Slinging Slang: 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 41. 
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 talking.

~ I've reviewed my past Word Counters posts, it seems that I've been in a theme rut. Along with a few customer service rants (who hasn't got some of those?), I've mostly posted about politics and my ongoing (lack of) sleep dilemma.

 

~ So I'm skipping those subjects. Well, except to mention this new insight, there's likely a correlation between politics and sleepless nights. I actually found something that helped make me sleepy . . . but I doubt they'll let me get a daily covid booster.

~ My current issue? Communication. Needing Google translate to separate compliments from insults. It's not that slang is new, it just seems that MY slang is old {{sigh}}. I'm lame. No, not lame, not even wack (so yesterday), I'm dead rubber, cheugy.

 

 

 

~ A vibe check is how you now say "how are you?" Gucci means you're doing fine. Caught in 4K is the same as red handed, and if someone's living rent free, it's in your head, not your house. Get out. Periodt!

 

~ Cool has had its share of transformations too. Don't look now, but it's no longer cool to be cool. I finally caught up to dope when, nope, dope's no longer cool. It's now fire, bro. We've gone from cold to hot.

~ Listen, I'm lit, I've got Insta, post there twice a week, but do you know people have finstas? It's where they spill the (real) tea. And when shots are fired? Don't get big mad (note: bigger than regular mad). Clap back. 

 ~ A reader thought Baking In A Tornado means smoking dope in difficult times. No, but bussin' is super tasty, salty is bitter, and extra is too much. If you're quiche, you're hot. Maybe I'm not, but I admit I'm a dessertivore.

 ~ Big yikes (as opposed to plain yikes, which was in style, went out of style, and is now back, but super sized), all this food talk is making me hangry. True dat. Oh, and to English teachers everywhere: sorry, not sorry.

Breaded Air Fryer Scallops

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

 

Breaded Air Fryer Scallops       
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1# Sea Scallops

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 tsp grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil for spraying

OPT: Scampi Rice and/or fresh lemon for serving

 

Directions:
*Cover a plate with a couple of layers of paper towels. Place the scallops in a single layer on the paper towels, cover with a few more layers of paper towels and refrigerate for an hour.

*Mix together the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

*Remove the scallops from the refrigerator, gently press down on the top paper towels to remove moisture, then discard the paper towels.

*Sprinkle both sides of the scallops with salt and pepper. Roll each of the scallops in the bread crumb mixture, lightly coating them completely. Place on a plate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

*Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees. Remove the shelves (or basket) and spray with olive oil. Remove the scallops from the refrigerator and place onto the shelves (or into the basket), spritz the tops with olive oil. If using a basket, you will have to work in batches so the scallops aren't too close together.

*Cook at 400 degrees for 2 minutes. Move the shelves around, cook for another 2 minutes. If using a basket, just cook for 4 minutes.

*Turn the scallops over, spritz the tops with olive oil and move the shelves again so they each have been on the top, in the middle, and at the bottom. Cook 2 more minutes.

*Check to see that the scallops are completely cooked, that all are opaque, the top springs back to the touch, and if you stick a fork towards the side in the top, it pulls apart. If not completely cooked, continue in 1 minute increments.

*OPT: serve over Scampi Rice and/or with fresh lemon.

Fans Rule: 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:  overtime ~ interference ~ audience ~ water bottle ~ challenge ~ unsportsmanlike
They were submitted by Tamara of Part-time Working Hockey Mom.

 

  It's funny how sometimes the prompts sent in seem random, and other times they are a clear reflection of the person who chose them. Sarah often amuses me with the words she submits, they're a clear view of either what she's doing at that moment, or how she's feeling. 

 

Today I'm looking in the mirror and seeing Tamara. As both a hockey mom and a hockey fan, there's no question what was on her mind when she chose these words.

 

Although they perfectly lend themselves to a hockey post, and although I'm a hockey fan (OK, not hockey in general, but the Boston Bruins in particular), I set out to write about something else, for a few reasons. First, it would be more of a challenge. Second, hockey reminds me of my brother Peter, who loved to play, and just thinking about the fact that he's been gone for 31 years, is a jolt to my system. 

 

Anyway, I failed. 

 

Hockey is stuck in my head, so I'll tell you a story about a hockey game I attended not long after moving to the Midwest, and why I'm afraid to go to another. 

 

First, let me explain that I'm sports starved here. I'm 1500 miles away from my home teams, but more than that, there are no professional sports teams here at all. None. Everyone goes crazy over college sports here, but it's just not the same as the pros, so I never go to a game. Once a year or so my boys (Hubs included) may go to a game, but I stay home, watch the Red Sox (thanks to an early and unusual Mother's Day present), and play in the kitchen.

