AUTUMN HAS ARRIVED IN EAST TEXAS!

Fall is HERE!  Usually, autumn comes to our area softly and quietly, just kinda sneaks in.  Well, this weekend, autumn came slamming through here with solid rain for two days and North winds 15-25 mph.  It's 62 degrees outside at 8:27 pm.  We haven't seen these temps since probably March or April at the latest.  Last week, we had highs in the 90s, and sure, it'll warm up into the upper 80's this week, but WOW!  It's been nice!  Even Bug (the chihuahua) at 13 years of age has been tearing around here like a mad nanny goat enjoying the cooler air.  She's been so frisky!

Only thing was, this morning at 6:00 am while we still in bed, the power went off.  Bleh.  The only reason I would know is that my box fan went silent all of a sudden.  I guess the wind and rain shut something down. It also shut down the pump or generators at the water supply out here.  So we had no electric, and just a tiny trickle of water - I guess whatever was left in the lines - at least we could use the toilet - took forever to fill back up but at least we didn't have to go outside and find a tree.

We did alot of nothing today.  Some napping, reading, snacking - couldn't cook anything. At 5:00 pm, we wound up going to my folks' house to shower and do my hair for work tomorrow.  Then, after doing that, we got a call from friends that the electric was back on.  I knew that would happen.  Didn't get to church today because there was no water or electricity to get ready!  It's amazing how much we depend on it.  AND I had baked a beautiful, moist, rich homemade chocolate cake with fudge-y icing Saturday to take to our lunch fellowship today!  Shoot!  Oh well......................

Oops - looks like we've already made a good dent in this cake.  Actually, I did carry my daddy several pieces.  He loves his desserts!

I'm getting quite a few eggs now and have been taking 2-3 dozen to work with me each week to sell... Helps pay for feed...  I now have 10 hens.  I got me a white leghorn last week.  I didn't have a white chicken.  It's all about color - plus I decided I needed another white egg-layer.  Tony just shook his head...and rolled his eyes.

Also, I forgot to announce that I entered my plum jelly in the East Texas State Fair and I got a BLUE RIBBON!  YEA ME!  Thank you Mammaw!  She would be so proud!

See that 'un there in the middle with the blue ribbon?  It says Vickie on it.  That's my plum 

jelly!  I'm sorry I'm tootin' my own horn but hey... I'm very excited!  I will hang my ribbon proudly on my pie safe where all my jellies are stored!

Just one  more pic of my little garden shed... The garden's been long gone.  I'm just SO glad we made the decision 4 years ago NOT to tear it down.  It was falling over sideways, but between hubby and his friend they got that sucker jacked up and straightened and repaired and saved this rustic little shed.  I absolutely love it!

Well, that's about all today, my friends --- I am still alive and kickin' - just been SO busy around here. I've been hoppin' around readin' in blogland  - just not commenting much.  Take care - I'll be back soon!!!

Summertime Fishin' with Pop

Howdy-doody, cold people! Howsa 'about a little hot summertime fishin'?  That oughta get you all nice and toasty!  Just think, settin' there in the sunshine in the boat or on the pier, whether at a lake or on the oceanside... Cain't ya just hear the water lappin' against the pier, maybe swattin' red wasps that like to get up under the eaves of the pier?  Sippin' a cold one (Coke, I mean) and the sun fryin' the tops of your thighs and anything else it can reach? Sweat runnin' down into every crevice and crack on your body? You set there long enough, the sweat and fish stink and dirt makes granny beads on yer neck and inside your elbows. Doncha just love it???  Here's my firstborn on his first fishin' trip 25 years ago with his Pop (my daddy).  Look that proud accomplishment on his little face! He's as proud of that little perch as any trophy bass fisherman, and Pop is just as proud, too! My dad was a trophy/tournament fisherman in his day... I still go fishin' with him... I love it!

And ya know what? Adam and Daddy are still at it 25 years later!

You know what?  Guys can do alot of talkin' and solvin' the problems of the world and life settin' on the lake. It takes alot of patience to fish, lots of analogies about life and fishin' that Daddy taught us kids and now my kids, and there's alot of other things to talk about, too. It's a great "male bonding" thing. But what about when Dad takes ME?  Lotsa good daddy/daughter time, too.  I catch up on what my daddy's into. He's always puttering around doing something. Fishing, huntin', buildin' stuff, fixin' stuf'f, oh yeah, now he's into surfin' the net and whatever the latest techno-gadget is.  He's got a game camera on some of his deerfeeders and it takes night pictures of deer, hogs, whatever comes to eat the corn. It's pretty cool.  I think my daddy still looks pretty good to be in his 70's. He hasn't slowed down much.

And here's yours truly! Today we're catchin' crappie, right off the pier. We like to bass-fish out on the lake, but this is crappie season, and we're pullin' em in right and left. As I recall, we had a big ole fish fry at the farm that night. This was back in the summer of 09.  They were practially jumpin' up on the pier for us.  It was so hot even in the shade, I didn't have a dry thread on me when we got ready to leave. Daddy didn't either.  You know that time in the mid to late summer when the lake water is tepid- feels like bathwater almost - and it's not even refreshin' anymore?  Well, that was this time of summer! We drank several bottles of Gatorade between us and our fishbait (shrimp) was stinkin' to high heaven. I'm sure we smelled lovely when we got back to Mom's. And she WILL shoo you outside if you're too stinky or have dirt or mud on your shoes. And you cain't set down on her furniture without a towel under ya.

