Foodie Friday Aussie Style

I love blogging. Actually the blogging itself can be, at times, a pain in the butt but what I really like is the social aspect of blogging. You have your real life friends and you have your blog friends. Sometimes your blog friends become real life friends and sometimes your blog friends become chat friends or email friends.

Any way you slice it I find it exciting to make a connection with people from around the world. To learn about new cultures and to learn about regional differences in my own country is exciting to me. Of course, I'm the same woman that has a best friend that she met in the wine section of the grocery store. Gregarious, no?

One of my blog friend, who I would love to make a real life friend, is Mum-me from Australia. You've probably seen her comments. She has a wonderfully dry sense of humor that makes me laugh. She also has six children under the age of 14. Really, who couldn't admire her for that? Just the logistics alone makes my head spin.

Best of all she bakes. I'm try not to bake because it feels like chemistry. You have to really follow directions when you bake. Cooking, not so much. Baking is like math. I don't do math.

We have really got to make her give us the directions to make her Christmas Tree cake. It is the coolest thing you've ever seen.

So I begged my wonderful Aussie blog friend Mum-me to send me a Aussie recipe. What she came up with was something called Caramel Slice. This is looks unbelievably good. Really, how can you go wrong with caramel, chocolate and a coconut? She even sent photos. How great is that?

She goes by the metric system but she was kind enough to do the conversions. She knows that I'm totally math impaired. The whole gram thing? You're on your own.


Caramel Slice

INGREDIENTS

Base: 1 cup plain flour, 1/2 cup coconut, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 125g melted margarine or butter.

Filling: 60g margarine or butter, 1 can (400g) condensed milk, 2 tablespoons golden syrup (you can use light molasses if you can't find golden syrup.)

Topping: 60g copha (vegetable shortening), 125g dark choc or milk choc melts.

METHOD

1) Preheat oven to 180*C (350*F)
2) Mix all ingredients for base.
3) Press in to a tin which has been lined with baking paper. (I use a 23cm square Christmas cake tin.)

4) Bake for 15 minutes or until pale golden brown.
5) While the base is baking, melt the extra 60g margarine or butter in a medium saucepan.
6) Add the condensed milk and the golden syrup.
7) Stir constantly, while cooking over low heat, until mixture begins to thicken slightly.



8) Spread filling onto the prepared base.

9) Bake for another 15 - 20 minutes until the caramel mixture bubbles all over.

10) Remove from oven and cool slightly.




11) In a smaller saucepan melt the copha and dark or milk choc melts slowly over low heat,



12) When well combined, gently pour the chocolate topping over the caramel and spread to even out, if necessary.

13) Place in the fridge until set.



14) Cut into slices.

15) See how long it lasts!
You'll find these are so popular that they will be the first delicious morsels to disappear at any 'bring-a-plate' type of gathering. Eat up!


Nothing I can add to that.

Love,
M

Lutheran Ladies Seminary, Red Wing, Minnesota

This is the high school/college that my mother-in-law's mother went to school. Let's call her Alma Sophia, first, because that was her name and second, because milm sounds like one of the acronyms that seems totally inappropriate for a sweet Victorian lady.

Let's take a little walk through her scrapbook.

Built in 1894 it is located on a bluff overlooking the city of Red Wing, Minnesota and the Mississippi river. It is an imposing brick building that includes a dining hall, main building, and a music hall. Alma Sophia attended this school from the time she was about 14 until 18.

All three of her sisters, Ida Josephine, Mabel Caroline, and Cora Theresa, attended this school.

The goal of this seminary was to give pupils a practical collegiate and preparatory Christian based education that included the usual academic, literary, musical, art, religious, and scientific courses.

The students were typically boarders and Alma Sophia was no different. The school year of 1908/1909 there were 183 women enrolled. Their nationality ranged from Norwegian, German, American, Swedish, Danish, Swiss, and Finish. You would think that most of these pupils would be American but that is not the case. The majority were German. Alma and her sisters were of the 11 American girls but may have been included in with the 10 Norwegians. Since, both their parents were Norwegian.

