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Thursday, November 27, 2003
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Updates -
by Aunt Lollie
I'm surprised to hear you want to go back to the cold northland and the ice and snow. How soon are you planning to move? Hope you're are both feeling well. I'm trying to do OK. I still work a little, but get tired. Not sixteen anymore....
We are going to David's for Thanksgiving; they have it every year and I don't argue about that. They really go all out for it.
Its been kinda cool here; hope it warms up soon. Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving. There is so much to be thankful for.
Love, Auntie Lollie
STUDENT UPDATE
by Rachel Henderson
Hi to all! I'm looking forward to getting together again for Thanksgiving; it'll be great to see everyone, say hi in person ... and to have a little pumpkin pie (or a lot, however it happens to pan out!).
I, like everyone else it seems, have been keeping busy with life. School is going fine, but there is always the homework that comes with it. The HW itself could keep me too busy if I allowed it... :) Basketball practice started last week, so I'm trying to get back into the swing of things; it's fun, and it definitely keeps me occupied!!
I haven't been working too much lately, because of school and sports, but I enjoy my job and the little extra cash it allows. I work as a nurse's aide at a nursing home in town; it's been a learning experience for me as my first "real" job, but I've enjoyed it!
Have a great Thanksgiving!!
Rachel
Travelogue t
The Bolivian Beat
By Kjirsten Swenson
I didn't have classes this afternoon, so spent my free time perusing the offerings of the city's market. The market isn't what you think; it's the Bolivian equivalent of Super Target, except it's beyond massive, relatively disorganized, and prices are suggestions.
Vendors sell everything, including pineapple, toilet paper, cell phones, sweaters, screws, flowers, faucets, pirated music, Tupperware, cow's hearts, llama fetuses... I could go on. But what impressed me most was the padded underwear. I kid you not. See, people here seem to value a different part of the body than the people at home do; I'm not sure if they sell padded bras, but I definitely saw underwear with padding strategically placed, in order to augment. I was entertained, and suspect you might be, too. :)
We had class today in the home of one of the directors, safely outside of the center where protests continue. We're taking advantage of the lack of travel and classes to divertirnos. Today we all met at a soccer field, where some students joined a game with really good Bolivians and the less fútbol-inclined played frisbee and aerobie. Glad I packed it. :)
In an hour or two we're going to meet at another student's house to grill and enjoy ourselves. Tomorrow's classes have already been canceled in anticipation of a paro de transporte. None of the city's buses or taxis will be running during the day, and protests may be more intense. We're thoroughly safe -- no violence in Cochabamba, as of yet. If the situation worsens sufficiently to require our departure, they've formed a plan in which we'd fly directly to Chile and finish the program there. Nobody expects this to be necessary...
That's it ... I'm going to take advantage of a rare afternoon supply of water to shower before I take off to eat tasty grilled meat!
Last night was fun! We grilled various meats as well as asparagus, onions, potatoes, and eggplant ... very tasty! Dessert was grilled bananas. We peeled and grilled them directly, and the result was amazing!
Culinary Heirlooms
mitzi&sheldon
by Doug Anderson
Greetings food fans! I have been enjoying a recent boom in contributions to this column, so let's just hope the trend continues! I have been receiving fun and delicious recipes of all sorts, and today's entry is certainly no exception.
It seems while Kjirsten is engaged in a claw and tooth battle of survival in the rain forest, Mom and Dad sit comfortably at home and make toffee. More power to them, I say! Anyway, today's recipe could be looked at as another compare/ contrast experiment, this time pitting microwave toffee against its more traditional predecessor. Either way, you are the winner, so sit back and enjoy:
Microwave Butter Toffee
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sliced almonds, chopped pecans or walnuts; optional
Rub the inside top 2 inches of a 1-1/2 or 2 quart glass bowl with butter, then place remaining butter in bowl. Pour sugar directly onto butter (avoid getting on sides of bowl). Add salt and water. DO NOT STIR. Microwave on high about 8-10 minutes. Candy is done when it is the color of light brown sugar. Pour hot candy into a buttered 9" pie pan. Cool a couple of minutes then top with 2 broken Hershey bars or 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Spread when melted and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Break toffee into pieces when cool.
