Looking Good, Tasting Better

There was a time some years past when you just didn't see miniature cakes and cupcakes on a regular basis.  Now, of course, you see them almost anywhere.  But in those olden days I worked at a school as a speech-language pathologist.  All staff members were required to attend certain designated PTA meetings as well as staff meetings at times when refreshments were required.  Meaning we each had to prepare something for the meeting.

My go-to recipe at the time was Finger Cheese Cakes. My mother gave me this recipe and it was used a lot those years.  Compliments were given each time. They looked absolutely wonderful and the taste was compatible with the looks.  I was given credit for being a great cook based on this recipe alone.

What I particularly liked was that they were quick and easy to fix.  I always did get up early and I could make a batch in time for 7:30 a.m. check-in time. One recipe fixed in the miniature pans would produce about 54 cheese cakes.  Absolutely beautiful, tasty, with a small size that allowed folks to have a small amount with other foods without getting stuffed.


                                                          FINGER CHEESE CAKES

               2 (8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
               2/3 cup sugar
               1 tsp. vanilla
               2 eggs
               1 Tbsp. lemon juice
               crushed graham crackers (I'd break off small pieces and crush with fingers as needed)
               1 can cherry or blueberry pie filling

1)     Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2)     Line 4  miniature cupcake pans with miniature paper liners
3)     Place a thin layer crushed graham crackers in bottom of each tin.
4)     Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, eggs and lemon juice together until smooth.
5)     Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full.
6)     Bake 15 minutes or until set
7)     Cool and top with pie filling.  You can also top with thawed whipped topping if desired.

When taking to a meeting, I'd refrigerate the pie filling on site and put on top of the cheesecakes just before serving.

Enjoy.

Ah - Relaxation

Life can be fun, exciting, entertaining, stressful.  All these things and more.  And when it gets just a bit too much of whatever is going on, it's good to have a way to relax.  Fortunately I have many ways to lose myself in some form of activity and just let the world go by.

One way is to do a little painting.  I'm certainly not a true artist.  No one is ever going to want to buy one of my "works of art," but I get what I need from the activity.  This painting  has no title, maybe someone can suggest something suitable.  It's done in acrylic paint, about 16 by 20, and I have it hanging in my computer room.  I enjoy looking at it.  (But then I can be easily amused.)

I'd love to hear how my cyberfriends like to relax and get away from the stresses that can befall all of us.  Please feel free to share.

Take care and may you all have a wonderful week full of holiday cheer and lots of time with good friends.  Merry Christmas to everyone.

A New Beginning

                                                    (An old Perryville school building)

I remember my first day of school.  I think I remember the actual event, but it is possible what I remember is the retelling of the story of that first day.

My older brother was already in school and we often walked with him, though there were times he came home in the presence of others.  The school was at most maybe a half-mile away, so it wasn't far.  When I started Mom walked us both to school.

I enjoyed the morning.  Then we were sent outside.  So out I went.  However, while the others headed off to the playground, I headed off to the house.  I thought the day was over and we were being sent home.  Needless to say, Mom was less than pleased to see me walk in the door.  Once she determined why I was there, back we went.

She strongly impressed on me that when school was out the teacher would say so.  I was not to leave until then, and even then I should stay until I saw my brother.  We would go home together.  She took me inside and explained the situation to the teacher.  I apologized, of course.  Kids did that then.

Before she left the building she also visited my brother and told him to make sure I was with him when he left for the day.  So every day the teacher would make sure I knew it was okay to leave and watch to make sure my brother was with me when we did leave the premises.  All that was not necessary.  The lesson had been adequately instilled in my mind and I certainly was not going home alone again.  But a routine was established and we practiced that until Christmas.

At that time we left California and moved to Rush Springs, Oklahoma.  There we rode the bus, so I had to wait to leave until the bus arrived for us.  I did miss that daily walk, though.

Something Special

There are some things that just come into your life unexpectedly, but yet feel like that should have been there forever.  This weaving is one of my special treasures.

I attended a speech-language pathologist convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas, about 25 years ago.  While I enjoyed most of these events and visiting with others in the field, that year I was a bit restive.  Lunch time arrived and I felt the need to get out of the building for awhile.  So I took off, exploring the many shops in the area, just window shopping.  I didn't feel the need to look for something to buy, just a place to go and browse.

One shop had a lot of interesting decorative items and the selection was interesting.  I came upon this piece hanging on the wall and it just felt "right."  I loved the colors, the shading, the overall design.  But I was not there to buy.  I walked away and looked at other things in the store.  But I kept coming back to this one.

Finally I left the store.  We were still at a time in our lives where we were budget minded and buying some art piece was definitely not in the plan.  But I couldn't get it out of my mind.  I knew if I walked away without it, I'd feel incomplete in some way.  Finally I turned back, marched into the store, and without hesitation said, "I'll take it."

Over the years it has hung on several different walls.  First in my office when I had a private practice.  Later in a bedroom, then the living room, and finally in the computer room.  When we moved to a new house it went into the library, and now it's back in the computer room.  I look at it often, and I'm still so very glad I made that purchase that day. 

Do you have something special that makes you feel good?  Something you love to display for all the world to see, but yet can enjoy when you are alone with your thoughts?  Something that helps your creative muse emerge and lets you explore so many different thoughts?  I'd love to know about it.  Share if you'd like.

The Allure of Sleepy Hollow

                                                          Sleepy Hollow Access
                                                              Lake Maumelle

It's the brink of October and fall is in the air.  With the hint of Halloween lingering close by, the changing of the colors in the trees, the shorter days of autumn, it is easy to remember Washington Irving's story:  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Arkansas is 1260 miles from Tarrytown, New York, which is where Irving and his family moved in 1798 to escape an epidemic of yellow fever.  Autumn there is no doubt cooler than here.  But even here we enjoy hearing a good ghost story every now and then.  Irving tapped into portion of the brain we all secretly wonder about.

People are intrigued by this story, even down to today.  Published in 1819 it still captures the imagination of so many of us on those closed in dark days of fall.  This interest is evident in many places around the country, and yes, even here in Arkansas.

Sleepy Hollow Access is a park approximately 30 miles west of Little Rock.  As seen on a beautiful day it is a peaceful place giving access to Lake Maumelle.  The lake is very popular with the local fishermen.  My husband and I once camped there overnight, oh so many years ago.  We had fun, but when you awake on a cool morning and the fog has rolled in off the water and the visibility is almost nil with civilization not so close by, you can almost imagine what Irving's character, Ichabod Crane, experienced on that fateful night when he rode out to meet the Headless Horseman.

I don't know who suggested the name for this park, but I like it.  And I enjoy stopping by every now and then for a quiet peaceful reverie.  If you're ever in the area, look it up.  See if you are captured by the beautiful trees and quiet river.

Clickety Clack

                                                (train depot in Morrilton, Arkansas)

When my granddaughter was quite young, doing some walking and definitely some talking, she loved for me to make up songs about her.  She wanted to learn them, every word of them.

One day in Little Rock her folks were checking out an antique shop in the old train depot.  She got restless, so we went outside and sat on a bench, hoping to see a train come by.  To pass the time, I made up a song for her, which she loved.  She would watch my face intently as I sang to her.  When I was finished she would say "Again" which she produced with the initial sound. 

A few days later I was in the car with her and her folks and we stopped at a railroad track.  She asked me to sing.  So I did her train song.  It wasn't long until she had it down pat.  She was pleased, though her parents were not prone to thank me for this attribute.  For a very long time she would sing it anytime they were in the car and stopped at a track, over and over until the train was gone and they were again on their merry way.  I thought I'd share the song with you.

                    Sitting on a bench by the railroad track
                    Waiting for a train to go clickety clack
                    When that train comes whistling by
                    S________ M____ is going to say bye-bye.

                    Bye-bye train, when you come by
                    S________ M____ is going to say bye-bye.


I miss those days of creating simple songs for her enjoyment.

Do you have a grandchild event to share?  I'd love to hear about it.

Dancing Down Memory Lane

It's late August and September is nipping at our heels.  Heat is still hanging around, making sure we really appreciate the coolness when it comes.  School is back in session, and class reunions are being planned and discussed.

Radio was a necessity in our lives back then.  What I miss most about those radio days is that we could listen and get such a variety of musical styles then.  Now it all seems segmented.  If you want a genre, you turn to that on the dial (or however you're listening now) and that's all you get.

Does anyone else miss the musical mixings that used to be so common.  I remember listening in one afternoon to songs from the Everly Brothers (Bye Bye Love) and the Platters (The Great Pretenders); Pat Boone (Love Letters in the Sand) and Chuck Berry (Maybellene) or Little Richard (Tutti Frutti).

One moment you could be listening to the Kingston Trio (Tom Dooley), then maybe hear Bobby Darin (Mack the Knife) followed by Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes) with a follow-up from Johnny Cash (Folsom Prison Blues).

People liked humor in their songs then, for sure.  Remember David Seville (Witch Doctor) and Sheb Wooley (Purple People Eater)?  And of course Del Reeves had a popular song (Girl on the Billboard).

Looking back, I think what I most appreciate about our radio days is the lack of vulgarity.  Oh yes, we had suggestive lyrics and aggressive love songs, but the writers knew then they could not get by with graphic semi-porn.  They had to rely on talent, and they had to appeal to a sense of humor a bit (okay, maybe not too much, but at least a little) higher than early adolescence.  Sure we had the Everly Brothers singing about "Wake Up Little Susie," but at least they put limits on where the story line went.  (Sorry about that.  Just had a I've Got to Rant moment.  But it has now passed.)

Enjoy the rest of summer.  Sit back, relax and take a sip of some good sweet iced tea.