vegan cupcakes

ok, so this is my first attempt at vegan baked goods

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup soy milk
* 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup canola oil
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
3. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Fluffy Frosting:
INGREDIENTS

* 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
* 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, we use Earth Balance
* 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
2. Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluff

uneven hedges

ok, so....our family of five ate out on the side deck this evening.....and i was humiliated...because the euonymous hedge that flourishes against the back of the garage had been poorly trimmed.....i had trimmed it poorly....this afternoon.....gentle readers.....hedges look much better up close than they do from the deck ....i was NOT moved to get up from the table and take up the shearers....which means that my shame took a back seat to the comfort of a lovely evening with good company......but tomorrow i will get the clippers back out and even out the selvages.....

dreams in 3-d......

ok, so.....i slept relatively soundly last evening.....and as it is afternoon and i can still recall bits and pieces of my dreams...i consider this a good sign .....can recall climbing the steep dark wood steps to the inside-upstairs in my late sister-in-law marilynn's house.....and rather than the 'hired man's room'...there was a spacious apartment...with a dining room that featured a large japanese-style flower arrangement on the table...and this flower arrangement was so brilliant to behold that i put on 3-d glasses to better enjoy the effect.....or is that affect?.......what the dream was missing...i see clearly as an afterthought to unconscious musings....was a hummingbird with its wings thrashing in slo-mo......

the clothesline....

ok, so....i started into the collected family laundry this morning after i helped with the beef festival race.....and i decided that the clothes really needed to dry outside in the lovely summer sunshine...but to set up the clothesline i had to trim the overgrown euonymous hedge that hides the concrete foundations of the house.....and there was such a chopped up mess of greenery in my wake that i had to rake up the trimmings and haul them in small loads to the compost....and then i had to dust off the clothesline that winters over in miss lulu's cabin....and then...only then...could i hang up the first laundry of the season......whew......i hung up the second load as well...but the third i tossed into the dryer because the line was full...and my urge to be green had passed......wonder how much it will cost me to pay one of my offspring to bring in those clothes that are still hanging out to dry......

minature lavender soaps

ok, so...in my dreams there was a large gathering at my house, and a mother of a school-aged child came to me quite upset because i had lavender soaps in my bathroom, and they smelled so good that her son ate one, and she was scolded me for having such tempting little soaps....i recall clearly walking into the bathroom and picking up one of the little soaps (flower-shaped) and smelling it....and the soap only smelled of soap and not of lavender.....andi recall turning to the mother and telling her that it was not my fault that her child ate a lavender-colored soap that didn't even smell of lavender.....

check order

ok, so....i am down to less than 5 checks, and i was moved yesterday to order them on-line while i was thinking about it- before i actually ran out.....and i ordered the same palin green checks as usual.....nothing fancy or iconic or silly......and at some point in my dreams last night i recieved the checks in the mail....only the checks i recieved were pink instead of green, and they were warm- like they has just come off the copier.....this dream was a curious progression in my dream life...the memory of something warm in a dream as opposed to a smell or a color sequence or a sound......if my checks do come in pink rather than green i will laugh out loud.....

the murder

ok, so...the first 30 minutes of worktime this morning was devoted, by necessity, to the discussion of the friday afternoon murder of an area physician's wife, possibly by her own physician husband, on their wedding anniversary on what may or may have not been their pontoon on lake herrington, just around a few bends from where i live....a few more details than previously reported in the media...that the spouse did do cpr on his wife...i found this detail comforting...as the press report made it sound like he just sat there with her tied up to the boat until the ambulance arrived.....very troubling.....almost as troubling as the knowledge that 2 of the witnesses to the 'crime' were prisoners fishing behind the prison......what is up with that?......how many prisoners are fishing behind the prison on any given day? are they traveling about in boats up side creeks....like the one i live on?......a one-time act of anger (murder) is one thing...but prisoners regularly at large in my neighborhood is another.....

can of catfood.....

ok, so.....i followed a state trooper car with full sirens/lights in the main road, and off to the right down my little circle as i headed home this afternoon.....thankfully the car kept going.....oy!...i have enough drama in my life right now without inviting more.....and when i got into the house, those present had not bothered to feed the cat or dog......and i proceeded to slice open my thumb on the catfood can lid......and the blood loss from such a cut is horrifying and persistent.....the bandaid did not hold back the tide...which i discovered as strolled out to the curb to get the mail and paper that had not been brought in.....my dripping thumb left a bit of a trail that i saw only after i turned to walk back to the house.....thankfully my clothing was spared from the carnage.....if i had a lick of sense i would go to bed right now....perchance to sleep more soundly than i have for a few days.....i ran out of hormones a few days ago....and wrongly assumed that i could handle the withdrawal...gentle readers....there are few things more annoying than waking up in a pool of sweat and knowing full well that hormone withdrawal was to blame......not ready to part with the little white pills just yet.....so...to wrap up this rant.....i have catfood can cut and hormone withdrawal to blame for my current state....

amen to all of that.....

ok, so...the best thing that can be said about today is that it is friday......there is so much going on that i briefly considered going back to bed and pretending that i have no further obligations on this day....but tomorrow promises a trip to the food coop in lexington....and that is something to look forward to.....

songs in drag.....

ok, so....in my dreams i was at some sort of festival..one that required a costume.....and mine was white and billowy to the point that i could barely get around....my flowing robes would get caught up and or snagged and i would stumble .....but this mobility issue did not dampen my desire to sing out loud......i made an effort to tell myself in my sleep to remember the lyrics.....ah well.....i do remember coming by the caterers van as a giant bowl of plain marinated beets was being unloaded....and i recall asking myself why there was no crumbled goat cheese and minced spring onions and/or chopped walnuts as a garnish.......

a tear-jerker photo op....

ok, so for my money, this photo of mama sotomayor said it all......what a glorious day for free-thinking americans....

stunned...

