Julie's Jabberwock

More Autumn Pasta To Enjoy

More Autumn Pasta To Enjoy

      UNDER CONSTRUCTION                  

Dirty DAWGS

Dirty DAWGS

        Bowl a Comfort Dirty Rice/Spanish Rice With Fried Kielbasa Sausage A Meal In Itself —————————————————————————- Dirty Dawgs I keep my Granddaughter anywhere between 2 and 5 days a week.  We tend to do a lot of coloring and drawing, and plenty 

All My Delicious Jezebels To Tempt You

All My Delicious Jezebels To Tempt You

 

 

 

Peacock Feathers For Luck

I was born in Georgia and lived throughout the south during my upbringing.  The South is also known as The Bible Belt.  The South has a very large religious community that comprises of many different Churches.  Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Church of God, Church of Christ, Pentecostal Holiness, and a few others….  We were Disciples of Christ, which is what Ronald Reagan was, btw.

Although my family and the people we knew were more liberal than the average Southerner.  We learned about other religions at church but in an educational way, and not in a ‘they will all burn in hell because they aren’t like us’ way.  I was certainly exposed to the Evangelical’s and their beliefs.  One thing that they would warn you about were the “Jezebels” of the world.  It was just in the culture. 

When I went off to college I was warned to ‘Stay away from the bitches and the whores.’  Although no one in my family ever said that to me… well, my Grandmother would always tell me to stay away from the Floozies and the Flossie Mae’s, it was just the culture of the South.  (I’m not excusing it, just explaining it.)  Although if anyone I knew was a Flossie Mae it was my Grandmother.  That woman could sashay!

But, when I did go off to college and I did interact with the other girls there, I found that the people that I liked the most were the bitches and the whore’s.  The bitches weren’t bitchy, they just stood up for themselves.  They were intelligent and spoke out when it was important to do so.  And the whores, well, they never judged you.  They would even look out for you when you would go out with them while the Evangelical girls would just as soon dump you on the side of the road than deal with you.  Also, the gay guys that I went to college with, it was a private fashion college in Charlotte, North Carolina, they were the best friends you could ever have.  You could go out with them at night and they would look out for you.  And the best giggles you will ever have in your life were with the gay guys!

The hypocrisy of the South is that they created a “Jezebel Sauce” that they serve at various religious functions.  Whether it is a Church Suppah, a Church Picnic, a Church Wedding….. Oh, and it is the number #1 condiment in the state of conservative Mississippi.

Which brings me to all of my Jezebel’s…..

I adore each and every one of you!

Which Is Why I Created You!

The Jezebel’s Of This World Have The Biggest Hearts…

Which Is Why I Love You All!

Julie

p.s.  Coming Christmas 2026,

A Naughty Christmas Jezebel For Underneath The Tree  🙂

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Click Here For:  Julie’s Jezebel Sauce

Our Jezebels On This Page:

The Forbidden Jezebel

With Apples

The Classic Jezebel (My Twist)

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The Latin Jezebel

(With Guava Shells and Jalapeno Peppers)

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And My:

Georgia Peach Jeze-Bells

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I Also Created An:

Aloha Wahine Jezebel Sauce

Based On Our Love Of Hawaii

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AND,

An Oriental Jezebel

Again, Based On Our Love Of Hawaii And The Asian Cultures

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AND,

An Old Florida Jezebel (Sauce)

Based On My Love Of Old Florida

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I ALSO CREATED,

One HOT Jezebel for Breakfast (Sauce, That is.)

AND,

Click Here For:  More of Julie’s Jezebel Recipes to Enjoy

I Needed An Additional Page To Place Some Extra Jezebel Recipes

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I Even Created A Halloween Jezebel:

A Haunted Jezebel, Together With A Haunted Mansion Halloween Repast

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AND,

A Valentine Jezebel Sauce

I LOVE Valentine’s Day!

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ALSO,

This Jezebel Is NUTS!

Based On My Home State Of Georgia

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AND,

A Nancy Drew Mystery ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. Sauce

(Because I love Nancy Drew and Morse Code)

Click Here For:  A Nancy Drew Mystery ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _..Sauce

I would like to add that Nancy Drew was no ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _..  .

I cannot even bring myself to say the word ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. beside her name, which is why I got the idea to put the name in Morse Code.

The reason I created a ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. sauce for Nancy Drew is because I wanted to create some sort of sauce in her honor.  She was very worldly.  She traveled the world with her father Caron Drew, and her friends Bess and George.  Nancy knew people from all over the world and also knew and respected their cultures.  She was mature beyond her young years.  She had encountered many a villain, been knocked unconscious, and had to use her wits about her to escape.

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I Love Every Single One Of You!

Julie Jezebel

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More Great Sandwiches To Enjoy

More Great Sandwiches To Enjoy

      Yet Another Sandwich Page! WELCOME We eat a lot of sandwiches.   Although we have sandwiches all over our website, whether they be interspersed with other recipe pages, or having their own website pages, here is yet another one I created. WE LOVE 

A Nancy Drew Mystery ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. Sauce

A Nancy Drew Mystery ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. Sauce

    A Nancy Drew Mystery ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. Sauce (Because I love Nancy Drew and Morse Code) UNDER CONSTRUCTION I would like to say that Nancy Drew was no ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _..  . I cannot even 

65 and Beyond, (Finger’s Crossed)

65 and Beyond, (Finger’s Crossed)

 

 

 

 

On February 13th., 2026 I Turned 65

Gordon and I ‘Out and About’ on My Birthday

65 Feels Pretty Good

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When I Turned 60 I Started this Website Page:

Sixty’s, (Sensational or Surviving?), We’ll See, Right?

(If you would like to read, just click on the link above.)

I didn’t know what 60 would be like?  Which is why I started the above website page.  

I assumed that I would be blogging about any changes in my body or lifestyle.  Perhaps the ‘ups and downs’ of ageing?  My intention was that we would explore it together.

I am a very open person.  Sometimes to my detriment.  But, that is who I am, and I am not going to fight against that.

Now that I am 65, I have been in my 60’s for 5 years now.  I have been getting to know the ageing me and I am fine with it.

Yes, I have put on some weight in the middle.  That is where my pounds accumulate anyway.  They always have.

However, there is just something empowering that comes with ageing that I didn’t know in my 50’s, or 40’s, or 30’s, etc.

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Turning 65

As I like to say, Uglier on the outside, Happier on the inside.

I would not go back if I were given the chance.  I feel as if I have reached milestones that are important.  As in evolving into the person I am destined to be.  I have earned the right to be 65!  Ageing is a privilege.

If I could give my younger self a heads up, I would not!

I needed to go through all that I did to get to here.  I would not have made it if I did warn my younger self.  I have learned that the damage that was done to me by certain people in my life never had anything to do with me.  It was their damage they were inflicting on me.  I used to regret being nice or kind to certain people.  I have however learned that I should never be upset about doing the right thing.  They are the ones that should be upset that they took advantage of my kindness, and loyalty.

I don’t know how much time I have left?  Oh, as far as I know I am fine where my health is concerned.  I am just referring to life in general.

None of us really know the answers to that?  I always figured that I would die young.  No idea why?  I just always thought so.  But, before I am gone, I still have many things left that I want to do.  I’ll go when I’m ready.  I’m stubborn that way.  🙂  But for now, my granddaughter needs me.  My daughter and son-in-law need me, my husband needs me, and I need me too!  🙂

So, Here Is 65 and Beyond, Finger’s Crossed!

Julie

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BLOG ENTRIES START HERE

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Shopping At The Asian Supermarket

Shopping And Creating Recipes Does Make Me Happy

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September 7, 2026

How Much Is Too Much?
And, The Death Of A Legend
Dolly Parton in Hawai’i
(I can remember that she had a home there when we lived there in the mid 80’s to late 90’s.  When we would drive around the island we would pass by her house.  Actually, the gate to her house.  Everyone knew it was hers.)
When I write, ‘How Much Is Too Much’ I am referring to plastic surgery.  I’ve been wanting to write about this for months now.  I’m finally getting around to it.
With Dolly’s death it does kind of muddle the waters now with what all I wanted to say.  She embodied everything fake on the outside, yet possessed the most genuine of souls on the inside.  I read where someone even described her as Jesus and as strange as that may sound, I can see it.  She didn’t just become a good person as she aged, she always was a good person.
I adored her!  So did most everyone.
I read somewhere online where someone said that ‘Dolly was the string that held us all together.’  I believe that.  That is how I saw her.  Her loss is all of ours, not just her family and friends.  We lost the nicest and kindest and most generous person in the world.  I’m grieving that.  
After Dolly passed I was reading so many ‘Dolly Stories’ online.  Everyone seemed to have one.  Including me!  I went to Dolly’s high school in Sevierville, TN. in the mid to late 70’s for 9th., 10th. and 11th. grade.  My step-father was one of the only surgeon’s there at the time.  Which is why we moved to Sevierville.  I was in the marching band.  One year Dolly came to our high school, her Alma Mater, and gave a concert donating the proceeds.  Our band had just made an album that year and presented it to her as a gift.  She wouldn’t accept it until everyone had signed it.  I can remember how star struck the audience was seeing her on stage.  I don’t think I’d ever seen my friend Judy so enamored by anyone before.  Dolly was funny, charming, and she would sometimes forget the words to some of her songs and would substitute them with other words like, la dee dah, la la dee dah.  It was charming.  She made fun of something large on her body that she said people wondered was fake, and of course we’re all thinking about her boobs, but she then said, I’m talking about my nails, what are you talking about?  Our band played Hello Dolly to introduce her at the concert.  I can rememer seeing her big tour bus parked in our school’s parking lot.  
Dolly In Front Of Her Tour Bus
I enjoyed reading all the Dolly Stories pouring in online.  Of course they have since died down, but I think we are all still sad by her death.  As I said, she wasn’t just a country music legend, she was the kindest and most generous person in the world.  Now who do we have?
I originally wanted to explore how our society as a whole is embracing so much of this, I don’t even really know what to call it?  Plastic surgery?  Enhancements?  Implants?  Injections?
I would like to say that I believe that people should do what they want to do.  It is your body after all.  But coming from a medical background, not mine, my step-father’s and my mother’s, you never go under the knife unless it is absolutely necessary.  Once they put you to sleep you do run the risk that you may never wake up?  Although perhaps technology has caught up that they don’t even need to put you to sleep anymore?  I don’t know enough about it.
I also can’t tell you how many times I have read where a mother of 3 died while on a trip to Mexico for some sort of liposuction.  Why?  Was that worth it?  The children now don’t have a mother?
Kanye West’s mother died while getting liposuction.  Again, is that so important?  Joan Rivers also died while undergoing plastic surgery.  And then there is Michael Jackson and all the work he had done.  He didn’t even have a nose left.
I don’t want to shame anyone.  I think that sometimes we do things because of past trauma’s.
Sometimes when I watch T.V. I will see a very attractive woman and you can tell that her hair is fake, and she has fake boobs, injections in her lips, fake nails, and all I see is a fake person.  Some people take it even further with their fake butts.  I just think that someday aliens will come to our planet, (although I think they are already here) and dig us up and ask, ‘what was wrong with these people?’
I have a confession to make about my daughter Veronica.  When she was 5 she did have plastic surgery on her ears.  They were deformed when she was born.  She was a breach baby and I had a C-Section at her delivery.  To me she was the most beautiful baby in the world, but when I presented my perfect child to my grandmother I will never forget what she said when she saw her.  “Let’s tape those ears down.”  And it was at that point that I finally saw them.  The debate to have Veronica at age 5 get plastic surgery on her ears was important for us.  I didn’t want her to start school being called Dumbo, I myself had had a hard time growing up in so many different school’s with so many cruel children that I didn’t want her to go through what I had gone through, so my grandmother paid for the surgery.  By age 5 your ears are at about 90% growth.  They mature before your head does.  So, having confessed that do I have any right to criticize someone else for having elective plastic surgery?  I think not!
I will say this though, I do believe that there is a point where someone will take it too far.  It is at that point where I believe money should be spent to fix what’s wrong inside, and not keep spending money on the outsides.  It may make them happy for a short while, but the insecurities come back and then here comes more plastic surgery, believing that will make them happy but it never ultimately does.
One day, a few year’s back, I was watching T.V. when a commercial came on advertising The Real Housewives of somewhere in California?  The commercial had about 4 blonde women and one brunette.  All 4 blondes had the exact same long hair extensions, the exact same mini-dress (in different colors) and the exact same high heeled shoes (in different colors).  The brunette was the only one that didn’t seem to have all the fake attachments to herself.  But then again, I have no clue what work may have been done underneath her clothing.  I looked at all of them and they just looked like clones of each other.  When did that happen?  That same look is still out there and popular.  I’m not criticizing the look, I’m criticizing the fact that all these women feel that they have to look like that in order to be happy or excepted.  When did our society become so shallow?  I do blame reality T.V.  But that is a conversation for another day.
I look at my granddaughter Isabelle and she has the prettiest face.  I hope that she will always know how pretty she is and not feel pressure to change her nose, or get lip injections, or some boob job, or butt implants just to please a shallow society with the shortest attention span in our history.  When Sarah Jessica Parker was in her early years of acting the ‘establishment’ wanted her to get a nose job.  She said no, because she liked that she looked like her family, and didn’t want to change it.  That confidence comes from being born into a supportive and loving family.  I also love how she is accepting ageing, and ageing very well.  But then again, she is in a strong and healthy long marriage with children.
There is a famous family out there that you all know of with lots of girls in it, that are big influencers that change their faces quite often.  Their mother is especially pro-plastic surgery.  The thing is, they have lots of children between them and I can only imagine the lessons being taught to these children?  ‘Our faces aren’t good enough so we constantly get work done.  Therefore your faces aren’t good enough either so you will be needing to fix those as well in the future, or until your 10.’
I do believe there is this self-anointed group of people out there that make up things that they believe we all need to do, and then it filters down into our society through magazines, books, hair stylists, make-up artists, and influencers.  Once they get the celebrities to go along with them and their ideas, they know the public is not far behind.  A huge money making industry that people will throw their money at just to look like the latest big celebrity that they love and admire.  It’s quite sad actually.  So many original people wiping their identities in order to look like the latest clones out there.  Did Dolly do that?  No!  She was herself from day 1!
Dolly Parton grew up poor in the mountains of Tennessee.  I know those mountains in Tennessee very well because we did live there, but we also spent a lot of time in those mountains.  Mountain cabins, fire places, hiking, picnics, creeks, streams, waterfalls, throwing rocks, camping, etc.
When I look at Dolly, I see her poor childhood.  I see the ‘over the top’ clothing, hair, and make-up.  I see her making up for the fact that she was poor.  I see her presenting this larger than life Dolly to the world to make up for the fact that she wasn’t born ‘over the top.’
There is a relative that I have on my biological father’s side that also grew up poor.  She studied hard and graduated from high school as Salutatorian.  She went onto college and furthered her education, earinng her degrees and accumulating a lot of college debt in the process.  She is a teacher.  The thing she should be the proudest of is that she is self-made.  But I believe that her poor childhood haunts her which is why she will drive an expensive car, wear expensive clothing and shoes, and carry an expensive handbag, wanting only the finer things in life.  Not that there is really anything wrong with that.
Well, I too wear my Lilly Pulitzer designer clothing, and carry designer handbags, but I’m also known to shop at Goodwill and the Dollar Tree.  Stores I don’t believe my relative would ever do.
Whether it be good or bad, our childhood’s shape us into the adults that we become.  There is nothing wrong with that.  I just hate that with a lot of us, we are held back from becoming the people we should be because of those past trauma’s.  I know that for me I walk hand in hand with my trauatized childhood version of myself everyday.  But, I like to think that I am rewriting HER trauma and turning that into a happier functioning adult, ME.  🙂
Dolly Parton turned the hardships of her upbringing into becoming the larger than life person she became.  Not to mention the most generous.  I know that I will miss her for the rest of my life.
Julie

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July 12, 2026

Constantly Chasing Sleep

Favorite Pajamas

I can remember reading decades ago how Betty White only got about 3 hours of sleep a night.  I couldn’t believe that she could function on that minimal amount of sleep.  Then I read around the same time frame that Martha Stewart would be up at 3:00 a.m. with a flashlight out in her garden pulling up weeds.  I was so shocked that these two successful women could even function on such a minimal amount of sleep?  Well, now that I am 65, I am getting not as much sleep as I need, and not being able to function without a good night’s sleep.  I cannot relate.  I need my sleep!

My lifestyle is that I keep my Granddaughter  anywhere from 2 to 4 days a week.  Either Veronica or Brian will bring her over in the early morning hours at either 5:30 a.m. or 5:45 – 6:00 a.m.  I am always up by the time they bring her over.  I set my alarm clock for 4:00 a.m. in the morning.  I shower and I’m dressed and ready by the time Isabelle arrives.

Even though she just turned 3, we still give her a bottle in the mornings.  Even though that is a bit young for her, you have to understand that her sleep has been interrupted.  She needs to get back to sleep.  That warm milk helps her.  Whether we deliver it in a baby bottle, or a water bottle.
That also benefits me!  I need to get back to sleep in the mornings myself.  It is difficult for me to function without a good night’s sleep.  I love a good extra hour or two in those early morning hours.  That way I get to sleep in to around 8:00 or 8:30, or 9:00 a.m. in the mornings.  Being her care giver, I need the extra hours of sleep in order to function for the day.  After all, her parents don’t pick her up until around 4:30 – 5:00 p.m. on some days, and as early as 9:30 – 11:00 a.m., on other days.  Some of those days are long!

I wanted to say that I think that we justify the early morning bottle with the understanding that there are women out there that continue to breast feed into the child’s 5th. birthday.

That is not our intention.  We are just delivering the warm milk to Isabelle in a vessel that will not leak into the crib/bed, and will help her to go back to sleep, so that I can also get some more much needed sleep myself.  That’s where my heating pad comes in.  I do so love that warmth and it makes me drowsy, helping me to go back to sleep.

NOTE!  It is easier to go to sleep once you have taken a nice warm shower, day or night.  Which is usually why I tend to go back to sleep more easily after I have had my 4:00 a.m. shower on those mornings I have Isabelle.  Nice shower, and a heating pad work for me!

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I Also Think That I Suffer From  Anxiety 

On those days that I have to leave the house, I tend to have a hard time sleeping the night before.  That is something new to me.  It’s really just been since I’ve been in my 60’s that I’ve had that problem.  There is just this anxiousness and dread that I have where I am up in the middle of the night and I can’t shut my brain off in order to relax and go to sleep.  

I think some of the problem it is that America is a dangerous country to live in.   I don’t feel safe when I leave the house.  Too many guns, and too many hot-heads that own the guns.  Also, just not enough respect towards our fellow human beings.  I think a lot of people would just rather shoot you than deal with you.  Same with driving.  Even though I do the speed limit, I am never going fast enough for some people.  I think they would rather run me off the road than have to drive behind me.  Which is why I tend to make appointments or run errands on those hours where there isn’t a lot of traffic.  I also only shop in business’s where I feel safe in their parking lots.   Now that I am 65 and ageing, I am becoming more of a target to those that take advantage of that.  Always be aware of your surroundings.  Quit looking at your phones and pay attention.  It just might save your life.

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Afternoon Naps And Back Pain

Sometimes I do take an afternoon nap.  Or, I might just lay down on the couch among my comfy blankety covers and pillows, turn the T.V. volume down low, close my eyes, and just rest and relax.  If sleep follows, wonderful!  If not, then that’s o.k. too because I am resting my body and getting off my back.  Walking on these cement floors here in Florida can ruin your lower back.  When we were living in Hawaii I developed back pains from every surface in Hawaii being cement.  The reasoning behind all the cement is hurricane’s.  Then when we moved to Maryland, where everything was this nice wooden surface, my back pain went away.  Then we move back to Florida where everything has a cement flooring, and here come the back pains again.

I do wear indoor shoes, mainly smooshy, mooshy  Flip Flops.  (Or Slippers as they say in Hawaii.)  The mooshy kind have a nice comfy give that allows your foot to be more comfortable.  The downside is that sometimes they are easy to trip in while wearing.  Something I will need to be aware of as I age.

The point I was trying to make here is that by just resting and getting off my back I feel this rejuvenation that allows me to get through the rest of the day on those sleepy tired days I sometimes have.  By laying down, place a pillow underneath your pelvis just to elevate it up a bit.  For me the pain goes away immediately just by doing that.  Try it!  See for yourself.

Also, take an Advil if your back starts to hurt, OR even before it starts to hurt!  When I am about to take on a big job I just go ahead and take one.  It will prevent the swelling in my lower back which brings on pain.  It’s that inflammation you have to worry about.

I also don’t take any of those energy drinks.  Coffee is the strongest thing that I use to pep up.

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About 2 Years Ago I Moved Into The Gust Bathroom

(For Bathing And Skincare)

It’s been a few years but there was a time, a very long time, when my next door neighbor started stalking and harassing me. 

I do document it here:

Click Here For:  My Log Blog Documenting Stalking And Harassment From My Neighbor

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Gordon was working overseas and for some reason my hot-headed neighbor next door to us starting throwing things at our house at 4:00 a.m. to upset me.  It was always when I was in the bathroom or in our bedroom.  Regardless, I no longer felt safe on that side of our house, so I started bathing in the guest bathroom.  At first I just dragged a few things into the guest bathroom, not bothering to really fix it up and make it nice.  But, I have since made it nice and I’m glad that I made that switch.  I feel a lot safer.  I also feel like I have my very own bathroom just for me to enjoy.  Yes, it’s smaller.  Yes, it’s not as nice.  But, I like it! 

I still do my hair and make-up in our master bathroom, but I am never naked in there.  I haven’t felt comfortable changing clothes or using that bathroom any more.  That’s what abuse does to you.

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Just Some Skincare

I Did Not Buy Anything New Here

(I organized with things that I already had.  Seeing as how my Cindy Crawford Skincare is all purple, I found an old ‘free with purchase’ purple cosmetic bag to house some things in.)

 

I Bought Nothing New Here, This Is Plenty Of Room For Me

Sometimes I think it’s important for us to just carve out our own little niche somewhere.  A place that is just ours.  With me being the only one who uses this bathroom, I keep it quite nice and clean because I don’t share it with anyone.  Well, except Isabelle.  🙂

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Somethings that I may write about, I have also written about on other website pages.  Not everyone reads every page that I have on this website so sometimes I do repeat myself.  This is one of those times.  I am writing here similar things that I wrote on my Skincare Website Page.

Click Here For:  My Nifty 50’s and 60’s Skincare

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I Did Add Some Hawaiian Things That Were New

The Rattan Shelf Was My Grandmother’s

The Birdhouse/Beach House, Veronica painted years ago and gifted to me.

Diamond Head and the Surfboards spelling out Aloha, I purchased at a favorite Hawaii store, CocoNene.

The Blue Star Fish Veronica also gifted to me one Christmas.

And the Palm Leaf painting I also purchased from Coconene.

The Fish Photo Frame was a gift to Veronica from her friend Kara when they were 3 years old and we knew them in Hawaii.

  Looks great there.

Now You Know What My Bathroom/Guest Bathroom Toilet Looks Like  🙂

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One More Thing ….

The Little Window In The Shower

(I papered it over with Rice Paper when we first moved in.)

All My Shampoo’s and Conditioner’s

Our Diana Hanson-Young Posters From The 80’s

Autographed By Her

We Were Too Poor To Buy Prints Or Paintings Then

I Framed Them And Still Treasure Them

Dry Your Hands!

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65 And Beyond

Finger’s Crossed!

Julie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie Barefoot 2026, (‘Puke Punaewele, (Blog)

Julie Barefoot 2026, (‘Puke Punaewele, (Blog)

          2026 A Morning Aloha (Hawaiian Kona Coffee) —————————————————————————————— Brodie In Our Backyard Plumeria Tree in Ewa Beach, 1996 ————————————————————————————- E Komo Mai Welcome to My Aloha Julie Barefoot 2026 ‘Puke Punaewele (Blog) Ready for 2026 This year will be a 

Autumn

Autumn

            UNDER CONSTRUCTION        

www.VintageJulieBarefootArchives.com

www.VintageJulieBarefootArchives.com

 

 

 

I Created A New Website:

Click Here For:  VintageJulieBarefootArchives

I gave my Web Designers in India instructions on what I wanted, and they did the most remarkable job of bringing my vision to life.

I could not be happier with it!

My current website:  (This one.)

BarefootInFloridaWithJulie

..Was no longer working accurately. 

Therefore, I decided to instruct my Web Designers in India, to create a “New” Website in order for me to house some of my “Old” content.

Initially, I didn’t figure in that it would be my Florida Website Pages, but it did evolve into just that.

My First Blog Posting On The New/Old Website

I Debuted This New Site On Brodie’s Birthday, November 29, 2025

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Welcome To VintageJulieBarefootArchives.com

(As Taken From Blog Posting from the new site.)

Brodie Keith Kanakaleo Whann

I decided to create this new website because our live site, www.BarefootInFloridaWithJulie.com, was getting a bit too big.

(Admittedly, I was hoping to get a place in The Guinness Book of World Records as the largest amateur website on the internet known to man. But alas, another dream squashed by reality, or human intervention.)

