The Moon and Ides: 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 27. 
It was chosen by Me.

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 today, the Ides of March.

~ "Beware the Ides of March," but why? The ides is just the first new moon, there's an ides every month, yet March's ides has the foreboding reputation.

 

~ We know it's Shakespeare's line, from his play about Julius Caesar. But seriously, Caesar died thousands of years ago. Talk about a grudge, get over it already. 

 

~ What about, you know, more current? Well, Germany occupied Czechoslavakia (1939), the deadly great plains blizzard (1941). The Ed Sullivan Show was canceled (1971), oh, the outrage.

~ Bad circumstances, all (well, most), but not really a reason to fear that particular day of that one specific month, (unless your name happens to be Caesar).

 

~ It's during a full moon when crime increases, hospitals are overwhelmed, dinners burn (I may have made that one up), and normal people stand outside howling (true).

Taco Chicken Quesadillas

~ Other full moon related incidents: higher rates of arson, car accidents, werewolf sightings. Silver bullet sales increase, along with the cases of insomnia (yikes, I wonder why).

 

~ Perhaps, just to be safe, from whichever moon holds the highest degree of danger (in any given month), we should look to Pink Floyd for the solution:

 

~"And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too,

I'll see you on the dark side of the moon."

I'll be waiting for you, see you there!

 

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

 

 

Taco Chicken Quesadillas        
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 TBSP taco seasoning

1/2 onion, sliced

1/2 red pepper, sliced

1/2 green pepper, sliced

1/4 cup salsa

5 TBSP butter

10 flour tortillas (8 - 10 inch size)

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

*Cut the chicken into about 1 inch cubes. Mix with the taco seasoning, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (can refrigerate overnight).

*Spray a large skillet with non stick spray and heat to medium. Add the onion, red pepper, and green pepper. Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft. Mix in the salsa, cook for one more minute, then remove from the skillet to a plate.

*Return the skillet to the heat and add the chicken. Cook, stirring, until the chicken is cooked through. Drain, then move the chicken to the plate with the vegetables. Chop the chicken and vegetables well, until you have small pieces and it's all incorporated. Set aside. Wipe the skillet clean.

*Return the skillet to the heat. For each quesadilla, melt 1 TBSP butter in the pan over medium heat and add a tortilla. Immediately spread about 3 TBSP of cheese, then about 1/5 of the chicken mixture, then about another 3 TBSP cheese onto the tortilla. Top with a second tortilla.

*With a spatula, press down on the quesadilla while cooking, so the cheese melts and holds it together. Once the bottom has browned, flip the quesadilla over and cook, pressing down, until the bottom browns. Remove to a plate to keep warm and continue with the rest of the tortillas and filling.

*Cut into quarters, serve warm.

Wordle, Nerdle, Curdle: 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:  deported ~ joker ~ soluble ~ Wordle ~ out of line ~ controversy
They were submitted by Tamara of Part-time Working Hockey Mom.

                           

Yes, I play Wordle. I've played every one of the original games, as a matter of fact. The game is the kind I like to play, thoughtful games in which you challenge yourself. Like the daily Sudoku I play. 

When the boys were little, we used to play Master Mind. It's what Wordle seems to be based on, but instead of letters, Master Mind is played with colored pegs. It's a great game for kids, I loved how it engaged their minds, encouraged them to come up with a strategy, then learn to make adjustments based on the clues they got along the way.

What I think is out of line are the people who made fun Wordle when it was first "discovered" in the social media world, posted memes mocking people who play, then all of a sudden started posting their own scores. I mean, I get that people don't want to seem like sheeple, joining a fad just because others are. It's a bit of a "wag the dog," if you ask me, trying to create a controversy where there is none. Seriously, not only is ridicule never necessary, imagine actually trying something before you make fun of it? Turns out, others aren't so much focused on doing the cool thing, they just gave it a shot and found out they liked it.

 

 

There are others, of course, offshoots. Once the original creators sold Wordle, they started Wordle2. Six letters instead of 5 and 2 new puzzles every day. I play those too. And then, of course, there are the jokers who take it a step over to the dark side. Heard of Lewdle? I think you can guess what it is. Those words don't bother me at all, but I tried and I couldn't play, turns out I don't know enough of those words. Maybe they'll use that as my epitaph: "In her later years, she actually deported herself with a level of dignity."

I've now taken to posting my results on the Baking In A Tornado FB page. There's a core group of people there who read and support my blog, and interact regularly with the content on that page. I started posting my Wordle results there daily, and many others added theirs to the thread. It was in one of those threads that a regular reader challenged me to play Nerdle. Nerdle, if you don't know, is Wordle using math instead of words and it is hard. HARD. My second try it took me an hour to figure it out. But now that I've got the hang of it, I average 3 - 4 tries and just like Wordle, I'm addicted. 

The Nerdle daily puzzle doesn't post until 7pm Eastern time, which is perfect. Once my day has started to wind down, I can sit down with a piece of cake and attack that Nerdle challenge.

