Comedy of Errors. Christmas Edition

 We had quite the week this week. Some kind of polar event took place here at The Acre, maybe at your house too? We don't know. 

Anywho, the talking heads on the only trustworthy news left in America (the weather) had been talking about doom and gloom all week, but we didn't panic because we prepare for harsh winters all year long in the ways of food and supplies. Friday morning it hit, and it didn't pull any punches. At 0800 the power went out. Lawman bundled up and wheeled out the generator, hit the start button, and nothing happened. So he firgured it was the battery, and that's not a problem, because he has a jump pack. So he grabbed the jump pack, and it was dead. No worries, Lawman keeps a spare 12v battery for just such an emergency, so he hooked it up to the generator, and nothing. Thinking it too was dead, he rolled up his sleeves and went to work "old school" with the pull start. First pull, the thing jerked back and nearly pulled his fingers out of the socket. After much tinkering, cursing and tool throwing we resigned ourselves to the fact we would have to ride this one out "Walton's" style. So we filled up the kerosene heaters and oil lamps and rode out -25 wind chills. Saturday night the power came back on and we got to work Sunday morning doing three days worth of cooking in three hours. Lucky for us, we are a well oiled machine in the kitchen. 

But starting off with the storm, we snapped some shots for the people who don't have windows to look out and see ice.

The spouts froze over, but the spring that feeds the ponds did not. 

Chief Walters had to work Christmas morning, so we all got together on Christmas eve for opening presents and whatnot. Lawman thought of his FTO Gene Perry (aka The Guru) words of wisdom while everyone was sitting around wearing jackets and covered with blankets...."No electricity is just like camping. With better furniture"

We started the festivities by giving the DT's their gift. They both got a new stuffed chew toy, identical. And in true Christmas spirit, they both fought over one of them.

Steve Taylor, eat your heart out

Don't shoot your eye out :)

The "Boy in law" got his version of the Red Rider rifle, we even waited until all the presents were opened and sent him off to check for one more present. Because we're nurds like that.

Sunday morning we rolled out of bed and got busy baking. All except for the country ham, Lawman smoked that Jimmy on Saturday.

With the ham squared away, we got busy with the sides.

 Corn pudding with garden corn

Mac N Cheese, but not crazy granny mac n cheese, real scratch made

Pinwheel bake

And one of the most important items, according to Cupcake. Choco cake and boiled custard, just like her grandmother used to make.

And cream cheese icing for the cake

Willow got wise, and hopped up on the couch to stay out of the way. We're pretty sure she fell asleep watching the parade on TV.

Cupcake found a recipe for "Frito candy" and we had time to whip that up as well.

And Lawman made a batch of bourbon soaked oatmeal raisin cookies.

They have a glaze, because we fancy like that

We ended the week late, like 1800hrs. But it was well worth it.

Here's to hoping all our readers had an equally blessed and merry Christmas. 

K&K

Birthday Week

 This weekend we celebrated the chirruns birthdays. Both are this coming week, but with full time jobs in the mix, we decided to gather on the weekend and shake our boo-tays. We left boo-tay shaking to the chirruns.

But, we started the week off with good news. Our Americanan birds started laying blue eggs. At least one did, anyway. Now we have one brown egg layer and one blue egg layer. It's little things that amuse us.

And since we needed a new batch of The Outlaw's favorite cookies, we used fresh blue eggs in the mix.

Pop had a holiday gathering with the folks across the mountain, and requested a couple of Lawman's fruit cakes.

And to spread the word about Lawman's soon to be famous cherry fudge, we packed up a bag full and sent it over with the cakes. All reports are, it was a big hit. So, we needed another batch for us.

We added more cherries this time, and made smaller pieces. It's really rich and the last batch was a lot of fudge in a piece.

We bought another round of cranberries, but Cupcake has been using them in the steam pot to give "The Acre" a holiday smell, so this was a smaller batch. Lawman tossed in a couple of quarts of grape juice to round out the canner.

Cupcake made us a batch of her soon to be world famous chicken and dumplings, and we sent the leftovers home with "The Girl" because she loves it as much as we do. And we ended the week with a pizza party, a couple of naps, and fudge.

K&K

OOOOOHHHHH Fudge

 Lawman found a recipe for cherry fudge recently. We're not fudge fans at all, but when the season calls for it, we decided to give it a whirl.

We followed the directions until we got to the part where it called for a teaspoon of cherry juice. Lawman said that just wouldn't do, so he poured half of the juice into the mix.

It tastes like the old fashioned chocolate covered cherries that were all the rage back in our day. This one is a keeper and it's going to be a part of the tradition. 

And speaking of traditions, one of our favorites is Cupcake's soon to be world famous sausage balls.

And The Boy likes the molasses cookies, so we're keeping a steady supply on hand for snacking and whatnot.

The local K-Rogers has cranberries for a dollar a bag, that means Lawman is making juice.

Later in the week, The Boy and the Girl-in-Law attended the Floyd County Fire Officer Installation dinner where he was installed as Company 3 high chief.

We ended the week with one of Lawman's favorite meals, Cupcake's soon to be world famous chili beans with cornbread.

We ended the week with a couple of naps. 

K&K