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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Chicken Sauce

You know what?  Chicken Butt!!!  Ok, I know that's seriously juvenile, but my own children taught me that several years ago, and it's a smart a$$ joke for me even today (ask the young woman who works with me) but I digress....

Loads of years ago (since we are so old), my brother came home from dinner with the family of a friend (who just happened to be attending chef school somewhere in NYS) and declared he had enjoyed the BEST grilled chicken ever, hands down.  We copied the recipe, and YES!!!!  Hands down, this was the best grilled chicken recipe ever.  It's so simple, I hate to even share the secret recipe.  It's vintage (meaning in my big brother's own handwriting some 50 years ago), it's simple, and it's seriously tasty!  Please copy, and enjoy. 


It's just so easy, just mix it all up....

and then use a really cheap paint brush (or really expensive food brush, but of course, you already know where we stand here at the Haney Place......grill slowly, and end up with this:


Oh yes, good eats, and on the cheap, like we love to do here!!!  That recipe for white bean/dill salad tomorrow.

 

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Welcome Pearl!!!

It is with full and happy hearts that we invite you to join us in welcoming a dear one, Miss Pearl!!!  Understand we did not enter into this relationship impulsively.  We have studied on this situation some months now.  We have searched high and low for just the right drop to add to the chemistry of this place.  We made our decision with great caution, so as to respect everyone's needs and feelings.  After all, three dogs is a bit of a handful, and a  heartful.  But we are happy to report that our prayers have been answered, and we have been blessed with a small (albeit rapidly growing) puppy machine who appears to have all the right stuff to be termed "best dog ever" someday.  At ony 14 weeks, she is really housebroken.  Even with a bit of a belly ache from moving day, this little "pearl" of a girl saved her poopies for the outside.  I don't know too many puppies with that amount of mental wherewithal, do you?  Add to all of this the fact that this little girl already understands (and obeys) "sit", "stay", "come" and best of all, her new name of "Pearl" after only 24 hours??????  We've seriously enjoyed the whole rescue thing with the older or needier pups, but this little well-adjusted ray of sunshine has brought some serious goodness and balance to our home already.

She's a bit dark, and I'm having a little trouble taking good pictures of her in this cloud and gloom, so I'll offer up her  rescue angels  photos (if there is any way you could help these good people, even $5.00, PLEASE DO!!!)






Now on to the name....her rescue name was "Tinker".  Adorable.  But, to me, a baby name.  I wanted the name of a strong woman.  I had a few names "Phoebe Gilbert" for one, and then there was "Thelma Lou".  Big Steve didn't agree.  Then today I demanded he come up with something, because I didn't think 24 hours should pass before a name was agreed upon by all (most importantly, that little blessed being!).  So he stated simply "Pearl".  Wow.  So simple.  And yet.....  Pearly Girl.  Knit and Pearl.  Pearl of the Ocean.  Precious Pearl.  And yes......the love of life of Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs....Pearl.........


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Music - Well, it IS what we do here....

So Big Steve was off to his bluegrass jam tonight, and I was here, and already he has returned home and still I don't think he can catch his breath the way I set a lovely table, put the food down and cleared away while their heads were spinning.  Little did he know that tonight, while he was off at his jam, my body and brain were encouraging me to resume my own music.  Now, mind you, after a decade and a half of the destruction of lyme disease my hands probably won't ever pull anything over a full octave again.

Even if my fingers would do what I askd them to do, those joints on the thumbs will be forever limited.  Up until a few weeks ago, that made me really angry, but I'm learning to come back lately, and although I realize I will never be a concert pianist, I also realize that I probably never would have been anyway, and I could still be a better pianist than even my piano teachers could have imagined.  If Mr. Stevens were alive tonight, I believe he would be proud.  Seriously, music teacher Mr. Stevens, music angel, Big Steve, it's my correlation, but you might appreciate it too....

So anyway, tonight was Big Steve's bluegrass jam night, and that's always a happy place for him to be.  But tonight it was something different too.  Tonight I dug out some old drill type music, and I all of a sudden wondered why I loved what I loved all along.  Keep reading...





