Louie Louie

Crab Louie

Recipe courtesy of Swan Oyster Depot, San Francisco

Louie Dressing:
1 pint mayonnaise
1/2 pint tomato ketchup
1/2 cup sweet relish
1/2 cup chopped black olives
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

Crab Louie Salad:
1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
8 to 12 ounces fresh picked Dungeness crab meat
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced lengthwise thinly
3 tomatoes, quartered
1/2 pound asparagus spears, cooked.

Directions:
To make dressing, mix together mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, olives, and eggs.

Make a bed of iceberg lettuce on a large plate. Top with crab, avocado, tomatoes, and asparagus. Drizzle with Louie dressing

What's New?

That's our now two-year-old kitty, checking you out. Taken by a visiting relative last month. Not much blogging happening these days. Could be a trend, could be a phase. The garden has been a wonderful thing. Too bad my camera isn't functional. I miss taking snapshots.

I joined something called boot camp. No, not the military. Don't really like the name, although it is appropriate. We meet three mornings a week on the beach. Serious work outs, in sand. Before work. Finishing my second month of this.

It's nearly autumn. I look forward to that, after another season of Winnebago's and their mostly clueless inhabitants. Youngest child got her first job this summer, and is handling it quite well. I still have a job, as does my man. We know how lucky we are.

Backed out of Burning Man. It's got to be right, and it wasn't. Maybe next year. Other than that, just fighting the dreaded Facebook time suck.

Whats New Pussycat? - Bob Marley & the Wailers

Mushball Sunday

Last night we went to see youngest daughter play guitar and sing songs in a local play. One of the songs she played was an (ancient) Chad and Jeremy song. Totally mushy. Mushy has it's place.

"A Summer Song" is posted below. And I changed the photo above to better reflect it's subject matter...

Mysterious girl. Thought I had it all figured out, this whole mommy thing. I've spent the last near-thirty years being one. Figured it would all just fall into place perfectly, the way it (mostly) went with my first two. This swan song of my somewhat prolific loins has shattered that silly fantasy. Providing me with some choice mirror images of stuff within that I thought I'd ditched long ago. It all comes back. Lesson learned.

Rhody

The back of the new place. That's a rhododendron, to the left. A very old one!

A closer look. It's right outside what will be youngest child's room.

Best of all, it's just beginning to bloom. And they're pink!

Happy Spring

My son at around a month and a half. On the banks of the Mokelumne River, doing his best Jimmy Cagney impression.

He'll be 26 years old in 19 days. Still my baby boy.

Represent

Applesauce Cupcakes

*Update* Recipes now follow the post.
Recently, I made applesauce. This due to a surplus of apples from our trees this year. Lots and lots of applesauce. I used some for applesauce cupcakes with caramel frosting. The recipes for both the cupcakes and the frosting came from my mom's Fannie Farmer cookbook. The 1951 edition.Too bad I didn't have the right decorative doo-dads to top them off. People around here didn't seem to mind.

Applesauce Cake/Cupcakes
(Calls for 1/2 c. shortening-ack.) *I use unsalted butter*
1 c. brown sugar
1 cup cold, unsweetened applesauce
2 c. flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. powdered cloves

Cream butter; beat in sugar gradually. Add applesauce. Add flour sifted with soda, salt, and spices. Spread in 2 buttered and floured 9-in. pans. (Or a linedmuffin tin) Bake 40 minutes at 350.
(Makes about 12 cupcakes)


Caramel Frosting
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 3/4 c. confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter in small pan, add brown sugar, and cook until sugar melts. Add milk. Cool and beat in confectioners' sugar until thick enough to spread. Add vanilla.

Pear Tart

The man at work in the kitchen, getting fresh pears ready. He bakes great things!


The finished product. We've harvested many pears and Connell apples here in the last month.


Pear Tart

2 cups flour Pinch salt 1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 11 tablespoons cold butter (do not use margarine) 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten with a fork 6-7 pears, peeled, cut in quarters and then into 2 or 3 lengthwise slices (We used our bartlett pears.) 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 cup currants 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/3 to 1/2 cup white sugar, depending on the sweetness of the pears 2 tablespoons butter 4 tablespoons sugar Place the currants in a small saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Allow them to boil for a minute and turn off the heat. Let them soak for about 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Combine flour, salt, and sugar, and cut in butter with a dough blender or 2 knives until it resembles a coarse meal. You can also use a food processor. Stir in egg yolks. Knead this mixture until smooth. This takes quite a bit of kneading (you might want to use 2 hands). Press the dough out on the bottom and sides of an 8 or 9-inch springform pan. Neatly finish the rim. In a large bowl, gently combine the pear slices with the lemon juice, spices, sugar, and currants. Carefully arrange the fruits in the crust. Dot with butter, sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Cool and serve.