Penny Sanford Designs

Fun with Food!

Please forgive me if I post pictures twice here (like I did yesterday). I get a bit befuddled sharing a quick picture and one sentence comment on Facebook (very fast), writing a longer blog post here, and then posting the pictures to Flickr.

These are fresh, never-blogged-before photos about having FUN with our food! Food SHOULD be fun!

Unc, now age 84, as of Sunday, January 24th. bakes from scratch biscuits every morning. He has been doing this for well over a year. This particular biscuit he made to look like a little Westie or Scottie! I could not bring myself to eat it! I think I am going to coat it in a matte polyurethane and save it as an example of his culinary sculpture!

Then last night we were baking more Toll House cookies to put in care packages (and in Gordon and Unc's respective tummies), and the last cookie from the batter bowl did not have enough chocolate chips or nuts to make it a REAL Toll House cookie. So Gordon shaped it into a heart and baked it.

I did not know about his little heart shaped cookie until he showed it to me at the very end of the cooking process. In our Cookies for Care Package Production System, Gordon watches the cookies carefully from the moment they enter the oven until they come out perfectly cooked, every chocolate, butterscotch or peanut butter chip melted to perfection.

Unc is one of the official taste testers, and the chief cookie sheet washer and washer of other vital implements to keep me mixing and dropping out cookies on the cookie sheets.

Speaking of which, Santa has been told to bring me next year some premium stainless steel cookie sheets...maybe some with those layers of air between the layers. I will be asking for your advice on the ultimate cookie sheet in the future

Another Fun with Food picture was Unc's 84th birthday cake on Sunday. He wanted a caramel cake, and I wanted to make it in the stacked round layers like Grandma used to make. I will come up/find or develop a from scratch recipe that will give me three tall layers. The recipe I used only had enough batter for two layers, but Unc tells me that Grandma made three layer cakes...so that is my goal!

I had FUN playing with the icing, but I REALLY do want to learn to make sophisticated cakes like one sees in magazines.

For some reason that I don't fully understand, I am OBSESSED right now with making things the way Grandma made them or with cooking utensils that Grandma actually used. More on that later when I share a crust-less custard recipe with you, hopefully tomorrow.

So in case Santa is reading this particular blog post, and since it fits in with the Fun with Food theme, here is one more item on my wish list for any gift-giving opportunity on the calendar! It even comes in my favorite Happy Yellow color right now!

Kitchen Aid is calling it "Citron", but I would not have minded if they had called it "Penny's Happy Yellow" color! *dreamy sigh*

Care Packages for Soldiers

We've been sending care packages to our U.S. Soldiers deployed overseas for a couple of years now. It has been a delight and a privilege I'm not sure how to put into words.

Some of these soldiers we hear from regularly and have gotten to know a bit. Some have moved onto different assignments as we hear from them only sporadically.
I wanted to share the process with you.

We joined as a volunteer with Soldiers Angels. The organization has grown so fast to now include Soldiers Angels groups for soldiers from other countries. Here is the one for Canada.

There are sub groups within Soldiers Angels to foster pets of those who are deployed, to make quilts for active duty soldiers and injured soldiers. The list of ways to volunteer is growing constantly, so please check out their website.

At this moment in time, there are 1546 soldiers who have signed up through Soldiers Angels who are waiting to be "adopted" by civilians like you and me. When Gordon and I first signed up to "adopt" a soldier, there were 30-something soldiers awaiting adoption.

This difference in the number of waiting soldiers may reflect a growing number of soldiers who are signing up with Soldiers Angels who need a caring connection to back home. Or it may reflect a diminishing concern about our troops because of the economy or because of changing attitudes in the media.

We get our approved APO Priority Boxes from the U.S. Postal Service...for free. We order them online here in groups of 25, delivered right to our PO Box. You can also pick them up (free) from your local post office. I gather if we only used a street address, we could let them be delivered to our doorstep.

There is something on the website about this one price shipping cost for this 12" x 12" x 5.5" box being less than if one shipped this same size box to a "regular" address in the states. It does not matter how heavy this box is. If it fits, it ships.

We've had some interesting requests. This box above has a big batch of cornbread. I hope it arrives still moist and crunchy. We'll find out when he receives his box. Another soldier specifically requested peanut butter because at his location, any arrival of peanut butter at the PX was sold out as soon as it arrived.

I have learned that nothing goes to waste. If one soldier does not like a particular cookie I send, he gives it to his buddies. In fact, I have gleaned that almost every care package is shared with other soldiers.

The main difficulty on our end has been having enough cookies to ship by the time Monday rolls around. The best baking time around here is on the weekends, but Unc and Gordon also love these home-made cookies.

The box that shipped out this week (in the picture above) is to a SFC who teasingly suggested my two fellers leave HIS cookies and cornbread alone this time or he would put some guards on the cooling goodies to make sure ALL of his baked goodies arrived in Iraq on schedule.  *laugh*

I'm headed back to the kitchen this afternoon to bake some more cookies for the next box. Right now we are shipping to four soldiers in Iraq, Iraq, Afghanistan, and one in Colorado (headed to Afghanistan soon).

Gordon and Unc are doing their part to get me back in the kitchen mixing up more cookies this afternoon. We make it an assembly line. Gordon watches the cookies in the oven so  not a single one burns, then he takes them off the trays and puts them on the cooling racks. Unc washes the cookie trays and the mixing bowls, etc. I mix up the from-scratch cookies and drop them onto trays, etc.

Gordon and Unc get to eat every broken cookie, something I blogged about here. Fun memories. Fun shared times. I hope our adopted soldiers get even a quarter of the enjoyment from these care packages as we derive from baking and packing them.

Here is one more Soldiers Angels story about a fallen soldier from Mississippi and his parents who fought hard to get his K-9 partner back to Mississippi to be adopted by their family.

Is a Love Affair With an Appliance Considered Cheating?

If I am having a spicy love affair with my new 8.5 quart slow cooker, is that considered cheating on my hubby?

Santa delivered this new 8.5 quart beauty this past week, after Fed Ex held it hostage over Christmas!

So, this new baby, bought here, has a stainless steel housing, a sleek black ceramic cooking pot and a glass and metal lid.

Our soon-to-be-retired old slow cooker has peeling painted metal, the ceramic cooking pot was crazed (think leaking lead into food) and the handle on the plastic lid had broken, requiring us to use a lid from a stock pot.

I've let the Easter Bunny know that I want one just like this, but at 5.5 quarts or 6.5 quarts. The seller has a 3.5 quart version that is also beautiful. Visions of my counter lined with three of these sleek beauties cooking away bring a flush to my face!

So far, venison chilli...some to eat now and some left over to freeze. I'm so in love with every inch of this 8.5 quart big boy! I'm fantasizing now about the delectable rendezvous I will have with my new slow cooker this weekend!

Gordon, my husband, I am so sorry to break the news to you like this, on my public blog, but I plan to continue having an affair with my new slow cooker for a long while to come. *grin*

Socks Made in America

While I have been on a fling of socks...much more here in real life than in my blog, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, Here is a site one of my Facebook friends shared with me that I want to share with you!

It is a directory of socks made in the USA! It is worth it to me to pay a little more to buy something made in America. This site is full of other American made products! Check it out!

Many of these socks found in the sites listed in this directory are the type that is helpful to our military personnel, which is something near to my heart. We send care packages to our troops via Soldiers Angels.

I've also been on the quest to find some warm Happy Yellow socks for me. At the same time I am on a darning fling of good thick wool socks that are worth saving. There WILL be an instructional video in the future on the Darning topic.

Then last night I held an orphan sock party, pulling socks from every sock drawer in the house! It was quite a party, and I am now proud to say we are down to just 17 orphan socks!

