There's Something About Spring Crop-Day Two

Stacey had done some Internet research on stuff that she wanted to do/see while she was up here. She found some great classes being offered at the Corning Museum and signed us up for a "flame work" class. This is where you take colored glass rods, heat them over an open flame and work them, add colors, etc until you have your shape. In our case we were going to make glass pendants. We were the first ones there of the morning and that was perfect. We didn't have a ton of people to wait with or have them breathing down our necks to finish. We had a two on one with the teacher and she helped us pick colors and work the glass. It was totally awesome! We had such a blast and our necklaces turned out really cool. After making our glass charms, we toured the museum and discovered that we enjoyed the shopping market best of all. We each found some really cool glass earrings, rings, etc. Stacey even picked up a great gift for her MIL.
We couldn't spend all day playing 'cause we had the grocery shopping to do for the crop. I knew we had to hit Sam's Club and I was hoping we could make it to Wegmans. BUT, we knew that there was a Michael's and JoAnn's near Sam's, so I suggested a quick stop. Stacey picked Michael's and our "quick stop" turned into over an hour! We found some really great stuff in there though, so it was so worth it. Plus, is just seemed like our old times shopping together in Tampa, so I didn't want to stop.
We got to Sam's got all the stuff we needed there including the meat that I kept calling "butt" meat. I have heard of pork "butt" being used for what I needed it for. Stacey just laughed and said that it couldn't be pork butt that I wanted. I asked the butcher and "yes" it's called shoulder butt! I knew there was a butt in there somewhere. And it was cause for a joke when Stacey asked the cute check out guy to smack her butt and without missing a beat he slapped our giant slab of meat! Too funny! After Sam's we were running out of time, so we went to Tops instead of Wegmans. What a great find. It is a cool grocery store that had the neatest stuff. In fact we got these super, giant sized marshmallows that were the hit of the crop.
A long day of shopping and we were exhausted. We put everything away and did a bit more organizing and off to bed! We had a big next few days and needed our sleep.

There's Somethig About Spring Crop-Day One

For me "day one" was the day that Stacey arrived. I know that the crop was only over the weekend, but it was a party the moment Stacey stepped off the plane at Elmira airport!

I picked Stacey and her black suitcase with the giant red "S" spray painted on the side up and we drove back home. It was late in the afternoon and I figured we would head to dinner after Stace got settled in. I got to show her all my favorite spots on the way home, we even stopped in to Bearly Enough to say "hi" to one of my very favorite PA people-Linda! She is such a hoot and turns out that her daughter and Stacey both go to the same knitting store in Tampa.
We hung out on the back porch for quite awhile while waiting for Charles to get home from work. The weather was wonderful and we lounged in my new (but really old) patio chairs while the dogs played and Luna wandered around. Luna really is the best kitty, so friendly. She posed for photos and hung out on Stacey's lap for awhile. Charles got home and I gave Stacey the dinner options. Eddie's, Wren's Nest or Lamb's Creek. Since Lamb's Creek is our favorite we convinced Stacey to go. It was Italian Night and Stacey and I had the "dinner for two". It was so good-especially the bruschetta.
Afterwards we headed to Walmart since I needed a few things for the house. There were only two lines open and we picked the wrong one! We got stuck behind the WIC mother from hell! She had all these different coupons for different amounts off food and they couldn't be combined, so each order had to be rung up separately! She had her 18 month old baby out at 10pm, was telling everyone that he hadn't had supper yet and that they had been in the Walmart since 7pm. Mother of the Year Award?! Not likely!! It took so long that Charles almost fell asleep on the bench waiting for us!
Back at the house I did a few more things to get ready for the crop and we organized the stuff we were going to be doing the next day!

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Ice Cream

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Ice Cream

6 tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
6 large eggs, separated, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Melt butter and chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir to combine, then remove bowl from heat and let cool slightly. Whisk in egg yolks.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until peaks are stiff and glossy but not dry (do not overbeat). Whisk 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten; gently fold mixture into remaining whites.
Divide batter evenly amont lined cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes are just set in centers, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wore racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes (their centers will sink). Cupcakes are best eaten the same day they are baked; keep at room temperature until ready to serve, topped with scoops of ice cream, if desired.

Makes 22 cupcakes

(Boosted from MS's Cupcake book)

Baked Eggplant (or Zucchini) Parmesean Crisps & Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Baked Eggplant (or zucchini) Parmesean Crisps

2 baby eggplants (about 2” diameter), peeled OR if you cannot find them use zuccini, not peeled
1/2 cup (2 oz.) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp. Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning mix
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Vegetable oil
2 oz. goat cheese (from 3-4 oz. log)
Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes (see below)
Fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush pan with vegetable oil. Cut eggplants or zuchinnis into 1/4” slices. Combine Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and seasoning mix in shallow dish. Dredge eggplant lightly in flour, shaking off excess; dip into beaten egg and then into bread crumb mixture, coating evenly.
Place eggplant in a single layer on pan and spray or drizzle with oil. Bake 18-20 Cut goat cheese into small pieces. Top each eggplant slice with one piece of goat cheese and a scoop of roasted tomatoes. Garnish with fresh basil. Serve immediately.

