Good night

Okay apparently you don't have to have a 'smart' phone to have Twitter on your phone.  You just have to have a smart 'person' to know that.  I guess it  wasn't me.  Because after I embarrassed myself saying I have to use my computer to get into my Twitter account, my sweet daughter-in-law sent me a text  (or maybe it was a tweet?) letting me know that I could indeed get Twitter on my phone.  (we have the same phone).

I am an old dog.  I can only learn so many tricks.

Speaking of that--(only so many tricks I can do)  please bear with me as I change my blog header.  I NEED my daughter in law to do that for me too and she's really busy this week.  Like seriously loaded down busy.  I want her, I need  her....but  works/career stuff  trumps the mother-in-law.
Sometime next week, I will look good again. I promise.   Or my header will look good again anyway.  Me?  I still have some jogging and dieting to do....

My "Lit Wits" book club met tonight.  (sigh)  I love book club.   My friend told me she read on the news that if a person (I am going to insert myself here) belongs to a club  (inserting book club here), they are as happy as a person who has a million dollars.
It was on the news, so it must be true.
I felt like a millionaire tonight---basking in the company of friends.  ( you think I jest, but I don't.  I really do love going to book club)

Here is my book and my cup of tea and my scones--yummy scones!

It's late, I'm not reviewing the book .  Okay--I cannot tell a lie.  I DIDN'T EVEN READ IT.  (now my friends will see this --dang, I ratted myself out--they didn't have a clue. )  But it seemed like everyone else enjoyed this one.  A couple of them have read the sequel already.   It was a good discussion...and I joined right in.  I would say  "do you think"   and that would lead them on to discuss something at length.   It was just fun for me to listen to them 'book talk'.
The book was "The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club"  by Gil Mcneal.   It got good reviews for a "quick and easy, chick-lit" book tonight.

On the menu for tomorrow night?   Seafood Soup and Bacon Stuffed Shells.

Now...good night.

O bed! O bed! delicious bed!

That heaven upon earth to the weary head.

Twittering

I have a Twitter account.  (sigh)  I'm not sure why--I dont' even have a smart-phone.  So, the whole idea of using it from my computer kind of defeats the purpose I think.
I can go for a few days without checking it...and then I feel I must Tweet something.  The trouble is--I have nothing of any importance to Tweet about.

My Tweet for today?  "Book Club tonight.  I hope she has good food."

I guess tho, you can get quite addicted to it.  I had to laugh at Steve Martin's Tweet from the other day  (don't ask my how I got to be following Steve Martin.  I have no idea!!  I think it was a retweet anyway...from someone who does follow him.  So.....if I post on my blog a retweet orginally from a tweet from Steve Martin, are there are laws, I'm breaking?)

Anyway...addiction.
Steve said  (or tweeted):   Twitter over capacity! Couldn’t Tweet for 30 minutes. Forced to tell doorman that I had Cream of Wheat for breakfast. Not the same.

Now that's funny.
I love Steve Martin.

Who has Twitter?
Who has Twitter that is over 50?  (non-celeberaties I mean)

Mmmm-hmm.  That's what I thought.

Meatloaf Hoagies

The Handyman and I like sandwiches, altho you might not be able to tell by my blog, since I have never posted about a sandwich.  Well the time has come for me to make amends and tell you about a great little meatloaf sandwich.  I found this recipe in  the 2007  April/May issue of Taste of Home Magazine, sent in by Connie Boucher  of  Dixon, Missouri.
(weird---Boucher was the last name of my first boyfriend  )

Meatloaf is probably one of those sandwiches that you either love or hate. There is no in between.   I love cold meatloaf sandwiches, so I usually make extra when we have meatloaf just for that reason.  The  Handyman is not fond of meatloaf for  supper.  He'll eat it, and when our boys were young, they loved it, so....I made it--he had to eat it,   but what we (and yes, him.  He does like cold meatloaf sandwiches ) were really looking forward to was lunch the next day.  
I won't try to sway you one way or the other---meatloaf is what it is.

And while  we liked this Hoagie for supper, it too,  was even better the next day, cold on white bread for lunch. 
Too bad that my pictures, when I looked at them the next day, were not 'better' also.   I got great shots of the pickles and the potato chips.

Cheeseburger Meat Loaf Hoagies

1 egg lightly beaten
1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/3 cups mayonnaise
2 tbsp ketchup
2 medium tomatoes, sliced  
8 slices cheese
8 bacon strips --cooked and halved
8 hoagie buns--split and toasted

In a large bowl, combine the egg, tomato sauce, oats, onion, salt and pepper.  Crumble beef over mixture and mix well.  Press evenly into an ungreased 13x9x2 inch baking dish.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for  30-35 minutes or until no pink remains.  Drain off grease.
Combine mayonnaise and ketchup; spread over meat loaf.  Cut into eight rectangles; top each with tomatoes, cheese and bacon.  Place on baking sheet; broil 3-4 inches from the heat for 2-3 minutes or  until cheese is melted.
Serve on buns.
8 sandwiches.

