The Event ~ Projects

So it's been awhile and I think I may be getting journaled out.  My creative journal juices are not active and flowing! 

I should at least make note that I am now successfully healing from carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand.  It went under the knife on January 16 and is 100% better now, except for regaining the strength and overcoming the tenderness in time.  The scar is already barely visible.  Now I actually look forward to getting the left hand done on February 9 ~ next week to get rid of those tingling sensations literally running through my hand.  How annoying. 

In the meantime, a few little projects have been undertaken around the home.  Biggest and foremost is that Tim has actually tackled his half of the garage on a project that has been on his to-do list for a very long time.  He insulated a portion of the west wall, put up wall boards and peg boards and CLEANED that half of the shop/garage.    These pictures don't  portray the end result yet.  It is still a work in progress!

Getting a beautiful big tool cabinet from Mrs. Santa was some motivation to get organized.  I won't talk about my half of the garage as it is piled with auction left overs and garage sale boxes once again. 

This clean up project resulted in repairing the little rocking chair that belonged to Alexis 35 years ago.  It had a broken leg for many years, and I just couldn't ever throw it away.  Thanks to Grandpa Stricker, it is now ready for a coat of new finish and ready to be enjoyed once again.   I will give this little rocker a face lift once both my hands are healed.

I had been admiring a picture in the country store for several months that I thought I really should have.  I thought there was a flaw in the picture, but Janel and Alexis convinced me during Christmas that it was not a flaw, and that I really should buy the picture.  So I decided to use the Christmas money from my mother and purchase the picture.  The discount coupon in the newspaper came in useful for this purchase!    The picture fits our life style and mismatched decor style.   There are five cowboys and two cowgirls sitting on the fence watching Grandpa on horseback.  And if one looks really close, you can see that there is Jon, Joe, Josh, Mathilda, Ben, Jakob and Amelia sitting on that fence in that order.   I love it!  Now I just have to get it hung on the wall!

I am excited about nearing the completion of yet another quilt, this one for our bed, and one that will actually fit the bed top and sides so the sheets and other blanket don't show hanging down the sides of the bed!  This one is by far the most challenging quilt I have made.  I worked really, really hard trying to get all the points to look good.  Did a fair share of ripping and redoing in the process.  This weekend I will shop for some backing fabric for it and take it to the quilters.  Then I will start on hand stitching the binding, which  may be done on our road trip to Arizona to deliver two processed beef to Vern and his brother in law Mark. That ought to be interesting.   Quilting continues to be a relaxing hobby, and I can't wait to get started on the next one. 

Another project I have waiting in the wings is to replace the kitchen cupboard door knobs with pulls.  Now I have half pulls and half knobs.  I want all pulls because the cupboard doors don't get as dirty and scratched up by the fingers and fingernails as they do with the knobs.  And I like them better too!  Jst too ad the pulls cost twice as much now as the ones I bought  a few years ago.  Oh well! 

Last Sunday we visited a neighboring church and very much enjoyed the fellowship and worship.  Tim and I have decided we are ready to move on to a new church home, after several years of standing in the support of rebuilding the spirit and community of Emmanuel where we have been members for 25 years now.  But that rebirth of spirit and community is not happening, and is in fact growing more and more dim and soon its light will be diminished.  We see our own light being diminished and its time we rescue ourselves before the joy of fellowship is completely stripped.   I'm not chronicling my thoughts very well in this paragraph so I will leave it here. 

The projects and changes will continue to transpire in and around our daily lives, making each day an eventful day!

The Event ~ Christmas 2011

As much as we all love our busy lives in the city or wherever our daily life takes each of us, a family Christmas celebration together is a time needed together to remind us all of the timeless blessings of food, family and faith that light up our lives. 

Christmas 2011 will be added to my family history book as a memorable Christmas of late, along with the 2007 Christmas in Estes where 22 family gathered in a beautiful lodge for three days, the 2009 Christmas in Eagle where we all got snowed in and couldn’t leave the house for two days, the 2010 Christmas in Sonoma where Tim and I so very much enjoyed time with Alexis; in her beautiful home; and a few other memorable Christmases that I really don’t remember much about.

