Cookbookaholic

Shrimp Quesadillas: The Recipe

My trip up to Philadelphia for our Bottom Dollar Food Frugal Chef Class was so much fun! The Taco Sliders were so delicious and amazing. I hope you had a chance to make them for yourself for Cinco de Mayo.

The other recipe from the class was “Chicken and Refried Bean Quesadillas.” I wanted to try and do something a little different. I’ve had shrimp tacos a few times so I adapted the quesadilla recipe with shrimp. I thought they turned out amazing…so here’s the recipe.

Shrimp Quesadillas

1 pkg frozen Medium shrimp (thawed, peeled)

½ pack of Taco Seasoning Mix

2 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 Tbls. Butter

½ lime

Flour tortillas, burrito size

Shredded Mexican cheese

Onion, finely chopped

Black olives (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Thaw frozen shrimp and remove/discard shells. In a separate bowl, use half a packet of Taco Seasoning Mix and coat shrimp thoroughly. Set aside in refrigerator for half and hour (or more).

In a deep skillet, melt butter and then add minced garlic on medium-high heat. Stir garlic to keep it from burning. Add shrimp to the butter and garlic mixture, stir to coat the shrimp completely. After five minutes of cooking, squeeze the juice from the lime over the shrimp. When the shrimp have finished cooking, after 7-9 minutes, it should be opaque and slightly smaller in size. Put aside and keep warm.

In a shallow skillet on medium, heat a burrito sized flour tortilla until warm to the touch. Flip tortilla onto other side and add a layer of shredded Mexican cheese over the entire tortilla. As the cheese begins to melt, add the chopped onion and black olives. Using a spoon, place cooked shrimp on top of cheese on half of tortilla. Then fold tortilla over to “seal.” Continue to warm tortilla until the cheeses melt and then remove from heat.

Use a sharp knife to cut into triangle wedges and serve warm.

 

A Bit of a Dry Spell

I’ve had a bit of a dry spell for the past few weeks. One Saturday it was drizzling and as I got onto the Interstate, the bottom fell out. That little voice inside my head said “just go home.” It really wasn’t worth driving around in a monsoon. The next week, I found zero cookbooks. No one had them…and none had even thought about including them in their sales. Ugh!

This next Saturday was a tight timeline for me. I had to fly up to Philadelphia for the Frugal Chef Class. My flight was at 9:20am and I didn’t have a lot of time to hit the sales before I had to get to the airport.

As I did my usual Friday evening research, I come across an ad listing “a large collection of cookbooks.” Wow! Maybe I could just go to this one sale and be done? How cool would that be? One trip, pick up some great finds and the off to the airport. Too good to be true.

Looking more closely at the location, I see that this fantastic, answer-to-my-prayers garage sale is up in Salisbury. That’s a 45-minute drive back up the Interstate in the town where I work, no less. Just my luck. Here’s the best part…there’s no time listed. What? When are they expecting people to show up? Is it a 7am sale? 8am? That’s a total of an hour and a half going to and coming back from the sale. I had to think this through and make sure I had enough time to get to the airport, through security and to my gate in time. Plus, there’s a huge flea market located nearby. What if it’s all picked over by the local dealers by the time I make it up the road? What a huge gamble and a big chunk of time and mileage for just one sale. 

So, my dilemma is a choice between hitting this one sale 45 minutes up the road at an unknown time or trying to hit several sales in Charlotte before my flight. I really fretted over this decision.

In the end, I chose the sales in Charlotte. I had a list of six sales and a lot of hope. And believe me, that hope faded fast after the fourth sale. I found one Christmas with Southern Living: 2001.

Oh well, I’ve got to head towards the airport and get going. Maybe I’ll have better luck next week.

 

It’s Always Cinco de Mayo Somewhere, Right?

