Duchess Domain

Colorado - As we traveled over Wolf Creek Pass early Thursday morning, NW Okie caught this image of the low-lying clouds partially covering the mountains. Love the view of the early morning rocky mountains and clouds. Simply marvelous.

The Fall foliage in southwest Colorado was beginning to cover the rocky mountains with a golden hue of Aspens and a reddish hue of scrub oaks.

As we passed over LaVeta Pass, along highway 160 we pulled over and stopped at this rest area to catch an example of this particular golden hue sparsed in with the evergreens.

We hear tell that the Fall foliage upon around Silverton, Telluride and Delores was beautiful this year. We missed that million dollar drive this year. Darn it! But what do us Pugs know? Everything!

Good Night and Good Luck! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Cookbook - Rolls & Quick Yeast Breads

America - This week I promised you some yeast and quickbread recipes from the 1934 Home Comfort Cookbook put out by the Wrought Iron Range.

Remember when the smell of fresh baked rolls and breads filled the home? AND ... When your mom or grandmother would take the bread/rolls out of the oven and give you a slice with REAL butter? Hummmmmm Hummmm Good!!

We shall start with a Cinnamon Rolls first and follow up with a Quick Yeast Rolls recipe on page 34, that uses cake compressed yeast.

Cinnamon Rolls -- Dissolve one cake compressed yeast in one-fourth cup warm water, add one cup scalded milk and one and a half cups flour, mix batter and set in warm place to rise. When light, add one-fourth cup sugar, one-fourth cup shortening, two beaten egg yolks, one teaspoon salt and enough flour to form dough.

Work together and knead until smooth and elastic; cover closely and set in warm place to rise to double in bulk; turn onto floured board, roll out in a sheet, spread with four tablespoons soft butter or shortening, sprinkle with a little sugar and cinnamon, and roll up as a jelly roll and cut into sections and inch or more in thickness.

Put two or three tablespoons butter or shortening in an eight by ten baking pan, and distribute over this about three-fourths cup brown sugar; lay the rolls in sidewise or flat, and set aside to rise or become light.

Bake in a moderate oven and turn out top side down on a cloth to cool; bottoms will be found to be glazed with sugar. Makes about eighteen rolls.

Quick yeast Bread -- Dissolve one cake yeast in one-fourth cup luke-warm water. Scald two cups milk; add three tablespoons butter, two tablespoons sugar, two teaspoons salt, and let mixture cool to luke-warm. Add yeast liquid and thoroughly beat in three cups flour; cover and let rise until light; press down and knead in about two and one-half cups flour or enough to form elastic dough. Roll in ball put in dry greased bowl, cover, and let rise until light; knead again, form into rolls, brush with melted butter, and bake in moderate oven about twenty-five minutes.

If you want to make Parker House Rolls, then it states, "Prepare dough as for Quick Yeast Rolls, lightly roll out on floured board and cut in rounds with biscuit cutter; crease across center of each with the back of a knife, brush over with melted butter, fold one-half over the other, and place in greased pan far enough apart to allow for raising. Cover and let rise until light; brush tops with sweet milk and bake in moderate oven twenty-five to thirty minutes." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

NW Okie's Ramblings

Alva, Oklahoma - We scouted out the old classic cars at NWosu 2010 Homecoming parade this year. I did happen to spot what the license tag on the left side purported to be a "Mafia Car." I loved the simple lines and color of this old classic, blue chevy, as seen on the left.

The image on the right shows the trunk space back behind the seating. Loved that as well! They do not make cars like that anymore. Thanks goodness for the classic restorers who spend their cash and time restoring these old classics. Thank You!

We could not leave here without a video of the Ranger Band marching in the homecoming 2010 parade, in downtown Alva, Oklahoma, Saturday morning at 10:00a.m. It started out cloudy, but by time for the parade to start the sun came shining through.



After the homecoming parade in downtown Alva, Oklahoma, we drove out East to catch a glimpse of our new 2010 paint filly that belongs to our paint mare, Doquoti (Quoti). That is our playful, prancing filly on the left and right.

I was looking for an indian name to give her and believe I have found just the right name: Pocahontas Doli (Doli, for short barn name). Pocahontas is a Native American Algonquin name meaning "she is playful." For the blueness of the filly's eyes we chose the Navajo name, DOLI, meaning "bluebird." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Cookbook - Griddle Cakes & Waffles

America - I think my grandmother used to make buckwheat cakes back in her day, but those memories and stories are foggy right now. BUT ... We did happen to find Buckwheat Cakes (page 47) and Buttermilk Waffles (page 48_, of our Home Comfort cookbook, for those interested.

