Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I am thankful for so many things this year: family, friends, good health (and tomorrow morning I hope my doctor tells me I can take off this sling, another thing for which I'm thankful!), food, clothes, a warm home. I'm thankful that God has been molding and shaping me this past year into what He wants me to be - something that can be/has been painful and challenging, but I'm thankful even so.

And, of course, I'm thankful that you're out there reading this.

Linnea visits the doctor. Again.

Ice and pavement conspired against me, drawing in an unwilling elbow into the mix. The result? My left arm's new best friends are a splint and sling. For 7 to 10 days.

According to the very nice doctor (at my usual clinic, thankfully, and not the ER or urgent care), I have a hairline fracture on the very point of my left elbow. This is a tad painful - I cringe almost as much at the thought as I do the actual pain - but really it is more annoying and embarassing. I've lived in the land of 10,000+ frozen lakes basically all my life. And the first time it snowed this year, you'd think I didn't recognize it. In my defense our new driveway is so black in its freshly-tarred state, I had difficulty discerning where the ice started and stopped. But that's pathetic. I am annoyed because I probably won't be able to play in our church's Thanksgiving concert this weekend. And I'm having problems flossing my teeth. And I can't put my own hair up. But other than that, I am grateful it wasn't worse, and I'm grateful that I normally do have the use of two fully-functioning arms.

(I am typing this one-handed, in case you're wondering. And since that is the case, don't expect much the next few days.)

The first snow of the season

My friend Betsy picked the perfect time to go to Florida for a month. Tonight it is snowing the first time this season, the temp has dropped by 30 degrees in two days, and she's leaving tomorrow morning. Smart girl.

It is rather beautiful: the ground is not quite cold enough yet for it to stick to the pavement, but it's covering up the grass and those pesky leaves. And it's pretty and white. And I'm warm and inside.

Tomorrow I have another interview. It is always with a glad heart that I learn I made it through to the next round of interviewing.

spiced apple cake recipe

Haven't tried it yet, but here it is: (I tried to find it online at the Williams-Sonoma website, but it didn't show up there. However, their Thanksgiving pages had some fabulous ideas. Personally, I'd take a few shortcuts with the following recipe, but I'm giving it as is. As putsy as it occasionally sounds, I'll still try this one out sometime. And I repeat: it's a miracle I don't weigh 500 pounds. Have you checked out the first ingredient? And that's only the first time butter is mentioned...And it's supposed to serve 16 to 20. They don't say different people because it could be me 8 days in a row! (I don't believe in saying 'no' to seconds on good dessert.) Sorry the picture's a little lopsided, but I don't have time to re-scan anything.)

Ingredients: Cake
24 Tbsp. (3 sticks) plus 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 Braeburn or Golden Delicious apples, about 1 1/4 lb. total, peeled, corred and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1. tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened natural applesauce
6 eggs

Ingredients: Frosting
6 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 lb. cream cheese
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. brandy (optional)

Ingredients: Topping
3 Tbsp. finely chopped crystallized ginger (optional, and apparently available at WS)
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar (optional)

Directions:
Have all the ingredients at room temp
1. To make the cake, in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, heat 1 1/2 Tbsp. of the butter and 2 Tbsp. of the granulated sugar until the butter melts. Add half of the apples and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with 1 1/2 Tbsp. of the butter, 2 Tbsp. of the granulated sugar and the remaining apples. Let cool to room temperature.
2. Position 1 rack in the lower third of an oven and another rack in the middle. Preheat to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
3. Over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, vanilla and applesauce. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the reamining 24 Tbsp. (3 sticks) of butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture and beginning and ending with the flour. Beat each addition just until incorporated, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold in the apples.
5. Divide the batter among the prepared pans, spreading it evenly. Bake until the centers of the cakes spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let the cakes cool in the pans for about 15 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto the rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.
6. To make the frosting, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, ginger and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.
7. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat together the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla and brandy and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the confectioners' sugar mixture. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Refrigerate the frosting for 30 minutes before using.
8. To assemble, place 1 cake layer, top side down, on a plate. Spread one-third of the frosting over the surface, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Set another cake layer, top side up, on the first layer and spread with one-third of the frosting, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Set the third cake layer, top side down, on the second layer and spread the remaining frosting over the top. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the frosting. In a small bowl, toss together the crystallized ginger and granulated sugar, coating the ginger thoroughly. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve to remove excess sugar. Sprinkle the cake with the ginger. Serves 16 to 20.

spell check, anyone?

Ok, just had to ask this: Why does the blogger spell checker suggest the word "Josef" in place of the word "Cosby"? And then "blocker" for "blogger"? what is wrong with this picture?

Oh, the insanities when one tries to use spell check. I don't very often, but with the previous post and my use of "feat" I felt compelled to at least attempt correct spelling once in a while.

