Pies, Cakes,and Beatles,(and a nice lady named Donna.)

  I'm getting behind. I only just got around to posting about last Saturday's doll show and here it is Saturday again already. Of course,yesterday was Yard Sale Friday,so Ken and I went around until I ran us out of money.(Sorry Ken!)I did get some really cool things though, and this week was the second sale of the summer for the sale I like to call The Peanut Butter Pie Sale. It's actually a church yard and bake sale, but I go every year for the peanut butter pie! The best pie ever! My family all know that if they want a piece they have to go with me, because any pie bought by me will be consumed before I get home! (This is where Emma usually says, "How's that diet thing working for you?" It's NOT!) In spite of my not knowing they were also open Thursday, there was pie left when I went Friday. Yes! Ken went, so he even nabbed a piece for himself. I had eaten pear cake for breakfast, so I didn't eat my pie until last night
  One year the lady who makes it every year for the sale gave me the recipe. Thank you lady! I need to get around to trying it out. But here it is if anyone else wants to try. (You can call it whatever you like, but I call it Peanut Butter Pie Sale Pie.)
Slightly more than one cup of peanut butter
1/2 tsp milk
1/2 cup  powdered sugar
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 package cream cheese
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a graham cracker crust.Refrigerate.
  I believe the lady from the sale uses pre-made graham cracker crust, but freshly made is better. Just crush graham crackers, mix with sugar to taste, and enough melted margarine to make  it stick together when pressed into a pan. Let cool before pouring in filling. 


  Anyway,I got this record case for Emma, who has been after another one.

  Her records runneth over, and her cat Otto thinks they are his scratching pad if the stack is left out.Emma has quite a record collection, especially for a 22 year old. Music is her thing though. She even has a radio show called "One Mind Tracks", (as opposed to 'one track minds',because each week she plays songs that all have a theme in common. This week was songs about working or jobs, in honor of Labour Day.). So it's all research Emma. Take them off on your income tax...(Just want to mention here that the spell check told me 'runneth' wasn't a word, but totally missed that I had earlier misspelled 'after' as 'aftre'.)
  I got a bunch of interesting singles. ("Strawberry Children", by The Hobbits, anyone?)  And a Bobby Darin album for Fuzz. (But he still needs a record player...)

  But I passed up "I'll be Your Baby Tonight",by Burl Ives. Ewww! You may remember him as the sweet little Sam the snowman from Rudolph, singing about Silver and Gold and scootching his little snow butt through the snow.

 But he was also this creepy looking guy.

Burl Ives, alias Sam the Snowman.

  Oscar and Golden Globe winner, and he does actually kind of  look like Sam the snowman (or, vice versa), but he always creeped me out. Sorry Burl.
  But I digress...
  I also got this Marina Anchors Lalaloopsey, with her pet.

I don't think the life preserver
is hers, but it works.

  The mini I got a few weeks ago when I made the big modern doll score. I just forgot to put her in that picture. I have been waiting for the Lalaloopsies to hit the yard sales, and the time has come!
 But records were the finds of the day, and I didn't even make it to the sale that advertised that they had records! I got some great records at the Peanut Butter Pie Sale, but the records that top the day's buys are these.

Original releases in beautiful nearly new condition!

  One of the nicest things about a day out yard saling is sometimes you meet some nice people and have a good 'natter', as my English friend Cheryl says. (That means, 'a talk'. )I got these Beatles albums from a nice lady named Donna. They are in great condition. Donna bought them way back when they were new releases. Donna is a young 70 years old and encouraged me to 'get out and dance'.Maybe I should take Donna's advice. She looks and acts much younger than 70, and looked thin and fit in her shorts and camisole. I should look so good now! (For the record, I have never worn a camisole in my life,haven't worn shorts in 24 years, and, as I told Donna, I wouldn't dance unless I was locked alone in a room where even I couldn't see me.) I jokingly told Donna's husband Mike that THIS is what 70 year old ladies are supposed to look like!

  (I bought these from Donna too.)
  He suggested she would no way go for that! My Grama had a bun and a hairnet. THAT'S what old ladies used to look like!
  I imagine my Mom would have been a bit like Donna if she had lived. She never stopped moving. She was slim, and like Donna, ate plates piled high with food. (Well, she didn't eat the plates, but you know what I mean.)
  I also got these other goodies, and this mixer from Donna for $1!

  It's just like my Mom's, but I don't have the bowl for Mom's, and since I have been known to bend the beaters by stupidly trying to scrape the sides while mixing and getting a utensil caught in them, extra beaters are always handy to have around. Maybe Emma would like to have the mixer:"Just like Mommy's!" (Now she won't want it!)
  I also bought Donna's grandmother's hats.

 They are beautiful and almost like new. Donna said this one...

 ...looks like the ones Miss Kitty wore on Gunsmoke.

  Mike wondered if she meant Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies.                                                    
        

                                     
   I also got this girl, which is one of  Donna's childhood dolls.

  The lady paying up as I got there bought a boatload of vintage toys and dolls. Pooh! Always a minute too  late.
  Anyway, we paid for our goodies, but as we were driving away down the road  it occurred to me that Mike had only charged us $20 for both albums, instead of $20 each. I hadn't gotten Donna's phone number to give her the cake recipe we had been talking about either. (My pear tree actually had pears this year! It's been a while since it grew enough to do anything with. I used to can them, make pear cake, pear pancakes, and pear syrup, plus we ate a lot of fresh pears.The last few years I have been lucky to get 6 a year. So this year I got to make pear cake again.) We turned around and went back to make sure Mike had charged us correctly. Sure enough we owed them another $20. While we were there we started talking about the cake recipe again and Donna gave me a tasting tour of their apple trees. I tasted them all. (The apples, not the trees.) The best were these little yellow ones from a tree Donna planted herself 45 years ago.

  She gave me a bag full so now I have to make pie or something. Ivy likes to bake, so maybe if I peel them she'll bake something. One year Ivy entered an apple cake in the baking contest at the local Apple Festival and she won. It was the very recipe that I'm giving to Donna, which I bake pear cake from. It's actually an an apple cake recipe, but I have been making it with pears for a zillion years because we have a pear tree, not an apple tree.  In case anybody is interested, here it is.
Shenandoah Apple Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour 8" round pan or loaf pan
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped apples (or pears),peeled
3 large eggs(see below for variation)
1 cup oil (see below)
2 cups sugar (see below)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional. I never use them, but black walnuts would probably be very good with this.)
For topping:3 tsp white sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon.
Combine oil and sugar. Add eggs, beating well after each addition.
In separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Add vanilla to egg mixture. Add dry ingredients, apples, and nuts if using them.
Pour into pan and sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for approximately 1 hour or until top is browned and knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Variations:  I always add an extra egg, and an extra slosh of oil. That makes it extra rich and extra moist. I also use 2 cups of packed dark brown sugar instead of white.

  After Donna's we scraped together enough money to share a giant chocolate malted, which are really good from the ice cream place in the little town down the road from Donna's. Then we were broke, so we had to go home!
  I had a very nice day. Ken went with me, which he doesn't do very often. We got some neat stuff. And we made some new friends and had a good time.Plus, that peanut butter pie. Ken's is still in the fridge...