Evelyn's Corner

Moving

2010-09-18T12:46:00.002-05:00

We started moving the blog to evelynscorner.com today. It should be easier to remember.

Moving Day

Chocolate Nut Cake and A Mother's Love

2010-09-07T20:00:00.179-05:00

I don't care what anyone says, making delicious and healthy food is a way a mother shows love for her family. And noone makes a deilcious meal like an Italian mother.
We are still fans of Everybody Loves Raymond, although Clarence finds the Italian mother Marie quite annoying. I say you'd be lucky to have someone like that to make all those wonderful meals and desserts, and the way she cleans, so fastidioiusly!

Clarence posed in front of this old police car at Gus's Diner

We recently went to one of those diners that are all show and no go near Sun Prairie and the food was lousy and their desserts looked just awful. I've never seen such an unappealingy pie and cake window. The waiter was dirty and there was a bathroom full of ladies who were following around a young man dressed up like Elvis. I told them that he should do his own thing instead of singing like somebody else. They were all wearing spangled t-shirts with his picture and name on them so I don't think they listened. He came in to cool off and get a drink of water but I didn't see him go near the desserts either.

There were a lot of old cars in the parking lot, but I just wanted to get out of the house and out of the heat. Both my husband and daughter seemed to enjoy their food, but I don't think anyone makes a meal like an Italian mother. I tried some of Jeanna's fries and a little chicken sandwich but didn't care for either. Jeanna just wanted to get back and see if Joan Rivers was on the red carpet because The Emmys were on. That Joan Rivers can be horrible, I don't know how she gets to talk about how other people look. Sometimes I see her on the television and think she's wearing a mask.

Sometimes you're better off making your own dessert instead of counting on someone else to do it for you. Of course we didn't know how bad all that rich food and butter and fat and sugar was for you back when I was doing most of my baking and cooking. But everything in moderation. Although I do enjoy some of the desserts at the Hubbard Ave. Diner where we saw our doctor acting naughty and eating an enormous caramel apple pie covered with hot caramel sauce.

Here is a cake that is so good it doesn't need frosting but works well with more than one flavor if you choose to frost it. Even people who say they don't like chocolate will love this cake. Do we believe anyone who says they don't like chocolate? Clarence says that all the time and he always eats every last crumb.

Chocolate Nut Cake

Keep the ingredients at room temperature
1 Cup Soft Margarine
2 1/2 Cups Sugar
5 Ounces Semi-sweet, Melted Chocolate
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
6 Eggs
2 1/4 Cups Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1/4 Cup Cocoa
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Cup Salad Dressing
1 Cup Finely Chopped Nuts

Blend sugar and butter with mixer until smooth and fluffy
Add vanilla and cooled chocolate
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one
Add sifted dry ingredients, alternating with salad dressing
Beat well and add nuts, mixing throughout the batter
Grease and flour a 10 inch tube (bundt) pan
Bake 1 hour, 20 minutes at 350°
Cool thoroughly and turn onto a cake dish You can frost it with lime frosting for St. Patrick's day or Chocolate butter cream frosting
Or it is very good served with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar

Before the poem called A Mother's Love, I'd like to share a photo from my grandson who has started cooking and baking now that he is in an easier class. He was taking Chinese and that is so hard, but now he is taking Spanish, a language he has taken since grade school.

This is a lasagna and cherry pie Joey made and put on my Facebook page (whatever that is). You have to understand that he is mostly Italian.

A Mother's Love

Strong mother love does what no other can
Her gentle hands mould destiny of man
Through patience, trust, and faith she shows the way
To mend the broken is her tender plan

God listens to her bright and happy tunes
Her majesyt of song lights eager rooms
Cold corners feel warm sunshine from her touch
Her throbbing love brings springtime's scented bloom

She never wearies of the hundred chores,
Performed each day behind contented doors
A mother's heart bears pity for all men
Her mercies hush the ugly cannon roars

Her lips console with comfort in her kiss
Dispersing cares and summoning sweet bliss
A mother lessens, soothes, and heals dismay
Earth's richest wealth dare not compete with this

Pie Crusts and Strawberry Pie

2010-08-29T16:21:00.003-05:00

I was so happy to hear my grandson Joey made an apple pie that I could hardly believe it! And when I heard he had already made a sweet potato pie before that I thought I better make sure he had my favorite and easiest pie crust recipes.
Jeanna's friend Jodi gave my grandson a pie crust recipe very much like one of mine.
Thank you to Jeanna's friends Christine and Jodi who I understand are simply wonderful cooks and bakers for sharing their recipes and tips with Joey this week.
He is an officer in the Navy and is learning Chinese and Spanish before he gets back on the ship. I am very happy that he is learning how to cook, which is something I've always encouraged the boys to do.