Has anyone seen my favorite pair of oatmeal colored wool socks with the two gold stripes at the top? I sure have needed them during the recent cold weather! Where DO these socks go to party when they escape the sock drawers and laundry room? Maybe my missing favorite wool socks came over to play with your socks? I can imagine socks do that...have sock parties.

Well, Darn It!

It's cool again to repair, reclaim, repurpose!

Have you Darned before?

Here are some pictures to get you ready to jump in! After posting this photo on Facebook, I had some delightful responses from people who had darned socks, sweaters and even a towel! (I want to learn more about darning a hole in a towel!)

This was a pair of wool content socks, so they were worth the small amount of time it took to darn this hole in the area of the sock for the ball of a foot. Actually, these are Unc's socks, but I have claimed them now...as much to test the comfort of the darned area, and because most of my socks are 100 percent cotton.

I now want to perfect the art of darning. I want to learn to do a very fine darned repair! It is so much fun to write about darning because I get to say darn and darned so often.  *giggle*

So briefly, here are some suggestions or tips I can share with you.

1. I did not take time to find my great grandmother's darning egg, so I used a light bulb instead. In the past, folks used a small gourd as well.

2. I used embroidery floss for this repair. If you want to make the repair disappear, try to use a thread or yarn as close as possible to the fiber content of the original garment. I separated the individual threads of the embroidery floss and used three threads in my needle.

3. Do not knot the thread you are using to make the repair. Instead, weave it into the fabric and back stitch a few times to secure the repair thread.

4. Trim around the hole if the torn parts will make the repair lumpy. I usually trim a little after I have made a few running stitch circles around the hole.

5. A running stitch circling the damaged area gives me a framework to which to anchor my repairs. I circled several times before beginning the basketweave pattern.

6. Stagger the beginning and ending points of your stitches so that the darned spot will wear more softy. I have not felt the repaired area as I have worn this sock for almost 24 hours now.

7. Stretch the area to be repaired, but don't stretch to the point that you enlarge the hole.

8. Look for areas of fiber weakness around the hole that you can also repair while you are working in that area.

9. Backstitch a few times to anchor your thread as you weave it into the fabric.

10. Don't worry about your first or even your tenth effort being perfect. On a sock, especially, the repair is going to be in your shoe, so no one will see it. The main point is that the repair is comfortable to your foot.

Don't throw away those nice wool socks or sweaters or other garments. Darn It!

"A Timeline in Quilting", Sunburst Quilt

Here is the final excerpt from Penny's presentation "A Timeline in Quiting", which she gave to the Cleveland Mississippi DAR in November 2009. Of special note, the "Sunburst Quilt" was hand made by Penny's Great Grandmother Beatrice Welch Dunn in the 1930's.

The Sunburst Quilt is also featured in the coffee table book entitled "Mississippi Quilts" by Mary Elizabeth Johnson.

If you or your organization would be interesting in having Penny present a program, you may contact her by email, leave a comment on this blog or her Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pennysfikes

"A Timeline in Quilting", Baltimore Album Style

Here is another short video excerpt from Penny's presentation of "A Tiimeline in Quilting" which she gave to the Cleveland, MS. DAR chapter in November 2009.

If you or your organization would be interested in having Penny give one of her quilting programs, you may contact her by email or her Facebook Page.

http://www.facebook.com/pennysfikes

Our Sixth Wedding Anniversary

It started last night. I started remembering where we were and what I was thinking/feeling six years ago. Not being able to sleep. Driving up to the little simple white Bethel Baptist Church, near Scroggins, TX. The small gathering of Gordon's family and best friends.

I remembered me crying through the entire service. My mother had refused to attend, so none of my family was there.

Today Gordon and I put fresh silk flowers on Mama and Daddy's grave and on my grandmother and grandfather's grave. Mama had the first of two strokes just a few months after we married. She grew to appreciate Gordon in the five years after we married.

At a wedding tea back here in Mississippi, hosted by my DAR friends, I remember one lady at the tea, sensing the situation, quietly pulling me aside to tell me that her mother had intently objected to her husband, but in time had grown to love him. I must write that lady and tell her how much I needed and appreciated her words of comfort that day.

So in lieu of some florist flowers, I asked Gordon and Unc to get some greens from the farm. We took down the Christmas decorations as is our family custom to have all the decorations down before the first of the year.

Here are photos of two huge displays of native cedar, magnolia grandiflora and American Holly. You might be able to see some wired gold Christmas balls in the bouquet on the hall tree.

I had more to say about today, but my mind is blank at the moment. Well, I'll just have to blog again if I think of what I wanted to share with you. Six years of marriage....where did the time fly?

See you Next Year!

Spirit of Hospitality Pineapple Brooch Available Again

Once again, there is a limited quantity of "Spirit of Hospitality" brooches available at the National Daughters of the American Revolution gift shop in Washington, D.C.

This sculpted porcelain brooch was commissioned by NSDAR President General Linda Calvin to help raise funds to continue the restoration and renovation of the historic buildings of the National DAR headquarters in Washington, D.C.

I have sculpted on every brooch, and I have signed each piece. The metal finding on the back of the brooch allows you to wear this piece as a brooch or as a necklace. (Think: refined omega necklace)

This is a limited edition piece, and each brooch is numbered. It comes in a gift box with information about the Calvin President General's project as well as my studio on Historic Hamer Hills Farm, circa 1837.

This piece is only available through the NSDAR Gift Shop in Washington, D.C. It is not on the NSDAR website because of the limited number of pieces available. 

Call 1-888-673-2732 to order.

The price is $20 per brooch plus shipping. Their phone hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST Monday through Friday except holidays. Their email is: shopping@dar.org.

This classically designed brooch, a collaborative design between Mrs. Calvin and me, is created in high fire porcelain, polished to a soft luster. The comment I hear most is, "It looks like white chocolate".

From my research, the pineapple originated as a symbol of hospitality, reportedly because sea captains placed a pineapple on their gate post when they returned from a sea voyage, signaling neighbors to come visit and hear of their sea-going adventures.

The rope border around this octagonal piece is a nod to those sea-faring origins of the pineapple as a classic icon of gracious hospitality.

Christmas in the Round

Gordon was taking some photos Christmas morning with a rare burst of sunshine, and he took these two "self portraits" reflected in the simple glass Christmas balls.

I had mentioned before that he found this 50-plus year old aluminum Christmas tree in the attic, and we used it in the front hall this year. I want to build on my collection of blue, green and blue-green Christmas glass balls to use on this tree in the future, but this year I used what was easiest to find in the attic. *grin*

The effect of the reflected images in this Christmas ball is like using a fish eye lens on the camera. It made me think about how each of us views Christmas, in something of a fish eye or fish bowl perspective. The memories of Christmas past and our expectations of Christmas future distort our image of the present.

"The past steps on the heels of the present," is one of my favorite maxims. These two images represent that phrase as I interpret it.

It is fitting that the rosy hues  in the photo of this red glass ball represent our memories and future expectations of Christmas. The silver and gold photo made me want to watch Dr. Zhivago again!

I'm happy to report that this was in many respects, the best Christmas I can ever remember...not for any presents, but for the memories made.

Maybe my focus this year was through a special emotional lens that let me see and remember only the best times, past and present. I want to use that special emotional lens exclusively from now on.

Blending Traditions Christmas Eve 2009

The kitchen is clean. Much of the food is cooked for tomorrow, Christmas Day. The turkey is ready to season and stick in the oven in the morning.

Clothes are washed and folded (almost caught up). Dogs are clean. People are clean. Sheets are changed. The tree is finally decorated.

