DIET NEWS

I have a very good friend that I have known since I was born, since he is exactly seven months older than me.

We grew up in the same town in the Frozen Northland that is more formally called North Dakota.

Now he lives near the water in Washington state and I live in the heated state of Arizona.

We've only seen each other a few times over the years but we remain the closest of friends.

I call him Jolly Jim because of his contributions to the Humor Bank here at Oddball Observations.

He sent me a fresh batch today and commented "You might find something usable here."

Did I ever.

I added a grand total of 19 new memes I hadn't seen before and which you'll be seeing as part of Friday Funnies for weeks and weeks ahead.

But one of them made me laugh so much I decided I had to show it to you today.

And it will explain the title of this post.

Thanks, Jolly Jim.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Here in the U.S. of A. today is the most important day of the year.

It's Groundhog Day.

The day when Punxsutawney Phil is taken from his home to make his seasonal prediction about winter.

Purportedly if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter.

If not then spring is just around the corner.

And today in Pennsylvania he did NOT see his shadow and thereby he predicted an early Spring!

All hail the great groundhog!

Now if you think that's silly, wait until you see what else I have in store for you.

For today is Friday and you know what the Oddball Catalyst Observes on that day.

That one was just for a certain guy in Scotland.

Now all of you, listen up:  You are ordered to eat, drink and be merry for the next couple of days.

In other words, have a great weekend!

And always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . oh, everybody has a lawyer or two these days . . . )

MY FANTASY LIFE

 I've been playing around with AI some more this morning, aided by this site.

It allows the user to see an untold variety of a images conjured up from a photo of oneself.

I chose from the following fantasies.

The Superhero!  

Since my favorite as a kid was Batman I chose to be him, but unmasked.

It stands to reason that I would choose him because Batman's real identity is Bruce Wayne.

My name is Bruce and my late brother's name was Wayne.

How odd is that?

Maybe not odd as me as a flamenco dancer.

Or as a mysterious man in the 1930's.

A mafia don, do you think?

Oh, not I.

Why I'm as harmless as Santa Claus.

If all of these poses were reality rather than fantasy, where else would you expect to find me except on the Red Carpet!

All of this is in good fun and all the images were generated from the same photograph.

And here it is.

Not nearly as glamorous.

But content to be just me, the aging pensioner.

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 . . )