Sentimental Saturday May 18

More pictures of the Coonley house in Riverside, Illinois.  The stable has now been converted to a residence.

Back side of the stable as seen from the main house.

The gardener's cottage. 

The front of the stable.  It was for sale when I was there for something over a million dollars.

It's not no Yolk, It's eight Yolks

Perhaps not the cleverest of titles, but what do you do when you have eight egg yolks to use up?  I found a recipe online for making  French Vanilla Ice Cream.  This is much richer than the recipe I usually use.  Eight egg yolks and 2 1/2 cups of heavy cream.  How could it not taste good?

The method as printed is a little different than how I usually make my ice cream.  After straining and cooling in an ice bath, I add one tablespoon of bourbon (or vodka or rum, depending on your taste).  Then I take one cup of the mixture and place it in a freezer container and place in the freezer.  I place the remaining mixture in the refrigerator.  I usually leave it to cool overnight.

When I am ready to place in in the ice cream maker, I add the frozen mix (scrape it out) to the refrigerated mix and allow it to dissolve by stirring gently.  This will lower the temp of the mixture and require a shorter time in the machine. 

After churning, the ice cream is transferred to a freezer container and allowed to firm up overnight.  This was so good one of my sons took the leftovers home with him. 

Oh, and if you have whites left over, you can make a wonderful white cake or meringue cookies.

Can Summer be Getting Close?

This week in the garden, despite the frost, seems to indicate that summer is on its way.  I am cutting the grass every five days; the cool nights are really helping it grow.  All of the trees are finally starting to leaf out.  The Snowdrift crabapples are in bloom.  I took this photo from the deck looking over the roof of the house.  I never even think to look at this tree from this direction.

 

It is not fully open yet, but here is a close-up from last Spring.

I am sure it won't be long before I am complaining about the heat.

A Cold Spring Morning

Monday morning, May 13, at 8:30 a.m. and it is 33 degrees outside, maybe even a little colder since the thermometer outside is against the window and perhaps sensing some of the inner heat coming from the furnace that is running in my home.  After my children left last night, I sat here wrapped up in the afghan that I thought I was done using this season.

Now that the sun is up I need to go outside and remove the frost blankets and the covers I put on the flowers.  My peonies are all in bud and I did not want to lose them.  Last year I did not cover my hydrangeas and all of their beautiful leaves died in a hard frost.

In actuality, this Spring is more like a normal one for our area, unlike last year's high temps in March.  I still have plants just emerging from the ground, but worry about those that seem to be on a rampage to 'do their thing', like the aforementioned peonies.

Here are two pictures of a peony from last year taken two days apart, as the color was fading from rich pink to soft white.  These were already blooming by May 27, if not before.

 

 

It will not be exactly 'warm' today, but hopefully enough so that I can get the grass cut again before it rains, if we actually get rain.

I'll try to get out today and take some pictures of what is blooming for my Wednesday post.  Looks like the Snowdrift crabapples are ready to 'pop'.

Have a great Monday.

Sentimental Saturday - Mother's Day

Tomorrow is Mother's Day.  I enjoy being a mother.  I am even spending my Saturday smoking a large pork shoulder to share with my sons tomorrow.  But I don't feel I need a special day to be thanked for doing what I made a decision to do many years ago - have children.

I am sure my attitude was developed as a young person who had a mother who would start complaining well in advance of Mother's Day that she was not appreciated.  Needless to say, she and I did not have a good relationship.  Ever.

Nevertheless, she was my mother and she did teach me many things; so many things before I started school that I was almost immediately promoted once I finally started my formal education.  (The ramifications of being the youngest all the way through school could fill a book.)

So, while I have decided to post these 'sentimental Saturdays', I decided to find some pictures of the mothers in my life.






Here is me and Mom (left) sometime in 1947.  I know it is before Easter that year because my mother was in a serious car accident on Good Friday and was laid up for 14 months in a hip cast. 




Here is my mother as a child with her older sister, my Zia Ardemia, who raised her after their parents died.  My aunt was like a grandmother to me. 

Here is Grandmother Sophie Szal (left), my father's mother, the only one of my grandparents born in this country, specifically Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.








This is Sophie's mother (below), my great-grandmother Louisa Milczuk.  She is 82 in this photo.  And yes, that is me next to her.  It is the only photo I have of her.  I have been trying to research her online, but every time I find something, I get more confused.  I have confirmed that she lied about her age and was actually nine years older than she admitted in later life.  Go, Grandma.









I couldn't write this Mother's Day post without mentioning my mother-in-law, Helena Hammond.  I miss playing cards and Scrabble with her.  We had a great relationship that continued after my divorce from her son and right up to her death in 2005 at the age of 96.  Here she is on vacation with us in Charlevoix, Michigan.  She is co-captaining our speedboat, 'Blue Thunder'.

And this is probably the oldest picture I have in my collection; it is of my great-grandparents, Giuseppe and Laura Marius, taken in Italy. 






I hope everyone has a Happy Mother's Day tomorrow.