Grandma Masters’ Fried Dough and Grandpa’s Four Leaf Clovers

I can remember standing in her kitchen in their house in Ottumwa, waiting patiently with an empty plate, as the dough boiled on the top of the deep pot of oil. I was next!

She stood there at the stove for 2 hours in perfect humor, never slowing, as we kids ate our weight in fried dough. She must have made 30 of them, with no left overs.

A little butter (or was it oleo?) and a little sprinkled powdered sugar from an old tin shaker, and it was perfect. Cinnomon sugar was also a popular option. What did the twins call it? “Shilly shally”?

We learned to go stand in the backyard while devouring the fried dough, so we didn’t get the powdered sugar all over the kitchen.

Grandpa sat at the kitchen table, leaving his post only to join us in the backyard, study the ground for a second, bend over, and stand up with yet another four leaf clover.

We had a passel of kids who studied the ground for an hour, and he found 5 clovers in less than a minute each, right at the feet of each searching kid.

How did he DO that?

The smell of desert sage and juniper after a rain

One of my absolute favorite memories.

Lying awake under a tarp in the desert at about 3 am, looking up at the stars, savoring the smell of sage and juniper after a fast-moving summer thunderstorm, listening to a herd of wild horses about a half mile away.

I was camping just off the road somewhere northwest of Pyramid Lake in northwestern Nevada. I simply pulled off the dirt road I was on and set up camp just before dark. The thunderstorm started about 2 a.m. and lasted about an hour, but I could see it moving in for hours. I was a little worried that my tarp strung over a piece of rope between two poles wouldn’t stand up to the storm, or that the lightning would be an issue, but I was fine. I have used that setup dozens of times, and had pitched it on a slight rise, so flash floods were never an issue.

I could hear the horses forever as they moved closer and away all evening. They seemed to know just where I was.

Once the storm had cleared, I was amazed at the brightness of the stars, and how much I could see even in the dark. From my bed, I could see a dozen rabbits hopping in every direction.

Capturing this experience would be the country song I wish I could write.

Grandma Johnson’s Sloppy Joes

Dad has got this recipe down cold, but the credit and all the glory goes to Grandma. This is a recipe even Zeb will eat.

Grandma’s Sloppy Joes

[12 hamburger buns]

• BROWN hamburger, onion

2# ground beef

1 large onion, diced

salt – about 1 tsp. but salt to taste

• Prepare sauce in small bowl

2 cups ketchup

1 tsp dry mustard (1 Tablespoon reg mustard can be substituted)

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

• Drain grease, leaving browned hamburger mixture in skillet
• Add sauce, stir well
• Simmer uncovered for at least 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally, allowing sauce to cook down.
• Serve on hamburger buns.

(depending on your group, you can divide or double, this recipe — be creative, and add your own spices or condiments)

Judy’s French Stew

Here is the official recipe for Judy’s French Stew. I tend to put a little more beer, and cut the root veggies into smaller pieces. And serve it with rustic artisan bread with heavy cream butter and dark beer.

One note: count your Bay leaves when you put them in, and make sure you get that many back out.

5# onions, peeled and sliced thinly

•     cook onions slowly on low heat (but do not brown) until onions are translucent, and soft — no crunch left)

3# stew beef

  4 T flour

  1 tsp salt

  1 tsp pepper

• Mix flour, salt & pepr in brown bag or gallon size baggie
• divide beef into 3 portions and shake in bag with flour, salt & pepper
• Using hot skillet with about 3 T oil, in single-layers, sear dredged beef, until uniformly browned  (not cooked through, however).  Remove and hold until all is browned.

• In very large stew pot, stir together the following:

Cooked onions

Browned stew beef

1 can beer

1 T catsup

2 bay leaves

10-12 carrots, sliced into 1 to 1-1/2″ thick slices

8-10 potatoes, quartered or approximately  2″ cubes

• Simmer slowly on low-heat, covered (or use crock pot) for 6-8 hours, or until onions have disappeared.  [appearance of french onion soup with stew vegetables and beef].
• Stir occasionally, being sure to stir to bottom of pot, so bottom doesn’t scorch.]
•  Allow to sit 10-15 minutes before serving; Remove bay leaves before serving.

Serve with hot rolls.   Serves 6-8.  Great left-overs.

[Thanks to mom for sending this, and thanks to Judy for discovering it.]

Mirror Lake, Oregon

One of my favorite weekends ever was an overnight campout on Mirror Lake on the road up to Mt Hood from Portland.

The hike up to the lake was great, through pine forests dripping with a light rain, and crossing raging streams. By the time I got to the lake, the rain had stopped, and I was able to set up camp just above the lake.

There was a Boy Scout group also camping at the lake, and at the far end some conservation crunchy-types.

Over the course of the evening, we all met and ended up eating dinner together. The Scout leader was a gourmet chef, and after we caught dozens of crawfish in the lake, he cooked them up in a creole stew, adding in contributions from all of the campers.

We stayed up well after dark, singing campfire songs, and retired to our tents in the cool of the late evening.

The next morning, I was invited to hike towards Tom Dick and Harry mountain, and help the conservation group release juvenile Peregrine falcons into the wild.

What a wonderful experience.