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This is a very old image by Valentine of the Pavilion at Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire), County Dublin, Ireland.   The wooden pavilion has been replaced by several successive structures, and today it is a large, white stucco structure housing restaurants and shops.

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This photo came from my mother’s cousin, Loreta McMenus Chandler.  Loreta’s mother’s mother was Charlotte Jane Massie, so she had many photographs from that side of the family.  These photos were also of interest to my mother because her grandmother was Lydia Margaret Massie, who married her grandfather Shank.  Charlotte and Lydia’s father was Eli Massie, who came from Ohio to Missouri with the Shank family, first settling near Long Lane in Dallas County, and then moving to Phillipsburg in Laclede County.  The New Hope Cemetery at Long Lane has many, many graves of the early Shank and Massie ancestors, and it is where my grandparents are buried, along with their four little babies who died and son Walter who died in the freak car accident in 1945.

Anyway, there are only two pieces of information on the above photo:  first that it was taken at the Tripp & York Studio in Pueblo, Colorado, where many of the Massie family moved around the turn of the century and after.  Also a couple of the McMenus and Smith cousins and uncles worked in Pueblo at one time.  Second, there is a handwritten note on the folder that these were “Lizzie (Massie) Ceils children.”  So, I am sure they are cousins, but that’s as much as I know.  I’d guess that the photo was taken about 1910-1912.

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This is another gluten free recipe from BBC Good Food magazine, which is published each month in the U.K.  This frittata is like a quiche without the added calories of a crust.  It’s a good thing to take on a picnic, but be sure to cook the peppers first to achieve a more intense flavor.  Sweet peppers cooked like this, without the egg, can also be served as a side dish.

FRITTATA DI PEPERONI (Sweet Pepper Omelette)

6 tablespoons olive oil

900 grams red and yellow peppers, deseeded and cut into strips

3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

12 eggs

Heat 5 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep, large deep frying pan.  Fry the pepper strips, stirring from time to time, about 10 minutes, or until the edges are beginning to caramalise.  Add the garlic and fry gently for 1 to 2 minutes more, taking care not to let it burn.  Add the vinegar and cook until evaporated.  Remove from the heat, leaving the peppers in the pan.

Beat the eggs in a bowl and season to taste.  Return the frying pan to the heat (medium low), add the remaining olive oil and pour in the egg mixture.  Cook, stirring with a spatula until there is a crust on the underside and most of the egg has set.  This should take about five minutes.  Carefully invert the frittata onto a large plate, then slide it, crust-side up, into the frying pan.  Cook for a further five minutes or until the second side has browned a little.  Cut into wedges and serve hot (or cold with a salad).

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Westport in County Mayo is in the northwest part of Ireland.  The town was designed by James Wyatt in 1780 and was laid out in an urban style that was started by the Normans in the 13th Century.  It’s a lovely little town, with the river running right through the center along what is called the Mall.  This photo is by Conor McKeown.

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This is the original flyer from the auction that took place June 1, 1955 when the property of William G. McMenus was sold in Phillipsburg, Missouri.  Everything went, including the house, which is listed as a “modern home”.  The house was quite the thing when it was built in the late 20′s because it had the first indoor bathroom and toilet in Phillipsburg….although the story goes that they still used the outhouse most of the time and the indoor bathroom was only used when someone was ill or when visitors arrived.  As you can see from the items listed for sale, they had many modern conveniences.  I wonder if they really made ice cream five gallons at a time!?

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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a gluten free recipe.  As I’ve explained before, I became familiar with gluten intolerance and Celiac Disease in 1993 when the oldest child of friends in Ireland was diagnosed with it.  The incidence of Celiac Disease is high in Ireland, perhaps the highest in the world, but it often goes undiagnosed both there and in the United States.  In the early days, it was a struggle to make baking flour from rice, bean and other flours.  Today there are several really good gluten free flours and baking mixes on the market which simplify the process greatly, and of course, stores like Whole Foods and even Trader Joe’s carry many gluten free products.  I think this is more in demand to the gluten free diet fad that ran rampant through the US about two years ago, but it certainly makes life easier for the Celiacs.

The recipe that follows is Italian and came from the British cooking magazine, BBC GOOD FOOD, submitted by Chef Gennaro Contaldo.  As usual with these British recipes, you will have to convert the measurements.

