Baldur

Baldur gets the distinct impression that people are chatting with the recently dparted maddy on this site....is that true?
Then indeed my dear friend Jacob has come through.
I have inquired around to see if any of my computer savvy friends could find a way to block that demonette from appearing on my screen.
I was told it was not possible, that I could prevent emails or personal messages from arriving but nothing would purge her from sites that I visit.
So I went to Jacob a few days ago.
Busy as he was with preparations for the Winter Solstice he took the time to create an amulet for me.
This amulet is made of many things, including fingernail clippings taken from a set of twins, copper wire, stinging nettles, mud that has been flung and holy water from a baptismal font. It hangs directly over my computer monitor from a thin silken cord.
It has worked and she has been exorcised, I do not see her on my screen, just the occasional blank comment.

Baldur

dparted +e =departed

maddyjean08

Wow, that's weird, and what do you mean, departed?

Dragon

Don't worry about me Baldur, I'm through talking to the recently deceased.

Dragon

Perhaps an exorcisim is in order.

lilalee

LOL!! You guys crack me up!!

lilalee

Try duct tape, it works.

belladonnis

Hey thanks for the advice on the kitty situation! I think Auntie B I will go with the compressed air, if I got the taser I just might use it on my kids!!!!!! Just kidding about that, but OMG! Between the cat shaking the christmas tree and my 11 and 8 year old fussing I may just taser myself!!

Im just stressing I guess,its been a bad week for me. My friend's daughters funeral was today and my 80 year old mother fell down my brothers stair case last night and broke her pelvis, shoulder and a few ribs.
She is doing well, but because I live really far away and with issues where I work I couldnt go unless she was going to have surgery (which, thank goodness she didnt have to). But I still feel as if I should have. We will be going up christmas day and I will have 2 weeks to help with her and my dad.
Sorry for venting but sometimes you just have to.

belladonnis

marius I get bored with meat sometimes myself, when that happens I cook some good southern style veggies. Pintos, turnip greens, fried corn and fried green tomatoes with cornbread are some. That always hits the spot!

belladonnis

Another glass ball bites the dust:( Pet Supply Plus hear I come!!!!!

Baldur

Baldur does have a good section of cookbooks in his library.
Not many are vegetarian, the few I do have are by Mollie Katzen of the Moosewood collective, her recipes are amazing.
Though not vegetarian I sould not hesitate to recommend anything byAlice Waters of Chez Panisse.
A secret pleasure of Baldur has been the few privately printed books from the late 60s early 70s that could be referred to as 'Hippy Cuisine'.
When browsing through used books keep an eye open for softcover books with a binding of manila envelope colored paper. There will be a very homemade looking flower-child type illustration on the cover.
Often the inside will be festooned with naive drawings as well.
My favourite of this type is 'The Tassajara Bread Book', by EWdward Espe Brown, 1970 Shambala Publications, Berkeley.
Apparently this was the fruit born of a Zen Buddhist Monastery.
Amazing to read, it produces very hearty earthy foods.

Baldur

EWdward -W =Edward

Baldur

For this evening's dinner I defrosted a few small leftover meatballs for Robert. In the refrigerator there was a wee bit of brown gravy, so voila' it was Swedish meatballs.
I peeled a few potatoes to mash and put a small pot of green beans on the back of the stove.
Baldur was fine with the mashed potatoes and green beans, but also needed a protein of some sort.
I decided to ad-lib a chickpea recipe.

Semi-Turkish Chickpea Saute';
Take a peeled and diced large onion
Saute' it in olive oil until it starts to brown and turn translucent.
Add 1/2 of a chopped sweet red bell pepper, and
1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels
Saute' until the corn is somewhat cooked
Add a rinsed and drained can of chickpeas,
1/2 teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes, and
1 teaspoon of Zahtar seasoning.
(Zahtar is a spice blend of ground Sumac berries, thyme leaves, sesame seeds and salt).
Continue cookie until the chickpeas are hot and the flavor is very spicy.
Serve over rice (or as in tonight's case - mashed potatoes)

Baldur

Continuing to celebrate my cookie bake-a-thon this week led me to preparing gingerbread this afternoon.
I rolled the dough out to about 1/4" thick and then right on the countertop cut it into rectangles approximately 1" by 1.5".
I then removed the trimming from around the edge of the dough and dusted the surface off with my pastry brush. That would result in prettier finished cookie without a dusty looking surface.
Then I took coarse crystal sugar, which looks like rock salt, but perhaps a bit finer, and scattered it on top of the cookies,
I ever so gently used to rolling pin to just barely push the crystals into the surface of the dough.
When this was accomplished I transferred each cookie to greased cookie sheets and baked them.
What a wonderful aroma.
All in all I made more than 200 of these.

Baldur

trimming +s =trimmings
-to +my

Baldur

I finally got to see a Christmas episode of 'Keeping Up Appearances' this evening.
That Hyacinth is quite industrious,
She wrote dozens and dozens of Christmas cards out and mailed them to herself, just so the neighbors would be cognizant of the great quantity of them arriving at Chez Bucket.

Baldur

Don't worry Auntie B, I'll bake another batch of those tomorrow.
That was the first time I'd made those, so they were a test batch, not intended for distribution.

AuntieB

There had to have been over a hundred of them.....
Holy Jerusalem!

Baldur

Here Auntie B, let me pour you a ginger brandy and get you a plate of bourbon balls.

...........

All in all I made large batches of Chocolate Crinkles, Orange Biscotti, Bourbon Balls and Anise Seed Wreaths.
I'm still hoping to replace the Chocolate Crinkles, make Lemon Shortbread, Butterscotch Bars with Brown Sugar Meringue Topping and Raspberry Jam filled Butter Thumbprint cookies.

Baldur

Sorry, we lost a message somewhere, Auntie B had asked me if I ate the entire platter of Chocolate Crinkles by myself.