FRENCH APPLE CAKE, TAKE TWO

If you're one of those self-styled "foodies", you may recall my post from back in January when I tried a new recipe for a French Apple Cake.

As I said in that post, I found it on David Lebovitz' blog but it purported to be a Dorie Greenspan recipe.

It was tasty and SWMBO designated it a "keeper".

So yesterday I ran across the recipe and the note about "her nibs" comment and decided to make it again.

This time I let it bake a little longer.

(Judy says I'm always too impatient.)

And I may have used a smaller pan.

The result was much better than the first time.

Instead of spectral white, this one came out golden and just a teensy bit crusty around the edges.

And this time instead of adding whipped cream to my "wee slice", I had it with a slash of vanilla ice cream.

Sorry, I didn't take a picture of that or the self-satisfied grin on my face.

But I can give you a close-up of the unsliced hunk of wonderfulness.

Dee-lish!

A WATERCOLOR SKY AND ???

Mother Nature has had her paintbrush out again.

The latest from Wacky Wally:

Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom.

ADIOS, 2020

SLAP-HAPPY SATURDAY

Lacking any wisdomatical thoughts to blog about today I resorted to a blogger's fallback.

My photo files.

In a true Sisyphean manner, I began to push the boulder of inspiration.

And I came up with this:

The ugliest dog in the world, as we named him after he slunk up to us on a beach in Mexico.

Unless I'm wrong, he's one of a variety of hairless dogs known as Xoloitzuintles.

They are celebrated in ceramic in the state of Colima where they are known as Colima Dogs.

They've been found in burial sites in both the Toltec and the Mayan cultures.

But they were also considered to be delicacies at the dinner table so you might wonder why these two are dancing.

This guy, a dear departed member of the BRD's family, obviously is not one of the hairless variety.

Perhaps on the same night that picture was taken, one of his housemates had found the perfect place for a nap.

Jet is still with her, a dark presence in the family.

Speaking of dark, these two seemed not only to be dark but in the dark, puzzling over a birdbath fountain in Crosstown Lori's front yard.

At our birdbath, a couple of house finches were more delicate in satisfying their thirst.

But another avian visitor seemed to be saying, "Hey!  It's a bird bath, isn't it??!!"

Well, all of this work just to get a blog post has me positively exhausted.

So I'm just going to go back to mulling the peculiarities of this sultry Saturday.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Hi, there, Gentle Readers.

How's everybody doing today?

Oooohhhh, really?

I know what you need.

A Lilliputian lashing of laugh-provoking levity.

Let's liquidate the labyrinth.

All right, those are your just desserts.

Now that you're (hopefully) in a better mood, I'd like you all to have a wonderful weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oh, yeah)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

It's a balmy day here in the Central Highlands of Arizona today.

2:15 p.m.

Just checked the temperature.

93 degrees Fahrenheit.

When I describe weather such as this as "balmy", SWMBO says "YOU'RE the one that's balmy!"

So what better time to dip into the Wayback Files.

Five and a half years ago.

We lived across town and this is what it looked like on a day in early January, 2015.

There.

Feeling cooler now?

HERE, KITTY . . .

I'll bet I fooled you with that title.

No, it's not Friday yet.

But a kitty did come.

All the way from Scotland!

This original, one-of-a-kind sketch came from one of our own.

The artist is Gwynneth Rixon, known as "gz" here on Oddball where her blog,  "ook?!", is available in my sidebar.

She is a master potter, as well as a sketch artist.

And, lover of cats as I am, when I saw the drawing of a "Cat on Bricks" on her Etsy page I had to have it.

Here's a better look at that rascal in his gold frame.

It was shipped by Royal Air Mail and originally was expected in about 10 days.

But the pandemic has things here in the United States on long holds so it actually took 41 days.

Both Gwynneth and I expressed relief that it had finally arrived.

And I am delighted to have it.

Thanks, gz!

CLOUD GAZING

When I notice them I am always amazed at the shapes of the clouds in our normally bright blue sky.

I usually don't try to anthropromorphize them.

Actually that sentence was merely an excuse to use that ten-dollar word.

But anyway that cloud formation above resembles a huge white bird to me, flying from left to right.

These I think resemble daubs of meringue, sort of a big Floating Islands dessert.

You may not see them that way.

I have no idea what these are or were but they seem to be disintegrating to me, with small wisps coming off of the larger formation to the right.

I could be wrong, of course.

What I find truly amazing is that the same sky can at the same time hold these lovely white shapes against the azure sky in one direction, while turning my camera around and looking another way I find this.

That mess looks like it contains rain.

Or maybe I'm just boring bored.

I'll be interested, though, to read your views of what you view in these clouds.

SHE WRITES AGAIN

I had an email from SWMBO today.

(That's how we generally communicate through the day.  We get together for face to face conversations at Happy Hour.)

She related an incident that occurred to her last night and wondered if it might make a blog post.

I said I certainly thought so.

So here she is again, in her own words.

A bit over a week ago, while searching for something completely different, we came across a box of letters and cards we had written to my sister back in the 1970's and 80's.

I have no memory of her passing them on to me so I don't know how I have them and she doesn't.

After randomly selecting and reading a few I decided to put them in chronological order so they made some sense.

They seemed to be a very detailed account of our family history at that time, much of which we have forgotten.

So off and on for more than a week I have been making little files for each year's letters and refraining from reading most of them until I could do it in the right order.

Last night I finished that organization while sitting up in bed just before "lights out".

As I started to place the box containing the carefully collated letters down on the floor it slid off my lap and crashed, upside down, and slid across the bedroom floor, spewing the contents hither and yon.

As I stared at the debris I thought "It's not that I don't have the time to re-do the project . . . but will I?"

When I heard the story today I had only one comment: "That's curious. I didn't hear a single $*@$!!&* or !$#@^&*%#!"

CATS

The blue cat was posing regally in our Back Forty yesterday while a bird stole a drink right above him.

And, speaking of sleeping cats, our Rent-a-Cat, Matty, came in from across the street for a snack the other day and then curled up on our couch for hours!

At one point he seemed to be turning himself nearly inside-out.

And one more cat - this one from Tupelo, Mississippi - began his path to stardom on this date in 1954 when he recorded this song at Sun Records.

Happy 5th of July, folks!

FELICITATIONS

My Black Plum Clafoutie in a black iron skillet.

Yes.

It was delicious.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Wella, wella, wella, lookie here.

It's Friday!

And you Gentle Readers know what that means.

All right, then.

Now that's you've had your dose of humor you can begin preparing for a quietly epic weekend: tomorrow is the 4th of July!

Don't get crazy.

Stay home.

Watch the fireworks on television.

Wash your hands.

And if you do just have to go out, be a good doobie and wear a mask!

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oh, really???)

COVID AND COOKIES

We still haven't heard from the medicos about the results of Judy's Covid-19 test a week ago today.

BUT!

After several days of trying and hitting blank walls and being rejected, I finally was able to create a way to access her medical records.

And way down at the bottom of a lengthy list of test results was the answer.

On her Covid-19 test the result was "undetected".

In other words she does not have the infection!

Whoop-Whoop and Hooray!

I have on my schedule today to make a couple of loaves of English Muffin bread and then a Black Plum Clafoutis.

And she can really go after the Peanut Butter cookies I baked a few days ago.

Once again, to all of you who inquired and sent good vibes and prayers and concern, thank you!

Stay safe, wear a mask and wash your hands.

We're feeling pretty good around here this morning.