Merry Christmas

Wreaths and Craft Shows

When I am not packing mixes to ship to our stores,

I am helping my friend Sherri Glezman from Outdoor Decor

make wreaths for the Christmas season.

We will both be at the West High School craft show this Saturday.

Hours are 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

You can stuff stockings with Creekside Grains mixes

and decorate your front door with a beautiful wreath!

Apples!

Our poor little apple tree tipped over during the storm last month.

We tied up the tree.

It came back to life and we have ripe,

incredible tasting apples!

I am a happy girl!

Ready for More

After filling an order last night that was being picked up today,

I saw that there were no orders hanging from the clips.

I wondered how long it would be before the clips were full again.

I did not have to wait long.

The first call this morning was from a store in the Upper Peninsula,

ready to fill her shelves again.

Back to work for me!

Time for Homemade Tomato Soup

It is time to post this recipe again. There is nothing like homemade tomato soup!
My friend Bobbie from Bobette's Beads gave us the recipe.
8 Tomatoes
1 Onion, chopped
Salt/Pepper
Heavy Cream or Half and Half

Cut tomatoes in half and put on roasting pan.
Drizzle olive oil on top of the tomatoes.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 60 minutes or until soft and browned.
Saute onions.
When both are done, put in sauce pan and add 1/4 cup water and 1 cup heavy cream or half and half. Add more or less cream to taste and salt and pepper to taste.
Use blender to combine.
Serve with Cracker Uppers and enjoy! My favorite Cracker Upper with tomato soup is Cheddar Dill.

Phone Calls

I love this time of year.

At least once per week, the phone rings and I see the caller ID.

When I answer the phone, I do not say the usual greeting.

Instead, I ask, "how many cases would you like this time?"

Deb laughs, tells me how many cases she needs and we prepare

and pack the order to ship to Tassier Sugarbush

in the Upper Peninsula.

Their maple syrup goes great with our pancakes!

Visit to the Manitou Islands

Fifty years ago, Michael said goodbye to North Manitou Island.

He had spent his childhood there. 

He never thought he would be able to return.

Yesterday, we were able to take a guided tour of North and South Manitou Islands.

The memories flooded back as he toured the homes that he stayed in as a child.

 The cottage pictured here is the "Monte Carlo."
It may be tied to Frank Lloyd Wright in “Cottage Row,” a group of early 20th century dwellings
that were built for and occupied by summer residents and visitors. 

Michael enjoyed several meals with the lumberjacks during his island stays.
After months of trial and error, Michael said "I did it!"

He had recreated the exact flavor of the original lumberjack biscuits.

To celebrate the trip, his Northwoods Lumberjack Biscuits are on sale!

Check our web site or email us for details.

Creek Breeze

For too many years (over forty), Michael Cole and I worked seven days a week,

too many hours each day.

After Michael's accident, we made a decision to try to stay out of the commercial kitchen

at least one day each weekend. 

Michael found my hammock in the basement.

It had been packed away for thirty years.

He surprised me last week and hung it next to the creek.

Tomorrow, in the heat of the day, I will be in the hammock, reading a book,

enjoying the cool breeze and soothing sounds coming from the creek.

Cherry and Blueberry Season

It is cherry and blueberry season!

Just add butter to the crunch mix.

You can put the prepared mix on top of cherry or blueberry pie filling - the easy way to bake...

or...you can put the mix on top of fresh prepared tart cherries or fresh blueberries.

Either way you choose to bake, the crunch is so easy to make and tastes so good!

Right now, the Blueberry Crunch is on sale. 

There is a limited supply, so call now! 

If you call, we can give you a better price on shipping than the web site calculates.

Hot Bread on a Cold, Rainy Day

It was a cold, rainy day, so Michael spent the afternoon beating on bread dough,

then baking in a loaf pan, the old fashioned way.

The kneading was really good therapy for his hand.

This bread is so pretty and tastes so good that I could eat an entire loaf tonight!

Minneapolis Trip

 We finally got to drive to Minneapolis in nice weather for our March Wholesale Gift Show!

 The Mackinac Bridge was beautiful, Mackinac Island was still surrounded by ice

and the Upper Peninsula had gorgeous views of ice diamonds on Lake Michigan. 

 The only difficult part of the trip was dragging luggage, the mixer, baking pans, a full cooler, and crates full of mixes up sixteen stairs to our hotel room. Michael was able to carry the light loads, so he was a big help.

We always choose the second floor because it is quieter, so I got a good workout lifting the heavy loads!

