Look Again: Monthly Poetry Group

 

Last Friday of the month is for
Monthly Poetry Group to rhyme.
Diane, Mimi, and I take turns,

Through a Looking Glass, the theme this time.

 

As usual, today I'll try,

a poem to write . . . or fudge.

Whether I'm successful or not,

you get to be the judge.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look Again

If I looked through a looking glass

what would I see?

Seems to be an older woman,

looking back at me. 

My curly hair is going grey,

some wrinkles on my face,

squinting to see clearly, I'm 

aging without much grace.

I may eat a bit too much,

I'm exercising less.

Not putting enough effort into,

new styles, when I dress.

 

S'mores Ice Cream Pie

But instead of just looking,

and judging what I see,

if I went through the looking glass,

might I disagree?

If I went through that looking glass,

could it set me free?

A whole new perspective,

now what would that be?

Viewing myself differently,

perchance I would see,

each line and grey's a lesson,

it's OK to look like me.

 

Before you go, stop by these blogs for more poetry:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings

 

S'mores Ice Cream Pie

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
5 graham crackers

5 chocolate graham crackers

3 TBSP sugar

5 TBSP butter, melted

3 cups chocolate ice cream

4 chocolate covered graham cracker cookies

2/3 cup mini marshmallows

3/4 cup heavy cream

2 tsp powdered sugar

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 small chocolate bar, shaved

6 regular sized marshmallows, halved

Directions:

*Grease a 10 inch deep dish pie plate. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

*Crush the graham crackers and the chocolate graham crackers. Mix with the sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom and partially up the sides of the pie plate. Bake for 6 minutes, refrigerate to cool completely.

*Once the crust has cooled, place the ice cream in a large bowl and set aside on the counter for about 15 minutes to start to soften.

*While the ice cream is softening, chop the cookies, cut the mini marshmallows in half and set aside.

*Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder and whip until firm peaks hold.

*Mix the chopped cookies and mini marshmallows into the ice cream, then fold in the whipped cream and pour into the crust.

*Decorate with the chocolate shavings and marshmallow halves. Freeze for an hour before serving. Store leftovers, covered, in the freezer.

 

 

Deferred Maintenance: 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 50. 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. 

 This month's number is 43. 

It was chosen by Diane of On the Border!

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'm talking about Deferred Maintenance.

~ It was late, I shut my tablet, Hubs closed his laptop. When heading upstairs, I heard him mutter about "deferred maintenance."

~ I'm self-conscious on a good day. Between aging and having been isolated during Covid, he was right, I'd let myself go.

~ Looks aren't paramount in life, but I used to feel good when looking my best. Not THE best, but my best.

~ When did I last shave my legs, tweeze my eyebrows? And pulling out the grey hairs will soon leave bald spots . . .

~ Maybe I could be a little less . . . ahem . . . aggressive . . . with taste testing responsibilities when baked goods are the day's recipe attempt.

Very Berry Bundt Cake

~ Next morning over coffee, he broached the dreaded subject. "Deferred maintenance," he said. Should I start with an apology? Action plan?

~ "Every six years the assessor's office requires us fill out a form. You know, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, a finished basement."

~ "They also ask about deferred maintenance. All I can think of is we really need to replace some windows. Anything else?"

 

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Very Berry Bundt Cake         
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 TBSP sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

1/4 cup sour cream

3 eggs

1/4 cup blackberries, quartered

1/4 cup raspberries, halved

1/2 cup blueberries

2 TBSP blueberry jam

1/2 cup chopped strawberries

2 TBSP strawberry jam

3 TBSP flour, divided

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bundt pan. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle all over the inside of the pan, all the way up the center and sides.

*Beat the cake mix, milk, oil, sour cream, and eggs for 2 minutes. Move approximately 1/4 of the batter into a clean bowl and about another1/4 of the batter into a third bowl.

*Toss the blackberries and raspberries with 1 TBSP of the flour. Fold into the 1/4 of the batter and pour evenly into the prepared pan.

*Toss the blueberries with another TBSP of flour. Fold into the original bowl, holding about 1/2 of the batter, along with the blueberry jam, and spoon into the pan.

*Toss the strawberries with the remaining TBSP of flour. Fold into the last bowl of batter along with the strawberry jam, and spoon into the pan.

