Before I get started with the main topic, here is a great recipe for ginger bread cake with lemon sauce. We are going to party at my niece and nephews to wish their nephew farwell. His visit is ending and back to his home in Venezuela he travels to pursue a career as a chef! What a nice guy and great smile, best wishes for a very successful career. I am making peach cobbler with whip cream and........tada ginger bread cake with lemon sauce to take. There is a madness to my thinking and it started with the Red Brick School.
Ginger bread cake recipe:
In a saucepan add 1 cup of water, 2 TBSPS of cornstarch, 1/2 cup of sugar and a dash of salt. Bring to a boil stirring for 2 more minutes. Beat 2 egg yolks and temper with half of the cooked mixture, then pour back in pan, bring to boil stirring for 2 more minutes. Take from heat, stir in 3 TBSPS of lemon juice and 2 TBSPS of butter. You can also add 1 TBSP of grated lemon rind. Serve warm over cake.
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| ♡ginger bread with lemon sauce and peach cobbler♡ |
Far from the old time one room school the red brick school I attended had the country feel that many of us attended. When I think of my early school years the first two thoughts are retained in smell. Every morning getting off the bus, walking up the steps and through those big doors the smell smacked me right in the nose. What ever they used on the beautiful wood floors throughout the school gave me one of two smells that ended up being the dread of school. Every morning the fresh oil smell was still strong from the daily cleaning. It was every day and it worked because the floors were well kept and beautiful considering how many hundreds of kids had passed across them in the life time of the red brick school. I never noticed the beauty of those narrow boards at the time but now I realize the care and pride given to the wood. What a shame the decision was made to demolish the school for apartments. The well built building could have and should have been turned into lovely apartments with hardwood floors, high ceilings and beautiful tall windows. Unfortunately. new sounds better and as for many stately well built buildings of early times they are demolished and gone forever.
The other smell that has a strong memory from the red brick school........puke! No fancy word to describe the smell when they threw what ever that stuff was on puke. If the sight, sound and smell of someone puking wasn't enough for this weak stomached gal the "stuff" they used to soak it up to be swept away put me over the edge for the gag reflex. Enough, if I dwell on this it will be a reality rather than a memory.
The school was very clean, teachers were strict on picking up every little scrap of paper, chalk dust free erasers (loved to get picked to clean erasers!) cleaning crumbs from the lunch tray, etc. Lunch time was slightly more relaxed, we were allowed to whisper to the one setting next to us. Unfortunately the teachers made sure conversation was little to none. When it was time for lunch we lined up boy girl boy girl by alphabetical order. Cheryl Gross had Vernon Graham in front of her, Gary Green in back of her. Really those teachers were very clever. Not only were they teaching us how to think using the alphabetical order plan they knew odds of little girls and boys wanting to talk to each other much less enjoy was not going to happen or be fun. Then the teachers randomly picked who they would set by for lunch.....my biggest fear. Being shy (seriously I was way back then) it was the last thing I wanted, a teacher setting by me in lunch. Once the teacher finished her lunch she would pace back and forth behind us checking to see what we ate or didn't. If ya didn't eat your lunch ya didn't get to buy ice cream. The only days I was allowed were macaroni and cheese or grilled cheese sandwich day the only two meals I liked. Wow, if only we could buy that government cheese today! It was my favorite, especially when they put a square little cut on our tray. The only other meal I remember was hamburg gravy (SOS as many call it) on mashed potatoes, it looked like.......yep puke to me. Can you tell it keeps invading my good memories this morning. The other two foods that were delicious and I have never been able to duplicate the wow factor, apple crisp and ginger bread cake with lemon sauce. The days I could by ice cream made my day, chocolate marshmallow or raspberry swirl. That is when the real marshmallow and raspberry sauce was used. The closest to it now is Turkey Hill.....yes like my coffee I am picky on ice cream brands,
I could just keep blabbing away about my years at the red brick school but that's another blog for another day. Stories and memories are history for your kids and grand kids, Pass it On.
Here is a book my grandsons bought me a few years back. I love it and just did the final read through for all the memories I wrote for them. You can buy this book on Amazon and it is worth the time and money. Each page asks questions of grandma's memories of her young life, marriage, children and what she hopes for her grandchildren. It will be packaged along with a few Valentine goodies and off to MD. for the boys to read.
♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥
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| The perfect grandma and grandchild gift. |