Joey at Christmas with a little bit of chocolate on his face

Clarence loves strawberries and loves strawberry pie which we used to get on Park Street years ago, but the restaurant is gone now. This is another pie that is easy to make and needs a good crust to make it delicious!
I just found out that Joey made Cherry pie and lasagna and asked him for the photo. Maybe that is good because I think he was looking a little thin. He is very handsome as are all my grandsons.

Single Pie Crust

Makes 9 1/2 or a 10" crust
Oven is 450°

1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Plus 1 Tablespoon Softened Butter
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
4-5 Tablespoons Ice Water

Blend flour and butter, add salt and water
Pat into greased pie dish and sprinkle lightly with sugar
Bake at 450° for 10-15 minutes or until brown
Brush pie shell with butter while warm
Rotate the pie to keep crust from burning

Single Egg Pie Crust

1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Softened Butter
1 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Egg Yolk
2 Tablespoons Milk

Mix egg yolk and milk together and set aside
Mix the flour and butter then combine the dry ingredients, adding them and blending
Add the egg and milk and pat into pie dish

Bake at 450° for 10 minutes

Superlative Strawberry Pie

2 Quarts Ripened Strawberries
6-8 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Large Package Wild Strawberry Jell-O
1 1/2 Cup Boiling Water
1 Pint Strawberry Ice Cream
1 Large Carton Whipped Cream
1 9 1/2 Inch Cooled Pie Crust

Slice the strawberries and add the sugar
Place 1 1/2 cups water in a 4 quart large pan and bring to a boil
Add the Jell-O and mix it well
Add the ice cream and blend until dissolved
Add the strawberries and blend together
Pour into the cooled pie crust and refrigerate
Top with the chilled whipped cream (can use Cool Whip in a pinch)
Add a few sliced strawberries on top!

Joey always asks for popcorn balls for Christmas

Hell and Artichokes

2010-08-21T11:10:00.100-05:00

I gave my daughter this week's poem when we went to Perkins yesterday. I tell Jeanna what to say and bring her a poem and sometimes want to include a recipe from my cookbook.
Yesterday was the first time I saw my blog on her computer and the Perkin's hostess was very impressed. I think my husband Clarence is jealous.

Clarence (R) and his friend from NC during WWII

This week's poem is another that was published by the International Library of Poetry and may have been on poetry.com.

A Walk Through Hell

Alabaster babe in your exhausted arms
Oh, holy Irish saint see the tears unfold
Allecto slowly serpents her cruel and evil charms
Even brave Apollo bids the world turn cold

Philistines exclaim, "Ophelia is your name!"
Deep and dark depression thinks you are its whore
Loneliness devours you sequestered and ashamed
The Fenrir Wolf himself darkens not your door

As the hunted fox you, too, are plagued with fear
Pandora's box gave birth to this painful plight
Reaching from the pit of Dis you pray to end the tears
Like the Queen of Carthage you give up the fight

Oracles are south, their efforts are in vain
Nepen'the is advised, still you cannot cope
Thor strikes his magic hammer the malady remains
Diana sweet and kind sheds a ray of hope

Someone hears your pleas, a Jew upon a cross
Apothecaries' disc, with a prayer each day
This is God's way to help you, depression mourns its loss
You thank Christ for listening, when He heard you pray

People have been telling me they don't know how to make Stuffed Artichokes and that they're hard to make. They aren't, and here is my husband tested recipe, from p. 56 of my cookbook, Culinary Innovations.

Stuffed Artichokes

2 Artichokes
1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
2 Teaspoons Parsley Flakes
2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Tablespoons Cooking Oil
3 Teaspoons Salt

•Cut stems from artichokes and trim outer skin from stem and cut into pieces (can use scissors)
•Cut off the sharp tip from the leaves
•Wash the artichokes and open them widely
•Place the cut stems in the artichokes and add all of the ingredients, sprinkling salt on last
•Fill a 4 quart pan halfway with water, put in the artichokes and cover the pan.

Cook over medium heat 1 hour or until tender

It's Never Too Warm For Orange Jello

2010-08-14T16:34:00.018-05:00

It's been so hot this week that we have barely ventured out of the house. My daughter helped her pal and cousin move up to Wausau, WI and we are late in writing something.

