As Good As The Real Butter Beer

Last December I went with my husband to Florida where he was attending a Business Conference.  We rented a vacation home for a week and my parents joined us to keep me company while Bruce was at his meetings.  One of the days we were there we visited Universal Studios and “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter”. 

At the entry gates of Hogsmead

The Hogwarts Express with the Conductor.

It was the most amazing themed attraction I have ever been to! (Sorry Disney).  There were only 3 rides, but the Hogwarts ride was the best and longest ride I have ever been on, it was amazing!  Even though there were only 3 rides, we spent the entire day just in this section of Universal Studios, where they had recreated the village of Hogsmead as described in the books.  There were so many shops and things to see that the time passed quickly.  We had lunch at “The Three Broomsticks” and of course we had to have the famous butter beer! 

In front of The Three Broomsticks Restaurant

Now if I had ever written a book, especially a book of fantasy, I think I would worry about someone creating an actual item that I had in my book, and I wonder if Ms. Rowling worried about what the butter beer would turn out like.  Well, it is wonderful!  Really, it is one of the best drinks I have ever had! ( I know I am using that phrase a lot but…).   I wanted to have as much as possible because I knew it would be a while before I got to have some again!  You could have it either of two ways, frozen/slushy or just cold.  Bruce had it frozen and I didn’t.  It was quite sweet, so it was more like a dessert than a drink to have with our lunch.  I can still taste it in my memory!

About ready to taste for the first time, Butter Beer!  YUM!!!

When I got home, my mom sent me a copy cat recipe that tastes almost as good as what they had at the park.  She found it in an article by Heather Witherspoon (McClatchy Newspapers), along with a few other “Harry Potter” recipes in addition to the Butter Beer.  I made it for my family one Sunday night when they were all over for dinner, and then I also had it for the neighbors when our street had our Christmas luminary and dessert night.  Everyone that tried it LOVED it!  I slightly tweaked it when I made it for my family to make it a bit easier and it was just as good.  I will put her recipe here then explain the variation that I made:

Butter Beer

1 c light or dark brown sugar

            2 T water
            6 T butter
            ½ t salt
            ½  t cider vinegar
            ¾ c heavy cream, divided
            Four 12-ounce bottles of cream soda

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and water.  Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240° F on a candy thermometer (I just did the drops in cold water until it forms the soft ball stage).  Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar, and ¼ c. of the heavy cream.  Once the mixture has cooled, stir in rum extract (this is not a typo, I know it is not listed in the ingredients, so I just added 1 teaspoon and it was sufficient.  You may want to add more to according to your taste). 

(*see below))  In a medium bowl, combine 2 T of the sugar mixture and the remaining ½ c of cream.  Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened but not completely whipped, about 2-3 minutes.  To serve, divide the sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about ¼ c per glass).  Add ¼ cup cream soda to each glass and stir to combine.  Then continue to fill each glass to the top with the cream soda, and then spoon some of the whipped topping on top of the soda. 

*(Here is where I changed the recipe)
My alternative:  Instead of following the recipe at this point, here is what I did.  I had 12 ounce cups.  I put 2 tablespoons of the sugar mixture into the cup, 1-2 tablespoons of un-whipped heavy cream and mix those in the cup until combined.  Then pour the cream soda into the cup.  It makes its own foam, just like when you make root beer floats, so you don’t need that extra step of whipping up the flavored foam. 

Looking up at Hogwarts from Hogsmead

The Village of Hogsmead

The Frog Choir from Hogwarts singing "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble..." See, Shakespeare is EVERYWHERE!!!

So, try this delicious treat on your Harry Potter fans and it will tide you over until you have a chance to try the real thing when you go to “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal Studios in Orlando Florida. 

Need An Excuse to Watch 5 1/2 Hour of Pride and Prejudice? Bottle Citurs!

