Don’t you just hate it when you find something you really like but it is too expensive to buy just because you like it? In my search recently for a pepper jelly to eat with cream cheese and crackers, I finally found a small gift shop in town that had hot raspberry preserves, a close replacement. It really is better than it sounds and is fantastic on water crackers and cream cheese. Although the preserves were expensive, that is not what I was referring to. This little gift shop has a line of Arthur Court designs. I particularly like the magnolias.

Ebay has been no help in searching for these items at reduced prices. And I doubt it is something that you would find at a garage sale. Sigh… so I’ll keep looking. Maybe sometime I can find one at a reasonable price. I love pretty things but I don’t like to spend big bucks just to have them because they’re pretty.

On to other news…. had family around for the weekend. Yay!! My aunt Naomi and some of her family were here, arriving Friday night after attending a funeral in S.C. We ladies (including Yoderfamilyof5, erlinyoder, southern_beachy) ate lunch at Ruby Tuesday and shopped Saturday afternoon. We had a group of 30 at Overpass for supper. I’m pretty sure you’ll find some pictures at Andrea’s site since I saw her camera out more than once and she is good at getting pics and posting. Joe & Sadie hosted all of their family, Naomi’s family and our family for lunch on Sunday.

Tonight it’s making an Italian supper as a birthday gift for someone from her sister. Hope the cheesecake is all it’s cracked up to be. Yeah, my first one and it cracked kinda badly. I’ll put some chocolate topping over it and that should help redeem it a little. It’s a chocolate cookie cheesecake like my sister makes. Yummy!!! After I drop that off I’ll be going to Ginny’s house to keep her company since her husband is out of town AGAIN!! j/k! Looking forward to it!! I told her to call me anytime he’s gone on an overnight run.

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Conversation from nursing home singing last night:

Elderly lady says to me, “I studied under Mennonites in Florida.”

Me: “You did?”

Elderly Lady: “Well, I hope it’s okay to say that.”

Me: “I guess I’m not sure what you mean by studying under them.”

Elderly Lady: “I attended their church services for a while.”

 

Thanks to all who participated in the poll!! Interesting to see the response! For myself, I follow recipes meticulously when it involves any rising agent (b. powder, soda or yeast), but tend to go my own direction making anything else. Sometimes I hit a homerun, occasionally they bomb and I’m glad no else is forced to eat it! One of the reasons I asked the question is that some years ago a friend asked for a recipe (chicken stir-fry) and I said I didn’t have any, just threw the seasonings in as I went. Her response was, “I wish people wouldn’t say that!” For her it was frustrating because cooking was a chore due to some other issues. Her frustration was not directed to me personally but at the fact that cooking was no easy task for her. Now whenever someone asks for a recipe which I don’t have, I feel slightly self-conscious in telling them I don’t have one. I guess that’s my issue, eh?

Another question I have is: when working off an existing recipe, when does a recipe become your own? If you change 1 ingredient? 2? 5? Several years ago we put a cookbook together and I wondered if I needed to change anything on the recipes I had gotten from others that I planned to submit. Maybe it only matters if you’ve copied it from another cookbook or other printed matter. No, I don’t have OCD!

And option “e” in my last poll wasn’t supposed to make sense, JoAnn. Can you say strange sense of humor??  You married someone who is slightly related to me in that area!!!!!

We still have a few cookbooks left to sell. I think less than 25. I’m not sure if we’re ordering more or not. They were for a fund raiser for new construction at church. Need one? Around 400 (?) recipes in an attractive hard-cover, comb-bound book for $12.99.

 

So I thought I would do a poll for something new.

You go to someone’s house and they serve a delicious meal. You ask about something they served and if you could have the recipe. They say, “Well, I don’t really have one. I just kinda mixed it together as I went.”

You feel

a. like you can identify since you do the same.

b. like slapping them.

c. admiration for their abilities.

d. frustrated that you won’t be able to get the recipe.

e. Burger King has good hamburgers.

 

You may choose more than one letter.

For those who simply read my xanga and move on, I rarely make an appeal to those who do this but this is a gracious invitation to have YOU share your opinion, too!! I won’t even ask where you’re from!!!!

 

 

• I love Saturdays.
• I love sunshine.
• If it is this sunny tomorrow I think I shall take a picnic lunch to the lake. And a pillow. And a book. Care to join me?
• Here’s hoping that a clean colon is all it’s cracked up to be. 5.5 more days to go. Doesn’t it say somewhere in the Bible, man shall not live by vegetables alone?  Jamie, you’d better invite me along next Friday if you go to Chilis!
• The 2-mile walk in the sunshine today felt good.
• I saw a semi-cross-eyed cat today. A stubborn cat it was.
• I love old movies and books. A favorite quote from The Eagle, an old silent film. The *black eagle* frees the young lady that his men had captured: You are as free as you are beautiful and that is very, very free!
• Scrapbooking party in 2 weeks. Just what I need to get me motivated to find and organize my pictures. It will probably take me 2 weeks to do that.
• Pre-spring cleaning. 3 piles: Keep, Pitch & Ebay.
• I’ve been fighting temptation all week. I was looking at a DSLR, a Canon Rebel xti to be exact. So far I’m resisting.
• Not all chapped lips come from kissing. It was that ole’ wind.
• For the first time I am disappointed in a Lynn Austin novel (her most recent). It’s lacking something that her others have. Can’t quite put a finger on what it is.
• If variety is the spice of life, yesterday was very flavorful. I was only in the office 2 hours. Company meal and safety training most of the day. I still have key lime pie left if you want to stop for some. Sorry… didn’t bring any p-nut butter pie home.
• Bowling, supper and much talk last night.