ok, so...i went to an end-of-term party this afternoon....and met an instructor who plans to teach the break of day in the fall..... gentle readers....this is a novel that i have read...and read...and..read....more times than i have been to paris...and that adds on to more than 12 times......ah....the part that stills my beating heart is when she mentions that her mother waits the blooming of a plant that blooms infrequently......i remember being awakening to see the bloom of cup of gold in 1976.....assured that this plant would never bloom again....maybe it did and maybe it did not,,,,,ah well....

hard work ain't what it used to be...

ok, so...there was a time when a spurt of hard work could take my mind off of just about anything....seems those days are gone....

yippee....

ok, so the only thing better than making it til the friday before a 3-day weekend would have been taking the day off......sadly, had i taken the day off i'd have had to drag myself on into work anyway.....given the circumstances.....the best i can hope for is not having to work the weekend....

spearmint

ok, so......during the summers of my youth it was customary to spend a week with each grandmother....on such an occasion i doubled up with my cousin john down on my crown grandparent's farm.....the upstairs bedroom had 2 doubled beds...and room for 2 more.....we entertained ourselves before bed with stories.....i clearly recall john retelling a story he had already told our cousin janet.....a story he had named spearment...i have no recollection what the story had to do with mint, or the mint family.....just that the story was named after a natural flavor......

cold feet.....

ok, so the overnight temperature dipped for a second day in a row......we closed the window but neglected to put on that extra blanket.....and so i woke up at some ungodly hour ....and it took me awhile to figure out that my discomfort was due to the chill and even longer to get my brain wrapped around the notion of the blanket at the foot of the bed.....

Ghandi's Diet

ok, so for the record.....

Diet and brahmacharya

Brahmacharya is also observed to contain one's sensual desires for food and taste, as well as materialism. Most brahmacharis prescribe to avoiding the consumption of meat, spices and cooked foods, said to cultivate the taste buds and pleasure senses of the mind. Gandhi, one of the most known brahmacharis, besides being an adherent of simple living and nonresistance, also devoted himself trying to create what he believed to be a perfect diet. The diet, later named the "Gandhi-diet" meant a diet which was environmentally acceptable, based on economical (low-cost) products and healthy (allowing the body to perform at its best capabilities; thus keeping digestion in mind). The diet, on which he worked for 35 years, constantly re-evaluating and improving it for himself, consisted of [1] [2] :

* 1 litre of goat's or cow's milk
* 170 g cereals
* 85 g leafy vegetables
* 140 g other vegetables
* 30 g raw vegetables
* 40 g ghee
* 60 g butter
* and 40 g jaggery or sugar
* fruits according to one's taste and purse
* 2 sour limes (juice taken with vegetables or in water, cold or hot)
* salt according to taste

Gandhi also kept his weight low, with a Body Mass Index of 17.7. Today, the Gandhi diet is again becoming more popular, and experts as Dr. P.P. Bose [1] state the diet to be very healthy and to fit perfectly with the (USDA) food-pyramid.[3]

red and taupe curtains...

ok, so in my dreams i was in my old bedroom.....i almost said my bedroom at home, but that house is no longer in the family and therefore it is a home to somebody else...but i digress.....i pulled down the covers to get into my side and there was a woman there......a woman i know....and my husband escorted her out of the house....and we discovered that she had gotten into the house through one of the bedroom windows....one of the arts had been put in backwards so it could not be locked....and we had to take down the red and taupe window treatments in order to fix the problem....curtains as a descriptive doesn't quite cover a combination of 4 different rods and over/under panels.....that was the most fascinating part of this dream...not the woman on my side of the bed, but the cleverly crafted window treatment...in colors i have never used for room decor up to this point......maybe next time i take a wild notion to redecorate.....at my current pace that could happen sometime in the next 20 years....

the loveliest hour of sleep....

ok, so alarm went off at 6:30 am...as per usual....not exactly an alarm.....basically npr interrupts my sleep with local and global news....but on the weekends i quickly shut off the radio and turn back over for an extra bit of shuteye.....assuming that my spouse responds to the cat, who comes rushing in from her overnight sleeping location with her feed-me-now meow...meow....meow's....which wake the dog.....who starts to whine in his crate......he wants out to stretch and to dash out the front door in search of a perfect spot to raise his leg before he also wants to be fed......i deal with these antics m-f......so on s-su i kinda pretend that i hear none of this clamor....and if i am very, very lucky i will doze back into where my dreams left off...at least for an hour give or take a few minutes....ah.....life is good.....

princess cruise lines

ok, so.....in my dreams i was looking through the titles in a bookshelf i presume to be in my cousin's house in cleveland.....in a room i used when my grandmother lived there.....and several of the volumes on the shelf were binders, stuffed full of papers and pamphlets...for princess cruise lines.....someone in the family had recently taken a job with the company and was studying the official manuals.....for the record...the manuals in my dream were pink and white and black graphics...have not bothered to check this color scheme out for accuracy....i am amused to dream of cruises....as i have no desire to be stuck on a very large boat with the kind of people i imagine to value cruises......i could be persuaded onto a sailboat that is big enough to accommodate a book-club sized group....i suppose....

snowbilly grifter

ok, so...wonkette used that term to describe the governor of alaska this morning in reference to news that she may have gotten a huge advance on her soon-to-be written memoirs which could be published just in time for the 2012 race.......i wish i had thought of that.....

mix tape....

ok, so yesterday i downloaded a mix tape created by one i love dearly.....which sounds like a far simpler task than it turned out to be.....my pc lacked the previously downloaded program necessary to unzip the downloaded collection of music.....and my attempts to download something compatible were complicated by the assumption that i would actually pay for software i would use once.....and when i finally figured out all of those details, i was able to place the music in a folder.....and then to burn them onto a disc......here is where i screwed up.....i failed to place the songs in the original order.....tainting the intention of the mixer...who knew?!.....i did enjoy listening to the songs.....but i now understand the difference between a mix and a random collection of tunes.....and i hereby promise that when the novel is published i will read it front to back......

cold front.....

ok, so.....i got really cold in the night......with the just the sheet and the duvet cover......and not the blanket that for some reason my spouse deemed too much for the warming temperatures we must have had when he decided to remove the blanket....and so i made every attempt to curl up small enough to conserve some body heat....but finally gave up just before dawn and hunted up that blanket.......the final hour or so of my sleep was marvelously cozy...

in honor of mother's day

ok, so this from mcsweeney...

