Southern Sweet Tea

mmmmmmmmmmm...my favorite thing in the world is a good glass of sweet tea.

My dad was the one who taught me how to make tea.  Not too much sugar, he always said.  We also used to make tea in the coffee maker.  We would use Lipton tea and just run it through.  (I want to gag thinking about it lol.  I can't stand coffee.  I didn't know better then.) 

Then when I met Daniel, his mom made the best tea in the world.  She had a Mr. Coffee tea maker, which has since kicked the bucket.  But it lived long enough for me to figure out the right ratio of tea to water.  The sugar ratio that my dad always expected stuck though, so combining the two I found the best way to make my tea at home.

Finally, the last influence to make my home tea making method complete was the tea at Subway of Weaverville.  They have since changed their tea brand, and it is still good but not exactly the same.  They used Luizianne caffeinated tea.  It's absolutely my favorite.  It has such a great flavor!

The only thing about it was that the tea bags tended to break during the steeping process, so we got some of these tea balls to put the tea bags in to prevent the loose tea from going everywhere should the bag break.

Alright, enough talking about it, here's how I make the tea.

Boil 8 cups (2 quarts) of water in a teapot.

In your container where you will store your tea, put 1 cup of sugar and add 3 tea bags in the tea balls.  Get your spoon ready.


Pour the boiling water into the container and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Allow to steep for 10-15 minutes.

Remove tea balls.  Add 4 cups of water or ice.  (I usually just add water if I'm going to stick it in the fridge instead of serving it immediately.)



Finally, a word of caution - tea will go bad if it is left out.  It gets this weird flavor to it and you can tell something isn't right.  So make sure that you keep it in your refrigerator if you aren't drinking it, and I wouldn't keep any batch of tea any longer than a week.


There are a lot of ways to improvise with tea!  I have added loose leaf peach tea that I made and steeped separately for a fruity flavor.  One of my mom's friends Kim used to put all sorts of different tea kinds and flavors all together (along with a TON of sugar) and it was delicious!  You can add more sugar if it's not to your liking, or less, or you can use alternative sweeteners if you can't use regular sugar.  Another improvisation that my dad used to make was adding lemonade to the tea to make it into "Pigeon River Punch," as he called it, because it made it look muddy.  (Follow the link for the story on the Pigeon River.  Apparently the drink's appearance reminded him of the waters of that river.  Ha ha ha.)

Enjoy!

Peach Smoothies

Peach smoothies, a recipe creation of my mom's that we have enjoyed for years.


Now my mom spoiled us with homemade frozen peaches, most likely freestone peaches which are best in August around the time of my mom & dad's anniversary.  However, Dole frozen peaches work okay too.

Peach Smoothies

3 cups frozen peaches

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend until smooth.

Consume!

Creamed Spinach

It is now time for the sharing of recipes.  This one is particularly good and satisfying.  I also made it last night for the side with supper.

I first made this recipe a few weeks ago at my in-laws house for dinner.  It came from "Cuisine at Home" a new gourmet cooking magazine that my mother-in-law received in the mail.  While creamed spinach usually contains spinach, onions, garlic, spices, flour, heavy whipping cream, and Parmesan cheese, this recipe has a few neat twists that add zest (literally!) and flavor to an old favorite.

Boursin Creamed Spinach

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

These are some of my favorite dishes/utensils that I used to make this dish:
Casserole Dish
Pan (10", and I use it for just about everything I cook)
Spatula (I have an older version of this, but it is my favorite tool and I use it with practically everything!)
Measuring Cup (I like this because I can stick it in the microwave)
Knife (this just cuts everything like a dream)
Grater (nothing like a Microplane!  Mine is an older version but I have never known a better grater.)

