Wally Makes Soup

Wally likes to eat. No, let me correct that. Wally loves to eat. However, he doesn't like to cook. But today, he did just that. I asked him to help me with some potato soup by peeling the potatoes. One thing led to another and in less than an hour he had created a delicious potato ham soup.

True to the family tradition, he didn't follow a recipe. He looked at couple of recipes, took inventory of ingredients on hand and started cooking. For better nutrition he added carrots and used low-fat cream cheese. He didn't use onions as a favor to Ward and he added his own special optional ingredient at the end--Stubb's Spicy BBQ Sauce. The result was a very delicious soup that reminded me of scalloped potatoes with ham. I hope this successful cooking adventure is the beginning of a new trend.

Below are basic instructions for making the soup. Detailed recipe at the end.

Chop potatoes, celery, carrots and ham.

Saute celery, carrots, and garlic before adding potatoes and water. Cook until veggies are tender. Add cream cheese and ham.                                     

Garnish with cheddar cheese and/or Stubb's Spicy BBQ sauce. Serve and enjoy!

Wally's Potato Ham Soup

Ingredients:

Oil, 1 T

Celery, 2 stalks chopped

Carrots, 3 large chopped

Garlic, 3 cloves minced

Potatoes, 7 medium--5-6 cups chopped

Water, 4 ½ cups

Chicken bouillon cubes, 2

Low fat cream cheese, 8 oz, softened and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes

Ham, 2 cups chopped (¾ lb)

For garnish:

Shredded cheddar cheese

Stubb's BBQ Sauce, 1 teaspoon/bowl

Saute celery, carrots, and garlic in oil until celery is starting soften.

Add potatoes, water, and bouillon cubes. Bring to boil and boil until vegetables are tender. Approximately 10- 15 minutes.

Lower heat or turn off heat on electric range and add cream cheese. Stir until melted.

Stir in ham.

Note: I added a little of Stubb's spicy BBQ sauce into my bowl. It gave the soup just a hint of spicy hotness without overwhelming the other flavors.

My mom and dad just put a little shredded cheese on theirs.

Everyone was happy. I hope you like it too.

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Food Waste Friday--March 30, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

 

This was the week for molded bread. First, we had some Irish soda bread that my son bought for St. Patrick's day on a whim. We all liked the taste well enough, but didn't like how crumbly it was. Thus it just sat on the counter until it molded.  I probably could have found another way to use it, but I was unmotivated because of a migraine.  Next, we had some buns that didn't get used up in the meal they were intended for. They weren't on the counter very long, but a couple of rainy days made things damper than usual inside. They also molded. How did you do?

A Second Look--March 28, 2012

This week during a Second Look I saw more evidence of the yard's emergence from its winter hibernation. I found three new varieties of daffodils blooming. Also, we have seen the return of the finches to our feeder and have spotted house finches and gold finches there. The crocus are almost done blooming but the bleeding hearts are starting. The trees show a variety of stages that range from buds, blooms and new leaves to dried leaves still hanging on from the fall. I hardly know which way to look.

Daffodil

Grape hyacinth

Bleeding hearts

Daffodil

Violet--my favorite spring wildflower

 

Goldfinch

Daffodil

Cardinal among dogwood buds

Various stages of tree growth

School Days--Uncle Billy

I hope that School Days will be a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 

Here is Today's Story
 

Uncle Billy started kindergarten in 1954 when he was five years old.  He went to his neighborhood school in Baltimore that had grades K-6 in it. 

Tell me about starting school or an early school memory.

I walked to school about a mile with other kids in the neighborhood and half of that was a long hill. Miss Hess was our traffic guard and helped us get across the four-lane road we had to cross. There were four other neighborhood streets we had to cross and those were stationed with safety patrols. I was a safety patrol in the fifth grade and the captain of them in sixth grade.

When I was in first grade, they built an addition to the school and doubled the size by adding another class to each grade. They still had only one kindergarten. With the new addition, they added a gym with a stage and a cafeteria. You could buy milk and snacks in the cafeteria but they didn't serve hot lunch. I had a brown bag lunch every day and bought white milk.

