Orange is the New Eight: Use Your Words

 

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: my friend Diane and I picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases to submit to each other to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. Both posts will be unique as we each have our own set of words we're working with.

At the end of this post, you'll find the link to Diane's post, be sure to check it out, see what words I sent her and how she used them.

I'm using:  outline ~ omniprescent ~ orange ~ open ~ oops



                          

It's the middle of October, and I have to say, I think the Romans got it wrong. Because, although maybe the Romans never saw Halloween coming, there is now no doubt that is actually the month of orange. Omniprescent, ubiquitous orange.

But looking a little deeper into the meaning behind the naming of the months, it seems those Romans got it wrong for more reasons than just pumpkins and costumes. I mean, October is the 10th month, but its name comes from octo, the Roman word for the number 8.

Ummm . . . oops?

Actually, it seems October was originally the 8th month. 

Huh?

The calendar year was 10 months long, only 3o4 days, and started with Martius (March). The other 61 days, basically winter, they chose to ignore. And honestly, if you live anywhere but the south, you totally get that. Well, in the hoping that ignoring it will make it go away aspect.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have worked.

So, curious, I decided to take a look at all of the months, and how they were named.

First, once, I guess, they realized they couldn't wish winter away, the late editions:

January, after Janus, the god of beginnings, transitions, and endings.

February, after Februa, the festival of purification.

the original ten:

March, after Mars, the god of war.

April, from the word aprilis a reference to spring and the opening of flowers.

May, after Maiesta, the goddess of honor.

June, after Juno, the goddess of marriage, unions, birth, childcare . . . and finance, cows, and peacocks, although I don't really get the relationship . . .

July, after Julius Caesar. 

August, after the emperor Augustus.

and here's where they lost their inspiration, or maybe just got lazy:

September, from septem, the number seven.

October, from octo, the number eight.

November, from novem, the number nine.

December, from decem, the number ten.

As long as I'm advocating a name change for October, may as well admit, there are a few other months that could use a new identity. My outline for the calendar refresh:

January, I can live with the month of a new year being named after the god of beginnings, transitions, and endings.

Freezing, because it's too cold for a festival of purification.

Magical, instead of honoring the god of war, I say we honor leprechauns.

April, I'm totally on board with celebrating when flowers open.

May, can't argue with honoring honor.

June, nor can I argue with honoring a goddess of marriage, unions, child birth and child care.

Jubilee, forget Caesar, it's America's birthday.

Aurous, forget Augustus too, I say we name this month after the golden days of summer.

Sepia, instead of naming the 9th month after the number 7, let's go with celebrating the fall leaves. 

Orange, instead of naming the 10th month after the number 8, it's orange everything for the win.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Nourish, instead of naming the 11th month after the number 9, I choose nourish in this month of family time and Thanksgiving. 

Deplete, instead of naming the 12th month after the number 10, let's just acknowledge the year end state of our wallets.

Oh, and while we're talking about months, let me just remind you about the day. Don't cross paths with a black cat, or walk under any ladders, it's Friday the 13th. 

Hmmm, Friday . . . the names of the days of the week, wonder if they need a little updating too . . .

 

Here's the link to Diane's Use Your Words posts:

On the Border

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cream cheese baking chips

1/4 cup Speculoos cookie butter

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup sugar

3/4 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice blend 

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 baking pan.

*Crush the baking chips in a food processor or a clean coffee grinder. Set aside.

*In a large bowl, warm the Speculoos in the microwave for about 10 seconds, just until it is loose enough to whisk. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, crushed baking chips, 1 cup of the sugar and brown sugar. Once incorporated, whisk in 3 eggs.

*Mix in the flour, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Pour evenly into the prepared baking pan.

*Beat the softened cream cheese, the remaining egg, the remaining sugar and the cinnamon until fluffy. Pour onto the pumpkin batter.

*Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until cooked through. Cool completely before slicing.

A Plague, an Apple, and Science

 

The plague, an apple, and science.

 

If we were playing Jeopardy right now, you could ring your buzzer and, forming your response in a question, say "What inspired Isaac Newton?" 

 

Why am I bringing up Isaac Newton? Blame the plague. No, not his bubonic plague, our Coronavirus.

 

It's October, a month that always brought me joy in the past. I loved playing with my food, from my Jack-O-Lantern Treat Bowls and Mocha Mummies snacks, to Snake Sandwich lunches and Bloody Fingers dinners to Individual Mummy Pies and Billy the Puppet Cake deserts. Part of it was the fun inspiration October brings, but the biggest joy was seeing the looks on the faces of my kids and their friends. Then, when you thought it couldn't possibly get any better, the month culminated in the parade of children in costumes right at my front door.

