Kenny!

March 5, 2009 in Learning, Quoting by Colleen | Permalink

So this bit of weirdness is a farewell.  I have been instructed by my naturopath to give up sugar.  Bye, bye VooDoo Doughnuts, cherry pie, chocolate cake, butterscotch pudding!  Bye bye Junior Mints, Turkish delight, gummy bears!  You were wonderful, and I loved you well.

I’ve stocked my pantry with dried fruit, and I’ve got these fine words to live by:

Badness you can get easily, in quantity: the road is smooth, and it lies close by.  But in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it, and rough at first.  But when you come to the top, then it is easy, even though it is hard.

Hesiod, Works and Days

I CAN DO THIS!

Crazy Words and Bunco

March 2, 2009 in Cooking + Baking, Learning, Loving by Colleen | 3 comments

Okay, as someone who writes for a “living,” I feel like a total dork, but did you know that bimonthy can mean twice monthly OR every other month?  What?!  I’ve only used it to express twice monthly, but now, I will be extra careful to avoid any sort of confusion because there is a mighty big difference between twenty-four and six.  Oy.  I am just reeling.  As someone with a deep appreciation for language and words, to say that I am disappointed to learn this is an understatement.  What kind of nutter butter decided this?

Anyway, You’re probably wondering why this even matters.  Well, I was starting to write a post about how I gather my friends up every other month for Bunco, but thought, surely there’s a word for that and did a little internet search.  There you go.  I’ve done the disappointing leg work for all of us.

As I was saying, I gather the lovely ladies to my house bimonthly, and we chat, roll the dice (most of the time), drink, eat, and are generally quite merry, often whooping and hollering with delight at our luck or lack of it.  We are a wonderful group of beautiful, smart, funny, caring, and talented ladies.  We love life, children (though I am the only one without any – they don’t hold it against me :), a good time, and a slice of cake.

About the cake, my dear friend Carolyn requested that I share the recipe from last Friday’s gathering.  It is quite rich, a little slice going a long way, and delicious, too.  I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of it, but we gobbled it up before I had the chance.  Also, I have no photos of the lovely ladies themselves, well, save one, but I didn’t think Mara and Amber would want to be singled out like that, so, instead, I’ve got one of the table I set for the festivities.  The tablecloth is the one I got from my adventure at The Bins, and the miniature daffodils are from our yard.  I’ll get a picture of all of the ladies next time.  I’m sure Greg won’t mind coming down in between whoops and hollers to capture our collective beauty for the ages and the blogosphere.

Anyway, the recipe is adapted from my very favorite dessert cookbook by the late Richard Sax, Classic Home Desserts:

Fabulous Flourless Chocolate Cake

Cake:

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 stick butter, cut into pieces, softened

6 large eggs: 2 whole, 4 divided

3/4 cup sugar

For flavor, pick one or two of the following:

2 tablespoons brandy or Grand Marnier

1 t cinnamon

Grated zest of one orange

Whipped Cream Topping:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, well chilled

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line the bottom of an 8″ or 9″ spring form pan with a round of wax paper.  Do not butter the pan.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or bowl set over hot water.  Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until melted; set aside.

Whisk the two whole eggs and the four egg yolks with 1/2 cup of the the sugar, just until blended.  Whisk in the warm chocolate mixture.  Whisk in your optional flavoring – cinnamon, brandy, Grand Marnier, or orange zest.  Carolyn, for Bunco, I used the cinnamon.

In another bowl, beat the four egg whites until foamy.  Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until the whites form soft mounds that hold their shape but are not stiff.  Stir about 1/4 of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it; gently fold in the remaining whites, being careful not to deflate them.  Pour the batter into the pan; smooth the top.

Bake until the top of the cake is puffed and cracked and the center is no longer wobbly; 35-45 minutes.  It will still look pretty moist, so do not overbake.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack; the cake will look like a crater, complete with a sunken center and high sides.  It ain’t pretty!

Whipped Cream Topping:

At serving time, whip the cream with powdered sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Fill the crater of the cake and serve.  Also, be careful not to eat the wax paper you used to line the pan.  It disguises itself rather well, but if you pay attention, it can be peeled away as you slice the cake.  Enjoy!

