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Showing posts from September, 2019

Fun in the Kitchen and Other Things

I baked a lemon bundt cake this morning for my county fair entry, which I hope shall reach a mellow, not so loud, lemon tart flavor when the judges taste it this Wednesday afternoon. This cake has several firsts for me. It's the first time I've entered a cake in the fair, I tried a new recipe, and I experimented with the recipe twice (I wrote about the first attempt last month). I added a lot more lemon zest and a heaping measurement of sour cream to the recipe for more lemon flavor and less dryness. And, yes, I used a bundt pan this time. Thank goodness that the Husband hung out in the kitchen while I was working on the cake.  He looked up things on Google: How many tablespoons equal 1/4 cup? How do I make lemon syrup? When do I douse the cake with lemon syrup? Which end of the bundt cake do I display (the Husband had it right—the bundt ridges must show)? and  How do I store the cake if I'm not serving it right away? Sorry, no photo. The cake is nothing truly excit

Love x 13

i, ii, iii, iv Evolution of Love.  That's what has been happening with the mystery craft project I'm working on for the county fair. I have to use at least four items from this list: bandana, feather,  pillar candle holder, magnet, cake pan, sea shells, wooden spoon, domino, yarn, rocks, paper party hat, and plastic liter bottle. So far, I have rocks, dominoes, and a cake pan in the mix. Yarn, sea shells, and/or a party hat are in consideration. Can you tell what the dominoes spell? v, vi Iago the Iguana is one of my ABC Creatures that I created for Round 22 of ABC Wednesday . The imaginary iguana was named for my dad, Santiago, who was sometimes called Ago (pronounced like Iago). This handsome dude, Iago, is in love with an egret named Edwina. Imagine that. If you want to read his story, click this link: Iago the Iguana and the Invitation . vii "And, love is all that I can give to you," sang Nat King Cole . viii, ix I drew this illustration

A Tippy-Tapping 13

1.  Sweet Pea Song, my iMac, is 10 years old, more or less. Unfortunately for Sweet Pea Song and me there are few, if any, updates available for her system, as well as for the applications I use. 2.  She fooled her developers with their planned obsolescence. She continues to be a song of a sweet pea. 3.  Lately I've been tippy tapping on typewriters at garage sales and thrift shops. Will I buy one? 4.  Smith-Corona Coronet. That's the kind of portable blue electric typewriter on which I tippy-tapped during my 20s when I was into writing short stories. It gave out a comforting buzz that complimented the tip tip tip tap tap tip tip tap tap of the keys. 5.  I miss inserting paper into a typewriter, rolling up the paper, pushing the carriage back, hitting the space bar three times, and pressing the keys. Voila. Magic words on paper. 6.  Older Brother gave me the used typewriter in exchange for babysitting two-month-old Eldest Niece so her mom could go back to work.

Knockouts!

Do you remember a 1940s cartoon in which a slick wolf sitting in a nightclub starts howling and making big eyes at a sultry femme fatale voice singing stage right? No, then check this youtube link and come back, please. Back, good. We can proceed. That wolf was me when I laid first glance at the decoupage rocks in the sunlight. Whoaaaaa! These are my first experiments decoupaging rocks. Yup, they are. (Imagine my big smile!) A decoupage rock is one of my planned entries for the county fair in a few weeks. Maybe one of these if I don't get a chance to play with more possibilities. Easy-peasy: Paint one side of rocks white. Dry. Paint other side of rocks white. Dry. Tear pictures to fit rocks to your pleasure. Glue pictures to rocks with decoupage medium.  Dry. At first I wanted to use pretty paper napkins for my pictures. I got excited about shopping at the party supply store. Then I recalled the last time I was there. The aisles were messy and little kids talked loudl

Bwak, Bwak, Bwak-Bwak!

Yesterday afternoon we hung out at the San Juan Bautista Chicken Festival. Bwak, bwak. We sang along with Gilroy Ukulele Jam , as they performed "Chickens in the Sky" (think: Ghostriders in the Sky), "Ukelele Girls" (think: Buffalo Girls), and other cool songs. Methinks it's time to learn to play a few ukelele songs. Strum, strum, strum. We missed the crowing contest, but I still got to crow and bwak-bwak with the ukelele band. Sooo fun! The weather yesterday was wonderful. No 100s. No 90s. Reasonable 80s for dancing in the street. (By the way we actually got a few minutes of rain today. Yipppieee!) It was a small town festival, the kind I like. Three or four short blocks with a bunch of crafts booths, a few food vendors, and several people selling their used stuff. We bought a very cool old-fashioned floor lamp for five bwaks and I got a pair of sunglasses, which resembled something Yoko Ono might wear, for 50 cents. Score! One of our missions that

Today's Thirteen

1. We went to see the Husband's doctor for his quarterly visit. Mostly good news, hurrah! According to the doctor's scale, the Husband and I lost 4 to 5 pounds since we last stood on that scale. Me, a month ago. Him, I don't know when. The doctor was impressed that the Husband lost 13 pounds in three months, something like that. I may have lost about 10 pounds. Pretty good for us not trying. 2. We want and need to lose weight. Him, maybe 10 more and me, far more. We aren't making a big deal about eating more of this, less of that, and none of the happy yummy stuff. We eat what we want, including potato chips and ice cream, and, as one doctor said to me long ago, be mindful about how much we consume in a sitting. 3. Years ago, friends in their 60s told us that they find themselves eating less as they aged. Their appetites were great and they enjoyed food, willing to try different cuisines. (They were foodies way before foodies came into fashion.)  So, I guess that

Journey

The word journey comes from journeé (old French) that means a day's travel or a day's work. In the 12th century, people used the word solely as a noun. Two centuries later, the word was also used as a verb, meaning to travel from place to place. There you go, trivia information for Jeopardy. I'm linking my J post over to ABC Wednesday . Click here to check out the meme and J stories by other participants.

Ramblings

The Husband and I encountered danger yesterday—strawberry sauce. Oh my gosh! I modified a recipe that called for 2 cups of diced strawberries. The recipe probably meant a dry measuring cup, but I overfilled a two-cup liquid measuring cup. The strawberries went into a small saucepan with juice from a medium-sized lemon, a half a cap full of limoncello (in place of vanilla), and about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of superfine sugar. The sugar is a guess because  I poured directly from the box, stopping only when it looked like it would be too much. I brought the concoction to a boil, stirring occasionally, then simmered it for 15 minutes. We ate the strawberry sauce over a slice of toasted sourdough bread and a healthy sprinkling of ground almonds. Mmmmmmm. Once upon a time, I would've eaten all of the sauce in one sitting and then promptly fall asleep in a drunken daze. The Husband said the sauce caused his eyelids and the bags under his eyes to sweat. When he was a kid, sweet tart

Introspection

Will she or won't she follow the instructions? Molly the Cat investigates the facts about the orange thing, inferring that it: idles insinuates insults inflicts idolizes invents (as in makes up) impairs immobilizes ignores incites imposes intimidates impersonates  Missy Girl's conclusion: Impeach and incarcerate.  Time for some ABC Wednesday (the letter I ) and Thursday 13 . Take a look! Thank you sweet hosts.