February 2014 – Page 2 – Ruth E. Hendricks

Cookbook Shelves Shared and Eat and Grow Slim Clipping

Thanks to blog followers who shared their thoughts and comments on Feb 15th post Share Your Cookbook Shelf and to the two below who emailed photos of their cookbooks.

From Colleen

“This is about half my cookbook collection. I have over two hundred altogether. Another bookcase this size and lots of little stacks around the house. Last year I decided I would pick a cookbook a month and make five recipes I’d never tried. I did not complete the task every month but it was a lot of fun trying.”

Colleen

just half? Thanks for sharing your photo, Colleen.

and from Euthemia who says “My favorite cookbook is 660 Curries”

plus another photo of her three shelves of cookbooks

Euthemia sent this photo of her three shelves filled with cookbooks.

and here are a couple of photographs of my old cookbooks, a bit grainy in the low light shot with the iPhone

My parents spent their wedding night at The Palmer House in Chicago Illinois, August 28, 1939. I remember my dad said they ate Tomato Soup. The next day they took a train to New Haven where they would live for the next three years and they didn’t get a sleeper car but sat up (less expensive).

I bought the The Palmer House Cookbook on ebay and it is signed by the Head Chef Ernest E. Amiet in 1940 when it was published. I googled him and couldn’t find any further reference.

Eat and Grow Slim like finding old clippings and notes inside the cookbooks

cranberry sauce and fowl- Affinity Foods

Anyone Can Bake Cook Book

from the interior of Anyone Can Bake

And a photographic plate from the Palmer House Cookbook of Calf’s Head en Tortue- trends and tastes change over time.

February 18, 2014 by Ruth Categories: Baking, PhotographyTags: baking, blogging community, bookshelf, Boston Cooking School, Chicago Illinois, cook books, cookbook collection, cookbooks, cooking, eating, Fannie Farmer, food, photography, postaday, recipes, The Palmer House, vintage cookbooks 14 Comments

Yellow + Blue = Green

Ready to whisk eggs before scrambling,

adding some grated cheese, freshly ground pepper

It was the colors in the light that caught my attention.

February 17, 2014 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, PhotographyTags: ceramic bowl, cooking, eating, eggs, eggshells, food, food photography, kitchen, photography, scrambled eggs 9 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Treasure

“Capture something you treasure“, Krista Stevens at WordPress says this week for the challenge.

What better treasure than friends?

Last snowy Sunday my dear friend Joanne (green pepper jelly maker) emails and says,” Let’s SKYPE at 10:30.”

Okay. At 10:40 I call, “what happened?”

Oh ten thirty CENTRAL time! Got it.

So at 11:30 (my time) the SKYPE rings in on my computer and J says,

“I have a house guest- would you like to meet her?”

(and I am thinking, why would you want to SKYPE with me if you’re entertaining a house guest?)
SURPRISE! Look who enters the screen! It’s Aïda whom I’ve not seen in 27+ years. We lived in Granfenwoehr Germany in the early ’80s.

Aïda (from Florida) visiting her daughter and granddaughters at Ft. Leavenworth Kansas and drove up for the weekend to visit J.

Great memories of good times with dear friends. We were on for more than an hour. What a nice surprise! Fun.

Photographed by Aida’s daughter Suzanne.

here we are SKYPEing Joanne on the left, I’m in the middle with the hat! and Aïda on the right

You’ve Got a Friend

February 16, 2014 by Ruth Categories: Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: daily post, friends, friendship, grafenwoehr germany, Krista Stevens, Omaha NE, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, SKYPE, treasure, weekly photo challenge: treasure, You've Got a Friend 14 Comments

Share Your Cookbook Shelf

What’s on your cookbook shelf? These days, many people are cooking from recipes on the internet instead of cookbooks.

Did you ever discard or pass on a cookbook and then later regret your having gotten rid of it?

Diets, tastes and trends change over time. I have a wooden box of my grandmother’s recipes but I’m not making them.

I always enjoy reading a cookbook in bed, planning meals or dishes to try. Thinking about entertaining. What I usually end up doing is making the same things over and over again for the most part, not using a recipe.