I thought that if I were to create a new website and move a lot of our old content over, that it would lighten the load to our current live site, and I could make this new website about our Florida Life. So, I specifically chose website pages that were of a Florida nature. We love Florida! My ties to Florida go back to when I was a baby in the 60’s, living in Rome, Georgia with my mother, grand-parents, and great-grandparents. Every summer was spent vacationing in Florida. Also, prior to me being born, it was where my mother and her friends, and their families vacationed as well. I have some really great old photos of my grand-parents, great-grandparents, and great-aunts and uncles wearing their old fashioned swimsuits with their old timey cars parked on the beach. Once upon a time you could do that. Drive onto the beach and park your car.  Mostly on the East Coast of Florida, they had the longest stretches of beaches.

I’m the tall one with my cute petite friends.  St. Pete left, Daytona right.

I can remember the Florida vacations very well. We would leave Rome in the evening, and drive all night down to Florida. I would be asleep in the backseat, wearing pajamas.. My grand-father would do the driving. If I had to use the bathroom on the way down my grandfather would pull over to the side of the highway, they would open both doors, the front door and the backdoor, and I would take my winky-tink between the two doors. Sometimes, cars would honk as they would drive by. I was always in a panic that someone could see me. My grandmother always assured me that no one can.  (She was probably lying.)

St. Petersburg was usually our destination. My grand-father would look for Motels with a VACANCY sign flashing towards the street. He would just drive down what is now Gulf Blvd. looking for a Motel that he thought looked nice. He would then pull into those Motels and inquire within for something suitable for all of us. I can remember that we were always on the ocean side, most of the time there was a pool. I can even remember one place we stayed at where we walked out of our motel room door directly onto the beach. There was so much beach sand outside our door.

I have beautiful memories of many Florida vacations with my grand-parents. My grand-father was one to lay on his back in the ocean, floating, and falling asleep. He was a big man, very tall, with lots of cushion. He floated very easily. I can remember one time he fell asleep and was drifting out to sea, a lifeguard was blowing his whistle trying to wake him up to get him to swim back towards shore.

Most every night we would eat at a seafood restaurant. The restaurant was always located on an ocean front, or a canal front. I have so many great memories of finding little fishies trapped between the rocks by the ocean or canals. I would use a paper cup to capture them and take them back to the motel room with me. I loved having them with me in the motel room. I loved watching them. Sometimes I would set them loose the next day, if they even made it through the night. Upon reflection I wish I had known more about helping them. But I didn’t. I was just a child.

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Hello Rosy Cheeks

I remember this very well. It was at one restaurant that was busy that evening for dinner. There were many people waiting to get seated. My grand-parents and I were sitting at a table in the entryway when suddenly this cute boy sat down right beside my grandmother, he sat across from me, he then looked at me and said with all the confidence in the world, “Hello rosy cheeks.” I was in my early teens. My grandmother instantly adored him! I guess charmers must recognize each other because my grand-mother was a charmer. She then burst out laughing.

This cute, charming boy sat there flirting with me. I knew I could fall for him in a minute! But, I was just too shy to do anything about it. But, I have always remembered that cute boy that made this awkward girl feel special.

Oh, and the rosy cheeks were from my being sunburned that day from staying out too long in the sun, on the beach.

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Florida is not just a great state to vacation in, it holds so many happy memories for me and my family growing up. It makes sense that Gordon and I would settle here and live out our days until we are gone. Hopefully that won’t be for a very long time. But, until then we have a grand-daughter to help raise and make many happy Florida memories for her to take with her in life.

An old timey Motel, a Shuffleboard Court, Sun, Sand, Shells, Beach, Oranges, Orange Juice, Drawbridges, Souvenir Shops, Boat Rides, Seafood Restaurants, Summer Friendships with other Tourists, Salt Water Taffy, Vintage Beach Buckets, Sand Shovels, Flamingoes… and being Barefoot!

This is what I carry with me every day.

Happy Vintage Julie Barefoot Memories,

Julie Barefoot

(Julie Lancaster-Whann)

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Florida is Beautiful and Unique,

Located in the South, yet not Really Southern.

Although Florida is the East Coast, and Canada’s Destination

My Florida Favorites

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Some of Veronica’s Artwork 

I asked her if she had some of her art that I could display on the new website.  She sent over these.  This was all she had in her possession.  People do hire her to draw and paint for them.  I would love to had seen those paintings, but she did contribute some nice things.

Busch Gardens 

I told my guys in India that I wanted an Alligator on the bottom left, and Flamingoes on the bottom right.

I do think the landscaping you see in the graphic above looks like Africa, but then again we do have Busch Gardens here in Florida that is theme based on Africa.

  So, I guess it all goes together nicely.

Web Design is a lot of fun but it isn’t really something tangible.  I mean, the moment I quit paying the monthly fees, it can all just disappear.  Or an experienced hacker can just come along and delete the whole thing forever.  As much as I love my website’s they aren’t anything that I can hold in my hand, or place onto a shelf for display, or even own forever.  My experience with having websites is that they are very vulnerable to those that know how to penetrate them, and abuse them without any conscious or authority whatsoever.

I guess what I am trying to say is that they are very temporary, so enjoy them while you can.

 

See You At The Beach!

Julie Barefoot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Jezebel is NUTS!

This Jezebel is NUTS!

            Mr. Peanut In 1906 Omedeo Obici, originally from Italy, founded the Planters Peanut Company in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. In 1916 Mr. Obici held a contest asking the public to draw a logo that he thought would best suit the company.  

My Brunswick Stew Chicken Skillet

My Brunswick Stew Chicken Skillet

        My Brunswick Stew Chicken Skillet Dinner I love Brunswick Stew!  I grew up eating it in the South, in the Summer months, throughout the year, but especially for the 4th. of July. There is a history of the stew which I 

Italian Colazione (Breakfasts)

Italian Colazione (Breakfasts)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buongiorno a Tutti

(Good Morning Everyone)

My Italiana Breakfast Skillet

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You Don’t Have To Be Italian To Enjoy This Delicious Breakfast Skillet

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A One Skillet Breakfast With Baguette and Caffe

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This Also Makes An Excellent Dinner, Or Even Luncheon

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Excellent Eaten In Bed…

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The Boot

Italy is Shaped Like a Boot

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I Hope To Add More Breakfasts As Time Goes By

Godere,

Julie and Gordon

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Recipes Start Here

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First Up:

My Italiana Breakfast Skillet

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Ingredients:

Orange, Yellow, and Red Bell Peppers, Washed

Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, or any you Desire, Washed

(I Give The Rest Of The Ingredients As I Write The Recipe)

You will need a Cutting Board, and a Sautee Pan or Two…

Time To Chop My Bell Peppers

Also, White Onion, Chopped

(This was a large White Onion, I used about 3/4 of it.)

Chopping My Bell Peppers

6 Garlic Cloves, Minced

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In a Large Sautee Pan Drizzle Some Olive Oil..

Place the Onions into the Pan to Soften on a Medium-High Heat

This should take about 5 Minutes.

Next, add the Bell Peppers to Soften, about another 5 Minutes..

Mincing the Garlic Cloves into the Pan with the Onions and Bell Peppers

(Just Sautee a few minutes more, stirring often, until all of the ingredients are softened. 

Then remove from the heat and set aside.)

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In my Cast Iron Skillet I am adding some Olive Oil, along with a bag of Hash Brown Potatoes from the freezer.

My Spices:  (To Add Soon)

Italian Herb Seasoning

Ground Oregano

Ground Basil Leaves

Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste

Hawaiian Sea Salt, To Taste

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I’m Browning my Thawed Hash Browns in my Cast Iron Skillet, on a Medium Heat – Medium-High Heat.

My Onions and Peppers and Garlic are Waiting..

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I had some Italian Sausage frozen in the freezer.  I thawed it out placed it into a small Skillet on the back burner to just warm through.

Sometimes I will cook sausage to keep frozen in the freezer to place on Pizza’s or dishes like this.

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Time To Add The Spices To My Hash Brown Potatoes I’ve Been Sauteing

I probably added a 1/4 t. of each, maybe a little bit more.

Blending The Spices Into The Hash Browns

Now It’s Time to Add My Onion, Bell Peppers, and Garlic to My Hash Browns…

..And Placing Them Into A 350F Oven For About 10-15  Minutes.

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My Sausage Is Ready, And Set Aside

Time To Remove The Cast Iron Skillet From The Oven…

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Time To Add The Cheese

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

(I just added as much as I wanted to over top my Hash Brown Medley.)

Now Place Back Into The 350F Oven For About 5 Minutes To Melt The Cheese

(When done, remove and set aside.)

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Ready To Scramble Some Eggs

In A New Sautee Pan Add,

About 7 Eggs

Butter

Milk

Melt Some Pats Of Butter Into A Sautee Pan,

Crack Some Eggs Into The Pan On A Medium-High Heat

Scramble With A Wooden Spoon….

Add A Few Tablespoons Of Milk To The Eggs To Fluff

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Eggs Are Ready, Time To Add Them To The Cast Iron Skillet

Italian Sausage Is Ready, Time To Add It To Top The Eggs

Now It’s Time To Place Some Julienne Cut SunDried Tomatoes On Top As Well

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The Herbs

Ready To Add To The Top Of The Skillet Breakfast

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Preparing The Bread

(I love bread!  I especially love it here with this Skillet Breakfast.)

I just sliced a Baguette into rounds, drizzled with some Olive Oil, placed onto a foil lined baking sheet, and placed into a 350F Oven for about 8 minutes.

  After 8 minutes I turned it on Broil to brown the bread.  It was perfect!

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With My Skillet Breakfast Ready It Is Time To EAT!

Don’t Forget The Caffe!

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Buona Giornata,

Julie

 

 

 

 

Eat Your Vegetables More

Eat Your Vegetables More

    CURRENTLY ROASTING VEGETABLES, CHECK BACK SOON!                                                              

Here’s a CLUE for Nancy Drew

Here’s a CLUE for Nancy Drew

        “I don’t promise to forget the mystery, but I know I’ll have a marvelous time“ Nancy Drew —————————————————————————— #45 The Spider Sapphire Mystery Thrilling, dangerous adventure confront Nancy Drew while on a safari in East Africa with a group of American 

My Log/Blog Documenting Stalking and Harassment From My Neighbor

My Log/Blog Documenting Stalking and Harassment From My Neighbor

 

 

(Note Update April 10, 2025:  If this harassment continues, or more damage is done to our property, then I will reveal their names here, and getting the police involved.)

 

“The pen is mightier than the sword.”

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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Write it all down, it’s what they fear the most.

Julie Lancaster-Whann

 

Where Do I Even Begin?

2025

For those of you that know me and have read me, then you know of my account of my Cyber-Stalker of 30 years, P.  I did start a webpage of his stalking back in 2015 on this website.  Wow, 10 years ago I started writing about him.  I’ve also mentioned throughout my personal blogs the stalking that I have had to put up with and endure.  Well, he’s still in the picture.  Gordon and I were able to bring in (a 3-letter agency) to look into him.  I hadn’t really admitted much to any of that until now.  This has been about a year and a half ago that we did that.  I know these things take time, but with all that’s going on right now with that ( 3-letter agency), I’m not so sure if we are a priority anymore.

I also started a website about him that I have not worked on yet at all.  I simply sent a few photos to my guys in India and had them to create something for me.  They did, and I paid quite a bit of money for it.  I hadn’t started working on it yet for a few reasons.  First of all, I would much rather be doing other things than talking about P.  And number two, I didn’t want to hinder any investigation into him.

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This is the Original Webpage Where I Introduce you to P.:

What It’s Like To Be Cyber-Stalked

Julie Lancaster-Whann

If you do check out this webpage I started on him, you will most likely see some sabotage.  That is from P.  When I had web hosting companies in America to host and look after my site, P. had the run of it.  It wasn’t until I contacted a company in the U.K., and they recommended theses guys in India, did I finally have a more secure website.

Sad isn’t it?  I had to go outside my own country for help from my American Cyber-Stalker.

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One thing that I have learned throughout my life when I was being abused by anyone is to start a log.  Write down everything that that person does to you.  Keep a diary of it.  That’s why I started the Cyber-Stalker blog page that I write about above.  It is also why I am starting this webpage about the abuse that I am having to endure from my neighbors next door to me.

I will work on this as I feel like it.  Oh trust me, they aren’t going anywhere.  Their kind never does.

I know their type very well.   Arrogant, self-righteous, white, no respect for people or their property, or opinions that differ from their own.  They only value ‘Freedom of Speech’ when it is their own.  They easily fall in line with the herd.  A Shepherd  to herd them this way, and then herd then that way.  I’ll get into more of that later on.

You know, no where in the world do they have people like a certain segment of our population.  Nowhere!

The world does have it’s poor and ignorant.  But nowhere does any country have these kinds of people that think the way they do. They are definitely home grown.

There is something very toxic in our country’s environment that creates these people.  I know what it is, but I don’t dare say it.  I’ve touched on it though.  I even tried warning our former Canadian friends about it, who seemed to adore the republican friends they knew in Kentucky.  And I will speak of it in the future.  But talking about it now is only going to get me clubbed over the head by a caveman.  I also warned our Canadian friends that don’t be surprised if America comes after Canada someday.  If you have something they want, they will come and get it.  Funny, but she thought I was being ridiculous.  Wonder how she feels now?  I told her these things over a decade ago.

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My Camera on My Tripod Took These Photos

(The Thing Is, My Neighbors Are Probably Watching Me Right Now)

I wanted to take some photos for this blog, and seeing as how I am the only one here, I had my camera on my tripod to do it.  My husband Gordon is working overseas.  Oh, we talk most everyday.  He is in a hazard zone overseas.  He is quite valuable in his job, and we are benefiting from that.  We were thinking about him coming home permanently at the end of this year, but what with all that is going on in our country, it might be wise for him to stay over there for the next few years.  He does come home twice a year to see us all though.  He has even suggested that I come over there to live out in town near where he is stationed.  If I were to do that, I would only see him on the weekends from my very exotic location.  My answer:  I’m not leaving Isabelle.  Done!

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What has kept me going all these years is that I want to outlive P.  I want to know what life is like without him in it.  That is what has kept me going.  Will I ever know that?  I don’t know?  But now, I have a new stalker.  I never saw this coming at all.  I am an Empath, yet I never once sensed this neighbor’s hatred of me at all.  Which means that he is either a Psychopath or a Sociopath, or a Narcissist.

 I have probably only spoken 20 words to him from the time they moved in years ago.  He is probably in his early 40’s.  He is married and they have 2 children.  They have a very nice home.  Nice automobiles.  Basketball goal in their driveway, pool in their backyard.  On the surface all looks great.  I have noticed that all their cars are there all the time.  I’m wondering if he is still employed or if he is working from home, or he’s been fired?  Don’t know?

I knew they were Republican’s, but I didn’t have any ill will towards them, until now.

  I’ll get to that.

Where do I begin to document the Harassment and Abuse?

Once again, I’ll get to that in a little bit.

I want you to understand something.  Just to give you an example, why have I had a Cyber-Stalker for 30 years now?  Why?

P. was Gordon’s Best Friend From Childhood

P. started out in life with parents that had money and means.  They put him in Private School growing up.  Once he graduated, he was able to go on to college, and graduate.  I’m pretty sure his parents paid for that as well. 

I can even remember something about P. working as some DJ for a radio station while he was in college, or afterwards.  I mean, how cool is that?  He would send us these tapes of Chicago singing love songs.  I loved it!  I would play them and listen to them in my headphones when I would go for my walks when we lived in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.  It was the best of both worlds.  Great music while I would go on my walks, with views of Diamond Head in the background while I walked down the beach. 

It wasn’t until the early 90’s that P. started stalking me.  I really don’t want to go into that now.  I do have it documented in other areas.  But what I wanted you to understand is the amount of time and energy that goes into stalking anyone.

P. has stalked me for 30 years and counting.  30 years!

P. gave up having a life to stalk me.  He gave up dating, falling in love, getting married, having children….

To him I was more important than all of that.  He has spent his life glued to a computer screen stalking me.

P. started out with Microsoft.  He was on the cutting edge of technology.  In the midst of history being made.  He could have snagged a lovely intelligent woman to love and have children with.  He could have had a lovely home and even a vacation home, or two.  He could have had children and perhaps by now, grand-children.  But NO!  He gave up all of that, he sacrificed his youth to stalk ME!

Believe me when I tell you, I AM NOT WORTH THAT!

He gave up his youth to stare at a computer screen stalking me!

That is the mind of an obsessed person. 

Obsession is not love, it is obsession.  Love is healthy, love is beautiful.

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All My Flowers

Looks Like I’m In Mourning

Although I am not in mourning, I am angry.  Angry because I live in a neighborhood where there are pathetic people that feel the need to do harm to me.  Harm to someone that does nothing to them.  I don’t bother them.  I never see them.  Why is my neighbor so obsessed with me?  Well, I do have my theories.  But first you need to understand Obsession.

Obsession isn’t love.  But I dominate his thoughts each and every day.  Why would any woman want her husband or boyfriend to be obsessed with anyone?  Yet alone, another woman?

Does he love me?  Hate me?  The emotions are really the same.  Love and Hate are very strong emotions to have towards anyone.  but whether they be love or hate, he is still obsessed with me.  He gets up every morning at 4:00 a.m. and looks to see if my bathroom light is on.  If it is, he throws a ball at my house, around the bathroom windows where I am.  He does this to alarm me.  To scare me.  To upset me.

If I get up at 4:30 a.m., he’s still there.  Here comes the ball being hurled at my bathroom window to alarm me, scare me, etc. 

I want you to understand what this means:

He is going to the trouble of setting his alarm clock for 4:00 a.m., probably waking up his wife in the process, while he leaves his bed, to go outside and throw a ball against the side of my house, around my bathroom, where I am.  And, perhaps even peeking in.

Sometimes I get up at 4:30 a.m., which means that he is laying in wait for me at that time.  Which I will hear the loud thump against the wall of our house while I am in the toilet room. 

This is STALKING!

The fact that he does this to me means that his wife is o.k. with it. 

Otherwise, I would think she would intervene and try and stop him from harassing me.

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This is Vandalism, This is Property Damage

I Noticed This September 6, 2024:

The Damage Our Neighbor Has Done to Our Meters

I don’t come over to this side of our house that often.  But one day I did and I was really alarmed to see this.  This is obviously damage done through someone tampering with it.  So, prior to September 6, when I discovered it, how long has it been this way?

Can a Ball Do This Damage?  Or Did he use Something Else to do This?

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I Used Some String To Tie Them Back Together

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The Bathroom Window Facing Our Street

This is not the bathroom window he throws the ball at, but this window faces the street from our bathroom.  You can see the Plantation Shutters…

I placed a tablecloth over it because I always felt like there was someone peeking in at me early in the mornings through those slats.  Throughout the night and morning hours I have them closed but if you were to stand right outside you could probably see through the slats into the bathroom. 

Well, it turns out I was right, there WAS someone out there!

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Saturday Afternoon, Early February

I had gone shopping on this day.  I did hear the THUMP of the ball against the house early that morning.  I then climbed up on our bed and looked out the window between our houses and saw that orange and blue ball.

I’m taking the photo from our bedroom window of the space between our houses. 

That is where he lies in wait for me in the mornings.

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I wish that I had taken a photo of the ball when it was between our two houses.

When I got back from shopping I was telling Gordon about it while I was talking to him on the phone and I went over to that side of the house, picked up the ball, and threw it toward their front yard.  I’m not a great thrower, but here is where I threw it:

If you look closely you can see the orange and blue ball.

See the Ball Now?

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So, Why Does My Neighbor Hate Me So Much?

Well, I can only guess?

When I first realized what he was doing to me, I wondered if it was because I got up so early and perhaps my lights were shining into their bedroom disturbing them?  Or perhaps it was the fact that when Veronica or Brian would drop off Isabelle early in the morning that my dogs would bark, perhaps waking them up?  But then I quickly erased that because he is setting his alarm clock to get up early to harass me.  He isn’t harassing me in response to anything I am doing to him, he is harassing me for the sheer sake of it.  Not in response to anything.

So, If It’s Not My Lights, And it’s Not My Dogs, Then It Must Be…

MY POLITICS!

Although I have never talked politics with anyone in my neighborhood, I do wonder if perhaps my politics has been passed around the neighborhood as news?  It was back in 2008 when I placed my Obama yard sign on our lawn that the sabotage from my neighborhood began!  The day after I placed that sign in our yard, every neighbor around us suddenly set out their McCain/Palin signs.  Interesting.  The day I placed our sign in our front yard I was driving out of the neighborhood to do some shopping when I noticed Judy, who used to live across the street, walking on the sidewalk with her dog.  Instead of the nice happy smile and wave that I usually got, I just got this LOOK.  OH, I know that look very well!  It’s one that a hater gives you for not being like them.  I’m pretty sure Judy is the one that organized everyone placing McCain/Palin signs in their yards in their attempt to drown us out.

So Where Am I Going With This?

Judy and Michael sold their house, I believe in 2011 to a family that went to their church, our current neighbors across the street from us.  I like them.  I think they are nice neighborhood family.  But, I’m pretty sure the gossip got around that we were the “Evil Libruls” of the neighborhood.  Which the neighbors across the street might have mentioned to their fellow republican’s that live next door to us in the neighborhood.  Thus, making me a big target for the neighbor’s hate.  I’m not seen as a 64 year old woman that minds her own business, that keeps her granddaughter a few days a week, respects the neighbors privacy in the neighborhood, who doesn’t play loud music, who doesn’t have tons of people over thus blocking the street causing headaches, Oh NO!  I’m only seen as the “Evil Librul.”  (Even though they are the ones that wear the SIGN on their foreheads, if you know what I mean?)  Just sayin.’

The thing is that republican’s are very organized.  Oh, believe me when I say that my next door  neighbors truly lack the intellectual curiosity to look me up and read my website or my social media accounts on their own.  Oh no, they are on some list that is distributed by their leaders telling them who in their neighborhood is an “Evil Librul,” and who to hate and harass .  That makes more sense to me.

We do still have the Rule of Law in our country.  That hasn’t yet been eliminated.  And, I am a Paralegal by profession.  We’ll leave it there for now.  I’ll update as things happen.  It’s important to always document abuse.  You know, future lawsuits….  🙂

Julie

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New Entries Will Be Listed Here

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February, 2025

I would just like to add here that I am hearing the thump of the ball against the side of our house early in the morning many times this February 2025 month.

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March 11, 2025

I had a big day today.  Just lots of shopping in Tampa at the Air Force Base.  I had left the house around 11:00 a.m. this morning, exiting my street through the back way so that I didn’t have to drive in front of my neighbor’s house.  I am trying to do my best to not let him know when I come and go.  Anyway, at the end of the day when I was returning home at around 5:30 p.m., I debated driving in the back way where I wouldn’t have to drive in front of his house, but I then decided not to do that.  I had lots of food in the car and I needed to get home as quickly as possible, and not go out of my way to come in the back way just to try and avoid him.  As it was, it took me an hour and a half to get home due to all the traffic.

Well, he and his wife were outside in their front yard.  He was blowing leaves from the street with his blower.  She was sitting in a chair out front.  She did turn her head to look at me as I drove by.  She had no reaction.  He did use his left arm that was laying by his side to use his hand to ‘wave at me.’  It was a very sheepish wave.  He had his head down and was reluctantly acknowledging me.  I could see his embarrassment.  I had no reaction.  I just looked at them, and then pulled into my driveway and started to unload my car that was full of shopping.

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Bully’s

Joe Kee… from Sevierville, Tennessee taught me the psychology of Bully’s many years ago when I moved from Roanoke, Virginia to Sevierville, Tennessee in the 70’s.  I have even written about him in my past blog posts.  Joe Kee… sat next to me in homeroom for 3 years from 9th. – 11th. grade at Sevier County High School.  Joe was a bully.  But interestingly enough, whenever his entourage wasn’t around, he was quite nice to me.  I know that I would brace myself for the usual insults that I would receive most every morning from him.  But on those days where his friends weren’t around, nothing.  He taught me that bully’s are truly cowards.  Joe was nothing without his backup.  Just like my neighbor next door.  He is nothing without the cover of darkness.  I stared him down.  I’m not afraid of a chickenshit.  And that chickenshit, waved at me when I drove by.  Why?  Because he was exposed out in the sunlight where he couldn’t hide.  I’ve never seen such a sheepish wave in my life.  He’s scared of me.  Good!  🙂

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March 22, 2025

Buying Fence Material to Extend our Fence

Gordon came home from abroad and was here for a few weeks.  But months prior, we had decided that we wanted to extend our fence to the end of our house so as to protect me from our hot heated neighbor.  We were coming up with ways to protect me and our property from him.  By extending our fence, that would prevent him from throwing things against our house.  It would also prevent him from tampering with our property.

Gordon created a nice power point of how we wanted to extend our fence, and sent it along with the photographic evidence of the damage of our outside boxes, and a document of the abuse I was having to endure from our neighbors, to our HOA, (Home Owner’s Association.)  They then granted us the permission we needed to extend our fence.

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This is one of the presentations Gordon created for our HOA.

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Gordon Buying The Materials For Our Fence

Gordon had put up our existing fence on our property so this was no big deal for him to do the extension.

Gordon purchased our fence material from Home Depot and rented a truck from them as well in order to get the materials here to our home.

