Generalismo

Is this the reason my viewer count has gone down? That I post about getting new mugs?

I bought a little basket of chocolates and such that was marked down after Valentines Day (yes, I have to buy chocolates for myself), and there was a Starbucks mug in there. Now I’ve never even been to Starbucks, but it was a big mug, and that’s good when you’re trying to ensure sufficient coffee intake. So it made my top mug spot and I’ve drunk a lot of coffee out of it.

Well, it broke last week. And I had just happened to pick up another mug at a second hand store that I work at! I don’t know why I like it so much. The design (short and fatter as opposed to tall and skinny, and yes, that does represent how I’ll be if I drink too much sweetened iced coffee with half and half) bugs me just a little because liquid tends to splosh out easier. But it’s so…so..um, I don’t know what it is, but I’m particularly enamored with it for some strange reason.

So let’s take a moment to analyze. Up to this point I haven’t done so. The ridges on the outside resemble clapboards on a house. Or perhaps the way a pine tree is shaped, with ridges to indicate the gradual widening of the base of the tree. And the lovely oatmeal color inside that pokes out. This could indicate two things. No three. One is that I like the word OATMEAL as a color. It just feels good. I mean hey, who doesn’t like wearing oatmeal colored socks? Not tan or beige. Those wool socks that are not white but rather natural looking are oatmeal. Second, the explosion of oatmeal color on the outside could represent a generous helping of whipped cream on top of a steaming drink. Or, most poetically, it could represent a mountain covered with snow. Aha! I must be liking this mug because it represents everything I would like in the camping trip that hasn’t worked out to happen yet. Yes, of course

So now that my coffee is old and stale because I took so much time to blog, I need to go pour some into my new mug

Posted by Bonnie under food, outdoors

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Contents:
1. Coffee and Science
2. Studying The Book
3. Youtube Videos
4. Galatians 5:16

OK, my title is just silliness this time, since that’s what I happen to be consuming at the moment. If I had realized earlier how good iced coffee tastes, far less stale coffee would have been poured down the drain these past few months! I couldn’t figure out why coffee tasted so good when I first got it in my cup, and then if I waited for a while it tasted bitter. Now in Columbus, OH, we were parked near a fantastic library - one that I spent many hours in while we were parked there, and I could spend hours there again and I hope I get to. But they had a nice shelf of books for sale that included The New Kitchen Science and What Einstein Told His Cook. In Kitchen Science, it states:

As the coffee sits on the warming device, its volatile aromatic compounds flee the liquid. Moreover, the heat that keeps the coffee warm simultaneously develops a bitter flavor in the coffee’s essential oils.

So there you have it! And be sure to check your library for discarded books

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If you’re a Christian, you’re supposed to study the Bible, right? And how does that usually happen? I’m not sure how it *usually* happens but what I’ve found to be incredibly interesting in my own walk is to go looking for passages talking about whatever it is that I want answers about and write down the reference. Then I’m going to a word processor and typing them all in, and then adding my own notes and questions in red font. I’m going to list them in the order they appear in the Bible so I can find them more easily. I’ve been having discussions with a friend about a few topics that we see differently on and I’m realizing that I don’t know why I believe what I do, some of the time. Even if I end up in the same place as my family is, I want to get there because God brought me there. A friend asked me maybe a year ago, “If you were born a Muslim, would you still be one?” That made me think. Do I know enough about what the truth is to defend it with my life? Would I be willing to give up everything I grew up knowing (including family, and probably my head) for the Gospel? We’re in real danger of becoming lukewarm in the US. There’s little or no persecution here. It seems as if there’s not much testing of our faith - instead of being Head Chopped Off vs Denying Christ, it’s “Which church do I want to be affiliated with?” And then there’s also “Well, I read a book about it that cleared it up…” God can work through people, and books, but there’s nothing like the Bible! Don’t settle for reading a commentary when there’s doubt in your mind.

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Youtube! I uploaded a video last night of my brother’s bunnies. Some of them, anyway. I’m sorry I just keep gushing over them in the video, I actually had to cut parts out because I couldn’t seem to stop saying “Oh, they’re so cute!” Let’s just say it’s been 8 years since a baby has been in the house and we’re all jumping at the opportunity to “aw” at something

Other videos I’ve added to my favorites list lately include El Camino Del Ray (you probably don’t want to watch if you’re really afraid of heights!), How Not To Bake a Cake, and It Don’t Mean a Thing.

