I wrote about things I used to make, beneath the main part of my post titled "9 exams" or something. I was thinking about how this church gave out cookies to the fathers for Father's Day and remembered my Mom's Oreo Cookie Cake.
I made it several times in 1997 and earlier and it's something she started making in the early 90s. It's very rich, with cream cheese, and Oreo's and it's a cake. She made Wacky cake (chocolate cake with oil and vinegar) and German Apple Cake (with a caramel kind of frosting) and we had other basic cakes a lot, but I forgot about the Oreo Cookie Cake. I guess it was early 90s that I first remember it and then I made it myself and I believe I took it to a potluck or for made it for others a few times.
I think the idea came up because my Dad and I always had Oreo Cookie Blizzards, even back in Moses Lake, Washington, before we moved to Sherwood, Oregon. I had other kinds too, I sometimes got the Reece's Peanut Butter cup one, or the Butterfinger one, but almost always got Oreo Cookie Blizzards, or the Grasshopper version (mint Oreo Cookie). We got Blizzards at Dairy Queen for years, almost weekly or every other week.
So then when there was an Oreo Cookie Cake, it was something we all liked. It has a cookie crust with pressed down black Oreo cookie and then the rest of it is sort of cream cheese and Oreo--I'll have to ask my Mom. On the top you use broken off whole or partial parts of the Oreo to decorate. It makes a massive round cake.
We often had pan cakes, or cakes made in a rectangular pan, (like our carrot cake with cream cheese frosting which my Mom and I liked), but this one was a tall round layered cake. I also made plain (but rich and fattening) pound cake. It stood alone or went with a little fruit. Almost always, it just stood alone.
My Mom also made cheesecake with a graham cracker crust and cherry topping, which I made a few times when I was out of the house as well, I had forgotten that, and my mother made a few different kinds of berry, apple, and cream or custard pies too. Also, of the fruit cobblers I made, I made peach cobbler the most.In St. Johns especially, I made this and I also had fresh peaches sliced and bought cream and drizzled cream over peaches with a little bit of sugar. I did this with other fruit, but particularly peaches. When I was a little girl, at Granny's I had her yellow cling peaches in the syrup, which she canned, and then out on my own I had fresh peaches with sugar and cream. I also used cream and sugar with strawberries and raspberries but mainly peaches. Sometimes I had a box of peaches from my Grandpa's orchard, or from my parents, and other times I just bought them. I never used cream over apricots--I had apricots or plums without anything else added, blueberries usually too, though I tried them in pancakes a few times.
These are just little things I have written down so my son knows sometimes, if he wants to know.
The other thing I used to make all the time, but as a little girl and pre-teen, was "egg nogs". I was into baking and trying out new things and this one kid's cookbook I had, had a recipe for "Egg Nog" which was really a kind of smoothie or milkshake. I think I just called it egg nog. My Mom made all kinds of drinks in the blender and I only made a few fruit kinds, or an orange julius type drink, but almost every single day, for breakfast or mid-day, I made myself an "egg nog". I think this was from about age 9 or a little older to age 15, to right before we moved.
It's 2 raw eggs, about 1 1/2 c. milk, vanilla extract, nutmeg, and sugar. I never measured, I just poured an approximate amount of milk into the blender, and cracked the eggs, used a lid-ful (or capful) of vanilla extract, and nutmeg shaken from the spice jar, and about 1/8 c. of sugar or less, a couple tsp. or tbsp. It was pretty mild. I never added any other spice besides nutmeg. Nutmeg and vanilla only, and it was usually either artificial or real vanilla. We had both kinds.
Basically, it makes this frothy milk drink. I drank it every day and thought the raw egg was good for me.
I just called it "egg nog". "Mom, I'm going to make an egg nog." I was given free liberty in the kitchen all the time, but this was one thing no one minded if I made. So I made it a lot. I sometimes used fruit for smoothies, but they weren't always available and I had to ask for that, and I didn't have to ask to make the egg nog, so I made egg nog a lot. (later on my own I made smoothies from frozen berries).
My first taste of alcoholic "egg nog" was a small sip or two of Rom Popei (a Mexican Egg Nog) and my best friend's mother, who was Mexican, gave us a little one Christmas in 1993 or later. I had seen it before at my cousins' houses, because they also had it but I didn't try it. There was some kind of flan recipe with rom popei (pronunced "rum pope-ay".
I think I've written about both of these things a long time ago, but I thought about them again and decided to write it down.
Later, at my house in St. Johns I made pudding on the stove with the same ingredients, minus the nutmeg...just vanilla pudding.
I also made root beer floats, and did this in Sherwood, Oregon too, and in St. Johns or later I bought malt, regular malt, to add to vanilla ice cream and milk and chocolate syrup for chocolate malts. My parents had a milkshake machine by the time I was 15 or a little earlier, when we moved to Sherwood, and we had malts as a main dessert.
