Sticky Buns

I am thankful to have made it safe and sound through two states to visit my children.  So, for my twenty-third installment of ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness,’ I wish to share their (and mine) perennial favorite:  Sticky Buns (follow the link for the recipe and detailed instructions with photos).

Nearly the first thing I did upon arriving at my daughter’s apartment was to inventory her pantry and then head to the largest Kroger grocery store in the state of Texas.  As expected, since it was early evening on the day before Thanksgiving, the aisles were jam packed, especially the baking aisle.  We survived with most of our limbs intact and only forgetting one item, which we had forgotten to place on our grocery list.

Once back at the apartment, I installed my old bread machine and began mixing up a batch of the sticky buns, using the dough setting on the bread machine.  Since it was close to eight o’clock, I knew I would be up way past my bedtime.  While my husband and daughter’s boyfriend headed over to a friend’s house who had graciously agreed to smoke a turkey for us, Rach3elle and I streamed a couple of old Star Trek: Voyager episodes from the sixth season, ones I didn’t remember but were quite interesting none-the-less.

We decided to go ahead and bake the first batch of sticky buns last night, using my daughter’s large 9×13 inch glass baking dish.  I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way the dough mixed and rose, so I wanted to be able to test taste it in case I needed to re-do a batch early in the morning.  Another strange new experience for me: cooking with gas.  My daughter’s kitchen apartment includes a Hotpoint gas range.  I have only ever cooked using electric ovens.  Interesting.

The sticky buns came out of the over around 11:30 but when we flipped them over onto a large cookie sheet, several rolls around the edges stuck to the sides and came unraveled.  Prime targets for a taste test.  The results were superb but I would need to make another batch in the morning to fine-tune the recipe.  While I had purchased what I thought was non-fat dry milk at the grocery store, it was actually labelled ‘instant’ (I really should where my reading glasses while shopping), so I put an eighth to a quarter cup of half-and-half in the liquid portion of the recipe.  This morning, I decided to forgo any dairy aspect of the recipe and the dough does look like it is rising better.

I sometimes make this recipe up for friends and family, but I don’t bake it for them.  I send them a batch in a disposable aluminum foil pan with instructions on refrigeration, rising and baking so that they can enjoy this treat fresh out of the oven, sticky, gooey and hot, just like it’s meant to be enjoyed.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

New-Age Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

My Pumpkin Pies Cooling on the rack

For my twenty-second installment in my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I thought I’d share one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions: Baking an old-fashioned pumpkin pie with a slight twist.  I have no idea why it’s called an ‘old-fashioned’ recipe; that’s just what my mother always called it.

The changes I’ve made to her recipe include eliminating egg yolks and using fat free half & half instead of condensed or evaporated milk (these two changes were to accommodate my husband’s dietary restrictions).  I’ve even used the Splenda version of brown sugar in previous years in an attempt to reduce the sugar footprint of the pie (back when my husband’s doctors were concerned about blood sugar levels).  But my favorite ingredient has to be the dark molasses; sometimes I include three tablespoons instead of just two.

So while my pies are baking in the over, I’ll provide you with the recipe for your own Thanksgiving experimentation:

New-Age Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

2 pie crusts (9-inch)
2 15-oz cans pumpkin
1 1/2 c brown sugar
3/4 c egg whites
3 T butter, melted
8 oz fat free half & half
2 T dark molasses
4 t pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 t salt (optional) … I did not add this ingredient to my pies.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare pastry, flute.  Mix ingredients with a hand beater or on low speed in a mixer until combined.  Pour filling into pastry shells.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, and continue baking at that temperature for an additional 45 minutes.

Makes two 9-inch pies.

***

My husband and I hit the road tomorrow, heading south on I-35 to join our adult children and their significant others for our third annual North Texas Thanksgiving family gathering.  Since we are staying with our daughter tomorrow night, and her Internet provider screams along about as fast as early 90s dial-up, you might not hear from me until Thanksgiving, when we’ll be at my son’s apartment enjoying the fruits of our cooking, baking and smoking.