In other news, I understand that today the Oxford English Dictionary has 'okay'ed'   the word  (or use of )  LOL.

Many times I have been tempted to 'lol' in a blog post, but I have held off.  But now?  Be warned --according to Facebook,  LOL is my most used word on my status updates.  (sigh) I need a new word.  Especially now that LOL has become so passe` and conventional.

Mexican Chocolate Cake

I have this wonderful little cookbook  called Treasured Recipes From the Charleston Cake Lady  by Teresa Pregnall  and it has the best cake recipes!   

I've tried a few of the pound cakes in the past and loved them, but  the trouble with having so many cookbooks, is that once in a while they slip thru the cracks,  which is exactly what happened with this one and it got stuck  behind another cookbook and it was "out of sight, out of mind"  for quite some time.  Like a few years.   
I had a lot of fun 'rediscovering' it this weekend and I've found  a few more cakes that I want to make in the next few weeks.

This time a wonderfully rich chocolate cake caught my eye.
It's called "Mexican Chocolate Cake."   I'm not sure why. 
I'm not sure of the distinction that might make it "Mexican"  (if anything really does---we all cook/bake right?)  and it's almost exactly   my Chocolate Skinny cake  which is a sheet cake I make in the summer.  It didn't dawn on me that it was almost exactly like my  Skinny Cake,  until I was already in the process of making it. It's  a good cake tho, so it was worth posting about again.  This cake is really moist and chocolaty and fudgy. You Pour the frosting on while the cake is hot!  I think that makes it extra moist.  And then you let it cool only 45 minutes so it's still a bit warm when you eat it that first night.   Mmmmm.
The Handyman has eaten cake 3 nights in a row--that is unusual for him--he is a one piece of cake eater, maybe 2 and then he's done.  So, if you are looking for recommendations, that is a good one!



The Mexican Chocolate Cake directions said to put it in a 9x12 pan.  I have lots of 9x13 pans, but not a 12x9.   So I measured the inside of one of my 13x9 pans, and it is  NOT EVEN  quite 9x12.    Perfect.   I  did have  to bake the cake longer than the directions said.  I'm not sure if that is because of the cake pan size or the altitude  (we are over 4000 ft ), but it all turned out great.

Pregnal does mail orders too. She has baked and mailed thousands from her Charleston kitchen.  Part of me wants to order a cake from her to see how it turns out, because while I have the recipes and they turn out good, I have to  play around with them, because we are over 4000 ft altitude and things just cook different.

Mexican Chocolate Cake
1 cup sweet butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1 cup water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 12x9 inch pan.
In medium saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the cocoa and water and bring to a boil. Set aside.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.  Stir in the sugar.  Pour the boiled mixture into the bowl and mix well. Add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes  (I had to bake about 27 minutes), or until the cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  While the cake is baking, prepare the icing.

Hot Fudge Icing
1/2 cup sweet butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 box (1 pound) confectioners sugar
1/2 cups walnuts chopped  (I left them out this time, as my family prefers cakes without them)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Stir in the cocoa til dissolved and the buttermilk, Bring to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and gradually add the confectioners sugar, nuts and vanilla.  Stir well.
Remove the baked cake from the oven and pour the hot icing over the top.  
Allow the cake to cook in the pan for about 45 minutes. 
Cut to serve.

I'm adding this to my Cookbook Countdown as cookbook #41

It's Monday

Be sure and check out the Friday Friends Big Back Yard today!

It's Monday, what are you reading?
Brought to you by  Sheila of  "One Person's Journey Through a World of Books".
Check it out!

I finished this book last Monday at noon.  I could have written up a quick post and made it to  last week's meme by the skin of my teeth. But I knew I couldn't do it justice if I had to do it fast.
I'm talking about the book  "Sing You Home" by Jodi Picoult.

As you know, I don't review books, I just tell you if I like them or not.  "Sing You Home" has gotten mixed reviews and I was afraid to read it because I did not want to be disappointed.  I like Picoult and enjoy her books very much.