RESPECTFUL
YO MAMA
JOKES.
BY LUCAS KLAUSS

- - - -

Yo mama is so healthy her BMI is probably exactly within the ideal range for a woman her age.

- - - -

Yo mama is so well respected within her profession that I bet she'll get another raise and promotion this year despite the downward trajectory of the economy.

- - - -

Yo mama is so good at cooking she should open her own restaurant. I'd be the first customer.

- - - -

Yo mama is so attractive she could be on the cover of Prevention.

- - - -

Yo mama is so Internet-savvy she should start her own social-networking site designed specifically for moms. It would be really popular.

- - - -

Yo mama is so well read she could teach a course on literature at an accredited university.

- - - -

Yo mama is so good at listening she makes you feel like she's put everything aside to focus all her attention on you. That's a really great trait to have.

- - - -

Yo mama is so skilled at coaching basketball she should apply for a job in the WNBA.

- - - -

Yo mama is so generous she just paid for everyone's meal at Applebee's.

- - - -

Yo mama is so supportive of you and your efforts that I wouldn't be surprised if you were incredibly successful as a result.

tales of woe....

ok, so....my eku final was this evening.....and 4 hours after the whining began...only 1 of 5 students has emailed the promised goods (assignments dating back to january).....so i will feel no guilt for the unsavory scores that follow failure to turn in required projects......

spicy mustard?

ok, so the president dashed out across the potomac to a virginia burger place, and ordered spicy mustard rather than ketchup...as is the chicago tradition.....and the right wing-nuts made a huge deal of this uppity food choice....for the record...my spouse always orders mustard rather than ketchup on any sandwich offered.....so sean hannity is now attacking across the board middle-america sandwich preferences......must be a really slow news day for this to make national news.....

GOP clowns

ok, so wonkette has been offering a humerous series of GOP clowns in clown makeup.....just too funny...

looking for a silver lining

ok,so.....i have put off blogging about our impromptu trip to new jersey.... because this blog is mostly about recording the highlights of my life to help me remember when my memory starts to fade.....and so far there are few details that i will want to relive at a later date...i will surely remember that in my rush to pack i neglected to bring any sort of jacket or sweatshirt.....expecting the forecasted heatwave rather that a cold rain.....i will surely not forget the kindness of people who helped us tie up loose ends and/or connect the dots.....yes....there are many events, conversations and emotions that i will be able to evoke at some less harried date without this blog as reference...and that which i allow myself to forget will be worth the forgetting...

amen. amen, and amen....

ok, so arlin spector of pennsylvania has taken up the legacy of ronald reagan by switching parties.....hard to imagine how the right can spin what their mentor has already done.....

high tech infection control measures...

ok, so this scanner is being used in a south korea airport to detect folks with fevers and keep them off of planes......as a way to control the spread of flu.....wow....

maine republican still touts her singlehanded removal of panflu funding from stimulus bill....

ok, so this from the nation....Famously, Maine Senator Collins, the supposedly moderate Republican who demanded cuts in health care spending in exchange for her support of a watered-down version of the stimulus, fumed about the pandemic funding: "Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill No, we should not."


Even now, Collins continues to use her official website to highlight the fact that she led the fight to strip the pandemic preparedness money out of the Senate's version of the stimulus measure.

swine flu

ok, so.....the potential pandemic has me a bit worried.....mostly because i have not yet written my county's pandemic flu plan.....there are no vaccines for this flu, so i should not worry about organizing vaccination clinics....on the other hand i had best be procuring an ample supply of face masks.....and encouraging the public to stockpile food and water in their homes in case we all must hunker down for a time......i was greatly amused to read this morning that the governor of texas has requested antivirals from the SNS (strategic national stockpile)....this is the guy who hates big government and who has suggested that texas secede.....big government is for times like this when the pooling of tax funds has allowed for there to be a national stockpile of emergency medication.....for the record, the best ways to avoid contagious diseases is to stay away from large gatherings (school, church, gaming events, etc), wash hands frequently, cover all coughs, and avoid body-to-body contact.......and most of all...if you do not feel well...stay home, even if it means missing work, plane trips, weddings, graduations, and other celebrations.....

e. a. poe.....

ok, so.....i settled in on the back deck with a glass of wine and the unread new yorker after a mind-dulling week of meetings and trainings....sunshine, stimulating prose and reporting on a friday after-noon.....wow...what more can one ask for in this life.....and so i tucked into the piece on edgar allen poe.....and enjoyed a 35+ year flashback.....about how i was assigned to write a report on mr poe....maybe junior high?..... and having only the world book encyclopedia to use as background material, i taped several quarters to an index card and mailed it to the poe house in baltimore asking for whatever that sum would cover.......i recall getting a brochure about the property, and a few postcards.......and a nice letter from the staff thanking me for my interest...the article reminded me of the edgy terror that poe managed to evoke in so few words.....and then the phone rang....and i darted into the house to answer because my spouse usually calls about this time to avail me of his heading home plans.... and when i came back out to the deck the new yorker was gone.....omg......i shuddered as i peaked over the deck railing......winds tend to sweep printed paper products into the ivy-covered edge of the abyss just beyond the boxwood hedge......a place i do not go cheerfully because there might be snakes....i have not actually seen a snake in this area of our property.....so this could be translated, gentle readers, as akin to fearing that there are monsters under the bed.....but i digress from my new yorker that is inches away from the cliff......and so i mustered my courage and eased out between the boxwood and the shailler's pink provence rose onto the ivy-covered edge of the abyss....and i grabbed the conundrum magazine as well as a seat cushion that blew off the back deck sometime last year....and then crawled back into the safety of the brick path.......perceived danger is ever so powerful...as mr.poe well knew......if he had lived a bit longer into his 40's he just might have come up with another tale of terror called the magazine...... you never know.....

