Something About Nothing

Addison (formerly known as Jolene) 1995-2009 We will miss your sassy little attitude girl. Say "hi" to Mom for us.

Chicago is famous for food like Pizza, Hot Dogs and Italian Beef Sandwiches, however one of the things I missed right away after I moved west was Pork Roast with Bread Dumplings.  Bread dumplings were readily available in the freezer section back home but not out west.  I wondered what people ate with pork roast if they didn't have bread dumplings. Fortunately my Grandmother gave me an easy recipe that I am going to pass along to you today. The recipe (given below) only requires two slices of bread, some flour, eggs, milk, baking powder, salt and parsley.   I was out of parsley so I left it out. After mixing it all together with a spoon you divide the dough into two balls. I always roll these two balls into loaf shapes as it is easier for them to cook evenly. The dough then sits for an hour or so (I actually often cover mine loosely with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for a couple hours so that I can take a nap before dinner). The next step is to boil a big pot

One of the saddest parts of my Mother and Grandmother being gone is that they aren't here to tell me who these people are. . . I've inherited numerous photos, some are beautiful, some are funny, some are even out of focus.  I love them all because they represent a moment in time.  How can you not love a photo of a woman in the real fur coat standing by a plastic Santa Claus on a green lawn.  I have no idea who she is but she makes me smile.  I'm sure Mom or Grandma would know and they would have a funny story about the picture too. The black and white photo at the bottom looks like it might have been taken at one the apartments we lived in in Chicago, but I have no idea who the tall thin man is in front of it.  He seems very mysterious to me. The picture of the two boys buried at the top right was with a stack of photos that were taken in England.  My guess is they are siblings, cousins, neighbors or friends of my Aunt who is from England.   Obviously someone wanted

Ah yes, my Dolly. We were best buds - -for about one day. She kept wanting to borrow all my clothes because she just wasn't satisfied with her pretty pink dress - Which she wouldn't let me wear because she said I was too big for it. Do you know how hard it was for my little hands to take her clothes off and on? She could have been a little considerate by bending her knees and elbows, but Nooooooo! Then she stepped on my toes and that was it. I had to put her in the corner for being naughty and thats the last I remember of her.

One of my peach trees is almost dead, but still producing to the end. The other tree is also producing like gang busters.  I just went out and picked this apple box full of peaches. There are still a lot of peaches on the tree too. Now that I've caught my breath from going up and down the ladder it's time to skin and bottle these babies.

A few weeks back I posted photos of my girls making Fried Pies with my Mom. We were carrying on the tradition passed down to us by her Mom but every since Grandma has passed on we knew there was something not quite right with the pies. The dough was off. I now know why. I did a little research online and found that we should be using our recipe for biscuit dough NOT pie dough. (You should really watch this video of an elderly woman from Kentucky making these pies. I love her accent.) The video does not give amounts for her recipe but more of a "this is how it's done." I, on the other hand, am going to share the recipe I made to make these delicious pies - but first a few pictures. Yummy fresh apples from the farmers market. I used these Jonathans mixed in with a few Granny Smith's from my Mother-in-laws tree. The apples are cut up and cooked down to make the filling. . . this is what was left after I filled the pies. We enjoyed it straight from the pan as