Sunday, March 15, 2009

More on Ben Franklin......

I love this book.  Even more, I love the period of time in history.  My daughter and I were watching Sense and Sensibility this weekend and we both commented how we would have loved to have lived 'back in those times'.  Yes indeed.  To wear beautiful long dresses and learn to dance and do needlepoint and have afternoon tea and have 'callers'......I think I would have fit in quite well with my old-fashioned ways.  As I sit here slouched over my laptop with my lounge pants on, I think more formality in our lives would be neat.  I love their use of language too.  People in that era could construct some beautiful sentences.  That said, I thought we all should bring our favorite Ben Franklin quote to bookclub on Thursday.  Not necessarily a quote from the book, but a quote from him.  I'll get us started.

“Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.”

See you Thursday!


Posted by at 2 comments:

Sunday, March 1, 2009

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise"

This is the book for March.  I started reading a book called Founding Brothers first which is excellently written and a good preface to reading a autobiography on one of the founding fathers......or brothers as Ellis calls them.  I'm about halfway through Part One of the 'Autobiography'  and it's a great read so far.  I'm continually fascinated by early American life and culture and in particular of the times in which Franklin lived.  He was the youngest of thirteen, self-educated for all intents and purposes and on his own in a strange city by age 17. He relished good books and educated himself mostly by reading them in every spare moment he could find.  Have you started the book yet girls?  Do you have a kinship with him already since he was the master at doing what we are trying to do for ourselves.....namely give ourselves the education we never had?  Start reading and then let's talk.

And maybe for some good bookclub fodder, you should bring your favorite Ben Franklin quote to our meeting, which is at my house on March 20th.  Or was it the 19th.  Someone inform me.

Your faithful bookclub junkie,
ms.edie

Posted by at 3 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Our Recipes

Our Recipes
Baked Brie

Baked Brie

1 Whole Wheel of Brie
1 Sheet Puff Pastry or
1 Sheet Regular Pastry
3 T Orange Marmalade
1 egg for glaze


Bring the Cheese and Pastry to room temperature.
Do not remove the rind from the Cheese
Place the Marmalade on the center of the pastry.
Place the Brie in top of the Marmalade.
Wrap the Pastry around the Brie, use a small amount of a water wash to help the Pastry adhere to itself.
Invert the wrapped brie on to a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper and coat with the egg wash.
At this point the Baked Brie can be stored in the refridgerator for up to 4 days, when you are ready to finish the cooking of the Brie, pre-heat your oven to 350', bring the Wrapped Brie back to room temperature, place in the hot oven and cook for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Do not serve immedistely, but place on your serving platter and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Serve with Crackers or French bread

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Chicken Cordon Bleu

This recipe can be served as an entree or cut into bite size pieces as an Hor'sD'oeuvre

Awaiting recipe

Petite Fours and Croissant

Petite Fours and Croissant
Petite Fours

Petite Fours and Croissant

Recipe to be submitted

Mini pickled Okra sandwiches

Mini pickled Okra sandwiches

Mini Pickled Okra Sandwiches

This recipe can be made up to 2 hrs in advance, due to the Cream Cheese acting as a barrier and preventing the Bread from absorbing the liquid from the Pickled Okra--simply make your sandwiches, cover them with a slightly damp piece of paper towel , then some Saran Wrap and refridgerate for up to 2 hours. The Cream Cheese mixture also works well with Cucumber Sandwiches.

1 Loaf of Bread
8 oz cream cheese
2 T Dill.Herb Spice Mix (Tastefully Simple)
1 Jar of Pickled Okra
Bring the cream cheese to room temp and add the Spice mix.
Remove the crusts from the bread and roll out with a rolling pin.
Take 2 pieces of bread apply some of the cream cheese add the Okra cut in to desired shapes and serve.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Recipe to be submitted

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

This recipe is dangerous, Why? because you are only 5 minutes away from Chocolate Cake at any given time of day.

4 T Flour
4 T Sugar
2 T Cocoa
1 Egg
3 T Milk
3 T Oil
# T Chocolate Chips (otional)
a small dash of Vanilla Extract
1 Large Coffee Mug

Add all of the dry ingredients to the mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and again mix well. Add the chocolate chips ( if using ) and vanilla extract, after you have mixed well, place the mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1,000 watts ( high ). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, do not be alarmed! Allow the cake to cool a little and then invert on to a plate. This recipe can serve 2 ( if you want to feel slightly more virtuous ).
Recipe by Tina Faust