Newspaper Pastry Crust

I cut this out of a newspaper over 40 years ago. It is still taped into the loose leaf cookbook my mother gave me. This is the crust for a Latticed mushroom tart which is absolutely fabulous.

2 3/4 C flour
pinch of salt
1/2 C butter, cut up
1/2 C solid vegetable shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1/2 C. ice water

To make pastry, sift flour and salt into a bowl and add butter and shortening. Combine with a metal palette knife or pastry blender until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
Mix egg, vinegar and water, add flour and cult the liquids in until mixture comes together and forms a dough. Knead on a lightly floured board a few times, then divide in half and wrap each piece in plastic film. Refrigerate 15 minutes.

Horror novel, written by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The title is rendered in all-caps as "HEX." It was published in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2013 and, after translation by Nancy Forest-Flier, in the United States in 2016. The English edition of the novel moves the setting to America and changes the names of characters, but also included a somewhat different ending. As I have only read the English version of the novel, that's the one I'll review here. 

The novel is set in…

Oyez! Oyez!

Bill Paul died this weekend from natural causes. He was 66.

If you didn't live in or near London, Ontario, you probably didn't know Bill. He held the unofficial position, if one can hold an unofficial position, of Town Crier. He founded Laff Guards and, with them, clowned, painted faces, made balloon animals, and entertained folks. Bill kept a birthday book of thousands of people he knew or had encountered: my wife and I were among those he would phone annually…