The Friday Friends: January 2022

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Friday friend recipe number 295--Theda's Carrot Cake

I am under 75 recipes now--I must get this done! At least to prove something to myself if not the Handyman...

because...

...about 21 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an

e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different categories and we compiled a cookbook.

I decided to count those down!

Why?

because one night I was looking thru the cookbook and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog."

The Handyman, who thinks he knows me better than I know myself, said "you'll never EVER do that."

Well, maybe I will! Maybe I'll show him!

Which brings us to Theda's

Carrot Cake

**********************************

I just need to hurry up and 'get 'er done'

Then I'll show him!

And as always, it's not about the quality of the photos, it's about the family, friends and fun we have all had together!

As far as carrot cakes go--this is the best bar none!

Bar none!

I'm not kidding.

It's so good and moist and yummy!

***

This is Theda's 17th appearance in the Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown.

You can check out all her recipes (which are fabulous) by clicking here. Right here.

If you recall, 2 posts ago, I left off with a 'to be continued...

It was a story about my mom and her not so nice treatment of her date.

I said this--

It's a good thing that this isn't hereditary!

Or.... is it?

Hmmmm----to be continued.........

because she said this--

(about her first date) my first date was when I was a freshman in high school. This boy picked me up in a dirty work pickup that his older brother was driving! We all went to a dance at the school that was held in the hallways of our school. Your father asked me to dance, and we snuck away and went into a stairway, which was open, and talked and talked. I guess that was the beginning of your father and my courtship.

Hmmmm.

You all know my Theda story/history, right? She's my oldest friend. She's an old, old, old friend! We go way back---

--way back to Jr. High School.

(she'll say freshman year of high school, I say 8th grade--whatever! That's a lot of history--lots of time to have 'the dirt' on another person!)

Like the dirt of us actually ditching one carload of guys for another in the A&W parking lot in Pasco, WA.

We did. I'm sorry to say we did, but we did.

We had left my little white Chevy Vega in the Zips parking lot (a local to the Pacific Northwest, hamburger joint) and climbed in a car with some friends, who happened to be boys from our rival high-school in Kennewick, WA and went cruising with them.

We did this all the time--went cruising. We'd make a big loop of a couple main drags in town, meet up at Zips and then cruise over the old bridge to Pasco, and see what was happening in the A&W parking lot.

And back and forth and back and forth--all night long.

On one loop at the A&W, I jumped out to say hello to friends, who also happened to be boys, from Pasco High school, and I got in their car. All of the sudden, Theda showed up with our coats and purses and got in too.

And off we went.

That is our ditching story!

I am happy to report that we remained friends with everybody.

just like my mother did.

It is hereditary.

(we were so innocent back then--it was then 70's--and we really and truly were. also, it wasn't unusual to carhop at different hamburger places.

LOL carhop!)

Theda and her family came to visit us once here in Winnemucca.

I would venture to say it was about 15 years ago and we took them on a whirlwind day trip of Humboldt County.

Paradise Valley

the top of Winnemucca Mountain

The Chamber of Commerce office

We know how to entertain!

In front of my office.

I miss those old doors and that old sign!

(where IS that sign?)

The husbands in Paradise. Valley, that is.

Such a sweet family!

Sorry to interrupt, but

One more Theda story...

I want to get all the stories I can in, because I'm drawing nearer and nearer to being done.

No, this is not Theda's goodbye post, but--I just have two stories.

So, sue me!

Today at 62 years old, and after searching for "my drink" for years, I have come to the realization that a Gin and Tonic is it for me.

But way back in 1978ish, when Theda and I were young, very young, I was dating the Handyman and she was dating his roommate Steve.

We thought, as young girls often do, that if we cleaned their apartment, they would really appreciate it and like us all the more.

Like us all the more!!

(hahahahahaaa!!)

(Apparently this is true of the Handyman as he is still hanging around, but not so of Steve, since Theda dumped him not soon after this and sailed off to college where she met John (who actually went to high school his senior year with us--they just reconnected in college).

Anyway, all these years later I am still cleaning up after the Handyman! WTH??? )

So, picture us cleaning.

Listening to Barry Manilow. YES, Barry Manilow. On the stereo.

And we decide to take a few sips of some alcohol they have. They (Handyman and Steve) were not home at the time.

Well, we chose a bottle of gin. Little did we know that drinking a swig, sip, swallow of straight gin was like swallowing your own tongue!!

IT WAS SO HORRIBLE!!

HORRIBLE!

When the Handyman and Steve got home, we were a bit tipsy, (from one or two sips of straight gin! We were not drinkers) crying over Barry Manilow love songs.

Yes, we were really crying--I mean, how can you NOT cry over songs like "Looks like we made it" and "Mandy" or "Somewhere in the Night" when you've had a bit of gin?

The apartment was not so clean.

I really thought for a minute that I had swallowed my tongue!!

I don't know what Theda thought, because we couldn't talk for about 15 minutes afterwards.

She is not a gin drinker to this day!

Now back to the regularly scheduled post... the rest of the photos.

And this my friends is

recipe #295

Only 72 left to go!

I can do it!

WOO HOO! I am below 100 recipes now. Yay! Yahoo! Whoopie!

