Yo Yoes

Another wonderfully rich recipe from my Mother's Kiwi kitchen.

12 oz. butter
4 oz. powdered sugar
12 oz. flour
1 (4.6 oz.) pkt JELL-O Vanilla Cook & Serve Pudding & Pie Filling (remove 2tbsp of mix and set aside)
vanilla essence

Cream butter and sugar, add essence, then dry ingredients.

Roll dough into walnut size balls (oil your hands and the dough will not stick) Or use a small scoop. Place on a cold greased cookie sheet and flatten with a fork dipped in flour.

Bake about 15 minutes at 350F or until light golden brown.

When cold, sandwich together with butter filling, or frosting of your choice. (I have used jam as a filling)

Filling: soften 2tbs. butter, add about 12 tbsp. powdered sugar and the 2 tbsp. pudding mix and 1 tsp. vanilla. Stir until smooth.

You could substitute any flavor pudding mix you like. Chocolate would be good.

At long Last

The warmth of the sun today, encouraged the tulips to open.
To see more click HERE

I have decided

In my previous post I was complaining about not knowing what colors to redo the kitchen.
I have now made a decision.

These were the original curtains in the kitchen, and had been here since the 50's YUK! The walls are a pale yellow.

A couple of months ago I replaced those 1950's drapes with these blue roman blinds.

The red is a sample color I thought may be nice below a chair rail I am going to have installed. Well, I thought the color would be nice, until I put it on the wall. It was too intense and made the small space seem smaller. I also painted a small patch of a brighter yellow above the red and to the left of the small roman blind.
I was trying to use colors which would accent the collection of blue and white Royal Copenhagen plates above the windows, but have decided to take the plates down and display them elsewhere.

This is the new color scheme.

For above the windows,I plan on making valances or padded pelmets with a nice braid along the lower edge using the fabric on the right. The colors of the walls will be painted the darker gold color below a blue chair rail, a paler shade of the gold above the chair rail, as per the paint samples. The camera flash washed out the lovely gold shades. (you will just have to wait to see the finished project)
I will probably use the rust brown shade in the fabric as an accent in another part of the kitchen.

All I need now, is the time and energy and MrC's help to get the project finished.

To Blog Or Not To Blog, That Is The Question

I am sure all of you have had times, when either finding the time, searching out material, or wanting to post on your blog has almost become a chore. The last few days I have other things to do, one of which is deciding what colors to paint the kitchen. The decision is getting to be more difficult as I really cannot make up my mind what colors to paint the walls. I think I will take pictures and have you, my readers give me some ideas.

I have spent very little time in the garden as it has been too cold to be outdoors for any length of time.
I took this photo at 6:30am this morning. As you see the Tulips are almost open and are teasing me with their promise of color. This is the first year forTulips in this garden, so I am excited to see what colors they will be. I am sure if we have a couple of warm days the petals will open showing me their velvety splendor.

Analysis of a Woman

ANALYSIS

Element: Woman

Symbol: Wo

Discoverer: Adam

Atomic Mass: Accepted as 55kg, but known to vary from 15kg to 225kg.

Occurrence: Large quantities in urban areas, with trace elements found in most other areas.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Surface normally covered in powder and paint film.

Boils at nothing, freezes for no apparent reason.

Melts if given special treatment.

Bitter if used incorrectly.

Found in various grades, ranging from virgin material to common ore.

Yields if pressure is applied in correct places.

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

Affinity to gold, silver, platinum and all precious stones.

Absorbs great quantities of expensive substances.

Explodes spontaneously, without warning or reason.

Softens and takes on a rosy glow when soaked in hot water.

Greatly increased activity when saturated in alcohol.

The most powerful money reducing agent known to man.

COMMON USES

Highly ornamental - especially in sports cars.

Can be a great aid to relaxation.

Very effective cleaning agent.

TESTS

Pure specimens turn bright pink when discovered in the natural state.

Turns green when placed alongside a superior specimen.

HAZARDS

Highly dangerous except in experienced hands.

Illegal to possess more than one specimen, although several can be maintained at different locations provided they DO NOT come into direct contact with each other.

found here http://www.stevenwillingale.com/fun/women.htm

Like Maxine Says...........

I worked Monday and Tuesday, spent most of yesterday up in Oak Harbor getting the oil changed in my car, having lunch with the girls and doing some shopping.

