Sunday, October 11, 2015

Cool Weather Comforts/Potato Soup

Fall is here and I have been doing some Spring Fall cleaning.  I recently parted with a bunch of items I had around the house, including a bookshelf, games, and this pillow I embroidered when Glenn and I were first married:


The little town of Westville, held there annual Pumpkin Festival recently.  The kiddos like the parade the best.


They get a bunch of candy tossed to em.


The weather has turned cooler and I thought the bluegills would be biting well; not so much.  At least not at Willow Slough.  Terry and I fished it this past Tuesday.  Terry caught one gill and some bass.  All I could catch were bass. 


Terry got his bass all on a rubber lizard.   I used my fly rod exclusively on this trip.  I lost a real nice bass on the 3wt right as I reached for the fish! 

I did manage to get a couple in the boat, as did Terry.  This little one sure was cute:


The scenery was awesome as usual.


Do Ya'all go through spells?  I mean, I find that I do when it comes to cooking. 


Sometimes, I cook often, and sometimes I don't.


For the past several months, I've just been feeding the family catfood as usual.


JK-- I cook, but often it's not anything special.  Potato Soup is rather ordinary if ya ask me, but it is really good.  And I spruce it up with some delicious toppings.  I fix it in the same pan I use to cook the bacon.  Yes, I drain the grease first!  Then I saute minced onions in the remaining bacon residue.



 Mmmm, bacon! :-)


I whisk in flour into a chicken broth base, then add in milk, sour cream, and cooked potatoes.


Here's the finished, delicious, potato soup:


Potato Soup


Ingredients

  • 4 medium-sized russet potatoes, peeled then chopped
  • 1lb bacon, chopped
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • salt and pepper
  • 6 Tablespoons flour
  • 4 cups milk
  • 16oz freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • chopped chives or green onions for topping

Directions

  1. Add potatoes to a large pot of cold water then season with 1 Tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil then cook until potatoes are very tender. Drain well then add to a large bowl and mash to your desired consistency (more chunky will mean a chunkier soup.) Can be done ahead of time. Alternatively you could use 5 cups leftover mashed potatoes.
  2. Add bacon to a soup pot over medium heat, cook until crisp, then remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Add onions, season with salt and pepper, and then saute until very tender, 7minutes. Sprinkle in flour then whisk until smooth and cook for 1-2 minutes to remove the raw flour taste. Slowly add milk a splash at a time while whisking constantly to avoid lumps until a smooth sauce has formed, then add the rest of the milk.
  3. Season generously with salt and pepper then turn heat up to medium-high and bring soup to a simmer while stirring constantly. Turn heat back down to medium then cook while stirring constantly until soup has slightly thickened, 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add half the mashed potatoes then whisk until smooth, and then whisk in remaining mashed potatoes. Add 3/4 of the cheese then whisk until smooth, and then add sour cream and whisk until smooth.
  5. Taste then add salt and pepper, and then remove soup from heat to sit and thicken for 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls then serve with the reserved cheese, chives or green onions, and bacon.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Popcorn & Scarecrow Festivals

Howdy!  Here in northwest Indiana, it's festival time!


The first festival this season that I got to attend was the Valparaiso Popcorn Fest.


Not only did I get to attend, but I got to volunteer at the Friends of Fishing booth.  FOF had a game set up for folk's to play and win.  It was a fun way to get the word out about our fishing club!


In other news, I'm teaching Jean how to drive a motorcycle.  She is doing great, and the Rebel is a good size to learn on.  A clutch is something rather new for Jean. 


The Scarecrow Festival in Wanatah, Indiana, is another fest I got to attend.


I used to live in this adorable little town, so it's nice to visit familiar faces.


Jean visited the ponies that she used to ride every single year since she could remember! ;-)


I enjoyed being in tourist mode and browsing.


The hay wagon rides are also a hit at the Scarecrow Fest.


The tractor makes stops at the car show, the American Legion, and the town square.


The car show had a great turn out!


When I used to live in Wanatah, my family and I would donate tae kwon do lessons to the merchant giveaway.  It was really funny, because the people with the wining tickets for the lessons was either very elderly, or had a broken leg!  True story!


The kids wanted to check out the park.


I was happy to see the ole swinging gate was still there; that's so fun to play on!!!


Tall slides with a big ole mud puddle at the end, merry-go-rounds, golden gates, and swings that can take an under-dog maneuver-- ahhh, the good ole play ground!!!   :-)

Monday, September 28, 2015

Rebel Restoration

When my Dad was alive, back in 1985, he bought a brand new Honda Rebel.  The first year they made em.  I bought the bike from Dad several years ago, and I used to ride it as often as I could.  With a bunch of kids, that wasn't all that often.


