TO THE ORIENT!

 I was back in the bakery this morning.

Driven to try out a new recipe from Maggie Zhu at the Omnivore's Cookbook.

I don't know now how I came to her site but it's a master class in Chinese cooking.

But you might not think that white bread rolls are Chinese.

And Ms. Zhu, though a native of Beijing, admits she grew to love them when she spent some years in Japan.

So here's my first experiment with her recipe for Easy Milk Bread Rolls.

She says they should cool for two hours before eating.

As I commented on her website, "Ain't gonna happen!"

AI FANTASY

 Thanks to Stargazer, I've become acquainted with an AI site that can do amazing transformations in split-second time.

For example, how would you like to see your host in the actual Old West?

Take a look.

Actually not so much different from some of my own manifestations.

But maybe I should have been a pirate, in my past.

Hmmmm?

But there are many other visions available.

For example, my beautiful SWMBO as Helen of Troy.

That gaze is a little scary, isn't it?

So let's take her up to the present day, to see what she'd look like with tattoos!

I emailed the BAD about this website and she tried it, with what I'd call gobsmacked success.

Here's what she'd look like, tattooed.

While we, Judy and I, have a granddaughter who is a tattoo artist, neither she nor I nor Gayle have succumbed to the tattoo craze.

So far.

My favorite of all these fantasy pictures, though, is one that could be SWMBO at the time I met her, in the 1970's.

How could I have resisted this lady's charms?

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 How about that, it's time once again for The Friday Fandango.

And just in time, after another week of flaming foolishness by the self-proclaimed family-friendly folk flip-flopping their way through the fray to the future fantasy of being one of the finalists to become factotum of the fatherland.

I'm trying to think of another f-word but I just can't come up with one.

So . . . onward!

Oh, wait, FORWARD!

All right, lords and lassies, that's the comedy for this week.

Now I would like you to endeavor to have a simply mahhh-velous weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

ENGLISH MUFFIN BREAD

 My wife's affection for the English Muffin Bread that you've seen and heard about many times goes way back to when we were living in Mexico in the 1980's.

At that time we couldn't find her beloved English Muffins there.

Somewhere we landed a recipe for the bread loaf duplicating the flavor and texture.

She began making it and somewhere along the line I took over.

It is made with 5 cups of All-Purpose Flour.

But then SWMBO suggested switching some of that white flour for whole wheat flour, to make it healthier and also to get the flavor she preferred.

So, in the Taylor Family Bakery, it is now made with 3 cups of All-Purpose (white) Flour and two cups of Whole Wheat Flour.

She likes it better and that's what counts.

Here's a photo of a partially sliced loaf.

She always toasts her pieces, much as I suppose English Muffins are always toasted.

Now you may be wondering how I got that layering of the whole wheat and the white flour, as apparently is shown in that last sliced piece.

The fact of the matter is *I don't*.

That's merely a shadow caused by your favorite baker and photographer leaning between the light and the subject.

You might call it what it is: a rookie mistake.

THE PUZZLE QUEEN & HER REWARD

 You may recall that the BAD, aka the Bad Beautiful Artistic Daughter, brought jigsaw puzzles into our peaceful abode this past Christmas, spiting my direct orders.

But I dug out a card table and set it up and turned the puzzle solving over to SWMBO, aka She Who loves to drive me batty Must Be Obeyed.

Over the weeks that that blasted thing occupied prime living space in my previously calm home I wandered in, glanced at it and on three separate and widely seperated occasions placed one piece in place and left the room.

But mein frau stuck at it and yesterday she finished it.

And that glare in top center is not the setting sun.

It's an effect of an error on my part - not turning off the flash on my camera-phone.

At any rate, I soon got my reward when she tore it down and put it back in it's coffin box and I took down the table once again.

Today, SWMBO got her reward.

Two loaves of freshly baked English Muffin bread.

But WAIT, as the commercial on television used to scream, there's MORE!

A pan of (also freshly baked) chocolate bar cookies.

If that doesn't have your mouth watering yet let me give you a closer look.

Those are dark chocolate chunks scattered over the top and, as I told her, they also are scattered through the interior of the cookies/bars/brownies/cake.

So she's waiting for them to cool off enough to taste devour.

I'm just waiting for cocktail hour!

SIZE MATTERS

 The Beautiful Artistic Daughter sent a picture this morning and explained that she had splurged on a new cat tree.

Her (huge) black cat, Opal, loved it immediately, the BAD wrote, but is nearly too big to fit into the "caves".

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Paying heed to the comments on an earlier post, Judy appreciates all the kind thoughts about her knee replacement and thanks you all.

Second, a bit of education about "hot and spicy" foods and our dinner the other evening. 

Quoting Wikipedia, "Curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine."

Curry apparently originated in India but is now eaten all over the world and, quoting Urban Farmie, "...there are a thousand variations depending on the ingredients."

So not all curries are hot.

Fear not and read the ingredients to see what you're getting.

Okay, class is dismissed for today.

But WAIT!

I almost forgot.

It's Friday and time for some laughs!

All right, Gentle Readers, now you have to find your own humor.

But while you're searching, try to have an absolutely wonderful weekend.

And always remember to Keep Laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . oh, I know that face, and is it 4:15 a.m. already . . )

BEHOLD!

Mundane, ordinary life can offer up some nice images when one is retired.

