Texas State Fair: Deep Fried

The main reason to go to any state fair, is to eat, eat, eat!!! When I was a teenager I worked at the Ohio State Fair, and worked in the Lemon Shake Up stand. It was hot, long hours, little pay, many bee stings, and I had a great time. The food we went to the fair to eat back then were simple items like, steak on a stick, a turkey leg, french fries and vinegar, funnel cakes, elephant ears and my personal favorite was a Bob Evans sausage patty sandwich. Bob Evans started in Ohio and the fair was the only place he sold the sausage sandwich. I loved those sandwiches.

The only equipment we needed at the stand besides a
 knife and a lemon squeezer, was a fly swatter for the bees.

Boy how fair food has changed.  Even the turkey leg is being replaced by the smoked hog leg.

 The number one  selling food item at the Texas fair is the Fletcher's corny dog. We had to get our corny dog at 10am before the lines were 20 or more people deep. I have to admit that it was the best corn dog I have ever had, even if it was for breakfast.

Today everything is deep fried. Now, I am no different from the next girl, and love me some fried food, but deep fried butter is way off the charts. The one deep fried item that I wish I had eaten was the deep fried pumpkin pie. Just thinking about it right now makes my mouth water. Maybe next year.

Here are some of the dishes we did not try, and all are deep fried: bubblegum, beer, coke (soda), Jelly Belly jelly beans, Cadbury cream eggs, pizza, kool-aid, salsa, pop tarts, smores, and jambalaya. Not one of these sounds, or looks appealing.

Now for my winner of the best fried food at the Texas State Fair: The deep fried peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwich with optional bacon. My daughter told me about this sandwich and I just had to try it. I am so glad I did!! They make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, dip it in batter, deep fry it, cut it in fourths, squeeze jelly on top, sprinkle on a little powdered sugar, and if you want they will also sprinkle crumbled bacon on top. This was by far one of the best fair foods I have ever had, and I have had a lot of fair food.

Sorry Bob Evans.

Record Album Headboard

My older Son`s bedroom, when he lived at home, was decorated with a music theme. We hung the Beatles pictures that are now in my youngest Son`s apartment, and used album frames to hang some old Rock Albums that had great covers (like the Rolling Stone`s "Sticky Fingers" with a real zipper).

Our album is in much better shape than this one.

I hung some old 45s with the yellow record player adapters in them, and used some of the adapters to cover the lamp shade by his bed. How many of you remember these adapters? My husband bought a t-shirt at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame that had a painted adapter on the front of it. He wore it one day while we were traveling and went into a store where older people would come up to him and recognize the picture, and then they would turn to their kids and say, "Do you know what that is?" They did not.

These adapters would go into the hole in the middle of the 45 records to play on a turntable.

I baked some albums over bowls to form "album bowls" and he used them for remotes, keys or his wallet. You can make them in many shapes depending on what bowl or glass you use to melt it over. This is a fun craft for all those Olivia Newton John albums you have laying around. Oh, Is that just me? You can find instructions on how to make the bowls on the internet.

You can make these in minutes  and in all shapes and sizes.

Now for the headboard. I went to an old record store and bought ten of our favorite old albums. Most were just a few bucks or less a piece.  Then off to Lowes. I bought some 2 to 3 inch flat head black screws, anchors, and spacers for the screws.  The spacers are plastic tubes and I bought two different sizes. Four  spacers were about one inch long, and six were about one half of an inch long. You can buy what ever size you like depending on how far you want the albums from the wall.

I laid the albums on the floor to figure out how I wanted them arranged on the wall.  My husband and I held the lowest row on the wall, and using a pencil, marked the center holes of the albums on the wall. We marked them a foot or so above the bed, so the pillow, or our Son`s head, would not hit them while sleeping. Then we measured the distance between the marks, and made sure they were straight on the wall using a level. I drilled holes for the the anchors, hammered the anchors into the holes, put a flat head screw through the hole in one of the albums, then a short spacer on the screw, and screwed  the album into the anchor.  I then repeated this process for all the albums on the bottom row.

This headboard was over a twin bed. Add more albums to the ends for a larger bed.

For the next row we held the two albums up so they were staggered and overlapping the bottom row. Marked the center hole, measured and leveled the marks to make sure they were centered, drilled holes for the anchors, hammered in the anchors, put the screw in the album, use a longer spacer, and screw it into the wall.

