Food

Baking Up a Storm

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Kami

I wish I were baking up a storm.

But no, I’m putting it off. Just not feeling the baking love yet this month. I haven’t even made a loaf of bread in weeks. What’s up with that?

Russian tea cakes

Russian Tea Cakes are more like a cookie than a cake. Must be eaten with a glass on milk on the side. Powdered sugar on your shirt, face and arms will be guaranteed.

Normally I’d have whipped out a few batches of Russian Tea Cakes and eaten half of them myself by now. And I’d be contemplating making another batch or two to share with friends and neighbors.

Why the hiccup in my usual plans?

No idea.

I have a formidable list of treats I like to make this time of year. Here it is in no particular random order:

  • Russian Tea Cakes
  • Six Week Muffins
  • Carmel
  • Fudge
  • Christmas Pudding
  • Snowdrops
  • Toffee
  • Baklava
  • Divinity

New this year Olympic Cremes, a childhood favorite. If they turn out okay I’ll post the recipe. I can almost taste them just remembering how Mom would carmelize sugar and then add the other simple ingredients then shape the mixture into balls of delight. Sugary, crispy, melt in your mouth confections unlike anything I’ve ever tasted for sale in a store or on a plate of gifted goodies.

Baklava

Baklava (Photo credit: niquei)

The Baklava is a middle eastern delight I learned to bake in the Paleocene era, from the original Greek dinosaurs Lambda Iota Tau Eateosaurus Rucus. Takes hours of painstaking work and pounds and pounds of butter and this decadent amount of honey, spices and nuts. But, it’s worth every aching muscle in my tired feet and back when it finally cools after eight hours. Those diamond-shaped delicacies bring joy to even the most grinchy soul.

The Toffee gets made multiple times over several weeks because we here at Casa de la Tilby inhale it like oxygen. Oh the butter and chocolate state of nirvana that one achieves! Words fail me.

Christmas Pudding graced my husband’s table as a wee lad. It took me years to embrace this unusual, I’m guessing British, dessert. The smell of all the spices steaming into the air over hours of bubbling on the stove top adds to the charm of this recipe. The best part about Christmas Pudding lies in its carmel sauce that I prefer to drown my small bowl of rich cake-like succulence in. I’m licking my spoon in my mind as I write.

Homemade Caramel Sauce-001

Basic ingredients to anything wonderful, butter, sugar, milk…mmmm (Photo credit: Emily Barney)

You should drop by for a taste or two. Anytime would be fine, if I ever get around to starting this process. That thought might motivate me to start the process sooner.

I don’t need to waste my words describing fudge or carmel as everyone has their own favorite twist on both. I’ve thought of forgoing the fudge this year to make next years batch seem all the more precious, but I might get in trouble. Maybe just half a batch and call it good.

How can I describe Divinity if you’ve never eaten any? Marshmallow cream training for a marathon. That doesn’t do it justice though. Divine Food of the Gods. Manna. Fluffy taste bud heaven. Here’s a visual I always think of when I say Divinity: the album cover to Herb Albert’s Whipped Cream and Other Delights. (Not exactly a G-rated piece of art, so don’t click if you’re a sensitive soul. Great music though!) I digress. Find some divinity or make some Divinity. Then, partake. You’ll thank me.

MSH prefers it with Walnuts. I don’t. I win since I’m the cook.

He gets nuts in nearly every other thing I bake this time of year, so don’t feel sorry for the man. Carmel and Divinity, no nuts. Everything else, nuts.

I’m nuts.

But that’s normal, not exclusive to this holiday season.

Melted white chocolate chips

Melted white chocolate! (Photo credit: frugalupstate)

Snowdrops are a recent addition to the repertoire. Okay, not that recent now that I think of how long ago we lived in Oklahoma, where I got the recipe.  It wasn’t an original Tilby or Mitchell family recipe.  It’s the easiest one I make and surprisingly satisfying. Imagine Rice Krispy treats but replace the melted sticky marshmallow with melted white chocolate, add peanuts, mini marshmallows left whole and unmelted, and a touch of Capn Crunch Peanut Butter cereal. That’s it. Weird, but truly delicious.

Great, just as I suspected I’ve made myself hungry for Christmas baking. I should jump on that motivational train before it departs the station.

photo 1 copy 3

Nothing like sugar to help you blast through that Christmas to-do list!

