"Cinnabon" Pancakes

       For breakfast on Saturday morning, Pop loves a stack of pancakes drowning in syrup; I am not a huge fan, preferring french toast with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar if I'm going to carb overload. These pancakes, however, were fun to make and very tasty. It took just a little extra effort to swirl the cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter filling on to the half-cooked pancakes (of course, my spiral execution improved with each one - the first was not exactly pretty!) The cream cheese glaze was just the right complement to achieve the character of a "Cinnabon".

Trestle Table Restoration

     Husband and I bought this table about thirty-five years ago. We were newly-weds with very little expendable income and had been eating off of a borrowed card table for several months. At that time, Grandpa Pigeon's had a limited inventory of  furniture and we found an unfinished trestle table (of very good quality) and four ladder back chairs with rush seats (of not so good quality). I stained and sealed the table to match the chairs and was very pleased with the look

     Twenty-five years later, the table top was showing quite a bit of wear, so I resurfaced it. (Grown up son, Mike, feigned disappointment that his math problems from second grade were no longer etched in the finish). The chairs, still in very good shape but not exactly comfortable, were relegated to the basement and we bought six beautiful new ones in matching oak. 

     This autumn, I thought briefly about replacing the table because the top was again showing wear and the legs had multiple puppy teeth scars. Instead, I decided that the table just needed some new life so I spent almost two weeks stripping, sanding, priming, staining, painting and sealing. I love the new contemporary look for my old friend!

Jack-be-Little Twins

     Here is the sum total of my pumpkin harvest - won't make a very big pie, will it?! Jokes aside, the little guys are appropriately named "Jack-be-Little"  and they were actually a bonus because I did not buy seeds to plant. A Halloween decoration that was overlooked in late fall cleanup, overwintered in a flower pot, rotted under a blanket of fallen leaves, and self-seeded in the rich potting soil. I transplanted a couple of the strongest seedlings into a sunny corner of the yard but they did not thrive in the early summer due to a prolonged spell of cool wet weather. In August, finally, the heat and sunshine established precedence, the vines grew sturdier  and a few yellow blossoms appeared.

     Moments like this make me thankful that I do not have to depend on my garden harvest to survive!

Late Summer Color

     Sometimes one has to look close for color at the end of summer - after weeks of  hot, dry days have sucked the vibrancy out of many flowers and leaves, and before the cool, shorter days create the brilliance of autumn foliage. Case in point are these gingerland caladiums and accent red impatiens that have thrived in a shady area of the back yard. A small shrub of rosemary is potted in front of the flowerbed and contributes a silvery green (and a lovely fragrance.)

     Three pots flank the open porch in one of the rare sunny spots available in the back yard. Black Pearl Peppers grow there and the pretty spheres are a shiny black-purple, soon to ripen into a deep red. Even the purplish green leaves are attractive.

A Flapper Weds - Phyllis and Larry

     Phyllis Eleanor Phillips married her sweetheart, Lawrence Laverne Voorhies in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the mid-1920s. She was the beloved daughter of an immigrant English shoemaker and a second generation Irishwoman and was the youngest of five children, two of whom died in infancy. Lawrence was the son of an immigrant Belgian buggy maker-turned-farmer and his Flemish wife; he was the middle child of five. The beautiful bride looks demure in her wedding photo but was probably quite the feisty independent, as flappers had come to be in that era. She was also very fashionable in her tea-length gown of soft wavering fabric, distinctive headpiece with long veil, pointy low-heeled Mary Janes, and a huge round bouquet (all of which are similar to the vintage magazine cover below). The tall handsome groom leans close to his bride and gazes at her with adoration - he is dapper in his dark suit, bow tie, and polished shoes. However by the time a family portrait is organized outside in the sunshine, Lawrence's smile has faded into a grimace. Was he anxious for the festivities to be over? Or was he just tired of posing?

     The marriage lasted less than a decade and produced one child, my mother, Leah Joan. Lawrence, a baker by profession, suffered from alcoholism and died alone in Chicago in1942 - a sad ending for a story that had such a lovely beginning...

     

     Left to right: Juliana & Peter Voorhies (groom's parents), Jane Stoffer (bride's niece), Lawrence, Phyllis, unknown woman, Wendell David Phillips (bride's brother), Nellie and Alfred Phillips (bride's parents), Florence (bride's sister) and Fred Stoffer, Marie Stoffer (Fred's sister), Fred and Florence's sons - Robert and Alfred Stoffer

Italian Rice Balls

     I had never made, or even heard of Italian Rice Balls before the hubs saw a tv chef singing their praises. I looked up the chef's recipe and wasted no time trying my hand at the Arancini (if we're cooking Italian it is only correct to use the vernacular, right?) Besides, it looked quite simple: balls of cooked rice, cheese, eggs, and garlic coated with breadcrumbs and fried, then smothered with marinara sauce. Supposedly served as a side dish, we had them as our main course and they were plenty filling, with a little garlic toast to mop up the sauce. Because the Arancini are somewhat bland, I think the appeal lies in the crispy coating and the additional necessity of using a very tasty marinara (I use a simple recipe given to me by a second-generation Sicilian father-in-law when I was a very young and very thankful newlywed!)

Where's the Peck of Pickled Peppers?

     The old nursery rhyme about Peter Piper came to mind yesterday as we picked basketfuls of several kinds of peppers - probably because we have never had such a bountiful harvest. The freezer already held bags of whole peppers for use in cooking, and the pantry shelf boasted jars of Raspberry Jalapeno Jam and Hot Pepper Peach Jam, so after some deliberation, I decided to try my hand at pickling peppers. The contrasting colors of sliced jalapenos, chili peppers and banana peppers were beautiful, and the familiar pickling aroma of vinegar was tempered with a sharp peppery scent. The verdict on taste will not be disclosed until a later date when one of the jars is opened - we have our fingers crossed.