Sewing On This Sad Sunday Evening

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

I’ve been at my sewing machine this Sunday evening. An inexpensive set of plain white sheets needed a little dressing up. A couple of $3.00 spools of thread did the trick.

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I learned to sew in jr. high and still enjoy it. Sewing is therapy and I end up with something pretty or useful. With the sheet set, I had first thought I would add a span of lace, but I couldn’t find any in my price range that was pretty enough. So, I decided to buy a couple spools of light blue thread and sew a decorative trim on the pillow cases and flat sheet. A couple of hours later, because of a contrary bobbin case, and I had homemade designer sheets.

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It’s been a sad Sunday evening. At lunch I learned that one of my cousins had passed away from cancer. Sweet memories, fun recollections filled my mind as I worked at my sewing machine.

Homer Cooper was a big man, but gentle and loving. Funny, smart. There’s a picture around here somewhere of me up high on his shoulders. I was no more than 3 and he a young teenager. My family had been visiting my Dad’s family in Shreveport and it was time to say good-bye. A camera was brought out to snap a few family photos. Homer scooped me up for a picture. He’s smiling in the photo, I look a little scared. I thought he was surely a giant!

That is only one memory. So many more.

I send prayers and love to those Homer leaves behind. We grieve. But I am certain, that given the choice between being in Heaven or being back on this fallen earth, Homer would choose Heaven.

I Don’t Know Their Names

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

The countryside  of my future home is filled with gentle hills. Winter has stripped the hardwoods of their leaves and swathed grey brown is juxtaposed against tall, green, plantation pine. The horizon seems stacked on top of each other, as if waiting for something to arrive or simply resting.

At my house yesterday I had planned on painting the back porch, but the storms earlier in the week had knocked out the power. Not knowing when it would be restored, I opted to do what I love more than anything: planting flowers. As soon as Christmas is over I start dreaming of warm, sunny days and bouquets of flowers.

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This arrived in my p.o. box last week. Johnny’s Selected Seeds is my favorite catalog for flower seeds. I have bought from this company for years and have always been very pleased with the results. I’ve started planning the cutting garden and promise to share pictures later in the year.

Earlier in the month, online,  I found American Meadows and ordered daffodils and day lilies. The day lilies will come later. The daffodils shipped a few weeks ago. The rain we had last week made the ground perfect for planting bulbs. And I was tickled to see that the dirt under the trees was the color of devils food cake. Traditional yellow, but also some with white petals and pink faces, I naturalized the daffodils in a patch of ground between a double trunked magnolia down nearly  to the base of a huge water oak. Deer don’t like daffodils, so I’m confident the trumpet like flowers will grow and multiply.

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50 all yellow and 25 pink faced daffodils were planted near the road

Before I left for the day, I walked through the jungle of camellias. The bees took advantage of the mild temps yesterday and were having a garden party in the rain soaked flowers.

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I do not know the names of the different camellias, but that does not take away from my enjoying them.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

Mixing It Up

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

I have a confession to make: I am a freak for mixing bowls. To say I have a collection is an understatement. The pic below is not all the bowls that I own. Many are still in storage. And even though I knew that I have many more bowls in storage, I came home with two more for mixing and the little set of custard cups last Tuesday.20170115_112953

I already had the large, white, swirl Fire King bowl. So, when I saw the little one I snatched it up. These are pretty enough to serve in, as well as mix up something delicious. The other white bowl has a snowflake garland around the top, made by Pyrex. Can’t you just see some red Jello salad in it, all giggly and happy?

The two sets of classic, graduated Pyrex bowls were kitchen staples in homes in my mother’s generation and her’s before her. The set on the right, I pieced together on many junking trips. The set on the right- three were my Aunt Lina’s and the pink was my Grandmother’s. I really just use the set that I put together and keep the others safe on a self.

Whenever I see old custard cups I buy them. Multipurpose, they are great for a quick half cup measure, to serve pudding or ice cream or bake custard in- duh!