parking lot moment

ok, so.....i rarely read mainstream thriller authors.....but....BUT....i will confess that i have gifted a series of government intrigue spy books-on-cd to my brother over the years....but i had never actually listened to any of these works until this week.....i borrowed a 10-cd book from the library on saturday on the flimsy excuse of s meeting in frankfort and a training in lexington this week......and i got so caught up in the plot that i brought the box inside when i got home last night...and i succumbed to temptation and brought the box into work after lunch and listened to all but the last bit while i typed in budget data......must not make a habit of this.....but i so wanted to know how the plot would play out.....and so i sat in eku's backlot until the final chapter was read......with some disappointment.....too many plot lines left to the 'listener' imagination.....when i invest 10 cd's of my time in a book, i want to hear every detail of the resolution.....yeah...we are not talking about a bookclub-worthy work of fiction......all the more reason to expect that every thread is neatly tied off...speaking of bookclub.....we discussed kafka on the shore this evening.....which most folks liked enough to be pleasant during the debate about the fine line between dreams/fantasy and reality..............i appreciate that level of tolerance.....it is my dream/fantasy paris apartment that gets me through most work days.....and while one could argue that i do not actually own, nor am i likely to ever own an apartment in paris...the dream of one is sturdy enough to sustain the worst of the real world....

ok, so this lovely photo was emailed yesterday as an earth day tribute........pictures of flowers make me almost as happy as actually seeing flowers.....ahh......note to self- identify these bulbs and place an order for fall planting......

so very cold....

ok, so...so this must be the coldest spring on record.....i am chilled to the bone and i have on a long-sleeved fleece and flannel jammies.....maybe i should go back to bed rather than to work....

traficking in wild plants

ok, so...i have wild larkspur blooming........6 luscious blue-blooming plants that i received in trade for some shooting star and solomon seal plants last year.....the plants i traded came from our woodlot, or from overgrown clumps where woodlot plants have been transferred to planting beds.....i am pretty sure that the larkspur were taken from a public area......i thought of these plants today as i drove to a morning meeting in frankfort...my shortcut route takes me down by the ky river...and there were thousands of larkspur in bloom...i regret that i did not have gloves or digging implements with me.....i could have added to my collection.....there are those who find such a notion unethical...wild things need to stay where they are.....on the other hand.....the wild plants i have moved inside my own property lines from un-seen to easily enjoyed appear to suffer no harm.......i see little difference in removing plants from a public right-of-way where the mowers will level them any day now.....i see such an act as a plant rescue rather than an act of ecoterrorism.....just my own thoughts on this rainy tuesday

missed anniversary.....

ok, so......april 9 was my 7th anniversary as a blogger......i can only remember this date because it is kept on a sticky note beside the screen......i recall being a better blogger.....must resolve to be more faithful......

perfect weather....

ok, so this was a perfect day....the rain lasted well into the afternoon....when one cannot go outside and do yardwork, one might as well take a nap.....and a nap with the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof and windows is as close to heaven as i deserve.....oh yeah...and the cat snuggled in......ahhh....purring and pitter-patter.....life is good.....

moscow's stray dogs travel by subway....

ok, so....i am amused by a story i read on the other mean mama's blog about the moscow stray dogs that travel by subway from the suburbs to the central city in search of scraps of food ....seems they are smart enough to know when they have reached their 'stop'....wow!

midnight confessions.....

ok, so as we were driving home later than expected from the Lipizzaner stallion show at rupp arena we were listening to an oldies radio station.....and i was 100% in guessing the artist and the name of the song in the first 30 seconds except for one song......i mistakenly noted that the song midnight confessions was originally sung by paul revere and the raiders......and it was sung by the grass roots....i stand corrected.....in some respects it is embarrassing to be able to identify a peter framptom tune in the first few bars......it is clearly a sign of a wasted youth.....

a cold spring....

ok, so we are having another semi-chilly day in the bluegrass....the kind that cries out for another cup of coffee as one crawls back into bed to warm back up after dashing out to the road to get the newspaper.....the good news is that my 'iffy' plants all show signs of life ...not because of the ice storm back in january, but because the puppy prefers to chew the tender shoots off of budding bushes......

susan boyle sings spendidly....

ok, so this clip from britain's got talent....clearly the best 'reality' performance ever.....still brings tears to my eyes when i watch it.....

more rain.....

ok, so.....we are on to a second day of rain...which is just as well because i have to work and cannot start laying mulch til the weekend....

back to work....

ok, so the spring break is over and i must go back to work.....i really resisted the temptation to fret over work during the interlude.....though i could not help but to dream about work-related issues...lats night i dreamed that an auditorium in our building (we have no such room) was flooded and filling up with pebbles...kind of like a beach....and the state folks were threatening to condemn our building unless we pulled the plug and let the water out.....i also sat in on an exit interview from a mental health treatment audit...we do no such work in our building, but i had to sit in anyway.....one element of the dream sequence was accurate- i have a bit of news to pass on to someone to let her know that a choice she made was the smarter of the two options she had at hand.......she showed up in my dream and i was about to tell her but the alarm went off.....go figure.....better take care of that issue today so she doesn't return to my dreams tonight....

ok, so this public place erupts into dance theme has been done before, but i do so enjoy the concept.....

ok, so this flying pig was part of an easter celebration in australia.....no clue what pigs have to do with easter......but i do enjoy the swine photo.....

those who live in glass houses....

ok, so the fox news folks have had a heyday over the realization that the obamas have not attended church regularly since moving to washington in january....as if church attendance were a residential requisite.....church selection takes time, and given that there are any number of churches who would jump at the chance to have the first family sit regularly in their pews......it is as political a decision as many others made in the first 100 days......but that decision is not the point of my rant...it is with the fox news folks......they who have made such a big deal about church attendance can only do so ethically if they themselves attend church on a regular basis......jesus himself had no patience with sinners who threw stones......i'd say that the fox folks better watch their backs lest a higher power wield a bit of payback.....