Today I need to catch up on house chores, sighhhhhhh! Though I am going to take the time to go and enjoy a 90 minute massage. Life is not ALL work you know!

My garden has been calling my name the last few days, but it has been too cold to spend any length of time pulling weeds, I know the weeds will still be there, and just be a little larger when I finally get to them. I hope to get a few pictures of the flowers blooming in Keewee's Garden and post them later on today.

Kiwi Talk

BRASSED OFF : disappointed, annoyed


I am feeling a little "brassed off" with the weather. One day it is 60F the next day it is 40F Today it is the first day of spring, and it is cold, wet, and windy.

So, come on Mother Nature GET WITH THE PROGRAM.

First Falling Plate Shoot

Today was the first ever Falling Plate match for Central Whidbey Sportman's Association. Oh My! I had so much fun, in fact, I like this event more than any of the others, including hanging plates and bowling pin top matches. My final score was 17.5 the winner's 27, so I did quite well for a first time Falling Plate match.
Al AKA "Evil Al" won the match, MrC came in second.

Range Master "Evil Al" (left) giving us a few instructions before we started the match.

MrC has leveled the first two plates, ( on the right) the third, almost onto the table and he is getting ready to swing far right, to knock those two plates down before hitting the smaller stop plate, third from right. All in all, I think everyone there had a great time, and is looking forward to the next match and some warmer weather with a little less rain, in fact, no rain at all would be excellent.
MrC will have a more in depth coverage of the event in the next couple of days.
MRC'S REPORT HERE

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Have a wonderful Saint Patrick's Day

Caramel Meringue

The theme for this weeks Carnival of Recipes is to celebrate Saint Patricks Day. This recipe is not Irish, but I bake it, and I do have some Irish blood in my veins. That is about as close to Irish as it comes. *grin*
This recipe came from my Mother's kitchen. I have had to make adjustments to the original weights and measures, as the original 1960's recipe called for teacup quantities, and used Golden Syrup, which I have found here in USA. Lyles makes Golden syrup, or you can use Steens Cane Syrup. or maybe a dark Karo may work. I prefer the flavor of Lyles syrup.

3 oz butter
1-1/2 tbs. sugar
1 egg
1-1/4 cups flour
1tsp. baking powder
pinch salt


Cream butter and sugar, add egg and beat well. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Roll out on greased parchment paper (about 1/4" thick) Bake 5 minutes at 350F



I actually put the greased parchment paper in a pan, and placed a piece of plastic wrap over the dough and pressed it into place with my fingers. I think this was too much work, so next time I will place it on a cookie sheet and roll it out as the recipe suggests.





FILLING:
1/2 tin sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp Golden Syrup (Lyles, Steens cane syrup, or dark karo)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 egg yolks
1-1/2 tbsp. flour,
1 tsp Vanilla




Put condensed milk, butter, syrup, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla into saucepan. Warm mixture just until butter has melted, then add the flour and stir, remove from heat and pour over the baked crust.







Cover the caramel with meringue made with 2 egg whites beaten stiffly, then add 4 tbsp. sugar beating again until incorporated.

The original recipe says Bake about 40 minutes at 350F






I found I had to keep an eye on the meringue as it browned rather quickly, so I removed the Caramel Meringue before it was too dark.

Cut while hot.

Wednesday Chuckle

INDIAN WITH ONE TESTICLE

There once was a Red Indian whose given name was "Onestone". So named because he had only one testicle. He hated that name and asked everyone not to call him Onestone.

After years and years of torment, Onestone finally cracked and said, "If anyone calls me Onestone again I will kill them!" The word got around and nobody called him that any more.

Then one day a young woman named Blue Bird forgot and said, "Good morning, Onestone." He jumped up, grabbed her and took her deep into the forest where he made love to her all day and all night. He made love to her all the next day, until Blue Bird died from exhaustion.

The word got around that Onestone meant what he promised he would do. Years went by and no one dared call him by his given name until a woman named Yellow Bird returned to the village after being away for many years.

Yellow Bird, who was Blue Bird's cousin, was overjoyed when she saw Onestone. She hugged him and said, "Good to see you, Onestone." Onestone grabbed her, took her deep into the forest, then he made love to her all day, made love to her all night, made love to her all the next day, made love to her all the next night, but Yellow Bird wouldn't die.

What is the moral of this story?????
.........................OH, come on....take a guess!