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

1 big container or two small containers of cherry tomatoes
Olive Oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Cut cherry tomatoes in half and put in container. Add salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar to coat. Toss and let marinate up to 24 hours.
Tranasfer into oven-proof dish and roast in the oven set at 350 degrees for about a half of an hour, or until tender and shrivled alightly.

Dark Chocolate Fondue

Dark Chocolate Fondue

16 oz. dark chocolate, broken into pieces or chips
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/2 cup caramel topping
3 tbsp. hazelnut syrup or other favorite liqueur

Put all together in pan over simmering water and heat until all melted. Make sure you watch and stir all the time, do not let it bubble! Serve with yummy dippers or use as cake glaze.

Sticky Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

Sticky Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

12 chicken wing-ey things (flats, drums, both...)
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup store bought tangy BBQ sauce
1/4 cup honey
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted


1/4 cup sour cream
2 oz. (1/4 cup) cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled

Preheat to 450°. Line a baking sheet with foil. In a large bowl, toss together the chicken, oil, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Put the chicken on the baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes.
In a small bowl, smoosh the sour cream and cream cheese with a fork; season with salt. Stir in the blue cheese and 1 tablespoon water. Refrigerate until ready to use.
In a large bowl, stir together the barbecue sauce, honey and garlic. Put the partially cooked chicken wings into the sauce and stir to coat. Put the wings back on the baking sheet and roast in the oven for 8 minutes. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and roast until the wings are nicely browned, about 5 minutes more. Serve with the blue cheese dipping sauce.

(Stole this recipe from RR magazine!)

Shredded BBQ Pork

Shredded BBQ Pork

1 thing of pork shoulder butt (enough to feed your crew)
1 jar of your favorite BBQ sauce, little, bit or giant will depend on how big your butt is (I usually use Sonny's Sweet, but I found Carolina's Tangy Gold at Sam's and LOVE it!!)

Put the butt in water. It is best if it can cover it, but if it is a big butt put in as much water as you can and flip the butt every hour or so while cooking. Cook at a very, very low temprature for a very, very long time. I put my butt in at 250 degrees for at least 8 hours. I also salted the exposed part each time I flipped it. After 8 hours test the meat with a fork. Pull the fork through the butt and if it shreds off like butter, then it's done. If not, give it more time.

Put a ton of BBQ sauce in a pot and shred the pork into the sauce. I am a "use my hands" kind of cook, so just used my fingers to pull it apart, but if you are creeped out by that, a couple of forks work just fine.

Heat the saucy pork until hot and serve on buns. It really is that easy!

*Cooks note: Can you tell how much I like saying "butt"?!

Re-posting the MENU!

Hey y'all! I just wanted to take a few minutes and re-post the menu for next weekend to a) get you even more excited about coming and b)remind you that if something on the menu doesn't meet any of your specific dietary requirements or tastes then you need to be prepared for that!

Friday breakfast-Fruit, Yogurt & Granola Parfait (You build yourself)

Friday lunch-Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwich, Mom's Macaroni Salad, Chips and Ice Cream Sandwich

Friday dinner-Timeless Destinations

Friday late night snack-Cheesy Popcorn & Classic Candies

Saturday breakfast-Blueberry Pancakes (made as you arrive)& Bacon (or Facon)

Saturday lunch-(On your own)

Saturday snack: Soft Pretzels with Cheesy Beer Dip and San Pelligrino Sherbet Floats

Saturday dinner: Baked Eggplant Parmesan Crisps (starter), Dijon Grilled Chicken (or Quorn), Twice Baked Potatoes, Roasted Mixed Veggies & Yeast Rolls

Saturday Night Sweet: Dark Chocolate Fondue Station with tons of "dippers".

Sunday breakfast: Sausage and Egg Individual "Muffins" & Orange Creamsicle Smoothie

Sunday lunch: Spinach & Feta Brunch Rings, Fresh Fruit & Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Ice Cream

Whoa! I am hungry now! We are really gonna feast! Cannot wait until y'all get here...I am super excited! 2 more days until Stacey is here, and 2 more days after that until the rest of y'all show up! Yippee!

