Hail, Hail....

..the gang's all here.  Almost.  We're gearing up for a busy weekend - gotta make sure my camera battery is charged.

We're having an informal family reunion this weekend.  With me and Lloyd, our seven children, their spouses and children, there'll be 36 people involved as well as a couple of nieces and nephews and their spouses and kids who got wind of it and want to participate. 

It all started with Mary, who lives across the mountains in British Columbia, our only child not living in Alberta.  She and her husband are runners and were planning on running a half marathon here in Edmonton this weekend.  She decided that since they were coming all that distance (a 12 hour drive through the mountains) we should see if the other out-of-town siblings could come to Edmonton for a few days too.  She bullied (very nicely) her sisters and brothers and in-laws to sign up for the 5km and 10 km races, if not for the half marathon.  At last count we'll have one son, three daughters, one daughter-in-law, one son-in-law, and two nieces running.  Mary's 7-year old daughter, Layla, is registered to run one of the kids races too.

I'm hoping at some point all 36 of us will be together in one spot so I can get a group photo of our family. It'll be fun trying.

The last time we all got together was three years ago for my 60th birthday.  Here's what we looked like then.  Two people are missing from the picture and we've had four new additions since then.

MacKenzie Family Reunion 2008

So, today and tomorrow I'll be cooking and cleaning.  Amy is coordinating a pot luck lunch for Saturday, and those of us who live here in town will be hosting families for sleepovers.  And the weather seems to be cooperating so it should be a good time.

And you can bet I'll be posting pictures.

Boston What????

One of my bloggy friends was talking about retro recipes found in old community cookbooks and how gross some of them seem now,  but she makes them anyway.  That got me thinking of a family recipe that Lloyd's father used to make. 

SIL Cheryl, Me, FIL Ralph, SIL Joyce, MIL Thelma - 1970

They all enjoyed it and so did I once I joined the family and was served it and then learned to make it myself.  Dad always called it Boston Bitch! but when I started making it for our family we just called it Boston B.  It wasn't until they were adults that the kids finally learned what it's original name was.  Most of them didn't like it but I kept making it hoping they'd develop a taste for it.

Here's how it's made.  Try it - you'll like it...maybe.

1.  Brown a pound or so of ground beef, chopped onion, salt and pepper in a skillet until the meat is brown and crumbly.

2.  Put it in a large bowl and add leftover mashed potatoes (or 4-5 freshly cooked and mashed potatoes) and a can of condensed tomato soup.  Mix well.

3.  Put mixture in a casserole dish and heat in 350 oven until heated through.

4.  Serve with fresh vegetables.  I always put butter on the top of my serving.  It was especially good with home made onion/mustard pickles.

I haven't had it in years - must make some soon.

What retro recipes are hidden in your recipe collection?

A Very Social Bird

It's been fun having Eadie with me these past couple of days.  She's a very social bird and only goes in her cage to eat.  I've become used to her perching on my shoulder as I move about the house.  She even ate my pizza crust for me.

I have a radio beside her cage which I kept on low while scrapbooking.  I kept hearing the theme from Bridge On The River Kwai in the music.  Finally, remembering what Jenn told me, I turned the radio off and there it was - Eadie was whistling the tune, very sweet and clear, over and over, along with the occasional wolf whistle. I got a video of her doing it (I think) but can't get it off my camera.  If I ever figure it out, I'll post it.

I had Sara's kids over yesterday and they loved Eadie.  She went right to Max, I think she must be missing her own five boys.

Elly was timid but allowed Eadie to sit on her arm.

Charlie didn't want the bird on her at all but wanted to touch its back.  Didn't work too well.  Birds don't like being stroked like cats.  That's her blurry hand hovering over Eadie in the photo below.

That's as close as Charlie got to Eadie.

On a sad note, the kids' other grandmother passed away early yesterday morning - she was in her 80s and hospitalized for the past month or two.   Although not a shock, it is still upsetting for the family.  My son-in-law was the youngest of her 7 children.  Sara explained to the kids that Grandma is now with Grandpa and other friends and family so they shouldn't be too sad for her.  Charlie reminded me a couple of times that Papa and I are her only grandparents left.  I assured her that we'll be around for awhile and that Grandma was almost 25 years older than me.  Now I have to make sure that Lloyd and I stay healthy enough to continue to be part of the kids' lives for years to come.

Now That's Saucy....

When I went over to Amy's house today to feed and spend time with Bernie, I noticed that she had a large patch of rhubarb in the garden that looked like it hadn't been picked in awhile.  Probably not ever, since Amy doesn't like the stuff.  I, on the other hand, love rhubarb and haven't had any yet this summer, in spite of Amy telling me several times to come and help myself.  So today I picked a bunch of it and brought it home.

I remember when my sister and I were small and we'd visit our grandmother and cousins in Nova Scotia. Nanny always had rhubarb in her back yard and she'd send us out with a bowl of sugar and tell us to each pick one to eat.  We'd then sit on the back step, three little blonde girls, dipping our rhubarb stocks in sugar and biting the sweetened end off.  Makes my mouth pucker just thinking about it.

