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Living Off the Grid: Tornado Report

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013







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We ARE OK!


I have very little time to post as there is no internet, no electricity and spotty cell (I am borrowing a wifi gizmo for a second)


As I said, we have no electricity and so I am having to practice what I preach on this blog about preparedness and learning to live in a different way. When we get internet up, I will be sharing pictures and information of what we have learned. All I can say is, “Thank goodness for canned bacon!!” :-)


Somehow, on Sunday, May 19th, as we sat in the cellar and experienced being in a full-fledged, mile wide, 250 mph, EF4 tornado, our buildings (except for a little roof damage) sustained very little impact. Our trees were decimated, but that’s no big deal. However, the farms/homes directly behind us, to our south and even across the road sustained significant damage. In fact, for nearly two miles behind us, there are few homes left standing. When we left our shelter, we were certain that we would find the same thing on our property and are still shocked at how little damage was incurred. We realize that we have witnessed a miracle and just can’t get our minds around why us. Our praises go to God and His unending love and plans for us and we give honor only to Him.


Thank you for all of the prayers, thoughts and attempts at contact. Hopefully, we will be back up and running here pretty quickly. And please check out your local Salvation Army or other areas of donation to help the people here in Bethel Acres, Shawnee, Carney and Moore.



Thanks to all my readers!


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MB
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New Giveaway!!

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012







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Enter Now!


First on the agenda – there is a glitch here at the blog and I am very aware of it. In fact, I’m kind of overwhelmed by it. When I started writing way back in 2009, I was green as a gourd and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. The blog is powered by WordPress.org and is quite different from Blogger and other sites. I have to write much of the blog in HTML and when I post pictures, there has to be a host site for the photos with accompanying HTML to assign a spot for each picture. I know now that I can host my own photos at my own FTP site, but am just now trying to figure out how to do that. Soooo, way back then, after figuring out that “hosting” didn’t have anything to do with my penchant for laying a table of edibles for a party, I put the first two years of blog post photos at a site called ImageHost.org. Well, Imagehost is no more. It is gone. Finis. Kaput. And with its demise, so go my photos hosted. I still have the photos, but now I am going to have to go back one post by one post to reload pictures and retype HTML. It is gonna take awhile because we are talking some 400 photos, but it will get done. I got the first 5 posts done last night. It was kinda fun going back that far and reading what I was doing. My, my. How far we have come!! Anyway, if there is a particular post that you are needing and the pictures are gone, email me and I will hop over to that post and get it fixed first.


Second order of business – it is high time for a giveaway!! And I am hoping you are REALLY gonna like this one. It will go until Labor Day and on that day, a winner’s name will be drawn. All you have to do is to leave a comment at any of the posts and your name and email address will be entered. The winner will receive this lovely marble rolling pin with stand, and a package of biscuit mix to roll out with the rolling pin!


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So start commenting! And you can enter as many times as you wish. Good luck to everybody!


Update: If you are having trouble posting, go to the very bottom of the post and click on the blue link that says, “Comments” with the number of comments in front of it. It appears that the link in the box is bad.

Happy Entering!



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The Blog Has Been Hit

Monday, March 26th, 2012





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Gnashing My Teeth


Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before somebody decided to be mean and nasty. The blog gets countless numbers of spam posts that I am able to catch before they appear through a wonderful plugin available through WordPress. However, it seems that somehow, someone has deleted all of my photographs from the days when I was using TinyPic.com. Sooooo, it’s gonna take awhile for me and Mr. Fix-It (who is a computer wizard) to go through, figure out which pictures are gone, one post by one post. Please bear with me through the process. Hopefully, we will get this straightened out in a timely fashion.


Update: Well, I guess I can call myself a bit “self-centered” because it wasn’t the blog that got hit (of course, I automatically thought it was!!), but evidently was TinyPic.com that got hit. It appears that most everything is back up. If you catch a photo that isn’t there, please let me know. There’s a bunch of pictures and easy to miss some!!



Happy Adjusting!

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MB
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Please Vote Here!!

