Monday Night

back to normal.

Chuck Berry

Yes. I know it is Tuesday. I'm just catching up.

 

Today,

Mr. Big Food and I worked together for about three hours making Christmas Presents pickles.
~~

Mr. Big Food is balancing the checkbook right now. As soon as he's reconciled things done doing Math in his Head-- I'll ask about the names of the Christmas Presents pickles.

Don't you think everyone should do math in his head? [Instapundit had a link to something about the gentrification of English. I didn't look... ] Wait...

He's off.

... 

There's almost all of it! He's only a dime off now.
~~

Recipe: Buttermilk yeast pancakes

This is the recipe for the pancakes I mentioned the other day. It keeps for up to two weeks! And it is good. 

Sorry, no photo as the pancakes kept getting eaten before I could get my camera. 

BUTTERMILK YEAST PANCAKES

4 C flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp baking soda

1 quart buttermilk

Mix together all ingredients and add the following:

1 tsp salt

¼ C oil

1 envelope yeast

6 eggs, beaten

Mix well, place mixture in a covered container, and store in refrigerator until ready to use. “Will keep for 2 weeks. Add milk to thin for crepes.”

Another Take on Giving

Since I posted about "How America Gives" earlier today, the World Wide Web has been awash in "analyses" and "commentary." One thing seems to me to be conspicuously missing. 

One of the limitations of the survey is its reliance of data from Schedule A, itemized deductions. I see this as unavoidable and, in all but the most uncommon circumstances, as not being especially consequential. Another limitation is the complete lack of knowledge of the recipients of charitable giving at every level (nationally, state, locale). Again, unavoidable given the nature of the data set, but that shouldn't stop us from putting on our thinking caps.

Most striking to the pundits, et al. is the relatively high proportion of discretionary income given to charity by folks making  $50,000 - 99,000 versus those in higher brackets. Religion vs. Godless greedy bastards? Conservationism vs. Liberal greedy bastards? Rural vs. Godless Liberal greedy City Mice? To be sure, there are many correlations to explore before anyone should start talking about causality.

Here's one-- one which my father often said-- I haven't seen mentioned: "There but for the Grace of God go I."

http://www.cherylteague.net/images/disasters.gif

Severe storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes account for nearly one-half of all disasters in the United States. Floods, a probable consequence of those storms, account for-- what would you say?-- 3/4 of 1/2? 

Big rain events create disaster.

And where do folks who give live? 

This should be interesting.

Oh look. A senator. Someone from the UN & Mozambique. And Korea!

Thank you Marica ______ , you have been successfully registered for the Technology Implementation at the Local Level: Food Security for the Future Conference. For additional information about the conference, please contact Benjy Mikel, director of the Mississippi State University International Institute, at ________. Also, be sure to check the agenda.

This is a generated email. Please do not respond to this email.

[my edits; I don't like publishing email addresses.]

This could turn out to be quite educational. Or it could be a lot of gibberish. We shall see. 

Giving

"It's purple on the map!"

The Chronicle of Philanthropy today released "How America Gives," its report on charitable giving in the United States. Fascinating stuff.

Although some of the content is behind a pay-wall, what's freely available online is more than enough to keep you busy. The report is searchable by state, county, zip code, city, income level and so on. 

For example, according to the report* residents of my little county donated $2,000,000 to charity in 2008 (most recent data available). That represented 8.8% of the median discretionary income of $39,505. This is significantly more than the national average of 4.7% of the much larger median national discretionary income of $54,783. 

As a state, Mississippi ranks only behind Utah in giving. But what would you expect from a bunch of fat lazy folk who aren't even smart enough to hold onto their own money?

Discretionary income ≥ $200,000, giving = 3.8%

*The methods section is also available online. It has a few caveats about the way the data were collected and analyzed. E.g., Data are from 2008 tax returns but only those returns with itemized deductions.

Recipe: Creative Cooking Hot Sweet and Sour Barbecue Sauce

This is one of my favorite barbecue sauces. Mr. Big Food used it on the grilled chicken that was accompanied by the zucchini lasagne. But don't forget! Don't start slathering on sauce as soon as you put the chicken on the grill. Start with a "mop" to keep the chicken moist. Then baste with the sauce during the last few minutes. Mr. Big Food like to use tea-- green tea-- with a dash of Tabasco and what have you on hand as his chicken mop.

Here's what the authors of Creative Cooking have to say about barbecue and sauce. (Recipe below the fold.)

Regardless of whether you roast meat on a spit over an open fire, grill it over charcoal or cook it in an oven, you can turn it into delicious barbecue by basting it with a special sauce. This sauce is made by combining onion, garlic, catsup and various seasonings and is named Basic Barbecue Sauce.

            All over this country, people barbecue for private get-togethers and special events, on holidays and other important occasions. The Spanish word “barbacoa,” from which our word barbecue probably comes, means “a framework of sticks on which meat is roasted.” It is a good guess that the first barbecue sauce was developed to enhance the flavor of meat roasted over such a structure. The sauce is almost as important to today’s hostess as the wooden spit was to early barbecue cooks.