It's a miracle I don't weigh 500 pounds

I'm really into making dessert these days. The homemade, luscious kind. For example, the past couple weeks I've made baked apples, apple pie, apple dumplings with caramel cinnamon sauce; southern-style banana pudding (why would I ever go back to Jello pudding? Not even the entertaining Bill Cosby could convince me it's better than the real stuff, all warm and gooey), cookies galore, and tonight's masterpiece (straight from a Martha Stewart cookbook, and it still only took 30 minutes to prep! no small feat as any who've prepared MS's recipes know), pear upside-down cake. Mmmmmmm. It's all gingery. I love dessert. (OK, so maybe mine didn't look quite this artistic given the mere 30 minutes I had; but it wasn't too shabby.) (And I found a different pear upside-down cake recipe on Martha's website, but this is a different one. Maybe i'll try it some day...)
Next up, pumpkin pie. Or pumpkin tarts. or maybe something pecan...or cranberry apple galette. ooo, ooh, ooo! I got a recipe for applecake with cream cheese frosting from a booklet I got at Williams Sonoma over the weekend. Or maybe I'll stick with the ginger theme and do gingerbread with daffodil lemon sauce (an ol' favorite with my fam). Hmmm. Too many choices, but plenty of time for savoring.

a fleecer I am not

I finally joined the majority of my friends and learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em tonight (or last evening, I should say since it's 2am now). The one time I played poker prior to this evening I was about 13 years old, and trust me, nothing stuck. This time around, I found it to be greatly entertaining and plan to play again sometime soon. Never fear, however: I shan't be rope-a-doping anyone (as my father would say) in the foreseeable future for I must confess to winning several hands quite cluelessly. For instance, once I had a pair of queens and didn't even realize I had a flush.

and talk about luck! The kicker of the evening for me was when I bet 100,000 (of what, I still don't know because we weren't playing for $$$, yet we still tacked on lots of zeroes to the denominations to make us feel better, I suppose - I started thinking in terms of condiments: mayo, mustard, catsup and blue cheese, each correlating to the chip color; or else there is the Mexican food theme...sour cream, cheese, salsa and blue corn chips) and had the perfect cards for a straight on both ends and lost to 4 sevens. How unlucky was that? (And no, I sincerely doubt cheating was involved.) But all in all, not a bad showing. The only thing I missed was the little section of the screen dedicated to percentages when you're watching tournaments on tv.

Blustery November

My theories are flawed. Well, one of them is, at any rate. Remember that whole rant about leaves and that I was done with them? And that my theory of the wind blowing them all away would never happen?

Alas, it's true. My theory can never really happen. We had quite a gusty day earlier this week, with very strong winds that lasted for nearly 24 hours. Granted, most of our leaves had already been raked and bagged, but it might have worked. Our neighbor (the recycling neighbor of previous tales) had not yet raked all her leaves; I cannot fault her for this since she was in Amsterdam on vacay until yesterday. What Kevin said in his comment turned all too true: the blustery winds of November blew all her leaves into our yard.

The fault with my theory is that I had not factored in the fence. It would have worked beautifully without the fence! All of them would have been blown into oblivion, and I would not be sitting here writing about this subject. You see, we have a fence on one side of our backyard. Based on wind direction, this fence is not on the side that would keep the leaves out of the yard (the south side), but on the side that keeps the leaves in our yard (the north side). This is a serious flaw. But it's not our fence, so I can't just go rip it down; it belongs to the other neighbors, the ones on the north side. Besides, I probably wouldn't rip down a fence just to remedy a two-week per annum situation. And also, the wind might blow the opposite direction next year, and all my problems will be solved!

The good part is that at least all the leaves are neatly lined up along the fence and not scattered about the entire yard. Bah! Who am I kidding? The weathermen are predicting snow on Tuesday, and in the off-chance that it sticks, I won't be able to see the leaves any more, so who cares?

"How many squad cars do we give a deputy before we put him behind the desk?"

This is just plain ol' cause for concern.

SS Edmund Fitzgerald

Today, November 10th, is the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior; this always puts me in the proper mood to then remember war vets on November 11, Armistice Day, now commonly known as Veterans' Day in honor of those who served in all wars, not just WWI veterans.

To read the full Edmund Fitz story, visit this page.

Pearls of wisdom...straight from an Oyster

Thanks to Erica and her dragon-ness about being a dragoness (I'm kidding! She wasn't horrible at all), I took this quiz. So guess what I am? That's right, an oyster. (Though that pearls of wisdom thing is questionable.)

You're an Oyster!

You don't have a ton of complexity or identity on your own, so you've made an effort to focus on making a nice and sturdy house. It gives you the appearance of being interesting as well as a good place to hide from your critics and those who might expose your secrets. At least you can remind us all of what humble beginnings we've all come from. People associate you with really good crackers.


Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I am also wont to believe that my animal character could change - all depending on my mood. For now, though, I like to think that there are pearls somewhere inside me, and that I hang out with good, friendly crazies.

All confused

I don't go to church on Saturday evenings very often, but I did this weekend, and then slept in on Sunday morning. I am totally confused! I can't figure out what day it is (even though I went to orchestra rehearsal on Sunday night as usual). I think I'll stick with Sunday morning church as much as possible for my own sanity - except when the Vikings play in Minneapolis at noon. (Too much traffic, since the Metrodome is about three blocks away from church, and that is why I went to church on Saturday night in the first place.)