*Bake for about 35 - 45 minutes, until the center springs back to the touch. Allow to sit in the pan for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges and removing from the pan to cool completely.

Gerrymandered Domestic Tranquility: Use Your Words

 

 

 

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. All of the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s  participating knows who got their words and in what direction the recipient will take them. Until now. 

 

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.

I'm using:  absolute ~ blanket ~ gerrymander ~ steel ~ relief
They were submitted by Diane of On the Border.

 

 

I just want to say, for the record, that this won't be a political post, despite the fact that these words catapult me right into a political mindset.

 

It's not that I don't talk about politics on this blog all the time, you know I do. But I need to lighten it up a bit, for my own sake. 

 

OK, so maybe I just need to get it out of my system, then we'll move on: As we were nearing the midterms, the level of voter suppression (we had an initiative on our ballot in this state that is thinly veiled voter suppression) and gerrymandering became so terrifying, there were days when the news has me feeling like going to bed with a bottle of absolut(e), pulling the blanket over my head, and staying there until Thanksgiving. All members of the cult that the republican party has become belong behind steel bars. I think that day is coming for many of those politicians, and when (if?) right is reestablished over wrong, it will be a relief.

 

Sorry, just felt like that had to be said.

 

Now back to our previously scheduled program . . . a PSA of sorts. About gerrymandering of a different sort, and women's right to control their bodies. And no, I'm not talking politics, I'm talking domestic tranquility. With a little helpful advice to men.

Let me start by saying, no matter what we feel about aging, and how our bodies change, and even some of the ways we can exhibit some level of control over those changes, it is the absolute truth that we're all aging. And as steely as our resolve may be to fight the process, there are some aspects we're going to experience.

So some sage advice to the husbands out there, especially those whose wives do the cooking . . .

 
                       

 

Pear and Feta Bites

. . . there will come a time when you'll notice a redistricting of sorts. In the bedroom. 

 

I'm talking about that dreaded time when women's internal thermometers go on the fritz. You know what I mean (and if you don't yet, you will). It is during that time, in constant search of fleeting relief, that the normal borders of your blanket will be gerrymandered. Redistricted. Continuously. Up, down, up, down, on the bed, off the bed, at the foot of the bed, over your head.  

 

And you have no vote in the matter.

 

So, if you want to keep eating, it is my advice that you allow the rather constant blanket redistricting. Because an exhausted wife benefits no one. So, in support of her, you have a difficult decision to make. Do you want to sleep? Or eat? 

 

 

Here are links to all the other Use Your Words posts:

On the Border 

The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver 

Climaxed

Part-time Working Hockey Mom 

Pear and Feta Bites

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 small red pear

3 TBSP shelled pecans

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 TBSP apricot jam

12 wonton wrappers

 

1 TBSP olive oil

Directions:

*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the wells of a 12 count mini muffin pan with non stick spray.

*Core, skin, and chop the pair. Place in a mixing bowl.

*Chop the pecans and add to the bowl along with the feta.

*Add the apricot jam and mix well. 

*Gently press the center of each wonton wrapper into each of the 12 mini muffin wells.

*Divide the filling into the center of the wonton wrappers. For each wonton, dip your finger into water, wet all of the wrapper edges, and pinch the edges in to enclose the filling.

*Spray of brush the tops with olive oil

*Bake for 25 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

Reboot: September Monthly Poetry Group

 

 

 

 

Last Friday of the month is for

Monthly Poetry Group to rhyme.

Diane, Mimi, and I take turns,

"Reboot" is the theme this time.

 

As usual, today I'll try,

a poem to write . . . or fudge.

Whether I'm successful or not,

you get to be the judge.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reboot

The elderly man was worried,

forgetting things all the time.

Keeping track of belongings,

was a daily mountain to climb.

 

The more he thought about it,

felt his brain needed a reboot.

He'd always had a great memory,

now he felt like an old coot.

 

He'd play his daily word games,

Phrazle, Wordle, more than one.

Keeping his brain exercised,

could actually be quite fun.

 

And since his wife had passed away,

there was more for him to do.

But it kept his mind occupied,

there's value in that too.

On this particular morning,

memory really getting him down,

"I'll do errands, pick up muffins,

might be good to go into town."

