Mama Pea) and came up with this:

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 C finely crushed Graham Crackers

3 T Yogurt

1 1/2 T Honey

1/4 t Cinnamon

Combine very well and press into a well buttered pie pan.

Bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes or till golden

I toasted a little of the extra and sprinkled on top.  Also, all I had was Greek Vanilla Yogurt and it was divine!

Vanilla Pudding

2 C Milk

1/4 C Brown Sugar

1/8 t Salt

2 T Cornstarch or Arrowroot

1 t Vanilla

Gently heat 1 1/2 C Milk. 

Stir in sugar and salt.

Combine the reserved 1/2 C milk with the Cornstarch or Arrowroot.

Add to the milk once it has become very hot.

Cook and stir over low heat until it thickens.

If you are using Cornstarch, continue to cook for a few minutes more.

Cool a bit and add Vanilla.

Berry Pudding Pie

Fill prebaked pie shell or crumb crust with 3 C. or so of fresh berries (you can use any kind!)  Pour Vanilla Pudding over them while Pudding is still warm.  Chill.

Now doesn't that look yummy?  It was!

During our walk in the woods, I had to take a picture of my favorite spot:

I could live there.  Minus the poison ivy, poison oak, mosquito's and all other types of itchy-scratchies.

Don't know if I have every really captured the expanse of the fencing our happy hens have to run in our not:

Hard to tell maybe, but it's pretty good size.  The bravest go all over, but mostly they still hang around up front.

We shared a few berries with the girls too! 

Holes in My Head

I attribute 90% of the holes in my head to ONE indulgence. 

Baklava

WhaWhoHuh?

No really, I am guessing most of you are familiar with this treat.  It is a Greek pastry and it is wonderful!

Our very belated Greek Easter gathering is just around the corner and I am probably not going to be ready.  But reinforcements are coming in the form of younger and more able bodied cousins!  WooHoo!  Not only do we have lots of food to prepare and freeze ahead of time (thankfully most does!), it has been so icky outside that my garden is a puddle.  So no planting, just cooking for me!  (sewing machine, what sewing machine?)

How to Make Baklava
Pronounced Bock-la-va

Ingredients

2# Walnuts
1 # Fillo / Phyllo Sheets (fee-low)
1 1/2 # Butter (salted)
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1 t. Cinnamon

For the Sauce:

1 C. Honey
1 T. Lemon Juice +\-, to taste
1 T. Water +\-, for consistency

For tips on handling Phyllo, you can visit This Post. 
Slowly melt butter in a medium sauce pan.
With a food processor or other chopper of choice, chop nuts to a fine texture.

Add the Brown Sugar and Cinnamon to the nuts and blend very well.  Work out all lumps with a fork if necessary.
Set Aside.

Butter the bottom of a 9*13 pan.
(Note:  you may need to trim Phyllo to fit pan.)
Begin layering the Phyllo one at a time and buttering each layer.  Four to Six layers is sufficient for your base.
Lightly layer 1 1/2 C. of the nut mixture and smooth to edges.
Add Two layers of Phyllo -one at a time and buttering each layer.
Because the pan most likely has rounded corners, don't be afraid to occassionaly lift the squared corners of the phyllo and lightly fold them over.  Give them a shot of butter when you do.

Repeat steps until nut mixture is gone.
Top with additional Three to Four layers of Phyllo one at a time and buttering each layer.

That was actually the easy part, or so I have always thought!  For this dish, you have to cut it before you bake it.  A super sharp knife is key!  Since I don't do cute, just do your best!

Start by cutting equi-measure lengthwise.

Then go at a diagonal.  Something akin to this:

Because I am hoping to get as many servings from one batch as possible, I did a diagonal the opposite direction as well.  It's up to you!

You can place your index finger and thumb on both sides of top pastrty layer and chase your knife as you go because the tops of those buggers will want to pull up!  Don't worry, I promise the little fingerprints left behind will bake off!

Lightly drizzle and brush the entire dish with remaining butter. 
Bake at 325 for 1.5 hours or until nice and golden brown and flakey.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce:

In a medium sauce pan on low heat, combine the 1 C. Honey with Lemon and Water.  Start with Tablespoon measures on the lemon and water. 

Your sauce should not taste like honey.  It should not taste like lemon.  It should be a blend of the flavors with neither over-powering the other.  The flavor will also depend on the honey itself.   This was the first batch I've made with our own honey!!  :) 

The consitincey of the sauce should be thicker than water and thinner than honey.  You can always add more of one or the other to correct the taste or more water for thinner consistency.  It really just needs to be to your liking!  So no worries!

