VINTAGE recipe found in a notebook with other recipes from Grandma Ollie. From a magazine, back of the brown sugar box, or cookbook or something.
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites, unbeaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Combine brown sugar, cream of tartar, water, and egg whites in top of double boiler. Stir to mix, place over hot water and beat with rotary beater or mixer until frosting holds peaks (about 7 minutes)*. Stir in vanilla.
Initially I was just excited to find another recipe in which to use that cream of tartar that hangs out in my pantry. However, the more I got into the recipe, the more issues I had with it. First, I don't have a double boiler, so I had to improvise (see below), and second, I don't own a hand mixer anymore, so I had to borrow one from my neighbors.
I don't know if it was because my water wasn't hot enough, my cream of tartar was old, my eggs were old, or I got a bit of yolk in my egg whites, but it took me considerably longer than 7 minutes to get any kind of peaking on my frosting. *It was closer to 25-30 minutes, and I'm not sure I got it as meringue-y as it was supposed to be. It makes a lot of frosting. Enough to frost the top of one 13x9x2 cake with half a bowl (and the beaters full for licking) left over.
It's definitely an old-fashioned, very, very sweet frosting. The I.T. Department ate the whole cake that I frosted and hasn't complained yet, so it must have been o.k.
X-ray machines: For all the talk about security in the airports, I didn't get to get zapped by one, nor was I wanded by the TSA people. I was kind of disappointed. I was looking forward to getting felt up. 
A lot of the rock formations in the park have names. This one doesn't. I want to nickname it the Syphinx.
Petrogylphs: At Valley of Fire .. even more hiking
and
