Grandma's Home Made Fudge

It’s that time of year when I become nostalgic, break out my old cook books, and start reminiscing. I even have the same recipe box with recipes that I typed on index cards between my junior and senior years in high school. Now those are some real antiques!

I always liked to eat candy, especially chocolate, and especially home made. I started making fudge when I was really young, as soon as I could reach the top of the stove--probably about seven years old. It was the fudge with the sugar, milk, butter and chocolate all boiled together, and it needed a candy thermometer. Mine always turned out sugary, but I ate it anyway and the rest of the family didn’t complain.

But when I was perhaps six or seven years old, my grandma made us the most incredible fudge I had ever eaten. It was nothing like the old way of making fudge—in fact, it was so different, it didn’t even seem like fudge. It was such a treat for us!

I started making my grandma’s fudge when I was 10, but mine was never the same as grandma’s. This blogging thing is great for combing over details and processing memories, even ones that are 50 years old. I have read this recipe hundreds of times, and made it every year for at least 25 years, and just could not put my finger on the reason mine was different than grandma’s. On typing the recipe for the blog and talking this over with Greg, I noted the recipe calls for a bar of “sweet chocolate”. I have always used a Hershey milk chocolate bar. I think this is the ingredient that was making my candy so different from grandma’s.

This recipe is really old--the evaporated milk and chocolate don’t even come in the same size packages anymore.

Never Fail Fudge

4 ½ cups sugar
1 can milk (14 ½ ounces)
1/3 cup butter

Boil 5 ½ minutes. Remove from heat. Add:

12 ounces chocolate chips
10 ounce bar sweet chocolate
1 cup marshmallow crème

Beat to mix. Add 2 cups nuts. Pour into buttered pans. Makes 5 pounds.

My grandma was Mamie Alice Esser—isn’t that a cute name? She was born June 9, 1891 and passed away on December 19, 1976.

Newborns in Need

As the 2006 hat donation project for Warm Up America and Save the Children wound down, I wondered how I could continue to spend my spare time volunteering to do something I already loved.

Carol Green founded an organization called Newborns in Need, in North Carolina in 1992 when she saw a need to provide tiny clothes for premature infants and prematurely deceased infants. The hospital staff wanted these tiny babies to look as normal as possible when they were presented to their parents. The organization developed sewing patterns which are used by volunteers to make clothing to fit two pound babies, and of course, babies weighing more than two pounds.

I was somewhat aware of the organization, but was unsure of the organization’s name and didn’t quite know how to contact them. Then several years ago, there was an article published in the Fergus Falls Journal showcasing a wonderful woman (I apologize, I don’t remember her name; she is deserving of so much recognition) who sewed these tiny clothes. And in the article, was the name of the organization, Newborns In Need. There was also an article published in the Sacramento Bee about a teacher at the Preston Youth Correctional Facility, Anita Hatfield, who was teaching her students to sew, knit, and crochet for Newborns in Need. Many of the boys at the correctional facility were themselves a father to an infant in need of the services of Newborns in Need.

I went to their website, www.newbornsinneed.org, to learn more about the organization and what I could do to help. I learned they welcome all donations for infants, even used clothing. They give written credit for community service work assignments, if you have pending community service commitments. They encourage donors to first donate to local hospitals or local charities, and then donate to their organization. They encourage the formation of local chapters to collect donations.

What a great way to use up the leftover yarn from my projects! I have really enjoyed making blankets and hats and thinking about the lives of the little people who will be using them, as well as the family members caring for them.

If you are looking for a place to donate your time, talent, or resources which would benefit families of needy infants, please take time to visit the website.

The Pistachio Sisters' Baking Extravaganza!

This is an e-mail interview with my sister-in-law, June, which went on over a period of days from November 18 through November 24. She has given me permission to use names, dates, places, and other incriminating, but scrumptious information.

June: ReNee and JoLeen and I (3 of the 4 Pistachio Sisters) are going to start our Christmas baking blitz this coming Saturday. ReNee and JoLeen each had 1 or two orders and I had 8 from our building here. When I actually delivered the cookies, several people saw me hauling platter after platter of goodies in that day and asked about it. They said to let them know if we decided to do that again this year. We didn't actually keep track of how much we spent baking and buying ingredients...but we DID laugh about the number of POUNDS of butter we went through. There were 8-10 pounds of butter in my fridge at the beginning of each baking session, and we usually emptied it out by the end of the day. We'll do two all day baking blitzes. The first one is cookies, bars, etc. that freeze well; then the last day closer to Christmas, all the fancy dipped and decadent cookies. Usually none of us can even walk or stand up anymore by the time we put in a 10-12 hour baking day. Guess we're getting old. :-)

Elaine: We had a ton of questions, and I wanted to call, but Greg said you would be baking or resting.

