Yikes! I'm a guest blogger...

Ok, my blogging buddy over at Tuxedo Inn has been so sweet as to give me some props over at her place. The thing is, I haven't blogged in a while...sooooo...you have to go back a ways to find any of the "me" bits, so I figure, in honor of our long distance friendship, I will just inject a bit of my real self back into this blog. Thing is, I haven't really done much lately...work has been exhausting, family has been exhausting and my fantasy life of being cool and doing cool things has suffered. I don't watch much tv, my back constantly goes out and ...wait a second, you don't want to hear this kind of stuff!!! Much to boring. So, let's focus on the fantasy for a mo'...
It wasn't that long ago, when my lust for all things Top Gear and of course, James May; led me to the racy, and exciting Tuxedo Inn. I am not sure exactly which Google search did it, but I remember reading the line about James May having much more fun than she did and I was pretty much hooked from my first visit. It is pretty fun to go back and read some of our interchanges from the early days, when the Doctor and Captain Jack featured heavily in our musings, and then, not long after I met Bob, her faithful Camel roomie, who has such eclectic taste in music. It has been quite a pairing, since the Innkeeper and I have post after post of lives that show many signs of having the same course on so many subjects that I have lost count, and I find it kind of amazing that we actually live in sort of the same geographical area, and that one of those infamous "meet-ups" is inevitable. Since our schedules are near polar opposite, it has been a challenge, but we are up to those...
So, it has been a fun and exciting ride, especially since I think you would be hard-pressed to find two women of our approximate ages who are just as interested in the cars as the presenters on the Infamous Top Gear. Maybe they exist, but I can't find them in my walk of life. I don't know much about horsepower and torque, I don't know exactly what a carburetor does, or how to install brake pads, but I know what I like. And I know I'd like someone to teach me about it, preferably an English bloke with a flowery shirt and wild hair, but, hey, I digress.
Justine and I have lately been enraged by America's ridiculous desire to attempt to recreate Top Gear as a show in this country. AGAIN. I thought it was slightly amusing when Jay Leno had his failed attempt at a show and did manage to almost succeed at the Reasonably priced car bit, however, I have to admit that he really didn't manage to capture that particular Britishness that Top Gear manages so well...and I think it is in that one unobtainable point that all American Top Gears will always fail. They try to hard to do something which an American can NOT do and that is be British. Look to Gwyneth Paltrow...study and learn. American men can NEVER be the TG3. That brilliant combination of Jeremy, Richard and James can not be recreated on these shores. The races from country to country, the foreign GPS voices, the Chunnel...where in America can you go for this sort of entertainment???
However, do not give up, you lovers of Englishmen and sporty cars. We have the answer for you. Justine and I have agreed to attempt an American version of Top Gear that we feel doesn't try to replace it or recreate it. Just honor it. And therein lies it's brilliance. We will not attempt to be British, but we will not try very hard to be Americans either. Who better to bring Top Gear to an American audience without sullying it with American-ness...two aging Anglophiles who have had to form a support group to deal with their obsession with aging Englishmen.
It could work...

Good Night Sweet Prince...

Thankfully BBC America has at last heard American voices and aired a hugely popular show in a timely manner(Thanks, BeebA!).
Just finished watching the final David Tennant Doctor Who incarnation. It had its moments...great Wilf moments, great Doctor moments, great worst. rescue. ever. moments. I am off tomorrow to find a cactus for the windowsill.
I did love the wrap ups of all the aliens and characters we have loved, though since I was watching with the kids, I should have known to turn it for the Jack Harkness, Man Tart of the Universe scene. Not like they didn't know what was going to happen, and it was mild by Man Tart standards, but I've never let them watch Torchwood because it is pretty in your face with the whole homosexual normalization. I guess because they are dealing with aliens, they take a little liberty, I'm just sayin'... Anyway, all in all, I laughed and I cried, I looked back with fondness, and looked forward with trepidation. I suppose all of us who LOVE David Tennant will have a predisposition to dislike this "New" Doctor, but as I watched the trailer for the upcoming season, I saw some things that made me very optimistic...I hadn't given much thought to it, strangely, but, DUH, with Stephen Moffat at the helm, the chances are great that there will be some AMAZING episodes.
"Blink" is probably my all-time favorite Doctor Who Episode, followed closely by "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances". In fact when I look back over the episodes that have really stayed with me, they are overwhelmingly Stephen Moffat episodes. I would say that this is a good sign! Plus, watching Matt Smith in the last few seconds of the episode that just aired, I think it would be a great idea to give him some time to relax into the task and feel at home in The Doctor's coat. I won't judge anything for the first few episodes, I'll just sit back and see what comes out of it. In the mean time, I will leaf through my DVD collections and relive all the old times. Revisit the friends I've made over the last 5 years or so, ever since Christopher Eccleston brought the Doctor back to life. I do believe I will miss the tenth incarnation a little more than the rest... Good times....

