How To Make Salt from Ocean Water

I've had a few requests for how to turn sea water into salt, so here is how I do it.

Get a big stock pot, or several, and retrieve sea water in them. We usually make this a fun outing on golf cart. After getting back home with the filled pots, I strain the water through several coffee filters placed inside a sieve or strainer. This will get out any sand or sea creature parts that may be in the water. Yuck!

After that's done, place the cleaned water back in the stock pots and boil down until it evaporates. This will take several hours. When the water starts getting low, about half an inch or so, keep a close eye on it as this last bit tends to evaporate quickly leaving the salt in the bottom. The salt will appear as if by magic. One minute there's water and the next there's salt! Be careful not to let it scorch. When most of the water is gone, spread the damp salt onto a cookie sheet or other flat pan and place in a very low temp oven to dry out. Stir every fifteen minutes or so until the water is cooked out.

Put salt in glass jars to store and enjoy using your sea salt! It'll taste much saltier than table salt. I really love the taste!

Are Cheese Straws a Southern Thing?

I mentioned making Cheese Straws in a previous post, and several of you said you'd never heard of them. Here's the recipe from our church cookbook. I served them yesterday at my book group meeting.

Disclaimer: I didn't actually make these in the photo. Our Farmer's Market had them for sale, and I was on a time crunch this week, so I bought some. That's why they're in those squiggly shapes. I don't have the gadget needed to make them in this shape. When I make mine, I make round ones about the size of half dollars.

CHEESE STRAWS

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. red pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients. Roll into 1-inch balls, place on ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten. Bake for 8-12 minutes until lightly browned.

So what about it ya'll? Are Cheese Straws a 'Southern' thing?

Goodbye Teacup Header

As much as I loved my tea cup header, I felt that it was time for spring to show up, so I changed my header photo to apple blossoms. I took this image last year in our fruit orchard. This year the trees have already bloomed and leafed out. We've had an early spring. Good thing we didn't get a late killing frost. It would have wiped out all fruit for this year.

We have several varieties of apples and peaches, a fig tree, two pear trees, a plum tree (maybe two), and a row of blueberry bushes. And there's raspberries next to the blueberries.

Around the property we also have muscadine grapes, persimmons, blackberries, crabapples, a mulberry tree, and lots of pecan trees. We are blessed to live in a place where the growing season is almost year round. I'll try to remember that this summer when it's 102 degrees in the shade and 100% humidity!

Fall Cooking

The only time I really, really enjoy cooking is in the fall. I love using cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

I FINALLY made gingerbread biscotti. It's been on my project list for about two years. I think I was a little afraid of it, but it was easy. They were a little too cakey, though. Next time I'll add the dark brown sugar the recipe called for (I used light brown) and a little more brown sugar.

The ginger cookies are a tried and true staple at our house. They're like ginger snaps only chewy. Amazing with a cold glass of milk when they're warm from the oven.

Tomorrow morning I'm making prune bread. I know that sounds terrible but it's wonderfully moist and taste very 'fallish'. I'll be taking a loaf with me when I go help out another new mom of twins, no not my daughter. A family friend had a girl and boy about four months ago. Her husband is out of town for a few weeks so I'm staying with the babes while she does a Wal-Mart run.

Sunday night I stayed with our twins so Laurel could go to church. They pretty much cried and ate the whole time. Holding two at the same time is quite a feat. Let's just say I was glad when their mama got home!

Goodbye to the Pears

We had a fun morning picking the last of the pears. The deer have helped themselves to the ones on the lower branches, so in order to get the high ones, I drove my pickup truck under the tree, stood on the top, and picked pears.

I put Darcie up high with a broom and had her gently knock them down. Since Tyler is 6'3", I had him on top of the truck picking and dropping them down to me on the ground.

I've made a pear crisp for breakfast two different mornings. Last night for supper we had stewed pears. They're almost like eating candy they're so sweet.

I've frozen some and canned some. The pears are gone. So is my guilt about putting them up before they rot. Some did rot, but I put up a lot of them which is better than I usually do!

Travels in South Carolina

Here are more pics from last weekend when we attended a horse show where our youngest daughter was showing.

On the way back, I found this little country store where I just had to stop. Isn't it the cutest thing? I bought some benne (sesame) seed wafers, fried peanuts in the shell, and a divinity log. I rarely buy anything home canned as I can do that myself. They had rows and rows of all kinds of preserves, jellies, and syrups. I can make divinity, too but don't usually go to the trouble; except around Christmas. And I do love me some divinity. It's aptly named, for sure.

I love the symmetry of the jars and rows. It reminded me of a little store I found in Stamfort, England. This store looked very British. I made use of their washroom as I had about a two-hour trip home. I really just wanted to go in there and look. It didn't disappoint.

Have ya'll tried she-crab soup? It's delicious. I make that, too, only I leave out the crab row, so I guess mine is he-crab soup?

Click on the first photo and you'll see that the address on the mailbox is 1330 King's Highway. I love that address, especially since it was a one-lane paved lane leading into the country. South Carolina is rich in history going back over 300 years. Not old by European standards, but certainly old by American ones.

Around the Breakfast Table

One of the highlights of visiting my parents is the country breakfast Mama always cooks; sawmill gravy and biscuits, bacon, sausage, milk, and homemade jams and jellies.

This is us gathered around the table. I had my camera on a tripod with a four second timer. I had to push the button and run sit down before the shutter clicked. Mama leaned back too far, so I didn't get much of her.

We're heading up there tomorrow for one more weekend of rafting. All Darcie's schoolbooks are ordered, so I'm taking a long weekend to relax before school starts. I'll work on scheduling as we drive up. I've also got an Anita Shreve book to finish. I use the five hour trip to read, plan, and sleep.

So, until next week...have a good weekend.

The Shrimp Shack

This tiny restaurant is highly recommended by Pat Conroy in his cookbook. He says their shrimp burgers are so good that he used to dream about them while living in Rome, Italy.

He and his daughter stop and get one as soon as they come back to Fripp. Side note: We didn't see him last week while on Fripp, and it wasn't for lack of looking. Boo Hoo.

So after buying groceries on Tuesday, we stopped to see if we agreed with Pat and his assessment of the famous Shrimp Burger. It was good but nothing to rave about. We were both a little disappointed.

Laurel had a conversation by the pool with a native islander, and he said that sometimes they're a little slimy. That was our conclusion. We must have hit a slimy Shrimp Burger day. My faith in Pat was restored. It was the cook's fault. I'll try one again next visit.

P.S. Mr. Conroy said in his cookbook that he has tried and tried to get the recipe for the Shrimp Burger, but the owner won't give it to him. I bet she'd the one in the above photo glaring at me!