El Camino Del Ray is really neat footage of a bridge in Spain.

How Not To Bake a cake is pretty funny

It Don’t Mean a Thing is not the kind of music I listen to all of the time, but this accordion player is just cool. I’m not sure why, he’s just got an interesting personality (from what you can see on his videos, anyway), and look at him grin! He’s got other neat videos up also, one being the Roland Accordion Demo.

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I’ll leave you with a quote from Galatians (5:16-18)

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

Posted by Bonnie under books, food, reading

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Yum. Yes, it’s my turn to cook today. That means that everyone has to put up with sub par food I have decided to be lazy and not make pizza tonight, and lunch was so late! We did get up late though, and ate breakfast late, so it doesn’t really matter I guess.

Leftover meat that has already been cooked can easily be frozen in plastic bags to put in soup at a later point. Chicken pieces can be put away whole if you’re prepared to pick off the meat afterwards, and ground beef is really easy to work with. Anyhow, since I decided to use the leftover meat today for soup, I thawed the baked chicken pieces, picked the chicken off, and dumped it and a small bag of cooked group beef into a pot. Then I poured in one can of crushed tomatoes.

I added a quart or so of water (I didn’t measure!) and cleaned up some green beans/wax beans.

Just because I like green beans so much, and this flatters them so much, here is a second picture of them (Doesn’t that just make all you green bean haters want to munch on green beans!??)

Then I put the green beans in, cut to an inch or two long, with a variety of spices (basil, Italian seasoning, parsley flakes, etc) and some salt. It doesn’t really matter what *grind* of salt you use when you’re making soup. On food where it doesn’t get dissolved, though, it can make a difference. Anyhow.

I didn’t get any pictures of the potatoes going in. I’ll just say if you’re running late on time, make the potatoes smaller and they’ll cook quicker.

Here’s the finished soup.

The steam was blurring the lense, so I didn’t get much of a picture!

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On to dessert. Remember that stressed spells backwards is dessert. I’m not sure what that means - if desserts make you stressed, or if you’re to reach for the desserts when stressed

I recall making menus for the “Wednesday Eatery.” Now I don’t cook on Wednesdays, so I can’t say that anymore! If this was on the menu, it’d have to be something like Grandmom’s Ridiculously Good Blueberry Cake. I don’t know if this recipe was originally from my grandmother or what, but it’s the best blueberry cake I’ve found so far. The recipe follows at the bottom.

Separate two eggs. Beat egg whites in mixer and cream egg yolks, butter, and vanilla in separate bowl. Add 1 cup (scant) sugar to the creamed mixture. Add 1/4 cup sugar to egg whites. I always add the sugar after the whites have started to peak.

Officially: Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, and baking powder) and stir into creamed ingredients alternating with milk. Bonnie-Style: Dump dry ingredients on top of creamed ingredients and add the *water*. We didn’t have milk around and it turns out just fine without it.

Fold in egg whites. I don’t know why but I reeeally like sweetened egg whites. I don’t think I’m terribly fond of Fluff but for some reason I have an overwhelming urge to snitch. And I did!

I forgot to fold in the blueberries first, but it didn’t really seem to matter. My blueberries seem to have partially thawed when our freezer accidentally went out, so I rinsed them first to get the ice off the outside of them.

And the secret weapon: Sprinkle sugar generously on top.

And the cake is finished!! It didn’t last long, and I just got up to have one last, little piece, and it was all gone. Better that than go stale

Blueberry Cake

2 eggs, separated
1 cup (plus 1/4 cup, plus more for topping)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening (butter works!)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk/water
1 1/2 cup blueberries

Follow directions above. Or if you happen to copy and paste this to print, here are the directions:
Beat egg white. Add 1/4 cup sugar to hold peaks. Cream soft ingredients, then ad dry ingredients alternating with milk. Fold in blueberries. Fold in egg whites. Bake in greased 8×8 pan* at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

*I used a 13×9 pan and baked it for only 35 minutes. I prefer the bigger pan and shorter baking time.

Posted by Bonnie under Uncategorized, food, recipe

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Actually, they’re not waiting for us We are going up this weekend though, and maybe when I come back I’ll have pictures. Of course, I’ve waited till the *very* last second to pack and I’ve had a fun time scraping things together. And my planned room cleaning is not going to happen.

