Big Boys and Bannock, too!

My new favorite age is eight!  Grandson, Quentin, who is 8 years old, is staying with me for two weeks, and he is a delight!  He is still young enough to listen without needing to have the last word, and is eager to please and excited over just about everything.  We have explored stories and games and just had some silly pillow talk… and we’ve giggled together often, too.  Eight year old boys have a plethora of silly things traveling through their thoughts and many of them explode out into words, keeping me on my toes.  Every night, when tucking the grandchildren in, I always say… “Goodnight, don’t let the bedbugs bite”, and they answer, “And if they do, hit them with your shoe until they’re all black and blue.”  When Ava was about a year and a half old and visiting, I said that to her for the first time… and she answered, “Okay.”  And Mark told me when they got upstairs, she looked all through the bed for the bedbugs, which, of course, did not live in my house.  (Now, those bedbugs are a real threat in many areas, even existing in department stores and movie theaters!) 

Well, last night, Quentin was curious about bedbugs, so we looked them up on the internet and discovered what they looked like and all sorts of facts about them.  It’s good reading practice for him, as well.  He asked me if I remember last summer when we were looking up planets… so our research treks on the internet obviously make an impact in his memory, which I was overjoyed to learn!  We learned that bedbugs can live for as long as five months without needing to feed on blood, which is kind of frightening.  This summer, he is again reading to me from Thornton W. Burgess's books... the Mother West Wind series.  My 92-year old mother used to read those to us when my sisters and I were children.  Do any of you remember growing up with those books?  They are repetitive and boring by today's standards, but they taught good lessons in how to be good and get along with your friends and family.  I'm glad Quentin is enjoying them with me.

Thanks to the internet and Skype, he can Skype and play internet games with his little sister, which I’m sure my son appreciates, since he is home alone with four-year-old Charlotte!  Quentin can entertain her while Mark is cooking dinner.  Since today is a holiday, they’ve played and Skyped a couple of times.  These modern technologies intimidate me, but even Charlotte can initiate a Skype call!  For me, it’s kind of similar to what I know about a car… I can turn them on and hope they perform as they are supposed to! 

This morning, we made fried bread, Native American Indian style, or Bannock, as it is called.  The recipe is easy, and does not require any yeast so there is no waiting for it to raise, and it can be made while the oil is heating.  I cannot take a photo of the plate of fried bread, because I sent it home with my youngest daughter for my older grandchildren to enjoy.  But… here is a photo of Quentin with the one piece that is left as I write this.

Bannock:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 Cups warm milk

Mix all ingredients and turn out onto a board to knead until the dough is well-mixed, just a few minutes.  Cover with a tea towel and let “rest” for about 15 minutes.  Heat olive oil in a deep frying pan until hot.  Divide the dough into 12 pieces (these will make “bread” about the size of a slice of bread… make them bigger if you want bigger breads).  Press each piece into a thin “round” of dough.  Deep fry in the hot oil until golden, and using tongs, turn the bread and fry the other side.  Drain on a paper towel covered plate.  The golden bubbly fried Bannock may be dusted with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.  It may be used as a “wrap” for a sandwich or as the base for a taco or pizza topping. 

 We had a little neighborhood parade here in our area of Finneytown, an annual event.  It was over in about 5 minutes, but it was fun for Quentin, just the same, and he told everyone he went to the “festival” for the Fourth.  It was drizzling rain, but he stood at the curb in front of our house, anyway, and managed to get two pieces of candy thrown his way.  Youngest daughter brought us dinner tonight, and then drove us to watch fireworks in the area.  I still am excited to see fireworks.  I guess I’m just a kid at heart.  It was still raining, but we could watch from the car, and thankfully they were not cancelled. 

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe 4^th of July holiday weekend.  Quentin reminded me that now summer is almost half over!     

My oldest daughter, Michelle, has been making a flannel quilt (oversized twin) for her step-granddaughter, who is 2-1/2 and moving into a twin princess bed.  The fabric Michelle chose for Ezra is a Disney princess flannel, and she put a coordinating heart fabric on the back, so it is reversible.  She is tying it, and brought it home to accomplish that last task.  Here are photos of the back and front of the quilt.  I hoped she would catch the quilting bug in making this quilt, her first venture into patchwork, but she assured me it may be the only quilt she will ever make, and her real passion is gardening!  I’m glad it is, because I reap the benefits of her garden, also.  I love those fresh tomatoes and peppers!  However, she did a great job on the quilt for her granddaughter.

