That reminds me of the time one of my stepsons, about 14 or 15 at the time, baked a cake. Now, he was pretty good with cake mixes, and in the kitchen in general, so I felt no need to supervise. His grandmother had told him that a good way to keep cakes from sticking to the pan was to line the pan with wax paper. (This was back in the early 70's.) Well, he couldn't find the wax paper (I was out of it), and he didn't bother to say anything, he just used plastic wrap instead. Getting that Saran wrap off the bottom of that cake was quite a job! Yes, Bob and Raye, wasabi in Ranch dressing is delicious! Especially as a dip for crispy fried parmesan green beans. Georgysmom, King Ranch Casserole is pretty popular and common around here. Most people seem to like it a lot. For me, it's a take it or leave it kind of dish. There are various 'versions' of it but I can't imagine it ever being so awful as to be inedible. Unless there was a misprint in the recipe or a wrong ingredient mistakenly used. Another thing my family frequently laughs about. My husband's grandmother & I were pretty close. I written her and asked for a cake recipe she made that my husband really liked. (We lived about 150 miles apart, and this was in the mid 60's, no emails, texts, etc.) She sent it to me, and as soon as I made sure I had all the ingredients, I made it. Well, it tasted fine, but it didn't rise hardly at all, and was quite solid. It's called Buttermilk Cake, and has a lot of pecans in it. My husband and kids ate most of it not gonna let all those pecans go to waste! So, a week or so later I tried again. Same results. Now, desperate to make a good cake, I called Grandma to see if she could help me figure out what was wrong. After a fairly long conversation (paying for long distance!) she finally asked me to read her handwritten recipe to her. I did, and guess what, no eggs in the ingredients! I was inexperienced enough in cake baking (pies and cookies were, (and still are,) my specialty. Needless to say, the next Buttermilk Cake I made included the 4 eggs, and turned out wonderful. That recipe has remained a family favorite all these years. Rusty

joyful, I remember when televisions were called "television sets" because they actually did have a set of tubes in them. Then, it was shortened to "sets". Those old TVs lasted for decades! And, they were repairable. Now the technology has changed and my TV is almost out dated despite it being only a very few years old. Refrigerators were much the same, as you said. Vacuums were repaired. For some unknown reason vacuums and sewing machines came into the same repair shops. Even Sears used to sell the vacuums and sewing machines in the same department. I used to sell them. I never saw any relationship between the two except for the fact that both of these things were largely used by women. Think that has anything to do with it? I have stepped aside from much of that consuming and have simply opted out from owning things that I can do without. That includes a toaster, microwave and automatic coffee maker. I just got tired of replacing and throwing away all the time. To put in a microwave in my kitchen would have required too much remaking of the kitchen space since it was built when microwaves were still sitting on little carts in the kitchen. I just said "no". I don't miss it one little bit, at all. My first microwave lasted for over 12 years. It was an Amana and I think that I am correct in remembering that it was made in the US. I think it was called a "radar range". Things began to change right about that time....early 80s.

My plate of favorites would include white and dark meat turkey, rustic (made with unpeeled potatoes that are not mashed until they no longer resemble potatoes) mashed potatoes with a bit of whole milk and butter, kasha (buckwheat) stuffing, fresh green beans with mushrooms, turnip puff, cooked carrots with a hint of maple syrup and browned butter, turkey gravy for the stuffing and potatoes, and a raw fruit salad with a touch of lime juice and honey. I’m not much of a dessert eater, but I like a creamy lemon pie with a crushed animal cracker crust, usually called North Carolina lemon pie, I think. I may have to make one tomorrow. I first had the kasha stuffing when I went home with a college friend for T-day and have made it since then. Wonderfully flavored with everything you’d put in a bread dressing, it is a delicious alternative to a festive feast. Buckwheat is gluten free for those that are interested, by the way.

While I've been baking bread and challah (brioche type dough) all my life, the only yeast pastries I've made often are hamentashen in a sweet version of my mother's challah recipe. Last week, I had this sudden thought, "Pumpkin babka!" This has been a great year for pumpkins. So instead of figuring it out myself, I searched for recipes on the 'net, and found a chocolate with pumpkin dough, and one more like what I'd had in mind, which was pumpkin-pecan filling in a rich, soft dough. I usually have great results with blog recipes, and I was sleep deprived, so even though I reviewed the ingredients before saving the recipe, I didn't actually read them through for quality. BIG mistake! I don't know if it's meant to be a sabotage (the comments were useless, only discussing the pretty pictures in the post). It sort of reads, to my bread self like it was partially scalled with oopsies. I've done that scaling a recipe for myself in my head, without writing it down when I was tired. I don't know, for sure, but looking back, it also doesn't match the instructions in the demonstration. It's, um, whack! There were plenty of places where I had warning signs and should have stopped and read it over and quit, but I didn't. I was tired beyond thought. When I started the first step, and it said 2 1/2 TBSP yeast to 3 -4 cups flour, I should have stopped. I just figured she meant teaspoons, and adjusted accordingly. Then I read the gigantic amound of sugar and salt. I always adjust those to taste anyway, so I kept going. When it said 8 eggs and half a pound of butter, I just figured she knew something I needed to learn. Um. No. The result, as you who bake know, was a glutinous cake batter. I added about a cup of flour and ran it with the dough hook and let it "rise" (not that any rising was happening). Good thing I've learned so much about high hydration baking. I poured it out onto the baking mat. There was enough gluten development at this point that it didn't spill away, just made a stable lake. Much as I would have liked to use my big steel bench scraper, one can't on silicone, but a big bunch of cast flour on it, scrape up some goop with the small plastic bench scraper and push it over, led to a more stable mound. Still too soft for even a stretch and fold, but holding its shape as a mound. I covered and let it rise. And it did! And when I heavily dusted with more flour, it was manageable and rolled. It was too soft to twist nicely, but enough so that the middle has a nice distribution. You can't see the layers, though. The dough was still too soft and smushed together. And it was so soft that the outside was almost burning before the inside was done, and the corners were dry because of that. The filing was good. That's a keeper. So is the butteriness of the dough. The end result was fine eating, though not exquisite. I think if I added a little extra butter to the hamentashen dough it would be more like what one needs, and I think more filling proportionate to the dough. I had been surprised that it didn't call for toasting the pecans, but they came out great from raw. Because of the restriction I put on the excess sugar, it's really good with cranberry sauce! While chatting, i mentioned it to the Thanksgiving cousin, and that I'd put the second loaf in the freezer. She asked me to bring it, but I don't know if anyone ate any. At least I don't have to find someone to feed it to! Which is why one tests recipes ahead. I also tried to make the handkerchielf rolls. I don't think there's any saving that one. I mean, they're rolls but they have a kind of gummy mouth feel, and that's after I overbaked them a little! Nasty. The recipe was designed to sell the baking dish. I'm thinking I could rescue them with custard. Pumpkin bread pudding is in the offing. Maybe with a cranberry hard sauce. The worst breads make the best bread puddings!