I also will not be able to cook anything this weekend, unless I make something on the bus. It’s always harder to cook in a little bus kitchen. We’ve made pizza before (I distinctly remember where we were the last time we made it, lol), cookies (of course!), and baked/fry panned chicken with veggies is normal. Still, I can’t help but remember the printout that is on our fridge - the title reads Poor Hatians Resort to Eating Dirt. We ought to be so much more thankful for the blessings that God has given us, and so much more mindful of those who don’t have what we have. I’ve mentioned this before, but I may as well again; Christian Aid is a ministry who gives 100% of the money donated to specified overseas missions and focus on indigenous missionaries. You can donate $100 for a bike and it’ll go right to buying bikes with no charge taken out by Christian Aid. Also, you can support missionaries who are natives of the countries they are ministering in. No language or cultural barrier, and they live like natives so they generally live on far less money than American missionaries do. Christian Aid performs checkups on the missionaries, and you can specify your donation to go towards administrative costs.

Speaking of food, I am trying to find out how to prepare grubs. I have 5 or 6 and the only thing I’m concerned about is making sure I’m not consuming partially digested trash. I put them in a bag with a napkin expecting them to “empty out,” but they started eating the napkin and the bag is filled with droppings! I guess eating partially digested napkin is better than not knowing where their last meal was from.

Any suggestions on prep/cooking methods?

Posted by Bonnie under food, world

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For those of you who are studying languages, allow me to introduce Unilang.org. This site has less organized lessons than livemocha.com but I get the feeling that these people are much more die hard fans of languages who are learning for fun. There are a lot of people there with 3 or more languages under their belt, and there is almost always someone in the chat room. There are resources for many languages. One that I found for German, for instance, are stories with the English and German next to each other, line by line. The range of languages here is also much more wide. They have many user submitted exercises and they also have their own wiki.

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This morning’s recipe:

Grind 4 tablespoons coffee. (Or use already ground, like I did :D) Place in filter in coffee machine and fill with two cups water. Press the “On” button. Wait and enjoy the dripping/bubbling noise. Pour in cup with creamer. Drink. Enjoy.

Oh yeah, and get a free Iced Coffee at Dunkin Donuts on the 15th at participating stores! I’ll have to put that up in a post all by itself so people see it even if they don’t read my entire posts.

Posted by Bonnie under deals, food, languages, learning, recipe, spanish, world

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This is just to prove that all of this “cooking” is not just baking. Here is a no-bake cookie recipe. It’s a bit more finicky than regular cookies but the recipe is still pretty simple and a beginner could pull them off fine. The recipe is floating around a lot of places but I got mine from Cooks.com.

First off put the sugar, butter, vanilla, and cocoa powder in a medium/large saucepan. I put in a little extra cocoa powder, I don’t think the called for amount does it!

While that is heating, measure out the oatmeal and peanut butter into a separate bowl. It’s important to have this ready when the mixture is finished cooking.

Boil for ONE minute. Too long and they’ll be crumbly, too short and they’ll never set. This is the somewhat difficult part of the operation. Not impossible. I did overboil these though, and they were a little more crumbly than I like them.

Since I didn’t have waxed paper I used some parchment paper we happened to have around and oiled it just a bit. I have made them on greased cookie sheets but I think they can be hard to get off the pan.

The recipe, straight from the site itself. I looked for the recipe online to link to it (at cooks.com) but I can’t seem to find the same one. The other one has the butter cut in half, so it is possible to reduce the fat content.

Posted by Bonnie under food, recipe

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I’m tempted to say “a month of chocolate goodies” instead of “a month of cooking” because chocolate things sound much more appetizing! I’ll try to make bread or something next. I need some whole wheat seed bread anyhow.

Here are the brownies! First off, have you ever taken a good look at sugar close up? Have a look:

I thought this reflection of the recipe book shelf was cool This is just before the mixing of the wet ingredients listed at the end of this post.

Mmm…at some point you mix in cocoa powder. This stuff is great in a shake: blend up 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with 3-4 dates that have been soaked in warm water (check for pits) and either a scoop of protein powder, a generous 1/4 cup of cottage cheese, OR a handful of walnuts. Blend up with 8 ounces of water and ice. Yum yum! But back to brownies!

The batter for brownies should be a lot thicker than cake batter. Another, richer recipe I have for brownies won’t pour out of the bowl. Those would be the Man Catcher Brownies from Leigh Lambert at the Washington Post. I turned the bowl with the batter upside down, even, and it just sat there without moving at all. But that’s another recipe (and one, I might add, due to the ingredients, doesn’t get repeated that often in our family. I’ve only made it once!)