Thursday, September 1st, 2011





Name The Blog

Contest


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For the last month and a half, we have been accepting entries in the Name The Blog competition. I decided that The Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ Blog was kind of a yawner and so readers from across the fruited plain have come up with some real doozies. We have chosen the top 10 entries from an array of nearly 40 (does this sound like Miss America?) and you, dear readers, are going to be the panel of judges for this most important of choices!! Some are funny and some are just nice. You decide which one defines this blog the best. So just leave your comments below this post, listing which one of these ten names you favor. And this post will come before each following post for the next two weeks – the duration of the voting period. So get your friends to vote here too or “like” us on FaceBook and you can vote there too. Our winner receives a $25 gift certificate and a gift basket of OPC™ goodies!


  • The Okie Homemaker: Rollin’ In Dough
  • The Okie Homemaker: Picklin’ and Grinnin’
  • The Okie Homemaker: Your Local Dough Nut
  • The Okie Homemaker: Doughlightfully Yours
  • The Oklahoma Homemaker: Simple Simmering
  • The Okie Homesteader: 21st Century Frontier Living
  • The Okie Homesteader: My Apron Pocket
  • The Oklahoma Homemaker and Eatin’ Okie
  • The Oklahoma Homemaker: Okie Dough Key
  • The Oklahoma Homemaker: Basically Simple – Basically Good
  • And I have to list the honorable mention here because it was too funny: The Okie Baker: Your Very Mary Pastry Fairy. For those who don’t get it, my first name is Mary!!

    Happy Voting!



    MB
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    Murphy’s Law

    Thursday, June 2nd, 2011





    Murphy’s Law



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    They say that accidents come in three’s. I have no clue who “they” are, but I’m here to tell you that I have scientifically proven that “they” are absolutely correct. Yesterday, there were no accidents. Day before yesterday there were no accidents. But today – well that’s a whole ‘nother story. Yes, there were accidents and yes, there were three of them. Proof enough for me.


    It is with this knowledge that I try never to ask the question, “What else can happen?!” because I have found that as sure as one asks, one receives the answer. I realize now that understanding the first step on the journey down the road to acceptance and serenity, rather than that of anger and frustration, is embracing this equation: For every first mishap there will always be two proceeding mishaps. It’s going to happen, why fight it?


    On that note, this morning, I learned a valuable lesson along with proving this theory. Although the beautiful, tall and glistening pour bottles that house olive oils are pretty to look at, they are no match for a 5/8” thick ceramic tile floor. I found this out as my elbow inadvertently clipped my favorite bottle of oil standing next to the stove, sending it crashing to the floor. I believe the word, “explode” would be an appropriate description of what happened to that bottle. Glass was found tens of feet down the hallway, in an adjoining room and in the potted plant that I’m sure thought it was safe on its stand. But the glass was bad enough without all that oil. Do you realize how difficult it is to clean up glass that is surrounded by puddles of clear – and might I add, expensive – extra virgin olive oil? I gently gathered as much as I could with paper towels and then mopped with floor cleaner, as best I could. It was actually a pointless task in spreading the oil thinly into a larger area. I decided to let it dry and then I would tackle it again with grease-cutting Dawn.


    It was then that Mr. Fix-It came in to inform me of the second variable to my science experiment. “The well-house is flooded,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s got about four inches of water in it. All of the fertilizer and lime is sitting in water.” I groaned. He had pulled some things out into the yard to let them dry in the heat of the day and I asked him what had happened. Now here, you have to give Mr. Fix-It credit for being a most honest man. He could have told me that wild vandals had come in the middle of the night and turned on the spigot. He could have told me that giant rats, desperate for water, had gnawed through a hose. But no, he ‘fessed up that when he was mowing last night, he had unhooked the hose that goes to the garden watering system without turning off the timer that turns on that watering system. The timer went off last night, as usual, but there was no hose so water just filled the well-house. Mr. Fix-It looked disgusted and I, the very wise woman that I am, knew to keep my mouth shut. He left for work with the cuffs of his pants a little damp, at which point, I returned to prepare for my day of work.


