Lecture Leads To Laughter -- Once Again!

The conclusion of a lecture about taking "no" for an answer without pouting or fussing, being given to Eler Beth while she and I were driving down the road yesterday --

Me: "...and I'd like to think that my NOs will be respected the same way my YESes are respected.  Do you understand?"

Eler Beth: "Yes....Well, actually, I didn't until you said the word 'YESes'.  But now I do!"

I actually had to pull over to the side of the road I was laughing so hard!  I could just see all the pictures and questions that must have been speeding their way through her brain in the split second between the time she heard "that my NOSE will be respected" and the time she heard the word "YESes".

I just love that girl!

The Mom Song

I'm probably the last person to see this, but just in case I'm not -- you must see this!

Because I Am The Mom Song!

Tags: Because I Am The Mom, Anita Renfroe

Potato Candy

I called my mom and asked about potato candy and here is what she said:

"Well, my goodness! Let me think!  You know I only made it a time or two, and I don't even know where I got the recipe or if I kept it."

But she told me what she remembered and I googled it, and here is what sounds like what she made:

Old Fashioned Potato Candy

1/2 (or 1 small) boiled potato
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter

Mash potato, add butter, vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make a slightly stiff dough.
Roll out dough (on a surface dusted with powdered sugar) and spread on the peanut butter.
Roll dough up (as for jelly roll) to make a log.
Cut into pieces, (an inch or two long) let air dry for about an hour. Store in air tight container.
Makes about 2 dozen confections.

This sounds exactly like what Mom made.  I saw some where melted chocolate was part of the recipe, too.  I'm going to have to make this to see if it is as good as I remembered.  It was a very rich candy, and I could never eat more than a piece or two in one sitting.

These sounded great, too:  Dave's Irish Potato Candy which uses evaporated milk and cream of tarter; and a very simple German Potato Candy.

Tags: Potato Candy

A Sunny Break

Why am I journaling today?

We've had several rainy, rainy days in a row, and today it is sunny and will get to 65­­° (Thank you, Donna (Mosie), for telling us how to get that little degree symbol so easily!)  Then we have two more days of rainy, rainy weather before we get another dry day.  So we suspended lessons early to allow my daughter to get outside for a while.  I needed that break as much as she did.

I can't complain about the rain, though, because so much of Missouri and other areas are without power because of ice storms, and then the Northwest is still recovering from all that flooding. 

I baked a cherry pie last night, but the preparations didn't inspire such questions and memories as the potato preparations did.  Oh yes, Martha sent me the link to a very intersting Ore-Ida site with lots of potato trivia.  For example, did you know that there is a "Potato Museum" in Washington D.C.?  Well, there is.

I think I am prepared to just sit here at this computer for most of the rest of the day.  Yes, I do have a few chores that must be taken care of, like cooking dinner.  But I think everything else will be put on a back burner.  I really should get outside for a bit, but the ground is still really wet.  I may be lured outside for a while though.  Otherwise, I just may catch up with journal reading.

Several people in J-Land are recovering from surgeries or illnesses.  Lahoma is still in ICU, according to Nelishia, and I know a lot of journalers are extremely worried about her and her family and have her in their minds today. 

I guess that's about it for now.  I hope everyone is having a decent week, and if you are struggling with health issues or dealing with illnesses or deaths in your family, I hope you are able to find the strength and peace of mind to cope.

Please take care!

Potatoes, Part Three, Finale (I think)

My mother has always had a garden and she has always grown potatoes.  At 83 she still helps plant, cultivate, and harvest her garden, but my sisters, Lois and Barbara, have for years done most of the work. 

I can remember a few years ago for some reason they were having trouble finding potatoes to plant.  I think it had been a late Spring, growing-season-wise, and I don't know why but any of the feed stores or garden centers in their area that usually carried seed potatoes either weren't carrying them or had just sold out their supply whenever my sisters stopped by.  I think everyone in the area was carrying a lot of one certain variety but not the variety that my family was used to planting.

