Couldn't Do That Again If You Tried!

I can not get over this picture. (The cat in the piano tops it on the surprise-meter, but this is just about as funny!) I really have nothing to say about it, except that I am sharing it with you all for the joy of it :-)

For reference: this came to me by way of my iGoogle page, in which I have a Photo of the Day feed from National Geographic. Most of the pictures are pretty or interesting, but this one just cracked me up. I use them from time to time with my students. I haven't figured out how I'll use this one yet, but I'll spring this on them when they least expect it :-)

Wasn't planning on it...

So a few weeks ago, I got 2 beautiful bunches of basil and made pesto (see photos). This week, I was planning on making the pesto pizza from the Simply in Season (among other things). Then, as I tend to do, I invited 4 friends over for supper to share the pizza with us (for a total of 6). However, I did not think of what I was planning on making. After looking over the options for which I had purchased groceries, I realized that all of my options (main dish, sides, etc) were for 4 people. So, I just decided to make them all. I made my favorite cucumber salad from the More With Less cookbook and an awesome kiwi-strawberry salad (kiwi, strawberries, a few tablespoons of citrus juice, a dash of honey and a bit of cinnamon) which I made that afternoon and were fine.

I also decided to make a chocolate layer cake, since it was one friend's birthday. I made the 2 chocolate layers according to the directions and waited the appropriate amount of time and then inverted the pans to take out the cakes. Unfortunately, I discovered why most cooking experts recommend putting parchment paper on the bottom of the pan in this case. Approximately 1/3 of the cake remained in the pan. Dangit. But, I was committed and doctored it back together as best as I could. Next, according to the recipe, the plan was to have 2 chocolate layers with a layer of cream cheese, whipped cream and Oreo chunks in the middle. Since I hadn't planned well (big surprise), I didn't have cream cheese or whipped cream, so I decided to go with white frosting which I did have. I pulled out the Oreo crumbs which I had from something else and mixed them in. What did I now have? Grey frosting. Dangit.

But, I had what I had, so I spread it on the cake, and then decided that was pretty ugly, so I spread some of the extra white frosting around the edges to make it look pretty. (On a side note, through this entire process, I was thinking about how much I hate caring about how food looks and that this is why I never bother!!) So, I get the frosting done in the middle and put on the top section (which is barely holding together). I spread my chocolate frosting just across the top, as the directions indicate. But, since 1/3 of the original top layer was falling apart, it looked really weird on one side. So, I just decided it'd be better to frost the whole thing, which I did. By the way, at the beginning of this whole episode I had put the cake on a piece of waxpaper on a plate and was planning to move it to the cakeplate off the waxpaper when all was said and done. (Again, should have known better than to care about appearance!!) As I go to move the cake to the cakeplate, I put it on the cake plate, and then pull out the wax paper. At this point, approximately 1/3 of the bottom layer pulls out right along with the wax paper!!!

Dangit again. But, it was as done as it was going to get, so I turned the now sloping side to the back, put the lid on and stuck it in the corner, hoping to forget about it until supper.

When I had finished the cake, I had turned the oven up from 350 to 400. After the whole cake episode, I got ready to put the chicken tenders for my salad into the oven. However, at that point, I discovered that my oven was now at 300 degrees, not 400. I thought it was because I bumped the dial, so I waited another 20 minutes, and still the oven was cooler. It appeared that my oven was broken. (Still does, for that matter.) So, I microwaved the chicken, much to my chagrin.

Meanwhile, my pizza dough was rising, but I now had no way to bake it! So, the best I could do was to grill it. Not that this is bad. Grilled pizza is awesome, but it has a tendency to become a disaster when I do it. Either way, I had no choice. So I make my pizza dough into five 8-inch rounds and oil top and bottom and throw them on the grill. After grilling one side, I pulled them off, spread pesto on the grilled side and put tomato slices and mozzarella on top. Then I put them back onto the grill for a few minutes (baked side up). (Meanwhile, I'm trying to beat the dogs off with a stick. They LOVE it when I grill because they inevitably get a LOT of food from my sloppiness). It turned out fine, but it was a crazy afternoon :-)

Un. Believable.