Alternate rows with two and then three albums, and long and short spacers. You can make the headboard wider or taller by just adding albums.

Inexpensive and they really "turn" into a conversation piece.

Not a great picture, but you can see  how it looks with the bed made and pillows in place.

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Cups

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I tweaked it a bit, and it turned out great. For those of you that count calories or WW points, the amounts are listed at the bottom of the receipt.
I used Panko Italian seasoned bread crumbs, and did not use the herbs in the recipe except for the salt and pepper. The first time, I only used 1lb of chicken, so I had to cut the ingredients down to 2/3 of the recipe. This made about 8 meatloaf cups. MATH IS HARD!

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ½ lbs raw ground chicken breast (if you have trouble finding ground chicken that is breast meat only, do what I do and throw the same weight of boneless, skinless chicken breasts into the food processor and run until ground) 
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg whites
• 6 T dried breadcrumbs ( I used Panko Italian Seasoned crumbs and did not use the basil, thyme, and oregano)
• ¾ t dried basil
• ¾ t dried thyme
• ¾ t oregano
• 2 garlic cloves, minced ( I did not use garlic, curses that acid reflux)
• ½ a small onion, chopped small or grated (I used about 1/8 cup or less)
• ¾ t salt
• 1/3 t black pepper
• ¾ cup Parmesan cheese ( My daughter replaced Parmesan with extra bread crumbs because her husband is lactose intolerant, so she made Italian Chicken Meatloaf Cups)
• ¾ cup pasta sauce (new favorite sauce is RAO`S  Homemade Marinara Sauce)
• ¾ cup 2% reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese (optional for my Son- Inlaw) 
• Optional: dried parsley, oregano or basil for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly mist a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, egg whites, breadcrumbs, basil, thyme, oregano, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and lightly mix together. Do not over handle.
3. Form the meat mixture evenly into the 12 cups of your prepared muffin tin. Spread the pasta sauce evenly over the tops of each cups. Bake for 20 minutes and remove from the oven.

   

   Ready for the oven. The PAM looks like rain on a newly waxed car, lol!         

   4.  Top each cup with about a tablespoon of shredded cheese and then return to the oven for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted. Garnish if desired.

   

   Just out of the oven! YUMMY! I served it with Veggie pasta.                              

WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS PLUS:4 per muffin, 7 for 2 muffins (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
147 calories, 6 g carbs, 5 g fat, 18 g protein, 0 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)

adapted from Emily Bites who adapted it from What’s Cookin’ Chicago? 

These taste great warmed up the next day. There is something about pasta always tasting better the second day, too. I remember my brother Ronnie and I having cold spaghetti sandwiches. Two slices of buttered bread with cold spaghetti in the middle. Boy are those days over, way too many calories for old people, lol. 

This is just out of the frig and ready for the microwave. Yummy Lunch!           

Happy Birthday Pop!

Columbus Day is here

I`m reading all the signs

There are sales in all the stores

Low prices and long lines

But, for my loving family

The date means so much more

Than 50 percent off 

At your favorite retail store

Our father was born October 12th

The official "Columbus Day"

And if he were still with us

He would be 92 today

His wife, his seven children

And all his grandchildren too

Carry his sweet memory

In everything they do

Remembering our Dad

On this day that he was born

With joy for his long life

But, yet we all still mourn 

His voice when he was singing 

The guitar strums when he played

His voice when he said he Loved You

These sounds will never fade

We Love you and we miss you Dad

And that will never stop

From all your loving family

Happy Birthday Dear Sweet Pop!

The Family Gun Makers

My 4 times Great Grandfather Peter Humbarger Sr. was a first generation American, born in Berks Co., PA in 1766. He moved his family in 1802 to Perry Co., Ohio and was a farmer and gunsmith by trade.  He opened a gunsmith business in Ohio and taught 3 of his sons Adam, Henry and Peter Jr. (my 3 times Great Grandfather) this trade.

This was a rifle that was up for auction with my 4 times Great Grandfather signature.               

These sons became famous gunsmiths in Ohio and when Henry ended up in Indiana in 1851 he carried the family business into the Hoosier state. They have also been credited as one of the first gun makers to invent the double action trigger. I have no idea what that is exactly, but it was a pretty important invention in the gun industry.

This is a rifle make by my 3 times Great Grandfather. Peter Humbarger  (Humberger) Jr.            