TORTA de Riso al Profumo d’Arancio (Orange Rice Cake)

1.7 litres milk

1 vanilla pod

the pared rind of half a lemon (in one or two pieces)

200 grams caster sugar (very fine sugar)

300 grams Arborio rice

5 large eggs, separated

50 ml orange liqueur

40 grams raisins

finely grated zest of one large orange

Put the milk, vanilla pod, lemon rind and sugar in a large pan.  Bring to a boil.  Add the rice and simmer on medium low heat for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the rice is al dente and has absorbed the milk but still has a cream consistency.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Discard the lemon rind.

Heat oven to 180 degrees C (about 325 degrees F).  Grease and line a 24 cm loose bottomed cake tin with baking parchment.  Whisk the egg yolks and orange liqueur in a bowl until creamy.  In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.  Add the egg yolk mixture to the cooled rice, then fold in the egg whites, raisins and nearly all the orange zest.   Pour into the cake tin and bake for one hour.  Serve warm or cold, sprinkled with icing (powdered) sugar and orange zest.

NOTE:  Best served when slightly warm with a spoon of mascarpone or whipped cream, and even a splash of Cointreau.  And Cointreau does not contain gluten.

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I would like to thank Norman Van Treeck at AstronomyandLaw.com for nominating me for the Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness.  Norman and I work together, and we started blogging about the same time last year.  He is much more technically advanced than I am, and he has been a great help to me in figuring out this whole blogging thing!

So the Epically Awesome Award means that I have to write ten “awesome” facts about myself and then nominate ten other bloggers I think are awesome in their own right and who deserve this award, then inform them of my nominations.  Here goes!

1.  I have completed two novels and am now working on the ideas for a third.  I sent my first manuscript to Catherine Coulter and she had her senior reader take a look at it.  He didn’t like the story, but he said I have writing talent, so I continue to persevere.

2.  I wrote a newspaper piece in 1997 that ended up on the front page of the Lebanon Daily Record in Lebanon, Missouri.  I nearly fainted when I opened my copy of the paper, sent by one of their editors.  My story was the headline article, above the AP articles!

3.  I spent St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2008, at the White House for the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.  Everyone was there…from Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley to then Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (Cecilia’s father), President and Mrs. Bush, and many, many members of Congress and the judiciary.  That evening, I went to dinner at the house of (now retired) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullens, and his wife Deborah.  Really an awesome day!

4.  Thanks to my father and his interest in American history, I have toured most of the 48 states and been to many, many national parks, Civil War battlefields, historical monuments, and historic houses.  MANY, MANY!

5.  I have a varied and eclectic interest and background in music.  One day it’s Italian opera, and the next day it’s heavy metal or Irish sean-nos songs.

6.  I once caused a bus crossing the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland to be stopped because I did not see the sign about not taking photographs of the check point!  The British soldiers got on the bus with their guns and I could only plead being a stupid American tourist!  It’s a long story, but there were indications throughout the remainder of my stay in Ireland and return trip to Los Angeles that I was being “watched”.  I will tell the full details on the blog when I come across the photos.

7.  I write a lot about my Great Aunt Anna L. Faulkner/Tweddell because my mother ended up with so many of her personal belongings.  My mother was named for her, and I got Anne as a middle name in her honor as well.  Apparently Aunt Annie always intended for my mother to inherit her things, and that was the way it worked out even though she had children and grand children of her own.

8.  I really like traveling with my grandson, Conor.  He is nearly 15 now, and it’s beginning to be not so cool to travel and hang with an ancient person like me, but it’s so much fun to go do things without the parents telling us what we can and cannot do!

9.  My current job is really awesome!  Never been happier to go to work each day!  Really lucky to have found this diverse, interesting (sometimes frustrating) group of people at this age and stage of my career.

10.  I am a fairly good cook and a very good baker.  Learned most of what I know about baking from my mother, though my pie crust is better than hers ever was, and I learned the secret of never having lumps in my gravy which she never overcame.  Loved everything she made all the same!

Now for the ten bloggers I am nominating for the Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness:

1.  Views and Mews by Coffee Kat

2.  Biotech Boardwalk

3.  Conor Cullen

4.  Jorg David Photography

6.  Alina Sighete – Colors of Life

7.  Leanne Cole Photography

8.  Aquarian Times Astrology

9.  Nigel Borrington Photography

10.  Pacific Paratrooper

There are so many AWESOME blogs, it’s hard to name just ten, but the ones above are worth a look, always posting something of interest.

Again, thank you Norman for this award!

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This is a photo by Conor McKeown, taken in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, at the foot of Croagh Patrick.  It is the National Famine Memorial designed by well known Irish artist, John Behan.  The three-masted ship is covered with ghostly skeletons paying tribute to those who lost their lives in Ireland in the Great Famine (1845-1850).