My brother-in-law Phil and his granddaughter-in-law Karen

Karen and Phil and their family lived close to us on the westside and had to move during some of the hottest days this summer. There are three Phils in the Clementi family, the oldest one was born in 1911 and is in this picture Jeanna took last Sunday.

Lawrence and a special Phil 3 hambruger

The Clementis owned and ran restaurants and pizzarias around town. We especially loved their spaghetti sauce and thin crust pizza. Here is a nice picture of a hamburger "Phil 3" made everyone before they started to pack up. It was made with green and red peppers and onions on the grill. I wish I had one right now.

This is Lawrence, my brother Dick's eldest son. He is named after my father, Lorenzo Farino, who had a restaurant on the university campus called "Lorenzo's."

There are not many things hotter than working in the kitchen of a restaurant. Working in the kitchen of a real Italian restaurant with plenty of boiling pasta and bubbling spaghetti sauce is not easy work in any weather. It would surprise you to know that most people do not know how to cook pasta. I might share the secret to perfect pasta and the best spaghetti sauce recipe some day.

Lorenzo's kitchen. My brothers Lawrence and Dick are in the middle

Instead of spaghetti sauce I will share another one of my favorite recipes from my cookbook, Culinary Innovations. This Bundt Orange Jell-O Mold recipe is made with orange sherbet and is very simple and refreshing. This recipe can be found on page 84 of my cookbook.

Bundt Orange Jell-O Mold
For Party Entertaining

3 Packages (6 oz) Orange Jell-O
3 Pints Orange Sherbet
3 Cans (11 oz) Mandarin Oranges
or Fresh Mandarin Oranges
6 Cups Boiling Water

•Using a 4-6 quart pan, bring water to a boil
•Add Jell-O and mix well
•Next add sherbet, blending until smooth
•Add drained orange sections and mix well
•Grease bundt cake pan and ladle ingredients into pan

Refrigerate over night
Turn out onto cake dish

Thank you to Karin Elizabeth who was kind enough to share her Mandarin Orange photo with us.

Editor's Note: She's an excellent photographer, follow her link and check out her photostream

A Soldier's Grave, A Poem In Memory of the USS Measure And All Who Have Served This Country

2010-08-03T15:29:00.011-05:00

Clarence Frances Olson

I especially dedicate this poem to those who served aboard the USS Measure.

I know of only two from the WW II minesweeper who are still living. One is my husband, Clarence, and the other is Martin Feinman, who resides in New York City in the summer and Boca Raton in the winter. Marty was a radarman and Clarence was a signalman.

Clarence was on the Measure in the Aleutian Islands when the ship was given to the Russians. He fell into the icy water and says he survived because of his many layers of clothing. He loves to tell how the other sailors were surprised to see him pop back out of the water half frozen.

Germany surrendered and the Russian sailors and our boys had a wild time with the ship's beer supply when she was leased to the Soviets.

The USS Measure from our WWII photo album

The Measure was renamed T-273 by the Russians, and according to Wikipedia, converted to a naval trawler and renamed the Buran. She was purchased in 1956 and was part of the Soviet Navy until 1963, according to Naval History and Heritage Command. There is a ship called Buran listed as part of the Baltic fleet in 1966, according to Haze Gray & Underway.

If anyone can tell us more about the USS Measure, my husband and I would love to hear from you.

Clarence and his sister Sara

A Soldier's Grave

I paused beside a soldier's grave today,

the greedy weeds engulfed the small, white cross.

They coiled their winding, tangled, twisted way,

erasing he, whose name had been embossed.

I brushed the ground that housed the silent tomb,
the hollowed pit then seemed to say to me,
"There sleeps within this dismal, dungeoned hold,
a lad who died to keep all mankind free."

Like streams in Dante's Hell, my blood ran cold,
then once again the haunting cry exclaimed,
"This body that I hug to me knew fear,
and felt and saw the most atrocious pain."

Men drowning in a sea of crimson blood,
the pleading prayers of youngsters nearing death.
Yet fearlessly he challenged Satan's plan,
then reached Elysium Fields with his last breath.

The ranting ceased and silence took its reign,
A darkness grew and wrapped the grave in dew.
The tears that washed my cheeks were wiped away,
I knelt and kissed the simple cross "Adieu."

Clarence is very much with us today, although not quite this skinny

There will be more photos when the scanner we ordered from the Office Depot arrives