He wants to know who washes all the dishes after the project----he's the dish washing guy here, so of course, that is what he is mainly interested in.

June: Funny!!! The dishwashing thing goes like this. Whoever has the first dirty dishes, runs a sink full of hot soapy water and tosses their things in. If you need something right away, you wash it yourself. If you have a couple of minutes in between making dough and baking, you do up what's in the sink. No dish wiper...they just drip dry but the towel is always there if you need it. We actually go through about 3-4 dish towels because they can't dry out fast enough. Another rule, if you use peanut butter in a measuring cup, you clean that yourself...or listen to a lot of complaining. They are the worst...along with shortening. After that, it's usually time to change water again.

Elaine: I want to know all the stuff that goes on the plates.

June: We got a ton of stuff made on Saturday. I'll try to remember what they were. I know there were 14 different things, so I may miss one or two. Most of the items below were a double batch.

Dream Bars; 7-layer bars; Butterscotch/cashew bars; Cut out sugar cookies; Macaroon cookies drizzled with dark chocolate; Maple/Walnut cookies; Craisen/White Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies; Spritz; Chocolate Spritz; Chocolate waffle cookies; Caramel rice krispie balls; Chocolate Balls (cornflakes/cocoanut/peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate); Chocolate no bake cookies

Elaine: Wow!! What a lot of work! You girls are so organized!

June: We used to just hate making the cut out sugar cookies because they take so long, but we've learned you can make a double batch of them. ReNee and I roll out dough, and cut them out. JoLeen decorates them with sugars, etc. and puts them in the oven, takes them off the trays and washes or wipes off the sheets for the next cookies. We can whip through a double batch of those cutouts in about 1 1/2 hour. We only have 5 good baking sheets that we swear by, and then we have about 4-5 more cookie sheets that we don't bake on...just use for dipping things, etc. I plan to buy one more of these cookie sheets yet this year and seriously consider tossing away other cookie sheets. I've had air bake ones, dark colored ones and everything in-between, but these commercial grade ones are the best. They never burn or get the cookies too brown on the bottom. ReNee loved my two so much that she went out and bought 3 of them for herself. With 5, we could still use at least one more when we really get moving. The biggest back log of sheet space is when I'm pressing out the Spritz. I bought a Pampered Chef Spritz cookie press about 3 years ago and I just love that one. I can whip through a double batch of spritz in a little over an hour, too.

Elaine: I understand you also designed a “signature” cookie.

June: Yes, we came up with a 'signature' spritz cookie a few years ago by mistake. I was making some light pink cookies, then I had a tube of light green, then my last tube was yellow. When I got done, there was maybe a cup or two of each of the colors left, and I just put all of the dough into the spritz maker at once and made them. They were multicolored pastels and both sisters thought they were much prettier than the solid colored ones. So now...each year, I tint some dough green and some pink, then put sections of the white and two colors into the press and start making cookies. They are very pretty and something you don't see all the time.

I brought in the first tray today here at work. The corporate side of the building has ordered 5 small trays (one each week until Christmas). The Fargo Branch side of the building has ordered 7 small trays to start on December 9th. Our Fargo Branch employees also just ordered 12 small trays to be delivered on December 12th. They will give them to all of the county recorder offices that they do business with.

John thinks we are totally nuts and doesn't know how I'm going to have time to do that this year with the house planning I need to do. I guess I'm going to find out just how well I can multi-task this year. :-)

Greg: I'm on my way now to help you girls with some "quality control".
I figure if I drive straight through I'll be there...oh never mind!

Guess I'll go whack a couple cookies off the roll of Toll House dough I bought, poor me.

The dish washing sounds like it's not too bad actually, except for the peanut butter, I can understand that!

Tell your sisters I think you all are some super bakers and you should be really proud of yourselves for all your sales. And tell John if you didn't multi-task so well, he'd be eating store bought Toll House cookies like me!

June: Well...I do feel a bit sorry for you if that's the best cookie in the house. :-) Here's one that you could make, which are pictured at the top of the page. We make them for our trays. Even though they are not homemade, they are very 'crafty' and really look cute on the trays. It's Nutter-Butter Peanut Butter cookies decorated up: white almond bark for beards and hats, hats have a sprinkle of red sugar on top section and then a white chip, red hot for the nose, with two mini chocolate chips for eyes. The absolute worst part of making these cookies is putting down a bit of almond bark for 'glue' for the eyes and nose. I just bought 4 bags of these cookies. Last year, I made 3 bags of them and we ran out fairly early. This year, I'm limiting each tray to only 2 of these cookies, because after I get 4 bags done, I will NOT want to make any more of these things.