Grandchildren are much more fun than children!  I have my almost-12-year old granddaughter from Minnesota with me now, at least for 2 more days.  Sunday I will lose her to her other grandma, but I will gain her 8-year-old brother for two weeks, so it won’t be so difficult to have her leave.  We choose to have them one at a time, so that they get plenty of one-on-one attention for the time they are here.  With all the modern conveniences, Ava Skypes with her little 4-year-old sister at home every day.  They play an online game together for at least an hour every night, so Charlotte doesn’t feel the loss of her siblings quite as much as she would if they had no contact.  She is a homebody, and although her brother and sister loved to travel with me when they were her age, she wants everyone to stay home together!  She is named after me... my paternal grandmother was Charlotte, and that is my middle name, also. 

Ava has decided she doesn’t want to eat anything that has a face, although she does like Wendy’s or McDonald’s spicy chicken sandwiches.  She wanted to try KFC one day, but thought it tasted “rotten”.  It was not spoiled… tasted just fine… but to her it was inedible.  She did like Chipotle’s chicken burrito, however, and Auntie Tricia brought us some beef taco lasagna one night that she thought was delicious.  If she isn’t told what meat is in something, it’s easier for her to eat.  She likes spicy things, mushrooms, garlic and onions… but doesn’t like eggs or want meat, so it’s been a challenge to find things she likes to eat.  We shopped for groceries yesterday, and she said she loves onion rings, so we got a bag of Vidalia onions and made some onion rings today.  Ava ate one and declared it was good but maybe her dad’s were better.  The second onion ring brought the pronouncement that they were the best she’s ever eaten.  Here’s the recipe I made up today: 

Onion Rings:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Paprika
½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1-1/2 cups cold beer

Combine all ingredients.  Let sit at room temperature for at least an hour.

Slice Vidalia onions into ¼” to 1/2” slices and separate rings.  Let sit to dry for at least an hour.
Dip onion ring into batter with a fork, letting the batter drip off into the bowl.  Then transfer the battered ring to the oil.  Fry onion slices in very hot oil… I use Olive oil… until golden.  Drain on a plate covered with paper toweling.  For anyone who doesn’t like the idea of alcohol in cooking… the alcohol is cooked off by the heat, so there is no beer alcohol in the cooked onion rings.

Ava loves to do handwork, and wanted to learn to crochet… but after learning the chain stitch, decided crocheting wasn’t as much fun as sewing or embroidery.  She picked out a variety of fat quarters and I cut the napkins for her. She hemmed 12 napkins for her family… her first project on the serger… and then made two each for her maternal grandmother and her great-grammy, who is in her 90s and her namesake.  She loved serging once she got over the fear of the speed, and also started serging scraps, just for the fun of it.  She serged around a piece of pink flannel left over from her Auntie Michelle’s quilt, and embroidered a heart with names on it for her cousin. 

 

My two daughters took a class in cake decorating last night.  We’ve all decorated cakes for many years, but none of us ever took a class in it.  I taught my daughters when they were young, and have given them all of my Wilton pans and decorating supplies, so the cake decorating is up to them these days.  Here are photos of them with the cakes they decorated.  I thought they were going to save them for our birthday on Saturday (Ava and I share a birthday, and I tell her she is the best present I ever received!)  but they said no… they weren’t big enough.  So we had an early “birthday” tasting last night… white cake with raspberry filling… and it was delicious! 

Ava has also been practicing her viola, and she does a beautiful job with it.  She's made a lot of progress since I heard her practicing last year, when listening to her practice was an exercise in patience! 

This weekend, most of my children and grandchildren will be gathering to celebrate our birthdays… great-grandson Lucas is three today, and his party is on Saturday, also.  I love these times when the family is all together… it’s the best gift I can ever receive, and that’s the truth! 

