Christmas Cherry Cake

This cake dates from 1709 according to Sadie Dell the Brit. Those who posted on the old AOL Comfort Food Board remember her well.  In pace requiescat et in amore.

Sadie was a WWII war bride and a famous baker. Sadie translated this British recipe into American measurements. This is a terrific alternative to Fruit Cake.

Christmas Cherry Cake

1 cup Sugar
4 Eggs
1 cup all purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 pound Cherries, candied
1 pound Dates, pitted
1 pound Pecans, chopped
2 slices candied Pineapple
1/2 pound Coconut

Mix Sugar, Eggs, Flour, Baking Powder, Salt and Vanilla. Put Cherries, Dates, and Pineapple through a food grinder on coarse. Add ground fruit to the sugar mixture; then add Pecans and Coconut. You will have to use your hands to mix it. Grease and flour an angel food cake tin. Place mixture evenly in the bottom and cover with waxed paper, then brown paper. Tie with string. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. When cake is cool, pour Sherry over it and let it sit until Christmas.

Christmas Eve Salad

This is the time of year when Folks throw office, church, garage, AA, bowling team, study group, etc. POTLUCK parties. That can be a problem if you cannot cook, or if you are too lazy to cook much, and some other fortunate Soul snags the Chips & Dip or Beer & Soda contributions.

This Salad can be your saving grace. You do not have to cook but only prepare the fruit with care and combine carefully. Everyone will think you are a whizbang gourmand. And if you are Vegan, you will have something you can eat. There is more than one way to skin a Potluck.

Happy Holidays! This was the salad served at Christmas Eve Dinner to Stanford-in-Mexico students in 1972. Recipe from Steve and Pilar Stein of Latin Studies.

Ensalada de Noche Buena

4 small Apples, cored and sliced
4 medium Oranges, peeled and separated in sections
3 cups of canned Pineapple, drained
4 small Bananans, sliced
3 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
Romaine Lettuce leaves
2 cups canned Betts, drained
1/4 cup Peanuts

Combine the first six ingredients in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until they are cold. At the moment of serving cover a salad bowl with the Lettuce leaves, mix carefully the Fruits and the Beets, and place the mixture over the Letttuce. Sprinkle Peanuts on top and serve immediately. Serves 12.
Note: Some folks are allergic to peanuts. Serve them salted and roasted as a garnish on the side.

Bookies ... of the Library Kind

CLICK ME !

I hoard books. I have entirely too many of them. And I can rarely part with any one of them.

I found a site about books that I am hereby recommending BOOKRIOT.

What sold me on the site enough to subscribe and send you there was an article on literary gifts. Click the picture to go there. I have a daughter who reads. Oh how she reads. Guess what she is getting for Christmas.

The second attribute that sold me on the site was an article about cookbooks as historical and sociological sources. I love it when I find a fellow traveler.

E. H. Kern writes:

At my parents’ house, in the room where the book scorpions live, there is a cookbook from 1886. The title is Cookbook for Housekeepers. A Manual to the Current Practices of Fine Cooking and Everything That They Include. This cookbook was first published in 1822 and by 1886 it had been printed in fifteen editions.

The fact that Cookbook for Housekeepers exists tells the story of the nineteenth-century European class system. The book is not intended for the lady of the house, but for the cook working in her kitchen with a kitchen staff. 

And then I found my way to this Poster just googling 'literary gifts.' Bless my google finger. I have to have one. You can find a poster you love HERE. I have no monetary interest in these recommendations, Bookies. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas Cat

cat haiku

You never feed me.  Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.  That will sure show you. You must scratch me there!  Yes, above my tail!  Behold, elevator butt. The rule for today:  Touch my tail, I shred your hand.  New rule tomorrow. In deep sleep hear sound  cat vomit hairball somewhere  will find in morning. Grace personified.  I leap into the window.  I meant to do that. Blur of motion, then --  silence, me, a paper bag.  What is so funny? The mighty hunter  Returns with gifts of plump birds --  your foot just squashed one. You're always typing.  Well, let's see you ignore my  sitting on your hands. My small cardboard box.  You cannot see me if I  can just hide my head. Terrible battle.  I fought for hours. Come and see!  What's a 'term paper?' Small brave carnivores  Kill pine cones and mosquitoes,  Fear vacuum cleaner I want to be close  to you. Can I fit my head  inside your armpit? Wanna go outside.  Oh, poop! Help! I got outside!  Let me back inside! Oh no! Big One  has been trapped by newspaper!  Cat to the rescue! Humans are so strange.  Mine lies still in bed, then screams;  My claws are not that sharp.

mail welcome: admin @ strangeplaces.net

Crochet and the Impatient Woman or Xmas is Coming Sooner than You Think.

I crochet. It is a very soothing occupation. What beginning and/or impatient crocheters (like me) need is simple patterns that work up fast. This impatient crocheter sticks with hats and slippers. These free patterns are the best. I am going to make the Yoda Hat for my son-in-law. Yes, there is a pattern for Baby Yoda hat at the link as well.

This is the easiest fastest slipper pattern I have encountered. And the video is a great tutorial for beginning crocheters. Who does not need cozy TV socks. Warning: No running in slipper socks on slippery floors. I think I will look for a tutorial on how to add nonslip soles. Note: 7 terrific suggestions for making your slippers slip free HERE.

The newest fashion trend is Dog Hats. This video will teach you how to make a small dog hat. Same teacher has tutorials for large/medium dogs as well. Be kind. Some dogs love their new hats. Some dogs hate them. Do not force your dog to wear a hat.

I fell on November 13 and sustained a concussion. I am meant to rest my brain and do little for the next few weeks.

It is go slow holiday around here until I can write, read and think better.