Project Life

How am I supposed to get any work done like this? The cats do not come to sit with me when I am watching TV and have a free lap and hands to pat them. NO! They come when I am either on the computer or scrapbooking! Dorks! Easter Sunday we went to the Folcareli's for supper. It was great! We got to meet some new people AND Tony's beautiful cows! Tony and his sweet Anabelle. Charles with the cows. There was even a 3-legged ram roaming with the cows and horses. That was a sad story. The beautiful white flower covered trees that line downtown Corning, NY. Last Sundays service was a beautiful concert played on the harp. No "speaking", just playing. Very beautiful! Ginger terrorizes the poor cow-bor up the road. This poor cow really wanted to be friends and kept coming back to the fence to say "hello" to the dogs. But with dumb Ginger barking at her, she couldn't make friends. The wonderful Sticky Banana Bread Pudding baking in the oven. With the extra baking soda it gets really bubbly while cooking. So I've learned to line the bottom rack with tin foil so I don't smoke us out of the house when I make it!

I don't know from spring...

Florida is almost always green. Green grass, green trees, green bushes... I think there might be a couple of trees that loose their leaves for winter, but with all the other green, it is hard to notice them. Also, grass goes brown when it either doesn't rain or you don't water your lawn. So being in Pennsylvania is starting to teach me all about spring and what changes happen.
Looking back on my photos from my Project Life I noticed that only two weeks ago there was snow on the ground. The snow had officially begun to melt at the beginning of March, but there were a few leftover snow showers waiting. These would happen at night and melt away by the next afternoon, but still...just two weeks ago there was snow on the ground!
I have watched the Canada geese fly over head in huge formations, I have seen the robins start to feed in the yard, I've been chased around the porch by stupid carpenter bees, I've seen groundhogs, chipmunks and squirrels come back into the yard, I've seen evidence of bear activity (thankfully, no bears yet) and heard tons and tons of birds. All evidence that spring has arrived.
Oh! And the grass! WOW. It is as green as it was when we first moved up here in July. Our yard is a vast expanse of grass, so green is good. Green is pretty. But surrounded by all these bare, winter trees it still doesn't feel all that "spring-ey". All the evidence is there, but to me...not quite yet. I am waiting for the leaves.
Right outside my computer room is a tree. Bare for many months now. I noticed the other day that it was covered with tons of tiny pink flowers. I thought, "Wow. I don't remember that tree being a flowering tree." Here is what I learned...Pink flowers turn into green leaves! How cool is that? Today when I went out, all those pink flowers are blowing away and being replaced by green leaves!! Which made me take a good look around and I saw another tree covered in tiny white flowers. My guess is that soon those flowers will be gone and there will be green leaves there instead. Next I looked to the tops of the tree lines and lo and behold there are tons of green leaves starting to come back. It seems to be starting at the tops of the trees and working down. Humm. Pretty cool!
I was worried that all my Florida friends would arrive and we will still look like winter when I was hosting a "spring" themed crop! Well, thanks Nature. You are coming through for me. Oh, and thanks for the lessons!

Funny memory

While finding stuff to toss this month for Toss Ten Tuesday, I discovered this old scrapbook that I was using to hold newspaper articles, photos, trinkets, playbills, scripts, etc. for the times that I was on stage in community theatre. I guess that I put a few other things in there too and I found a really funny gem that I wanted to share.

At the time I was working for a store called Worden's World of Crafts in Fort Lauderdale. It was a family run craft store and the employees were treated like family. I loved working for them, they were great people. Each year we would hold a Christmas party at the front of the store after we closed for the day. We would all bring in a covered dish to share and then we would have a little program. This program would include us singing Christmas carols, some of us would do little skits or sing, the managers and owners would always say a few words and then we would get our Christmas "gift" from the store. It was such a nice thing for them to do, very charming. Of course, the people I hung out with there were just as goofy as me, so we usually would contribute something funny to the program. I remember one year Doug, Charles, Sylvia and I lip-synced a Chipmunk song. Yes. "MY" Charles. That is where I met him many moons ago. Well, each year the receptionist would put together a program of the party and it was full of bible verses, Christmas songs, quotes, photos and special messages from some store employees. This year she came around and asked us to fill out a sheet with what our Christmas Wish would be. She asked the whole store and went back and typed all the answers in the Christmas program. Those of us (all girls, except Craig) who worked in the frame department were a bunch of smarty pants, so mixed in with the "Peace on Earth"s and "A happy and safe 1991"s were sprinkled our answers:


"What is your Christmas Wish?"

Tracey: "To be sitting in a hot tub with Mel Gibson."

Jennifer (me): "Mel Gibson with nothing on but a big red bow around his neck."

Sharon: "Mel Gibson, sitting on a Harley naked."

Raquel: "A black Mel Gibson with a can of whip cream."

And then at the bottom of all the wishes was Craig's:

Craig: "To be Mel Gibson!!! (and I hope that everyone's Christmas wishes come true.)