 

On aging and being alone... with recipes and food for thought

Breezy summer days in Cincinnati are welcome!  In a climate that is usually humid, the moderate temperature with cool breezes invite time outdoors.  My sister was visiting from Nebraska this week, and we had a lovely lunch with my friend on her garden patio, shaded by a tree.  Her roses are in full bloom, and her raised beds were lush with blossoms and the foliage of a myriad of plants.  Lavender spikes rose majestically over broad-leafed rhubarb, and the gardens were alive with color.  It was a day to be savored, with good company and surrounded with beauty and the intoxicating scents of a summer garden.  It brings to mind the mornings my husband and I spent on the deck admiring our gardens below.  I am not mobile enough to garden anymore, but the memories of

those times are still green in my mind.  Last weekend was my son-in-law’s 60^th birthday, and my granddaughter’s 20^th birthday. We celebrated the weekend at my home with his two oldest daughters and his two grandchildren here, also.  It was a special time, with a Sunday brunch that included all of my family here in the area. 

(Bob, the birthday boy, shown at the right with baby Leola, 5 months old.  On the left is Leola with her mother, Abby. Alaena Violet is the birthday girl, shown below left with her nephew, my great-grandson, Lucas, who will be three this month.)

Although we grow older and less able to accomplish things we once took for granted, we strive to continue a lifestyle adapted to our circumstances and diminished capabilities.  No one told us it would be this difficult to age!  And when we were young and our bodies were strong, we never thought the time would come when the flesh would not cooperate with what the mind believed to be true!  Perhaps the most difficult thing for me to deal with is being alone.  When we have lost our best friend and life partner, there is no one who knows us intimately enough to share the shattering of our dreams and the frustration that comes with diminished mobility.  I have always treasured time alone, and still enjoy my alone time, but that is a completely different thing than feeling like a lone person, adrift in unfamiliar waters.  I want to be supported emotionally, encouraged and even praised for the things I can still accomplish… but destructive criticism is not welcome in the new world I am being forced to create.

My eyesight is failing, but I still can… and need… to create things of beauty, whether it is knitted, crocheted, or quilted.  Sometimes, it is writing words on paper… transcribing emotions into form and substance for others to read and perhaps identify with.  My physical limitations do not prevent me from baking and cooking, although now much of the preparation is done sitting at my kitchen table.  And what once took minutes to do, now often takes me hours and sometimes days to complete!  But that is acceptable… time is the one commodity I still have, although it seems to have taken on more momentum at this time in my life.  As children, we can’t wait to:  get bigger, get older, reach higher, stay up later… and the list goes on.  Time moves slowly.  Now, time races by… I can almost hear the calendar pages swooshing as they flip from one month to the next!  Instead of anticipating what is to come, I find myself pulling up memories from my past to savor over and over again… the births of my children, watching them grow and learn, moments spent with beloved family and friends.  Just moments, but they were indelibly written on my heartstrings and still play beautiful music in my mind. 

 

I am growing older, but I am still learning… I find shortcuts and easier methods of doing the necessary things.  I am never going to be an immaculate housekeeper, but that was never my priority or goal in life.  Long ago, my beloved grandmother told me people are coming to see ME, not how clean my house is, and if they criticize my housekeeping, they are not my friends.  That was good advice, and if you are one of those people who takes pride in an immaculate house, that is wonderful.  I am not one of your number, however.  You will seldom be able to write your name in the dust on my tabletop, but I do not dust on a regular basis… just when I see it needs to be dusted.  But you will always find a warm hug when you enter my home, and usually a cup of coffee or glass of iced tea.  And if you see stacks of fabric and quilt blocks laid out on the floor, you will also find finished quilts to snuggle under… and hopefully be able to share some laughter while we visit! 

 

I do not drink, smoke, or spend money on traveling to exotic places, but I do love fabric and yarn!  And if I choose to spend my money on those things I love at this time in my life, I feel free to do so.  I know I will never live long enough to use it all up, and that’s fine with me… I enjoy the process of acquiring it!   If none of my children want it when I die, I hope it will brighten some stranger’s day to receive it in a bag at Goodwill. It does not mean I am a hoarder, although perhaps I am, when it comes to some things.  (My son-in-law, Bob, says I have 44 cake mixes on my storage shelves... I'll take his word for it, because I don't have time to waste counting them!)  But let these words be a testament to my philosophy of living… I enjoyed each day, and filled my time with things and people I loved! 