I wish all of you safe travels tomorrow and wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Book Review: Maphead by Jennings

For my twenty-first installment in my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I am grateful for my sense of direction, my spatial awareness and love of maps and geography. This post will do double duty as it also masquerades as a book review of Ken Jennings’ recently released Maphead.

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography WonksMaphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
by Ken Jennings

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
(actually more like 3.5 stars, but GoodReads doesn’t allow half star ratings)

A quick read, similar in format and informality to Ken’s inaugural Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs book. All twelve chapter titles included a cartographic definition together with a quote. For example, the first chapter entitled ‘Eccentricity’ with the definition ‘the deformation of an elliptical map projection’ and the Pat Conroy quote ‘My wound is geography.’

My favorite chapter falls in the center, halfway from nowhere to somewhere, Chapter 6 ‘Legend’ with a definition of ‘an explanatory list of the symbols on a map’ and the C.S. Lewis quote ‘Most of us, I suppose, have a secret country, but for most of us it is only an imaginary country.’ I did a double-take when I read on p. 113 that Brandon Sanderson and Ken Jennings were college roommates. I heartily agree with Brandon’s assertion that ‘The hallmark of epic fantasy is immersion’ and that’s why he always includes maps in his books. Brandon goes on to relate to Ken that he ‘started to look and make sure a book had a map. That was one of the measures of whether it was going to be a good book or not.” When Brandon first read The Lord of the Rings he thought, ‘Oho, he [Tolkien] knows what he’s doing. A map and an appendix!’ Ken states a few paragraphs later that ‘Fantasy readers like that abrupt drop into the deep end and the learning curve it takes to keep up’ further affirmed by Brandon’s confirmation that ‘By the end of a big epic fantasy novel, you’ll have to become an expert in this world that doesn’t exist. It’s challenging.’

Pauline Baynes' map poster of Middle-earth published in 1970 by George Allen & Unwin and Ballantine Books.

I felt affirmed and validated for years of pouring over maps of fictional non-existent realms. I once thought to recreate the map of Middle Earth as a tapestry to hang proudly in my living room or library. One of the first prints I purchased from a newly favorite epic fantasy author, Janny Wurts, was a large format (40×30 inches) map of Athera, solely because I wanted to be able to trace (without squinting or resorting to a magnifying glass and the loss of the center of the map to the no man’s land in the binding of the books) the routes of Arithon, Elaira, Dakar, Lysaer and other characters intrinsic to her Wars of Light and Shadow epic fantasy series. The first thing I did upon receiving the next Wheel of Time novel was to skim through for any new maps interspersed in the chapters and sections. Back in the mid80s, I purchased both the Atlas of the Land and the The Atlas of Pern by Karen Wynn Fonstad so I could pour over even more imaginary maps while waiting for the next Pern or Thomas Covenant novel to be published. But I digress, tangentially, from the book at hand.

In Chapter 9 ‘Transit’ (definition: ‘a piece of surveying equipment used by mapmakers: a theodolite with a reversible telescope’), Ken sparked my interest in road rallies (something I always wanted to do when my husband was a member of the local SCCA). I always excelled at those trick-question instruction test in school, so I might just try Jim Sinclair’s annual St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (a contest by mail where you travel a circuitous course across American from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Statue of Liberty entirely by maps) next year. That is if I can find a way to sign up; an Internet search came up oddly sparse.

Ken introduced me to ‘geocaching’ in Chapter 10 ‘Overedge’ (definition: ‘the portion of the map that lies outside the neatline border’), which so intrigue me that I grabbed my Nook Color and signed up at Geocaching.com, even though I don’t even own a GPS unit (outside of the one in my dumbphone which doesn’t have any ‘free’ software associated with it to assist in finding or placing geocaches).

Overall, I enjoyed the few hours I spent geeking over cartography and geography with Ken Jennings as my tour guide. I learned a few things and I laughed out loud a couple of times. I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend, especially if cold November rain greets you on the other side of the door.