The Truck, and our Fence Material

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Bringing Everything Around To Our Backyard

(I wanted to add that Gordon can only come home for a certain amount of time each year from his working overseas.  It was quite sad that he had to spend a part of our time together extending our fence, because of our hot-headed neighbor’s abuse towards me.)

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Erecting Our Fence Extension

Gordon, along with our son-in-law Brian put up the fence extension.  We waited until Brian had a day off.  I kept Isabelle inside, while the guys erected the fence outside.  They did it all in one day!  And it is professional as hell!  As always!

This is the Space Between our House and our Neighbor’s

Most of the Property is Ours

Gordon and Brian Erecting the Fence

(With Isabelle visiting her Daddy.)  🙂

Above left, you can see that large bush that is our neighbor’s.  With our fence up, they only have about 1 foot of space between that bush and our fence.  🙂

Coming Together Nicely!

Me, Entering This Extra Privacy Space We Never Had Before

(I could sunbathe out here!)  🙂

The fence extension is up.  Gates locked.  Area contained.

I will be posting a photo of the finished results soon.

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April 3, 2025

What This Abuse From Our Neighbor Has Done To Me

Abuse always has a way of affecting us negatively.  There are many kinds of abuse.  I am only here to dictate what this abuse has done to me, and how it has affected me. 

I get up very early in the morning on those days that I keep my Granddaughter Isabelle.  On the days my daughter drops her off, I get up at 4:00 a.m..  On the days my son-in-law drops her off, I get up at 4:30 a.m.. 

Because of the abuse that I was having to endure from my neighbor I had moved most of my toiletries into our guest bathroom in the middle of the house so that I didn’t have to have that ball thrown at me when I was in mine and Gordon’s bathroom.  Also, I just didn’t feel safe and secure using our bathroom.  I didn’t feel safe in my own home.  The guest bathroom offered me more of a private sanctuary than I had using our own bathroom.  But, the thing is, I would shower at 4:00 or 4:30 a.m., with the lights off in the bathroom.  I didn’t feel comfortable turning the lights on and letting him know that I was in there.  So, I would get up, turn on the bathroom lights in our bathroom, and then shower in the guest bathroom with the lights off, hoping that he would then turn his attention towards the main bathroom, so that I could shower in peace in the guest bathroom.

Seems like a lot of trouble to go through in your own home just to have some peace.  Yet, that is my story.

Showering in another bathroom, in the dark…  Wow.  You would think you should be safe from abuse in your own home, wouldn’t you?

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I have more to tell you but it will have to wait.

Julie

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April 4, 2025

Our New Fence

For Every Action, There Is A Reaction

Here is a photo of our extended fence.  I took the photo today.  The fence is there to protect me and our house from anything our neighbor may decide to do.  The gates are locked.  If he does decide to throw something at the house, it just might get trapped inside the fence.  He would then have to hop over it to retrieve the item. 

That is when……

he Would Be Recorded on Camera… and the police would be called in.   🙂

That’s Right!  We have updated our security on our property.

(I should do something with that area.  Perhaps turn it into some sort of private garden, or a Julie Sanctuary.)

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His Action, Our Reaction

It was a few years ago when I was outside in our backyard, and our neighbors were outside in theirs, when I heard her say to her husband, ‘You know what C_____, sometimes you can be a real bastard.’

See, she knows who she is married to.

You know, we never would have even thought to extend our fence, or even go to the trouble of installing some high tech security system.  This is our Reaction, to his Actions. 

When you look at the space between our homes most of it is ours.  Our property.  Now all they have to look at is our fence on that side of their house.  It’s not our fault.  It’s his.  He is actually his own worst enemy.  Do they know that we extended our fence because of what he was doing to me?  I don’t know if they are capable of realizing that?  And if they are, does he regret what all he did to me?  Probably not.  His kind only regrets getting caught.  They never regret what they do.

Feeling Better,

Julie

p.s.  Is this now over?  That depends on our neighbors.  But, things are more secure here than they were.  🙂

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(Update:  October, 2025)

The Money We Have Spent To Protect Us and Our Property

(Always save your receipts.  You not only document the abuse, but you also document the cost you are spending to protect yourself from the abuser/s.)

I decided not to publicly post all of the costs we have spent so far.  You have to have some surprises in store.  🙂

I will say that you not only document the costs of things spent, you also document the milage on your car used in buying the materials you need.  Also include ‘Wear and Tear’ of the vehicle.  And don’t forget to include gas money.  Also, your time is worth something.  An example, back in March, 2025 Gordon had to take time out from his vacation here to erect that fence, etc.  

And lastly, always include your ‘Pain and Suffering.’

(I’ve recently come to find out that there were other neighbors that knew what was happening to me.  They even supported it.  I’ll write more about them below.)

KEEP THIS INFORMATION FOR YEARS TO COME!

Keep it in a very safe place.

The abuse may end for awhile, but when you are dealing with a Hot-Headed Narcissist, they don’t change.  They always come back at some point.  Remember that.

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April 5, 2025

Update on P. G. My Cyber-Stalker

Recently, Gordon and I came across a person who used to work for Microsoft.  We then mentioned our cyber-stalker who started out with Microsoft and all that he has done to us since.  This person then asked us what his name was?  We then told this person.  This person then looked downward in surprise, but then looked up at us and said, ‘I know him.’ 

This person left Microsoft in 2015, but said P. still worked there.  We figured as much.  When we would try and look P. up online we were always given bogus info on him.  Places of employment that he never worked at.  P. has been erasing himself from the web for years now.  But, he can’t erase former co-workers.  This former co-worker now knows all that P. has done to us.  This person also added that if P. is doing all that to us, he is most likely doing it to other people as well, and even stealing money.

I’ll leave it all right there.

Julie

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April 6, 2025

Adding A Little More Privacy

Gordon Putting Up More Bamboo Blinds on our Lanai

This side of our lanai is next to our neighbors and I wanted just a bit more security and privacy so Gordon hung these up along with one section.  I had him do both sides of this section to make it a bit more private.  We already had the blinds in our garage so the only cost here were on the hardware and some line to secure them in place.

In these photos everything is still covered up from winter.  Now it’s all been cleaned and spruced up for Spring.  I also like that I have a bit more privacy.

One More Privacy Project Coming….

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April 11, 2025

Still Not Comfortable Using My Own Bathroom

Even though we have done things to try and protect me from my neighbors I still don’t feel comfortable using my own master bathroom.  This is what abuse does to you.  It changes you.  It limits you.  It prohibits you from being the person you should be.  And sometimes it is very hard to overcome. I’m sure that I will eventually get back into my own master bathroom.  But, until then, I am using the guest bathroom because it offers me more safety and security and peace of mind.

Julie

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May 29, 2025

An Update Of My Nasty Neighbors

Through my cameras I can see my neighborhood, and my neighbors.  I’m really not one to spy.  Honestly!  I never really cared about those kinds of  things.  Those were the kinds of things my friends cared about.  ‘Hey Julie, come look at this!’  My friends always thought I was weird because I wasn’t as nosy as they were.

At first it was kind of fun and interesting to see my neighbors on the camera to come and go, walking their dogs in front of our house, etc.  I love seeing when a package arrives!  I have this big T.V. monitor that Gordon bought me so that I could keep track of everything.  It is to the left of me.  He is worried about me and wanted me to have some protection while he is away.  Our own home security system.  Sometimes it can be distracting with lots of activity that will catch my attention while I am online and cause me to look at the monitor.  Most of the time it’s pretty boring.  People setting out their trash cans, driving in and out of their driveways, etc.  .  I’ve even caught my neighbors across the street from me placing their trash bags into my can most every week under the cover of darkness because their can is full.  I find that funny.  If I were a man I doubt they would.  But, seeing as how I am a woman living alone they take advantage of that.  

However, it’s whenever I see my next door neighbors on the monitor, you know, the ones that have harassed me for so long, to have the audacity to walk by my house with their Labrador, that it just makes me sick to my stomach.  How dare they walk by my house as if they haven’t a care in the world after all that they have done to me?  That is the kind of people that they are.   The self-righteousness, the white privilege, the republicanism.  (It’s quite glaring actually.)

I still don’t use my bedroom and bathroom because of their harassment.  While Gordon is gone I sleep on the couch and use the guest bathroom.  They have literally chased me from an entire wing of our house.  I need my sleep.  I need my peace.  I am my Grand-Daughter’s main caregiver.  She needs a rested Tutu.  She needs a Tutu that is at peace in order to care for her.  I do my best.  But, I do long for the day my next door neighbors move away.

Julie

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October, 2025

Gordon Home For A Few Weeks

Installing More Blinds

We ordered these custom blinds earlier in the year when Gordon was here, but they didn’t arrive in time before he left to go back overseas. 

So he is just now able to install them.  

I wanted more privacy and security here because I do want to spend more time outside, especially now that our granddaughter is getting older, and the weather is becoming more cool, but I really don’t want to see their house, they make me very uncomfortable.  But now, I feel better.

I’d Like To Fix This Area Up Nicely, Make It A Bit Cozy

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Installing More Outside Cameras

Gordon, Ready to Crawl Through The Attic To Install The Cameras

We thought it would be a good idea to install more cameras.  Gordon and our son-in-law Brian recently installed them.  Our system has the capacity to house even more than we have so far.  Not just because of our neighbors, but because of what is to come in our country.  With our current political climate more people are loosing their jobs and being made to be poor.  Programs that used to assist them are being terminated.  They will be hungry.  Their children will be hungry.  No parent wants to see their children starve.  Crime will go up.  Why do you think so many of our current administrations cabinet have all moved onto military bases?  They know what’s coming.  And, they will be protected, but it will be up to us to protect ourselves.  I’ll leave it there for now.

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As For Our Hot-Headed Narcissist Neighbor, and His Codependent Supply Spouse….

..at Casa Del Labrador

There is no cure for a hot-headed narcissist, so therefore he will always be a hot-headed narcissist.  Men like him tend to go through life with run-in’s with the law.  And, it is usually ‘Life or the Law’ that brings them down in the end.  He will always need his ‘supply’ to support him and enable him.  Yet, Narcissists don’t seek validation from them.  (He sought it from other neighbors, I’ll get to them soon.)

Let Me Tell You What We Could Have Done, And Still Can, If Necessary

We could have called in the Police, Pressed Charges, taken out a Restraining Order against him, and he would have had to move out of his own house while we fight this out in court.

It is still an option.  We have what we need to do so.  However, I don’t believe in separating families.  Although if this continues I think I can get used to the idea pretty quickly.

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As for the Other Neighbors in our Hood that knew what the Narcissist was doing… 

(Be Our Guest)

Supporting him, enabling him, encouraging him, and even having a good laugh at my expense, well,

I’m really not surprised that this particular family was involved, both families are from the same kind of ilk, but it is disappointing.  I mean, at some point you either grow up, or you don’t.

Who thinks it’s funny to harass and abuse an old woman who most of the time throughout the year is alone, and who has never done anything to either family?  Only warped minds do.

No one I would ever want to know.

The narcissist next door has showed me exactly what kind of person he is.  But, he didn’t just show me, he showed the other neighbors that knew what he was doing, and they are o.k. with it.  One particular trait they both have in common is that they are sneaky people.  You can’t trust sneaky people.  They are sneaky for a reason.  

When you align yourself with someone that can do terrible things to people you don’t like, they can also do terrible things to you.  And that is exactly where we are right now in our own country.  Again, I’ll just leave it there.

I guess the BALL is in the Narcissist’s Court right now.  We’ll see what he does with it?

Julie

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January 30, 2026

Intimidation Tactics

You know, I wasn’t going to write anymore on any of this, unless it turned out to be really relevant, (I do have things documented elsewhere in more detail just in case), but I do believe that I should be writing about this and getting this all down on “paper,” so to speak for my readers.

Intimidation Tactics are a Form of Abuse

I not only do this for me and my records, I also do this for you so that you will understand and I hope that this will help my reader’s that are having to undergo forms of abuse from their neighbors on exactly why they do the things they do?  And know this, it is never about you.  It is always about them.  After all, we do what we do because it is in us to do it.  Period!

Even When You Don’t Bother People, It Bothers People

I do write about neighbors above that knew of the abuse from my nasty next door neighbors.  They were in on it actually.  I really hadn’t planned on talking about them anymore, but I believe that I should, you see he is a psychologist.  Funny, huh?  A “professional” who should know better.  I do wonder what kind of advice he must give his patients?  (If he even has any.) 

I can only imagine….  ‘Oh, if that person annoys you, then you should use your automobile to shine your bright lights into their house to annoy them.  Or better yet, throw things against their house at 4:00 in the morning just to scare the old woman, maybe you’ll get lucky and she’ll have a heart attack.  Yes!  Intimidation tactics work well on women who live alone.  Or better yet, park your vehicles so that they face her house, using a ‘show of force’ to let that bitch know who’s boss!’  Yeah.

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It was Tuesday morning when I was placing my mail into my mailbox that the neighbor I write about above, was taking his children to school.  I avoided looking at him.  I have nothing to say, or any reason to acknowledge that family.  When he returned home he backed his big red truck into his driveway, literally taking up the entire space.  No other car could have parked on either side of him.  I thought that was funny seeing as how he had nothing to unload in the back.  Instead of seeing a big bad red truck with a big man driving it, I saw a Puffer Fish.

(Oh, and know this, people that drive red vehicles are more likely to get traffic tickets.  He should know.  I looked him up, and he had to pay big traffic court costs in his past.  Yeah.  Actually, I discovered in my research that white men in his income bracket and political affiliation tend to rack up big court costs from traffic violations.  It makes sense really, they don’t like to follow rules and laws, but they expect everyone else to.  In other words Freud was right, it really does all boil down to THAT.)

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Inflating One’s Self

The Puffer Fish are small, and they puff themselves up to appear larger than they really are in order to scare others.  This is generally something that men tend to do more so than women.

My response:  ‘Look at the cute little puffer fish!  Aren’t you so cute!  Yes, you are a big, bad, boy!  Oh, I’m so scared!’  🙂

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Yeah…

He may be a psychologist, but I know psychology.

I’m sure there had to be a class on ‘The Smartest Person In The Room?’  The Axel Foley Affect?  No?

Well… that explains a lot.

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To Continue…

On Thursday I drove into the Air Force Base to do some much needed shopping.  I hadn’t been there in awhile.  I was getting low on all my supplies.  When I do go into Tampa I tend to stock up on everything.  Especially bulky items.  Shopping on the base is much cheaper than the local grocery stores.  

Thursday’s Shopping

I left the house around 10:00 a.m. and I got home around 3:30 p.m.  As I was unloading my full car, (as you can see), my neighbor was leaving to go and pick up his children from school.  When he got back, I was still unloading my full car.  As he was pulling into his driveway I was placing a few bags inside my garage.  When I walked out of the garage to unload some more, all I saw was a FLASH!  A blur!!  I saw what looked like a flowered blouse dash into his garage.  It wasn’t a cool Aloha Hawaiian Shirt, it looked more like he had raided his mother’s closet and chose an old Laura Ashely blouse to go with his baggy shorts and flip flops.  He was in his garage before his children even exited the truck.  What I saw was a chickenshit running inside his house to get away, to hide.  I did learn something that day.  They haven’t told their children about any of this because otherwise his children would have been a bit awkward.  They weren’t.  They were just being normal teens.  

I do know that when we were being harassed by Leisa, John and Ed, the Gray Haired Bullies in our neighborhood, because we were Obama supporters, that I did tell our children about it so that they would be aware and alert, as in looking out for nails in the driveway, etc.  (I wrote about The Gray Haired Bullies years ago.  They are all dead now.  But my blog exposed their harassment of us, just like this blog is exposing this harassment from these people.)  

The more they give me something to write about, the more I will!

Julie

P.S.  I would wait for them to grow up but I don’t have that kind of time!

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One thing I have learned from all of this is that I need to be more aware of what goes on in my neighborhood.  Prior to this abuse and harassment, and before we put up cameras, I never really cared about what went on outside my front door.  Oh, there were times when I saw a car parked out front that I would look out the window to see who it was?  Especially if it was at night.  After all, I have had a cyber-stalker for over 30 years.  He has hired people in the past to photograph me, our cars, and our house.   Also, seeing as how I do live alone I feel more of a need to be aware of my surroundings.  Gordon is still working overseas, he will be home soon and we have a lot planned while he will be here.  He is looking into coming back permanently.  He is living and working in a danger zone after all.  And I do fill him in on the neighbors, and the neighborhood so that he is aware of it all.

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Just Some More Observations….

I have noticed throughout my community that I live in that there are ‘For Sale’ signs that have been up for quite a while.  I can remember when houses like that were snatched up quickly.

My nasty neighbors next door to me have had what looks like a giant panty shield wrapped around their chimney for about 5-6 months now.  I got a letter in the mail from their “roofers” dated October 24, 2025, informing me that their roof would be going up in a few weeks.  That was months ago.  Looks to me like they don’t have the money to get it fixed.  You know, I could complain to the HOA who could then force them into getting it fixed, or fine them until they do?  After all, I asked for a backyard studio and they nixed that because they said the neighbors may not like looking at it from their homes.  Well, do you think I enjoy looking at a giant panty shield wrapped around their chimney?  See, I can actually do more to these people then just write about them…  🙂

I have also noticed that a particular woman in the neighborhood has gone back to work full time.  Guess they must need the money?  That is why you go back to work, isn’t it?  What?  Is the current Administration’s economy not working for them anymore?  Well, you deserve and get what you vote for.  But sadly, so do the rest of us that knew better, voted better, etc.  we also will be getting exactly what they deserve.

When you vote for the political party that does for the lowest in our society, then everyone above that line will be o.k.  However, when you vote for the party that does only for the wealthy?  Then no one below that line will be o.k.   Hence, where we are today.

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You know, I really do hope that this will be my last blog entry on this page. 

But it really isn’t up to me, now is it?

Julie

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February 10, 2026

Just An Update:

Looks like the nasty neighbors next door are finally getting a new roof.

Good, because I’m tired of staring at that Panty Shield from our bedroom window.

 

Guess they finally came up with the money.

Julie

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February 14, 2026

P.S.  It’s a Cheap Roof

The nasty neighbors new roof is up.  Cheap materials were used, (paper, not laminate.)  Which is originally why they have had a bad roof all along.

It was back in 2011 when this couple who used to live across the street from us, but now reside in Texas, got several neighbors in our neighborhood to all go into getting new roofs together.  It was going to make it much cheaper for all, with Michael and Judy’s roof being either free or at a huge discount.  (Right wingers are very good at networking.  This is yet another example of that.)

We were asked if we wanted to go into it, but we said no.  It just didn’t feel right.  Good thing that we didn’t because every single family in our neighborhood that did that, got really shoddy, cheap roofs.  Of course Judy and Michael quickly sold their house and moved away before the true damage was revealed.   Every single neighbor that went in on that con have always had problems with their roofs, even shortly after they were installed, either to have them redone, or patched here and there.

The nasty neighbors new, ugly roof will probably last a good 7 years if they are lucky?  Perhaps they went the cheap root because they will be selling their house and moving soon?  🙂

One can hope!

However, realistically, worse can always move in.  But there is just something about that house that attracts the worst kind of human beings.  We have been here for 3 families that have lived in it.  None of them were ever worth knowing.

Julie

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May 14, 2026

Hoping This Will Be My Last Post Here

I think I will be taking down this website page from the Homepage.

Oh, it will still be on my website, just perhaps not on the front page.  You can still access it by saving the link into your Favorites, or using the Search button on my website.  I would much rather be blogging about recipes and gardening than a neighborhood asshole.

Some Advice As I Move On

First of all, moving on isn’t as easy as it seems like it would be.  I do sleep in the master bedroom now, only because my husband is back home from working overseas and I feel a little bit safer.  But, I still will not use our master bathroom.  I shower and do my skincare in the guest bathroom where I feel more comfortable.  I do blow dry my hair in the mornings in our main bathroom, but I am dressed and I don’t feel as vulnerable.  And I do my hair and make up in our master bathroom, but only when it is light outside.  I will not use the toilet in the master bathroom because I just don’t feel safe and comfortable whether it be day or night.  If I have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I walk all the way to the guest bathroom.  A long way to walk, but that is what abuse does to you.  It changes you.  This is why people are awarded money for pain and suffering.

Turn Your Log Over To The Police

Everything that you have been recording whether it be your typed or written log documenting the harassment and abuse, or the video/audio evidence that you have collected, or the photographic evidence you have collected, can be turned over to the police.  Make 3 copies of everything!  Keep one for yourself in a very safe place, give one to someone you trust for them to keep in a very safe place for you, and give the police the 3rd. copy of everything. 

You don’t have to file charges against the person that is harassing you, you are turning over your documentation that will be kept in your record for any future problems that may emerge with that person.  In which case, all you have to do is alert the police that you are filing charges, and then you go from there.  They already have your documentation on file.

If you are someone who retains an attorney on a regular basis, then make sure the attorney has everything, along with all of your receipts.  Also, document how this abuse has affected your life and relationships.  Have family members to add to the documentation as well.  Everything you can contribute will help your case.

Most likely my hot-headed neighbor will be getting into more trouble in the future.  Perhaps not with us, but with other people.  That is who he is.  If he can do this to me, a woman in her 60’s that he thought was all alone, then imagine what else he can do to other people or animals? 

Cowards prey on the most vulnerable.  Which reminds me of that hot-head from Washington State that threw that big rock at Lani, the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal in Maui.  There are only about 1600 of them left.  The Hawaiian people were rightly upset about it.  As we would be here in Florida if that hot-head had thrown some big rock at one of our Manatees.  It’s white privilege that motivates these kinds of people into doing such terrible things to other human beings and/or animals.

Karma Catches Up To Us ALL!

If you are in a situation where it looks like your abuser is getting away with it, I assure that you he isn’t.

My definition of Karma is something we do to ourselves.  I don’t believe it is some punishment from above, I believe it is life catching up to us.  If we keep doing ‘that thing’ that we are not supposed to do eventually ‘that thing’ will be our undoing.  The thing is that most people don’t stop doing ‘that thing’ unless they are made to.  And, they eventually get caught in ‘that thing’ because they never stop doing ‘that thing.’  Why don’t they stop?  Because they keep getting away with it so they figure they always will get away with it.  Let’s ask Bill Cosby about Karma.  Or O.J. Simpson, just to name a few.

I’ll give you an example. 

If someone shoplifts every day for 5 years and gets away with it, if they don’t stop then eventually they will get caught.  Either technology will catch up to them, security cameras will see them, or they will be witnessed by someone, or someone taking selfie’s might capture their stealing in the photograph on their phones.

But, if that person stops right now, they will most likely get away with everything they have stolen thus far.  However, that’s not how most humans react.  That’s not how most humans think.  They keep stealing because they’ve gotten away with it so far.  They also get sloppy.  Their arrogance gives them this sense of superiority, that is when they get caught.

You don’t have to take any revenge, they end up destroying themselves in the end.

 

The End,

Julie

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One More Thing:

It has been updated that the Hawaiian Monk Seal that was hit by that horrible Washington State man when he threw that huge rock, was not Lani.  NOAA has determined that it was a male Monk Seal that he hit.  I just wanted to clarify that.  I also wanted to state that the man is being charged with Harassment.  That is one of the charges.

I don’t think that most men understand what harassment is?  How is my nasty neighbor throwing things at my house doesn’t understand that is harassment?  Just like the man from Washington State.  Perhaps men should attend classes on being respectful?  It would also benefit them.  Otherwise they will just end up in prison eventually for their actions and behaviors.

 

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July 27, 2026

I Brought Back My:

What It’s Like To Be Cyber-Stalked

I also did an update on the website page.  I took it down for personal reasons but I decided to bring it back.  I will also be slowly bringing back my many other personal blog pages.  I took them down because of the climate in our country that we are living through right now.   Intelligence is the enemy in our country right now, where ignorance is thriving.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typing with Julie in 1965, (I mean Blogging with Julie in 2025)  Dear Diary…

Typing with Julie in 1965, (I mean Blogging with Julie in 2025) Dear Diary…

        Dear Dairy… Olive Films (I just liked the logo.) Today I rearranged the cans in the pantry and dusted them off while wearing my new full skirt I sewed last week for the church picnic, and the pearls that my husband 

Wednesday’s CLUE

Wednesday’s CLUE

    Welcome to Wednesday’s CLUE Don’t Blink!  It’s Wednesday! ——————————————————- If you know me, or have read me, then you know how much I love CLUE. Any version, every version.  It’s my game! This year, 2024, was no different.  This CLUE isn’t as elaborate 

A Haunted Jezebel, Together With A Haunted Mansion Halloween Repast

A Haunted Jezebel, Together With A Haunted Mansion Halloween Repast

 

 

 

 

October, 2024

Morning, Foolish Mortals

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Gifts of Haunted Mansion Coffees and Mugs for our Foolish Mortal Family Members

Bones Coffee Company

Bones Coffee Company

Bones Coffee Company is located here in Florida’s Cape Coral. 

It is excellent coffee and I love buying from local company’s.

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Julie and Gordon

On Our Way To The Haunted Mansion Halloween Party at Veronica, Brian’s and Isabelle’s House

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Ghoulie’s A Haunted Jezebel Sauce

I Love To Create Jezebel Sauces Based On My Favorite Jezebel’s

Looks Like You Are Seeing Double!