The little forest of Unc's new wooden folk art snow dusted trees has been depleted, but the tract of land under the Christmas tree will be re-forested in the next few days as he makes more to continue to give to friends.

Gordon found in the attic the 50 year old aluminum Christmas tree that I remember us using when I was a child. It has been a treat to use this vintage Christmas tree in the front hall. There will be more pictures of it, I promise.

We were all ready with extra gas, diesel, propane, firewood and food for the big bad winter storm that seems to be passing north and west of us. Now I hope it gets cold enough for us to enjoy a roaring wood fire in the fireplace this Christmas weekend.

There are just the three of us humans, plus six dogs and one rescued Siamese-mix cat here on the farm for Christmas. It is amazingly, fantastically, wonderfully, blessedly peaceful and cozy.

We'll have biscuits and cheese tomorrow morning, a tradition handed down from my grandparents. The rest of the food fits with Gordon's family traditions for Christmas.

Unc has filled my little stocking with the huge apple, huge orange and little jar of spanish olives that have always been included in the surprises in my Christmas stocking. He does not know that I know that he bought those items yesterday at the grocery store, but my sources informed me. *wink* I think it is totally charming that Unc is carrying on that tradition, especially this first Christmas without Mama.

I'll share more photos and thoughts later. For the rest of this Christmas Eve, Gordon and I are observing our personal Christmas Eve tradition... watching, "It's A Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. It is a tradition that Gordon brings into our little family.

Merry Christmas to you and your family. For those having to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, THANK YOU for keeping civilization humming along.

A Fragile Scent of Christmas

These old fashioned narcissus opened unexpectedly in the yard this week, and Unc surprised me with them in a little vase in the kitchen today! Their scent is so heady that it has filled the kitchen and has perfumed my hands where I cut the stems to arrange them for this photo!

Usually these don't bloom here until April or early May, but some corner of the yard was apparently warm enough to let these happy blooms burst through the cold wet ground for a lovely little Christmas surprise.

Yes, we've forced paperwhites in time for Christmas or New Year blooms...many times...but there is something so pure and unexpected about a free gift from nature like this! I also think the heavenly scent of these old fashioned narcissus is more pungent.

If you know the name of this particular variety that produces five and six blooms on each stem, please let me know. I used two kinds of yarrow to add greenery to this little bouquet.

I wish I could share the scent and delicacy of these lovely blooms with all our military deployed overseas. This afternoon these fragile blossoms represent to me our fragile liberties and freedoms for which so many are fighting right now. Please give a moment of prayer this Christmas for those men and women around the world and here at home who are actively protecting us, whether military or civilian law enforcement.

 

The Joys of Broken Cookies

We've been baking and baking this week since we met the last porcelain deadline before Christmas. I'm too late to get cookies delivered before Christmas to the soldiers we have adopted through Soldiers Angels, but maybe getting a package after Christmas or after the New Year will be equally helpful. It is taking two weeks to 18 days to get a package to one of the war zones now.

There is always a let-down after the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Year. We used to call it Blue January, and Mama and Daddy taught me by example as a child to try to do something for several people in Blue January.

But back to the cookies. Baking cookies with Unc and Gordon helping has created some special memories this year. Our arrangement is that they get to eat the broken or ugly cookies. *grin* It is amazing how many cookies don't make it to the containers for the soldiers! I don't mind making extra batches of cookies for them to "break" accidentally. It's all too fun to see them play and enjoy our baking efforts!


Their part of the assembly line cookie production is to watch the cookie trays baking, rotate the trays accordingly in the oven, take the cookies off the trays and wash up the trays to receive the next tray of cookies.

When our system is operating smoothly, each of us is hopping to keep the production flowing. I love to cook like that...with intensity!

Mama and I baked cookies to take to shut ins at Christmas for as far back as I can remember. We had a system too. Then she, Daddy and I would get out Christmas Eve and deliver the packages of cookies...usually in redecorated coffee cans.

I get tickled now reading all the magazines with all the ink devoted to ideas for recycling and re-purposing items. We never realized how trendy we were way back then. *laugh*

The rest of the week: more Toll House Cookies, lemon crisp cookies and some of those Neiman Marcus (urban legend) cookies that Gordon loves so much. Gordon loves a recipe I found several years back for some Mary Pickford sugar cookies. We'll make some of those also.

And yes, I will happily share recipes.

Latest Yellow Kitchen Toys

Gordon, Unc and I made crockpot lasagna yesterday afternoon... plus a from-scratch sour cream German chocolate pound cake... plus decanted a fresh batch of white willow bark extract for our personal use... plus... plus... plus.

It was a very productive day condensed into about five hours. I like to work like that...the three of us working together to get a lot of little tasks done, helping each other.

Here's a peek at my new favorite yellow cooking toys. They are all plastic... or silicone or melamine or whatever... just not glass or crockery.

My glassware and crockery have been taking a licking this year. Man-handling, quite literally! So I'm turning to unbreakable items that can only be melted in the oven... or on a propane burner on top of the stove... or in the dishwasher.  We'll see what other creative ways they come up with to destroy or damage my kitchen toys.

There are already some Westie teeth "personalizations" on one of my fabulous new yellow spatulas. The most expensive one, of course. That was my fault for letting that spatula jump off the kitchen table and down onto the floor where the indoor "wildlife" could get to it. (laughing)

It's All Good... a new phrase I've learned of late from popular vernacular. If the plastic stuff gets destroyed, there is more to be found. It's not worth worrying about. For now, I'm putting up the breakable stuff passed down from my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my  mother.

If you see something in my favorite Happy Yellow color, think of me! Or snap a picture to share with me. Toodles for now...

Pennycast: "The Oldest Quilt in Mississippi"

This footage was shot on November 14, 2009 as part of Penny's program "A Timeline of Quilting", to which we traveled to Cleveland, MS. and the local DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) there. This is the first of a few short excerpts of which I will be editing to post here so that you may enjoy.

If you would like more information about Penny's presentations, all you have to do is email her or me and we will be glad to supply you with what you need. Hope you enjoy.

First Snow Melts as Fast as Life

The first snow of the winter. Here in north central Mississippi.
Gordon shot these photos last night as the snow began to fall. He did not like the shots, but I personally love the edgy, grainy, raw, in-the-moment feel of them.

There was just enough snow to make everything white by this Saturday morning. I peeped out the window to see the splendor, but I did not dress and go outside to capture the magic. Instead I burrowed under the down comforter and quilts for some more delicious sleep.

The snow is gone now. I wish I had braved the cold to capture those fleeting hours of beauty.

Life is like that.

We look back at the fleeting magical times we might have captured if we had not been bogged down living life. How much did I miss because I wanted to "sleep" in the moment?

One of my favorite moments from a favorite movie, Blackhawk Down:

Hoot: See, you're thinking. Don't. Because, Sergeant, you can't control who gets hit or who doesn't. Who falls out of a chopper, or why. It ain't up to you. It's just war.

Eversmann: Yeah, well, Smith's still dead. If Blackburn hadn't fallen, none of this would've happened.

Hoot: Would have, could have, should have - it don't matter. You'll have plenty of time to think about that later. Believe me.

Well, it's just Life. We can't control the bad stuff that happens to us. We can't control the bad done to us by other people. We can't control the consequences of the bad choices we make in life. We can't control the consequences of the choices made by those around us.

It's just Life, and I'm in a season of thinking about all those split second decisions that have put me in this moment at this place in this time.

Regrets? No.
Sadness? Some. No children with whom to share a first snow. No little ones to delight with the joys of snow ice cream. No tykes to whom to pass down the story of special Christmas ornaments. No one to inherit this family farm of six generations.

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda.

Like this first magical snow, that fleeting moment in life, that opportunity is past.