View all my reviews

Wholly, Holy Bible

For the twentieth day, and third Sunday, of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness,’ I thank God for His Word.  I have at least ten different translations in print on my shelves at home (and one in my desk at work), including the Good News Bible, the KJV, several NRSV study Bibles and a couple of NIV devotional ones.  I may even have a few children’s editions and the teen editions from when my kids attended youth group and Sunday school at our local church.

But my favorite place to read and study the Bible is on my computer or my Nook Color via a website called Bible Study Tools.  It’s my one stop shop for research, searches and a plethora of translations.  When I’m looking for just the write devotional or inspirational verse, I can always find it there.

As an example, let’s review my favorite Bible verse, Philippians 4:8, first from the King James Version:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

As compared to the NRSV edition:

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Or the Good News translation (popular back in the 60s or 70s I believe):

In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.

Or one of my favorites for a really modern devotional paraphrase warm fuzzy translation called the Message:

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

And for the occasional status update on Facebook or Twitter, I like to use the New Century version:

Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected.

If I want to delve deeper into a verse, passage or chapter, I’m just a click away from a dozen study tools.  The site also can help me read the Bible in a year, has several daily devotions and study guides and provides a daily verse.  And I’m just scratching the surface!  I follow the site via Twitter and receive daily trivia questions that I can sometimes answer without having to look it up.

While I always take my study bible with me to an evening Bible study gathering, if I’m leading the discussion, I do most of my research and preparation online.

I am so very thankful for the abundance and availability of God’s Word, leaving me no excuse not to read His Good News whenever I can.

Thank You, Lord!

Lost Leonids

Sunset
Sunset 14 Nov 2011

Although this week has been chock full of fantastic sunrises and sunsets, the wind and clouds have hampered my ability to view the famed Leonid meteor shower.  With the sun rising and setting during my daily commute, I have few safe opportunities to snap a successful photograph.  So I just enjoy the eye candy while avoiding the cars around me as I drive into the sun (except for the first or last ten miles of my commute which is along a north-south corridor between Bonner Springs and Lansing, Kansas).

On a whim, last night after meeting my dad at a local eating establishment for a quick birthday dinner (not the official one, but a quickly arranged one to get his freshly baked bread into his hands), I stepped out into my backyard and looked up (as you’ll recall from my earlier post, I always look up when I exit a building).  Much to my surprise and delight I saw a prominent shooting star streak across directly overhead from east to west, leaving a trail like a laser beam across the sky for a second or so.  I immediately ran in the house and told Terry what I’d seen, then cranked up the laptop to see if I still had hope of seeing more of the Leonid meteor shower that night.

The Leonid meteor shower peaks the night of November 17/18, although its shooting stars will have to battle a nearby Last Quarter Moon after midnight. Astronomy: Roen Kelly

I logged onto Astonomy magazine‘s website and found a nice graphic that confirmed I still had time to view some more meteors.  I tried to force myself to stay awake until the moon rose, but read myself to sleep (again) around 11:30 p.m.  My husband woke me up in the middle of the night, but the swiftly scudding clouds obscured all but the glow of the moon.  No sight of Mars, Regulus, Denebola or any shooting stars seemed likely.  Naturally, I fell back asleep, dreaming of clear, dark skies next year.

All-Teaism

As I steep my morning cup of Irish Blend, I am thankful for all varieties of teas on my nineteenth day of ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness.’  Except for a brief flirtation with flavored coffees a decade ago, I cleave to my morning cup of green tea with an occasional afternoon bracing black tea to spur me on through the rest of the workday.

For many years I associated the taste and smell of green tea, with just a touch of milk and sugar, with childhood colds.  Whenever I had a scratchy throat or an irritating cough as a child, my mother and/or my grandmother would fix me a cup of green tea to sooth away the soreness and quiet the cough.  As I grew older, I learned the value of tea beyond just the common cold ailments of childhood.  I expanded my tea horizons to other blends, trying Darjeeling (my next favorite after green teas), Earl Grey (never again … I’d rather drink coffee), English Breakfast (my next favorite black tea after Irish Blend) and various herbal fruit blends for summer iced tea adventures.

