January 2010

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Quirky, Odd, and Kooky

January 29, 2010 in Spotlighting, Watching by Colleen | 3 comments

If you’ve learned anything about me these past months (holy smokes – I’ve been blogging nearly 24 of them!), I am drawn to the odd, quirky, and kooky. I often do not like what others like. I did not like Titanic. I will not see Avatar. I don’t care how freaking fantastic the special effects are, the story just doesn’t interest me, and if I’m going to sit in a theater for 150 minutes, I better be interested. Don’t get me wrong, either. I love a blockbuster: Superman, Spiderman, X-Men, and all the Bourne movies are terrific. The latest Star Trek had this frugal gal and the hubster so jazzed that we forked over big bucks to see it on a gigantic screen. We were not disappointed, either!

But, for the most part, these are the kind of stories that interest me – everyday life with a twist. They are usually a little bit funny, a little bit sad, and very interesting. You know that though. So I guess, I should say, here’s more of the same from me.

A lonely German woman makes a new life for herself after leaving her husband on a trip to Las Vegas. With her tenacity, strong coffee, and kind ways, she befriends Brenda, the curmudgeonly woman who runs the cafe and motel where she is staying, all the while breathing new life to the place, magic, if you will, and into the lives of all around her. This is one of the first movies the hubster and I rented together. The theme song has always stayed with me.

Joe Morton (from Terminator 2: Judgment Day – a James Cameron film I liked) plays an escaped slave from, you guessed it, another planet. Mute and possessing only three toes on each foot, he is otherwise human. He lands, quite appropriately, at Ellis Island, and ends up in Harlem where he befriends the regulars of a bar and is helped to get a job for fixing an arcade game with his magical healing powers. He need only touch an object or person and all is well. His real troubles begin when he is chased by two very cat-like bounty hunters in black (director Jon Sayles and David Strathairn). A great film about race, slavery, and the modern drug problem (through the lens of 1984). This may take the cake in the odd category.

Despite being a brilliant Ivy League graduate, and much to her parents confusion and consternation, Jaye Tyler has chosen to live a rather aimless life in a trailer and work at Wonderfalls, a gift shop adjacent to Niagara. When a deformed wax lion suddenly speaks to her, her life takes a drastic turn. She listens, heeding the instructions, not only of the lion but to an ever increasing number of objects, flamingos, a ceramic cow, a brass monkey, taking her on wacky adventures that change lives, including her own.

Home

January 28, 2010 in Loving, Quoting by Colleen | 2 comments

Of all modern notions, the worst is this:

Domesticity is dull. Inside the home, they say, is dead decorum and routine; outside is adventure and variety. The truth is that the home is the only place of liberty, the only spot on earth where a man (ahem, and a woman) can alter arrangements suddenly, make an experiment, or indulge in a whim. The home is not the one tame place in a world of adventure; it is the one wild place in a world of rules and tasks.

G. K. Chesterton

Mash Up

January 27, 2010 in Being by Colleen | 3 comments

Hello everyone! Gosh it seems like ages since I’ve posted, maybe to you, too. I’m sorry about that, but I really felt lousy with whatever it was that I had – mostly a sinus infection, but there was some serious fatigue in the mix, too. Yuck. If you look at the previous post, that’s about how I looked 90% of the time, too, wearing sweats and assorted hats to keep warm, spending copious amounts of time in front of the television, cats on my lap, going through boxes of tissue. A real party.

A funny and slightly gross story to go with this. The hubster, who is quite used to me being full of verve at all hours of the day, became quite concerned after so many days of couch potato Colleen that he suggested I have my thyroid checked. Then, when he happened to be home for one of my uber disgusting nose blowing extravaganzas, he said, “Wow, you really are sick, after all.” I laughed and said, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Bless his heart, he replied, “I’m a visual learner!” We had a good chuckle!

This reminds me, have you seen the 30 Rock where Liz and Jack go to Stone Mountain, Georgia? Liz orders a special “chuckle” sandwich and gets very ill. Jack tries to console her by gently brushing a broom across her back while she vomits. I just about wet my pants with laughter watching that (perhaps this is saying too much about me, but hey, I didn’t actually write it and put it on TV, so there). It’s the gosh I’d like to be sympathetic, but you are grossing me out, so I’ll use this broom to keep my distance but give you a little TLC at the same time. Been there, but never thought of the broom, thanks 30 Rock!

As you can tell, if you’ve bravely continued this far into the mire, I have absolutely nothing of substance to say. I guess I am not entirely well, but I did make that guacamole last night, and it was delish. Anyway, it is good to be mostly back. Hope you are well!

Are We Ourselves

January 21, 2010 in Being, Celebrating, Quoting by Colleen | 1 comment

Do we dare to be ourselves? That is the question that counts.

Pablo Casals

Dutch Baby, Oh!

January 20, 2010 in Cooking and Baking by Colleen | 2 comments

When I was living at home, my mom called this a Breakfast Wake-Up. I have also seen it called an Oven Pancake. No matter what the name, the hubster and I find it rather delicious. It is a firmer variety of pancake – and very, very good. This one is topped with ginger pears using my recipe for sauces with regular-old pancakes that you can find here. I would say that the one down side to this recipe is that it only makes one pan at a time, so if you are really hungry, you’re also going to need to be really patient whilst making a second batch. I suppose there are worse things in the world. As well, yours may not look like the picture below when you take it out of the oven. Sometimes it comes out looking like a sombrero, others, a moonscape. It’s kind of neat, actually, like mad science!