Filling:

1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 package (5.2 oz.) Boursin Garlic & Fine Herbs cheese (can be found in the specialty cheese section of your local grocery store)
1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry of excess moisture
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper, and ground nutmeg to taste

Crumb Topping:


2/3 cup coarse bread crumbs (any kind is fine)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter (melted)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat over to 425 degrees (F).  Coat a shallow 2-cup baking dish with nonstick spray, then set aside. 

For filling, saute onion in 1 Tablespoon of unsalted butter in a 4 qt. saucepan or a medium frying pan/chef's pan for 5 minutes or until soft.  Add flour, and stir to coat onions.  Cook for about 1 minute.  Stir milk and cream into the onion/flour mixture, stirring constantly to prevent lumps.  Simmer for about 1 minute.  Stir in Boursin cheese until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth.  (Sauce will thicken.)  Remove pan from heat.

Add spinach, Parmesan, zest, and seasonings.  Transfer filling to the waiting 2-cup baking dish.

In a separate bowl or measuring cup, combine the remaining Tablespoon of melted unsalted butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs.  Top the spinach mixture with crumbs.  If you need to make it early and cook it later, you can cover your dish and keep it in the refrigerator.

Bake until crumbs are golden, and sauce is bubbly (20-25 minutes).

I served this with another recipe, Lazy Man's Ribs, which can also be made ahead of time.

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Orange Julius

This is an AMAZING recipe passed down from my dad, who figured out his own version of mall food court fame, which in my opinion is about 1000 times better.  You will need a blender for this recipe.

Orange Julius

1 1/2 cups milk (any %)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 Family Size Minute Maid Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate 

(or a small can of the same, the family size is so you can have TWO opportunities to make this delicious drink!)

1 1/4 tsp vanilla (the real deal, not the imitation kind!  this is a very serious component!)

Ice (fill blender to at LEAST 5 cups capacity)

Combine all ingredients in blender at once (translation: put them all in at the same time, and try this recipe immediately!).  Blend on Chop or Mix for 30 seconds.  (This is the 2nd or 3rd setting.  Liquefy will make it watery and it's not as good that way.)

Now.  Why are you still reading this?  Go make some!!!  You can thank me later.  :)

Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson

I am currently reading the much-awaited Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson.  Bringing Up Boys was published 9 years ago, and it left me wondering for those 9 years when he was going to finally decide to write one about girls.  I suppose it's because we are so incredibly complicated.  That has to be it.  :)

http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Girls-Practical-Encouragement-Generation/dp/1414301278

With my own sweetie pie already 5, I feel like time has flown by. One of the most profound things that I have come across was this quote:

Childhood lasts for only a brief moment, but it should be given priority while it is passing before your eyes.Watch your kids carefully.  Think about what they are feeling, and consider the influences they are under. Then do what is best for them.  (2009)

 

Hannah, 2008.

I found that statement to be so profound, and so true!  It is so easy many times to go through the day, too busy (or too selfish, or both!) to take time to consider the feelings and experiences of your child, and to put them at the top of your priority list.  I hope that encourages you like it has encouraged me.

It also got me to thinking about the fleeting time we have with our children, to love them and influence them, and to shape their sweet little lives!  It will be time before we know it that our little Hannah is grown up and getting married.  We will have had at least 7 weddings we have attended this year, including the one this weekend.  It is hard to believe that Hannah will ever be big enough to take that step in her life.  But she will.  And it is coming.  And we have to cherish this time.  Listen to me parents - we HAVE to cherish it!  Because it is only once!

The Hopechest Song @ Yahoo! Video

 

Dobson, Dr. James.  Bringing Up Girls.  2009.  Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.  21.

Grandpa Boll, Part 1: Growing Up

 Grandpa Boll (Bobbie Gene Boll) was born on August 20, 1927 in Iowa, in a house out in the country.  Interestingly, he didn't share with me the city, but Grandpa seemed to enjoy being vague with me, so hopefully I can find out later from another family member.  All that I know is that it was north of Manchester.  As with Grandma, I don't have access to pictures of Grandpa as a child.  I also hope to find some of those at some point.