What do you bake for the holidays? Anything unusual? Fun? Weird? I’d love to hear about it. Maybe I’ll forsake one of my standards and try one of yours.

(Lest anyone feel slightly, I used to do sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles, but they had to take a sabbatical to make room for everything else.)

Include links to recipes and I’ll be your friend forever.

Now, where’s the sugar?

Categories: Food, Fun, Holiday | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

In Your Face

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Kami

It’s pie baking day here at La Casa de Tilby. Not quite like the way we did things ten years ago, but then, what’s still the same as it was ten, or even five years ago?

It used to be, well just like I said in this post last year. The whole family got involved in the decisions about which pies, how many, who got to help make which ones. And MSH had to have a whole pan of “leftover” pie dough baked up as pie cookies, with cinnamon and sugar.

Things don’t work that way so much now with the kids scattered to the wind, or at least all living at different addresses than this one.

Apple and Pecan pies in the cooling stages.

Apple and Pecan pies in the cooling stages.

Daughter two dropped by early today and pretty much baked up two delicious and, might I say, picture perfect pies without any help from me. Okay, I held the baby and enjoyed cooing and smiles and changed a diaper. MSH took the two-year old to the park and kept himself and her entertained. Already, the dishes sit washed and drying and two pies cool temptingly on the table. Not sure they’ll survive unscathed until after dinner tomorrow.

Daughter three will drop by shortly to help bake up two or three more pies. I’ll probably be a little more involved this time as there are no babies or tots involved. And yes, MSH, don’t worry, we’ll make some pie cookies for you.

All this pie talk and baking reminded me today of my first pie encounter with My Sweet Husband when we were dating.

Yes, a dating story, from the Jurassic period. Cool, I know!

I had a friend from high school coming to visit me for a weekend at the University. That put a damper on the future MSH’s plans for the weekend, but he adapted and decided to take us both out to a movie and then dessert back at his apartment.

True to guy fashion he’d gone all out and bought a frozen cream pie. Banana. You know the kind with the artificial yellow and simulated banana flavor? The whipped cream edge got smooshed somewhere in the process from the factory to the tabletop. It looked…not very appetizing.

Banana cream pie

This pie looks nothing at all like the actual pie described. This one looks 100x better. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At that time in my life I kind of liked that fake banana flavor. Reminded me of Laffy Taffy or Creamies Frozen Confections. Sure, it wasn’t the fancy over the top date idea of the week that had just gotten a foothold on the dating scene, but it would taste sweet.

Turns out it hadn’t quite thawed all the way yet. So we listened to some records, yes, vinyl LPs. MSH had a sweet stereo set-up with massive speakers and all the latest technology available in the Jurassic period. The three of us listened to tunes and laughed and one-upped each other with silly stories and jokes. We’d worked ourselves into a bit of a state when someone remembered we hadn’t eaten the pie yet.

I don’t recall if it was my idea or my friend’s idea but one of us had what we thought was a hilarious plan. I can’t imagine I would have done anything so mischievous back then. So for brevity’s sake I’m going with her as the instigator. She picked up the pie, swiped a bit of whipped cream off the edge and said something to the effect of, “someone needs to be wearing this pie.” She licked the whipped cream from her finger and laughed maniacally.

Before we knew what was happening MSH had the pie in hand and we had unwittingly become the target. My friend and I shrieked and headed for the door. We somehow managed to escape out to the stairwell where we felt, oddly, safe from the potential onslaught.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” MSH said in his most innocent and believable look. “Come back inside and let’s eat this pie.” We made out way back up the stairs and headed toward the door.

Before we knew what was happening he had the pie in launch mode balanced on one hand just above his shoulder. We shrieked again. (Why do we do that?) We looked at the pie and the pie launcher and knew we were doomed.

Just as he let the pie fly I had the instinct to duck, and my friend, who stood behind me her caught the banana cream concoction full on in the face. The look of surprise that registered sent MSH and I into paroxysms of laughter. She stood there shocked and immobile.

With yellow goo and whipped cream sliding slowly down her blond hair and dropping to the linoleum, she finally came out of her stunned state and joined in the laughter. She grabbed what little of the muck she could and flung it at me, as if I had been the one who threw the pie! Luckily she wasn’t a very good aim. Little wonder since she could hardly see out through the layer of crust and pudding and cream.