Anyway, fast forward about 40 years to a time Mum came to BC to visit my family when we lived there.  We had rhubarb in our yard at that time so she picked some and made the most delicious rhubarb syrup that, when mixed with Sprite or 7-Up, became the most delicious, refreshing drink of the summer - better than lemonade.  I haven't had it since, because I forgot how to make it.  Then, a month ago a bloggy friend from Nova Scotia,  Sandy at Aging Disgracefully, posted a recipe for it, and that's what I used.  It's very easy.  

I just made a small batch, using only 4 cups of chopped rhubarb.

Rhubarb Syrup

In a heavy saucepan place four cups of chopped rhubarb add 

two cups sugar and 

one cup water.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 - 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and strain through a fine strainer. 

(I used a cheesecloth inside a strainer).

Pour the juice (syrup) into a clean container and cool. (Keep in fridge)

Put the cooked rhubarb (mushy) into a refrigerator dish and cool.

It makes a delicious spread for toast or a topping for vanilla ice cream.

I found myself just eating it with a spoon.

To make a delicious, refreshing drink, mix one part syrup with 3 parts 7-Up, Sprite or club soda.

Yummy!

From this....

to this...

Quick, easy and delicious.  Remember, you mix it 3:1 so you get quite a few good-size glasses of the best tasting summer drink there is.

Bernie and Eadie

It's too hot to sleep tonight so here I am at 12:33 am.    Up here we only need AC for one or two weeks a year, but during those weeks, I sure wish we had it.  We're more furnace people than AC.

Anyway,  weather aside, I'm doing extended Grammie duty these days.  Two of my daughters and their families have gone out of town for a brief vacation and left me in charge of their pets.

Here's Amy's dog, Bernie.  A St. Bernard, obviously.  He's a lovely, gentle dog well suited to the family's four kids.  He's big, and likes to lean against adults, which makes me lose my balance.  I go over to his house twice  day to feed him and pet him and tell him what a good boy he is.  And come away covered in hair and smelling like a dog.  He appreciates the attention though. He's such a sweet thing.

Doesn't he look like he's missing his kids.  Poor boy.  They'll be home in a couple of days.

Jenn, her husband Anders, and their five boys drove into town to leave Eadie with me until next weekend.  We ended up having a pizza party.

And this is Eadie, a Lineolated Parakeet.  She's a beautiful little creature and is quite the spoiled girl in their family.  She only goes in her cage to eat and has a special towel on top of the cage at night that she crawls under to sleep.  She spends her days on top of the cage or hanging out with the boys, riding around on one of the many shoulders available to her.  The boys made sure I knew everything there was to know about her and warned me many times not to leave any doors or windows open.

I love birds and have had a number of budgies over the years, but never a lineolated parakeet.  To tell the truth, I don't see any difference between budgies and parakeets, but I'm sure there must be.

I'm looking forward to having Eadie hang out with me this week.  I might even take another picture or two of her.

They Disappeared

I opened my blog tonight to check the comments and immediately noticed that all of my followers - 29 of them/you - have disappeared.  Has that happened to anyone else?  Is there an easy way to restore them/you? Or are they/you lost forever?

I hope you'll sign up as followers again.  Please.  I'm going to bed now.  Maybe the follower fairy will put them/you back in while I sleep.

Pat

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Remember the Staples TV commercials showing a father gleefully dancing through the aisles of a store with a cart load of school supplies  with dour-faced children following him...and the background music proclaiming this to be 'the most wonderful time of the year'?  That's how I feel about back-to-school shopping time.  I love it!

And although I no longer have seven kids to buy school supplies for (thank goodness!) I can't stay away from the stores at this time of year.

I spent a good portion of this morning at WalMart mingling (and grinning) with mothers and kids, lists in hand, with shopping baskets piled high with all the new, fresh smelling, unblemished goodies needed for school, which starts in a couple of weeks.

I was shopping with my camera, mostly, and had to wait for people to clear out of the aisles so I could take pictures - very quickly and unobtrusively - of the fun stuff on display.

There were notebooks (we used to call them scribblers when we were kids) in all types and colors, 

...and binders...

...and crayons and markers - more colors than the standard 8 or 16 per box that we used to get.  I remember how exciting it was to get a box with 24 or the unimaginable 64 crayons in it.

...and more notebooks - fancy ones, colorful ones, in more different sizes - my personal favorite school supply.

...and of course pencils and pens, sharpeners and erasers, rulers and scissors - stuff dreams are made of!

...and backpacks to carry all the stuff in, causing permanent shoulder stoop.

...Ummmm - Post-it notes - don't get me started on Post-its.  I love them - all the different sizes and colors and shapes.  I use the narrow ones now to mark pages in my scrapbook magazines.

...and more pens.  Did I mention that I have hundreds of pens stashed in tin boxes around my house, and in decorative pails on my work table, and in pretty mugs, and holders.

...and markers - great for journaling on scrapbook layouts!

Kids these days are so lucky - they have such a wide variety of school supplies to choose from.  My favorite of all these supplies is notebooks.  I love notebooks.  I have a stash in my night table.  I buy them because they're pretty, or a convenient size, or just because.  I keep one in my purse, one on my scrapbook table, several by the phones, but they're mostly just kept in my drawer.  You never know when you'll need to write something down.

See that cute little one in the front.   Holly  gave it to me in June when I met her for the first time. It has a cute little owl on the front and a circle with the name of my blog on it.

And all that is why I think this is 'the most wonderful time of the year'.

Pat