The majority of the students (57) were enrolled in the art departmnet. Then in the seminary (55). The next portion were in the domestic economy department (40). I'm sure that is exactly what it sounds like, "How to be a Housewife". There was one girl that was enrolled in the normal school (teachers college). This was the budding teacher in the bunch. The vocal, violin, and piano departments made up a good number of the pupils.

These images were taken from a scrapbook kept be Alma. It's dated 1910. She was a senior that year. By December of 1910 she was married to, what I'm pretty sure her father thought of as a foreigner, an immigrated Canadian. He was a much older man. 33 years old to her 18.

The girl in the middle was flouting convention by being photographed with her hair down. *Gasp* The hussy!

All dressed up to go shopping. Don't forget your gloves and hat.

I'm not sure what the whole "crush" thing was about. Anyone?

Harrison Fisher was a famous illustrator around this time (1910s) Who's models were fresh faced outdoorsy country types. Isn't it cute that Alma considered her friends fashion models?

Looks like they had a pretty good time.

Chances are all these photographs were taken with an Eastman Brownie Box camera like the one below. Pretty progressive of them to own one.

There's the bell. You're all released. Remember read chapter 2; Properly hooking your shoe buttons and corset lacing.

Love,
M



Most of the information is from the History of Goodhue County, Minnesota by Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge. 1909. page 288-289. Thank you Google for being the pro-active money grubbing corporation that you are because you have digitized a boatload of stuff. The picture of the Brownie camera is straight from Wikipedia. Why yes, I am too lazy to find an authoritative source.

Wordless Wednesday - 1920s Chain Mail Purse

One of my favorite heirlooms.

Love,
M

RTT = Where I plot against my Oldest Boy

Hey kids! Do you know what time it is?
It's Random Tuesday Time!!

Don't know how this works? You head over to Keely's place, grab the button, and relieve your brain of all those thoughts that won't make a complete blog post. Easy Peasy!

Let's get the ball rolling:


I just found out that my friend Sally is going to be a grandma. I'm too excited! I get to be a quasi-great auntie again. Being a quasi-great auntie is like always being the bridesmaid but never the bride. I have to be a great auntie/grandma vicariously through my friends because Brilliant Oldest Son and his Lovely Wife won't spit out any babies for me. Christ, how hard is it? Am I asking too much? Even JR who doesn't make much of the whole baby thing mentioned how all our friends kids are having kids. Uhhhh.....does this sound a little "crazy grandma wanna be"? Val, you can not answer that question. It was totally rhetorical.



While looking around for museums to go to this weekend (yeah, I am a museum geek) I came across The National Museum of Funeral History . (Who thought THIS was a good idea? Whoever it was was an effing genius) Some of the fascinating exhibits include: Civil War Embalming (yeah, I've wondered about this), 1900s Casket Factory , and Fantasy Coffins.

I think it goes without saying that I want to be buried in this.

They also sponsor a golf tournament because everyone knows that several times a year deaths occur on the golf course from lightening. Great promotion and sales opportunity right here. The best part of the museum has got to be the gift shop. JR wants to go get a coffin key chain. Me? I'm going for the embalming jar coffee mug. Yes, I do start my Christmas shopping this early.




We ended up at the San Jacinto Museum and Monument. It was very interesting. All about Texas gaining independence from Mexico. There are your artifacts, paintings and my favorite the gift shop. They even had a movie that told the story of the battle of San Jacinto; where General Sam Houston taught Santa Anna not to screw with Texans. Yay, Sam! FYI, here in Texas they are all about who's ass they've kicked. This museum exalts in the ass kicking.

That being said General Santa Anna really did deserve a major ass whopping and the Texans were just the men to do it.

They did have a section of the museum dedicated to the city of Houston. JR and I (the oldsters that we are) loved this poster in the exhibit.