I don't remember anything about my school work, but I liked school. I remember the names of my teachers.

Kindergarten: Mrs. Blunt, 

First grade: Mrs. Burkholt, 

Second Grade: Miss Orlardo--she was a new teacher and was pretty and young, 

Third grade: Mrs. Schultz--I liked her best of all, but I don't remember exactly why. I just liked her.
 

I had recess everyday and one time fell off the jungle gym and got a scar on my chin. Also, one time I was a toy soldier in the school play and wore a big hat. I wasn't nervous because I didn't have any lines.

"Jane Eyre"--a Book Club Discussion and more

This month for book club we read the classic, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. In case you somehow missed reading the book in school or seeing the many movies that have been made from it, here's a brief summary. Jane is a headstrong girl who was orphaned as an infant. She lives a difficult life with her aunt and three cousins until she was sent to boarding school for orphans when she was ten. The school was another difficult experience, but she becomes well enough educated to become a governess. During this job, she meets Mr. Rochester and love follows. However, as with any good story, the relationship is fraught with trouble and there are many difficult decisions to be made.

What my club thought:
My club all enjoyed reading or rereading Jane Eyre. We had a lively discussion that involved the actual story and characters, Charlotte Bronte and her sisters, the difficulties of being a published female author at that time, how much of the novel was autobiographical, and the influence of being a rector's daughter on Charlotte Bronte's writing. We concluded that we appreciated the complicated writing structure of the book compared to what is written today and found the moral dilemmas that were set up for Jane throughout the story an interesting study.

What I thought:
I got a lot more from reading Jane Eyre as an adult than as a student. It's an enjoyable read that I recommend.
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But wait, there's more--A thought from Wally and Theodore:

Speaking of Jane Eyre, there's another book that involves her--The Eyre Affair: a Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde.

The book involves time travel, a police state, and the plucking of Jane Eyre from the novel--a little different from the style of the original Jane Eyre, but a lot of fun. It mixes humor with an exciting plot. Give it a try. If you like it, there are more in the series waiting for you.


For a more extensive review of the Tuesday Next novels-- aplacetoreside.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-of-our-thursdays-is-missing-book.html

Food Waste Friday--March 23, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

 

 

 

 

We had no waste this week, so we celebrated by having green eggs and ham (and brown and white eggs too) for breakfast. We're lucky that we have a friend that sometimes gives us eggs and she always includes a green one in the bunch.

 

 

Outing

Day off, no school, family outing.

Snack factory, belts and bags, potato chips.

Clock shop, gears and lathes, old watches.

Horse farm, stables and hay, wobbly foals.

Good weather, no crowds, perfect day.

A Second Look--March 21, 2012

Spring is officially here both on the calendar and in the yard where things seem to be blooming almost before my eyes. What a magical time.

 Here's what I saw this week during a Second Look.

Peach blossoms

A new variety of daffodils

Crocus

I'm not sure what this is. It starts with just one green leaf, but grows another one before the stem and flowers emerges.

Forsythia

Spring Star Flower

  Pieris japonica

Oops! update

Three months ago my camera was accidentally dropped into water and didn't survive so well. After a few days it could take pictures again, but often you couldn't tell what the pictures were. I gave it another test today to see if time had helped its problems. There was little change. It still takes pictures, however they are not exactly true to life. Now I have two working cameras--a regular camera and a psychedelic one.

Pictures from my Oops camera.

In the collage above can you find: a box of Cherrios, a can of Pepsi, books, a broom, a sleeping cat, a clock, and a telephone?

School Days-Ward

I hope that School Days will be a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 

Here is Today's Story

Six year old Ward at home with new toys.

Ward started school in the early sixties when he was five years old. He went to a Catholic school in the suburban Washington, D.C area.

Tell me about starting school or an early school memory.