I think we ended up at Denny’s for some pie after quite the effort at damage control.

Ah, those were the days.

If that happened now all anyone could think about would be the mess, the clean up and the waste of a perfectly good pie. Of course, no one is their right mind in this home-baking house of perfectionism would spend good money on such a thing as a frozen banana cream pie.

Although, for old times sake, it could make for some great laughs.

*****

(No real bananas were injured in the making of the blog post.)

A bunch of Bananas.

Categories: Family, Food, Fun, Memory Lane | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Exploding Butter and Other Things That Never Happened

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Kami

Growing up in a large family as one of the two oldest children I got the chance to babysit fairly often. At least to me it seemed often. Maybe it was only once a week or so. Being in charge of three to five younger siblings who refuse to acknowledge your authority, wisdom and higher rank makes for a tough slog at the babysitting stint.

Maize for popcorn, cultivated in Hungary, prod...

Add a little heat and pressure and voilà!

It gets more complicated if both your older sibling and yourself  get told, “you’re both in charge.” There’s a recipe for disaster right there. The older sibling will invariably try to pull rank based solely on a few extra years. While the younger, wiser sibling will try to lead from the bottom and behind without being noticed.

Much of the time the little ones would go off to bedrooms or already be in bed by time we older two got placed in charge. That made things easier, but it didn’t solve all the potential problems.

It didn’t always go so well.

Try to envision life without a microwave oven, dishwasher, iPad, cell phone, video, remote control anything and five hundred television channels. I know, it’s a stretch to harken back that many decades into the presmarteverything era. It was a dark time.

Not.

It was a glorious time, the best ever!

We had FIVE channels to choose from on the television! Most people only had three. The three big C’s showed up on everyone’s TV (ABC, NBC, and CBS.) We enjoyed the thrill of two, yes two, Public Television stations. What a luxurious life we led when the parentals left us in control.

List of U.S. state foods

Once the tiny kids got snuggled safely  away and snoozing we could settle in and watch ANYTHING WE WANTED! And to make things even better we could have popcorn with extra butter! Yum!

The way we popped corn back in the olden days involved a saucepan and lid, vegetable oil and popcorn kernels. It’s still the best way ever to make popcorn, by the way. (That microwave crap will put you in an early grave, believe me.)

If you want to learn how to do this on your own check out this recipe or this website for great instructions. It’s not that tough and you’ll thank me for pointing you toward popcorn perfection.

So we popped our own popcorn all the time. No big deal. Mom and Dad simply wanted us to clean up our mess if we did that.

Mom always melted the butter in a one-cup metal measuring cup that looked like a miniature saucepan. We’d plop an extra dollop or two of butter in there when we were in charge. Being in a hurry, ie trying to get the popcorn popped and buttered during commercials meant we set burner for the butter on medium instead of low.

Here’s where two heads without a real leader went south that evening.

When we heard the commercials end and the show start again both of us left the kitchen and went downstairs. One of us sat on the second to the bottom step in a token, “yeah, yeah, I’m paying attention to what’s going on in the kitchen” gesture, while still being able to see and hear the television.

That gesture served only to alert that child to the presence of a burning smell in the kitchen. One of us screamed and the other came running. On the stove sat a flaming cup of butter. Big flames, one or two feet high it seemed. My brother, being older and generally the one to take action, grabbed a hot pad and gingerly took the flaming butter across the kitchen to the sink.

Nuclear weapons test in Nevada in 1953

Not the actual butter explosion…(Photo credit: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons )

Then he turned the water on to put the flames out.

Water and oil don’t mix. We all know that. Imagine what water and flaming oil does.

BOOM!

The room filled instantly with smoke. And when the smoke finally cleared, the burnt butter appeared splattered all over the kitchen ceiling.

I have no idea how the two of us didn’t get burned. Angels intervening perhaps, or chemistry and physics perhaps. We got lucky. I know that now.

We never went back downstairs to our television show because we spent the evening cleaning off the evidence of our disaster from the kitchen ceiling. If Dad and Mom found out, we’d catch heck and pay a heavy penalty.

As far as we know they never suspected we’d nearly burned up or exploded the kitchen. Phew!

Luckily both my brother and I live in different states from Dad and Mom so when they read this I think we’ll be in the clear.