That would be the LIVE Beatles as opposed to the dead ones. I love the English dudes with a giant cowboy hat. And, that side bar; "IT WAS MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO" That makes it sounds like forever ago. Which is a little disconcerting to me because in August 1965 I was a month away from my 6th birthday. I'll save all of you from doing the math. I'll be 50 in September.


Now, everyone head over to Keely's place because the randomness is well worth your time.

Love,
M

It's No Wonder the Boy Was a Slacker

It's genetic. He gets it from his mother. Sure, he may look like his dad but he gets his incredible laziness from me. *sniff* I couldn't be more proud. Want proof of this genetic abnormality? What should have been his sophomore year was spent on my couch (*cough cough re-focusing on his future. cough cough) slacking. Oh sure, in the last few years he's more than made up for it whereas I on the other hand have a terminal case.

I imagine that there is some sort of self-help book out there on how to stop slacking but I'm just too sloth like to find it. Is there a government agency that will not only find the help I need but will also sign me up, drive me there and then at the end of the course go to rehab for me? Notice I didn't say take me to rehab. I don't think I could summon the energy after the coursework to actually show up at more meetings. So exhausting, sigh****

Anyway, this post wasn't supposed to air my dirty laundry (which I have piles and piles of, btw) but to thank anyone and everyone who has given me a blog award that I may have not acknowledged, followed the rules on, or any other thing I should have been doing but haven't. Excuses, excuses!

Keeping all that above in mind, I've received awards from kind and wonderful bloggy friends in the past and it seems to take me months in order to get around to acknowledging them. No, it is not because I'm Big Time and can't be bothered with the little people (I AM the little people). It's because I'm a certified slacker. In fact, if there was a doctorate degree in slacking I'd be speaking at someone's commencement ceremony. That is if I could get my butt off the couch. Isn't that what webcams are for?

So if you have given me an award in the last few months. Thank you! Really, I mean that. I'm not just saying it. I'm just sort of a lazy ass and haven't dealt with it.



I did actually save one. (Sandy, Thank you again). So I'll say thank you and pass it on to whoever wants it. Ahhh...remember slacker here? I can't be expected to actually chose people to give it to or follow rules. That would be so exhausting.


Anyway, If I haven't acknowledged a blog award from you please don't think its because I don't care. It is only that I tend to be horribly lazy. In lieu of posting them here I'll just do an all encompassing; Thank You truly!!!!

Oh and if you have never given me one; Thank you. You've saved me from having to post them, linking them, follow some kind of guidelines, then feel guilty because I couldn't find the gumption to do all that. Saving me from pouring another glass of wine to drown out the nasty little voices in my head that hammer away at me to, at the very least say thank you. If I'm going to pour that second glass I want it to be because I want to enjoy it not because I'm using it as a crutch. Uhhhh.that's right... it's enjoyment.

Gawd! I'm such an ingrate. Now, I need another glass of wine.

What do you mean I can't have one at 6:39 am? It's got to be 5pm somewhere.


Love,
M

Friday Foodie - Caramelize Onions

Caramelize onions how much do I love your sweet gooey goodness?

I love your ease in preparation.
I love your versatility.
I love your price tag.
I love love love you.

[insert fantastically composed photo of yummy finished product here] I am so lame!

Caramelized Onions
4 or 5 large onions, peeled and cut in half then sliced
about 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

Peel onions. Cut in half. Slice in about half inch slices.
Pour olive oil into large and deep fry pan.
Heat on medium heat.
Pile on all the onion slices.
Fry slowly until the onions are a caramel brown color. About 45 to 50 minutes. Turning about every 3 to 5 minutes.
Serve immediately or let cool and store in air tight container or OMG toss in some hot pasta and top with pine nuts and Parmesan cheese.
Use in tons of recipes, on burgers (garden for me), or on toasted bread smeared with goat cheese.

Cut and slice onions until tears run from your eyes
then cut some more.

