Black Magic Dessert

I don't remember eating this but it sounds pretty good if you like rich desserts!

Black Magic Dessert
Makes 8 servings

Melt in double boiler:
1 6 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate pieces

Add – 2 teaspoons water, 1 teaspoon sugar

Stir in gradually – 4 egg yolks, well beaten.

Beat well; let cool to room temperature.

Beat – 4 egg whites
Add 1/4 of the beaten egg whites to the chocolate mixture; blend.
Fold in remaining beaten egg whites.

Whip -- 1 cup heavy cream. Fold into chocolate mixture.

Tear into bite size pieces: 1 – 10 inch angel food loaf cake.

Grease 9 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 2 3/4 inch loaf pan.
Fill loaf pan by alternating layers of cake pieces with chocolate.
Top with layer of chocolate; chill 24 hours.

(Handwritten by grandma in pen on 3 x 5 index card)

Chocolate Dainties

My grandmother enjoyed desserts and cookies and she tried any new recipe that she found. I don't remember these.

Chocolate Dainties

Cream together 1 cup butter or margarine and 1 cup C and H Powdered Sugar*; add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon water. Sift, then measure 2 1/4 cups enriched flour and sift again with 4 tablespoons cocoa; stir into butter-sugar mixture. Add 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts; mix well. Form into small rolls about 2” long. Bake on un-greased cooky sheet in slow oven (300°) about 20 minutes. While hot, roll in powdered sugar; cool and roll in powdered sugar again. Makes about 3 dozen small cookies.

*…pure CANE, of course!

(Recipes obviously cut from a powdered sugar box)

Waffles

I'm going to start with basic recipes of my grandmother. She made these often and I loved them. I remember that any extra waffles were refrigerated and then warmed in the toaster.

Waffles

3 egg yolks beaten
2 teaspoons sugar (correction added: 3 teaspoons)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour (correction added: 1 cup regular 1/2 cup cake)
3 egg whites – beaten stiffly

(Typed on 3 x 5 index card)

Hippie Coffee Can Bread

This entry really dates me. I haven't made it for a long while but I remember it is pretty good. If I made it today I'd probably use loaf pans mainly because it is so hard to find a suitable coffee can. The recipe card mentions that it is from the New Mexico Commune.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 37 minutes (the time might need to be adjusted using loaf pans).

1/2 cup warm water (warmer than luke)
1 large can condensed milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ginger
2 Tblsp. oil
2 Tblsp. sugar
4 c flour (2 white - 2 whole wheat)
1 pkg dry yeast

In bowl mix water, yeast, sugar, & ginger - add oil & milk. Gradually add flour & stir & stir & stir - (Bob will have to help). Fill can 1/2 full cover with towel in warm place & let rise for 1 hr. (Should be above can about 1 in.) Grease cans well - very important - take out of can immediately & cool.

Old recipes

This coming year I am going to post old recipes. Some of these recipes are from my grandfather's bakery, some are recipes that my grandmother, grandfather and aunt regularly used. Also I have a few old recipe pamphlets that I will include. Hopefully I can do some everyday, we'll just have to see. Check back.

Hebgen Lake earthquake

My father worked for Mountain Bell and was sent to Hebgen Lake after the earthquake to assess damage done to Mountain Bell equipment and transmission lines. I found some of the pictures that he took. I'm sure there are more but I still haven't found them.

The 1959 Yellowstone earthquake also known as the Hebgen Lake earthquake was a powerful earthquake that occurred on August 17, 1959 at 11:37 pm (MST) in southwestern Montana. The earthquake was registered at magnitude 7.3 – 7.5 on the Richter scale. The U.S. Weather Bureau reported that the quake lasted 30-40 seconds. During the earthquake the surrounding landscape dropped as much as 20 feet (6 m) and shockwaves caused numerous seiches to surge across Hebgen Lake for 12 hours. Water pushed by the seiches poured over the dam which did not collapse. Several aftershocks ranging from 5.8 to 6.3 were reported after the quake.

Scanned pictures can be seen here: Hebgen Lake Earthquake

Mammograms

I can not emphasize enough the importance of getting an annual mammogram. I just had mine and went through my annual scare, anxiety routine because I generally have to go back for diagnostic mammograms and ultrasounds, which I had to do this year. Everything is fine and I thank all the gods for this good health news. But please remember to schedule your mammograms!

Slightly other news my cousin will be visiting and that is a huge drag. He is extremely parsimonious and just finds ways to irk me but then I only see him once a year and for only a few days. I suppose I will survive this visit.

Modeling

I keep finding pictures of me as a model. Most are from 1953 to 1956. I like this one, it is unfortunate that they are all newspaper clippings.

Slovenia

My grandmother was from Slovenia and she had great respect for her heritage. I think she was from a town near Nova Gorcia. Since I've moved back to Helena I think fondly about the Linden tree in the backyard and it may be because of this article that my grandmother gave me many years ago.

Mt. Saint Helens

My father was so excited about the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens, a geologist's dream come true. Well I have jars of the ash and I'm trying to decide what to do with it all. But I really love the note he wrote and put with the jars.

One of my best vacations

Venice, Italy -- I love it!

Venice 2002

The things I've found!

It is so amazing to me the things I have kept!

I've been cleaning up and cleaning out and I came across this business card and a related article. I met Richard Nixon in 1969 and got this autograph and I guess I just kept it.

Watching

Always watching!

Carpe diem

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see. -- John Burroughs

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

In theory one is aware that the earth revolves, but in practice one does not perceive it, the ground upon which one treads seems not to move, and one can live undisturbed. So it is with Time in one's life. -- Marcel Proust, The Past Recaptured (1927)

What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well a half an hour. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

And yes I do think it is important to seize the day, everyday -- I just think I need more practice!

Raison d'être

This is my daily question and I'm still striving to find just what is my reason or justification for being.

This guy is a creep!

My only complaint about the inauguration was Rick Warren -- this man is an asshole! He has no soul and certainly no compassion. There are so many people who have written so much more eloquently that me so I will only say that Rick Warren was an extremely poor choice for the Inaugural Invocation.

Inauguration Day

The day has finally arrived, I am so excited. The 44th President of the United States and hopefully some new thoughts, new ideas, and changing and mending the problems and mistakes of the last eight years.

"Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today." - President Barack Obama

"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short–cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk–takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom." - President Barack Obama

Obama's Inaugural Address: Full Text

Sincere admiration

For the captain and crew of US Airways Flight 1549 that is really an amazing story with a very happy ending. Congratulations on your landing the plane and getting all the passengers to safety.