Grandpa was the son of Leon and Pauline Boll.  I only remember visiting Great-Grandma Pauline once in her home in Iowa when we were there for a family reunion.  Grandpa Leon passed away when my mom was little.

(Pictured left: Great-Grandpa Leon and Great-Grandma Pauline.  Also, my Uncle Ken is in the lower left corner.)

The only time I met Great-Grandma Pauline was in her home in Manchester, Iowa, where she moved shortly after Great-Grandpa Leon passed away in 1963.  Pauline was a member of the United Methodist Church, several social clubs, and she enjoyed embroidery, knitting, crocheting, quilting, baking cookies, gardening, playing cards, and traveling when she was able.

(Pictured right: Me, Great-Grandma Pauline, and my sister, Casey.)

Great-Grandma Pauline was born on February 15, 1906.  She lived to be 104 years old, and died on March 12, 2010.



(Pictured left: Grandma Pauline on her 100th birthday, February 15, 2006)

Great-Grandpa Leon worked as a farmer, and a fox hunter.  Great-Grandma Pauline was a housewife.  Great-Grandpa Leon had a dairy farm, and Grandpa shared that they had a cream separator.  Rather than sell the milk, they would separate the cream and sell it instead.  It is interesting that even though they had the technology of the cream separator, they milked the cows by hand.  They also had chickens that had to be housed in the winters.  They also grew and sold potatoes, watermelons, and cantaloupes.  Leon and Pauline farmed together and raised their family for 40 years before Leon passed away.

 (Pictured at right: an example of a cream separator used around the 1930s)

The Bolls had 9 kids: Arvin, Merwin (who has since passed away), Grandpa, Leland (PeeWee), Linda, Jerry, Ronnie, Donald (who was 6 months old when he died) and Karen. 





(Pictured above: Top row - Ronnie, Grandpa, Leland [PeeWee], Merwin; Middle row - Linda, Jerry, Karen, Arvin; Front Row - Great-Grandma Pauline)

Grandpa loved being outside.  Since he was older than any of his little sisters for so long, his main jobs involved helping out in the house - doing dishes, cleaning, etc.  He even now seems disgruntled about that.  He would much rather have been outside with the others, getting his hands dirty.  Grandpa never remembered the girls helping outside after they were old enough - he said they helped their mom inside with the household duties, learning how to be homemakers for their future lives.  One of his fondest memories of his childhood was of (what else?) ice cream!  Working on what was in essence a cream farm - and not only that, but a dairy with chickens! - they made ice cream every night outside in the cold.

Another one of Grandpa's responsibilities while growing up was taking care of the chickens - he raised baby chickens every spring.  He also worked many days on other people's farms, sometimes for 10 cents an hour, and sometimes for free.  (Sound familiar?  Until this past year, when he had to tone things down for health reasons, he could frequently be found on neighboring farms trying to help in any way he could.)  He said it was because he loved the companionship.

Every Saturday night they would go to town for groceries.  Every now and then, they would be given a dime to go to the movies.  Grandpa's favorites were the westerns (completely unsurprising, haha!). 

For fun, Grandpa and his siblings would fish, swim, roller skate, dance, hunt, and carve.  Hunting was the main thing, because that was a way that Grandpa got to spend time with his dad, whose favorite activity was hunting.  They would hunt for all kinds of things, including foxes and wild game.  The main meats the family ate were those wild game selections - rabbits, pheasants, squirrels, and skunks.  (Grandpa said then he was just kidding about the skunks.)  They also had "pet" wild game, including coons, foxes, squirrels, and mink.  These were more just grown on the farm for furs or meat.  Grandpa was very careful to distinguish between a pet, and these wild game, even though my husband did actually have a squirrel for a pet.  But that is a different story entirely.






(Pictured right: Grandpa Boll and Great-Grandma Pauline at Grandpa's house in Barnardsville, NC.)