Heat oil.
That is my favorite of all fry pans.
Cast iron is the way to go.
Nice even heat. Especially important when cooking over electric.
Yes, I am a gasophile. Why does that not sound right?
Cooking over gas is the best. Unfortunately I don't have that at this house.
A good cast iron pan helps.
FYI, the spoon rest is a cow. Cute, no?

Toss all those onions into the hot oil pool.
Sure, you'll have some escapees.
Toss them right back in.
Their fate has been sealed.

Cook. Turn. Cook.

Cook. Turn. Cook some more.



Yep, cook some more. Yawn.
Pull one out. Taste. Roll your eyes in ecstasy.



Keep cooking and turning.
I know it get old.
Pour a glass of wine.



Almost done.
Look at those yummy bits.
After we scope this mound of yummy goodness out of the pan
we'll de-glaze it with a little wine.
Red or white it doesn't matter but I prefer white for this application.

Look at that wonderfulness.
Mmmmmmm.......
Scoop out of the pan.
Eat.
By the spoonful if you are like me.


Now that the pan is empty. See all the sugary goodness? Don't scrap that out. Raise the temperature just a bit. To say medium high. Pour in about a half a cup of wine. Reduce the heat to medium low. Reduce by half. Remove from heat. Let it cool. Store in air tight container. Use in gravies, sauces, toss with pasta, mash or toss into potatoes or add to risotto. You will not be sorry.

Hope you enjoy caramelized onions as much as we do.

Love,
M

This would make a terrific part of your meatless Monday meal.

Cora Theresa

Born November 2nd, 1898 in Tracy, Minn Cora was the adored baby of the family. One of 4 girls born to, Iver and Caroline, parents of Norwegian descent. Blond haired and blue eyed in a family of dark haired blue eyed sisters Cora stood out.

One year later her, her sisters and their father would lose their mother.

During this era widowers would typically marry again quickly if only to provide a mother for their children. Iver remained a widower for the rest of his life. Devoting himself to his children.

This posed quite a problem for Iver, who was a traveling salesman. What to do with the four little motherless girls while he was out of town? His solution was to send the older two girl to a boarding school in town. The younger two, Cora and Josephine were left in the care of a housekeeper.

During this time Cora contracted an almost fatal case of scarlet fever. She survived but the illness damaged her heart.



In order to take a job that didn't require travel Iver moved the family from Minnesota to Rolette, North Dakota in 1905. Cora attended public school until 1916 then transferred to L.L. Seminary at Redwing, Minnesota. This was the same school that all her sisters attended. 1918 & 1919 were spent at the University of North Dakota finishing her high school and university work. Unfortunately, she had to stop because she become ill from what was then called an aggravated leakage of the heart. That bout of scarlet fever was rearing it's ugly head.

In late February 1920 she took a teaching position in Williston, North Dakota. At this time teachers were mostly young women who lived with sponsor families. From the letters that were saved by her father and sisters she was happy with her job though not always happy with the sponsor families. In one letter to her father she complains that the woman of the house is always grumpy. She believed that the woman laced her corset too tight and that lead to her grumpiness.



On March 12th, 1920 she complained of a little headache. She wrote a long letter to her daddy, went to school and came home at the usual time. At 5:10 pm while sitting on the stairs looking at a catalog she slumped over and died. She was 22 years old.


She was buried next to her mother in Tracy, Minnesota.


If the amount of letters, photos and newspaper obituaries that were kept by her father, sisters, and niece (my mother-in-law) are any indication she was well loved and terribly missed.

Reading these letters and viewing the photos give glimpses of life in the Midwest of America during the early part of the twentieth century. The opportunity to see this part of American history through Cora's young eyes is something I cherish.

Thank you for letting me show it to you.

Love
M

And the Winner Is!

The winner of this fabulous book is:

A Grandma

A Grandma please email me your address.

Congratulations to A Grandma!

I hope your grandchildren enjoy this book.

Thank you everyone that left comments. I wish I had a dozen books to give away.