(Pause for a moment of nostaligic memories. . . )

OK, let’s see  what I do remember, in no particular order: 1) A Christmas in Kansas with Kathy and Paul, Christian and Bobby,  and Alexis and Cash with Grandma & Grandpa Stricker and Tom, but missing Janel and Tim. 2) A Christmas in Crete at Janel & Tim’s house in 1998 when Daniel (an exchange student from Germany) was with us. 3) A Christmas in Billings, MT in 1994, the last time the five of us traveled together as a family before Janel got married. 4) A Christmas celebrated in Nashville, Tennessee in 1981 on our way home from a pre-Christmas vacation to Disneyworld with Connie & Rich, Stephanie & Richie;  5) Many Christmases at Tim’s parent’s house in Bayard, following church and family gathering at Grandpa Stricker’s house across the street from the church. 6) Christmas 2005 in Estes with our family, but not Kathy & her family. 6) Christmas 1974 when we brought our baby Alexis home two days before Christmas and celebrated with both my parents and Tim’s parent’s present. 

OK, I’m sure all our Christmases were special, celebrated around family.   Now back to the present:  what a wonderful celebration we shared with Alexis home from California;

Cash and Annie celebrating their first Christmas as husband and wife with us;

Janel and Tim and our most precious seven grandchildren opening their hearts and sharing their Christmas blessings with four needy families in Scottsbluff;

my 81 year old  mother who flew from Billings to Denver to be with us (and she learned the hard way that the Denver airport at Christmas time is no place for an 81 yr old to venture through on her own!);

Tim’s parents and Tom who so easily can join us any time of the year because they live only a mile down the road;

Kathy & Paul, Bobby and Alexandra;  and finally Chris and Mia and two girls Lily and Anya, who were gracious enough to join us for two days even though they were preparing to leave for a year mission stint in  South Africa three days later.  It was a good family send off for them. 

 Yes, the timeless blessings of family were very much a part of our celebration

We enjoyed chicken noodle soup and butterballs Christmas Eve,

and prime rib and all the trimmings on Christmas Day,

along with the traditions of lefsa, black and white fudge, bottles of wine, and lots of other goodies.

Yes, the timeless blessings of food were very much a part of our celebration.

I finally gave in and let Janel in the kitchen to prepare egg dishes for Christmas morning.  She had earlier been banned from active cooking in my kitchen during the weekend.  But when she began to show eradic behavior syptoms due to cooking withdrawal, I had to let her have her quick fix and resume her normal cooking activities.  Thank you, Janel. 

We enjoyed many a different games around the tables, several movies on the tv. 

Including a little arm wrestling. . .  I'm not sure who won this challenge

We had time for naps. 

Our front yard is turned into a football field when this family gets together and whenever the weather allows, as the kids, young and old, get active in the sport. 

And this year, the weather was shirt sleeve weather on Christmas Day afternoon. 

The gifts of giving and receiving were enjoyed by all.  Gifts ranged from head gear and scarves

to aprons and dolls

to  ladles

and tools

 

and wallets

It was fun cayous. . .

We took lots of pictures,

enjoyed alot of one-on-one time,

and even got serious in a very intent study session. . .

As we enter a new year, we will continue to build and cherish memories which include the timeless blessings of faith, family and food that light up our lives, no matter how busy our daily lives impede.

I cannot forget that the reason for celebration of course was the birth of Christ our Savior.  We did not forget Him during this celebration as he was the focus of our gathering.  We did all attend church on Christmas Eve, but that gathering is another blog of it's own.  How can a Christmas Eve church service  spoil an otherwise wonderful celebration?  We found out it is possible. Perhaps the worship of Christ's birthday is sometimes best celebrated right in the home that Christ is very much a part of, surrounded by loved and cherished family.

