pimento flavored jelly beans in the olives, really now....

see that little red thing on the counter? that is a pimento like substance that this food processor uses to stuff the olives, instead of just using real pimentos like we all expect to be in the olives.
I know food scientists and manufacturers are always looking for ways to cut costs but this one shocked me.
I don't like olives but Jeff does, and when I showed him this, he decided to throw them away and just stick with "real olives" in the future

This jar was purchased at Aldis but I would guess they are not the sole seller of fake pimentos.

So, read your food labels, on everything! Or you won't be eating what you think you are eating.

Sepia Saturday

This set of sepias is a tribute to my mostly glamorous Aunt Cleta.

I think this is her high school graduation picture.

Dressed up and looking so pretty -

This is Aunt Cleta with my Uncle Rex, around the time they got married. She was very young, and Uncle Rex was older, he had already been off to the Navy, serving during WWII. They look really happy together, don't they?

Aunt Cleta was glamourous but she was also fearless - she is posing with a pile of dead coyotes. They were farmers and coyotes are predators to farm animals so it was very normal for farmers to hunt coyotes.

One Christmas - I love all the icicles on the Oklahoma cedar tree.

I'd guess she is dressed up for a party in this one
Cleta and Rex - probably after a long day of farm work


here she is wearing a very pretty long hostess skirt

Aunt Cleta passed away of brain cancer in the early 1980's. Uncle Rex just moved into a retirement home - but not because of his health, for less to do taking care of a home and for all the social activities at the retirement home. He still goes dancing most every Saturday night and bakes the best pies and biscuits.


to join in or see other Sepia Saturday photos, click here

Happy Valentines Day

My pint-size model was more interested in climbing off of and throwing the props than in posing. But I somehow managed to get a few cute pictures.
Gavin is my grandson and he turned one this month.

Winner of VIP pack for Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls is.....

Susan!
She will get a gift pack for Pillsbury that will include coupons for Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls and a photo album especially for keeping pictures of meal time memories.

I've been thinking about this idea and I think Pillsbury is so right. We cook lots of meals and take lots of pictures, but I have very few family pictures of special meals.
I did find a couple and want to share them with you. I hope it will inspire you to take photos of your ordinary meals as well as your big occasion family meals.


this one is a family dinner at my dad's parents home. My mom and dad are the good-looking ones on the front end of the table. Beside my mom, is Aunt Delores, then my grandparents, MiMi and Victor, then Uncle Jesse - I'm not sure who the next 2 men are.

This is my dad standing at the end of the buffet at a big family meal at my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Jarvis's home. I think the occasion may of been my
grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. I do know for certain that all the food was delicious because everyone on my moms side cooked like a pro.
I think there are 8 Jello salads at the end of this table - that family all loves Jello salads. Uncle Bill especially loved every Jello salad - it was a family joke that no matter what flavor, every Jello salad was Uncle Bill's favorite.

Today's Chinese Proverb:

Talk doesn't cook rice.

just another way of saying, if you do stuff, stuff gets done.


this guy in the middle of the first photo, stirring the huge pot of rice, reminds me of when I cooked for a fraternity - I seemed to always be cooking huge amounts of stuff surrounded by lots of boys eating like locusts.



photos are from Flickr