Life in the Bristolwood

Cindy, the piemaker, wanted to know if Miss M would come down and fill in for her while she and her husband went to church.  Of course!  I tagged along to observe the young lady, and to say I was impressed is a big understatement!

Within minutes of her arrival, she mixed up three batches (each batch makes about 25 full-sized pies) of dough and began rolling out pie bottoms.  As she rolled, Miss M suddenly decided that she needed to make up some baby pies. These are smaller pies.

Miss M worked so rapidly, my eyeballs began to spin!  Look at these nine baby pies! Five have a piecrust top and four have “crumb” tops…flour, butter and sugar….my favorite!

I watched this young lady work, and it really hit hard at how quickly she has grown up. 

Cindy and her husband arrived back home and Cindy was thrilled by Miss M’s progress. She confided that she rarely has to tell M what to do, as she surveys what is happening and just jumps in. 

Here is her reflection in one of the enormous stainless bowls they use.

My mother always had a distaste for parents bragging blatantly about their children, and truth be told, I guess I do, too.  I must say, however,  I was quite proud of this young lady as I sat quietly across from her, watching her move about with such confidence!

Oh, and I certainly know who can now help ME roll out the crusts for the pumpkin pies this Thanksgiving!

It would seem the weather report from yesterday was pretty accurate,  although we missed out on the thunderstorms.  We did get some rain, though.

After the sublime weather we had yesterday, today was certainly a contrast!  It was a great day to stay inside and relax, watch television, and just unwind.  And that is mostly what we did all day!

Michelle grumbled a little when she discovered we hadn’t bought Chinese for her at the restaurant yesterday,  so guilt overwhelmed me and I made her a batch of beef and veggie lo mein for lunch today.  She was so thrilled, she chopped up all the veggies for me! We discovered that one of the big advantages the Chinese restaurants have is that the woks they use are super-heated.  The jets on the gas stoves they use are like blow torches! So, I found that I could use my cast iron dutch oven with good results. I heat it up really well, then add the oil and ingredients.  It stays so hot and the food is amazingly good!

Sorry for the “foggy” appearance.  The dutch oven really does stay hot, so once the food is cooked, I need to get it out of there pronto, lest the veggies loose their crispness!

I carried my camera down to the mailbox when I went for the mail, and I was surprised by the fog! Yes, it really was a bit of an ugly day!

Looking at the scenery, I thought how drab and brown things looked. Then I spotted one lonely little Aster!

Most everything else around it was brown, but the flower stood, head hanging a bit low from the weight of the rain on it! As I was checking email on my computer, I decided to check out slickdeals.net. Mark and I both have this site bookmarked, as it is useful for finding bargains from time to time.  I found my Kitchen Aid food processor there last year, and Mark has used the site for some great deals on computer needs and electronics.

I was shocked at a little “headline” across the top of the page. It informs readers that a major rebate processing company has gone bankrupt today! Good grief!  Mark and I happily don’t have outstanding rebates, so we were relieved, but for all the many folks who buy goods with rebates, this is just inconceivable! Amongst some of the major companies using this particular processing firm was Canon!

It seems so hard to imagine all the big companies falling into bankruptcy lately…..