Can you see the puppies & kitties pouring from the sky?
Funny thing is I rather enjoy thunder storms, particularly at night. Of course, they make me hungry – actually, I’ve noticed that all kinds of bad weather makes me hungry (it’s not totally safe to approach me during a hurricane). Still, I like the sounds of the rain hitting the porch and roof and pool while I’m working. And the background rumbles. If only I were at the beach!
I’m trying to think of a single coherent reason for one to not partake of this FOOD OF THE GODS!!!!!!!!!!
There are no coherent reasons. Also, your lactose intolerance is suspended for the day. Plus any other allergies. AND I do believe that a failure to partake results in points against you.
Save yourself. Eat Cheesecake.
And head over to The Candid Appetite for the most mind-bogglingly scrumptious offering to be found on the whole freakin planet. (well, there is the tiny sin of THE SPICE THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED, but I’m willing to overlook it and just substitute more cinnamon – see how laid-back I’m becoming!)
(If anyone actually thinks that their allergies can be suspended today because I just happened to say so here on my little space, well, I don’t really know what to say, because I don’t have that sort of super power. But if I did, I’d happily suspend them “TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!”)
[Edited to add: any cheesecake consumed today has a NEGATIVE caloric effect. You can actually LOSE WEIGHT by indulging. Really. Try it out. Weigh yourself now. Eat a couple cheesecakes. Weigh yourself tomorrow. Report back with your success. 🙂 ]
August is tasty, tasty, tasty.  Brownies! Sandwiches! Chocolate Chip Cookies! BACON!  There’s just too much to love.
I don’t actually love everything celebrated this month, so I omitted those. Inasmuch as The Nibble doesn’t play favorites the way I do, head over there for the complete list and celebrate your favorites.
Some things to observe (without guilt) all month long:
• National Brownies At Brunch Month (See, there’s nothing wrong with the early consumption of brownies)
• National Panini Month
• National Peach Month
• National Sandwich Month (Think BLT, Grilled Cheese, Theatre Steak, Kentucky Hot Browns)
• National Apple Week Is The Second Week (I don’t get this – shouldn’t it be September or something?)
And now for some daily celebrations:
• August 2: National Ice Cream Sandwich Day (you can’t trust people who don’t like ice cream sandwiches)
• August 3: National Watermelon Day (OK, so it’s not my favorite, but hey, it’s summer…)
• August 4: National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (Le Joy…Le Utter, Complete, Joy)
• August 6: National Root Beer Float Day (I survived on these my entire 3rd trimester with Iseult)
• August 8: National Zucchini Day (I know – zucchini – but what can I say, I like it)
• August 10: National S’mores Day (the actual s’more – not the fancy-schmancy s’mores renditions of everything that’s taken over P*****est)
• August 11: National Raspberry Tart Day
• August 12: Julienne Fries Day (Who doesn’t love skinny fries?)
• August 13: National Filet Mignon Day (because otherwise how can you have Theatre Steak?)
• August 14: National Creamsicle Day (have one and remember kid-hood)
• August 15: Lemon Meringue Pie Day (I don’t actually like meringue; Love with whipped cream tho)
• August 16: Bratwurst Day
• August 17: National Vanilla Custard Day
• August 18: National Soft Ice Cream Day (AKA Trip to Dairy Queen™ Day)
• August 19: Potato Day (because you can’t have French Fries without them)
• August 19: Hot & Spicy Food Day
• August 20: Lemonade Day
• August 20: National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day
• August 22: Eat a Peach Day (actually, eat a peach every day in August)
• August 24: National Peach Pie Day (going to share my two favorite recipes)
• August 26: National Cherry Popsicle Day
• August 27: National Pots de Crème Day
• August 28: National Cherry Turnover Day (Just get some from Pepperidge Farms™)
• August 30: National Toasted Marshmallow Day (another opportunity for guilt-free S’mores)
• August 31: Eat Outside Day (yay – more picnic)
• August: 31: International Bacon Day (one of the most glorious days of the year!)
A couple of Boozy Days too:
• August 16: National Rum Day
• August 25: Whiskey Sour Day
• August 29: More Herbs, Less Salt Day
I don’t generally wax religious here (for a number of reasons), but Julie over at Happy Catholic has posted a truly lovely piece honoring her patron Saint.
