Eggnog French Toast

My aunt in Ashland, Kentucky sent me a version of this recipe.  She said someone in her Sunday School class gave her this.  She tried it and recommended it.  So I gave it a try.

Her version would have fed a whole family.  I only had three people to feed, so I cut the recipe in half.  If you want to make a 9 X 13 pan of this, just double the recipe.

Eggnog French Toast

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 loaf of French or Italian bread
4 eggs
1 cup eggnog

 

This recipe soaks overnight in the refrigerator, so you have to start the night before.

 

Whisk the eggs and eggnog and set aside.

 

Cut the bread into cubes and set aside.

 

Place the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in a saucepan and heat over medium heat.  Use part of the rest of the stick of butter to grease a 2 quart baking dish. 

 

Stir the melting butter into the brown sugar until dissolved.  When it starts to bubble up, remove from the heat and pour into the prepared baking dish.

 

Place the bread cubes on top of the brown sugar mixture. 

 

Give the egg mixture another whisk and pour over the bread. 

 

Cover with foil and refrigerate until morning.

Set the dish on the counter and heat the oven to 350°.  Place the dish in the oven with the foil still on top.  Bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil.  I used tongs. Increase the heat to 375°.

 

Bake for about 7 to 8 more minutes, until the top starts to brown.  Remove and let it rest for about 5 minutes.  Serve warm.

 

When you plate the square of French Toast, the brown sugar goodness oozes out from under the toasty warm, eggnoggy bread.  Make sure to scoop up all you can to serve with each helping.

 

I served it with Baked Maple Bacon.  No fennel this time as I have two guests that can't have seeds!

Delicious!!

Great Grandmother's Wheelchair

My cousin moved a few years ago and Lee and I went to help.  She had an old broken wheelchair under her house and she offered it to me.  It seems it was my great grandmother's.  My Aunt was there helping and remembers using it to push other kids up and down the sidewalk in front of their Ashland, Kentucky home.  No mention was made as to whether this was appreciated by the one that needed a wheelchair!

 

On the underside of the foot rest is a name and address.  I believe it is my grandmother's house in Ashland.  I can't read the name.

We brought it home and set it aside.  I can fix a lot in the way of furniture, but this is wicker and cane.  I don't know nothin' about birthin' no...I mean wicker.  Or cane.  I discovered the cane can be purchased in sheets and is kept in place with a wicker spline.  Sort of like replacing a screen.  But I didn't want to attempt it.

 

At one point, to surprise me as a gift, Lee took it to a place that said they could fix it.  Many months later they called and asked him to come get it.  They weren't doing that any more!  The Factory Antique Mall has a lady inside that WILL repair wicker.  We took the chair up there recently for an estimate and discovered it was going to cost a LOT of money. 

 

I have an appreciation of family pieces, so I do want to get it fixed.  But I decided to do some of the work myself to save a bit.  The wood had been painted at some time in the past.  Most of the paint was gone and what was there was either flaky or stubbornly stuck on.  The wood is dry and cracked.  I used a soft brush to get rid of the worst of the flakes on the canes.

 

I removed the broken cane in the seat and leg support.  I used a small screwdriver to pry up an end of the cane and then used needle nose pliers to pull it out.  It was very dry and brittle and everything came out in pieces.  This made it easier to get to the wood behind the seat area and it would have to go anyway. 

 

Notice the pink tools.  This was in self defense when the tools kept in the house for my use ended up out in the shop.  It's a long walk to the shop when I just need to tighten a screw.  So I asked for, and got, pink tools.  No one ever mistakes them for manly, shop type tools.

I used a power sander to get a lot of the paint off.  I started with 150 grit and finished with 220 grit.  Small wire brushes helped me get to the areas close to the wicker that I didn't want to damage.  Then I used the sand paper in my hand.

 

Lee took off the wheels and all the metal holding everything together.  He, or I, will use steel wool or sandpaper to strip off the rust and smooth out the black chipped paint.  But he left these on.  I used a Dremel moto-tool to grind off the rust and will spray all the metal parts with a flat black paint.

 

I am not trying to remove all the patina from years of use.  Just make it strong and preserve it.  There are a few damaged places I will need to fill with a wood filler.  There are some places that are cracked or joints that are coming loose.   I will use glue and clamps.  But I am dirty and tired and it will wait for tomorrow! 

 

My big decision is whether to use Danish Oil on the wood or Tung Oil.  Danish oil will soak in and be good for the wood.  Tung oil will also add a hard surface to protect it.  But chances are it wouldn't have been used back in my great grandmother's day.

 

Any experts out there with a suggestion?

Stained Glass Transom

I decided to make the transom above one of the doors between the front of the basement and the back of the basement in stained glass.  This will allow light in and hopefully add a bit of built-in art.  Not that I am an artist.  But I am a bit of a craftsman.  I can follow a pattern...sort of.  If you follow my blog you have seen the quilting that I am learning.

   

Unfortunately, I don't have a pattern for this job.  But Lee did get me a book of transom patterns and there is one I think I can make work.  I will use it as a guide.  He is going to get me some large drawing/tracing paper so I can play around with it.

Lee thought it would be fun to put SGF for Shenandoah Gateway Farm in the transom somehow, but I couldn't find any patterns or pre-cut letters that I liked.  I don't want to attempt letters all by myself.

   

I found a site (thank you, Internet) where I could purchase a beveled cluster of glass.  I really like it and it will give the center a finished look.  Now I have to cut glass to fill up the rest of the hole.  Easy peasy, she said, hopefully.

   

I bought some glue chip clear glass that I think looks like feathers. 

   

I added a bit of blue for a border and to add some color.  Can't go wrong with blue, right? 

   

If I didn't order enough glass, I will have to drive to Christiansburg to buy more.  I will not be returning to the store in Salem.

Next I have to sit down with some straight edges and start drawing.  First I will decide how big, then add the bevel cluster in the middle.  All I have to do next is cut some straight edges for borders and fill in around the cluster.  I should be able to do that, right?

If the Christiansburg store was closer, I might have them draw me a pattern.  One year for Christmas, I got a picture of my mother's childhood home in Ashland, Kentucky.  I took it to a stained glass store and they drew up a pattern for me.  I made a stained glass for my parents.

   

 

My mother is now in an assisted living facility in San Clemente.  She loves it, by the way and won't leave there to move closer to me. (Thank you San Clemente Villas.)  So I got my picture back and I love it.  I am not a complete novice, but it has been years and I have a lot of other projects.  But I think this will be challenging and fun.  I hope.

I think I should have bought more glass.  There may be some mistakes I didn't factor in.  Oh, well.

Latin Student

I am in California to visit my mother.  It is amazing the things she remembers.  She is 89.

Today she told me about a poem written in the margin of her Latin book as a student.  She was probably in high school at the time .  I tried to Google it to see if it was  a popular student experiment of the day.  It seems variations of this poem and other similar ones are still around today.  I have no idea if it originated in Ashland, Kentucky,(her hometown)  but I don't see why it couldn't have!

So here is a Latin poem for all you suffering Latin students to memorize and impress your teachers!

Boyibus kissibus sweetest girlorum.
Girlibus likibus, wantum somorum.
Papabus hearabus kisses galorum.
Kickibus boyibus out of the rorum.
Jumpibus gateibus, britchibus torum.

There.  Now you have an idea of how Latin sounds to the untutored ear.  And how my mother remembered the verse.

Now go out and impress someone!

And may I say that Spellcheck won't work on this so I apologize in advance for any errors.