Me and flea markets

I have been having some amazing luck lately at flea markets. I have looked for at least 15 years for a McCoy wall pocket, the fruit kind. I wanted one with a pear or bananas on it, because they are yellow. They cost so much I needed to find one that was imperfect..and I finally did. On a return run from my 4 times yearly one day trips to Little Rock, I stopped off at the Three Sisters Antique Mall in Alma, and there was a whole booth of McCoy, and 2 wall pockets! One was a pear, that had been repaired, so it was priced at $25. The other was in perfect shape and was grapes, and it was priced at $125, which is still a good price. So I snapped up the Pear one...now I need to decide where in my kitchen to hang it!

Then Memorial Day weekend, I visited one of my favorites, the All My Treasures flea market on Hwy 16 East in Fayetteville. There I found a booth with a blue McCoy Shoe, it was only $5! I think it has been re-glazed, but I don't really care. And there was a yellow vase matching one I already had in blue, for $8 and a bamboo pot that looks perfect to me, for $8. Is this stuff coming down in price? or am I a fool? Who knows...

Oh and I also found some great stuff for my best friend's birthday. I wont say what...in case she reads this...


Happy Weekend!

Amazing food facts you find out about people you thought you knew...

I asked the guy in my life some food questions and found out some disturbing things about him. He is a very good cook, and I let him feed me all the time. I love it.
But, I found out, number one, he does not like wilted lettuce. And he has never eaten a baked sweet potato, one of life's good things. And I asked him if he had ever crumbled up leftover cornbread in a glass, poured buttermilk over it, and eaten it with a spoon. He then looked at me like I was crazy. I thought he came from a good Southern family....
Hmmmm....

Time for a new recipe

This will use up that hambone you have left from Easter . I always put mine in the freezer so we can get over the original ham first.

A Tribute To White Beans
“I ate four bowls, if that ain’t a tribute to white beans, I don’t know what is!”...Andy Taylor

One ham bone with a good amount of meat left on it

One to two pounds dried white beans (Great Northerns)

Salt and pepper to taste

½ C. of each chopped fine:

Onion

Celery

Carrots

Place beans in a big pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and let set for an hour, then drain. Cover with water again, add the ham bone, salt and pepper and bring to a boil, then turn it down to a fast simmer. When the beans are about halfway cooked, take out the bone and let it cool. Add the onion celery and carrots. When the ham bone cools, pull all the meat off and chop coarsely. Add to the pot, and simmer until the beans are soft and the broth is thick.

Serve with cornbread. This will serve about 3 hearty appetites per pound of beans.

A new garden

Sunday I made a garden for the first time in many years. I tried to grow a garden before, but got good plants, and no fruit!
Now I made a garden in 3 plastic swimming pools. The large one has many tomato plants, mostly Bigger Boys, and one Roma. I also planted green peppers, spinach, lettuce, yellow squash, zuchinni, cucumbers and some marigolds. I think marigolds keep out squash bugs.

I hope this works, I'll have to water this week, because it is not supposed to rain at all, for a change!

Stay tuned for results!

Strawberry Pie

It's that time of year, so I'll just post my recipe for fresh strawberry pie, without using that nasty premade glaze they have in the store. Still no pics because I don't have a digital camera...

Fresh Strawberry Pie
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Water
2 T. White Karo Syrup
3 T. Cornstarch
Cook, Stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.

Add:
3 T. strawberry Jell-od
ash salt
½ t. red food coloring

Fill a baked and cooled piecrust with whole strawberries. (If the strawberries are those huge honkers they have in the store these days, cut or quarter them. You dont want a big thing to have to try to cut.) Pour cooled glaze over berries. Refrigerate until chilled. Top with whipped cream or cool-whip. Keep refrigerated.


For fresh peach pie:Use peach or orange-pineapple jell-o, yellow food color and fresh sliced peaches.