As my friend Erin and I were winding our way to Santa Fe Ave. to (unsuccessfully) visit the Art-O-Mat, we went down the street behind Santa Fe, and we saw this house. And then we had to go back and take pictures. You don’t go by a place like this every day.

This house looks like it was decorated for Halloween and never undone. It is more of an art installation than a decor job, which is quite appropriate for the neighborhood.

Flamingos AND Halloween!

On the right-hand side is a bust (on the birdbath) which apparently has tears of blood, from the bloodstains. Note the deer skull at the peak of the roof. There was a lot to look at here.

As I sorted my cookbook collection out following the clean up after the fire and replaced them in their place, I found some old favorites that I hadn’t used in quite a while, including:

I bought this before we were married, one of the summers I spent in Brookings while I was going to college – I liked to go to auctions and went to some in the surrounding communities, and I bet I bought this cookbook there. It is a keeper. It has a whole section on just “Bars” separate from “Cookies,” that is always a good sign. I do use one of their brownie recipes with great regularity, but I sat down and looked through the whole book again and found a few new ones to try.

When you have been married for almost 18 years, you get a better grip on what your husband will/won’t like to eat, and I knew he would like this.

I BARELY par-boiled the noodles, I didn’t want them to get all mushy, and they weren’t too bad. I used more onion than this. I used 8 oz of mozzarella, just in case it wasn’t very good (cheese saves everything). Baked it in a 9 by 13 pan, and it didn’t need an hour, I did 20 minutes and then about 10 with the cheese on top. It is quite good as leftovers. It could be improved with green peppers and mushrooms, but I knew that would go over well with the DH (dear husband). So, that one turned out, two thumbs up, hurray for church cookbooks!

Ken liked it.