When the Baklava is done baking, remove from the oven and with a large spoon, drizzle ALL the sauce on.  It will soak up nicely.

If you can hold out, let it cool.  :o)

This dish freezes wonderfully!  You could place the slices in smaller containers and really "Wow!" your guests!

Now...go make a dentist appointment to fix the holes in yer head!

It's Greek to Me!

With Greek Easter quickly approaching, it's time to start cranking out some family favorites!  Since I will be gone for Easter and Greek Easter (they fall on the same day this year), my cousins and I have consorted to have it late.  Much later, as in Memorial Day Weekend!  The weather should be great, I'll be home and it's a long weekend.

We put alot of kitchen time in for this event.  Typically everyone brings a dish to pass, including American foods for the younger, less evolved palates :o)  I like to prepare as much ahead of time as possible and freeze it.  We have alot of mouths to feed and no one ever goes hungry if I can help!

Many of our favorite dishes within the family aren't made much any more.  It's one of those sad things that doesn't exactly get handed down as it should.  So I take it very seriously to keep these few traditions alive!  This year, I am hoping to get several of my younger cousins involved in the makings.  They seem very excited and I am really looking forward to it!

Another reason I look forward to Greek Easter...we are having it here!  I love having family over and it simply doesn't happen enough!

So without further babbling, here's what yesterday brought forth:

How to Make Tiropita / Tyropita
(Greek Cheese Pie) 

First and foremost, how do you pronounce it?  Keep in mind, I don't speak Greek, but we pronounce it as Tier-ro-pee-ta

Ingredients

1 # Feta Cheese
1 # Small Curd Cottage Cheese
1/2 C. Kefalotere or other fresh grated cheese (i.e. Parmesan)
4 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
Salt and Pepper
1 heaping T. Parsley flakes
1 # Fillo / Phyllo Sheets  (fee-low)
1 # Butter

Fillo can often be found in the freezer section near pastries.  If you purchase it frozen, set it out and let it come to room temperature.

In a small sauce pan, slowly melt 2 sticks of butter.  You can melt more later as needed.

To prepare Cheese Mixture:

In a large bowl, crumble Feta, combine with Cottage Cheese and grated cheese.
In a small bowl, beat eggs until creamy, add to cheese mixture.
Lightly Salt, add Pepper according to taste.
Add Parsley Flakes.  I don't exactly measure this, but go more by looks.  If it looks pretty, it's good!
If you are not skittish about raw egg, taste test and adjust seasonings as desired.
Set Aside.

Working with Fillo:

Don't be scared!  If you can follow a few simple tricks, you will never fear it again!  I promise!

You will need up to 6 Tea Towels.  Wet one down and wring it out very well.

Fold one tea towel in half and lay it on your counter top.  Place the damp towel on top of it.
Place another folded tea towel on top of damp towel.
Place two tea towels together and leave them open.

Remove Fillo from package and cut it in half then place it on one half of the opened two-tea towel set.

Gently unroll one half of the Fillo and remove the plastic wrapping from underneath.  It should slide right out. 
Place the other still rolled half in an airtight bag and set aside until needed.

Fold over the top of the two-tea towel set to completely cover the Fillo.  (sandwiching it)

The key to working with Fillo is moisture control!  It can become bone dry and crumble when touched.  If your Fillo isn't getting enough moisture, you may have been a bit over zealous wringing out the towel.  :) 
Just re-moisten the damp one a bit. 

Likewise, if it gets too moist, it will start to stick together.  You will know right away as the layers wont want to pull apart and will tear.  If this happens, simply cover the two-tea towel set, gently roll it up and set it aside.  Then place an additional folded tea-towel on top of the other towels.  Unroll your two-tea towel set and straighten things back up.  You should be good to go again shortly.

Next, it's best to prepare your work area with all of the following:

Cheese Mixture
Tablespoon
Hot pad under melted butter in pan (you may have to reheat or melt more as you go)
Basting/Pastry Brush
Tea-towels loaded with Fillo and ready to go
Large cookie sheet

Now, lets make some magic!

-Open tea towel and gently remove one sheet.  Lay it on the counter.  Always close the tea towels back up!
-With your pastry brush, gently brush butter on entire sheet.  (I usually start with all four edges so it doesn't get away from me.)
-In bottom section, off to one corner just a tad, place a nice Tablespoon dollop of Cheese Mixture.

