It's Christmas time again!

Usually I love Christmas and way over decorate the house. Now I still love Christmas but this year I just did not have the energy or desire to decorate. After some pressure from Randy and then the guilt feelings we finally got the tree up. I turned the lights on today for probably the third time all season....never here to enjoy them :0. Today I'm listening to all my Christmas CD's while getting everything ready for the big family party tonight.

We love to get together and visit and once in a while play a game or two, but our favorite activity is eating ! being the Holidays we have to have all kinds of goodies to snack on and here is just a few. The rest will be arriving in a few hours.

I love Nativity sets and am the proud owner of 6 different sets. These are two of my favorites. The first one is an Avon set that I bought years ago when my girls were little. They are plastic and pretty much indestructible. The stable I found at Pic n Save for a dollar before it became Big Lots. The grandchildren love being able to play with it.
I love to tole paint and this is one of the nativities I painted. It was actually one of the first things I ever painted too. Obviously the reason I love these two sets is because I am a grandma and I don't have to keep saying "don't touch" ! :) . Mmmm... I can smell the baked potatoes so I best be getting them out of the oven. Tonight it's Prime Rib Roast and twice baked potatoes. Yum!! Can't wait! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Where, oh where, have I been? Really I'm probably just a little lazy and a little tired and haven't had a whole lot to say. Oh and I've been a little busy too :).

Do you wonder what I've been doing? Well I'll tell you anyway. I've been spending quite a bit of time helping this daughter with her precious three. She had to go to work to make ends meet since she has no husband to help her. They are good kids and usually not much trouble. The littlest one up until this week has called her mommy and me mamma. Now he has learned that I am gamma. The kids have been struggling a bit since their dad left them AGAIN! He volunteered to go to Iraq twice and now he has moved to California, about a 10 hour drive from here. Wonder how often he'll make the effort to come see them?

The other thing I have been spending some time at is one of my favorite places to be.... the candy store :). I am usually there Tues., Thurs night and a Sat. shift and an occasional Fri. night. That hasn't left me a whole lot of time with Randy and so far he's been pretty patient with that. Sometimes he comes to the store and brings me some dinner or just visits when I'm not busy.

The other "event " that has happened recently is my Mother-in-law passed away on November 5th. She was 97 years old! She has spent the last year in a nursing home having to have everything done for her. By the time she died she was a mere skeleton of herself and did not really know who we were. Her hearing and eyesight were pretty much gone and when she did try to talk she was difficult to understand. It was hard to lose her but at the same time it was also good for her to go. She was a very hard worker her whole life. She was an excellent cook....we will miss her pies, rolls and raspberry jam the most. She was very generous with her friends and neighbors, always taking them veggies and fruit from her garden and fruit trees and baked goods from her kitchen. She loved to crochet and all of her children have blankets that she made for them. She also made lots of patchwork quilts and hand stitched them! That is a lost art now, most everyone sews them on sewing machines now. I want to be like her when I grow up. She used to say to my girls "Who loves you?" and they would dutifully reply "Grandma does!" She will be missed.

ZZzzzzzz.....

Oh boy, is this a long week or what? As usual I have been tending Kaylene's kids for her. I have also been working at the candy store every night this week except for Monday. Tonight and tomorrow I get to watch the kids and work at the store again. Luckily I enjoy doing both :). Unluckily it's been a Crappy week for getting some decent sleep! You would think that watching kids and then standing on my feet all evening would wear me out. Not so.


. . . . . . . . . . . . This is how I feel. I wish I could fall asleep as easily as this sweet little guy. I think he's learned that talent from his Poppa who also can fall asleep sitting up!

Fall is Here!

My calendar says yesterday was the first day of autumn. My bones say it happened last week! Fall hits and I start craving homemade soups and stews. So today I had some leftover steak in the fridge and used it to make my mom's stew. It's never as good as what she used to make but it's as good as it gets now a days. Mother never used a recipe, it was just "use a little of this and a handful of that and throw in a...". As a result I cook the same way and when the girls call and say "how do you make...." I now know how my mom felt when I did that :).