 

 

Scampi Rice

But years ago, a neighbor had season tickets to all of the local university's hockey games. And one night in particular, she gifted those tickets to Hubs and I. The local team was playing my alma mater, UMass. I was pretty excited (I said I was sports starved, right?).

Hubs and I found our seats in the audience, and settled in with our snacks and water bottles. OK, maybe not water, but . . . whatever. Just when we got comfortable, it came to our attention, loudly and clearly, that we were in the domain of cheerleader Suzy. 

 

Just before the game started, she gave everyone in our section our mandate, exactly what her expectations of us entailed. We received instructions on when to jump up, when to scream, what to yell, how to jeer the opposing team, you get the picture.

 

Screw that. I'm a Umie!

 

And I didn't come to a hockey game to be choreographed.

 

 

 

So . . .

 

The game started and I didn't do the hokey pokey and turn myself around as instructed whenever the home team got the puck. To add to my transgressions, I actually cheered when UMass scored a goal.

That did not go over well with Cheerleader Suzy. Not one little bit. This was not going to happen, not in her section, not on her watch. In fact, I was getting the evil eye from not only her, but many of my section-mates. Very unsportsmanlike. Which I could live with, it was hockey after all, and hockey can get rowdy. Contentious even. But where's a ref when you need one? This is blatant interference (with my enjoyment), someone needs to put Suzy in the penalty box. Or maybe put me there, it might be safer. Because things weren't looking so good for me, and ultimately I did want to . . . you know . . . leave with all the teeth I came in with.

 

Towards the end, when it was clear that there would be no overtime, I started to plan my exit strategy. I'm 5 feet tall and Hubs is 6'2", so he was charged with creating an invisibility shield (aka running interference). If I could sneak out behind him, I just might avoid an expensive visit to the dentist.

And my future strategy? Well, to never come back. Unless I was put in charge of the section's wardrobe. There'd be a helmet and padding for me. And a mouth guard for Suzy.

 

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

What TF Sarah 

Scampi Rice

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

4 TBSP butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/3 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup white wine

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tsp dried parsley

1 2/3 cup instant rice 

1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:
*In a medium sized pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add the garlic, cook and stir for about 3 minutes.

*Add the chicken broth, white wine, salt, pepper, and parsley. Bring to a boil.

*Stir in the rice, cover, and remove from the heat. After 10 minutes, remove the cover, drizzle with the lemon juice, and stir.

Magic: Music 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,

Music is what they chose.

Now it's up to all of us,

to put our thoughts into prose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magic

 

Looking at someone's play list,

can really say a lot,

what genre is their favorite,

or which band's currently hot. 

"Tell me what one song you love,"

over coffee, a new friend inquires.

"All-time favorite, number one,

that speaks to you, inspires."

Not sure how to answer him,

Desperado? In You Eyes?

Every Breath You Take? Sweet Dreams?

My hometown's Aerosmith takes the prize?

"Impossible to pick just one,

that's better than the rest."

She stopped, thinking through her point,

about this she would not jest:

"Sometimes when life gets me down,

and I begin to quake,

to the kitchen's where I go,

it's soothing just to bake."

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Brownie Pie

 

 

 

"But in my darkest moments when,

I can't reach any goal.

When, with time, it starts to seem,

that bad luck's on a roll."

"On those rare occasions if,

I feel I've lost control.

When I just can't catch any break,

over time, that takes a toll."

 

"Whenever that should happen,

life has dug me a deep hole,

I know that I can count on this:

music soothes my soul."

 

 

 

Wait!

Read more poetry, 

you're not through.

Some talented writers

are in this crew:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings 

Mother Owl 

 

Peanut Butter Brownie Pie        

                                                                                ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups quick oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick butter, melted

3/4 cup chocolate chips

4 TBSP butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

 

OPT: garnish with mini peanut butter cups, serve with whipped cream or ice cream

Directions:
*Whisk together the quick oats, brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt. Mix in the melted butter, then press into and up the sides (just to the rim) of a lightly greased 10 inch pie plate. Refrigerate.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

*In a large bowl, melt the chocolate chips with the remaining butter and peanut butter until smooth. Whisk in the sugar and set aside to start to cool for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, whisk in the eggs, and finally the flour and the remaining salt.

*Pour into the pie crust and the filling out. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, until the crust is browned and the filling is set and crusty looking.

*Cool completely before slicing.

*OPT: serve topped with whipped cream or ice cream.