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By 1921, my great aunt, Anna L. Faulkner, had divorced her husband and moved to Chehalis, Washington, where she took at job at the State Training School.  The school was part reform school and part orphanage, and she was a cook and also taught domestic sciences to the boys.  See my post of _____ for a photo of her taken in her teaching uniform with kitchen tools.  It is priceless and I have it hanging in my kitchen.  I hope to one day put together a family cookbook and plan to put the photo on the cover.

Aunt Annie’s son, Oscar, who was a soldier during WWI, must have come to visit her in Chehalis and they decided to have photos taken at the local photography studio.  The Price Studio, Chehalis, WN is imprinted on the paper frame in the lower right.  She was 53 when this photo was taken, Oscar about 31.  She left the school after a little more than a year and made her way to San Francisco, where daughter Ednah (now divorced for the second time) was living with grand daughter Ruthanna.  In 1923 she met Walter Tweddell through a correspondence club and they were married a few months later.

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I saw Paula Deen and a guest cook make tomato pie a week or two ago.  It was on her regular cooking show, and it seemed interesting.  Tomato Pie is an old Southern favorite, and it started with a pie crust, baked and cooled, and then spread with a thin layer of Dijon mustard.  They then put in a layer of tomatoes which had been blanched and peeled and thinly sliced.  On top of the tomatoes went cheese and salt and pepper.  Then another layer of tomatoes, more cheese and salt and pepper.  The whole thing was topped with a mixture of mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper before baking until golden.  When I tried this (I had gotten field ripened tomatoes the day before), it was good, but just a little too rich for my taste (surprise! surprise!).  Tomatoes are such a unique flavor, it seemed like the mayonnaise and cheese was covering up the taste.  I went online to find another tomato pie recipe and found a comment about Paula Deen that said, “Her recipe has way too much cheese and pastry.  This is my recipe.  I’ve won two contests using this recipe.  It can be put in a pastry shell but we like it better without it.”  The recipe below is gluten free.

TOMATO PIE – GLUTEN FREE

7 ripe tomatoes, sliced

1 yellow onion, sliced

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/3 grated Parmesan cheese

ground black pepper to taste

2 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Slice onion and place in bottom of pie plate.  Slice tomatoes and arrange over onions.  Pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with half the basil and oregano.  Repeat with second layer of tomatoes.

In a medium bowl combine cheeses and mayonnaise.  Spread this mixture over the tomatoes and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

ENJOY!

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This sounds wonderful!  Must try it soon.

We love our bread and butter (and apple and pudding).

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Click on image for a larger version.

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This photo was taken on the Forkner Farm in the front yard.  Seated from left are Mary Shook, Edna Forkner, Roxie Shook, and Ethel Forkner.  The Forkner girls were sisters, as were the Shook girls.  The slate in the foreground says, “Mary, Edna, Roxie and Ethel, August 23, 1906, Conway, Missouri.”  The reverse side of the photo says it was taken at the Forkner home “by the Lillie bed and lilacs.”  Click on the photo for a larger view and note there are many items on the ground around them.  They are sitting on a blue and white blanket that was hand woven by the Forkner girls’ grandmother, Rebecca Frances Smith McMenus, and given to their mother on the occasion of her wedding in 1886.  There are also family photos and books, and a sun bonnet or two.  The girls had gone to school together at the Conway School, and in a few short weeks, the Forkner girls moved with their parents and brother to Stevensville, Montana, where they changed the family name to Faulkner (which was probably what it was when the original ancestor landed in America from England), and Ethel started spelling her name ETHYL.  Not to be outdone, Edna became EDNAH.  Roxie Shook married my grandmother’s brother, John Ferrier, and their daughter, June, married my father’s cousin on the Marlin side of the family, Glen Newman.

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Sometimes I like Paula Deen’s recipes, and sometimes I don’t.  This is one that I REALLY like!

PAULA DEEN’s LEMON BARS

For the Crust:

2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces and at room temperature, plus more for the dish

2 cups flour

1 cup powdered sugar plus more for dusting

pinch of salt

For the Filling:

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

6 tablespoons flour

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with aluminum foil and butter the foil.  Make the crust by whisking the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.  Cut in the butter with your fingers to make a crumbly dough; press into the prepared baking dish.  Bake 20 minutes, then transfer to a rack and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, make the filling by mixing the eggs, sugar and flour in a bowl with a fork.  Mix in the lemon juice.  Pour the filling over the crust and bake 25 more minutes; transfer to a rack and let cool completely.  Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.  Lift out of the pan and cut into pieces.