Like the little paw prints already being erased from the slight dusting of snow on the steps last night, the footprint of this Hamer line will be gone when I die. All the stories of all the generations who have lived, sweated, bled and died here will fade. Even my footprint on this life has begun to fade from previous decades of work.

This has been a year of shedding those things that are not necessary. It has been a very painful year, but it has also been the best year of my life.

"Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."   Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

"Peeling, Slicing and Cleaning Tomatoes fresh from the Garden"

Here is some footage I shot of Penny during this canning season. She and her Uncle Charles (age 83) have been happily making preserves and Penny has been absorbing as much as she can about the various ways one can preserve tomatoes, pears, etc... A big hit has also been something new, one of Penny's blog friends translated a new delicacy to english and Penny was eager to try it. What was this new sensation you may ask? Tomato Jam! Neither had heard of it before but upon further examination, both love it and Mr. Charles has been proudly giving away some of it and has had great feedback from all. Another delicacy they both have enjoyed is chestnut jam. Penny loves it! Mr. Charles had been picking chestnuts off the ground each morning, which had fallen from the tree here on the farm. I've even helped pick them from the prickly hull in which they grow. We hope you enjoy and would love to hear what you think. Gordon

Cooking with Ghosts

I felt them today. The ghosts of my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and my great-great grandmother. Women who have cooked for their families on this farm, established in 1837 by my great-great-great grandfather James C. Hamer.

Gordon and Unc had gone to town to run a few errands, and I was alone in the kitchen ...probably alone on the whole farm. 

I was cooking Southern fried chicken in Grandma's cast iron skillet and watching a pot of pink eye purple hull peas, also prepared the same way I had watched Grandma prepare it. A third very large stock pot held a bubbling cauldron of cherry tomatoes simmering their way to becoming Tomato Jam.

The washing machine was making churning sounds. The dryer was making tumbling sounds. The chicken was making sizzling sounds. The peas and tomato jam were making bubbling and gurgling sounds, respectively. The air conditioner and the refrigerator whirred in their harmonious tones.

Across the kitchen floor stretched three sleeping black and tan English Shepherds. I could not see the Westies because three of them were curled up under my chair as I sat and stirred the tomatoes and nudged the chicken. (I think Charlotte was sleeping on the dirty clothes waiting in line for their spin around the washer.)

Jenny B was curled up between my ankles, her cold nose snuffling my leg from time to time to let me know she was there and would appreciate a dropped piece of whatever food I was working with. Annie did that. I adore the subtle movement of the soft fur against my skin and the occasional cold nose kiss.

With all of that noisy silence...that rare slice of solitude, I could actually let my mind wander where it wanted.

First came awareness of the sounds. The churning, tumbling, sizzling, bubbling, gurgling and whirring sounds separated from their harmonious composition into calming individual sounds. The sounds and the smells began to trigger the memories.

Memories of watching Grandma sit on her high stool in her kitchen frying chicken as I stood as close as she would let me inch toward to the spitting cast iron skillet that held her fabulous Southern Fried Chicken. The same cast iron skillet that I was using today.

The melody of the sounds and smells my chicken was singing could have been from the same sheet music Grandma had used in her kitchen performance. One might only detect a few nuances of timing or emphasis if one could compare our Southern Fried Chicken performances in side by side recordings.

I could almost see her showing me how to find the joint as she taught me how to cut up a chicken. I must have been young because I don't remember her letting me use the knife to replicate her actions more than one time.

Mama used an electric skillet instead of a cast iron skillet, but I'm sure she joined the chorus of reminders, "check the chicken.....turn the chicken....better check the chicken....." that repeated in my head as I stirred the tomato jam and fed the hungry twin laundry lions.

My high school Home Economics teacher, Mrs. Henri Sue Kennard, entered my head as I added bleach to the sink of hot soapy water and as I washed up the dirty dishes as I cooked.  I learned so much from her, and I adored Mrs. Kennard! Her wash-as-you-cook discipline has followed me all of my life (so that one does not have a huge pile of dirty pots and pans to clean up after one has completed cooking).

But then the images in my mind switched back to Grandma's kitchen that had faced west. As I washed dishes for her when I was a child, the sunlight turned the soap suds into little exploding diamonds. I could see the view from the window above the sink and hear the mews of the perpetual litter of kittens on Grandma's back porch. I think I learned my love of washing dishes by hand because of Grandma's kitchen.

That deep bubbling pot of scarlet flesh from the cherry tomatoes resurrected memories of Mama canning vegetables and putting up preserves and making jelly.

The summer I read Ruth Sawyer's Daddles, a priceless story of a child's love of an abused dog, I was possessed to pick blackberries because the children of that book had gone blackberry picking with Daddles, the little beagle. Mama did can the blackberries we picked that year. My second dog was a beagle because of that book.

The gurgling tomato jam whispered pieces of stories I had been told about my great-grandmother, Alice Penelope Kelly, my namesake. She was a stellar example of Victorian Era home-making. Nothing ever went to waste, and considerable effort was expended in preserving ample stores of food for the branching family tree.

So there in my kitchen this afternoon, with only the dogs to share my breathing air, I felt the presence of these hard-working women, each a survivor of a unique set of life's challenges. I thought about the legacy each of them had left through food. I thought about the emotions conveyed through the generations via the language of their culinary preparations.

It was as if they were with me in that room today...in spirit...watching over my shoulder, reminding me to stir the tomato jam or the peas or turn the chicken. Mama was smiling with her beautiful smile at the empty and clean counters and my frequent trips to feed the Laundry Lions.

Grandma had a little tasting spoon out, blowing over the latest sample of the tomato jam. Mama Hamer was inspecting my re-organization of the cabinets and pantry and pursing her lips over the cabinets I have not yet reorganized. All the while, she kept a sly watch on what all the rest of us were doing...to be sure none of us were slacking!

Nannie Hightower Hamer, my great-great grandmother was not too vivid in today's visit. I was not told as many stories about her. I did sense a question about why I had her pink painted pie safe upstairs in the old farmhouse when it belonged in the kitchen. I may have to address how to use a naturally distressed original pink pie safe in my future white and yellow kitchen. *grin*

I found myself crying while stirring the tomato jam and nudging the sizzling chicken. These were not sad tears. They were tears of gratitude. They were tears of comfort. I was taking my place in the long line of women who loved their family through the language of food, and these ghosts approved.

The kitchen officially became MY kitchen this afternoon. The ghosts passed those rights to the kitchen to me during their visit this afternoon.

Gordon and Unc returned after the chicken was fried, after the peas were cooked tender and just before the tomato jam turned into a translucent rich scarlett red goo.

The dishes with which I had cooked were drying on towels on counters that had been wiped down with diluted bleech.

I had wrapped the home-made cookie ice cream sandwiches in wax paper to freeze and was in the process of re-filling the molds as Gordon and Unc walked into the kitchen.

When they returned, my fellas entered a house saturated in home cooking smells just as preceding generations of the men in my family had experience under this same roof.

I enjoyed cooking with the ghosts of my fore-mothers this afternoon. The exercise was purifying as if some bottled up emotions were given a chance to finally breathe and boil away into steam. I hope these ghosts will stay in my kitchen and will make their presence known often!

Doesn't Your Dentist Sell Tires in His Waiting Room?

Gordon's root canal was scheduled for 10 a.m. this morning.

However, at 10 a.m. this morning we were sitting in THIS waiting room.

This waiting room was cleaner than most medical waiting rooms I have been in. It smelled better, and Gordon could bring me an ice cold diet soda to sip on as I stitched! You can't do THAT in a doctor's waiting room (can you?).

So what happened?