We moved to Arizona in 1982 when my husband came to ASU to get a graduate degree.  We loved it so much that we never left.  However there is something that has bothered me throughout the many years we have been here that I couldn’t get the answer to until this year.  The question was, “how do you bottle or preserve all the citrus that grows here?” 

Having "fun" sectioning the Grapfruit.  This is where the 5 1/2 hours of "Pride and Prejudice comes in!

Over the years I had contacted the County Extension Service, did research in recipe books and on the internet, checked in my Ball Blue Book (the Bible for home canning), but never found any instructions or ideas EXCEPT for orange marmalade (not a fan).  I was lamenting out loud again last year when I saw all my citrus going to waste.  Of course my husband insisted that he could find the answer and I assured him that there was no way and that I had checked every possible place for an answer and that it just wasn’t possible.  He grinned and confidently told me he would find one. 

Well, much to my frustration, he did find some!  And not only did he find some, he found video instructions and also informed me that Ball had come out with a new version of their Ball Blue Book (mine was 20 years old), that had the instructions on how to bottle grapefruit segments and citrus juices.  Don’t you just hate it when that happens!  I didn’t stay mad long because I was so excited!  I had to wait a few months but last week I had 4 of my daughters over (#5 lives in North Carolina), and we bottled my citrus!  First we did the grapefruit sections, then orange juice and ended with grapefruit juice.  Here are the directions for the segments from the Ball Blue Book: 

Grapefruit Sections

            2-2 ½ lbs of grapefruit per quart
            Sugar
            Water

Wash grapefruit, drain.  Peel grapefruit, cutting deep enough to remove white pith.  Cut membrane away from pulp for each section; lift out the pulp without breaking the sell structure.  Discard seeds.  Make a light syrup; keep syrup hot pack grapefruit into hot jars, leaving ½ inch headspace.  Ladle hot syrup over grapefruit leaving ½ inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust two-piece caps.  Process pints and quarts in a boiling water canner. 

Softening the lids in hot water. 

I mixed the yellow and pink grapefruit because I liked the look of it in the jars. 

Bruce also found a youtube video of someone canning the segments if you want to watch it.  Here is the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkyl2n51ClQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player 

I will post the juice process in a few days so stay tuned! 

A few of many jars

My Birthday Tree, One Year Old Now! (should I give it a name?)

Last year about this time, I went to North Carolina to visit my son, David and his wife Suzi and their kids, Abby and Tyler.  When I got there, Suzi and I decided to go on an impromptu trip to Charleston SC since neither of us had been there and we know/hoped that they would only be in North Carolina for another year. 

When we were in Charleston, we did a tour of the city and I found a tree there that was in bloom and I fell in love with it. 

Sweet Suzi and the kids in Charleston

Lunch at Bubba Gumps

  It is a flowering peppermint peach tree and it is GORGEOUS!!!  The blossoms were beautiful but they also had 4-5 different colors of blossoms on one tree!  I have never seen anything like it. 

My first glimpes of this AMAZING  tree- the flowering peppermint peach tree!

When we got back to our hotel, I did a search on the tree and found that it was “zoned” to grow in zones 6-10.  Well, fantastic, Arizona is Zone 9, so I knew I had to get one.  Well, I did.  I ordered one for my Birthday present from my husband and son.  They were relieved not to have to go shopping for me (hehehe).  I had to order one since there weren’t any in the Phoenix area.  I got it from Willis Orchards in Georgia.  It came, I planted it, and the wait began! (http://www.willisorchards.com/product/Peppermint+Flowering+Peach?category=280 )

Well, it has been almost a year and my first blossoms are out!  It was so exciting and beautiful.  I have literally been out talking to my tree for the entire year, coaxing it through the long hot AZ summer (I did put a shade clothe over it for some of the hottest months), kept it company throughout the COLD winter (yes it is cold for me!) and now I have my reward!  Just look at these “baby” blossoms! 

so precious!

the magenta blossom

all together

My tree just starting to get it's blossom and leaves! 

