Okay, I haven't googled Carmen Wilkenson yet, so stay tuned for that....
But something else happened in this story. My children and I were walking home, and something lying on the grass in our side yard caught my son Jacob's eye. I thought it was a leaf. It turned out to be a newspaper clipping, and there were several more, scattered all over the side yard, clearly blown from the wreckage of Carmen's old house across the street. We gathered them up.
They were recipes. Based on the dates of the greeting cards I'd picked up before, and the style of dishes, my guess is they're from the eighties, but they could be from any time in the last 50+ years. Perennial Pie, Kathy's Dried Beef Rolls, Trawler's Crab Dip, Superb Brandy Alexanders, Spinach Brownies, Irish Bread, Shrimp Egg Foo Yung, Great Northern Bean and Beef Stew, Fruit Calico, and Brown Rice Supper Dish.
In memory of Carmen, and her recipe collection that found its way into my yard, I offer you her clipping for Irish Bread.
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 teaspoons caraway seeds
nuts and fruits (optional)
Boil raisins for 3 minutes; drain and dust lightly with a little of the flour. Sift together the remianing flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Rub in the shortening with hands. Add the milk, egg, caraway seeds, raisins, nuts and fruits if desired; stir to combine. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for approximately 1 hour.
1 comment:
This is such a reflection on what I came to know during the short time I was around you at the convention...you are precious, sensitive, and tender-hearted. I know this more now, reading your sweet Carmen blogs. I look forward to hearing more about this little house and who lived there. I have curiosity and fascination with abandoned homes and have had many of the same thought patterns as you over who lived there, what took place, and why they left. My sister and I have gone to several houses up in northern Kansas (we had permission as my brother-in-law farms on properties where the houses are :-)). Anyway, I'd see calendars on the wall, clothing, kitchen items, boxes, canning on the shelves of the underground cellars...all in disarray from years of neglect, but still a curiosity nonetheless.
Hugs, Heidi
Post a Comment