Think about it
(You're going to love this!)
And the moral is...

You can't kill two birds with one stone!

Thanks to Linda

"Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now"

To see all the cherry trees in bloom takes, me back to about 3rd grade when we had to learn this piece of poetry by A.E. Housman, write it, and illustrate it, in our note books.




Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

The sound of windchimes

Today is the perfect day to hear the sounds of my windchime collection. In fact it is really almost too windy, as I found out, when I went outside to snap a few pictures, of the new spring blooms, to post on keewee's Garden.

This Oriental looking chime came as a freebie with something I bought years ago

This one belonged to MrC's Mom

A Dollar store find

Brought all the way back from Juneau Alaska

This windchime I bought at our local fair last year.

I intend on adding to my collection. One windchime I am really wanting, is one of those rather large chimes which are hand tuned and have a very deep melodic sound. They are also rather expensive.

The weather could be better

This is what we have in the way of weather this morning. It is cold and clammy, and of course, it is a day when we will be spending quite a few hours out doors sighhhhhh!!

Today is "Opening Day" for the CWSA shooting season, and we're hoping for a good turn out, even if the weather is not looking good. I hope I can do well even though I have not done much in the way of practice.
Wish me luck.

Chocolate Chews

Or Chocolate Crunch, if you over bake them as I did

I really don't mind that the Chews turned out crunchy, as I am partial to crunchy cookies anyhow.

8oz. butter, I used Smart Balance which could have contributed to the Chews being crunchy
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbs. cocoa
pinch salt
2 cups coconut, use the unsweetened finely shredded kind.
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. add vanilla and all other ingredients. Mix well.

Press into greased pan. I used a jelly roll pan and think it is a little too large. Next time I will use a deeper 11 1/2 x 9 1/2 pan. I think the cookies will be softer.
Bake in a moderately slow oven 325-350F for about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and ice with chocolate icing while still warm. I cheated this time and spread the few chocolate chips over the top which I had left over from a previous recipe.

Spread the icing or chocolate chips, and let cool before cutting into squares. Lick the chocolate off the spreading spatula. ( well this is what I do)

Be Careful What You ask For!!

A few days ago MrC asked our friend Wayne, who owns a landscaping business, if we could have a few pieces of firewood from the trees he was felling.

I was busy sitting at my computer posting an entry to Keewee's garden when I heard a truck pulling into our driveway. I looked out the window and saw a dump truck full of sawn logs.
Knock, knock on the door. I opened it to find Wayne standing there asking where we wanted our load of firewood. OH MY!!
The pieces of wood are very large and I see much work ahead to split and stack it.
The large log in front is probably about 30 inches across by 24 inches deep, and that is not the largest.

This one is not very much smaller than the log in the picture above, I can feel sore muscles coming on already. *grin*

Maxine said it for me

I have been so busy the last few days, that blogging is waaaay down on my list. I hope to catch up real soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

Keewee's New Primroses

I have bought more primroses to add to my collection. To see them click HERE

Spanish Rice & Meatballs

6 slices of bacon
1lb. lean ground beef
½ cup soft bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Pepper
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup sliced celery
2/3 cup uncooked white rice
1-1/2 cups water
1 can (16oz.) diced tomatoes
1/3 cup Heinz 57 sauce
¼ tsp. Pepper
1/8 tsp. hot pepper sauce
1 green bell pepper cut into chunks

In large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove and crumble, set aside.
Drain all but 1 tbsp. drippings.
In large bowl, combine beef, bread crumbs, egg, salt & pepper. Form into about 20 meatballs.
In skillet brown meatballs; remove. In same skillet saute onion & celery until tender-crisp; drain excess fat.
Add rice, water, tomatoes, 57 sauce, ¼ tsp. pepper and hot pepper sauce.
Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Stir in bacon, meatballs and green pepper.
Cover and simmer 10 minutes, or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.

INSTALLING HUSBAND

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance --Particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate wife


--------------------------------------------------------

Dear Desperate wife:

First keep in mind; Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.

Please enter the command: "http: I Thought You Loved Me.HTML" and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck,
Tech Support

Thanks to Eddie In Ireland

Old Man Winter Is Still Around

We are blanketed with snow. It looks as though we had a little more fall last night while we were sleeping.

Brrrrrr! Today, I think I will stay indoors, and finish painting the hallway.
Old Man Winter sure is taking his sweet time in moving on.