The C&D I made just from scratch, I mean, I made the pie from scratch too, but I used a recipe, I just made chicken and dumplings because I don't see the need for a recipe to boil chicken with vegetables. I guess I did use a recipe for the dumplings. I have made a lot of different kinds of dumplings this year. It has kind of been an unintentional theme and I have learned:
A. if you have a rapid boil it will break them up (some people have to learn the hard way...)
B. you really want to sort of balance them on top of food on the surface of the water and steam them
Maybe that is common knowledge. Regardless, Caleb loves all sorts of dumplings. I like my C&D dumplings to be thickish rectangles.
For the sweet potato pie, I used my Nanny's pie crust recipe and a filling recipe from the Sardis Cemetary Cookbook. It was just ok.
The kids begged for candles and sang Happy Birthday to Arkansas - 175 this year :)
Arkansas was harder to research than Arizona or Alaska. We did find a couple of books in the library and a book about Ozark tall tales (which isn't the same thing as a book of Ozark tall tales). We looked at some state park websites and my mom managed to get us mailed every piece of tourist information available in the state - as well as 3 state highway maps! The kids would tell you that Arkansas has diamonds and caves and rivers, but since I already knew that, I was impressed to learn that there is a medieval fortress being built near Harrison, Arkansas. It's being built "the old fashioned way" and is not expected to be completed until 2030. I also was kicking myself while reading about all the awesome state parks. To my friends in Arkansas, I'm feeling pretty green with envy! Well at least I'm not in Spain! I just need to research some awesome FLORIDA state parks!
Up next! California here we come!
