Cookingwithmarge's Blog

Castle Rock, CO and Cousins

cookingwithmarge — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:36:57 +0000

You simply can't get lost once you are up there!

I have recently returned from a tour of shows in beautiful Colorado where I was able to take time to visit with my two wonderful dear cousins, one in Colorado Springs and one in the Denver area. We decided to meet in Castle Rock which is in between the two cities. You simply can’t miss it as it’s right off Highway 25/85 and there is a star on top of the rock which can be seen straight from the highway.
I missed it. I thought they said there was a “bar” on top of the rock. I most likely misheard because I was talking to LeRoy, my errant husband, on the cell phone and he reeked of Jack Daniels even through the phone.
Anyway, we met a restaurant called Le Peep. I love French restaurants. I imagined it would be full of choices of French ways of fixing chicken but was very surprised to find it was American breakfast food with a bit of Mexican mixed in. Le Peep is a delightful chain available in certain states. We were laughed and talked for hours and the hostess was very sweet and even took our picture. My one cousin swears that someone from neighboring table had muttered under her breath “If she takes your picture, will you finally leave?” but I’m sure that wasn’t what was really said.
Then we visited the Chamber of Commerce which was located in Victoria’s House circa 1881. Quite charming as was the young lady who helped answer our many questions. My, how young everyone seems!
We then visited the Castle Rock Museum which was the old railroad depot circa 1875 for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. We had a wonderful, very pleasant young lady, circa 1995 who didn’t mind at all when I tipped her in behalf of we three cousins in quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. (It was all I had at the time…traveling can be so expensive)
We then went to a local art gallery where we so much enjoyed looking at the local artwork. Beautiful renditions of the mountains and streams. I love colloquial art. The attendant checked on us several times asking if we were all right. You see, the Fennels laughing is somewhat similar to choking, so I suppose she was worried. Anyway, we regretfully had to leave as I had to catch a plane and the attendant more of less asked us to depart. She must have had something she had to do as well.
Anyway, we vowed we would be back. Our visit had only been four hours and we had no chance to experience the outlet malls, the state parks or golf clubs in the area. Perhaps next time. I absolutely loved being with the family in such a beautiful setting.

Till then, Eat Right and Travel Light!

Marge Fennel

It’s another show………

cookingwithmarge — Tue, 03 May 2011 21:11:37 +0000

It’s a another day of performing. Yes, I did a show for a wonderful group of seniors today at a Catholic Church not far away. First, I accidentally drove into the school yard where I almost bumped into a darling little girl in a blue plaid skirt and white blouse. Thank goodness my truck ( I mean “car” ) barely goes over 12 miles an hour or the unthinkable could have happened. As it was, the child could outrun my car by 2 1/2 lengths. Then after a very surly woman with some sort of issue approached me and read me the riot act, she directed me to the church over “yonder” with a steeple. I aimed my vehicle towards the steeple and found myself at a Baptist church and they would not let me in. Finally, the attendant told me that I was at the wrong church with a steeple and pointed back from whence I came. There was indeed a church in between and I found it post-haste. A man greeted me in the parking lot. When I asked if he alway supplied such a service to their speakers, he said no, he had received two calls complaining about me, one from the school and one from the Baptist Church. My goodness. Some people!!

Anyway, the show went lovely and they were lovely people. When I asked if they could hear me, they said yes, in fact, quite a few were holding their ears when I began to sing. Yes, I thought I would try to sing a Mother’s Day song. You know, the “M” is for the million things……By “O” , the group representative asked me to please just get on with the presentation. I guess, there just wasn’t time for a song. I think they enjoyed the performance though, because the leader of the group said I would be hearing from their lawyer, a Mr. Jim Conroy or something like that. I suppose he wants to book a show for some Attorney Association or something.

Will let you know,

Till then,

Marge

Wedding Hats

cookingwithmarge — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:50:43 +0000

I was inspired. LeRoy was right. Watching the wedding on the telly was much better than being there in person. I could see the styles of dresses and hats. Oh my. Did you see Prince Andrews daughter’s hat? How intriguing. I now know that thin lines of fabric that stick out in various directions is most excitedly “in” and chic. I tried the style Sunday, May 1st at church and you would not believe the great response. Comments such as ” Wow, where did you ever get that hat?” ” How unique!” “Did you buy that in Roswell?” (Where is Roswell? – must be quite the fashion mecca!) There was some comment about the possibility of a “crop circle” but I didn’t catch it. Anyway, the hat was a huge success. One man even said to Leroy “Hummm….this explains so much about your wife”. I didn’t understand quite where he was going with it, but I think he meant I was as truly elegant as I appear.

