Well - I think the move is complete. I will continue to make some small changes here and there as a few things will need to be tweaked in order to fit my new blogging ideas. Remember to change your bookmark to http://slmpetersen.blogspot.com/and stay connected with me as we follow a new creative path in blogging!

This is the last post I will be putting here on Cook Something - Even if it's Wrong. Please change your bookmark and subscribe to my new blog over at slmpetersen

Thank you for being loyal readers! I hope you make the move with me as I broaden my blogging topics to include more of my hobbies!

Blog Moving and Changes

I have struggled with the idea of moving my blog for sometime now. I have finally made the decision to create a new home for this blog that will allow me to expand to include some other topics, not just cooking. This will allow me more freedom in my writing as well as give you the reader a wider view of my life, and the things I love to share! Stay tuned for the new link!

I will be moving all of the Cook Something - Even if it's Wrong posts to the new blog, so you won't be loosing anything in transition. HOPEFULLY!

Thank you for you readership during my first year of blogging. I hope to only increase readership and make new friends with this move and the changes that are to come.

The Station on Old Highway 13

“Fill ‘er up Joe” echoes in my ears, as I pass by on my bike. I wonder was it really full service back in its glory days? Would “Joe” really have pumped gas, checked the oil and washed the windows, all while spouting town gossip?

Mismatched boards cover the windows of the little white service station on Old Highway 13. There’s a for sale sign in front and a tarp covers what was most likely the garage door. White paint peels from the trim, but you can almost hear the ding of the service bell, as the next customer pulls in.

The awning, still supported by two stone pillars, would have kept “Joe” dry, as he serviced your car in the Missouri spring rain. White gravel still paves the circular drive, in spite of the weeds that have begun to push their way through.

Highway 13 may have a new route and “Joe” is no longer there to service your car, but the station remains, as a reminder that travelers once passed this way.

The House That Isn't There

From the street,
Three steps climb a small hillside,
To a yard that is still mowed.

The frail driveway,
Worn by weather and time,
Guides the way,
To a garage,
Rundown with neglect.

Yet there is no house,
That a family would have shared.
No path to a front door,
That could have been.
Not even a foundation,
To reflect where the home stood.

Where did it go,
The house that isn’t there?
Lost to flames,
Claimed by a bulldozers angry rage,
Or was it the victim of a dream gone awry?


There is a lot just a couple of blocks from our house that inspired this poem. It really is odd, the way that old buildings go, yet they leave behind something to remind us of what was once there.

I love abandoned and deserted homes, place let go, to return to nature or fall from grace as they will. I find myself writing about them and photographing them if I get the chance.

I hope I am not boring any of you by sharing my writing and photography this week. The food really isn't speaking to me this week, so I wanted to share some of my other interests with you. Enjoy!

Jefferson School

It’s vacant now; the school at the corner of Franklin and Orchard streets, but that morning as I stood, on what remained of the playground, the laughter of school days gone by could almost be heard.

The blacktop has faded and the markings for hopscotch have paled with the sun, but the L shaped red brick building stands silent and alone. Of what once was a pair of swing sets, only poles remain, the frame work from which swings once hung. Were the swings removed for safety or stolen by vandals, I do not know, but I can tell you no children play there now.

There is a chain looped though door handles, of a double door, on the south side of the school, locked by padlock. Signs remain telling visitors to STOP, Teachers lounge, go to the main entrance. Many window panes bare the scars of a vandal’s rock thrown. Spray paint mars the walls of the lower level on the north side. Blinds are drawn on classroom windows that once led wandering eyes to the outside world.

This is the fate of a school that once served its students well, but why the vandalism, why did it close and where did all of the children go?

(I took these photos last summer. We dove by there a couple of weeks ago and noticed that the windows are now board over.)

Location: Clinton, MO

One more Ceasar

I seem to be obsessed with Caesar salads this year. Which is pretty funny all on it's own, because up until about a year ago I didn't even really like them much. I guess that is what comes from burning yourself out on Ranch dressing on your salads! I know there are hundreds, maybe even millions of you out there thinking that isn't possible, how could you loose your taste for ranch? Well I haven't lost it totally, just not really into it on my salads any more. Love ranch on my fries though!

So, enough about the Ranch thing..... My Caesar salads are not true Caesars, as I love all the veggies of a garden salad, so the only Caesar thing I have going for me is the dressing and Parmesan cheese. I really liked the grilled chicken I used in this version of my Caesars. I also added some bell pepper, mushrooms, grape tomatoes and avocado. So, see all there is that is Caesar about it is the dressing and Parmesan cheese.

At any rate, this was a pretty first class salad, if I do say so myself. I am really enjoying the tang that is found in the dressing and the Parmesan adds a nice mild flavor to it as well. Something different for the hot summer months that are yet to come.

Food Notebook

So, in my list of projects that I worked on during my week off I continued work on my recipe/cooking info clean up. After reviewing many great ideas I have gone off on a path all my own. While THIS idea from Annie Get Your Glue Gun is a great idea, but it just doesn't seem to fit the method I am trying to put to my madness, so I created a slimmed down version and so far, so good!

I have taken one of those composition notebooks I love so much and started writing in all the tips and hints that I have collected on scraps of paper. They always seem to be jammed into a folder that is coming apart at the seams, so I am sorting them and only keeping the ones that fit my cooking style. In this same notebook I am also pasting in pages from magazines that have food info.

This note book is strictly for reference materials. Notes on ideas that I like, but don't need a recipe for (ie - try adding rosemary to fried potatoes). A place to jot down those little cooking tips and hints that seem to be filler in every foodie magazine I pick up these days.

With any luck this pile of stuff will all be condensed to one or two of these little user friendly notebooks and the recipes will go to the card file....Then I can start a new pile all over again! No, seriously, I am hoping that once I create the notebook(s) I will stay on top of this crazy pile of food info so that it never looks like this again. However, I will make NO promises to that one. We all know I have a recipe collecting addiction!