Saturday is just around the corner

The Waupaca Strawberry Festival craft sale is on Saturday in beautiful downtown Waupaca. I'll be there with cake plates and aprons with my friend Karen who will be there with lots of her handmade goodies.

Karen caught the apron bug from me a couple of years ago. She made an apron for a gift, people oohed-and-aahed and she was hooked. It's a familiar story. Unfortunately there is no 12-step program yet, but there are craft shows, so that's where you'll find us.

The picture shows some of Karen's wares. In addition to aprons -- she even makes these groovy little sunflower pins to go with hers -- she makes these dolled up kitchen gloves and cute-as-a-button cupcake potholders. Did I mention that Karen is retired? Oh, and she didn't get them in this picture, but she also has these funky insulated fish water bottle holders. All in all, she makes me feel inadequate.

I have a dozen or so aprons made and cake plates. I could whine on about my demanding high stress job as an excuse for falling in her production shadow, but no one wants to hear it, so I'll spare you. I could also ramble on about my recent wedding reception feat -- a production in its own right -- but that seems as it might be bragging, so I'd better let that go, too.

Instead, I'll just admit it: Karen is a production phenom. Come to Waupaca on Saturday. The craft show is bound to be great. We'll have aprons and cake plates and tote bags and pot holders and kitchen gloves and, and, and ... Plus, they have other people there, but you'll have to use your own judgment on their worthiness of your attention. You can buy all types of yummy fresh strawberry treats from local vendors, too.

And no kidding, Waupaca does have a very nice downtown. At bare minimum, a visit to the lovely little city on the Chain of Lakes will give you the perfect excuse to scope out their yarn shop which is fantastic. Oh, and there's Goodwill on the way out of town (or in). Anyway you look at it, Waupaca is the place to be on Saturday, June 19. I know I'll be there!

Blue Ribbon Brownies

For each of our kids, the first year's 4-H entries into the Central Wisconsin State Fair included brownies. They had to be plain. Frosting and nuts, both of which could be used to hide a multitude of brownie sins, were not allowed. The recipe used by all has now become known in our family as Blue Ribbon Brownies because it earned each of them just that. It worked for their friends, too. And I just took a pan out of the oven and they smell sooooo good. The original recipe came from a box of Baker's unsweetened chocolate -- I think. I know the recipe by heart and have gotten old enough to throw things in without much exact measuring, but I'm quite sure I still come up close to the original.

We were at a picnic this afternoon with way too much good food. One of the many dessert offerings was a pan of delicious looking brownies. The thick frosted kind. I took one (and a piece of carrot cake and some kind of pudding-ish thing and two forks) to share with Paul. It was good. It wasn't a Blue Ribbon though. A couple of hours later, I couldn't stand it any more.
So, here's what I did about it:

Blue Ribbon Brownies
Melt 10 TBSP butter and 4 squares of unsweetened chocolate together
Gradually mix in 2 cups sugar
Beat in 4 eggs, 1 at a time
Add 1 1/3 cups flour and 1 tsp salt.
Stir in 2 tsp vanilla

Pour into greased 9x13" pan.
Bake at 350 for about 22-25 minutes.

These are not the thick frosted kind of brownies. They are just delicious plain brownies.
No mixer. No fuss. Just a wooden spoon, some simple ingredients and a great big chocolate thrill.