    As I wrote in a couple of posts ago, I am easily distracted. One would hope, however, that my brain could process these two simple disasters as having occurred simultaneously, such that my memory would be nudged as I entered the kitchen with the confident step of one on a mission. One confident step…that is. There was no second step since, as I took that first one, my foot glided effortlessly across the oily surface of the floor. Though I tried to use the other foot to stay balanced, it slid with equal ease and both feet flew into the air as my butt hit the tile unceremoniously. I hit my elbow too. Ouch. As I sat there in that larger, thinner layer of oil, I yelled out to no one in particular, ‘That’s it!!!” Of course, you know at that point I remembered the part about that road to the serenity of acceptance. Well, fine. I cleaned myself up and headed to the chiropractor!


    It is at this point where, despite the mishaps, I do well to practice that ‘attitude of gratitude’. And so, I am thankful that I didn’t break anything, I am thankful that I now have a sparkly clean, albeit well-oiled, kitchen floor and I’m thankful that the well-house is also spic-and-span. I am also sure that these three incidents will open the door for peer review from my fellow scientists. Look for my published experiment in the next issue of Science Monthly where I am sure the “theys” will certainly be happy with my irrefutable proof of their hypothesis.


    Happy Being Careful!



    MB
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    Roses and Berries and Grapes – Oh My!

    Thursday, May 5th, 2011





    All’s Well In Okie Land



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    As cold as it has in these here parts, it’s amazing to see how fruits and veggies are responding. It’s awesome. I picked 4 quarts of strawberries and am cutting those up for more jam and, of course, strawberry shortcake. I thought I’d just take you on a stroll through part of the garden and let you see how great everything looks.


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    The Knockout roses are a knockout!



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    The azaleas must think they’re in Georgia!



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    The Dianthus and Daisies are divine



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    The asparagus, on its second year, is a canopy of fronds



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    The strawberries have gone crazy



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    As have the blueberries



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    And the grapes. All the little flower bunches are “pre” bunches of grapes



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    Yes, despite the drought and the freeze and the wind, it’s a pretty good year. Just goes to show you that God’s creation can dish out and take anything!! We’re just along for the ride.



    Happy Gardening!



    MB
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    The Vintage Kitchen

    Thursday, April 7th, 2011





    The Vintage Kitchen



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    Antique mixing bowls and sauerkraut crock


    Martha Stewart has a really neat site for women in business where they can share their accomplishments, new products, business ideas, accounting help and countless other types of discussions. One of the women has started a forum about the vintage lifestyle and I decided to join these lovely ladies. Jolene encouraged me to do a post about some of the things that I have from the vintage kitchen. I thought that would be fun and so I grabbed the camera and just started taking pictures. Of course, that led to the vintage lighting and furniture and everything else, so I got a boatload of photos. These are things that have been in my family for generations or that we have picked up along the way. I have used many of the items in my kitchen just for the fun of it and it makes me feel a bond with grandmothers and great-grandmothers as I imagine them standing in their kitchens, hands grasping the very same utensils. Hope you have fun scrolling through yesteryear!


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    The country kitchen had a butter churn for all that sweet cream carried in from an early morning milking


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    And if they were lucky, they could afford a Daisy Churn with paddles and a handle that turned for faster butter.


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    And of course, that butter was put into butter molds to shape into blocks for the table


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    Sometimes the cream was whipped with sugar to top some dessert and a jadite beater bowl with accompanying hand mixer was just the thing for the job.


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    Juicers were a necessity for juicing oranges, lemons and limes. These glass juicers are made of jadite, Vaseline Depression glass, and clear, pressed glass.


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    When turned, a cherry pitter clamped to the table, pressed the stones out of fresh cherries that were dropped into the hopper. Ice cream was served with this wooden handled dipper and this hand beater did a number on the eggs!


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    A Foley Food Mill pressed potatoes, peaches, cooked apples and anything else that required mashing. This particular mill was used for pressing ripe persimmons for persimmon pudding.


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    The modern food processor of the day was not electric! Different drums were placed inside the mouth of this utensil depending on whether the cook wanted grated, sliced or zested. The food was fed through the hopper with the turn of the handle.


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    This nut chopper was my grandmother’s and I still use it. You turn the handle and the nuts are grabbed by sharp teeth that cut them and then push them through more blades. The potato ricer to the left is from my husband’s family as is the wooden handled potato masher in the foreground.


