I have always had trouble making a pie crust which is tender and flaky. Yesterday I remembered something I had read about using water and vodka, so decided to give it a try. I made a pumpkin pie this afternoon, and I am raving about the crust, as it is everything a crust should be.
The best ever pie crust (with vodka!?)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
The teenager lost a contact lens while playing basketball in his driveway. After a fruitless search, he told his mother the lens was nowhere to be found.
Undaunted, she went outside and in a few minutes returned with the lens in her hand.
"How did you manage to find it, Mom?" the teenager asked.
"We weren't looking for the same thing," she replied. "You were looking for a small piece of plastic and I was looking for $150."
I wasn't intending on buying myself anything, but when one comes across a good buy, well who can resist? I saw these cute shoes on clearance for $4:99 and a girl can't have too many pairs of shoes, right? Being just shy of 5' tall I need all the help I can get, so I thought the 2 1/2" heels on these should boost my height a little. *grin*
Gimme, gimme,
Are you having fun yet?
Remember what I said about 'it would be nice to have cloud cover all day' Well I couldn't have been more wrong, because just as we were starting in on the fourth stage, the blistering sun came out from behind the clouds, and we instantly felt as though we were being slow baked in an oven. I do not do well in the heat, and I struggled to shoot the last three stages. Whine, whine whine!
"Are you ready?" asks the Range Officer
John, very focused on making the steel ring.
I like to sneak up on folk and take their picture.
Rich showing us how it was done, and he sure was having a grand time.
Our squad of seven did rather well.
We sat on the bench you can see in the photo, which is right across the road from a very old brick hotel. I mentioned to Mr C that one good quake and the whole building would just be a pile of bricks and rubble spilling into the street. The cafe, bar and restaurant, previously mentioned, are on the street level of the hotel, and it looked to me that the rooms on the two top floors were vacant, as the windows were very dirty, lacked any window coverings, and there was just an air of emptiness about the rooms.
The fenced lot housing some wonderful old farm machinery, a wagon, and a log building which had been a depot of some kind. There was a note attached to the fence saying, one could get the key from the cafe, to unlock the gate so you could wander around.
Looking through the hedge from where our RV was parked, towards the main street.
This photo of the 'Gun library' taken during our 2008 visit.
Aaron modeling his set of Pro Ears hearing protectors for me.
Molly is thinking of going into law and wanted to ask Alan Gura some questions. Later in the evening, Alan spoke to us of legal matters concerning gun rights, law etc.
A quick meeting to outline safety, and how the match is run, then off we all went to have some fun.
Quick Cal Eilrich telling us some history about Cowboy Fast Draw, and filling us in on how the match is run.
Milisecond Molly and GG waitng for their revolvers to be loaded.
A great breakfast sponsored by Otis Technologies enjoyed by all, before leaving the Silver Legacy hospitality room, to car pool out to the Pyramid range at Washoe County Shooting Facility for an introduction to Steel Action Pistol shooting.
Things To Do In An Elevator
1) When there's only one other person in the elevator, tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn't you.
2) Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.
3) Call the Psychic Hotline from your cell phone and ask if they know what floor your on.
4) Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.
5) Move your desk into the elevator and whenever anyone gets on, ask if they have an appointment.
6) Lay down the twister mat and ask people if they would like to play.
7) Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets on, ask them if they can hear ticking.
8) Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the passengers.
9) When the doors close, announce to the others, "It's okay, don't panic, they open again!"
10) Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering, "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"
11) Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?"
12) Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.
13) Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to the other passengers. 14) Listen to the elevator walls with your stethoscope.
15) Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers, "This is MY personal space!"
Mr C wondering why I called his name from the top seat of the bleachers. Just wanted to take his photo, that's all!
Some of our squad watching another member shooting.
Alexis and parents.
Mark, our Aussie friend.
Alexis is a sweet young lady and also a very fine shooter.
Brooke has a very strong stance, and a good shooter to boot.
Awww gee! Jonathon is a real little cutie, and was so good all day long. Both his parents were competing.
Ken wears the coolest shirts, and he is a very strong competitor.
As we drove past Magic Mountain, I (jokingly) asked Mr C if he would like to skip competing in the match and go for a few rides at Magic Mountain. "hmmmm not today he replied" Later on in the day, as we returned from the match, I asked again if he would like to go have fun on the rides, nope, he still did not want to go, although he said if I wanted to, he would go along. I said " it would be a shame to waste the ice cream I had just eaten by throwing up. *chuckle*
Beside the highway there are acres and acres of the small sweet red and yellow peppers growing, and I could not help but think about the $4:99 for a two pound bag of these delicious peppers I buy to snack on.
Orchards are slowly spreading up and over the low hills, and if it wasn't for irrigation, this would be a dry, dusty almost bare landscape, except for the hardiest of plants which can survive the scorching heat and dry conditions..
Last year when we came though here, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand and I bought oranges thinking, as are grown here, and freshly picked, they would be the sweetest oranges I would ever taste. Not so, they were almost 'pucker up' sour, what a disappointment.
It is so pretty as the fog drifts in over the hills and down into the valley.
Every year, for the past five years, when we arrived in Piru, this beautiful deep pink Bougainvillea in someone's front garden,has been in full bloom.
Besides all the other tropical plants growing in the front garden of people's homes, there are many palm trees. It is quite an interesting little town with both old and new buildings, some homes are obviously well maintained and others not so much, typical of many small country towns.
It was interesting to see a rather large apartment complex being constructed in Piru, it won't seem to be such a small community when we next pass through.
Irrigated crops abound along the valley floor as we drove towards the range.
Behind the fence is a nursery, and I would have loved to have some of the tropical plants I could see, in my own garden, but of course they would not do well in our cooler climate, here in Western Washington.
We leave the paved road to drive out to the range over a very bumpy dusty one.
Our rented vehicle was slowly changing from pristine white to beige, as dust settled over it as we followed the vehicle in front of us.
Cattle shelter from the baking sun in the shade of the trees, and the blades of the windmill remain still from lack of any breeze.
We drove slowly past the practice range, where many shooters were getting in some last minute practice before competing.
After, it seemed, a very long dusty drive, we arrived at the parking area.
Looking up to the topmost bay where a stage called 'outer limits" is located. This stage can make or break you. Many shooters do not like this stage.
Looking back down the hill you have to climb to reach "outer limits"