(a sidenote here....my daughter in law and I had talked about going to see Picoult in San Fransisco this month, and we ended up not going.  I  now wish we had tried harder, because I would have loved to hear her talk about this book,)

I was not disappointed.  I know Picoult's novels are not something like great classic literature, she'll never win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, BUT she writes popular novels with cutting edge topics, that keep thousands and thousands of fans hooked on her books.
Maybe my reasons for liking this book were more on an emotional level than the fact that it was well written, a good book, etc. Although I thought it was all those things.
I know people who live everyday of their lives dealing with the issues  Picoult wrote about in this novel (gay marriage--or lack thereof,  infertility, divorce ).  Not all at the same time as the story in the book portrays, but different people, same issues.   So it kept my interest on a personal level. 
I think Picoult always tries to show both sides of an issue and how complicated these situations can be.  I really appreciate her research and empathy for people and that comes thru in her novels.
The only thing I was a tad bit disappointed in, was that when Picoult addressed this 'hot topic' (same sex couples having children)  she represented the ultra-conservative, evangelical side of religion and there wasn't a  representation of the more moderate, liberal religious view.
I felt that  was a bit biased. For people who read the book and have no religious background, that could be a huge turnoff for religion for them. That is not always the religious viewpoint.   Of course, the ultra-conservative are the loudest, so they get the attention, but there are more moderate religions who would have shown compassion and kindness and  advocated for the couple.

I'm off topic, because what I really wanted to say about the book, the thing that really stuck with me was the idea of Music Therapy.   The main character was a music therapist.  I LOVED that idea.  I had never heard of a music therapist before, but once I did, I was hooked.
Music has always been an important part of my life.  I can't sing, I can't play an instrument, but I LOVE music. All kinds of music.   I DO have a soundtrack for my life.  I know it, I have it in my head  (of course the Handyman would say that his theme song is  I Can't Get No Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones.  He's so funny ) I plan dinner parties around what music I am going to play, I have certain music rules (rainy days I play the Sinatra channel on my car Sirius radio, Sunday mornings Gregorian Chant or  Yo Yo Ma,  working in the yard--the 60's channel,  country music when I'm at work, jazz on Friday nights!)
I just loved the idea of music helping people thru their lives.  Or out of their lives.  My friend Debbie, just lost her mother this past December, and in the last days the one thing that comforted her was music.  She would listen to Ava Maria over and over.

Some years back I read  "The Crosswick Journals" by Madeline L'Engle  ( A Wrinkle in Time) and she mentioned that she had four generations  of her family living under her roof one summer and she loved the fact that her 80 year old mother was subjected to the Beatles played by her son on his record player that summer.  She didn't want her mother to be so old as to never know what great  new music was being made every day.

I hope that my grandchildren want to share their music with me.  I know I'll never love it like they do  (it's an age thing) but I do want them to be able to share with me.
Who knows....what comforts me when I leave this world might be some new cutting edge rock and roll song in say....50 more years!

I liked the book, Sing You Home,but I haven't yet listened to the music CD that came with it.  For the same reason...I'm afraid of being disappointed.  But since I wasn't with the book, there is hope for the music, right?

I also listened to "The Weird Sisters" by Eleanor Brown on my Mp3 player.  I am not usually a fan of audiobooks, but I have to say this narrator kept me interested. I loved the way she read.   I downloaded it so I could listen on a drive to Reno, and then I enjoyed it so much I wore my little headphones all over the place, whenever I could.  
"The Weird Sisters" is about 3 sisters raised by  academic parents,  (They quote Shakespeare all thru-out the book) who return home as adults because their mother has cancer. 
All 3 have issues, and all see each other from their own/different perspectives.  It was all about family dynamics,  with Shakespeare quotes added in and a strong emphasis on book reading (they didn't have TV or radio growing up).
I liked the book.

I read "Still Life" by Louise Penny,  the first in a series, featuring Chief Inspector Gamache.  It takes place in a small village outside of Quebec.  I know nothing about Quebec and its relationship to Canada, so  a few insights have been quite interesting.  I will be reading the 2nd in the series soon.

This weekend I picked up  Don't Sing at the Table:  Life Lessons from My Grandmothers by Adriana Trigiani. I think it will be a quick read for me.  I always love a good memoir too.
And After that, probably  The Lonely Polygamist which is waiting for me on my Kindle.

Best-Ever Bourbon Brownies

My grandmother loved bourbon.  Yep.  She did.  Bourbon and water was her drink. This was back in the days of the cocktail hour when everyone had one ( a cocktail or two that is) at the end of the day before dinner.  And my grandmother's was bourbon and a splash of water.  At family dinners---way back in the 1960's, my family were very Mad Men-ish, and we children had to wait for supper until the adults had a cocktail, and a cigarette.  It was a different time.
(now, it's no cigarettes at all and wine with dinner) Anyway....the smell of bourbon brings back fond memories of my childhood.  I even make a a bourbon cranberry dish for Thanksgiving just so I can smell it, so when I was looking thru some old cooking magazines and came across this recipe for "Best Ever Bourbon Brownies" I thought--why not?
I gave it a try. 

and it was...

