Pancakes and Beer Bellies

This caught my eye at the grocery store last week.



Whaaat? How did they make beer-flavored Jelly Bellys? What would that even taste like? I just had to find out.

When I opened the package, there was a definite beeraroma, but it was not so much the scent of a freshly-pulled lager, as the funk of a low-end tavern on Sunday morning. As far as taste, I only noticed the slightest hint any discernable beer taste, but T (not a beer drinker) described the taste as "nasty", so there must have been something to it. They do have a sort of stale-beer aftertaste.

On the plus side, they are gorgeous - shiny and iridescent, like little amber jewels. They are possibly the prettiest Jelly Bellys I've ever seen. Just don't eat them.

Fortunately, these were also on the display.



Forget the pancakes. This is all about the maple syrup, and why wouldn't that be a logical Jelly Belly flavor? They have a solid "candy constructed to taste like pancake syrup" flavor, which T declared "better than those other ones." If you want your sugar to taste like something sugary, this is the way to go.

But don't chase them with a beer.

Variety

DRAW! Day 18: Abstracted Drawings, a photo by chaimann on Flickr.

Believe it or not, these were all drawn from the same reference photo. Today's theme was "abstracted drawings", and the variation among these proves that point. Pop over to my Flickr to see some other drawings of the same picture, done with stick graphite. (There are also some more figure drawings from yesterday, artfully NSFW,)

We had an "ice day" today. That's like a snow day without snow. Rain falling on cold streets makes a slippery mess. Many churches, including ours, cancelled services, so we hung out at the house. I made pasta, and then kicked it up a notch with chocolate chip cookies. Then I drew. That makes a good day all around.

Gingerbread Day

Today was chilly and rainy. I wore a sweater today, and made gingerbread tonight. By my standards, that means it is now officially autumn.

This year, I passed by the usual Pillsbury/Duncan Hines/Betty Crocker gingerbread mixes, and went to the health food section. There I found Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Gingerbread Mix. It was dark and moist and pleasantly dense. I liked it, and even T, who is gingerbread-neutral, sneaked back into the kitchen for a second piece. Thumbs up.

Yesterday's video was so energetic, I thought something more mellow might be in order.

Snack time

I wanted a snack, and I decided to draw it first, and then touch it up with some paint. I usually do pen sketches in a sketch book, where they stay monochromatic, so it took some courage to do one in a watercolor book. I would like to point out for the record that part on the right, where it looks like I lost track of the perspective? That IS what it looked like.

My needs for courage are rather mundane, unlike this guy. [Edited to removed embedded video. Man, I hate it when they start playing on their own.]

Bread time

I stopped by the grocery store today to get some chicken for dinner. Of course, I had to go to the back of the store for the chicken, and I returned to the front via the baking aisle.

Bernie and Sand have been carrying on for awhile now about Bernie's new-found bread baking skills, and that, plus the drizzly, foggy weather today, gave me a hankering for home-baked bread. I haven't seen the magazine that is fanning B's bakerman flames, but I was a 4-H-er, and I know a few things about bread.

1. You can make bread with just yeast, sugar, flour, and water.
2. And heat.
3. Yeast packets have recipes on the back.
4. Each box of yeast packets will have a variety of recipes, not the same one on every packet.

So since I was already in the baking aisle, I started flipping over packets, and  before long I found Whole Wheat Batter Bread. It uses whole wheat flour only, and T and I both like our whole grain bread on the chewy side. It is completely prepared in a mixing bowl - no need for kneading, which I usually find tedious. It sounded easy to prepare, and indeed it was.

I ended up with a nice, dense loaf. I think a little kneading might have lightened it up a bit, but it is good and edible just the way it is. I can't wait to slap some butter and jam on it tomorrow morning.

Also at the grocery store, I saw Girl Scouts selling cookies. Girl Scout cookies in January. What is the world coming to?

Off the top of my head, I don't know any songs about baking, but I do know one about someone named Bernie. The video doesn't really have anything to do with the song. Just close your eyes and enjoy the genius that is Dave Frishberg.

I owe it to mom

As promised, we had snow, and I have to say it was a very unsatisfactory snow experience. It snowed overnight, so I didn't get to see it falling. By the time I woke up, it was a slushy mess, not pretty at all. We got the aggravation without the prettiness. What a rip-off.

T and I both had the day off, which was good, and we both had dental appointments, which was annoying, but not too bad. I broke a crown last week, and today was part one of getting it repaired. I'll be glad to have that done.

As we were driving back and forth to the dentist, we saw that Noodles & Company is finally open at the mall, so we went there for dinner. We discovered it in Indiana when we visited my family, and had been looking forward to them arriving in Iowa.