Grandpa's family had what he called a self-supporting farm.  They raised crops like corn, hay and oats to feed themselves and their animals.  Along with the cows and chickens, they also raised pigs and horses.

During this period of investigation into the lives of my grandparents, I have learned so many interesting things.  Like for instance, that Grandpa Boll graduated high school in 1944, at the age of 16!  He attended Dundee High School, and was at the top of his class.  After graduating, he worked for his uncle up in Northwest Iowa for a few months because his uncle had not been blessed with any sons, only one girl.  Grandpa moved him from Rockfort, IL to Rockfort IA.  He also milked the cow in the morning and night, and mowed the yard, because his uncle was too busy with his crops (oats, flax, and soybeans).

It is at this point I must stop, because we have come to the point where Grandpa turns 18, and it was at this time in his life that a critical decision was made for his life: the draft into World War II.

Learning to Read

Hannah started kindergarten this year, and that means that she is learning to read.  This really means that she is just really picking up on reading; she has known all her letter sounds since she was 2 and can pretty much sound out anything, but now she has the motivation to do it more and better.  It's so exciting to see her increasing in her confidence and ability to read more complicated things, breaking the words into sections, etc.  (Yes, that was just a shameless brag-on-my-daughter moment!)

Anyway, this just got me thinking about when I was learning to read, and honestly, I can't remember learning to read!  How crazy is that?  I can remember so many other things, like when my big sister, Casey, was in preschool and I got to go join them one day for a special show and tell.  I was so excited, and took this car I had made out of Tinkertoys.  This little boy decided to take it apart and put the wheels on the bottom to make it into a hovercraft.  I couldn't have been more than 2 1/2 or 3 at the time.  I also remember learning my numbers when I was around 4 years old with A-Beka flash cards.  But I can't remember learning my letter sounds, or sounding out words.

The only thing I remember about learning to read was when I first learned to read "inside my head" instead of out loud or while whispering.  Casey and I would always go to the library and fill a laundry basket each with books of all kinds.  This continued until we were 13 and 14 years old.  This particular instance, and I must've been 6 or 7 years old, was when I had gotten a copy of Buffalo Bill.  It had a green cover, and it was a chapter book from the 60's or 70's, and I remember laying in the foyer trying so hard to read without actually reading out loud.  I finally succeeded and was very excited!  Then I ran to my parents and wanted them to watch me and listen to me reading in my head. Which on second thought makes no sense at all.

While we're on the subject, I should also mention that Casey would always get the really cool "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.

For whatever reason there was a long period of time when I wasn't allowed to get them.  It probably only seemed like a long period of time.  One time, I was sick with a really, really bad cold (the kind where I woke up and couldn't open my eyes because they were stuck together...yes...disgusting) and had to sleep in her room with her.  (I am sure she was just thrilled.)  That was when I got to finally read some of them.  Maybe because of those circumstances she was forced to share.  Most of the time though, I had to resort to sneaking into her room and reading them without her knowledge or consent.  (Sorry, Casey.)

Grandma Boll

My Grandma (Betty Jane Boll) was born on August 13, 1930 in Waupaca, Wisconsin.  I don't yet have pictures of her of a child - hopefully I will get some soon to share and I can update this post.  This is her as a teenager.

Grandma was the daughter of Onie (what a name!) and Wanda Prindle.  I only have a few pictures of Great-Grandpa & Great-Grandma Prindle.  At some point in their lives they divorced, and the feelings between them were so bitter, that my mom referred to this picture as the closest she ever saw them to one another.


(Pictured above, left to right: Great-Grandpa Prindle, my Aunt Sally, my mom Sam, Aunt Barb, Aunt Diane, and Great-Grandma Prindle).

