A New Broom

Fabiola danced and dusted, sashayed and scrubbed her way through the late morning and a goodly part of the afternoon. She laughed and laundered then paused. Time for the kitchen floor. Grabbing her trusty corn broom, yes corn broom the dust and dirt was gone quickly, but not in the flash that Fabiola is used to. Sadly, even the best of corn brooms - eventually - will become too worn to be a house broom and be banished to the garage.

So, Fabiola traded her house dress for her goin out and about gear then proceeded to the local farm store to buy a brand spankin new corn broom. Oh, there are soft brooms, brooms shaped to get into corners, brooms that are flat and take an endless series of expensive disposable paper pads (some of them with cleaing agents - some that start out dry but have a handy trigger that spritzes on the floor) there are brooms that plug into the wall and aren't really brooms at all. Despite all of these, Fabiola gets misty over the sheer versitility of the simple corn broom.

Fabiola asks you -- what other house cleaning tool can sweep a floor, clean the edges of wall to wall carpet, edges that even "edge cleaning" vacuums don't clean all that well, add an almost authentic air to certain Halloween costumes, and put a serviceable non-slip finish on the surface of a freshly poured concrete walkway?

Scrubbing Sunday

Scrubbing Sunday

This morning is time for a quick run through the house. Yes, it is Scrubbing Sunday. (Normally, Saturday is house cleaning day, but my alter ego was working all day so Fabiola demanded that she have the day today.) So-o-o-o, house dress on, duster in hand, Fabiola must spend several hours re-arranging dust and the like. A fascinating review of Fabiola's adventures in house hold hygiene will no doubt follow.

Also, Fabiola is thrilled to note that her dear reader Anony has posted a recipe for pickled peppers in the comments for Just Checking In ... , you may want to take a peek at it whilst Fabiola cleans.

Just Checking In ...

Wild busy day today.

Only item worth noting here was a super quick dessert for dinner. Two slices of bread, buttered one side, preserved peaches (I used no sugar added), and mini marshmallows. Assemble bread buttered side out, peaches, mini marshmallows, other piece of bread, grill as you would a grilled cheese sandwich.

I guess that it was a grilled peach and marshmallow ... hmm sandwich?

A sprinkly of nutmeg over the peaches before the marshmallows and grilling is nice sometimes.

Anony, do you have a favorite sweet grilled sandwich?

Wednesday Wisdom

Wisdom from Evelyn (of Evelyn's chili soup) . . . No one will ever starve as long as there is a potato in the house.

Evelyn's Chili Soup

Things Remembered

Fabiola's alter ego Mary is updating her Blogspot "View From a Farmhouse Window" blog. She is bringing over the posts from her AOL journal a few at a time. She transfered one today that Fabiola found particularly touching, but more important ...

Fabiola was there ...

Mary tells a story about an Easter cake.

See the part of the story that mentions the Jell-O mold. Fabiola talked about it here.

Recipes From Comments - Acorn Squash

Anony has posted another recipe in comments! Because it looks Fabiolicious, Fabiola is re-posting it on her main page.

Anony's Acorn Squash -

How to cut and bake acorn squash:

cut em into(lenghtwise)- scoop the seeds out - put some butter and brown sugar in& bake em. (I put em on a cookie sheet with a little water in it.)

Fabiola's reply:

By some freakish convergence of vegetable cooking and consumption karma, Fabiola has an Acorn Squash baking in the oven at this very moment. Her's is being prepared almost exactly like Anony's except, Fabiola's is cut cross-wise and a generous sprinkling of coarse ground black pepper is added.

Fabiola's Notion For The Day

As I have to remind Mary from time to time . . . Worrying about the weather is like mowing the lawn with cuticle siscors. You can spend hours working at it, but you haven't accomplished anything.

Who (or what) is a Fabiola?

Begin at the beginning . . .

and go on till you come to the end:

then stop.

Alice's Adventure in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll

Hello there! Fabiola has been wondering if you have been wondering (where, how and honestly) -- why Fabiola?

Because.

Because there are people who maintain more or less predictable, well-ordered, carefully crafted lives. Because there are people who rarely appear outside the confines of their immaculate organized homes looking anything short of groomed. Because there are people who's lives are scheduled and stay that way, mostly.

Because there are people who have never entertained the notion of oh, say, painting an olive green couch black, or decorating their jeans top to bottom with clouds and smiling sun faces. Because there are people who have never in their lives, missed even one nail or hair appointment. Because Fabiola's alter ego Mary isn't one of those people, Fabiola had to step into the role of grand marshal to keep Mary's circus parade headed towards the big top instead of in circles.