dreams...

ok, so.....i dreamed vividly last night of visiting the 'opening' of a convention center......the famous architect was on hand and giving press interviews....and my middle child could not fail to notice that the newly erected convention center looked exactly like the old convention center next door......and my middle child 'shamed' the architect much like he shames the cat from time to time....for having no original thoughts, i suppose.......speaking of the cat, she is clinging to me as i type.....must be the horrific storm outside that has her spooked.....which is worse, a copying architect or a clawing cat?

flower photos

ok, so i got a wild hair yesterday to scan and post flower and garden photos, being spring and all.....and the first photos i searched for were the chelsea flower show pictures.....from the late 80's.....and i went through numerous family photo albums to no avail...i went through shelves in all bedrooms just in case somebody had wandered off with them and forgotten to put them back.....and finally the location came into my brain like a light bulb turning on....there never were actual photos....that particular trip, like our honeymoon, had been captured on slides.....we managed to have the honeymoon transferred to prints, but never got around to doing so with the trip that included the flower show, castle howard's rose garden, hidcote garden, and sissinghurst.....my photos of jardin bagatelle must also be on slides....oy!......now i must figure out where i can take the slides to get digital files created.....at least i have not lost these fabulous photos...

the beer bike

ok, so this is a beer bike, which seats 10.....sponsored by amstel light in the netherlands...gives new meaning to designated driver....

the embrace and the ipod....

ok, so......i am fed up to here (imagine my hand at my neck) with the media circus around the notion that michele obama broke protocol by being photographed with her arm around the queen....from the view i saw on the huffington post, the queen's arm was around her back as well...so if it were a faux pas, this particular one went both ways.....god bless the queen for being flexible when it comes to media frenzy.....and as for the ipod.....my most treasured gifts over the years have been mix cd's from my children or from their friends....magical mystery cd's that go places i never go with sound, lyrics or rhythm.....the notion that this was an inappropriate gift to a monarch is laughable......of what possible use would an American-made crystal ashtray be to a woman who does not smoke....yeah...or maybe he should have brought her a collection of spoons from every state....yeah!...... or he could have brought her a case of bourbon (the queen does love her scotch so why not a ky-made bit of corn squeezings?), but that does not make a a good photo-op......so i say leave the obamas and their g-20 tour alone....they seem to be doing fine for a first trip out of the country.....

circling overhead....

ok, so....last season's oddly inflated flock of vultures is back.......so numerous that it is not unusual to see 8-10 in a single tree as we drive out the road toward the highway.....i read the papers out on the deck after work yesterday.....an activity that would have been much more enjoyable had 3 vultures not been circling....i always check on the whereabouts of my cat when the vultures are out- just in case.....it appears that they are hanging out here rather than feasting on the fallen.....go figure....

new b-ball coach at u of k....

ok, so televised broadcasts in these parts were interrupted last evening for a special news update.....not the economy....not the 2 wars.....just the news that the new b-ball coach had officially agreed to an 8 year 35 mil contract.......the college contends that boy's b-ball is self-supporting, and these inflated coaching salaries in no way impacted the tuition that this or any other family coughed up for a child's education......but i do not believe that for a ky minute....

a late addition.....the facebook babble about the coaching acquisition has been amusing......a friend asked the question 'now what?' to which another friend replied that the recruits will follow j.c. to uk, they will win multiple championships, and the lame will walk and the blind will see'......such are the fan/alumni/administration expectations for coaches in these parts....

hit and run....

ok, so like this commercial

vinyl....

ok, so.....i took the facebook bait today and posted my top 5 favorite albums of all time...well...six after i added aqualung by jethro tull.....and the curious thread linking them all together?......i own them all on vinyl as well as cd....the vinyl dating back from before i met my spouse...which either means that i have classic taste in music...who can argue against led zeppelin IV as the best album of all time?.....or that i am hopelessly lost in the 70's......

head in the sand.....

ok, so i am avoiding the daily dialogue about the recession by listening to borrowed books in cd from the library....i have listened to a few cozy british murder mysteries, and am now back to hercule poirot.....yes, hercule is also quite cozy and therefore not much of a change at all....i have read so many of this series over the years, and have seen so many televised adaptations, that i am amusing myself by trying to figure out the killer in a work i have already seen, heard or read at some point.....i simply haven't remembered that little detail at this point....so for the time being it is like new to me....and i very much appreciate the entertainment value in these troubled times: free and easily accessible escape.....

billy g......

ok, so i was in the beaumont plaza goodwill in lexington when the banter at the checkout turned loudly to the breaking news....the coach billy g. was out.....the clerk at the counter had already heard the news, and with crossed fingers in the air wished for uk to bring back coach p.......the customer awaiting his credit card receipt laughed....and replied with a story that i had never heard before....'didn't you know that the girl he (coach p)got pregnant lives in that subdivision just across the road?.......he'll not be coming back to these parts'.......ooops........the conversation turned to just how badly uk had treated billy g....by not giving him a real chance because he was stuck with the team that tubby recruited.....by the time i had checkout with my own purchases billy g was being nominated for semi-sainthood for managing to take a mediocre team to the NIT.....go figure....

top 50 food blogs

ok, so this link is from the huffington post......

rain, rain and more rain.....

ok, so the rain continues.....and while i welcome the timely moisture for the grass seed in the front yard.....i do wish that the rain coincided with the opportunity to go back to bed and really enjoy the rain...i sleep ever so soundly with a raindrops on the windows and roof.....

a scary anti-smoking ad....

ok, so....

last lyrics of the day....

ok, so this was read at our wedding....a poem/song by judy collins recorded by dan fogelberg and tim wiesburg.....

