Tag Archives: food

50 years!

Posted on by
5

Four generations of my family got married on the same day. My maternal grandparents in 1921, my parents in 1950, Mr. Aitch and I in 1974, and our daughter and husband in 2007.

I had these photos on the tables as decoration as well as 20 x 30 inch posters on the walls.

From top left clockwise: my grandparents (on the right) with the maid of honor and best man,
my parents, our daughter and son-in-law, and me and Mr. Aitch.

Unfortunately I didn’t ask anyone to take photos during the event so all you get are the favors.

I’ve been making these Hershey Nuggets covers for various events for about 20 years. I just use a sheet of address labels (1″ x 2 5/8″), “create” the message, and print them out on my home printer. The labels fit perfectly over the wrappers.

I took a cookie decorating course at our local community college in March and learned how to decorate cookies and cakes using Royal icing. For our anniversary favors I made about four dozen cookies in various shapes and iced the cookies. Some are two-toned with white and pink but most are plain white.

I bought a cookie stencil and gold spray icing to make the cookies shine then piped little dots of icing around the edges.

We attached round labels to cellophane bags. After the icing dried, we inserted a cookie in each bag and tied it shut with white curling ribbon.

I decided to get two cakes, one sheet cake and the other cupcakes in the shape of a champagne flute. The sheet cake was devoured at the party but we managed to bring to cupcakes home and finish them off with some help from our family and neighbors.

With around 40 guests it was best that we had the party catered and hired a bartender. Our caterer supplied us with a variety of sliders, chicken nuggets, chips, nuts, fresh veggies with dip, fresh fruit, loaded potato skins, and sausage kabobs. We served beer, wine, iced tea, lemonade, and water. Everyone was well-behaved and no one danced on the tables.

I think we’ll do this again in 50 years!

Patti

Recap of March 2024

Posted on by
11

I promised to expand on some of the events mentioned in my last post.

In February, I was knitting along on my Easy Mosaic socks when I (well, Mr. Aitch agreed) decided to host a family reunion AND anniversary party for us. We married in 1974 and wanted to celebrate the occasion with family and friends. I had four months to get it all organized, which (for someone who never planned much of anything involving more than two handfuls of people) got me into a slight panic.

The brass light fixtures over the breakfast table and island needed updating. Plus I wanted to get new carpeting throughout the house but first wanted to stain the stair treads on each side of the carpeting a darker color.

The new light for over the table was ordered. Mr. Aitch and I installed it in mid-March.

The light fixture over the island was installed in June. I forgot to take a before picture but it was just like the one over the table. I am not an electrician, however, we got both lights up and running without issues other than locating the correct breaker to turn the power off.

We celebrated Pi Day 3.14 with Turkey Pot Pies and an Apple Pie. The turkey was part of our Thanksgiving leftovers which I froze for this very day.

Up next is April.

Have a great weekend!

Patti

Margaritas, tea, and mint juleps

Posted on by
6

It’s Cinco de Mayo today. Mr. Aitch and I will have chicken chimichangas and margaritas.

Tomorrow morning the menu consists of toast and tea for the coronation of King Charles.

Then beginning in the afternoon we will salute the Kentucky Derby races and winners with mint juleps and Hot Browns.

Cultural appropriation? I don’t care!!

Mrs. Gildersleeve’s Buns

Posted on by
6

Mr. Aitch and I like love bread but we don’t like the typical store bought variety, you know the prepackaged sliced stuff. It’s almost like eating paste.

I’ve baked bread many, many, many times and sometimes it’s really good and other times, well, it’s dense and heavy. So I did some research and found lots of “light and airy” bread recipes that call for scalded milk and/or eggs.

Kitchn.com answers the scalded milk question: The whey protein in milk can weaken gluten and prevent the dough from rising properly. Scalding the milk deactivates the protein so this doesn’t happen.

This from LEAF explains the addition of eggs: The fat in egg yolks helps shorten the gluten strands in bread dough, increasing the gluten’s elasticity. This results in a more tender crumb and softer crust in the finished bread. Additionally, the coagulating property of eggs, due to their protein, helps create a more tender and even texture. As a leavening agent, the eggs contribute to the bread dough rising higher than a non-egg yeast bread.

Maybe you bakers already know those things and I might have learned them in junior high home ec. classes but that was a very, very long time ago.

I looked through several cookbooks I have and found a recipe named “Mrs. Gildersleeve’s Buns” in a fund-raiser cookbook from my hometown. The recipes in this collection were tried and true. Plus I liked the name.

I whipped up a batch of this bread Wednesday afternoon and Mr. Aitch “baked” it on the grill over indirect heat. It is light and fluffy and tastes so good that we had to sample some as soon as it was cool enough to cut.

I will be making this recipe again. And again. And again…

Click here for Mrs. Gildersleeve’s Buns recipe.

Patti