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On the beach in County Waterford, Ireland, May, 2005.  Which image do you like best?  The color shot above or the black and white below?  The couple on the beach to the left were having an intense conversation, though I could not hear what they were saying….

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5-18-2013:  I am reposting this photo because it is one of my favorites.  Tomorrow will return to posting new stuff in the family history section along with more on Ireland and the recipes, of course!

Martha

This is Phil when he was about 10 months old.   He is registered with the AKC as PHIL D. PUPPER.  Grandson Conor picked out his name.  His sister is Snort (registered name PUGLET Q. SNORT–another Conor pick).   When they were small, we called them The Puppers.

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These old 1887 recipes are even more of a challenge than usual because the directions are a little vague.  The first does not give amount of flour and the second leaves it to the baker to figure out the consistency of the batter!  You must have to add flour in order to get the dough to the consistency of large eggs when dropped onto the “dripping pan” to bake.

GINGER SNAPS

Two cups of molasses, one half cup sugar, one cup lard or butter.  Boil together then add when cool one half cup sweet milk with two teaspoonfuls soda dissolved in it, then two teaspoonfuls extract of ginger.  Mix with flour, roll out and bake.

GINGER DROPS

One half cup of shortening, two teaspoonfuls of cream baking powder, one teacup brown sugar, half a cup of molasses, two eggs, one teaspoonful of ginger.  Grease a dripping pan well.  Make the batter so that it will drop from the spoon in drops as large as an egg.

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I took this photo in west County Waterford.  They day could not make up its mind weather-wise, but at least it was not raining!  Click on the photo for a larger view.

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May 17, 2013:  Reposting this photo of my great aunt since it is one of my favorites.  New material starting tomorrow in the family history file.

Martha

This my great aunt, Matilda Anna Laura McMenus Forkner Tweddell.  She was named for her father’s three sisters (Matilda, Hannah and Laura), but she always went by Anna L. or Annie L.  She was born in 1868 and was married in 1886 at the age of 18, which was rather old at the time.   In 1906 her family moved to Stevensville, Montana and changed the family name from Forkner to Faulkner.  In 1918 she divorced her husband, quite a scandalous thing at the time, and worked for several years in various capacities:  cook, domestic science teacher, restaurant owner, and she trained to become a nurse and also a chiropractor, though she never practiced this last occupation.  Here we see her in what she called her “nurse’s costume” about 1918.  In 1923 she married Walter Tweddell and moved to Southern California from San Francisco.  He died 22 years later and Aunt Annie (whom my mother was named for) lived until 1953 when she died at the age of 85.

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I love potatoes…any kind of potato, cooked or baked just about any way you can imagine.  I often eat just a potato or two for lunch or dinner.  When I first read the recipe below, I thought…ugh!  too much salt!  But I tried this with just a couple of potatoes, and the result was interesting.  It certainly makes for a change when baking potatoes.

SALT-BAKED NEW POTATOES

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  In an 8 x 12 roasting pan, spread two cups kosher salt in a single layer.  Arrange 2 pounds small new potatoes atop salt in a single layer.  Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons coriander seeds and one tablespoon fennel seeds; cover with another two cups kosher salt.  Baker until tender, about 40 minutes.  Remove potatoes from pan with tongs, and brush away excess salt.  Transfer to a serving bowl, drizzle with two tablespoons olive oil, and garnish with chopped chives.  Serve with grainy mustard on the side.

ENJOY!

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UPDATE 5-15-13:  My scanner is up and running again, the weather has cooled down dramatically, and there have been no further power outages here in Hastings Ranch, Pasadena, California.  I am reposting this blog from last year as the geese have returned to the high school once again.  Actually, we had two pair arriving in late February, then they were gone about three weeks later.  I wondered if we would have any more until a few days ago when I spotted another two pair at the high school.  They arrived very early and very late this year.

Martha

Every spring for the past eight or nine years, Canada Geese have stopped on their travels north at a very unlikely spot here in Pasadena–the high school!  In 2004, one pair built a nest on the roof of the main building and took turns sitting on the eggs.  One of the French teachers provided the birds with food and water until the goslings hatched and mom and dad were able to take them off to teach them what they needed to know for the journey north.

I drive by the high school on my way to and from work, and last spring (my first in Pasadena), I was surprised to see first two, then only one of these large birds hanging out on the grassy parkway that runs down the middle of Sierra Madre Blvd.  Not knowing this was an annual return for the geese, my bleeding heart immediately started to worry.  Since I wasn’t familiar with the nesting habits of the birds, I worried even more when I saw only one bird on the grassy median.  I didn’t know they take turns sitting on the eggs.  What I did know is that they mate for life, and I immediately assumed something tragic had happened to one of them.  I thought the lone bird was pining his or her loss right there in front of the high school where the Rose Parade floats park on New Year’s Day.

