When Snack Time Flies By

Either Lorelei is spoiled or she's heard her Dad talk too

much about flying in business class on long flights.

Pumpkin What??

I'm with my friend Samantha in that I am NOT a fan of pumpkin.  This time each year EVERYTHING is suddenly infused with pumpkin spice - coffee, tea, desserts, and beer

Yes, pumpkin-flavored beer.

EWWWWW.

My husband said it's only a mild hint of pumpkin but even if I drank that would be a no.  He said it was very good.

Sorry.  I absolutely adore Fall and Halloween and all the orange and black decorations we put up.

But I'm still not going to try it.

Then I looked at the label.  It looked like a lizard wearing lederhosen.  He said no, that's a GRASSHOPPER.  Points at "Hopper" on the label like I am possessed.

Looks like a lizard to me.  I told him I think there are jobs out west where Millennials just smoke weed and get paid to design beer labels.

He looked at me and said, "but I'M a millennial".

True (and that explains all the cougar jokes). But I'm still a cranky old pumpkin hater.

But what can I say, my engineer husband is very smart and he built me new steps with lumber and hard work that are easier on my bad knee (oh meniscus, I miss you so). The steps now go back to the yard at a much shallower angle instead of a VERY steep slope to the driveway edge (I think he got the hint when I told him the Red Bull Games were interested in using our steps). They also were rotated 90 degrees so we could fence the yard while still leaving room for two cars to sit side by side in the driveway.

A pictorial version of "how I lost my meniscus".

So I'll forgive him for the pumpkin thing, especially since he's scraping and repainting the sunroom trim in a bit as well and he put up a punching bag in the basement so I can take out my pumpkin spice aggression and burn calories productively (30 minutes of boxing is 2 nice sized glasses of Chardonnay!)

Before the stone landing went in.

I might even make something out of the beer.

The "clock" in the back is an old timer for developing film, an antique

Sourdough Pumpkin Ale Beer Bread.

I have to say, I had a piece for breakfast and it was really good, only a hint of sweetness and spice to it, not an "arghhh PUMPKIN spew! spew! spew!" reaction.  Flavor-wise it erred more on the side of an ever so slightly sweet yeast bread rather than typical sweet pumpkin bread.  If you use a different beer your taste may vary, but this was nice, not "Pumpkin-y" at all.

I made mine with my Einkorn-based wild yeast sourdough starter but will give directions for both

2 and 1/2 cups 50/50 mixture of einkorn and whole wheat pastry flour (or use all Einkhorn for a heartier texture)
1/2 cup sourdough starter (or equal amount of flour in place)
1/4  cup plus 1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (just a few shakes)
1 bottle pumpkin-style ale
3 Tablespoons butter - melted

Beer instructions:  if using all flour, use a full bottle.

If using a sourdough starter that's really thick (have to spoon it into a measuring cup) remove 2 Tablespoons of beer and put rest of the bottle in the mixture.

If using a sourdough starter that you can pour into the measuring cup, remove 1/4 cup of beer then add the rest

Mix well and place in a bread pan sprayed with non-stick spray

Pour 3 tablespoons melted butter (or melted vegan spread if you are so inclined as this recipe otherwise has no eggs or dairy) over the top and pop in the oven.

Bake in preheated 375 F oven for 50 minutes. It should pass the knife test with a firm crispy brown top crust (check it, as it may look done before it is, as the butter browns this up a bit more than other bread).

It was also really moist and really didn't need the butter.

Not that I was going to leave that off or anything anyway.

I like the bread a lot.  Still hate pumpkin spice.

Thursday Smiles

 

Lorelei Lab Consumer Advisory

 

Why Kirk is Better than Picard - Boldly Go

I know at least one of you ladies is as big a Star Trek fan as I am, so for you:

Twenty-Five Reasons I like Kirk over Picard.