Oh, boy! Those were some fun days!

Toss Ten Tuesday

Toss Ten Tuesday is here again! Yeah! This month not only did I have a great time throwing away some stuff, I also had a great time finding some old memorabilia just sitting around in the wrong place. I was able to put it where it goes and share some of it with an old friend who will get a kick out of seeing himself 20 years
ago! This was a great TT Month! Hope all of y'all are still enjoying yourselves.


AU REVOIR BAG OF PANTYHOSE. WHEN DO YOU SUPPOSE WAS THE LAST TIME I HAD ON A PAIR OF YOU GUYS? YEARS AGO, I AM SURE. MOST OF YOU HAVE RUNNERS OR YOUR ELASTIC IS SHOT SO I COULDN'T WEAR YOU EVEN IF I WAS SO INCLINED. YA'LL WILL GO RIGHT INTO THE BURNING BARREL, I DOUBT ANYONE WOULD WANT MY OLD HOSE!

AU REVOIR OLD CAKE AND CANDY MAKING SUPPLIES. I DO LOVE TO DECORATE CAKES AND KEEP JUST THE BASICS, BUT Y'ALL WERE EITHER EXPIRED OR DOUBLES. GO FROST SOMEONE ELSE'S CAKES.

AU REVOIR CDS. I HAVE BEEN ORGANIZING ALL MY CDS AND DVDS AND SOMEHOW I FOUND A PILE THAT I HAD MISSED. YOU GUYS DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT. (IF YOU NOTICE THE N'SNYC CD IN THE PILE DON'T FRET-THEY DID MAKE THE CUT, TWICE. THIS WAS A DUPLICATE!)

AU REVOIR SHIRTS. YOU TWO SHIRTS FELL VICTIM TO THE RED YARN TEST. IF I GO TO PUT A PIECE OF CLOTHES ON AND I DECIDE NOT TO WEAR IT, I WILL TIE A RED STRING ON THE HANGER. IF I FIND THREE PIECES OF RED YARN, THEN I DONATE IT TO GOODWILL. THREE STRIKES AND YA'LL ARE GONE!

AU REVOIR UGLY BUNNIES. I THINK I BOUGHT YOU ON CLEARANCE WHEN I WAS WORKING AT MICHAEL'S. #1-YOU GUYS WERE ON CLEARANCE, NOT A GOOD SIGN. #2-THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR I'VE PUT YOU OUT 'CAUSE I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE UGLY. WHY, OH, WHY DID I BUY YOU?

AU REVOIR BRASS DISH. I'M SURE YOU WERE GREAT WHEN YOU WERE BRIGHT AND SHINY. I DO NOT WANT TO POLISH YOU, SO YOU SIT IN A DRAWER TAKING UP SPACE. MAYBE THE FOLKS IN YOUR NEW HOME WILL POLISH YOU.

AU REVOIR MISCELLANEOUS PAPERWORK. I HAVE BEEN PRETTY GOOD ABOUT FILING AND KEEPING TRACK OF ALL THE PAPERWORK FROM EVERYDAY LIFE. Y'ALL HAVE BEEN HIDING OUT AT THE BOTTOM OF A JUNK DRAWER AND NOW THAT IT IS GETTING CLEANED OUT YOU ARE GETTING PITCHED.

AU REVOIR GOLD EARRINGS AND PIN FROM THE 80'S. I LOOKED GREAT WHEN I WORE THESE....IN THE EIGHTIES!! EVEN IF THEY WERE TO BE FASHIONABLE AGAIN, I DON'T REALLY WEAR ANYTHING BUT SILVER, SO AU REVOIR!

AU REVIOR ROMANCE BOOKS. I USED TO READ YOU AND THEN SAVE YOU. DO NOT ASK ME WHY I WOULD SAVE YOU. THINKING THAT I LOOKED SMART WITH A BUNCH OF ROMANCE BOOKS ON MY SHELF? THINKING I WOULD RE-READ YOU SOME DAY? AARRGG! TO BOTH OF THOSE THOUGHTS. LET SOME OTHER WOMAN WHO IS A SLIGHTLY-CLOSETED ROMANCE LOVER ENJOY YOU.

AU REVIOR OLD SCRAPBOOK. I STARTED YOU TO HOLD ALL MY STAGE MEMORABILIA. ONLY A FEW PAGES WERE FULL AND COMPARED TO WHAT I DO THESE DAYS, LOOK VERY CHEESY. SO OUT CAME THE PAGES, I STORED YOU WITH THE REST OF MY MEMORABILIA AND AM SENDING CRAIG A FEW TIDBITS TO ENJOY! HOPEFULLY SOME TEENAGE GIRL WILL FILL YOU WITH THE COOL STUFF OF HER LIFE!