Fallen Into the Pit by Ellis Peters

I became a fan of Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) when I discovered her "Brother Cadfael" mysteries. I loved the Cadfael books so much that when I found a title from a different series by Peters in my local used bookshop I had to get it. I prefer reading books from a series in order and the used book was not the first. I ordered the first book from Amazon and just now, more than ten years after the fact, got around to reading it!

Fallen Into the Pit is the first "Inspector Felse" mystery and was published in 1951. Perhaps this blurb from the back of the novel best describes the plot:

"All the school boys of Comerford look up to Chad Wedderburn, a classics master who was a hero of the Resistance in World War II. But they are puzzled by his unwavering stand against all violence. And when he is blamed for the brutal murder of a former German prisoner of war who settled in this remote Shropshire town, none of them believe he did it.

Policeman George Felse is also deeply troubled by this killing. His son Dominic discovered the body, and now the boy is doggedly pursuing clues in the isolated countryside to clear his teacher. As young Felse digs deeper, his father feels a mounting pressure. For Inspector Felse knows all too well that Dominic is playing with fire, and that he must close the case quickly - before the killer teaches them both a lesson in murder..."

A well-written mystery, as I would certainly expect from Ellis Peters, I don't think this novel appealed to me as much as the Cadfael books did. Perhaps the Cadfael books have just "gotten better" in my mind in the years since I've read them, or maybe it's just the difference in time and place between the two series. If I run across other Inspector Felse mysteries in a used bookstore I'll go ahead and buy them, but I won't take the initiative to order them new from Amazon.... especially seeing how expensive they've become!!

This book completes the Cozy Mystery Challenge for me and counts as my fourth in the Typically British Challenge.

July iPod Roulette

If iPod Roulette is new to any of my readers, you can click on this entry at Hal's to see what it's all about. My good intentions of playing monthly have obviously fallen short. I came up with a fairly diverse group of songs this time, but it still leaves out several genres.

So tell me.... would any of these show up on your playlist?

1. Sing, Sing, Sing (Benny Goodman) - my parents loved swing music and I listened to enough of it as a child to develop somewhat of an affection for it myself.

2. Fugue (Pachelbel) - From "Canon & Suites for Strings" performed by the Paillard Chamber Orchestra.

3. Hacia Belen (The Priests) - More classical music, but with vocals this time.

4. Stompin' at the Savoy (Harry Connick, Jr.) - From the soundtrack to "When Harry Met Sally"

5. Jaws (David Sanborn) - No, not the great white shark. Think jazz.

6, Catherine Howard (Rick Wakeman) - This is possibly my favorite selection from the "Six Wives of Henry VIII" album.

7. Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On (Neal McCoy) - I don't claim this one. It was downloaded at someone else's request. The sad thing is that I can sing along with it.

8. Lies (Glen Hansard) - Another soundtrack....this one from the movie "Once". Better known might be the song "Falling Slowly".

9. Let it Be (Beatles) - Does this one really need any explanation?

10. Paradise (Out of Eden) - Kind of a cross between Contemporary Christian and R&B.

11. Psalm 121 (Susan Ashton) - Praise & Worship, as you might gather from the title.

12. There'll Be Sad Songs (Billy Ocean) - I had forgotten that his "Caribbean Queen" wasn't a one-hit wonder.

13. French Suite #1 in D Minor, BWV 812-5. Menuet 2 (Glenn Gould) - I first became aware of Glenn Gould when I was a teenager studying piano.

14. Home is Not a House (Candy Dulfer) - Jazz saxophone. I really like her version of "Lily Was Here".

15. Wrapped Around Your Finger (The Police) - From their last album "Synchronicity". My favorite album was "Zenyatta Mondatta".

Pickled Squash

In the early years of our marriage there were quite a few summers that we planted a large garden... mostly tomatoes, squash, and purple hull peas. Although I found out quickly that only a couple of squash plants are necessary to feed a family of five all summer, there were several summers I planted extra so I could pickle the excess.