If you’re like me, you have some family members who like nuts and others who positively don’t like them. So I usually press walnuts in one end of the batter to avoid putting nuts in the whole thing (while satisfying our nut likers).

And here’s the finished brownie. Nowadays I have the patience to wait to cut them until they cool - most of the time. I used to wonder why my brownies always fell apart and never looked like the ones at church dinners. WELL, it’s because I insisted on eating them as soon as they came out of the oven! If you’re eating brownies at home, that’s fine, but if you’re taking them out somewhere on a dish wait till they cool to cut them and remove them from the pan. I usually take a spoon and scoop out a little corner - just to make sure it’s edible!

And another closeup.

Don’t overcook your brownies. Usually a toothpick inserted in the middle that comes out clean indicates a done pan of brownies. If it has a shiny top and it’s not terribly soft in the middle, it’s probably done. Poke a knife in there if you must, but remember that they’re supposed to be a little soft. Don’t be looking for a cake like texture. I think, sadly, that this batch was a tad overdone. Ok, a lot overdone! But not too bad. Here’s the pan a few hours later:

And of course, cooking doesn’t have to be messy! Here’s the stuff I had to clean up, plus the pan.

And lastly, here is a note I put on this recipe. (I somehow clipped off the smiley face there that you were supposed to see!) It’s clipped from Taste of Home and I knew it’d be hard to find again in the many brownie recipes there are floating around here. I think you should have a recipe around that’s both for cocoa powder and for unsweetened chocolate. You never know which one you’re going to get a deal on and have a surplus of around This one, to date, is the best one (Outside of Man Catcher brownies, formerly blogged about and mentioned above) with cocoa powder.

Here’s the recipe. Half it to make one 8×8″ pan (this makes one 13×9″)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 sticks butter melted (I cut down to 1.5 sometimes, doesn’t taste the same. Your call.)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add butter, mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients. Mix well. Pour into greased 13×9″ pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Posted by Bonnie under food, recipe

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And no, I’m not talking about the “hotties” that are generally touted as eye candy. Proverbs says the eyes of man are never satisfied and I agree wholeheartedly. The internet is a big part of feeding that hunger, which is not always a good thing. Sometimes it’s downright evil. However, the Proverb doesn’t say everything you see is a sinful fullfillment of your eyes’ hunger. It just states a principle, as many of the other Proverbs.

What you allow your eyes to feed on can be, as stated, an evil thing, or it can be a time waster, or it can inspire you to do something good, or a number of other things. I’m considering doing a month long theme here of cooking, in hopes that it will inspire you to cook! This should be a good thing to do, considering that Proverbs 31 praises the woman who gets up early to cook and provides food for her family.

Here’s a summation of some of the verses that I took notes on in Proverbs 31, by the way. Comments on these welcome

A good wife/woman:

• works with eager hands
• gets up early to cook
• provides food for her family
• invests
• has strong arms
• trades profitably
• works with thread
• is generous and hospitable to the poor
• makes blankets
• makes clothing
• sells her wares
• is wise and faithful
• is not idle
• fears the Lord
• keeps track of the household affairs

Wow, what a standard! I’m guessing you could spend a lifetime on these qualities Here’s an idea that will only take a few minutes of your time but could really get some thinking going. Every morning (or whenever’s convenient), write down a few words on what you feel a verse from Proverbs 31 means - you could write parellel ideas, or anything that comes to mind. Focus one sentence at least on how you can practicaly apply that verse. You could keep this in a notebook or on cards (you’ll need as many as there are verses, I don’t know at the moment how many there are) and when you come back to the verse next time, you can review and write down any new thoughts (on that verses’ page).

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So back to the original topic, hopefully I’ll be taking pictures next time I cook and posting them and the recipe. I’m going to try to stick to simple things, as those are sometimes the most inspiring! If YOU make a recipe that you find here, let me know how it turned out And if there’s a recipe you think would be cool to see here, send it to me with your comments.

Posted by Bonnie under food

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So the truffles have been made! It does make for a little mess but they are pretty good

First of all, brought one cup heavy cream and 3 tablespoons corn syrup to a boil. I poured that over 3/4 lb of dark chocolate (from Walmart @ $3.28 a pound) that had been finely chopped. Then I added 4 tablespoons softened butter and whisked till smooth. Looking back, I would have put in less cream and maybe a little less butter. The filling is very hard to work with because it melts at such a low temperature and even frozen, doesn’t harden very much.