Today I mixed up some old fashioned gingerbread, in my big go-to bowl: the big tan, red striped, stoneware bowl. A Christmas gift form my mother bought at William Sonoma, there use to 3 of them,  but the smallest got broken. (Sad face.)

Here is the recipe for Old Fashioned Gingerbread

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup molasses

1 egg

1/2 butter milk

1/4 cup boiling water

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350° and spray an 8″ by 8″ pan with vegetable spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together all dry ingredients.

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Stir in melted butter, molasses, egg and butter milk. Then beat in the boiling water. Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

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While it’s baking, in a small bowl mix 1 cup confectioners sugar, 2 teaspoons yellow mustard, a splash of milk and a sprinkling of ground ginger. Why a mustard glaze, you are probably asking. My father loved gingerbread and would smear yellow mustard on  his square of spiced goodness. Don’t turn up your nose. Try it. Let me know what you think.

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Last step: let it cool and then spread on the glaze. Cut like a snack cake and enjoy.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

 

Forgiveness

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

Last day of 2016; it finally got here.

I can hear Ella Fitzgerald singing What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?  Well, to answer that, not a whole lot!

A morning of pampering myself, going to the hardware store, and then out to my house to discuss options with the gentleman refinishing 115 year old pine floors.

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Jimmy is on top of things out at my old farmhouse.

Took an informal poll on Facebook to see what others were having tomorrow for their New Year’s day dinner. Black eyed peas and cornbread was on everyone’s menu. The meat portion varied a bit, common theme being some dish of pork. Two Boston butts showed up in the running, however. Potato salad also appeared to make the list. I don’t think of potato salad during the cooler months – always think of it for the 4th of July. To round out everyone’s menu tomorrow,  the choice green is cabbage. 

My pampering started with making up a batch of my head to toe body scrub. Equal parts coconut oil and baking soda, a little sugar and lemon zest.

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I am also putting a rinse on my hair. My prerogative.  Am I vain? Maybe a little. But aren’t we all about something? Perfectly clean house, in the perfect neighborhood.  The perfect SUV, parked in the garage of that perfect house, in the perfect neighborhood. Ooh, I guess I’m judging now, but let’s face it,  some of you judged me because I color my hair. I forgive you.

Which is something I have learned to do this last year. Forgiving the one or ones who hurt you and do you dirt, is for your benefit more than it is theirs.   It is my duty as a Christian to forgive, but here’s something to chew on along with your New Year’s dinner: it’s not my ‘right’ to be forgiven.   Think about it for a while. I know people who throw out scripture about forgiveness and judging others,  but they never change, making it really hard to forgive. Forgiveness isn’t a one-and-done. We’re all human and ain’t nobody perfect, so we must  go back to the well of human kindness and pull up another bucket of forgiveness. Even if they have never asked, do forgive them anyway and then give them to God.

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Skillet corbread

What’s on our menu tomorrow? Pork chops (Mama’s request), cabbage,  black eyed peas, skillet cornbread, and stewed down apples.

Happy New Year!

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

Peppermint Fudge

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

It’s a new recipe for me; quick and easy  Peppermint Fudge. I usually make cooked fudge from scratch, like my mother and her mother before her. But my time this year is limited and I’m all about making life as easy as possible. So, I found this recipe and tweaked it a bit.

Ingredients:

2- 10 ounce packages of white Ghirardelli melting chocolate

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

30- crushed Bob’s Sweet Stripes mints

What to do:

Line an 8×8 pan with tin foil.

In a 3 quart pot melt white chocolate over low heat and stir in sweetened condensed milk. When the chocolate is fully melted and combined with the milk, add peppermint extract and fold in crushed mints.

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Pour into foil lined pan. Chill in refrigerator till firm. Turn out onto cutting board and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces.

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I made this for gifts, so I wrapped it up in doily lined pastry boxes, adorned with seasonal stickers.

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Enjoy!

Christmas Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

Keep Kicking the Penny: Word Of Encouragement

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

It’s cold and I do not function well in cold weather. I know what you’re thinking: How cold could it possibly get in SW MS? This morning it’s a balmy 31° with a windchill of 25°. Thankfully it’s sunny today, but the winds are racing straight out of the North.