The Wisconsin celebration

We hosted a picnic to celebrate Kit and Violet's marriage on Saturday. The preparations for the actual picnic started in earnest on Thursday when Alyssa came home and we headed out with her Honda wagon (Gigi, the grocery getter) for party supplies and some groceries -- a lot of groceries. My car was serving as a mobile party storage facility by Thursday as I struggled with the constant conundrum of where to put all the party stuff. In fact, one of the where-to-put-it problems revolved around Alyssa's arrival since I had been storing the cake pedestals on the bed she would now occupy. That problem was solved by locking the front door and stacking the plates in the entryway.
Thursday evening was sweet potato time as Alyssa, Violet and I worked to finish peeling, dicing and freezing the sweet potatoes for Saturday. (Blanch them, cool in ice water and toss them in a Ziploc with a little sugar, flour and ascorbic acid. They keep beautifully. Then just put them in a pan -- or 22 quart Nesco -- with some salt and pepper, maple syrup and a bit of butter and bake them until tender.)
Friday was a big day. I had ordered many of the meal supplies from our local grocery in Milladore. Bob held them for me until I needed them. I picked up 50 lbs of red potatoes, 20 lbs of shredded cabbage, and assorted other supplies and headed back for the potato salad and coleslaw production. And what a production with friends Mary and Sandy on hand to mix our 10lb batches of salad. Lots of hard work and, of course, fun. Alyssa mixed the coleslaw in a 20-qt storage tote and took that back down to the store where Bob allowed us to store it in his cooler. The 3 punch bowls of potato salad fit nicely in Ned's fridge since he was kind enough to empty it of everything else. We also boiled the 3 bags of Kluski noodles for the sauerkraut on Friday. One less thing to do at the last minute turned out to be a lifesaver since I wouldn't have had the water source to pull that off on Saturday, but that's another story.
Kit and Violet and Evan helped bring in the cakes from the freezer on Friday night. We set each on its plate, covered it loosely with foil and left to thaw over night. (If you ever decide to make a variety of bundt cakes ahead of time, please remember that the 2-gallon Ziploc bag will be removed from the cake and label the inner wrap. I experienced a bit of last-minute frustration to realize that the only identifying information was on the bag -- live and learn.)

At 4 a.m. Saturday, I was making Jell-O jigglers for the kids even though Ned suggested that Jell-O shots might be more appropriate for a couple of them. By 10 a.m. we were working in earnest to get everything ready by the 4 o'clock party time. Sister-in-law Lynn brought out all the last minute pick-up items -- buns, flowers, cheese trays -- from Point and Rudolph. Karl and Alissa arrived to help with the set up at about the same time that the tables arrived. Lights were hung, tables and chairs arranged, table cloths put on and flowers, arranged by Janell in blue mason jars, were put on every table along with a pint jar holding a knife and cake server and a jelly jar holding a candle. They all -- Kit, Alyssa, Ned, Karl, Alissa, Tony and Janell -- did a fantastic job.

In the meantime, friend Lynne and sister-in-law Lynn were helping to get the Nesco roasters loaded with calico beans, sauerkraut and sweet potatoes while I mixed icings and Violet applied them to the appropriate cakes and labeled each one. (Did I mention that through much of this crazed meal preparation for 150, we couldn't use running water? Another story.) Cousins John and Betsy arrived and helped haul roasters out to the tent to get everything cooking. Naturally, because it was a Ruesch event, it had to meet with some minor disasters (like the water issue wasn't enough) and John and Betsy hauled roasters into the house and garage because the power to the tent kept blowing. No matter. Things were cooking and finally -- at 3:30 for a 4:00 party -- I was able to shower and prepare to meet our guests. Pictures of the day document the fact that I never did get around to doing my hair, but the day wasn't about me anyway.

At party time, the cakes were all lined up on the dining room table, the food was cooking, the bar (a hay rack attached to a tractor) was fully loaded and we were ready to go. Paul wisely suggested that we hold off on taking out the cakes until close to meal time. Just before 5, we removed the screen from the dining room window and Alyssa passed cakes to me through the window as I garnered volunteers who paraded them out to tables. I didn't remember to ask anyone to take pictures of the cake parade, but I'm sure it was quite a sight.

The cakes served exactly the purpose I had hoped: In addition to being dessert, they got people moving around to visit other tables in pursuit of tasting another flavor. The maple bacon was by far the novelty hit of the day. I never saw the carrot cake again after setting it out and the Red Velvet was selected by my niece Leah as her birthday cake. I really wanted to try the Bailey's cake, but never had the opportunity. My personal favorite was the Cabernet Chocolate with Blackberry glaze. The best cake recipes came from the Kiss My Bundt Cookbook -- an absolute godsend when you need to bake 23 different bundt cakes!

After hayrides around the farm, games of bean bag toss, horseshoes and of course, plenty of lubrication, the evening culminated with fireworks to celebrate Kit and Violet.




















And the plates? Their next appearance will be at Waupaca's Strawberry Festival on June 19 where they will be on sale along with the aprons Karen and I make. They've served their purpose well, but it's time to have a bed be a bed. So, come on down to Waupaca. $10 will get you a great cake pedestal. And really, who doesn't have space for one cake plate?