This has been a good year and I've found myself with more squash than I can use (or even give away). I decided to pickle some a few weeks ago. I dug out the basic recipe I had used, but it didn't include specifics. You'd think with all the pints and quarts I churned out in the past I would remember, but a few details escaped me. So.... I just dug out my canning utensils and set to work.

Before I got started I remembered to sterilize my canning jars and put the lids and rings in the hot water until I was ready for them. I peeled and thinly sliced squash until I had 12 cups.

Next I thinly sliced some white onion... about three cups.

I combined the squash and onion in a large bowl and sprinkled them with salt to "sweat" for about an hour.

Meanwhile, I cut up about 3 large bell peppers and placed them in a large pot along with 4-1/2 cups sugar, 3 teaspoons mustard seed, 3 teaspoons celery seed, and 3 cups white vinegar. I then brought it to a hard boil.

This is where things briefly got out of hand. While waiting on the mixture to boil, I was standing at the sink draining off the squash and onions. When I looked back at the stove, the mixture had gone from barely coming to a boil to boiling over! What a mess!! It left a sticky liquid all over the burner that immediately started to smoke, setting off the smoke detector (nice to know it works!) and terrifying the dogs!

Anyway, I got back on track and put the squash/onions into the mixture and brought it to another hard boil. I immediately filled the canning jars with the mixture and liquid to within about a half inch of the top. Then I placed the warm lids on the jars and screwed on the rims before putting them into a hot water bath for about 15 minutes.

I removed the jars from the hot water and set them on a towel to cool. When I checked on them later, the lids had "popped" down assuring me that I'd gotten a good seal.

Now all that remains to be seen is if it tastes as good as I remember. The jars need to sit in a cool place out of the sunlight for about a month for the flavors to set. Then I'll cook up a mess of purple hull peas, pile some pickled squash on my serving, and see how it tastes! I'll let you know.....

Bountiful Harvest

Our small garden got off to a rather slow start this year, but things have taken off in the past few weeks. We've had lots of summer squash and more tomatoes than we bargained for. The only tomatoes we planted were the yellow variety I started from seed earlier in the spring. However, tons of "volunteer" cherry tomato plants popped up in our plot. Instead of weeding some of them out, my husband just let them all do their own thing. As a result, we ended up with a jungle of tomato plants!! It's made for a near impossible job of picking, but I've done the best I could.

The best way to eat tomatoes is sliced and salted, right off the vine. I posted my favorite tomato recipe in an entry here. I've enjoyed reversing the colors on it this summer with yellow tomatoes and red onions rather than red tomatoes and yellow onions!

Odds and Ends

Check out this really fun link Tracy shared on her blog today: I Write Like. You provide a sample then it analyzes your writing and tells you which author you write like. Here are my results:

I write like
Arthur C. Clarke

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Jen shared some fun info in her blog this weekend, too. Did you know that Blogger offers stats now for your blog? Just look under Tools and Resources at the bottom of your Dashboard and click on "Blogger in Draft". Interesting to see, not that I was particularly surprised by my stats.

Life has been pretty busy since we got back from vacation. I'm behind on my magazines which, in turn, has kept me from reading books. The Book of Eli arrived from Netflix the other day and I have to say I was rather disappointed in it. The premise and previews had raised my expectations a little too high, I guess, since I thought it was slow and boring. Finally made it to a matinee showing of Eclipse, the third in the Twilight series. I thought it was much better than New Moon. More action and less angst. One of the best parts of the week was seeing our local arts center's summer musical. They did The Producers by Mel Brooks and it was a real hoot! I'm always pleased with what quality productions our community theater puts out.

Now, if I can just make myself turn this blasted computer off I might get some reading done....

