Monday, January 19, 2009, 21:31
Merry Christmas (In January)
We celebrated Christmas with my family on Sunday, January 11. It works out better to hold off until January so that all of the niece (and nieces-in-law) and nephews don't have to rush off to other places. Then we can get them "all to ourselves" for the afternoon.
I actually had the pictures from Christmas ready to post to the website right away, but I couldn't get them posted TO the website. It all started last summer when our ISP changed servers and all of a sudden, the lovely photo album I had on Rural Route 2 did not work anymore. Randy found another photo album to use, but it was not very user friendly.
So. . .brilliant man that he is, my husband sent about writing a new photo album program. He finished it over the weekend and VOILA! I can now post pictures to Rural Route 2. And quite easily, too, I might add. The program is extremely easy to use. And it does just what I want it to do -- upload pictures, add titles to the pictures and add captions and post them with only the click of my mouse. No fancy "galleries" -- no complicated menus to follow. Just pictures.
At any rate, the Saturday before everyone was going to be here for Christmas, I decided that Pixie needed a bath. My poor little Shetland sheepdog is not particularly fond of baths. But she doesn't hate them, either. When I am finished, I pull the shower curtain and let her shake as much as she wants. When she's finished shaking off the water, I can tell what's she thinking: "Am I done now?" And then when she knows she is finished, : she can actually smile about it.
I was glad, too, to see that my little great-niece, who turned one year old January 3, was feeling much better. She, and her mom and dad, did not have an especially fun Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They spent it in the hospital because Evelyn had croup and was one very sick little girl. She felt much better when they were at our house last Sunday.
I think Alex is going to be an Olympic gymnast when he grows up. He enjoys it when people swing him around and play with him. He also enjoyed exploring. a small cast iron stove with Eli that we have for display. Sometimes on a cold winter night, we will light a candle and put in the stove, but I told Randy not to light the candle on Sunday when everyone was here. The stove is cast iron and it takes quite a lot to make it hot on the outside, but with little hands exploring, I didn't want someone to stick a finger in the flame.
My newest great-nephew, Sam, was born in September. He is growing fast.
Randy was able to get a picture of all four of the kids when their moms and dads lined them up on the davenport.
By the time everyone left later in the afternoon, Pixie was exhausted. Eli found out it was great fun to chase her around the house. Pixie would scoot under chairs and come back out to the kitchen for a breather until Eli discovered where she had gone to, and then they were off again. Pixie was very good-natured about it, though. Usually she is the "chase-er" while she is playing with the cats and is very rarely the "chase-ee."
The cats were tired too. Dora is the only one who will come out to see everyone. The others hide. I don't know where they were. I didn't see them at all. They had hidden quite well, apparently. But once everyone had gone, Dora, Katerina and Billie collapsed on the davenport together for a nap. Henry wanted to go downstairs in the worst way. I suppose he figured it was quieter down there.
And now I can say officially that Christmas has come and gone again .
Before everyone arrived, I decided to take a picture of the pawprints in the ice on the porch, before they got snowed over upon. The weather has been so cold, I wasn't worried about them melting, that's for sure . . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Sunday, January 18, 2009, 04:09
Toaster Oven
We now have a brand new toaster oven. Randy and I bought one for ourselves for Christmas, an Oster, but it didn't work right. We kept getting an E-1 error message and then it would shut off.
Randy began e-mailing back and forth with Oster and was told there was no way to change or fix the error message. The long and short of it is -- they sent us a new toaster oven. It arrived on Friday. And very strange, too. They never asked for a proof of purchase. They never told us what to do with the one we bought.
Anyway, I used the toaster oven Saturday evening to bake a couple of recipes from a book that a Rural Route 2 subscriber sent me for Christmas. (Thank you, Deanna.)
I think I probably need to turn the temperature down on the toaster oven and bake the recipes for a slightly shorter time. But the recipes ought to work out all right in a regular oven.
Here are the recipes I made. Both are from "Pillsbury Baking" -- copyright 2006 by General Mills, Minneapolis:
:
Oatmeal Scones
1 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder (the next time I make this recipe, I'm going to try cutting the baking powder down to 1 teaspoon, I think, because the scones have a strong baking powder taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1//2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
Topping:
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Grease a cookie sheet (I used a pie plate because it would fit in the toaster over). In a medium bowl, mix the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. With a pastry blender or a fork, mix in the butter until crumbly. Add milk and stir until moistened.
Knead the dough a few times. Shape into a six inch round. Place on the greased cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter. Cut into eight pieces (like you are cutting a pie). Mix the tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle over scone pieces. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (I baked them at 350) for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
*************
Muffins
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg, milk and oil until blended. Add dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. (I like to line the muffin cups with cupcake papers. If you don't use cupcake papers, be sure to grease the muffin tin.) Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (I baked them at 350 degrees) for 20 to 25 minutes. (I think if you baked them at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, they would come out much too brown and maybe even burned.)
Lemon muffins: stir in 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel.
Orange muffins: stir in 1 tablespoon grated orange peel and substitute orange juice for the milk.
Much warmer
The frigid weather has moved east. Saturday we had a high of about 20 degrees. There was still a wind out of the north, but with warmer temperatures, it didn't feel so bad outside. We got a dusting of very light, very fluffy snow overnight Friday and into Saturday morning. But for now, at least it is above zero. Yipee!
LeAnn R. Ralph
AUTOGRAPHED BOOKS MAKE GREAT GIFTS -- For yourself or someone else!
Click here to order the Rural Route 2 Cookbook
My new book, The Coldest Day of the Year, is now available.
Click here to order LeAnn's books