So have you ever wondered how people stay married for 34 years? Give a little, take a little, compromise, agree to disagree and patience. What's that got to do with fall and stew you may be wondering. Well I'll tell you.

This is how Randy likes his stew. He is a purist and likes things simple and easy. Hand him a spoon and he's good to go.

Now I like to dig around in the soup pot and get lots of carrots a potato and just a few pieces of meat. I'll take whatever cabbage clings to the veggies, the more the better :0. Then I like to push the meat to the side and mush the veggies together. Then I pour some broth from the stew on and squirt ketchup and sprinkle seasoning salt all over the top. Oh and you should have a slice of bread with butter to mop up all the juices. Hmmm, I may have to go back for seconds! Yes, Randy's does look more appetizing, but mine tastes better!

So as you can see we agree to disagree on how we like our stew. That's how we have managed to stay together all these years.....well one way anyway :).

Cummings Studio Chocolates!

I started a dream job this week. As you may or may not know, but you will know now, :0, is that I LOVE chocolate. This is "my" store. My meaning that this is where I am actually getting paid money to show up and look at, smell and yes even sample chocolate. It's a tough job but someone has to sacrifice and do it :0.

Sure we sell other things besides chocolate, like some really good caramel nut popcorn, caramel apples and some non-chocolate candies.

This is behind the scenes. The back room where we keep the "extra" product. Look at all that yummy chocolate. Heaven, I'm in Heaven!

This is grand opening day. The balloons have pieces of paper in them that tell you what gift you have won. We gave away bags of caramel corn, chocolate covered pretzel sticks, 2 piece and 4 piece boxes of chocolate. We also were out in front of the store offering free samples to everyone who walked or rather tried to walk past the store ;) .

Here I am (in the pink) helping a customer. I'm waiting on the slow credit card machine. The lady standing next to me is Jo...she is one of the owners of this store. Which I suppose makes her my boss. But she is also my friend. I have known her since 1984 when we moved into her neighborhood. Two of her daughters are friends of two of my girls. Ten years ago when the girls were in high school they worked for Jo at the main store in Salt Lake.

So come see us at Cummings Studio Chocolates at Jordan Landing in West Jordan, Utah. we are open Monday thru Saturday, 10 am til 9 pm. I wonder if there will be chocolate in Heaven??

It's a Bargain!

Have I told you that I love yard sales? Of course I have. I go just about every Saturday. I even have Randy trained so he goes with me on his day off and knows what to look for :). This week I got some good deals on scrapbooking (or in my case cardmaking) stuff. But the best bargain this week was this candy jar.


It came with 7 wood hand painted lids. Now, I used to do a bit of tole painting and its a lot of work! Not mention the glass jar sells for a dollar or two at the store. So I heard the lady tell someone that she wanted 50 cents for it! Boy did my ears perk up :0. The "customer" looked at it and walked away so I moved in for the kill! I said "Does that 50 cents include all the toppers?" The seller said "yes, I just want to get rid of them." I handed her 5o cents before anyone else could. Well the jar is just perfect to put on my desk filled with M&M's. (Have I mentioned my M&M addiction?) It'll look so cute! And I can change the toppers according to my mood :0. Notice there is a really cute pig one :). Since I ate all my M&M's a few minutes ago I gotta go to the store and get more! It is Saturday so I hope Wal Marts not toooo busy, but even if it is tomorrow is Sunday and I cannot go until Monday without my "fix".

FLIES??

Today while I was tending Evan and Weston I needed to go on an errand. Evan was sitting in the third row of my car just a jabbering away and I was half listening and inserting a really? or uh huh, every once in awhile.

All of a sudden I realized he asked me a question. The conversation went like this:

Evan: blah, blah, blah, blah.....speaking of flies, granma why are they called flies?
granma: Huh?? Oh, well...um, I don't know.
Evan: Okay, maybe dad knows...or I'll ask grandpa, he knows everything.