Comfort foods as of late, with the ongoing winter temps I feel motivated to cook hearty meals- and eat them!

Here’s my sister’s cookbook shelf in NYC. You might remember seeing her kitchen. I love the Coldweather Cooking book and have a copy myself. I love to bake the Brown Mountain Cake out of the Farm Journal Country Cookbook. The Fannie Farmer makes me think of my mother’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook, tied with a ribbon.

I open old cookbooks, find a handwritten note or a yellowed recipe between the pages, see my mother’s hand- memories of my childhood or my children’s childhood, recipes past, present and the ones I’ve clipped for the future (always heavy on the desserts!)

I’ll share my cookbook shelf another post. Hope you will share your cookbook shelf photo.

It was hard to get it all in one shot, it’s a tight space!

February 15, 2014February 15, 2014 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, PhotographyTags: books, bookshelf, cookbooks, cooking, eating, food, James Beard Cookbook, kitchen, New York City, New York Times Cookbook, photography, postaday, recipes, sister 18 Comments

Back to Real Time and Green Pepper Jelly

Thanks for looking at the four days of 2010 Snowmaggedon photos this week. I imagine most people are weary of watching and talking about any weather ad nauseum but depending where you live, it’s been tough to ignore.

(Okay, Rob, Shuey and Kristin don’t mind sending the Florida temps to me)

Right now I’m curled up with a laptop and a shawl, enjoying the flannel sheets, unwinding from the week, deciding whether or not to go down to the basement to take the clothes out of the dryer while they are still warm and unwrinkled or wait until morning and give them a quick whirl.

This is what I found on my computer keyboard on my school desk this morning. Yes, I considered tidying up for the shot, taking off the knitting, removing the battery charger, pushing the papers to the side but this is what it actually looked like, unretouched. The custodian who cleans my room left me a lovely heart of chocolates. An early morning surprise.

not artfully arranged or set up. AS IS. A jumble but authentic.

(See the Knitting Blog for student progress in knitting since last post)

Thursday night the girls and boys basketball teams won their respective games in the playoffs and advanced to the next round. I photographed both games and this is what it looked like when I left school around nine. Getting more proficient at the action shots. The players sure move fast.

On my way to the parking lot, I looked back and saw this scene outside of the school.

The Manager’s Special today, heart shaped donuts. The students appreciated them even if they are probably on a list of food one should never eat!

And then the bonus of the day- homemade Green Pepper Jelly shipped via the USPS from Omaha, Nebraska. Thanks J. Steve and I had some fancy appetizers before dinner. Steve had bought a container of organic cream cheese so I opened it and put them on some gift crackers Steve brought home.

This dish was given to me by my loving neighbors Ann and MJ who have both passed.

So that’s my Friday. Thanks for making and sending the jar of Pepper Jelly, J! Delicious.

February 14, 2014 by Ruth Categories: knitting, PhotographyTags: basketball game, chocolate, friendship, green pepper jelly, heart shaped donuts, high school, knitting, knitting blog, photography, Valentine's Day 15 Comments

Wedding Flowers in the Snow

Happy Fourth Anniversary Charlotte and Joel. What a beautiful wedding it was….married on her Grandparents’ Valentine Wedding Anniversary. So romantic.

February 13, 2014February 13, 2014 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: candy hearts, celebration, chocolate, flower arrangement, photography, postaday, Snowstorm, travel, Valentine Wedding, Wedding anniversary, wedding flowers, wedding flowers in snow, winter wedding 9 Comments

Street Parking Placeholder

Street Parking Space Savers- revisiting Snowmageddon 2010. Many people are experiencing more snow right now. So is it a Pittsburgh thing? You see all kinds of chairs reserving parking spaces all around the city after someone has shoveled out their space, planning to return to it, later.
I’ve seen a port-a-crib to reserve a parking space!

