August 13, 2018

Summer’s Musings

While musing about my Summer 2018,
my It’s a Small World tee gives a grin.

I purchased this Disney-themed tee through the Etsy seller, here.

Can you believe that summer is almost over? My grand son started back to school today, and relatives in Arizona started back last week!  With the summer winding down, I take a moment, and smile, as I look at some of the highlights from my Summer 2018.

(Some) Highlights of My Summer of 2018

Hilton Head

As with all of you (those in the U.S., that is), Memorial Day Weekend kicked off my summer season. My hubby and I happily spent our May 28 anniversary week enjoying the sights of beautiful Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

The dining at Skull Creek Boathouse was always delicious
(We ate there three times!),
and offered this tranquil view at dusk.

Another favorite dusk-time activity, for me, was a leisurely walk on the beach.

Read more from my Hilton Head post, here.

Family Reunion and 4th of July

Our Annual Family Reunion, is the high-water mark of my summer! Family time! :o) Minneapolis, thanks to my daughter and son in-law, served as this year’s host city.
The week did not disappoint.

We were all amazed, and well-fed, by Han’s Bakery’s Texas Donuts!
This was one of the tasty places that we enjoyed visiting that week.
I love how our grand son (above) is ferociously digging into his breakfast.  :o)

On the 4th of July, our grand daughter is ready for a game of baseball/softball…please?

To read more about our family reunion, click here.

The Sandlot

Speaking of baseball, who doesn’t love the classic film Sandlot?  25 years old this year, Fandango hosted a big screen showing of this gem of baseball films.  The hubster and I took in a showing for our weekly date night, and loved seeing this film all over again.

My hubby and I enjoyed the July 24th showing of The Sandlot on the big screen.

I am a big fan of this classic baseball flick!

To read my 2014 post of baseball films, click here

 Unexpected Gifts

I can not tell a lie.  I love presents!  And these past couple weeks I have been the happy recipient of three fun unexpected gifts.

Spider Necklace

Isn’t this spider necklace great?!

This was a gift from my sweet West Coast cousin,
who knows my eclectic jewelry style!
(…and besides, I mentioned to her that I liked this necklace :o))
So cute!

Clam Chowder

I am a major clam chowder fan!

It was a delight to have my sister-in-law and 

Read Chowder!, my blog post from last year, here.
This post even includes the recipe for my own clam chowder.

Recipes for Rebels Cookbook

Speaking of Clam Chowder, I can’t wait to try out the recipe for 
Barney’s Beanery Clam Chowder on page 35 of my newest cookbook,
 Recipes 
This cookbook gem is filled with a “Whose Who” of 1950’s Hollywood and their culinary faves, beautifully put together by author and blogger Gregory Swenson.

Introduced to Greg’s work through my blogging friend Jenny, of
Silver Screen Suppers, and recently participating in his annual Cowboy Cook-along,
Greg kindly surprised me by sending me a copy of this super entertaining cookbook.  :o) Love it!

Take a couple of minutes, sit back, turn up the sound, and enjoy Greg’s creative video of all the Cowboy Day 3, Cook-along Round-up recipes for this year, here,
and yes, my recipe is there. :o)

You can read about my recipe for the Cowboy Cook-along, here

Cookbook Contest

Wanna win the cookbook that inspired my recipe for the Cowboy Cook-along?
There is still time to participate in my very first give-away! The winner will receive
this brand new, well almost new, John Wayne cookbook.
(I did look at the John Wayne photos in this book, and peeked at a couple of the recipes.) 

Wanna win this cookbook?  Here’s how:
Enter by this Thursday, August 16!

In the comments section for this blog post…

1. Write the name of your 
   favorite movie, or TV, cowboy/cowgirl star.
2. Write one sentence about why you like this cowboy/cowgirl.
3. Do this by Thursday, August 16.
4. Names of those who commented will be placed into a (cowboy) hat.
   The winner will be drawn at random from the hat.
   The winner will be contacted via email by August 22, and will be announced in my next blog post.
   A photo of the winner holding the cookbook, once received, is requested to be emailed to me, to be used in a future blog.
5. If your name is drawn and you do not live in the U.S., in lieu of the cookbook, I will send you a special recipe. 

Read my previous blog post about the contest, and my John Wayne recipe, here.

My Cucumber Summer

It was the carefree summertime.  I was about 11, or 12 years old. Our backyard garden was experiencing a bumper crop of cucumbers that year, thanks, in no small part, to the rich black, fertile soils that central Iowa had to offer .  Now, I love home-grown cucumbers, but there was no way that my family and myself could eat the plentiful bounty that was quickly ripening and over-taking our garden.