Suzy's (not so) grand adventure

It's quite rare for my husband and me to leave home at the same time. Between all the dogs and the livestock, it's just too much trouble. Besides, I hate asking the house-sitter (pasture-sitter) to fool with the inside dogs since they're a little more "high maintenance" than the others. So... off went Mabel and Alice to the kennel. It was their second time to stay there and I think they handled it better than they did first time around.

Suzy had a different adventure. We took this as the prime opportunity to get her spayed and figured as active as she is it would be good to have her confined somewhere away from her sisters until the incision could heal a little. Her surgery was scheduled the morning we left town and of course I called from Vegas later that day to check on her. When we picked her up Sunday morning, she had already removed her own stitches saving us a trip back to the vet's later in the week. I should haved known if any dog would do that it would be her. She is SO naughty!! If anything, she seems to be worse than ever since we got back. She barks, growls, jumps up, climbs over the babygate, leaps unexpectedly into your lap wherever you're sitting, and worst of all....does not obey!! Doesn't she just exude naughtiness in these photos?? I've never had a dog that behaved like this. If I could find an obedience class anywhere around here I would sign up. One of us needs training!!

Wedding Bells

It's easy to get married in Las Vegas.   

Several weeks before our trip our older daughter received a ring from her significant other.  I suggested they get married while we were in Vegas and she told me they had already decided they would.  They had done a little research online and knew there were multiple options available... everything from wedding chapels in most of the major hotels to Elvis weddings not to mention countless other venues. 

I must say, they chose one of the more interesting options.  A drive-thru wedding!!  The whole family was picked up in a stretch limo at the hotel and transported to the drive-up window at the wedding chapel.  Vows were exchanged, everyone stepped out for pictures, then we were returned to the hotel.  Of course there is a lot more history to this story than I'm sharing here, but sometimes the less is better.  Let's just leave it at this:  The drive-thru wedding was a fun, memorable experience that I'm glad we all got to be a part of!  May they have a long, happy marriage! 

Viva Las Vegas!

I read somewhere recently what the percentage of revenue from gaming was in Las Vegas and it was much lower than I expected. I shouldn't have been surprised, though. There is a LOT more to do there than just gamble. In fact, there are far more things to do than can be squeezed into a four or five day vacation. Debby commented on a recent post that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". While that might be true in some instances (and I'm certainly not telling all here), I don't mind sharing a few of the things we did.

I've visited Madame Tussuad's in Las Vegas, Amsterdam, and London. The Vegas MT is my favorite so I was glad we made it there on this trip. It was uncrowded enough that we had ample opportunity to snap pictures with all our favorite celebrities. I would post some of the photos here, but I'm not sure I could narrow down which ones to share.

We walked past the Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand just as they had two of them out on display. They looked too young to be the cub my younger kids had their picture made with on our last visit.

I love aquariums and Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay ranks right up there with the best of them. The first part of the aquarium is good, but the final room is the best part. You walk through a Plexiglas tube (surrounded by water) into the "shipwreck" where there is a spectacular display of predator fish swimming all around you! The aquarium also includes a fun "petting zoo" where you can touch little manta rays and horseshoe crabs.

It seemed like everywhere we looked on the strip we saw people carrying bright yellow M&M shopping bags. By the second day of our trip, so were we! M&M World is always packed with people. I remembered that from my last trip there. I also remembered the huge display of M&M dispensers where you can fill your own bags with every color M&M imaginable. I didn't see the coconut or pretzel varieties, but they had dark chocolate, peanut, almond, and peanut butter. Sold by the pound, it's amazing how quickly it adds up. I was proud of my restraint on this visit.

I think my very favorite Vegas attraction is the Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur. This was my fourth time to see it and I don't think it will ever grow old for me! Part of the novelty is digging in to a meal served without any utensils. There's jousting, knights at the round table, dancing maidens, good guys, bad guys, horses.... huzzah!!

Most hotels have an "in-house" show. The Monte Carlo hosts Lance Burton, Master Magician. We booked that for our last night and had great seats, Row D on the Main Floor.