Traditional Butter Toffee
1 cup butter
1-1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
3 Tbsp. water
1 cup chopped & toasted almonds, pecans or walnuts; optional
Melt butter in large heavy pan. Add remaining ingredients and cook to hard crack 300 degrees, stirring most of the time. Spread in well greased 9X13" pan. Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1 Tbsp. butter flavored Crisco. Spread over toffee and top with finely chopped nuts. Cool and break into pieces. This recipe can be doubled.
Both recipes can be poured over toasted almonds, pecans or walnuts. We prefer the nuts on the top instead.
How cool is that? Now you can enjoy toffee for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and your dentist will love you for it! Thanks, Mitzi and Sheldon, for such a fun recipe!
What I have really enjoyed is the number of people who are contributing more than once. After all, our family is large, but not infinite, and those recipes have to come from somewhere! Let's hear from you, okay? See you next week!
The Miss Kitty Letters*
By Miss Kitty
Miss Kitty's First Winter Snow
So this is winter! Snow! This is new. I watched downy white feathers floating past the windows until everything outside was covered in a thick white blanket. It looked so soft and fluffy and inviting that I thought I might like to go outside and play in it. Miss Jerrianne insisted that I wear my harness and leash. What a surprise when she opened the door! White and fluffy, it was ... and so very shivery cold. Brrrrr!
I tried to explore the Sitka Rose Bush in the front yard, but it's worse than the Easter Lily Cactus ... not at all user friendly. It has teeth and claws and it does not hesitate to use them. I batted at the little red balls with my claws and tried to bite them. Prickly thorns scratched me right back. You can see a bit of the Sitka Rose Bush in the photo. Those red rose hips are pretty, but they aren't worth the trouble to play with them.
We went for a snowy ride in the van with Shannon to CompUSA to buy a panther OS X for her Mac computer. I went right along in my pouch, riding in the passenger seat to Shannon's house. Then the pouch was set on the floor. There's no view from the floor, but it wasn't far. Miss Jerrianne slung the strap over her shoulder and we went inside to tour the store. Somebody picked up an iPod and set off a theft alarm. It made a fearful noise until somebody stopped it. I'm glad it wasn't screaming at me!
Shannon found herself a panther, but it was all caged up in a little box. I wondered how they could stuff a powerful OS X full sized panther in there. Apple Computer must use some mighty powerful compression software. I'm a 5 lb. panther and I sure wouldn't want to be squeezed into such a confining space. Compared to that, my Celltei pouch is downright roomy. I peeked out my window and got some good attention there, too.
It's terribly cold outdoors now, temperatures way down below zero at night, so I don't mind as much if I have to stay home when Miss Jerrianne goes out. It's cozy here. I'm not that fond of Oriental food, anyway, so I didn't protest when she went to dinner with friends at a Chinese restaurant. When Miss Jerrianne came home, she showed me the little slip of paper she found in her fortune cookie:
You will win success in whatever you adopt.
I'd call that a no-brainer, now that she has adopted me!
This and That
6
by Elaine Wold
Wahpeton, ND
Thanksgiving weather forecast:
Turkeys will thaw in the morning, then warm in the oven to an afternoon high near 190 degrees F. The kitchen will turn hot and humid, and if you bother the cook, be ready for a severe squall or cold shoulder.
During the late afternoon and evening, the cold front of a knife will slice through the turkey, causing an accumulation of one to two inches on plates. Mashed potatoes will drift across one side while cranberry sauce creates slippery spots on the other. Please pass the gravy.
A weight watch and indigestion warning have been issued for the entire area, with increased stuffiness around the beltway. During the evening, the turkey will diminish and taper off to leftovers, dropping to a low of 34 degrees F. in the refrigerator.
Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, high pressure to eat sandwiches will be established. Flurries of leftovers can be expected both days, with a 50 percent chance of scattered soup late in the day. We expect a warming trend where soup develops. By early next week, eating pressure will be low as the only wish left will be the bone.
The Best of
The Bulletin :
One of the essays that had its place in The Bulletin in its first year, and that several of you may have missed or forgotten was the one that follows. Reprinted from Bulletin #32, April 3, 2003.
BEAVER'S TRAVELOGUE
By Beaver Johnson
February 4th, we slept in, and then checked out the visitor center near our hotel. We drove up Highway 90, stopping to look at the Biloxi Lighthouse and to walk on the beach. We went looking for the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum near the bridge to Ocean Springs. As we entered the parking lot, we saw a farmers’ market nearby. Farmers were selling live chickens and ducks, as well as fresh fruit, nuts, canned goods and craft junk. We bought some wonderful pecans and a few tangerines, and then went to see the museum.
