Lame Blogger Alert

Man oh man...do I EVER qualify for lame blogger of the year.  I can't believe my last post was over a month ago.  You'd think NOTHING ever happened in my life.  Well...that may be close, but not exactly true.  I've been doing lots of stuff...some of it even fun.

Last weekend was the Crozet Arts and Crafts Festival.  My sister and brother-in-law from Whynot Pottery came up and spent the weekend with us and sold lots of pots. (yay)  I got to go out and see their stuff on Sunday with friend Pat and bought a few goodies.  They make some beautiful stuff.  My sister is having fun with her pillow pots and tiles.  They're always trying something new and fun.  I like it because it keeps me in Christmas gifts for friends.

Christine and Aunt Meredith at the fair.

Also visiting over the weekend were Christine's friend from Dallas, Elizabeth with her friend Chloe.  The girls were making an east coast swing with a focus on trying to visit as many states as possible in about 10 days.  They were doing a pretty good job of knocking them out. 

Chloe, Liz and Christine

Earlier tonight John and I went to The Mudhouse in Crozet, met up with friends Mike and Pat, and heard some good music.  There is a local singer/songwriter with a wonderful voice: Mariana Bell.  You should give her a listen if you get a chance.  Also playing were Travis Elliott and Tucker Rogers.  You should check them out if you get a chance as well.  They were all quite good.  It's nice to hear music at a coffee house rather than having to sit in a smoky bar.  Those days are over for me, thank goodness.

Other highlights of the last month include a quick trip to Norfolk.  Got to see mom, friend Jeanie from Coeur d'Alene who was in town visiting her mother and step dad.  Also got to see my friend Lee who is making some gorgeous quilts. The woman has talent.  Got to see the nephews, too, of course.  Had an interesting hour or so waiting by the side of the road on Shore Drive for AAA to come change a tire.  I should have just changed it myself...would have been a lot quicker.

Tomorrow, friend Andrea and her daughter are coming down to go to a Metallica concert at the local arena, JPJ.  I wonder how our 50 something friend is going to handle the head banging and mosh pit.  Oh, to be a fly on the wall...with earplugs, of course. 

Next weekend takes us to St. Louis for niece Ashley's wedding.  The last weekend of the month is reserved for our annual football get together.  Busy is good, right?

When is a Naughty Child good?

Recently while "reading" (I use quotes because almost everything I read these days is a book on tape) Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues there is a scene where the protagonist is talking to a woman at a Civil War reinactment camp.  The woman is slicing green tomatoes for a "Naughty Child Pie".  Coming from a long line of great Southern cooks I thought, "Wow...never heard of anything called Naughty Child Pie",  and the only thing I knew you could do with green tomatoes was fry them or wait for them to ripen.  My curiosity piqued, I started searching for Naughty Child Pie online.  Many references were to the book, Tishomingo Blues, and to the fact that no one had a recipe.  I finally stumbled upon an actual recipe and filed it under the "maybe one day I'll be brave enough to try this" category. 

Well, this being the end of tomato season and what with having shared much of our bounty (unintentionally mind you) with the local deer population I realized I had a few measly little green tomatoes and if I wanted to give this pie a shot I'd better get crackin'.  So Sunday was the day.  I baked one and I must say it was quite yummy.  I did not peel the tomatoes, which makes it a little tough to cut.  I might try removing the peel if I attempted another one.  This also calls for a boatload of sugar (1 1/2 cups) and I think you could get away with less.  Not sure about the chemistry if you do that.  Maybe one of you who actually studied chemistry can tell me if I should up the flour quotient or what.  Here's the recipe.  Give it a try and let me know what you think of this particular Naughty Child.

