Recipes and Randomness, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

It's also time for the cookie recipe swap done every year by my friend Jz.  

Please note if you visit her, she sometimes posts content that is higher than a PG rating, and so do some of her other friends whose recipes are linked below.  Please know i am endorsing only those posts which contain a recipe.  After all, who doesn't like getting new recipes for delights at this time of year!

The other participants this year are:
Baker
blossom
Cat
greengirl
Hermione
Jz
Lindy
little monkey
Mrs. Fever
olivia
Ronnie
Ryan
Sassy
Selkie (her recipe will be on Jz’s blog, link above)
morningstar

While it is technically a cookie recipe swap, any kind of treat is allowed, so i am sharing the recipe for our family favorite, hojaldras.  Everyone in the family loves these, they are a typical sweet, fried cake, such as almost every culture has. 

Hojaldras

The original old family recipe:

~10c flour

~2c sugar

1c water

1c melted Crisco

5 eggs

Mix and knead for one hour. Let the dough rest an hour, then knead for another hour. Roll into balls and let rest another hour.

Melt enough Crisco in the cast iron skillet to float a battleship -- you want the dough to not touch the bottom.

Press each ball of dough out by hand until very flat, cut 3 vent slices in the middle (like you would in a top pie crust), and fry until crisp. Drain each one on a fresh paper towel.

My version

5c flour

1c sugar

1/2 c water

1/2 c no name brand vegetable shortening(don't have to melt it)

3 medium eggs

Put it all in the bread maker and select "dough only" setting.

When it's done, and you get good and ready, melt half shortening and half cheap vegetable oil in the skillet.

Pull off dough in small handfuls and roll out with the rolling pin. Cut vent slices and fry.

Drain on a paper towel, but not one for each hojaldra, those doggone paper towels are too expensive now to do that!

With either version, store in a paper bag. Not sure why, but that's what the family always did. My dad freezes them in the bag, and pulls out one each day.

Yes, my version is cheaper, easier, and Grandpa, who grew up eating them made the old way, can't tell the difference.

That is one part of today's random, and here's another.  Mr. BA was telling a story about when he'd hired a new employee at work, and told the guy to go over the documents and highlight the errors.  The employee did a fabulous job of it, and said, "Sir, look at these mistakes!  You're going to have to do better!"

Mr. BA responded with, "George, catching the mistakes is your job.  If I was perfect, I wouldn't need you!"

He says they got along great after that.

Someone asked one of the men at church this past Sunday, "What are you thinking about?" as he stared off into space.

"Just contemplating what's going on at work.  I'm trying figure out how to get money into the bank faster than my wife can get it out, but it's not working."

Said someone then remarked, "I never see her in the same outfit twice, that's for sure."

He answered back, "Yep, then she wonders why we can't have a bigger house.  And she's smart!  She's got a degree!  Well, maybe she's smart, but not about this!”

And now, just when you thought you’d seen everything:

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Chief Red Cloud Day -- marking the Sioux leader's death in 1909; defender of Native rights, son of Lone Man and Walks As She Thinks

Constitution Day -- Thailand

Dewey Decimal System Day -- anniversary of Melvil Dewey's birth

Do Something Wild and Crazy with Velveeta Day -- guess they mean besides turn it into Hillbilly Hor d'oeuvres (melted with Rotel and served with chips)

Human Rights and Peace Day -- Kiribati

International Animal Rights Day

International Human Rights Day -- anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948

Jane Addams Day -- Hull House Museum, Chicago, IL, US (sponsored by the American Association of University Women-Illinois) 

Lux Mundi -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring Libertas as the bringer of light into the world)

National Lager Day

Nobeldagen -- Sweden (Alfred Nobel Day, presentations of the Nobel Prizes at the Stockholm Concert Hall)

    Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony -- Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway

Sister-Friend Day -- internet generated, but if you have a sister who is a good friend to you, it's worth celebrating

St. Eulalia of Merida's Day (Patron of runaways, torture victims, widows; Merida, Spain; Oviedo, Spain)

Whirling Dervishes Festival -- Konya, Turkey (through the 17th)

Anniversaries Today:

Mississippi becomes the 20th US State, 1817

Birthdays Today:

Raven-Symone, 1985

Bobby Flay, 1964

Kenneth Branagh, 1960

Susan Dey, 1952

Gloria Loring, 1946

Dan Blocker, 1928

Harold Gould, 1923

Dorothy Lamour, 1914

Chet Huntley, 1911

Hermes "Pan" Panagiotopolous, 1909

Mary Norton, 1903

Melvil Dewey, 1851

Emily Dickinson, 1830

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, 1787

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Wings Over America"(Album release), 1976

Lawrence of Arabia(Film), 1962

"The Mighty Mouse Playhouse" (TV), 1955

Grand Ole Opry (first radio broadcast), 1927

Today in History:

Martin Luther publicly burns the papal edict demanding that he recant, 1520

Isaac Newton's paper De Motu Corporum in Gyrum, containing the derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley, 1684

The Massachusetts Bay Colony becomes the first American Colonial government to borrow money, 1690

The metric system is formally established in France, 1799

The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London, 1868

Women's suffrage is granted in Wyoming Territory, the first in the US, 1869

Women are granted suffrage in Tasmania, 1902

The 10,000,000th Model T Ford is assembled, 1915

The Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut, in Nashville, Tn, 1927

UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

Ralph J Bunche becomes the first black to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, 1950

The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan's proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia, 1981

The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland; the closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages, 1993

An archive documenting the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda is revealed in the capital city of Kigali, 2010

Mary Barra of General Motors becomes the first female CEO of a major automotive company, 2013

Governor Jerry Brown tours Southern Californian wildfires and declares them "the new normal", 2017