Hortensia

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Posts by Hortensia

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  31

  Menu

  by Hortensia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i used to entertain a lot but haven't in a few years.

  now my husband and i have moved to a new house and i have invited some friends for sunday dinner, to see the new house.

  i am at a loss to come up with something interesting to serve.

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  Hortensia

  the bean recipe sounds good and all the suggestions are making me hungry. I like to make applesauce - every year my husband and I trek to the mountains and buy varieties of apples I've never heard of before, and make a big bunch of applesauce which we usually eat by Christmas. I peel and chop apples until my big roasting pan is half full, cover with apple cider and cook until tender. Then taste and add sugar, cinnamon, lemon peel, whatever strikes me as a good idea. My husband helps me with the canning jars, and I try really hard to save a jar for Thanksgiving dinner, but we like applesauce and so sometimes it just disappears.
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  81

  What's your culinary specialty?

  by pmouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  reading hortensia's topic "menu" made my mouth water.

  i remember in the 70's (when we used to be able to have lots of jw social get-togethers like picnics and parties) some of the friends would bring pot-luck specialties that were to die for!.

  everyone has a dish they consider their "specialty" which gets high praise and generally requests for the recipe.

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  Hortensia

  yes, how about the wild Sicilian spaghetti sauce? Also, how about a thread on recipes you like to make but would be embarassed to admit to? Like my two ingredient fideo - angel hair pasta and half a jar of salsa plus water to cover. Would never take that to a party or serve it to guests, but it is a great good-tasting one person supper with some grated cheese.
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  35

  Christians - Does a JW baptism count as Christian?

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i tend to accept that mine did - i was baptised prior to the changes that made one a 'watchtower disciple'.

  my dedication was and is to god - prob the reason i am finally out.. opinions?.

  jeff .

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  Hortensia

  "Part of the vows involve loyalty to the Watchtower organization."

  I don't remember taking any vow - of course it was in the early 1960s so I don't remember a lot about it anyway. Is there a vow? What are the exact words? promising loyalty to the WTBTS sounds really really weird.
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  81

  What's your culinary specialty?

  by pmouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  reading hortensia's topic "menu" made my mouth water.

  i remember in the 70's (when we used to be able to have lots of jw social get-togethers like picnics and parties) some of the friends would bring pot-luck specialties that were to die for!.

  everyone has a dish they consider their "specialty" which gets high praise and generally requests for the recipe.

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• 

  Hortensia

  yeah, although I never tried coca cola cake, I have a recipe for it. I've tried mayonnaise cake and tomato soup cake, but never tried sauerkraut cake, not quite that brave.

  for cake mix cakes, my favorite, which someone always used to bring to JW potlucks, is the one make with cake mix, lemon jello and frozen lemonade. It's unbelievably sweet, but also very moist and tart and really delicious. Haven't had it in years, nowadays am limited to six squares of dark chocolate a day as I am on a diet.

  that's part of the reason for having folks over for dinner - tired of cooking home made vegetable soup and fake egg omelets and green salads.
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  29

  Whats the strangest thing you've seen someone get in trouble for?

  by LaniB in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember one windy summer day, after a meeting on sunday morning, i walked out of the hall behind a sister who was part of the church congregation with her two teenage children.

  her husband did not attend.

  the wind caught her dress unexpectedly and blew it up a'la marilyn monroe and revealed that she was wearing (shock, horror) french knickers...... there were a few murmers behind me which i at the time put down to things like "oh poor girl, so embarrassing".

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  Hortensia

  I got in trouble as a teenager because I was wearing flesh colored underwear under my dress and one of the older ladies in the congregation thought I didn't have any underwear on. I heard about that for quite a while, nosy old witches.
• 
  31

  Menu

  by Hortensia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i used to entertain a lot but haven't in a few years.

  now my husband and i have moved to a new house and i have invited some friends for sunday dinner, to see the new house.

  i am at a loss to come up with something interesting to serve.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Hortensia

  Frannie - that's about how I do the ham, make a paste of brown sugar and mustard and slather it all over the ham under the skin and then bake until the skin is crispy.