This went on for about a week, and I got more and more upset with the idea that the beautiful bird was alone and mourning.  I talked about it with friends…I talked about it at work…it preyed on my mind.  Then one morning when the goose was standing on only one leg, I thought somehow the lone survivor had been injured.   A conversation with a friend whose parents had raised geese on a farm in South Dakota assured me that standing on one leg is a typical behavior, but that night on the way home, the goose was laying down on the grass.   I thought it was dying.  I wanted to call the SPCA, the police, the fire department, the local nature center, anyone who could come to the rescue.  Instead, I called friends in Ohio who are retired newspaper people.  One of their hobbies is birdwatching.  While Mike was telling me which editor to call at the local paper to draw attention to the bird’s plight, Nancy was searching the internet to see if there was anything about geese in Pasadena, California.  That’s what newspaper people do.  Then Nancy pulled up some articles from the Pasadena Star News.

I sighed in relief.  Not only were the locals aware of the geese, I learned that the high school had adopted them and were caring for four fledgling families.  Apparently 2011 was a bumper year for geese in Pasadena!

The geese pretty much always turned up in April I’ve since read, so I was a little surprised when I spotted a pair in front of the high school this year in late March.  In mid-April there were two more.  Since the weather has been erratic and atypical this year, I guess goose instinct brought them north at various times depending on the weather in the south.  I thought Canada Geese season was over here in Pasadena as May arrived, but this afternoon as I was driving home along Sierra Madre Boulevard, there they were again–two more beauties resting on the grass where the high school caregivers had set out food and water.

I made two illegal U-turns and parked my car in a NO STOPPING zone.   I ran across three lanes of traffic, camera in hand, to get to the median and take a few photos.

Since the geese have to cross Sierra Madre Boulevard to get to the median, they encounter a lot of cars.  The area is quite open, and in general, motorists slow and allow the birds to waddle across the road.   Last year, I thought about donating Goose Crossing signs to the high school  (yes, there really are such things, see photo below), but I never got around to ordering them.  Someone else beat me to it this year.  On both sides of the street, someone had put up the yellow caution signs showing the mother goose leading the goslings along behind her.

Some people are not enamoured with geese.  When they land in great numbers in some locales, they can cause a big disturbance and a big mess.  When I lived in Woodland Hills, great flocks of them often landed in one of the agriculture fields at Pierce College on their way south in November.  The college Agriculture Department didn’t mind the extra fertilizer.  Here in Pasadena, our few pairs in the spring are something to look forward to–just one of the many little enjoyments I have found since moving from the San Fernando Valley to Pasadena.

More on Pasadena wildlife in future–and there is a lot of it!  Thus far, I’ve encountered mud daubber wasps, moles, raccoons, rabid baby bats and the list is still growing.  As they say, Stay Tuned!

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Some people make really great pie crust from scratch, others struggle with it.  My grandmother, Dulcie Marlin, made the lightest pie crusts in the world.  She seemed to have some secret which she never imparted to any of us.  My mother, on the other hand, made thousands of pies in her lifetime, and her crusts were generally a little tough for some reason.  Both ladies used Crisco instead of butter back in the 50′s.  My mother did switch to butter in later decades, but her crusts were still not flakey and light.  I think it had to do with over processing the dough, and I don’t think she used ice water either.  Also, they learned to make pies long before we had food processors.  Don’t get me wrong…my mother made WONDERFUL pies, but the crust was never as good as those made by my grandmother, who interestingly enough never made great fillings for her pies as my mother did!  We always said if we could get Mom’s fillings into Granny’s crusts, we’d have the perfect pies, but they did not collaborate in that way.  They each liked to make their own.   The following is the key to making a really great pie crust.

PERFECT PIE CRUST

There are two keys to a flaky crust:  In Step 2, be sure you can see pieces of butter, which will release steam and create air pockets during baking.  After adding the water in Step 3, do not overprocess the dough, otherwise it will be tough.

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

6 tablespoons ice water

1.   Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor, then add cold butter.

2.   Pulse until some large pea-size pieces of butter remain.

3.   Add ice water, then pulse until moist clumps form.  Squeeze a handful of dough, it should just hold together.

4.   Turn out dough onto a clean surface and gently gather into two balls.  Flatten each into a disk; wrap in plastic wrap, and chill one hour or overnight or freeze for up to a month.

Roll out on lightly floured surface when you are ready to make your pies.

ENJOY!