Oh....and we went to see the flamingos at ... where else but the Flamingo Hilton!

Many things got left undone. They'll just have to wait for another trip to Vegas.

Let's eat!

As you can imagine, Vegas has a zillion places to eat. Every hotel has multiple restaurants within it along with "food courts" featuring everything from Starbucks, to Haagen-Dazs, to McDonald's. Considering dining out is one of my family's favorite activities, we were all in hog heaven!

I know that Hard Rock Cafes are terribly commercialized, but I really think they're a fun place to eat. What a nice surprise to find out they'd opened a new location right across the strip from our hotel! We had often eaten at the old location, but the new one is lighter and roomier (but still loud!).

My son and I are both fans of the Food Network. When we found out that Bobby Flay had a Mesa Grill location at Caesar's Palace, we knew we had to eat there whether anyone else in the group wanted to join us or not. After some hesitation, everyone agreed to go and it ended up being one of our best dining experiences!! Definitely a place I would go again!

There were a couple of "Griswold" moments on our vacation. One involved the night we planned to eat at a Mexican restaurant we loved and would make a point to visit on each trip to LV. Turns out the hotel it was in has been torn down and is being rebuilt. So, despite the fact it still exists on a Google Map, it's not really there!! Hopefully when the new hotel is completed it will once again include the restaurant. So.... we detoured to Margaritaville at our older daughter's recommendation. Here's a photo of our granddaughter with a balloon ladybug they made for her there.

Our final night we had a show booked and didn't want to go far for dinner so we opted for the Outback Steakhouse right across the strip. Although there's an Outback about 70 miles from where we live, only three of our group had ever eaten at one. We all enjoyed our meal, but debated whether the bloomin' onion was better there or at a local eatery in our hometown.

Another place that we debated the merits of was The Cupcakery located in our hotel. I'll agree that it was totally overpriced, but the variety I ordered (the "Bugsy") was soooo moist and delicious!!

Next up..... some of the attractions and shows we enjoyed.

Vegas Vacation

No.....not with Clark Griswold and his family, but with my OWN family!!

I made my first visit to Las Vegas when I was in college, a long time ago. My husband and I took our first vacation there together the year after we married, returning annually each summer. Our last trip was about ten years ago when we took the younger two kids with us.

Due to a variety of reasons I won't go into here, our entire family has never taken a vacation anywhere together. A few years ago my husband made the promise that once our youngest was 21, he would take everyone to Las Vegas. The plotting and planning began in earnest several months ago. Work schedules had to be situated, flights booked, hotel reservations made, show tickets purchased, and most important-- a 21st birthday celebrated in June.

The seven of us left hot, humid south Arkansas last Tuesday morning and arrived in even hotter, but not as humid, Las Vegas mid-afternoon. The temperature while we were there ranged from 104 to 113! Humidity, though, never got above 29%. I know hot is hot, but I still say dry heat is easier to bear. Our humidity here rarely gets below 50% and is quite often 80 or 90% . Stifling!

Amazing how much has changed on the strip in the past 10 years! Hotels have been torn down and rebuilt, others gone forever. We've stayed several places in the past, some more than once, but tried a new one this trip: the Monte Carlo. It was centrally located for the things we wanted to do and turned out to be a good choice.

Overall it was a great trip and everyone had fun. I'll share more in the next few days.

I'm back!

...and I mean that literally, not just online.

As I stated in my last post, our Internet went out on Saturday afternoon a week ago. Most times that would only be a minor inconvenience. However, we were preparing to go on vacation last week and I needed to get online Monday. If any of you have ever flown on Southwest, you know how important it is to be online with your finger poised over "confirm" exactly 24 hours before your flight in order to get good boarding passes! Fortunately some friends volunteered their computer and printer and I got to enjoy a nice visit with them in the process.