I Do Consider Myself An Honorary Ghoul(ie)

(Recipe Down Below)

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We Have Arrived at the Kelleher’s Haunted Mansion

He Must Be The Groundskeeper

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September 1, 2024

Our Son-In-Law Brian’s 40th. Birthday!

(This preempted our Halloween Party below.)

Brian loves The Haunted Mansion Ride at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, and he loves my Brunswick Stew,

so I incorporated the two and came up with this.

Sort of a Haunted Stew  🙂

The Wishbone is from the chicken I used to make the Brunswick Stew

Brian and Veronica are already Getting into the Halloween Spirit at their house.

I Set Everything Up for Them To Enjoy

Their Dining Room

Happy Birthday Brian!  Have a Haunting Day!

Julie and Gordon

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If you would like the recipe for my Brunswick Stew above:

Click Here For Brunswick Stew, Cheese Straws, and Angel Food Cake

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Giving The Gift of Ghost Pepper Aioli to our Favorite Mortals

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The Real Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion was based on this house in Savannah, Georgia.

The Inspiration for The Haunted Mansion at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

The home was owned by someone we used to know, her name was Nancy Hillis and here is her real life ghost story……

So, Nancy is living in Savannah, working as a nightclub singer and owning a B&B that her ex-husband, Charlie, helped her buy.  Nancy lived in the basement apartment and rented out the upper floors to tourists.  She came and went as her schedule revolved around her nightclub job.  She may have had one or two more jobs at that time but the one that sticks out most in my mind was that one. 

Click Here for:  Nancy’s Bed and Breakfast, Hamilton Turner Inn

They say Disney’s Haunted Mansion was based on this house.

Nancy would decorate her B&B with nice furniture and somehow, she came across a portrait of a Yankee soldier and hung it on the wall.  I don’t remember which room but obviously she would have hung it somewhere like the living room, dining room, or even a sitting room.  Somewhere out in the open for the guests that stayed there to view.  Interestingly enough, every morning she would find that portrait of that Yankee soldier sitting on the floor beneath where it was hung.  It was never broken, it didn’t fall, it was placed there.  Even when she was all alone in the house every morning that portrait would be sitting there on the floor as if gently placed there.  Nancy finally got the hint and put the portrait away in a closet.  (How many people do you know that care to respect a ghost’s wishes?)  So, was it a ghost?  Savannah has a reputation for being haunted, so why not?  The house was built on top of graves.  They moved the headstones, not the graves.  Yet another “unexplained” event.  We in the south believe in ghosts.  We’ve even seen a few. 

If you would like to read more about Nancy, and hear of a few more ghost stories, then float on over to my Ghost Writer post.  🙂

Click Here For:  Ghost Writer

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The Haunted Mansion Halloween Party

The Headless Horseman of The Haunted Mansion

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The Hitchhiking Ghosts in Shadow

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The Buffett

This is what Brian set up on their Haunted Mansion Buffet

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The Tapestry’s

From the book, The haunted Mansion, this is the Imagineering of the dinner.

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Our Haunted Mansion Halloween Party Dinner Table Inspiration

Brodie and Mackenzie

The Lovely Dining Room

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Me Julie, Admiring The Tapestry’s

(This actually gave me the inspiration to add the banner’s for my Harry Potter Christmas. 

I really wouldn’t even thought to do it had I not seen how great this looked.)

The Grave Digger’s Lasagna

A Haunted Jezebel’s Bags of Mystery

Our Flavored Olive Oils with Dipping Bread

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Mere Mortals Mingling

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Veronica and Isabelle

Brian and Isabelle

Mackenzie and Isabelly

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A Trio of Bruschetta’s, and a Pesto Pine Nut Cheeseball

Mother and Daughter, Veronica and Isabelle

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Our Cheeseballs

Vintage Dried Beef Cheeseball

Pesto-Pine Nut Cheeseball

(Recipes Down Below)

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Our Grave Digger’s Lasagna

(Recipe Down Below)

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Italian Inspired Green Beans Topped With American Bacon

(Recipe Down Below)

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Blueberry Pancakes w/ Blueberry Lemon Ice Cream in the Center,

Topped w/ Whipped Cream, and A Haunted Jezebel Sauce

Haunted Pancake Ice Cream Sandwiches…

with Green Gummy’s

(Recipe Down Below)

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Just a Deathly Mood

Who Doesn’t Love Dead Flowers?

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A Moody Dessert

Reworked Blueberry Pancake/Ice Cream Whipped Cream Haunted Jezebel Sundaes

(Recipe Down Below)

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Spooky Graveyard Brownies

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(Recipe Down Below)

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A Bit of Comic Relief  🙂

I purchased this Haunted Mansion shirt for Gordon overseas. 

It arrived way too small.  European sizing.  We were laughing so hard!  🙂 

We ended up giving it to our son Brodie.  It fit him better.

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Haunted Halloween Night Treats

I have this lovely platter with many bowls that fit inside of it. 

I wanted to buy some mini treats to place into each bowl.  Some vintage candies came to mind.

Sweet Nibbles to those Floating By….

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Can I Tempt You For A Haunted Treat?

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A Haunted Jezebel Gifts For My Favorite Ghouls and Ghosts

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Ready To Make My Haunted Jezebel Sauce

(Me, Holding My Ghoulie Self- Portrait)

I Am Basing My Haunted Jezebel Sauce on Constance, The Black Widow Bride

But, I also wanted to do a Shout-Out to Madame Leota.

Madame Leota is the Dismembered Medium

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The Haunted Mansion

Imagineering a Disney Classic

by, Jason Surrell

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If you have ever ridden The Haunted Mansion ride at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, then you will have likely seen the Ghostly Bride.  

“Till Death Do Us Part.”

Constance, The Black Widow Bride

The Gold-Digging Seductress with a taste of the finer things. 

Constance improved her station through each of her five marriages.  

Our Wedding Days

Ambrose and Constance, 1869

Constance and Frank

The Marquise and Constance, 1874

Reginald and Constance, 1875

George and Constance, 1877

RIP Constance….

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Creating A Haunting Jezebel (Sauce)

I Based This on a Boo-Berry, (Blue Berry)  Template

I also took into mind America’s British influence at the time of the creation of The Haunted Mansion Ride.  I can remember as a child of the 60’s, there being a strong French and British influence.  Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, just to name a few.  Therefore, I chose ingredients with all of that in mind.  I also took into mind that Disney World is located in Florida, and I wanted to toss in a Florida influence into the pot.

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Ingredients:

Large Cooking Pots, and a Ladle

(I will give you the ingredients for making one batch.  If you want to double, or triple the ingredients then that is up to you.)

4, 12 Ounce Jars of Pineapple Preserve Topping

3-4 Jars, 17 Ounces, of Apple Jelly

3-4, 12 oz. Jars, Currant Jelly

4, 10 oz. Polander All Fruit Blueberry Jars

3.53 oz. Jar Colman’s Mustard

8 oz. Seminole Honey Mustard Sauce (I probably used 4 oz. of it)

Wasabi Mustard, Squirt to Taste

4 t. Black Himalayan Salt

Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (As many dashes as you like)

About 2 lb.’s Fresh Blueberry’s, washed

As Always, Taste As You Go

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Many Jars, Lids, and Rings

Large Pot For Canning, Along With Canning Tools

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The Top Hat Far Right, is a Shout-Out to The Haunted Mansions own Mad Hatter

All of Ghoulie’s Ingredients

Before you start, you want to place all of your jars into the dishwasher to sanitize them for the canning process.  You can wash your lids and rings in soapy water, then allow to dry, and place into a container or zip lock baggies until time for use.  You want to keep them sterile.

Wearing My Haunted Mansion Pajamas

My Ghoulish Photo was actually taken in 2014 at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion gift shop. 

They do have a photography studio there.  At least they did back then.  🙂

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Making A Haunted Jezebel

Rinsing My Blueberry’s

I Have 3 Pots Here

The tall green one is for my Jezebel Sauce, the large silver one right, is for canning, and there is a small silver pot in back of the green one that will sterilize the jar lids.

I have the large silver pot, and the small silver pot on a low simmer for when I need to use them.  They are filled with water and ready.

Ready to Start Opening Jars

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Turn the stove burner onto a low and start adding the many jars of ingredients to the pot.

The Hardest Part Is Opening All Of Them

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I Added All The Jars and Mixed Them Together

Adding the Fresh Blueberry’s, and bringing the temp up to a Medium-High Heat

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Always Taste As You Go

I am now adding the rest of the ingredients.

It’s time to bring the temp back down to a simmer.  We just really wanted to cook the fresh Blueberry’s. 

Now that they are a bit caramelized, it’s time to just simmer away on a low heat.

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It’s Looking Really Good!

The Last Ingredients Are The Ghostly Ingredients

Just Add A Few Shakes Of These GHOST PEPPER SAUCES

It’s Ready!

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Gordon Does The Canning Process

Using a Funnel and Adding the Jezebel to the Jars

Fill the jars with a ladle leaving about 1 inch of head space which is the space from the top of the sauce to the top of the jar.

  This space is needed to create a vacuum when the jars are in the boiling water.  

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Make sure to place a nice cushiony mat on your countertop to protect it, and something absorbable when the jars are removed from the canning pot.  They will be wet.

Wipe the top of the jar clean with a wet paper towel.  This will create a good seal between the lid and the jar.

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Remember when I mention above of a smaller silver pot in back of the tall green one?  That small pot is filled with water and the lids that go on the jars are simmering to sterilize and soften that seal…..

The lids in water that are heated just under a boil for about 10 min. are to sterilize the lids.  Using a magnetized stick, remove the lids from the water and place them on the jars.  Like so.  So not touch the lid.  See photos directly above.

Photo Top right:  Place the rings around the jars just snug and not tight which will allow the air to escape creating a vacuum. 

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These Jars Are Ready For Canning

 Place the closed jars under water where you should see bubbles leaving the jars.

  Boil the jars for 15 min.  This is the canning process.

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When 15 min. are done, remove the jars with the tongs and place on a hand towel or mat to cool.

Wiping The Water Off The Jar Tops and Rings

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You should begin to hear the jars pop as the vacuum pulls the lid down.  Some jars don’t have a button top and will not pop, but will be in the down position.  Any jar that didn’t pop or lid not in the down position needs to be re-done.  It could be that the jar didn’t have a good seal, or there isn’t enough head space.  Use a new lid, check the seal by wiping the top of the jar, and remove a touch of the sauce.  Place the jar back under water and boil again for another 15 min. until sealed.

I was able to acquire the Madame Leota heads to place on the top of our lids as an accent.

I also had some old little ghost toys that I placed and glued on top of some of the jar lids. 

Now they are ready to give as gifts.

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Party Recipes Start Here

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A Good Salad Is Always A Great Idea

The nice thing about serving a large salad is that you can wash all of the ingredients ahead of time, keep them fresh in storage baggies or Tupperware Containers.  Just keep in the refrigerator and combine when ready to serve.  

Also washing other Vegetables for the additional food items.

Something to prepare the day before that will save time the day of the party.

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A Haunted Jezebel, Bags of Mystery

Just Add A Few Ghostly Picks

(Sausages were once called ‘Bags of Mystery’ because the only person who knew what was in them was the butcher.)

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Ingredients:

Li’L Smokies Sausages

I love these sausages!  They work so great here, and taste delicious.

A Haunted Jezebel Sauce

Rinse The Smokie Sausages in Water and Set Aside

You will need a few Resealable Bags and a jar or two of A Haunted Jezebel Sauce

Combine The Two

You just want to add enough of the Haunted Jezebel to cover the Sausages.

Now, place into the refrigerator for a day or two to marinate.

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When I am ready to cook the Sausages, I remove them from the Refrigerator, and drain them into a Collander in the sink. 

Do NOT rinse them!

Now, transfer them to a casserole dish for baking.  Turn the oven on 400F.

  While the oven comes to temp, add some more of the Haunted Jezebel to the Sausages.

Now Place Into The Oven For About 45 Minutes

Bake Until Nice And Plump

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Our Cheeseballs

(These Can Be Made The Day Before To Save Time)

Vintage Dried Beef Cheese Ball

Ingredients:

Jar of Dried Beef

3, 8 oz. Cream Cheese

1 Medium Onion, Chopped

3 t. Worchestershire Sauce

2 t. Accent Seasoning (Monosodium Glutamate)

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(I couldn’t find the recipe card on this Cheeseball so I copied and pasted this from an older post where we also served this Cheeseball.)

Let soften your Cream Cheeses.  In the meantime chop your onion. 

Dried Beef

(This is also the main ingredient in Chip Beef on Toast.  Something I ate a lot of in Charlotte, North Carolina in the early 80’s.)

You want to chop up your dried beef into small pieces, like so.

Add the dried beef to your softened cream cheese and chopped onions.

Although I don’t have a photo here, I did add the rest of the ingredients to the cheese ball and I worked it, mixing all the ingredients together with my hands.  It’s messy but it is the best way to incorporate everything.

Once it is fashioned into a large ball then place it back into the refrigerator overnight so that all the flavors can blend together in harmony.  🙂

You can also roll the cheeseball in pieces of the Dried Beef to give it a nice look.

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Pesto Pine Nut Cheeseball

(Here I am Roasting Some Pine Nuts on the Stove Top on a Medium-Heat to turn them a little bit Brown.  This gives a nice Flavor to them.  I am Roasting quite a bit not only for this Cheeseball, but for the Gravediggers Lasagna as well.)

Ingredients:

2, 8 0z. Cream Cheese, Softened

2-3 T. Basil Pesto

2-3 T. Fresh Chopped Basil

Toasted Pine Nuts

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(You could also add a few Garlic Cloves, minced, and maybe even some Onion, chopped, if you like.  Or even some Onion Powder.)

In a medium size bowl you want to add your Cream Cheese to soften. 

Then just dollop in a few Tablespoons of any Pesto that you like.  We are using a Basil Pesto here.

Chop some Fresh Basil Leaves and add to the bowl.

Combine all of the ingredients together. 

It really is best if you use your hands.  Roll into a ball and refrigerate.

Roll the Cheeseball in the Roasted Pine Nuts and then serve with either bread of crackers.

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Italian Inspired Green Beans Topped With American Bacon

With Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, here is a great Green Bean recipe for those family occasions or your holiday work parties.  This would even make a great gift!

As you can see it makes a good amount and looks great.  I believe there are never enough vegetable dishes at these work events, and your family will love the change.

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First Up:  Frying The Bacon

This was some nice thick sliced bacon… a crowd pleaser for sure.

Ingredients:

5 Thick sliced bacon strips – cooked and save ~1/4 cup of the bacon fat!

1 White Onion – diced

7-8 Mushrooms – Sliced thinly, I used baby portobella

2 Garlic Cloves – chopped

Freshly Ground Black Pepper, and Sea Salt to taste

2 Bags Frozen Green Beans – thawed in microwave

Two Medium Heirloom Tomatoes – chopped

1 Roma Tomato – chopped

3 oz. Bag Sun-Dried Tomato Halves

½ Cup Roasted Red Bell Pepper Strips

5 oz. Sliced Water Chestnuts – drained

~1/4 Extra Virgin Cup Olive Oil for Green Beans

3 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Cup Olive Oil for casserole dish

½ Cup Pecorino Romano Cheese – grated

For topping – ¼ Cup Pecorino Romano Cheese – grated

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Again, cook your bacon and save the fat. 

We like to use Julie’s Grandmothers Cast Iron skillet for this as it retains the heat and cooks the bacon evenly.

Pour your bacon fat into another large skillet as seen.

Slice and dice your White Onion and over medium heat, sauté your onion.

Stir occasionally.

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In the meantime, slice your Button Mushrooms and Garlic.

Once your onions become translucent, add your mushroom slices.

Add your Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper to taste.  Stir all your ingredients occasionally.

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While those are cooking, place your green beans into a covered glass bowl and microwave until just cooked… about 8 min. or so.

Drain the partially cooked green beans into the sink, using your gloves to keep the lid on. Add cold water over them while in the bowl to stop the cooking process.  Drain them again with the lid on and place them into a large bowl for later use.  Your bowl has to be large enough to hold all the ingredients in this recipe and have room to stir them together.

Here you can see the mushroom and onions are well cooked to the caramelized stage. 

Meaning the onions are nicely browned, making them sweet.

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Slice, then chop your tomatoes.

Here I sliced them into long strips, then chopped those strips in half.  I wanted them to stay chunky.

Add the tomatoes, and garlic to your pan as shown.

Mix all the ingredients together and continue to cook over medium heat.

Time to add the Sun-Dried Tomatoes.  I added these because they have a concentrated tomato flavor and will give the dish some texture.

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Now, add your Roasted Red Bell Pepper Strips to the pan.

So far, so good!

Stir all the ingredients together.

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Open your can of Sliced Water Chestnuts and drain them well into your sink. 

Then add all of them to the pan as shown.  The Water Chestnuts will give some great crunch to the dish.

Mix all the ingredients together. 

Here you can see the chopped tomatoes breaking down almost creating a sauce.

For some nice authentic flavor, add Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the Green Beans. 

You want to add just enough Olive Oil to coat the Green Beans.

 

Give them a gentle stir.

Add your pan cooked vegetables to your bowl of green beans and gently stir them together.

Grate ~½ Cup of your Pecorino Romano Cheese over them.

Stir all the ingredients and look at all that goodness.

Add a few Tbsp. of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to your large baking dish then add all of your Green Bean ingredients.

Beautiful, and only a few more steps to go.  Now, turn your oven to 350’F.

Grate more of your Pecorino Romano Cheese over the top of your casserole.

Break the bacon into nice sized pieces and add them to your casserole.  You could freeze this to have for a later date.  Simply wrap it all over with a few layers of plastic wrap, followed by some Aluminum Foil.  This would also make a great gift!

Bake the casserole for about 20-25 min. or until the cheese is melted and the top of the casserole becomes slightly browned.  If frozen, remove from the freezer to thaw, then bake in your 350’F oven covered with aluminum foil for about 30 min. Check the center to ensure it is hot, then uncover for 10 min. to brown. 

This was an excellent addition to our meal.

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Grave Digger’s Lasagna

(The Ingredients you see Below Were Made for TWO Large Lasagna’s.  One to Eat, One to Freeze.)

Ingredients:  (Where Do I Even Start?)

(You can always half the ingredients in order to make just one large Lasagna.)

3, 16 oz. Lasagna Pasta Noodles (You may not use all of them, but you will use most of them.)

5 Jars Various Pasta Sauces (Around 24 to 32 oz. Each)

2, 1b. Italian Sausage, Sweet and Hot

3, 2 lb. Container’s of Ricotta Cheese

1, 16 oz. Container Cottage Cheese

Crinkle Cut Carrots (About 2 Cups)

2, 14 oz. Bags of Frozen Broccoli, Thawed and Drained

4-6 Large Whole Garlic Cloves, Minced

1/4 Cup or as Much as you Like of Italian Style Bread Crumbs

Sliced Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

8 oz. Blocks of Parmesan and Parmesan-Reggiano Cheese, Grated

Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste

Fresh Herbs of Basil, Oregano, and Parsley, as much as you want

Topping:  7.9 oz. Basil Pesto

High End Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Drizzling Overtop

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So Excited and Ready To Get Started

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The first thing that I want to do is to brown my Sausage in a large sauce pan on a medium-high heat.

  The pan is a non-stick and I don’t need to add any Olive Oil.  The Sausage will provide the fat needed.

Some of my Sausage is in casings.  You just want to slit the casing open to remove the Sausage so that it can be browned evenly.

I’m using a combination of Sweet and Hot Sausage.

In the meantime, I have placed my Frozen Broccoli into a microwave safe casserole dish, with a lid, in order to thaw and cook my Broccoli.  You can always use fresh Broccoli if you like.  I’ve used both in the past and I don’t find that it matters much if you use Fresh or Frozen.  I find that keeping Frozen Broccoli in the freezer to use for recipes like this comes in handy.

Cook the Broccoli according to your Microwave’s directions for Thawing and Cooking Frozen Vegetables.

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While my Sausage is browning in the sauce pan I am mincing some Garlic Cloves.  Gordon and I used to chop so much Garlic that it would take forever to mince all that up into such small bits.  Now, we just grab this wonderful tool and squeeze to have it turn out exactly how we want it and in just a few seconds.  I’m mincing about 4-5 large Garlic Cloves in the photo above.  You can use as much or as little as you like.  We just LOVE Garlic!

Broccoli Ready…

Here I am draining the water out of the casserole dish and into the sink.

  Then filling the casserole dish with cold water for the Broccoli to sit in so that it will stop the cooking process.

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My Sausage and Garlic have finished browning. 

I used the spatter screen you see in the photo above to drain the excess fat into the sink. 

Just make sure your Sausage doesn’t fall into the sink as well.  

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In a very large pot on the stove top on a high heat, start boiling your water to cook the Lasagna Noodles in. 

Add a bit of Salt to the water.

While that comes to a boil….

Make Sure the Fresh Herbs are Clean and Dry

Fresh Herbs, Carrots, and the Broccoli

The Carrots have been washed and the water is being drained from them.

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Now that my water has come up to boiling…

It’s time to add the Lasagna Noodles

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My Ricotta Cheese

In two separate bowls I will be mixing the Ricotta Cheese with other things. 

I am evenly dividing up all 3 containers to place into the two bowls.

In this bowl I am placing in some Fresh Parsley Leaves. 

I don’t chop them I just pluck the flowering end off and add it to the bowl.

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My Lasagna Noodles are Done!

Time to Drain into a Colander

Allow to Cool a Bit

Keep them in the sink because you may need to add water to the noodles

if they start to harden up while you are still working with them building your Lasagna.

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Into the Second Bowl of Ricotta…

Place a Nice Basil Pesto, as much as you Like

(Reserve some of the Pesto as a Lasagna topping.)

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Here Gordon is Chopping Some Basil…

To be Equally Distributed into Each Bowl

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Our Two Casserole Dishes

Coat Both Well With a Cooking Oil Spray, Bottom and Sides

(One we are giving to Veronica and Brian as a gift, along with this great Lasagna that it will house, and the other is ours to place into the freezer for a later date.)

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My Various Jars of Spaghetti Sauces

In the bottom of each casserole dish place enough of the Sauce to cover the bottom.

  You just need a nice thin layer.

Now, place down a layer of the Lasagna Noodles over the Sauce.

Like So

Now place some of your Herby Ricotta Cheese.

Spread out a nice later.  Use a spatula.

Then add more of the Lasagna Noodles over the Ricotta Cheese and then add a layer of yet another Spaghetti Sauce.

Like So

Time for a nice layer of the Sausage.

Then top with more Lasagna Noodles.

More Ricotta Cheese….

More Sauce….

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Remember our Broccoli?  Time to add it here.

Cooking and Softening the Carrots in the Microwave

Adding Slices of Fresh Mozzarella Over the Broccoli

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Cottage Cheese

Dolloping spoons of Cottage Cheese between the slices of Mozzarella Cheese Slices, photo top left.

My Carrots are cooked the ready, time to add them over top.

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Italian Bread Crumbs

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Here I did sprinkle some of the Italian Bread Crumbs from above, over the top. 

Maybe about 1/4 Cup?

Now it’s time for more Lasagna Noodles

You can see them beginning to get hard in the photos above. 

When this happens you can just add more water over top underneath the sink faucet and that will get them pliable again.

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Time For More Ricotta Cheese….

Dollop as much as you like and smooth over with a spatula.

Here I Added Fresh Herbs of Oregano

Then Top With More Lasagna Noodles

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Time to Top Them Off With the Remaining Spaghetti Sauce

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We Have Built Our Lasagna Up To The Very TOP!

Now It’s Time To Grate Our Parmesan Blocks Of Cheese

Grate As Much As You Like

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We Then Topped This Lasagna With The Leftover Basil Pesto, and a Drizzle of Really Nice Extra Virgin Olive Oil Overtop

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Place Into a 350F Oven for About 45 Minutes.

Be sure to check it at about 30 minutes to make sure it isn’t burning on top. 

You can always cover it with Aluminum Foil to prevent it from burning.

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Allow To Cool A Bit

It’s Looking So Beautiful!

Delicious too!

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A Haunted Jezebel Blueberry Pancake Ice Cream Sandwich

Frozen Blueberry Pancakes

Baked According to Package Directions

Lemon/Blueberry Ice Cream

(I tried to find Blueberry Ice Cream and I just couldn’t.  This Lemon/Blueberry was the closest that I could find.  It was a bit sour.)

Blueberry Pancakes, Cool Whip, Lemon/Blueberry Ice Cream, A Haunted Jezebel, Fresh Blueberry’s, and some Green Ghoulish Gummy’s

I sliced the Ice Cream into 1 inch rounds, to place onto my Pancakes…

 

Topped with a Pancake and some of my Haunted Jezebel along with some Cool-Whip, and some Fresh Blueberry’s.

It was all quite delicious!

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Spooky Graveyard Brownies

According to Gordon, these are the best Brownies he has ever eaten!

They are also so easy to make.  Sometimes we cook from scratch, and other times we like to make an event a bit easier on us by just jazzing something that is already delicious, even more so.  Here is one of those cases.

This is for a Large Casserole Sized Dish

Ingredients:

2, 12.35 oz. Pillsbury Zero Sugar Brownie Mix, Chocolate Fudge

(Make according to the package directions.)

