Pam – Page 92 – New England's Narrow Road

Monkey Faces and Indian Pudding

Slow Cooker Indian Pudding (Photo credit: lynn.gardner)

As I sit here trying to cool off at 3:00 AM – yes it’s winter and the inside temp. is 62, but I am hot, (you older ladies will understand), I was enjoying reading about the Indian Pudding again, and I was replying to comments on the re-blog post, from Laurie @ A Taste of Morning. That Indian Pudding recipe and photo got me thinking of my grandparents and all the baking and cooking they did.

My grandmother always had cookies on her little counter in the kitchen and sometimes they were store bought, but I remember her holiday cooking best. She made “monkey faces” which were cookies filled with mincemeat, but I didn’t like mincemeat so she would put jam in some too. She made her own jam and jelly also and had a little dirt cellar where she kept her jars of preserves on wooden shelves. The cookies – which were more like little pies because the dough was like thick pie dough- were made by plopping the mincemeat, or jam, onto a round piece of dough and then covering it with another round piece. The edges would be pressed down with a fork and then slits made in the top.

She also made the tallest apple pies ever. I used to call her apple pie “mountain pie” Continue reading “Monkey Faces and Indian Pudding”

Indian Pudding

This post brought back memories of my grandmother’s cooking skills.

A Taste of Morning

Indian Pudding is a traditional New England dessert which can be traced back to the 18th century. I developed a fondness for it when I lived in the Boston area. For some reason, though, it is relatively unknown outside of New England.

Here is a brief history of the dish …

When British settlers moved to this country they brought their Hasty Pudding recipes with them. I’ve never had Hasty Pudding, but apparently it is a dish made from wheat cooked in water or milk until it develops the consistency of a porridge. Wheat was in short supply in New England, so the settlers adapted to the new world by substituting corn meal – which they called Indian flour. Being along a trade route with plentiful molasses and spices, they embellished the dish with these flavorful additions as well as with dried fruits and sometimes nuts … and thankfully, the…

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Don’t You Just Love the Snow?

Every time I mention that I moved to the north FROM Florida, people give me an incredulous look. You did what?

Well, it wouldn’t help to try to explain my reasons – Florida is paradise in their eyes. So I just let them think there is something wrong with my way of thinking.

Back in the winter of 2010, when I was renting a duplex, I had a mailbox attached to a tree by the driveway. To make the place feel more homey I attached two red, velvety ribbons to each side. When the snow fell, this is what it looked like. I went out to shovel and saw how pretty it looked and went back to get my camera. I ended up taking a lot of winter photos that year of the lake and the Girl Scout Camp, but this one is one of my favorite.

My photos bring back bittersweet memories. I hated renting, but my landlady was a good friend to me. I never felt settled, even after three years there, but I loved the area with all it’s nature to enjoy.

Each time I see this new address postcard I wonder if the people who buy it are moving to the north and snow, or away from it.

I decided to add the blue text for this post, but I suppose I could make a humorous card like that too!

Dreary November

I usually begin a post with one of my personal pictures, but this time of year never gives me much reason to take any. This leafless tree is the closest I can come.

This is the brown, dead, cold season. No snow to cover the ugliness. The dead leaves from the entire neighborhood seem to keep blowing down into my yard, but at least they cover the non-grassy lawn I have.
The sun seems to barely come up and doesn’t make it above the treeline the entire day. It’s gone by around 4:30 now so the days are quite short.

I haven’t started my wood stove yet just because I’ve been too lazy. I am not the one who is cold and I like to save the wood for emergencies like ice storms, but I will be burning as soon as the temps drop more than they have.

In fact this weekend and into next week we will get a warm up. I hear we will have 50’s! So on drags the gloomy month of November and probably December will bring some snow to at least give us something pretty to look at.