  Where am I? About a 4 hour drive from Ventura, going east on highway 10 out to the desert. It is pretty hot right now, a little early but we have already hit 100 degrees, looks like a long summer. Last year we had two weeks of 120 degrees, and I was teaching a class all day every day - the a/c couldn't really keep up with it so it was always warm and stuffy in the classroom, but way cooler than outside! If you are in Ventura, we should meet in the middle at the Huntington Gardens someday to look at roses and have tea.

  DJK that sounds like a really easy recipe - could I add a little ginger and soy sauce? by the way, I like your avatar. There's something sort of Oliver Twist about it.

  couldn't stay online last night because of something that is the kind of thing that happens only to me - a fly got in the house and was pestering me - a BIG fly. Suddenly it landed on my laptop keyboard and without thinking I slammed the laptop closed, so now it has a huge pissed off fly in it and I had to come to work today anyway or I wouldn't be online at all. My husband thinks it is very funny but sooner or later he will get the fly out for me.
• 
  81

  What's your culinary specialty?

  by pmouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  reading hortensia's topic "menu" made my mouth water.

  i remember in the 70's (when we used to be able to have lots of jw social get-togethers like picnics and parties) some of the friends would bring pot-luck specialties that were to die for!.

  everyone has a dish they consider their "specialty" which gets high praise and generally requests for the recipe.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Hortensia

  my specialty has always been baking, which probably explains why I look like the Pillsbury doughboy. Here is a really good cake recipe:

  Topping
  4 T unsalted butter
  2/4 cup light brown sugar
  prepared fruit 4 peaches or nectarines, pitted and sliced, or 5 plums pitted and sliced or 1 small pineapple, stem, peel, cored, and sliced

  Cake
  1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  3 T cornmeal (I usually omit this)
  ½ teaspoon salt
  1 stick butter, room temp
  1 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 T for egg whites
  4 large eggs, separated
  1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
  2/3 cup whole milk

  Topping: butter sides and bottom of 9X3 inch round cake pan. Melt 4 T butter in saucepan, add brown sugar and cook until mixture is foamy and pale, 4 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture into cake pan, swirl, arrange fruit slices over topping.

  Cake: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder., cornmeal and salt, mix thoroughly. Cream butter in mixer, gradually add 1 cup sugar, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beak in yolks and vanilla, reduce speed to low and add dry mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, until batter is just smooth.

  Beat egg whites until frothy, increase speed, gradually add sugar, beat until stiff peaks. Fold into batter, gently pour batter into pan and spread evenly on top of fruit. Bake until top is golden and toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. Rest for two minutes, invert onto cake plate.

  by the way, if you just make the cake without the topping, it is the best cake I have ever seen for strawberry shortcake since it is less sweet than most cakes and has a very nice texture.
• 
  31

  Menu

  by Hortensia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i used to entertain a lot but haven't in a few years.

  now my husband and i have moved to a new house and i have invited some friends for sunday dinner, to see the new house.

  i am at a loss to come up with something interesting to serve.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Hortensia

  Gosh, sounds yummy! I agree with you about wanting to see my friends and not be stuck in the kitchen. My menu ought to be good for that, but might be a bit heavy for the weather - we hit 100 degrees yesterday for the first time this year, a little early.
• 
  31

  Menu

  by Hortensia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i used to entertain a lot but haven't in a few years.

  now my husband and i have moved to a new house and i have invited some friends for sunday dinner, to see the new house.

  i am at a loss to come up with something interesting to serve.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Hortensia

  I'd love to have the recipe, sounds great. This is turning out to be more of a spring dinner - almost Easter dinner, eh? would you like the recipe for the sweet potatoes/apricots/bourbon?
• 
  31

  Menu

  by Hortensia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i used to entertain a lot but haven't in a few years.

  now my husband and i have moved to a new house and i have invited some friends for sunday dinner, to see the new house.

  i am at a loss to come up with something interesting to serve.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Hortensia

  yellow squash and zucchini in the salad - sounds good, I used to make nice salads, now I mostly pour them out of a bag. I've gone to hell as a cook.