Enough of the weather report.

When I added my time card today it added up to 6.66. !  -6.98 + 13.64= 6.66. !

I had to distribute the Community Coffee order around campus. The small yellow hand truck wasn’t up to the task. And as I have said,  ‘Baby its cold outside!’ Thinking I would save a few steps getting into another building, I went in the closest door. Heavy door, small-overloaded hand truck, key pad for alarm at opposite end of the building… Please, Mr. Officer. I really do work here. Just trying to do it and I need an extra set of hands.

I put away that buildings coffee and went to another. On my way to the next building, I spied a penny on the sidewalk. Tails.  Wudint picking it up. Did what I needed to do, reached in my pocket for my $1 for the Coke machine and there was no $1. Grrrrrr.

I grumbled all the way outside, across the parking lot, wind whipping my hair around, my eyeballs frozen open. But lying near the sidewalk was my dollar. I picked it up and walked over to the penny. It was still tails. So, I kicked it! It came up heads.

Moral? Is there a point?

Here ’tis: Big or small life is going to be filled with aggravation and troubles. My troubles were small today. In my recent past my troubles were huge. I know many going through things I cannot imagine dealing with.

We all know Phillipians 4:13. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.  Hebrews 13:5 is another that keeps me going. He will never leave me nor forsake me.

This life is tough and cold. Keep kicking the penny. It will eventually come up heads.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

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Rainy Weekend; Not Complaining

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

One chimney is out of the farm house. Friday sand mortar was shoveled into buckets and dumped into the driveway. The old bricks were thrown out a bedroom window: I’ll deal with them later- September, maybe. I kinda felt like Cinderella, cleaning out the old fireplace, until I saw the nest complete with mummified mouse! I screamed like a girly-girl!

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Saturday the rain drizzled off and on all day. Not complaining. We’ve had a two month drought and the rain was most welcomed. That morning also brought able hands to hang sheet rock in two bedrooms. I am so thankful they work cheap.  A slow cooker of chili, homemade cornbread and honey pralines were their payment.

The rain has continued. What to do on a rainy Sunday evening? With work, church activities and farm house renovations, I am up against the clock. But my family will be expecting Christmas cookies. The Hallmark Channel playing in the background, I busied myself in the kitchen.

I made two batches of cookie dough. Recipes on the back of toffee and chocolate chip bags are excellent and easy. Here’s a time saving tip: lightly coat big squares of parchment paper with vegetable spray, divide the batches of cookie dough onto the paper and press and roll the dough into logs. The vegetable spray keeps the cookie dough from sticking, of course. It’ll  be a sinch to remove the dough from the parchment, when it’s cookie baking time.

Mark the outside of the cookie dough rolls with precise descriptions of what is in the cookie dough. (I have a nephew with food allergies and I try to be very careful in what I make, when I know he will be coming to visit.)

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Five rolls of cookie dough went in the freezer for baking later in the month: Two Peanut Butter Heath Toffee and three Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip-sans nuts.

Christmas blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

Thanksgiving 2016 In Pictures

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin
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Donned my mother’s apron early this morning. My Aunt Rose Marie Ellison Cooper made the brown background with teal, stylized flowered apron decades ago. I love aprons- I feel so domestic diva-ish.
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A big bone in ham. I mixed up an easy orange juice and honey glaze. Yum!
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A smoked turkey, with a little extra help: one melted stick of butter, lemon juice and a dash of Cajun seasoning. So juicy! Of course there were the traditional sides of green bean casserole, cornbread dressing, candied sweet potatoes, corn casserole, cranberry sauce too.
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The sasanqua were late this year (probably the two month drought), but I’m kinda glad, because they are plentiful now. Paired with Nandina fronds for a simple table arrangement.
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After dinner there was kick ball in the front yard, dominoes at the cleared dining room table and a few naps blissfully taken wherever a quiet corner could be found.

It was a good holiday. I am thankful for so much this year. A new beginning has been given to me, and with God’s help, I don’t plan on wasting it.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.