The spinning song.  Ok, well, it was a drill way back when I was a little girl, but upon reading this, it's no wonder I always loved this particular piece.  I always has a fascination for learning about the settlers and before them, and how they lived, and why.

Further, in this book of drills, I found Berceuse, and that is where I've been tonight. Steve assured me earlier today that anything could be made to be bluegrass.  So, give me a couple of weeks, and I'll let you know how it goes!!!

In the meantime, I am so thankful to be making a comeback from almost two decades of lyme disease.  I'm not a support group (in fact, I HATE all the lyme disease support groups I have found), but I'll be glad to share what has helped me, if you contact me privately.  mwalker39@nycap.rr.com.  Love to you all!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Birds and The Bees

So.....no recipe tonight.  Just beauty.  Big Steve was away for the weekend, and I was left to fend for myself.  So I could have chosen to be grumpy this am at 4:57....I'm sorry, but no matter who you are, that's pretty early!!!  But I chose to be a good guy and investigate what was going on with the near dawn din....I was greeted with a male cardinal sitting atop our feeder. singing his lungs out as if he might burst.....it was moving, despite the hour.

I did NOT have my wits about me to have the camera at that hour.  However, I did get out a bit later and catch:


Pinks - which plant themselves each year.  God love em!



Oregano - already replacing that which we caught/dried/put away for the year.  The goodness of God!


 The Cosmos we planted a week or so ago, now taking root....



Verbena - I never heard of verbena before this - only the "lemon verbena" essence on 'Little House on the Prairie" -- this verbena reminds me of "Sweet William", one of my favorite flowers...



The clematis from my friend Claire, from NYS.  Claire, I hope you can enjoy the beauty of your gift to us!!!


The beauty of the roses that are growing wild here...we might have a bit of influence on how well they are doing, but can't take full credit...but lastly...the beauty of the day here..wish it was a better photo....


I just wish I had a more telescopic lens to appreciate his gorgeous redness!  He is eating and singing like it's his job, well, seriously, that IS his job!!!  Big Steve will have all he can do to keep that feeder full.  I only pray we might have film of a cardinal fledge, as we did a few years ago!!!


So you might now be excited, but we really are.  So there you go.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Respecting Our Elders

Another dog post. So sorry it's not a recipe. But here at the Haney Place, we truly believe that our creator gave us dogs for a purpose - our dogs teach us everythig we ever need to know. A lot of us had a good laugh at Tuffy, after he got shaved for the summer. Tuff's a real old boy, and the hair plus the undercoat were weighing him down in the heat. So he got shaved. More here

http://thehaneyplace.blogspot.com/2011/05/tuffy-bless-his-heart-hopefully-hes-bit.html

So anyway, we really do need to respect those who have gone before us, done the work, fought the battles, learned the lessons, and just lived the life. And even when they need a blankie to keep them warm on a June Saturday, that's ok too. We'll fold that blankie just right for them, because it's the right thing to do. Elsa is learning this. She's a shy dog, but also an alpha. But she's learning the respect, the order, the way it is. Why can't we all be more like our dogs???

DSC01489

Friday, June 3, 2011

Elsa Unleashed - The "Shy Dog" on FIlm

Hooray!!! For our followers, this is a huge victory!!! Actually, she has been off the leash for quite a while. But if you love the shy dog (we love all dogs!!!!) Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. If you are a homesteader, this is a heartwarming clip of a hunting breed (the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever), behaving as the Good Lord intended. If you just really love dogs and/or really wish you were homesteading, this clip will warm the cockles of your heart. By the way, what are cockles????

At any rate, this is what I observed tonight, and this is pretty much what we observe every night, bless Elsa's heart. Tomorrow I promise to present a tutorial on a useful recipe, so thanks to our recipe readers to bear with us on our dog rescue victory tonight. Thanks to all of you for bearing with us whilst we brag on our canine offspring. Okay, it might seem lame for those of you who choose the pick of the litter with great care. But for those of us who choose the neediest....this film is bloody freaking AWESOME!!!