At least, I hope so.

Categories: Family, Food, Memory Lane | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Apple, Not Pumpkin, You Silly People You

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Kami

We had our first outdoor shindig of the reasonable seasonable weather last night. Ah, everything you could wish for was going on. Well, almost. One daughter and her man were missing.

We had the grill throwing up three foot high flames, a bit of a puddle to splash in, music wafting onto the patio, a babe sleeping in someone’s arms, the smell of bread baking indoors and shrimp on the finally tamed barbie. Hugs, kisses, dancing, a board game, a couple napping, laughter, olive fingers and way too much food. And to top it all off, three choices of dessert, lemon bars, cream puffs, or, wait for it, wait for it, yes, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

You know I had to throw some pumpkin in the mix because it’s autumn and autumn apparently means pumpkin, although I’m not quite sure why. Probably because whoever grows and markets pumpkin has a massive campaign blitz going from here to Antarctica to sell the darn stuff or else. There’s stuff out there that should never include the word or texture of pumpkin. Fudge, hot chocolate, cider, soup.

Ew. Just don’t!

Please people, lets exercise a little reason out there!!

One of dozens of varieties of the glorious autumn harbinger, the apple.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies, a seasonal fixture in the grocery store.
The infamous apple cutter corer thing.
Brach’s Carmels, the perfect accompaniment to the lowly, lovely apple.

To me apple is the fruit o’ the season. Apple crisp with it’s cinnamon and nutmeg crunchy topping with a little ice-cream melting on the side says Autumn like nothing else. Don’t forget apple pie and apple cider and, yes, apple fritters. And the creme de la creme, carmel apples.

That shiny golden brown chewiness on a stick beckons teeth and lips and gums to sink in as you become one with drippy stickiness. Can’t you just feel your chin collecting that sugary glue covered sensation.

I worry some about my dental work getting destroyed by the succulence and power of the lowly carmel apple. And because of that worry I came up with a highly acceptable alternative.

This is kind of a recipe, which I don’t generally do, so you might want to pay attention at this point.

(This point.)

Yes, this is where you really need to pay attention. Thank you.

  1. In a tiny glass bowl place five unwrapped Brach’s caramels.
  2. Add two teaspoons of water.
  3. Nuke in the microwave for thirty seconds. Stir with a fork. If not melted all the way, nuke again for thirty more seconds.
  4. If this mixture isn’t all creamy and delectable by now you’ve probably overcooked it. So sad. Although microwaves can be finicky and maybe you’ve undercooked it, but not likely. Punt. Or try again. I guess.
  5. Cut up one apple, which variety is purely your choice.. I prefer using one of the apple corer/slicer things <== (highly technical name of the device.) You can use a paring knife to cut slices as well. The thinner the better but not too thin. If you make this often enough you’ll get the right ratio eventually.
  6. Find a cozy, secluded spot and dip your apple slices into your melted carmel mixture. Enjoy every bite without fear of losing your fillings, molars or any other teeth parts. And no sticky chin!

There you have it. The perfect personal autumn treat. The quintessential dessert improved and perfected. Who knew such things were possible?

*No pumpkins were harmed in the making of this blog post.

**Now apples being harmed, that might be a different story.

Categories: Food | Tags: , , , , , | 7 Comments

Waffles Again?

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Kami
Deutsch: Waffel.

Heart shaped waffles. yeah, right. Not tonight, not at this house.

 

Yup, waffles for dinner twice in one week.

 

The first time felt like a treat. This time felt a little bit more like desperation.

 

Why the difference? Overscheduling, multiple stress levels, small children in the mix, missing naps, moon phases, hormone levels, the barometric pressure. Who knows?

 

And honestly, it seemed like something I could pull off one handed while holding a very fussy five week-old baby in the other arm.

 

The mother of said infant was busy entertaining an over-technologized, overly tired two year-old in the sand and on the swings. Everyone involved needed some comforting. The only way the adults might get much comfort  would be disguised in the form of food. Hence, waffles.

 

Oh yeah, and bacon. Gotta throw that in there. The smell of bacon cooking is enough to take the stress level down a notch or two. I think the two year-old ate most of it.

 

But there was no idyllic strawberry freezer jam, or lovely semi-staged photos. The adults took turns eating so the infant could be swaddled, rocked, shushed, pacified, walked, jostled and held just so.