Wish there'd been a 3rd person with us so we could have our picture taken together... If there's anything that was any funner (is that a word?) in this world, then the Good Lord saved it for Himself! That's what my Nanny always used to say.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed fishin' hot summertime lakes today in Texas. We can batter up them fish and throw 'em out on the pavement and watch 'em fry if you'd like to. It'd be better than gettin' all that fish grease out and heatin' up and stinkin' up the kitchen. We'll just get out the big propane fryer & cook 'em in there.  Cut ya up some sweet onion slices, fix some coleslaw, fries and some jalapeno hushpuppies and some fish grease cream gravy!  Mmmmmm - it just don't get any better than that!  I can't wait!

LUNCH! TAMALES!!!

Look what I had today for lunch!  My friend, Lourdes Espinoza, came by with a dozen of these yummy tamales for me today. She is such a sweetheart. She has 6 kids, and still finds time to make tamales. You know they are very time consuming to make. I've made them a couple of times, and decided I wouldn't make them again until and unless I'm not working anymore.  I'm sure Lourdes has it down to a science.

They were great - just right - still hot - not too bland nor too spicy - Boy she does a great job on tamales!!!

It's usually Thanksgiving or Christmas when she has them but she suprised me today!  Can you smell 'em??

Boy howdy, they sure are good!

PUCKER UP FOR PICKLES, YA'LL!!!

(BLOGGER IS NOT LETTING ME DOUBLE SPACE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS! SORRY!)


Are ya'll ready to make Mamaw's Spicy Pickles??? I finally got around to makin' 'em Friday night. This week's been busy. Okay, here's the ingredients: one batch is about 4 quart jars. sliced up pickling cucumbers - I don't know how many - I had about 2 1/2 gallon size ziploc bags full. onions - slices or quarters

fresh garlic cloves - about 2 per quart jar

celery - 3 stalks cut into 1" chunks

jalapeno peppers (or serrano if you want it spicier) - cut into quarters or smaller if they're big

apple cider vinegar - 1 quart per batch

1 pint water

4 c. sugar

1/2 c. canning salt

dill seed/fresh dill

Like on the jelly, I take my jars fresh outta the dishwasher, all hot & steamy - 4 quart or 8 pint jars at a time and set em on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Into each jar (I'm going with quart, if you use pint you'll use a little less of each of the veggies) put a couple of sprigs of fresh dill, 1/4 to 1/2 t. dill seed, several pieces of onion, 3-4 pieces of celery, a couple of cloves of garlic, a piece of jalapeno, and as many slices of cucumber as you can stuff and squeeze down in there and still get a lid on. (When that hot vinegar solution hits those cukes, they'll shrink up alot)

Oh yeah, before all this, remember to wash your lids and bands, and put them into a pot of water on the stove, bring to a boil, and then simmer and keep steaming hot to seal your jars with.
Ok, see in the above picture, I've got my jars all packed & ready with the funnels for the vinegar solution. Here we go:

In a large stockpot, put your quart of apple cider vinegar, 4 c. sugar, 1/2 c. canning salt, and 1 pint of water. Add 1/2 t. dill seed to this solution and heat on medium high heat. Stir and get all the sugar and salt melted and bring the solution to a full rolling boil. Open the windows and turn on the fans!!! It'll open up your sinuses for sure, peel the hair off your head and make your eyes water worse than onions!!! Keep your face out of the steam! Hey it's a great way to run your kids outside if you're tired of 'em being underfoot! Mine used to scatter to the four winds.

Sorry, I got carried away with the vinegar stench... It gets to me sometimes... After your solution has boiled a couple or three minutes, turn it on low, get you a cup with a spout on it to scoop, and start scoopin' the vinegar into the jars & use your jar funnels if you have em. Go ahead and fill all the jars to within 1/4 inch or so of the top. Wipe off the mouths of the jars, and get your tongs or your nifty magnetized lid and band picker upper and put the tops on and then screw the bands down real tight. I always use a couple of wet, squeezed out dishrags to handle the jars. They'll be VERY hot and sticky. I invert the jars and set em on the cabinet for awhile and then turn em over later when they've cooled a bit.

Here's my disclaimer again - This is the way my mamaw taught me and I've always done it like her and will continue to do it like her. Some people at this point may want to put the jars in a canning bath and that's fine. But we like our pickles crispy and if you do the canning bath, they cook some more and get kinda soft and floppy. It's probably not by govt. standards but I figure the vinegar takes care of the pickling. We've always eaten em this way - no problem.

That's up to you. (As you can see, I had enough cukes to make 2 batches.)