The things I do for you people. I took it upon myself to test out two margarita options in honor of this Cinco de Mayo. Usually, I shy away from bottled mixes. Can we all agree that those usually taste like bad cough syrup? But I got an email from Williams-Sonoma focusing in their “All-Natural” Margarita mixes. So, I decided to pit bottled mixer against a recipe using fresh ingredients. For the fresh version, I used a very traditional margarita recipe from the Viva Margarita cookbook in my collection by W. Park Kerr.  And for the bottled mix, I made a trip up to Williams-Sonoma and snagged the All-Natural Key Lime Margarita Mixer.

For my Viva Margarita selection, I chose “The Ultimate Margarita, or Uber-rita.” It called for fresh limes, tequila and Cointreau. I substituted Gran Marnier and also added in a splash of fresh orange juice (per the “Tequila Tip”). It was mind-blowingly strong. Instant buzz even…

With the Williams-Sonoma mixer, the one liter bottle professed to being made in small batches for fresher flavor. It contained key lime juice, tangerine juice (both from concentrate) and sweetened with agave syrup. All I had to do was just add tequila. It was sweet and, with half the booze, it was easier to drink. I easily had seconds (and thirds even).

Who knows if Williams-Sonoma will keep this product beyond Cinco de Mayo? If not at the store, I would hope it would always be an available online option. There were two other flavors, Morello Cherry Pomegranate and Mango Passion Fruit, in addition to the more traditional Key Lime flavor. It seemed a little pricey at $14.95 a bottle, but I think you could get more than three generous batches for the cost. For special occasions that call for an easy drink with a sweet margarita, I think I would definitely splurge and grab another bottle. What’s that old saying? It’s always Cinco de Mayo somewhere, right? Wait….that might be the tequila talking!

Taco Sliders: The Recipe

Back in mid-April, I met with several Philadelphia area bloggers for a Frugal Chef class. I called it “Cinco de Mayo on Little Dinero” and the whole idea was to make fun recipes with fresh meat, produce and store brand items from Bottom Dollar Food. We get the recipes from the amazing Chef Dan D’Angelo. He’s the Executive Chef over at the Art Institute of Philadelphia’s Culinary Arts School.

 The event was a lot of fun and the kitchen smelled so good….

 Last night, I finally got around to making the Taco Sliders. Just think about taco seasoned meat formed into hamburger patties with a chunk of spicy cheese melting and oozing out. They were really, really good—and what a fun and new way to enjoy Cinco de Mayo! They’re compact and full of flavor—plus, they’re kid friendly. (Dunc loved them!!) And, you get to top them with your traditional favorites like salsa, black olives, tomatoes and dare I say it? Guac!!

**FYI: For my version, I used two pounds of ground beef, two packages of Taco Seasoning Mix and left out the parmesean cheese and cilantro. This gave me a total of 15 taco slider patties.

Taco Sliders by Chef Dan D’Angelo

1 1/12 pounds ground beef

1 1/2 packs of taco mix

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley and cilantro  

2 small garlic cloves, crushed with a garlic press

6 ounces Cheddar, Pepper Jack, cut into 1/2-inch cubes any kind of cheese  

8-10 (2-inch; a.k.a. party size or dinner) soft rolls

Gently combine meat, taco mix, cheese, parsley mix, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper with your hands. (Do not over mix). Form 3 oz. of meat mixture into about 8-10 meatballs. Push a cheese cube into center of each ball and encase meat around cheese, then slightly flatten each ball to a 2-inch diameter. 

Broiler directions: Preheat broiler. Put half of sliders on an oiled rack of a broiler pan and broil, turning over once, until just cooked through (no longer pink), 4 to 8 minutes total. Repeat with remaining sliders. 

Grill directions: For easy entertaining, go with a gas grill. Preheat all burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, and then adjust heat to medium-high. Grill sliders for 4 to 8 minutes, turning once. 

Stovetop: Cook in a skillet on med-high heat for 4 to 8 minutes, turning once.