Tonight, I took a wild notion to bake some oatmeal cookies. I haven't baked oatmeal cookies in ages, but they are Terry's favorite cookie. He used to get them at The Bookstore Whose Name We No Longer Speak, and they had cranberries in them, as well as raisins, so I put cranberries in mine.

I read something today that was giving advice about how to learn to cook. It talked about reading recipes, understanding the "flow" of the preparation, making sure you have all of the ingredients, and so on. It occurred to me as I was mixing up the cookie dough that, even though it's not a regular activity for me, it was easy to pick up again because my mom started teaching me how to cook when I was a young child.

And later, I was crocheting, and I had the same realization. To the uninitiated, a crochet pattern must look like hieroglyphics. Because it's something I learned young, though, it doesn't take me long to figure out a pattern, even if I've gone years without thinking about crochet. Again, this is something I learned from my mom. Most of the things she taught me to do, I still know how to do, even if I do them irregularly. That's a nice legacy, don't you think?

It's autumn, and the moon is almost full, so what better time to end the day with Mr. Van Morrison?

Non-habit-forming

So I made it through October and posted almost every day. Blogging is a habit now, right?

Ah, no. As frequently happens when I participate in month-long challenges, by the end of the month, I am OVER whatever the activity was. That's why I quit doing NaNoWriMo. It makes me hate writing.

I did finally get my gingerbread last week. We had one blustery day, and I baked. Perhaps I should have waited. It's raining now, and possibly turning to snow tomorrow. I have cookie supplies on hand, just in case I feel the need to bake again.

In honor of my DTAUC friends on the NaNo forums, I am crocheting a doily. I'm also still working on re-spinning the black wool that I got in my spinning class a few years ago. The singles are done, and I am plying it. What I'm really eager for is the post-spinning wash. This was raw fleece, and even though I had washed it, it was still fairly greasy. I probably need to soak it more aggressively, which sounds like an oxymoron. I think it needs a longer soak in hotter water to nudge more of the lanolin out.

I haven't quite adjusted to the time change yet. If you are like me, maybe this song will give you a pick-me-up when you need it.

What a crock

At the grocery store a couple of days ago, we found packages of fresh vegetables for making beef stew. I thought it was brilliant, because it irks me to have to buy, say, a bunch of celery when I only need a couple of stalks.

So today, I decided to make beef stew in the crock pot. I worked today, and wasn't able to start cooking until afternoon. Setting the crockpot on high should have given it plenty of time to cook, but after three and a half hours, the vegetables were still very crunchy. We ended up turning the crockpot to low and going out for Mexican food. By the time we got back home, it was simmering nicely.  We'll have to stew for Sunday dinner.  It will probably be better the second day, anyway.

I'm wondering now, though, if that crock pot going wimpy, since low seemed to cook hotter than high. It's probably about 15 years old.

Yesterday, I installed an old copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking on the desktop.  I'm trying it out tonight as I write this post. Talking to the computer is not as natural as I thought it was going to be. Even with simple text, I have to stop fairly frequently to make corrections or look up commands. I also don't seem to have a good sense of what the words look like when I'm not actually writing them. That may be something to get used to in time.

After yesterday's melancholy song, today's selection is plumb full up with the confidence of young love. This is the aria from La fille du regiment that earned Pavarotti the nickname "King of the High Cs". Here is is performed by Juan Diego Florez, and he pops out those nine, count 'em, nine Cs like there is nothing to it.

Wating for gingerbread

It's almost November, and I'm still waiting for gingerbread weather.

Gingerbread weather is the first really blustery day of mid-fall. It chilly enough that you need a proper jacket, and maybe even a scarf. It's probably cloudy, maybe even drizzly, and the wind cuts right through you. When I was a kid, the first occurrence of such weather was my mom's excuse to make gingerbread. Even after I was grown and long gone from home, she and I would still report to each other when it was gingerbread weather.

I keep thinking it will be any day now, but so far, no. It's getting cooler, but otherwise rather sunny and pleasant. I'm ready for it, though.

This should be the point where I give you my mother's recipe for gingerbread, so here it is.


Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cake and Cookie Mix

Yep, mom was a dandy cook, but her gingerbread cake came straight from a box. What's more, she always topped it with fake whipped cream. At first it was Dream Whip. (Mixing the Dream Whip was my task in the gingerbread experience.) Then, when Cool Whip hit the market, she switched to that.

In memory of my mother, I also have a box of gingerbread mix in my pantry. I draw the line at the Cool Whip, though.

Now, I just need the right day.

I don't have a cheery video today. Late October is the time to share this beautiful, wistful song, performed here by the fabulous Rosemary Clooney.

When is a biscuit not a biscuit?