Elaine: These little guys are just adorable!

Greg and Newman Davidson

Aren’t they adorable? They are both miracles!

Little Newman was born about September 1, 2006. His mom was hit by a car when he was only a few days old, and he was rescued and taken to our vet’s office. I met him when he had just opened his eyes. The girls who worked at the vet’s office were bottle feeding him and they were so proud of him! When I told Greg about him, he called the vet’s office and asked if we could get our names on the list to be adoptive parents. Now that we know Newman better, we laugh about thinking there might have been a “waiting list” or a “lottery” for a home for him. I’m sure his care-givers were ecstatic that someone wanted to adopt him. As soon as he was one month old, the vet’s office called and told Greg he could come and get Newman. When he came to live with us, he was the size of two cotton balls—one for the head and one for the body. Once, Greg was unable to find him, and called me at work to let me know he was afraid he had thrown Newman in the washer with a load of clothes—but, no, Newman had just burrowed into a stack of whatever and had fallen asleep. I tell him everyday that he is a miracle for not getting stepped on, sat on, laid on, rolled over, or thrown in the washer. He is definitely Greg’s cat. He listens to everything Greg says, and everything Greg says is important. He does whatever Greg asks him to do, even fetches a rat. Doesn’t really sound much like a cat, huh? We tell him that he is more like a dog. We just love him!

Check out this scarf!

This is another picture of me wearing the same scarf I had on yesterday. Lee made this for me when she was about 12, so it is more than 25 years old. I'm not sure if it was her first knitting project or not. It is so precious! She tied the cutest little knots, which I took pictures of, but they don't show up that well. This red yarn color is no longer even made. She said she made scarves for her cousins, a pink scarf for Jenny and a blue scarf for Mike--do you two still have those? The tree is in our front yard and is still green. The top picture was taken last year after the yard trees had turned color, and it looks like it was perhaps Thanksgiving, as Greg's truck has a wreath on the grill.

Amador County Wine Country

Yesterday, we finally managed to get on our trip to the Amador County wine country, approximately 30 miles from Galt. The main road through is about 10 miles long, and I previously counted signs for 57 wineries--just on the main road. Our goal was to get to three wineries for taste sampling. Our first stop was Vino Noceto, a very small winery, specializing in Sangiovese, a light, fruity red. We sampled 7 or 8 of their wines, and bought a bottle of Reserva. They also grow walnuts and olives, and we bought a bag of glazed walnuts, and a bottle of olive oil, which is real grassy and has a little peppery accent. Then we sampled the bottle of Frivolo, which is not yet bottled for this year, and is sold out for last year. It is a sparking white. If you are able to find a bottle, buy it. It is a definite treat as a party wine. Very yummy! Then we took photos of each other in front of the pomegranate tree, and the tasting room hostess offered us a pomegranate.
As I am pretty much a light-weight wine drinker, I told Greg I didn't think I was up for more wine tasting--after only one winery! But we had to make another stop at Villa Toscano to get some lunch and pick up a bottle of orange muscat.
We arrived home safely and have all of our Thanksgiving wine. It was a very enjoyable day trip and the weather was perfect.

The Backyard

The new pastime of blogging has made some changes in my life. I don't like to fool with machines. A paper clip is complicated to me--so I just prefer to avoid things like that which are confusing. But yesterday, I picked up the digital camera to try my hand at some photography. Greg is the photographer dude in the family, as I am afraid to mess with anything with buttons or batteries. I even cropped the pictures myself.


This is a close up of an ivy geranium and cardinal flowers.

This is an aerial view from the back of the begonias and impatiens right outside our back door.

This is a view of the backyard taken from the back door--yesterday! The flowers are impatiens and begonias.

Chrysanthemums and petunias in the backyard--yesterday.

Yes, we are having astounding weather for this time of year.

How to Crochet a Hat for a Newborn

This hat takes 19 minutes to make, and uses one ounce of worsted weight yarn, which costs 33 to 38 cents. The hat will be 11” to 12” in circumference.

You will need worsted weight yarn, and a size I and J crochet hook. I usually use Red Heart Super Saver yarn, because it is so available, inexpensive, durable, and comes in a wide variety of colors.

If you crochet tightly, which is typical for beginners, you will need a size J and K hook.

If you crochet loosely, you will need a size H and I hook.

With the smaller hook, chain 4, join with a slip stitch in first chain to make a circle.

Chain 1; 10 single crochet in circle, join with a slip stitch in first single crochet: 10 single crochet.