Home Comfort Cookbook says, "Few dishes, if any, can compare with good, wholesome, hot griddle cakes or waffles, especially for breakfast -- but they should be really good, since the common variety of heavy, flat, greasy pancake is far too often the direct cause of serious digestive disorder.

Griddle cakes, particularly wheat cakes, should be light, not too thin, and properly cooked without excess of cooking-fat. An iron griddle or a polished sheet of steel thick enough to hold an even heat should be used for best results. This should be but lightly greased, just enough to prevent the cakes from sticking, and the heat should be kept just under the smoking point. The proper turning point is detected by the air bubbles arising to the surface of the batter as it is cooking.

Waffles are cooked in a regulation waffle iron, instead of on a griddle, and the same general rules apply as for griddle cakes. Professional cooks use the simple method of providing a small cup or bowl of melted cooking-fat, and apply it to the waffle and griddle iron with a small brush kept for that purpose. The finished waffle should be of rich golden brown in color, and served while hot and crisp.

Buckwheat Cakes -- 1 cup buckwheat flour; 1/2 cup wheat flour; 3 teaspoons baking podia; 3/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup cold water; 1/4 cup milk; 1 Tablespoon melted shortening.

Sift well together flours, baking powder, salt and sugar; add melted shortening to milk and water and mis with dry ingredients, beating to a smooth batter. Bake on hot, slightly greased griddle; turn but once.

Buttermilk Waffles -- 2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon soda; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2 Tablespoons shortening; 1 cup buttermilk; 2 eggs, separated. Sift flour, soda and salt well together; add beaten egg yolks to hall a cup of the buttermilk to make a good pouring batter; beat and fold in egg whites last. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Cookbook - Biscuit Making

America - Does anyone ever make homemade biscuits anymore since you can buy the frozen biscuits in the freezer compartment at the grocery stores?

Home Comfort says, "The ingredients alone are not what make the best biscuits, altho the quality of the materials used has much to do with it. The preparation -- the mixing, handling and baking -- is what really makes good biscuits.

"Be sure to have all materials and utensils before you: A clean, well-dredged flour board; roller and cutter absolutely clean and dry; pans greased; and, above all, have range fire properly regulated so the oven heat will be just right and ready when the biscuits are prepared.

"Biscuits should not be packed closely together in the pans, but should be so separated that they do not touch. They are improved if brushed with sweet milk or melted butter before placing in the oven, thus giving the biscuits an even brown on top.

"Biscuit recipes calling for two cups flour will make about twelve medium sized biscuits -- double recipes for larger quantity." We are including a Biscuit recipes for Biscuit and Buttermilk Biscuits below.

Biscuits -- 2 cups flour; 4 teaspoons baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 Tablespoons shortening; 3/4 cup milk, about.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together two or three times; add shortening, half butter and half other fat, and lightly rub in with finger-tips; add milk, or hall milk and half water, slowly until mixture becomes a soft dough; turn out on floured board and roll, or pat, out lightly to about one-half to three quarters inch thick; cut out with biscuit cutter and set rounds in shallow lightly greased baking pan and sufficiently spaced from each other. Brush tops with melted butter, and bake in hot oven fifteen to twenty minutes.

Buttermilk Biscuits -- 2 cups flour; 1 cup buttermilk; 1/2 teaspoon soda; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 Tablespoons shortening.

Sift flour, salt and baking powder together into a mixing bowl, add shortening and rub it lightly into them; add soda to buttermilk and stir thoroughly until it effervesces, then add to flour, gradually working it into a stiff dough; turn onto floured board and knead lightly until smooth; roll out slightly more than a quarter-inch thick, cut out biscuits, and bake on greased pan in hot oven twelve to fifteen minutes. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort's Plumbers Cement

America - According to page 156 of our Home Comfort Cookbook, it showed this recipe for making Plumbers Cement.

Melt 1 part black rosin and thoroughly incorporate with it 2 parts fine brick dust to form a sort of sealing-wax. This cement is then run into leaky joints and cracks by applying with a melting heat.

To Restore -- Dried out putty may be restored to original condition by crumbling ti into an iron kettle or pot, covering with water with a little raw linseed oil; pour off the water, and when cool enough to handle, work like a new putty, restoring it to new conditions. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

This Day In History - September 27, 1869

Kansas - Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok Proves Too Wild For Kansas -- On September 27, just after midnight on this day in 1869, Ellis County Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok and his deputy respond to a report that a local ruffian named Samuel Strawhun and several drunken buddies were tearing up John Bitter's Beer Saloon in Hays City, Kansas. When Hickok arrived and ordered the men to stop, Strawhun turned to attack him, and Hickok shot him in the head.

