Family Recipe Friday - Ravioli...The Way My Irish Mom Used To Make!

So my mom's 100% Irish, but she loved cooking all kinds of food...except Irish food.  Maybe I should make her my Guinness Stew over Colcannon while I'm home!

Anyway, this is my mom's recipe for ravioli.  She made the dough from scratch, but if you're in a hurry you can always cheat by using wonton wrappers (shhh!  Don't tell mom I said that!)


Basic Noodle Dough

4 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
6 tbsp cold water

In a bowl combine the flour and salt, making a well in the center.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing the ingredients lightly with a fork or your fingers as the dough begins to come together.  After all eggs are incorporated, gradually add the cold water.  Mix well.  Knead for several minutes.

Ravioli

1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 lbs ground beef (no idea what fat/lean ratio it would be today)
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp dried oregano

Saute the onion in the olive oil.  When the onion is just about done (almost clear) add the garlic and continue sauteing until the onion is clear.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the meat to the hot pan and brown, breaking up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.  Drain the fat from the pan.  Return the onion and garlic to the pan and combine.  Add the cheese, oregano and egg.

To assemble the ravioli

Roll the dough out on a floured surface.  It should be very thin but not falling apart.  Cut into squares, circles or whatever shape you want the ravioli to be (When my mom would roll the dough it was more round than a rectangle so they weren't all perfect squares, but that just made them special!).  Place some meat mixture on one half of the dough.  Dip your finger into some egg wash (beaten egg mixed with water) and put on the edges of the dough.  Fold the dough over the meat and press to seal.  After all ravioli are made use a fork to crimp the edges closed.

Bring water to a boil and drop ravioli in batches into the boiling water.  They don't need to cook long because the meat is already cooked.  You're just warming them up!  Serve with your favorite pasta sauce or pesto.  Mom always topped with her spaghetti sauce.  That'll be another Family Recipe Friday!

If you'd like to save the uncooked ravioli for cooking at a later date, just place them in one layer on cookie sheets and freeze for a few hours.  If you don't have a big freezer and you need to stack the ravioli, remember to put waxed paper between layers.

I love mom's ravioli.  Just typing this makes me want to run into the kitchen and start making them.  I'm going to be bad (mom may throw something at me when she reads this), but I'm going to make a little change to the recipe and see how it turns out.  Because the meat in this recipe is already cooked completely it seems to just roll out of the center of the ravioli after that first bite.  The egg binder never really kept everything together.  So I'm going to not cook...or maybe par-cook the meat.  It'll cook when boiling, it's just you'll have to cook longer.  I'll have to post an update after I try it...if mom lets me live long enough to try it!

I'll be sure to post pictures too!

Wedding Wednesday - Patrick and Laura Cayemberg nee Laurent

Patrick and Laura Cayemberg

Patrick and Laura's wedding picture

"Society News

Miss Laura Laurent Weds P.H. Cayemberg

The marriage of Miss Laura Mary Laurent, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Laurent of Tonet, to Patrick Henry Cayemberg, Green Bay, son of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Cayemberg of Pulaski, took place Thursday morning at St. Martin's church at Tonet the Rev. L. A. Dobbelsteen officiating.  The bride wore a gown of salmon-pink georgette, made in Colonial fashion, and trimmed with lace and rhinestones.  A sash of blue, orchid and yellow was worn and a silver lace hat trimmed with rhinestones and silver slippers completed the costume.  She carried an arm bouquet of white chrysanthemums with silver streamers.  Little Joyce Marie Cravillion was flower girl.  She wore a frock of peach crepe de chine with ruffles, and blue and peach streamers and a band of pearls and rhinestones around her head.  She carried a basket of sweet peas and roses.  Miss Anna Laurent was maid of honor, her gown being blue georgette made in Colonial style.  She carried baby chrysanthemums.  Walter Cayemberg was best man, Joseph Hermans and Wallace Guilette, groomsmen, and Hubert Guilette and Louis Lemens, ushers.  The home of the parents of the bride was decorated with streamers of peach, salmon, blue, orchids and yellow and there was a wedding bell in the center of the ceiling of each room.  Dinner and supper were served to 420 guests.  A wedding dance was held in the evening at Jonet's hall, music being furnished by the Bohemian brass band."