Love,
M

RTT = Ramblin' Ramblin' Ramblin' Keep Those Doggies Ramblin'

Well folks it's that day of the week. Tuesday. The day after Monday. The second day of the week. Only 4 more days until the weekend. Woohoo for weekends. What is important to note about Tuesday is that it can be random. Random Tuesday. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Wish I'd thought of it. But, I didn't. Keely did. Clever isn't she? Me? I'm just riding this pony. So saddle up for some randomness here then head over here. You won't be sorry.

Sometimes my top searches are pretty boring. Truly these are no different. You've got your recipes and recipes, and a dog dildo thrown in for fun but WTF is up with #6. Who exactly wants a dildo attachment for a Kitchenaid mixer. Is that for a stand mixer? I'm going to go out on a limb here but I'm not sure that would work.
(I tried to make the font color a little more readable but alas it was not to be)

Top Searches that Brought Readers to Your Blog (max 25 shown)

1. zucchini pizza dough (4 times)
2. elvgren (3 times)
3. portabella mushrooms (3 times)
4. dog dildo (3 times)
5. pumpkin ravioli sauce (1 time)
6. kitchenaid mixer dildo (1 time)
7. label (1 time)
8. dildos for dogs (1 time)
9. grill portbella (1 time)
10. 5066 (1 time)
11. price of portabella mushrooms (1 time)
12. witor's noir praline (1 time)
13. brown rice (1 time)
14. how much are portabella mushrooms? (1 time)
15. meatless monday dairy products (1 time)
16. random thoughts tuesday (1 time)
17. dog spices herbs (1 time)
18. yak cheese for dogs (1 time)
19. flight attendant barbie (1 time)
20. goofy poems (1 time)
21. grilled greek (1 time)
22. how to make brown rice with beans (1 time)
23. 1978 style dresses (1 time)
24. salad with portabella mushrooms (1 time)
25. michele dog's life (1 time)

I received this wonderful email from my new friend Lucy. Do you thing that young single Lucy is wanting me to pimp for her? Not that I won't. Really, isn't it my civic and humanitarian duty to help poor sweet English impaired Lucy. I'll no doubt get a Noble Peace Prize for helping her out. If not a Noble definitely a Pulitzer for helping her with her grammar. I wouldn't do it for the money or the prestige. I'd do it for a desperate foreigner. How could I resist this plea for help?


Hello my lovely dear friend,
Hope your enjoying the good atmosphere of the day accordingly,i know it might surprised how i got your email address,it was while surfing the net that i discovered it,then i derived interest and decided to drop few couple of mine
words to you.first and foremost, i want to use this medium express myself once again to you,my name is miss.Lucy Aliyu,single young girl,searching for a mature man with good sense of humour ,also will appreciate each other start having a good relationship with a real love,caring, understand and honest man,please i appreciate you endeavours contact me directly in the above email address so as to enable me sending my pictures directly to your email box for further introduction,shall be very glad reading good news from you soonest and God bless as you do comply.
kiss,
miss Lucy



I've got a bit of a gripe here. My familymember-in-law who, never ever contacts me. Would prefer that I didn't answer any emails from him (only JR can. Yeah, it's a rule. One I didn't know about until 5 years ago when I was asked never to answer any of his emails. There is a story here but boring! or maybe not. It would make a nice rant. Not today) Anyway, he emails JR about some family history questions. JR writes back that he will have to email me because I know all that stuff. I get a email from him with his question. Hmmmm.....am I supposed to answer? I mean I was told never to answer their emails. They would prefer not to hear from me. In fact, if they call they really don't have much to say to me. Quite a dilemma I've got on my hands. Well, I do pass along some info because I'm nice and I'm a librarian. We can't help ourselves. We have to give out information whether people want it or not. We'll decide if you need it Thankyouverymuch. Then he questions my information. Ahhhh.....librarian here! After 5 or 6 emails back and forth he's willing to throw in the towel as long as I've got it covered but if I come across any living relatives in that area that would be nice to know. Yeah, I'll get right on that.

That is enough out of me. You really need to head on over to Keely's place. That's where she rounds up the herd.


