August in Review

Here’s the resolutions progress report:

1. Cook something fabulous and complicated every other week.

I cooked three simple but tasty dinners and one easy lunch, which was way more cooking than I usually do.

But that’s not all!

Debra of Threading the Web shared her grandmother’s recipe for banana cake with caramel icing – it’s an old-school style recipe, which called for ingredients I had to search for in two different stores. It was worth the effort. This cake is seriously yum.  I made the cake for Nanook’s 75th birthday party and it received rave reviews from all party-goers.  And…then I made it again for my birthday.

Then there was a pasta dish that was semi-complicated. I used fresh basil, oregano, and cherry tomatoes from the garden, which made me happy.

I must admit, I am quite pleased with my performance this month on the cooking resolution.

I bumped the “Eat dinner before 7:00 p.m.” goal down to “Eat dinner before 7:30 p.m.” because 7:00 is still too hard and if I miss the deadline, I’m more likely to say “screw it” and eat at 9 p.m., which is part of the problem.  I was able to hit my 7:30 deadline 81% of the time in August compared to 67% of the time in July with the 7:00 deadline. Not perfect, but it’s progress. I’ll take it.

2.  Finish Inferno choreography.

I still haven’t finished it, but I’m getting closer! I spent 9 hours and 45 minutes working on it this month.

And here is where I will insert a gratuitous dance picture from last week’s performance at the Renaissance Faire.

3. Write a book.

I spent 9 1/2 hours writing and researching this month, which only amounted to around 4,208 words. This is just sad. It’s not nearly enough if I want to get this thing written in my lifetime.

My resolution time was hampered by things like the need for sleep, busted water pipes, and walls being ripped out of the house in search for the leak.  A new semester started mid-month, so now I have a couple thousand preschoolers competing with everything else for my time and attention. I am getting better at saying “No,” to the time-consuming requests made by others, but I have a long way to go if I’m going to carve out enough time to get stuff I want to do done.

4. Tend the garden.

I spent 23 hours in the garden! Wowie. I had no idea it was that much until I just totaled up the time. Garden hours seem to pass on a completely different time scale. I logged most of this time in the first half of the month. I was a weeding and mulching maniac. Slinging mulch is great exercise. I planted oregano, cilantro, arugula, greens, chives, and lettuce. I clipped the amaryllis and hid them away until fall.  There is still so much work to be done!  I still want to plant spinach, garlic, kale and chard. The back beds need weeding. I want to plant mums and repot the house plants. And soon the leaves are gonna start falling. I am so looking forward to the fall and winter this year.  This is a brand new thing for me. I’ve always been a spring and summer sort of girl, but I’m ready to be cloistered inside with hot chocolate. I want to hide under a pile of blankets and spend hours reading books. I’m ready for soup.

5. Meditate 15 minutes a day.

I logged exactly the same amount of time this month as last month:  3 hours and 15 minutes.  This is a far cry from daily.  We’ll see how September goes.

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This Week on the Farm: The Things People Said

Topic: My Failed Attempt to Warm Leftovers

Me: Well! How am I supposed to know how to work this gadget?

The Devil: It’s not a gadget; it’s the oven.

~~*~~

Topic: Buying cheese for the Devil

Me: Please get the kind of cheese he likes.  He wants the mozerella that comes in a wet, soggy ball. Whatever you keep buying offends him.

Indentured Servant (laughing):  I’ve been offending him my whole life with my food choices…offending him, and then laughing about it.

~~*~~

Topic: The Rape of Kiki by P. King

Me: …P. King was getting it on with Kiki in the pool.  P. King had her by the neck!

Skattur: So? What’s wrong with that?

Me: What’s wrong with that?! …it’s…it’s….horrible! They’re different kinds of ducks!  They should be mating with their partners! What if they have mutant babies?! What about poor Hiram? and P. Queen?!

Skattur:  They’re ducks! It’s not like they’re different species! What difference does it make?

Indentured Servant: Yeah! Who died and made you the Duck Pimp?

The Devil’s Sin-a-Buns

God made food; the devil cooks.

–James Joyce, Ulysses

~~@~~

The Devil insists his Sin-a-Buns are easy and quick to make.  One must wonder why then he started them in the morning and then made me wait ALL DAY (until dinner!) until they were “ready” to eat.

The answer to that mystery is this: because he’s The Devil.

*sigh*

The Devil’s Sin-a-Buns

Dough:

4.5 C all-purpose flour

1.5 tsp dry yeast

1 C almond milk

 1/6 C butter, room temperature

1/6 C coconut oil, room temperature

1/3 C sugar

1/2 tsp salt

 4.5 tsp ENER-G plus 6 tbsp water, mix before adding to recipe (OR you can just use 3 eggs if you’re in to that sort of thing)

Filling:

3/4 C brown sugar, packed

1/4 C all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 C butter, room temperature

Icing:

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 box)

4 Tbsp (heaping) powdered sugar

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 Tbsp Vanilla Rum

1 Tbsp almond milk (if needed for thinning)

Place all dough ingredients into a bread machine set to ‘dough’ setting.  The Devil’s bread machine takes about 1.5 hours to complete.  Make sure all ingredients are mixed well and you have a smooth, lightly elastic dough.

Remove dough from bread machine and place on a lightly floured surface.  Separate dough into four equal pieces and roll each piece by hand to form a long baguette.  Let rest for a few minutes, then roll out each piece, one at a time, to form a thin layer of dough in the shape of a rectangle.

Mix all filling ingredients until a grainy paste is achieved.  Divide the filling into four parts, and use a flat spatula to spread 1/4 of the filling evenly on each piece of rolled-out dough.  Roll up the dough longways and take a sharp knife to slice the roll into 6 rolls.  You should end up with 6+6+6 [+6] rolls.

Place the rolls into a greased 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish and bake in a 375 F oven for 25-30 minutes, or until light brown on top.

Heat icing ingredients in microwave for 30 secs.- 1 minute, then stir and drizzle on top of the rolls as they cool.  Then enjoy the sinful, gooey goodness.

They are nothing short of amazing.