Then I left that in the fridge for a few hours and then scooped out teaspoons of it. Those went on trays in the freezer, where I left them overnight. I rolled them briefly in my hands once they had gotten cool and replaced them on the tray for the rest of the night. It also helped to sprinkle a little cocoa powder on the tray to keep them from sticking. The result:

You have to work quickly once they come out of the freezer because they start to melt in literally seconds. Less than a minute sitting on the counter and they’re pretty soft. So I took 4 or 5 out at a time on a plate and brought them to the counter where I dipped them in a bowl of chocolate that I had melted (not included in the 3/4 lb above) and mixed with a few tablespoons of coconut oil, to make it more liquid when melted.

I kind of just dropped them in the bowl, on at a time, and gently spooned the melted chocolate over them.

I had previously toasted coconut.

And mixed cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon, and clove together.

After I dipped them in chocolate I took them out as quickly as possible, letting the extra chocolate run back in the bowl, and rolled them in the coconut, or whatever I was rolling them in. This is very messy!

Here they are resting (cooling ) before they go on the finished tray.

These are the finished truffles! There are ones with coconut, spice/cocoa/sugar, ground coffee, and the ones with the nuts on the outside have a piece of walnut inside.

And a broken open truffle. The texture inside is very soft and creamy and melts almost immediately upon eating. That’s part of the reason I would like to use less cream and butter next time, to have a thicker middle. And that’s what I’m going to get eating these!

Posted by Bonnie under food, pictures, recipe

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I wrote up a post the other day and assumed it posted itself when I clicked the publish button. Not so! It disappeared

Very saddening, but oh well.

I had shared a recipe for Pannu Kakku and wrote out all the PRICES for the ingredients and my estimate for the cost. To put it shortly it cost about $2.80 for a pan that feeds 11! I guess I don’t know how much breakfast generally costs because I never do the math, but I’m figuring that’s pretty cheap. A lot cheaper than I though, considering it’s a “special” breakfast here.

So if you’re getting tired of eggs and toast or whatever you normally have for breakfast, try this It’s like a soufflé, I think.

This recipe is for two 13×9 pans or a giant pan.

Pannu Kakku

6 eggs
6 cups milk (using 5 cups gives a more firm texture)
2 tsp salt
1 stick butter
2 1/2 c. flour

Put one half stick of butter in each pan and put in oven*. Preheat to 425 degrees. Beat eggs, add milk. Add salt and flour. Pour into pans (in which the butter has melted).

Cook for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve hot with syrup. Mmmm. Enjoy!

*Do not leave pans in oven with just the butter in there for an extended period of time! I left them in too long the other day (the butter started to burn) and when I took one of them out and put it on the metal plate on the counter it shattered instantly.

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Our weather has been, to borrow the local vernacular, wicked nice. It’s been blue skies, 80, dry, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I need to stop in case any of you are getting nasty weather! Wouldn’t want to rub it in. I just can’t get over it. It’s like a dream come true - summer feels to have arrived. It’ll probably get cold again (we get frosts till May 31 sometimes!) but it’s nice while it’s here.

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I keep starting a new paragraph and then forgetting what I was going to say. I wanted to link to someone, or bring something to your attention. Well, I guess I’ll put a video up. This is old footage. I can’t do these now. I have done two workouts in my attempt to get the muscles back and the first time I went all out:

full pull ups (pulls): 2×3
full chins: 2×3
negative pulls: 3×6
negative chins: 3×6

By the end my muscles were shaking pretty bad and I was exhausted. I was so sore two days after I could barely clasp my hands behind my back. I had to swing them behind me. The soreness was still lingering after 6 days! On the 7th day I set my video camera up, stretched, and put my hands up on that perfectly sized branch that I need a chair to reach, and pulled. Nothing happened. Hm. Tried again. Nothing! It was so embarrassing. I talked with someone I know of from a women’s bodybuilding site I used to visit and he said try lower intensity, higher frequency. In other words, I should be doing something like just as many pulls/chins as I can, and then only a few negatives, and do it every other day. He said do high intensity if you want big lats (upper back muscles. They lend to the “V” look with a small waist and big shoulders). Heh…well, let’s not go there. I’ll just say I’d rather be able to do 25 in a row than look like Mr. Universe

So after all that explanation, here’s the vid.

Posted by Bonnie under exercise, food, health, recipe

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