Altho.... do you remember when I counted wrong before? I think I did it again.

I keep counting what I have left by recipe AND by person and it does not add up to 72- it's more like 66.

Which would make me very happy, but for now....I'll stick to the 73 until it gets closer to the end and I'll recount what I have left.

Friday, January 28, 2022

Friday friend recipe number #294--Laura's Fireside Punch

Making my way thru my Friday Friend Cookbook, one recipe at a time.

What is the Friday Friend cookbook? I once had about 50 of my closest friends and family (from all over the county) on an e-mail forum which I called the Friday Friends . At first, most of them didn't know each other, (they knew me) but over the past 21 years, we've answered and shared silly--and serious---questions, exchanged Secret Santa Christmas gifts, had a dieting contest in which we paid a $1 a week and that money went to a scholarship fund for a Friday Friends son's memorial scholarship, and we went on a great vacation for my 52 birthday. (plus so much more....)

AND, we contributed recipes for a cookbook.

I was looking at the cookbook the other night and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog."
The Handyman--who thinks he knows me better than I know myself (this happened to be a question on the Friday Friend forum once---does your spouse/partner know you better than you know yourself?)--said, "you'll never, EVER do that."
WELL---maybe I'll show him! Maybe I will.

Which brings me to this... recipe #294

Laura's Fireside Punch

I do have to say that the Handyman and I have liked all the 'beverages' I've been making lately.

I cut the recipe in half, because it's just me and he.

And it's a Sunday.

Morning.

But it is January and it's cold in our part of the world, so a fun hot beverage has been nice!

And tasty.

Okay.... now for a Laura story.

This is her 2nd time appearing in the cookbook countdown and it is also her last time.

You can check out her spaghetti sauce here (just click) and read about our children being switched at the hospital (we had babies on the same day) AND she her as the Easter Bunny when our kids were small.

Go ahead--click on it---I'll wait.

As I have mentioned, I feel sad saying goodbye to friends as this draws closer to the end

Okay, there are 73 recipes left to make after this one, but it's all relative, right?

I'm saying goodbye Laura!

Of course, she just sent me a text, so really---perhaps not truly a goodbye.

I was also sad because I thought I have no photos she and I. Back when we lived in the same town, 32 years ago, we didn't have cellphones to take pictures willy-nilly, so I thought I had slim pickins.

BUT LOOK!

I found an assortment of "Laura and Me" photos throughout the years:

Laura and I taught Sunday School together.

(ah crap---and now, all these years later, I am drinking her hot rum drink on a Sunday morning instead of being in church! How the mighty have fallen. LOL)

(well, not totally true--I still go to church. Just not on the Sundays I start out drinking. I better stop explaining before I dig myself in deeper, right?)

This is how Laura and I did church together for 8 years:

Some years we taught Sunday School and

Some years we dropped our boys off at Sunday School and then went to have coffee before church (we could have attended adult Sunday School, and sometimes we did, but coffee was always nice) and sometimes (once) we came back from coffee only to find out our 5-year-old sons (they might have been 4 at the time) had made their Sunday School teacher cry.

We are not proud of this--they were being little twerps, who needed a slap upside the head (we didn't really slap them upside the head, but it was 1985, we could have.... we might swatted their little bottoms instead. Hey--it was 1984 or 1985, what can I say?)

What we were more bewildered about was the teacher who was crying.

CRYING!!

A couple of 5-year-old (maybe 4 years old) boys made you cry?

Give them the evil eye--they'll back down.

Put your hand on your hip and say 'HEY we'll have none of that' real loud and they'll back down.

Clap your hands real loud, get down on their level and tell them, "Jesus doesn't like naughty little boys"

(a good 'come to Jesus' talk works every time! I mean they were in church--his portrait was on the wall, for heaven's sake--just do the eye thing--point to your eyes, then to Jesus's portrait and then to them and say He's got his eyes on you!)

We could have given her 100 ways to handle 5-year-old boys. And none of them would ever be letting them see that they made you cry.

Never, ever let them make you cry.

Cuz, then they are like a pack of Hyenas and go in for the kill.

Look at these little angels.

Those cute little angelic faces.

How could they ever do anything to make their Sunday School teacher cry?

Angels, I tell you!

Or lambs, I guess they were lambs in the Christmas pageant.

They have ears not halos.

*****

Then years later, look what they gave us!

Some actual little angels!

Our first grandchildren!

These photos were taken about 17 years ago---both these grandsons are going to be 20 this year.

Laura and I, of course, look exactly the same so no need for an updated picture.

So, this is embarrassing... but the Handyman still has and wears that shirt. It just came thru the laundry last week!

The cuffs might be a little worse for the wear, but he surely isn't.

He and Tony look exactly the same too!

Remember how I said that I just received a text from Laura?

She was off on a little jaunt with her sister, and they were passing thru my old territory (the PNW) and she said she thought of me. but the reason she is doing this in the middle of the week, in the middle of January is because---

---Laura is now officially RETIRED!

Her husband Tony is not far behind and by the end of the summer, they plan on traveling the country in their RV.

I am envious!

Happy Trails to you Laura!

And this my friends is

recipe #294

Only 73 left to go!