A New Year of Happiness, page 2  (December 2002  Number 3)

  




Rafting the Pigeon River, 18 July 2002

 News from Us
JULY- GATLINGBURG, TENNESSEE
Family Reunion 2002
When Dad & Mom asked the children where we should have this year's reunion, Lisa excitedly suggested Gatlinburg, which is where she and Steve had their honeymoon in 1995. Thus, we rented a three-bedroom vacation home for a week in July in this resort town at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The family consisted of eight adults and one child: Dad & Mom (Eugene & Alice), Lisa, Steve & Shawn, Vernon & Joan, and Grace & Vince.

We spent time in a variety of ways by hiking the Smoky Mountains, walking along the main town road, shopping, playing miniature golf, and playing pool at our vacation house. However, one of the memorable highlights had to be rafting the Pigeon River. Although we had to leave Dad, Mom, and Shawn behind, the rest of us mustered up courage to ride the Class IV rapids.  There were other rafters and a couple of canoes that were on the river at the same time but no one had as much fun and fear as we did. Besides having water fights with neighboring rafters, Vince was thrown off the raft when we hit a major rapid and hit his back on a big slap of rock.  Little did we know that when our guide was trying a trick to make our rafting more exciting, our raft flipped over and all of us were thrown into the water.  Joan and Grace were under the raft for quite a while and some of us must have thought that was the end of us! Fortunately we all survived relatively unscathed.

We spent evenings playing games and talking, even entertained a few friends--the Wangs and the Jenssens. We enjoyed eating Mom's cooking, just like when we were kids. Unfortunately, as good times are, the week went by quickly and we said our goodbyes. Fortunately, our next reunion has been planned--Hawaii for Vernon & Joan's wedding in July next year.

As we children are grown and are having families of our own, we treasure much more the times we can spend together. The fact that we now only have one week a year to be together as an entire family makes the value of the time we spend together much more precious.

 

RECIPE CORNER


Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Why not make your own pumpkin pie? Most ready-made pumpkin pies are overly sweet and rich to our taste. In addition, there is nothing as satifsying as knowing that you made your own pumpkin pie! For the holiday season, we made a pumpkin pie from scratch, using freshly cooked pumpkin! In our opinion, it's lighter and less sweet--just better overall.

Crust
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, well chilled
Approximately 3 Tbs cold water

Filling
1 sugar pumpkin (5-6 pounds)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar (more if desired)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp pumpkin spices
Measure flour and salt into a mixing bowl.  Cut butter into 1/4-inch cubes and add to flour mixture. Quickly rub butter into the flour to make a dry, crumbly mixture. Sprinkle water over mixture.Using a fork, rapidly stir dough until it gathers into clumps. Add more water if needed to hold dough together. Gently form into a disk. Cover tightly and allow to rest for 15 minutes to 1 hour, refrigerated.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Meanwhile, wash and cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds, place in a pan, shell side up.  Bake for one hour or until tender, exudes liquid and the shell starts to sag. Scrape pulp from shell and puree with a fork. Measure 2 cups of puree for pie. (If puree is too watery, set puree in a collander or sieve to drip for 15 minutes.)

Place dough on floured surfacec and roll from center out. Roll the dough to about 2 inches larger than a 9 inch pan. Loosen the pastry, fold in half, lift and unfold into the pan. Press it into place, trim off excess dough and crimp edges.  

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Lightly beat eggs in a mixing bowl. Add the puree and remaining ingredients and stir to blend. Pour into the dough-lined pan. Bake 15 minutes at 425 F then reduece heat to 350 F and bake and additional 45 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

 

 

AUGUST-  MADISON, WISCONSIN

Two Weeks in Dairyland


We drove past this gorgeous field of hay and flowers along the road in Port Wing, 
Northern Wisconsin, near to the coast of Lake Superior (7Aug2002)

If it were not for the fact that Vincent's work took him to Wisconsin, we would not have considered visiting the state on our own for vacation. After all, we didn't know much about Wisconsin other than it was a major producer of cheese and the home for the Green Bay Packers football team. However, we discovered much more than we ever thought we would! A day after Vincent arrived in Madison, I flew up from Atlanta to meet him, where we spent a delightful two weeks.

While Vince was working, I had the joy of visiting Madison on foot and by bus.   Located on an isthmus between two lakes,  it's small enough to feel like a community, yet large enough to enjoy many conveniences of a city, such as a variety of ethnic restaurants and cultural events.  Every Saturday a farmer's market is held in the center of the city, surrounding the State Capitol building. The University of Wisconsin is just steps away, adding to the flavor of the city.

Part of Vincent's assignment also took him up to Northern Wisconsin, where he and a medical student conducted some interviews in the rural communities. We had the privilege of riding a fishing boat on Lake Superior and visiting local communities such as Chetek, Port Wing, and Brule. We even "strayed" across the Minnesota border to Duluth, when we wanted the feel of a larger town. The weather was perfect in mid-August; however, I wouldn't think too much about hanging around this area during February!

 

<<Prev page

Back to contents

Next page>>