 

That changed in the past few years. First my boys had the unmitigated gall to go and grown up. Without the reaction, playing with my food became less fun. Then last year Covid forced a change in Halloween itself. This year I'm pretty sure I won't be passing out candy to unmasked kids of unvaccinated parents.

 

Enter Isaac Newton. Or really, I should say, enter the apple. Bringing along some interesting parallels and a new direction for my October recipes.

 

Caramel Apple Bundt Cake

 

Don't be surprised if I revert to a fun Halloween themed recipe or two. And although I promise not to focus only on pumpkin, there may be a couple of those making an October appearance as well. But for this year, Fall has me thinking more along the lines of apple. Inspired by Sir Isaac.

 

Newton was born in England in the 1600s. His father had a sheep farm and was successful, but he died before Isaac was even born. His mother remarried and moved away when he was 3, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother, until his mother's second husband died and she returned, with Isaac's half siblings. 

 

It was to that sheep farm that Isaac returned when Cambridge University closed down due to the plague. The result was a little home schooling of the bonked-on-the-head-by-an-apple variety. His visit to the homestead not only inspired his thoughts about gravity and motion, in which the seeds of the entire study of physics grew, but calculus as well (for which I decidedly would not have thanked him during my own college years, btw).

Besides being raised in an unconventional family situation, having his education interrupted by a plague, benefiting from a belief in reality and science, there's another interesting correlation between Newton's life and what's going on in our country now. Seems he knew a thing or two about building walls. But unlike the self-proclaimed builder of walls here, and in the spirit of Newton's third law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, he's been credited with the quote "we build too many walls and not enough bridges."  

 

The apple tree on Woolsthorpe Manor is still there, by the way, over 400 years old and, I'd imagine, still able to provide respite from the plague, and a reminder to respect science. Perhaps it should have some visitors from our side of the pond, I can think of a few American politicians (a whole party of them, in fact) who might benefit from a good old fashioned scientific bonk on the head.

Caramel Apple Bundt Cake         

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup apple juice

1 packet (.74 oz) instant caramel apple cider

10 caramel apple flavored lollipops

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 cup oil

4 eggs

1/4 cup cinnamon baking chips

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
*Heat the apple juice in the microwave for 2 minutes. Whisk the caramel apple cider mix into the juice until dissolved. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a nonstick bundt pan.

*Crush the caramel apple pops and discard the sticks.

*Once the cider mix has cooled, set aside 2 TBSP for the glaze, then beat the rest, along with the cake mix, oil, and eggs for 2 minutes. Mix in the cinnamon baking chips and about 2/3 of the crushed caramel apple candy.

*Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the center springs back to the touch. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, run a knife around the edges and remove to cool completely.

*Mix the remaining cider mix with the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the cooled cake and immediately top with the remaining chopped candy, pressing in gently to hold.

Facets of Fear: Word Counters

Counting my words again. 

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month one group member picks a number between 12 and 74. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we all share what we came up with.

 The October number is 68. 
It was chosen by Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings.

As I've been doing in these Word Counters posts, I've chosen a theme and am using my word count multiple times in keeping with the theme. This month I've chosen the theme Facets of Fear.

~ I'm writing about fear today, it is October after all. This month is associated with fear, thanks in part to Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Chucky (to name a few). Not to mention the fact that I'll never hear a chainsaw without the hair on the back of my neck standing up. But fear isn't just for October, there are many facets of fear in our everyday life.

~ Loss: this is probably one of the most painful fears we have. We all fear loss of many different types, from small and annoying to huge and devastating. I just bought my son renter's insurance, which is actually fear of loss of our belongings, a smaller loss in the scheme of things. The most powerful fear is the death of a loved one. Cancer sucks, by the way.

~ Change: also known as fear of the unknown. There is reassurance in the status quo. Many people are actively fearful of almost any change, find comfort in what we know, the routines that keep us organized, the way things work for us. Change can bring on anxiety, extreme anxiety for some. Anxiety is not fear, but is often a byproduct of it, making this fear a real threat.

~ Stagnation: just as change brings about anxiety, there are also many circumstances in which we fear being stuck in a rut. Same old, same old only takes us so far. We need to grow, to open ourselves to new experiences. Stagnation in a relationship can bring it to an end. 

And who wants to eat the same things every night? Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Shrimp and Scallop Bake

~ Scary movies: I'm convinced that scary movies are fear's version of fun. This is the kind of fear I started this post referring to. It's terror, but not real terror, not for more than a few minutes, anyway. We may very well jump out of our seats, scream out loud, so it's real fear, but it's immediately followed by a laugh, realization that it's all just make believe.