Toppers: lettuce, sliced tomatoes, Salsa con queso, sliced raw onion and/or sautéed golden brown onions, salsa, pickled jalapenos, refried beans, avocado or sour cream

 

Mine were amazing! I even adjusted the spiciness of the cubed cheese and gave the hubby a hotter habanero cheese…hee-hee.

 

Here’s a picture from last night’s festivities, I made one topped with tomato, onions, black olives and picante while the other had a dollop of guac. Just amazing…you should really give these a try.

Watch Out, It's Easter!

For this Easter, I’m excited to head up to our annual Winston-Salem trip. I’ve recently been promoted and I’m not going to hold back when I make my run through the Moravian Book and Gift Shop. I’m hoping to treat myself to some new additions to my collection. They usually have a nice selection of local Moravian church cookbooks and I can’t wait to get my hands on them!

First the bad news: Kernel Kustard has closed their downtown location. Then, I find out that the original one has closed as well. Bummer! I just absolutely loved the ice cream that featured caramel corn. Now it’s gone forever…unless Blue Bell ever decides to bring back their version (fingers crossed).

Anyway, back to the Moravian Book & Gift Shop. On Saturday afternoon, I had some free time away from hubby and the boys and I drive back over to Old Salem. I head downstairs to the bookshelves and look through the local church cookbooks. Is this humanly possible? I think I’ve already got all of them. I do notice that the stack featuring the Raleigh Moravian Church cookbook has a burgundy spine and the cover is printed with burgundy ink. The one in my collection has navy blue cover ink and spine. Plus, it looks a little thicker. Could this be a new revised and expanded version?

I think it’s worth the investment to find out! Here’s the new burgundy one:

Okay, so at least I have one in my grasp. I head upstairs and take a look around the rest of the store. There’s a bookshelf that catches my eye—look what’s on it!

It’s the cookbook from my church, New Beginnings Moravian! We sold our last 20 copies to the Old Salem Museum organization and here’s one of the final copies. Still looks amazing….should I? Nah…I’ll let someone else pick it up and find out how awesome it is.

Okay, so I didn’t get to walk away with a ton of cookbooks this time around. But I am slightly thrilled that I have such a “current” collection. Now, I just need more Moravian churches to kick out a new round of cookbooks! I’m looking at you Peace Moravian….

 

Ken and Susan Don't Have the Cookbook

Well, I’m not too sure how this day is going to turn out. I’ve got six sales on my list and I’m not too sure about any of them. I even checked out Craigslist and put in a call to a listing that featured cookbooks.

The phone call did instill some hope for the next day. The post was by a couple named Ken and Susan. The cookbooks are a combination of Susan and her mother’s collection. They’ve already given some to Goodwill and her daughters…but there are still several cookbooks left. The picture with their Craigslist ad had a few Junior League cookbooks in it—but I’m sure those are already gone.

Susan mentions that she and her husband are both ministers and they once attended a local Moravian church. They now take their ministry to a local nursing home where Ken plays a 103 year old tuba every Sunday morning. Susan also says that one of the cookbooks still in their stack is one from a Moravian church. Yeah! I’m definitely adding them to my list and will see them the next day. They live on the other side of Charlotte but I’ve got a few stops that will put me nearby. For me, that one Moravian cookbook is worth the drive.

Good thing I had that hope to start out my morning…because most of the stops were a complete bust. I did find one sale that had cookbooks and here’s what I snagged:

Spindletop International Cooks (Spindletop Oilmen’s Golf Charities, Inc.), The New York Times Heritage Cook Book (Jean Hewitt), Best Recipes from American Country Inns and Bed & Breakfasts (Kitty and Lucian Maynard) and The Justin Wilson Gourmet and Gourmand Cookbook.

Nice start but then I ask if she had any more cookbooks. She mentions that she had already sold some yesterday. Again with the “yesterday” comment. So I ask if she had her yard sale open on Friday. Nope, but she had already sold some yesterday through a Craigslist ad. Really? I’ve missed out again on sales because of “yesterday.”