 

Sleep might descend blissfully for all involved soon.

 

I wouldn’t count on it, but we can hope.

 

In the meantime, reality trudges on.

 

Categories: Family, Food | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Breakfast for Dinner

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Kami

So is it just me, or is breakfast for dinner one of your favorite go-to meal plans?

Breakfast at dinnertime satisfies like nothing else I know. Add in that it’s fast and easy to prepare and smells divine. It’s the perfect comfort food.

photo-17 copy 7Obviously, I’m not talking cold cereal or oatmeal here. Bacon, eggs, hash browns. Or biscuits and sausage gravy, with an extra biscuit slathered in butter and dripping with honey on the side. Now we’re getting somewhere. Or some pancakes or French toast, now there’s easy and delish. Or my fav, waffles! Some homemade strawberry freezer jam on one half and syrup on the other half. Followed by a cold glass of milk.

Ah, perfection.

Imagine what I’m planning for my dinner tonight! Are you jealous?

Mmm. Decisions, decisions.

Now I’m waffling. And that does not mean eating waffles. Which I find weird.

The waffle we eat and the waffle that we do are both spelled the same way. The “crisp batter cake baked in a waffle iron” (thank you Merriam-Webster) had its humble beginnings in the early 1700’s as a Dutch word meaning to weave. Whoever was brilliant enough to create a pan that makes tiny square bowls for syrup to seep into deserves a medal and knighthood.  And in case you were wondering,  something can have a waffle pattern, which would be a grid like, indented design.

The verb waffle didn’t show up in Britain until the mid-1800’s. It means “to sit on the fence” or to be indecisive, or failing to make up one’s mind. Members of the US House and Senate will appreciate this word as well, as its secondary meaning is to speak or write at great length without saying anything important or useful. We all know someone personally with this “skill” don’t we?

photo-19 copy 2Why do I bring this up in the middle of breakfast for dinner?

Because I was wondering about it. Why one word for two different meanings? English runs skiwampus that way.

I suppose eating breakfast at dinnertime would be considered skiwampus, too. But then who decided what foods are proper for morning meals, which are appropriate for evening meals and what constitutes an afternoon meal? Custom, culture, habit. I blame habit more than anything.

Don’t even get me started on what to call those meals: supper, lunch, dinner, brekkies, brunch, tea, high tea, late dinner, second breakfast, elevensies, snack, late supper.

Enough wondering and talking. Let’s eat!

Who’s cooking what?

Categories: Food, Fun | Tags: , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Questionable Recipes

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Kami

I realized I’ve never posted a recipe here on my infamous blog.

Why? Perhaps because this isn’t a foodie blog?

I have posted photos of food several times which I’m not so sure counts. You see, my goal is to write, not just post photos. So why is my head bouncing around the idea of a recipe for today’s post? Of course, I’m going to explore this in my head a bit and then get back to you. While I’m gone you can contemplate the following photo which involved a two-year old and a DVD player.

Items found inside a non-working DVD player. Any idea why it wasn't working?

Items found inside a non-working DVD player. Any idea why it wasn’t working?

After a modicum of thought I have concluded this isn’t an actual RECIPE post, with something you can go buy the ingredients for and replicate in your own kitchen. No. Apparently not.

Rather, the muse has whispered three words, recipes for disaster.

Put two or three seemingly harmless ingredients together and stand back to see what happens.

Rain Dance

Carefully wash one car under a blue sky.

Leave outside for a few hours. Rain will follow shortly.

This one is almost always a guaranteed winner, particularly in a drought situation. Be sure not to let your real intention be to produce rain or the recipe will not work. Your sincere and only aim must be to have a clean and shiny car.

Stick-to-it-iveness

To one blender with a missing lid add one or two hungry and independent children.

Add milk, fruit and ice-cream. 

Not one of my favorites as it involves not just the floor but every surface in the kitchen, horizontal, vertical, curved, moving, alive or stationary. Burns large amounts of time easily. You’re sure to find stickiness for weeks afterwards.

Misery

Say goodbye to someone you won’t see for a long time, and within ten minutes of that get really crappy news from someone else. Add in a virus. Throw in the definite possibility that you’ve let a few people down and mix generously with insufficient sleep.

Serve with a generous side of self-pity and a headache. *Does not mix well with alcohol or driving or other human beings.

