(Please don’t knock newsworthy and special diaries off the reco list for this one, since this is just a playground diary. Those who want to play will find it. Thanks.)
Okay. I promise not to break into my really, really bad impression of Julie Andrews singing about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens here. I just wanted to share a few of my favourite things so far this week and make a little space for you to do the same.
You are now entering a no crankiness zone…
Haven’t we all had enough of me being cranky this week? I know I have. However, if a Republican’s crankiness was one of your favourite things this week, let us know! I like it when they’re cranky.
On with the show…
Some of my favourite things this week:
- Hitting 2 free Calgary Stampede breakfasts this week (2 more to go!) complete with horsies, police and ambulance helicopters, those who man them, food, food, food, country music (this is the only time of year I put up with it – except for Willie Nelson ocassionally), kiddies with their faces painted, everybody and their dog (literally – everybody seems to have dogs – even one wearing a sheriff’s badge and leather chaps), did I mention food?, the freedom to randomnly molest – I mean “pet” all kinds of animals (if you build a petting zoo, I will come – move over kids!), aboriginal dancers (who I even danced with), people dressed up in all their western gear (some never take it off here year round – I wore my Levi’s shirt and jeans and that’s as western as I get), ummm…food?, quick moving line ups to get the food, hay rides, fun with the roomies I get along with (the other ones stayed home with their various hangovers – good on you – losers) and food.
- Rove finally getting the public scrutiny he so deserves. Nice knowing you, Karl. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
- Booman – who actually provides space for me to write this kind of stuff and get away with it.
- Did I mention free food?
- Naps! I sure as hell need one right now. I love naps.
Your turn. Apply mojo liberally.
Ok you yanks – feel free to substitute the word “favorite”. The rest of us know you’re all into shortcuts a la fast food, fast cars, fast…other stuff… and all that. π
Did I mention I need a nap?
I’m very glad to see you. Rest, take a nap. I can only imagine the depth of the food coma all those pancake breakfasts must bring on.
And a well deserved coma it is!
need a nap too. Are you green and flat?
the surface of a billiard cloth is covered with a nap running one way, and that this nap reveals under the microscope a series of projections almost like the teeth of a saw and all pointing in one direction. These projections are quite pronounced enough to act on a ball spinning with side and rolling forward more or less slowly. But when a ball is travelling at high speed its momentum is sufficient to force it straight over the nap, no matter what side it may be carrying.
‘side’ is of course ‘spin’, or ‘english’ as some yanks prefer. Rove gives good english. The etimology of ‘side’ comes from the ball being addressed and struck by the cue tip (not Q-tip, unless playing with dried peas) off-centre (or off-center) in order to impart rotational bias.
A nap, therefore, analagously, puts all your thoughts in the same direction. You can influence slow moving comments passing over you, but fast ones pass unaffected.
or something like that…
Are you suggesting I have a nap on the pool table? I don’t think my roomies would appreciate that…
not during match play.
We’re just fast!
You forgot peanut butter cookies!!!
My favourite things this week:
I’m not a geek – I’m technologically enlightened. IOW, I don’t watch Star Trek but I can screw up my PC with the best of them – in DOS too!
Darn! What is it with people forgetting things that start with P? First it was Poland – now this. For shame…
Susan’s sinful chocolate frosting for anything, including peanut butter cookies …
Buy GOOD semi-sweet chocolate chips. Guittard or an organic brand at a co-op. Do NOT buy Ghirardelli. Nestles is alright in a pinch.
Melt the chips very slowly in a double boiler if possible. Microwaving also works — in short spurts, stirring.
Mix in a big dollop of butter.
Add lots of dollops of sour cream.
To stretch the frosting, you can also add good powdered sugar (organic — not that white powder that grocery stores sell.
….
P.S. COOKING BOO-BOO: I was browning chicken the other day. Mixed it in a bag with flour. Only I’d bought all my flour and sugar at the co-op. Turned out I’d mixed the chicken with powdered sugar! I added flour, and prayed. It turned out great π
and that’s how the term ‘mother of invention’ came about..well not really but hey I’m trying here.
music – especially jazz, hip-hop, 1970s & 80s punk, industrial, minimalism, etc. I’ve got one eclectic collection of cds (and vinyl from back in the day)
food – I love to eat. I’m on a high fat/high carb diet.
books – Biographies, fiction, poetry, etc.
ebay – Where I’ve been able to get a fair amount of my music very cheap.
summer – gives the perfect excuse during my extended break to sleep in a little later and get the occasional nap.
cats – I sometimes joke that I was one in a previous life.