Since You Asked

What I'll give you since you asked
Is all my time together
Take the ragged sunny days
The warm and rocky weather
Take the roads that I have walked along
Looking for tomorrows time
Peace of mind

As your life fills into mine
Changing with the season
Filling up the world with time
Changing time to reasons
I can show you all the songs
That I never sang to someone before

We have seen a millions stars
Lying by the water

You have climbed the hills with me
To the mountain shelter
Taking off the days one by one
Setting them to breathe in the sun

Take the lilies and the lace
From the days of childhood
All the willow winding back
Leading up and outward
This is what I give, this is what I ask you for
Nothing more

last hymn of the day....

ok, so this hymn reminds me of spring....and of my grandmother's country church.....where we sat half-way back and to the right...and the lady who always sat in front of grandma had hair the color of daffodils.....into her golden years.... i suppose she figured that yellow was as good a color to choose at the beauty parlor as any other....my grandma loved this song....we sang it at her funeral....well...everybody except me...because our eldest was a 2-week old infant...and he got hungry about the time this hymn came around.....others sang it as i hurried my sweet baby out the back door.....

In The Garden
(written by C. Aus­tin Miles)Verse 1:
I come to the garden alone,
while the dew is still on the roses.
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
the Son of God discloses.

Chorus:
And He walks with me,
and He talks with me,
and He tells me I am His own;
and the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known.

Verse 2:
He speaks and the sound of His voice,
is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
and the melody that He gave to me
within my heart is ringing.

Chorus

Verse 3:
I`d stay in the garden with Him
though the night around me be falling,
but He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Chorus

another favorite hymn

ok, so...this hymn has been in my mind this day...

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Dal­lan For­gaill (translated from the Irish by
Ma­ry E. Byrne, Versified by El­ea­nor H. Hull)

lyrics

ok, so there is a commercial out now that blends old and new versions of one of my favorite songs.....in case you cannot hear the lyrics over the rhythm...

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

there is no better benediction......

wasted nights...

ok, so i wasted 4 perfectly good hours last evening attending a training put on by the red cross on how to open up a shelter.....mostly what the leader emphasized, along with story after story of her vast knowledge of shelter management, was that if there was another emergency like the ice storm we would all be on our own because she doesn't live or work in our county and she wouldn't be coming over to help us....this is how she handled the ice storm, so i suppose she is simply being consistent in how she doles out her vast knowledge.....

hot and cold....

ok, so.....the MM spent a miserable night vacillating between shivers and a hot sweat.....so very, very tiresome....

piscean dreams

ok, so....i drove to the grocery store in my dreams to buy formula and diapers for an unidentified baby living at my house....a curious place for a dream to start because i doubt that we ever needed to go out for these items, what with cloth diapers and breastmilk....but i digress.....the grocery store was multi-level, and i found myself in front of a special lenton fish display, with numerous variations of saltcod and retort pouch smoked salmon (pieces and entire sides)and sandwiches that a saleslady described as some local delicacy made by an ancient recipe.....these were flat-tish loaves sliced lengthwise....and one could not see the filling which led me to deduce that the inside was hollowed out somehow to accommodate some sort of fish and vegetable mixture.....my guess is tuna....though one shouldn't have to guess about one's own dreams.....

vatican to boycott angels and demons?

ok, so.. this from the huffington post....ROME -- The Vatican could be gearing up for an official call for a boycott of "Angels & Demons," Ron Howard's big-budget follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code."

Avvenire, the Vatican's official newspaper, ran a story in Friday's edition noting that the Church "cannot approve" of such a problematic film. The Turin daily La Stampa, meanwhile, said the Vatican would soon call for a boycott of the film, though the same article also quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, who warned against a "boomerang effect" that could call attention to the film and eventually make it more popular.

How's about i go see the movie twice when it comes out in may to make up for the ticket the pope refuses to buy?

march madness

ok, so.....in the facebook brackets i currently have 23 points out of 30 possible points, and am ranked 64697th (top 18%).....i failed to foresee the osu loss to siena...ouch.....nor michigan's win over clemson.....nor gonzaga's win over akron.....just to name a few.....double ouch......i have louisville to win it all......a curious choice given r. pitino's interview last evening whereupon he resembled a gangster in his striped suit rather than a top-tier basketball coach.....despite my choice of l-ville to win it all, i still secretly hoped for morehead to blister l-ville......ah well......more b-ball to come today....but first i have my to-do list....i plan to start several annuals inside in those inflatable peat pots....i cleared the plant window in the guest room by consolidating the amarylis into a large single pot and moving them all into the back room where i can admire them readily until their blooming season has passed.....i have 2 white astilbe to plant by the pond, and a white clematis to plant on the fence near the oak-leaf hydrangea.....and i am going to dig up daylilies for a friend who has need of a mass of plants behind his garage......happy to oblige anybody who will take daylilies off my hands....and then i will pull up more wild onions.....and hopefully i will have completed my list by 4- when we plan to go to the cinema as a family and see duplicity.....a full day!

ok, so this excerpted from jezebel......In 2008, MIT Professor Dan Ariely got an unexpected thank-you for presenting at a conference: a Prada bag. Carrying the bag made him feel different. Special, even. So he decided to study branding and behavior.

Writes Jennifer 8. Lee for the New York Times' City Room blog,

In one of his studies, half of the 250 subjects were told that the designer glasses they were wearing were "real," while the other half were told they were wearing "counterfeits." They were told to do a number of tasks that seemed to be related to the glasses, like evaluating scenery. But tucked into the sequence was a math test. Researchers found that 60 percent of those who were wearing "counterfeit" glasses cheated, while only 20 percent of those wearing "real" glasses cheated.

Study participants also were given a financial incentive to lie about the location of circles in a series of visual puzzles — and those with the "fake" glasses lied both sooner and more often.

The Times draws the conclusion that buying counterfeit goods has a discernible corrosive effect on an individual's morality — that, in effect, wearing an item you know to be fake is like kryptonite for your sense of right and wrong. But can it really be that simple?

ok, so this drawing was in the washington post today, in an article about gardening on a budget......it pretty much sums up the money pit that my garden has become over the years.....i DO love my garden, but i suppose i could have squeezed out another trip to europe had i been more careful about plant buying, etc.....

hot and cold...

ok, so.....there are few things worse than spending a night in bed either far too hot or chilled to the point of shivering....i could use a nap right about now to even things out....

has it come to this?

ok, so this is a dutch bus-stop combined with an ad for a local gym....the sign actually registers the weight of the woman waiting for the bus.....