This is easily the most unbelievable thing I have seen in the last 2 months. I would say longer, but I work with children on a regular basis :-) . This morning at church, I was uncovering what I like to refer to as "my piano" (our fancy-pants grand piano) in the sanctuary. I pulled off the cover and threw it behind the stage (a 10 sq ft area). Upon returning to the piano, I noticed little white hairs all over it. Having seen the same thing covering my house after just bathing our white dog, my first thought was, "How in the world did dog hair get on the piano? I know my dog has not been anywhere near it..." I said this out loud and began blowing the hair off the piano.

As I was commenting on the hair, I raised the piano lid onto the small post, about 6-8 inches up. At this point, one of the worship team members says, (and you must imagine this with the most uninspired tone of voice you can imagine,) "There's a cat in the piano." This did not compute, so I said "What?" He says, in the same tone of voice, "There's a cat in the piano." So, as I'm standing at the back side of the piano (the hinged side) I start looking for the stuffed cat that is giving off this annoying white fur. Just as I'm about to start doing so, I hear a small volley of dull thuds inside the piano, and at that second, a (LIVE) cat streaks out of the front of the piano, and disappears either behind the stage or into the sanctuary. At least 5-7 people saw this happen, but no one could find it afterwards.

Then we started to compare notes to figure out when the piano was last used, and near as we could tell, it had to have been last Sunday, when I played postlude, closed the piano and put the cover on it. Now, I'm fairly certain there are no large holes on the bottom of a grand piano that a cat could get into, but if this is the case, it has to follow that the cat had been in there for a week, which doesn't make any sense, but what else could have happened? Thankfully, the cat didn't die in there, which would have been disastrous for a piano that is $7,000 nicer than mine! I just can not get over this story. Un. Believable. This will probably top my story list at least until I get back to school :-)

I love it when that happens!

Today, as I was making supper in a hurry, the thought occurred to me, "Why did I make something called "Lemon Pasta and Chicken" when I know I don't like lemon in things like this?? But, it was too late, the groceries were purchased, the pasta was in the pot, and the chicken was in the oven. My general policy is to NOT make food I don't like (which is why Ben doesn't get food with mushrooms, shrimp, etc, unless he makes them himself). However, this time, one key ingredient allowed me to overlook the offending lemon. The full title of the recipe is "Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken." Key word? Cream. :-) As I was making the dish and tasting it along the way, as is my practice :-), I kept being underwhelmed with it. But, the key ingredient was the last thing added, and it made all the difference in the world. Give it a shot, I highly recommend this one :-)

Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken


3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 lemon, quartered
2 t. garlic powder, divided
1 t. black pepper, divided
4 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
8 oz. uncooked, whole wheat rotelle pasta
1 c. heavy cream
1 T. fresh dill, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chicken in a lightly greased baking dish. Squeeze lemon over both sides of the chicken breasts and season both sides using 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Bake for 40 minutes, or until juices run clear and chicken is no longer pink inside.
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, season the chicken broth with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil and add lemon juice and pasta. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes.
3. Cut cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into cooked pasta, along with the cream and dill. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir thoroughly before serving.

NOTE: This is the recipe, as I made it today. There are a few minor changes I made, compared to the original. See the link above for the original.

Added bonus: I had been making my favorite cucumber salad to go with this dish and had a big bunch of dill out that Grandma sent home with me. On a whim, I figured that a little dill couldn't hurt this pasta dish either (it wasn't written in the original recipe), and it was wonderful! Yay for Grandma's dill!