~ Real life creepy crawlies: lions and tigers and bears, nope (brave statement since I've never come face to face with them outside cage at the zoo). Spiders, now that'll do it for me. Not only will we scream, but we'll run (and if you're anything like me you run till you drop), and unlike the Hollywood version of fear, and we'll never follow it up with a laugh. 

~ Others: This fear makes me the saddest, and the angriest, because it's the basis for bigotry. We designate people to groups based on nothing but our own ignorance, on what makes them different from us: their religion or looks, or politics or sexual identity . . . We should only assign value (in terms of whether or not we want them in our lives) by their actions and their character. Period.

~ Ourselves: This is a destructive fear. It's self doubt, insecurity. Truth is, the vast majority of mothers I know have suffered from the paralyzing fear of doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing to our children, often resulting in overthinking the situation. It's the fear of being the cause of harm to those we love. If only we could all go back and reassure our past selves. 

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

Messymimi’s Meanderings 
On the Border 

Shrimp and Scallop Bake

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2# large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1# sea scallops

1 1/2 cups broccoli florets

1/4 cup olive oil

3 TBSP cooking sherry

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp dried parsley

3 cloves minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste 

1/4 cup melted garlic and herb butter spread

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs 

2/3 cup crushed Ritz crackers

 

sliced lemon for serving 

Directions:
*Pat the shrimp and scallops as dry as you can. Place in a large bowl with the broccoli.

*Whisk together the olive oil, sherry, lemon juice, parsley, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Add to the bowl with the seafood and broccoli and stir to coat all of the ingredients.

*Grease a 9 X 13 baking dish. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

*Mix the seafood again, then distribute evenly into the prepared casserole dish.

*In the same large bowl, mix together the melted butter spread, parmesan, breadcrumbs, and cracker crumbs. Sprinkle on top of the fish and broccoli.

*Bake for 25 minutes or until the shrimp and scallops are cooked through. The shrimp will be pink and the scallops will be opague.

*Serve with slices of lemon.

Taking Orange Back

It's October. Yeah, yeah, you know. 

Did you also know it's officially Halloween month? Calendar got you thinking Halloween's a day? Nope. Stores got you thinking it's 2 months? Nope. Food bloggers got you thinking it's 3 months? Nope. It's one month, and this is it.

I've always said on this blog that I wouldn't be publishing Halloween recipes or posts in any month but October, but once we hit October, all bets are off. In past years, many of my posts in this month were Halloween themed, and so were the recipes. This year things are going to be a little different, to some degree because of what's been going on all around us, but especially in this country, but also because of my personal circumstances. 

Unless you've been living under a rock (and even if you have been) you know that we all have to make unique decisions this year. Do we allow our kids to go door to door talking to and taking candy from so many people? Do we open our doors and hand out candy?

Good news: it's the one day in the past 7 months that no one should be selfishly screaming that wearing masks usurp their right to infect the innocent.
Bad news: what are the odds that we'll be opening our doors to an innocent covid carriers? 

But slow down, slow down, when it comes to Halloween, first things first. We've got some business to take care of. The month of All Hallows Eve has had its iconic color usurped, and we must stake our claim.

Yes, the color orange has been hijacked. Ironically, by a demon.

Orange has had its . . . associations . . . focused elsewhere of late:

Cheeto Benito, Orange Julius, Agent Orange, Carrot Catastrophe, Tangerine Tornado (hey, I resent that one), Tangerine Tyrant, Petulant Pumpkin, Mango Mussolini, Peach Plutocrat, Nectarine Nero, we've heard them all. 


But you're just going to have to back off, orange one, we're taking our color back. For the month of October anyway. You can start painting your face again in November.

That little bit of business done, I want to talk about my October plans this year. Most of my posts won't be Halloween oriented and not all of my recipes will be either. The joy of Halloween for me has always been in the faces of the children, the looks of awe when I present them Bloody Fingers for lunch or a Witch's Caldron Giant Cookie snack is priceless. I don't have any little ones around any more, and I really don't have my older kids (and favorite recipe taste testers) around much either. So although I'll stick to my publishing schedule, there will be few Halloween based posts and way less Halloween themed recipes. 

That doesn't mean that I don't have them to share, though. My last round up was called Halloween: 35 Baking In A Tornado recipes, and if you click on that link you're bound to find something fun. 

For Fall and pumpkin themed recipes that are not necessarily for Halloween, my Fall Harvest Crack is as addicting as . . . crack, and my Pumpkin Boston Cream Poke Cake is . . . wait for it . . . to die for. All of my recipes can be found on my Recipe Box page, and there are sections specifically for Halloween Treats and Halloween Savory.

For today's recipe, let me just say that the older I get, the more I see the value of easing into things. So for this, my first Covid October post, I'm sharing a side dish (which I actually eat as a meal) that's orange, but doesn't scream Halloween. In fact, this would be a great side dish for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or really, any day. It comes together quickly, cooking the components in the microwave, and it features the sweet of the potato, a little bite from the parmesan, smokiness from the cumin, topped with salty bacon bits. Win, win, win, win.