Queen's Pantry (Leavenworth, Kansas)

Once I discovered Leavenworth housed a quaint British shop, the Queen’s Pantry, just a few miles north of my home, I eschewed the tea bag and dove head first into the world of loose tea.  I found all the necessary utensils and accessories as well as gallon sized jars of loose teas with samples I could smell and sometimes try in the shop.  I discovered Japanese Pan-Fried Green tea among the jars and now keep several ounces stocked at home along side my Irish Blend.  In addition to tea, the shop sells gifts and foods imported from Britain and at one time had a cafe that served British cuisine.  It’s a delightful spot so browse and shop on a Saturday in downtown Leavenworth; a little slice of British heaven in the Heart of America.

The Book of Tea by Okakura

At very nearly the end of 2010, on the 28th day of December, I decided to read several short ebooks found in the public domain at such sites like Project Gutenberg or Feedbooks.  I stumbled upon The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura (published in 1906) with this brief blurb:

Minor classic of the Orient. Perhaps the most entertaining, most charming explanation and interpretation of traditional Japanese culture in terms of the tea ceremony. Introduction, notes by E. F. Bleiler. “Provocative and entertaining, this edition is particularly pleasing in format.” — Guide to Asia Paperbacks.

I quickly read it and gained insight into Japanese disciplines and art.  The descriptions of the tea room and the tea ceremony evoked vivid visuals I can still perceive in my minds eye.  I highly recommend for all tea aficionados.

I take my tea cold as well as hot.  If I’m not drinking water, I’m usually drinking tea (iced or otherwise).  I rarely sweeten my teas (unless I need an afternoon kick-start with plain black tea).  While I like my hot teas steeped strong, I prefer my iced teas unbrewed, relying on Tetley or Luziane‘s to steep either in the sun or on my kitchen counter.  Just a hint of tea flavor is enough for my palette.

In closing, I’d like to offer up some interesting quotes, proverbs, poems and sayings about tea:

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C.S. Lewis

Tea…is a religion of the art of life. ~Okakura

Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary. ~Chinese Proverb

Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea. ~Author Unknown

If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty. ~Japanese Proverb

Tea is liquid wisdom. ~Anonymous 

Tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade
And keeps that palace of the soul serene.
~Edmund Waller, “Of Tea”

Is it tea time yet?  Somewhere it must be.

Happy Birthday Dad!

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Derek and My Dad (July 2011)

Today I wish my father “Happy Birthday!” and express my gratitude for all he does for me and my family.  I baked him a fresh loaf of home-made bread this morning and will treat him to dinner sometime this weekend at a restaurant of his choice.  I will take a stroll down memory lane when I revisit this post in a couple of days, once I’ve had a chance to recover from a medical procedure I underwent yesterday.  But I at least wanted to post a quick blurb for my eighteenth day of ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ and shout out to my dad:

Happy Birthday!

Multidimensional, Real and/or Virtual, Art

Mother's Day Gift from Rachelle (circa 2007)

Another place holder for my seventeenth day of ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ … I know, a day late, but I have a really, really good excuse.  I had outpatient surgery yesterday that wiped me out for the entire day.  The first time I’ve spent fifteen straight hours in bed in ages.

Anyway, sometime in the next couple of days I’ll circle back to this posting and explain why I’m thankful for art and all the artists in my life, both in the family and among friends.

Rachelle (self portrait circa 2007)

Music to My Ears

I am thankful for my sense to hearing, and specifically music, which will be the focus of the fifteenth day of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness.’

At age five, I started taking piano lessons from a close neighbor (close being a relative term out in the wilds of northwestern Leavenworth County).  Reading music came to me just about as easily as reading words.  Oddly (because I love mathematics), my only long-standing issue is my (un)willingness to count out a song in my head so that I get the rhythm and tempo correct.  I didn’t spend much time in a band environment (only played flute for two years before middle school), so I rely heavily upon a percussionist if I play and/or sing in a praise band.  And my audio memory of how a song should sound.  Yes, I’m lazy.  Probably why I’m not a professional musician.