With recipes like this some serious medical attention may serve as desert.

There you have it. A good cook gone bad.

Maybe next time I’ll post my favorite bread recipe. Not original, but very edible.

Categories: Food, Humor | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Party On!

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Kami

As a wee lass, I measured my life by holidays.

The year began with useless efforts to stay awake until midnight on New Years Eve. Upon waking the next morning after a solid night’s sleep I began the countdown to Valentine’s day and Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays. (that will date me…)

English: A milk chocolate Easter Bunny.

I spent the next four weeks fruitlessly looking for a green clothing item for Saint Patrick’s Day. And was always confused about when I’d get to eat the ears off of my Easter Bunny and slowly savor my foil wrapped chocolate eggs.

Memorial Day meant school would be out for summer break. Mid-summer brought the fourth of July with camping and sparklers. Then Labor Day was the marker for the end of three long and blissful school-free months. The endless two month wait until the Halloween candy-palooza felt like a drought. Thanksgiving quickly followed and then Holiday of holidays, Christmas magic would arrive, marking the end of another year.

Another critically important celebration fell in August, the most important month of the year. Owing to the fact I was born and then yearly celebrated in August, it was my favorite month.

And now other reasons exist to mark my August calendar!

Just so you’ll be aware and not miss out on any epic parties or giveaways, I thought I’d clue you in as well.

COME FLY WITH ME!

Party Balloons

Party time! (Photo credit: redfern.biz)

This week is National Aviation Week: well, technically, the 15th through the 21st, which is aptly enough always the week of Orville Wright’s birthday. That would be today, the 19th. The year was 1871. (Not sure how Wilbur, the older brother, would feel about that. Just for your information he was born on April 16, 1867.) I am eternally grateful for both of them and will celebrate this week appropriately by flying the (hopefully) friendly skies and saving myself a fourteen hour drive and the price of whatever repairs my car would inevitably require along the way. Someone should write a song to celebrate these guys. Seriously. (Haim? Jason?)

SWEET SOMETHINGS

One of the best ways I know to celebrate is with cake. Cupcake Day, coincidently, falls on every third Monday of August. That’s today, the 19th. My DIL (hey there, Stephalicious!) bakes cupcakes of such magnificence it seems almost criminal not to eat more than one. Practically a national secret, her frosting recipe excites every taste bud with delight and deliciousness. The cake itself practically floats into your mouth. The combination of top-secret frosting and rich fluffy cake produces instant joy and relaxation. Makes me really wonder what she puts in them. Hmm.  Alas, until my plane ride later this week, her miniature cakes of wonder are out of reach. Happy Cupcake Day anyway!

Bison Goat

Not leaping, but a goat, nonetheless. (Photo credit: im me)

“NO CRACKERS, GROMIT! WE’VE FORGOTTEN THE CRACKERS!” 

The last holiday I’ll highlight includes a shout out to one of my favorite restaurants in the Phoenix area, Flancer’s. Also known in my household as The Leaping Goat Place. August is, wait for the drum roll ******** (okay, the drummer stepped out for a minute) National Goat Cheese Month! I kid you not. There’s a webpage devoted to this monthlong cheese fest. Everything Feta and beyond exists there. To celebrate I’m thinking several visits to my favorite leaping goat are in order. Once for the “It’s about Thyme” sandwich. Once for the “Prickly Pear” sandwich. And once for something new. That’s three visits in less than twelve days. I might be getting a bit too wild here. 

I love my holidays. Except, as an adult Christmas isn’t as fun as it was when I was a kid. But that is a blog post of a different color.

SPECIAL THANKS!

Thanks to brownielocks.com for their wonderful compilation of as they put it, “Unknown, Unobserved, Untraditional, Silly, Strange, Crazy, Odd, sometimes Bizarre, Goofy, Crazy, Dumb, Wacky, Weird, Wild, Respected and Traditional Holidays or Observances mostly only in the United States.” (Cupcake Day is an  Australian Holiday.)

Check them out. You might find even more reasons to celebrate in your year.

Categories: Food, Fun, Humor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What’s for Lunch?

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Kami

Coconut cream pie.

Photo of a slice of coconut cream pie. Taken a...

An ice-filled glass of coke, or two.

(Not the diet stuff, but the real live sugar saturated elixir.)