Okay, well, he probably doesn't really know everything, but to a 5 year old child who loves his grandpa I guess he's pretty smart. Grandpa likes to say he knows a little bit about a lot of things. That's because he sits in that chair and "surfs the net" and I've caught him reading some of the weirdest, most boring stuff, and it has sure come in handy for him to know those things :0

What Happened??

just in case anyone notices or cares, the desk photo somehow got lost on my previous post. So here it is.

More COOKBOOKS ??

Okay I admit. I have a problem! I can't seem to stop myself from collecting things. I like to read cookbooks :0. I can spend hours just looking through them and marking recipes I want to try. It makes me happy :). Yesterday I went out for my Saturday yard sales and I got a church published cookbook and 2 Taste of Home ones for only a quarter!!! They have hardly been used except for the chocolate stain on page 4 ( Chocolate Plunge sounds yummy). I love the church and community cookbooks because they are usually the best recipes! Everyone puts in their family favs:). Guess how I will be spending my quiet Sunday?

This is my desk in the office. I won't show you the whole desk because it's a disaster as usual :0. Anyway these are my recipe pamphlets and magazines and a stack of recipes that I am copying onto 4x6 cards to go into my box. I try a recipe and if it gets positive comments from the family or friends it goes into my box and we have it again sometime. If the family doesn't like it it goes in the "round" file, or in my case the rectangle one.
Another book shelf which is a work in progress. I know it looks messy but believe or not I do have a system and generally know where the recipe is that I want. The box with the pink flower on it has computer printed recipes that I haven't made yet and the box under that has blank cards and plastic sleeves. I rarely use the sleeves anymore since I got a laminator :). Market Pig guards the goods...teehee. Sigh yet another addiction....pigs :).

My kitchen bookcase. It all started with the green book on the middle shelf, second book on the left, "The American International Encyclopedic Cookbook", and it's as heavy as its name...lol.. I got it for a wedding gift waaayyyy back in 1975. Hubby worked nights and I was pregnant and not working so I spent hours reading that book! Then I had to have that wonderful red and white checked one, Better Homes, and now have three of those. The box on the top shelf is where the family favorites are and just to let you in on a secret, most of them are desserts...LOL. The writing on it says "Pigs love good food" and of course it has a pig on it! I think I'll go read one of my new books....

BTW, yesterday I also got an almost new, not even stained, car seat for 5 bucks and found a house I want for only $349,000.00 :). No I didn't buy it....yet :0.

Mile High Biscuits!

I have lived in the Salt Lake Valley now for 32 years! Did I just say 32 years!? My how time flies. In all that time I have never been to the famous, featured on Drive-ins and Dives, Ruth's Diner. Ruth's is located up Emigration Canyon just above Salt Lake City. I used to work at the Foothill Post Office which is only a few miles from Ruth's and I still never went there. My loss! This week my friend Dedie was here from Washington and we decided that we had to make time to go to Ruth's for breakfast, so we loaded up 3 of my grandkids, 3 of hers and her Daughter- in- law, Kim and 2 of her daughters.


This is Susie, who had been there before and knew to dig right in to the biscuits before someone beat her to it. Ooh, they were so good! I wonder how they make them so tall and not have them dried out or burned? Hmmm.... I think I'm going to have to do some experimenting in my spare time!

Yes of course they have something besides just biscuits there!


This is Jackie, she is Dedie's "baby"and obviously loves having her picture taken. I was trying to get a good picture of the food. Jackie knows good food, after all she loves to come to Antie Barbs for dinner. That's me of course :) Looks like she ordered a quiche with fresh fruit on the the side. I thought the prices were a little high, it was 5.99 for a teddy bear pancake and 3.99 for a glass of o.j. I didn't order anything for me and it cost over 20 dollars for two pancakes, a milk and an o.j. I helped Dedie eat her omelet and hash browns. They were okay but I think I was smart to not order anything for myself...I would have been disappointed and pouty faced because it "isn't as good as mine". So if you ever go to Ruth's Diner invite me along and I'll just have one of those "complimentary" biscuits :).