            If you are planning a barbecue anytime soon, we know you want to make yours stand out. Because of this, we have included three distinctively delicious barbecue sauces. These recipes combine such ingredients as catsup, onions, vegetables and apples. They are guaranteed to turn meat or poultry into a real treat.

            The first recipe we’ve included is for Basic Barbecue Sauce, which teams especially well with beef or chicken [see recipe in this section]. The other two sauce, Hot Sweet and Sour Barbecue Sauce and Hot Apple Barbecue Sauce [see recipe in this section], are culinary delights in themselves. Try them both on pork and chicken, the two meats we think they best compliment. Whichever you try, we know your barbecue will be a smashing success.

“Use as a basting sauce for barbecuing pork and chicken.”—The Creative Cooking Course (1982)

Recipe: Zucchini Lasagne and Variation

No noodles!

We used some of the frozen baby round zucchini, and of course, the marinara sauce was made from fresh tomatoes, basil, oregano and so on.

Recipe below

Recipe: Cream Cheese Pound Cake and Variation

Not for the faint of heart which is probably why it's so good.

CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE AND VARIATION

2 C chopped pecans

3 sticks butter, softened

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

3 C sugar

6 eggs

3 C flour

Dash salt

1 ½ tsp vanilla

Recipe: Beer Bread

Beer bread with dewberry jam

Simple. Delicious. Perfect for Sunday Morning's house guests.

BEER BREAD

Makes 3 small loaves or 1 large loaf

3 C self-rising flour (strictly fresh, for best results)

2 Tbsp sugar

12 oz beer

1/3 C butter, melted (2 Tbsp if cooking as a single large loaf)

Preheat oven to 350^o. Mix flour and sugar with wooden spoon, and blend in beer one-third at a time. Turn batter into three greased small (6x3 inch) loaf pans or a greased large (9x5 inch) loaf pan, drizzle butter (evenly) over top(s), and bake 50 minutes.

I Need Help

Okra

I don't like asking for help.

But I really can not reach the okra.

And there's okra up there.

So I asked Mr. Big Food if he would help, and he agreed.
~~
Okra is easy to grow. 

For those who follow along,

here are a few photos of this weekend that were taken on my crappy camera, not my good one.

And I was wrong. We didn't have pancakes this morning. 

We had Beer Bread with dewberry jam, and scrambled eggs with pepperoncini peppers. 

We've said this before (see the YouTube video; warning! Vulgar language), but we'll say it again, "For Arthur!" "It's a wabbit."

Sure is quiet

around here now that the Farm Kids have left the Farm to resume their City Mice lives. 

Mr Big Food just said, "Almost too quiet." And then he chucked. 

They'll be back.

Self

reliance.

Remarkable / Or is is?

Not counting looking at the radar on U's phone earlier (before it started raining) I hadn't looked at the world wide from mid-day yesterday to just now.

A cursory look reveals that nothing much has changed-- not even the weather!

Keep it up, world! I'm enjoying a weekend with family & friends.  

~~

I will post the pancake recipe soon. It's a buttermilk and yeast batter that can stay in the fridge for two weeks. Mr. Big Food made it last evening before he started frying. It came in handy this morning, as it will tomorrow.

The Kids on The Farm

are so Funny!

A gift from

A. Leland

Cigar?

No. Only cigarettes.

Fried catfish and (not pictured) spicy frozen cucumbers (see recipes page) and onion rings.

Derek's Cherry Pie

Tonight's dessert?

Mr. Big Food's Homemade Rum Coconut Ice Cream

Mr. Big Food and I retired before the Kids. We awoke-- before the Kids-- to find two books on the picnic table: Paul Churchland's Scientific Realism and Plasticity of Mind which Daughter C had brought out, and The City Mouse and The Country Mouse, which Mike-- or maybe A. Leland-- had brought out.

Funny stuff.

Are you ready

for some football? Folks around here sure are!

This week's newspaper included the Three County Football Guide 2012.

It took us a while to learn how to spell 'Oktibbeha.'

Sixteen colorful pages of analyses, schedules, introductions, and advertisements. 16!

Page 16 really cracked us up.

Got a text from Daughter C (UPDATED)

[UPDATED because I pushed the publish button out of habit before I finished my thoughts.]

which read:

Hey so we're coming out tmw night. I'm bringing my friend... . so play nice.

To which I responded,

Ok

Check email.

Am I better off than I was four years ago? Hell yeah.

It's a Law #15

Law of Logical Argument: Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

So true. Just ask A. Leland. 

~~

Tip of the hat to Mr. Big Food's Dad who passed along some laws for the real world.

"The Wolf and The Dog."

A little story from pages 120-121 of the crappy old book, The World's Best Poetry, Volume Eight, National Spirit (1904, John D. Morris and Company, Philadelphia). Original formatting not preserved as I do have a life and chores to do.

A prowling wolf, whose shaggy skin
(so strict the watch of dogs had been)
hid little but his bones,
once met a mastiff dog astray.
A prouder, fatter sleeker Tray
no human mortal owns.
Sir Wolf, in famished plight,
would fain have made a ration
upon his fat relation:
but then he first must fight;
and well the dog seemed able
to save from wolfish table
his carcass snug and tight.

So then in civil conversation
the wolf expressed his admiration
of Tray's fine case. Said Tray politely,