Chain 3; double crochet in same stitch, 2 double crochet in each single crochet, join with a slip stitch at the top of the first double crochet: 20 double crochet.

Chain 3; double crochet in same stitch, 1 double crochet in next double crochet, *2 double crochet in next double crochet, 1 double crochet in next double crochet*, repeat from * to *, join with a slip stitch to the top of the first double crochet: 30 double crochet.

Chain 3; double crochet in each double crochet, join with a slip stitch to the top of the first double crochet. Repeat this row until you have 9 rows of double crochet.

Change to the larger hook. Chain 1, single crochet in the same stitch, single crochet in each double crochet, join to first single crochet with a slip stitch. Cut yarn. Run in the end of the yarn. If you like to make pom-pons, you can add that to the top of the hat. Turn up one, two, or three rows to make a cuff which will frame your darling baby’s face.

The hat can be used to:

Give as a gift
Accessorize the cat
Sell
Place on your own baby’s head
Donate to charity
Decorate for Christmas

The Hat Project!

The hat project was a perfect volunteering opportunity for me. I had piles of miscellaneous yarn, I didn’t have to leave my home, I could crochet while I watched TV, it was my meditation time—the way I started the day and the way I ended it. I could crochet hats while Greg drove me everywhere, the hats adorned the dashboard of the pick-up and I got the opportunity to talk about the hatless babies. I made grocery bags full of hats. I shared the message of healthcare for infants with everyone who saw the hats. I set rows of hats on my computer at the methadone clinic and my patients wanted to hear all the news about the babies who were hatless. Some of the patients wanted a hat to take home so they could share the message with their family, some wanted to commemorate the donation by hanging the hat on their Christmas tree, one lady wanted a hat for a doll for her granddaughter who was homeless. Over 300 people who were themselves disadvantaged heard about babies with no hats and spread the word to their own families about infants who needed increased healthcare.

I gave away hats as Christmas tree ornaments, as thank-you gifts, as calling-cards, as gifts to family friends and friends of friends, and I sold some hats. And I ended up with 45 hats to donate to Warm Up America. Most of all, I became addicted to making hats and an advocate for babies to have their heads covered so they don’t lose 90% of their body heat.

If you would like to learn to crochet, a great website with detailed illustrations is http://learntocrochet.lionbrand.com, and it’s free.

More than one-quarter million hats!

At Thanksgiving dinner two years ago, my dear sister-in-law enlisted the family to knit or crochet hats for babies for the organizations, Warm Up America and Save the Children. The hats were a political statement to help increase our country’s leader’s awareness regarding the need for more and better healthcare for infants worldwide.

The leading cause of infant mortality is a lack of antibiotics, lack of a sterile scissors to cut the umbilical cord, and loss of heat through the head due to not having a hat. Now, how simple is the fix for these problems?

I followed the project on the Warm Up America website, and over 280,000 hats were made and donated. Most of the hats went to Africa for babies who were born prematurely. The instructions for making the hats indicated that the little heads they would be covering were the size of large walnuts to the size of lemons!

You can check out the website at www.warmupamerica.com and click on “Save the Children” to learn about this year’s project, where there are instructions for hat-making, and how and where to send the hats.

Volunteering

Working in a methadone clinic, I am privileged to have access to a wide cross-section of society—all ages, cultures, philosophies, political leanings, levels of awareness, etc., all of them narcotic addicts trying to make some type of change, large or small, in their lives. It has been very humbling to find that most days, I learn more from them than I teach.

Today, one of my little old lady patients brought up her idea (passed on from another little old lady—really, 80 years old) that a lot of America’s problems can be improved by everyone volunteering for four hours per month. Now, doesn’t that seem simple? It certainly won’t make our country, our world, or ourselves worse to volunteer our time to our favorite organization. A donation of four hours per month of our time may make a huge improvement in another person’s life. There are so many worthy organizations that can use our time and talents: our own local churches, Boys and Girls Clubs, the Salvation Army, Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, the local food bank or housing shelter.

I have 363 patients who can or do use services from all these organizations. And they are all grateful that anyone has taken the time to think of them, even in a small way. Some of them are homeless, sleep outdoors, and literally, run their lives from a shopping cart.

E-mail Addresses

I was so excited to get my blog address sent to everyone, it occurred to me that I don't have current e-mail addresses for everyone. Please let me know your current or best e-mail address if I don't already have it.

New Blogger!

Hi everyone, This is my first day as a blogger, thanks to help provided by my friend Rachel, who I have known since we were 15. I will be posting daily events, family news, progress on my knitting and crocheting projects, and random thoughts as they occur.