I've tried to block all of that out. I was in a Catholic school and I was in trouble all of the time with the the nuns. When I was in third grade, my parents moved me to the public school and I stopped being in trouble all of the time.

Can you remember any specific stories?

One time I really had to go to the bathroom, but the teacher wouldn't let me go. She said I had to wait for recess. When I finally got to go, I was running down the hallway to the bathroom and another teacher stopped me. She took me to the office for running and she wouldn't let me go to the bathroom because I was in trouble. There I wet my pants. They called my mother and she was really angry with the school.

Another time, I didn't finish all of my class work so I was not allowed to go on a field trip. While the rest of the class was on the field trip to the airport, I was sitting in the cafeteria all day doing about 1000 math problems.

Another story. In the beginning, my mother usually walked me to the bus stop. After a while, she let me walk by myself. One day while walking to the bus, a dog bit me. He tore my pants and scraped my leg, but the skin was not broken. All of the kids on the bus told me I was going to get rabies and die. They said I would be put in a room to keep me from everyone else since I had rabies. When we got to school, someone told the teacher that I had gotten bitten by a dog. The teacher took me to the office and they put me in a room by myself. Everything the kids said was coming true. I was very afraid because I thought I was going to die any minute. They called my mother and she came to school and was really angry with the school.

Do you have any positive memories of those first three years?

Not really. But I do remember learning to sound out words and that was very exciting. Oh wait, maybe my mother taught me that.

Relic

Theodore checking his favorite part of the exhibit--a 386 IBM computer.

We seem to be on a museum kick lately. Last week we visited the Brunswick Railroad Museum which centered on town history and the influence of the C&O Canal and the B&O Railroad.

As we were looking at old train memorabilia and antique medical instruments, Theodore called us to see the most interesting "relic" of all--a 386 IBM computer attached to a telegraph exhibit. Out of the hundreds of things we saw, this "ancient" computer that was still working was his favorite.


FYI--The IBM 386 was in its heyday during the mid-1980's.

Food Waste Friday--March 16, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

Apple salad

I made apple (Waldorf) salad which I don't do very often because I'm the only one in the family that likes it. I found what I thought was a very straightforward recipe, but I didn't like the results so well. I think I should have gone with my instinct and left the salt out. I ate the salad for a few days, but decided I had had enough. So this perfectly good (but not-so-good tasting) salad was thrown away. What a disappointment.

A Second Look--March 14, 2012

Here's what I saw this week during a Second Look.

Daffodils

Double Daffodils with frilly trumpet

Daffodil in the rhododendron

Jet trail

Peach tree buds

Crocus

Mr. Squirrel (or is it Mrs.)

Can you find the bird among the maple tree buds?

School Days--Mary Ellen

 I hope that School Days will be a recurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 

Here is today's story.   

Mary Ellen started school in 1957 at age six. She attended school in a small West Virginia town.

Tell me about starting school or an early memory of school.

Mary Ellen -- First Grade, Age Six

I don't remember much.

I started school in the first grade when I had just turned six. The school was in a complex of three turn-of-the-century buildings. One was for the older kids, one was the gym, and one was for the younger kids where I went. The buildings were old red brick with oiled wooden floors. When you entered the school, there were wide, steep steps that went to the second floor. I remember them as concrete, but I'm not sure if that makes sense now. I fell down them once, but didn't get seriously hurt. On the second floor, there were two classrooms—one on either side of the steps. My classroom was on the right hand side. The classroom on the other side had a fire escape that was a long enclosed tube. When we had a fire drill, we went down that tube. Other times it was locked at the the bottom.

When you went the other direction away from the big steps, there were a few steps down to where the boys and girls bathrooms were. The boys bathroom was on the left and the girls bathroom was on the right. There was a janitor's closet between them. One time I got lost and ended up in the boys bathroom. The janitor found me and directed me back to the girls bathroom.

The cafeteria was on the first floor on the left. We got milk in bottles here with round cardboard lids like Pogs. There was also another classroom on this floor on the right.