You can eat em the next day, but the longer they SET, the better they'll be. I usually go open a jar about 2 weeks after or so, and they're great. They won't last long. I've got scads more cucumbers getting ripe, so I'll make some more. And with the big green ones that are too big to slice, well they're getting made into sweet pickle relish. I put up some green tomatoes like this, and they were good, too.

Good luck! Let me know if you make some - hope you like em!

Plum Jelly

Good morning! Are you ready to make jelly? Are you Sure (Jell) ?????
(disclaimer: I'm doing this the way my mamaw taught me - if it's not by the book or doesn't meet GOVT standards, I could care less - I ain't sellin' it)

I used the 8 oz jars cuz they're a good size to give away, and the jelly doesn't turn to sugar before you eat the whole jar. I run all my jars and bands through the hot dishwasher before the canning process and take them hot right out of the DW and set them in a big jelly roll pan so the juice won't get all over the cabinet. Also, put your bands and lids into another pan covered with water and keep them just under boiling.

Ok get your stuff ready - the biggest stock pot you have, a canning strainer or a colander with little bitty holes, your magnetic lid & band picker-upper (if you don't have one, you can use tongs), cheesecloth, your ingredients.... oh, about 5 lbs or so of fruit (plums), lotsa sugar, a few boxes of Sure-Jell, lemon juice, butter... I think that's all.

1. Wash your plums and get all the junk off of 'em. Put them in your stock pot and add about 2 cups of water, just enough so's you can see the water in the bottom of the pot. 2. On medium heat, cook your plums about 15 minutes or until all the peelings come off and the fruit is cooked. Stir around a few times so they don't stick to the bottom - you don't want burnt-tastin' jelly.

3. I didn't get a picture of this next part cuz I needed both hands to do what I needed to do. Ok, squish your plums around just a little with a potato masher or something to loosen up the pulp. Then get you a big bowl or another big stockpot and place your canning strainer over the pot and put 2-3 cups at a time into the strainer and let it drain through into the pot. If you have a canning squisher (seen in the above photo - wooden), roll it around in the pulp and get a little bit of that into the juice in the pan. Not too much, you don't want your jelly to be pulpy, you want it to be clear and red - it's pretty that way. Also, you can use cheesecloth inside your strainer if you want to get more pulp out, especially if you don't have a canning strainer.

4. Discard all the pulp, peelings, and seeds in the trash. You should have quite a bit of juice left now. Wash your big stockpot out a little or use another one (you WILL make a big mess making jelly, so just get ready for it).

5. Now, cuz my Mamaw taught me this way, I put 5 and 1/2 to 6 cups of the juice back into the pot. I add 6 & 1/2 C. of sugar, sometimes 7. I don't measure very well. Then, add 1 T of lemon juice, one box of Sure-Jell and 1 big pat of butter (keeps it from sticking so bad). On medium high heat, cook this mixture and stir until everything is dissolved. Keep cooking, say for 10-15 minutes, at a soft rolling boil, stirring occasionally - don't let it stick.

6. Get you a plate and set it beside your stove while you're cookin' and every once in awhile put a drop or two of the jelly mixture onto the plate and let it cool. When the little dabs start getting thick and gooy-er or setting up (it's still going to be liquid-y, but gooey), then it's done. Turn off the stove, and get a scooper - a glass measuring cup works well. I use a 2 cup glass.

7. Scoop up jelly mixture out of the pot and carefully pour into your jars one at a time up to about 1/8" to 1/4" from the top. Make sure that you clean off the top rims of the jars. Then get your magnetic lid picker-up or your tongs and take lids out of the steaming pan and place carefully on top of the jars, and then place the bands on top.

8. I then have two damp washcloths, and keeping the jars level, screw the bands down real tight and turn the jars upside down on the cabinet. Be careful, the jars will be hot! I usually have a little jelly juice left over that won't make an entire sealed jar. I keep an extra jar to the side to pour the leftover jelly into and keep adding to it with each batch. Then I can put a lid on and place in the fridge and that'll be the first jar we'll use.

Inverting the jars while they're hot helps the lids to seal better. Turn them over after awhile and you can sometimes hear them pop. If the lids are not sucked down kinda concave, then it didn't seal good, and you'll need to put in the fridge to eat first. I got eight 8 oz jars with leftover juice. I will be making some more probably tonight or tomorrow night. I gotta pick some more plums. If you don't have time to do the whole thing, you can cook your fruit and get the juice out and freeze it, and then do your jelly later.

Now, the directions on the Sure-Jell package are just as easy, only you cook your juice for just a few minutes and jar and seal and then you have to put them in a canning bath. I do that for other things, but for jelly, this way worked for Mamaw for 50 years, and it's worked for me for 15 years and I'm stayin' with it. If it ain't broke...

Sorry this is so long, but there you go. I've made this recipe with peaches and left more pulp in them to make more of a preserve and they turned out great. Also, with some of dad's concord and muscadine grapes - I love muscadine jelly and it was the prettiest pale pink color!!! I'd like to make some jalapeno jelly this summer, too.

Ok time to sign off. I've wasted (enjoyed) this last hour here at work, and I need to get busy!

Happy Jelling! NOW GO CLEAN UP YOUR BIG MESS!!!