 

 

Here are a few recipes I have made and liked... quick and easy! 

Angel Bars:

1 boxed angel food cake mix

1 can of pie filling, any flavor,

OR 1 large can of crushed pineapple

 

Mix the dry cake mix with the can of pie filling

or the crushed pineapple, juice and all.  Spread in

a sprayed 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for

25 to 30 minutes.  Pictured at right are the bars

made with pineapple.  Lemon bars were my

family's favorite.

 

Taco Log:

2 crescent roll tubes
1 LB ground beef 

1 diced Jalapeno pepper, seeds removed

1/2 cup chopped onion, optional
1 packet of taco seasoning
 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Shredded lettuce
1 or 2 diced tomatoes depending on size
1/2 small can sliced olives if desired
Sour cream optional
sliced avacado optional

Lay out the two tubes of crescent pastry, thick sides in. Use some of the left over crescent rolls to to make the center a bit thicker.
Brown beef and add taco seasoning.
Lay beef in a circle inside of the laid out crescent rolls
Add cheese to the top
Pull over crescent rolls and tuck in under meat and cheese.
Add cheese, lettuce, tomato, black olives, sour cream or whatever you desire for your tacos, in the middle.

Follow cook time on the pack of crescent rolls, and once it's done, you're good to go!

 Brown beef, pepper and onion and add taco seasoning.

Omit the pepper if you don't like "hot" things.

Lay out the two tubes of crescent pastry on a

cookie sheet, thick sides in. Put the beef mixture

on the center of the crescent rolls.  Top beef

with 1-1/2 cups shredded Fiesta blend cheese.

Fold crescent rolls over the filling, covering as much

as possible of the filling.  Bake as per directions on the

crescent rolls. 

Serve with any of the following garnishes: 

salsa, guacamole, shredded lettuce, tomatoes,

shredded cheese, diced green onions, black olives, or

sour cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I leave you with this thought for the day...

Night thoughts...

Just one word:

Alone

One, separated from all by just one “L”

A Lone One

One soul alone

Simply One lone word

Adrift in the dictionary of life

One

What if the missing “L” is love?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patriotic Patches

Memorial Day weekend... it seems a fitting time to post a tutorial on a patriotic quilt.

This is the second Quilt of Valor I’ve made for the project of a friend whose veteran son is living in a veteran's home, receiving training… the first one is the Offset Log Cabin, which was featured on a prior blog.   She plans to distribute a Quilt of Valor to all the residents of that home, showing our (as civilians) appreciation for their service.

 

This quilt is super easy… and made up simply of 5” charm squares and 2-1/2” strips.  My strips were navy blue and red prints, with unbleached muslin for the light strips.  I have a lot of pieces that have been trimmed off quilt backings, so I didn’t have to cut into any yardage for the light strips… and I reduced some of the pieces in my scrap basket!  The completed top, less borders, is shown at the left.

To begin, join four 5” charm squares into a square

that will measure 9-1/2”, see photo at right.

 
From your 2-1/2” strips:Make two strip sets:  dark, white, dark
Make one strip set:  white, red, white.
You will need twice as many of the dark, white, dark
As the white, red, white, which is why you are making
Twice as many of the dark strip sets.

Cut these strip sets into 2-1/2” segments.
Join them with the dark/white/dark on the top and bottom,
And the white/red/white in the center.  Your 9-Patch will measure 6-1/2" square when you have the three rows joined. The  completed 9-Patch is shown on the right. 

To make the Rail Fence sashing, you will need to join a white/dark/white strip… I didn’t count how many, but I can tell you that I got four segments from every strip set.  See the strip set below, left.

Cut this into 9-1/2” segments.  Join one of these sashing strips to the top of your charm square set, and one to the bottom of your charm square set.  Join one 9-patch to each end of another sashing strip, and attach that to each side of the charm square with the strip sets already attached.  You will see your charm square in the center, with the Rail Fence blocks on all 4 sides and the 9-Patches in the corner.  Attach Rail Fence sashing to two more Charm Square blocks, and sew them to the sides of the first block you made.  You can continue to build out from there, adding the 9-Patch units when necessary to complete the block.

