kitchen messes: Pumpkin Oatmeal Cake

Here's one that turned out even better than expected. I'm surprised at myself that i measured as i went along, but i guess that's good for you because you can try it, too!

1 c. flour (i use Hodgson's Mill half whole wheat/half white)
1 c. rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Really Large Dash of cinnamon
Medium Dash of: ginger, nutmeg, allspice
Smaller Dash of ground cloves

1/2 can pumpkin
1/4 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. buttermilk
Big Splash of vanilla
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp salt

However Many walnuts you have ( i LOVE walnuts )
and, Essential Ingredient: make a Pandora station from "These Streets" by Paolo Nutini. It will make all the difference.

Some Extra Yummy Optional Stuff to put on the top
-honey
-streusel topping (you know, flower, butter, sugar--i didn't actually do this but it would be good)
-coconut?

I think it took about 35 minutes at 350.. but that's subjective. I'm confident that you know how to tell if a cake is done.



Maybe if you all make this, the weather will actually turn autumn-y?

celestial tea-saucer

every culture has had religion. there is evidence, always, of some thought of the afterlife or spirits or something intangibly real. flowers in graves. doesn't mean there is a spiritual realm, Dr. Atheist, it just means that it bears investigation. just like if everyone agreed that there was a saucer of tea up in the sky between the moon and the sun. it would be weird. but if Every Person thought so, i'd think we should check it out.

Those are my thoughts on the topic of Tuesday's discussion in my World Civilization class. My thoughts right now are that i should be less "Laconic" in my writing. I don't take enough time to wrestle sentences out of my mind when just words will do--correct but not excellent. And i don't write until i don't have time.

Do you have that one piece of clothing that always gets stained? My Thai pants have had way too many interactions with liquids that do not make them clean.

It's a beautiful day; i'm going to do laundry, study, and write a letter before making actual food for dinner and then studying some more. I would rather go on a photo-walk, or paint, or plant a garden, or ride my bike to Kingdom Come to see who's waiting for me there.

dulce et decorum est

It's Wilfred Owen's famous WWI poem about 'the old Lie.' I read it in the 10th grade. Now i'm studying Latin (or maybe glancing at it for about 5 minutes 3 days a week) and random words pop into my head, such as 'cenam parat' and 'fessa est,' et cetera, like lots of times when i'm learning a new language.

I'm going to tie that in to the Fall of Man somehow whenever i dig my notes back out. I'm going to talk about the childlikeness of blaming one another, the serpent eating dust, consciousness and dependence, and lots of other deep thoughts from the beginning of Genesis. I won't leave you lost in the middle of a deep, dark journey without leading you to the end, like i did last time.

I'm also going to make these curtains match someday, put oil in my car, stop eating lots of cooked food, and put rubber bands in my braces for the last week. Like Amber, i'm going to have a date with Writing.