13,780 Reasons to Sit In Wild Wonder

March 1, 2009 in Being, Thinking by Colleen | 1 comment

This past weekend, after contemplating it for some time, I asked the dear hubster to venture a guess as to how many days we’d been alive, independently or collectively.  As is his custom when I ponder such notions, he smiled tenderly and said, “I have no idea.”  We changed the subject without any further investigation, but the thought lingered in my mind.   Then, thanks to my marvelous friend serendipity, the habit of being posted how many days she has graced the earth, along with the place I could complete the calculation for myself (and you too!).

In these times of enormous human populations and gigantic budget deficits, digits increasing seemingly exponentially, my number feels a little small, but when I think about it in terms of what it is – actually being alive – I become quite giddy.  That is 13,780 days of living, breathing, loving, laughing and experiencing the joy that accompanies occupying this precious and sometimes mysterious skin.

The more I sit with it, the more the glory of my days shimmers and expands into a large and luminous ball glimmering on the horizon, energy that wants to spread sweetness and light everywhere it goes.

That is me.  These are my days.

Just think:

Every single day has had a sunrise and a sunset.  Every one!  Oh goodness, I swoon at all the marvelous reds, pinks, purples, and blues that have filled the sky!

Every single night, there have been beautiful stars, even if they were obscured by clouds – Orion, the Pleadies, Castor and Pollux, Cassiopeia, and the rest of the heavenly assemblage.

Every single minute of every single hour, people have died and been born; some I have known; most I have not.

Just wonder:

How many gibbous moons, eyelash slivers, and full orbs of evening light?

How many steps, hops, skips, dashes, and leaps?

How many delicious meals, slices of pie?

How many kisses, hugs, and cuddles?

How many tears, sobs, and cries?

How many songs sung and heard?

I sit here, incredulous at all that has happened in my humble collection of days, all that I know, all I have yet to learn, all that I can only dream about.  I ponder what lies just around the corner or on day 15,000 (July 4, 2012).  No matter what, I am confident and rather sanguine about this marvelous gift, how lovely just to be alive!

The Accidental Tourist

February 27, 2009 in Spotlighting, Watching, Writing by Colleen | 1 comment

Here’s another quirky film, my friends, The Accidental Tourist.  Boy, oh, boy do I love this one.

The story centers on Macon Leary, an often mystified and somewhat cold man who lost his son to murder and his wife to the ensuing, yet quiet, upheaval.  It seems he will never exit the rather stodgy Leary groove of safety, sameness and unsociability, until…of course until.  There’s always that.  Otherwise, there would be no story.  Until Macon’s dog, Edward (an adorable Corgi), still grieving the loss of his son, starts biting people.

Enter Muriel Pritchett, dog trainer extraordinaire and, quite possibly, his polar opposite.  Her life is anything but “Leary Safe.”  She lives in a rough neighborhood, has a son allergic to practically everything under the sun, wears quirky clothing combinations (like my sweet friend Bridget), and sports the longest fake nails known to man.  Not to mention the fact she is utterly and completely forthright, giving him her telephone number to, “Call.  Just talk.  Don’t you get the urge to do that?” Rather bewildered, he tells her, “Not really.”

As Muriel enters his life, Macon slowly transforms, going from a physically and emotionally rigid man, speaking in staccato tones, to someone who smiles, laughs, and even dances.  But will it last?  For the Leary groove is a rather potent one.

Watch it and see, and when you do, you’ll also witness the the Learys and their awful sense of direction, alphabetizing the pantry, expressing concern for properly sized envelopes, the consumption of GORP (or glop, depending), and discussing their work: “I make bottlecaps.  It isn’t half as exciting as it sounds.”  The movie, however, is – full of laughs, crazy moments, and, of course, a few tears.

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This Smile Brought to You…

February 26, 2009 in Admiring by Colleen | 2 comments

With the support of the Dewey Dental Clinic.   Though I am a rather vigilant brusher and flosser, I learned yesterday, much to my chagrin, that I had twin cavities!   Thankfully, the lovely people at the best dentist office known to Portland had an opening today, and voila, my mouth is as good as new again.

Seriously, too, they are really good.  I am a picky person.  I was a little worried when Dr. Wheeler retired, but the Dewey’s are super people and the staff is the same.  Kelly’s been cleaning my teeth for more than nine years!  I feel like a part of her family.

This is also my second post for the day, so I figured that the picture needed to be a little nutty.  Hope you like it and all the exclamation points!  What can I say?  I am a rather enthusiastic lady.

Oh, and Dr. Jeff – hope to see you running by the house soon…

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