   Note the photo below left, which shows a close-up of one part of the quilt top.  See how the Rail Fence sashing borders the charm square, and the 9-Patch units complete the square.

When I had all the blocks finished for the main part of the quilt,
I added the sashing row across the top and bottom, made up of the Rail Fence strips and 9-Patch blocks.  The last thing I added were the sashing rows for the two long sides.

I found it helpful to pin where the units join, in order to match the seams properly.  It also helps to set your seams by pressing the sewing line on the wrong side, then flipping it up to press from the right side.  When sewing the strip sets, I pressed the seams toward the dark fabric whenever possible. My border will probably be made up of perhaps a narrower navy blue stripe bordering the top, with a wider border of a red print, and bound with navy blue.  This truly is a quilt you can make in a day, if you are using pre-cut charm squares.  The charm packs I used were Star Spangled Bandana, by Bristol Bay Studios (Bernatex), American Basics, by Windham Fabrics, and some from a layer cake, Honor & Glory, by Windham Fabrics.  I order many of my charm packs online from The Missouri Star Quilt Company.  Their shipping is reasonable, and they have a “quilter's deal of the day” which is usually marked down considerably from the retail price.

And here is another photo of the completed top, without borders.  There are 23 Rail Fence sashing units, with twenty 9-Patch units and 12 charm square units consisting of 4 charm squares in each.
 

 

If you have a veteran in your life, be sure to think him or her!  Often, our military are not treated with the respect they deserve.  Many come home with physical disabilities, but perhaps more bear the emotional scars of war.  May God bless our military people and keep them safe! 

 

Of Good Friends and Dishcloths

Life sometimes offers us opportunities to rejoice, as in the case of my online quilting friend, Sarah Lynn, who just completed a lovely masterpiece quilt that was appraised at $9,000.00!   Well, perhaps her opportunity to rejoice wasn’t entirely due to life, but to thousands of hours of her painstaking labor.  Sarah Lynn and I have a connection… my best friend from high school (and that’s a LONG time ago) was her English teacher in her own high school days (not QUITE so long ago).  She lives in Nebraska, where I went to high school… once upon a time in olden days!  It was fun to “meet” Sarah Lynn online and discover our connection to Miss Owens, who is no longer Miss Owens.  She got married quite some time ago.  Here is a link to view her Graceful Garden quilt.  She also does long-arm quilting and custom sewing.

    http://sarahlynnsquilting.com/Quilt%20Gallery%20V,%20page%202.html

At other times, life seems ready and all too willing to knock the wind out of our sails.  Most days, I have my rose-colored glasses firmly in place, but sometimes it’s hard to remember I’m wearing them, as things don’t look entirely rosy.  My oldest daughter tells me to quit whining when I have those days, but it isn’t easy to stop whining, when I’m lying face down in the dirt, figuratively speaking.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I was sitting in the office of my eye doctor, waiting to hear my name called, and I looked around the waiting room and noticed all of us were women, and all of us had canes or walkers.  I mentioned that fact out loud, and one woman sitting near me began a conversation. 

She said:  I would rather use a cane and be safe than lose my balance and fall flat on my face.
I said:  Me, too. 
She said:  My daughter drives me to my appointments now.
I said:  I just arranged for a driving service.  My children all work.
She said:  My daughter works, too, but we arrange my appointments around her schedule so she can drive me. (Said with a smug, self-satisfied look)
I said:  That’s nice.  My daughter used to drive me, but she has 3 teenaged children besides her job.
She said:  Don’t you have any friends?  (With a pitying look sent in my direction)
I said:  I have one friend, but her husband has cancer and she has her plate full right now.

And that’s when I started dipping into my very own pity pot!  I don’t have friends here that I feel close enough to that I would ask them for rides, which is why I hired a driving service.  When I lived in Minnesota, I had no children nearby, but I had a lot of friends, and we took care of driving each other to appointments, when necessary.  We loved each other, supported each other, and shared bits and pieces of our lives, along with recipes and patterns.  We went out to eat together.  We worked on projects together.  We laughed together and sometimes we wept together.  It takes many years to build those kinds of friendships.  I miss my friends!  Rather than begin to weep when I thought about how alone I was feeling, I pulled out my knitting and began to do some mindless knitting on a diagonal knit dishcloth. 