Patrick and Laura were my husband's paternal grandparents.  They lived right behind his house when he was growing up.  As I blogged before, they died within days of each other.

Tuesday's Tip - Inputting Data on the 1850 U.S. Census, Schedule 1

1850 U.S. Federal Census, Schedule 1

A little break from census forms as I drove from Texas to Pennsylvania, but time has now permitted me to continue with another form to share.  This week I created an inputtable form for the 1850 census.  It was easier than in some of the past censuses I did.  It's not that there's not a lot of good information on the form, there is.  Rather they became a little smarter with how they recorded that information, leaving room for more detail (in my opinion).  Still it's not all the information we data-hungry genealogists would like to have, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye!

For the first time we've got the names of everyone in the household and not just the head of the household.  Major improvement.  No relationships are listed, but we know if they lived under the same roof and what their names were.  Make sure you don't go into making hard and fast conclusions just because they lived in the same household.  You need to verify relationships.  Sometimes people brought in lodgers and there was no relationship!

Also recording people by age range rather than putting their exact age.  Gone.  We've got a spot for occupation, but only recorded for those aged 15 and up.  I don't know about you, but I've got plenty of ancestors that were working in the coal mines well before the age of 15!

Sadly, no marital status, but if they were married within the past year, ya got lucky...there'll be notice of that!  There's also a column to be marked if the person was, "Deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict."  So obviously we'll know the name of the unfortunate person, however my smart-aleck side says that there's a huge difference between all of those groups and we won't even go into political correctness!

This is also the first census I can use in my family tree.  Experience level.  Still low.  Only one ancestor came over by 1850 on my side of the family and a couple on my hubby's side.

As before the people who bring you 1930census.com have some good information.  A map of the US at the time and the US is certainly starting to look a bit more like what we know today.  The western states are still fewer, but there more boundary lines.  A good history for the decade is included.  California became a state in September 1850.  Even though the census date was set for June 1, 1850 they were included in it.

The US Census Bureau's website has lots of yummy information as well.  For example:

"The Seventh Census of the United States: 1850. Embracing a statistical view of each of the States and Territories, arranged by counties, towns, etc...with an introduction, embracing the aggregate tables for the United States compared with every previous census since 1790..."

There are also mortality statistics as well for you to check out.  All of this can be reached through their 1850 census page.

Remember that there were 6 schedules of data collected for this census and the form is only for Schedule 1:

Schedule 1 - Population
Schedule 2 - Slaves
Schedule 3 - Mortality
Schedule 4 - Agriculture
Schedule 5 - Industrial
Schedule 6 - Social Statistics

As always, if you have any trouble viewing or downloading the spreadsheet, just comment or send me an email and I'll see what I can do to fix it.  So far there hasn't been any trouble since the very first sheet I posted.  I'll cross my fingers!

When you view the census through Google documents it does appear as if it were 3 pages, but rest assured that when downloaded it looks like the image at the top of the blog and in one simple page.

Let me know if there are any mistakes as well.  I'm sure you can imagine my eyes were starting to go crossed by the time I was done with this form!  Corrections and suggestions are always welcome!

To access the form simply click on the image at the top of the page or click on anywhere it says "1850 census".


Next week I'll post an inputtable Slave Schedule for 1850.  Until next time, have fun tending those roots!

Military Monday - SGT Van Pee Dies in Italy

"Sgt. Van Pee Dies in Italy

Soldier [sic] Suffered Skull Fracture in Motorcycle Accident, Parents Told

Staff Sgt. Clifford C. Van Pee, 25, died Jan. 17 in Italy as the result of a skull fracture received in a motorcycle crash, according to a wire from the War department to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry (Shorty) Van Pee, route 1.

In V-mail letters written Jan. 14 and 15 to his parents and sister, he said he hoped to come home in two months as his name was in for rotation, and 12 of the boys were leaving for the States that day.

18 Months Overseas

Sgt. Van Pee used a motorcycle often as his work on the civilian and military payrolls necessitated his traveling between various offices and bases.