4 toothpicks

ok, so in my dreams i was summoned to spears lane...to a house that i know not to be a real fixture in the neighborhood...and i was instructed to bring my own toothpicks for the appetizers...so i brought 4, not wanting to appear greedy.....and there were cheese cubes, and bacon-wrapped scallops, and boiled shrimp.....and the television was on during this gathering...one of those room-size overthetop models......but i was too engrossed in what i could snatch up with my 4 toothpicks to notice what was playing....and the host (from my church choir....) asked if i had brought something to grill....and i took half a porkchop, in a baggie, from my purse.....i had not been instructed to bring something to grill...so i was a bit stunned to find a portion of a porkchop in my purse......and while i tended my bit of meat on the grill, i watched the neighbors who were out raking up the last of the storm debris..... and somehow i determined that the cadre of raking neighbors were republicans....no recollection how i made this determination while in dreamland....no recollection if i actually ate the porkchop.....

ok, so i have no earthly reason to post this photo, other than i find the image of einstein riding a bicycle amusing....

snailing

ok, so i just scored 62 points with this word on lexulous.......i am so thrilled, because it means i have a shot at finally winning a game.....i play with a cadre of skilled wordsmiths.....

march

ok, so last night at book club the book was march by geraldine brooks...ambitious as fan fiction goes.....and unusually successful given the pulitizer it received.......the story focuses on mr march, the father figure absent from the story line of little women louisa m. alcott would have appreciated the sequel/tandem time frame premise of this novel, as she herself wrote several sequels to her own works over her writing career.....she wrote little men under pressure from fans who wanted to know what happened to the march girls...louisa was cantankerous enough to marry jo off to a professor, and jo's intended (laurie) married her sister amy instead....the novel eight cousins was followed by rose in bloom.....i have inherited 10 alcott novels and short story collections...each a christmas gift to my mother and/or her sister in the 30's...our hostess for the evening, also an ohio native possesses a smaller yet just as dear stack of alcott's books. curiously, we were the only ones present who had read any books beyond little women.....ah well.....we move on to kafka on the shore.....which we promise to treat with reverence, as we are borrowing this volume from one of our dear children...

gardener's remorse....day 3....

ok, so....my aching muscles and joints are forgotten as i peruse the catalogs for the perfect rose bushes to plant in the newly cleared beds by the back fence.....hope springs eternal...

gardener's remorse- day 2...

ok, so....i 'went big' yesterday....as we say around here......with the hand trimmer's and later directing my spouse on the chainsaw....collectively we beat back the natural flora so that the roses along the back fence could thrive once more.....given that the back fence separates our yard from the cliff....and the abyss.....this is easier said than done.....a yearly event that must take place before the weather warms up enough to draw the snakes out of their winter hidey-holes.....again, great things were accomplished, but at great peril, and this morning........it is with great pain and moaning that i sit here typing....i somehow jammed a finger...and it is red and swollen...and sure to remind me of just how much physical effort went into my gardening weekend....

gardener's remorse....

ok, so...i woke up this morning to a collection of painful joints and muscle groups...clearly, gardening is much more strenuous than many contact sports....

limbaugh crosses the delaware...

ok, so....pay special attention to the big fat idiot in the back of the boat....

playing in the dirt....

ok, so.....i bought straw, grass seed, rose food, perennial food, and new gloves......and set to work......being more of a plant person and less of a grass person, i started with the fertilizer and moved on to ripping out invasive lamb's ear.....and by the time my spouse came home from work i had not yet started to prep the yard for the grass seed.....ah well.....

the library

ok, so.....my saturday trip to the library was rife with activity well beyond the selection of reading/listening/viewing materials....the conversation that went on behind my back as i anguished over the perfect book-on-cd for my trips this week to louisville and frankfort was curious- a man and woman (long-lost lovers?)went into great detail about the exact detail of current living arrangements...in such detail that i could probably find my way to both homes if push came to shove.....way too much information...and then there was the woman at the checkout explaining just where in her home she had searched for the missing book in question....the notion that this woman managed to get that far under her own bed was amusing.....and then there was the look of utter exhaustion on the face of the father of a sadly departed classmate of one of my children......who appeared as reluctant to socialize as i was to ask him how he is doing.......and then there was the unexpected vision of pure joy......as a couple i know vaguely lifted their grandson out of his car seat, and each held a hand as he toddled between them to the door....oh my...may i be lucky enough to be in their shoes one day.....

to sleep perchance to dream...

ok, so......i clearly recall waking up in the middle of the night- to the sound of the cat clawing the carpeting.....and the first thing that popped into my head was a variation on an old song....'it's my friday and i'll cry if i want to'......this phrase had nothing to do with the dream sequence interrupted so rudely by the cat...it involved selling raffle tickets that i made myself with ms publisher and purchased card stock......it was the trying to figure out what the crying part meant that kept me briefly awake when the cat moved on with her mischief......who knows why the unconscious mind conjures up what it manages to conjure up....i may change my facebook sentiment to reflect the friday nature of menopause....sounds like the most plausible explanation.....

mr. pitt goes to washington

ok, so brad pitt had a private audience with mr obama today at the white house....presumably about mr pitt's sustainable housing project in new orleans 9th ward.....

waste of time

ok, so....i took the time to watch the wildcat's last home game.....what a waste of time.....no chance of a being on anybody's tourney bubble now....

peeps contest

ok, so the washington post is hosting its 3rd annual peeps contest...deadline is 3/15/09...so not much time to create the definitive peeps diarama...the peeps photo in this blog is called...please mommie- no more wire hangers.....