This is a great pattern to work on while watching television or when you don’t have the opportunity to do something that requires greater concentration.  It is known as “Grandma’s diagonal dish cloth”, and since I am a Grandma and I knit, here is my version.

Grandma’s Diagonal Dish Cloth:
Supplies needed:  Worsted-weight cotton yarn and size 8 needles (I prefer a circular needle)
Cast on 3 stitches.
Row 1:  Knit 3 stitches
Row 2: Knit 2 stitches, yarn over, knit remaining stitch.
Row 3:  Knit 2 stitches, yarn over, knit to end of row.
Rows 4 – 44:  Repeat row 3.
Row 45: Knit one stitch, Knit 2 stitches together, yarn over, knit 2 stitches together, knit to end of row.
Repeat  that row, decreasing 2 stitches each row and increasing one until 4 stitches remain.  Knit 2 together, knit to end of row.  Three stitches remaining.  Bind off, leaving a short tail to weave into the cloth.  Weave in end from casting on, and you’re done!  The yarn over creates a “lace” pattern on the edges of the cloth. 

I am not a fast knitter, and my husband referred to these as my “$90.00 dish cloths”, considering the time I put into them!  I find the cone of yarn is getting smaller but the price is getting larger, so perhaps they are worth even more than that these days.  I get fewer cloths now from a cone of yarn.  I would never sell these, because no one would pay $90 for a dish cloth.  But I make them throughout the year and give them to my children and friends for gifts, along with the nylon net scrubbies, which I posted a pattern for about a year ago on my blog.  I can't put a price tag on love, and there is a lot of love knit into those dish cloths for friends and family!

 Not all things go up in price.  I got a coupon for an oil change from my Chrysler dealer, for $12.95, including a multi-point inspection!  So this afternoon I will head to the dealership with my knitting bag in hand, for my appointment to take advantage of the bargain.  While I knit mindlessly, I will have time to think of my friends real-time and online, and send loving thoughts of appreciation for their friendship.  And I will count my own blessings.  Among them will be the fact that the lady who was so eager to make me feel what is lacking in my life is not counted among my friends!  As one of my old friends once said… with friends like that, who needs enemies?  And I will give thanks for my NEW friend and driver, Jan... thank goodness they have services like this.  I'm thinking it would take me a long time to walk to my appointments, even with my cane!

Finnish Roots and Family Traditions (Rusk recipe)

When I was a child, I remember visiting my Finnish great-grandfather’s home on the farm and always there was a big bowl of filia sitting on the kitchen table.  Filia is the Finnish version of yogurt.  My great-grandparents were always referred to by the Finnish names for Mom and Dad, Isa and Aiti.  Until recently, I have always thought it meant Grandma and Grandpa, but my mother said it is actually a form of respect to call them Mother and Father, even though they are grandparents.  I didn’t particularly like the filia, so Isa would sprinkle it with a little sugar to make it more palatable.  As an adult, I made my own yogurt and we would eat it with sweetened fruit or berries on top, but yogurt is not quite the same as filia, or villi, which has a little different consistency.  With the advent of the internet, providing easy access to all things known and unknown, I found a place that sells the actual villi culture! 

Isa would sip his coffee from the saucer… another Finnish practice, which allows the hot beverage to cool a bit.  And always there was the Finnish toast, or korpu, to go with the coffee or tea.  The cinnamon toast used to be readily available in the grocery stores in the midwest, but I haven’t looked for it in years.  Most nationalities have a version of this, ranging from the Italian biscotti to the rusk of the Scandinavian countries.   I began to make my own, from a recipe a Scandinavian friend gave me.  It’s not the same as the korpu I remembered from my youth, but I liked it even better.  It contains the traditional Finnish spice, cardamom, for flavoring, along with mace.  My husband used to love it with his coffee better than anything else.  It’s a little sweet with a lot of flavor, and enhances either coffee or tea.  This recipe is crisp but tender, much like a dried shortbread.

