The 30 Day Song Challenge (the impatient version, pt 3)
Well, it’s been a good deal longer than 30 days since I started this listing challenge, so I don’t know if we can really continue to call it the “impatient version”. This last installment is more accurately the “I completely lost interest and now I am finishing up out of some self imposed sense of duty” version. So! Wrapping it up, songs for days 21-30.
day 21 – a song that you listen to when you’re happy
David Gray sweetness.
day 22 – a song that you listen to when you’re sad
My rainy day go-to, Jack Johnson is audio sunshine to me.
day 23 – a song that you want to play at your wedding
Morning has broken was our father-daughter dance. Ours had an Irish lady singing the lyrics, but this version is quite pretty.
day 24 – a song that you want to play at your funeral
I don’t know if this I would really want to play this, in the context of a funeral it is a major downer. However, it is one of my favorite songs, it’s gorgeous.
day 25 – a song that makes you laugh
day 26 – a song that you can play on an instrument
I probably can’t play it anymore, but when I was trying to teach myself guitar, this is the song I conquered. It’s a Fountains of Wayne song, here it is covered by a cute girl.
day 27 – a song that you wish you could play
Might me nice to able to poor your pain out over a piano.
day 28 – a song that makes you feel guilty
So, back when you could download any music you wanted for free, I downloaded ever single Monkees song in existence. I am pretty sure I owe them a couple hundred dollars.Sorry guys, it was just ‘cuz I love ya so much!
day 29 – a song from your childhood
My mother has video of me dancing to this. My moves are more radical than Vanilla Ice’s!
day 30 – your favorite song at this time last year
Still love it!
Huzzah!
The boldly monikered Perfect Yellow Cake recipe found on chaosinthekitchen.com has delivered a winner.
yes, quite perfect indeed.
...and there are two of them!
Third Time is the Charm, Or Let’s Hope So
My first attempt at yellow butter cake was some time ago and a failure. The batter did not rise even a smidge during cooking. What I ended up with was this:
Wanna pinch? No? Me either.
Two layers, each measuring less than half an inch tall, as dense as cinder blocks, and with a moisture content matching that of desert soil.
My second attempt was using a recipe from a blog I love, smittenkitchen.com. I had high hopes, knowing that this time would be better. I was practiced! I knew the ropes! I am capable of following simple baking instructions!
I followed the recipe for the best birthday cake as closely as humanly possible (I am only human, you know, but I am beginning to believe that to make a successful butter cake from scratch one must be the robot that measures the amounts of flour and what-not into the Duncan Hines box.) My second attempt, despite my careful efforts, was only marginally better than my first.
Well, that might not be true. I didn’t taste the cake because my plans are to freeze and use it in Handsome Husband’s hamburger birthday cake this weekend. It might be melt-in-your-mouth-delicious-damn-best-cake-in-all-creation, but it certainly didn’t look like the perky, fluffy cake in the picture. It looked more like a taller version of my first butter cake attempt.
This one did rise a bit. I used all the batter between two pans, which may have been a mistake (or maybe my pans weren’t deep enough. There are so many rules!) since one of my pans overflowed, sending globs of batter over the edge to plop and smoke on the floor of my oven. Mmmmm! Nothing like that somethings-on-fire smell to invite you back into the kitchen while you’re baking a cake!
His vacation home is my oven.
After butter cake #2 came out looking dense, I came to the revelation that maybe butter cakes are supposed to be dense! That solves the problem, doesn’t it? This hypothesis was vaguely confirmed by a quick google search and a few words encouragement from friends; indeed yellow butter cake is a lovely, dense and sweet treat.
Now I feel like I did OK, which is nice, but it poses another problem. This cake is for HH’s birthday, and he doesn’t like dense cakes. I am trying one more from scratch recipe as soon as my butter softens up this afternoon, one that claims to be “moist and fluffy”. It is my last go before resorting to the robot-measured boxed mix of mystery which turns out perfectly every-time.
