Finale: Your Superpower Monthly Poetry Group

 

 

Last Friday of the month is for

Monthly Poetry Group to rhyme.

Diane, Mimi, and I take turns,

Your Superpower, 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.  

Finale

Superpowers are fluid things

often changing throughout life,

Quite different when single,

than as a mom and wife.

College found me taking tests,

with hardly any sleep.

My superpower? Partying,

and yet, good grades, I'd keep.

Marriage and moving far away,

to where I'd not fit in,

Sometimes superpower can be,

just not giving in.

IVF, loss, and pregnancy,

the struggle, it was real.

Superpower in those years:

making mind and body heal.

When raising babies, some days,

wonder how we all stay alive.

My superpower in that time:

setting each of us up to thrive.

Family life frequently changes,

I later had time for me.

Exploring possibilities . . .

what would my superpower be?

Blogging was the answer,

recipe development too.

Writing something from the heart,

and creating yummies too.

  

 

Celebrate Anything Cake

My superpower in those years,

creating a blog community.

Developing, running challenges,

cultivating support and unity.

Eleven and a half years gone by,

done more than I planned to do.

Blog superpower's run its course,

though I'll miss all of you.

A superpower needn't be,

something way over the top.

Today it's just as simple as,

saying it's time to stop.

 

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

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings

 

Celebrate Anything Cake

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups birthday cake ice cream

1 box (15.25 oz) white cake mix

1/2 cup oil

4 egg whites

2/3 cup vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup multicolored nonpareils

1/4 cup multicolored sprinkles

1 cup frosted animal cookies, crushed

1 can (12 oz) whipped white or buttercream frosting

2 - 3 drops food coloring of your choice

1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting

OPT: additionals cookies, nonpareils, sprinkles, and/or sugar pearls for decoration

Directions:

*Defrost the ice cream.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch cake pans.

*Beat the melted ice cream, cake mix, oil, egg whites, and yogurt for 2 minutes. Mix in the nonpareils and sprinkles. Spread evenly into the cake pans.

*Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the centers spring back to the touch. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans and cool completely.

*Place the bottom layer onto a serving plate. 

*Mix a few drops of food coloring into the whipped white or buttercream frosting. Reserve 1/3 cup of this frosting in a piping bag and refrigerate.

*Frost the bottom layer with half of the remaining whipped frosting. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the chopped cookies, add the second layer and repeat with the remaining whipped frosting and chopped cookies.

*Add the top later. Frost the top and sides with the vanilla frosting. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

*Decorate the top and sides with the reserved whipped topping and the edible decorations of your choice.

Eclipsed: 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:  natural ~ nice ~ nothing ~ noodle ~ neoprene


                          

I have absolutely no idea how this group of words made me think of the first time I bought myself a new car, but that's what popped into my head, so I'm going with it.

Before this time, from literally the day I got my license, my dad had always bought my cars, ones he picked out (and I loved, btw). But now I was out of school, working, and looking to buy a brand new car, chosen (yay) and funded (boo) by me.

I had my handy dandy little notebook of facts, whatever facts you could get in what was just before a time when Google was at everyone's fingertips. But before I ventured out to the car lots, I wanted more, a little insight into the process. I mean, we've all heard the stories about car salesmen being sharks, as we, the consumers, wade into their territorial waters.

I'm not saying their reputation is fact, definitely not. Truth is, one of my closest friends, Mark, bought, worked on, and sold used cars. And I had all the trust and respect in him that I did any other friend. He was genuinely a really nice guy.

At the time, Mark had many cars, but mostly drove a Javelin, a car he loved. It had a standard transmission, something I didn't know how to drive. Mark decided that he'd not only teach me, but on the Javelin.

I did fine until he had me stop going up a steep hill. When he told me to start again, I couldn't get the clutch/gas ratio right and the car kept rolling back while I both gave it too much gas and dragged the clutch. Deciding that nothing said I needed to know how to drive a standard anyway, I, without a word put the emergency brake on, got out of the car and walked up the hill.