Norwegian Rusk:                                                        
1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup shortening
1-1/2 cups sugar (may use less, if desired)
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
Cream the above ingredients in a large bowl.
Add:
3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom seed
1/2 teaspoon ground mace, optional (could substitute nutmeg)
Shape dough into two long loaves on a cookie sheet.  You will need to flour your hands, and it helps to put the dough onto a floured board to coat it lightly in order to shape it.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet and place on cooling racks.  When the loaves are cooled, slice them into ½” slices and place them side down on cookie sheets.  Return to the oven for an additional 12 to 15 minutes until the slices are golden brown, no need to turn them over.  I let them cool and dry on the baking sheet before removing them and putting them into a container for storage.  The rusk does not need to be refrigerated.  If you have an empty cardboard coffee can with a lid, that works great for storing the rusk, and if you want to get creative, you can decorate the can with old pieces of wallpaper or some other covering to match your kitchen.  If you have children, they will have fun making decorated coffee cans for your gifts to your friends. 

I’ve started saving my coffee cans for storage, whether they are plastic or cardboard.  It seems that my plastic containers disappear, sending leftovers home with people, and rather than to keep buying more “disposable” containers, I save my large plastic jars from nuts and coffee cans.  The larger ones are great for sending soup or casserole leftovers home with guests.  The containers have wide mouths and sometimes screw-on lids, making them ideal for storage. 

 The ornamental pear trees tower their blossoming branches about forty feet toward the sky on my front boulevard.  This is a beautiful time of year, when the flowering trees are arrayed in pinks, purples and whites, waving aromatically in the spring breeze.  The staunch forsythia is proudly sporting yellow and the trees are beginning to leaf out in that lovely shade of bright green that heralds spring.  The grass is growing so fast you can almost hear it singing.  I noticed there are pretty purple violets blooming already in the grass in my front yard.  Spring races in with colorful excitement, and the world is alive with the birth of another season. 

Southern Ohio is a lovely place to experience the seasons… each season has its own time and space, and is not dominated by dormant winter as it was in northern Minnesota.  We have snow, but there is not so much it lasts for months on end.  The cold is seldom frigid and usually does not dip below the zero mark.  My friend, Sandra, posted photos of blowing bubbles in Minnesota a few months ago, and it was so cold the bubbles froze and remained intact when they hit the ground!  But that morning it was forty degrees below zero at her home, as shown by the photo of her thermometer!  Alas… they are still experiencing snowstorms, while we sit outdoors in our shorts and sleeveless  tops, enjoying the colors of spring!

Family traditions are wonderful things to pass on to your children and grandchildren.  I remember Aiti had a huge wooden rug loom in one end of their living room, where she had once woven beautiful rag rugs.  I always have wanted to learn to use one, and for many years wanted a loom of my own, but they are very large and take up a lot of room.  My mother remembers cutting old clothing into strips and winding it into balls for the rugs.  Now, at 70, I am quite sure I will never own a loom or learn to use one!  And rag rugs are no longer in demand, with store-bought rugs available to match every décor imaginable. 

Isa and Aiti also had a separate “house” next to their main house, which was framed in windows and was referred to as their “summer kitchen”.  That was where they did most of the cooking, baking and canning in the hot months, so their main home wasn’t made hotter from the cooking process.  I assume this also was a Finnish custom, to have a summer kitchen.  I remember it as a bright, cheerful place, unlike the dark somber mood of their main living area.  The summer kitchen was surrounded by lofty hardwood trees, providing a shady bower from the heat of the summer sun.

Wherever you live, make yourself a batch of Rusk and brew a cup of coffee or tea to go with it, and take a few moments to reflect on your childhood. 

What things do you remember that you might not have shared with your own children and grandchildren?  What traditions, ethnic or otherwise, did you grow up with?  If you had none, then perhaps it is time to begin them with your own family.  And know that if the crocus isn’t yet blooming in your yard, the blossoms can’t be far away!

Speaking of flowers, here's an addendum to my Easter posting... my oldest daughter and son-in-law showed up at my house on Easter with a big beautiful bouquet of flowers and some colored eggs!  They took me to dinner at Red Lobster, and it was a festive Easter, after all, even if we did not sport Easter bonnets!

May spring be flowering in your heart!