Category Archives: Uncategorized

Wiling away the Time: Microwave Cup Cakes

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Reading Nigella’s recipe for lockdown cookies (cookies made with the ingredients you happen to have on hand since the lockdown) I was prompted to give you this recipe for last-minute Microwave Chocolate Cup (literally) Cakes.

I spent a week cooking every day and storing it all away in the freezer at the beginning of my sequestering and now I’m too lazy to do much except write, organize drawers and cupboards and swing in the hammock with Morrie, but when I have a yen for chocolate, I do have this easy recipe for chocolate cake cooked in the microwave in a cup!

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1/8 teaspoon soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon water
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Mix well in a coffee cup and microwave on high for 1 minute, 45 seconds. (I always cook it longer–2 minutes or more depending on your microwave. I also always wish I had chocolate chips and walnuts to add but never do.) Better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

Potential Hibiscus: Flower of the Day, Apr 1, 2020

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I love this great cocoon of a hibiscus. By tomorrow it will be sprouting its wings!!

For Cee’s FOTD

Why us?

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(Click on first image and then arrows to enlarge all.)

Sadly, Frida left us, leaving Morrie and Frida to tussle it out over who was top dog.
I only hope she is watching and knows.

Why Us?

How pedestrian my life has become––this human zoo narrowed down to one cage, the only fortune now available—bad fortune. The modern plague is now upon us and we are all engaged in this one big gamble: to live our former lives or to be safe. Do we chance a girlfriend or a boyfriend? Risk a grandchild’s health by one short encounter?  We treat this threat as though it is a new one, whereas it has been always with us, with lesser odds.

The birds call just as loudly outside with equal variety as before the onslaught. Cattle in their fields mill and low. The bats swarm out each night and sneak back under roof tiles without my detection as I lie slumbering ten feet away.

The world has not changed that much except for us, cowering in our safe and comfortable caves. Why us? Why only us? The question we should consider.

 

Words of the day are pedestrian, gamble, zoo, fortune and girlfriend.

Pistachio Blooms with Fruit 3/31/20

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I’m so excited. This is the first time I’ve seen my pistachio loaded with nuts. I’m sure the birds will get them all before they completely ripen, but at least I got this shot!!

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And here is the same tree three weeks ago, when there were profuse blooms but no nuts that I could see.

 

For Cee’s FOTD

Coronavirus Reflections

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Coronavirus Reflections

I’m exploring my options now that I’m alone,
my only distraction my blog and my phone.
Well, sure, I have dogs and cats I can tickle.
to ease, if you will, this sequestering pickle.

Yet I’m a pariah to humans I know,
so my social life is a little bit slow.
That it’s undeserved may be undisputed.
Nonetheless, unless I show up Hasmat suited,

none of my friends want to hug or shake hands, 
and when I explore, not anyone stands
closer than ten feet away from my hips.
Even my lover forgoes my hot lips!

Slick politicians may emphasize how
our social distancing affects the Dow,
saying, perhaps the stock market is mendable
so long as we declare seniors expendable.

This chain of reason sounds bogus to me.
I’d like to remain on my family tree
labeled as living for as long as possible.
I soundly reject being labeled as tossable!

Prompt words today are slick, tickle, undeserved, explore and chain.

Bill Gates Predicted this Pandemic and a Solution for Curtailment in 2015. Who listened?

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Dagwood

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473fef2d0018fdef47b61a3b0c92686f--dagwood-sandwich-dinner-recipesphoto from Pinterest

Dagwood

After my pizza and after my knish
I have just one more edible wish.
I’m building its fantasy here in my mind:
a spectacular sandwich of a unique kind.

A little pastrami, baked beans and some cheese,
pickles and mustard and if you please
some mayonnaise lightly spread over the bread.
(Miracle Whip?  I’d rather be dead!)

Some avo and onions sliced thin would be nice,
and if you have it, a green pepper slice.
Some olives and beets would add a good zing,
and then I’d like one more additional thing.

Some chips to add crunch––put them right there inside.
(Only a ninny would place them outside.)
Then slice it diagonally if you will,
with a pickle beside it––a big kosher dill.

Then you can leave, please, so I can I start
greedily ripping that sandwich apart.
For though I needed help, perhaps, in its construction,
I need no further guidance in its destruction

Prompt words today are sandwich, fantasy, ninny, vanquish and guidance.

Shaving Brush Bloom: FOTD Mar 28, 2020

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For Cee’s FOTD

Plaza Scene in the Time of the Coronavirus

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Plaza Scene in the Time of the Coronavirus

Birds pick at rice
gone stale on the steps of the church.
Doors closed,
no choir sings matins
on this Sunday morn.

Rolling over in their beds
or gathered around the breakfast table,
the faithful listen to the mass
broadcast over speakers
loud enough to be heard a mile away,

while belligerent teens, sabotaging
their parents’ careful advice,
make the green benches
in the plaza across the street
their communal habitat.

 

Prompt words for today are belligerent, care, sabotage, rice and habitat.

Triplets

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I’m down in the hammock with my computer, playing Scrabble long distance with my looooong time friend Marti in California. She just formed her word and zapped the game back to me and to my surprise, these are our present scores:

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What are the chances? I always get a thrill out of hitting triple numbers on blog views and if Forgottenman notices one first, often he’ll take a screen shot and send it to me or send a notice on Skype to look quick. We’ve seen a few in the past few days. (Nothing better to do, right?) but right after I sent him this screen shot of our Scrabble scores, he told me to check my blog stats and this is what I saw:

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Might be a good day to buy a lottery ticket. If I hit 444 today, I know you’ll want to be informed, right?