Up Against the Wall

Because sometimes you just feel better after a good cry...

DGIF, again...

This is the second week in a row that I have not had to work in the middle of the week. I have had a hard time adjusting to what used to be my norm, and have wasted a lot of time. The worst thing about wasting time is that you don't realize the seriousness of it while you are doing it. Like a lot of ill-advised activities, you "just do it". Then, sometime later, you go "DOH!" a la Homer Simpson and smack your forehead. Hard. Which hurts. Ow. At some point in my future I am going to seriously regret all my wasted time. Like somewhere close to the end probably. Right now, I am just going to make a conscious effort not to waste much more. I mean, I am sure I will always waste SOME time, I am, after all, a procrastinator extraordinaire. I majored in it in college, and have kept up my studies since then. I think the key is to do something worthwhile that is VISIBLE, so that you have that thing to point at and say, "This is what I DID today." Then, it doesn't matter what else you waste your time on, you always have that thing that you DID. Just set a time limit. Like, this is what I DID in the last 24 to 48 hours. Don't, for example, use the phrase, "This is what I DID this month" unless it is big. Time limits are important. Unless you are the Doctor.
Then, time is irrelevant.
See, I can work a feel-good Friday moment into anything!!
ahhhhh.....

Dessert and the Doctor

My Blueberry Crumb Cake turned out pretty darned well. Freshly ground nutmeg or no, it was a little dry on the cake part, but otherwise, was perfect! The blueberries were nice and plump, the crumbles were nice and crumbly and just-right spiced. I imagine the slight dryness would have been well compensated for my adding some sweetened whipped cream, or vanilla bean ice cream. I haven't mastered the art of cooking with whole wheat flour, but I hope to eventually perfect it, since it is so much more interesting than white flour. Dinner itself went nicely and the kids all had a blast, which is what happens when you get three completely bonkers siblings together. Sometimes I can't believe I am really responsible for that much goofiness. We ate, we drank and we laughed until we cried and our stomachs were killing us. Then we settled into a nice, dark living room around the gentle glow of our HDTV for a dose of The Doctor. Doctor who, you might ask. Well, yes, actually, that is the one. We pulled out the ole DVD box set and watched "Tooth and Claw" from Series Two. I love this one, not only because it has a great werewolf, and the awesomely sexy David Tennant, but it is the episode which gives insight into the foundations of Torchwood, and manages to get us all thinking that the British Royal Family may possibly be, or not be, werewolves. It does NOT get much better than this, folks. I sliced up the Blueberry Crumb Cake about halfway through, and we all enjoyed dessert and The Doctor together. Ah, family. When you can gather round with your crew and have fruity cake and commune over superb entertainment brought to you by the Beeb , how can anything get you down? One glance around the room gave me the warm fuzzies, and they are still kind of squirming around in there.
You will find the Blueberry Crumb Cake recipe at this lovely site.
Like I said in my previous post, I substituted half of the flour in both the cake and crumb topping with whole wheat flour. I halved the recipe overall and baked it in a square 8x8 glass dish. It was perfect for one serving for everyone of us (6), with three slices left over.

Funny, but that will be JUST RIGHT for breakfast in the morning!

I'm going to look into taking out some of the butter and adding something like apple puree or something similar. Why look, we will be on a journey together, gentle reader! Yay! It will be much more fun that way, as I stumble through the adventure of healthy baking! I have been steering clear of anything sweet for so long! Ok, let us NOT bring up the graham crackers. I love to bake in the fall and winter, and instead of giving up on it completely, which, let's face it, would suck, I will attempt to learn how to make things which are tasty and healthy (at least somewhat healthy). This will make my kids happy, as they will get more than just fruit for desserts and snacks, and it will fill my "must bake" days, which are those days that are cool and crisp and just beg me to pull out my Martha Stewart fall decorating magazines and rearrange my non-Martha furniture in various ways to try to make it feel better about itself. Then, I move to the recipe sections and feel that I have way too few kitchen gadgets. Why DON'T I own a cherry and olive pitter? How can one offset spatula possibly be sufficient? These are the questions I ask myself...

Calling Doctor FeelGood

Yep. Works for me!
David Tennant and various people who don't matter for the intended purpose of my post...Comic-Con, Sandy Yaygo July'09