I hope everyone that comes by and sees it will want one and plant it so all of Mesa will have these beautiful trees everywhere! 

I do know that they are prone to fungus, at least that is what I have read, but I am willing to baby this tree because it is worth it for even 3-4 weeks of these beautiful blossoms! 

I found this picture on the internet and the tree is approximately 20 years old. 

Spread the word about this tree! 

My New Grandma Garden

Last summer my husband and I rented a beach house at Capistrano beach in Califonia with space for 29 people.  We had all the kids and grandkids join us for a week at the beach.  I wanted to do something with the grandkids to remember the trip, so I planned a small craft project for them.  What I envisioned was re-doing a corner of my yard and turning it into a “grandma garden”.   

Here is what I did, I bought a stepping stone dry mix from Michael’s craft store.  I tried to find some inexpensive molds but couldn’t so I ended up just using 9 inch Styrofoam plates.  I also bought some “stamps” with the alphabet and numbers, and a large assortment of decorative tiles, mosaic glass, and shells for the kids to decorate their stepping stone with. 

One afternoon while at the beach house when everyone was there, I mixed up enough dry mix with water for each child, one at a time to make their stone.  To personalize it, I had the older kids, whose hands and feet were too big for the molds, just to decorate it and stamp in their initials.  The younger kids I had them either put and handprint or foot print and decorate around it.  Then we let them dry for a couple of days in the sun.  By the end of the week, they were very hard and I wrapped them in bubble wrap to get them home to Arizona. 

Miss "E" working on her stone

Miss "G", who resented grandma keeping the stone she made.

I had a hard time convincing Miss “G” to let me keep her stepping stone though.  She felt she should get to keep it since she did all the work to make it.  I finally negotiated with her that when I die, she can take it out of the garden to keep.  She was finally willing to let me keep it.  It was pretty funny! 

Mr. "T" after making his footprint for his stone

                                          

The finished product drying

I waited a few months, until it was a bit cooler outside (you know Arizona) and then I began to plan what I was going to do with them.  I had several ideas but the one I decided on was very basic.  I just laid them in a row and planted flowers around them.  It has been in the yard for several months (since September) and EVERY time the kids go outside they all go and check on their stepping stone.  Even Miss “G” is happy that her stepping stone is part of the “grandma garden”.  I want to get pictures of each of the kids laminated and put on stakes next to their stones. 

Different views of finished "grandma garden"

It was quite a fun project for all of us.  However, I am one stone short; we had grandchild #15, born 2 months after our beach house vacation.  I am waiting for him to get just a little bigger and then we will make one for him to be added. 

Everyone except grandpa who is taking the picture

My Report on my Annual Jane Austen Tea Party! (yes I know I am a month late in reporting this!)

I have some events that I need to write about that happened in December. The first is, of course, my Jane Austen Birthday Tea party that was held on Dec. 14^th (her actual birthday is Dec. 16^th). So we will call this “catching up time”! 

As I mentioned, we had our Jane tea party on Dec 14^th, due to the fact that Thursdays are “Grandma Day” at my house and it takes me a day to recover from that, so Wednesdays are the best day for me.  I have such great friends that are Jane Austen enthusiasts, which humor me and make it fun for all. 

This year I even had 2 cuties dress up with me, which is not required and is above and beyond, but they were adorable! 

My adorable daughter in law, Suzi, with me.  We are doing, what we now in our family affectionately call, "a Suzi pose". 

Caitlin Porter, the second biggest Jane Austen fan (next to me...or maybe we are tied)!

We even had a trivia contest and the prize went to Kim although it was a hard fought battle that went into a 3 question over time, due to a tie on the quiz.  Kim won the prize by answering the final question of “What was Jane’s sister’s name?”  The answer is Cassandra. 

Nancy, Leslie, Kim (the winner), Lori, Joan, and Teresa

(starting from the front and going clockwise),LaDawn, Sheli, Diana, Suzi, Rochelle, Bonnie, and Marie.  Marie is the only "Jane Austen heathen" here that I am trying to convert. 