Naughty Child Pie

8 medium-size green tomatoes
1/2 Cup golden raisins
2 Tsp. grated lemon peel
2 TBSP. lemon juice
1 TBSP. cider vinegar
1 1/2 Cups white sugar
1/3 Cup toasted chopped pecans
1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
1/4 TBSP. salt
1 Tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. ground ginger
2 TBSP. butter chilled/cut into small pieces
powdered sugar for sprinkling

1 Pre-made pie shell

Preheat oven to 400°. On lightly floured board, roll out pie dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Edges will be ragged,this is okay. Just leave like this as edges will get folded in later. Center dough in 9 inch pie plate.  Cover & chill. Cut tomatoes into thin slices. Put into large mixing bowl & add raisins, lemon peel, juice & vinegar. Stir & set aside. Mix together sugar, pecans, flour, salt, cinnamon, & ginger. Blend well. Sprinkle 2 tablespoon over chilled pie crust. Add remaining sugar-pecan mixture to tomato slices. Toss to coat well. Scrape tomato filling into pie crust. Dot with pieces of chilled butter. Fold overhang of pastry into center over filling.

Bake 15 minutes. Turn heat down to 325° & bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly & crust is golden brown. Let pie cool on wire rack before cutting. Dust top with powdered sugar for decoration.  (I didn't bother with the powdered sugar.)


Bon Appetite!

Happy Labor Day

Looks like multiple members of the family have been laboring on Labor Day.  I can tell from her FB message that Mere has.  Odds are Lee is working because she never stops working.  Don't know about the boys, but I'm sure they accomplished something today.  I have a conference on Thursday, so had to go into the office to get some hours in today.  This part time don't get paid unless you clock in stuff is getting a little old.

We did enjoy an early BBQ at Pat and Mike's last night.  Mike is working on perfecting a pork shoulder smoked on his Weber using apple twigs.  He made one last weekend and then did two for last night.  It was more than enough in spite of the crowd.  In fact we have some in the fridge that Pat sent home with us.  Hmmmm...dinner!

I have some burning to do before all the yard junk that I raked and dug up yesterday gets wet from the predicted storm.  Just thought I'd take a minute to wish everyone a happy day off...for those who actually took the day off.  Wishing all a good week.

Champ - Feb 1998 to August 31 2009

Champ May 31, 2009
This picture was taken exactly 3 months before he died. Hard to believe.

Champ, our beloved yellow lab, died sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning. He started looking bad on Saturday. He finally came inside after spending some time outside just lying in the driveway in the rain. He was well behaved for our visitors and, of course, begged treats off of me while I was cooking. Overnight he vomited his dinner and when I got up Sunday morning he wanted to go outside first thing. I found his "deposits" fairly quickly and got those cleaned up. He was doing his typical sick routine...going out behind the workshop and lying around, eventually coming up to the gazebo and lying on the dirt floor there and just looking sad. He didn't want to eat anything. I tried to give him his pills with peanut butter...usually a favorite...and I had to force them in past his clenched teeth. His gums felt hot and his nose was dry and warm. We let him lay around outside much of the day, but eventually we got him in. He couldn't eat. He drank a little water and eventually vomited that back up. As the day progressed he grew increasingly weaker. He was stumbling around, barely able to pull himself upright by the end of the night.

We showered lots of love and pets on him. He obviously felt so bad it was sad to watch. As we were preparing for bed John asked Christine to check with the vet, Dr. Epstein, to see if she could bring home an injection so we could put him to sleep at home. Being the last to go to bed, I gave him some gentle scratches and told him that we loved him very much and how great a dog he had been for us. I didn't think he'd last the night and he didn't.

I got up Monday morning and Christine was in the entry way, cleaning him up. He had died during the night. He was so quiet. After months of heavy panting it was strange not hearing that sound any more. He looked so peaceful and that was a comfort. He had such a wonderful personality. Champ was just always happy as long as he was with his people.