REALLY GOOD.  (and it made my house smell great while baking and cooling)

We had company for dinner  (corn and shrimp chowder, lettuce wedges with blue cheese vinaigrette, herbed bread, BBQ steaks in case you're wondering)
and at the end, I brought these out. 

Everyone was quite excited about the bourbon.  It was just the Handyman and John and Robbie Milton, whom we have dinner with every Friday night, so I feel comfortable trying out new recipes on them.  The Handyman said  "Mmmmm....the bourbon enriches the chocolate flavor."
WOW.  So profound.  He usually just eats and thanks me.  Not too much of a critic  (except for the Sour Beef disaster of a couple weeks ago).
Well, he was right....the bourbon did enhance the chocolate flavor and these brownies were very moist and mmmm, mmmmm, good!
I think they taste better the 2nd day after they've sat in the bourbon for  a while.  (apparently so did the Handyman, as he has eaten 2 this morning while I was gone 90 minutes to church and back)

I found this recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens Hometown Cooking magazine, June 2001.  I loved that little cooking magazine, where they would showcase hometown cookbooks from across the country---you know, ones made by the Chamber of Commerce or the Community Church?   Great cookbooks because every one always puts in their very best dishes.

Best-Ever Bourbon Brownies

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2-3 Tbsp bourbon

3 Tbsp butter--softened
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2-3 tsp milk  (I used a bit more.  I guess it all depends on how thick you want the frosting)
1/4 tsp milk
1 oz semisweet chocolate, melted

Grease an 8x8x2-inch baking pan; set aside.
In a medium saucepan, combine the 1/3 cup butter, the granulated sugar and water.  Cook and stir over medium heat just until mixture boils.  Remove from heat. Add the 1 cup chocolate chips, stirring until melted.  Stir in eggs and vanilla, beating lightly with a spoon just until combined.  Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.  Stir in pecans.  Spread batter in prepared pan.
Bake in a 350 degree oven about 20 minutes or until edges are set and begin to pull away from sides of pan.
Using  a for, (I used a toothpick) prick the warm brownies several times.  Drizzle bourbon evenly over brownies; cool in pan on wire rack.

For the frosting, in a small bowl, beat the 3 tbs butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 30 seconds.  Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well.  Slowly beat in 2 tsp of the milk and the vanilla.  If necessary, beat in remaining milk to reach spreading consistency. Spread over brownies; drizzle melted chocolate over frosting. 
Makes 16-20.  (I made larger pieces--12--and used them as a dessert, not a bar/brownie) 

Snapshot Saturday and some book talk

At our last Totally Lit book club meeting, something weird happened.   No one had a book.  We had Kindles and Nooks and Sony E-Readers, but no one had an actual book.  It was kind of eerie in a way.  Like Twilight Zone-ish:  Let's all talk about a book that...no one has.

See what I mean?  No one can flip back to 'that passage' to see what was really said.  No one can hold up the cover when we begin to say:  First of all, who all read the book? and who liked the book? 

Okay...you can still ask those things, but not while lovingly holding the book and touching the cover.
It was just kind of odd. Futuristic?   I hope not.  I hope that books will stick around for a long long time.  It was just a funny coincidence I'm sure.

We read  "The Hand that First Held Mine."  It was a fine book.  Not my favorite.

It switched back and forth from one protagonist to another in different time periods.  
This has never bothered me before, so it leads me to believe that I just wasn't in the mood for this book.  It didn't call to me.

I didn't love the main characters and the writing confused me a bit, which sounds silly because I can read and understand all kinds of literature.  So this led me again to think the book just wasn't calling me.

Some of my bookies liked it a lot and some just thought it was okay.  No one hated it and it did lead to some good discussion.

After the eeriness, we had a bit of amusement. 

This is Ralph. 

Ralph is a parrot.  Ralph can sing Old MacDonald and quite a few words, but on book club night he was being shy and would talk.  What he did was copy our laughter.  We were all laughing so hard....at him.
At first, we just heard an echo of one person's laugh, and so we would laugh a bit harder, then the echo got louder and more peoples laughter was coming from the cage...and that just started a roller coaster of laughing and listening.

You know what tho?  That was kind of eerie too when you think about it.  A book club with no books, and a parrot imitating our laughter.  Quite  Twilight Zone if you ask me.

I am linking this snapshot of Ralph  (who is a girl, by the way) to   Snap Shot Saturday at  'At Home With Books'. 

PS.   I had wanted to find a good picture of my kitchen to show you the 'before' we begin or redecorating project.  paint, flooring, appliances, lighting, counter tops, sink.  But I couldn't find the picture I wanted.  So this week, you get Ralph.