Food – Page 47 – Gracious Rain

July 30, 2009March 2, 2017

Total Fairness…

Day 2…still

We found this random, obscure, completely perfect county fair while we were messing around in the calm portion of New York. County fairs are essential to your eternal salvation. I’ve no idea how–but I’m sure it’s true.

Of course, the first stop is anywhere where the guys can shoot something….anything.

And we can watch them and…clap.

Luckily, the other booths weren’t quite manly enough to get our guys’ attention—

because they wanted to save up all their primal caveman instincts for a ride like this.

You know, one that gives them the sensation that their brain matter is shooting out their nose.

No, no. I don’t get it either…but we watched…we clapped.

Help me understand why we even let these goof-balls drive, let alone be the president?

In my opinion, this is a more rational ride–floating through the air with your eyes closed—like you’re on an old fashioned rope swing—now that need I could respect. Hmmmmm….lovely.

Moving on to a few “firsts.”

First time for these human babies to meet these farm babies.

First time for them to have a helmet strapped on their heads–and by a pirate, no less.

First time to ride a real live pony. This little dude is a natural. He was so comfortable that he actually started falling asleep and tipping over.

Real fake pony ride–on the carousel–big first. They loved the music and kept trying to wave their hands and dance. Note to babies: No dancing on the Merry-go-round, and scaring Grammy half to death. Just hang onto the pole.

Sheesh.

Baby Chompy–bored with, or overwhelmed by all the fuss. This, however, is not a first.

Watching babies take a swirly ride in a big pink chicken–yeah, that was a first.

Watching their daddy—the dare devil of the entire, roller coaster universe—turn greener (is that a word?) and greener (I guess it is), with each round. Pretty funny first, although, I will admit–we were never quite sure if he was goofing around or ready to hurl.

Oh, the crazy lights…

the powdered sugar waffles…

the plethora of goats…

and the indescribable deep fried, peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Oh. It. Was. Fabulous.

No, this is not a good time to tell me about the evils of fried food.

Fortunately–everyone knows that calories don’t count when you’re on vacation.

Good thing.

July 29, 2009August 2, 2020

Still Upstate~Things To See…

Day 2

A baby ordering room service…

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and he did one fine job, I might add.

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Tons of forests and marshy land. We live in what is commonly referred to as a desert–so we were duly impressed. In our world, lush green is a tough commodity to come by in the middle of July.

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These fabulous, ancient farmhouses kept popping all over the place. I want them. All of them. Pretty sure I annoyed everyone by shouting, “Look at that one!” every 20 seconds. I was powerless to stop it.

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Lyndi and I did break up the monotony by shrieking, “BEAVER!” and leaping from the car before it came to a complete stop, so that we could get a picture of the little guy. He had a big problem with two crazed women sprinting across his meadow towards him, I guess. The bad sport jumped into this canal pipe before I could get my camera turned on.

We saw the very first beaver I’ve ever seen, in my entire life.

I just can’t prove it.

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We met back up with Jillian for a tour up “the hill.” You know, the big, steep, switch-backy, smallish mountain. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad. I was expecting to have to pay for a pack mule or camel or something to get me up this thing. The treadmill work must be paying off. Lucky for me because they were all out of beasts of burden.

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She showed us the creepy pagan idols that are used as props in the play. Good thing we don’t worship those nasty looking things. What are they suppose to be anyway? yikes.

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This is what 7000 seats looks like from the moon—I mean, the top of the hill. You can’t really tell, but we are standing just back from a very steep, deadly edge of this hill. I mean, you could seriously plunge to your death from this place. yikes again.

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We saw the Angel Moroni Monument…so pretty.

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and headed back down the foresty side of the hill.

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Oh, Chompy was impressed with all this, let me tell you.

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Back on the road and passing more of those houses that I want…

need…

ok, covet.

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One Chill and Grill Hamburger. Yum.

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One Chill and Grill “Junk Plate” for The Bald Kid. Let this be a lesson to you. Never assume that anything called a junk plate could possibly taste…you know, good. It was hard to watch–and harder to sit by. Blaugh…

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Now this chicky has the right idea.

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Tons of beautiful church steeples. You’ll just have to trust me that there were churches attached.

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We took the tour through the 150 year old Grandin Printing Company. Scoff if you will, but we actually like this kind of stuff.