2 solid months...

ok, so i have walked a mile day for 2 months....that is all....

a wild onion sort of day....

ok, so yesterday, after church and before walking on the treadmill.....i decided to pull the returning clumps of wild onions.....those that have sprung up since the last time i pulled onions.....the weather and soil conditions were perfect......they came up in lovely earthen clumps.......this means nothing in the long run, sadly....as entire clumps seem to spring from single springs left behind from the grasping of clumps.....i have said this before, but it needs to be said again.....that after 26 years of pulling onions from these beds there really should be no onions left.....

handel

ok so......i sat through unfamiliar handel last night at centre....kept wishing they'd break into a few selections from the messiah....

the library....

ok, so...i got up early to drive to the recycle center......my car was filled completely (trunk, back seat and the passenger side of the front seat....) with the recyclables from rotary pancake day.......rinsed out syrup bottles, juice and milk jugs, pancake mixes boxes....and as well as boxes that once held frozen sausage patties.......i have 2 dozen partially empty squeeze margarine bottles in my basement refrigerator waiting for me to consolidate the contents and recycle the empties.....my fellow rotarians were highly amused at my mission...and asked if i had considered climbing into the dumpster out back to recover items discarded earlier in the day.....clearly i was not among folks who recycle passionately......but i digress from my library story.......so i drove across the street from the recycle center to the interim library to check out the last installment of the john adams miniseries.....and as i was walking back to the dvd section, i saw the 2 caged rabbits in the children's section.....and i was overcome with the urge to open the cage door and release them.....yeah- these are not likely rabbits that have ever been in the wild and would just as likely be found run over in the parking lot......the newspaper headline would read...crazed recycler goes on cage rampage......these rabbits do lead pitiable lives....i took the time to rub their noses and whisper earnest apologies for their plight......i was distracted while walking back toward the books-on-cd by book on french chateaux (or is it chateaus?) and discovered a sweet cache of books about living in paris.....i thought i had already read them all, but found 2 that had somehow been published under my radar.....and while i perused the audio books, i was amused to overhear a conversation in the genealogy section between two older hippie-ish folks who collectively fail to find elevated consciousness in yoga.....my own thoughts leaped to a child-of-mine who would have discreetly transcribed the conversation on the back of an envelope.....i had tucked my wallet in my pocket and left my purse in the car.....neither pen nor paper when one needed it most........

bunning's idle threat...

ok, so this from the huff-post....The Louisville Courier-Journal has another bombshell about Sen. Jim Bunning, the embattled Republican who is increasingly going rogue in an effort to hold onto his seat.

In recent weeks, Senate Republican leaders have walked right up to the edge of declaring open war on Bunning. Minority Leader (and fellow Kentucky senator) Mitch McConnell and others reportedly believe Bunning is likely to lose his reelection race in 2010, and so are trying to nudge him into retirement by sending signals that the party establishment will not back him.

Bunning has responded aggressively, threatening to sue the Senate Republicans' campaign arm if it doesn't fully back his reelection.

And now the latest: Bunning "reportedly said privately that if he is hindered in raising money for his re-election campaign he is ready with a response that would be politically devastating for Senate Republicans: his resignation."

The Kentucky Republican suggested that possible scenario at a campaign fundraiser for him on Capitol Hill earlier this week, according to three sources who asked not to be identified because of the politically sensitive nature of Bunning's remarks.


The implication, they said, was that Bunning would allow Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, to appoint his replacement -- a move that could give Democrats the 60 votes they need to block Republican filibusters in the Senate.

"I would get the last laugh. Don't forget Kentucky has a Democrat governor," one of the sources quoted Bunning as saying.

at a loss for words....

ok, so.....i have yet to win a round of lexulous on facebook.....i get the same number of tiles as everybody else...but these clever doubled-up words that earn the big scores never cross my mind......i appear to lack knowledge of 2-letter words......or the patience to keep putting letters on top of an existing word until the word can get past the computerized word-check....ah well....i enjoy playing despite my poor win-loss record....

rain, rain...

ok, so the mm has to drive in the driving rain to e-town for a meeting....how unfair is that?!

ok, so...my class is done with sex and can move on to drugs after the 2nd exam...

a good night's sleep.....

ok, so...i came home from work yesterday afternoon a miserable wretch who could not swallow without pain, and made it my business to take a hot bath and go to bed.......so far so good until my child woke me up when she got home from school to ask me why i was home.....for the record, when one finds one's mother dressed in pajamas, in bed, on a work day.....asleep....there should be nothing to ask.......ah well....i did manage to get back to sleep until 5:30, when i felt compelled to get back up and fix supper......i may not feel great but i never miss meals.....in order to assure sleep after obama's speech i indulged in a little nyquil......and slept like a baby until the alarm went off......my throat is still sore, but less so than yesterday.....

driving permit...

ok, so the last child at home developed a strategy for taking the driving permit test...now that she is of age...do the on-line practice test a few times until a passing score was obtained...then take the test for real at the court house....oops......either she she didn't count on the for-real test having different questions, or she didn't feel the need to read through the relevant driver's education material that accompanied the practice test on-line....even after failing there was no studying of the instructional material as prep for next time......i suppose it could have been worse.........another girl who failed the test came out of the testing room blaming her mother.....go figure how it could have been the mamma's fault....

slumdog millionaire...

ok, so.....we attended an annual february birthday party in lexington last night, and arrived back home in time to stay up til midnight watching this lovely movie collect most of its oscars.......which always sounds better the night before one has to get up and go to work the next day.....

a little birthday shopping...

ok, so....i will make she rounds this morning on the look-out for luscious treats for my birthday dinner.....there are those who would prefer to quick drive to lexington for a special dinner out...but i prefer to put together my own celebration with favorite foods that might not be on anybody else's menu......i have a recipe for an olive and orange salad (from the nytimes) ......and i hope to find dense cheesecake that can be topped with red raspberries....i already have some frozen mussels in garlic butter (from the aldi).....so i have an appetizer, a fish course....and a dessert idea....just need some sort of main event.....grilled steaks might be good if the night is not too cold.....so many options....