Just Walk It Off!

Today's blog title is nothing about my walking challenge. 

It is more painful than that! 

Many years ago when my two brothers were Little Leaguers, I heard many a baseball coach shout, "oh, just walk it off!" Those little hard balls against human body parts were a pain for all the guys and girls.

Well, last night a speeding black bullet ( 42 pound labmix Nismo) bounced off my left thigh. Flat on my back on the hard ground near our pond, I said ( or maybe shouted) to my husband that I was all right and to help me get up. I have never felt such an electric shock through my veins! And then there was an ache in my ankle. I told him to go on with the pups, and I would get back to the house. Lately I have been using a wooden walking stick "just in case." So now it came in handy.

The shock of the impact and tinge of pain in my left ankle were the worst. I have had some bloody face injury falls in the last 9 years since we moved here, but this was different. Last evening I kept moving and when seated had a bag of frozen peas on my ankle. I slept well last night and then watered my baby boxwoods and walked Nismo around the pond this morning.

Up to 2444 steps at 10:30 a.m. 

I continue "walking it off."

Happy Birthday, Disneyland!

Disneyland in Anaheim, California is celebrating its 60th birthday this year. 

My family was there 53 years ago this summer! Isn't this a great photo? 

An enthusiastic five year old, one pre-teen, one teenager, and their loving parents! What a vacation!

Happy Birthday, Disneyland!

I'm Sad to Say, I'm Not on my Way to Jamaica

WooHoo! 

I have never been (and probably won't go) to Jamaica, but in the last half year I have walked the distance around the "land of wood and water." 

For my American friends, that is the distance from New Orleans to Memphis. 

Bring on the Jazzy Blues (sorry, not Reggae)!

And, believe it or not, most of my steps have been made in rubber boots on a path my hub mows with his tractor.

( Thanks, Sweetie <3)

Fresh Fig Cobbler (Easy)

Fresh Fig Cobbler (Easy)

First, pick 4-5 cups (1 quart) of ripe figs. 

Trim off the stems. Those figs that are not overly ripe can be cut into halves. 

Add 1/2 cup white granulated sugar to the prepared figs and let macerate in the fridge for an hour or two. 

Then plop the sweetened figs into a crockpot, set it on High, and cook for 1 hour. 

Stir the fruit a couple of times to make sure all figs cook evenly.

While the figs are cooking down, prepare the cobbler mixture.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

1 quart fruit (in this case figs)

Dash of salt

1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter, melted in baking dish

Directions:

Melt butter (if salted butter, skip the dash of salt) in baking dish in 375 F oven. ( Do not burn!)

Mix sugar, flour, baking powder, and milk into a batter. 

Pour batter into melted butter. 

Add 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger into cooked figs.

Pour figs into baking dish on top of batter. No need to stir!

Bake 25-35 minutes. Be sure batter is done. 

Enjoy the cobbler served warm with ice cream or whipped cream or even cold.

(This is my favorite Cobbler recipe. Try blackberries or canned peaches, if you are not a fig fan! I have read that this recipe is called Green Hills Quick Cobbler.)

"Found" Quilt Blocks

Sometimes you find the most interesting things when you least expect it.

Such as these quilt blocks pictured below and a Walmart bag full of precut vintage quilt pieces (which I laboriously ironed this hot afternoon).

I think the three blocks above ( hand stitched) were pieced by my materal grandmother many years ago.  She passed away 20 years ago at the age of 98, so the blocks must be over 30 years old. Lovely vintage fabric, too.

It is possible that the same grandmother made these two blocks above, but she used her sewing machine.

This block was made by my own mom over 20 years ago. She has a lovely quilt that she made with these fabrics. 

And this lovely was probably made by my Mammaw, too.

Think I'll find some frames for these. 

Don't want them "lost" in a quilt.

Paula's Mama's Pound Cake Recipe

I added this recipe to Pinterest a couple of days ago, and this morning after pulling weeds for over two hours, I gave the pound cake recipe a try. 

Super easy recipe with fresh ingredients. A cake made from "scratch," since my Dutch husband haaaates American cake mix cakes. And who doesn't love POUND CAKE?

Here is the cake all done in a very, very vintage pan. Actually an angelfood cake pan that the center/bottom lift out. I was concerned about leakage, and there was some.

I believe this pan needed a liner or something. A cookie sheet caught most of the big drips!

Can you see how I "glued" the bottom back on?

Delicious! And the Dutchie approved!! He really liked the crunchy crust. And who cares that you can see the "cracks"? This recipe is a keeper as soon as I find my pound cake pan ;)

MAMA'S POUND CAKE Recipe by Paula Deen

EASYLevel

90 MIN10 Prep + 80 Cook

16-20 Servings

$/Serving

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter, plus more for pan
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  
• Preparation
• Preheat oven to 350°.

 

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. 

[Linda's Note: I baked my cake for the full 1 1/2 hours. I tested at 1 hour, then added 5-10 minutes until the toothpick came out clean. Total: 1 1/2 hours!!!]

http://www.pauladeen.com/mamas-pound-cake#print-popup

What Can You Get Done Without the Internet Access?

Sleep until 7:30 am.

Pick ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant.

Wash off the front veranda.

Spray your grand-dog with the garden hose.

Wash, dry, and sort the gathered veggies.

Organize the freezer.

Take 4 quarts of frozen figs from 2014 out of the freezer and get ready to make jam.

Run a load of clothes in the washing machine.

Clean a pound of strawberries to include in the fig jam.

Cook the figs, strawberries, sugar, pectin, and lemon juice in a huge pot on the cooktop.

Run the dishwasher with the jam bottles. 

Fill up the jampots with cooked jam.

Give the jam/jampots a hot water bath.

Gosh, I am on a roll!!!