 

Cookie Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

And then there's Quordle. Another reader challenged me to that one. That's when I realized that Nerdle isn't so hard at all. Four words, 9 total tries to come up with all of them. I scored 6, 7, 4, 5 the first time, swore I would never darken the door of that game again for fear of over exercising my brain (don't want to strain something), then scored 5, 6, 8, 7 the next day {{sigh}}.

At one point I wanted to create my own game. It would be food related, and I even had a fun name, Curdle (get it, lol??). I even talked to PurDude (and Tamara) about it. PurDude could do all the back end coding for me, but I would need a dictionary API, and a data collection system, both of which could be monetarily prohibitive, as they charge per use, the scope of which is (in)soluble up front. 

 

Although I didn't end up starting my own site, I do now create a daily food based Wordle. And guess what? People are playing. Regularly. They tell me it's fun, but I'm willing to bet it's nowhere near the enjoyment I get from seeing their results.

So, I now post 3 Wordle based FB posts a day. The first is a link to my original Baking In A Tornado game of the day (today is our 20th game), the second is my results of the Wordle, Quordel, and first Wordle2 of the day, and then in the evening I share my Nerdle and second Wordle2 results. Phew!

 

What adds to the excitement is when everyone posts their results in the threads of all of 3 of those daily posts. Some of us are competitive, some just relieved to have solved the puzzles, and some just curious as to how others do. And you know what? No controversy here. It's just plain fun.

 

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

Cookie Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup crushed Biscoff cookies

1 TBSP brown sugar

4 TBSP melted butter

2 1/2 bars (20 oz total) cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup cookie butter (speculoos)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream, room temperature

1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, divided 

4 Biscoff cookies

2 TBSP cinnamon baking chips

Directions:
*Lightly grease a springform pan and wrap the bottom with tin foil. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

*Mix the graham cracker crumbs and Biscoff crumbs with 1 TBSP brown sugar. Add the melted butter and stir. Press into the bottom and partially up the sides of the prepared pan.

*Beat together the cream cheese, cookie butter, sugar, and the remaining brown sugar. Once incorporated, beat in the heavy cream, sour cream, and vanilla, then finally, the eggs, one at a time. Mix in 1/2 cup of the mini chocolate chips.

*Place the cookies and cinnamon baking chips in a food processor and crush completely. Sprinkle over the top of the cheesecake.

*Pour into the prepared crust and bake for 70 - 85 minutes, until the center is just set. Allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least one hour before sprinkling the edges with the remaining mini chocolate chips and releasing from the pan.

*Store, covered, in the refrigerator.

Say Hello: 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,

Telephone (Say Hello Day)'s what they chose.

Now it's up to all of us,

to put our thoughts into prose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Say Hello

 

In the 1800s the telephone,

was a most amazing invention.

Saying "hello" to those not there,

was the original intention. 

No one cared that it required,

the help of an operator.

Or that others knew what you had said,

from "hello" to "see you later."

 

The day came when the phone was used,

without operator assistance. 

By then all were accustomed to,

saying "hello" to those long distance.

The phone went from it's only place,

attached right to the wall,

to multiple locations in the home,

like a table, in the front hall.

Dragging circles around a dial,

you had to use your finger.

And sometimes it would make you jump,

with its loud, alarming ringer.

Next thing you know, untethered,

you could talk and walk around.

Buttons instead of an awkward dial,

and a much more pleasing sound.

 

But now, oh wow, our cell phones,

are personal computers, and more.

Ask questions, or get directions,

find recipes galore!

 

Scallops with Spicy Peanut Pasta

 

 

I think it's rather funny,

ironic, you could say,

we text and post and share our lives,

our pocket phone's never far away.

 

So many options for communication,

but the purpose, from long ago?

The one thing I rarely use it for,

is to make a call to say "hello."  

 

 

 

 

Wait!

Read more poetry, 

you're not through.

Some talented writers

are in this crew:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings 

Mother Owl 

 

Scallops with Spicy Peanut Pasta       

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

12 oz spaghetti

1 cup broccoli slaw

1 green onion, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp ginger paste

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter 

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 TBSP cooking sherry

1 tsp sesame oil 

1 TBSP brown sugar

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2# bay scallops

salt and pepper

 

1 TBSP toasted sesame seeds

 

Directions:
*In a large pot, cook the spaghetti to al dente. Drain, mix in the broccoli slaw and set aside, keeping warm.

*Whisk together the green onion, red pepper, garlic, ginger, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes. Set the sauce aside.

*Using paper towels, pat the scallops dry.
*Spray a large skillet with non stick spray and heat over medium high heat. Add the scallops and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the scallops are cooked through, no longer opaque. Remove and keep warm.
*Drain the skillet, reduce the heat to medium low and add the sauce. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the spaghetti to the pan and cook, mixing the sauce into the pasta, for another 2 minutes. Add the scallops and mix again until everything is incorporated and hot.

*Sprinkle with the sesame seeds.