Still a "Golden" Girl

Marilyn and I went and saw "The Proposal" last weekend, and if you like chick flicks, it was great. Loved it. Added bonus, it had an American Eskimo puppy in it!!!! SOOO cute. (Still not cute as Nimbus was when he was a baby before we got him though :-))

Another bonus: shot in Alaska with incredible scenery. Final bonus: Betty White was in it. Yes, Betty White of Golden Girl fame. I remember watching the Golden Girls with my grandparents :-) Good times. Well, in this movie she plays a firecracker grandma who is trying to get her grandson married. In one scene, she plays a tailor adjusting her old wedding dress for the "less chesty" Sandra Bullock.



Then, I saw her on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and it was hilarious. The best part was seeing her partake in a game of beer pong with Jimmy (throwing pingpong balls trying to get them into each other's cup of beer). It was great. He explains the game to her, and she goes, "Wonderful!"

Poorly designed!

The above phrase has always been a part of my life. I realize this may not be true for the average human being, but when you grow up with engineers in the house, that is the effect. Shampoo bottle cracks: "poorly designed!" Field implement piece breaks off in your hand: "poorly designed!" Bi-fold doors never work right: "poorly designed!" Vegetable you don't like: "poorly designed!" The inevitable phrase following that: "I could've designed a better one!" Needless to say, the concept of design has always been present for me.

For this reason, I notice when things aren't quite designed "right" (I know, an opinion), or when they have a fantastic design that won't let you quit looking at it. I have had several experiences recently that reminded me of design. The main thing is that I'm currently reading a book called, "A Whole New Mind," by Daniel Pink, explaining why right-brain (conceptual, big picture, creativity) thinking is the wave of the future. One of the things he claims is coming to the forefront in culture is design, because we are at a point in history in which (in the US) all available items perform tasks fairly well, the main distinction now is the design.

One place I noticed a lack of thought in design is when flying on a small regional jet last week. By a fluke that enraged my husband, we didn't get the seats we chose online, but the the VERY back seats in the very small plane. In case you didn't know, it is HOT and LOUD back there. Fine, that may not be fixable. However, the major design flaw was that those seats were IMMEDIATELY next to the restrooms. So, for the entire (90 minute) flight, people streamed to the restroom, non-stop. (It's 90 minutes, hold it, people!!) It was amazing. One woman went in with 2 kids! Either way, the design flaw was that if someone didn't close the door after them, I reached over (I wasn't stretching either) and closed it. At one point, I was holding it closed because it wouldn't stay shut. Ridiculous. I shouldn't have to do that. (We thought about posting a picture of this situation on FailBlog but didn't.)

Sometimes though, a design is so good, that it stretches the mind. I experienced this in college, when some of the classrooms had prints by M.C. Escher. (See above.) I stared, and stared at these pictures that seemed to interconnect forever. They did not seem like stable images, as I kept following the lines trying to figure out how they seemed to play visual tricks on me (hopefully not to the detriment of my education). Above is one simple example of one of his images. Below is a lego version (doesn't it twist your mind inside out?) and a joke about his work from one of my favorite webcomics, xkcd. By the way, Escher's type of design uses something called "tessellations." The next one is a machine/art piece I saw at a museum in Boston with Fjaere. I looked at thing forever trying to figure out how it worked :-) It's all in the design. The last one is a building on the campus of MIT. It figures. :-) Even machines and buildings can be beautiful and fascinating :-)

Yay for Summer!!

I've been taking a lot of deep cleansing breaths lately to fully enjoy my upcoming summer waiting in front of me. One food that signifies summer for me (and that I make repeatedly because it is SOOO good) is Chocolate Zucchini Cake. No, you cannot taste the zucchini. :-) The teachers at school loved it and I think you will too!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. oil
1 3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. cocoa
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
2 c. grated zucchini
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. chocolate chips
1/4 c. chopped nuts


Cream butter, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, and cocoa. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Fold in grated zucchini. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Mix brown sugar, chocolate chips and nuts and sprinkle on top of batter. Bake at 325 for 40-50 minutes until cake tests done in the center.

Fantastic served warm :-)