That was lunch today.

I feel better emotionally now. Not so much in the tummy. My heart has a little bit of zippiness going, y’know, that extra little beat occasionally?

Honestly, I stayed up too late watching a couple of episodes from season six of “Burn Notice” that just made it onto Netflix. It’s my nightly decompression fix lately. So, sleep deprivation might factor in to the heart fluttery thing and the craving for caffeine and sugar.

Stress could be part of it. Just possibly.

It’s not fun seeing your parents have to rewrite and reorder and realign their lives as illness throws obstacles in their path. I want to fix it all. I want to make everything better, dial back the clock five weeks and somehow circumnavigate the whole stroke thing. I want to move in permanently and be a cushion, bubble wrap, the go-to guy, backup, a wingman.

Obviously, I can’t.

I know, I know. They’re going to be just fine. More than fine. I hope. Between the two of them they outnumber my experience and wisdom by a good one hundred years. Do I sound like I’m trying to convince myself? I’m a lousy motivational speaker.

pink miniature rose against blue sky background

(Photo credit: Vanessa Pike-Russell)

Didn’t I just suggest a day or two ago on this very blog that I ought to “worry less.” Yeah, I did. I’m not so good at following my own advice. I suppose I need to post something about getting enough sleep. Maybe I’d be better at following that advice. Or not.

Life isn’t always roses and blue skies. Sometimes it hurts.

So.

The pie. And the Coke.

It’s probably a really good thing I’m not a drinking woman.

Categories: Family, Food | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

More Than Comfort, It’s Comfortable

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Kami
Chocolate Brownie Sundae

Chocolate Brownie Sundae – close but not quite what I saw on Facebook.(Photo credit: su-lin)

Have you ever eaten one of those brownie things with a layer of melted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate frosting? Someone posted a photo of something like that on Facebook and I can’t seem to get it out of my head. Like having a song stuck in there playing over and over and over, you just want it to go away.

It brings to mind other delectable ridiculous things I’ve eaten over the years.

I worked at a print shop/weekly newspaper a hundred years ago and one of the guys who ran the big machine that printed everything, oh yeah, a printer… (I can see I need to write a completely different post just on this one job I had once. ) Anyway, this guy used to drop into a local bakery and bring us all back these amazing things called crocodile jaws. It’s a long triangle-shaped donut, sliced open,  filled with jelly and whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate icing on top. Haven’t seen anything like it since I stopped working there. I didn’t ever get the name of the bakery either. What was I thinking!

Lemon Merengue Pie A Go Go

Lemon Merengue Pie (Photo credit: plushoff)

I’m thinking pie. Lemon merengue. Tart, puckery smoothness laying below a blanket of white sticky air, resting gently on a crusted bed. My mouth is watering already.

School lunch ladies were masters at Apple Crisp! Oh. My. Heavenliness!  Apples sliced thin and then encased with cinnamon and sugar and a bit of butter and maybe some nutmeg, then this crunchy topping o’ perfection, followed by a dollop of whipped cream lightly sweetened. I can still, almost, taste that favorite of lunch room miracles.

Creme brûlée anyone? Nothing else in the world is like that carmelized sugar crust on the top of the smoothest creamiest dessert known to man.

Except there were these Olympic cremes Mom used to make from carmelized sugar and condensed milk. Like a caramel, but not chewy, crisp but not crunchy. Melts in your mouth but with bits of sugary grains to let your tongue linger over.

Chocolate Scotcheroos

Chocolate Scotcheroos (Photo credit: capn madd matt)

Scotcheroos. If you haven’t had one of these I pity you. It’s Rice Crispy treats on steroids with chocolate. Booyah! Seriously puts everything else I’ve discussed to shame.

Italian crème cake? Carrot Cake? Strawberry shortcake? Red velvet cupcakes? Angel food cake? Is it possible to go wrong with anything that has cake in the name? I think not.

These are just a few of the wonders my tongue has tasted, the glories mine eyes have seen. Ah, yes, it’s been a delicious, occasionally decadent life at times. Mmm.

The best I have sitting around here? A reduced-fat chocolate ice-cream bar.

I think not.

I’m feeling too lazy to bake anything, or stir anything or go anywhere, so I’m just going to dream of past delights and comfort myself with memories of the loveliness that has passed my lips.

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