At least I’ve got my own Craigslist coup coming up and I’m very excited. I make a phone call and get the address from Ken. I’m on my way!! 

As I pull into the driveway, Ken is finishing up washing and rinsing a truck. We go into the garage and up the back stairs to a large bonus room containing the biggest model train set-up I’ve ever seen in my life. I take a picture and email it to my old boss, Tony. I write in the subject line “Jealous?” He was….

Along the walls, there are bookshelves and bookshelves packed with books. Ken tells me that they are in the process of scaling back and selling a ton of books.

There is a table with cookbooks in front of me. As I start going through them, I’m surprised the Junior League cookbooks are still here. If they really did have someone come earlier and buy some of their cookbooks, why did they leave these?

Here’s what I snagged:

The Bakery Lane Soup Bowl (Margery Mitchell, Joan Sedgwick), In the Kitchen The Costco Way, Cooking with Class (Charlotte Latin Schools), Cooking with Class: A Second Helping (Charlotte Latin Schools) and Christ Church Cooks (Christ Church, Charlotte, NC).

Virginia Hospitality (Junior League of Hampton Roads, VA), The Charlotte Cookbook (The Charlotte Junior League, Charlotte, NC), Yorktown Cook Book (Grace Church, Yorktown, VA), Favorite Recipes Book II (Oak Grove UMC, Mt. Pleasant, NC) and A Calendar of Dinners with 615 Recipes (Marion Harris Neil).

This last one, A Calendar of Dinners, looks quite old. I open up the book and the inside decoration is a wallpaper of cans of Crisco and clouds! This is a cookbook underwritten by The Procter & Gamble Co. with the recipes using Crisco. And this thing is old! I’ve got the Eighteenth Edition…from 1921! But as I’m going through it, I notice that the next to the last page has been ripped out! As it happens, I don’t have the big December 31^st menu.

Okay, so these are all great…but I came here for the Moravian church cookbook. Ken looks again. Then he looks on another shelf. Then on a different bookshelf on the other side of the room. It’s not there…or anywhere.

I can tell that he’s a little shocked that he can’t find the cookbook. He knows this is the one and only reason I drove all the way to their home. I’m trying to mask my disappointment but it’s really hard. I thank him for looking, pay him for the ones I had and head out. 

I decide to try one more sale before heading home. It’s a fancy detatched garage with no cookbooks, but look at what interesting thing I find:

 

It’s a small metal mold for a chocolate bunny. Seems pretty appropriate for the upcoming Easter weekend!

 

More Cowbell...

Recently, I took Duncan to a music store to pick up a piece for an instrument. As we were walking in and out of the aisles, I stumbled upon everyone's favorite: cowbell.

Then I found more cowbell...

Then, I found the one I like to call "explore the space:"

Can you see how huge that cowbell is? Look at it compared to the one next to it. And look below...it's so huge, it's horning in on the stuff hanging below it!

And yes, I tapped a few times on the Black Beauty. And honestly, I felt no fear of the reaper...none at all. Duncan was sure embarrassed though....

Rainy Days and Nosy Neighbors

Another quick morning with only three sales on my list. It might turn out to be less because thunderstorms have been rolling through here all night. Even after my alarm went off, I could hear thunder and rain. Just as I was about to give up and go back to bed, the sound tapers off. I get ready and head out the door.

The first sale on the list proclaims itself as more than 12 families at a soccer field. I’m driving by and all I see is an empty soccer field. Oh well…

The next sale is an estate sale. I’m there early but I’m still eighth or so in the line. It’s drizzling a little but I grabbed the lid from a box and that’s my makeshift umbrella. The people running the sale show up and decide to open up early. Yeah!

I make my way around towards the kitchen and find a hallway shelf with cookbooks. That box lid? It’s now filled with cookbooks! I turn to head into the kitchen and notice that table behind me has boxes of cookbooks on the floor. I go through those but I’m thinking my best finds were from the shelf.