 1. When Picard senses that Wesley is having emotional problems he sits down and talks with him about it. When Kirk sensed that Charlie X was having emotional problems, he took him to the gym and threw him around on the mats until Charlie got over it.

2. Picard's Enterprise was destroyed by a couple of Klingon women while he was stranded on a desert planet. Kirk's Enterprise was destroyed when he blew up a crew of Klingons, stole their ship, and resurrected Spock from the dead.

3. Kirk does not play the flute.

4. When Kirk blew up the Enterprise, Starfleet built him another one and had it ready by the time he got home.

5. Kirk collects antique guns. Picard collects antique matryoshka nesting dolls.

6. Kirk chastises omni-powerful super beings for not being polite to women.

7. Kirk once ordered Scotty to fire a photon torpedo on his position and then he dodged out of the way so it hit the alien he was fighting.

8. When it's time for shore leave Kirk goes rock climbing and drinks whiskey. Picard wears Speedos and reads by the pool.

9. Kirk jumps horses in his spare time. Picard owns a fish.

10. Picard's engineer wears goofy wrap-around sunglasses. Kirk's engineer wears a kilt and can drink you under the table.

 11. Kirk drinks Saurian brandy straight from the bottle.  Picard drinks tea.

12. Kirk can beat a Vulcan at chess.

13. Everyone knows the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty!" The phrase, "Energize whenever you are ready, Mr. La Forge," doesn't exactly have the same notoriety.

14. Kirk once yelled, "No blah-blah-blah! No blah-blah-blah!" and made it sound important.

15. Kirk's hand phaser is sleek and sexy. Picard's hand phaser looks like a Hoover Dirt Devil.

16. Kirk fought the Greek god Apollo. And won.

17. When Kirk gets punched in the face he just wipes the blood off his lip and looks at it with a smirk.

18. Kirk chops his own firewood.

19. The main computer on Kirk's Enterprise once hit on him.

20 When Kirk disguised himself as a Romulan, he stole a cloaking device and used it to escape to Federation space. When Picard disguised himself as a Romulan he ate some soup and then got captured.

21. Even though they haven't existed for hundreds of years, Kirk can still drive a stick shift.

22. Kirk never dressed in green tights and pretended to be Robin Hood, and if he had, someone would have paid for it.

23. Kirk blatantly disobeys one out of every five Starfleet orders just to remind them who's really minding the store.

24. Kirk once kicked a Klingon into the molten core of an exploding planet.

25. Style: Kirk did it first, he did it better and he did it wearing gold velour and Beatle-boots with a space girl on each arm.

A Tutorial on Animals you May Encounter

 

The Little Puddle of Dog Drool was a Giveaway

 

Yellow Labs - K9 Fail

 Since I have colleagues and friends in law enforcement this just totally cracked me up.  

Nom Nom Biscuits

Nobody could really do the "full-scale tongue attack"" like Abby Lab - especially when biscuits were involved.

The best part of Red Lobster - my late Dad's favorite restaurant was the cheddar biscuits.  So why not make your own!

Preheat oven to 500 F. Measure 1 and 1/2 cups White Lily Self Rising Flour  Cut in 3 Tbs. Lard or Crisco with a fork or knife and fork until the mixture is crumbly. 

Add 2/3 cup MINUS 2 Tablespoons milk and barely mix. 

Stir in 3/4 cup shredded cheddar until the dough sticks together, adding more milk if needed and mixing only as much as is needed so there are no dry spots of flour.

Drop from a large spoon on a non-stick spray-coated cookie sheet to make six biscuits.

Bake for 8-11 minutes and top with 1/4 cup butter melted to which you add 1/4 tsp garlic powder and 1/4 tsp parsley. (make a garlic free one for the dog as garlic is NOT good for them)

Thursday Smiles

My husband and I both have COVID, he picked it up at a business meeting, then brought it home to share.  My second time with it so my symptoms were milder than his but I'm still tired.  So for today, just some smiles.