Tuesday, October 11, 2011

New Halloween Inflatables

Our yard says Happy Halloween!
our new inflatables

the ghost goes down into the pumpkin...

and then pops back up! He's a big hit with the kids in the neighborhood.

Monday, October 10, 2011

New Book about President Garfield

I am really enjoying reading this new biography of President James A. Garfield. There's so much I am finding out I didn't know about the time period (1880s). For example, the White House was considered the People's House and anyone could walk in with the expectation of speaking with the President. Wow.

Learn more here:
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

The book's description from amazon:
James A. Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back.
But the shot didn’t kill Garfield. The drama of what hap­pened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in tur­moil. The unhinged assassin’s half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power—over his administration, over the nation’s future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. As his con­dition worsened, Garfield received help: Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of finding the bullet.
Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand alongside The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman as a classic of narrative history.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Adapted from this recipe for Fancy Shmancy Krispies (which is also the source of the photo below).

5 Tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 10.5-ounce bag of mini marshmallows
1 1/4 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice
6 cups of rice krispies

Prepare a 13"x9" pan by spraying the bottom and sides with non-stick cooking spray. I used butter-flavored spray.

In a large pot with a heavy bottom, melt the butter and continue to cook it until it browns. Stir regularly and be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the pot to evenly brown all the milk solids in the butter.

When the butter is nicely browned and smells nutty, turn the heat down and add the marshmallows, stirring to help them melt. When they start to melt, add the pumpkin pie spice. Once the marshmallows are fully incorporated into the butter and spice, remove the pot from the heat, add the cereal and stir to combine fully. Quickly move the contents of the pot to the prepared 13"x9" pan. I spray one hand with non-stick cooking spray and use that hand to gently press the krispie treats evenly into the pan.

Let cool then cut into squares.
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