Nine for 50 - The best laid plans of mice and men...

birthday flowers from my mom

 "The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men/Gang aft agley," says Robert Burns (and probably better known today as "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" from John Steinbeck). I don't know that my plan to have another post in a few days was really well-laid, but it certainly did go a bit awry.  This past week was a series of Mondays.  It started with a very Monday type of Monday, went on to the Mondayest Tuesday in a long time, which then transitioned into a Wednesday in which I spent 3 hours with IT trying to recover my spreadsheet of all I had done on Tuesday (never to be recovered, by the way), and ended with Thursday and Friday and my frequent mentions of when I would like to start drinking (9am was the record for earliest mention, but please note I did not drink even a sip until nearly 6 pm on Friday and then only 2 cocktails).

my b-day shirt from my sister

For this post, let's travel back in time to my four-day birthday extravaganza, now nearly 2 weeks ago.  If you recall, the big day was a Tuesday, so I took Monday and Tuesday off from work and we began the celebration on Friday after work.  There were flowers, gifts, cards, phone calls, special deliveries, favorite meals, and time spent doing some of my favorite things.  I baked (my birthday cake - new recipe below), we ate (menu planning was undertaken seriously with b-day extravaganza in mind), I scrapbooked, read (see books below), walked, did a little knitting, spent time with E.  We tried on Saturday for food from a favorite Italian restaurant only to be told that they were full and weren't doing any carry out.  On to plan B, where the B stands for BBQ pulled pork from another local place.  Later that evening, I scrapbooked via Zoom with my sister and a couple of our friends who we haven't seen for more than a year (I only got 1 page done that night but also completed 12 cards).  Sunday was pizza (of course) but I got to choose the toppings (sausage and green pepper) and we made it deep-dish.  Monday we Nordic walked at the community center, around the ice arena while a couple of young women practiced figure skating - I admired one's persistence as she over and over attempted a jump and fell on her butt.  I got new walking shoes and discovered our shoe sales guy also had failed  carryout from the same restaurant we did on Saturday.  Still hungry for Italian of some sort, we got Olive Garden to go and ate while attending virtual Mini Medical School.  Then on Tuesday, E made his famous Chicken Tacos (these have been renamed tacOOOOOOs because they are that good). It was a good birthday - thank you to all who were part of it through your wishes, cards, gifts and being there for my first half century.

Recipe Nine - Chocolate-Glazed Chocolate Bundt Cake (aka The Fiftieth Birthday Cake)

This recipe is from Weight Watchers Best-Ever Desserts. Copyright 2007 so I have had it for awhile.  Back when I was a member, back when they were still Weight Watchers and when they still had the Points program.  It was a tasty cake that we ate all weekend long, and that I sent home a chunk of with a friend who delivered a delightful unexpected gift to my door.  If you need some chocolaty goodness, this is a cake for you.  I didn't put any candles on it, though I did receive a thoughtful package in the mail that included exactly 50 candles sprinkled throughout the box.

Cake 

2 C all-purpose flour

1 1/4 C granulated sugar

2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder

1 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used semisweet Ghiradelli)

1 T instant espresso powder (I did not add this)

1/2 C boiling water

1 T vanilla extract

1 C low-fat buttermilk

1/3 C canola oil (I used vegetable oil because that is what I have)

1 large egg

1 egg white (which reminds me I need to toss out that extra yoke still in the fridge)

3/4 C semisweet chocolate chips

Glaze

1/2 C confectioners' sugar (aka powdered sugar)

2 oz semisweet chocolate, melted (same Ghiradelli as the cake)

3 T fat-free half-and-half

Naked cake

Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray a 10" Bundt pan with nonstick spray.

Whisk together in a medium bowl: Flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine the cocoa, chopped chocolate and espresso powder.  Pour the boiling water over the cocoa mixture, stirring until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.  Stir in the vanilla.