Here’s what I snagged:

Nathalie Dupree’s Matters of Taste, Barbara’s Top Recipes (Barbara McKay, WBTV, Charlotte, NC), Tiger-riffic Cook Book (Clemson Athletic Department), Delectable Collectibles (Harrison UMC, Charlotte, NC), You Can Cook for One (or Even Two) (Louise Pickoff), Christ Church Cooks (Episcopal Churchwomen of Christ Church, Charlotte, NC), The Singing Christmas Tree Cookbook (Charlotte, NC), A New Heritage: A Collection of Recipes (New Covenant UMC, Mt. Holly, NC), Mrs. Fields Cookie Favorites (Debbi Fields and Editors of Time-Life Books).

Recipes from the Briar Patch (Briar Creek Road Baptist Church), The Betty Furness Westinghouse Cook Book (Betty Furness), Cooking Maryland Style (Church of the Ascension, Silver Spring, MD), Eudora’s Holiday Cook Book (Eudora Garrison, The Charlotte Observer), Culinary Echoes from Dixie (Kate Brew Vaughn) and The Carolina Housewife or House and Home (A Lady of Charleston—Sarah Rutledge).

Eudora’s Holiday pamphlet…I don’t remember if I’ve ever seen this before. This will find a home near Eudora’s other cookbook.

And I’m so thrilled to see an almost pristine copy of The Carolina Housewife! I’ll have more on this cookbook in another post—but I’m so happy to have this 1963 printing.

So, I’m walking through the rest of the house and something starts to nag at me. Why aren’t there any Betty Feezor’s here? With all the other cookbooks in here, there seems to be enough clues about this lady’s age for me to think a Betty would’ve been in here somewhere. Did someone else walk by and grab them before me? Coulda happened?

I finish going through the rest of the house and finally loop back around to the checkout table. As I’m paying, I ask why there were no Betty Feezor cookbooks. She goes, “Oh I sold them all yesterday.” My gut hit the floor.

I paused and said, “I thought today was the first day for the sale.”

Then she says, “Oh, it is, but the neighbor came over yesterday and bought every single one of them.”

Let me repeat that….every…single…one…of…THEM. Which means there had to have been more than one Betty Feezor. The neighbor swooped in and got them all. Probably a busy body. I bet her name was Gladys Kravitz.

Incredibly disappointing…but I’m trying to take it in stride.

The next sale is open early but I’m not seeing cookbooks. There’s a man who is constantly going in and out of the house. This was his mother’s house and he has driven up from Charleston to get this garage sale going.

The rain kept him from bringing a lot of the items out earlier, so he’s going back and forth as much as possible to bring it out. I ask if he has any cookbooks that he’s planning on bringing out. He says yes and after a few more trips, he hands me a stack. I go through and pick out these:

Sea Island Seasons (Beaufort County Open Land Trust, Beaufort, SC), Hornets Homecooking (Junior League of Charlotte), Tea-Time at the Masters (Junior League of Augusta, Georgia), Catering to Columbia (Gale Rigby Kennedy), Minnie Pearl Cooks (Minnie Pearl a.k.a. Sarah Cannon) and Recollections and Recipes: Who’s That? What’s This? (The Miller Family, Charlotte, NC).

What happened to Tea-Time at the Masters? Look at the warped plastic cover—it looks like it got whacked on the cover with an actual golf ball.

But I’m most happy to see the Minnie Pearl cookbook. Remember that church sale  a while back where I came up a bust inside the gym but snagged a stack of vintage cookbooks as soon as I came down the steps? Well, as I was leaving that sale I spotted another table with a couple of cookbooks. An old lady in front of me spotted a Minnie Pearl cookbook and grabbed it up before I realized it. So, it’s nice to see I have another opportunity to bring Minnie home with me.