For a main hot drink in the Winter we had hot cocoa or Alpine Spiced Cider. That was growing up. I later got the cider packets too, and had this in St. Johns along with my cocoa and teas and a few flavored instant international house (GM) instant coffees. We had the spiced cider whenever we went skiing. Hot cocoa in a thermos and the Alpine spiced cider in packets to add to hot water while skiing or after, and for camping. I don't remember any other spiced cider brand. For instant cocoas I think we usually had Swiss Miss with the little marshmallows but sometimes maybe other brands too, carnation, and other kinds We always had Carnation instant creamer, since I was a kid and that was the kind of powdered milk we had for recipes.
I was just thinking about some of the teas I had, Sleepytime, and cammomile, and then I remembered, there was something camomile in my first make-up, personal beauty product I bought for myself, while we still lived in Moses Lake. I got it mail order from a French company. They had all kinds of herbal products. But anyway, that's make-up not food. I believe it was Yves Rocher. I just looked up their site and the products look a little different now. Everything I had was in French, not in English. I didn't have any skincare product from them that was just English, it was in French and maybe had a smaller English description in the catalog. I never got make-up from them, just skincare. I got their toner which I think was cammomile (most of what I got was cammomile or lavendar or echinacea), and I had a cream, ...masks, several of their facial masks...I think I ordered from them when I was 13 years old. It was my idea, not my mothers. I possibly got their information from either a magazine my Mom had or one of my Seventeen magazines. I got their peel-off mask and some kind of mud mask and I got it for "oily" or "normal" skin type (being a teen). For whatever reason, it was the only skincare product that appealed to me, even as a kid. ?
There were a few things that no one directed me to, which I found and liked on my own. The Yves Rocher French skincare (written in French), checking out a book from the library at age 11 or so to teach myself "French", and making cream puffs,...that kind of thing. I didn't have any friends or know anyone who was into any of those things. Maybe I was 13 when I got the book to teach myself French, not sure. I just know I didn't get far, because where was no vocal instruction and all it was was words and then an english written description on how to pronounce the word. Si vous plais (see-VOO-play). I still remember how the word was written to be prounced. see-voo-play. It was a book for teens or children learning French but I didn't get far. When I checked out the book about Katherine Hepburn, that was the librarian's biggest shock. I was 11, and took this enormous oversized book, the whole life story, of Katherine Hepburn to the counter. I even remember the old men sitting in the library chairs noticing me while I was looking at the book. They were pretending to read the newspaper. There were some younger pretty women in the library and older men with newspapers sitting in chairs. They were always there when I was checking out mystery novels by Victoria Holt. The main genre I read was mystery. Whaddya think Watkins? So I remember the first time I tried to check out the Katherine book they wouldn't let me. This one librarian, for whatever reason, said maybe I should check with my parents first or something like that. I don't recall, but I know I got it the second time I took it to the counter. It was enormous and I read the whole thing. All of that "John Barrymoore" drama! Whoa! The parts that stuck with me were how she was an opinioned woman and I picked her out, as a kid, because she was a redhead. I think I felt left alone in my redhead world. So I picked out the fiery redhead Hepburn. And I remembered most how she refused to wear shoes for a certain scene, wanting authenticity and walked around barefoot, some big drama involving John Barrymoore (never could forget it), and her elegance in style, and Tracey. Spencah. Spencer Tracey, the love of her life. I didn't just look at the photos in the book. I read the book and it was huge. Oh yeah, and she was known for wearing slacks more than most women did at that time.
That was the most shocking thing some of those librarians ever saw. I don't know why, because I left the library with a basket full of books after I dropped off their newspaper everyday (they were on my newspaper route), and I read a lot of kids, pre-teen, and teen, and adult books, but the big Katherine bio was the shocker. The first librarian who didn't let me check it out the first time, said it was such a big book for a little girl. Something like that. I still wanted it later and got it. But I absolutely remember the people in the library when I was there on certain days.
I think then I got other books about Katherine Hepburn too. I still liked her, even though my parents didn't care for her. Granny then told me how much she liked Marilyn Monroe and I can't remember who my mother really liked from that era. My Dad liked Rita Hayworth now and then, and my Mom talked about Ginger Rogers a lot. I sort of picked Katherine Hepburn and stuck with her. I later discovered very old black and white with Betty Davis, and really liked her performances. I was into anything Betty Davis. Garbo and Dietrich I liked but I'd have to see the movies again to know which one and for what movie. I mainly remember Davis. For modern actresses, I didn't have a favorite probably, not that I noticed, but I thought Jodie Foster was interesting, even as a kid, she stood out. Freaky Friday. She's smart. And I like Lucille Ball for t.v. favorites.
The movie I remember Katherine Hepburn in the most is the newspaper one, with Spencer Tracey. I think it's "Woman of the Year" and I sort of remember "Adam's Rib" too. It's been awhile. I later liked other actresses, including Monroe. One of them has a super sharp script.
Oh, Audrey Hepburn, she was my other big favorite. In fact, her movies were the only ones I wanted a collection of for myself. I liked the actress for Anne of Green Gables productions too, and I liked the Sound of Music-Mary Poppins actress/singer Julianne. I had the boxed set for the Green Gables and for Audrey movies. Audrey Hepburn is sort of outstanding in that she had her own style and she was actually an emaciated starving victim of WWII who almost didn't make it out alive.
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