30 Day Song Challenge (the imapatient version pt 2)
day 11 – a song from your favorite band
This is not my favorite Weezer song, but the video is one of the best of all time. Yes, because it has the Muppets.
day 12 – a song from a band you hate
Nickelback is the obvious choice here, but these guys get on my nerves like crazy!
day 13 – a song that is a guilty pleasure
Shut up. I love it.
day 14 – a song that no one would expect you to love
I really don’t know what to put here. Those who know me know that I really do like a little bit of everything, so I don’t know what would be a shock. I am not a fan of a lot of country, but how do you not love Dolly?
day 15 – a song that describes you
We’d rise post-obstacle more defined, more grateful. We would heal, be humbled,
and be unstoppable. We’d hold close and let go, and know when to do which; we’d
release and disarm, and stand up and feel safe.
day 16 – a song that you used to love but now hate
This song represents the entire Switchfoot catalog. Handsome Husband went through a phase shortly after we were married when he listened to this band exclusively and excessively. I used to like ‘em fine, now I can’t stand to hear them at all. Sorry, Switchfoot, not your fault.
day 17 – a song that you hear often on the radio
I’ve been hearing this a lot. It’s great driving music. (Fair warning: If you don’t like zombies, you don’t like this video.)
day 18 – a song that you wish you heard on the radio
It would be instant party time.
day 19 – a song from your favorite album
This is Kathleen from David Gray’s “Draw the Line.” I am pretty much in love with all his words all the time.
day 20 – a song that you listen to when you’re angry
I like angry chick music when I am angry, it’s cathartic.
The 30 Day Song Challenge (impatient version, pt1)
I started this thing on facebook, but I realize that I don’t want to actually be dealing with it for a full 30 days. Today is officially day 3 for me, but I am going to consider it days 3-10 (with a re-cap of days 1 and 2).
day 01 – your favorite song
That’s impossible, so this is A favorite by my ultimate favorite. A more truthful list would be about 30 songs by this guy all tied at number one.
day 02 – your least favorite song
I do not like this song.
day 03 – a song that makes you happy
There are so many levels of excellence here, I don’t even know where to begin.
day 04 – a song that makes you sad
I love this song for its melancholy flavor and slightly creepy tone.
day 05 – a song that reminds you of someone
Most Beautiful is a little sack of sugar. I always thought it was weird when people would coo about “gobbling up” babies, until I had my sweet chubba girl.
day 06 – a song that reminds you of somewhere
I worked at Cedar Point for a summer. I heard this song (and a small selection of other equally obnoxious songs) on a solid loop for 12 hours a day.
day 07 – a song that reminds you of a certain event
This is the song I walked down the isle to. I still think it is delicate and lovely; I probably love David Gray even more now than I did then.
day 08 – a song that you know all the words to
I know the words to lots of songs! This is one I’ve known the words to for a loooooong time.
day 09 – a song that you can dance to
Put on your dancing shoes and break out your cow bells, it’s the Ting Tings!
day 10 – a song that makes you fall asleep
I can’t fall asleep if the TV is on or if music is playing, but this is the song I use(d) to sooth Most Beautiful and Clever Lad when he was younger.
April Plans
I am not any sort of planner. Not when it comes to, oh say, what’s for dinner this week (what’s for dinner tonight, even), what we’re doing over the weekend (what we’re doing tonight, even); I’ve no “10 years from now” plans, I’ve no “5 years from now” plans I’ve no “5 days from now” plans. I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my pants, spur-of-the-moment kind of girl.
When it comes to special events, however, I like to get out my little notebook and my little laptop and start getting things together. April is a milestone month for our family. Handsome Husband is turning 30, and Most Beautiful is turning 1 only 7 days after. This means a party. This means a mega-double get all our family and friends down here to celebrate party.
I love baking from scratch, and I have some big plans in the category of birthday cake. HH is strictly a meat and potatoes kind of fella — I’ll take it a step further and say he is strictly a hamburger and french fries kind of fella. Imagine my excitement upon stumbling across this creation online:
Coco Cake Cupcakes generously illustrates how to put this bad boy together step by step. All I need is ingredients! And some skill wielding one of those bags of frosting… I’ll figure that out when the time comes. (Bonus: those layers of cake are hiding chocolate ganache behind a dam of butter-cream frosting. BAM!)