We had not made it out of the county when a wreck on the highway just ahead of us dribbled debris on the highway that was impossible to miss. We had one blowout, right front tire, and one nail in the right back tire. Thankfully no one was hurt in that wreck that we just barely missed!

Poor Gordon tried and tried to get the bicycle-sized tire out from under the van. He called a friend to come help. One of the cops working the wreck finished and came to see how we were doing. HE could not figure out the secret combination for extracting that bicycle tire from under the van!

Have you ever tried getting one of those little emergency tires OUT in an emergency? I've NEVER had a vehicle yet where the bicycle tire could be removed without an expert...and when is an expert nearby in a real emergency? (The secret trick turned out to be easy as Gordon has now learned at the Expert tire place. I personally suspect the car companies come up with these difficult but simple ways to make average folks feel stupid! LOL)

We had to have a wrecker. Here is where things started getting funny-weird...or not. If your husband's expert driving had just saved the two of you from a blow out that MIGHT have caused the van to flip and roll off into a deep ditch, the rest of the day might become a little more light-hearted and funny to you also! *grin*

For starters, the blowout occurred just as I finished praying for God's protection on our 180 mile round trip to the dentist in Jackson. We always pray as we leave for any travel. Gordon and I believe that sometimes God allows something comparatively minor to happen to prevent us from being in "the wrong place at the wrong time" where something worse might happen to us.

So Gordon was both relieved that he was going to avoid having a root canal today, but he was also relieved that we were alive with nothing worse than a couple of destroyed tires. So we were in the odd position of thanking God for the blow out!  LOL 

Once before we were praying for God to give Gordon a Mac, as in Apple computer. In no time, God sent Mac, as in Mackie the Westie! Really, the dog's name was Mac which we morphed into Mackie.

I'm sure we have been far more blessed by Mackie our Special Forces West Highland  White Terrier than Gordon has been by the dull gray Apple laptop he later bought! *Grin*

But back to the blowout...So the County Sheriff's Deputy ended up being the one who came out to the farm the night that Mama died. When he determined that we were ok, and it was discussed that there was no way to prove that the debris came from the trailor that jack-knifed and caused the wreck just seconds ahead of us, our deputy said that he was to have been with Trent Lott today.

Now in case you don't know, Trent Lott, now retired, was in the U.S. Senate for a LONG time and was essentially the Senior Statesman from Mississippi. He still is considered that, I suppose, but he no longer holds public office.

Well, if Trent Lott was going to be in Winona or Montgomery County today, then of course, this deputy needed to go there and forget about our little blow out. Trent Lott's family comes from the Carroll County side of Duck Hill which is in Montgomery County, so we "claim him", if you know what I mean. (Do other parts of the country do a quick genealogy run down of who's family came from where, even if the person under discussion has never lived in your county? Or is that a Southern Thing?)

Back to today...Gordon and I were impressed that this deputy was to be one of the escorts for Trent Lott. There was some confusing conversation, but Gordon and I both thought we understood the deputy to say that he would tell Trent about our tire. HUH? We MUST have misunderstood, but since the deputy was needed to escort Trent Lott, we did not ask him to elaborate...he had important places to go!

Within just a few minutes, the wrecker arrived, and the wrecker man introduced himself as Trent Lott!

It seems there is a real person in Winona, Mississippi, named Trent Lott, and he is distantly related to THE Trent Lott on his grandmother's side. Trent has even talked to Trent about their shared name and shared genealogy. Where were the news cameras when THAT interesting bit of news was unfolding? It would be curious to see if there are many facial similarities.

Back to the wrecker ride to the Tire Company Waiting Room where I spent three happy hours stitching... This was one of those big wreckers that requires someone to have a man's upper body strength to climb up into the darned thing. I don't have the upper body strength of a man. *crooked grin*

Thankfully, this time, Gordon was there to push me from the rear to help me get up in this tall truck cab. The LAST time I rode in a big, tall wrecker was about ten years ago in Jackson.

My mother and I were in Jackson for a state convention of the Daughters of the American Revolution at The Hilton. Our van developed bronchitis or something, stopping in the middle of one of Jackson's busiest streets.  The wrecker service was "Big Bob's Wrecker Service" or something like that. I DO remember Big Bob because Big Bob had to push and shove two overly dressed, anything-BUT tiny women into his TALL wrecker cab...with his bare hands on our ample rumpuses!

I was embarassed to beyond words. Mama must have been near death from the shock. The only thing to make it worse was driving up to The Hilton and trying to climb down from this TALL wrecker cab, while attempting to appear lady-like in our dresses, hose and heels. Of course, the first people we saw as we UN-gracefully dismounted that vehicle were some of our DAR friends. I don't think anyone can say that Alice and Penny ever made too many quiet, demure entrances...to anything.

Back to today's wrecker ride with Trent Lott...I was nervous and rattled from the blowout, the embarassing rumpus push, etc., so I was chattering away like a magpie. I just HAD to tell our Trent Lott about my previous Big Bob experience, and that I was thankful that I had a husband to do the pushing and shoving today. 

Gordon was probably melting from embarassment at my prattle, and from the heat and from the exertion of helping me into that tall cab. Trent laughingly said that he has had to do his share of pushing and shoving to help ladies climb up into that tall wrecker cab.  I wondered to myself it this was some sort of male conspiracy to build wreckker cabs so tall just so that the fellas could get away with....well, you know.....

Now we are back home, thankful for a blowout, thankful for a good friend who stopped work to come see if he could help.

Thankfufl for Trent Lott and helpful deputies. Thankful for the two women in the tire waiting room with whom I could chatter about vegetables and sewing and wear off some of that post-blowout nervousness.

I'm thankful for that ice cold diet soda Gordon brought me in the tire waiting room. Thankful for cell phones with which Gordon called that good friend for help and with which we were able to call a root canal dentist to reschedule. I'm thankful that cell phone kept me in contact with Unc to keep him apprised of the situation, and I'm thankful for being able to talk to the Westies by cell phone while I waited and sewed. (What, don't you talk to your dog/cat by phone?)

I'm thankful Gordon's root-canal-in-waiting is not hurting much and can wait until Monday when the procedure was rescheduled. Thankful for Gordon's good driving skills and for his rumpus pushing skills...and for how well he took care of me today.

Thankful for remembering a funny/embarrassing adventure with my mom, and thankful for remembering all the sewing she accomplished while she sat in waiting rooms...however, I don't think Mama ever logged any stitching time in a Tire Waiting Room!

And I'm thankful to YOU for allowing me to prattle all of this out of my system and wind down enough, hopefully, for a much needed NAP! (And Gordon is very thankful he is NOT female! LOL  He can't understand while I have been all a-Twitter!)

Tomato Jam Recipe!

This recipe comes from Anina of Twiddletails ( http://twiddletails.blogspot.com/ ) Anina translated the recipe and converted it from metric measurement for me. Thank you, Anina! We LOVE this Tomato Jam!!

---------------

Pick small, firm, ripe tomatoes. Wash and weigh them.

**We used a low acid cherry tomato, small and sweet. Yellow tomatoes would be fantastic for this recipe too!**

Pierce skins with a thick needle. Soak tomatoes in salt water for 20-30 minutes (1 tablespoon salt to 1 gallon water) Rinse well.

