In Times Past

My brother and I spent a lot of time with Dad's mom and dad in the country.  They usually had a cow, chickens and occasionally pigs.  As a result, there was always milk, eggs, butter, buttermilk.  Grandma kept several crocks on her cabinet that she would pour the fresh milk into and let the cream settle to the top.  When her knives would get dull, she would "whet" them across the edge of those crocks to sharpen them. 
  One day I got so frustrated with my paring knife I almost threw it away.  Then I saw one cup upside down on the cabinet .. voila'..  What could it hurt to try???  So I did.. and it worked.  Now this is what I do when I have a dull paring knife.  May not be chef sharp, but it does what I need done.  :) 

Daughter and son in law are here and we went to the Backdoor Steakhouse in Blair, OK for supper last night.  Had a wonderful time.  Going to Russell, OK today and visit some Schuster home places. Totally glad we now have cars... a little hot for the old horse and buggy days.. lol  

Have a good day today and enjoy the 4th of July holiday.

Doing a Bit of Cooking

Thursday Feb. 3, 2022... Cold, cold, cold.  There is now 5 1/2 inches of snow on the ground with ice crunching underneath the feet as we try to take the dogs out.  It's a pretty useless effort since neither one of our little poodles likes the cold at all. So we are sitting in our chairs for the most part watching the fireplace and being totally glad to  have it. 

Yesterday I made a large "soup".. I'm not sure exactly what to call it.. lol  Hamburger stew and to this one I added Ranch Style Beans... Lovely!  Tastes a bit like taco soup, but much more subtle.  Yum .. 

Jerry decided he wanted a pumpkin pie so I found a recipe for a butter pie crust.. my first.  Not my first pie crust... first butter crust.  It is truly wonderful. Can't seem to find the recipe I used ..but..sigh... this one is almost just like it.   Perfect Pie Crust ... give it a try!

Feb. 4, 2022... Several years ago I found a "tip" on the internet about how to sharpen knives if you don't have a sharpener.  The original idea was to run the edge of your knife around the top of a stoneware crock while turning it over and over.  I've seen my grandmother do this many times over the years.  Since I don't have a crock sitting on my counter, I turned over one of my coffee mugs... worked perfectly.  I do this often now. 

Well, the snow is still with us. The sun is out today but the temp is barely supposed to reach freezing.. it's 11 degrees right now.  Probably not much melting happening today, but maybe a little.  Hoping for enough to allow the doggies a place to go do their business! 

Have a great day today.  Drink lots of hot whatever you drink... I would say hug all your family and friends, but with Covid everywhere that's maybe not such a good idea.. but virtual hugs are ok...