Murder in the Meadow (Rosemary Grey Cozy Mysteries Book 1)
Page 24
Here’s the filling:
-About 6 apples—use your favorites. I like to mix a few different ones from the orchard.
-Lemon
-Sugar—1/2 cup
-1/4 c. flour
-a couple dashes of salt [1/4 teaspoon]
-nutmeg-about 1/4 t.
-ground cloves-a pinch
-plenty of cinnamon—about 1 ½ t.
* * *
And the best part, the topping:
[Sure, you could put a second crust on top, but why do that when you can make this delicious crumble instead?]
-1 ½ sticks butter
-1/2 c flour
-1/2 c oats [use the quick oats!]
-a couple more dashes salt
-lots of chopped pecans—about ½ c
-One batch of Grandma’s homemade caramel sauce [Forget it—just buy a jar of good caramel sauce that’s used for topping ice cream OR you could melt a bag of caramels, add a little water, half-and-half, and vanilla, and stir. Delicious!]
* * *
Get out your big bowl. Mix in the flour and the salt for the crust. Then cut in your cold butter, and keep cutting until it looks like big crumbs. Add the ice water—but do it 1 tablespoon at a time, and stop adding water when you have a ball of dough. Wrap in plastic and chill for 4 hours or more. Then roll it out and press it into the pie pan.
* * *
Preheat your oven: 375 degrees
* * *
Peel, core, and slice the apples. Into the big bowl they go! Add the juice of about half a lemon and all the other filling ingredients. Mix it and then pile it up in your crust.
* * *
Make the crumb topping: Mix the flour and butter together first, just like you did when you made the crust. Then add the brown sugar, oats, and salt and mix it all together. Sprinkle it all over the apples.
* * *
Bake for an hour, then sprinkle on the chopped nuts, then bake for five minutes more. This will toast those nuts and bring out their goodness!
* * *
Drizzle with as much caramel as you’d like!
* * *
[Gabby: You are not to share this recipe around with your friends. This is a family secret! But feel free to share a piece of pie with them! Abbey, we already had this talk. Bubba, don’t even think about selling this recipe on the internet. I mean it.]
10 July 1668
Paperwick, Old Ballybrook, Connecticut
Dearest Mama,
I hope this finds you well and happy. I am enjoying my stay with cousin Felicity. We are being good, and I am meeting many nice people here in the village. We visited a Mr. and Mrs. Potter yesterday, and mama, Mrs. Potter had just had two babies at once! Born the same hour! Have you ever heard of such a thing? I am helping Felicity with her chores, just as you said I should. My favorite is every evening, when she and I go outside by lantern light and check on the animals before we go to sleep. Sometimes we stay in the barn and tell the animals stories. Mama, did you know there are witches about this area? Felicity told me of them, and now, I have seen one! Last evening, we were surprised as we made our way out to the stables and saw—believe me, we saw her—a witch, dancing joyously in the moonlight! No music! No partner. It was as though she were charmed by some unseen phantom. Have you ever seen such a thing? We did not know what to make of it. But I always thought witches were hideous, frightening creatures. This one seemed quite nice and beautiful. Felicity and I ran into the house and stayed up talking of it for some time.
Reverend King came for a visit today. He has commended me on my penmanship. I am blessed that Ms. Mercy is helping me to improve.
My aunt and uncle send their love.
Your daughter,
Anne
From the medical notes of Mercy Clark:
-September 1, 1668: Visited Molly Potter, who was complaining of the stomach ache. We made her a sage tea. Steeping one large bunch in a pot of boiling water. Give as needed. Also have Molly warm herself by the fire.
-John Black having trouble sleeping. Advised Anne to have him take the fresh night air and then make him a chamomile tea with honey they’d put by from the hives. He should drink this nightly before bed.
-Joseph and Patience Brown have a healthy baby girl. Hortence delivered her early this evening. All are well.
-Collect lemon balm and lavender to take to the Smiths tomorrow. Also mint. Their niece Anne who is visiting is having stomach pain. Hortence suspects too much of the new dish the Smiths have been serving, pickled oysters. Will inform Smiths to desist.
-Boiling water
Wild ginger root
Mint
Lemon balm
-Gather lavender—it grows in the meadow.
June 3, 2011
Mom’s Potatoes
Hello Jacky!
So glad you and Rosemary want to make my potatoes! They really are delicious, aren’t they? We loved celebrating your college graduations together and serving a big pan of these! (For that, I doubled the recipe, but only because we were serving a crowd!) They’re very simple to make, as many of the best things in life are.
Here’s how to make them:
-Peel 6 potatoes and put them into cold water until you’re ready to slice them all. This keeps them from turning brown. Slice them as thinly as you can, but don’t cut yourself!
-Melt 4 to 6 tablespoons of butter and toss the potatoes in the butter until they’re all coated.
-Add salt and pepper to your taste and toss some more.
-Arrange the sliced potatoes in a single layer in a baking dish.
-Bake them at 350 degrees for about an hour. Check them a lot toward the end. You want them to start browning and crisping up a bit at the edges.
* * *
You’ll never believe this, but I made these very potatoes the first time I cooked for your dad. So, if either you or Rosemary ever meet a nice young man, try this recipe on him! It works!
Love you, Jacky.
Dad says hi. We’ll see you next weekend.
Mom
November 2019
Prizewinning Snickerdoodles
Okay, Seth. I’m giving you the recipe for my prizewinning snickerdoodles. But guard this with your life! There are plenty of people who’d like to get their hands on this, so keep it under lock and key! I’m not even remotely comfortable writing it down. Don’t forget what I told you: The key to the cookies being puffy and thick is, first, chilling the dough for a good thirty minutes after you’ve made it, and two, keep each cookie to no bigger than one tablespoon of dough. (I guess that’s two keys.) Any bigger and they spread out and get thin. And that’s not what we want! We want thick and soft!
Good luck!
Charlie
* * *
You’ll need the following:
-3 cups all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-2 sticks butter
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1 large egg plus one egg yolk
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* * *
Also, put 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon in a bowl and stir them up. You’ll dip the dough balls in this before baking.
* * *
Mix together all the dry ingredients, just like I showed you.
Then mix the butter and sugars until creamy, then add the egg and yolk, and the vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix.
Chill that dough for 30 minutes—at least!
* * *
350 degree oven, parchment-lined baking sheets.
Make little balls of 1 tablespoon each of dough and roll in the cinnamon-sugar.
Bake 7-10 minutes.
* * *
Pour yourself a mug of hot cocoa—or George’s Spiced Cider—and enjoy!
Paperwick Founders Day Festival 2019
&nb
sp; Certificate of Award
Paperwick Founders Day Festival 2019
Certificate of Award
Presented to
Potters Farm
for
Grand Champion Pumpkin
on this day,
November 10, 2019
* * *
Signed,
Charlie Stewart, Judge & Jack Stone, Judge
* * *
[Dear Mr. and Mrs. P and kids: We don’t know how you do it! What is your secret to growing these insanely huge pumpkins? Congrats on winning yet again! You even beat your own record!! Can’t wait to see next year’s pumpkin! You amaze us. Jack & Charlie]
Police Beat Magazine
Your Source for the True Stories of Our Heroes in Blue
“Connecticut Cop Nabs Mayor’s Murderess”
Officer George Harris, of the Paperwick, Connecticut Force, was instrumental in capturing a two-time killer in a case that had authorities baffled. The story of the village mayor being found dead in a local ancient cemetery—in the burial plot peopled by his own forebears, no less—went viral last week, most especially because the mayor’s death was purportedly brought on, some locals claimed, as the result of a witch’s curse from the late 1600s.
“Of course, that was never the opinion of the Paperwick PD,” Officer Harris said, pointing to his fellow officers and modestly sharing the credit with all three of them.
As it turned out, the mayor’s secretary, a Mrs. Rebecca Thatcher, was the actual killer in the ultimate crime of passion. Seems the mayor had recently announced his engagement, and a jealous Mrs. Thatcher went after both him and his betrothed in a double murder that rocked the tiny town. But the story gets even stranger: the killer’s husband was the mayor’s friend and colleague, City Manager Benedict Thatcher. Mr. Thatcher had presumed that he was the killer after a fight during which he came to blows with the mayor. Mr. Thatcher had actually turned himself in with a full confession before his wife’s arrest. After his release and being informed that Officer Harris had arrested his wife for the murders, Thatcher was heard saying he would be resigning his post as City Manager and moving to Maine, where his family lives.
Police Beat commends Officer Harris for his quick thinking and careful investigating. Well done, Officer Harris!
Mr. and Mrs. Potter’s Pumpkin Growing Secrets
(Turn that ‘pumpkin’ into a ‘pumpking’!)
-Here in Connecticut, we start our pumpkins off in the greenhouse. It’s just too cold in March to risk putting them in the ground. We plant the seedlings out in the patch after the danger of frost has passed.
-First, pick the right seeds, for heaven’s sake. Pick a variety known for growing large pumpkins.
-Think about where to plant. Look for sunny, but protected. Plant them in the sun, but do offer them shelter if it gets too hot, or if there’s a bad storm.
-Light, fluffy soil is best, and pile on the manure and work it into the soil when you’re getting the patch ready in early spring. You’ll need a mound to plant each seedling in.
-Watch those seedlings! Keep them moist and watch for the fourth leaf to grow! That’s when it’s time to move them outside.
-Did you know pumpkins have both male and female flowers? The males come out first. Watch the females. They’re the ones with tiny baby pumpkins attached.
-Pumpkins need a lot of water. But don’t get the leaves wet unless you want to deal with fungus! And prune, prune, prune! Pick off some of the small fruits so that the potential prizewinners can have plenty of nutrients and water and space. It may seem brutal, but this is how it’s done!
-Water at night—that’s when pumpkins do their growing. By the light of the moon!
-The current world record holder weighs near to three thousand pounds! We’ve never even gotten close to that!
George’s Spiced Cider
My mom always makes this on cold days.
Take 8 cups of apple cider or good quality apple juice. If you can get a batch of cider from the Potters, that’s the best.
Put it in a saucepan and heat it up over medium heat for five minutes with a couple cinnamon sticks, some cloves, a sliced orange, and some nutmeg. I think you should decide for yourself how much cinnamon and nutmeg, and how many cloves, based on how spicy you want it and what you like. In our family, we serve each person their cider in a mug with a cinnamon stick and some whipped cream on top!
Paperwick Chronicle
November 15, 2019
VILLAGE LIFE:
NEW ADDITION TO PAPERWICK U—AND TO OUR VILLAGE!
by Harold T. Cutter
* * *
Paperwick. Our local university welcomed a new addition to the faculty this week. Rosemary Grey, Ph.D., who hails most recently from New York, is here to stay! Many of you met Dr. Grey during the Founders Day Festival, where she helped to put on the Historical Society’s Cemetery Crawl fundraiser—an event which by all accounts was a huge success, now to become a beloved annual tradition. Dr. Grey holds a Ph.D. in History, is the author of numerous articles on early American happenings, as well as the well-received book: What Happened in Salem: A New Perspective. Dr. Grey has recently wrapped up a year-long European lecture circuit, and is now glad to call Paperwick home. She and local literature professor—our own Dr. Jack Stone—have plans to co-author a book centering on our favorite local 17th century celeb, Hortence Clark Gallow, midwife and medic extraordinaire. Welcome to the village, Dr. Grey! Go get ‘em, Fighting Trout!
Author’s Note
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my books, the storylines, and anything else that you’d like to comment on—reader feedback is very important to me. My contact information, along with some other helpful links, is listed on the next page. If you’d like to be on my list of “folks to contact” with updates, release and sales notifications, etc.… just shoot me an email and let me know. Thanks for reading!
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