He celebrated his 25th birthday and his anniversary of 18 months overseas service on the same day, Jan. 13, when his officers gave him a free day and he observed the occasion at a party given by Italian friends.

Before he went into Army service April 17, 1941, Sgt. Van Pee worked on the silver fox farm and in the tavern which his parents operate.  He was a graduate of Holy Cross school, Bay Settlement, and East High school.

He went to England in July, 1942, and was sent to North Africa with the first invasion in November, 1942.  He was later sent to Sicily and then to Italy for payroll and personnel duties.

Requiem Mass Monday

Survivors in addition to his parents include two sisters, Mrs. Clarence Gerlikowski and Mrs. Harold Spielbauer; his grandmother, Mrs. Emily Van Pee, who celebrates her 80th birthday today, and Miss Shirley Corsten, his fiancee, all of Green Bay.

A requiem mass will be said at 9 o'clock Monday morning in Holy Cross church, Bay Settlement, by the Rev. J. W. De Vries.

Sunday's Obituary - Florence Cayemberg nee Villers

Eli and Florence Cayemberg nee Villers

I found this obituary in that wonderful scrapbook of newspaper clippings that was handed down to me.  I always had known when Florence died.  I didn't think that her obituary would bring me any news or leads.  Sometimes I can be incredibly dim...

"Mother of 10 Dies at 86

Florence Cayemberg Passes at Pulaski; Rites on Wednesday

{Handwritten - Dec 22, 1956}

Special to Press-Gazette

PULASKI, Wis. - Mrs. Florence Cayemberg, 86, Pulaski, Rt. 2 died at the home of her son, Walter, there Saturday following a lingering illness.  Mrs. Cayemberg, the former Florence Villers, was a survivor of the fire which destroyed Rosiere, the area near Rosiere, Door County, At the same time of the Peshtigo fire.  Saved from the burning home of her parents by a 12-year-old boy, she was less than two years old at the time.

Born at Rosiere Jan. 6, 1870 she moved with her parents to Algoma when she was nine years old.  She married Eli Cayemberg April 24, 1886. The couple operated a store, cheese factory and black smith shop there until 1910, when they move to Pulaski.  Her husband died in 1939.

..Survivors Are Listed

Survivors include three daughters, Mrs. Lucy Anderson and Mrs. Anastasia Moreaux, Green Bay; Mrs. Ella Cravillion [sic], Luxemburg; seven sons, Frank, Martin J. and Patrick, all of Green Bay; Henry and Wilfred of Manitowoc; Felix, Ensign, Mich., and Walter, Pulaski.  A daughter, Mrs. Emily Guilette, died in 1923.

Other survivors include two sisters, Mrs. Mary LaJoi, Jamestown N. D., and Mrs. Agnes Tardiff, Edmond, Wash.; and one brother, Lewis Villers, Green Bay; 44 grandchildren, and 56 great grandchildren.

She was a member of St. Theresa Society and the Rosary Society of SS Edward and Isidore Church, Flintville, and the DAV Auxiliary, Green Bay.  The body is at the Marnocha Funeral Home, Pulaski, where the Rosary will be recited tonight and Tuesday at 8 o'clock.  Funeral rites will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday in SS. Edward and Isidore Church with the Rev. Casmimir Krauklis officiating.  Burial will be in the church cemetery."

So what was new.  Well, first off it gave the locations and names of her siblings.  Sure I've located most of them already in census records but this was a supporting piece of evidence.  I didn't know that her sister, Agnes' married name was Tardiff.  Nor did I know that she had moved out to Washington state.  This was fairly significant, because the majority of the family stayed in Wisconsin or the closely neighboring states.

I knew that Eli and Florence had owned and operated a store.  I've posted pictures of it.  I didn't know that it included a cheese factory and black smith shop.  Super cool.

Lastly, and perhaps most significant if it is correct, is the reference to the fire she survived.  Family lore always said that she survived the Peshtigo Fire, and technically this is true.  The fire that burned the entire region became known as the Great Peshtigo Fire because Peshtigo and a large portion of it's population were wiped off the map.  As it turns out she wasn't actually in Peshtigo, but Rosiere which was also apparently severely damaged by the great fire.  I knew about the 12 year old that saved her, but again it was location that was wrong.  I think some people made assumptions instead of asking proper questions.  I had this past year been informed that the family was "visiting Peshtigo" when the fire broke out.  Wrong.  Still Florence was in danger and was saved, but I'd prefer to get the story right.  Wouldn't you?