Fire!!

Last Saturday was a busy day for us! Kaylene and I had our Super Saturday activity at church where we"taught" a card class. Grandpa tended Wes.


We got home about 3:15 and the neighbor was having a yard sale...Now I'm not one to pass up many yard sales and when it's right next door, well, of course I have to check it out :). So I'm busy digging and soon I hear Kaylene yelling, DAD! GET OUT OF THE GARAGE, GET OUT OF THE GARAGE, DAD! The back of the garage on the outside was on fire! I wanted to know where Wes was! Soon we spotted him in front of the bushes and grabbed and ran...Randy for a hose and Kay and I to get out of the way. Several neighbors were already on the phone with 911.

People were coming from all corners of the neighborhood to see if they could help and make sure no one was hurt. I have lived here 4 1/2 years and some of these people I have never seen :0. Just goes to show if there's an emergency they will come!

We ended with with I think, 3 firetrucks and several cop cars, who were needed and the paramedics, who thankfully were not needed.

The fire is out and the damage was in the back of the house. The worst damage was inside where they had to tear down the ceiling looking for hot spots. The "excitement" is over and now it's down to assessing the real damages and cleaning and rebuilding. So far the estimate is around 100 grand. Poor Scott! Well the good thing to come of this is we found out we have caring and helpful neighbors in time of need.

Fresh Peach Cookies

I saw a recipe on Martha Stewarts web site. Ooh! It sounded so yummy to me and I thought to myself I need to find some good fresh peaches so I can try these. Well a few days later we were in the fruit belt of Washington state. I found peaches that were the size of a softball, they were HUGE! and YUMMY, JUICY and SWEET! The recipe calls for 2 large peaches but I only needed one of those babies...and it's a good thing because I only had 1 left... tee hee.

See the chunks of peaches?

Now I am a lover of raw cookie dough. In all my years of eating dough with raw eggs I have never gotten sick so you can't talk me out of it :). The dough was yummy so I thought the cookies would be good and they were.... BUT!

I just wasn't thinking! How many times have you heard or said that phrase? I'll use the lack of sleep as my excuse....only 3 hours last night :(. Anyway I know that when I try a new cookie recipe I need to bake a test tray first. Well I threw my first tray in the oven and loaded up the next 3 trays and sprinkled the cinnamon sugar on them and then it hit me! I peeked in the oven and sure enough, flat cookies! Groan!! I absolutely hate flat cookies and will not be sharing this embarrassing batch with anyone! I don't want to tarnish my cookie reputation, LOL! They still taste okay so Randy will sacrifice and eat them for me. Next time I make them I will start with a little extra flour. So here is the recipe:

Fresh Peach Drop Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 1/3 cup peach jam or preserves
• 2 tablespoons fine sanding sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.
2. Beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Add peaches and jam, and beat until just combined.
3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing about 2 inches apart. If you don't have parchment paper spray lightly with Pam.(If not baking all of the cookies at once, refrigerate dough between batches; dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.) Combine sanding sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar mixture.
4. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Plans Change

We got to my sister's place on Tuesday and found out that they wouldn't be able to "road trip" with us :( . Dan's mom was basically in a coma and not expected to live long and she passed away 4 days later on Saturday morning. So sad. So we decided to spend a few days with them just hanging out . Took a few blurry photos for you to see some of what we did :0 .
The first thing we did was go see my niece, Melissa who had just had a baby 4 days earlier. I love babies ! This is Ashya (pronounced like Asia). I think the blur makes me look younger and softer. Ha Ha Ha! Sometimes I can be so funny.