At the museum, we watched a film about Hurricane Camille, which brought back some memories of the terrible destruction that I had witnessed in 1969. There were several stories about people who refused to be evacuated and were never seen again, stories I heard first in 1969, but didn't know that they were true until now.
Leaving the museum, we drove along the Back Bay of Biloxi until we found Boomtown Casino again, where we had another wonderful meal. Fish, strawberry shortcake, pecan pie … didn’t think D was going to want to leave Biloxi! We drove past Keesler AFB, had no desire to go on base even if I could have, which wasn’t going to happen in these times.
Driving west, we found Beauvoir, the mansion where Jefferson Davis, the only President of the Confederate States, lived out his life after the Civil War. The beautiful mansion stands on a 51-acre estate facing the Gulf of Mexico. Much of the estate was used for the Mississippi Confederate Soldiers' Home, where hundreds of veterans received care. Most of the outbuildings were lost during Hurricane Camille, but the mansion survived in spite of the 8-foot storm surge that brought water up to the level of the first floor. We learned a lot about Jefferson Davis, ended up feeling a little sorry for him. He seemed really not to have wanted to be President of the Confederate States, and the generals he had were so independent that running the war had to have been like trying to herd cats.
Our guide at Beauvoir was a friendly, talkative chap, and he recommended going to Natchez, Mississippi, if we wanted to see antebellum mansions, because that's the only place where they weren't mostly destroyed during the Civil War. Luckily, it was closing time at Beauvoir, so we headed up the road toward Hattiesburg.
At times we felt like we could be in northern Minnesota, driving through hilly country covered by tall pines. We rolled out of Hattiesburg as darkness was falling, getting into Natchez at 8:30. We found a room at a little motel for $30 and ate supper at Wendy's -- quite a change from our accommodations and food in Biloxi!
We awakened February 5 to a forecast of 3-6 inches of snow for the area north of us, so got in gear fast, found the tourist center, and chose which mansions we would tour. We toured Rosalie, the site of Fort Rosalie long before the mansion was built. The fort was abandoned when the Natchez Indians massacred the French inhabitants. The mansion was built on a bluff above the Mississippi, overlooking Natchez-under-the-hill.
Rosalie was used as Union Headquarters during the Civil War. The owners were allowed to put their possessions on the third floor during this time, to be brought out after the Union leaders left. The same family owned Rosalie from the time it was built, about 1820, until it was sold to the DAR ladies who now own and run the mansion. Pretty fancy, can’t imagine living in such a house.
We found our way to Stanton Hall, a BIG mansion, 5 levels, high on a hill, lavishly decorated, containing many Natchez antiques and many original furnishings. According the guidebook, Stanton Hall is "a classic example of Greek Revival architecture with Victorian ornamental elaborations, some showing the Italianate influence." Yup, just what I guessed as soon as I saw it.
The Pilgrimage Garden Club owns Stanton Hall. Must be a pretty ambitious garden club. A few more excerpts from the guidebook: "immense Corinthian columns, topped with iron capitals … door knobs and hinges plated with Sheffield silver … Italian marble mantels … massive gold-leaf mirrors … grand, bronze finished chandeliers." Oh, and the ceilings are 17 feet high. Doors between rooms are big and tall, like giants lived there. Supposedly, this is to make the rooms cooler during the hot summers, not for the purpose of impressing the neighbors.
Luckily, we were hurrying to get on the road to get ahead of the stormy weather, so we headed north, having agreed to find one more mansion on our way north from Natchez.
From the Files of 5
Hetty Hooper --
the Family Snooper!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am just going to ignore the gossip about me winning big at the ND casinos -- you never could; they're rigged, or so my boss warns me. Now I suppose after they read the stuff that E. puts out about me, everybody will be leaching!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Getting back to reporting on the movement of the family young people. The highways between ND and a couple small towns (and for that matter from the big city) still went on last weekend, in spite of the threat of wild weather.
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Oblivious to the snow storm, the young MR H---------s set out for Fargo with a couple pretty girls (Was one a blonde? Some seem to think so -- but I guess it wouldn't be the same one that Doug was seen with? No, I don't suppose so.) It didn't look to passerbys that they would have worried a whole lot about sliding in the ditch -- AND spending some time there.