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I was standing on the rocks at Sandycove, County Dublin, Ireland when I took this photo looking south toward the shore of Dalkey.  Bulloch Harbour is hidden behind the rocks on the right.  On wild and windy days like this when there is also a cloud cover, it’s hard to get good color, so I have removed it all together and posted the black and white version below.  I think I like it better.  What do you think?

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REPOSTED FROM LAST DULY WHILE MY SCANNER IS ON THE MEND.  NEW PHOTOS SOON!

My mother was born on a farm a few miles west of the little town of Phillipsburg, Laclede County, Missouri.  Lebanon is the county seat, and Springfield is about 40 miles southwest.    At that time, Phillipsburg was a thriving little community of about 500 and the Frisco Train line made a stop there, picking up milk and other goods, and of course, delivering things to the local merchants.  There is a journal written by Anderson McFall, a county judge at one time and a veteran of the Civil War, which chronicles daily local events in Phillipsburg for the last 15 or so years of his life (1898 to 1914).  Most of the entries were related to births, deaths, marriages, planting crops, and other mundane argricultural events.  Not exactly stimulating reading, unless of course, your family was in this little town at the time and were mentioned often in day to day activities.

Take my great uncle Eli Preston McMenus.  He owned a stable at one time until a fire wiped out the building and he lost most of the stock.  He then went into business as a general merchandiser and purchased the above store from Mr. Wells.  The building was known as the “concrete building” because it was built of that material, and apparently was unusual in a town where most of the buildings were made of wood.  Not sure who built it, but it was owned by my great great grandfather on the other side of the family, Eli Massie, around 1900 and he eventually sold it.  There was a lot of buying and selling for such a small little place.   The building itself was torn down decades ago so I consider our family lucky to have this photograph.

In the above image, taken around 1905-06, my mother’s first cousin, Ednah Forkner aka Faulkner, is on the left.  Seated on the porch is Mrs. Babe Bilderback, and her husband is standing in the doorway of the store.  On the right porch is William Grant McMenus (Uncle Willie) and in the buggy are Eli Preston McMenus (Uncle Pres) and his wife, Sade Bilderback McMenus.  The two older Bilderbacks are her parents.  Willie and Pres were brothers  of my grandmother, Inez McMenus Shank, and Willie worked in the store until Pres’ death in 1921.  A letter written at the time says that there was some sort of disagreement between Willie and the widowed Sade, and Willie packed up and moved to a vacant store across the train tracks where he was in business until he retired in the early l950′s.

One interesting note about “Uncle Pres”.  My mother always said he was an extremely generous man and that if a family didn’t have enough money to buy basics to feed themselves, he would always extend credit.  He never turned anyone away if they were truly in need.  Of course, over the years, we heard stories of his generosity, and sometimes we thought perhaps they might be just a tad embellished.  Then through eBay and the internet, a woman contacted me about Phillipsburg, and when she related the story about how her mother was named, I was dumbfounded.  Turns out the mother’s mother had been pregnant in 1906 and with husband and other kids, needed more credit at the Phillipsburg store.  The owner’s wife had waited on her and told her she would extend more credit on one condition…that if the baby was a girl, that she be named after her.  Turns out the baby was a girl, and she was named Sadie after Uncle Pres’ wife, Sade McMenus.  It’s stuff like this that makes me LOVE the internet.  You are able to connect with people you would never otherwise know about.

If you are into old photographs or the history of Laclede County, stay tuned, as eventually I will get up lots and lots of historical photographs.

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This is another cake from the 1887 Cook book that belonged to my great grandmother, Rebecca Frances Smith McMenus.  It’s a simple cake, I made it this morning and it took me about 7 minutes to get it in the oven.  It’s interesting that Dr. Smith does not use any extract or flavoring for this cake, so it turns out tasting a little shortbread, but very light.   Next time I will add flavoring, I think.  No idea why it is called “Fan’s Cake”.  I baked at 375 degrees F.

FAN’s CAKE

One and a half cups sugar, one half cup cream, a little salt, four well beaten eggs, two cups of flour, one heaping teaspoonful cream baking powder.  Bake in a hot oven.

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The Irish Sea was crashing against the rocks at Sandycove, County Dublin, Ireland on this day.  I took this photo very near the James Joyce Museum in the Martello Tower.  Note the intrepid walker in the right foreground.

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Thanks to Deborah Sweeney at GenealogyLady.net for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award!  Deborah has a very interesting site where she posts about the research she has done on her own family tree,  and Deborah is also a professional genealogist.  Take a look at her blog when you get a moment.