Till later.

Marge

The Day Before The Wedding

cookingwithmarge — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:02:22 +0000

The invitation was obviously lost. I called to no avail. I called the US Mail, the Palace itself. Nothing. (Hello, Leroy here. Just wanted to let you know that the Post Office has threatened to report Marge to the US Government and the police as she was harassing them. I had to hire a lawyer….You gotta love her.) LeRoy was his usual comforting self and did make me feel much better when I realized how much better I will be able to see everything on the television instead of craning my neck in Westminster Abbey. And then, there is that whole “What should I Wear” question. I wouldn’t want to
outshine Kate. So this way, I don’t have to worry about it.
I wanted to invite some influential, elegant friends to come to my home to watch the wedding however LeRoy and I think we need to make a few improvements on the house first. (Like take the tires off the roof of the trailer. Oops. I’m sorry. The mobile home)
So alas, I will watch the wedding alone. – I think coverage starts around 3am. Even though LeRoy has to work that morning, he has offered to watch it with me. (I live to make her happy. If you lived with her, you’d understand….) I think it will be soo romantic.
(God, please let me stay awake!) I will be serving wine and elegant hor d’oeuvres (break out the Cheetos – I’ll be drinking Red Bull) and wearing my best night dressing gown. (I’ll be wearing a white tee shirt and Green Bay Packers boxer shorts)

Enjoy everyone. I can’t wait!
Marge

Cherios!!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

cookingwithmarge — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:11:27 +0000

It’s March 1st already! Where is my invitation to Prince William’s wedding??? It has not arrived yet and we are getting down to the wire. I have heard they’ve all been sent. I have called the post office on several occasions only to have been told that they were not responsible. You mean to tell me that they cannot track lost mail? Especially from overseas??? Where is our hard-earned money going?? Lately, I have been calling the post office and they do not pick up the phone! It rings interminably! So finally, I went down there myself and sat in my car and I used my cell phone.

They still didn’t answer so I ran in the building to see if they were really that busy that they couldn’t answer the phone. Lo and behold, there was not a person in line and one sole person standing behind the counter. If I didn’t know any better, she looked somewhat anxious. “Ah Ha!” I shouted. “You aren’t busy at all! ” and I told her I would accept no excuses as to why they could not look for my lost invitation. I demanded to speak to the Post Mistress (we had spoken before on many occasions). The P.M. came out and said that the business had no way of blocking my calls and they had not been doing so, but either way, they would not stop their normal business and look for an invitation that may or may not been sent. I retorted that I would be writing President Obama himself with a complaint. She looked me right in the eye, pulled some change out of her pocket, rang up on her computerized cash register and handed me a stamp! “Here, she said. Let me make it easier for you. “
I was furious. I took the stamp, whirled around to exit and almost ran into the twelve people who now were standing in line behind me. Honestly, some people!
LeRoy tried to comfort me. He said on the day of the wedding he would take me in to St. Louis and we would go to the Royal Dumpe Dinner Theater and see the wenches and King Henry the VII. Not quite what I had in mind, but it will do………

Till later,

Marge

February 22, 2011 Food, How long?

cookingwithmarge — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:36:12 +0000

I was at a party and the hostess had a fantastic dessert! Raspberry coconut shortbread with white chocolate morsels on the top. Oh my goodness, it was to die for and I gushed profusely to the host . LeRoy said I embarassed him by overly gushing, but you can’t be too gracious as any knows. But the host appeared very put out and no wonder. He said his house was on fire and we would all have to leave immediately, but please take the raspberry shortbread with us! I was thrilled as I was given the entire tray (this was the beginning of the evening and no one but me had really tried them yet). So we left as the host scurried us out of his house. Come to find out, there had been no fire at all! It must have been a false alarm! LeRoy thought it was rather suspicous as no one else was escorted out of the building, but I pooh-poohed him at the time. But now I don’t know. We drove by the house and it looks fine to me. LeRoy talked to one of our friends who had attended and they didn’t even know anything about the fire! Oh well, it’s neither here nor there.

The reason why I have even brought it up is because of the dessert. The party was two weeks ago and I forgot that the dessert was in the refrig. It’s not my fault. Remember, I have been house sitting at my cousin’s place and well, you know, “Out of sight – Out of Mind”. Well, the white chocolate has turned a dark tan, but I took a bite and it seems dry but still very tasty. But it’s much more than I can eat, so I took it to my home away from home. Tiger Travel and my lovely friends there. I didn’t tell them how old it was. No. I just told them they were a new brand of morsels called “dark cream”. They had no reason to doubt me and ate it all down. It’s been an hour and no one has vomited yet so I think that we are safe. My question would be however: How long can you keep a dessert in the refrigerator? I shall investigate and get back to you all.