February 12, 2014February 12, 2014 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: car, city street, parking, photography, Pittsburgh PA photography, postaday, snowfall, snowmageddon 2010, Snowstorm, travel, urban winter, weather, winter 8 Comments

Dog Follows Rider in the Snow

Reblogged from Feb 2010 Snowmageddon. German Shepherd and Biker.
When I look at the comments from four years ago, I see Deb saw a snow heart in the tree. Happy Valentine’s. We’ve had lots of snow this year but never all at once like 2010.

February 11, 2014February 11, 2014 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: dog, German shepherd, motorcycle, neighborhood, Pittsburgh Photography, postaday, snow heart, snow in the city, Snowstorm, travel, Valentine, weather, winter 6 Comments

Dirt Biker in the Snow

From the giant snowstorm four years ago. Reblogging this dramatic shot . Dirt Biker in the snow. Thanks for looking again. Making it through the winter.

February 10, 2014February 11, 2014 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: biking in snow, city scene, Dirt Bike, dirt bike in snow, motorcycle, photography, Pittsburgh PA winter, postaday, snow 7 Comments

Daily Prompt: Ingredients

This is the first time the daily prompt really spoke to me- ingredients.

WordPress offers daily inspiration to bloggers, if they want to respond. Here is the prompt by Ben Huberman

” What’s the one item in your kitchen you can’t possibly cook without? A spice, your grandma’s measuring cup, instant ramen — what’s your magic ingredient, and why?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us KITCHEN.”

Here’s part of my kitchen. Isn’t love the secret ingredient? I read a blog that says it is.

But I think I’ll choose the Kitchen-Aid mixer, the Kitchen-Aid mixer my dad bought me 25 years ago. The one I’ve used to make cakes for all the kids’ birthdays and graduations and cookies for all occasions. Now they are all grown and gone.

You need a lot of ingredients-

An electric kettle (thanks Laura)

The edge of the farmhouse sink and bit of my stove, the portable dishwasher top is laden with stuff- the knives,

a tin of olive oil.

I added my favorite nesting Pyrex bowls I’ve a thing for the big yellow one. It’s like the one my mom used to make her bread dough. Let it rise.

My grandmother’s recipes are in the wooden box on the shelf.

A couple of beat up baby cups, including my pewter one engraved with my name- Ruth Ella 1952

Tea in a tin.

Handwoven potholders.

My favorite French pepper mill a gift (1974) from my sister’s college friend Janet.

The bread board my sister gave me.

And how could I manage without vanilla?

Garlic keeper from Fredda at my shower in college. Got to have garlic. My brother sends me the best organic garlic from Okanogan WA.

But just one thing? I chose the mixer.

Definitely need butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Such a lovely start to so many things.

the close up

and then the shot with a bit more distance to see the all of the ~~clutter~~ ingredients

Love my stove, oven and range hood, too. My pots and pans.

Now you can see the dirty dishes in the stainless bowl and the remnants of the sink skirt adhesive I tried to stick onto the sink once upon a time. Need to get some Goo Gone.

February 9, 2014February 9, 2014 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: butter, cooking, Daily Prompt: Ingredients, eggs, farmhouse sink, food, grandma's recipes, ingredients, kitchen, Kitchen-Aid Mixer, photography, postaday 15 Comments

Month: February 2014

Cookbook Shelves Shared and Eat and Grow Slim Clipping

Like this:

Yellow + Blue = Green

Like this:

Weekly Photo Challenge: Treasure

Like this:

Share Your Cookbook Shelf

Like this:

Back to Real Time and Green Pepper Jelly

Like this:

Wedding Flowers in the Snow

Like this:

Street Parking Placeholder

Like this:

Dog Follows Rider in the Snow

Like this:

Dirt Biker in the Snow

Like this:

Daily Prompt: Ingredients

” What’s the one item in your kitchen you can’t possibly cook without? A spice, your grandma’s measuring cup, instant ramen — what’s your magic ingredient, and why?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us KITCHEN.”

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

” What’s the one item in your kitchen you can’t possibly cook without? A spice, your grandma’s measuring cup, instant ramen — what’s your magic ingredient, and why?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us KITCHEN.”

Share this:

Like this: