Christmas Cheer -- 2011

Oft's Bed and Breakfast hosted a Christmas Party Wednesday night; about 25 guest showed up including two guests from DeMoines who stayed over night.  We served "Glogg" which is hot mulled wine, a Swedish Christmas drink; hot cider, finger foods and we made Annie Mohr's Pforden recipe.  Pforden is a round German fritter which is cooked in a special cast iron pan that has half ball depressions.  The depressions are half filled with grease and dough is spooned in.  As it cooks its gently rotated so it creates a round fritter. 

The hot fritters are removed in put in a sack with sugar and shaken and served hot. They are a traditional German holiday Treat!

We are considering serving them with fruit syrups and serving them next year for breakfast.  We'll see how that goes.

Everybody seems to have had a good time.  The ladies took over the dining room and the gentlemen gathered around to guard the 'Glogg' pot and discussed the problems of the world.  I don't think we solved any, but we had a good time finding the bottom of the Glogg pot. 

Paula, Lois, Maureen, Jean, and CoeLeta

Dick, Bill, Dale, Al and Diana making a hasty retreat!

IS That a Leg Lamp?

One of the funniest Christmas Movies I've ever seen was "A Christmas Story" that came out in 1983.  The story centers around a family in the 1940's.  The father (Darren McGavern) was a salesman who had just won a mysterious "prize" from a contest.  His son is scheming to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.   Dad thrill in winning the prize is climaxed by the arrival of a special delivery crate.  He opens it to find a "leg lamp" which he cherishes and his wife despises.  If you get a chance to see the movie, please do. 



The Magnificent "Leg Lamp"

 "A Christmas Story" has become a classic and leg lamps have been showing up in windows around the holidays for two decades.  I have actually been looking for a mannequin in order to build one. 

Guess what?  The Chinese and my wife beat me to it.  Linda arrived today with a very large box and proclaimed; "Merry Christmas."  I opened it and IT IS A BEAUT!!!   My very own Leg Lamp!!  She said I could display it during the month of December.  ??? What??  No!! It needs to stay out all year!   (Very doubtful) 

It is a Very Merry Christmas at Oft's Bed & Breakfast.  Happy Holidays to you!

Trip to Springfield, Ill to see Lincoln shrines

One nice thing about owning Oft's Bed and Breakfast is when business drops off, you can take off.  Last weekend were the last of our reservations for a while so we packed the car and headed to Springfield, ILL for our 39th Anniversary.  Gordon started his career at Lincoln's Home and John was born there.  This was our first time back in 34 years. 

We had driven by Hannibal, Missouri a dozen times and never stopped, this time we did.  We stayed at Lula Bells which was build next to the river in 1917 and served as a brothel in those early days.  Today, it's a restaurant and bed and breakfast.  The surrounding olde town is really neat and its interesting visiting buildings and drinking coffee in a coffee shop built before the Civil War.  We walked the Mississippi shoreline where Mark Twain grew up and worked before moving out to Nevada.

In Springfield, we stayed in the Pasfield B & B built in 1847.  Its located downtown and is owned and operated by Tony Leone, a very interesting and leading historian in the Springfield area.  This year he won the honor of the leading historian preservationist.  He is a fascinating guy and has a beautiful facility located downtown.  It was a great place to spend our anniversary.



The Pasfield Inn

 We have had several people stay with us that told us we simply had to go see the new Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  We did and boy was it worth the drive.  It really drives home the extraordinary man that Lincoln was if you get a chance, please go.  The President and his family even took time to allow a photo with us.  That is special! 

Tall Men Marry Short Women

 We did a lot of walking in Springfield, parking the car and hoofing it around.  The weather was beautiful, sunny and 60.  It was about 6 blocks down to the Lincoln Home and it hadn't changed much.  Today, you have to have tickets to get admitted to the home.  In my day you simply had to knock on the front door.  Today a ranger takes you through on a personal tour, there were only the 3 of us, it was nice.  He was curious how much the home had changed in 34 years.   Afterward, we asked him to do what a hundred Home visitors asked me to do 34 years ago.  Some pay back!

Lincoln's Home and Tourists