Stuffed Maple Parmesan Sweet Potatoes

But, spoiler alert, for the recipe included in my next post, you're getting bats! 

Stuffed Maple Parmesan Sweet Potatoes      

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes
1/3 cup Parmesan ranch salad dressing
2 TBSP maple syrup
1 TBSP honey
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets 
1/4 cup bacon bits

Directions:
*Rinse, dry and pierce sweet potatoes with a fork. Cook in either the microwave or oven until soft all the way through to the center when pierced with a fork. Set aside.
*Cook the broccoli florets for about 2 minutes in the microwave, until soft but not mushy. Set aside.
*Whisk together the salad dressing, maple syrup, honey and cumin in a bowl. Remove 1/4 cup and set aside.
*Slice open the sweet potatoes and, leaving about 1/4 inch of the flesh on the skin, scoop the center flesh into the bowl with the sauce and whisk together, then spoon back into the sweet potatoes.
*Top the sweet potatoes with broccoli, drizzle with the remaining sauce, and sprinkle with bacon bits.

It's October!

It’s October and Halloween build-up is officially on.  I’ve been seeing huge bags of assorted candy in the stores since August.  I saw my neighbors start to put out their Halloween yard art in September.  But I have a hard and fast rule: no Halloween anything until October.  But now it’s October: Unleash the kraken (always wanted to say that but anyone know what it means?).  It’s all out, full on Halloween season.  There’s a chance that I may not do much complaining about my kids in my posts this month.  I’m just too busy this time of year. 

Front door crime scene

When my kids were little, I’d have Halloween treats daily, decorations all over the place, a costume party at the house for all their friends with treats and crafts and games (OK, and maybe adult drinks for the parents).  I was not just a Room Mom for both of their classroom Halloween parties, but was usually assigned Head Room Mom (literally running back and forth between the two parties).  I would dress in costume at the school, and again for whatever adult parties Rick and I were going to that year.  In later years, when my boys had outgrown school parties I would fill the basement with home-made treats and kids would pour in.  We could have 40 kids down there (but at least I knew where they were).

Now I have no excuse, so I make no excuses.  My boys are older and have outgrown Halloween to a great extent (although they still think they should ring a few select doorbells and grab some candy just for old time’s sake).  Unfortunately for them, their Mom hasn’t quite caught up.  I haven’t outgrown Halloween and wonder if I ever will.  On October 1^st I decorate the house and start baking.  For the past few years I’ve driven all of my FB friends crazy posting pictures, two and three times a week, of whatever Halloween treats had caught my attention and been attempted in my kitchen.  My sister put it best:  “you sure know how to amuse yourself this time of year”.

On your mark.  Get set.  GO!  Let the amusement begin.  You certainly won’t hear my kids (or their friends) complain.

Towards the end of the month, if the boys are going to have kids over on Halloween, we vote for our favorite treats from the month and that’s what I make for Halloween night.  A few times a week this month I’ll share some of the all-time favorites that win every year, and some of the new favorites that will make the cut for next year.  Here’s one of Older Son’s favorites from years past, it’s a mini cookie we call "Candy Corn” Poppers:

“Candy Corn” Poppers

Happy October!

"Candy Corn" Poppers
                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 
Use either your favorite cut-out cookie dough or use a pouch of store bought sugar cookie mix, mixed with: 5 ½ Tbsp butter (softened), 1 egg and 1 Tbsp of flour until it forms a dough.
Yellow food coloring
Orange food coloring
3 Tbsp baking cocoa

Directions:
*Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap so that the wrap spills over all ends of the pan.
*Divide the dough into thirds.  To one third, add the orange food coloring, to one third add the baking cocoa and the other third you can leave as is or add yellow food coloring.
*As best you can roll out the orange dough between sheets of plastic wrap until approx. the size of the loaf pan.
*Put this dough into the bottom of the pan.  Manipulate it so it covers the bottom of the pan in an even layer.
*Roll out the brown dough in the same way.  Place gently on top of the orange dough. Get it as even as you can, but don’t press down. You don’t want the colors to mix, you want one on top of the other.
*Repeat with the yellow dough.  Refrigerate 1 ½ hours until firm.  I often just do this the day before.

*When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Take dough out and cut into  slices about ¼ inch thick.  Lay each slice flat and cut at an angle so you’re making small triangles:

*Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Cookies will hold their shape better if you put them into the fridge on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before you bake.

*Bake 6-7 minutes.  Watch them, don’t let them get brown.  Cool one minute, then remove from cookie sheet.