Dutch Baby

2 tablespoons butter

3 eggs

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (regular is fine, too)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a 10″ skillet inside. Add butter to skillet, and remove from oven after it melts, about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs to combine. Add flour, milk, and salt; beat until smooth.

Immediately pour batter into the hot skillet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and browned. If you have an oven with a glass front – turn on the light and watch the magic!

Be really careful not to touch the handle after removing from the oven. I can’t tell you how many times I have burned my hand because I forgot it was hot, ouch!

Serve with butter, maple syrup, dusted with powdered sugar, or topped with your favorite sauce.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday sweet Stella Ruby!

Short and Sweet

January 19, 2010 in Being, Eating, Feeling by Colleen | 1 comment

Great Tuesday greetings blog friends! I have a killer headache from some nasty head cold I can’t seem to shake. I feel well for a couple of days, and then it sneaks in through the back door, and I feel terrible for another day or two. So much for the super-hero immunity I thought I had. Boo.

Anyhoo, I can’t think very clearly, so you get some random thoughts about me.

1. I cry while watching award shows. So much sincerity and the love of telling and sharing stories, for aren’t we all a collection of words, experiences, and emotions?

2. I love peanut butter. Have I told you this before? I can’t remember. With jelly or chocolate, in a spicy satay, on a pancake, sprinkled with smoky salt, or slathered on a rye crisp.

3. I believe in the power of architecture: wood, steel, glass, concrete, and LOVE.

4. I love ruffles, pearls, velvet, and brooches – all the trappings of a woman with a girlish heart.

5. I love smoked fish – sardines, salmon, trout – best when purchased in early morning, at a shack by the sea, dearest friend at my side, the scent of the sea and warm smoky fish filling the air. A slice of heaven, for sure.

Sixty-One

January 16, 2010 in Celebrating by Colleen | 2 comments

Happy Birthday Daddy! I love you!

Structure

January 14, 2010 in Quoting by Colleen | No comments

I don’t try to imagine a God; it suffices to stand in awe of the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.

Albert Einstein

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

January 13, 2010 in Cooking and Baking, Remembering by Colleen | 3 comments

When I was in junior high, one of my best friends was Terese Sievers. She was sweet, smart (a whiz at math), beautiful, with perfect black hair; a fine person and a marvelous friend. I spent a lot of time at her house: meals, parties, and sleepovers, her adorable little brother Todd waking us in the morning. Among my favorite memories is the time we baked this cake together. I had never baked with a friend before, and there was a definite specialness to it. We worked with ease in her kitchen, so much so that it overshadows any memory of my first bite of cake. Working together mattered more.

Though the memory of this cake is fine, it has very little to do with how I feel about it now. I am hard pressed to find another chocolate cake that I like so well. This is moist, rich, and always delicious, and certainly among the easiest to prepare. I am not one for fuss in the kitchen – my Julia Child days having long past. The hubster is a big fan as well, nearly always suggesting I make it when I am in the mood for chocolate. Thankfully, too, I’ve adapted it so it is pretty healthy, as far as cakes go, with the rolled oats and whole wheat flour providing a good amount of fiber, but in secret agent fashion. Let’s call it MI5 cake, shall we?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

1 3/4 cups boiling water

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 stick butter, softened (8 tablespoons)*

2 eggs

1 cup flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips**

3/4 cup nuts (optional)

Pour water over oatmeal in a large bowl, and let stand 10 minutes. Add both sugars and butter. Mix well. Add eggs. Sift dry ingredients together, and add to oatmeal mixture, mixing well.

Pick a pan – 13×9 or Bundt

For the 13X9: Grease pan well. Add 1 cup of chocolate chips to batter, pour into pan, and sprinkle remaining chips over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake springs back when touched.

For the Bundt: Grease pan well. Mix in chocolate chips, pour into pan, smoothing the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake springs back when touched. Cool for 5 minutes before turning out of the pan.

The cake is great warm, at room temperature, on it’s own, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or frosted. You really can’t lose.

Enjoy!

*If you are itching to make the cake, but your butter is not soft, do what I do: use a cheese grater on the butter. I also do this for pie crust. Freeze the butter and put it through the grater. It will still be cold and in uniform pieces. I love uniformity in the kitchen!

**Use any chocolate chip you like, but know that white chocolate chips tend to melt entirely and form slightly unsightly cracks in the cake (this is why God created frosting).

***If you like dried fruit, this cake is the perfect vehicle for it. I am rather fond of adding dried cherries or raisins, but was thinking that cranberries and apricots would work nicely, too. If you like orange, you could also add the zest of one. Oh the possibilities!

A Chinese-Irish Kind of Day

January 12, 2010 in Drinking, Eating, Exploring, Gardening and Nature by Colleen | 3 comments

The Portland Chinese Classical Garden, in celebration of ten years in the heart of the city and the changing of its name to Lan Su (Garden of Awakening Orchids), offered free admission for ten days, starting after the new year. The hubster and I took advantage, as we hadn’t visited the garden since it’s inaugural season. It was as beautiful and tranquil as I remembered, and quite thankfully, they limited the number of people in at a time, so it did didn’t feel at all crowded, save in the line out front.