This award, like others, is a pay-it-forward award.  You start by thanking the person who nominated you and linking back to their site.  Then you share seven things about yourself that people may not already know.  Finally, you nominate fifteen bloggers you would like to have the award, link back to their site, and then notify them of the nomination.

Here are my seven things:

1.  I have a double degree in Music and History and a teaching credential, which I have never used.  I was working part-time in a law firm when I was in school, and things progressed from there.

2.  I come from a family of twins on my father’s side of the family; they were prevalent in my father’s generation, his father’s generation, and also in his grandfather’s generation that we know of…however, none in my family.

3.  My great grandmother, Carrie Lunda (Lundy) Hall Marlin was part Cherokee Indian.

4.  My ancestors on both the Marlin and McManus sides of the family came out of Northern Ireland in the 1600′s and 1700′s.  The Marlins were most likely transplanted from England or Scotland to Northern Ireland around 1600 when Queen Elizabeth I decided to transplant less hostile subjects into Ireland.  I have done a little research into this period and it’s interesting to note that the native Irish in the north were much more hostile about English rule than their counterparts in the south, thus Elizabeth’s need to transplant loyal subjects into the area.  Anyway, the first Marlin sailed from Derry and landed in Virginia about 1651.  There are found in records in Derry, Curran and Magherafelt.  On the McManus side, they came from Fermanagh and were native to Ireland.  Lawrence McManus was born in 1733 in Fermanagh and ended up in North Carolina where he had a very large family.  We think our link to Lawrence is through his son Eli, who appeared to have two different families, the first in Tennessee (our link) and the second in Ohio.  I am going to have a DNA test one of these days to verify the link back to Lawrence.  But since there was no other McManus family in the area at the time, it’s fairly safe to make our assumptions back to Fermanagh.

5.  I studied piano from the time I was six until my second year in college.  I became proficient but am not a natural talent.  I still have the first piano bought for me; it sits here in the office.  My father had to go to his work’s credit union and borrow $600 to pay for the thing.  It was even more expensive than necessary because my mother wanted the cherry wood finish on the spinet so it would match the rest of her furniture!  It was years before the piano was paid for!

6.  I have a new camera!  Its a LUMIX by Panasonic with a Leica zoom lens.  I still have not figured out all the bells and whistles, but after years of using an old Cyber-Shot, I am excited about the prospect of taking better photos!

7.  I also have a new food processor!  I have had a small one for years and made do with it and the Kitchen Aid mixer with various attachments.  However, I finally decided to bite the bullet and bought a top of the line Cuisinart 9 cup processor.  It’s lovely!  I just have not figured out where to store it yet!

For my fifteen nominees, they are all blogs which I follow for various reasons such as photography, cooking, baking, family history and Ireland.

Biotech Boardwalk

Astronomy and Law

Ed Mooney Photography

Views From A Small Island

Sophie Bowns

Images by T.Dashfield

Magnum Lady

Nigel Borrington Photography

Pedro Holderbaum Photography

Sadie and Dasie

All About Chantelle

Lavington Market Museum

Cristian V. Photography

Libby’s Kitchen Tales

Cindy Knoke

I will be notifying these folks in the next day or so of their nomination!

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Returning to the 1887 cook book that belonged to my great grandmother, here is a recipe for ”Mottled Cake.”  Mottled means spotted or splotchy, and this cake lives up to its title.    As I’ve noted before, Dr. Price calls egg yolks “yelks” and the measures can be a little frustrating.  The egg whites get added before the flour, and fruit coloring means red.

MOTTLED CAKE

Stir to a cream one pound of white sugar and half a pound of butter; beat the whites of twelve eggs to a stiff froth, and add to the sugar and butter three cups of flour and one heaping teaspoonful cream baking powder, mix all together; then take one teacupful of the batter and stir into it one teaspoonful of fruit coloring.  Fill a bake pan one inch deep with the white batter, and drop a teaspoonful of the red batter here and there in the white; next pour in an inch depth of white, then the red as before; alternate in the same way until the batter is all in.

 

 

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In May, 2005, I had time to wander around some of the Irish countryside I had not explored before.  I started out in Cork City and went northeast into the western part of County Waterford.  The area around the town of Ring is quite spectacular because one moment you have wonderful ocean views, then in a short time you are wandering backroads in an area which is farm land.  These three photos were taken on that drive.

As usual, it was a cloudy overcast day and the light kept changing, but these three photos turned out fairly well.