These homegrown cucumbers (thanks, Elisa) remind me of my Cucumber Summer.

Brainstorm!  My sister (5.5 years younger than me) and I would go door to door throughout our neighborhood, peddling our produce.  Loading up my little red wagon* with the bright green “mountain” of cukes, my sister and I set our sights on reducing our current cucumber numbers, while making some spending money.
 

*The remnants of that little red wagon, once over-flowing with cucumbers,
is currently sitting in my garage.
In the fall, the Holiday Flyer is filled with pumpkins (not cucumbers)
for my outdoor autumn decoration.

I still remember what we charged; three cucumbers, of the buyer’s choice, for ten cents.  (The local grocery store was selling them for ten cents each at the time.) After a couple of hours selling door-to-door, we had happily sold our cucumber surplus, and had some fun- money in our pockets, too. :o)

My younger sister (left), me (center), and my mom pose in front of the castle at
Walt Disney World, about a two years after my Cucumber Summer.

A shout-out to my mom, who recently broke her ankle. 
Get Well Soon!!! 

Mickey Recipe Cook-along

The vintage Cooking with Mickey Around Our World cookbook,
will be used in a series of I’m Annette blog posts.
I will work my way from the front to the back of this classic 1986 cookbook,
preparing the Disney creations that interest me,
while changing recipes when necessary, and/or to my liking.

Cucumbers Dill appears in the appetizer section of the vintage
Cooking with Mickey Around Our World .  This dip was once served for Contemporary Resort Banquets at the Contemporary Resort.  I followed the recipe almost as written, but I used black pepper instead of white pepper, and I halved the recipe.

The Recipe

Cucumbers Dill

Ingredients for the appetizer Cucumbers Dill

Cucumbers Dill

Ingredients 

1 cup mayonnaise (I used light)

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill

3/4 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Dash Worcestershire sauce

Dash of salt and black pepper

2-3 crisp, fresh cucumbers

Directions

Mix mayonnaise with dill, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.

Add salt and pepper to taste.  Chill well.

Wash and rinse cucumbers.  Peel and slice.

Chill in ice water for about an hour.

Drain.

Serve with dill sauce.

Annette’s note-I will not make this again.
Even with the fresh dill, this dip tasted like mayo with little other flavor. :O(
Or, as my son put it,  this dip is “…a horrendous concoction of mayonnaise”.

Other Mickey Cook-along Recipes

Click on the recipe’s name, below, to be taken to the recipe’s blog post.

Beverages

Caddy Cooler :o-

Tavern Sherbet Punch :o)

Appetizers

Pioneer Hall Cheese Dip–:o(

Soups

Cinderella Soup (Beef and Barley Soup):o)

Homemade Lemonade, Summer’s Refreshing Beverage

Six!  That is the number of grand children that my hubby and I have been blessed with.   Any Gammy (my grand children’s name for me) time is always a treat! Last week my oldest grand daughter (Age 4) and I made one of her favorite beverages- lemonade. 

Our local grocery had these prize-looking lemons, perfect for our
lemonade “experience”.

Using my favorite lemonade recipe, that I have had for years, (who gave me this recipe is a mystery, as there is no name of the recipe card) we had a fun time making and then drinking lemonade.  

My original lemonade recipe

It turns out that my grand daughter was a real lemonade-making pro!

My grand daughter took her job of juicing the lemons very seriously. :o)

My grand daughter and I made half a batch for just the two of us.
The half-batch measurements are shown in parentheses in the recipe below.

Homemade Lemonade

Ingredients
(Half of a batch is shown in parentheses to right of ingredients)

1+ 1/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons)

1/2 cup boiling water (1/4 cup)

1 + 1/2  freshly-squeezed lemon juice from about 7 large lemons (3/4 cup lemon juice) 

4 + 1/2 cups cold water (2 +1/4 cup)

ice

lemon slices for garnish-optional

Directions

Wash the outside of lemons.
Squeeze lemons to get desired amount of juice. Set aside.

Combine sugar and boiling water, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Add lemon juice and cold water.  Mix well.

Chill and/or serve over ice.

Garnish with lemon slices.

Yields about 7 +1/4 cups (a little over 3+1/2 cups) 

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading,
Annette

I’m Annette Stuff

I post my blog once per month.
Look for my next blog post on, or around,
Thursday, September 12. 

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Kali is wishing you a happy, and relaxing, remainder of the last (dog)
days of summer.