So You Want To Be A Star?

A long time ago when I was six years old my cousin Jayme and I were on the Red Brown and AnnaLee show which was broadcast live in El Paso. Red Brown was a cowboy and AnnaLee was his wife. She wore a cowgirl's outfit with a big skirt with fringe and boots. The set was the backside of a covered wagon. The center of the canvas was open and each child would step up and through the opening and down onto the stage. There was a live audience full of kids and their parents. There was bright lights and cameras and alot of people.

I remember Mom and Grandma Jones helping us practice a song just in case Red Brown asked if we wanted to perform something. We practiced "Jesus loves me".

So now my cousin Jaymie and I are standing in line behind the covered wagon waiting our turn for stardom. Red Brown would ask each child their name and how old they were. I was so nervous I kept asking Jaymie "How old am I?". She would say "Six, you are six years old."

The rest is a blur-I don't remember if we sang or not.

I loved Red Brown and AnnaLee. I wish I could find a picture of them.

Angel Food Cake Recipe

Frances Jones Angel Food Cake

Heat oven to 350

1 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 cup sifted flour- cake or regular flour

1 1/2 cup egg whites (11-12 large)

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup granulated sugar

!. In one bowl sift together powdered sugar and flour; repeat sifting twice more.

2. In a large mixer bowl beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla, and salt at medium speed until soft peaks form.

3. Gradually add the granulated sugar about 2 tbls at a time. Sprinkle the sugar gently on top of the egg mixture. This way the sugar won't weigh down the whipped eggs. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

4. Sift about 1/4 of the flour mixture over the egg whites, folding in lightly by hand. Repeat, folding in remaining flour mixture by fourths.

5. Turn into an ungreased 10 in pan. Bake 60 mins or until done.

6. To cool turn cake pan upside down and let cool.

7. After cake is cool to touch, turn the pan over and with a sharp knife carefully loosen the sides of the cake. Cover with a serving plate and flip it over.

8. Ice with icing of your choice.

This cake requires a cake pan with the tube in the middle.

Angel Food Cakes

Sister Kathie has shared a recipe for Angel Food cake that our Grandmother Jones used to make. Kathie said that once a month Grandma Jones would make 12 of these Angel Food cakes from scratch for her Ladies monthly meeting. TWELVE! Can you image? By hand-no electric appliances-a wood burning stove. I'm guessing a wood burning stove.

The recipe calls for twelve egg whites. That's 144 egg whites for 12 cakes. Can you imagine? Not to mention the powdered sugar and flour being sifted together three times each. Those ladies sure loved Grandma's Angel Food Cake. I wonder where she got the powdered sugar from?

I have made five of these yummy cakes. I had been fretting about what would I do with 12 yolks when the Holy Spirit told me buy the egg whites in a carton. Problem solved. I wonder what Grandma Jones would think of this new fangled invention called egg whites in a carton.

Where is my GPS?

Hi I'm back... took a lil break. Actually son Branden was on the computer. We are sharing right now, since his laptop crashed.

I was telling you about our visit to Mom and Kathie's house. I want you to know that there is no short cut to where Kathie lives or back to my house. It does not exist. The only way to get there or back home is just to drive or fly.

After we left Kathie's house we should have just returned to highway 281 but no not Linda. Linda wanted something to eat. So her sweet hubby turned left on Purgatory road to head to Burger King. Which took us out of the way to highway 281. The only smart thing to do was to get on I35. Remember that we are in a ancient van and even at a fast speed cars and trucks were passing us like we were standing still. Ron wanted to avoid the Austin traffic so we took the Johnson City exit. What we didn't realize, well maybe Ron did but I didn't, was that Johnson City was a hour's drive-and THEN getting on 281 to head up and over to Copperas Cove. It was sooo hot. Flames, flames shooting from the side of my head. A line from the movie Clue. That hamburger cost us extra time and I promise that from now on ... well.. I can't promise I won't be hungry.

The moral of the story is... any decision that is made always has consequences-good or bad. Make sure that you know exactly what you want to do before getting on a busy road full of cars and you can't find a way to turn around, finding yourself stuck headed in a direction which you didn't really want to go. Actually when the first opportunity comes to turn around-TAKE IT. Don't keep driving. That's just silly.

Amen.

Having it our way....?

After our visit with Mom, I wanted to stop and get something to eat before getting back on the highway to Copperas Cove. Well we stopped at Burger King. I'm sure you know which one we are speaking of. It is right on the corner of I35.

Oh boy! When we found our table by the window-there was no one around us. Then a father with four boys came in and sat by us. Busy boys, very busy. Shortly after that his pregnant wife walked in, along with thier little daughter and grandmother. Then it was really busy. Then on the other side of us(still sitting at the table by the window) another family was sitting. This family wasn't so large but still very active. The prize in the son's kid's meal was a little table hockey set, which of course the son wanted his dad to play with him. That meant the empty table next to us became a hockey game. Round disks were flying everywhere. I looked at Ron- we were both chewing as fast as we could.

I realized something while sitting there. Ron and I are empty nesters! We just aren't used to all the ruckus and energy that young families have, especially those with boys. God bless all the young families and their grandparents.

Now What?

It sure has been quiet here on this blog. Look at all this dust! What in the world? I guess I had better get my thinking cap on and do some blogging. Since my last entry, we have a new grandson! Emmanuel Manuel Hernandez- Lil'Los for short. I have spent the summer taking care of him and his sis Tiera. Tiera has also spent two weeks the end of July in Mexico with her cousins who are now moved to Gunnison, Colorado where today it is rainy and 47 degrees. I will be starting school August 31, yes once again. And will also be turning 60 years old on the same day. WHEE!! I'm exicited.

This past weekend Ron and I took a new mattress set down to Mom. Ron has a 1977 van, which didn't qualify for the Cash forClunkers program. We drove down in it, without AC. Goodness sake what were we thinking? Going down was good but coming back was terrible. The inside temp must have been around 90-95 degrees. But the good Lord blessed us and helped us to return home safely. Mom looks great. It was really great to visit with her, I wish I could have spent more time with her, but we had to return home by 5:00, so it was a really brief visit. We gave her a ceramic rooster for her Birthday! He's a beauty.

Well this is a start. I promise to post more often so that all three of my readers will not be bored. Love to all.