Saturday, November 27, 2010

Bad Baby Pie

Dear loyal readers who do not exist yet,

Pie is on the top ten of comfort food [for years my favorite meal was potpie >leftover roast, carrots, potatoes, onion, gravy concealed in a flaky crust<] If love is shared through food, what is a better food than pie? I love to make pie and eat pie, I even like magpies.

As mentioned in the last post, pumpkin pie, like pecan pie, is a Thanksgiving go-to. In my opinion -- squash over nuts. In the process of baking it is helpful to think of things you are thankful for, generate a feeling of love in your heart imagining love going into the food, and always stir clockwise.

It all starts with the crust...
Flour
{Eggs
Apple cider vinegar} Colder the better, makes for a flaky crust
Salt
Roll from center out always maintaining a circle. Do not use too much flour, just enough to keep from sticking to surface and rolling pin. A little ticker than an 1/8 inch is good, should appear slightly translucent.
This makes three crusts.

:Pumpkin Pie:
Bake at 375 (reduce for glass pie dish) for 40-50 minutes.
Libby’s canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/8 - 1/4 cup Andersen’s regular Eggnog
8 oz. Cream cheese
{cinnamon
Ginger
Ground cloves} tweak to taste

:Apple Pie:
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

6 cups Jonathan apples peeled and sliced
4 T lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar (unrefined)
flour
1/4 tsp ginger
All-spice


It all ends with the crumb topping...

1 cup sugar (unrefined)
1 cup flour (all-purpose)
1/2 cup + couple Ts (soften but not runny and add butter until consistency is right)
3/4 tsp cinnamon

Whisk dry ingredients and cut in butter.

Next I shall make a Peach-a-Berry pie from allrecipes.com!

Monday, November 22, 2010

"To make it to the day, we gotta dance all through the night."

She looks and has the voice of a little child, but there is something cool about it. Sheep farmer gone musician. Ghost dance by Nicole Reynolds has unique lyrics that make me care to attentively listen and the sound makes me feel like a gypsy. Good stuff, thanks Pandora.

i'll kill my corn and cabbage
before fall, what a savage
every little thing we do
is a sacrifice
to make it to the day
we have to make it through
the night

ghost dance on the hill
in the middle of the night
i'm bringing back my uncle
he's been buried alive
the ocean is the ocean
and the ocean,
it'll swallow you whole
i know he won't come back
but that dancin
it feels good in my soul

a river like me will
thaw in the spring
release all my captive
leaves and things
i'll throw you a fish
if you wish a pretty nickle
on me
a crocodile come around
i know i aint no good company

progress exists in our own
set of rules
and our own set of rules
is for a fine set of fools
for another pretty nickle
i've a riddle i could spit
in your eye
tell me when a mourning dove
could ever really get enough
to fly

i'll kill my blue summer beans
i'll tell you once again
it aint all what it seems
every little thing we do
is a compromise
to make it to the day
we have to dance all through
the night

Saturday, November 20, 2010


Sunshine and nature; music and dancing:
Sole e natura; musica e ballare:
Sonnenschein und Natur; Musik und Tanzen:
surefire ways to bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart.

People should neither be racist or race blind. Crassness and hypersensitivity are not functional for everyday wear.

    Tis the season for caldo beve, which do not promote optimum health, but do delight the senses. Pictured is hot cocoa with snipped marshmellows topped with grated chocolate. 
   I long to smell orange and other seasonal smells. Made a pumpkin pie - first one of the year - and promptly gave it away. Was happy to do so, yet sad since there was not one waiting for me at home...this provoked obsessive thoughts about making and eating pies <inspired by the movie Waitress (five stars)>. The exception this time is the plan is to substitute cream cheese for the evaporated milk (note: thanksgiving and christmas are about enjoying food and not about avoiding gaining weight because that is a definite fail plan). Went to Hyvee and made sure to pick up Jonathan apples for a crumb top apple pie, the cashier was an exceptionally nice girl about my age and I imagine she would be a nice person to be friends with.

The humble river city actually has its own little store of culture. Little by little I am discovering it. The Figge had a live ballet performance that was very intimate and raw. Felt a little guilty since the poor music system the classical music was coming through made me long to be all dressed up at a symphony, ochestra, or opera. The current art exhibits were wide ranging, being alone in a large museum looking at all sorts of art work is a unique experience. In the silence of observation I started to gain a better appreciate for abstract paintings. I just know there are interesting people lurking in this area that I hope to meet; I refuse to believe that every weekend is reserved for beer drinking, booze cruising back country roads and country sing alongs.

Please excuse me for writing so much in this blogpost, who has time to read it...let alone write it?
Anyway I still have more thoughts to "put out there".  Fiction, depending on the topic, has the unrelenting ability to consume my eyes and push every other priority to the side for days and nights until the front to back has been completely scanned and absorbed, only to furthmore occupy my ponderings for the next day as well. psch ridiculous weaknesses. The most recent has been The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue, fantastico libro. 

Coco before Chanel was a really good movie, well directed with the appropriate focus.   
http://shoerazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Chanel-Spring-2011-Shoes.jpgChanel shoes this year, except for the ankle boots, are cartoonish and do not support a graceful gate or visually complimentary to the form of the foot.  Not that I would be able buy Chanel without irresponsibly depleating my financial reserves. It still remains one of my favorites, partly due to the attractive symmetry of the logo. 

Musically, !Kate Nash! and !The Kooks! are superb English audible artists.

If some individual makes this a reality, this is proof here that I thought of it too, if not first...fonts really are not adaptable, expressive, personal enough...a program to capture handwriting is needed.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Procrastination (Tales of Mere Existence)

Wow! This video is completely correct on the mental processes of a procrastinator.



PA (procrastinators anonymous) 12 steps:
step 1: look at your life patterns and admit to being a procrastinator.
step 2: join PO (procrastinators obvious), because everybody know you are procrastinator and now you do too.
step 3: make small, achievable goals with deadlines (example: 15 minutes of exercise everyday at exactly 1:00) and without fail keep your word to yourself for a week and then choose another small goal.
step 4: forgive yourself when you slip up and start again.
step 5: don't forgive yourself more than 5 times.
step 6: prioritize.
step 7: visualize and believe in becoming to person you want to be.
step 8: assess what you use a ploys for devoidance (denial + avoidance) and remove those temptations.
step 9: associate with people who are not addicted to being distracted and not getting their stuff done.
step 10: tba
step 11: tba
step 12: just listed because odd numbers are not very popular because they are not very attractive.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Lissie - In Sleep (live) - Damn she is good

I pray for the opportunity to see her perform live.

Came across this website via this image when I was googling "aztec maps"::





http://www.patternity.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/aztec_blackandwhite_saveforweb.jpg

Speaking of patterns, I am starting to see a pattern within myself ... blonde, I like blonde hair. Which is why Summer is the best time of year because my hair, with enough sun exposure, bleaches out quite nicely.