Mini Marshmallows, as many as you like, I just threw in a few handfuls

Dried Cherries, as many as you like, about a cup or more

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Brownie Toppings

A sprinkling of Jet-Puffed Bits, Vanilla Marshmallows

A sprinkling of Candied Toppings shaped like Bones

As many Candied Eyes, to make it Spooky

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The first thing you do is to make the Brownie mixes in a large bowl, following the package instructions.

You next want to add to the bowl, the Dried Cherries and Marshmallows, stir together.

Add the mixture to a large casserole dish, sprayed with a Cooking Oil Spray to coat.  Then bake according to package directions.

NOTE:  (You will want to insert a toothpick into the Brownie’s to determine they are done.  BUT, understand that you may be inserting the toothpick into a gooey marshmallow, believing the Brownie’s to not be done.  Don’t be fooled into thinking they aren’t done when they just might be.  Try inserting a toothpick into a section of Brownie that isn’t a gooey marshmallow to determine if they are truly done.)

When Done, Remove From Oven and Immediately add the Toppings, then Cool.

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The Tombs at Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion

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The Graveyard

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The Tomb of the Many Wives of a Widower

The Pet Cemetery

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Buying Collectible Pins

I am a Pin Collector.  Every time I go to the park I always buy a few to add to  my collection. 

I have two bags where I put them.  This black bag is more for Halloween, whereas my green bag is more for the rest of the year.

Happy Collecting!

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Disney’s Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion for’ Mickey’s Not So Scary’ Halloween Nights

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The Nighttime Graveyard

The Talking Busts

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BEWARE OF HITCHHIKING GHOSTS

The Hitchhiking Ghosts..

have been a favorite of many for years now.

Who didn’t like them hitchhiking onto our Haunted Mansion Doom Buggies?

Always fun, Always Comical,

Always Exciting!

Here they are flashing onto the home of Veronica and Brian.

Happy Haunting Halloween!

————————————————————————————————–

 

Have a Very Happy Haunted Mansion Halloween,

Julie and Gordon, Veronica, Brian and Isabelle, Brodie and Mackenzie

 

BOO!!!!

 

 

Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights: RIP Tour

Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights: RIP Tour

    Our Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights R.I.P. TOUR 2019 Gordon and Julie WELCOME UNIVERSAL ORLANDO For Gordon’s homecoming I wanted to do something special for all of us.  Veronica is always going on and on about all the great haunted houses at Universal 

Southern Fried Shortcut

Southern Fried Shortcut

 

 

 

 

Hey Y’all!

Every now and then I need to go back home.  Oh, not literally. 

But with my Tongue Feelers.  You know, Taste Buds?

Growing up throughout the south you get a hankering for something Deep Fried, Black-eyed, Field Picked, and Green.

And all the other fun stuff in between.

That is what I want to put here.  I do hope to fill this page with some of my Old Southern Favorites that I miss so much.  So, come on in and sit a spell while I whip us up some good ol’ home cooking.

Holler if ya need me!

Julie

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Southern Wild Rice with Pecans and Dried Cherries

Don’t Forget The Hot Sauce

Chicken Gizzard Po’ Girls, Corn on the Cob, Catfish, and a Leftover Bowl of Brunswick Stew

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The Star Food on this Table is the Southern Wild Rice

Sometimes It’s The Sides That Shine

(Recipe Down Below)

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Julie’s Corn Pepper Muffins

With a Side of Lightening Bugs  🙂

(My recreation anyway.)

(Recipe Down Below)

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My Pepper Butter

Before Left, and Buttered, Right!

With Tabasco

(Recipe Down Below)

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If You Would Like To Check Out My Brunswick Stew:

Click Here For:  Brunswick Stew and Barbeque

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Southern Fried Recipes Start Right Here

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Southern Wild Rice with Pecans and Dried Cherries

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Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Wild Rice

2 Cups Water

2 1/4 Cups Vegetable Broth

1 T. Margarine or Butter

3/4 – 1 Cup Toasted Pecans

4 Garlic Cloves, Crushed

1 1/4 Cup Dried Cherries

3 T. Spicy Chili Onion Crisp

Table Salt and Pepper to Taste (This is the South after all, nothing fancy here.)

And, as much Fresh Parsley as you want.

——————————————————————————–

Gathering All My Utensils and Ingredients

You First Want To Rinse The Wild Rice Thoroughly, Then Allow To Drain

Place The Rice Into A Wok, or Large Sauce Pan, Add the Water, Vegetable Broth, and Butter.

Bring to a Boil over a Medium-High Heat.

When It Comes To A Boil, Turn Heat Down To Simmer

Cover, and Allow To Simmer for about 20-25 Minutes.

When the rice has absorbed all the water, keep it on a very low heat.

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Time To Crush The Garlic Cloves

Now, Add Them To The Rice

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The Pecans

Place the Pecans into a Skillet, and Toast them on a Medium Heat until a bit Browned, but not Burned.

The Pecans and the Rice

Time To Add Some Table Salt and Pepper to the Rice

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I Toasted The Pecans in my Cast Iron Skillet, Now I am Adding the Rice Overtop

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Time To Add The Dried Cherries, As Many As You Like

Now For The Spicy Chili Onion Crisp

Add As Much As You Like Per Your Personal Tastes

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Now It’s Time To Add The Fresh Parsley

And the Pepper Sauce (Hot Sauce)

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Beautiful Corn

I didn’t want anything fancy here.  Just some delicious Corn on the Cob as a nice addition to this meal.

Just boil some water and add the corn.  Cook on a medium-high heat until the cob is a bit tender.  You can follow package instructions.

When Done, Remove From the Water, Pat Dry, Add Corn Holders and some Butter!

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Chicken Gizzard Po’Girls

In the south we do so love the Chicken Gizzards.  You will even find them around the Salad Bars at some local restaurants.  I had been craving my old Chicken Gizzards, that’s when I decided to make this sandwich.  I really didn’t want to do any pickin’ or fryin’, so I visited a local restaurant that did all of that for me.  I knew it was a good place to eat given the amount of African-Americans in the restaurant.  They know Southern food!

My additions, are what goes into the Po’Girls.

Here We Go!

Ingredients:

You Will Need Some Sort of Hoagie Buns

Slaw, Raw or with the Fixin’s (Meaning, you can add Coleslaw plain, or with the dressing.)

Honey Dijon Dressing (Or any that you like to add over the top of the Po’Girl.)

Sliced Jalapeno Peppers

Chopped Pepper Salad

Fresh Chives, Snipped

Fresh Parsley, Over top

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Creating The Po’Girls With the Catfish on the Side

(The Catfish I also purchased at a local Southern restaurant here.)

Use a Bread Knife to Cut Out the Top of the Hoagie Buns

Now, Fill the Hoagie Buns with the Pepper Salad, and Raw Coleslaw

Then Add Your Chicken Gizzards, Chives, Jalapeno’s, and Dressing.

Top With Fresh Parsley

Look How Beautiful!  And Delicious!

Git Ta Eatin!

DIG IN!

Julie Barefoot

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My Corn Pepper Muffins

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Ingredients:

Peppers!

I Used Jalapeno, Poblano, and Chilaca, use as Many as you Like

Making Corn Bread

Half of the ingredients that you see above are listed on the container of Corn Meal. 

I am using that recipe to make my Cornbread, I’m just adding the additions that will make it my Corn Pepper Muffins.

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My Additions:

(The Peppers, Cleaned, Seeds Removed, and Cut into Short Strips)

Shallots, Chopped

1 Can of Mexicorn, Drained

Spices:

Tabasco Spicy Salt Blend

Onion Powder

Cajun’s Choice Blackened Seasoning

Cayenne Pepper

Chili Powder

Jalapeno Sea Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

(The amounts really are up to you.  I used about a 1/2 t. of each.)

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I Used Crisco To Grease My Large Muffin Tins

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Chopped All My Shallots Whether I Used All of Them or Not

(I will need them in the next recipe.)

———————————————————————————-

The Peppers

Slice each pepper, remove the seeds, rinse them out…

Like so…

Then you want to slice them into short strips.

———————————————————————————

Making My Cornbread According to Package Directions.

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My Secret Ingredients:

Tabasco Spicy Salt, and Jalapeno Sea Salt

—————————————————————————

Combining My Cornbread Ingredients:

The Dry Ingredients

The Wet Ingredients

Beating My Eggs

Adding Vegetable Oil…

Adding My Spices to the Cornbread Batter

Adding a Handful of my Shallots

Mix Together

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All My Beautiful Peppers

—————————————————————————————-

Time For The Assembly

Turn Your Oven on 400F

I placed a few of my Peppers into the bottom of the large muffin tin.

  I then added some of the Cornbread batter over them.

I then added more peppers over the top and pushed them down with my fingers to make sure they were covered with the batter.  Although I wanted many of the peppers to be on the top.

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Into The Oven They Go!

These Actually Took Around 20 Minutes To Bake

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Fresh Out of the Oven and Cooling on the Racks

(You can insert a toothpick to make sure they are done.  If the toothpick comes out clean, they are ready.)

I Love How They Look!  It Is Exactly How I Envisioned!

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Out of the Tins and Cooling Further

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Add a Few Squirts of Tabasco  🙂

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Leftover Peppers for my Pepper Butter

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The Potatoes Here Are Some of What My Butter Will Go On

(I just need to bake them.)

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My Pepper Butter

Ingredients:

3, 8 oz. Unsalted Butter

My Leftover Peppers From the Recipe Above:

Jalapeno, Poblano, and Chilaca

5-6 Fresh Garlic Cloves

Chopped Shallots, About a Handful

Spices:

Tabasco Spicy Salt Blend, (About 30 Shakes)

Onion Powder

Cajun’s Choice Blackened Seasoning

Cayenne Pepper

Chili Powder

Jalapeno Sea Salt

(I used a teaspoon of all of the above spices.)

Fresh Cilantro, a Bunch

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My Unsalted Butter Had Been Softening For About 2 Hours

I Then Cut It Into Cubes and Placed It Into My Blender Here

I Used a Medium Setting on the Blender To Mix The Butter

I Then Added All of My Spices, And Blended More

My Peppers, Shallots, Garlic Cloves, and Cilantro

I Used Most of the Peppers you see Above, but not All.  I did use all of the above Shallots.

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Adding My Garlic Cloves and Shallots

Blending Away, While Wiping Down the Sides with a Spatula

Time To Add The Green Stuff

(My Peppers and Cilantro)

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Looking so Good!

Decant Into A Bowl

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I Even Added Some Butter Into Jars To Freeze For Another Time

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I have to say that this is some of the best butter I have ever eaten!  I kept spreading it onto mini toasts and I had to stop myself from eating it because after all, it is butter!  I didn’t want a heart attack.  🙂  However, eaten in nice portions it is safe.

Baked Sweet Potato, Baked Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, and my Pepper Muffins, Before the Butter

(With a small side of Green Beans)

The Pepper Butter

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With The Butter

The Butter is very Spicy and Addictive, Along with the Tabasco

See Y’all Later!

Julie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Haunted Mansion Halloween Fun

Our Haunted Mansion Halloween Fun

            The Haunted Mansion Enter if you dare, foolish mortals. ——————————————————————————————— We Love Halloween, We Love The Haunted Mansion On this Page are Haunted Mansion Halloween’s From 2022, and 2023 We Hope That You Will Enjoy What We Created We 

Raglan Road, October, Disney Springs, Florida

Raglan Road, October, Disney Springs, Florida

  (The men in the photo top left, are Gordon and our son-in-law Brian.)     Disney Springs, Orlando, Florida (Gordon, Julie, Mackenzie, and Brodie) Cheers to the Day! ————————————————————– (Veronica and Brian) They walked right by us without even noticing us sitting there!  🙂 

Cornbread, Nuff Said

Cornbread, Nuff Said

 

 

 

 

 

Currently Baking in Grandmother Keith’s Oven

Deliciously Cooling…

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I LOVE Cornbread!

If you were raised in the south, before the internet brought us all together culturally, then you grew up eating Cornbread religiously.  We loved it whether it was right out of the oven, or stale and hard as a rock, and placed into a bowl with some milk to soften it to eat with a spoon.  Either way, it was perfect!

Most of the time we ate it plain, but perfect!

Some southern cooks ended up expanding on the original recipe. 

Here is one of such recipes:

Cornbread with Cottage Cheese and Broccoli and Onions

This recipe is simple.  Just make your cornbread as you always do, or buy a box or bag of Cornbread Mix.  Make according to package directions, except you will be adding about a cup of Cottage Cheese, and as many Broccoli Florets and chopped Onions as you like.  Mix together and add to a Cast Iron Skillet with a “blob” of Crisco in it.  Place into the oven to melt the Crisco.  Then remove and pour your Cornbread mixture into the hot skillet.  Place into a 350F Oven for about 25 minutes.  Follow your own package directions if you aren’t a southern pro with Cornbread.  (You are forgiven.)

Oh, and you might want to place it under the Broil to brown the top if it isn’t already.  🙂

You don’t have to be from the south to make the best Cornbread imaginable.

  Just bake some Cornbread!

Julie

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The Cornbread with our Stewed Tomatoes

This is another great way to eat Cornbread.  Especially when stale. 

Those Tomato Juices will absorb into that Cornbread and flavor it wonderfully!

Fried Ham is Always a Treat with Cornbread

Doesn’t Get Any Better Than THIS!

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Stewed Tomatoes, A Whann Family Tradition

Click on the Link for our Stewed Tomato Recipes

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Featured Are:

Julie’s Mex-Itali Cornbread

For some reason Mexican and Italian tend to go very well with me.  I have created a few recipes starring both country’s foods.  Here is yet another example.

Right Out of The Oven and Cooling with Some Queso Fresco

(Recipe Down Below)

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All In One New Year’s Day Cornbread

It is traditional in the south to eat Cornbread, Black Eyed Peas, and Collard Greens.

I decided to throw it all together and have it be One and Done!

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I used a cookie cutter to cut out these great hand held bites.

The Inbetween’s are Delicious as Well

(Recipe Down Below)

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Julie’s Mex-Itali Cornbread

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Some of My Ingredients:

I’m following the Cornbread recipe on my box of Corn Meal, except that I am adding my own garden Peppers, and a can of Shoe Peg Corn, also, some Spicy Italian Sausage and Queso Fresco Cheese.

Spicy Italian Sausage, Sizzling Away

Ready To Make The Cornbread

Peppers From Our Garden

The first thing that I did was to cook the Spicy Italian Sausage, removing most of the fat as it cooked. 

I did reserve some to grease the Cast Iron Skillet for the Cornbread.

You can see some of the Italian Sausage that fell into the skillet.

Chopping Our Backyard Garden Peppers

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Making The Cornbread…

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The Layering Begins

This is the grease from the Italian Sausage,

then place a shallow layer of the Cornbread mixture,

Then add the Italian Sausage,

a layer of the Shoe Peg Corn, then more of the Cornbread mixture.

I sauteed my Garden Peppers in some Olive Oil,

then placed them on top of the Cornbread mixture, and then tried to cover them with more Cornbread mixture.

I Did Sprinkle Some Chili Powder Over Top

Now, place into the oven according to package directions.

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Cornbread Done, But Needs Browning

When Cornbread is Cooling, add Queso Fresco

Here we are eating it with some Queso stuffed Jalapeno Peppers

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All In One New Year’s Day Cornbread

It is traditional in the south to eat Cornbread, Black Eyed Peas, and Collard Greens on New Year’s Day.

  Black Eyed Peas to bring you LUCK!  Collard Greens to bring you MONEY!  🙂

I decided to throw it all together and have it be One and Done!

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The Ingredients:

(What you see above are the ingredients that I used to not only make the Cornbread, but to add to the Cornbread.)

You can see the Quaker Yellow Corn Meal Mix in the photo above?  All of those ingredients, minus the cans of peas and greens, are listed on the Corn Meal container.  In other words, all you have to do is to buy the Corn Meal mix and use that as your guide for making your Cornbread.

Or, you can use any Cornbread recipe that you like.  What is going to be unique here are the ingredients I’m adding to the Cornbread.

I’m adding some Black Eyed Peas, Tiny Field Peas w/ Snaps, and a can of Collard Greens.

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Turn your Oven onto the proper setting.  According to the package directions.

Here I am using my Great-Grandmother’s Cast Iron Skillet and some Crisco.  I simply place a blob of Crisco Shortening in it, and I place it in the oven to get hot and melt.

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Drain and Rinse your Black Eyed Peas and Tiny Field Peas in a Colander in the sink, then add them to your Cornbread Batter.

Here I am draining the can of Collard Greens and squeezing them out, then adding them to the Cornbread Batter.

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Stir Together

(Once your Skillet is hot and the Crisco has melted, pour in your Cornbread Batter and place into the Oven for the desired time according to the Corn Meal Mix instructions.)

You can see the “done” results left, I did broil the Cornbread a little in order for it to brown on top, right.

I Then Added Some White Cheddar Cheese to melt,

and, a sprinkling of Paprika.

Completed!

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I used a Biscuit Cookie Cutter to give the Cornbread a different look. 

Also, fits nicely on a dinner plate.

Happy New Year!

Julie

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To View Our Other Cornbread Website Pages:

Click Here For:  Corn Bread, Cast Iron Skillet, Dressing, and Tradition

AND,

Click Here For:  Cast Iron, Corn Bread, Corn Sticks, Southern Cooking and Frying

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It’s Wednesday

It’s Wednesday

          (Lurch)  YOU RANG…..   Initially, I was just going to write a blog post about the series in my personal blog.  I then realized that this was far too big for that, and that I needed to create it’s own 

Modern Day Mona (Lisa) Halloween

Modern Day Mona (Lisa) Halloween

        Salve! Benvenutu Al Nostro Halloween Da Vinci ———————————————————————– Leonardo Da Vinci, The Mona Lisa (That is Tom Hanks hand above, from the movie The Da Vinci Code.) I fell in love with the movie when it first came out, and it 

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window:  Scene 14

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window: Scene 14

 

 

 

 

To me, it’s just not Halloween without a Hitchcock marathon of all of his movies.

Currently Watching The Killer, Lars Thorwald from Rear Window

I was Thrilled to Find this Game Online

For those of you that know my love of board games, especially any version of CLUE, I was very happy to have found this Rear Window game online.

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Rear Window Slate

New York City

Take 1, Scene 14

10/22/22

Alfred Hitchcock

Cannon Manfrotto

(Cannon Manfrotto is an inside joke with Gordon and myself. 

Perhaps one of you can figure it out.)  🙂

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Our Rear Window ‘Scene 14’ Set

L.B. Jeffries Apartment

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Everything Here Represents Something From The Movie

Playing The Game

The Handbag, The Jewelry, The Rope and Saw, The Heavy Trunk…

Gordon and I Reviewing the Game Instructions

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If you have never seen the movie Rear Window with Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart, along with Raymond Burr, and Thelma Ritter, then you will probably not understand what we are doing here. 

Rear Window is my most favorite movie ever! 

I found the game online and knew it would be great here with our Halloween theme.

Follow The Footsteps

(I found them online and knew they would be perfect here.)

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If you have ever seen the movie, Rear Window, then you recognize our props in these photos.

The Red Handbags

(Mrs. Thorwald’s)

Gordon Did Such a Great Job on our Pumpkin

The Wooden Trunk w/ the Heavy Rope, Represents Lars Thorwald’s Trunk

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Our Modern Day Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

(We made these because L. B. Jeffries has a Ham and Cheese Sandwich in the movie with some milk.  His sandwich from the 50’s was very plain, we jazzed ours up a bit.)

We also made some Microwave Potato Chips to go with our Sandwiches, along with a side of Olives.

(Recipe Down Below)

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Game And Dinner

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Gordon as L. B. Jeffries

Jimmy Stewart’s character of L. B. Jeffires (Jeff), is in a leg cast because he got in the way of a race car on an automobile racetrack to get a unique shot, and injured himself in the process.  Jeff is a successful photographer for a prestigious magazine.  He travels the world to “hot spots” to take photos of current events.  He is an adventurer, that gets paid for his photos.

Gordon of course, isn’t in a cast, we just wrapped a white towel around his leg and even wrote on it, ‘Here lies the broken bones of L. B. Jeffries.’

Because the movie takes place in the 50’s, I set out my vintage and antique’s that worked here, in addition to some modern day things.

Gordon Making a Phone Call

Me, as Lisa Freemont watching Lars Thorwald’s apartment across the way.

Gordon Writing The Letter To Lars Thorwald

“What Have You Done With Her?”

We think that Lars Thorwald is guilty of killing his wife.

The Dogs Crashed Us!  🙂

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Getting Ready to Carve the Pumpkin

Gordon is a natural artist.  Untrained, but spot on!

Whatever Halloween theme we have in mind, he will carve a pumpkin to compliment it.  Gordon has the mind of an athlete, which enables him to defy odds.  Really!  And this is in all aspects, not just pumpkin carving.  He knows how to choose the most perfect pumpkin for the design, he saves the seeds for us to roast or put into other Halloween recipes.  He makes our Halloween more special because of his pumpkin carving skills.  Once again, he did not disappoint here.

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Pumpkin Carved….

As Always, Gordon Did a Wonderful Job….

Halloween Treats of Toy Cameras

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L. B. Jeffries Watching Lars Thorwald  🙂

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My Rear Window Shelfie in our Bedroom

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I LOVE This Camera!

(I would kill for it!  Actually, I would just shove someone and grab it and run.)  🙂

L. B. Jeffries Camera/Lens and his Ham and Cheese Sandwich w/ Milk

The premise of the story is that Jeff believes that he has witnessed a murder by his neighbor across the way from his Rear Window of his apartment.  Therefore, he becomes obsessed with proving it.  Having that cast on his leg gives him reason to look out the window all day, and sometimes, all night long.

We love to recreate the foods in movies that we love. 

There isn’t a lot of food in this movie, but we do our best to recreate it regardless.  🙂

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Here, we recreated the very simple Ham and Cheese Sandwich.

The candy in the vintage dish is vintage candy from that time.

Our Simple Ham and Cheese Sandwich

——————————————————————————–

SCENE 14

I love this scene because this is where Jeff falls in love with Lisa.

Lars Thorwald Going Through His Wife’s Jewelry in her Favorite Handbag

Thelma Ritter, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart

Grace, (Lisa) Looking Through a View Finder

“It’s just a picture of the backyard.”  Lisa Freemont

Our Characters Debating How to Get into Lars Thorwald’s Apartment for Evidence

It’s so impressive to think that everything here was built in a studio in Hollywood.

Jeff, Writing a Note to Thorwald to Get Him out of the Apartment

Lisa, Going to Slip the Note Underneath his Door

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?

Lisa, Slipping the Note Underneath the Door…

…and Barely Getting Away.

Lars Thorwald Panicking, Reading the Letter

“What was his reaction?”

Lisa, Excited at What She Did!

Jeff, Falling in Love

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Our Scene 14

Me and Gordon, Trying our Best to Channel Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart

Me, Looking Through my Grandmother’s Slide Viewer

The Dogs Are Always a Welcome Crash

‘When it gets a little darker I’m going over there to dig up that flower bed and see what’s buried there.’

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From a Director’s Point of View

————————————————————————

Jeff’s Apartment

We did our best to try and recreate Jeff’s Apartment in the movie.  At least certain aspects of it.  You never have to have anything totally accurate.  You just want to do an impression that will portray your idea.

——————————————————————————-

Just a Few “Notes” From the Scene

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Our Harvest Fountain

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Pumpkins and Vintage Candy 

I Wanted Our Candy to Reflect the Era

Vintage Hard Candy, Toy Cameras, Big Hunk Candy Bars, Sugar Orange Slices, Mary Jane’s, Caramel’s, Ginger Mints, etc.

——————————————————————————

Pumpkin Carving Starts Here

My T-Shirt

Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart, Rear Window

Carving The Pumpkin

(Write up by Gordon)

Here I am deciding what design I want, or think I can do.

Julie is always pushing me with these in a good way as I doubt my ability to accomplish some of the designs.

I decided to do the picture with Mr. Jeffries in a wheelchair.

I print out the picture then tape it to the pumpkin using painters tape. I also ensure the picture is flat against the pumpkin. In doing this, you may need to crease the paper’s outer edge as you are just trying to get the picture flat against the pumpkin’s surface. Now, using your punch tool, punch small holes barely into the skin of the pumpkin around every defined aspect of the picture. For the thin spokes, simply follow the spokes directly on the line. Get comfortable as this will take some time to do.

Here you see the picture with all the punches, then with the picture removed.

Save the picture so you can use it as a reference.

Now, carve out the sections that you want light to shine through using a small sharp knife.

Taking a needed break for a quick happy snap.

Continue to carve out the sections using your picture as a guide.

Me, with my beautiful support!  🙂

Here Julie was making me a nice sandwich!

Still carving out the design.

Again, posing for another happy snap.

————————————————————————-

Jeff Watching Lars Thorwald

Our Version of Jeff’s Sandwich

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Now you can start to see the design come through. Use a V cut to make the thin lines. To do this, place your knife at an angle and cut just outside the line that barely cuts through the pumpkin’s skin. Then, turn the pumpkin around and do the same cut on the other side of the line. This should remove a small sliver of the pumpkin’s skin. Repeat this cut for all the small lines.