Strawhun died instantly, as did the riot. Such were Wild Bill's less-than-restrained law enforcement methods. Famous for his skill with a pistol and steely-calm under fire, James Butler Hickok initially seemed to be the ideal man for the sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas. The good citizens of Hays City, the county seat, were tired of the wild brawls and destructiveness of the hard-drinking buffalo hunters and soldiers who took over their town every night. They hoped the famous "Wild Bill" could restore peace and order, and in the late summer of 1869, elected him as interim county sheriff.

Tall, athletic, and sporting shoulder-length hair and a sweeping mustache, Hickok cut an impressive figure, and his reputation as a deadly shot with either hand was often all it took to keep many potential lawbreakers on the straight and narrow. As one visiting cowboy later recalled, Hickok would stand "with his back to the wall, looking at everything and everybody under his eyebrows -- just like a mad old bull." But when Hickok applied more aggressive methods of enforcing the peace, some Hays City citizens wondered if their new cure wasn't worse than the disease. Shortly after becoming sheriff, Hickok shot a belligerent soldier who resisted arrest, and the man died the next day. A few weeks later Hickok killed Strawhun. While his brutal ways were indisputably effective, many Hays City citizens were less than impressed that after only five weeks in office he had already found it necessary to kill two men in the name of preserving peace.

During the regular November election later that year, the people expressed their displeasure, and Hickok lost to his deputy, 144-89. Though Wild Bill Hickok would later go on to hold other law enforcement positions in the West, his first attempt at being a sheriff had lasted only three months. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Cookbook - Cleaning Stove Pipes

America - Did you ever think that your ancestors ever wondered about cleaning their stove pipes for the Wrought Iron Range?

Do not fret! Here is how Home Comfort said to do just that in their Home Comfort cookbook.

Cleaning-out Stove Pipes -- A few pieces of old scrap sheet zinc placed on live coals in the firebox will burn and form a gas that loosens up the soot in the pipe and flue. Allowing the draft to carry it out the chimney. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort's Water, Oil Water & Waterproof Paint

America - You can find many fascinating tips in this 1934 Wrought Iron Range, Home Comfort Cookbook. Such as, on page 162 of the 1934 Home Comfort Cookbook it mentions the making of Water, Oil Water and Waterproof Paint.

Water Paint -- Slack a quantity of lime in a tub covered to keep in steam; when slacked pass through a fine screen or sieve; to each 6 parts this lime, add 1 part finely powdered rock salt and 4 parts water; boil all together and skim well; to each 2-1/12 gallons this liquid, add 1/2 pound powdered alum, 1/4 pound powdered green copperas, then very slowly, 6 ounces powdered caustic potash add pounds berry fine sand; mix thoroughly and add coloring ingredients to suit; for stone color, add 1 pound ocher to 2 gallons of paint; durable as slate, and renders stone and brick practically waterproof.

Oil Water Paint -- Boil together, 14 lbs. Silicate of Soda (water glass), 45 degree density, Beaume, and 2-1/2 gallons water; while boiling, sift in 3-1/2 lbs. dark rosin pounded to a powder, stirring continuously, and continue the boiling until all the rosin is dissolved; strain through a canvas; mix this liquid with an equal quantity of boiled linseed oil when cooled.

Waterproof Paint -- Dissolve 1/2 pound thinly shaved cheap brown soap in 1 quart water over fire until a smooth liquid; skim, and add 3 quarts boiled linseed oil and 1/2 ounce blue vitriol; remove from fire, and add 1 quart turpentine and any coloring ingredients to suit; mix thoroughly and strain well; then with turpentine for use -- Suitable for tents, tarpaulins, etc. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Cookbook - Damp Cellars

America - Maybe this little HOme Comfort tip could still be useful today, huh? It is to eliminate the habitual dampness of cellars, potato houses, etc.

Damp Cellars -- To eliminate the habitual dampness of cellars, potato houses, etc., obtain from any druggist one pound calcium chloride and divide the package into three or four fruit cans. Leave the cans open and place them in unmolested positions in the cellar. The moisture in the air will be attracted to and accumulated by the chloride.

When the water accumulated covers the chloride, do not discard it, but place the cans over a strong fire and evaporate the contents of the can to dryness. The chloride will re-crystalize and the cans may be placed back in the cellar.

Moldy cellars may be eliminated with a little care and attention. If the cellar walls have a tendency to develop mold, prepare a quantity of unslacked lime finely pulverized, which is then blown onto the walls dampened sufficiently to cause the lime to stick. The lime slacks upon contact with the water and kills mold plant, entirely eliminating it, and if the cellar is kept dry, it will not return.

Care should be taken to blow the lime into every crack and crevice to insure a thorough job. Allow the lime to remain a day or so, then wash the walls removing it and air the cellar well, warming it with several hot stones to drive out the moisture. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe