Whether you visit the Shoe House or just want to have some Mother Goose fun, try this Shoe Cake recipe. See a diagram at
http://www.alphabet-soup.net/goose/oldwomancake.html
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a basic yellow cake recipe (mix or your own) as directed except use 2 tablespoons less water. Pour batter into two greased and floured loaf pans, 9x5x3 inches. Bake 35-40 minutes. Cool.
Place one loaf on serving plate; stand second loaf upright against horizontal loaf as shown below. Round corners of horizontal loaf to resemble toe of shoe. Cut corners of upright loaf to form peak of roof.
Frost with favorite frosting; tint desired color before frosting.
To decorate, use pillow mints or chocolate wafers for roof; red cinnamon candies or M&M's for eyelets of shoe; red or black shoestring licorice for shoelace; milk chocolate squares or pillow mints for the door and windows.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Mother Goose
The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe. One of my favorite nursery rhymes from childhood. My child didn't know this rhyme when I first suggested a trip to the Shoe House in Hellam, PA (http://www.shoehouse.us/). I dug out one of my Mother Goose books and read the rhyme to him. Like myself, he was curious of how you could live in a shoe and why did that old woman have all those children. Those were the two things that I thought about most as a child after hearing this rhyme. After some research on the internet I found this short story by L. Frank Baum.
The Woman Who Lived In A Shoe
There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children
She didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth
Without any bread,
And whipped them all soundly
And sent them to bed.
A long time ago there lived a woman who had four daughters, and these in time grew up and married and went to live in different parts of the country. And the woman, after that, lived all alone, and said to herself, "I have done my duty to the world, and now shall rest quietly for the balance of my life. When one has raised a family of four children and has married them all happily, she is surely entitled to pass her remaining days in peace and comfort."
She lived in a peculiar little house, that looked something like this picture.
It was not like most of the houses you see, but the old woman had it built herself, and liked it, and so it did not matter to her how odd it was. It stood upon the top of a little hill, and there was a garden at the back and a pretty green lawn in front, with white gravel paths and many beds of bright colored flowers.
The old woman was very happy and contented there until one day she received a letter saying that her daughter Hannah was dead and had sent her family of five children to their grandmother to be taken care of.
This misfortune ruined all the old woman's dreams of quiet; but the next day the children arrived--three boys and two girls--and she made the best of it and gave them the beds her own daughters had once occupied, and her own cot as well; and she made a bed for herself on the parlor sofa.
The youngsters were like all other children, and got into mischief once in awhile; but the old woman had much experience with children and managed to keep them in order very well, while they quickly learned to obey her, and generally did as they were bid.
But scarcely had she succeeded in getting them settled in their new home when Margaret, another of her daughters, died, and sent four more children to her mother to be taken care of.
The old woman scarcely knew where to keep this new flock that had come to her fold, for the house was already full; but she thought the matter over and finally decided she must build an addition to her house.
So she hired a carpenter and built what is called a "lean-to" at the right of her cottage, making it just big enough to accommodate the four new members of her family. When it was completed her house looked very much as it does in this picture.
She put four little cots in her new part of the house, and then she sighed contentedly, and said, "Now all the babies are taken care of and will be comfortable until they grow up." Of course it was much more difficult to manage nine small children than five; and they often led each other into mischief, so that the flower beds began to be trampled upon and the green grass to be worn under the constant tread of little feet, and the furniture to show a good many scratches and bruises.
But the old woman continued to look after them, as well as she was able, until Sarah, her third daughter, also died, and three more children were sent to their grandmother to be brought up.
The old woman was nearly distracted when she heard of this new addition to her family, but she did not give way to despair. She sent for the carpenter again, and had him build another addition to her house, as the picture shows.
Then she put three new cots in the new part for the babies to sleep in, and when they arrived they were just as cozy and comfortable as peas in a pod.
The grandmother was a lively old woman for one of her years, but she found her time now fully occupied in cooking the meals for her twelve small grandchildren, and mending their clothes, and washing their faces, and undressing them at night and dressing them in the morning. There was just a dozen of babies now, and when you consider they were about the same age you will realize what a large family the old woman had, and how fully her time was occupied in caring for them all.
And now, to make the matter worse, her fourth daughter, who had been named Abigail, suddenly took sick and died, and she also had four small children that must be cared for in some way.
The old woman, having taken the other twelve, could not well refuse to adopt these little orphans also.
"I may as well have sixteen as a dozen," she said, with a sigh; "they will drive me crazy some day, anyhow, so a few more will not matter at all!"
Once more she sent for the carpenter, and bade him build a third addition to the house; and when it was completed she added four more cots to the dozen that were already in use. The house presented a very queer appearance now, but she did not mind that so long as the babies were comfortable.
"I shall not have to build again," she said; "and that is one satisfaction. I have now no more daughters to die and leave me their children, and therefore I must make up my mind to do the best I can with the sixteen that have already been inflicted upon me in my old age."
It was not long before all the grass about the house was trodden down, and the white gravel of the walks all thrown at the birds, and the flower beds trampled into shapeless masses by thirty-two little feet that ran about from morn till night. But the old woman did not complain at this; her time was too much taken up with the babies for her to miss the grass and the flowers.
It cost so much money to clothe them that she decided to dress them all alike, so that they looked like the children of a regular orphan asylum. And it cost so much to feed them that she was obliged to give them the plainest food; so there was bread-and-milk for breakfast and milk-and-bread for dinner and bread-and-broth for supper. But it was a good and wholesome diet, and the children thrived and grew fat upon it.
One day a stranger came along the road, and when he saw the old woman's house he began to laugh.
"What are you laughing at, sir?" asked the grandmother, who was sitting upon her doorsteps engaged in mending sixteen pairs of stockings.
"At your house," the stranger replied; "it looks for all the world like a big shoe!"
"A shoe!" she said, in surprise.
"Why, yes. The chimneys are shoe-straps, and the steps are the heel, and all those additions make the foot of the shoe."
"Never mind," said the woman; "it may be a shoe, but it is full of babies, and that makes it differ from most other shoes."
But the Stranger went on to the village and told all he met that he had seen an old woman who lived in a shoe; and soon people came from all parts of the country to look at the queer house, and they usually went away laughing.
The old woman did not mind this at all; she was too busy to be angry. Some of the children were always getting bumped heads or bruised shins, or falling down and hurting themselves, and these had to be comforted. And some were naughty and had to be whipped; and some were dirty and had to be washed; and some were good and had to be kissed. It was "Gran'ma, do this!" and "Gran'ma, do that!" from morning to night, so that the poor grandmother was nearly distracted. The only peace she ever got was when they were all safely tucked in their little cots and were sound asleep; for then, at least, she was free from worry and had a chance to gather her scattered wits.
"There are so many children," she said one day to the baker-man, "that I often really don't know what to do!"
"If they were mine, ma'am," he replied, "I 'd send them to the poor-house, or else they 'd send me to the madhouse."
Some of the children heard him say this, and they resolved to play him a trick in return for his ill-natured speech.
The baker-man came every day to the shoe-house, and brought two great baskets of bread in his arms for the children to eat with their milk and their broth.
So one day, when the old woman had gone to the town to buy shoes, the children all painted their faces, to look as Indians do when they are on the warpath; and they caught the roosters and the turkey-cock and pulled feathers from their tails to stick in their hair. And then the boys made wooden tomahawks for the girls and bows-and-arrows for their own use, and then all sixteen went out and hid in the bushes near the top of the hill.
By and by the baker-man came slowly up the path with a basket of bread on either arm; and just as he reached the bushes there sounded in his ears a most unearthly war-whoop. Then a flight of arrows came from the bushes, and although they were blunt and could do him no harm they rattled all over his body; and one hit his nose, and another his chin, while several stuck fast in the loaves of bread.
Altogether, the baker-man was terribly frightened; and when all the sixteen small Indians rushed from the bushes and flourished their tomahawks, he took to his heels and ran down the hill as fast as he could go!
When the grandmother returned she asked,
"Where is the bread for your supper?"
The children looked at one another in surprise, for they had forgotten all about the bread. And then one of them confessed, and told her the whole story of how they had frightened the baker-man for saying he would send them to the poor-house.
"You are sixteen very naughty children!" exclaimed the old woman; "and for punishment you must eat your broth without any bread, and afterwards each one shall have a sound whipping and be sent to bed."
Then all the children began to cry at once, and there was such an uproar that their grandmother had to put cotton in her ears that she might not lose her hearing.
But she kept her promise, and made them eat their broth without any bread; for, indeed, there was no bread to give them.
Then she stood them in a row and undressed them, and as she put the nightdress on each one she gave it a sound whipping and sent it to bed.
They cried some, of course, but they knew very well they deserved the punishment, and it was not long before all of them were sound asleep.
They took care not to play any more tricks on the baker-man, and as they grew older they were naturally much better behaved.
Before many years the boys were old enough to work for the neighboring farmers, and that made the woman's family a good deal smaller. And then the girls grew up and married, and found homes of their own, so that all the children were in time well provided for.
But not one of them forgot the kind grandmother who had taken such good care of them, and often they tell their children of the days when they lived with the old woman in a shoe and frightened the baker-man almost into fits with their wooden tomahawks.
This short story explained a lot to me. I decided we had to go to the Shoe House and we asked some friends to go with us. So on a hot, humid Wednesday we packed our children into the parental SUV and set out for Hellam to tour and see the Shoe House where the old woman and all the children lived. I was amazed At the Shoe House. Five stories high, three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and two and half baths. I was disappointed with the gift shop. It was very small and didn't have a great selection of souvenirs. We did take a lot of pictures and remarked about the Shoe Dog House in the back yard. We found out it was originally built with the house and was home to the owner's Great Dane back in 1948. The Shoe House is in very good condition and is well maintained. I highly recommend a visit to the Shoe House, but don't plan a whole day around it. We probably spent an hour there. Once you see the house and take the tour there really isn't anything else to do.
The Woman Who Lived In A Shoe
There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children
She didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth
Without any bread,
And whipped them all soundly
And sent them to bed.
A long time ago there lived a woman who had four daughters, and these in time grew up and married and went to live in different parts of the country. And the woman, after that, lived all alone, and said to herself, "I have done my duty to the world, and now shall rest quietly for the balance of my life. When one has raised a family of four children and has married them all happily, she is surely entitled to pass her remaining days in peace and comfort."
She lived in a peculiar little house, that looked something like this picture.
It was not like most of the houses you see, but the old woman had it built herself, and liked it, and so it did not matter to her how odd it was. It stood upon the top of a little hill, and there was a garden at the back and a pretty green lawn in front, with white gravel paths and many beds of bright colored flowers.
The old woman was very happy and contented there until one day she received a letter saying that her daughter Hannah was dead and had sent her family of five children to their grandmother to be taken care of.
This misfortune ruined all the old woman's dreams of quiet; but the next day the children arrived--three boys and two girls--and she made the best of it and gave them the beds her own daughters had once occupied, and her own cot as well; and she made a bed for herself on the parlor sofa.
The youngsters were like all other children, and got into mischief once in awhile; but the old woman had much experience with children and managed to keep them in order very well, while they quickly learned to obey her, and generally did as they were bid.
But scarcely had she succeeded in getting them settled in their new home when Margaret, another of her daughters, died, and sent four more children to her mother to be taken care of.
The old woman scarcely knew where to keep this new flock that had come to her fold, for the house was already full; but she thought the matter over and finally decided she must build an addition to her house.
So she hired a carpenter and built what is called a "lean-to" at the right of her cottage, making it just big enough to accommodate the four new members of her family. When it was completed her house looked very much as it does in this picture.
She put four little cots in her new part of the house, and then she sighed contentedly, and said, "Now all the babies are taken care of and will be comfortable until they grow up." Of course it was much more difficult to manage nine small children than five; and they often led each other into mischief, so that the flower beds began to be trampled upon and the green grass to be worn under the constant tread of little feet, and the furniture to show a good many scratches and bruises.
But the old woman continued to look after them, as well as she was able, until Sarah, her third daughter, also died, and three more children were sent to their grandmother to be brought up.
The old woman was nearly distracted when she heard of this new addition to her family, but she did not give way to despair. She sent for the carpenter again, and had him build another addition to her house, as the picture shows.
Then she put three new cots in the new part for the babies to sleep in, and when they arrived they were just as cozy and comfortable as peas in a pod.
The grandmother was a lively old woman for one of her years, but she found her time now fully occupied in cooking the meals for her twelve small grandchildren, and mending their clothes, and washing their faces, and undressing them at night and dressing them in the morning. There was just a dozen of babies now, and when you consider they were about the same age you will realize what a large family the old woman had, and how fully her time was occupied in caring for them all.
And now, to make the matter worse, her fourth daughter, who had been named Abigail, suddenly took sick and died, and she also had four small children that must be cared for in some way.
The old woman, having taken the other twelve, could not well refuse to adopt these little orphans also.
"I may as well have sixteen as a dozen," she said, with a sigh; "they will drive me crazy some day, anyhow, so a few more will not matter at all!"
Once more she sent for the carpenter, and bade him build a third addition to the house; and when it was completed she added four more cots to the dozen that were already in use. The house presented a very queer appearance now, but she did not mind that so long as the babies were comfortable.
"I shall not have to build again," she said; "and that is one satisfaction. I have now no more daughters to die and leave me their children, and therefore I must make up my mind to do the best I can with the sixteen that have already been inflicted upon me in my old age."
It was not long before all the grass about the house was trodden down, and the white gravel of the walks all thrown at the birds, and the flower beds trampled into shapeless masses by thirty-two little feet that ran about from morn till night. But the old woman did not complain at this; her time was too much taken up with the babies for her to miss the grass and the flowers.
It cost so much money to clothe them that she decided to dress them all alike, so that they looked like the children of a regular orphan asylum. And it cost so much to feed them that she was obliged to give them the plainest food; so there was bread-and-milk for breakfast and milk-and-bread for dinner and bread-and-broth for supper. But it was a good and wholesome diet, and the children thrived and grew fat upon it.
One day a stranger came along the road, and when he saw the old woman's house he began to laugh.
"What are you laughing at, sir?" asked the grandmother, who was sitting upon her doorsteps engaged in mending sixteen pairs of stockings.
"At your house," the stranger replied; "it looks for all the world like a big shoe!"
"A shoe!" she said, in surprise.
"Why, yes. The chimneys are shoe-straps, and the steps are the heel, and all those additions make the foot of the shoe."
"Never mind," said the woman; "it may be a shoe, but it is full of babies, and that makes it differ from most other shoes."
But the Stranger went on to the village and told all he met that he had seen an old woman who lived in a shoe; and soon people came from all parts of the country to look at the queer house, and they usually went away laughing.
The old woman did not mind this at all; she was too busy to be angry. Some of the children were always getting bumped heads or bruised shins, or falling down and hurting themselves, and these had to be comforted. And some were naughty and had to be whipped; and some were dirty and had to be washed; and some were good and had to be kissed. It was "Gran'ma, do this!" and "Gran'ma, do that!" from morning to night, so that the poor grandmother was nearly distracted. The only peace she ever got was when they were all safely tucked in their little cots and were sound asleep; for then, at least, she was free from worry and had a chance to gather her scattered wits.
"There are so many children," she said one day to the baker-man, "that I often really don't know what to do!"
"If they were mine, ma'am," he replied, "I 'd send them to the poor-house, or else they 'd send me to the madhouse."
Some of the children heard him say this, and they resolved to play him a trick in return for his ill-natured speech.
The baker-man came every day to the shoe-house, and brought two great baskets of bread in his arms for the children to eat with their milk and their broth.
So one day, when the old woman had gone to the town to buy shoes, the children all painted their faces, to look as Indians do when they are on the warpath; and they caught the roosters and the turkey-cock and pulled feathers from their tails to stick in their hair. And then the boys made wooden tomahawks for the girls and bows-and-arrows for their own use, and then all sixteen went out and hid in the bushes near the top of the hill.
By and by the baker-man came slowly up the path with a basket of bread on either arm; and just as he reached the bushes there sounded in his ears a most unearthly war-whoop. Then a flight of arrows came from the bushes, and although they were blunt and could do him no harm they rattled all over his body; and one hit his nose, and another his chin, while several stuck fast in the loaves of bread.
Altogether, the baker-man was terribly frightened; and when all the sixteen small Indians rushed from the bushes and flourished their tomahawks, he took to his heels and ran down the hill as fast as he could go!
When the grandmother returned she asked,
"Where is the bread for your supper?"
The children looked at one another in surprise, for they had forgotten all about the bread. And then one of them confessed, and told her the whole story of how they had frightened the baker-man for saying he would send them to the poor-house.
"You are sixteen very naughty children!" exclaimed the old woman; "and for punishment you must eat your broth without any bread, and afterwards each one shall have a sound whipping and be sent to bed."
Then all the children began to cry at once, and there was such an uproar that their grandmother had to put cotton in her ears that she might not lose her hearing.
But she kept her promise, and made them eat their broth without any bread; for, indeed, there was no bread to give them.
Then she stood them in a row and undressed them, and as she put the nightdress on each one she gave it a sound whipping and sent it to bed.
They cried some, of course, but they knew very well they deserved the punishment, and it was not long before all of them were sound asleep.
They took care not to play any more tricks on the baker-man, and as they grew older they were naturally much better behaved.
Before many years the boys were old enough to work for the neighboring farmers, and that made the woman's family a good deal smaller. And then the girls grew up and married, and found homes of their own, so that all the children were in time well provided for.
But not one of them forgot the kind grandmother who had taken such good care of them, and often they tell their children of the days when they lived with the old woman in a shoe and frightened the baker-man almost into fits with their wooden tomahawks.
This short story explained a lot to me. I decided we had to go to the Shoe House and we asked some friends to go with us. So on a hot, humid Wednesday we packed our children into the parental SUV and set out for Hellam to tour and see the Shoe House where the old woman and all the children lived. I was amazed At the Shoe House. Five stories high, three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and two and half baths. I was disappointed with the gift shop. It was very small and didn't have a great selection of souvenirs. We did take a lot of pictures and remarked about the Shoe Dog House in the back yard. We found out it was originally built with the house and was home to the owner's Great Dane back in 1948. The Shoe House is in very good condition and is well maintained. I highly recommend a visit to the Shoe House, but don't plan a whole day around it. We probably spent an hour there. Once you see the house and take the tour there really isn't anything else to do.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Chincoteague Pot Pie
From the Storybook Cookbook
Ingredients
Parsley
1 carrot
celery leaves
(the above is optional)
1 two pound chicken cut into pieces
salt
pepper
2 cups sifted flower
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup water
Directions
Fill a large kettle about 3/4 full with warm water and put it on the stove. Turn the heat to high.
*Tie together a sprig of parsley, a slice of carrot and a few celery leaves with string and add to the water. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil.
While waiting for the water to boil, sprinkle the chicken pieces on both sides with salt and pepper.
When the water is boiling, lift the cover carefully, turning the lid away from you so that the steam will not hit your face. Put the cover down on the edge of the stove. Drop the chicken pieces in very carefully so as not to splash the water. Put the cover back on, turn the heat down to medium, and cook the chicken for 30 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, make the dumplings. Presift the flour and then sift the measured flour with the baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt into a medium-sized bowl. Add the shortening. Rub the flour and the shortening lightly through your fingers until they are well-mixed--the crumbs should be the size of small peas.
Add the water gradually, cutting it into the flour with a dull knife until the dough sticks together to form a ball.
Put the dough on a well-floured breadboard. With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a large circle about 1/4-inch thick. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin or breadboard, scrape it off carefully with a dull knife and sprinkle more flour on the pin and board. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares with a dull knife.
When the chicken has cooked for 30 minutes, remove the parsley and carrot bundle. Using a spatula, drop the dumplings a few at a time into the boiling water on top of the chicken. If you put too many in the pot at once, they may stick together. Cook in the uncovered pot for 10 minutes; then cover them and cook 10 minutes longer. When done, put the dumplings and the chicken on the plate and serve.
Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients
Parsley
1 carrot
celery leaves
(the above is optional)
1 two pound chicken cut into pieces
salt
pepper
2 cups sifted flower
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup water
Directions
Fill a large kettle about 3/4 full with warm water and put it on the stove. Turn the heat to high.
*Tie together a sprig of parsley, a slice of carrot and a few celery leaves with string and add to the water. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil.
While waiting for the water to boil, sprinkle the chicken pieces on both sides with salt and pepper.
When the water is boiling, lift the cover carefully, turning the lid away from you so that the steam will not hit your face. Put the cover down on the edge of the stove. Drop the chicken pieces in very carefully so as not to splash the water. Put the cover back on, turn the heat down to medium, and cook the chicken for 30 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, make the dumplings. Presift the flour and then sift the measured flour with the baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt into a medium-sized bowl. Add the shortening. Rub the flour and the shortening lightly through your fingers until they are well-mixed--the crumbs should be the size of small peas.
Add the water gradually, cutting it into the flour with a dull knife until the dough sticks together to form a ball.
Put the dough on a well-floured breadboard. With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a large circle about 1/4-inch thick. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin or breadboard, scrape it off carefully with a dull knife and sprinkle more flour on the pin and board. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares with a dull knife.
When the chicken has cooked for 30 minutes, remove the parsley and carrot bundle. Using a spatula, drop the dumplings a few at a time into the boiling water on top of the chicken. If you put too many in the pot at once, they may stick together. Cook in the uncovered pot for 10 minutes; then cover them and cook 10 minutes longer. When done, put the dumplings and the chicken on the plate and serve.
Makes 4 servings.
Monday, July 12, 2010
First Storybook Travel
I got the idea for this blog when I read an article from Wonder Time magazine (no longer in print)a few years ago. The article was about how a mother took her children to the setting of one of their favorite storybooks and they re-created some of the fun and imagination from the book. I thought it was a great idea to take your child to an actual place from a book. So last summer (2009) I made reservations at Assateague National Seashore in Maryland and checked Misty of Chincoteague out of our local library. The book is recommended for ages 9 - 12. My child is a little younger than the recommended reading age, so we took turns reading it. The main characters in the book are Paul and Maureen who live in Chincoteague, VA. Paul and Maureen want nothing more than to buy the pony Misty, who is Phantom's filly. In the book you learn how the horses came to live on Assateague and how once a year the horses are rounded up and auctioned off by the Chincoteague Fire Dept. Paul and Maureen work very hard to earn the money to buy Misty. What amazed me was that this book was written in 1946 by Marguerite Henry and there is still so much that is the same as the book. Assateauge is divided by Maryland and Virginia and both of them have different ideas of what to do with the horses that roam free on the island (http://www.nps.gov/asis/naturescience/horses.htm). We camped in a tent on the Maryland end of Assateague in the "tent only sites". It was a great area on the sand and just over the dunes from the beach. The "tent only sites" are fenced off so the horses can't get in to steal your food (which they've been known to do). We saw the horses everyday we were there. The morning and evening were the best times for horse spotting, although it wasn't difficult to find them. We would just walk out to the fence and there they were. Since feeding or trying to pet these wild horses is illegal, we were happy just to watch them roam about eating the grass. In the book, Maureen and Paul earn money by catching and selling crabs, oysters and clams . You can sign up at the visitors center in Assateague, MD to go clamming and crabbing in the bay and see how it was for Paul and Maureen to earn their money. Also in the book they have Chincoteague Pot Pie on Pony Penning Day. I found the recipe for this dish and we had it for dinner one evening after we got home from our "storybook travel". Following is the recipe.
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