Anyway, for about two weeks whenever I spoke with my mother or one of my sisters they were bemoaning this shortage of seed potatoes -- to the point that I was about to suggest that I check where I lived and buy and bring them a goodly supply of the correct seed potatoes myself.  When I called to make this suggestion my sister Barbara said, "Lois went to Brandenburg this morning and found some.  She and mom are getting them in the hills right now."

She paused and then said in a relieved voice, "It's a good thing, too.  I could feel the ghosts of our Irish ancestors starting to panic!"

Tags: Irish potato famine

Potatoes, Part Two (Thank you, Martha!) or The Great Potato Debate

Yes, there is more!

While I was thinking about potatoes last night I remembered that when Thomas and I were first married he persisted in calling potatoes "Irish Potatoes" or "White Potatoes", instead of just simply potatoes, and this drove me nuts.  (Because, you know, we'd only been married for a while, and there were as yet no kids, mortgages, or other life-altering events to have to worry about, so I indulged in having little petty grievances like that.)

Anyway.

To me, potatoes were "potatoes" and the only time you had to be more specific was when you were talking about sweet potatoes or yams.  Imagine the fun when Thomas, told there were potatoes on the menu (I don't recall what the whole menu was), came to the table and said, "I thought you said we were having potatoes."  And then, I, staring pointedly at the dish of potatoes on the table, said, "We are having potatoes."  And then he said "Oh!  You meant Irish potatoes."

Well, that got my Irish dander up a bit, because I didn't undertand why he was calling them that.  (And because, like I said, I was only 21 and stupid and didn't realize that there were more important things in life to get irritated about besides what your new husband called potatoes!)

Well, we've now been married 20 years, and he has finally learned to call a potato a potato, bless his heart.  But I did come to understand why he called them Irish potatoes.  I grew up on potatoes.  They were a staple, cooked for almost each and every dinner.  Thomas, born in Alabama, was raised for the first 9 years of his life on sweet potatoes and only ocassionally had white potatoes, so to him the sweet potato was the staple.  Those were called simply "potatoes" in his house.  The climate and soil there lended themselves to the growing of sweet potatoes over regular potatoes.  He had always heard regular potatoes called "white" potatoes or "Irish" potatoes, and until he married me he wasn't a big fan of them.  I saw to changing that, of course.

He had no idea why they were called Irish potatoes, but I assumed it had to do with the Irish potato famine, which this article supports.  

I thought of something else, too: Potato Candy.  Have you ever had it?  My mother used to make it ocassionally and it was delicious! 

My, the varieties of potatoes!

Tags: Potatoes, Irish potatoes, White potatoes, Potato candy, Irish potato famine

My Brain May Be Turning Into Mashed Potatoes!

Potatoes.

I was peeling potatoes last night and my mind drifted into strange channels.  I started wondering a) just how many potatoes I'd peeled in my life; b) just how many potatoes I'd eaten in my life; c) just how many potato dishes I'd eaten/prepared; d) just how many potato dishes there are.  (perhaps I've cooked dinner just a few too many nights lately, and Thomas needs to take me out to eat?)  This intriguing subject hovered on my brain all evening.  I think the only way to get it out of my mind is to write about it.  So I am.

Following are a few polls, and I would appreciate it if you would cast a vote in each of them.  It's not important, and no presidential hopeful will eagerly cull the results, but still, it is a poll.  You know how much you enjoy doing polls.  And it isn't as if you have better things to do with your day, right?

Potato Poll # 1

*3 or more times a week, for me

Potato Poll # 2

*I would have to say mashed potatoes is consistently my favorite dish, but I do love a good hash brown casserole!

Potato Poll # 3

*No, but I do tend toward being a computer-desk potato

Potato Poll # 4

*Usually with a paring knife, although I'm pretty fast with a potato peeler (for some reason I prefer the knife).

Potato Poll # 5

*Yes, I have, and with a REAL potato sack.

I could probably go on and on, but I really want you to come back to my journal someday, so I won't.  Please feel free to leave any potato-related comment you would like, though.

Thank you.

Tags: Potatoes, Polls