CLOSED: November Chat

That lime salad was similar to the Watergate salad. Ham was the other meat my grandmother cooked on Christmas. Turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas. Along with black-eyed peas which is a Southern tradition for the New Year. Goose and duck sounds yummy as well. I like duck. My grandparents had chickens, pigs, and a pony - until it kicked me and that was that - they gave it to someone else. Phooey. Well, at least I can say I had one. :)

Morning everyone. Love your guided tour Debra. And I love going down memory lane with both of you. I wish I could make pie crust like my mom used to do.

Me too, LK. It was my grandmother who made the best pie crusts from scratch. :)

Good Morning, All
Debra, Beautiful as Always, made me wish my Basement was part way finished, maybe after Paying off the wood work, I just had done, sometime next Summer
I just Loved hearing the Stories, I would tell you some of my Stories, but it's just to Depressing
My DD's & Grands come here for Thanksgiving, I make Ham & Turkey, for Christmas I do Ham
sometimes I make watergate Cake, for Thanksgiving I have to make a Lemon Merangue Pie
for DGD, I make one she takes Home with her, then one for the Rest of them, I also make Butternut Squash Pie instead of Pumpkin. Boy this sure can make all of Hungry

Elizabeth

lol. Me too, Elizabeth.

My mouth is watering--literally.
Plantlover, I know watergate salad (yum) but what is a watergate cake? Care to give us your recipe?
Butternut pie- nobody mentioned that when I was asking what to do with butternut

joeswife, can you tell us what tropical passifloras you have or post pics?

This is the best thread in a LONG time.

Now I'm thinking of Thanksgiving pasts, with all the homemade fixins (except cranberry sauce - not sure anyone actually made that! I only remember cans) but Carole, we always had the same tradition. Turkey for Thanksgiving, Ham for Christmas. My paternal grandmother used an old old slovakian recipe to make our "stuffing" (it never did go in the bird) and my mom still makes the best apple pie. She uses Macintosh apples since they are so juicy and sweet.

Ummm! Thanksgiving dinner!!! Yep made me think of mine too. All our elders are crowned and since mom passed we (the three brothers and I) are taking a break from one another. :D

Holidays were always a stress bomb because of my mom. Will that my oldest brother passed of cancer on Dec 21 1972 so that was prolly part of it.

Any who.

Gram and Gramps made the feast (mom's mom, the one who made me do fractions and decimals when I was in school) (gramps was her second husband but the only and neatest gramps I ever knew). We had a lot of "strong" women in our family too, bug I find myself missing Gramps the most. When we closed up their house my cousin and I each took a set of four if his tiny beer glasses. So whenever we use them we hafta drink to Hermie. :)

We cooked all those dishes but I was one of those kids who didn't like stuff nudged together so I didn't eat the sweet potatoes (whaaaaa?!!!) Or the mussy jello or cranberry sauces... did always get a giant drumstick and stuffing and buttered corn and.... yum! Of course when court and I celebrate thanksgiving by ourselves I now make a tofurkey complete with ALL those things I didn't used to like, 'cept the jello. One year I found a strawberry rhubarb pie here at a fancy grocery here in NC. I'd never had rhubarb but my mom loved strawberry pie so I figured it'd 've a hit.

Me and gramps ate that whole pie ourselves. :)

So strawberry rhubarb pie is now one of MY traditions.

I guess without kids it's like we never grew up and don't want to so we can live in the past if we want to. Court's people are in Virginia Beach and they always had shrimp cooked in beer (!) for the holidays. He was VERY disappointed when his granny served up a bird a few years ago. So it goes. Someday when we can afford to buy several pounds of fresh giant shrimp (oxymoron!!!) I will make him his beer cooked shrimps. :)

Thanks for the reminder Debra, I have to put strawberry rhubarb pie on the shopping list this week. Court is working and we will be delivering thanksgiving meals to his clients provided by the local homeless shelter. Then we will go to his ex-boss lady's house for her "orphan's" thanksgiving get together. I used to take one of these pies with me but it bummed me out when, at the end of the event the pie would still be sitting there, uneaten.

Here's an etiquette question:

When you take a pie with you, should you take it back with you? Seems if I had it in my own plate or something it would be appropriate, but I dunno... it never seemed like the right thing to do. I think if I were more familiar with the host I wouldn't feel so weird about it. Also, if strangers have had their grimy hands on the pie, not sure I would want to being it home!