This version has a wire spiral spine instead of the plastic spiral spine. I thought I’d flip through it until the man came back out and then I’d pay for the cookbooks. I get as far as the title page and my heart jumps. I see the distinctive look of a Sharpie…say it with me now:

HOW-DEE! This one is actually autographed by Minnie Pearl! Now that’s an amazing find! It may have started off rainy, but this is the best way to end the day.

Last Stop at Kit's

This morning’s first stop is a church sale. Usually, the cookbooks are all picked over by other members of the congregation before the doors even open. But I’m going to give this one a try because today looks like slim pickings.

The church sale begins at 7am so I’ll try to be there a few minutes early. I’m actually out the door a few minutes later than I planned so I’m definitely going to be at the back of the line.

My GPS is guiding me and as I’m getting closer it tells me the church is on the right side of the road. I’m looking so hard and as I get to the end of the route all I’m seeing are houses. Then I look over to my left. How could I miss this? There’s this huge church…on the left. Thanks GPS. I have the voice in a British accent and I've named her Emily. Perhaps Emily is confusing the British vs. American rules of the road? 

As I make it into the parking lot, it’s packed. I find a spot up on an incline and head to the front door. It’s only a few minutes after 7am, put the place already has a ton of people. I see the book section and the cookbooks are all a mess. I see some good ones and start a stack. There’s a guy next to me and I ask him if they opened the doors early. He says yes. Argh! He said he arrived about fifteen minutes early and the doors had already opened.

I think I went into a super focused overdrive and started to stack. I remember thinking I was still able to get some good cookbooks. Here’s what I found:

Southern Living 2007 Annual Recipes, Breakfast in Bed (Jesse Ziff Cool), Stirring Performances (Junior League of Winston-Salem), Bread of Life (Grifton UMC, Grifton, NC), Easy Elegance (River Hills Women’s Club) and Seasoned with Love (Ladies Ministries, Tanglewood Church of God, Kinston, NC).

Culinary Crinkles (The Presbyterian Cookbook, Greenwood, SC), The Lady & Sons, Too! (Paula H. Deen), The Lady & Sons Just Desserts (Paula H. Deen) and Extreme Barbecue (Dan Huntley and Lisa Grace Lednicer).

The Extreme Barbecue cookbook is written by Dan Huntley, a columnist from The Charlotte Observer. Cool! I’ve always wanted a smoker, this may provide a good guide and some recipes along with it. Okay, so upon further reflection—I got some really great cookbooks from there. I may have shown up after the doors were open, but I still came away with a great haul.

The second sale is a bust. The last sale on the list starts about an hour away at 9am. The address looks familiar…really familiar. Then it hits me…it’s Kit’s address. I guess the family had a few more items or just wanted to give it another try since it rained a few weeks ago. Plus, they had opened that other sale earlier than the posted 9am start time. I’ll give it a try.

Very hopeful…but they aren’t ready to go as early today. Ray says that there are still items in the detatched covered garage and this time, some furniture will be available in the house. There’s already a line at the front door. I take my spot around fifth in line. They’ll open the front door, right?

And they don’t! They open up the garage door and the back door to the house. There’s a huge line of people and only the ones who walk up late see the open garage! Now suddenly, we’re the back of the pack!

I head into the house but I’m not interested in the lamps or artwork. I head back to the garage and there’s a table lined with books. And yes, there are more cookbooks! I hold my breath as I start to look through the pile—I'm not the only one flipping through the books.

Here’s what else I’m able to get:

Julia Child’s Menu Cookbook, Family Fare: Food Management and Recipes (U.S. Department of Agriculture), Just for Two: A Handbook of Cookery for the Small Household (Lily Haxworth Wallace) and Mary Hunt’s Salad Bowl.

After I pay and turn to leave, Ray walks up and says that he’s glad to see I found some more of his mother’s cookbooks. He reaches for the red one and asks if I saw the inscription. He opens it up and shows the page to me:

It reads: To the best roommate and to the future best cook! Love, Lake Dec. 4, 1944

Ray says that this cookbook was a gift to Kit from her college roommate. I love the part about “future best cook.” Who knew it would turn out to be her husband, Desi? Hee-hee!

