For Pat, on Merritt Island : I really am an Ohioan, but I spent a long time as a Floridian, and I had a really good time reading your "How to,". Every one was another chuckle or memory.
It's a beautiful Day here and I pray all of you A2z'ers are well and in good sspirits. My "puter says it's 90 in Deltona, "Got shorts on, Lou ? "

Pat, Merritt Island, FL. This sure fits me!

You know you're a Floridian if....
 
 
 Socks are only for bowling.

 
  You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in five minutes.
  
  A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store, but everything to do with shade.
  
  Your winter coat is made of denim.
  
  You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites.
  
  You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 65.
 
  Anything under 70 degrees is chilly.

 
  You've driven through Yeehaw Junction.
 
  You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix.

 
  Every other house in your neighborhood had blue roofs in 2004-2005.
  
  You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for.
 
   You dread love bug season.
 
  You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley or Hurricane Frances. You know them as Andrew, Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.
 
  You know what a snowbird is and when they'll leave.
 
  You think a six-foot alligator is actually pretty average.
  
  'Down South' means Key West.
  
  Flip-flops are everyday wear. Shoes are for business meetings and church, but you HAVE worn flip flops to church before.
  
  You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.
  
  You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.
 
  A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level.
  
  You know the four seasons really are: hurricane season, love bug season, tourist season and summer.

 

  You've hosted a hurricane party.
 
  You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee, Withlacoochee and Micanopy.
 
  You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat, than have a boat yourself.
 
  You were 5 before you realized they made houses without pools.
 
  You were 25 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.
 
  You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas and New Years.
  
  You recognize Miami-Dade as ' Northern Cuba. '
 
  You not only forward this but you understand it!

Well, another weekend about over! Just made 6 lbs of hamburger into taco meat to take to work tomorrow for our Cinco DeMayo lunch. Since noone in the business dept. cooks but me I always try to find something we can all contribute to - so Tacos it is! I am sure we will also have Terry's infamous crockpot burrito too. Everyone loves that!

Not much going on here this weekend. We got out of church late and Nancy and Stan went to lunch with us so that was nice. Gave Nancy and me a chance to visit!

Beautiful spring weather here - cool nights and warm days! Enjoying it before the heat and humidity hit!

Patty Cake - I must have missed your earlier posting, or it crossed mine in cyberspace. Yes, the only place I could find it, on-line, was Borders. I was all set to order it and then pick it up, in Albany, until I discovered it might take up to 6 weeks to arrive. Soooo....I decided against that, but I can order it from Plattsburg and will have another excuse to drive over there!! I am so glad you enjoyed your vaction.

Shirley - You are absolutly correct - There is good scrapple and lousy scrapple. I have only had scrapple one other time, besides what was made for me by my friend's husband. I like my friend's scrapple best! And, I know what was in it, too!
Leasa - Yes, Finn is crate trained. I started him in a crate with open mesh...like you find at Petsmart or Petco...then, I graduated him to a Pet Carrier, like you take the cat the to vet in. I did that as we were traveling so much, it became a pain to take down and put up the wire crate.
Of course, that was after he was able to make it for the required time in the crate without having to pee or poop. He goes readily into his crate, when he knows I am going to work, or when I am going to church (Oh, Mom's in a dress...means I can't go!), with a couple of treats. The treats are ESSENTIAL!!! If you don't start with the treats, eventually, they will go in the crate, on command, but probably never as willingly as they would have! All Finn has to do is see me go to the treats, even when he is expecting me to take him, and he is in his crate, waiting!
Bama/Brendie - Mush is simply grits, only made with yellow corn!! I like both grits and mush...have you tried your mush with salt and pepper and butter?? I can't imagine eating grits with maple syrup, but I understand there are people who do!!
Jean - Sorry...I don't think I am ready to eat Pigs Feet! Of course, if I knew they were clean, before they were cooked, I might could try them. And, there will be no Chitlins eaten or cooked in this house!!!
Maggie - I enjoyed the issue today. I have to go to bed, for a while, myself. I shorted myself, yesterday.
Miss Shirley - Don't complain to me about allergies! The trees are just beginning to leaf out, here....never mind plums and apples in blossom...it feels like that may never happen!! I know it will happen someday...
Hope everyone else is well or as close to it as you can get.

Hello Dear A to Z Family,

I am still alive and kicking...boy am I kicking!!!

I have been out of town for six days really having a nice vacation...returned late Friday night only to find out my computer had crashed and died...$500.00 dollars later here I am...boy did that make my return home a great pleasure. There goes my tax rebate. For what it cost me, I probably should have bought a new computer but the new ones have Vista on it rather then Windows XP and who the heck wants to start all over again with that stuff...not me!!! The way I look at it, now this computer should last at least another three years and that will be just fine (it is only three years old now). I also had over two hundred e-mails to go through and that takes forever.

Carol...I had to order the "Best Damn
Desserts From Bear Wallow to Goosebaum" cookbook from Borders Bookstore...if you have one near you or any bookstore just ask them to order it for you...you will NOT be sorry, it really is worth the price...it has tons of great recipes in it. I am in the middle of sending Mags many of the recipes for the newsletter.

I hope all is great with all of you and that you are all well and happy.

Hugs to all

Patty Cake

* * *

Good morning friends. The issue has finally been posted.
http://www.a2zrecipes.net/05042008.html

I hope your day is good. It is so beautiful outside. I wish I didn't have to sleep between my shifts last night and tonight!!! That's where I'm headed right now.

