Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Can You Hear Me Now?


It’s becoming a tough week (yes, already) and I just need to take a minute to be sure that I am actually capable of comprehensible speech. 


 Someone help me, I’ve gone from living near ski mountains and ocean to "the home of the testicle festival”.  I admit I’m still, after all this time, a fish out of water in the Midwest.  I knew coming here that there was no ocean, but I was encouraged when I looked at a map and saw all the local lakes.  Sad but resigned to freshwater swimming, I went right back to discouraged when I called the Parks Department to ask which lakes had beaches on them and they laughed at me.  So literally fish out of water.


 I have to keep reminding myself that my kids are from here.  And I’ve really tried to adapt, well at least linguistically.  I’ve even resorted to Midwest speak:

I’ve learned to say “sucker” but I know it’s a lollipop.

I’ve learned to say “pop” but I know it’s soda.


I’ve learned to say “sack” but I know it’s bag.


I’ve learned to say “liquor store” but I know it’s a packie.


I’ve learned to say “sprinkles” but I know it’s jimmies.


I’ve learned to say “marshmallow creme” but I know it’s fluff.


I’ve even tried to say “park” but I can’t, it’s pahhhk (and if my kids don’t know what my cahhh is, they shouldn’t be driving it let alone pahhhking it).


 I did have one other little backslide.  In the name of honesty I have to admit that when Younger Son was in third grade I told his speech therapist that I didn’t mind that he couldn’t say his “R”s, as I’m from New England and I happen to know they’re silent.


 Despite what a waitress once asked me, I’m not from England, I'm from New England.  Been to England, loved it, I'm just not from there. Wherever I’m from, I know that I speak the indigenous language, so it just makes me crazy when I say something and everyone acts as if I haven’t spoken at all.  Here’s another one of my favorites, when I recommend something that’s dismissed, then someone else suggests it and suddenly it’s the best idea ever.  “Hello?”  I know they can hear me.  Younger Son's had multiple surgeries and has been hearing optimally for years.  Older Son was an easygoing and content baby who really only cried when I'd sing, so he obviously hears too.  Then why do I find myself constantly saying: “Hey, I know you speak English, I taught it to you”. 

That’s OK, I’ve got a plan.  I’m going to grab a LOLLIPOP and head out to the PACKIE, bring my BAG home, PAHHHK my CAHHH in the garage, mix my Vanilla Rum with SODA(diet coke, I think), make some Lemonade Cheesecake Cups (using FLUFF), sprinkle them with JIMMIES, and then just for fun, kids, I think I’ll sing.



Lemonade Cheesecake Cups | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe

Lemonade Cheesecake Cups



Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

 Lemonade Cheesecake Cups
                                  ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients, Crust:                                                                            
3 oz cream cheese, softened                            
1 stick butter, softened                                      
1 cup flour                                                           

Ingredients, Filling:                                                                                               
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla 
1 Tbsp powdered sugar                                                                                                         
8 oz cream cheese, softened 
1 pkt pink lemonade Kool-Aid
1 8oz container FLUFF                                                                       
Multicolored JIMMIES or nonpareils
                                                                                           
Directions, Crust:
*Beat cream cheese and butter.  Sir in flour.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.
*Divide dough into (ungreased) mini muffin tins and shape (with back of wooden spoon) into the bottom and up the sides to form 24 cups.
*Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.
*Remove from oven, reshape into cups as needed with back of wooden spoon.  Cool in pan.

Directions, Filling:
*Beat heavy cream till soft peaks form.  Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
*In another bowl, beat cream cheese and kool-aid.  Mix in fluff, when incorporated, mix in whipped cream.
*Pipe filling into cooled crust.  Sprinkle with multicolored jimmies or multicolored nonpareils.


Filling adapted from Confetti Cups by easybaked.net



45 comments:

  1. Oh, I lived in the south for 4 years and there were things I never got used to. Like calling shopping carts buggies, or being asked which button to mash (what? Who mashes buttons?) on the pin pad at the register. And y'all... I cannot STAND that word! I cringe every time I hear it. Plus, they don't know what Taylor Ham is... or even pork roll, which is what Taylor Ham is, in case you didn't know either lol!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You really made me laugh. Never heard of mashing a button and (sorry) don't know what a Taylor Ham or pork roll is, LOL!

