COOKIES

 Just to let you know that I am not suffering too much in my Days of Computer Dismay, let me show you what the real kitchen master produced yesterday.

Those are a batch of her very special Bacon Fat Gingersnaps.

The recipe (click here) came from Julia Moskin at the New York Times who wrote that she got it from a fashion critic at the newspaper, Cathy Horyn.

And Ms. Horyn based it on Swedish ginger cookies from her hometown of Coshocton, Ohio.

And in true Master Chef tradition, my partner amended the recipe to toss in sliced candied ginger and to roll the cookie balls in "Sugar in the Raw" (Turbinado cane sugar).

The finished product is, I can say with absolute honesty, addictive.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Call it hilarity.

Or jocularity.

Or mild amusement.

It's what I need after a week like this one, what with computer problems and weed chopping-digging-poisoning.

If your week has been anything like mine, you're ready for some laughs too.

So let's see what we can find.

Okay, friends and neighbors, that's the best I can do.

I hope you got some laughs (and some groans) from them.

And I hope you won't give a thought to my computer guru as he struggles to extract my files from the now-defunct computer.

I hope instead that you all have an absolutely stupendously wonderful weekend.

And never forget to KEEP LAUGHING!!!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . warning: groan ahead . . .)

WELL THAT WAS SHORT

 I'm talking about my hiatus of blog posting.

I have a damaged, somehow, desktop PC sitting next to me, useless for now.

But I revived a laptop from a closet and got it running.

It's fairly old; I think the battery is dead; so I can only run it plugged in.

Did I ever tell you how much I hate laptops?

But I have managed to plug my keyboard into it and after some finagling around I got my wireless mouse to work with it so it's just about like having a PC again.

The only problem is all that stuff I had on the PC is just sitting there, inaccessible for the time being and maybe forever.

So we struggle along, trying to pretend nothing is wrong.

But there is one, or actually three, other problems with this day.

Special thanks to Comical Carol for sending me that just this morning as I was gnashing my teeth and fouling the air with various epithets.

I'll try to be a better boy.

TROUBLE IN RIVER CITY

I have serious computer problems which force me to put Oddball Observations on hiatus until I get them fixed, one way or another.

With apologies, see ya later.

MONDAY MARIGOLD

 

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye!

Court is now in session!

Wait a minute.

That was a dream.

It's what comes from dozing off into a nap in the middle of the day.

So with that, I bring a respite for you from this week's gaiety.

And just in time for you to adventure forth in pursuit of good fun and a GREAT weekend!

And never forget to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . wanna go outside . . . ? )

PASTRY 1.0

That number in the title of this post does not mean I scored a 10 with my latest kitchen adventure.

It's more like a Beginner's Course Number.

So, brace yourselves.

That is supposed to be a Strawberry Cream Cheese Tart.

As I told Judy when she was viewing it, it's "Rustic".

I don't know if there is such a thing as a rustic tart but this version certainly would fit the description.

The good thing is I know and have had explained to me by the Master Chef of the household some of the mistakes I made.

I'll not bore you with the details.

And we haven't tasted "The Thing" yet and it could be delicious.

The cream cheese underlying the strawberries is flavored with sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and a pinch of salt.

So we'll see.

Meantime, I guess I should leave the fancier stuff to SWMBO, who can make even a salad plate of cucumbers and Kalamata olives look great.