That's why.

Like Everything Fabiola ...

Taking a cue from Fabiola, today the sky arranged itself beautifully with just the right touch of drama.

Sunrise, the clouds were barely lit. Storm clouds for someone north and west provided a mountain range of mist in the background.

Then, the long middle part of the day, with time for only a peek or two at the view.

A sliver of scenery from the slivers of day-time available for glancing away from tasks at hand.

Fabiola makes the best of the time available. A glance here and there she will make that do. Fabiola's favorite memories are often fragments. A few notes from a song, a slice of an image, the turn of a hand, skirt hem swishing from view around a corner, any of these can transport Fabiola to a place or time.

There was just time for fall trees in the setting sun, and then it was home and time for dinner.

And The Man In The Moon ...

Stars for a crown, racing clouds his robe, the man in the moon danced in the wind. Tonight.

Storm blowing in and around here tonight. While the moon dances and the night sighs, Fabiola gathers vanilla and cinamon candles ready to glow away the storm dark, if it comes.

What do you do when a night storm gathers?

Chili Soup and Excuses

Chili Soup and Excuses:

Well! Appologies for my time away, but my alter ego, Mary (view from a farmhouse window) hauled me off to jobsites all month.

If Fabiola was less refined, less stylish, less lady-like, Fabiola would have protested by kicking and screaming. Fabiola doesn't kick and scream. Fabiola endures. So Fabiola got through the time by making snarky remarks regarding the desperate lack of style illustrated by the dust, diesel and steel toed boots that Mary wore as she worked. She refused to listen.

Backing up.

My dear reader Anony asked if there are any natural lakes in Ohio. Fabiola asks, does Lake Erie count? Other than that South-West Ohio has lakes, some of them may not be man made. Fabiola will look, sometime. Fabiola lives in North West Ohio. A large part of Northwest Ohio used to be part of the Black Swamp. Fabiola lives just south of the (former) swampland. No wetlands were drained for Fabiola's home, that wouldn't be stylish at all! No lakes around these parts.

Moving Forward.

As Fabiola has been keeping Mary in line, she has had a series of busy busy days. Even on busy days, people have to eat. As always, Fabiola has a Fabiolicious solution to that problem. The Chili Soup below is fast, easy and cooks all day in a slow cooker, so that dinner cooks while other things can be done.

Note: Chili Soup is slightly sweet, slightly spicy hot and more soup than Chili. Try it with Grilled Cheese sandwiches and / or Townhouse Crackers. Fabiola says "Yum'!

Evelyn's Chili Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck
1/2 medium yellow onion chopped medium (photo below)

Fabiola uses a whomper-chopper (that is what she calls it) fast, easy, whacking the top of the chopper releases frustrations.

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2 - 46 ounce cans Tomato Juice - Del Monte or Red Gold

(seriously, these two taste best to Fabiola -- use your favorite -- but don't say that Fabiola didn't try to help!).

1 - 16 ounce can Bush's Best Chili Beans, Medium Sauce (or mild or hot -- but use Bush's, trust Fabiola on this one).

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1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/8 teaspoon Ground Celery Seed

1/4 teaspoon Corse Ground Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Salt

4 tablespoons Dark Chili Powder (or to taste)

(Fabiola likes the Kroger store brand best. Also: keep in mind that Chili Powder looses flavor as it sits in your cupboard. Buy small quantities more often rather than leaving it sit on a shelf).

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1 cup Dark Brown Sugar packed

2 tablespoons Blackstrap Molasses (Fabiola has a thing for Blackstrap Molasses - have you checked out the nutrition label? Calcium, iron, B vitamins ... the link takes you to nutrition data's information on Blackstrap Molasses -- click this link if you want to look up other ingredients http://www.nutritiondata.com/ great site!)

Assembly:

Put the Tomato Juice and Chili Beans in your slow cooker, start cooking on low heat. Brown stirring frequently, the ground beef and onion over medium heat. You want the meat to brown and the onion to cook until transparent. Drain fat.

Turn off the heat, move your skillet to a cool burner, add the Garlic Powder, Celery Seed, Black Pepper, Salt, Chili Powder to the browned grond beef and onion. Stir, stir, stir. Add the brown sugar and molasses, stir until mixed. Transfer to your slow cooker, stir until mixed. Let the soup cook for at least 2 hours, but will be just fine if you leave it all day.

Fabiola serves a big bowl of this soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Yes, this is a cast iron skillet. Cast Iron is a permanant non-stick, precision cooking tool - yet again, Grandma knew what she was doing.