Stunned, Mark drove up the hill and picked me up. We laughed all the way home (but were done with lessons, for now).

So, before I went to check out the two cars I had pared my list down to, I had Mark over to dinner. We talked about what I needed to know, what I wanted to look for, and what I should consider. And then he offered to go with me. 

Cheesy Spinach Pinwheels

We walked onto the first car lot the following Saturday, me doing exactly what I'd been told, act natural (meaning try to look less like a target and more like I'd done this before).

As the salesman walked towards us, Mark whispered in my ear. He knew who this guy was, he could sell a neoprene suit to a jailed politician. OK, that's not how Mark put it, but you get the idea. I needed to not get carried away by a smooth talker.

He needn't worry.

First, Gary did not even acknowledge me, he addressed Mark. Even when told why we were there, he continued to talk to Mark, asking what car he was interested in, if he'd like to take a test drive. 

Backbone now firmly in place, infuriated by the misogyny, I piped up and said that I was choosing between two cars, one at that dealership and the second we would be looking at elsewhere. Gary let me know that I could not compare those two cars, they were completely different, then proceeded to tell me what other makes were comparable to the one I was interested in on his lot.

I think Mark smirked when I told Gary that I could choose between any two cars I wanted.

In the end, Gary was actually helpful in making my decision, I wasn't buying anything from him. 

And hopefully, when I left, Gary's reputation for being able to sell a neoprene suit to a jailed politician went to that of a guy who couldn't sell a pool noodle, to a woman who spends the weekend at her family's pool.

PS: loved my new red Mitsubishi Eclipse. Thanks, Gary.

 

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

On the Border

Cheesy Spinach Pinwheels

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tube (8 oz) refrigerated crescent sheet

3 TBSP butter

2 tsp grated parmesan

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cup fresh, cleaned spinach

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 X 13 baking sheet.

*Unroll the crescent sheet onto a piece of parchment paper. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and roll out to a 9 inch X 15 inch rectangle. Remove plastic wrap.

*Melt the butter and mix with the parmesan and garlic powder. With a pastry brush, brush most of the butter (leave a little for the top) onto the crescent sheet, leaving about a half inch border at the two long sides.

*Chop the spinach and sprinkle onto the crescent sheet, last add the mozzarella.

*Starting with one long side, roll the dough up to create a tube shape. Brush the top with the remaining butter, and cut into about 3/4 inch slices. Place on the baking sheet, open side down. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the dough starts to brown.  

For a Friend: 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:  pretty ~ peaceful ~ perforated~ punctual ~ pip
They were submitted by Diane of On the Border.

                          
These words inspired a little bit of fiction today. Although, sadly, for many of us it will have a haunting ring of truth.

She was punctual for the appointment, all five of the women arrived within minutes of each other.

But it went downhill from there. 

Not that the expectation had been for a peaceful afternoon, not when you have 5 women shopping for the same thing at the same time. Agreement would be impossible, but if nothing else, the afternoon would be full of laughter and friendship. They were, after all, a happy, boisterous, fun-loving group, forever friends. With, really, the same individual goal, everyone wants to look pretty, after all. 

So in the next hour a decision would be made. It would have to be. And the hope was it would be a decision all could (at the very least) live with.

Because, in the end, although tastes and opinions, and perspectives would be voiced, it would not be a democracy. One voice would rise above the rest, that was a given.

As is the case with these things, expectations were not met.

She looked in the mirror at the dress she had on. It was aqua colored. With navy piping and a white collar. She looked like a life preserver someone might throw in the water. Hard pass.

But no matter how many objections she voiced, they fell on deaf ears. Penelope was just going to have to admit that it was Piper's wedding. And she, as the Maid of Honor, was going to have to walk down the aisle in front of 200 people, looking like a nautical accessory.

Unless she came down with a perforated appendix that day. It could happen . . . 

"Somebody buy me a drink, she thought.

Black Raspberry Martini

"On second thought, someone grab a life preserver, I may need a boatload."

