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| Mom's Recipe And Wooden Spoon |
It all went okay. The kids had a great time, as kids always do. My sister did a great job with the food. I managed to get presents for everyone without breaking the bank. But it wasn’t the same. It never will be, but the Lord got us through it.
Even though there was almost a calamity with the buttermilk fudge.
You know I had a great post all planned out. I was going to use some of my family members to take some humorous pictures (Hey, I made buttermilk fudge they owe me) and do a cute little fictional piece. Then reality reared it’s it humorous head, and truth being so much funnier than fiction, I decided to tell you all what really happened.
Saturday morning, after my sister abandoned me to make the fudge on my own, I got organized. I finished all my Christmas shopping and wrapped all the presents so I could concentrate on my fudge making. First order of business was grocery shopping. I made my list, and going beyond Santa, I not only checked it twice, I checked it a third time. So what if it was pouring down rain, which is not the best grocery shopping or candy making weather? I was undaunted, and out of time, and fudge was being made today. So I got to the store, carefully as it was pouring rain after all, and got everything on my list, including my fudge ingredients. Well except for one thing they didn’t have. Buttermilk.
Well it's not that they didn't have any buttermilk, they just didn't have the right kind. All they had was the low fat 1%, but Mom had warned me this would not do. You have to use the 2% buttermilk or the candy will NOT set. Visions of buttermilk soup danced in my head, and that ain't sugarplums.
Still, I did not panic. Truth to tell, I really hadn’t expected my normal store to carry this type of buttermilk. Why? Well, let’s just say the store at which I do my grocery shopping is a discount type of location. Great prices, but you can’t always find everything.
However, I was prepared. All I figured I had to do was visit one of the more mainline supermarkets in town. I was sure to find buttermilk there, they charge enough after all. So what if I get a little wet? I was wet already. So I stop at the first store and what to my wondering eyes should appear?
No buttermilk.
So I went to a second store, then a third, and then a fourth.
NO BUTTERMILK!
Running out of groceries stores, panic began to look like a reasonable option about this time. Because you know what? It’s kind of hard to make buttermilk fudge without buttermilk!
So feeling the need for some reassurance, and the faint hope I might get off the hook on this whole candy making thing, I texted my sister, you know the one who abandoned me, “Buttermilk fudge in jeopardy! I can’t find buttermilk.”
Now just to let you know my sister is usually the calm port in the storm. She ALWAYS knows what to do. So you can imagine my surprise and dismay when she texted back, “Oh no! I couldn’t find it either when I looked for it. Where did Mom get it?”
Now you might think she was kidding. I know how my sister sounds when she's kidding. Trust me, she wasn't kidding!
Who knew buttermilk fudge could cause so much drama?
However, although this little exchange might have seemed unhelpful, it actually was very helpful. Because she reminded me that Mom had always had to buy buttermilk at a particular grocery store. I went there and tah dah…
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| I'm Saved! |
Now it doesn’t have to be this brand, but this is what is available where I live. The important thing is that it is the right kind of buttermilk.
Anyway, I texted my sister to reassure her that the buttermilk crisis had been averted, and I took my sorry, soggy self and groceries home to dry off and get it over with and make the stuff already. After all, a person can only drive themselves crazy for so long before they give up and just get the thing done. So I made the buttermilk fudge, and you know what?
I do know how to make it.
Go figure.
Anyway it got done, and here it is.
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| Trust Me, It's Good |
Anyway, I took some pictures of the process so if anyone is ever sufficiently bored and wants me to do a post on how to do it, or I can wait until next year. I have a few tips that will also come in handy. Because even though it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would it be, it still isn’t easy to make this stuff.
So what was the best thing came that came about from this experience? Overcoming adversity? Not disappointing my family? Getting the confidence to make my mother’s must have candy? No. The best thing is…
I DON’T HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN UNTIL NEXT YEAR!
Mystery writer C.L. Ragsdale is the author of The Reboot Files a
Christian Mystery Series. A California native, she loves to "surf"
the web to research plot details for her fun, quirky stories with just a bit of
whopper in them. She has a degree in Theatre Arts which greatly influenced her
writing style. Working in various fields as a secretary has allowed her to both
master her writing skills and acquire valuable technical knowledge which she
uses liberally in her plots. She loves to embroider and knit and is a big fan
of the old Scooby Doo cartoons.
Current
E-Books
THE
REBOOT FILES: The Mystery of Hurtleberry House, The Island of Living
Trees, The Harbinger of Retribution, and The Wrong Ghost.
So glad the infamous buttermilk fudge turned out okay for you, Cindy! You really had to jump through some hoops to get there though! Hope you and yours have a blessed New Year!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Cindy. Who would have ever thought you could make fudge with buttermilk? I'm not a buttermilk fan, but I bet the fudge is good! I remember my dad taking cornbread and crumbling it up in buttermilk and then added sugar. I never even got up the nerve to try buttermilk. LOL
ReplyDeleteVictory! So proud of you, Cindy. I remember making pie crust five times in a row before I got one from the board to the pie plate. But once I did, my crusts always turned out.
ReplyDelete~Nancy Jill
It is ironic that the thing I worried about the most, making the fudge, turned out to be the least complicated part of my day.
ReplyDelete