Empty Space

The other day, I drove by the lot where our mobile home sat for 10 years. This is what I saw.

I'm ok with it, but it does seem weird. The place we lived in for the majority of our married life so far is nothing but an empty space. The kids felt kind of sad, I think, but we have pictures of our old house that they can look at. It was certainly not a spectacular home, and we are definitely not sorry we don't live there anymore, but it's still an odd feeling to see something disappear that was very much a part of your life for many years.

Ok, moving on now.... ;)

Emily's birthday party is coming up this Friday. She wants a Colonial Days party. I'm not a history buff, so this party is quite a challenge for me. I'm gathering ideas from friends and family, as well as Emily herself, and I think we've got a cute party planned even if it's not going to be exactly like things were in the "old days". Check back soon for pics and see what you think.

Here's a sample of some little "flowers" I made for the party from buttons. A few buttons were from an antique store, but the majority came from a craft store. The bottles are old timey, though.

Today's recipe (found on the back of the Quaker Cornmeal box) is an old stand-by for me when I want to fix a bread to go with a meal, but I don't have a lot of time. I only do one thing that's not part of the recipe on the box. It's nothing but good old fashioned Johnny Cake, sweet like the northerners like it. I just call it cornbread, but having lived in the South for a few years myself, I know that this is NOT traditional southern cornbread. I still like this best, though. I'm a northern girl, remember! ;-) I served this the other night with goulash.

Northern "Johnny Cake" Cornbread

*4 Tbsp. butter or margarine*

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. corn meal

1/4 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. milk

1/4 c. oil

1 egg

*If you don't have a cast iron skillet, then skip this ingredient and just grease your baking pan*

Preheat oven to 400*, put 4 Tbsp. butter in a medium sized cast iron skillet, and place the skillet in the oven. Meanwhile, mix all ingredients together and stir just until everything is moistened. Peek at skillet in oven. When the butter is completely melted and bubbly (but not burning) remove skillet and quickly pour batter into skillet on top of butter. Spread batter evenly and put the skillet back in the oven. Bake 20-25 minutes or until edges pull away from skillet and are golden brown, and the top of cornbread is puffed and slightly cracked. A knife inserted should come out clean. Slice cornbread and serve hot with butter and honey! :) YUM!