Love
M

PS: the title of this post does not imply that I think of any of us as cows. I would never think that. I should shut up now.

Avocado Egg Rolls with Cilantro Dipping Sauce - Friday Foodie

I know that I boasted that I was going to post about how to caramelize onions today but I made this fantastic dinner Wednesday night that I just had to post about.

I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I really like the Kona Grill happy hour appetizers. Okay, I’ll fess up. I love happy hour. I love happy hour anywhere and anytime. If restaurants would have happy hour all day I would be the happiest of women. It is not the drinks, okay it is, but the little food works for me too. I’m little. I like little food. Unfortunately, I like a lot of little food.

Anyhoo, the Kona Grill makes these avocado egg rolls with a cilantro dipping sauce that we love. Of course, I said to myself; “Self, you could make that.” And, I did. Now, I’m passing it on to you.

Avocado Egg Rolls with Cilantro Dipping Sauce.

Cilantro Dipping Sauce

2 bunches cilantro

3 teaspoons honey

½ teaspoon fresh lime juice

Approximately ¼ cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

In food processor place cilantro, honey, lime juice. Pulse until smooth adding olive oil slowly to make a sauce. This is like making a runny pesto. Taste just a little. It should taste like sweet cilantro. You may want to add a little salt or lime juice.

Let this sit while you make the egg rolls. This is pretty important. The waiting time lets the flavors blend. We want the flavors to blend. When they do you’ll want to drink this stuff with a straw. Resist. You will be well rewarded grasshopper.

Filling

4 avocados

½ medium tomato, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ lime, juiced

½ teaspoon salt

8 to 16 egg roll wrappers

4 tablespoons olive oil or enough to cover the bottom of the pan

Salt

Heat olive oil (you could use cooking spray if you are trying to cut the calories) in skillet over medium heat. If you don’t have a cast iron fry pan I guess a non-stick one will do just don't let it heat up as much. When you’ve got time promptly go buy a cast iron one. You will not be sorry. If you need help with your purchase let me know. Please don’t be scared off by that whole "seasoning your pan” thing. We can so work with this.

This is a basic chunky guacamole. Cut all avocados in half. Scoop out yummy center. Put into a bowl. Lick spoon. Repeat. Chop the tomato, green onions and garlic. Toss into bowl with avocados. Put seasonings and lime into bowl. Mash gently with potato masher. You want big chunks so don’t go over board of this.

Egg roll wrappers can be bought at your local grocery store. Peel one off. That's about the hardest part of this recipe. Getting the wrappers to come apart.

Place about 2 (for appetizers) to 4 (for side dish) tablespoons of the avocado mixture at one end of the wrapper. Roll once. Fold in the sides.

Continue to roll. When you get to the end wet the wrapper with water. Finish rolling. Keep making egg rolls until you’ve used all the filling. Place them on a damp paper towel covered with a damp paper towel. You don’t want them to dry out.

Place in the preheated skillet. Don't over crowd the pan. Brown egg rolls on each side turning when needed. When brown on each side place on paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with salt.

Serve with dipping sauce.

* Most if not all of the measurements are approximate. I cook by the "taste and add" method. Taste it then add if necessary. I'm also pretty naughty about writing this down as I go.

Now, a lot of you are going to say; “Michele, that is not dinner fare.” But truly these are so filling that they could easily be a side or main dish. You could make these smaller to serve at or take to a party. When The Stiletto Mom gets that case of wine in October I am so bringing these to her house. Sure, she hasn’t technically invited me but what do I care. I’ll just show up. What’s she going to do; turn away awesome food? I don’t think so.

Love,

M

Sorry about the blurry photos. I'm not exactly sure why this happened. I hadn't even had a glass of wine yet. Yeah, it baffled me too. And, if you couldn't tell I'm a pretty messy cook. I roll that way.

This would be a great Meatless Monday recipe. It doesn't take very long and avocados are really good for you. Need more meatless recipes? They've got got a bundle of them here: