Me And My Shadow

I don't know what it is about cats, but they seem to know when you're sick or in need of comfort. I got hit by a car yesterday afternoon crossing at an intersection. Thank God I was minimally hurt.


It was one of those cases where the driver was turning right on a red light, other pedestrians were jay walking (because of an advanced green for the other drivers) and it was a pleasant day, weatherwise, so more people were out and about than usual.
I was the only pedestrian to wait for the proper walk signal, yet I was the one who got hit! I saw the van starting to turn right, but he hesitated, leading me to believe he saw me and was going to allow me to cross. But no. He kept on coming. His bumper hit my left hip and I turned, facing the vehicle. By now both my hands were on the front hood of his van and I was being pushed backwards! All I could think of was ,"He's not stopping! He's not stopping!"
I shouted , "STOP! STOP!" and suddenly he braked, sending me flying backwards onto the road. I thought, "I can't stay here on the ground! Someone might run me over!" and so I leapt up to my feet. I yelled at the driver, "J____ C______ didn't you see the signal!?" Bystanders
came to my aid immediately, standing in the van's way so he couldn't take off and one person flagged down a police car.
Well, to make a long story short, I ended up with only a bruised knee (from hitting the ground) and some weird pains in my feet that are fading now. It could have been a lot worse! The driver was charged with "Failure to Yeild".
But Shadow has been climbing up on my lap since it happened, and I think she might sense that she could have lost her "Mommy". I don't know, but it sure makes you realize how quickly one's life could be snuffed out.

Bunny Slippers

I made a pair of bunny slippers for my daughter!



And here she is wearing them:

Cookieeeeees!

I made these this afternoon. I used a recipe called "Mexican Wedding Cakes", but shaped them like Greek Almond Cookies. They're similar to Shortbread, but they contain ground almonds.
You roll them in Icing Sugar while thye're still warm....then once they've cooled, you can roll them again, or just dust them generously shaking the sugar through a sieve.

100 % Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie

I haven't made one of these for years, so today I thought I'd treat my fianceé and I to a homemade Lemon Meringue Pie. I always have trouble with meringue, but today it seemed to turn out well.

I made a graham cracker crumb crust, click here for a recipe.
Then I made the filling from :
1 cup white sugar
3 tblsp flour
3 tblsp corn starch
1 and a half cups cold water
Mix all those in a pot and heat, stirring constantly
Have ready 2 egg yolks
the juice of 2 small lemons or 1 large lemon
1 tblsp of butter
Once your cornstarch and sugar mixture thickens, remove from the heat
and stir in the egg yolks
Add the lemon juice, continuing to stir
then finally, add the butter
Stir until the butter is completely melted
Spoon this mixture into the already baked pie shell
Now for the meringue:
Use 3 egg whites, room temperature is best
add 1/4 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar
Have 6 Tablespoons of white sugar ready
Also have 1/2 Teaspoon of vanilla extract on hand
Mix those egg whites with the Cream of Tartar with a high speed electric mixer
Keep it on high speed as you gradually add the sugar
Keep beating, adding sugar...then, when almost all your sugar is added,
pour in the vanilla extract
Keep beating until the mixture is shiny and white and thick.
Mine ended up looking like melted marshmallows...sort of.
Anyway, then I spooned the meringue onto the lemon filling without
letting the two get mixed together. I didn't spread the meringue until
it covered the whole top of the pie, and then it was more like just
giving it a bit of shape with a non-serrated knife.
Pop this in a 350 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes until the peaks are
lightly browned.

Antique Tins

While going through Rich's Mom's old sewing basket, I came across these wonderful little tins! They had pins and snaps stored in them, but I moved their contents somewhere else. I felt these tins were too great a treasure to have things like that stored in them!
The first tin says "NIGROIDS" and that they were manufactured by the Ferris & Co. Ld.(Ltd) in Bristol England. I did a bit of research and found out they were liquorice throat pastilles. The second tin isn't as interesting at first, and just says ATLAS PASTILLES....embossed into the lid.
But upon opening the tin, you see that the bottom is made from what appears to be Wartime Recycling. A printed tin for a different product, possibly cocoa because Droste is a chocolate manufacturer, has been used for the bottom of the tin. I find this very interesting!

The next tin is a very flat cigar tin. There were actually a few of these in the sewing basket, but this one was in the best shape. A lot of people smoked in the days of Rich's parents' lifetime....and it seemed very popular in Holland where his Mom came from. I'm guessing these cigars were probably smoked by her father, Rich's Opa ...or Grandfather.

Speaking of cigar tins, these were everywhere in Rich's parents' house! They were used to store pencils, pencil crayons, drill bits etc. This is one that's in really good shape. Most of them are quite scratched.
Here's a shot of the interior. I was told Gouden Oogst (pronounced KHOWduh ohKHst) means Golden Harvest.
This last one is not a tin but a wooden cigar box. The exterior is pretty beat up, but inside the lid is this very high quality label, embossed and printed full 4 colour process with metallic gold!
Rich says he really likes the design of it!
(I personally think the Jester looks creepy, but it is a cool design.)