Now that I have completed the outside it is time to cut into the top of the pumpkin. Use a thin saw blade tool that comes in the usual pumpkin carving kit and make a steep angled cut. If you don’t do this cut at an angle, the lid will simply fall into the pumpkin. I also cut a triangular wedge in the top so I know where the lid goes when I am done. Continue this cut all the way around the top of the pumpkin until your lines intersect.

Now, remove the top as shown. Here you can see the angled cut I made.

—————————————————————————————

Use a sharp knife to cut away the bottom of the lid so it looks nice

Stick your hands inside the pumpkin and remove the seeds.

Here I am removing the seed to cook later.

————————————————————————————-

It is a little gooey, but it is only a vegetable.

Remove a good amount of the inside of the pumpkin so the light will shine through.

Place a strong flashlight inside the pumpkin to help you see where to remove more of the insides.

Be sure not to make it too thin.

I even signed the cast Mr. Jeffries… thought that was a nice touch.

L. B. Jeffries

Vintage Candy and Toy Cameras

—————————————————————————

The Recipes

———————————————————–

Pumpkin Beer and Cheese Quick Bread

This is the easiest and tastiest bread recipe in the world!

(Ignore the Baking Powder in the photo above.)

Ingredients:

3 Cups of Self-Rising Flour

1 Cup Shredded Cheese (We used White Cheddar)

2 T. Granulated Sugar

1/4 t. Salt

1 T. Garlic and Herb Seasoning

1 12 oz. Pumpkin Beer

————————————————————————–

You want to pre-heat your oven to 350F, and use a cooking oil spray (PAM) to coat your loaf pan.

Here I have Grated All of my Cheese

Place your Self-Rising Flour, Sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl…

Add your Garlic and Herb Seasoning… Whisk together.

And then your Grated Cheese….

Next, add your Beer

———————————————————————–

Place the Beer Battered Bread Mix into a greased loaf pan.

Top with some cheese, if desired.

Cover and bake in a 350F Oven for about 35-45 minutes.

You can remove the foil near the end to give the bread such great color.

Remove From Oven

Let Cool in the Pan for about 15 minutes.

Then, turn out to cool on a wire rack.

—————————————————————————-

Our Modern Day Ham Sandwiches and Microwave Potato Chips

To make homemade potato chips, you could use a knife to slice the chips thinly, but using a mandolin gives you the uniformity of real chips and is just so much faster. Here, I use three Russet Potatoes as these make the best chips. Place a plate under your mandolin to catch the sliced potatoes.

Wash the potatoes well and pick out some seasoning for them.

You could go with just some salt, but we chose garlic and herb.

Here I am making a small sheet of parchment paper, a good size to fit in our microwave dish so that it will still spin.

Carefully slice your potatoes using the mandolin. You want them thin, but not too thin. Do a test with your potato until you arrive at the right thickness. You can see how nice the slices turned out.

I placed some seasoning on the parchment paper.

—————————————————————————————–

Carefully lay down the potato slices onto the Parchment Paper.

Now, add more seasoning to the top of the potatoes.

Microwave them on high for about 2-3 min. or until they begin to brown and turn crispy.

You could also use a little Chili Powder on the chips, giving them more great flavor.

Here you can see the finished product… so just dig in!

These are healthier than regular potato chips.

——————————————————–

Now For Our Grilled Ham Sandwiches

You can see our Beer Bread in the background, top, and our Microwave Potato Chips.

Gordon slicing some Roma Tomatoes, and removing the seeds.

——————————————————————————–

Now, slice your onions as thick as you like. I make them about ¼ in thick.

Now that your prep work is done, it is time to head out to the grill. In the background you can see our nice bread, pickles, and mustard we will used for the sandwiches. In the foreground, you can see the ham steaks.

Here is a closeup of the bread and butter pickles, and Honey Mustard we made.

The banana pepper pickles are another great addition to this sandwich.

To start, place your grill on high and let it sit for about 5 min., Then clean off your grill using a wire brush being sure none of the bristles are left behind. I then turn the grill down and spray it with some high temperature cooking spray, or peanut oil.

Set your grill flames to Medium high and place your onions and Plum tomato halves onto the grill and let them sit.

Close the lid and just let them cook.

After about 7 minutes, open the grill and check on them. You want to see some nice black char and grill marks as shown. Turn them over and cook them for at least another 5 min.

Now that your tomatoes are done with just a few onions to finish, place your ham steaks down on the grill and let them just sit.

 

As your onions become done, add your ham steaks to the grill. These are not very thick so be careful not to over cook them. You really just want the nice grill marks. You could season them with a bit of pineapple juice or more savory items like onion or garlic powder, but we decided to just let the ham flavor shine through.

Here you can see the finished grilled steaks.

Slice your bread using a bread knife.

Time to make the sandwiches. Spread on your mustard of choice,

I like to use Swiss Cheese with ham. Add your grilled onions to the sandwich as well.

Here I sliced the ham in half so it would fit nicely on the sandwich.

Add some nice lettuce and the grilled Plum tomatoes.

Don’t forget the pickles!

It took some careful stacking as well, but it was worth it.

When you are done, top the sandwich with the other slice of bread. You could have also toasted the bread if you wanted.

Here you can see the end results to our Rear Window sandwich.

I am sure Mr. Jeffries would have loved it.

————————————————————————————–

Now, Back to our Game…

—————————————————————————————-

There is a bit of a comical part in the movie where Jeff has an itch that he cannot get to to scratch, so he uses his back scratcher.

Oh yeah, that’s the spot!

Now, back to spying on Lars Thorwald.

Jeff’s Desk, Phone, Binoculars, and Mont Rachet Wine w/ Glasses

Dialing Lt. Doyle

More of Me, Loving to Impersonate My Favorite Heroin

—————————————————————————-

The Ending of Rear Window

Lisa and Stella go over to the flower bed to see what Thorwald had buried there, although there was nothing to be found.  That is when Lisa got the inspiration to get into Thorwald’s apartment to look for the wife’s jewelry that Thorwald was keeping in his wife’s handbag.

Lisa, excitedly finding the handbag, only to be disappointed that nothing was inside.

Meanwhile, Lars Thorwald is unexpectedly on his way back to his apartment.

Jeff calls the police to report that a woman is being assaulted and for them to hurry!

After a few minutes the police to arrive.  Lisa however, doesn’t give away why she was in the apartment to begin with.  She waits until they get her safely out of there and she then reveals why she was in there.  To find Mrs. Thorwald’s wedding ring…..

…which Lisa slipped on her finger before being arrested.  She is signaling to Jeff across the way that she found it.

  However, Thorwald see’s it too!

——————————————————————————

With Lisa being arrested, and Stella sent to bail her out of jail, Jeff is left alone in his apartment. 

He hears footsteps.  And then someone enters his apartment.

“Who are you?  What do you want?  Why didn’t the girl turn me in?  Can you get me that ring back?”

Lars Thorwald

——————————————————————

Jeff now has to buy some time.  He has Stella and Lisa down at Police Headquarters.  He also has his friend Det. Doyle going down there to get Lisa out of jail with no charges.  He also has to fend off Lars Thorwald until they all get back.

Jeff, being the smart guy that he is has taken the light bulbs from his camera to use against Thorwald to blind him while he buys some time.

It does work long enough until he spots Lisa and Doyle across the way going to Thorwald’s apartment.  He calls their names and they run over to try and save him.

But, not before Thorwald has attacked Jeff, shoving him out of his Rear Window.

Jeff Struggling For His Life

———————————————————————————-

Jeff, Loosing his Grip and Falling

Doyle, Stella, and Lisa Run to his Aid

Having Officially, Fallen in LOVE

————————————————————————–

Spooky in a Basket

I love the scene in the movie where the woman lowers her dog in a basket down to the ground so that it can use the bathroom/roam around, etc.  And, then when she calls it, the dog will jump back into the basket to be raised up to the apartment.

——————————————————————————————

A Happy Ending

When the movie starts out Jeff has one broken leg, but by the end of the movie he has two.

So, why the smile on his face above?  He solved a mystery with the help of his beautiful girlfriend that he had underestimated as being some helpless female, who actually helped to foil Lars Thorwald and put him in jail for murdering his wife.  Jeff is now happily in love and ready to commit to Lisa.

——————————————————————————————–

Lisa understands his love of traveling to exotic places and she is willing to learn all she can and go with him on these jaunts.  However, you cannot take the fashion girl out of the magazines permanently.  Which is why she waited until he fell asleep to read her Harper’s Bazaar Magazine.  🙂

Looks like Lisa has Everything Under Control

THE END

—————————————————————————————–

If you would like to view our other Alfred Hitchcock posts…..

Click Here For:  Happy Birthday Hitch

AND,

Click Here For:  Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds

AND,

Click Here For:  Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window

AND,

Spooketti Dinner with Hitchcock

AND,

 A. Hitchcock CLUE For Halloween

AND,

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window:  SCENE 14

———————————————————————————

Good Evening,

Julie and Gordon

 

 

 

 

Chef Whann’s Creepy Crawly Dinners

Chef Whann’s Creepy Crawly Dinners

                Happy Halloween Hungry? This is a favorite meal of mine to make, due to its creativity and simplicity.  Like a one pot meal, this is mostly a one roasting pan meal with the exception of boiling the 

Oktoberfest Lebensmittel

Oktoberfest Lebensmittel

      WILLKOMMEN! (Welcome) (Hardly fancy, but Cheese, Turkey Sausage, on Crackers with a good German Mustard is a nice little snack.) ———————————————————– Oktoberfest:  German Festival Held over a two week period ending the first Sunday in October. The festival originated on October 12, 

Spooky Treats

Spooky Treats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween

For My Spooky

..and My Sparky.

For Our Grand-Dog Chewie…..

And Our Grand-Dog Hank

We adore the animals in our lives.

These are for you guys!

Julie and Gordon

Happy Halloween From Spooky and Sparky

(We gave all of our Dogs and Grand-Dogs the Halloween Doggie Blanket’s and the Trick-or-Treat Pumpkins.)

All The Cousins

Spooky, Sparky and Hank

A Nightmare Before Christmas CLUE

—————————————————————————

Chewie With Veronica and Brian’s Pumpkins

———————————————————————-

Spooky Treats

The Doggie Enthusiasm is so Contagious  🙂

WooOOOOooooooOOOOO…..

—————————————————————–

I wanted to make something special for Spooky this year, 2021. 

This past summer Sparky and I had made:

Sparky Doodle Dandies

Sparky was so cute when we made these. 

He really got involved so I wanted to do something special for Spooky this year but she could have cared less.  🙂

However, she did LOVE her Spooky Treats!

(Once I had done all the work.)

This recipe is pumpkin based, no salt, no sugar (only the natural sugar in the fruits), it’s more of a cake than a cookie, it’s also healthy and delicious.  AND, humans can eat them too!

These are for my Spooky.

Julie

—————————————————————–

Ready to Make Spooky Treats

You will need a blender for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 29 Ounce Can of Libby’s Pumpkin Puree, (we probably used 20 ounces of the pumpkin)

3 Apples, Sliced

3 Bananas, (we thawed out our frozen bananas we had in the freezer)

9 Tablespoons of No Salt, No Sugar Peanut Butter

3 Eggs

3 Tablespoons Canola Oil

3/4 Cup Water

1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats

Yogurt Chips to Melt Over Top, (optional)

———————————————————————–

The Peanut Butter Brand that I used is Organic MaraNatha

Because these are “Spooky Treats” I wanted to bake them in my Ghostly Tin.

I did spray the tin with some Canola Oil Spray first, and pre-heated the oven to 350F.

——————————————————————

The first thing I did was to slice up the Apples for the Blender, removing the core and seeds.

I then started measuring out the Pumpkin Puree and determined that I used most of the can, about 20 ounces.  I placed the Pumpkin Puree into the Blender with the Apples.

9 Tablespoons of this no salt, no sugar, Peanut Butter goes into the Blender.  I love this Peanut Butter as it is the kind I was raised on in the deep south.  Also add 3 Tablespoons of Canola Oil to the Blender.

Now Add Your Water and Eggs

Because my Blender is full I am grinding everything together now in order to make room for the Bananas.  Just hit Puree on the Blender settings and let it run until everything has been blended well.

Now I am Adding My 3 Mushy Bananas, the Blend

Pour the Contents of the Blender into a Mixing Bowl

I brought the Mixing Bowl and the Rolled Oats over to the table in the hopes that Spooky would take an interest and help me, but she didn’t.

But, I did add the Rolled Oats to the other Ingredients and I’m stirring them together.

Now, I am spooning the mixture into the Ghostly Tin.

Like Our Spooky Decorations?

Now That The Tin Is Full….

Into The Oven They Go

I baked these for about 50 minutes, but I checked them every 20 minutes, making sure that I could place a toothpick into them and it comes out clean.  If you are using a mini muffin pan or even a regular muffin pan then your cooking time will be less.  Probably around 20 minutes, more or less. 

If you are a baker then you know to monitor the cooking of a new recipe in your oven.  Oven temps do vary.

When They Are Done Let Cool a Bit Before Removing From Pan…

and Placing Onto a Cooling Rack.

Don’t they look great?

——————————————————————

Now For The Yogurt Topping

(This is Optional)

Because these are “ghosts” I did want some kind of white topping.  I had these Yogurt Chips leftover in our pantry and decided to use them up here.

In order to melt them you just put them into a microwave safe bowl for about 20 seconds on high.  Then remove and stir them around a bit.  Then place them back into the microwave for another 20 seconds until they are melted.

Quickly Spread onto the Spooky Treats

The Yogurt Chips hardened pretty quickly and started to clump as we were spreading the melted Yogurt onto each Spooky Treat so Gordon added some water and that seemed to do the trick.

So, if some are a bit clumpy and some a bit smooth…that’s why.

We took them over to our Grand-Dogs Chewie and Hank, and of course Spooky and Sparky enjoyed some of them.

They were a great healthy and delicious treat!

And shhhh…  we ate them too!

I would sprinkle some over their dog food every night and they would gobble it all up.  🙂

We kept them refrigerated for a total of 10 days.  They ate the last one on day 10.  We don’t keep refrigerated food longer than that.  Just to give you an idea.

Hope your dogs will enjoy them as much as ours did.

Trick-or-Treat!

Julie

————————————————————-

Making Spooky and Sparky’s Halloween Ghost Costumes

Gordon used a piece of paper to make a pattern.

He then measured the center of the paper and marked it with a pencil.

Then measured the width of Spooky’s ears and cut out a space for them.  Then measured the distance to her nose and eyes.

He cut out circles for her eyes and a slit for her nose.  Measured the distance to her tail and marked it on the paper.  Interestingly, the eyes and nose were perfect for sparky and the ears were just a little back from where Spooky’s were.  His tail was also further back than Spooky’s.

He then placed the paper over an old bed sheet and using a black marker, marked the holes for both Spooky and Sparky.  Use a sharp scissors to cut out the holes.

Once he cut out the holes for the ears, eyes, nose and tail for each dog’s costume, he then tried to fit the costume over each dog.

Here you can see Spooky is ready for Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

 

STAR TREKKIES, Into The Botanist’s Lair (The Lost Episode)

STAR TREKKIES, Into The Botanist’s Lair (The Lost Episode)

            Space:  The Final Frontier These are the voyages of the “Pretend” Star Ship Enterprise. It’s one Halloween Night mission: To explore strange new backyards in the state of Florida, (hopefully without being shot.) To seek out Alien Ingredients and 

A Charmed Halloween

A Charmed Halloween

  (I want to dedicate this page to my daughter Veronica.  Veronica Whann, Maryland She adored the Charmed T.V. show and she even created a website dedicated to the show when she was just a young teen, when we were living in Maryland.  I don’t 

Hey Family Guy!  Get a CLUE for Halloween!

Hey Family Guy! Get a CLUE for Halloween!

 

 

 

 

The Griffin Residence

31 Spooner Street

Quahog, Rhode Island

——————————————————

—————————————————————-

Meet The Griffin’s

L to R:  Chris, Meg, Peter, Lois, Stewie, and Brian

——————————————————-

Meet The Whann’s

L to R  Sparky, Gordon, Spooky Lou, and Julie

———————————————————

Happy Halloween

Are you a Family Guy FAN like we are? 

And, do you love to play the board game CLUE?

If so, then you are in the right place.

How about a Family Guy Halloween CLUE?

SO, WHO DUNNIT?

Hmmmm…..  Let’s Find Out……

—————————————————————–

On Becoming Lois….

(And yes, the wig is on a man’s head.)  🙂

However, I enjoyed playing Lois.

———————————————————————————-

Now, Let’s Get Started

Family Guy Introduction

———————————————————————-

Ready to Play CLUE?

The CLUE Game Suspects:

Peter

Brian

Chris

Stewie

Lois

Meg

——————————————————-

Our Griffin Family Living Room

Gordon as Peter Griffin

Peter with Pumpkin Peter

Our CLUE Game Weapons:

Pirate Sword

Towel Rod

Poisoned Clam Chowder

Thinking Grenades

Ray Gun

Baby Chucks

Night Stick

Leash

Scythe

————————————————————

 

Julie as Lois Pewterschmidt Griffin

Sparky as Vinny Filipeli

Stuffed Brian as Brian Griffin

Spooky as Stewart “Stewie” Gilligan Griffin

And,

Baby Ben Lancaster as Baby Stewie in photo behind couch.

———————————————————

Our CLUE Game Rooms:

Living Room

Kitchen

Dining Room

Garage

Basement

Peter and Lois Bedroom

Chris’s Room

Stewie’s Room

Meg’s Room

—————————————————————-

Hey, are you guys ready to play?

Justin Peter Griffin

Our CLUE Game Piece Weapons

Lois’s Poisonous Clam Chowder

Oh, and Clam Fritters  🙂

Can I fix you a bowl?  I’d be happy to.

—————————————————————–

Our Drunken Clam Chowder

w/ Clam and Corn Fritters

Hey Peter, I made your favorite.

Come and get it!

————————————————————-

Topped with Bacon and some Fried Clams

————————————————————–

We saved some of our clam shells to accent our chowder.

Clam and Corn Fritters

(Recipe at Bottom of Post.)

—————————————————————

…..the “pot” thickens………hmmmm……

————————————————————

I’ve gotta feed Stewie he’s been a bit ornery lately. 

He wants me to make some kind of macaroni and cheese grilled cheese sandwiches.  He’s insistent upon it.  So let me feed him before he destroys us all.

——————————————————————

The Grilled Stewie Griffin’s…

Grilled Cheese/ Mac N’ Cheese Sandwiches

Do you see a resemblance to Stewie here?  🙂

Chris and Meg like them too!

I think this is gonna be a Griffin Family favorite from now on.

Peter!  Chris!  Meg!  Stewie!  Brian!

COME EAT!

(Recipe at Bottom of Post.)

——————————————————

 

THE CLUE EPISODE

Although this episode is based on Agatha Christie’s, And Then There Were None, the characters on Family Guy have referred to this episode as the “CLUE” episode.  Which is probably why it is one of my favorite episode’s.

————————————————————

And Then There Were Fewer

Volume 9, Episode 1

Where is this road leading us to?

Wait!  I think I see something in the clearing…….

Look!  Oooooooooooooooo.

——————————————————

The residents of Quahog are all invited to James Woods’ house, where a murder mystery is about to take place.

—————————————————————

The weekend takes place on an island surrounded by water. 

The only way on or off is over a bridge.

————————————————————–

The Griffin’s are the first to arrive.

——————————————————————

Everyone received an invitation to a dinner in their honor.

The Guests

But, who is our host?

NO!  NOT JAMES WOODS!!!!

James Woods (voiced by James Woods)

The Cast of Characters

L to R: 

Glenn Quagmire (Seth MacFarlane)

Stephanie  (Alex Borstein)

Captain Seamus  (Seth MacFarlane)

John Herbert “Herbert the Pervert”  (Mike Henry)

Tom Tucker  (Seth MacFarlane)

Diane Simmons  (Lori Alan)

Bonnie Swanson  (Jennifer Tilly)

Joe Swanson  (Patrick Warburton)

Chris Griffin  (Seth Green)

Dr. Elmer Hartman  (Seth MacFarlane)

Peter Griffin  (Seth MacFarlane)

Lois Griffin  (Alex Borstein)

Meg Griffin  (Mila Kunis)

Stewie Griffin  (Seth MacFarlane)

Brian Griffin  (Seth MacFarlane)

Mayor Adam West  (Adam West)

H. Jon Benjamin  (Carl)

John G. Brennan  (Mort Goldman)

Nicole Sullivan  (Muriel Goldman)

Drew Barrymore  (Jillian Russell)

John Viener  (Derek Wilcox)

Ashley Tisdale  (Priscilla)

And not pictured above:  Patrick Stewart as the black talking cat.

———————————————————————

And Then There Were Fewer….

OH NO!  Derek!!

——————————————————–

So, Who Dunnit? 

Why not just watch the episode and find out for yourself?

—————————————————–

Me, Julie, Always up on the ladder taking photos of our food.

———————————————————–

The Drunken Clam

The Hangout of……

The Guys:  Joe, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Peter

Our Drunken Clam Beer Nut Mix

(Recipe at Bottom of Post.)

Our Version of The Drunken Clam

——————————————————

Watching Our Favorite Family Guy Episodes

————————————————————

FAMILY GUY STAR WARS EPISODES

Some of our Favorite Funniest Episode’s

—————————————————————–

Thank you Seth MacFarlane and everyone associated with Family Guy.

  We are fans for life!

————————————————————-

Also Check Out Our:

American Dad Halloween

——————————————————————–

Have a safe Quahog Halloween!

Trick or Treat

————————————————————-

 

THE PETER GRIFFIN PUMPKIN

To get the light surrounding Peter’s face to shine through like this, I really had to remove most of the inside of the pumpkin.  I carved out/remove his eyes, mouth and shirt collar to highlight those areas.  This was a fairly simple pumpkin to create and I hope you like mine enough to try yourself!

I was able to find a great picture to use for my outline drawing.

———————————————————–

Using painters tape, adhere the drawing to the pumpkin folding the paper so it conforms to the pumpkin.

Using the small piercing tool, dot around the lines of the picture tracing Peter’s entire face.  This will take some time to do.

———————————————————

(Our Professional Lighting.  Looks like we’re movin’ on up.)  🙂

Watching Family Guy is Inspiration on the TV.

When you have completely pierced through all the lines, remove the tape.  Here you can see Peter’s face on the pumpkin.

On the other side, I did the same procedure with the Family Guy logo.

Using the carving tool which has large teeth, cut around the pumpkin’s stem at a 45 degree angle leaving about 2 inches of space.  If you don’t cut it out at an angle, your lid will just fall down into the pumpkin.  Be sure to cut a small triangular notch in the lid/top, so you can easily place it back exactly where it belongs.

Here is a great depiction of the angle I used to cut off the lid/top.

Now, use a sharp knife to remove some of the excess pumpkin around the lid.

Remove the seeds and save them to season and cook later. 

See below for the recipe we used.

I place them into a large colander, so I can rinse them clean as shown.

Using a scraping tool which usually comes with every pumpkin carving kit, remove most of the insides of the pumpkin where your drawings will be placed.  I left less than an inch of pumpkin in those areas.  You can feel when the pumpkin is getting thin as the outside will easily move when lightly pressed.

Using a sharp pairing knife, slice at a 45 degree angle on each side of the dots to your drawing to remove that area.  Be sure your cut isn’t too deep that it cuts through the main part of the pumpkin.

Here you can see the dots I made of the logo.

Where no picture or carving will be placed, I left the pumpkin insides mostly alone.  The light not showing through shows this as you can see to the far left and right of the picture light shines through brightly where my dots were placed.

Here I completed my carvings on both sides.  I removed some of the letters in the logo so they would highlight better.  I then also remove the areas of Peter’s eyes, mouth but leaving the tongue, and his shirt collar.

Here I am in costume with my handy work!

——————————————————————–

 

Our Drunken Clam Chowder

To start, we used some fresh clams being sure they are still alive and closed when pressed.

Because the store only had some 20 fresh clams, I also bought these clams which were frozen and previously cooked.

Give your fresh clams a good long rinse using a colander to remove any sand attached to their shells.

The frozen clams had the more decorative shells.

To make our clams drunk, I used a beer to steam them with.

Place your fresh clams in the steamer pot and turn the burner on high.  You can see the formed insert with holes which keeps the items off the bottom of the pot.

Here you can see all the fresh clams in the steamer pot with the beer getting heated.  Place a lid on the pot.

Now, open your frozen clams and place them in a colander as shown.

I gave them a good rinse as well.

Here you can see some of them opening as they thaw.

The clams in the steamer pot are starting to open only minutes after the beer comes to temperature.  Once they open, they are ready to be removed.

I use tongs to remove the open ones.  Once all of them have opened and removed from the pot, I rinsed them to stop the cooking process.  I then added the frozen ones to the steamer pot to just be sure they were properly cooked.  The frozen ones were only in the steamer for maybe a minute or two.

———————————————————–

I also used clam juice, canned whole baby clams as well as clam chunks in this recipe.

