Stuff-a-Truck

You can see the sign says 'Help Those in Need'...
...so that's what the Boy Scouts did...
...They stuffed two pickup trucks full to overflowing - and the back seats too - and delivered the food to the local food bank - just in time for Thanksgiving...

Nanny's Russian Tea - Really this time...

Mom did send me Nanny's Russian Tea recipe - the one that uses real juice...

RUSSIAN TEA

1 Tsp Whole Cloves
3 Sticks Cinnamon
2 Quarts Water
2 Quart-size Tea Bags
1 Cup Sugar
1 46 Ounce Can Pineapple Juice
1 46 Ounce Can Orange Juice
1 Can Frozen Lemonade Concentrate

Simmer spices in 1 quart water for 30 minutes.
Boil 1 quart water and steep tea bags until strong.
Remove spices and tea bags and mix liquids with sugar.
Add juices and concentrate and mix thoroughly.
Can be stored in refrigerator for 2 weeks and
reheated in crock pot, stirring well.

I'll definitely be making a big pot of this when we have friends over this winter - I think I'll serve it out of my blue and white soup tureen...

A simple lunch

The simplest things are often the best......the Man and I almost always lunch together - I work at home and he works about 50 feet away (for the most part) - for a special treat I sometimes get Subway sandwiches and we have a little picnic in his office...
...but yesterday he was away at a conference and so I didn't have to worry about making anything he would like - so I just poked around in the fridge until I found some leftover rice and I cut up a slab of tofu - it's my homemade tofu marinated in some soy sauce and baked with a little olive oil - it really is one of my favorite foods - then I steamed a couple of broccoli spears and I had lunch ready for me in about 5 minutes - so then I sat at the table by myself and ate my lunch - kinda lonely...

...in other news - I walked Jack around the usual route - it's almost a mile - he was very happy to smell all his smells - and I'm happy to be well enough to walk a mile again...

Russian Tea

...I can remember sitting in Nanny's kitchen - with it's white cabinets and orange marble countertops - on a stool by the east facing window - Nanny right beside me - we're sipping on steaming mugs of Russian Tea - just chatting away - Nanny is also crocheting a multi coloured, but mostly green, beret for my red headed cousin - I coveted that beret and Nanny said she would make me one too......that's what I'm thinking about as I package up little jars of 'Russian Tea' as gifts for friends and family...
...I was so surprised that the recipe was not credited to Nanny - but to my aunt (the mother of the red-headed cousin)...

Russian Tea

Ingredients:

2 cups Tang
2 cups instant tea
1 package lemonade twist (I used Koolaid)
1 package orangeade twist " "
1/2 cup lemon flavored instant tea
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups sugar

Mix together and keep in a covered container. Use about 1/3 cup of the mix for each cup of tea.

A New (to me) Read

I've blogged about Maureen and her sweet gifts before - but what a sweet surprise to get another little pressie in the mail. Maureen was worried about me recuperating from the flu/pneumonia with nothing good to read so she sent me her beloved copy of 'Brideshead Revisited'. We had a busy afternoon yesterday but I've already read the prologue and started the first book (I'm hooked)...

Applesauce

Well, I'm finally well enough that I couldn't put off doing something with that nice bag of apples we got right after the 'flu vacation' - that trip probably would have been remembered as 'The Mt. Rushmore Trip' - or the 'South Dakota Trip' - but noooo...
...anywhooo, the Man helped me and we peeled all of the apples - and since these apples have not been sprayed we used the peelings to make another batch of apple jelly - for Christmas gifts - and we decided to make a batch of plain applesauce - as I had already done a run of my favorite crockpot apple butter earlier...

...I was surprised at how pink the applesauce was too - we've got several good pints of sauce in the freezer now...

...and I got to wondering about how do you know how much food to preserve - I know my Mom and MIL both used to can copious amounts of garden produce - but did they sit down and figure - we'll have green beans 3 times a week so we'll need 156 quarts - or did they just put up all they had...

...I guess I put up everything that I can and then sort of try to plan our meals around what we have in the freezer/canned - what do you do???

A Christmas Carol

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Dickens...

I have his complete works and I'm pretty sure I've read everything that's in print...

...and one of my very favorites is A Christmas Carol - I feel like I have known Scrooge and the Cratchits all my life - I just love it's hopeful look at themes so important - Loving your neighbor and caring for the poor - combined with man's need for redemption - Dickens always calls us to a higher level of humanity - A Christmas Carol has been adapted many times over in film - here's a pretty complete list - now on to my favorites...

As a child of the 70s this 1971 animated cartoon adaptation may be the first one I remember seeing...
...it's told by Michael Redgrave and has the voice of Alastair Sim as Scrooge - it's very good and the entire thing is available on YouTube...

..but like his books - I have watched many, many versions of A Christmas Carol or Scrooge as some of them are called - PBS will often show at least one of the older versions every year near Christmas - I first watched this old Black and White version when we lived in a little apartment in Asheville - it didn't matter that it was in Black and White because the only TV we had was a little 13 inch Black and White from our dorm days...
This one was called A Christmas Carol and it's from 1938 and starred Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, June Lockhart, Leo G. Carroll, and Terry Kilburn.

If I had to pick a favorite film version - this would probably be it - it was originally in Black and White but has been colourized here - and the full version is out there on YouTube. It's called Scrooge - it's from 1951 - starring Alastair Sim, Meryvn Johns, Michael Hordern and Glyn Dearman.


Oh - I don't know - maybe this is my favorite film version - it's a musical called
Scrooge from 1970 starring Albert Finney, Sir Alec Guinness, Edith Evans and Kenneth More. - and the entire movie is on YouTube as well
My favorite song from this musical version - Thank you very much! I often sing it to my family - "Thank you very much - that's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me..."

They sing it once earlier at the scene of his 'future' funeral and then they sing it again here at the end after he cancels everyone's debts...

George C. Scott even starred as Scrooge in this 1984 version called A Christmas Carol - it's very good - just not as good as the older versions

Then in 1988 we had a different take on the story with Scrooged starring Bill Murray, John Forsythe, Karen Allen, Carol Kane, and Bobcat Goldthwait. ... I liked this one quite a lot at the time - that was during the days of video stores and VCRs and we rented this one and watched it more than once...

Then just a few years ago (right on the tail of his Star Trek fame) - Patrick Stewart starred in A Christmas Carol in 1999 - I watched this one on regular network television with commercials and everything - it's very good as well - just not my favorite...


And now we've just been to see the newest - Disney's animated version of A Christmas Carol...
...I enjoyed the movie as a familiar old friend - there were some things that I didn't particularly like - the too long chase scene where Scrooge is pursued by red eyed black horses and the ghost of Christmas future (something to think about with young children) - but then the ghost of Christmas future is always scary - I'm sure I'll watch it again as the opportunity arises (I'll watch any version if the opportunity arises)...

...so now we're in the mood for Christmas as we've had our Christmas Carol 'fix'...

Lefse making

It's Church Bazaar time again......and that means Lefse making...
...Don't worry if you don't know what Lefse is - I didn't either until we moved here about 5 years ago...
...it involves ricing lots of potatoes...

...good thing we've got a little helper...