-Lightly pull up the corner and fold towards other side of sheet and continue to do so all the way up the sheet.  Like this:

-You can tighten things up as you go.  Don't worry about how 'cute' it looks.  So long as the edges seal (and they will because the butter acts as the glue), you can make them as tight or as loose as you like.  You will find that as you get the hang of it, you will gradually tighten things up anyway.
-When you get to the end, use your pastry brush and butter the loose edges, wrap them around your triangle as necessary.
-Butter all sides and place on cookie sheet.

You don't need to cover the finished ones as you work.  The butter will keep them just right.  At this point, you can do several different things.  Place the uncooked tray in the freezer and 'flash freeze' them, then bag them in a single layer or...  Bake them in a 350 degree oven for approximately 30-45 minutes till golden brown.  If you do freeze them, the same cook temp/times will work.

I did both!  The may look a bit flat going in, but the come out looking just fine!  And taste even better!
Mom thought the mixture was a bit too runny, but after her taste test, she said they were excellent.  Now on Mom's folks...let me just tell ya, this process goes alot faster when Dear Ole Ma helps out!  Thanks, Mom!

Now you can also make this in a simpler way by using a 9x13 pan.  Do not cut the Fillo in half, work with the entire sheet.  Butter the bottom of the pan.  Layer the sheets and butter each one!!!  Do the bottom layers at least 3 or 4 thick (or however many more you may like).  Layer your cheese mixture.  Then layer at least as many more Fillo sheets as your bottom...butter each layer!  Bake the same (till done ;)

So...do you think you can do it?  I know you can!

With all the goodies we dish up, I have some other great recipes in the works.  Next up, Garlic Lover's -you wont want to miss the sinus clearing, lip-smackin' goodness!

Tomfoolery and Trickery in the Kitchen

We had company over for dinner!  What's the big deal you say?  Well, typically we have Pig Pen's Posse once or twice a week.  So to have company over from across the river, as in 'my side', it doesn't happen often enough!  Phyllis and Coil are long time friends and we were delighted to have an evening with them and their Grandson, Richard.

I spent the entire day, cooking, cleaning and in general running around like a chicken.  I don't clean for Pig Pen's Posse since they are "perps" in the messy house anyway!  Now I had told my friends that I would reach in the freezer and grab out a roast.  Would it be beef?  Would it be venison?  One never knows....and never would!  I'd place $$$$$ on it!

Here's the trickery:

Venison Roast(s)
4 Carrots
3 Celery Stalks
1 Medium Onion
4 Garlic Cloves
Beef Broth
Red Wine
Seasonings:  S&P, Granulated Garlic, Lemon Pepper, Parsley, Marjoram, Tarragon, Thyme
2 T Flour +/-

Cut into large chunks, the carrots, celery stalks and medium onion.  Peel the garlic and leave whole.  I ended up with about 8 cups of veggies for two small roasts.  Adjust yours accordingly and to your own tastes.  There is no right or wrong amount.

Start by cutting your roast into thick slices.

Then take your aggression out by pounding it flat with a meat mallet.  Cover with parchment or wax paper and beat them to within 1/4".  Now, season with Granulated Garlic, Lemon Pepper, lightly salt and pepper. 

Once seasoned, I hit them with the tenderizer.  In my little head it beats the seasonings in.  No point in the paper at this point, just let it fly!  Give them a flip, re-season and tenderize again.  Cut into large, pieces before throwing into the pot.

For this job, I like to use my enamel cast iron dutch oven.  It can go from stove top to oven with a lid.

Heat your oil of choice and then drop in the meat and veggies.

The water from the veggies will be your liquid.  It takes a few minutes for this to 'come out', but not to worry.  Stir occasionally for even browning.

Once you see the liquid coming to, you can now sprinkle your flour in.  Disperse evenly.  This is when I like to add my Parsley, Marjoram, Tarragon and Thyme -make it pretty.  Continue to cook.

You should start seeing some browning.  Check the bottom of the pan, you should see it start to stick but not burn.  

Now you are ready to start de-glazing.  Add about 1/4 C. of beef broth and work up those bits off the bottom of the pan.   Cook down again.  Keep checking the bottom of the pan and repeat the de-glazing several times until you have used about 2 cups of broth more or less.