As I’ve mentioned before, my husband is a hundred times, or more likely, a thousand times better musician than I will ever be.  He has impeccable timing and near perfect pitch.  He has the patience and technical skills to practice a piece to perfection.

Rachelle posing as a diva a couple of years ago

My daughter inherited most if not all of her musical ability and talent from him (I can still play piano better than her, but she knows more music theory than I’ll ever understand).

Rachelle started singing about the same time she learned to talk.  She surpassed my measly vocal abilities way back in early high school.  Along the way, she learned how to play violin, guitar, saxophone and piano.  However, her voice is her most finely honed instrument.  As she approaches her final semester as an under graduate at UNT’s College of Music, I look forward to attending her senior recital, which will include all of the following songs Rachelle recently recorded for her graduate school auditions (click on the song title link, then click on the play button):

The Nurse’s Song by Benjamin Britten
Rachelle Moss, Mezzo Soprano
Violetta Zharkova, Piano

Smanie implacabili from Cosi fan tutte by Mozart
Rachelle Moss, Mezzo Soprano
Violetta Zharkova, piano

Ah scostati!
Paventa il tristo effeto
d’un disperato affeto!
Chiudi quelle finestre
Odio la luce, odio l’aria, che spiro

Odio me stessa!
Chi schernisce il mio duol,
Chi mi consola?
Deh fuggi, per pietà, fuggi,
Lasciami sola.

Smanie implacabili, che m’agitate
Dentro quest’anima più non cessate,
Finchè l’angoscia mi fa morir.
Esempio misero d’amor funesto,
Darò all’Eumenidi se viva resto
Col suno orrible de’ miei sospir.

English Translation:

Ah, move away!
Fear the sad effect
of a desperate affection!
Shut those windows,
I hate the light, I hate the air that I breathe

I hate myself!
Who mocks my pain,
Who will console me?
Oh, leave, for pity’s sake, leave,
Leave me alone.

Implacable restlessness, that disturbs me
Inside this soul, doesn’t cease,
Until it makes me die.
A miserable example of fateful love
I will give to the Furies, if I live,
With the horrible sound of my sighs.

 

Auf dem Kirchhofe by Johannes Brahms
Rachelle Moss, Mezzo Soprano
Violetta Zharkova, Piano

Auf dem Kirchhofe

Der Tag ging regenschwer und sturmbewegt,
Ich war an manch vergessenem Grab gewesen,
Verwittert Stein und Kreuz, die Kränze alt,
Die Namen überwachsen, kaum zu lesen.

Der Tag ging sturmbewegt und regenschwer,
Auf allen Gräbern fror das Wort: Gewesen.
Wie sturmestot die Särge schlummerten,
Auf allen Gräbern taute still: Genesen.

English Translation:

In the churchyard

The day was heavy with rain and disturbed by storms;
I was walking among many forgotten graves,
with weathered stones and crosses, the wreaths old,
the names washed away, hardly to be read.

The day was disturbed by storms and heavy with rain;
on every grave froze the words “we were.”
The coffins slumbered calmly like the eye of a storm,
and on every grave melted quietly the words: “we were healed.”

Les Berceaux by Gabriel Faure
Rachelle Moss, Mezzo Soprano
Violetta Zharkova, Piano

Les berceaux

Le long du Quai, les grands vaisseaux,
Que la houle incline en silence,
Ne prennent pas garde aux berceaux,
Que la main des femmes balance.

Mais viendra le jour des adieux,
Car il faut que les femmes pleurent,
Et que les hommes curieux
Tentent les horizons qui leurrent!

Et ce jour-là les grands vaisseaux,
Fuyant le port qui diminue,
Sentent leur masse retenue
Par l’âme des lointains berceaux.

English Translation:

Cradles

Along the quay, the great ships,
that ride the swell in silence,
take no notice of the cradles.
that the hands of the women rock.

But the day of farewells will come,
when the women must weep,
and curious men are tempted
towards the horizons that lure them!

And that day the great ships,
sailing away from the diminishing port,
feel their bulk held back
by the spirits of the distant cradles.