Hugs,
Maggie

* * *

Hello again, Scrapple is good but there is 1000 recipes for it and they all taste a little different. Maybe the one you tried wasn't good but that don't make them all bad. I never even tried it till I was past 30 but the one we got made for us was delicious. It was load with crisp bacon and when you fried it crisp it was good eating. My mom made corn chips before Frito Lay did. She shook the crisp corn meal crackers in a bag with mexican seasonings. We got to have them for lunches and they were wonderful and still are. Give it a try. I bet you eat Doritos or
Fritos. Well what do you think those are??? Fried corn meal mush with some seasoning in them. Just throw out the recipe you tried and try a different approach. Hugs.

On the subject of Mush....I made it once and that was enough for me...UCH!! Didn't like it at all and my family didn't either!!

I just made an olive spread and made the tortilla chips Maggie sent that was Bev's....yum are they good together!!! This is also good as a sandwich... Will put the recipe at the end in case someone wants it...got it from the paper in Heloise but tweaked it a little...

My Step-dad may get to come home today or tomorrow he is doing good!! Thanks for the prayers...

OK..here is the recipe:

Olive Spread

8 oz soft cream cheese
1/4-1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup sliced olives(used the salad olives and put the pimentos in too!!
2 Tablespoons olive juice
I added 1-2 Tablespoons jalapenos
I added 2-3 Tablespoons mayo

I chopped my olives in food processor then put in the pacans then put it all in and blended until smooth..

For Rita : When I was young and lived on a farm, we butchered our own pigs, and after the pigfeet were well cleaned, Mom would cook them with onion and her seasonings, til falling off the bone done, transferred to a pan to keep warm til she cooked potatoes in the broth. We got our pigfoot in a soup dish with some potato and had to eat with our fingers to break the feet apart and bite or suck the meat off the bones. No-one could touch anything to pass it, as the gelatin on our fingers was too sticky so we reached for what we needed. This was the only meal where this was allowed !! It was the best food, and I can still savor the taste.
Mom also pickled pigs feet and I still like them but store-bought just don't taste the same !!
Sorry, I just had to tell this to all of you. An old memory !!!!!!

Okay, Shirley, that's what I wanted to know !! Why didn't I ask you and Treva? Shoulda known!
I can't believe,Treva, that you never made mush! Sliced and fried crisp in Bacon fat, it is deeelicious !!And scrapple, which is mush with pork rinds, in essence, is also a goodie.Shirley, I will sutely try that syrup recipe. I have no diet restrictions but it just sounds tasty !!
Love and blessings to all

Never had mush when I was growing up and gave scrapple a try after a guy I worked with raved about it. YUK!! I think that is something too that you have to be raised with to like! One try was more than enough for me! Something my dad always brought home that I learned to like when growing up was pigs feet. I know - not many like them either! Isn't it funny everyone's likes and dislikes?

Pat, Merritt Island, FL. I've several recipes for cornmeal mush (now polenta) which I have eaten all of my life and never thought I'd see the day it was commercially packaged and sold in the grocery store. Good old soul, southern and country cooking keeps coming into it's own. YaHoo! YaHoo! My honey is home and can get into Bart with the two step stool. We hittin' the road tomorrow morning -look out Walmart! Pat

Hi all, This Shirley Girl has had allergies so bad and her asthma is giving her a devil of a time. Puffers, spray and allergy pills is what keeping me going. I am tired of coughing and choking. Poor Buck is ready to not go on his trip with our son to Ontario and they got their tickets and everything so I am making an attempt to act as close to normal as I can get so he will go and quit worring about me. I am usually over this by now but with the late, late, spring our pollen count is astranomical.
I see so many walking around with filtered face masks and the doctor suggested one for me but I can handle anything touching my face. Its stay home, inside and don't open the door if Buck is mowing the lawn. Our apple trees are just breaking bloom now and all the grasses are blooming. There plum in bloom and berries are showing signs of spring too. Darn. My eye are like glue. Well you get the idea why I have been absent from the roster. Take care, Shirley

Doe - I own a Kirby, which I wasn't sure I really wanted, but I needed a rug shampooer....everything in this house is carpeted! I love my Kirby, both the vacuum and the shampooer. It is really easy to operate. Has a "drive" gear, that makes it a cinch to push around!! I like the attachment for the furniture, as well.
Treva - I am sending up prayers for you...I can't say much more than that, except that God never gives us more burdens than we can carry!
La-La - Where are you??? Camping???
Shirley - I am going to have to try that recipe for the syrup! I still use real maple syrup, when I have pancakes or waffles.
Jean - with all the talk about fried mush, I am craving some good scrapple! I used to have a friend, down where I lived before, who made his own scrapple....Now there is something tasty! Fried scrapple!!
I need to fix myself a little dinner and get in a nap, before I go to work...Tomorrow I won't get any rest until after dinner!

The fried mush sounds so good, we ate alot of it growing up. My mother sliced it paper thin and fried it real crisp, so good. Stan's mother sliced hers alot thicker and they ate syrup on theirs.
We are going to the camp this evening and come back tomorrow nite late.I am so anxious to go, so is Stan.
Have talked to Rita, three times this afternoon. We both need a nap, we decided
Great to hear from everyone.Shirley, Rita and I were wondering where you were. Hope everyone is okay.
Prayers for every body. Nancy