HA!

Better stop there. There's WORK to be done. Think I need a break from DG to catch up with my real life but there's Robins and Cupcakes and Night Owls, OH MY!

Joe is making a "new" apple pie recipe this year, he did a trial run for me and it was great ..He used golden delicious and it had a pecans finely chopped on top. I think we should just have a pie dinner, we are looking at 4 pies so far LOL

Good morning. Joe and I went for a walk.. it is beautiful here today. WE don't walk often, but now that he is retired, he thinks we must do a walk every Sunday, and he has to do one everyday he said. Then we look at all the homes in the area and give our opinions on what should be taken out, cut down or compliment on the lawns. I said as we walked back to our place, those people should cut down that red barberry bush and get it out of there, and he said those people should take that rock garden around that red bush and make it all grass. LOL
I smiled up at him and said oh, dear, those people might get divorced over that deal.

Ladies
here's the Watergate Cake
1 supermoist Cake Mix,White
3 Eggs
1 Cup Club Soda
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 pack of pistachio Pudding
Mix all this up, mix the Club Soda, just when you're about to mix with the mixer
Bake @ 350 until done
The Topping
1 Box of Pistachio Pudding
1 Pack of Dream Whip
1 Cup Milk
put the Topping on after the Cake has cooled, then put in the refrigerator, it's better the next day, you can add Pecans if you like, it makes it Pretty, Enjoy


This message was edited Nov 17, 2013 12:29 PM

Also if they're aren't many People coming for Dinner you could Fix this
it's Cornish hens on a Bed of lettuce,10oz Frozen Pea's onions, plus soy sauce

wash Cornish Hens, pat dry roll in Flower, put 2 Tbs. oil in a skillet on the stove burner, then keep turning the Birds till Golden Brown
then you fill up your pressure cooker with 1 whole head of lettuce Sliced, 1 whole onion sliced up, the frozen Peas, plus your Cornish Hen 1-2 Tbs Soy Sauce, cook for about 35-40 minutes until tender, if your Hens both won't fit in your pressure at one time Split up your birds, cook 1/2 then cook the other 1/2

The rule here is , if you want to take home food, bring your own take home dishes. My kids are all single, so we don't have a lot of leftovers, but when we went to Tom and Danas last year , ( out of the norm for us) we came home with half of everything.. I have to make an extra pecan pie just for my ex chef Brother in law. He loves my recipe for pecan pie. Like Joyce, we all sit around the dining room table afterwards ( us women) and look at the ads, while the men retreat to football in the living room. Go Chiefs! We are kinda worried about our game with Denver tonight.
Who ya rooting for, Kathy? Personally, I really don't care about football. Thats why I garden all winter..
Butternut Squash pie, that is a new one, hafta look that up.
My tropical passis have never bloomed yet, Crystal, I got them as cuttings, and now they are huge plants, so hopefully will have blooms this winter.
Plummieria is blooming again, hibiscus, coleus and fish tub

Oh my, I am gonna have to try that one, Elizabeth. Yummy!

Cornish hens are good. I've made them a few times but not recently. Don't know why ... guess they just fell off the radar for some reason.

Colorful fish, colorful flowers. Hardly seems like late fall outside. :)

Well, If anyone sees something they want as I am posting, let me know.. I keep things multiplied, so I can trade or grant a want on your lists. Thats what People did for me early on when I first signed up.

Debra
Everything Looks Great, The Squash, you just do the squash you substitute squash instead of Pumpkin, you use all the other ingredients.
I Loved your Basement Tour BTW, Keep Posting those Beauty's

Elizabeth

I started planting pansies this afternoon. I got some beauties!!! My favorite is this rose color, below called 'Delta Rose.' :)

I was cutting down some plants that got whacked by frost and see that the stems still have plenty of life in them. Interesting, I guess that was not really a killing frost.

We've been invited to a neighbor's house for shrimp and grits. :D

Always a plus when I don't have to cook. Yipeee!

Late fall? Someone forgot to remind Mother Nature what time of year it was! We reached 90 here today, and the Formula 1 race crowd was in town, and all the people not accustomed to higher temps were dropping like flies.

Thanks for the watergate cake recipe. I have copied it and hope to make it soon. Do you make a bunt cake, or sheet cake or stack it? I am not much on stacking. It always ends up in a earthquake or landslide!

