Eat!

One of the good things about having a big family is the variety in what they eat! Here's a good one (Just don't do like I done and burn the apples):

Fat Man's Sweet Ham Loaf.

2.5 lbs ham loaf (Fareway's is best)
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
3 eggs
dash of Worcestershire Sauce
16 oz can of either diced or crushed pineapple
1 big Granny Smith Apple.
Small handful of cloves.

In a small bowl, moisten the bread crumbs just enough to make them damp through and through. Mix with the eggs and Worcestershire sauce.

Put the ham loaf in a large mixing bowl and separate by hand. Slowly mix in the egg and bread, and then the pineapple, juice and all. Gently work the mixture by hand, until a nice smooth loaf is made. Spread it into a greased casserole pan, and place the cloves over the top at pretty even intervals. Cut the apple either into thin wedges or fine spirals and garnish over the top, and bake in a moderately hot oven for about an hour, until the ham is a lively pink colour.

Serves 6-8.

The fat man lives!

Well, I haven't froze to death yet. Not from any lack of cold, this winter is a pissuwah. It's been so cold I had to put the brass monkey in the porch. Progress is slow, because I have yet to hear from the people who were supposed to bring my propane barrel, and the people to upgrade the service enough to put an electric heater in!

I did go and get my Quincy rocker from the basement where I work, and brought back the kitchen table last time I went to my mammie's in New Ulm. The rocker has a pressed front, and vaguely mission-esque sides. The upholstery is shot to hell, but it's made it this long, a few more months won't be any problem.

The table is elm, with faux-oak grained legs and apron. I get kick out of it-it looks all little and tiny, with 5 great big fat legs, then you pull it open and it'll seat ten, twelve if they like each other. Leaves. 6 of them.

I have the matching sideboard at my mother's but it's not going anywhere for a little while.

I still like the oak centre pedestal table a little more, but this this sure a good runner up! It'll fit better in my kitchen. There is no counter space in there! None! The only counter is the thirty inches or so that are between the burners on the stove, and the drainboard on the sink. Since the glass fronted built-in takes up the whole west wall, the sink and windows the whole south wall, and the outside door and fridge the whole east wall, and the stove and dining room door the whole north wall, the only counter option is a table or island. I'm nowhere near to the point where I want an island, and Miss Andrea got along with a kitchen table for plenty of years, so I guess that's what I'll do. With the leaves all in, it takes up almost the whole kitchen.
And that's all the news as I know it. Mr Chompp wants it warm, so he can go out. Boo hoo! We all want something!

I must be living right!

The mother lode for my house!

My cousins (who always treat me better than I deserve) generously donated this old screen door to the cause-it needs some help, but fits the front door like a glove! It was on their house in town (which my great Grandfather built) but it was not original to the house, and so they were kind enough to give it to me.

It has all sorts of fancy saw work and spindles, and looks like the screen doors on all of the old movies, and there's no way in hell I could afford a new one this nice.



The screen has been dogged, likewise the front corner, but that's all easy to fix. That and a little paint will make it an entry to be proud of!

True story: A friend that I cannot name here was at someone else's house and his dog tore the screen door all to hell. When the lady of the house confronted him with the details, he didn't offer a nickel to fix it-but did volunteer this comforting thought: "Yeah....you got off pretty lucky...he done tore the one to home apart lots worse than this!" The wooden bracing has a really nice fluted profile, and it looks like it grew up with the house. I even had six old white-painted screws on the porch that matched the hinges, and an old hook screwed into the jamb matched the eye on the door for height and location.






I also got another piece of good luck, in the form of this table, which is solid quarter-sawed oak, and forty-eight inches across the top. It has a rather ingenious, but simple little latch that holds the halves together, and they slide very easily apart to put the leaves in. One of the things I remember from my Grandmother's old house as a child was the big round oak table in their dining room. I have wanted one for a while, but they all seem to go for a fortune, so when this one was made available to me almost literally for the taking, I jumped on it. (Incidentally, they told me that it was forty-two inches across, which I measured and determined would fit into my car...turns out it is forty-eight inches, which meant some disassemble time required. Such fun. If I had a tail I would wag it, but I can truthfully say it got brought home in an Oldsmobile Cutlass. I am very happy with it though, and I'd do all of it over again to get it. The people from whom I got it thought it was from about 1920. It has modern casters on it, and at first I was going to remove them, but i like being able to move it with two fingers.

Last, but not least, a friend bought a house here in town, and I went to their sale, and got this desk. It is in sort of fixer-upper shape, but for what I paid for it I am not whinging any. It's one of those combination affairs, that have the desk and book case all in one. It is quarter-sawed oak veneer, and I think I may have some pieces to replace the missing. The mirror for the back is around somewhere, but the glass is broken, so I have that to do, and I plan on replacing the back with oak bead board or car siding.

I have been thinking about the heat situation, and remembered I have the one I bought for the farm, which I may use this year-it did all right...just look at how happy the hound was to have it!