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This is my Great Aunt, Anna L. Faulkner, taken in 1921 when she worked at the State Training School in Chehalis, Washington.  The school was a combination orphanage and reform school for “incorrigible” boys, and she worked as a cook and teacher of “Domestic Sciences.”  She was born Matilda Anna Laura McMenus (“Annie”) at Phillipsburg, MO in 1868.  The family came from TN to MO in 1840, settling in Laclede County near Phillipsburg.  The name was changed from McManus to McMenus sometime around 1795-1800, most likely due to lack of education and phonetic spelling.  It is fairly certain that the family is connected to Lawrence and Catherine ”Cattrell” (McCollin/McCollum) McManus of NC, Lawrence born in Fermanagh, Ireland in 1733.

Annie was named after the three youngest of her father’s sisters, Matilda, Hannah and Laura.  In 1886 she married Leonidas Olander “Lon” Forkner and they had four children, the youngest little boy dying in 1900.  In 1906 the family moved from Missouri to Stevensville, Montana and changed their name from Forkner to Faulkner, reverting to what was probably the original spelling.  Annie divorced Lon in 1918.  She worked at many jobs, including nursing, housekeeping, cooking for harvest workers in a field cook wagon, and she trained to be a chiropractor and owned a restaurant.  In 1923 she met Walter Tweddell  (a widower) through a correspondence club for single men and women, and they married November 14, 1923.  She lived in San Francisco with her daughter by then, and he lived in Los Angeles, so their “courtship” was entirely by mail until he went to San Francisco on the train to meet Annie.  They were married two days later and lived happily ever after.  This photo hangs in my kitchen.

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I tried this recipe the other day when I wanted to make a chicken pie.  I don’t like parsley very much, so I cut back to a smaller portion there, added some chopped chives, and then added about half a cup of shredded carrots.  Turned out great!

PIE IN A PAN

2 shallots, finely chopped

6 slices smoked streaky bacon, chopped

butter

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into large pieces

150 ml chicken stock

100 g crème fraiche (I used the reduced fat variety)

a handful of parsley, chopped

One sheet croissant or puff pastry dough

Cook the shallots and bacon with a tablespoon of butter in an ovenproof pan until the shallots are softened and the bacon has crisped up a bit.  Add the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the stock and simmer for two minutes.  Take off the heat and stir in the crème fraiche and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper and leave to cool.  Unroll the pastry dough and cut into strips.  Cover the surface of the pie with the dough.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees F until puffed and golden.

ENJOY!

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My scanner died yesterday.  Not sure what happened to it, no power though it is plugged in etc.  Anyway, I am reposting this photo of my mother and brother circa late 1937 since I am not able to scan anything new until the scanner problem is resolved, hopefully this week.  I had already scanned photos of Ireland for many days, so there should not be too much break in the continuity of the blog.  I just may have to repost some of the earlier photos.  And, of course, I have digitals that I still have not had time to post.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!  My festivities were quiet and took place last week and this morning.  I am now sitting in the house with all the doors, windows and blinds shut as it’s over 100 degrees outside, and we are having power surges in the neighborhood.  No power loss completely, just enough of a surge to shut down the computer and the landline phones.   But then they power back on again.  Too many people running the A/C and other appliances most likely.  So far I’ve been able to get by with the overhead fans.  It’s supposed to be even warmer tomorrow, but I will be at work!

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Looking across the tops of trees to the flat part of County Loais, January, 2000, Ireland.

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I have a new gadget and I LOVE IT!  It’s the YONANAS soft dessert maker.  I saw one of these in a catalog (very pricey) and took a look for it online at Bed Bath & Beyond.  They carry them in the store and the price was $10 less than in the catalog.  On top of it, I used the 20% off coupon and got the Yonanas machine for only $39.95.

I was a little skeptical about the machine until I read all the reviews.  For people who want mostly fruit in their smoothies and soft desserts or want to control the amount of sugar or sweetener used, this little machine gets high marks.  You basically keep frozen fruit in the freezer (over ripe bananas, berries, mango, pineapple, peaches, whatever you like) and in a couple of minutes, you have a healthy, fruity soft serve dessert, or in my case, breakfast.  I love using this for breakfast.

I have made smoothies with ice cubes in a blender, and I even bought a magic bullet type thing to make smoothies but found it didn’t want to chop up the ice very well.  So the YONANAS machine is the answer to my need to make quick, healthy desserts and smoothies without having to fiddle with ice cubes and such.  Adding a little frozen yogurt will sweeten the mix as well.  It came with a recipe book, and you can add everything from peanut butter to chocolate powder or chocolate shavings to pumpkin or chardonnay ice cubes!  I also bought a couple other things while I was at Bed Bath & Beyond but will report on those later.