Thursday, November 21, 2013

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY!

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

EAT,
DRINK AND
BE MERRY!

You know the holidays are near when I begin serving my hot cider drink.

I serve it SO hot that some have burned their tongues when taking the first sip, and named it:

"Marcia's Fire Water."

Eugenia Pate, of KPRS Radio gave me the recipe in 1972.

I simply call it, "FIRE."

This Christmas...
I'm bottling "FIRE" - and giving it away as gifts.

What a great project to reuse some of the glass bottles I've saved this year.

Here's to a delicious recycling project!

MARCIA'S FIRE

1 Gallon Apple Cider

1 Package (16 ounce) Red Hots Candy*

Pour apple cider into large pan on the stove.
Cook on medium heat.
Slowly Pour package of red hots candies into the apple cider...stirring CONTINUALLY until all the red hots have melted.
Pour into cups with a ladle, or into bottles using a funnel.
Serve HOT.

This is delicious and easy to make.

It's beautiful and festive when served in clear glasses so the red color is revealed!

*Note: Ferrara Pan Candy Company created Red Hots, a hard cinnamon candy, in the 1930's. The generic name used by the candy industry is "cinnamon imperials."

Here's a site to order Red Hots.
http://www.oldtimecandy.com/red-hots.htm

The first "FIRE"

I bottled this year was for a birthday gift in November.

I personalized the bottle with

rub-on letters, a charm hung on a ribbon,

and topped it off with a glass bottle stopper.

Be sure to add a card with instructions

to HEAT the drink in a glass cup or stoneware mug.

I forgot to add instructions,

and my friend had the first drink COLD.

Looking for a recipe for Non-Alcoholic Mixed Drinks?

Here's one of my favorites!

NON-ALCOHOLIC MIXED DRINKS

One (12-ounce) Can Lemonade

One (12-ounce) Can Limeade

One (12-ounce) Can Orange Juice

Eight (8) Cups Water

One (2-Liter) Bottle Ginger Ale

Mix Lemonade, Limeade, Orange Juice and Water.

FOR INDIVIDUAL SERVINGS:

Pour 2/3 cup of the JUICE MIXTURE in a glass and add 1/3 Cup Ginger Ale.
OR Add ice cubes and less water. Add mix and ice in a blender to make a "slushy."

FOR PUNCH BOWLS:

Pour JUICE MIXTURE into punch bowl.
Add Ginger Ale just before serving.

TO REDUCE THIS RECIPE:
Use 6-ounce cans and reduce water to 4 cups.

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend!

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

CHEERS!

Watch for more crafts, recipes and stories in upcoming blogs!

Monday, October 28, 2013

BOTTLE TREES

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Have you noticed Bottle Trees

in gardens and at garden centers?

Bottle Trees are often referred to as

"poor man's stained glass" or "garden earrings."

They are simply bottles on sticks.

They can be made of dead trees limbs tied together, wooden posts with large nails, welded metal rods, or bottles stuck on the tines of an upended pitch fork, or a small number of rebar rods stuck in the ground or fence posts.

This beautiful blue glass bottle glistens in the sunlight. It's perched on a rebar rod, at the top of a handmade twig-fence in the Heartland Harvest Garden at Powell Gardens, the botanical garden, east of Kansas City, Missouri.

Every year we throw out enough glass bottles and jars

to fill a giant skyscraper...

according to A Recycling Revolution.

CLICK on the link or

COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:

http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html

One glass wine bottle

                    takes 4,000 years or more to decompose -

                                                        longer if it sits in a landfill.

What happens to your wine and sparkling grape juice bottles that you haul to the recycling center?

Much of the glass goes into making more glass bottles.

The glass is broken up into smaller pieces called cullet,
and used to make more glass.

The beautiful, colorful, sturdy glass bottles make the perfect material for upcycled projects for your garden.

Upcycle:

To process of taking used goods or waste material

to produce something

that is often better than the original.

I'm

fascinated

with

bottle trees.