The next day, Wednesday, we decided to take a day trip with Dan and Peni over to the coast. This is a VERY tall tree near Lake Quinault which is near the Olympic Nat'l Park. There are so many green trees and plants, so very different from what we have in Utah.

While Randy had camera duty I and Dan and Peni stayed by the car to be sure it didn't roll away. The car actually looks clean for a change! Movin' on down the road....

we just happened upon Forks where the story and movie Twilight took place. We were hungry, which is pretty much an ongoing thing with me, and Dan spotted a cafe so we pulled in. Much to my surprise and happiness it was the cafe from the movie! I was so excited! And then disappointed :( . The food was not good. We ordered a hot beef sandwich and it came out looking like dark gelatinous chocolate over the entire plate.... not appetizing at all. It was yucky gravy. Now I make good gravy! Hmm... I wonder if I should get a job there as cook? Nope.

After lunch we stopped in at the Chamber of Commerce and got a picture of Bella's truck. It's not the actual truck, just a copy. Then we got a map of Forks and went and looked at Bella's house, and drove past Dr. Cullens Hospital. We also went to the local grocery store and bought some Twilight candy.

Then we drove around to Bainbridge Island where we caught the ferry across to Seattle. It was a short trip but riding the ferry is always kind of fun. Sometimes I am so easy to please!

Very faintly in the background is Mount Rainier. The day we came over White Pass we had several great photo ops for the Mount but silly me...I said "Oh, we'll be here for a few days, we can get a better one". Never count on that in Seattle! The rest of the week was overcast and the mountain was in hiding. Sooo...this is the best photo we got.

We got off the ferry right by Pikes Market at 5:45 pm and parked the car so we could explore the market. Guess what we found out? Pikes Market closes at 6 pm even during the summer and tourist season! How dumb is that?! At least I got to see a few pigs :)

I have no idea who this kid is, but the pig is Rachel and she is in front of the marketplace. I guess she is their mascot or something. The boy is asking his grandma for dollars to put in the pig! Whatever happened to putting pennies in a piggy bank? Inflation! :0 . We had dinner on the wharf at Ivars, which is a seafood place. I make better clam chowder! Maybe I should work at Ivars? Nope.

The next day I spotted a scrap booking store. So I drug Randy and Peni there and spent some time looking and drooling. Dan had an interview so he escaped the fun :). They had this fun card on display as their class for August. It looked like something I wanted, so, I put on my sad face and told the clerk that I lived far away and really, really would like to purchase the kit for this card. Normally they won't sell the kit unless you sign up for the class, but I can look really really sad when I want to. The lady was very nice and sold me one so now I can copy it and make as many as I want! I like to make cards.

The next morning we headed for Highway 101 to take the long way home since we had plenty of time. This is Astoria bridge that goes over the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon. Or the other way around if you are in Oregon! Magic! Anyway I think it is about 4 miles long.

That is one looong bridge. On the way down 101 we saw lots of coastline and water and trees. Its very beautiful along that route! Pretty soon we came to Tillamook, where they make cheese and ice cream.

Naturally we had to stop and go in. I pretended to be interested in the cheese making process all the while thinking about that yummy ice cream and hoping that we were going to get some. Positive thinking pays off! We shared a sampler with Marionberry, Rocky Road and some caramel nut kind, probably pecans. Randy likes the nutty caramel, I like the chocolate and we decided to be healthy and get fruit, LOL! Then like any decent tourist trap they had a huge store and gift shop so that took awhile for me to look at everything. Dang! I couldn't find a thing I just had to have. We left there and headed north to spend the night in Salem, Oregon. The next day we drove and stopped, and drove and stopped, and drove until we got to Ontario, Or. where we spent the night. The next morning Randy was like a horse headed for water and we were on our way home! We got home home 3 days sooner than planned but that's okay. Maybe next year we can do the Yellowstone trip with my sis. This was my last trip for awhile since I'll be tending grandkids now and going to work at a candy shop! Cummings makes better chocolate than me so I need to work there so I can eat it!! Hmmm.... wonder if there's any chocolate in the house? Silly question :0

I'm going on a trip....Again

And I'm going to take a suitcase....or two. In my suitcase I'm going to put....Do you remember playing that game when you were a kid? It's a good memory game and was fun trying to make someone forget or get confused :0. Back to my trip, after all this blog is all about me so I get to talk about my trip. Are you jealous yet? Let's see, no kids to whine, "are we there yet?", "I hafta go potty!" (that will be me saying that one, teehee) , "I'm hungry!" (me again :) ). Oh well it will be a peaceful trip for me but not for Randy...LOL.