Great-Grandpa Prindle (February 16, 1903-January 10, 1998, he lived to be 94 years old!) worked as a farmhand.  As time passed, he worked on tractors, then as a self-employed carpenter, and at one point he raised chinchillas.  Great-Grandpa Prindle was remembered for his special gift in carpentry, and was said to be able to build or fix almost anything.  He lived on his own until he was 93 years old.  Great-Grandma Prindle was a housewife when she was younger, then worked during the war (World War I) in a tomato canning factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

(Grandpa Boll, during this interview, decided to take that time to tell me this fantastic story about what the ladies there would do in that factory when they got bored - he said they wound chuck tomatoes at one another across the factory floor. Grandma corrected him quickly, however...and Grandpa said that he was just trying to make it more interesting. I was pretty disappointed that the story wasn't true.)

Great-Grandma Prindle later worked in a number of other places, including a grocery store when Grandma Boll was a teenager, then at the Roosevelt Hotel in Cedar Rapids as a waitress, and Woolworth.

I only got to meet my Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Prindle once. We had gone to Iowa for a family reunion, and took the time to visit them at each of their homes.

Pictured right: me, Great-Grandpa Prindle, my sister Casey, and my mom, Sam.

One of the only things about my Grandpa Prindle's house (and sadly, him) was his peacock feathers, as seen in the lower left of this picture.  And no, I don't know what it is that my sister is holding.

Pictured left: Casey, Great-Grandma Prindle, me.  (Casey hated having her picture taken.  I have spared us the picture with her sticking out her tongue.  haha!)

My mom always mentioned when we grew up that Great-Grandma Prindle had the softest skin of anyone she ever knew.

The Prindles had 5 children in all - Darline (Dolly), Shirley (Sue), Grandma Boll (Betty), Roy, and Carol.

 As a child, the sisters all had a tree house in the backyard, right above the chicken coop.  They spent a lot of time in the tree house - they loved it up there!  One time, when their mom was working, they went in the house and made homemade potato chips (something they were forbidden to do!).  They took them up to the tree house and ate them all so they wouldn't leave any evidence and get in trouble.  They got very sick from those potato chips, but kept the secret, telling their mom that, "It must've been something we ate!"

The girls would also steal eggs from the chicken coop and use them to make mud pies that would, understandably, get very fragrant.

Growing up, Grandma babysat a lot for her family, but also hired out to other families.  Grandma went to Cedar Rapids on the bus for a couple of summers and joined her mom with a job in a bakery.  During those summers, Grandma provided the primary care for her younger siblings, Roy and Carol - she would drop them off at the daycare on the way to work and then pick them up afterward.  The four of them stayed in a room where Grandma had the task of keeping the little ones quiet because they weren't supposed to have children in the room.  They also weren't supposed to eat in the room, but they had made a makeshift kitchen in their one closet, and would sit on the floor in the evenings and make sandwiches, etc. because they had no money to eat out.  These summers were a temporary separation for the Prindles, but were a necessary source of income for the family's survival.

Grandma Boll attended Lamont High School from kindergarten to 11th and 3/4 grade, when Grandpa interrupted by marrying her.  Stay tuned for more on that story, which promises absolutely to be very entertaining...

[I apologize for not being able to include more pictures of Grandma Boll in her younger years in this post.  I don't have many of her, but these are isolated to those after her marriage.  As soon as I can get my hands on the pictures that do exist, I will scan them and add them.]

Adventures with Hannah 9-1-10

Every now and then, we will have a brief interlude of stories concerning my daughter, Hannah. She is 5 and has just started kindergarten. Having attended a private school for 2 years for preschool, public school is an interesting adjustment...she is doing well, but she tells me some things now that never happened at her private school.

For instance, one of her classmates, J, punched another classmate (apparently one of Hannah's friends) in the nose today. She was horrified. Apparently J is involved in a lot of fights.

It was not this story that amused me, however. She got in the car today when I picked her up, rubbing her eye profusely. I asked her what was wrong. She replied, "I got poked in the eye!" I went through the normal sympathies, telling her I was so sorry that happened, etc. Then I asked her if it was an accident or if someone did it on purpose. She replied that it was an accident, both times. "Both times?!" I exclaimed.

