No claimed prize!

Either the 1500th blog viewer was a stranger or just didn't want to bother with my prize. Whatever!

Many years ago I started collecting glass tea lights. They are large enough to hold a regular size teapot and keep the pot warm with a small votive candle. I really do not remember how many I have in my collection, but I know it is more than 15. Most are at least 20 years old, since I have been collecting that long. Two years ago I found an unusual one in England at a charity shop.

Oh, charity shops! Things that keep the Antiques Roadshow alive!

Rain? Will it come our way?

Water. Water. Clear water.

We need some rain. In our pond. On our levees. On our grass. On our trees. On our flowers. On my veggie garden. Yesterday we thought the rain was coming our way, but the clouds just disappeared. Maybe later today? Let's hope so. We need it.

In the meantime, we will keep watering what we can. Around 7:30 am I saw three sprinkles on the back porch. That is not enough to help. We have an irrigation system on the front porch and in our veggie garden. And then we hand water the rest of the vegetation that we want to keep alive.

Instead of rolling out the hoses, let's roll out the cookies from Just Plain Cooking.

Roll-out Cookies (Memaw's)

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 3/4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix baking powder with flour. Add one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.

The dough will be very stiff. Blend last flour in by hand. Do not chill dough.

Roll out on floured board to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutter. Bake on cookie sheet until golden brown.

Dough may be tinted. Add food coloring until desired color.

For chocolate cookies, stir in 3 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate.

Mastering the Drop Cookie

Too busy to write anything yesterday. Three of our porches are now clean, and I learned about Organic Gardening at my class last night.

Now for some cookie dough making from Just Plain Cooking:

Master Drop Cookie (Memaw's)

2 cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup soft shortening

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 unbeaten eggs

1 tablespoon milk

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together until light and fluffy the shortening, sugar, and vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time. Beat vigorously. Stir in milk.

Add flour mixture about 1/4 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Drop by teaspoons 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake in 375 degree F oven for 12 minutes or until brown. Remove while warm.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

------------

Chocolate Chip Cookie-

Fold 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup pecans into dough. Bake as directed above.

------------

Spice Cookies-

Sift with flour mixture 1 teaspoon each cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Bake as directed above.

------------

Raisin Cookies-

Fold 1/2 cup raisins into dough. Bake as directed above.

Congrats!

Someone in the US read my blog at 12:24 today and is now the winner of an antique glass teapot warmer/light.

You made the 1500th hit on my blogspot, so claim your prize.

If you are friend or family member, you know my email address.

If you are someone I do not know, you will need to let me know how to reach you on a comment at the end of this blog.

Now on to the 2000th hit.

1500 (Almost)

All it takes is two more blog readers, and then I will have had 1500 hits in four months on this blogspot!

That is actually about how many hits per day our Dutch apartment gets on Funda.nl. And it has been up for sale since March 2010. The actual webviewers of the apartment per day averages around 30, and that is what I would love to have per day viewing my Wetcreek blog.

There are lots of ways to let people know you are out there writing, but I am still trying to keep it friendly and not so busy with ads, etc. I write for the pleasure of writing and publishing my mom's recipes for her family.

If you are number 1500 and friend or family, let me know. You are entitled to a prize. Just check the counter at the bottom of the blog.

In the meantime, have a good holiday today. ( when you are retired, after 37 years of teaching, every day is a holiday! )

Date Oatmeal Cookies (Memaw's)

1 1/2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

3 eggs ( well beaten)

1/2 cup milk

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup nuts (chopped)

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, soda, and spices. Sift twice.

Cream butter and gradually add sugar and then cream until light and fluffy.

Add the beaten eggs to the creamed mixture and stir in the oats and milk.

Sift flour over dates, coconut, and nuts. Mix well.

Stir into oatmeal mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Drop by small tablespoonful onto lightly greased cookie sheet 3 inches apart.

Bake in 350 degrees F oven about 10 to 12 minutes or until delicately brown.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Playing in the Dirt

Many years ago I asked my younger brother what he was doing outside in the yard, and he answered, "playing in the dirt." Well, he is a grandpa now, and I saw his beautiful vegetable garden last week where he has been "playing in the dirt" just like old times. Great job, WFC!

This morning I spent almost 4 hours "playing in the dirt" in our garden. Our raised beds aren't as big as F's, but we have beans, onions, garlic, asparagus, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, eggplant, bell peppers, arugula, and herbs. If we can keep everything moist in this heat, we should be able to enjoy our garden veggies in a couple of weeks. We have already sampled the red onions, arugula, and asparagus. Our artichoke plant produced like crazy, but I just cut off the old branches and it continues to be leafy. We have Brussel sprout plants from last fall, and they look like they are going to try to produce again.

Today I was just pulling weeds and getting rid of the old lettuce plants from the sowing in March. Most of the weeding I do by hand, since I am famous for scoffeling the wrong plants. We grow marigolds and some herbs in and amongst the veggies to keep out the critters. I have heard that garlic helps, too. When the veggie beds are plantless in the winter, I throw mandarin orange peelings around on top of the soil to keep out the "playing in the dirt" beasts. That seems to help. What also helps is that our beagle likes to take a leak along the wooden sides of the beds. He protects our territory, LOL.

Whenever I have a weeding morning, I am usually useless for the rest of the day. Today was no exception. But I still need to get through these cookie recipes. Here is a healthy one from Memaw's Just Plain Cooking.

One Fruity Cookie (Memaw's)

2 cups Fruitful Bran cereal ( or something similar like raisin bran)

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter or margarine (softened)

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring or 1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Combine cereal, flour, soda, and salt. Set aside.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add egg and flavoring. Continue beating until smooth. Gradually add cereal mixture mixing until well blended.

Drop by level measuring tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Say Cheese!

Yesterday I included an old Dutch class photo from around 1920. Not one soul in that photograph is smiling!

So I went searching on Google to find out when people started smiling in photos.

One source said around 1930. By that time people had personal cameras and wanted photos of happy, smiling relatives. That sounds logical.

Then I read that the lower class peddlers were always smiling in photos, since smiles brought business from the richer classes. They were used to being nice and friendly to make a wage. That also makes sense.

Then I thought about having to stand and face the sun or a bright flash. That always made me frown.

What about the fact that in the beginning years of photography the apparatus was so slow that keeping a smile on your face for a couple of minutes was too long to endure?

As a former teacher, I can imagine that taking an official school class photo was so formal that no one was expected to be having a fun time. Have you taken a photo for an official document like a passport or driver's license lately? In The Netherlands your ears have to show and gosh knows what else. If you don't already look like a criminal when you go into the shop, you most certainly do on your photo.

After more Googling I discovered that people in Third World countries ( sure that is not PC--politically correct) rarely smile in photos. But playing children the world over are smiling. Thank goodness.

The nicest story about Helen Keller was when Anne Sullivan was trying to teach Helen to smile. If you never see a smile, can you possibly know what it is and how to do it?

Now I understand why we all look forward to a baby's first smile. At my mother's 87th birthday party a couple of weeks ago, my great niece B was our smiling baby. She has a lovely disposition and smiled the entire day. That was great for a 16 month old on a hot day in the country!