For the final deglazing, you may now add 1 1/2 to 2 C. of whatever red wine you have on hand.  Tomfoolery may begin at this point...

Place the lid on and put the entire dish in a 250 degree oven.  I simmered mine for 6 hours and checked it only after about 4.  Here is the 4 hour check:

After about 6, it cooked down to this:

Now, I don't know what to call this actually.  Is it stew?  Is it slop?  How about stew-slop?  Regardless, you can fool the most discriminating meat snobs with this one...I guarantee it!

The nice part about this meal, it's very hearty and goes a long way when served with say...fresh bread and homemade apple pie!

Don't forget a healthy accompaniment of your garden veggies from the summer!  We had hillbilly green beans (beans, bacon, onion), mashed potatoes and corn. 

It was delish!

The Tomfoolery was all about enjoying each other, picking on the young'ens and of course, forgetting to take pictures because you were too busy just having a good ole time and catching up!  We don't see Phyllis and Coil as much as we should which is a shame because they are kindred spirits!  I am looking forward to regular intervals of horsing around with them, talking Chickens and Gardening.  We made a vow we would get better at this!  And we dooooo love to eat!

Stuffed Pork Loin

Several years ago, my Mom, SIL and I went to see Paula Deen.  It was more like a comedy hour-not much cooking-but she did share this recipe with us.  As with any recipe, I sort of made it my own!  This is a great one for making company think you really can cook!  It's easy and impressive.

Stuffed Pork Loin

1/4 C Butter
1 Onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced +/- depending how you like it
1 package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 tub or 8oz grated Parmesan Cheese +/-
Salt & Pepper
Lemon Pepper
Granulated Garlic
1 (5 pound) pork loin roast +/-

In a large skillet, cook bacon.  Remove to plate.
In same skillet, melt butter.  (Yes, I leave the bacon grease!)
Add onion and garlic and cook 5 minutes or till tender.  Stir as needed.
Stir in spinach and cook 3 minutes. 
Add bacon back to pan.
Add Parmesan, Salt and Pepper and stir till the cheese is melted.

Butterfly your tenderloin.  You want me to do what with who for how much? 

Well, I called in the expert.  Here is my Dad with a short clip on how to butterfly (not the dance!).  He started his career as a butcher and can do it with his eyes closed.  It's really not so bad and if I can do it, you can too!  Don't be scared.  I'm only sorry that my camera takes such short clips and I had to break it up!

Now that it's layed flat and under a piece of freezer paper, time to season both sides!  Using your Salt (lightly), Pepper, Lemon Pepper and Granulated Garlic, make it look real, real pretty! 

Time to take your aggressions out!  Cover the topside with another sheet of freezer paper and beat the tar out of it!  My Dad said he used a rubber mallet last time and it worked great!  You will make a mess as some of the seasonings fly across your counter.  But it all cleans up!  You'll want it to be about a 1/2 inch thick but no more.  If it is a little less, don't sweat it.

Spread the filling to within in a 1/2 inch from the sides.  Then roll it up!  Like this...

Now...here's where I struggle even.  Mastering the tie up!  I had a great video clip of my Dad showing how to make a double slip knot.  But blogger refused it.  I tried at least 5 times, no luck.  Basically, you want to start at one end and go about 1 inch in and make a double slip knot.  Then from the same end always, you keep placing one at 1 inch intervals until you reach the other end.  Here are the finishing touches:

He makes it look so easy and he's a regular comedian, ain't he?

Place your roast in a shallow baking pan, uncovered and bake 20 minutes at 475 degrees.  Then reduce heat to 325, cover and bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes or until a thermommameter registers 155 degrees.  Let stand 10 minutes, then slice!

It ends up looking like you actually know what you are doing!  This would make a great Holiday "Wow!"

Wasn't it nice of me to invite them up for dinner...then make him do all the work?  And my Dad thinks he's smart...

Jokes on me though...I am making Dolmathes and Fresh Bread for Christmas dinner!  Then transporting it 2.5 hours.  Sucker.

BaGock!

After reading MamaTea's "Cripes, I Said!" post regarding her poor chilly-willy Chickens who's pieces parts are falling off due to frigid temperatures, I thought I would offer up some help!  Now I had already told her that since we don't have our Chickens yet (arriving this Spring!) that I was of no use.  I know nothing.