John got up and went into the back yard and dug a grave. I helped him take Champ to his grave and helped him fill it in. We said a little good bye to the guy and then headed in for work as usual.
It just breaks my heart to have lost this dog. He really and truly was such a fabulous dog. He was rambunctious and undisciplined, but very loving and happy. Christine picked him out of a large litter and she did a great job. His personality fit in with our family so well. He could be a real pickle...running off and getting into trouble, but he was our pickle and we adored him.

I just don't see us getting another dog any time soon. It was too painful to lose him. This has been a really crappy year with too many deaths of too many people (and critters) I've known and loved. It sure makes you appreciate the little things that you can still enjoy...a beautiful sunset, a big harvest moon, a sunny day that has just the right temperature. Sometimes that special thing is just making it through the greenlight when you really need to get someplace. Whatever it is appreciate it before it's gone.

Weekend

It's the WEEKEND...hooray. Today we had a surprise visit from niece Ashley. She is the oldest daughter of John's younger brother, Rob. Ashley and her fiance' (Brad), his brother and parents were returning from the Outer Banks where they had been to attend a famly wedding. Returning to St. Louis, this was a convenient lunch stop. They had their sights set for Louisville as a stopover, so we go them for about two hours. It was a very pleasant surprise. Ashley's future in-laws, Jeff and Karen, are delightful, kind and caring. Andrew, Brad's younger brother is a pleasant 17 year old who plays a mean flute. He played Amazing Grace as part of a duet at my mother-in-law's memorial service. When she was alive he used to take her to orchestra concerts with him. How nice is that? We had a wonderful visit and sent them off, packed to the gills. They even found room for Ashley and Brad's wedding gift.

After they took off John and I canoed a stretch of one of the local rivers, the Rivanna. We put in at the bridge at Reas Ford Road and paddled down to the Reservoir. It was interesting to see parts of the county that we had never seen before. We saw 4 deer in different locations. Also saw about 100 Canadian Geese as we paddled along. Saw some kingfishers, and a couple of blue herons. John brought along a rod and tossed it out a couple of times. Didn't catch anything, though. It took about 2 hours all in all. It was fun to see someplace different, but I don't think I'd be hankering to do that stretch again. The water was a little too flat. The stretch of the James that we did last month was nicer.

Champ was acting sick this morning. His disease is really getting to him. Don't know if I posted this, but he's been diagnosed with lymphoma. Christine got him some Prednisone and that really seems to perk him up quite a bit. He missed his doses yesterday and that resulted in a really low energy level this morning. I managed to get some pills in him and he's better tonight. He still has trouble breathing and gets hot and pants a lot, but at least he has enough energy to eat and to walk around a little bit. I know our guy isn't long for this world, but I don't want him to suffer. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to be in pain. He did look pretty pitiful lying out in the driveway in the rain.

So, one more day to the weekend. Yay. I plan to finish cleaning the house and doing the laundry. I have some veggies to pull out of the garden and Ill be making some tomatoe sauce. I have some homework for my computer class and then it's early to bed to be fresh for Monday morning. I love relaxing weekends. Plus, I get to sleep in.

Hope your weekend is just as dull and relaxing.

Rollin' on the River

Spent the day floating down the James in the canoe. Went from Howardsville to Warren. Ran into some little rapids (like class 1...IS there a class 0??) Beautiful weather, nice and warm with a gentle breeze from the west, so it was pushing us from behind. Our experience is normally to be fighting the winds to our destination. All in all a pleasant float down river.

We followed the float with a trip to a new brewery, the Devil's BackBone. It's located at the turnoff from 151 to Wintergreen, a local skiing (and also 4 season) resort. Really good beers. We tasted the sampler then picked one for a longer taste. Oh, also found out a distillery is going in locally. Now that will be interesting. Wonder if we have to bring our own coke to the tasting room??

Hope your Sunday afternoon was just as relaxing and fun.

Funny People (the movie)

Isn't funny. In the least. Seriously save your money. I saw 7 people walk out. I wish I had been one of them. Worst movie of the year. Maybe the decade. Could be the worst of the century.