Happy Easter

Do you remember the big-eyed look on  your face Easter morning, when you'd run downstairs and find your Easter basket loaded with candy?  It was like Christmas in April.  My daughter's eyes bugged out the moment she saw me begin this tablescape.

Pink and Green are two of my favorite colors, especially when they are combined.  Easter is the perfect time to pair them together.

 

 Time for a bit of whimsey.  Easter requires it.

 Hand painted bunnies.  Not painted by my hand.  A friend did them years ago.

I loved the jellybean trees when I saw them.  The store only had two or I would have gotten more.

I found this basket in a thrift story.  It's beaded and I can't see why anyone would give it away.  I love the feel of the beads.

We haven't colored our eggs yet.  We'll do that Saturday afternoon.  It's always a fun project to do with the kids.

Happy Easter!

Removing an Oil Tank

Home ownership is always a surprise.  Rarely are they good surprises.  I had one recently when looking into getting a generator for the frequent power outages we have after a storm, huge snowfall, or other weather issues.  This time I discovered after all the years I've lived here that there was an oil tank in my backyard.  a 550 gallon tank and it was full of oil.

As the current homeowner, it was my responsibility to get it out of the ground and dispose of it safely.  Leaving it there would create a bigger problem later on, so I immediately got three estimates on removing it, read through their terms and conditions and chose one.

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A huge truck arrives and backs into my driveway. The backhoe trailer parks across the street and the driver drive the hoe to the backyard.

Bye-bye grass.  When this is over, I have to buy grass seed.

The equipment arrived and proceeded to dig up my backyard.  First they cut the concrete slab that hold my air conditioner and pool equipment.  Then the backhoe began to dig.

 The tank isn't that far down.  A pump truck pumps out the oil, all 550 gallons of it.  Thankfully, it was all oil and water had not gotten into the tank.  If there was water in there, the cost begins to go up.

Now it's time to cut the top of the empty tank.  With a reciprocating saw they cut the top of the tank wide and long enough to get a human body inside.  The backhoe pulls it open.

The tank if virtually empty except for slug.  The air going into the tank, causes the gas like fumes to escape.  It's only  because the day was windy and cold and the different in temperature makes it looks like smoke.

Our human suits up like an alien and goes inside the tank.

Using special absorbent pads, he cleans all the residual oil out of the tank.  According to EPA requirements, the tanks can't be disposed of with oil inside them.  They also cannot remove the tank with oil in it because of possible slippage which would cause greater problems.

With the tank clean of oil, it's time to remove it from the ground.  The backhoe rolls in again, clears away any excess dirt from the sides and back and then lifts it out of the ground.

The backhoe rolls it a couple of time to get any excess dirt off the tank.  It's time to check for holes and leakage.  They test the dirt in the hole and yes, they smelled oil.  Bad news.

Using large mallet hammers they knock the excess dirt away and look for holes by rolling the tank and checking for sunlight filtering through.  As I mentioned they found a couple the size of a small knitting needle.  Really small, but there.

This mean the EPA gets involves and cost go up.  They take two samples of dirt from the hole and will send them to the EPA.  Depending on their findings, I'll be advised if I have further work to do to clean up the soil.

They close up the hole in my yard, add additional fill dirt to prevent a sink hole.  I pay and they take the tank away.  Now I wait for the EPA's decision.  Lesson learned, when buying a house, ask if there has been any changes in the heating types of the house.  If so, make sure all the proper disposal methods have been done.

The good news, however, is if there is a EPA issue, the state will go after the former homeowners who did not reveal this issue when they sold the house.

At the moment, I'm thankful it's gone.  I bought grass seed and replanted the area just in time for Spring.

A Simple Table

The focal point to me for any table is the centerpiece.  I found this cookie jar on sale at a discount store.  I'd just made peanut butter cookies and it looked like the perfect storage container.

   I have other cookie jars, but I liked this one and the top had a nice suction to keep the cookies fresh.  We like them soft.  Our other container houses Oreo's.

This is the other side of the jar.  It has an apple on one side an a pear on the other. The creamy color of the background will fit into any decor.

To perk up the table I created the fan napkins and used colorful plates.

 I used white souffle bowls to complement the flowery pattern of the plates.  Gold placemats complement the chargers.

Peanut Butter Cookies - An Old Standby

I know peanuts have gotten a bad rap in the past few years, but for me and my generation, it was a rarity to be allergic to any kind of nuts.  Stewardesses (back when they were called that) used to serve them on airplanes before the main (and free) meal.

Peanut butter was a staple in most homes and continues today.  The lowly peanut butter and jelly sandwich is comfort food, giving the right of amount of sugar and salt to satisfy the after-school kid, the college student starving in the dorm or the mom who needs a pick me up.

I was looking for something sweet the other day and nothing appealed, so I went to the my recipes and looked for something easy to make.  Peanut Butter Cookies came to mind.  For one thing you probably have all the ingredients in your cabinets.

These are staples at my house

With these already available, I could bake cookies and have them ready before the schoolbus came in the afternoon.  My recipe is an old standby from the Betty Crocker Cookbook.

You use both white sugar and brown sugar.  When you decide to use brown sugar, invariably, it will be in one hard rock.  You can soften it by putting a slice of apple in a bag with the sugar.  This requires planning ahead and I was working on a spur of the moment need.  I often decide to bake on the spur of the moment and I didn't want to open a new box of brown sugar.  That would mean I'd have more than one opened container of brown sugar getting hard in the refrigerator.  My grandmother taught me to grate the sugar until I got the amount needed to complete the recipe.  In this case 1/2 cup.

So I grated it.  I could have taken out the food processor and whizzed it through there, but that would require the same amount of time.  And I can bring a little of my grandmother in the kitchen with me as I work. 

To the sugar mixture add the egg, oil, salt, soda, and baking powder.  I add my ingredients one at a time and mix or blend them.  It affords me the opportunity to smash any lumps that develop.  In the case of brown sugar, even when grated finely, the sugar tends to lump the moment you add a second ingredient to it.  However, the oil makes,it easier to work with.  

Add the flour a little at a time and blend it well.

The mixture will become smooth and shiny.

At this point it's time to wrap it in cellophane and let it sit in the refrigerator for two hours.  I hadn't thought of this, but I did it and at exactly two hours, I was ready to bake.

I rolled the dough, which is soft and oily into one inch balls.

 

Instead of placing these directly on the cookie sheet, I put them on the cellophane.  This allowed me to make all the balls.  Making only enough to fit on the cookie sheets you have or as many cookie sheets as will fit in your oven is like being in front of a traffic light.  You keep stopping and going.

I put them on the cookie sheet (two sheets will fit in my oven) and using a sugar-dipped fork, I crossed them in both directions, baked them for 8-10 minutes and put them on cooling racks.

We used to make them thicker, but my kids like the thin ones.  They tend to be softer.

At this point you just add a glass of cold milk and eat the warm morsels right out of the oven.

The yield was three dozen.  And they were heaped under the dome when the school bus arrived.

Here's the recipe

Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 cup granulated (white) sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 shortening

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 egg (slightly beaten)

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Mix sugars, peanut butter, shortening, butter and egg in a large bowl.  Stir in remaining ingredients one at a time.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll dough into 1 to 1 1/4 inch balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Keep them about 3 inches apart to allow for spreading as they bake.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Cool for 5 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet to a wire rack.