When it came time to move down to Pendleton, I put the bike in the barn for safe keeping.  It's been in that barn for the past 4+ years and I decided it was time to go for a ride! 


My buddy Todd, helped me take the carburetor off.  My poor bike was rusting away and I knew it was going to need cleaned up.


I took the carb back to my house, to rebuild it.  The trouble was, the screws were so dang rusty, that I couldn't get it open.  I tried some WD Penetrate-- nope.  I tried the ole rubber band and hammer trick--- nope.  Finally, I took it over to Joe's, my mechanic, and he loosened them for me with that special gadget he has. ;-)


I polished up the chrome!


And went to work on the carb.


I could tell right away it needed a good cleaning.  It's not supposed to have built up residue and the gaskets are not supposed to be gunky.


It's a good idea to keep an eye on all the pieces.


The smaller piston is the good one from the rebuild kit.  The kit comes with one of these and a few new gaskets; that's all there is to it!



It's important to get all the holes, and all the gunk, clean.  Otherwise, it won't run right!


The old gasket was melted on.


After CAREFULLY removing what I could of the old gasket, it got a bath.


Special carb cleaners do exist. 


This is what I had on hand, so it's what I used:


Some old stubborn gasket gunk remained on the track, so I lit a match and melted it off.


I got that baby immaculately clean!

After, a new battery, a new air filter, new tires and fresh gas, the bike ran great!
 

Vvvvvrooooom!  VVVVrrrrrRRRRRRRoooooom!!!!  ;-)

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Grace Gets Hitched

The morning of Grace's wedding, I had mimosas and breakfast...


while watching Grace get all fixed up for her BIG day!


I got to paint kiddie fingernails!


 Three young ladies with pretty nails:



 I found the beauty preparations to be rather entertaining.
 

Grace had a great morning!


She was bubbling over with wedding day jitters.


And maybe a few Vodka soaked gummy bears:


I tried one of these soggy bears-- blah.


Gladys had that same reaction to hairspray.  She was like-- hairspray doesn't taste good!  Hehe



I'll tell ya what did taste good-- Sparkling Raspberry Champagne!


Actually, all the food I tried that morning was delicious, even the gummy bears had a good flavor, it was the soggy and mushy texture that I disliked.


 Y'all know that saying-- Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue?


 Grace had all her Somethings!  :-)


Can I still remember what mine were?  Umm, yeah, Grandmas old wedding band, a new wedding gown, borrowed hair flowers, and blue earrings.


 Is my little man handsome, or what?


 I got married in Arkansas.


 The weather that day was HOT. 


 Luckily, the weather for Graces wedding was perfect.


Looking back, I think it's funny how Arkansas was one of the few states I could get married in due to my young age.


The honeymoon was in Tennessee, where my new husband and I resided.


 We lived in Tennessee for 6 months before moving to Florida.


We had some great times!


  We were soooo poor when we married, that we would test drive cars in order to get around.


Lucky for us, there was a car dealership right across the street from our apartment.


Soo, whenever we needed to make a run into town (5 miles away), we would do a test drive.


Eventually, the sales folk at the dealership began to catch on to us. 


Again, lucky for us, as I was attending beauty school and had access to all sorts of disguising wigs and cosmetics.  ;-)


Sometimes a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do.  Anyways, it was fun.


Hey, speaking of fun-- check out Mom's glasses!


Hub and his girlfriend, Lisa, flew in from California.


Uncle Bobby and my sister, Roni:


Ohh, oooo, it's starting...


No one tripped.


The wedding went smoothly.


No AFV (America's Funniest Videos) footage here.


Troy was the ring bury-er.  Yes, he thought burying the ring might be his job.  It made as much sense to him as carrying a pillow with two fake rings sewn into it.?. 


The flower girls tossed petals.


Doesn't Jean look relaxed?  :-)  She may have been a tad nervous.


Dun, dun, dundun, Dunt dun dundun...



I'm not sure who actually walked who down the isle, as Glenn's hip was killing him.


Glenn is having his hips replaced soon, as the scope to fix the labral tear made it worse.


Have some flowers. ;-)


Freckles looks sooo happy!


If I wear sunglasses, maybe folks won't recognize me with this batch of hooligans!!!  ;-)


Lloyd and Mom-- don't they look good?


Grace got hitched!!!