But when she won, no one was surprised, since she had studied Jane Austen at Oxford University!!! 

Carrie. Anita, Ora, Caroline, Caitlin, (Dorothy was here but had to leave before I remembered to take a group shot)

I served chicken salad, egg salad and cucumber sandwiches, berry tarts, lemon cookies, creame(no I didn't spell it wrong, this is how it is spelled in England) wafers, strawberries, scones with clotted creame and fruit preserves, a variety of teas and a pot of wassail. 

Anyway, it was a fun day, with great friends, great conversation, great fun and I love my friends who like to come every year. 

If you are a Jane Austen fan, I highly suggest you start this tradition! 

Sourdough Any One?

I grew up on sourdough.  My dad had a crock of sourdough starter in our home my whole childhood and he still has it today and I am 53 years old!  Usually on Saturday's, he would make breakfast and it always involved sourdough in some way.

A few years ago on my first trip to England with my husband and parents, we accidentally found a Roman Villa that was being excavated.  It is the Chedworth Roman Villa in the Cotswold's.  When we visited it, they had a demonstration of how the Romans used sourdough in their cooking.  Well, my dad was in heaven, and really chatted up the young lady that was in charge of that demo and exhibit.  It was pretty funny to watch him get so excited about sourdough and comparing notes and recipes. 

Chedworth Roman Villa

Well, I am ready to take the plunge and start my own sourdough starter.  My dad said it is best to get a cup of someone else's starter and build from that, but I don't know anyone that has some except him, so I am starting from scratch. 
Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup water
1 T yeast
Soften yeast in water then add:
1 cup flour. 
Mix well, cover and place in a warm spot for 2-3 days.  It should be bubbly (is that even a word?).  Then every other day, add another cup of flour and another 1/2 c water and mix it in until you have the quantity you desire. 
One important things to remember, NEVER use anything that is metal when mixing or storing your starter.  I don't know why.  Dad didn't say why, he just said don't!  He did threaten me never to let my starter die.  OOOOO  I am so scared!
Well, I will begin this experiment/adventure next week since I am leaving to go out of town in a couple of days, but I just wanted you all to be prepared and get ready to enjoy the ride! 
I plan on documenting this with pictures!   

The Perfect Journal Suggestion-easy and fun!

I love catalogs!  Well, not every catalog but there are a few that I love to get and look through.  I am basically a sucker when there is ANYTHING dealing with Shakespeare, Jane Austen, books, gardening supplies and grandkids stuff. 

One of my favorite catalogs is Bas Bleu (pronounced: bä blu͂ ).  I recently found something in there last catalog that I found very intriguing.  It is a 5 year journal.  Now you may ask, what is so different about this?  The difference is that this one has a different question on each day and all you have to do is answer the question.  In answering that question, you are able to record little snippets of your life that when finished with the 5 years, you will have recorded quite a bit of information about your life! 

Some of the questions are:  “When did you last hold a baby”, “describe the room you are in right now”, “where do you go for good ideas”, and “how could today have been better”.  Some of the questions are quite thought provoking that I have found it hard to fit the answers in the allotted room of the page. 

I have tried several types of methods of journaling before but without long-term success because I feel it is important for various reasons.  The first reason is that it is good for me to be able to look aback and remember things that happened to me in my life that may not have been “momentous”, but worth remembering, that I would have otherwise forgotten.  Another reason is that someday, some of my posterity may be interested in what I was like or did during my life.  Not that I have done anything wonderful, but I have loved ready stories left by my ancestors and wished there were more.  Just reading about their everyday life is interesting because it was so different from how I live. 

Click here to go to their web site if you think this is a product you may be interested in.

Let me know if you have found an easy way to journal that works for you also.  So far I have been doing this for 2 weeks and that is the longest I have kept a journal regularly since I started trying to keep a journal 36 years ago!  Happy journaling!