      Delete
    2. ROFLOL!!! We are from the South but we definitely love some Taylor Ham!!! Of course, we first had it in Jersey..... LOL
      I say y'all and buggies but never mash! LOL
      Of course, my DH says britches! I kid you not! LOL

      Delete
  2. I am contstantly asked what exotic accent I have. I have had guessed Indonesian, Thai, New Zealand and other exotic ports o callI have never even been near. The banal answer is that my Dad's hearing was damaged flying bombers in WWII - so I grew up learning to enunciate clearly. And that is considered exotic! :)
    What are you going to sing???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's funny. You should say "I speak enunciated English". If I enunciated more my kids would probably think I was having a stroke. I think I'll sing some Evanescence, those high notes get my kids every time.

      Delete
  3. You are just too funny! You know, English is not my native language, but when I was in the USA I lived in the Midwest (Michigan) and people could not tell I had a foreign accent! They could tell I had AN accent just not foreign. I thought it was ridiculous cause I could hear myself sounding NOT like the others. I was once told I had a NY accent! LOL!!! I still laugh about it!.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's like when guessing accents people just say the first thing that comes to mind, whether it makes sense or not. I'm still laughing about the "are you from England" one, too!

      Delete
  4. I'm a Black African-American and I'm often asked, where I'm from, because the way I speak "sounds white". Evidently "white" has it's own accent and dialect as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now that's amazing. Especially since I don't know any 2 white people who sound the same either. Just in my own family, my Mom has a deep New England accent, I've lost most of mine but have a little, my older son speaks "midwest" and my younger son doesn't say "r"s. I can't imagine what "sounds white" would sound like.

      Delete
  5. Wait, I want to read more about going to packie! So many things to get used to. There is only a state liquor store here in Utah. 3 percent beer, or what we like to call, "water", no lovely bottles of wine at the grocery or hard lemonade...You can buy a loaded .38, but not a bottle of Rum. Very hard on a Michigan momma.

    Mark had to go to speech when he was small because he'd say his name was Maaahk. Enunciation-variation is amazing, isn't it?

    It's difficult to find someone here who pronounces their Ts. "Hey, are we skiing the mouw-in?". "Should I buh-in my sweater?" My students would ask,"Hey, Mrs. Marriott (marr-ee-eh), Why do you say all of the letters in words? I'd answer, "Button, Marriott and Mitten have two Ts. All you have to do is say one of them, please!!!" The whole local language.....

    On a positive note, (for me) Cheesecake cups sound divine!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. New Hampshire only had state liquor stores as well, we used to drive an hour and a half to save on beer and wine there. If you can't get liquor how do you make Margaritas, and Mai Tais, and ....

      Delete
    2. Well, the naughty kids kick it over to Wyoming. You can't have kegs in Utah either. In the long, parental run, I understand where they are coming from...In the short run, I'm thrilled that I "experienced" college life outside the bubble. You can get liquor at the State store, but you always walk out looking like you've just sold crack behind the local grocery.

      Delete
  6. ROFLMBO!!!!!!! OMGosh!!!!!
    My DH used to look at me like I was crazy. I said pop and everything was Coke to him! EVERYTHING. Him-You want a Coke? Me-Yeah. Him-What kind? Me-Huh????
    Boil is bull..... Boat and bolt sound alike when he says them.
    To him *I* am Yankee since I was born in WV.... Yeah..
    ROFLOL!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A Yankee? From WV? Not bloody likely, Mate. OOh, now I'm really getting carried away.

      Delete
  7. This one is too funny. I grew up in the Midwest and still live here. I can see where it would be hard for you coming from New England to the Midwest. Like two different worlds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VERY well put, it is exactly like two different worlds. I'm just glad that even though my kids live in one, they are just as comfortable in the other.