The Event ~ Making Blackberry Dumplings

Blackberries are a treat here in western Nebraska.  I don't really know if they actually are available or grow anywhere else, unless someone elsewhere is given seed from a blackberry harvest.  They are not the dime-size bumpy blackberries you buy in the store.  These are round little pea-size fruits, and it takes a long time to pick them and a whole lot to make something. 

Now I have several bags of blackberries hoarded in my freezer from the last two summer crops.  I never seem to get around to using them.  I only use them for dumplings and for dinna kuchen.  In anticipation of all the kids being home for Christmas I spent an evening making blackberry dumplings, but freezing them before cooking them and having them ready to go for a Friday nite meal when they all get here.  So now all I have to do is cook them.  Tra-la-  dumplings on the table.  What a good mom!  But no one adult can pig out on them as I only made 33 of them for for the 15 of us who will be here to eat them.  Bad mom (should have made more!) 

THE RECIPE:

The dough:  Beat together, preferably with a dough hook, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup water, 2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt  until a nice soft dough is formed.  Roll out to about 1/8" thick.  Cut into 4" squares (more or less). 

The filling:  Coat about five cups more or less of partially frozen blackberries with about a cup of flour and 3/4 cup of sugar (each more or less). 

Using a large cookie scoop, put 1/2 cup (more or less)  on a square, pull up the corners and pinch together, making sure the seams do not separate.

Drop a few dumplings in pot of boiling water and cook for 2-4 minutes (more or less) and remove from water with a slotted spoon.  Put into large flat bowl (something with alot of bottom surface so the dumplings don't have to be piled on top of each other).  The dumplings will begin to be layered very carefully.  Pour warm cream over all and top with toasted bread cubes.

To make toasted bread cubes, I melt butter in the oven on a cookie sheet and spread cubed bread over the butter and mix and coat evenly and let toast to golden brown in the oven.  Watch carefully as they can burn quite fast.  I know, I usually burn them!

Sitting down to a meal of blackberry dumplings is a treat, a real eventful dining experience.

The Event ~ It's a Black and White Tradition!

Looking ahead to hosting Christmas this year, I know we MUST have the traditional black and white fudge.  This is a sweet treat I grew up with.  My mom made it every year for years that I can remember growing up.  I'm not sure where she got the original recipe, but it was one of those recipes that has to be passed down through the generations.   A Christmas tradition for sure.  I know she still makes a batch of it each year.

I remember for several years I couldn't get it quite right.  Then I discovered I was not beating it good after taking it off the heat and before putting it in the pan.  Sometimes the atmospheric pressure also plays a part in how certain foods turn out, including fudge and candies of any kind. 

This fudge is awesome, and so-o-o bad for you!  But so-o-o- good!  It's hard not to just keep eating piece after piece after piece!  So I've got a container of five dozen pieces in the freezer waiting to put out on Christmas Eve.  With 26 people around, that's like only two pieces each.  Maybe we can hide it from the little kids!!  My mouth is watering as I write this.  Do I need to make more???  This is worth coming home for, isn't it???

The Recipe:

Black Fudge:  Combine in 3 qt kettle:  3 cups sugar, 1 ½ Tble white syrup, 1 ½ cups cream,   4 Tble cocoa.  Cook to softball stage.   Remove from heat.  Add:  1 Tble butter, 1  Tble vanilla, ¾ cup nuts. Do NOT overcook beyond soft ball.   Beat with electric mixer until creamy,  1 1/2  -  2 1/2  minutes.  Pour into well-buttered 9 x 13 pan.

White Fudge: Repeat the same as Black Fudge, but omit the cocoa.  (I cook the white fudge a couple degrees longer than the black fudge because it tends to be softer without the cocoa).    Pour on top of black fudge. 

Without a candy thermometer you will know when soft ball stage is reached when a  drop of mixture dropped into a small bowl of cold water can be shaped into a ball with your fingers.

Keeping simple family traditions alive is an event worthy of keeping alive through generations.  Black and white fudge and lefsa are two traditions that I hope can be passed on for generations to come.