I will be trying a Coca-Cola Devil’s Food cake for the “meat”. The buns in the the picture are some sort of coconut goodness, but HH will not abide coconut, so I’ll be trying a butter cake. (I’ve tried butter cake from scratch before and it didn’t quite work out… I hope I am miraculously better at baking now.)
The other cake will actually be cupcakes — strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Hopefully that will be a simpler undertaking than the hamburger cake.
Also in April, I will be starting some official at home pre-school actives with Clever Lad. I bought curriculum and everything!
Homemade Applesauce
Easy, easy, easy, easy, and scrumptious! Homemade applesauce is a cinch to make along side those sweet potato latkes. Feed it to your baby, feed it to your toddler, feed it to you college student! Feed it to yourself!
For about 2 cups of applesauce you will need:
4 apples
1/2 c water (or apple juice)
Step 1: Choose your apples! Absolutely any kind will do. Think about the flavors you like — do you want a sweet puree? More mild? More tart? Mix and match! I have 3 Granny Smith and 1 Red Delicious because that is what was in my fridge.
Step 2: Get to choppin’ and a-peelin’. I left the red peel on because I got tired of peeling. You can leave them all on if you don’t mind peel in your puree!
Step 3: Put those apple bits in a pot with some water (or juice). 1/2 cup is an estimate, I just splashed some filtered water in. Make it enough to cover the bottom of the pot to keep your apples from scorching.
Step 4: Turn the burner to a medium low heat, cover, and leave for about 30 minutes.
Step 5: Check on it! By this time my apples were so soft they turned to sauce after stiring with a spoon. If you don’t mind a few little chunks here and there, then you are done! If you want a smoother applesauce, you can use an immersion blender or move the sauce to a standing blender (or food processor).
Step 6: The extras! Let your sauce cool a bit and give it a taste. Add sugar, cinnamon, or anything else you’d like to taste.
2 pinches Heavenly Sugar and a good shake of cinnamon
Note: if your applesauce is too thin for your taste, leave it to simmer a little longer uncovered. If it is too thick for your taste, add a little more water (or juice)
Cinnamon applesauce, ready for eating
-GPP
Holiday Latkes
I was invigorated today, waking up to a light, quiet snow. The past few mornings (days, nights…) have been marked by gray and heavy rain. Snow is a welcome change.
I popped out of bed (as much as a woman averaging 5 hours of sleep per night can pop) and put some buttermilk pancakes on the griddle. The word “griddle” here is only a figure of speech, as we do not own a griddle. I threw them on the large skillet. Usually, one kitchen destroying mess of a meal is my quota for the day, but something about that winter snow got me in a cooking mood.
It also just so happens that tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, so my brain (and stomach) got set on latkes. Delicious, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, hot, hot, hot latkes. With applesauce.
I had no white potatoes; fortunately, it was sweet potatoes to the rescue!
Holiday Latkes
2 sweet potatoes
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
heaping 1/4 c flour
2 Tbs diced onion (more or less)
1 or 2 t pepper
1 t salt
generous sprinklings of cumin, ginger, nutmeg, brown sugar, and cayenne to taste!
olive oil for cooking
Step 1: Let a large skillet get hot over medium heat while you peel and shred potatoes.
Step 2: a) toss in eggs, flour, onion, and spices.
b) Stir and sing I Have a Little Dreidel. Here, I also added some extra cayenne for heat, but that is optional.
3. Drizzle a nice amount of olive oil on your hot pan. Gauge the heat: You want the cakes to sizzle, but you don’t want the oil to smoke.
4. Scoop up small(ish) amounts of your potato mixture and drop them into your pan. Press lightly with spoon or spatula flatten.
5. Cook 2 or 3 minutes on each side. You will notice the orange color darken around the edges when the cakes are ready to be turned. When done, remove to a wire cooling rack (putting a towel under the rack will catch any oil drips and save you cleaning up a mess). 