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Even the litle dudes were being good sports. Good thing too because while driving along, minding our own business…we discovered…

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a good old fashioned country fair! WoooHoooo!

To be continued…

July 25, 2009August 2, 2020

Perfect Corn On the Cob

Ready for the best, fresh corn on the cob you’ve ever had?

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Trust me on this. Start with fresh corn–buy it from a stand if you can. Our favorite is the White Corn variety. You’ll want about a million ears. That should do it.

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Drop husked corn into a pot of enough cold water to cover. Add 1 Tbsp lemon juice and one Tbsp sugar. Do not add salt at this time. I know, I know. Goes against everything you know to be true–right?

Hang on.

The fact is, salted water toughens corn–and we don’t want that. Trust me.

Bring the water to a rapid boil. Boil uncovered 2 minutes only. Remove from heat and allow corn to stand for 10 minutes.

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Drain water. Move corn to a pyrex baking dish and add butter. Roll the ears around until they are all coated. Now you can add the salt.

Serve immediately—as if you had a choice. You’re likely to be mobbed.

When your family tastes the corn simply bursting from the cob all sweet and buttery–they may be overcome with ecstasy–so be ready.

Prepare for fainting.

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Fresh Cob Corn

Ingredients

Corn
Water
1 T. Lemon juice
1 T. sugar
Butter
Salt

Instructions

Drop husked corn into a pot of enough cold water to cover.
Add 1 Tbsp lemon juice and one Tbsp sugar.
Do not add salt at this time.
Bring the water to a rapid boil.
Boil uncovered 2 minutes only.
Remove from heat and allow corn to stand for 10 minutes.
Drain water.
Move corn to a pyrex baking dish and add butter.
Roll the ears around until they are all coated.
Now you can add the salt.
Serve immediately---as if you had a choice. You're likely to be mobbed.

July 23, 2009November 9, 2022

Just Peachy Pancakes

Take a stack of simple, pretty pancakes…

butter them. Drain 1 can of peach halves and whirl in blender for 20 seconds.

Pour half a cup of the peach puree over the lonesome pancakes.

Give this beauty a shot of whip cream.

Eat. It. All.

Now go call the police.

You know this has to be illegal.

July 10, 2009August 2, 2020

I Win the Prize…

for the most effective use of a Christmas gift card in a 30 minute period. Here’s how it went.

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The card was for this cool place–a Toys R Us for grown-ups, called “Orson Gygi’s Culinary Solutions.” Hot dang–did we have a good time spending all that play money. Check out our loot…

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A Pastry blender–a sturdy one, not a wimpy one that bends every time you give it a job. We use these for tons of stuff.

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Key Lime Oil. The flavor of the Gods…we’re a bit obsessed with Key Lime anything around here.

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A teeny, tiny grater. You know, for putting cheese on Barbie’s pizza. ha ha. Or shaving chocolate maybe. Ok, ok. I just thought it was cute.

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I’m excited to try this one–a real, authentic tortilla press, for homemade tortillas. Yum! If I get really good at it–maybe I’ll show you.

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A small, double ended pastry roller. Yeah, we could have used this with the Fruit Pizza.

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A sandwich cutter. This is for the babies so we can cut their sandwiches into dinosaur shapes. Somehow that seems like a pretty important thing to be able to do. I’m just guessing.

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Pickle tongs–because after watching a couple of boys fish a pickle out of the jar–with their fingers–well, it tends to make one not so interested in pickles anymore. Yes, I’m determined to teach those cavemen some manners.

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A nice, long spatula. This was a surprise for Lyndi because she’s the resident cake decorator in these parts and she likes this sort of thing.

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We dropped our last candy thermometer and busted it in a million pieces. THIS time, we opted for a metal one. See? We can be taught.

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A veggie steamer. This was the bald kid’s choice because he seems to think that we should steam our vegetables. La de da. And so we shall.

When we rang up all our stuff–the lady said, “You have $14.15 left on your card,” and since THAT’s not acceptable, April flew back and grabbed a measuring spoon set, a donut cutter and 5 spice jars. She scurried home with them before we got a picture. Trust me they’re cool.

All in all–we spent 85 cents and hauled home a bus load of loot.

Just think of all the kitchen adventures that are coming up with all this cool stuff!

Stay tuned…

Week 17 food storage prompt: 2 cans tuna, 4 cans Tomato soup