Ah, it’s a beautiful morning here at Lake Loramie. judiang and I just went for a short walk around the cottages here. Judi’s even regretting that she has no shorts to wear. (elsaf, can you believe that?!?) So we’ve put the three ceiling fans on and are now relaxing in the three season room.
Yesterday continued to be a lovely day for us. We took the liquidy Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream along in a plastic container and headed on back to the Lake. On our way there, we stopped at Wagner’s grocery in Minster (the one in Fort Loramie didn’t have what we needed) and bought a bag of ice and a box of rock salt. And once at the Lake, I began to freeze the ice cream in the “old fashioned” way. Mom has an ice cream maker that’s electric, but uses the salt & ice treatment. It froze this time!
My parental units showed up shortly after we returned to the Lake. Mom decided that she wanted to make deviled eggs and a
Miracle Whip Cake
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp cocoa
2 tsp soda
1 cup Miracle Whip
1 cup hot water
Sift dry ingredients into a mound. Make a hole in center and put Miracle Whip into hole. Add water in small amounts and stir until smooth. Pour into greased and floured 9×13″ pan and bake at 300°F for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
We had the Miracle Whip, but she was out of flour and cocoa. So for the second time that day, I went to Wagner’s grocery. Before we left, though, I got on Judi’s rinky dinky laptop and looked up how to make an Amaretto Sour. When I discovered that it took Sweet & Sour mix, I thought “wait a minute, I saw that at Wagner’s when I was there earlier!” Sure enough, they had it. (Wagner’s has a very impressive collection of booze – even the smaller one in Fort Loramie does too. And in case you are wondering, Ohio allows alcohol to be sold in groceries with the right license – there are very few liquor stores in the state.)
Mom and I returned back to the cottage to see that my aunt Becky and Granny were already there. Since I’d completely forgotten to set up a card game for Judi’s last trip to the Lake, we made sure to get one set up for this weekend! Judi had already started a fire (she did it completely on her own! I expected her to brag about it in her journal entry last night, but she didn’t!) This is such a change from the citygurl who wouldn’t get within 6 feet of the fire when she first joined us at the Lake six years ago.
I grilled burgers and dogs for everyone and did a good job, according to those eating said burgers and dogs. Then dad took Judi and I on a motor boat ride around our section of the Lake while mom put dishes in the kitchen (ooops! sorry mom!) It was a lovely ride and we saw around 8 tutles on the trip. (Mostly they’d jump off the log they were sunning themselves on as we passed by.)
Boat trip done, it was time to PLAY CARDS! The family game of choice is
Shanghai Rum
Hand requirements consecutively:
2 sets of 3
1 set of 3, run of 4
2 runs of 4
3 sets of 3
1 set of 3, run of 5
3 runs of 4
1 set of 3, run of 10
3 sets of 3, run of 5
3 runs of 5
Deal out 11 cards each hand. Each player is allowed 3 buys each hand. (You’ll need all three for the last hand in particular – you MUST have a discard.) Start each turn by drawing a card from the stack or from the discard pile. Lay down your required cards if you can and then discard. After laying down, the following hand you may play any cards in your hand on your oponents laid cards. Hand ends when one player plays all cards and has a discard.
Deuces are wild in all hands. Any run or set must have more natural cards than deuces. Scoring – each player with cards remaining in hand must score as follows: number cards are worth 5 points, face cards are 10, aces are 15 and deuces are 20. The person with the lowest score at the end of the game wins.
It’s so popular, I included the rules in the family cookbook when I made it. (It’s under the Drinks section.) The whole time we’re playing it, we’re swearing up and down a storm and think “why the hell are we playing this game!” But when it’s over with, we think “my, that was fun!” Judi’s announced intention was to come to Ohio for Becky’s annual asskicking. And when we were done with the game, Judi had the second highest score after Granny! (Oh, in case you didn’t read the rules under the LJ cut, that means she came second to last.) Becky, of course, won the game. 🙂 (My excuse for not placing first was that I’d made myself an amaretto sour and was somewhat drunk.)
We finished the evening with Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream and Miracle Whip Cake. Yummy! Becky & Granny left after that, followed by the folks. And then Judi and I cleaned up the dishes and goofed off online for a bit before retiring to bed. And we slept in today – mmm! A nice sleep in, if you ask me. Today’s goals are to have steaks for lunch and pork kebabs for supper. And that’s it. 🙂