 

Bananas Foster Muffins

 

 

 

Went into a few different stores,

glad to put his troubles aside.

One last store he entered, 

the selection kept him occupied. 

When from behind he heard it,

"Reboot?" someone had asked.

His memory? How could they know?

Wanted to get out of there . . . and fast.

"Reboot?" This time he turned around,

the questioner's eyes to meet.

Realized the salesman was looking,

not at his head, but his feet.

 

Before you go, stop by these blogs for more Collections poetry:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings

 

 

Bananas Foster Muffins        

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 TBSP butter

1 banana

1 TBSP cookie butter (speculoos)

1 TBSP spiced rum

6 TBSP oil

2 TBSP cookie butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup banana yogurt

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

 

3 TBSP caramel sauce

Directions:
*Grease the top of a 12 well muffin tin and either grease or add liners to the wells. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

*Slice the banana into about 1/2 inch slices. Cut each slice in quarters.

*Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the banana. Cook, stirring now and then, for 2 minutes. Mix in 1 TBSP cookie butter and the rum. Stir for one more minute, remove from heat, and set aside.

*Whisk together the oil, remaining cookie butter, and brown sugar. Once incorporated, whisk in the egg, buttermilk, and yogurt.

*Separately, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

*Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk together. Fill the muffin cups with the batter.

*Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the muffin tin from the oven, but leave the oven on. Quickly spoon the banana mixture onto the tops of the muffins. Return to the oven and bake for another 8 minutes.

*Leave in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, remove, drizzle with the caramel sauce and allow to cool.

Homer Did It: 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 50. 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. 

This month's number is 30. It was chosen by Me!

 

 

 

 

 

Most often with these Word Counters posts, I choose a theme and use my word count multiple times in keeping with the theme. This month I'm doing it a little differently, I'm telling a true story, it's a mystery. Don't worry, I'll let you know who-done-it.

~ One year ago, almost to the day, I wrote this Word Counters post: It's A Mystery. I talked, as I often do, about my love of mystery shows and novels.

 

~ I also lamented about how, as I age, there's little mystery to the homespun who-done-its around here. It's me. Today I'm sharing a story, about a recent mystery. 

 

~ I wake up earlier in the morning than I'd like to. There are things I do every morning, to open up the house and prepare for the day. First, coffee.

 

~ This day, I grabbed my coffee and started my daily routine. In the hallway, I opened the window, in the den, unplugged my laptop, in the office, opened the blinds.

~ Started a wash in the laundry room, then into the kitchen, to prep food for recipes I'd make later. Needed a sip of coffee, of course, but it was gone!

Martini Chicken

 

~ Gone? No way! I looked everywhere in that kitchen, but it was nowhere. Alright, retrace my steps. The hallway? No coffee. The laundry room? No coffee. The office? No coffee.

~ As I was leaving the office, I walked by Homer. Yes, Simpson. Although I can't claim him as a dependent on my taxes, he resides here, a squatter of sorts.

 

~When the boys were younger (a lot), they went through a Simpsons phase. But then don't we all? Somehow, at some point, they ended up with a blow-up Homer.

 

~ Was it maybe a freebee associated with a Simpsons movie? Anyway, the boys put him in the office on a counter stool, and there he's resided. For like fifteen years. 

~ Was Homer in a bad mood? Woke up on the wrong side of the chair, thought he'd enjoy watching my frantic search?

Or, like me, maybe Homer just needed coffee.

 

 

Here are links to the 

other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Martini Chicken        
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 box (12 oz) rigatoni

1 TBSP olive oil 

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, chopped

1/4 cup onion, chopped

3/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper 

3 TBSP gin

2 TBSP vermouth (can substitute dry white wine)

1/3 cup lemon lime soda

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk 

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 cup pimento stuffed green olives, drained

 

Directions:

*In a large pot, cook the rigatoni to al dente. Drain and keep warm.

*Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and the onion, sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the chicken is cooked through.

*Once the chicken is cooked, add the gin, vermouth, and soda to the pan. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 2 minutes.

*Add the evaporated milk and lemon zest. Return to a boil, lower the heat slightly and simmer, stirring gently, for 5 minutes. Add the pasta and olives. Gently stir for 1 more minute.