Plus, did you check out that mondo huge Julia Child cookbook? I’m getting closer to having that Julia collection. Nice way to end the day!

 

Moravian Cookie Sheets?

Four sales on the list for this Saturday morning. I can handle four, right? Oddly, I have one sale at 7am, one at 7:30, then a huge break until 9am. Of course, I’ll try to hit the 9am sales a little early—but maybe I have a shot of getting back home before 10. Eva has an estate sale at 9am but the pictures in her email only show a small stack of cookbooks. Knowing that she started the sale Friday morning, those cookbooks are probably long gone…

But on a good note, Mr. Dunc has asked to join me again this morning. I’m getting used to having my buddy there in the passenger seat!

The first sale was a bust for me. On to the 7:30am sale, it’s advertised as a “whole neighborhood” sale but really it’s just four homes on both sides of a street. I hit the side that has three sales on it. The other side has a lot of pink girly things in the driveway and Dunc has proclaimed he will not visit that one. LOL! Well, there’s nothing at any of the three sales for me. Dunc walks away with a long sleeve Motorcross racing mesh shirt and a pair of high-top sneakers that look almost new. And he reports that he spent less than $5 bucks on it all.

Oh well, I’m still empty-handed as I head over to the pink and frilly sale across the street. I actually find a cookbook. One. Oh boy. But here it is…

Mediterranean Country Cuisine (Peter Buhrer). The pictures look amazing and it seems to have been published by The House of Villeroy & Boch, which is fancy pants. Plus, I snagged homemade blueberry and chocolate chip muffins for us from the two little ladies with the pink plastic register. But wow—a whole neighborhood and I only come away with one?

Our next stop is Eva’s estate sale, remember it started on Friday so I’m hoping she’ll open the doors a little early today. We drive up and the door is open! I spy the shelf from the picture and walk straight to what’s left of the small stack of cookbooks—they don’t thrill me so I leave them there. I walk around and see a lot of hand painted and carved wood art pieces. I see this amazing bread box that has punched tin decoration and hand painted artwork—but it’s priced well over forty bucks. That’s out of my price range. I turn and something on the wall catches my eye. It’s a framed Moravian blessing…hey, I’m Moravian!

I ask Eva if the estate sale was for a Moravian family. She said yes and that the lady made tons and tons of Moravian cookies every Christmas. Oh man…I wish I’d known this earlier. I would have put some serious thought into taking a half day off from work to be here on Friday. I wonder if any of that small stack of cookbooks were from the local Moravian churches. I’ll never know! Ahhh!

Anyway, I set out looking at the kitchen gear. I spot some cookie sheets in a stack on the floor. I pick out two thin ones. Up on the counter top, I see two small spatulas and pick them up. I’m trying to select items that I hope she used when making her Moravian cookies. I think I’d like those pieces, even if they’re a small extension of her tradition, to come to my house.

Eva also tells me that the husband was big into woodworking while the wife would finish off the pieces with her amazing hand painted artwork. Walking around the front room, I see a ton of gorgeous artwork and Asian pieces (they must have travelled a lot!) Most of it was well out of my price range, but I did spot this and scooped it up.

It’s an elegant, decoratative egg (almost like a Fabrege egg) made from one piece of wood. I see it’s signed at the bottom with two names so I’m hoping I have a piece of art that both of them brought to life. It’s going on my mantle!

The basement is filled with scraps of wood or pieces that the husband and wife didn’t quite finish. There’s a shelf with books and books on woodworking and woodcarving. Many of them have the familiar spiral spine—so, of course, I was drawn to them! LOL! And then looky what I find:

Friends Sharing (Friends of the Senior Center, Albemarle, NC). How about that? Tucked in all the woodworking manuals and guides, I find a cookbook! Nice little surprise for me!