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EPISODE 1,197: CHRISTMAS MINIATURES ON DINING ROOM TABLES, DEC 18,2024






EPISODE  1,197:  CHRISTMAS MINIATURES ON DINING ROOM TABLES, DEC 18,2024

alam skeoch
december 18, 2024

Merry Christmas — By pure chance these miniatures caught our attention and
I hope yours as well.  One is a miniature Noahs Ark made from fine white pine.
Not all the animals could get aboard which must have concerned Noah.  The woodsman
also made a gender error when he carved two male lions but forgot the need for a
female.  Cost me $8 for the whole collection which will now live forever
on the computer.
 

The second collection was made by Marjorie’s friend Joyce who invited us
for special Christmas time display of a miniature village…which included red wine
and mincemeat tarts. “In the winter I enjoy difficult puzzles. Sometimes 
spend as much as three hours in wonderful concentration.”  For Joyce’s
coffee table she had assembled these three dimensional puzzles in plastic Lego.



This is our Christmas card to readers…some of whom have their own kind of Christmas celebrations.
Yes, that is our cat on the table…almost invisible.
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episode 1,193 : The miracle of cataract surgery….may seem silly



Begin forwarded message:


From: marjorie skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>
Subject: Smile
Date: November 27, 2024 at 8:49:50 PM EST
To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>




guess what happened after cataract surgery.

I no longer needed glasses!  All conditions were normal.

Smile again


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EPISODE 1,192 FIVE ROSES COOKBOOK, 1913—RICE PUDDING GIFT TO READERS

EPISODE 1,192   FIVE ROSES COOKBOOK, 1913—RICE PUDDING GIFT TO READERS


alan skeoch
december 4, 2024




Grandma pinned clippings in the Five Roses Cookbook.  She loved
the poetry of Edna Jaques.



December can be a somber month for a lot of people so this episode should be
a little cheerful.  Hope so anyway.  There may be doubt until the rice pudding
comes out of the oven.  Rice pudding?  Marjorie found Grandma Freeman’s
cookbook — dated 1913 or 1915.  The Freeman family moved from the firestorms 
in Northern Ontario in 1914 — moved south to a rock covered 25 acre farm
in Erin Township, Wellington County.  In addition to being a glacial dump
10,000 years ago the tiny farm had five swamps.  It was cheap and Granddad, Edward 
Freeman, professional gardener, had just about run out of options. he got a job as
a munitions maker in Toronto — no sense trying to make a living as a farmer
or market gardener.

So Grandma Louisa Freeman must have sent 30 cents and a mint 10 cent stamp
to get this copy of the Five Roses Cookbook in 1914.  The book contains 900 true and
tested recipes.  Tested?  Yes!  Some 750,000 of these books were sold…at one
point 50% of  the kitchens in Canada had a copy.

Here is my choice for us to test.

RICE PUDDING

3 tablespoons of rice
1 pint milk (2 cups noted Grandma Freeman)
1 cup water
Butter size of an egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or nutmeg)
Pinch of salt
Raisins may be added

Put in oven and bake for 2 hours — do not disturb the rice.
Take out and on top spread an icing made as follows:

ICING

2 eggs (whites)
1 cup sugar
1 cup raisins (chopped)

Put in oven to brown. Before putting
the icing on top, remove the brown that forms over the rice.

Note: This was cooked in the oven of a wood stove.  Guess
the heat necessary on your electric stove…say 325 degrees
or more.  How do I know this is a good recipe?  I don’t
know for sure — grandma folded the page  though.  Whether 
you fail or succeed is up to you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!