———————————————————————-

Main Ingredients:

~50 Steamed Clams – shucked

~30 Small Red Potatoes

~20 Thumb Sized Small Carrots

5 Ears of Corn – Used to make a broth, but we saved the kernels for our Fritter recipe below.

8 Thick Slices of Bacon

4 Celery Stalks sliced to a small dice

1 Onion – sliced to a small dice

2 Shallots – sliced to a small dice

1 Elephant Ear Garlic Clove – minced

Freshly Ground Pepper and Sea Salt to taste

~3 Tbsp. Dried Thyme

1/2 Red Bell Pepper – diced

1/2 Green Bell Pepper – diced

3 Jars Clam Juice

3 Cans Chopped Clams

3 Cans Whole Clams

4 Tbsp. Butter

3 Bay Leaves

1/2 Pint Heavy Cream

1 1/2 Quart Half and Half

~ 1 Tbsp. Roasted Garlic Powder

~1 Tbsp. Celery Salt

~1/2 Tbsp. Ground Cayenne Red Pepper

~1 1/2 Tbsp. Sweet Paprika

~1 Tbsp. Onion Powder

3/4 Cup Beer – to your taste (I used Corona)

——————————————————

 

Pictured are the ingredients we used, although we did not use all the amounts shown.

Here are the steamed clams ready to be shucked.

Place your Red Potatoes into a colander and rinse them well.

—————————————————————-

Now, place them into your steamer pot with one inch of water.

Now, add your carrots to the pot.

Shuck your corn well…

…..and add them to the pot. The corn will be used in the Corn Fritter recipe below.  They would be a great addition to this chowder, but as it will be in our Fritters, I thought their would be too much corn in this meal.  Julie was perfectly fine with having corn in the chowder.

Turn the burner on high and steam the ingredients for ~20 min. or until tender.  I used a fork to check the items tenderness.

—————————————————

The Bacon We Used

Slice your Bacon into 1 inch chunks. 

We used a thick cut and about 8 slices.

Add them to a large pan and cook them on medium heat to render the fat.

Here you can see both the Bacon and the vegetables cooking.

————————————————————-

Clams Standing By

—————————————————————

Time To Start Chopping

Slice off the ends of the Celery Stalks as shown.

Now, slice off the ends of the Shallots and Garlic.

I like slicing off the unused pieces first so I only have to clean my cutting board once.

—————————————————–

Stirring the bacon during the cooking process.

Checking the corn and other items for tenderness.

Slice your Elephant Ear Garlic into thin slices then roughly chop them until they become the thickness you desire.  I used this type of garlic, because it had a slightly different flavor and isn’t as harsh as regular garlic.

———————————————————-

Continue to render the bacon down.

The vegetables are ready!

————————————————————-

Remove the corn and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking processes.  Pour the potatoes and carrots into a colander with a bowl underneath to catch the water infused with the vegetable juices.  Now, rinsed the potatoes and corn with cold water to stop their cooking process.

Here you can see the color of the juices.  This is a great stock to use for your chowder.

Pour the vegetable stock back into the steamer pot with the steamer part removed.  Look for any sediment in the bowl being sure to not pour it into the pot.

Now, reduce this liquid to condense the flavor.

————————————————————-

Here the bacon is rendered down to my liking. 

Place the cooked bacon on paper towels to absorb some of the excess fat.

We love to save the Bacon Grease in a Mason Jar for later use.

—————————————————————

But, be sure to leave about 3 Tbsp. of bacon fat in the pan.

———————————————————-

After your Celery is rinsed, slice it lengthwise into three to four equal strips.  Then slice those strips into diced sections as shown.  Slice your Onion in half…

then into small sections and finally into small diced pieces, about the same size as the Celery.  Repeat the same process with the Shallots.

Once you have sliced all your ingredients add all the ingredients into the pan and saute them over medium heat in your bacon grease.

Stir all the vegetables in the bacon fat and add your ground pepper and sea salt.

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Add 1 Tbsp. of dried Thyme to the Onion, Shallot and Celery mixture.

I believe Thyme is a key ingredient to the great flavor of this chowder.

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Slice your Bell Peppers in half and remove their seeds and stems.

Continue to saute the vegetables slowly and stir them occasionally, so to saute evenly.

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Slice your Bell Peppers into long strips as shown.

Then slice them into the same diced size as your onions and celery.  Once the vegetables are softened and translucent, add your Bell Peppers to the mixture…

and mix them well with the other ingredients.

After about 5 minutes when they get slightly softened, add your minced Garlic to the pan.  Continue to saute the mixture for another 5 minutes to cook the garlic, then remove the pan from the heat.

Remove the clam from the shell.  You can usually do this with your fingers as it should pull clean away from the inside of the shell.

This will take a few minutes to do.

Here you can see the almost one cup of clam meat I removed from all the clam shells.

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Now Get Out Your Blender

Place half of your steamed Red Potatoes into a blender.

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Now add your reduced vegetable broth to the blender and turn on Medium to chop the ingredients.  The blended potatoes will become the base of your chowder providing it with a smooth texture.

Add 1 jar of clam juice to the mixture and blend to combine.

Then add half of your sauteed onions, celery and bell pepper mixture to the blended potatoes…

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Add another jar of clam juice to the blender and mix well to combine.  Pour the blender ingredients into a large pot.  I cleaned out the steamer pot well before using it again for this next step.

Here is the butter and clams that I will saute together later.

These are the reserved sauteed onions, celery and bell peppers that I didn’t place into the blender.

Not blending these sauteed vegetables will provide the chowder with some texture.

Now add the 3rd. jar of clam juice to the pot and stir well.

Here are the cans of chopped clams that we decided to use.

I poured the clam juice into a separate bowl to show how much of the can was mostly liquid with very little clam meat.  I won’t buy this brand again but it did work fine in this recipe.

Pour all the cans of chopped clams and their juice into the pot.

Stir all the ingredients well.

Time to Add the Sauteed Vegetables

Sauteed Vegetables in the Pot

—————————————————————–

Now Time to Add the Butter/Margarine to a Clean Pan

In the saute pan add your butter and begin to melt it over medium heat.

Now, add your bay leaves to the chowder.

———————————————————————-

Saute your fresh clam meat in the butter…

add some ground pepper and 1/2 Tbsp. of Dried Thyme.

Saute the clams until just heated then add them to the chowder.  The butter will provide some more fat flavor and help with the creaminess of the chowder.

Add the clam meat to the pot and stir well.

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Now For the Carrots and the Remaining Potatoes

I sliced the carrots and potatoes using this special curved blade to give them that typical clam shell look.  They also look a bit cartoony which is perfect for our Family Guy dinner.

Slice the Carrots into 1/4 inch rounds and slice the Potatoes into quarter sections.

  Adding the Carrots to the Pot

Stir all the ingredients well to combine.

Now add your 1/2 pint of heavy cream, and then your half and half to the pot.

Adding the cream here makes the chowder creamier but it also can dilute the flavors which is why we need to add some more spices.

 

Season the now chowder with your roasted garlic, celery salt and red pepper…

Then add your Sweet Paprika, Onion Powder, remaining Dried Thyme and a touch more Sea Salt.

Spices Adding More Flavor

These are the remaining quartered Red Potatoes I chopped with that special blade from above. 

Add them all to the soup and stir well.

Now add your cans of whole clams with their juices to the chowder.

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Add your favorite beer to the chowder. 

This will provide a more depth of flavor to the chowder.

Continue to heat the chowder on medium heat.  Here is a spoonful of the chowder with all the chunks of clams and vegetables.  This was a great dinner as my family and I enjoyed it greatly!  I hope all of you try this chowder as well and enjoy it as much as we did!

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Corn and Clam Fritters

This is the corn from the recipe above where we used the ears to make a broth for our Drunken Clam Chowder.

 Corn Fritters

Ingredients:

~3 Cups Vegetable Oil

1/2 Cup Water

2 Eggs

2 Cup Fritter Mix (we used a ready made mix.)

2 Ears Fresh Steamed Corn

We doubled this recipe which made ~24 fritters.

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Using a medium sized bowl, slice away the corn kernels from the cob.  I previously steamed them with the Clam Chowder vegetables which took about 20 minutes.  I used the corn from four cobs in this recipe, but you can use as much or as little as you like.

Add your vegetable oil to a cast iron skillet and heat it to medium heat or 350’F on your stove top.

Crack your eggs into a small bowl and whisk them together using a fork.  Now, add your eggs to the corn.

Place your fritter mix and water into the bowl.

Mix the ingredients together until blended.  If the batter is too stiff, simply add 1 Tbsp. of water.

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Once your oil is at temperature, scoop some batter onto a Tbsp. and drop it into the heated oil.

Fry the fritters until golden brown and turn to cook the other side.

It should take a few minutes of frying on each side in order to cook the center of the fritter properly.  Be sure to open one up to ensure the inside is cooked properly.

Use your mesh skimmer to remove the fritters from the oil and place them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Nice and Crispy

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Corn and Clam Fritters

Ingredients:

~3 Cups Vegetable Oil

1 – 10oz. Can Whole Baby Clams

1/2 Cup Clam Juice

2 Eggs

2 Cup Fritter Mix

2 Ears Fresh Steamed Corn

We doubled this recipe which made ~24 fritters.

Add your eggs, fritter mix and corn into a medium sized bowl.  Open your Baby Clams and pour 1/2 Cup of the clam juice into your bowl.

Now, add your clams to the mixture.

Stir the ingredients well to combine.  This batter was a little more runny than the first, but it still worked well.  The clams make it more watery.  You can always add a touch more fritter mix if needed.

As before, once your oil is at temperature, scoop some batter onto a Tbsp. and drop it into the heated oil.

Fry the fritters until golden brown and turn to cook the other side.  It should take a few minutes of frying on each side in order to cook the center of the fritter properly.  Be sure to open one up to ensure the inside is cooked properly.

Use your mesh skimmer to remove the fritters from the oil and place them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

———————————————————–

Heating and Browning Some Fried Clams in the Oven

To accompany our meal of Clam Chowder and two types of fritters, I thought it would be good to also have some fried clams.  This is a brand that we buy frequently from the frozen section at the commissary.

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This was a great meal.  We added some bacon to the top of the chowder as well as in the main bowl.  To further garnish the chowder bowl we lined it with some of the cleaned clam shells.

Here you can see a single serving of the items.  The bowl is dressed with fried clam strips, a clam shell and bacon.  Both types of fritters are on the side of the bowl completing this great meal.  We hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we did!

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Grilled Cheese/ Mac N’ Cheese Sandwiches

A.K.A. Grilled Stewie Griffin’s

Now come on, you know your favorite toddler will love them!

———————————————————————

The first thing we did was to make 2 boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

  One Yellow, One White.

Just follow the package instructions and set warm on the stove top.

Our Ingredients:

1 Pkg. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese – make according to directions

1 Pkg. Kraft White Cheddar Pasta Shells – make according to directions

Italian Bread Slices (Pane Turano brand) – 2 slices per sandwich

Tomato’s – 2 slices per sandwich

1 1/2 Tbsp. Butter – per 2 slices of bread

5 Slices of (Kraft) Sharp Cheddar Cheese from cheese block- per sandwich

5 Slices of (Cabot) Vermont White Sharp Cheddar Cheese from block – per sandwich

Cheddar Cheese Curds – 3-5 per sandwich

Accoutrements:

Bread and Butter Pickles

Pickled Onions

Cherry Tomatoes

Basil

———————————————————–

Use good cheese to make your sandwiches.  I really enjoyed these cheese curds.

Slice your tomato into 1/4 inch thick slices.

In a large pan, begin to melt your butter over medium heat.

Slice five slices of your sharp cheddar cheese.

Build Your Sandwich

Place two slices of bread into your pan to absorb the melted butter.  Now, place your five slices of cheese on one slice of bread and top with two slices of tomato as shown.

Use a spatula to check the browning of the bread.  Place the other side of the bread on top of the tomatoes as shown and top with more butter if needed.  When the bread is cooked to your liking, flip it over using the spatula and begin to cook the other side.

Cook this side the same as before, checking with your spatula when done to your liking.

When done, place on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil.

For the other sandwich, place your white cheddar cheese on a slice of bread and top again with tomatoes.

Melt your butter in the pan over medium heat.

Place the bread with the tomato and cheese on the butter to absorb it.

Spread some butter on the other side of the sandwich as shown.

When the one side of the sandwich is cooked to your liking, flip the sandwich and cook the other side.

When done, place on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil.

For our twist on the classic grilled cheese sandwich, top one with orange Mac and Cheese and the other with the white Mac and Cheese.

Now, top both sandwiches with the cheddar cheese curds as shown.

Place the sandwiches under your oven’s broiler for about 2 minutes or enough to melt the cheese and brown the Mac and Cheese a little bit.

Let the sandwiches cool slightly…

Then slice them in half as shown.

For our own twist on the sandwiches above, start out the same way using your sharp cheddar cheese slices and tomato…

and then spoon a layer of your Mac and Cheese on top of the tomatoes as shown.

Top with another slice of buttered bread and flip the sandwich when browned.

If some Mac and Cheese comes out simply slide it back in.  Brown the other side as before.

Do the same with the white shells Mac and Cheese as shown.

Again, if the pasta falls out when you turn it over, simply slide it back in.

Let the sandwich cool before slicing!

Dress the sandwiches with your accoutrements of bread and butter pickles, pickled onions, cherry tomatoes, and some Basil.  Choose your favorite crispy sides and dig in!

Stewie Griffin’s Favorites

—————————————————————————

Our Drunken Clam Bar Nut Snack Mix

Fresh Pumpkin Seeds from our Family Guy Pumpkin

To clean them rinse them well in a colander to remove any of the pumpkin attached to them.

Add enough olive oil (~2 Tbsp.) to coat all the seeds well.

We placed them into a zip lock bag with the olive oil in the refrigerator for a few days.  Although you don’t have to wait that long.  You can season yours immediately.

Season the seeds with 1 tsp. of Roasted Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, and fresh ground pepper.

Mix the seasonings and the seeds well.

Pour out the seeds onto a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil and season the seeds more with another 1/2 tsp. of the seasonings if you like.  We did.

Bake the pumpkin seeds in a 350’F oven for about 20 min. or until well roasted and slightly browned.  You will also start to smell them which is a good sign they are about done!

Here are our other ingredients we used to create this tasty seed and nut mix.

Cashews:

2 Cups Cashews

1 1/2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

BBQ Powder – mine is from a spice shop in the country of Jordan

Pistachios:

1 1/2 Cups Pistachios

1 1/2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 Tbsp. Smoked Paprika

1 Tbsp. Sweet Paprika

Other Ingredients:

~2 Cups Dry Roasted Edamame (Wasabi Flavored)

~1 Cup Sunflower Seeds

~1 1/2 Cups Cheezit’s Crackers

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(Disregard the Holiday Fruit.  We didn’t use it.)

Pour your olive oil directly into the bag of cashews and mix well.  Pour out the cashews onto a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil.

Carefully sprinkle your BBQ seasoning powder over the nuts and mix well.

Move the cashews to one side of the pan as shown to make room for the pistachios.

Pour your olive oil into the bag of pistachios and mix them well.

Pour your pistachios onto the sheet pan and spread them out evenly.  Sprinkle your smoked paprika over the pistachios…

then do the same with the sweet paprika.

Place the nuts into a 350’F oven and roast them for about 20 minutes or until they become slightly browned.  Like the pumpkin seeds, you will also start to smell them which is a good sign they are almost done!

Remove the pumpkin seeds from the oven when roasted to your satisfaction and let them cool.

Do the same with the Cashews and Pistachios when they have completed roasting and cooling.

These really looked and smelled delicious.

In a large bowl, add your Wasabi Edamame and Sunflower seeds.

Now, pour in your Pumpkin Seeds and mix all the ingredients well.

Then add your roasted Cashews and Pistachios and mix them well.

Lastly, add your Cheezit’s to the bowl and mix them with the other ingredients.

This mixture of crackers, nuts, and seeds went very well together and was a perfect addition to a nice cold beer and some Family Guy episodes!

Joe, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Peter

We thought the mixture of seeds and nuts and crackers represented the characters above.

Quagmire has a Japanese ancestry so the Wasabi Edamame was for him.

Cleveland would prefer the Pistachio’s and the Cheezit’s Crackers.

Joe would prefer the Sunflower Seeds and the Pumpkin Seeds.

And Peter would love the Cashews.

CHEERS!

—————————————————–

We. Are. Fam. Lee.  Guuuuuuuuuuuuuy!

Bye, Have a Beautiful Time!

 

 

 

 

The Pot Thickens…  Musings of an Amateur Cook

The Pot Thickens… Musings of an Amateur Cook

          Hi!  Welcome!  So happy to have you here! My name is Julie Lancaster-Whann and welcome to my: The Pot Thickens…  Musings of an Amateur Cook So, what makes me an ‘Amateur?’  Easy!  I don’t get paid! And, because I don’t 

Pork, Sausage and Mustard

Pork, Sausage and Mustard

        Welcome to Pork, Sausage and Mustard From the Kitchen of……. Gordon and Julie Today, we will be making MUSTARD, and lots of it! At this writing we are in the middle of a pandemic, the Coronavirus/Covid 19. Gordon and I decided 

Breakfast With Brodie and Mackenzie

Breakfast With Brodie and Mackenzie

 

 

 

 

 

Good Morning

Welcome to Breakfast with Brodie and Mackenzie

 We have a few menu items you might enjoy.

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Bagel and Lox

Ingredients:

One Bagel (I use the Everything or Egg style bagels.)

Smoked Salmon

(I use Fresh Market’s Nova Bits which are like trimmings that’s half the price as the regular and still delicious)

Red Onion, sliced

Dill Sprigs

The Juice of 1 Lemon

1 Tbsp Capers

Plain Cream Cheese

Salt & Pepper

Tomato optional

First toast your bagel then allow it to cool down. This will help make spreading the cream cheese over the bagel easier. Spread the cream cheese in an even layer. Then take your capers and embed them into the cream cheese layer. (I use a fork to sprinkle the capers and press them into the cream cheese.) Then add a layer of red onion slices or rings. At this point I may add a slice of tomato. Now lay down a generous layer of smoked salmon.  Add as much dill on top as you like (it’s hard to overdo the dill so I add a lot).  Add salt and pepper and lemon juice. Indulge. This dish is one of our all time favorites.

Enjoy!

Brodie and Mackenzie

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Up Next!

Steak and Eggs with Mushroom Gravy and Hash Brown Patties

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Brodie and Mackenzie, Recreating One of Their Favorite Breakfast’s from IHOP

Gordon and I, Julie, are doing the write up for them.  They love cooking, they love the photography, they love the eating, just not the write-up’s.  🙂  So, that is where we come in.

Brodie and Mackenzie, Cooking

Mackenzie Does the Note Taking

While in lockdown due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, Brodie and Mackenzie were missing some of their favorite restaurant foods so they decided to create this one.

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Here are the ingredients for the steak marinade. 

Marinade the steaks overnight for best results.

4 Drops Vanilla Extract

2 Tbsp. Heinz 57 Sauce

4 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

4 Tbsp. A1 Sauce

1/2 Tbsp. Maple Syrup

1 Shake of Powdered Cinnamon

1 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Tbsp. Molasses

1/4 Cup Sliced Onion

2 Garlic Cloves chopped

For the Gravy:

2 Portobello Mushroom Caps Chopped into chunks

1 Onion Chopped into chunks

3 – 4 Tbsp. Butter

———————————————————–

Pictured are the ingredients they used.

Gordon, Brodie and Mackenzie is Taking Notes

Mix all the ingredients in a large seal-able container large enough to hold your steaks.

—————————————————-

————————————————————–

Here I am helping out and Brodie is taste testing the mix. 

Add any of the above marinade ingredients to suit your taste.

Add your chopped onions and garlic cloves to the marinade.

Mix all the ingredients well with a whisk.

Add your steaks to the marinade and coat them well with it. 

Place in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning, remove your steaks and shake off any excess marinade back to the container as it will be used later.  Blot the steaks dry using a paper towel.

See how the marinade penetrated the steak giving it a beautiful brown color?  Brodie did a great job in making the steak dry.  This is key as a dry steak will cook better than a wet one.  Wet steaks cooked in a pan tend to boil and steam in its own juices where as a dry steak will sear and brown in the pan.

Here they used a strainer to separate the onion and garlic from the other liquid ingredients of the marinade.

Here are the large Portobello mushroom caps they used for the gravy.  Clean the mushroom by either using a paper towel to remove the dirt or quickly run them under running water.

Hash Brown Ingredients:

3 Potatoes shredded

3-4 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Mackenzie Shredding Potatoes

Shred your potatoes into a container.

Here are the eggs, one of the mushroom caps, which when cleaned, took off the outer layer of the mushroom… it happens!

The glorious Onion!

Strain your shredded potatoes using a cheesecloth to get out most of the moisture.  You will be surprised how much moisture is in a potato.

Sparky, Spooky and Barefoot Brodie

Slicing Onions

Add your oil to a large cast iron pan and heat to medium high heat.

When the pan is at temperature, form about 1/3 Cup of your shredded potatoes into patties.  Carefully place the patty into the heated oil.

Here they were able to place four patties into the pan.

Using a spatula, flip the patties over when browned to your liking.

Mackenzie Flipping the Hash Browned Patties

Nice color on those hash browns!  When they have finished cooking, place the hash browns onto a paper towel lined plate to catch the excess oil.  Salt and pepper them to taste.

—————————————————————–

Chop your onions and mushroom caps into chunks and saute them in 3 to 4 Tbsp. butter in a large pan.

Saute the onions until they become translucent.

Using a cast iron grill pan turned onto medium high heat, pan sear your steaks.

Cook the steaks to your liking.  Medium cooked steak will take about 7 min. cooking on both sides.  This also depends upon how thick your steaks are.

Cooking Tip:  To test your steaks, using your finger and pushing down on the steak, if it has a little give, it is likely at Medium Well.  The more give the steak has, the less it is cooked.

Using a strainer, strain out the onions and garlic used in the marinade and place the marinade liquid into a small sauce pan.

Heat the sauce to medium heat to slightly reduce the liquid.

Place the onions and garlic used in the marinade into the saute pan of mushrooms and onions and cook them until tender.

When all your onions, mushrooms, and garlic are tender, add your reduced marinade liquid to the pan and cook until all the ingredients are to a gravy consistency.

Sparky and Spooky are Hungry

Here, Brodie is turning the steaks as the gravy is cooking.  See the sear marks the steaks have because they were dry when they went into the pan!

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Add some oil to a small saute pan and heat it to medium heat.  When the pan’s oil has come up to temperature, add your egg to the pan and cook until the egg white is done, leaving the yolk slightly runny.  This will take only a few minutes to cook.

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Serve your hash browns, steak and gravy, and eggs on a plate and enjoy!

Have a Nice Day!

Brodie and Mackenzie

(And Gordon and Julie)  🙂

 

 

 

Cooking With Brodie and Mackenzie, Onion Soup

Cooking With Brodie and Mackenzie, Onion Soup

          Onion Soup Topped with Toasted Bread and Melted Crusty Cheese (Pork Tenderloins and Grilled Asparagus compliments of Gordon.  Recipe write up at the bottom of this post.) We would like to introduce to you our son Brodie and his girlfriend 

Pumpkin Carving Party

Pumpkin Carving Party

            Happy Halloween! Welcome to The Pumpkin Patch Ready to Pick Out Your Pumpkin? ———————————————————— Halloween,  2019 Hoarding Pumpkins Throughout the House ———————————————————— To kick off our Halloween celebrations we all went to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights for the 

A. Hitchcock CLUE for Halloween

A. Hitchcock CLUE for Halloween

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to our Halloween Home

We are Gordon and Julie and we LOVE Halloween, and Alfred Hitchcock!

———————————————–

Psycho!

I’ll be out of the shower in a minute!!

COMING SOON FOR HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Lock your doors and windows. You awake to find your house completely shrouded in fog.  A dog barks in the distance.  You hear a howling.  It’s a full moon.  You find yourself all alone.  You have no electricity.  The batteries in your flashlight are DEAD!  With no one to comfort you, there is no one around to hear you SCREAM!!!!!  

We are so happy to have you join us in our A. Hitchcock CLUE for Halloween!

This year we decided to dig Hitch up and invite him to join us as well.

GOOD EVEN-ING,

GORDON AND JULIE

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If you would like to view our other Alfred Hitchcock posts…..

Click Here For:  Happy Birthday Hitch

AND,

Click Here For:  Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds

AND,

Click Here For:  Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window

AND,

Spooketti Dinner with Hitchcock

AND,

 A. Hitchcock CLUE For Halloween

AND,

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window:  SCENE 14

———————————————————–

Our Set

As usual it’s our Dining Room.

The Birds is featured prominently in this Alfred Hitchcock CLUE version.

————————————————————–

The Reveal

I think it was Mr. Green, with the Knife, at the Bates Motel!

Alfred Hitchcock Edition of CLUE

I’m ready to play, or you?

——————————————————-

The Stage Is Set

The Ghosts of Lisa Freemont from Rear Window, and Melanie Daniels from The Birds

Me, dashing out the door to pick up a few things before we celebrate Halloween.  🙂 

Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon!

———————————————————

Alfred Hitchcock Edition of CLUE

This version of CLUE features some of Hitchcock’s movies.  Psycho, Torn Curtain, The Birds, Marnie, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Saboteur and Frenzy.