Here is my latest poem :

November in Alabama

Killing frost
Has come.
Coleus and Perilla
are Mush.
Thunbergia’s
Four inch blue funnels
Drooped,
Leaves
A string of brown hearts.
Angel trumpets at rest.
Cuphea flowers
Candy corn scorched.
The garden surprised
by unfriendly breath
from the North.
Leaves
Rusty, twisted,
Falling by the basketful.
Physalis,
Thinking there was time,
Started a new generation,
Lies at the foot of
Haughty rutabagas,
Leaves,
Mat of scrambled green.
A day after,
Warm breezes,
Roses unfolding new flowers
Ask
Why the fuss?
The gardener knows:
It’s the end
Of the year.

Crystal H. Rogers 11/17/2013

Very apt poetic description, Crystal. Chuckling with you as I've had my share of cake "sliders". Know how that goes.

Waving at Elizabeth. ~~~

We had some strong straight line winds yesterday but for just a little while. No tornadoes here but the siren did sound once. Don't like wind. North of us they didn't fare as well. :(

Carey, what is the recipe for the Slovakian stuffing? I'm curious about the distinction. Most of the time, the stuffing never went into the turkey here either. Of course, now they are so concerned about it not cooking properly and making people sick. No one ever got sick here from a stuffed turkey that I know of. They used a lot of common sense in those days. I remember the first time they made me eat cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving ... I promptly threw it up at the table. There wasn't anything wrong with it, just too much for my young palate. Guess I showed them. ;)

Pansies are some of my faves, A. They keep it cheerful over the winter here. I should snag some next time I got to the store.

I do Hope everyone is safe after the storms!!

Love the poem. Plants look great all.... I want a piece of pie... my grandma made the best homemade coconutcream pie. Her mereinge was the best a mile high. Miss her so much. Thanksgiving is just around the corner can not wait for the feast. My sweet niece is hosting this year. But she does not coom to good she says. So my mom is making the turkey and dressing im a making desserts. I do not know if she is making anything lol. But thats fine. Will be a great time. Family.

Ah Crystal, Lovely poetic prose describing the slow sleep of the Gardening year. now tell me what a Physalis is? I might decide I need some. LOL
I only do sheet cakes here, pans occasionally, youngest daughter does the layer cakes, she is good at it. Would love it if one of my youngins would host, but everyones places hold about three people and two cats at most..

Crystal, I had to revisit your poem since it talked about fall and no way did it feel like that yesterday! Love it - could hear the wind howling and a shiver in my bones. :)

Carole, I wish I knew! She never shared the recipe, but I think she threw as many chopped up vegetables as she could into it. I know it had some kind of meat (probably some of her homemade sausage). She passed away ~20 years ago.

Most of our family is far away so we usually invite friends over. We had guests last year so actually had a decent spread, but this year we're going out. I hope the restaurants that open on the holiday pay their staff well, and if not....they'll get a generous tip.

Good Morning Everyone
Nice poem
I make the Cake both ways, I think I have about 5 different Cake pans, Sometimes I do stack it in Round Cake pans, once you make it you're hooked, 1 it's easy to make, 2 Everyone seems to Love it, I have had that recipe for about 35 yrs, I think they call it watergate because of the nuts.
I also make the mile High Meringue, I use 4 eggs instead of 3, Fresh Lemons, anyway my Oldest GD Loves it, but this year she is staying with me, so I'll have some Help, Yippee, I can't believe she's 20 it seems just yesterday she was a toddler.
we had some high winds last night also, I really don't like that sound either

Elizabeth

Sounds like fun - any which way you slice that cake. :D

Thanks for sharing your garden poseys Crystal. Very apt description of what's going on here too. Sans the haughty rutabega.

Gramps made a special pan of stuffing too that did not go in the bird. Everybody fought for a square of that stuff.

I just came in from out. What a GORGEOUS day. I woke up singing Oklahoma and "oh what a beautiful morning." I finished planting pansies and transplanted a giant hibiscus that sat in the sun all summer but grew not an inch. Roots were tangled in circles at the bottom of the pot. Put it into a giant planter that four pepper plants occupied this summer. That's ONE good thing about the killing frosts. More soil to plant in.