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And of course in the same storm, C and J, that red headed young gent with his cute girl friend attended the wedding (oops, not theirs--) and didn't seem to let bad roads bother them either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then I just heard that there will be an NM visitor at Long Lake again/ don't know if he will be there for the Thanksgiving festivities or not? I will just take a guess that he will be!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So everybody have a nice Thanksgiving -- Don't suppose mine will be much since my boyfriend left me after the big blow up over that casino trip! Thanks for getting Hetty the info! Maybe if I am careful I can stay employed!
+ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR?
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Hi Aunt Dorothy (hope it's OK to call you that!)
This is Jo Anne Sigman. (Wes's wife). I guess it's time for me to write and tell you how much I enjoy your Bulletin! Donna has been slipping it to me for some time now. But figure it's time to get my own subscription. AND, to let you know just how much I enjoy it.
I really love all the stories; From the old days of farming (especially since I "was" a city girl all my life!) To the stories of what the woman did back then. But I have to say, my favorite is the stories of Miss Kitty.
I also have to tell you, though, that the story about Don's friend that passed during WW II, really touched my heart. But for a different reason. You see, McDill Air Base, is where my parents met and fell in love. They were both in the Army Air Corps at that same base at THE SAME TIME his friend was there. Makes me wonder if their lives had touched, AND realize what a small world it really is !
Both of my parents have passed on now ... but I remember a story my Mom used to tell us about a crazy pilot friend of my father's, who took my Dad on a plane ride, over Lake Pontchartrain, in a hurricane. And how upset and worried she was. Don't remember why they went out flying that night, but thought the story ended with ... that pilot was killed overseas in the war. Strange how things can be so similar!
Thank You for including that bit of info ... it brought back some great memories of my parents, especially during the anniversary month of both my parents' passing. I miss them terribly!
Sorry ... back to your Bulletin!
You do a wonderful job on it, and I love reading it. Don't know what I could write to contribute to your Bulletin, but at least this is a start!
Thank You so much ... I am learning more and more about this wonderful family with each Bulletin! (And also learning just how BIG this family REALLY is !!!) You all are truly gifted!!!!
Thanks Again
Jo Anne Sigman
E-mail: ladysonix@yahoo.com
Thanks so much Jo Anne for subscribing and for the included payment. ;-) DM
I would like to subscribe to The Bulletin. We always get a kick out of it when somebody sends us one. I’ll try to get something in it from time to time about the goings-on around Lowell, Oregon.
Thanks
Richard Johnson
Add Richard's name to the "Introduction sheet" -- with Beaver's siblings.
"Reindeer-milk cheese is made to a very limited extent in Norway and Sweden."
(I've never seen reindeer cheese. I wonder what it tastes like.)
Also, "The fat content of reindeer milk is 22%, six times as much as cow's milk. It is the only source of milk for Laplanders in northern Scandinavia, because no other dairy animal can survive in such a cold, hostile environment. It takes two people to milk a reindeer -- one to do the milking and the other to hold the reindeer's horns."
Pretty interesting ... though reindeer don't really have horns ... they have antlers.........
Jerrianne
CHUCKLES
Dead Duck!
contributed by Melanie Lehtola
A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgery. As she lay her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, "I'm so sorry, Cuddles has passed away."
The distressed owner wailed, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I am sure. The duck is dead," he replied. "How can you be so sure," she protested. "I mean, you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."
The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room, and returned a few moments later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.
The vet patted the dog and took it out, and returned a few moments later with a beautiful cat. The cat jumped up on the table and also sniffed delicately at the bird, from top to bottom. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is, most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."
Then the vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill which he handed to the woman. The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$350!" she cried, "$350 just to tell me my duck is dead?!!"
The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you'd taken my word for it, the bill would have been $40, but what with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan...."
QUOTATION FOR THE DAY: WHY IS IT that when you eat too much for lunch, you feel drowsy all afternoon, but when you eat a big meal in the evening, you stay awake all night? --Contributed to "Short Takes" by Etienne Leclerc
EDITOR'S POLICY: If you wish to subscribe to The Bulletin, simply send me a statement of that fact. If you wish to keep receiving it I hope you will contribute to one of the columns that are running in this family epistle (at least occasionally!). My e-mail address is dma49261@juno.com
This Bulletin is copyright Dorothy M. Anderson; the contents are also copyrighted by the authors and photographers and used with their permission, and the contents are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the explicit consent of the creators.