**Unc did not want the peel of the little tomatoes to be in the finished jam (it's a personal preference thing), so we dumped the cherry tomatoes in boiling water, let them tumble for about a minute, then dumped them in cold water so that the peel just rolled off. We cut out the little core too. Because we did not use the salt water and thus did not allow the tomato to absorb any salt, we added about a half Tablespoon of salt to bring out the flavor of the tomatoes.**

Grease bottom of jam pot with butter or oil.
Add 1/2 cup of water and add tomatoes and sugar in layers. Pack the tomatoes quite tightly

**Since the consistency of our tomatoes was different than if we had left the peel on as the original recipe prescribed, we started with 1/2 cup of water in a stock pot, dumped in the tomatoes that were very juicy, and added sugar based on the weight of peeled tomatoes.**

Use 1lb sugar for every 1lb of tomatoes

Heat slowly until sugar has dissolved and then cook for about 2 hours on high heat until the tomatoes are clear and the syrup thick.

Add 1/8-1/4 cup of lemon juice and a couple of pieces of peeled, slightly crushed fresh ginger for every 6 pounds of tomatoes while cooking. Remove ginger pieces.

**We did not have any ginger, so I just added an extra splash of lemon juice**

Let cool, bottle and seal.

**We spooned the hot mixture into hot jam jars fresh from being steralized in the dishwasher.  Wiped the rim and outside threads with a dry paper towel to be sure no seed or jam would interfere with the seal, and then put on a sterile/boiled "slapper" and ring. You know the seal is good if the jar/lid "pops" as it cools of.

My Tea Party Mini Quilt Design now on T-shirts, etc!

I've been so moved at the response to my new design, Tea Party Mini Quilt Pattern!

At least one of you has told me that your husband will be carrying a big flag/banner made from my design in Monday's Labor Day Parade. Oh, I HOPE to see a picture of that!

Others of you are making items to sell. You graciously asked permission first because my pattern did not have any statement preventing it. Here's my thinking on that: If you are making this design and putting it on jackets or making mini quilts, etc, you are not only spreading the word about our concern for this country, but you are also fueling the small business economy. Go for it!

I will soon be sharing photos from the folks who have bought my pattern and have already made something from it...ahhh the joy of a downloadable pattern.

Tonight I want to show you just a few of the items Gordon has chosen on Cafe Press to proudly display this design. It is the same picture as the quilt picture above, so if you are wearing a shirt or carrying a tote with this design, it will almost look like you are wearing a quilted design.

There are many shirt designs, starting at $8.99.

 Golf shirts start at $16.99.

There are maternity shirts, plus size shirts, and even a shirt for your Patriotic Pooch!

I'm especially of the heavy natural canvas tote that is 15" x 18" x 6" and is printed on BOTH sides with my design! Just $12.99!

There are travel mugs, mugs and a stein.

There are note cards with envelopes that you can buy one at a time or buy in bulk quantities of 10 and 20! Plus, there are post cards with this design. There is room on the front for a name or a location.

This is how Cafe Press works. They print your order when they receive it. Print on Demand. Gordon and I receive a small royalty from each of our designs you purchase.

When that "royalty" adds up to $25, Cafe Press cuts us a check and sends it to us.

What I plan to do is to give a percentage of that royalty money back to the Tea Party Organization. Right now, some Tea Party organizers are researching who/what/when/where to allow me to do that.

So, this is a subtle design, "Sometimes you have to spill a little Tea", that you can still wear or show off or mail even if you are not into quilting or into making paper signs from my pattern!

I hope you will visit Cafe Press to see the items I did not mention. If you have a specific request for a particular item, then let us know, and if Cafe Press offers it, we will do our best to make it happen.

Feel free to email me with any ideas and comments. penny (at) pennysanford (dot) com

Only a very few people were NASTY when I first posted about my Tea Party mini quilt pattern.

The majority of people (on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, on this blog and via email) have allowed my freedom of expression on this topic, and for that I thank you very much!

Fun Video for Quilt Shop Client - just released!

Here's a fun video Gordon just finished for a quilt shop client: Patchwork Party 2009, the Fall Edition.

I was just the "talking head" for the project. It was the second video we have done for this client.

In the event they move the link to this preview video, here is a permanent location to view it on the PatchworkParty YouTube channel.

If you need someone to shoot video or take still pictures and turn them into something polished and professional to promote your business, may I recommend my husband Gordon?
gordon (at) pennysanford (dot) com .

Tea Party Mini Quilt Pattern

This is it. My first for-purchase pattern launch.

The Tea Party Mini Quilt Pattern is a downloadable pattern, seven pages long in .pdf format. Those seven pages have lots of detailed photos of the different steps in the little pattern, plus plenty of written instructions.

Because we are not having to have copies of the pattern printed by a printer in an expensive four-color process, we are able to offer the pattern for just $2.50. There's no shipping charge either because you buy and download the pattern on your computer and print it on your own printer.

I envisioned this little pattern as a design you could whip up to hang in your office (pin to a cubicle wall, for example) or to enter in a quilt show as a subtle statement.

You could also applique the shield, cup and puddle of tea to a tote bag or to a shirt or on the back of a jacket.  I'm expecting you to suggest other great uses for this design!

Gordon is putting together all the video he shot as I made this design for a much longer instructional or tutorial video for this pattern. It will be available free with the purchase of the $2.50 pattern. Pretty good bargain, huh?

Here's a short 41 second video introduction to the pattern.

Since this is my first For Sale pattern, I would value your feedback. Are the directions clear enough? I agonized over writing the pattern so that newbies would feel comfortable with this pattern, but I did not want the pattern to "talk down" to experienced quilters. I remember all too well being a newbie in quilting, and there are areas now that I feel nervous in trying.

Same thing with the video preview and the upcoming video tutorial. Let me know if it shows too much or not enough...if it is crystal clear or "clear as mud". (That's a Southern expression for something being hard to understand, murky, like trying to see through a glass of mud.)

What else do I need to tell you? You can always find this and future patterns at the link just under the blog header that says "Quilt Patterns".

Gordon has put an order button "Add to Cart" under the video in this post, but an order button is on the page of Quilt Patterns on this blog. You can pay via Paypal.

As you probably already know, through Paypal, which is a free service, you can pay via bank draft or by a credit card. Gordon tells me that you do not have to have a Paypal account (which is free) in order to make a one-time payment/purchase using Paypal. They want you to try it out and see how easy it is to use.

So, this little design that came to me on April 15, 2009, during a the television coverage of the Tea Parties, is now a pattern you can buy. To be honest, I'm nervous about starting my line of patterns with one that might evoke a few emotional responses. If you have any questions about making this pattern, please do not hesitate to email me: penny(at)pennysanford(dot)com or pennysfikes(at)gmail(dot)com. (Gordon told me to write my email addresses that way so that the spam robotic computers will not add to all the spam I already get.)

Happy quilting!

Fondly,

Penny

Another Yellow Fabric Fix!

If fabric is not your bag, then feel free to pass on this blog post.  For Fabric Fondlers (i.e. Fabric Lovers) around the world, this is a Yellow Fix! Once again, my Fabric Addiction Enabler was Stitchin' Heaven.

I've found a NEW favorite yellow fabric. This is it!

This is a new-to-me fabric company, Studio E. Take a look at all the luscious colors in this particular line.

Note to Studio E: get this beautiful fabric out in some natural light to photograph it to show off the depth of the design.

This is a sateen, and I am 99.99% sure this will become a BUNCH of new pillowcases for our bed. After I wash the fabric and see how soft it is after washing, I will make my final decision.

The pattern and color had me at the first sun beam to flicker over the surface of this beautiful daffodil yellow fabric!

You might remember I am a pillow-aholic. We have 17 or so pillows on the bed, from buckwheat to Euro squares to a body pillow. Too expensive to buy matching pillowcases for all of those pillows, besides, I have made pillowcases for years and enjoy doing so. I make French seams and other tailored details that make the pillowcases last as long as the fabric holds together.