Follow Friday - So Much to Do So Little Time!

It's another Friday and I finally got to my mom's house on Thursday evening.  It's good to be with family, but there are never enough hours in the day.  Tomorrow I'll be spending the day relaxing and heading to the theater to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and I'll be seeing it twice.  A matinee and once in the evening after my sister gets off work.  And yes...I'm excited about seeing it twice in one day!  I'm a bit of a Harry Potter dork.

So if you're not heading out to see this epic finale (and it better be good!) then check out some of the posts that caught my attention.  If you are heading out, well, enjoy the day and squeeze these in anyway!

Jenn Woods at Climbing My Family Tree One Branch at a Time just keeps turning out those wonderful genealogy worksheets for kids!  Two additional worksheets since the last time I blogged about her Genealogy for Kids series (unless I blinked and there's a third addition!).  One of the new worksheets is called "My Family History Interview".  A very simple concept...get the kids to write down some questions that they want to ask grandma, grandpa, etc and then send them in!  Jen's got the psyops down in getting through to those difficult family members.  Send in the cute kiddos!  I love it!  Her other worksheet is "My Ancestors in the Civil War".  Jen has a very rich family history with ancestors that fought on both sides.  I'm insanely jealous.  I haven't found one direct line ancestor that participated in the Civil War.  The sheet is a wonderful way for the kids to put on paper a bit of what they know about their Civil War ancestors.  There is room for their name, state they were from and an interesting fact on each.  With the 150th anniversary this is a great time to use her Civil War sheet!

Scott at Onward To Our Past is giving tips on "real world" genealogy and I like it!  All the tips we see everyone sharing are fabulous, but Scott has shown some pretty practical thinking in this series and I would expect that we could all learn something from his ingenuity!  I won't spoil the post, but let's just say that he's got a new use for that ice scraper you aren't using much this time of year!  Sound intriguing?  Head on over and check it out!

Got an invite to Google+ yet?  I'm still stumbling around it, but am forever grateful to Genealogy Tip of the Day's Michael John Neill for sending an invite so I could finally get on Google+.  Since I've been traveling I haven't been able to get on as much as I'd like, but I'll be playing around now that I'm not in a car for 4-10 hours a day.  Still stumbling around it too?  Want to find people on Google+  that share your interests?  Randymajors.com created a search tool to help you find just that!  It's called GPlusSearch.  Give it a whirl!

Thanks to Dick Eastman and Joan Miller for directing me to a very interesting article in PC World called "9 Reasons to Switch from Facebook to Google+"  I can't say that I'm going to "switch".  I have too many friends on Facebook that may not want to head on over so I can see myself trying to straddle both, but hey, we're genealogists...we embrace technology, right!?!?!  The article illustrates some pretty significant differences/improvements that Google+ has.  If nothing else, I'm sure Facebook is going to have to do some pretty fancy footwork if they want to keep up and not fall to the wayside like MySpace.  Time will tell. 

So much more to follow, but it's getting late and it simply won't do to be falling asleep during HP7 so off to bed I must go.  Enjoy these posts and all the other wonderful ones out there.  Until next time, have fun tending those roots!

Those Places Thursday - Family Vacations at Virginia Beach

Sunrise at Virginia Beach, July 2011

When I was growing up I really thought that everyone took vacations to places like Virginia Beach, VA.  I loved going to Virginia Beach (referred to from here on simply as "the Beach").  Each year we would start asking my father if we were going to be going on vacation sometime around March.  The answer was always the same..."Maybe".  That was good enough as a "Yes" to a kid and I was a planner so I'd start packing...in April.  

Aimee and Cherie Tabor playing on Virginia Beach

Packing..you know...the things that a 5 or 6 or 7 year old would pack for a trip.  My sisters and I couldn't contain our excitement about going.  What we didn't realize at the time was that it was always a matter of money as to whether or not we could go.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, my father was (to put it kindly) employment-challenged for the majority of my life, but little kids don't really understand that.  When we would go, most times, it was because my mom was the general manager at the local Holiday Inn and either got the hotel room for free or a really discounted price.