In a large bowl (yes, this is a 3 bowl cake), whisk together the buttermilk, oil, egg and egg white.  Stir in the cocoa mixture until blended.  Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring just until blended.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour the mixture into the pan.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45-50 minutes.  Let cool in the pan on a rack 10 minutes.  Remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely on the rack (mine cooled on the plate because I didn't want to have to figure out how to move it from the rack to the plate).

To make glaze, whisk together the glaze ingredients in a small bowl (I used a glass 2-cup measuring cup) until smooth.  Let stand until cool and thickened, about 15 minutes.  Place the cake on a serving  plate.  Pour the glaze over, allowing it to drip down the side of the cake (like it needs my permission to drip?).  Let stand until set, about 10 minutes.  

In case you want the info, if you somehow slice this into 24 (!) pieces, it is 4 points/serving in the old old points system.

Cake in its glazed glory

Book Seven, Eight and Nine

I finished 2 books during my B-day weekend (not that I started and read them completely during that time.  As you may realize, I often/always have more than one book in progress at the same time.  I happened to have read the final pages of 2 books during that extended weekend.).  The first was one that had been on my Goodreads "want to read" list for many years and that I almost picked for book club until a couple of people wiser than I said "nobody wants to read that book but you, Hallie" and I picked something different.  As I read and really enjoyed it, I realized that most (normal) people truly would not appreciate it like I did.  The subtitle to Stiff by Mary Roach is "The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers".  I'll admit, it was an odd book but odd in a way that I approve.  I am a fan of murder related TV shows and forensic science (CSI and Bones to name a couple).  Movies with serial killers intrigue me. Medical science is also fascinating - the time I got to go into the gross anatomy lab and see the digestive system in living color was seriously a highlight - and I can read very detailed medical records without feeling the least bit squeamish (other than anything dealing with eyeballs or, inexplicably, finger/toe nails - those gross me out).  All that said, this book examines all the different ways that human cadavers have been involved in scientific (and sometimes bizarre) undertakings and studies over the past 2000 years or so.  Topics ranged from plastic surgeons practicing face lifts on the newly deceased, organ donation, use of cadavers in car safety and army weapon testing, and for help in future criminal investigations by studying how bodies decompose under various circumstances.  You may find this book disgusting in places (I struggled a bit with some of the vivid descriptions in the body decomposition field) but I found the author's humor (a bit of a gallows humor) and enthusiasm for learning all she could about the various uses for cadavers interesting and the book highly readable.

Book 8 was a book club choice - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan.  It also had been on my "want to read" list for about as long as Stiff had.  I liked the first part okay and then it got odd and I lost interest.  I don't want to give away too much but it only got 3 stars from me (of 5).  It seemed like the author was trying to make a point about something but I am not entirely sure what that point was.  I didn't really like most of the the characters (other than Mr. Penumbra) and had trouble remembering who some of them were, let alone remembering what their purpose was supposed to be.  Readers at work have been talking about Sourdough by the same author but I think I'll pass.  I kind of liked that the cover glowed in the dark, but that seems an odd reason to like/recommend a book (or anything else, honestly).

One of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood, wrote the book of poetry Dearly that I read as book number 9 this year.  I don't usually read poetry but enjoyed this.  I had noticed that it was dedicated to Graeme, in absentia. Graeme Gibson was Ms. Atwood's long-time partner.  He died a couple of years ago and had vascular dementia prior to that.  Themes of love and loss, and the passing of time run throughout this collection of poems.  Some of them really stuck with me and I find myself still thinking about them 2 weeks later, particularly Ghost Cat and Blackberries.  I also realized that I had heard her reading from the book on the radio one day and now understand why her voice was breaking as she read.  

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 9 (5 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 9

Blog posts published– 9

Miles walked in March - 13.42

Miles walked in February – 34.04

                Miles walked year-to-date –91.23

Scrap book pages completed –12

Hats donated – 12

Hours volunteered – 0

Until we read or eat again,

Hallie