This is where it got interesting. The aforementioned J had been involved in another altercation with a little boy, and it is beyond me why Hannah was so close in proximity to the situation, but somehow J ended up poking her in the eye accidentally. Then she said later, at lunch, the assistant teacher Mrs. C turned around and accidentally poked her in the eye again! I got tickled that one of her teachers did it the second time. How sad that she got poked at all, let alone twice, and once by her teacher! She was fine after we got home and completely forgot about it. Maybe she needs to wear some swimming goggles for protection tomorrow.

Later on this evening, after Hannah had been asleep quite some time, her two adorable hamsters (of which you will hear more, I'm sure) Squishy and Sniffles [pictures to be added later] got involved in some sort of hamster spinning wheel race (simultaneously and in opposite directions, best I can tell). Neither won, but it did wake Hannah up. She immediately called for us, excited that they were both on the wheel at the same time.

Then she went back to sleep.

Grandma & Grandpa

I hope to be able to tell more stories about Grandma and Grandpa's (my mom's parents) childhoods and lives as time goes on, but as an introduction to them and a partial introduction to my life, let me begin by sharing a few memories from my childhood and from when my grandparents lived on Lovin Road out towards Barnardsville.


It is beautiful, isn't it? Rolling hills, pastures - I have so many memories at this house. It is so sad that they don't live there anymore.  My grandparents lived in this house until maybe 8 years ago. I'm not sure about the year they moved, but my aunt decided that it was her turn to take care of them so they moved to Kentucky. After that I've only gotten to see them a handful of times, when they've been healthy enough to travel down here for a few weeks or when we've been able to make it up there for a family reunion.




This is my Grandpa - Bob Boll. He is 83 now...and if you can't tell from his ever-present overalls and trucker hat, he's a lifelong farmer. When my mom was growing up, they had a mink farm in Iowa, then later a dairy farm. Eventually they lost the farm and moved to the mountains of North Carolina. This was when my mom was about 12 years old. Grandpa is a World War II vet - he served on a clean-up crew in the Philippines.





 My Grandpa has had his long beard as long as I've known him - I wouldn't recognize him if he shaved it! He usually plays "Santa" around Christmastime, dressing up and everything. I must mention here that Grandpa prides himself on giving the new babies in the family (including me and mine) their first taste of his favorite food - vanilla ice cream!


(Pictured above: family friend, Rachel, Grandpa & me)

My Grandma, Betty, just turned 80. She raised her 7 children and has spent her lifetime caring for my Grandpa. I'll always remember spending the night at their house and waking up to breakfast - there was always a full breakfast with eggs, fried potatoes, and sausage, served on pastel pink and blue melamine plates.

After they came to North Carolina, they ended up eventually in the house I am mentioning here in this post. Most of my aunts lived near us when I was younger, so we spent so much time as cousins playing in the yard - climbing the trees (our favorite being the dark tree shown here - what I think might be a Crimson King Maple, but I could be entirely wrong about that...it is my favorite kind of tree), running around in the fields (shown in the picture at the top of this post), and playing in the creek (seen below).




The creek has grown over a lot. I remember one time we were catching little snails that lived in the creek, and I stood up into that bridge - and got tar in my hair! I have no idea how they ended up getting it out.

Then, there was the front yard.

That hill was certainly the BEST hill to roll down, something we all did repeatedly.

And the front porch was one of the best hiding locations for Kick the Can, a game which most everyone considered me and I'm sure a few others too young to play. We used an old Clabber Girl baking powder can filled with rocks.


While taking the trip out down Barnardsville Highway to go visit the old home, I noticed the fence all the way up the road leading to it. What used to be a beautiful white fence is now worn and dilapidated. I suppose it is a testimony to how old my memories are. Obviously, I miss the times when Grandma and Grandpa were only minutes away.