I posted a couple of times last fall (here & here) about troubles with our Internet provider, so I wasn't optimistic about getting things fixed quickly. Surprisingly, we were able to get it repaired late Monday afternoon! Not enough time to schedule any posts for while I was away, but what a relief to know we would have Internet when we returned home!

Anyway..... we got home shortly after midnight last night (this morning) and I'm still plowing through "stuff". Playing catch-up is always the down-side to returning from vacation. The up-side is that I should have plenty of post material for awhile! I would love to sit here and catch up on all the blogs I follow, but chores are calling me.

Internet Problems

I use to know how to blog from my cell phone. However, I got a new
phone not long ago and I'm not sure I can still do it the same way. I
figured I would give it a try.

We are having major Internet problems and I may not be posting for
awhile.

One of my favorite summer sandwiches!

Crisp bacon
"Jackby" cheese
Fresh guacamole
Homegrown yellow tomato
Shaved mesquite-smoked turkey breast
Piled on a bun with a little mayo & Dijon mustard

Squash Blossoms

It wasn't until I saw the photo of the squash blossom in the sidebar of Marion's blog that I really ever gave any thought to its beauty. I had never before considered it a "real" flower. It was just a means to the end, a precursor... necessary, but not necessarily noteworthy.

This morning I headed to our little garden spot and noticed that the blossoms were wide open and swarming with bees. I hurried back in for my camera so I could share some photos here.

I waited and waited for the bee to exit this flower. Perhaps he was drunk on nectar?

Not sure if this bee was arriving or departing.

I managed to find a blossom without a bee in it!

If you look in the background of this photo you will see blossoms becoming squash in varying stages.

Marion included a portion of a poem by Robert Francis under her photo. Here is the poem in its entirety.

Squash in Blossom
Robert Francis

How lush, how loose, the uninhibited squash is.
If ever hearts (and these immoderate leaves
Are vegetable hearts) were worn on sleeves,
The squash's are. In green the squash vine gushes.

The flowers are cornucopias of summer,
Briefly exuberant and cheaply golden.
And if they make a show of being hidden,
Are open promiscuously to every comer.

Let the squash be what it was doomed to be
By the old Gardener with the shrewd green thumb.
Let it expand and sprawl, defenceless, dumb.
But let me be the fiber-disciplined tree

Whose leaf (with something to say in wind) is small,
Reduced to the ingenuity of a green splinter
Sharp to defy or fraternize with winter,
Or if not that, prepared in fall to fall.

Corpses and Calzones

There are some very odd folks in this world. For example, there's the woman who dug up her late husband and twin sister and kept them in her home. You can read the full story here. Weird.

Last night we tried this recipe from Simple & Delicious magazine. (Contributed by Kourtney Williams of Mechanicsville, VA.) Two out of three of us liked it. The only change I made was to add some purple onion while browning the pork.

Sausage & Spinach Calzones

1/2 lb. bulk Italian sausage
1 tube (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust
3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2-2/3 cups fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink. Meanwhile, unroll pizza crust; pat into a 15-in. x 11-in. rectangle. Cut into four rectangles. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over half of each rectangle to within 1 in. of edges.

Drain sausage. Add spinach; cook and stir over medium heat until spinach is wilted. Remove from the heat. Stir in the ricotta cheese, salt and pepper; spread over mozzarella cheese. Fold dough over filling; press edges with a fork to seal.

Transfer to a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Yield: 4 servings.

Tres Leches Cake

Okay...so I picked a traditionally Mexican dessert to make for American Independence Day. Maybe I should have served it with some fresh strawberries and blueberries. Then it would have at least looked like a dessert for the 4th of July!

I clipped this recipe from a newspaper supplement several months ago. Every time I've considered making it I've thought about how terribly fattening it is and changed my mind. (sliced into 16 pieces, each has 440 calories!!) I finally decided to give it a whirl yesterday and here are my thoughts:

Very dense, moist, and sweet. Very, very rich!! Too rich, in fact. I only had a small piece yesterday and I think I've had my fill. Wish I could share it with some of you!


