Smilebox Leg 2 Trip to LA ~ Dawna ~ Claire ~ Lindsay ~ Pralines

Good 50º clear morning.

Only hit 89º yesterday. Today the temperature will climb higher.

Here is a Smilebox of leg 2 of the trip to LA...

A favorite place for breakfast is Denny's. The Denny's in Arcadia on Hungington Drive and Santa Anita (across from Arcadia County Park) used to be a Van de Kamps restaurant. Here a tiny history:  http://www.vandekamps.com/Our-Story.aspx

At the Northwoods Inn with Steve and Barbara we had their house traditional salads.... purple cabbage (recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/northwoods-inn-purple-cabbage-salad-271920 ) and ice berg lettuce with blue cheese dressing

(recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/northwoods-inn-creamy-buttermilk-blue-cheese-dressing-271818 )

Here is the Northwoods Inn Cheese Bread reicpe:

http://www.food.com/recipe/northwoods-inn-cheese-bread-spread-296976

Today 3 birthdays.... friend Dawna Keith (married to Barry) who Jerry and I visited in Texas. They used to come to the Pomona Gun Shows. Now living in New Mexico. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAWNA!

... and local writer and friend Clair Glenn-Atteberry. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE! She writes for the Examiner and for Rogue River Press ... and she's quite the fisherwoman!

 

... and former Temple City neighbor Lindsay Mehl vonZabern... HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSAY WINDSAY!

Historically this date....

1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million dollar contract.

1939 – Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Pibulsonggram, the country's third prime minister.

1949 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, is aired on NBC starring William Boyd.

2010 – John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, inthe longest match in professional tennis history.

And births this date include...

1942 – Michele Lee, American actress

1945 – George Pataki, American politician

Yesterday I mainly worked on pictures and did the Smilebox. I did make a run to town to pick up my mail, get some prescription refills, get cracked corn for my critters. Exciting.

Dinner was some leftovers I found in the freezer... mushrooms/meatballs/pasta.

TV and my chair!

All I know. Nuff said. Happy Hump Day. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

June 24th

National Pralines Day

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/creamy-pecan-pralines-recipe.html

Perhaps the most complex term in chocolatedom, because it has so many different meanings. The first pralines (pray-LEEN in English, prah-LEEN in French) were whole almonds caramelized in sugar (i.e., the nut is roasted and coated lightly in sugar). Originally spelledpraslines, they were named after the French soldier and diplomat César, duc de Choiseul, comte du Plessis-Praslin (his military title was marshal), who lived in the town of Montargis from 1598 to 1675. According to the story, the duc’s cook, Clément Lassagne, invented pralines in 1636 by dropping almonds into a cauldron of boiling sugar.

After retiring from the duc’s service, Lassagne founded the Maison de la Praline, a confectioner’s shop that still exists in the town of Montargis in the same location, operated by a family named Mazet. They sell pralines made with the original recipe (you can find their products online). In the centuries since, the marketplace has taken the word praline and used it to describe multiple products. Whenever you see the word praline, nuts are involved; but the word often does not refer to the original caramelized almond.

In Louisiana and Texas, a praline (pronounced PRAY-leen or PRAW-leen) is a flat, round, creamy candy patty dotted with crunchy pecans. Early Creoles began using local pecans as the nuts, instead of the almonds or hazelnuts used in the French confection. The product evolved into a candy made of brown sugar, butter and cream and cooked to a soft-ball stage like fudge, but filled with pecans and spooned onto wax paper to form patties. It is called a praline but has absolutely nothing in common with French—or any European—pralines, except for the use of sugar and nuts.