My teachers name was Mrs. McCullough but that was hard for first graders to say, so she told us to call her Miss Taylor.

One day we had to line up in the gym for TB tests. I got very scared and cried and cried. They tried everything to get me to stop and to take the test. I even got offered a candy bar, but I refused. They had a make up day for the test that was held at the public nurse's house. My mother took me there for the test and made certain that I got it.

Mayfield Museum

The town I live in, Mayfield,* has a heritage museum which features rotating exhibits of things from the local area. The museum, which is run by volunteers, is in a one room building and has been open two years. They have had exhibits on standard museum fare such as business, education, and churches in the Mayfield area, as well as an exhibit of miniatures.

The current exhibit, "From the Attics of Mayfield"  has me the most excited. The museum committee thought that non-native Mayfieldites needed a chance to participate in a show and issued the invitation of, "Come one, come all and show us what you have hanging around in your attic."  I answered them with a few items of my own. Now I feel kind of proud as I get a chance to show off some of my heritage to others. It's nice to live in a small town where these things happen.

In case you can't make it to the exhibit, here are some of my things that are on display.

This is a picture of my great, great grandmother which is probably of not much interest to anyone but me. But here's something that you might be interested in. Look at the pink arrow pointing to the black bump on top of her head. That is the top of a rod that was holding her in place. The picture was taken sometime in the late 1800's when a picture subject was required to be still for as long as ten minutes. There were poles with clamps on them to help with this process. Usually, the "clamp" was painted out or hidden behind hair, but this one was left visible. Interesting, right?

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This folder belonged to my great grandmother, daughter of the lady above. It carried the catalog for Maisonette Frocks that were sold door to door for a few decades in the early and mid-1900's. The dresses started out in department stores, but door-to-door sales proved to be more successful since most women at that time didn't work outside the home. Eventually, door-to-door was the only way they were sold. I have no idea if Great Grandma was a good saleswoman or not, but I can tell you that she didn't get rich from it.

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This booklet, from 1912, was campaign literature for the Prohibition vote in West Virginia. West Virginia approved Prohibition in 1914. This booklet came from my grandmother, daughter of the frock saleswoman.

______________________________________________________________________________

Children's books from the 1930's.  No story here (except in the books.)

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*The name of my local town has been changed to protect the innocent. Mayfield is where the original June, Ward, Wally, and Theodore lived.

Food Waste Friday--March 9, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

Now you see it.  Now you don't.

Ever have one of those nagging feelings that just won't go away--the ones you're supposed to listen to? Well, I finally listened to mine and got rid of some chicken stock that has been in the freezer for a few months now.

You see, I made chicken stock. I used an organic chicken carcass and giblets and lots of vegetables and spices. I simmered it for a long time. It smelled so good and I was so proud because I usually don't make stock. However, the giblets smelled a little off when I put them in. I convinced myself that I was just imagining it and they were fine. The regular meat was good and they were too. But, I just couldn't get that doubt out of my head. So for several months now, I have been opening the freezer, seeing the chicken stock, and wondering if we should eat it. Today, I finally made a decision and out it went. I already feel better.

A Second Look--March 7, 2012

This week during a Second Look, I saw crocus springing up here and there. We don't have a definite crocus bed or spot--just wherever the squirrels and chipmunks have carried them and wherever there was a bed sometime in the past. This made each new discovery unexpected and exciting.

Most days have been cloudy or rainy, so all of the pictures show the crocus closed. They open when it is sunny.

Here's what I saw this week.

These white crocuses sprung up among the oak leaves near the front door.

These bright yellow ones are in the bed with the bird feeder. Notice the top of their leaves have been eaten.

These lavender ones with dark purple stripes are coming up in the middle of a cone flower plant.

These pale yellow yellow ones are coming up in grass in the middle of the yard.

These white crocus with pale purple stripes were in the middle of some day lilies that haven't come up yet.

This purple crocus is next to some azaleas.

Our first daffodil has also bloomed.