These fabrics pictured are all 100 percent cotton premium fabrics for quilting or home sewing. My previous absolute, all time favorite yellow fabric in the entire universe, "Sunshine" polka dot by April Cornell for Moda is shared here and here! I would still buy more of this fabric if I could find it!

Look at three pieces from Free Spirit Fabrics by designer Verna Mosquera.

I can't tell you the name of the fabric line (collection of coordinating fabrics by the same designer released in one particular season), but the three names of these coordinating prints are "Twisted Rose", "Miniature Rose" and "French Border Print".

These three tight weave sateen fabrics may also end up in pillowcases. The colors and prints work perfectly with a bedding set we already have, but who can't use some more pillowcases? *grin*

I really would like to know the thread count on these beautiful quilting cottons. Does anyone have any idea if that information is available?

Moving on to the third photo, how cute is the name, "Oddles of Poodles"? I'd buy the fabric (at the bottom of the picture) just for the name! It was designed by Cheri L. Strole for Moda Fabrics. (At least I think that is what was printed on the selvage. When type is printed in yellow on fabric, it can be hard to read!)

The beautiful fabric at the top of the third photo is "Roses" produced by Free Spirit Fabrics and designed by Donna Dewberry.

My previous favorite yellow fabric was an April Cornell print. Moda does seem to lavish her fabric designs on fabric with a soft, sateen weave.

These three corn-yellow pieces are no different. I love all three of them!

"Polka Dot", "Mulberry" is the middle fabric, off to the left of the picture, and "Portugal" is the one with the big flowers.

I need more of that "Mulberry", and maybe all three of these. Moda does not reprint its fabric, so if I decide I will need more of one of these, I'd better make that decision fast before these beauties are sold out!

I do have another piece of yellow to show you and some great fabric from Australia...but that will have to wait for another post.  What fabric colors do you find irresistible?

Email Philly Eagles re: hiring Michael Vick!

Here is a link to send the Philadelphia Eagles an email with your thoughts about them signing Michael Vick (Atlanta Falcon quarterback disgraced by huge dog fighting operation).

He was signed for two years at $1.6 million dollars for the first year. He may have spent 23 months in federal prison, but that does NOT make up for what he did to those dogs (torture, killed the losers, etc.)

Please share this with all dog lovers so that the Philly Eagles will know how the general population really feels about their hiring of Michael Vick!

http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/fanzone/Thanks.asp

Butterbean Bliss

Today was the first day Unc picked enough butter beans for us to freeze. He picked two gallon buckets for me to shell. That yielded two shy quart packages. I think we will freeze them in pint bags from now on.

I love shelling butter beans and peas. If we could grow English peas, I would adore shelling them because I LOVE, love to eat English peas!

One thing I learned that I will pass along to you. On a whim, I asked Unc if we could feed the butter bean hulls to a cow (I'm storing information for when we get a milk cow or a couple of little steers to fatten up for the freezer). He said the sharp point of the butter bean hull might puncture a cow's intestinal tract.

Good information to have. So he has been putting the butter bean hulls around various plants in the garden as mulch.

Until today we have only had enough butter beans or green beans on any given day to shell for one meal.

Those first fresh picked representatives of each garden vegetable are always THE best, THE most tender, THE most flavorful you can imagine!

Unc, age 83, planted this garden, has tended it, and is picking the produce.  All I am doing is helping put up the veggies and fruit. Not a bad bargain, huh? 

One more fun discover during this butter bean adventure...the Westies LOVE the taste of raw butter beans! That is great! We try to give our dogs as much raw meat, veggies and fruit as possible.

So far, the Westies love carrots, squash, butter beans, figs, banana and orange! The raw meat part was not a problem for them to embrace. Raw egg, buttermilk and yogurt are also favorites. Google the "BARF" diet for dogs if you want to learn more.

Unc picks our green beans small and tender (see the Chapstick for size comparison), have been so wonderful! They are small enough that they do not have any strings to be pulled off. TENDER! All we do is cut of the ends of the beans.

We boil them with salt in the water and add a little butter when they are tender. That's it. That fresh-from-the-garden flavor is so nutty and green! We've not picked enough green beans to have enough to freeze yet. Unc will be planting green beans again very soon for the fall garden!

A Southern Woman's First Southern Fried Chicken

Tonight I am a card-carrying member of the Sorority of Southern Women Who Fry Chicken!

I'm 46 years old, and today was the very first time I have ever attempted to fry chicken.

To be honest, I've been afraid to fry anything since my attempt to make french fries back in 1984 or 1985. My girlfriend's husband made some comment like, "Do you think you could have added more grease to these?"

That was my last attempt to fry anything until today.

Today's rite of passage has brought back so many wonderful memories. As a little tyke, I watched Grandma make fried chicken, sitting on a tall stool by the stove so that I could watch her work her magic.

I can see her twisted arthritic fingers flicking a tiny pinch of flour into the hot oil in a big cast iron skillet to test it's readiness for the chicken. I think that was the same cast iron skillet that I used today.

So many years later (Grandma died in 1979) I can just smell that  heavenly aroma that permeated her house and floated onto the porches around her house!

The anticipation for that first piece of Grandma's chicken was so intense that I always picked off pieces of the crust as the freshly fried chicken was cooling on its metal cooling  rack on the kitchen counter.

Thighs were (and still are) my favorite piece, along with the gizzard and the chicken heart!

Grandma and Unc would save me the gizzard and heart to enjoy when Mama and I stopped by Grandma's house on the way back home from school.  Before we walked through Grandma's front door, I could smell that fabulous Southern fried chicken aroma, and I would practically run to the kitchen for my thigh, gizzard and heart!

So, today, bolstered by good advice from my friends on Facebook, I joined the esteemed ranks of Southern Women Who Fry Chicken!

Today, Unc cut up the big ten pound bag of chicken and provided a second opinion on the hotness of the oil and the readiness of the pieces to be turned or taken out of the skillet. I was very thankful for his help and advice!

He even tasted that first piece with me to evaluate my technique. 

What I learned is that I really want my fried chicken to taste just like Grandma's fried chicken. I thought I wanted to make crunchy chicken with thick crust like one of the fast food chicken chain restaurants. To make Grandma's chicken will necessitate a few changes in my recipe for next time.

Here is a synopsis of what I learned (that might help you join me in this tradition):

1. Soaking in buttermilk gives the chicken a faint sour/tart flavor reminiscent of fried dill pickles. Soaking in buttermilk helps the meat stay moist and juicy, and helps hold onto the flour coating.

2. Next time I will soak our chicken in sweet milk with an egg.  This is what Grandma did...I'm pretty sure.

3. I did add a little corn starch to the flour today to make crunchier crust like the fast food chicken. It REALLY does do that, but I realize that I want Grandma's chicken, so I will not add the corn starch next time.

4. For a bit more crust (especially since we remove the chicken skin), I could soak the pieces in milk/egg, dredge through the flour, dip again into the milk and dredge again in the flour.

5. I've read numerous techniques for seasoning the chicken, including soaking the chicken in brine (salty water) or adding the salt/seasoning AFTER the chicken has been fried. 

What I will do next time is rub salt and pepper into the chicken meat before soaking it in the milk/egg....OR, it may work best to rub the salt/pepper into the chicken meat AFTER it soaks in the milk/egg. I have yet to experiment with those two techniques.

At any rate, the flesh today was not seasoned as I remember Grandma's chicken, or Mama's chicken or Louise's chicken or Dollie's chicken...four ladies who have spoiled my family with superior Southern Fried Chicken. (By the way, Miss Dollie said she uses a little seasoned salt instead of plain salt. I called her when my first piece was not flavored like her fried chicken or like Grandma's fried chicken.

6. I also learned today that keeping the hot oil at the proper temperature for optimum frying is more of an art than it is about following directions.  I just need some more practice in this area.