6. Top with warm cinnamon applesauce and eat hot!
Other ideas: top these with sour cream or a brown sugar glaze! Add your favorite nuts and/or dried fruit to the cakes! Experiment with spice combinations to find your favorite.
La’chaim!
-GPP
Bloke’s Beanie
Handsome Husband’s lovely friend came for a weekend visit some time ago. The bloke left his hat here, and HH has been wearing it ever since. I never knew HH even went for hats, but he’s sported the bloke’s beanie nearly every day since the weather started to get chilly.
blatant thievery
It stands to reason that one day the bloke may want his property returned, so – wishing my husband’s head to never be lonely – I worked up a copy for HH to keep for always.
the hats are BFF
The original is a bit sloppy. It is neither shapely, nor slouchy; it looks a bit stretched out. My version is slightly snug, and some color contrast on the bottom snazzes it up smartly. (Let’s see if we can spot the S’s in these sentences, shall we?)
It’s a basic, easily modified beanie.
Materials:
sz 3.5 mm (E ) hook
sport weight cotton yarn (I used Sinfonia in Melon)
Abbreviations:
ch = chain
hdc= half double crochet
st = stitch
sc =single crochet
dec = decrease
sl st: slip stitch
BLOKE’S BEANIE PATTERN:
(worked in spiral)
ch 3 and join to form a ring
R1: ch 2 and 13 hdc into ring. (14 sts)
R2: 2 hdc into top of ch2 (begin spiral), 2 hdc in each st to end of row
R3: 1 hdc in next st, 2 hdc – repeat to end of row.
R4: 1 hdc to end of row
R5: 2 hdc in next st. 1 hdc in next 2 sts, repeat to end of row.
R6: 2 hdc in next st, 1 hcd in next 3 sts, repeat to end of row.
R7-8: 1 hdc in each st to end of row
R9: 2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 4 sts, repeat to end of row.
R10: 2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 5 sts, repeat to end of row.
R11-21: 1 hdc in each st to end of row.
R22: dec over next 2 sts, 1 hdc in next 5 sts, repeat to end of row.
R23-25: 1 hdc in each st to end of row.
R 26-33: 1 sc in each st to end of row.
R34: 1 sc in each st to end of row, finish with sl st and weave in ends.
*note: the 3 rows of contrasting edging were added as an afterthought (per HH’s request). The additional rows of sc are written into the pattern, however, if I were to make this hat again, I would add 3 or 4 rows more of hdc and subtract that number from the rows of sc. It just made for a long border, which would work well if you like folding your hat up along the bottom… or if you like wide borders.
-GPP
Kid’s TV
Being the mother of an almost-4-year-old, I get a hefty dose of children’s entertainment daily. Being an adult, I get to do a double take, have a giggle, and be offended by things that fly right over my Clever Lad’s head.
———-
This is obviously an Irish drinking song, lyrics tweaked just a smidge:
———-
This red-head is way too hot for kids TV:
Hot
Seriously, it’s just a little creepy for all the adults in the room. Put the lady on FX where she’ll be allowed dialogue beyond the 1st grade reading level, and a costume wardrobe with a slightly more muted pallet. (For the record, I IMDBed this kitten, and she was born the same year as me. She is twenty-seven years old.)
Awkward
———-
I don’t even know where to start with the issues present here:
I mean… that is a giant, walking, talking sex toy, right?
———-
The lame list is unending:
lame
lame
lame
———-
Fortunately, for my sanity, we don’t subscribe to a TV service, so the only time I am subjected to most of these is when we are out visiting. We do, however, subscribe to Netflix, which provides us with the many seasons of Dora, Diego, Blues Clues, and CGI Care Bears movies. So, I am still getting my fair share of cartoons shouting at me.
I don't want to say, "backpack," you bossy broad!
———-
Remembering some non-lame cartoons? Gotta vent about your least favorite kid’s show? Tell me!
– GPP