 

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

On the Border 

Climaxed

Black Raspberry Martini

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes 2):

2 oz Blue Raspberry Vodka

4 oz Chambord

7 oz black raspberry sparkling juice, divided

red or blue sanding sugar

6 raspberries

Directions:

*Refrigerate the black raspberry sparkling juice. Mix together the vodka and Chambord. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

*Add 6 oz of the black raspberry sparkling juice to the liquor and set aside.

*Pour the remaining sparkling juice into a saucer, and he colored sugar onto a plate. Dip just the rim of each martini glass into the juice in the saucer, then into the sugar to rim the edge of the glasses. 

*Place 3 of the raspberries into the bottom of each glass. Stir the martinis, then pour into the glasses, avoiding the rim.

Six Red Roses: Poetry Monday

 

 

Poetry Monday's once a week.

I bet you know which day.

I don't participate every time,

But today I've come out to play.

My friends assign each week a theme,

Red Roses is what they chose.

Now it's up to all of us,

to put our thoughts into prose.

 

 

Six Red Roses

Young and inexperienced,

as nervous as could be,

he entered the town flower shop,

to plan his delivery. 

Has a date with someone special,

he's wanting to impress.

The sweets? His mama bakes, you see,

but flowers? Couldn't even guess.

Raspberry Mascarpone Cupcakes

 

He'd ask the woman in the shop,

which roses he should send.

He wanted to get it all just right,

no matter what he'd spend.

"Pink's for admiration,

and yellow's joy," she said.

"Orange speaks to your desire,

green is strength for what's ahead."

"Purple means enchantment,

and mystery is blue.

Red comes from the heart, it means

romance, a love that's true."

Perplexed is what he felt,

as he gave it all some thought.

Then came to a decision,

and this is what he bought:

A pink, yellow, and orange,

a green, purple, one blue.

And six more, for a dozen.

all red, so his love shines through.

 

 

 

Wait!

Read more poetry, 

you're not through.

Some talented writers

are in this crew:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings 

Mother Owl 

 

Raspberry Mascarpone Cupcakes         

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix

1/2 cup oil

1 1/4 cups milk

4 egg whites

3 oz fresh raspberries, quartered

1 cup mascarpone

1/4 cup raspberry preserves

1 can cream cheese frosting

3 TBSP raspberry preserves

OPT: 2 drops red food coloring

Directions:

*Gently whisk together the mascarpone and 1/4 cup of the raspberry preserves. Cover and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners into 18 cupcake pan wells.

*Beat the cake mix, oil, milk, and egg whites for 2 minutes. Gently mix in the quartered raspberries. Divide into the cupcake liners.

*Bake for about 20 minutes, or until completely cooked and the tops spring back to the touch. Cool completely.

*Whisk together the mascarpone and 1/4 cup of the raspberry preserves. Using an apple corer, core out the center of each cupcake (not all the way to the bottom). Pipe the mascarpone mixture into the hole made by the apple corer.

*Whisk together the cream cheese frosting, 3 TBSP raspberry preserves, and food coloring. Pipe or dollop onto the cupcakes.

Answering Rena: Secret Subject Swap

 

 

Today's post would normally be our monthly Secret Subject Swap. The way it works is that bloggers pick a secret subject for that month, send them to me, I put them in my sorting hat, and send them out to another participant. We each get a unique subject to write about or question to answer.

Although still a Secret Subject Swap, for this post, we each have individual prompts, not sent in by each other, but submitted by just one person.

For the past 8 years, our friend Rena had participated in this and many of the other challenges I run. Rena died unexpectedly in the middle of March. I was finally able to write about it just a few days ago, I hope you'll check it out, here's the link to Rena: Mourning to Missing.

When Rena died, she'd signed up for this Secret Subject Swap challenge through the year. I had 9 of her prompts sitting in monthly documents waiting for assignment to different friends. I could not get myself to delete those prompts, it just felt callous, disrespectful. I thought I might address them, over time, in my own blog posts, but then realized that maybe some of her other friends would like to join me. Some did.