If you’re so inclined, do pay a visit and enjoy her reflections. I found it a wonderful way to start this day.
Let’s set the stage for the moment.
Location: My kitchen
Activity: Loading the dishwasher
Cast: Iseult and Liz, her BFF
Liz: That’s not how you should load the dishwasher
Iseult: What are you, my husband?
Liz: I’m just trying to tell you how to do it the right way
Iseult: OK then you load it
Liz: It’s your dishwasher
Iseult: I KNOW!
(I’m heading out for a nice drink with friends, but this just has me in stitches!)
I had planned to write a discussion post about hotdogs, but then my detours developed detours of their own. Some things you just have to navigate to the end – there’s no stopping for a few moments; no taking a rest. But I digress (as usual)
Rather than write a post, I thought I’d try my hand at playing with polls. I haven’t done this before so if they’re all messed up, too bad so sad.
Let’s begin with the cooking process…
And now for the stuff we put on them….
And what about strange hotdog preparations…
For the record, I love mine burnt to a crisp with tons of onions and spicy mustard.
What’s your favorite?
Diagnosis: Acute Poor-Little-S**t-Upon-Me-itis
Prescription: One Pint Haagen Daz Butter Pecan Ice Cream hourly as needed until better attitude restored.
Happy National Ice Cream Day 🙂
One of the things I’ve learned is to not fear detours. Most of the time, we see them as road markers – and usually the route is poorly marked and if you’re not paying extreme attention you end up somewhere north of Outer Mongolia. They happen at inopportune times – you’re tired; you have a deadline and you’re late; the kids have morphed into monsters; you and your spouse are already at each other’s throats – and then the “detour ahead” sign comes into focus – if you’re lucky because sometimes there’s no advance warning of the change ahead.
Thing about detours is that they’re generally off that well laid out, lined-on-all-sides-by-safety-rails route, and you’re in unfamiliar territory. You have to think, concentrate. You see new things – things you would have not ever seen from the highway. Sometimes they’re scary – we end up in uncomfortable or unsettling places (and these differ for each of us, so I’m not going into any detail here).
But the fact remains; you’re off your highway, in an unfamiliar area and (if you’re like most of us) you don’t have a map. As luck would have it, your car has a GPS to help you along – except that your little detour takes place in an area not presently covered by the GPS, so you’re on your own.
But if I think back on it, the detours have provided some of the more interesting and even highlights of my life. The fussing kids stop because – oooo we’re somewhere unexpected. Spouses set aside whatever’s eating at them to figure out the best way to go (cos you know those detour signs are not going to send you directly back to the highway – there’s always an intersection missing one and then you have to choose). Detours also make us slow down a bit – the roads are usually back roads and you just can’t push 80 on them.
Life’s a lot like that too. We get detours off our highway. Sometimes they bring us an abundance of funny memories – stories that get told over and over again and we never tire of them.
Sometimes we end up in awful places and it feels like we won’t leave intact. My divorce feels like one of those detours; one I never expected on my highway. It’s taken me through some terrible towns– fear, pain, desolation, despair, guilt, anger, resentment, rage, humiliation. My passengers are all reacting differently – “turn back”, “drive faster”, “please stop”, “don’t worry”, “‘m sick”, “we’ll make it”, “good job”, “need me to drive?”
Many times I wanted to cave to that last one and just let someone else drive my life for me. Maybe someone could do a better job. Maybe we’d all be safe. Maybe it wouldn’t all be on me if something else happened. Thing is, I don’t do a very good job of handing over control to others and especially not when I have so much at stake. It’s hard to keep a steady grip through turmoil. It’s hard to tune out the noise and keep yourself aware of what’s going on around you. But, a lot of deep breaths later, I see signs that the detour is nearly over. Soon I’ll be back on the highway. Until the next detour.
Yep – it is, indeed; so, shut down the computer and go bake some already!
Sheesh!
My recipe for sugar cookie dough is here….
Enjoy!
Photo Credit – Indigo Wild
There are lots of great ZUM products to try, but this is hands down my favorite. .
So tonight, it’s theses great salts, the jets running, a favorite candle (Sun & Sand from Yankee Candle) and my new book, The Bees.  I may wake up positively human tomorrow morning.