Michael's Accident

For those of you who have not heard the news, I stayed off the blog for the past seven weeks because of Michael's accident. We needed this time to work through the healing process.
On Christmas Day, while he was cutting wood on a table saw, Michael severed his left index finger, shattered the bones in his baby finger and severed the tendons in the other two fingers. His thumb was cut, but survived extreme damage.
After 2.5 hours in surgery, his childhood friend, Dr. Leslie, repaired as much as he could.
Michael's x ray tech said that table saws are the #1 hand shredder. Snow blowers are next. 
We are extremely thankful. One half inch any way and Michael would have lost all fingers and/or his hand.
Healing will be five more weeks before the fingers might be able to move on their own. Right now, the prognosis is not good for recovery. Michael will need to have two more surgeries to help straighten and strengthen the remaining fingers.

Michael is showing off his new "tool holder" that he invented and has mounted on his cast. The eraser gives him traction to turn pages, hold the shift key and deal with all kinds of things. The pencil is removed for sleeping at night.

90% of his pain is gone now. He still has little "lightning bolts" as nerve tissue is trying to regenerate. There is a lot of numbness that will probably always be there. He spends hours every day doing his exercises and is hopeful for more progress. We are dealing with PTSD but the power of prayer is winning that fight.

Playing Tourist

After setting up our display booth today for the IGES wholesale gift show in

Sevierville, Tennessee, we enjoyed beautiful weather and beautiful views

as we played tourist for a few hours.

For the next four days, we will give out hundreds of samples of

Root Beer Cookies, Dark Chocolate Cabernet Cake, Bourbon Brownies

and lots of Cracker Uppers!

Time for Apple Crisp

Our lollipop experiment worked.

We covered our trees with tarps and plastic before a heavy frost in early spring.

Our trees were saved.

We have such a bumper crop that the tops of the trees are tipping over!

Everywhere we look, we see apples!
It's apple crisp time!

Homemade Tomato Soup and Cracker Uppers

This time of year, we have an overabundance of tomatoes. Michael has canned them, I have frozen them, we devoured them in salads and bacon/lettuce/tomato sandwiches and we still have so many left.
My friend Bobbie from Bobette's Beads gave us this tomato soup recipe to use up more tomatoes. It is soooo goood! We want to freeze the leftover soup, but so far, there have been no leftovers left!
8 Tomatoes
1 Onion, chopped
Salt/Pepper
Heavy Cream or Half and Half

Cut tomatoes in half and put on roasting pan.
Drizzle olive oil on top of the tomatoes.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 60 minutes or until soft and browned.
Saute onions.
When both are done, put in sauce pan and add 1/4 cup water and 1 cup heavy cream or half and half. Add more or less cream to taste and salt and pepper to taste.
Use blender to combine.
Serve with Cracker Uppers and enjoy! My favorite Cracker Upper with tomato soup is Cheddar Dill.

Starting Line

This is the starting line for the little motor that could.

Michael beat the old record by more then 3 mph.

They have to make two runs to make the record.

The two way average was 66.433 mph.

If you think that 66 mph not that fast,
they are racing at 4200 feet above sea level in 98 degree temps.
Michael wore his twenty pounds of leather suit for over six hours in those 98 degree temps.

So far, only 19 records have been broken this week,
which makes Michael's run even more special.

He got the record!

He did it! He does not know the mph yet (tech has the numbers), but he made the record. 

There were other motorcycles in his class, and they could try again to beat his record, but he has it now!
This came after tech said he could not wear his helmet or the boots that he brought - 

rule change a few years ago that he was not aware of.

Since there is not a boot or helmet store for 120 miles, it was a frustrating day yesterday.
His friends stepped up and loaned him a pair of boots (a bit small and tight, but worth the pain)

and a helmet. He made the run and is so happy with the results.
 I am so proud and he is so relieved!

Sunrise View

 Michael's view of the sunrise from the Boat Ramp.

The Boat Ramp is the starting point to get to the race course.

This is where he greets and guides the attendees and visitors.

This faces west as the sunrise peeks onto the mountains.

Now if we can just keep him from getting sunburned.

The sunblock was not strong enough today and he already burned the back of his neck.

A different hat will help solve that problem tomorrow.

He is There

Michael made it to Bonneville yesterday afternoon.

Today was check in day and assignment day for volunteers.

Michael is a volunteer at the front gate.

He checked in hundreds of attendees and visitors from all over the world.

Several of them wanted to take pictures of his motorcycle that was in the back of his van.

He could not get them to understand that this was just one little motorcycle.

The steamliners (they go over 400 mph) are already in the pits.

I would have loved to see their reactions when they see the big guys!

Windmill and SR-71A "Blackbird"

Michael had an early morning visit to the Danish Windmill,

then took a break from driving on I-80 today
to visit the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Ashland, Nebraska.

He is in front of the SR-71A "Blackbird."
He loved this museum.

www.https://sacmuseum.org
I saw the original museum 25 years ago when it was still at the Offutt air Force Base.

It was interesting then and I am sure that it is so much better now.
Tomorrow evening, Michael will arrive at Wendover

and start preparing for his record run at Bonneville this weekend.