In the meantime, as we say in the Fennel House ” As long as you have Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup on hand, no dessert can’t be eaten!”

Saturday Feb 19th

cookingwithmarge — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:51:33 +0000

We have enjoyed some very lovely weather here however today it is a bit coolish. It is February so that is to be expected.
I would get my lovely saphire blue snuggie and sit on my velour comfortble couch which nestles under my black velvet painting of Elvis however I am not at home. Perhaps I shouldn’t post that sort of information on my blog,. It isn’t safe. What if someone wants to rob my trailer. (I mean, my home). But LeRoy is there so burglar beware. I , on the other hand, am not at home because I am dog sitting for my cousins Charlie and Dell. They have gone to Florida with their kids and grandkids. I found this a wonderful opportunity to be in someone’s house other than my own and escape from the montonous household duties. I am not in a lovely two story house complete with basement, washer and dryer and HD TV. I now know why they call it HD. It really is Heavy Duty. You can see chin hairs on Julia Roberts. Do you k now how comforting that is for someone like me? Anyway, it is so nice to live somewhere without tires on the roof for a week’s respite.

The greatest part (aside from the abscense of LeRoy. I love him dearly but let’s be real) is that Charlie and Del said I can eat anything I want out from their fully supplied kitchen! I have just had my fourth cup of hot Swiss Miss that comes in that big giant can. Wow, is that good on a cold February day. And here is a cooking tip. Triple the recipe. Yummy. Put three times as much chocolate Swiss Miss in your cup, then add your water. You won’t be sorry. It’s like a liquid hot Malted Milk Ball in your mouth and throat. Who gives a care about calories. If you were into that, you would be drinking herbal tea with no sugar or sweetner, wouldn’t you??

Anyway, I am dog sitting two of those tiny, little dogs called chi…..cha….oh, you know. I don’t this blog has spell check so you are on your own. Anyway, I broght my dog over who is a beagle/dachshund mix and towers over these little things like The Incredible Hulk at a Leprechaun convention. (I just made that up. That creative writing class I have been taking has really helped, hasn’t it?)

One of the little dogs hides under covers all day. The other one jumps on my lap and sneers at my dog . I guess because it can. My dog doesn’t jump up so easily. My family unkindly calls her Thunder Thighs. At first, I thought they were calling me that horrid name but they have reassured me that they were talking about the dog.

I will be here for a blessed week. A week full of Swiss Miss, Heavy Duty TV and all the cheese, popcorn and Chocolates that a woman could wish for. And no having to turn on the swamp cooler when we have a warm day!

Have a great weekend. I know I will.

Marge

Marge, Sun spots and communication

cookingwithmarge — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:19:20 +0000

I was trying to post a blog and for some ungodly reason, I kept losing my data. What could cause this? It couldn’t have been anything that I was doing.
Then I was asking LeRoy if he would take out the trash and it was like he couldn’t even hear me.
A friend of mine Kathleen who is one of the smartest women I know, said it has something to do with liver spots. She further expounded that this could cause communication problems. I believe her explicitly. I talk much less with my hands since getting liver spots. (Perhaps I should call them “age” spots.
” Liver” does seem somewhat graphically gauche. ) I mean, really, do I want to display my dot-ridden hands for the world to see?
There is nothing like your grandson connecting the dots on the back of your hand with a magic marker while you are sleeping and proclaiming that it is a “choo choo”. LeRoy swears the back of my left hand is a true depiction of the “the Big Dipper” . Anyway, I can see where liver spots…….wait a minute. I stand corrected. Kathleen just informed me that she was referring to “sun spots”.
What the hell are sun spots???? I think she might be referring to when you look directly at the sun, you see those little black spots. Well, that makes sense. That would work against you when trying to communicate. Especially on the computer. I can’t tell you how many times I typed the wrong words because of those little floaters in my eyes. I was writing once about a duck and was off by one letter. I cannot tell you how embarrassed I was . But it’s those dang sun spots. Well. So long for now. I hope you get this.