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    Other choppers were used to dice onions, garlic and other small veggies.


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    Wooden rolling pins, as today, were common and cherished. But glass rolling pins were not uncommon either. They were great for buttery pastry dough because they were filled with ice and water , capped and provided an icy cold surface to roll out the dough. The clear glass rolling pin was my grandmother’s. The jadite is not antique, but is a replica of an old rolling pin.


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    Syrup dispensers haven’t changed much over the years, except for the telltale wooden handle of the vintage ones. A red, glass refrigerator dish brightly colored the refrigerator.


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    Of course, no household could do without a waffle iron and for the early 20th century, wood cookstove, a Griswold cast iron model was just the ticket with its tall base for perfect waffles. And perfectly seasoned, this was the first “nonstick” cookware!


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    In the ‘50’s Mirro introduced a handy cookie press with all kinds of wonderful shapes to create beautiful cookies. I grew up turning out cookies at Christmas, sprinkling colored sugar balls and sugars on them to decorate. An aluminum cake decorator came in handy too.


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    Blue Atlas and Ball canning jars were sealed with zinc lids to hold meats and goodies from the garden.


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    There was no Tupperware or Rubbermaid back then and for the early “ice boxes” and newer electric Frigidaires, glass refrigerator dishes provided safe keeping for leftovers. These are made of Agite Jadite. And for those with special kitchen cabinets first created in Nappanee, Indiana, called Hoosier, tea, coffee and sugar were kept in special glass canisters.


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    This original Hoosier style cabinet called a Boone Cabinet – circa early 1920′s – was kitchen central for the lucky cook. The large sifter holds an enormous amount of flour and actually pulls out on jointed arms over the floor to make it easier to load the flour. The white jars with red caps are vintage spice jars. The doors are decorated with the original cuts of agite glass and the open cupboard below can be hidden with the tambour door that smoothly rolls down.


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    This is what the cabinet looked like before I refinished it and put it back together!! The pile of sticks is the tambour door in pieces. I am rather proud of that project. Mr. Fix-It wasn’t convinced that I could fix it.


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    1925 Saturday Evening Post Boone Cabinet Ad



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    The bottom on this antique kitchen cabinet is called a Possum Belly. It is quite old and is covered with a zinc work area. The top is from an actual Hoosier cabinet because the original top was missing. The original would have been less substantial. The deep drawers of the bottom have shiny, pure tin bottoms that held cornmeal, flour or sugar. Both this cabinet and the previous one have pullout cutting boards – everything the modern early 20th century cook could want.



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    This cabinet was a real pill to refinish too. Somebody had spray-painted it yellow and covered the zinc top with 60’s era psychedelic mushroom contact paper . The turned legs were fun too. A wire brush was all that got the paint out of the cracks. I love to refinish furniture because I love working with wood, but I also enjoy watching the process of going from ugly to beautiful.


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    Life changed drastically when people were able to call each other on the new telephones. This one has been in my family since it was my great aunt’s.


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    The Victrola entertained the family with music and talking records. This was my great-grandmother’s and is one of my next refinishing projects.


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    The bowl and pitcher was a must for daily cleansing and kerosene lamps gave light in the evenings. An oak washstand was the precursor to our bathroom vanities. Just a little bit of info: the lamp on the left is from the early 20th century as the wick section is threaded to screw into the bottom half. The one on the right is a newer lamp since the wick section has a threaded ring that screws over the bottom half.


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    More elegant lamps graced stately homes. This pewter lamp with frosted glass globe is very pretty.


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    But nothing compared to the towering Lincoln Drape lamp. It was elegance deluxe and is made of agite glass all the way to the base. This was Mr. Fix-It’s mother’s.


    And so there you have a little bit of history in pictures. I hope you enjoyed the tour.


    Happy Memories!



    MB
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    “Time To Make The Donuts”

    Tuesday, March 29th, 2011





    “Time To Make The

    Donuts!”



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    My dear friend and reader, Mrs. B., did it again. Not only did she gift me with my wonderful Bosch mixer, but she alerted me to the newest post at one of my favorite and linked blogs, New Life On a Homestead with the recipe for donuts to mix in my new Bosch mixer. The recipe originated at Enola Gay’s Paratus Familia and then Kendra made an edition at her blog.