I was giving SWMBO a break from struggling with her jigsaw puzzle to read her a blog post a little while ago.

She had turned and was looking past me and when I was done she said "I've got a picture for you."

She said, "Take a look out the front door and see the shadow on the wall cast by our wind chime."

So I did and I took a picture and here it is.

Curiously the wind chime is in the form of a sun face so the shadow is caused by the sun shining through the sun face.

Sun squared.

Or something.

Oh, forget it, just enjoy the picture.

Look for the shadows in *your* surroundings.

And don't take THIS advice, sent to me this morning by the BAD (Beautiful Artistic Daughter).

A BEAUTIFUL MORNING

 

Some light clouds in the sky gave a painter's palette to the sky as the sun rose this morning.

It seems to give hope for a pleasant day.

Yesterday was pleasant for my wife as she continues to make progress from her knee replacement surgery a little more than two months ago.

Most people who have had the same operation say it takes about six months to fully recover from the trauma imposed on the patient.

Her visit to her surgeon was a bit of a surprise.

He said he was pleased with her progress and that she can bend her leg more than he had expected.

As for the straightening of the leg that one of his nurses had been warning Judy about, he said she needed to work on that but she was only about 2 degrees off.

I know Judy was also pleased to go to her appointment using only a cane for the first time!

When we went to lunch with relatives on Saturday was the first time she had tried that outside the house.

So, we're happy and perhaps more confident as the sun painted a congratulatory sky for us this morning.

Now about that meal yesterday, using a dried Thai chili.

I heated a frozen meal of Coconut Chicken Curry with Mango from Costco and sprinkled over it the chili which I had chopped up.

Montana Mike had suggested that and so did David (Laughing Horse Blogger of the Year for 2023) in the comments yesterday.

I am happy to report that it added a touch of spice to the meal and SWMBO and I scarfed it down with no problems.

Maybe all these years of eating Mexican food have made us immune.

Oh and we accompanied it with Seeds of Change (a brown rice and quinoa mix).

Seems to me like the variety and flavors of "instant" foods available these days is getting better.

So my Great Dried Thai Chili experiment turned out well.

At least I didn't make *this* mistake.

WHAT'S HOT?

Okay, here's the thing.

The other day I saw a post from my friend who I call Montana Mike.

You know him on this blog as Mike from Should Fish More.

He was celebrating his 78th birthday with a homemade chicken soup to which he added a portion of a Thai Pepper that he had thawed out from his freezer.

He said it was good and cleared his sinuses for a few hours.

But he was a little early because today is, wait for it . . .

International Hot and Spicy Food Day.

(Photo by Emy)

Now I don't know who decides these things but I don't care either because it gives me something to blog about.

Anyway, getting back to Mike, I told SWMBO about his birthday dinner and she said "I have a jar of dried Thai chilis!"

And, in fact, she did and produced it from the pantry.

They looked pretty harmless to me, in spite of that word "HOT", so I pulled a few out to take a look.

I thought today might be the day to see what they're like since today is my friend Timmer's birthday and Timmer has always been a bit leery of any food other than true blue American and especially if there's a tad of heat to it.

I used to be a bit nervous about hot and spicy food too but my taste buds have either changed or died over the years and now I like a bit of heat in my cuisine.

Mexican, Indian, Thai, Szechuan . . . bring it on!

So I'm thinking that I should celebrate International Hot and Spicy Food day with something hot and spicy, perhaps using these Dried Thai Chilis.

But I don't have a recipe and the head cook here couldn't remember why she had them.

Stir-fry maybe?

So anybody got a dish for me?

MLK DAY

 

Love, not hate.

WHO'S GETTING OLD??!!!

 We had a great visit today with a nephew, his daughter and her husband.

I'm ashamed to say that I had never met Misha, our Great Grand Niece.

We had a nice lunch (thanks, Larry) and caught up on some family history.

I had meant to take pictures but, typical of this senile Senior Citizen, I forgot.

When I remembered we had parted company and were back home.

So I sent a message to Misha asking for a photo of the three of them.

Amazingly fast, I got this back.

They didn't even get out of the car!

I hope they pulled over!

Left to right, our nephew Larry, his daughter Misha, her husband Dan.

At our lunch, I told Misha I had asked the Almighty Google if she was a grand niece or a great niece.

A.G. told me either one was proper.

But I said I thought I would refer to her as my Great Grand Niece.

She's a great person but after all, as I told my wife, she IS from North Dakota.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Last night, as we were going to bed, my wife said to me "I thought it was Friday all day. Now I'm going to have to gear up for another Friday!"

WHAT?

Gear up for another Friday?

What could be better?

It's the day I bring you joy and laughter and inane cheerfulness!

It's the day for The Friday Funnies!

So before I begin, let me introduce you to a new contributor, a new Elf, someone who was led to me as someone who is a big fan of The Friday Funnies.

Her name is Carla and she will henceforth be known here as Carla the Cut-Up.

And she has provided (almost) all of the humor for this week.

So let's welcome her with a big round of applause and let her show you "her stuff".

So that's it.

Thank you, Carla, you have earned your stripes as a Humor Elf!

Oh, I know the rest of you are saying, "Wait a minute, what about the Trekkies?"

Well, you didn't think they'd quit on you, did you?

Okay, let's all get together in a big circle, howl like maniacs and have a fantastic weekend, shall we?

(Watch out for the cops!)

Oh, and never forget to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . ummmm . . )