I am most familiar with Psycho, and The Birds.  But I also wanted to include in our Hitchcock night, Rear Window and Dial M for Murder.  Marnie is also a movie that features in this game starring Tippi Hedren but I just don’t like that movie at all.

Playing Hitchcock CLUE

The Rooms Include:

Hitchcock’s Screening Room

Brenda’s Office (Frenzy)

Diner (The Birds)

Statue of Liberty Torch (Saboteur)

Opera House (The Man Who Knew Too Much)

Horse Stable (Marnie)

Farmhouse Kitchen (Torn Curtain)

Family Room (The Birds)

The Bates Motel Room #1 (Psycho)

————————————————————-

The Weapons:

Knife (Psycho)

Oven (Torn Curtain)

Bomb (Saboteur)

Poker (Marnie)

Necktie (Frenzy)

Seagull (The Birds)

And as Always the Suspects Are:

Mr. Green (as Mother)

Mrs. White (as Jo Mckenna)

Miss Scarlett (as Melanie Daniels)

Colonel Mustard (as Barry Kane)

Professor Plum (as Michael Armstrong)

Mrs. Peacock (as Marnie Edgar)

Martini anyone?

Yes, I believe I have solved it!

————————————————————-

Mr. Green (as Mother), with the Knife, at The Bates Motel

———————————————————-

Drinks and Appetizers:

Martini’s with Green Olives and Pearl Onions

and

Sausages with Colonel Mustard

—————————————————————–

Dinner:

——————————————————————–

The Birds with Professor Plums

Mrs. Peacock’s Colorful Array of Steamed Carrots

Blue Potatoes, Roasted with Garlic

Mrs. White’s Baked Cauliflower Steaks

Black Pearl Onions

Mr. Green’s Peas and Broccoli with Parmesan Cheese

————————————————————

Me, Sitting Down to Dine

————————————————————-

You know Dahling you really should eat up. 

I swear I can see your bones!

———————————————————

—————————————————————

What a Delicious Dinner

Trying to run and beat the timer on the camera.  🙂

—————————————————————-

I believe it was Miss Scarlett with the Knife in the Dining Room! 

(Cutting the pie.)  🙂

Miss Scarlett’s Strawberry and Rhubard Pie, and Raspberry Ice Cream.

Well, we had to have something “RED” didn’t we?

The dessert was easy.  Store bought pie and ice cream. 

(Not everything has to be homemade.  Our time is worth something.)

—————————————————————-

Dial “M” For Murder

The movie starts out very happily with Mr. and Mrs. Wendice having breakfast, opening the mail and reading the newspaper.

The Times

You then see Margot Wendice noticing an article in the paper of the arrival of the Queen Mary with one of the passenger’s name’s, Mark Halliday, an American writer. 

———————————————————————–

Mark and Margot

The Affair

We then see Mr. Halliday in the home of Margot Wendice.  The two of them having drinks and planning a night out once Margot’s husband Tony comes home to join them.  Mark, still in love with Margot is questioning why she stopped writing to him?  Margot then goes on to explain that her husband Tony has changed.  He is a different person than the one she described to him, and that he has given up tennis and has settled down with Margot. 

I do find it interesting that Margot, Grace Kelly, is dressed in a beautiful red dress.  (Probably very sexy for it’s day.)  It feels to me as if she has been branded the ‘Scarlett Letter’ for her indiscretion with Mark.  Something perhaps Hitchcock himself would have chosen for her to wear.  However, He allowed Grace to chose her own wardrobe for his movies.  I find that interesting.

(I was just looking at Edith Head’s resume on Edith Head Resume IMDB.com

I was curious to see if she designed the red dress above seeing as how she dressed so many beautiful Hitchcock women, but she didn’t.  And in looking at her resume my god, she truly did have a long and successful career.)

———————————————————————

This is me in my red thrift store cocktail dress that I purchased for $8.00.  🙂

Here Margot is relaying to Mark how she burned all of his letters that he wrote to her, except one.  That one was apparently very special and she kept it with her in her handbag at all times.

However, one day when she and Tony were to spend the weekend with friends in the country her handbag was stolen from the platform at Victoria Station.  The handbag was recovered a few weeks later but the letter was missing.  She then received a letter telling her to draw 50 from her bank in 5 notes, and then change them for used 1 notes.  Then the letter would be returned to her.

Margot retrieving the blackmail letter for Mark to read.

“Printed all capitals.  Anyone could have written this.”

Mark and Margot

(Notice that their names are even similar as if they truly belong together.)

Margot relays to Mark that the letter was never returned to her and when she went to the address of where she sent the package that it was still there and no one had ever heard of the recipient of the package at this little shop where mail is generally forwarded.

Mark decides to keep the note for safekeeping.

Although Mark is upset, he respects Margot’s decision to stay with her husband and not to be with him.

Tony then enters the fray from work to meet Mark.

Margot, Tony, and Mark

Tony bows out of going out with Margot and Mark using various excuses because he will be arranging a meeting with the man he hopes will take the job of murdering his wife!

————————————————————–

Anthony Dawson as Charles Swann

Tony invited Charles Swann over to his home under the pretense of buying an American car he was selling.  Tony then pretended to recognize him as being a former classmate at school.

Tony Pointing out to Swann his Photo

(Also, you can see this is where Hitchcock inserted himself into his movie.)  🙂

—————————————————————

Now Tony Wendice is Instructing his old college classmate, Charles Swann on how he is to murder Margot.

Apparently over a year ago when Tony realized his wife was having an affair he feared that she would leave him.  She is after all, wealthy.  It was then that he contemplated killing her, and even killing himself.  But it was while he was drowning his sorrows in a pub that he spotted Charles Swann.  He knew Swann was something of a criminal back in college so he decided to follow him and get to know his routine.  Tony discovered that Swann was still something of a criminal and knew that he could gather enough information on him to “persuade” him to kill Margot.

(I do love that light fixture!  I also really like these shots of looking down on the two men planning the crime.  I also love that chair!  AND the trunk with all the travel stickers in the photo above.)

Although this is probably the most stimulating part of the movie I just didn’t take that many photos of it.  It’s not that I’m not interested, it’s that focusing on Margot was more important to me.  I also suppose that I should leave a bit of mystery to this story in the hopes that some of you may want to watch the movie yourselves.

—————————————————-

Tony does go on to persuade Charles Swann to commit the crime by using a bit of blackmail and a nice bribe, and tells him exactly how he wants him to do it.

————————————————————–

The Night of the Murder

Tony has invited Mark to a stag party so that Mark is Tony’s alibi to Margot’s murder.  Mark has stopped in to have a drink before he and Tony leave for the evening.

Again they have Grace, as Margot wearing a lovely burgundy outfit.  I suppose she is still a bit tainted with the  “Scarlett Letter” but in a more subdued way.  Probably relaying to all of us watching that she had ended her affair and is now a bit more respectable. 

P.S.  I’m not judging.  I’m just noting these subtle movie clues to us audience.

Tony Setting the Stage for the “Murder” Later

The Latch Key’s Play an Important Role

———————————————————–

The Latch Key in the Handbag

A Sligh Tony Planting the Key Under the Carpet of the 5th. Stair

1954

Dial M for Murder

—————————————————————-

DIAL “M”

———————————————————-

————————————————————-

I actually considered telling this story from the view of The Handbag seeing as how it features so prominently.  🙂

———————————————————————

Swann’s Watch

(Tony Wendice is to call the house at 11:00 p.m..  That will draw Margot out of her bedroom to answer the phone.)

Charles Swann entering through the main door from the street.

Swan Locating the Key Underneath the 5th. Stair Carpet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swann Positioning Himself for the Murder and Awaiting the Phone to Ring

I do love the ominous shadows! 

Tony’s Watch

The Stag Party

Tony is supposed to call the house at 11:00 p.m. but his watch stopped and it is a little after.  He then gets up to make the phone call, using the excuse that he needs to call his boss.

———————————————————-

DIALING “M” for MURDER!!!!!!

“M”

The Telephone Company

—————————————————————

Margot Sleeping

Hearing the phone she gets up to answer it.

(This is a scene that I want to recreate.  I even bought a new nightie for it.  That will be coming soon.)  🙂

————————————————————

But in the meantime, you get this lovely bit of acting.  🙂

Introducing the Magnificent Julie Lancaster-Whann as……

……..Margot Wendice

—————————————————————–

(And Grace Kelly did an o.k. job.) 

Hello?  Who’s there?  Is anyone there?

Hello?

(Charles Swann emerges from behind the curtains to strangle me, and Margot.) 

(The Lighting is Beautiful Here!)

—————————————————–

————————————————————

Hello?  Is anyone there?

Look, I’ve got these birds flying around and Gordon is about to strangle me so speak up! 

Hello?  Hello?

Gasping!  Ah!  Aaaahhhhh!!  I can’t breathe!

———————————————————-

Really Gordon?  Now?  Right here?

—————————————————————–

—————————————————————

I told you I have a headache!

————————————————————-

Where are those scissors?

FOUND ‘EM!  Got ’em!!

Margot finds the scissors and stabs Swann in the back…….

KILLING HIM!

DEAD!!

——————————————————–

Margot Trying to Recover from her Attack

Tony was hoping to hear Margot being murdered over the phone but instead he learns that Margot is the one that killed her attacker.  Tony then makes an excuse to leave the stag party, and Mark, and return home to see exactly what happened.  Telling Margot not to phone the police.

————————————————————–

Margot Taking some Aspirin

Tony tells Margot to stay in the bedroom while he phones the police and for her not to worry about speaking with them.  He tells her that she has already been through enough.

Tony Bringing a Blanket to Cover the Body

Margot Concerned

————————————————————-

DRAB GRAY

I call this the “Drab Gray” period of the movie.  You see Margot wearing nothing but gray from now on.  After all, the police are convinced that Margot is the killer and that Charles Swann was blackmailing her to cover up her affair with Mark and therefor she killed him.

Skipping ahead, Margot is arrested for the death of Swann. 

There is a trail and she is found guilty of murder and is set to be hanged.

Tony did a magnificent job of manipulating the evidence in order to make Margot look guilty.

The jury had no sympathy for her to spare her life because of her relationship with Mark Halliday.  She is after all, an adulteress.  (Again, not judging.)

——————————————————-

Chief Inspector Hubbard meanwhile discovered the latch key’s don’t match their respective doors and sets up a scenario involving Margot and Tony to see if either one of them will retrieve the key from underneath the 5th. stair carpet out in the hallway.  Apparently Hubbard discovered the key there and realized that one of them had planted it there initially.

Margot with the Wrong Latch Key in her Handbag

(Margot passed the test.)

Now to see if Tony realizes that the key he planted underneath the carpet on the 5th. stair is still there?

Margot Realizing that her Husband Framed Her

Sorry Tony, No Escape!

(Yeah, once again, I really love that light fixture!)

————————————————————

INTERMISSION

Just a few of our pumpkins…….

…..and Halloween Candy for the little Trick-or-Treaters!

————————————————————–

I Wanted to do an Homage to the Unsung Hero,

The Detective who solves the crime.

Chief Inspector Hubbard prevented Margot Wendice from being hung.

The Thinker

Solved the Murder

Chief Inspector Hubbard, played by the great John Williams

Combing the Mustache

This Mustache cake is for him.

All I did was to buy a ready made cake at the grocery store and apply candy mustache’s all around it by using a ready made frosting to act as the glue.  I also sprinkled some silver sugar on top of the cake.  Easy!

——————————————————————

—————————————————————

Mr. and Mrs. Whann

Happy Halloween from Us!

——————————————————————-

Tony Inserting the Latch Key that Revealed His GUILT!

I do so love all this vintage hardware.  🙂

The Key Underneath the 5th. Stair Carpet

————————————————

Goodbye

Just leave the key under the 5th. step carpet on the stairs.

(Says it all!)

—————————————————————

My synopsis of the movie, Dial M for Murder:

The character of Tony Wendice is a diabolical killer.  Whoever wrote this is apparently familiar with the characteristics of a Sociopath.  And seeing as how this was written so long ago when we really didn’t have all the information of the psychology of a sociopath that we do now, is really remarkable.

As the story goes, Tony follows his wife one night where he saw her meet Mark and spend their evening together.  He saw them cooking spaghetti together.  (Again, I wonder if the red of the spaghetti sauce further enforces that view of the “tainted” woman.)

It’s at that point that Tony went to a pub to drown his sorrows and even contemplate killing himself, or killing her, which is where he saw Charles Swann and you know the rest of the story.  It really isn’t the story line that I care to comment on.  It’s the character of Tony.  How many of us if we were to see our spouse with another man/woman would just leave the scene and not have a confrontation?  And not just that but he went on to never say a word to her about it.  He wasn’t interested in working things out to solve their problems or to even move toward a divorce.  But instead, he begins to plot her murder that won’t take place for a year.  ONE YEAR!

Just think about that though.  Only a sociopath could “act” as if everything was fine.  Live with this person as if their marriage and relationship was good, pretend as if he loved her even when he hated her.  You know that they would go on holiday together.  Spend Christmas, Easter, live together, dine together, have marital relations together, have conversations together, all the while hating her and planning her very violent death.  That is just bizarre to me!  If Tony Wendice were a real person he would be fascinating to study.  Whether you were a physician or a criminal profiler.  Oh, don’t think for a second that I am a fan of his.  But he would be a fascinating study you could write your dissertation on.

Although we have plenty of sociopath’s in our society I believe Tony to be something of an anomaly and the only place where someone like him should be is locked up.  Regardless of the affair that his wife Margot had, she was married to a very dangerous man who when confronted with her indiscretion decided to turn to the worst possible conclusion that he could come to. 

Murder!

He Dialed “M!”

Julie

—————————————————————

RECIPES START HERE!!

Chef Whann

——————————————————————-

Drink:

Martini’s

With Extra Olives and Onions

To make 1 drink…

Pour about 1 Cup of ice, 3 shots of vodka and a dash vermouth into your shaker. Shake the shaker until you can’t take the cold on your hands and then pour your drink into a martini glass.

 

Appetizer:

Cocktail Sausages with Colonel Mustard

Ingredients:

Spray Olive Oil – light amount

1 1/2 Cups Yellow Mustard

1 Tbsp. Dry Mustard

~1/4 or more Cup Red Wine Vinegar

1/8 Cup Rice Vinegar

1/8 Cup White Vinegar

~1 or more Tbsp. Truvia Brown Sugar (Or any Brown Sugar you prefer.)

1 tsp. of your favorite hot sauce

1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp. Vanilla

Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste

2 pkgs. Cocktail Sausages – rinsed

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—————————————————–

Spray your measuring cup with olive oil, so the mustard will come out of the cup easier.

Pour the mustard into a medium sized sauce pan.

Add your dry mustard into the pan.

Then your Red Wine Vinegar, Rice Vinegar, and

then your White Vinegar.  Taste the mixture and adjust as you see necessary.

Here, I added a little bit more of the Red Wine Vinegar.

Now, add your Brown Sugar to the mixture……

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——————————————————-

Then add your favorite hot sauce!

Again, you can add more to your taste.

Now, add your Worcestershire Sauce…

Vanilla, and freshly ground Black Pepper.

———————————————————–

Mix all the ingredients well and taste!  Here, I felt it needed a touch more Brown Sugar.

Place your Cocktail Sausages into a bowl and pour the Mustard Sauce over the cocktail sausages and stir to combine.

This is something of a bath for them.  🙂

Remove the sausages from the mixture with a slotted spoon, and place them into a baking dish.

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Place the mustard sausages into a 400’F oven for 3o min. or until heated through.  These cocktail sausage are already cooked, so there is no need to worry about their internal temperature or eating them raw.

Remove and place into your serving dish, adding cocktail picks!

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Our Delicious Dinner

———————————————————-

The Birds with Professor Plums

This is not only delicious, but very beautiful.

————————————————————–

Preheat your oven to 400’F

Ingredients:

8 – 10 Plums – Halved and De-seeded

2 Cornish Hens

4 Shallots – Sliced

~1/3 Cup Honey

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 tsp. Merlot Salt

1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Ground Allspice

3 Bay Leafs

3 Tbsp. Water

Cornish Hen Rub:

~ 2 Tbsp. Lemon Zest

1 Tbsp. Sumac

1 tsp. Merlot Salt

1 tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 Tbsp. Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp. Ground Allspice

3 Tbsp. Olive Oil

5 Garlic Cloves – Chopped Thinly

Juice of 2 Lemons

Inside the Bird:

2 tsp. Red Thyme

2 small bunches Fresh Thyme

1 pinch Merlot Salt

Platter Garnish:

1 Head of Red Leaf/Green Leaf Lettuce

Washing the Plums

—————————————————————–

Cornish Hens and Shallots

—————————————————————-

Zest 2 lemons and place into a medium bowl.

Now, add your Sumac, Merlot Salt, and freshly ground Black Pepper to the bowl.

Then add your Cinnamon, Ground Allspice, and Olive Oil to the bowl.

—————————————————————-

Remove the Garlic skins and cut off the root ends, then slice thinly.

Once this is done, chop the garlic more until the garlic is almost minced as shown below, and add it to the bowl.

——————————————————-

Mix all the ingredients well and set aside.  The mixture should look like a paste.

——————————————————-

Slice your plumbs in half using the line on the side of the plum as a guide.

The line shows you the orientation of the seed inside the plum.

Then twist the plum halves and remove the large seed inside.

Place the de-seeded plums in your roasting pan.

———————————————————–

Slice the root ends and tops of your shallots off, and remove the skins as shown below.

————————————————————-

Now, slice the shallots into rings…

and place them into the roasting pan with the plum halves.

Now, drizzle your Honey over the plums and shallots.

————————————————————

Add your Olive Oil to the pan…

Merlot Salt…

Ground Cinnamon and Ground Allspice

—————————————————————-

Bay Leafs…

——————————————————

And lastly, add your water to the roasting pan and mix everything well.

Place your roasting rack over the plums as shown below.

———————————————————–

Time to prepare the Cornish Hens…

Remove the hens from their wrappings and rinse both inside and out with running water, then pat them dry using a paper towel.  Remove any feathers that didn’t get removed during processing.  Also, remove any gizzards, hearts, and necks within the birds cavity if present.  Add your Red Thyme spice to the cavity of the hens.

————————————————————

Then add your bunches of Fresh Thyme to each hen cavity.

Place the hens on the roasting rack as shown.

Place your rub mixture all over each hen as shown.

————————————————————–

—————————————————-

————————————————————–

Juice your lemons into a small bowl…

and pour the juice over the hens.

Place the roasting pan in the oven which has been preheated to 400’F and roast for ~30 – 40 min. until the hens internal temperature reaches 160’F.

(Here Gordon is pouring the Lemon Juice over the Hens.)

———————————————————–

Here, I am checking the temperature of the hens. 

I stuck the probe into the hens thigh to obtain a proper temperature.

Let the hens rest, which will increase their internal temperature to 165’F as the super heated juices run back into the center of the meat.  This is why you don’t immediately slice your hens, once you removed them from the oven.  I let the hens rest for at least 15-20 min.  Trust me, they will still be very warm when you are ready to eat.  This also gives you time to prepare and finish the rest of your meal.

——————————————————

While the hens are resting, I place the lettuce garnish around our platter as shown.

—————————————————————

Remove the Bay Leafs from the roasting pan.

Place your roasted plums and other ingredients around your platter…

Great close up picture Julie

——————————————————-

Then orient your roasted hens on the platter.

Pour the pan drippings over the hens as shown… ENJOY!

—————————————————————-

Mrs. Peacock’s Colorful Array of Steamed Carrots and Parsnips as well as Roasted Blue Potatoes with Garlic

Wash all the carrots and parsnips well.

—————————————————–

Slice off the root and tops of each as shown below.

—————————————————————–

——————————————————

—————————————————————

Peel them all as I did here, or you can leave them unpeeled if you prefer.

When cooking root vegetables, it is important to keep everything close to the same size for even cooking.

Here, I sliced them in half, then into ~3 inch lengths.

You can see the variety of colors in this picture…. Great Job Julie!

I used our large colander to hold the carrots and placed the collander into a large pot filled with about 2 inches of water to steam them.  Add some salt to the carrots and toss the carrots to evenly coat them.

Steaming Carrots and Parsnips, and fixing to Roast Blue Potatoes and Garlic

Start to boil the water, then place the pots lid over the carrots and parsnips.

Steam the vegetables for about 10 min. or until done to your liking.  I like them to still have a little crunch.  Check them using a fork.  If you cook them a little under, you can keep them on the stove top placing the burner on low, while you finish the rest of your meal.

——————————————————–

Blue Potatoes with Garlic Cloves

Clean your 20 or so potatoes with fresh running water, scrubbing them if needed.

When slicing your potatoes, try to keep them all the same size for more even cooking.  This means, some of the larger ones will require and extra slice of two to keep them the same size.  There were even a few I didn’t have to cut at all.  Place a sheet of aluminum foil on a sheet pan and drizzle some olive oil over it.

Place the sliced potatoes on the foil and spread them out evenly.

Be sure not to overload your pan, as each slice of potato need to sit flat.

Drizzle the potatoes with more olive oil.

Using your best turning tool (Your Hands), mix the potatoes in the olive oil on the pan.

Remove the garlic skins from ~20 garlic cloves, then slice off the root end.  You don’t have to use this much garlic if you are not a fan, but we love roasted garlic!

Here Gordon is removing the skins from the whole garlic cloves to add to our blue potatoes.

——————————————————————

Here is another great picture from Julie of me slicing off he root end of the garlic.

Place the garlic in whole evenly around with your potatoes.

Add your freshly ground black pepper…

Then add your salt. 

Here, Julie found some Merlot Salt which has a slight wine taste to it.  There are any number of salts on the market these days such as black, smoked, and pink Himalayan, so experiment with them all.

I then placed some Red Thyme which has a smokey flavor to it.

Again using your hands, mix all the potatoes and garlic together well, add more olive oil if needed.

A Sprinkling of Red Thyme

Roast the potatoes at 400’F for about 25 min. or until soft or done to your liking.  Check with a fork, if it goes in smoothly, they are likely done.

Place the garlic and potatoes in a serving dish topped with some fresh thyme!

——————————————————————-

Mrs. White’s Baked Cauliflower Steaks

Ingredients:

1 Large Cauliflower

~4 Tbs. Olive Oil

2 tsp. Jalapeno Powder

3 Tbsp. Chile & Lime Powder

Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

—————————————————–

Remove the stem and small leaves from the Cauliflower and rinse thoroughly.

Slice the Cauliflower head into 3/4 to 1 inch slices as shown.

Place a sheet of aluminum foil on a large baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.

Place the cauliflower steaks on the baking sheet, using the first one as a brush to spread the olive oil around the pan.

Place the rest of the cauliflower steaks on the baking sheet as shown… even the small broken cuttings.

Brush the tops of the cauliflower steaks with a little olive oil and season to taste with your Jalapeno seasoning.

The olive oil helps the seasoning to adhere to the cauliflower.

Cauliflower doesn’t have much taste by itself, which is why I chose these bold seasonings.

Now, shake on your Chile & Lime seasoning.

Bake the cauliflower steaks in a 400’F oven for ~20 min. or until they begin to slightly caramelize and become very tender.

In, and Out of the Oven


The baking process removes much of the water within the cauliflower making them shrink.

Ready to Plate

——————————————————–

Black Pearl Onions

Ingredients:

~20 White Pearl Onions

2 Tbsp. Butter

1/4 Cup firmly packed “Truvia” Brown Sugar (or any brown sugar you prefer)

1 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 tsp. Salt

Splash of Hot Sauce

Using a small sauce pan, add enough water to cover the onions, remembering they float.

Gordon Getting Water from the Refrigerator

Boil the onions for about 3 min…

Then place in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

——————————————————-

In the sauce pan, add your butter and brown sugar and turn onto med. high heat.

As the butter melts, mix the two ingredients.

Add your hot sauce to taste.

Using a whisk, mix all the ingredients well.

Sliced off the root end of the pearl onion and peal off the tough outer layer of the onion.  This can also be done by gripping the onion between your thumb, index, and middle finger squeezing the onion, forcing the softer section out of the tougher outer layers.


Now, add your Balsamic Vinegar and Salt to the pot, and heat until it starts to boil.

Turn the heat down to Med. and add your skinned pearl onions to the balsamic mixture.

Cook the onions until the mixture becomes syrup like.  This will take about ~10 min. to complete.

The pearl onions will begin to absorb the vinegar and become very dark as shown below.

Place them into a serving bowl and watch them disappear!

——————————————————————

Peas and Broccoli Topped with Parmesean

————————————————————-

We were originally just going to have Green Peas here but I, Julie, suggested that we add our leftover broccoli to the peas.

The ingredients are very simple.  Just a bag of frozen peas, the leftover fresh broccoli, about a tablespoon of butter, and some leftover cheeses in our refrigerator.

First, Gordon added some Butter to a saucepan.

Then he added a bag of frozen Green Peas.

Next he added our fresh leftover Broccoli.

———————————————————————

Here Gordon brings it to a simmering boil until tender.

Now just drain the liquid out of the pot, or use a slotted spoon to scoop the peas and broccoli into a serving bowl.

Gordon Sprinkling Cheese

Gordon STILL Sprinkling Cheese  🙂

DINNER IS SERVED

———————————————————-

Hitch’s Middle Finger on “M.”

(Were people shooting the bird back then?)

 

 

 

 

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