Rena took the time to ask some questions. Today her friends are taking the time to answer some of them.

So, each of us have a subject, prompt, or question, sent in by Rena. We're answering in memory of a friend, a collaborator, a valued and missed member of our blogging community.

I have Rena's August prompt, and my subject is: If you could go back to school to become anything you'd like, what would it be and why? 

I'm going to start with the two guesses I think Rena, well probably all of you, would have made.

Then I'm going to say WRONG! 

First, writing. Truth is, I thought a lot about it. I had a middle school teacher who, after I'd turned in a writing assignment, suggested it. I even took over running my dormitory area newspaper for a while in college. But, when it comes to writing, I do best when I feel the stories, when they almost pour out of me. I'm not sure how I'd handle a career of being assigned the story and having to make a deadline. Sometimes, yeah. As a side gig, yeah. But daily? I don't know.

Truth is, I wonder if all of that structure, of the subject matter being out of my hands, whether it might diminish my love of writing. Or maybe it would actually hone my skills, provide focus and growth. Hard to say. 

So how about being an author, writing fiction? I love a good mystery. In fact, I did start my own book. I wrote the first sentence. That was 10 years ago . . . Still got that sentence. Nothing else, though.

OK, so you're thinking along the culinary lines.

Perhaps I'd want to be a chef, or a baker, or both. Maybe work privately, or even open my own restaurant.

I could apply to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Or more locally, both MIT and Harvard have culinary arts majors.

But the food industry is grueling. Chefs are, for the most part overworked and underpaid and, unless they can afford to go out on their own, unable to nurture their own creativity.

Truth is, my recipe development often comes from a place of stress relief, a creative way to get out of my own head for a while. My recipes tend to be more pedestrian. My creations are always geared towards the specific tastes of my family. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

BBQ Pork Corn Chip Nachos

I'll tell you about one thing I have loved my whole life, as far back as I can remember, and still to this day. It's ballet.

If I could, I would love to be a ballerina. Yes, it's a difficult life, both physically and emotionally, but I'd make the sacrifice. Any and all of them.

NY would be the place to go. Although some colleges do offer dance programs, it's almost true that by the time you get your degree, you're almost too old for the industry. So Julliard, Joffrey, School of American Ballet are where I'd be battling to be accepted.

One problem, though. Well, there is the whole talent issue. But more than that is the constraint that's insurmountable by effort, and practice, and guidance, and even luck. 

Seems I've been unable to change the fact that I'm only five feet tall. 

I want to thank Rena for her years of support and friendship. And I want to thank everyone who wrote these posts today, for standing by my side as we honor a friend lost way too soon. 

 

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts in honor of Rena. 

Climaxed 

What TF Sarah 

Part-time Working Hockey Mom 

On the Border

BBQ Pork Corn Chip Nachos         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 boneless pork loin chops

3/4 cup of my Blackberry BBQ sauce or the BBQ sauce of your choice, divided

2/3 cup canned black beans, drained

1 green onion, chopped

1 (8.75 oz) can corn kernels, drained

3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar, divided

1/4 cup drained, sliced pepperoncini

1 bag (8 oz) scoop sized corn chips

NOTE: I often make barbecued grilled pork chops for dinner, making sure to have enough leftovers to use the next day for these nachos. If you're using leftover pork chops, you'll have to warm it before mixing with the other ingredients.

Directions:

*Marinate the pork chops in 1/2 cup of the BBQ sauce in a resealable bag for 24 hours, turning now and then. 

*Grill the pork chops until completely cooked through. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. 

*Heat the beans in the microwave for about 1 minute, just until warm. Chop the pork into very small pieces, mix with the beans, green onions, corn, and 1/4 cup of the cheese, then toss with 3 TBSP of the remaining BBQ sauce. 

*Place in the center of a round baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese, then the pepperoncini. Surround with the chips.

*Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese melts. To serve, drizzle with the remaining TBSP of BBQ sauce.