I was pretty p.o.'d this morning, all things considered, when I went to admire the pansies planted in window boxes and lined up on the top of the retaining wall down the driveway. The squirrels (assume) made nice holes in each trough digging for something that wasn't there. I moved them down along the wall where I had some wire fencing up trying to grow some black eyed susan vines over the summer. Maybe the fencing will deter them. Hope so. Have such pretty colors. One box is the Delta Rose. Another is the Delta Violet. Then some giant yellows with black faces, then a gorgeous mix of autumn colors, some more of the Black that I love, then Mammoth , and then a single pot of yellow with black faces. I thought I'd do single colors this year - as in retail merchandising - putting all the same colors together makes a more striking display (and saves some guesswork trying to figure out which color goes where).

Will post some pics when they recover themselves. Hafta get back to my chores. Was bent over outside for half an hour while I let Rita, the iguana, sun herself on my back. D'OH!

A.

I used to stuff the turkey with dressing but hubby prefers the extra, that gets crispy when cooked. So now I cook all my dressing in the pan, not in the bird.

Just wanted to let you all know that Susie called a bit ago, she and 65,000 others in Michigan are with out power after the storms went through. She has a gas stove, so she can keep warm that way, but has no electricity. She hopes to have a generator soon if her brother Jim can find one. Otherwise she has been told it may be Thursday before power is restored.

Physalis is the genus of ground cherry. There are weeds in the same genus, but these are ones I grow in the garden. I keep them corralled as i think they would be invasive otherwise. They are a good addition to salads and I made some preserves also. Look online.

oh dear , tell Susie she is in our prayers.. hope they get the power on soon. Thanks for the info, Crystal.
I am glad your Rita got some sun, A.

Yes we were in the brunt of the storms too. Thank god we do have power. You would dnot believe how hard the wi d blew last night. Never heard it like that before. Pretty scary. You think the house is going to just blow away. Our little town is pretty fortunate. We just have a few trees down but loads of limbs and branches. But it is so cold and still windy today. The rain just came down in sheets. Could not even see acrossed the street. What a storm. 40 was the high today. Yesterday was almost 70. But so windy.

I ate my first ground cherry at Crystals. I have to say zi am a big fan. I hope to grow some next year!!!

Glad to hear Susie is okay and Ronna too. Stay hunkered down with lots of blankies. I have been fortunate not ever to have been involved in a lengthy power outage, but those "entrepreneurs" make it difficult to buy a generator when there is a catastrophe. Buy 'em up at regular price and sell for 10x the amount. :/

My kin down east swore after Hugo (?) they'd never be without so everybody got a generator right away. Hope everybody manages to keep their heads.

xox

Made more progress in the kitchen this weekend. I am very happy.!

Can't wait to see some more pictures Elfie! The progress is wonderful!

Me too. I am very impressed by your projects, Elfie. And I'm glad to know you liked the taste of ground cherries. No one has ever told me what they taste like. Now I know I must plant my seeds next spring.

Ronna, I feel for you and the storms. We know what that's like. I hope that's the end of them for awhile. A relief to hear that all are safe and sound.

Price gouging of generators is enough to make you want to slap someone silly. The very idea of taking advantage of people at a time like that. Makes my blood boil.

Good Morning
Susie, sure will be in our prayers, that was terrible, that Storm was really Bad, here the Siren's went off, lots of wind, rained for at least half the night.
I sure Glad Every one is Safe.
Ronna, That had to be scarey, Glad you're alright.
they advertized a Generator, that was $2600.00, we are thinking of getting that after we pay off the loan that we got to have the floors & woodwork refinished, the Floors turned out Great, but the woodwork, my DD & I have to refinish, oh well a Project for after the Holidays.
My oldest DD & the youngest DD will both be here, staying through the weekend so I'll have Plenty of help to make Thanksgiving dinner, that will be such a Treat.
here is what my GD's will help me with for the Cedar Tree outside, we'll paint the Lotus Seedpods Green Red & Gold, they make nice ornaments for outside, also they were Free
Have a Great Afternoon
Elizabeth

Very nice and pretty. I wish I had a real big pond. Something for future projects. Working on the Windows is my next home improvement event. Also, making that waterfall planter in the ugly part of the basement. Sitting in the waiting area with Joe while they cut out our daughters tonsils. Last time I saw her in a hospital wAiting bed was when she was 8, for eye surgery. I CAN'T wait to hear her crying after. GLAD to see elfies kitchen progress. A year ago my sister was here.