But the more I thought of it, the more I realized...yes I can help!
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Greek Chicken

1 whole bird, cut up
4 red potatoes, chunked
1 pint green beans
EVOO
Lemon Juice
Lemon Pepper
Granulated Garlic
Oregano
S & P
Butter

Now, after you have your chicken in the house and fully diapered (ok, scratch that part...wink!).  Just clean the bird and throw it in a 9 x 13.

Here's where we get tricky in the Old Recipe kind-o-way.  I don't measure...yikes!

Add Lemon Juice.  Enough to come up roughly, say 1/4" in the pan. 

Throw in all the veggies.  I generally use frozen green beans and taters with the peel on.  I also almost always put waaay more veggies in than is needed.  But that's the best part!  Jane...go for it with out the birdie!  And when I overload my pan, I will season the chicken first, then throw in the veggies and season again to spread that yummieness around! 

Now for the seasoning:
*Granulated Garlic - if you don't have granulated garlic, use garlic powder...NOT garlic salt!  You'll be sorry if you do!  Lemon and salt have some serious pucker power when combined and you will look like fish lips on first bite!
*Oregano
*Lemon Pepper
*Lightly - lightly salt the dish  You dig?
*Pepper

Don't be afraid of the spices, as you can see, mine looks all sorts of pretty like:

I promise there is chicken under there!

Drizzle with some EVOO and add 1 whole stick of butter cut into pats (or more).
Bake at 350 till almost done, then turn it up to broil for the last 5 minutes or so to make it all crispy and beautiful!

Before

Who's cold now?

This is how my family does Greek Chicken, Greek Pork Chops and Lamb.  And you will do yourself a serious injustice if you don't have fresh baked bread to sop up the juices.  It's the law.

I really did make Greek Chicken just this week...I swear.

Betcha didn't know I was a Little Greek Girl, did ya?
Betcha didn't think I knew how to warm them Chickens up, did ya?
Betcha I'm gonna get in trouble for this one, ain't I? 

Wicked Weekend!

After the lovely snow on Saturday, Sunday meant a trek to the City.  Why oh Why...it was sooo cold!  But us girls had plans! 

I saw this play several years back and absolutely loved it!  I always said it was a musical I would certainly pay twice to see!  So when my friend Caitlin about blew her top that it was back to town for a brief encore, she quickly orchestrated the day!  We left super early and were pleasantly surprised to find the Kris Kringle Market was in town! 

Years ago, I was very lucky to have visited Germany and Austria! 

The Fortress Court Yard, Salzburg, Austria

View from The Fortress in Salzburg, Austria

Heidlberg Castle, Germany



View from Heidlberg Castle



Neuschwanstein Castle - Disney Castle was inspired by this.

Memorial Wall at the Dachau, Germany Concentration Camp.  In five different languages, it reads "Never Again"
As solemn as it sounds, everyone should visit at least once in their lifetimes so that it never happens again.



Bread and Pretzel Market

The Governator would be happy to hear that hands down - Salzburg, Austria was my favorite!  Whenever I get the chance to reminisce the wonderful sights, sounds and food...I am first in line!

Of course first on my list yesterday was Beer!  My love affair with great German beer hasn't ceased!  The other girls went for a great German Riesling and hot spiced wine.  But I will never pass on German Beer!

None of the girls had ever tried Potato Pancakes, so I had to get a plate and twist their arms...as you can see!

I will say this, they were only ok.  Just smooshed up hash browns really.  My Mom makes killer Potato Pancakes like this:

Leftover Mashed Potatoes

Egg

Chopped Onion

Flour

Salt and Pepper (I love lots of salt on these!)

Mix until nice and gloppy!  They should hold together and be just a bit sticky.

Drop in dollops on a nice hot skillet and pat the top with a bit more flour and fry.

I can eat these hot or cold.  They are to die for!  The problem is -there isn't a clear cut recipe.  None of the oldies but goodies are 'clear cut', are they?

And for some reason, Mom makes'em better! Even though I can make them myself.  Sort of like cookies ;o) 

Did I mention it was cold yesterday?  When we got home, the thermometer read 7 degrees!  It's only December!  It should be thirty-seven or even twenty-seven degrees!!!

But it really was a great day!  I don't go to the city often and usually it's dreadful thoughts to get me there, but once I did, and with the Market to boot, I was very glad we went! 

Wicked is an awesome musical!  If you ever get the chance to go...you'll love it!  Thank you ladies, for a wonderful day!

Are there places you have visited that bring you joy and wish you could visit time again?  Have you ever been to a play or musical you would go to again and again?