Marge: The Return

cookingwithmarge — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:56:17 +0000

All I can say is I am sorry. Sorry that I have become such a success that I have neglected my duties in writing this blog. The past year
has been a cacophony of quadraphenia. (Who?) I have done shows in Kearny and Lincoln, Nebraska, The lovely Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. (OK. It wasn’t the hotel, it was an assisted living home where one of the residents loudly repeated at least 1/4 of the words that I said while I was performing). I have performed for Red Hatters in Lakewood, CO who were having so much fun that I wanted to join up and just sit and watch them! They were way funnier than what I was doing! I performed for a convention in downtown St. Louis for 400 people who thought I was much funnier than the the other speakers they had listened to up to that point. I think it was a “Depression Hurts” weekend seminar. And then, there was the St. Theresa’s apartments where I was told AFTER the show, that I was playing to a group of retired nuns. Boy, I wondered why the “Bang Bang Susie” joke didn’t get a smile.

Anyway, I couldn’t have traveled the way I have, covering the Midwest with such aplomb if it weren’t for my sisters. They toted me all over the place and were so good natured about it. It didn’t bother them at all to burn a Tee -shirt in the parking lot in Ft. Lupton Colorado at seven o’clock at night. It’s a prop I use in my show and I had ….well. it’s a long story. You see, I thought I was doing “Spring Cleaning With Marge” and found upon arrival I was doing “Cooking With Marge” . I had all the wrong props and equipment. The three of us frantically went to the Family Dollar (tragically, there is no Dollar Store in Ft. Lupton ) and purchased all the needed goods within 5 minutes. I couldn’t have done it without my sisters one who lit the match, one who fanned out the flames when they went out of control. They are wonderful. My dear sisters. So anyway, I went back to do the show and after the person introduced me, there was a great pause. Found out that some of the folks thought quite mistakenly, that Dick Cheney might be the speaker. This is true. All true. Imagine their shock when it was me! Now when I think about it, this was either a big step for me or a very low point for Dick Cheney.

Ah well. Hugs to you all. I am back. For what it is worth.
Marjoram Fennel

The First Post of 2010

cookingwithmarge — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:12:49 +0000

I am so contrite that I have not posted sooner. It all started with the Christmas tree that we cut from the woods behind our home. Ginger’s current boyfriend, Buck, who has the biggest eyes (they always look like they have a life of their own) (and why does Ginger insist on dating only men with missing teeth?) offered to find a tree and bring it home. LeRoy was a bit put out but he allowed Buck to take his place in doing so only because Ginger begged. Something else about Buck is that he never shuts up. That boy talks forever about nothing. And I mean nothing. Then there is the shaking. His hands shake every time he reaches for something. I’m not sure why. But it’s the constant jabber that makes me crazy. That boy has more stories and opinions than Andy Rooney. It wouldn’t be so bad if he could stay on one topic at a time. Who says the words “Lady Gaga, Jay Leno, Madison Wisconsin and chipmunk chow” all in the same sentence???

Anyway, Ginger and Buck go out in the cold and return 3 hours later with the tree. We couldn’t fit it in the front door. They cut it. We ended up with just the bottom of the tree. No top. It was ridiculous, although easy to decorate. I was quite glad that LeRoy agreed to give up the Heineken Beer cans this year, although as ornaments they really do add a nice color and light to the tree and the little deer target ornaments were left off the tree as well. In fact, they all allowed me to decorate the tree the way I wanted to decorate it since I was so furious about the whole thing. If I find a picture of it, I will include it in the next posting.
Anyway, LeRoy and my grandchildren were in the kitchen baking cookies while Ginger and Buck were in the living room. They were decorating the living room and we heard a strange noise. A “thup” of air is how I would describe it.

We scurried in to the living room and there was Buck, his long hair standing out like a cartoon character who had just seen a ghost and his eyes were even bigger but frozen in one place.

“What happened?” We asked. Ginger was staring at Buck, amazed.

“I think he’s dead! He’s standing up and he’s dead! – He plugged this electric candle in the outlet and he lit up!”

And it was true. We figure that due to the alcohol blood content in his body and the obvious fact that he must literally bath in beer (due to the odor on his clothes)and that he had a cold one in his hand, that he blew himself up.

“At least he is quiet. “ I commented which was a mistake because it set Ginger off crying. Anyway, we put Buck’s stiff body on the couch and called the paramedics who took care of him and he didn’t even have to go to the hospital which is good because Lord knows, he didn’t have health insurance. He is now walking and talking as good as ever. In fact, I think the whole experience really has helped him. I know it always helped my mother with her schizophrenia. She went in for treatments all the time.

Well that’s all for now.

Till tomorrow!

Happy 2010