Oh? Where am I going? So glad you asked! I'm taking Randy and we are going to Pasco, WA. and spend the night with my friend Dedie. Then we are going to my sis' house near Tacoma and spend a few days there with her, my brothers and some of my nieces and nephews. Then we are going to kennel Peni's dogs and pack up her and her hubby, Dan, and head across the state to Spokane area. We are going to stop and see what ever interests us and make our way to Yellowstone and Jackson Wy. From there we will head home to do some laundry and do a few "staycation" things here. Dan and Peni will be with us for a few days and then fly home on the 4th of August. Peni and I like to do a little road trip every once in a while and this time the guys got invited. Wonder how that happened?? :). So we're off bright and early in the morning and I'll try to remember to take some pictures to show you when I get back! Oh come on, I know you're interested...why else are you here? So check back after Aug 1st and I should have an update of some kind :)

Mom's Surprise Cookies

When I was growing up mom made everything from scratch. Not many people do that anymore with all the convenient mixes around. She didn't make a lot of sweets but did do cookies for the holidays. One of my favorite cookies were her hidden mint cookies. I've changed it up a little for my non mint fans:).

First thing you do is grab a bag of mini Milky Ways, (or snickers, rolos, mint wafers ...you get my drift?) and unwrap them and set them aside. Okay go ahead and eat one, you may have an extra anyway:). Then pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Now you need some softened butter, secret ingredient #1, granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix it up til its nice and smooth.


Then add your eggs, a little water, and some vanilla...I like the real vanilla. Mix that up and then take the beaters out of your machine and put in the dough hook. Your dough is going to be stiff after we add the dry ingredients.

Now you're going to add flour, secret ingredient #2, baking soda and salt and mix that until it's all incorporated.

Okay grab a scoop, my favs are the pampered chef ones and for this recipe I use the medium size. Scoop up the dough and press a candy in the center, pop it out and smooth the dough around the candy. Make sure there's no holes or the chocolate will ooze out. What a waste!

.............................This is what they will look like pre-baked

-------------------And baked. Be right back gotta go have a cookie :)

Since I made a double batch I had some dough leftover so I looked in my freezer and found some partial bags of chips, in this case they were chocolate and peanut butter chips. I threw them in and Voila! two kinds of cookies for my card party!

My secret ingredients? You shouldn't give away your secrets but since I don't have a very large following I'll share this time:). I like to substitute cream cheese for SOME of the butter. I go 1/4 cream cheese to 3/4 butter unless I'm feeling rich then I go 1/2 and 1/2. I also like to throw in a small box, per batch, of pudding. any flavor will do. It gives the cookie better flavor and we all want cookies with better flavor, LOL! Okay here's the recipe without the secret ingredients added in::

Mom's Mint Surprise Cookies

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mini Milky Ways or
candy of your choice, unwrap and set aside

1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 TBSP water
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt


Mix well the butter and sugars. Then add the water, vanilla and eggs and mix again. Change out your beaters to the dough hook and then add the dry ingredients and mix well. get your scoop and get a scoopful of dough and place a candy in the middle and wrap so there are no holes in the dough. Repeat about 3 dozen times! :0. Bake for about 12 minutes until they start to get golden brown. Do not overbake! This should be a soft cookie. Let cool long enough so you don't burn your tongue and taste test. Mmmm, okay maybe I better go have another cookie :).