There was an article in the Thornville News on October 1, 1903 about these gun making brothers. Peter Jr., my 3 times Great Grandfather, was the oldest and the tamer of the three gun making sons. Adam was a skilled workman and was not only a gun maker but held 3 patents on his invention of a corn harvester. Henry, while living in Ohio was a gunsmith, cabinet maker and even built a pipe organ for a Lutheran church in Somerset, until he lost his wife, and then went to California for the Gold Rush before settling in Indiana.

This is my Great Great Great Grandfather, love the beard Gramps.

The Historic story was that the three brothers in the Spring of 1832 met at the Peter Humbarger Farm in Hopewell, Ohio to hold a consultation about making a double action trigger. Adam and Peter appointed Henry for the task, as he in their estimation, was the finest workman of the three. Henry completed the double action trigger (pepperbox revolvers) and tried it out at a barn raising. He was hoisted up with a revolver in each hand. He fired them off alternately. The story goes that an agent from the Colt company of New York, came to Ohio, bought some of the Humbarger pepperbox revolvers, and then went to the Somerset workshop. At the workshop he watched Henry work on the double action revolver, and took what he learned back to Colt. Soon after that Colt Co. filed for a patent. A lawsuit followed a few years later, Samuel Colt vs the Massachusetts Arms Company, concerning the repeating revolver. The Humbarger`s guns were used as exhibits in the trial. Adam Humbarger was summoned to give a deposition in Ohio for this trial being held in Boston. The really sad part about his deposition, was that Adam stated that he did not file for a patent for their double action trigger at the time because of the cost. He did send a few of the Humbarger`s revolvers to a friend in DC to see if there was any interest in the revolvers. Adam said he did not know what the man did with the revolvers after he had received them.

In the 2012 book "The Devil`s Right Hand" by M. William Phelps, the awarding winning and national best selling author, Mr Phelps tells the story of the Colt Dynasty. In his book he covers the lives of John C. Colt and his brother Samuel Colt. John was accused of murder and Samuel of stealing the plans for the repeating revolver. In Mr. Phelp`s book the Humbarger Sons are mentioned in regards to the revolver scandal.

I have the book on my Kindle and I am excited to read not only about the cursed Colt family, but how my family played a part in the history of the repeating revolver.

 I do have to admit that the "Colt 45" sounds sexier than the "Humbarger 45".

Updated Table and Chairs

A few posts ago I told you about my youngest Son`s refurbished apartment furniture. Over 20 years ago, it may have been before our youngest was even born, we bought this old farm style kitchen table and chairs. They were an oak color wood, had a table with pedestal legs, four spindle back chairs and a bench. Over the years it went from our family table to the basement table, and now it is our Youngest`s apartment table.

The chairs were in pretty bad shape and they were not very sturdy. The backs were coming apart and the spindles were coming out of the seat of the chair. My husband re-glued the spindles and screwed the end pieces from underneath to make the chairs sturdy again. Ready for paint!

Here are the chairs sitting on plastic in our basement stinking up the entire house ,lol.

I took the chairs out in the back yard, sat them on plastic and spray painted two of them black and the other two red. It took about three coats of paint and one coat of poly, but they turned out great.

I wanted to keep with the theme of the apartment, black, red and Beatles for my Sons dinning room. First, I removed the pedestal leg and replaced it with regular rectangular legs.  I bought them at Home Depot and they came with the brackets to screw the legs into the table. I spray painted the legs red and then sprayed a layer of polyurethane on them. Legs are done!

The table legs were the easiest part of the table transformation.

The table top was a little more difficult. I had to sand it first because it had a coat of polyurethane on it. I used an electric hand sander and was able to get the poly off, and the surface pretty smooth. The problem came with the painting. I put the table top on saw horses and used black spray paint, but just could not get it even enough. There were streak marks in a few places. I tried everything I could think of to get the streaks out. I put more coats on, I ran a smooth roller over it, I even tried a coat of enamel paint. Then I thought OK, what if I write on the table with a paint pen and that would take the attention off the streaks. So, I bought a white paint pen and started writing the names of Beatles songs all over the table top. I wrote them in different sizes and scripts, and had them going in all different directions. When they were dry I put a coat of poly on top. You would never know there were ever any streaks.

I am not even sure my Son knows some of the songs written on his table.

I turned an old dull wood table and chairs into a fun Beatles tribute. The table and chairs go perfectly with the living room decor. I think my son really loves how they all turned out. Not sure they will last another 20 years, but they will get him through grad school.