A couple of days ago, faithful reader Bernie blogged about biscuits, and illustrated the post with a lovely picture... of canned biscuits.

It's clear that B is not from the American South. Canned biscuits, also known as tube biscuits or those damn storebought biscuits are considered by many to be a Yankee-sponsored attack on Southern gentlefolk.

Which is not to say I've never had them. My dad was always happy to cook his baby daughter a cholesterol-stuffed array of pigmeats for breakfast, but he drew the line at scratch biscuits, so I've had my share of ersatz biscuits. Cooked 'em, too, but if I need biscuits, I usually use Bisquick, which I consider to be slightly less of a travesty. Plus, you can make Impossible Pies with it. Who could be against that? (And Bernie--Bisquick pot pies. I'm just saying.)

In the south, canned biscuits are often called "whomp" or "whop" biscuits. This term is a legacy of the late comedian Jerry Clower, who lamented the sad sound of biscuit tubes being whomped on a counter to pop them open, and the contents being foisted off onto families as biscuits.

I couldn't find a clip of Jerry talking about biscuits, but I did find an audio clip about Tater Ledbetter and his moped. I remember listening to it with my parents, and them giggling themselves silly. Enjoy!

Sometimes I am a little slow

I probably saw Blazing Saddles dozens of times over thirty-some years. I know most of the dialogue backwards and forwards. Still, it was only recently that I realized that a "hearty" handshake might also be a "hardy" handshake.

A Laurel and Hardy Handshake. Ohhh. Got it.

In other news, after I went to the dentist a couple of days ago, I rewarded myself with a quick spin through World Market. There, I was delighted to find that Vosges has added Mo's Dark Bar to their lineup. A few years ago, I reviewed Mo's Bacon Bar for the Piker Press, so I felt I had a journalistic responsibility to try one.

It was pretty good. It's been awhile since I had an original Mo's, so I'm not positive, but I think it worked a bit better with the milk chocolate, and I don't recommend milk chocolate lightly.

I also see that Vosges has an entire category of bacon-chocolate delights. Wow.

Wooly green cheese

Spunky Eclectic Lunar, a photo by chaimann on Flickr.

For Christmas, T got me a Galaxy fiber sampler from Spunky Eclectic. It has twelve one-ounce bundles of fiber, each dyed to represent a different solar system object. When I am jonesing for a small spinning project, these little bits are perfect. The one pictured is called Lunar. It's hard to photograph it so that it shows all of the shades of green - lime, kelly, teal. It's really pretty, if you like green, and I do.

Today, we had lunch at the new French bistro in town, Tartine. It's in a strip mall, a location previously inhabited by a barbecue joint. They did a nice job of classing it up with paint and new chairs. You still order at the counter, and get your own drinks, but they serve your meal on china, with real metal flatware and cloth napkins.

I liked my quiche just fine. It was a nice, thick slice, which I don't see very often, and it had a crust that was actually tasty. T said his panini was okay, but a bit on the bland side. I'm looking forward to trying it again, maybe at breakfast, when pain au chocolat will let me give it the ultimate thumbs up or down.

V Day

T and I went out for dinner last night, "to beat the Valentine rush", he said.

Then we went out again tonight, to a neighborhood restaurant near our church, after I had my second tai chi lesson.

I had leftovers from both, so I can feel the love all weekend long.

I really like the tai chi class. We also do some qigong at the beginning, sort of as a warm up. I think if I can remember the movements long enough that I can practice them consistently, it will loosen up my back and shoulders. I'll try to practice every day, and see if the massage therapist can tell a difference next week.

Emergency vacation

It's a long story that I won't bore you with now, but many of my September travel plans have become confounded. T and I did get away last weekend, though, for the Iowa Star Party at Whiterock Conservancy.

I wasn't even there 24 hours, but I met a nice cat who looks a bit like Katie, except this cat liked strangers.

Lectures were held in this barn.

We had the best meal I've had in awhile.

Grilled pork chops, scalloped potatoes, green beans, cucumber salad, and homegrown 'maters - oh my! There were also brownies, but T's plate was already overfilled. His brownie is on my plate. I didn't take a picture of my plate, because I didn't want you thinking I was gorging on brownies. Ahem.

Despite the many food-like names for the following, it is not good eating.

Cow pie, cow patty, cow chip, meadow muffin... We were camped in a mowed-down cow pasture, so one had to be on alert at all times when walking about.

I didn't have any mindless knitting, so I started some.

That's a toe-up sock in Opal Flamingo. Yes, I'm using circs, and it is going okay. It's up to about four inches now. I used Judy's Magic Cast On from Knitty, and it was slick - no provisional stuff to worry about.