My mom, Alice, with Aimee and me at VA Beach

The hotel room was always right on the beach and had a balcony over-looking the ocean.  It was heaven to me.  To be able to go out onto the balcony in the dark and not be able to see the ocean but to listen to it.  Listening to the waves crashing  close by, but just far enough out to not really be able to see them was so cool.  It's a peaceful sound to me.  Probably because it brings back some happy childhood memories.  Back when my mom and dad were still married and my family unit was still whole.  That's not to say that my life wasn't happy after that, but divorce makes an impression on a child and children are generally that casualties of those types of war and "war" was a pretty apt term for what happened.  That's another post, however, and this is a much more happy memory.

Benjamin and Daniel Cayemberg collecting shells at VA Beach

We would wake up in the mornings and my mom would make breakfast.  It was a requirement for the hotel room to have a kitchenette so she could cook and we could save money.  Then we'd go to the beach and play in the sand or in the water and then head back to the hotel room for my mom to make lunch.  Dinner was the one meal that was at a restaurant.  This was a big deal for us because there wasn't much restaurant eating for us during the year and I was an incredibly picky eater.  This was irritating for my father.  He'd take us to a wonderful seafood restaurant at the beach and I would get a hamburger.  We'd go to an Italian restaurant and I'd get a hamburger.  We'd go to any restaurant and I would get a hamburger.  He hated that.

My husband and kids at VA Beach

Why wouldn't I try crab legs?  Shrimp? Lobster?  To me I would think, "Why would I want to eat something that looks fairly close to what it looked like when it was still crawling around?"  My older and younger sisters enjoyed that stuff, but you couldn't get me to touch it with a 10 foot pole!  And my burger...yeah...well-done, baby.  It had been sent back a number of times by my mom who would sarcastically tell the waiter to have them burn it.  She enjoyed her meat pink...not me...pink meant blood.  I've grown out of that.  I eat my beef medium and try new things...as my waistline unfortunately has started to show since I said good-bye to the Army and people whipping my butt into shape!

Rick and Danny on VA Beach at sunrise

Still, even with the craziness of my awful eating habits it was the height of the year for me.  We would get inflatable rafts and ride the waves in.  They call it body surfing now, I suppose, and I had so much fun doing it.  It was hard to get my little sister, Aimee, and I out of the water to do anything else and my dad would body surf with us.  Great fun.

My other favorite thing to do was to visit the souvenir shops along the beach.  Yeah, I can appreciate today that they are pretty much filled with crap, but to a kid it was awesome crap!  We never got to buy too much, but every now and then, when my dad had an employed year, we'd be able to get some souvenirs.  I remember a wind up dolphin that would float in the bathtub and swim around.  It lasted a couple weeks before it died.  They still make them by the way!

I will always have fond memories of the Beach although as an adult I can look back and understand that it wasn't perfect.  What is?  But the memories are perfect.  Pure joy.  Pure innocence as a child oblivious to all the difficulties of the world.  Just having fun.

I wanted my two boys to share in those experiences, so this year as we drove from Texas to Pennsylvania to see my family, the Beach was one of those places we had to stop at.  It looked the same.  The hotels, the shops, the beach.  Not much changed.  People still plucking jellyfish out of the water and poking them.  Sitting on towels and kids playing in the sand.  No body surfing for my 5 year old, but my 10 year old and husband did enjoy riding some waves sans raft/board.  The little one and I contented ourselves with jumping over the waves and staying cool.

The sunrise over the Atlantic

We had fun, but I realized that it wasn't the same type of fun my husband had when he was a kid.  His family lived in Wisconsin and would go camping.  We shared childhood memories of vacations and I realized that we both looked back on our different experiences with such fondness...both had somewhat different ideas of what a family vacation was, but we managed to give our kids a taste of both his childhood and mine.  I wonder what they'll think of our family vacations when they are grown and have children of their own.  Hopefully, we've given them some great experiences.

Thanks for reminiscing with me.