    The pictures of the donuts at both sites made Mr. Fix-It drool and since I was tired of wiping up spit from the kitchen floor, I asked him if he’d like me to attempt the confections. You know the answer!


    And so I did the recipe, as written, with one change. I substituted potato flakes for some of the flour. I used home ground, whole wheat flour that I sifted and sifted but added potato flakes because I know that is the secret ingredient for a famous donut. I figure, what could it hurt? I make potato rolls and bread, so why not potato donuts? The home ground flour works great, but all purpose is fine too.

    So that’s what I did and the following is the result. The recipe made 27 small donuts + 27 holes. Also, I used a thin glaze and only dipped one side to make them not so sweet. They were just right. We shared these gems with our neighbor up the road and one of the sons said that he loved them because they were not too sweet.


    Yummy Raised Donuts

    Thanks to Enola Gay and Kendra


  • 1 T Yeast
  • 1 3/4 c. lukewarm water
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 c. shortening
  • 1 cup of potato flakes
  • 4-5 c. flour
  • 4 tsp vital wheat gluten (omit if using all-purpose flour) My note: I used 1 tblsp Dough Enhancer and did not use the wheat gluten
  • oil for frying – she used vegetable oil


  • I used canola oil to fry my donuts, but I have decided that next time I will either use peanut oil or coconut oil because these oils are lighter and fry hotter. The canola oil left a bit of an oil aftertaste. Here is what I did:




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    I used my Bosch but you can use any mixer with a dough hook. Of course, you can do this by hand as well. Add 1 3/4 cup warm water and 1 tsp sugar and sprinkle 1 Tbsp yeast over the surface, allowing to ‘proof’.


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    When the yeast water is bubbly,add 2 eggs…


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    …and 1 tsp salt


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    …and 1/3 cup shortening. I’m using the wonderful

    Adjust-a-Cup
    that you can purchase at the shopping page.


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    I added 1 cup of potato flakes.


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    Add two cups of the flour. I am using whole wheat ground from Prairie Gold Hard White Wheat.


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    Mix and scrape the sides.


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    Add another cup of flour and mix.


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    Continue adding flour by the cup until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl but is still nice and soft. I used a little under 4 ½ cups of heavily sifted flour. Continue mixing on low for 8 minutes to knead.


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    Let the dough rise until double – about an hour if it is in a warm place. Here, I am just leaving the dough in the mixer bowl, covering it with a damp cloth and then it is going into the oven which has been preheated to 150º and turned off.


    Glaze for Doughnuts


  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla
  • about 5 Tbsp hot water


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    While waiting for the dough to rise, I made the glaze. Melt 1/3 cup butter in a saucepan.


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    Add 2 cups powdered sugar and stir


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    Add 4 Tbsp hot water. I added a little more water because I wanted a thin glaze. However, if you want a glaze that is thicker,1 1/2 or that you can spread, use more powdered sugar.


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    Stir until smooth


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    Add vanilla and stir until mixed. Set aside on a warm eye. I did it this way because I grew up with Krispy Kremes and have watched them glaze their donuts. The glaze is kept warm and thin and it doesn’t take much to glaze a donut. I decided to kind of replicate the process.


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    When dough has risen, scrape out onto floured surface. I am using one of the spatulas available on the Shopping Page as well as an Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™.


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    Roll out dough to about ½”. I used a rolling pin. Here I am cutting the donuts with a donut cutter that also be found on the shopping page. It is wonderful because the center is removable so that the gadget becomes a biscuit cutter.


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    Place the donuts on the floured surface and cover with a damp cloth to rise until double.


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    When donuts have risen, carefully place them in oil that has been heated to 350º.


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    A wooden chopstick is great to turn donuts to their other side when browned on the first side.


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    Cooked donuts placed on a rack from the oil, waiting to be glazed


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    Using a chopstick or other utensil, place the donut in the warming glaze.


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    Lift the donut out of the glaze and place on rack or cookie sheet.


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    Don’t you just want to dive in? We did!!



    Happy Cooking!



    MB
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