      Delete
  8. You're amazing you know? though you always make me hungry!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right back at ya. You're always good for a laugh, although for some reason that sounds insulting, LOL!

      Delete
  9. Ha ha ha. Came over from Mommy Has a Headache. Imagine what it was like for this Brit moving to the mid-west, after a year in Dallas. Man, I didn't realise there were so many accents in the USA. I have to say though, that every time I'm in Boston, I can't believe they really talk like that. I'm so used to the MidWest accent now that it almost sounds like I'm on a film set in the NE.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL I can't believe everyone DOESN'T talk like that!

      Delete
  10. Had to laugh about your pop vs. soda comment. I'm from Nebraska. We call it pop. To us, soda is the white stuff you put in your refrigerator to keep it smelling fresh. Funny thing is, my sister and her family live in St. Louis. They call it soda. She always snickers when I call it pop. Funny how regionalisms strike us when we are fish out of water.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, that's baking soda. Completely different animal!

      Delete
  11. Ok, you just made me truly laugh out loud! You gave me a visit today on my blog (german onion and bacon torte) and so I thought I would return the favor. I enjoyed your post so much I think I will stay here and keep reading :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, you made my day. I gave you a laugh and you gave me a big ear-to-ear smile!

      Delete
  12. You are so funny...I can totally 'heahh' you saying 'pahhk'...haha...this is the sort of post that makes you want to come back over and over again....thank you for sharing at our first HAPPY HOUR FRIDAY linky party...xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gotta laugh, especially if you have kids. And hey, don't let me stop you, feel free to come back over and over again!

      Delete
  13. Love it! That's how you stick it to them!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lol and Yum! These look great! I moved from Canada to New Jersey for seven years and then to the UK for several. My youngest came back to Canada with an English/Bronx accent, which means no one could understand a thing she said! Love your blog, I'll be back!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An English/Bronx accent sounds sort of like the unicorn of accents. She'd be lucky if anyone understood her!

      Delete
  15. Your post totally cracked me up. Love your writing style. These cookies look so yummy :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Funny, funny post!! I sympathize with you about the silent 'R's. I refuse to roll my R's too and my son laughs at me about that all the time!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad you found it funny. Those kids get to me but every now and then I can get them back!

      Delete
  17. I love these sooo much. And you make me laugh! I felt the same way when I lived in AZ for a few years. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think everyone who's moved around has had to deal with the changes in speech, but at least we get to laugh about it!

      Delete
  18. So funny!! I loved reading your post. Thanks so much for linking up your recipe to Tasty Thursdays on The Mandatory Mooch. I hope you will link up again. The party will be live tomorrow night. www.mandatorymooch.blogspot.com

    Thanks, Nichi

    ReplyDelete
  19. I've only moved from NY to CT but still can't get used to grinder instead of hero or sub. your post made me laugh so flipping hard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, "sub" for me too. SO glad you laughed, whether it was at me or with me!

      Delete
  20. Oh I understand ya Bub! Hubs is a Jersey Boy, kids speak Mainah/Jersey, I am a Valley Girl! I needed a translator for the first year that we lived in Maine, still don't know what the painters were talking about when I was redoing my house. Ya De-ah, put a Bendah oit....what the hell does that mean, are you going to paint my walls or Like FER SERE totally radical dude???? xxoo Nettie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're in my "neck of the woods", I would have been happy to have come to Maine and translated for you. After finding myself a lobstah that is!

      Delete
  21. I hear you loud and clear! I grew up on thr coast of England, moved to Maryland 6 years ago and now live in Texas. Its a different world! I have been asked if I am from Australia, New York, Wales, Pennsylvania, South Africa, New Zealand and every other place that is not even close to England. When people find out that I am in fact from England, the first two questions asked are 'Do you know the Queen?' And 'Oooh! Do you know Tom Smith, Gary Richards (etc etc)'

    ReplyDelete

Warning: Comment at your own risk. I have Comment Moderation, meaning I approve all comments before they show up here. So go ahead, I'm not scared!