7. I just learned from my friend Teresa that leaving the skin on the chicken will give it more flavor. Today the dogs got the chicken backs and chicken skin...raw...look up BARF diet for dogs to understand.

I would rate my first attempt at fried chicken at a 5 out of a maximum of 10. The meat was moist and cooked well. A couple of pieces were cooked a little too much. None of it was undercooked. The crust was crunchier than I wanted, and the salt/pepper did not reach the meat as well as I wanted.

When I achieve the Southern Fried Chicken that Grandma, Mama, Louise or Dollie have cooked in the past, then I will proudly accept a rating of 10!

Unc and Gordon were so supportive! Mr. Wardell was here tonight to go with Unc for some late afternoon fishing for catfish, and he said the chicken was delicious. Mr. Wardell is a sweetheart, and he knew this was my first fried chicken. *grin*

So tonight, I am again flooded with happy memories of watching these four women cook Southern Fried Chicken. I feel a bit chagrined that my chicken was only a 5, even though I KNOW I will achieve that perfect 10 with some practice.

Today's cooking adventure has awakened deep feelings in me of wanting to earn my place in a long, long line of excellent Southern cooks, my genetic foremothers. I want my two fellas to be sneaking a freshly fried piece of chicken to eat almost as soon as it comes out of the skillet.

There are some nuances of emotions to today's experience that I don't fully understand yet...something I can't quite see...but this rite of passage today has moved me deeply. Maybe it has something to do with Mama's death in January and taking my place as Top Female in our little family of three. If you know what I'm experiencing, please email me and help me understand these emotions.

Back on Facebook

Thanks for all  your help in attempting to have my Facebook account restored!

Facebook did NOT restore my account, so I had to start from scratch. Please feel free to "friend" me on my new Facebook account: Penny Sanford Fikes.

I think this link will also get you there: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=233157915190&mbox_pos=0#/profile.php?id=1341114725&v=wall&ref=name

I could rant about Facebook and their lack of customer support, but the whole mess is over and I don't want to expend any more energy on it!

Here is my other contact information. If you Twitter, please add me, and I will add you in return.

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennysanford/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pennysfikes
YouTube: PennySanfordDesigns

Happy Social Networking!

Tonight, Gordon and I are giggling ourselves silly over some old Harold Lloyd movies on TCM, doing a little social networking in person, between the two of us! LOL!

Reconnecting with the nuances

Nuances is just one of my favorite words. Don't know why. Kinda weird to have a favorite word, huh?

In this case, I mean little things, simple things, tiny moments, memories of simple elements from my life that bring me peace. Calm moments and feelings. Remembered smells, sounds and tastes.

Those memories one would put in that Jim Croce bottle from his song, "Time in a Bottle".

"If I could save time in a bottle..."  The rest of the lyrics don't quite fit what I'm trying to express, but the mood of the song does.

Whenever I've experienced something very special...a moment with Gordon, a moment of creativity, one of those frequent experience that demonstrates God's protection...I've thought about the Jim Croce song.

I've purposely saved that moment, those emotions, those visual images, smells or tastes and have put them in my figurative Time Bottle to be able to play again like a video clip...a video clip with the added senses of taste, touch, smell and emotion..

This year has been all about reconnecting with those saved moments. These pictures represent just two of hundreds of tiny moments that fill the Time Bottle of my life.

This jar of gardenia cuttings that have sprouted roots in our kitchen windowsill brings back the many times I looked at Grandma's array of cuttings rooting in the two windows of her bathroom.

I remember vividly that the sun shone through the yellowed water, illuminating the white roots. I was fascinated as a child by her green thumb, and I tried to absorb every trick she told me about rooting cuttings.

I can just pull out of my Time Bottle the saved nuances of taking a bath in Grandma's huge cast iron tub, looking up at the dozen or so pint jars of rooting flowering shrubs. I can feel the texture of the worn tub, smell the towels and the Ivory soap, hear the water from the pipes that sang and the faucets that squeaked. I can even feel the sunshine on my back from one of those windows.

Grandma died in 1979, and the family and our life changed forever. Now she is with me every time I use one of her cast iron skillets or look at the two pint jars of gardenia cuttings rooting in the kitchen windowsill. My memories of her are as integral and penetrating to who I am today as these roots that will burrow into soil and feed a future gardenia plant, nourishing it to bloom.

The second picture is of Unc. He and I started a jigsaw puzzle last week. He saw me playing with a computerized jigsaw puzzle, and I realized that he was missing the time we have shared over the years, putting together jigsaw puzzles.

Another memory in my bottle. I can feel the heat of the wood fireplace at Grandma's house while Unc and I put together a jigsaw puzzle on a folding card table in the living room. Grandma was in her chair by the fireplace watching us, laughing quietly at our prattle.

Then when I moved back to the family farm in 1991, Unc and I started a new jigsaw puzzle just before Christmas each year, after all my porcelain orders had been filled. This time it was Mama sitting in her comfy chair laughing at our prattle.

Last week, as we opened the box of a puzzle we had put together before, this Noah's Ark puzzle, Unc used the same phrases he has used for every puzzle we have assembled together.

"Don't pick out one with too many pieces."
"I think you put two puzzles in this box! There are too many pieces for just this puzzle."
"Don't take it apart...we need all the help we can get!"
"I found a corner!"

Our methods remain the same, after 40-plus years of assembling jigsaw puzzles together. I pull out the edge pieces first. Unc turns over the pieces and pulls out the edge pieces as he goes. Then the daily search for pieces that fall onto the floor or get picked up or chewed on by a pet. Sharing the box top to reference the photo as we work on our respective areas of assembly.

"I need HELP on this puzzle," his lure to get me to come work on the puzzle.
"I'm putting together more of this puzzle than you are," another lure to get me to come work on the jigsaw.

Unc is 83 years old. I must save these moments in my Time Bottle, because this may be the last jigsaw puzzle we ever put together...together. Unc is in fantastic health for a man 20 years younger, but none of us is promised tomorrow.

So every day, I try to save a good memory in my bottle. This entire year has been about appreciating, revisiting, reconnecting with the nuances that comprise the happy memories in my Time Bottle.

First Butterbeans and Snap Beans of the year

Nothing can possibly taste any better than the first snap beans of the year. Even if one cans or freezes vegetables to enjoy year round, that flavor of veggies fresh from the garden, still warm from the sunshine...is impossible to capture in words or seasonings!

We like to eat our green beans/string beans/snap beans very small, before they develop any "strings" to pull off. We boil them with salt and butter. That is it. They have THE BEST nutty flavor.

Then yesterday and today, Unc brought in the first butterbeans for us this year. Again, we pick them small, definitely smaller than a dime. They are so tender and flavorful when they are small like that. A delicacy to be able to harvest one's vegetables at the size one prefers.

Same with squash. We like them at five to seven inches long. Nice pretty quarter-sized slices. Tender. Flavorful!

Today Unc pulled one okra pod. Just one. We cooked it with the green beans. It was divine! We'll start freezing the baby green beans and baby butterbeans as soon as we are picking more than a one-day's serving of each of these veggies.

Unc's garden has done well this year. He has had to plant a few vegetables twice because of the heavy spring rains, so we have not had the quantity of vegetables we want to share with friends. He plans to start planting some things for a fall garden, so our canning and freezing season will last for months more!

I'm thankful for every morsel of home-grown, chemical-free food that goes in our freezers!

I'll have to photograph and share the squash casserole recipe with you. We tweaked it a little from Grandma's recipe, and Unc and I are besotted with it. Gordon still will not eat veggies. What do I do with him to convince him to eat veggies? *sigh*