Tres Leches Cake

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
5 eggs
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 (24 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon of rum or liqueur
Fresh berries for garnish (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9-in. baking dish.

2. Combine butter and 1 cup sugar in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well.

3. Combine flour, baking powder and cream of tartar. Add to butter mixture slowly and beat well. Spread batter in pan. Bake 24 to 30 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

4. Stir together milk, evaporated milk and condensed milk. Pour 3 cups over cake. Reserve remaining milk mixture to serve with cake. Refrigerate cake.

5. Combine heavy cream, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and run. Beat until think and spread over cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

6. Pour leftover milk mixture onto dessert plates. Sliced chilled cake into squares and place on dessert plates. Garnish with fresh berries, if using.


Okay.....I have to be honest here. It wasn't until I was typing out the recipe that I realized I left out the baking powder when making mine!!! No wonder it seemed like such a flat cake!! However, fluffier wouldn't change the fact it was entirely too calorie-laden for my taste.

The Walk (and some slaw)

Younger daughter and I decided we'd better take an extra long walk this morning to counteract some of the good stuff we've eaten lately. We set out before 7:00 a.m. and you'd think with temperatures in the mid 70s it would be pleasant. Factor in humidity of more than 90% and it quickly becomes a sweaty experience. Let's just say after walking close to five miles at a fairly good pace we felt like we'd gotten quite a workout!

We live in a rural area with no leash law, so we always hope that none of the dogs along the route bite..... and believe me, there are LOTS of dogs in our area! Many barked at us, a few came to the edge of their yards, and one came up to give us a sniff or two. Some of you might remember that two years ago we sold Debby to some friends up the road. She was pregnant at the time and gave birth to a little girl they named Bella. Evidently Bella's new family gives her lots of attention. As we walked past her pasture she started plodding her way towards us, clearly expecting something. She tuned up and gave a little bray as we passed her by. I sort of felt bad that we didn't stop and pet her! On the return trip she didn't come to the fence, but kept a close eye on us until we were out of sight. I think the most disconcerting part of the walk was when we passed under a high-voltage powerline. You could actually hear the surge of electricity coming from the wires!! Maybe next time we walk I'll take the camera along so I can illustrate my narrative.

My family isn't much on slaw, especially when it's not the mayonnaise variety. The vinegar types are healthier, though, and I really like this version I put together this morning.

Colorful Coleslaw

1 pkg. (10 oz.) angel hair coleslaw mix
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow summer squash, chopped
1/2 cup chopped red (purple) onion
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons lime juice
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1-1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper

Combine first five ingredients in a serving bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour over vegetables in serving bowl and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least a half hour before serving.

A pretty good dinner

It's been a busy week, but not too busy to try a few new recipes (although some of them aren't worth mentioning here). Tonight's were pretty good. Both were adapted from recipes I clipped out of Simple & Delicious magazine. The entire meal was ready within half an hour. Great for when you don't have much time!

Potatoes with Feta Cheese

1 pound small red potatoes, halved
1 cup (4 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
1 teaspoon dill weed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until tender, approximately 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a serving bowl. Drain potatoes and add to serving bowl. Toss gently to coat.


Ranch Chicken

1 box (8-1/2 oz.) Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 envelope buttermilk recipe ranch salad dressing mix
milk
boneless, skinless chicken tenders

vegetable oil

Combine corn muffin mix and ranch dressing mix in a resealable plastic bag. Pour milk into a shallow bowl. Dip chicken tenders in milk, drop into plastic bag, then shake to coat.

In a large skillet pour a thin coating of vegetable oil (approx. 2 Tbs.). Cook chicken tenders, uncovered, over medium heat, turning several times until juices run clear. (approx. 15 minutes)