Peace and good vibes to all!
I’m on a high pancake/low sausage diet this week.
High cheese, low sugar diet (I don’t like sweets all that much) here.
I thought maybe i was going to get a great cookie recipe out of this!
ask and ye shall receive! (not from me though – I’m going for a nap – did I mention that?)
Via a new “favorite” website: Allrecipes.com
INGREDIENTS:
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 3/4 cup peanut butter
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup rolled oats
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, wheat flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, mix in the oats and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.
Oh yes, allrecipes is a great site! Let us know when the cookies are done!
Thanks for the recipe!
i’m going to upstate NY in august with my b.f.’s family on vacation and i love to bake while i’m there, it relaxes me (and i have tons of people to cook for there who are always hungry!).
Cigarillos. Landscapes. Trains. Chess. Discovering J. L. Borges stories I’ve yet to read. Scotch single malts, especially from Islay. ECM.
I’ll bet you voted for a distinguished cookie. π
My very first single malt I ever drank was cask-strength 10 year Laphroaig. My Glaswegian friend was totally floored “Christ, woman! And you still drink the stuff? You yanks are tougher than I thought!”
For the all-around Islay malt, I prefer Lagavulin 16 year.
Now Lagavulin, we do have and I’m just gonna have to go over to the bar and have a weeee drop. But maybe it’s too warm for that, perhaps a little Balvenie Doublewood instead, a little lighter.
wee dram, perhaps? (mind you, a “dram” can be anything from one to three fingers) heh. For a really light, but not wimpy, scotch, I enjoy a bit of Glengoyne.
We only have Macallan in the house right now. Not my fave, but one of my peeps brought it by last Saturday when we threw a party. Which was a righteous host gift!
Enjoy that dram!!
Macallan would be my fave among the Speysides.
and now we can have the traditional scotch throwdown! “ech, how can ya drink that swill?!”
I joke. There are only a couple of single malts I will not touch: Glenfiddich and Glenmorangie.
Actually, Lagavulin 16’s my favorite too. But Laphroaig is nifty stuff – and yeah, good for shocking friends…
I prefer Talisker or Oban
Favorite things:
Being at the end of a shipping cycle at the mag. My last page went to the printers yesterday — not a minute too soon because I was fit to be tied from the middle of last week.
Sichuan style tofu dishes. Actually, almost all kinds of tofu dishes, so long as there’s some greens like amaranth or bok choy on the side. Last night, the greens were seaweed salad and some very spicy kimchi.
Cooking for Mr. Xray and my friends. A gin martini with a twist in the left hand is an essential ingredient.
The people with whom I share this Brooklyn brownstone apartment: my fiance and our two awesome cats, Monty and Ethel.
Interestingly designed, well-made clothing.
Listening to baseball on the radio.
Listening to moooosic. Punk, underground hip hop, my friends’ bands, my own horrid caterwauling in the shower.
The perfect outfit. ’nuff said.
“The Nose” and “Fat Ethel” doing?
Oh, I wish I had not opened up this diary. I REALLY want a cookie now, and we don’t have any! Boo hoo.
I put chocolate chip, but the chips have to be melting hot. Otherwise I want nothing to do with them. Ugh, Shudder. Gross. I put them in the microwave to get it just right.
Umm. . .
Realizing today that when the rabbits ate the flowers off five plants last week they actually pruned them so I’ll get more flowers. Of course, that just means bigger salads for them.
Reading the really incredible ghost stories that people told in the cafe today.
Strawberry pie.
In no particular order:
Music. Most kinds.
Radio
Stories
Words and language
Baseball (watching, not playing any more)
Fairs. Aren’t they wonderful? I haven’t been to a real fair in a long time. You can’t get much more American — well, OK, North American — than a fair.
Family
Friends
Rain
Computers. If I didn’t work with ’em I’d still be hanging around ’em.
Watching deceitful politicians squirm
Hanging around like-minded individuals
and yes, of course, naps.
<sniff> Are you implying that my current rant is not newsworthy… </sniff>
π
oh, and…
The Leafs
Golf
Tennis
Hip Hop
The Tragically Hip
Dancing
History (specifically British, Catholic Church, 20th Century America)
Civilization III
Toronto
Warm weather
Jamaica
I could go on, but I’m getting sleepy… π
Yours is “special” (because you mentioned me in it).
lol
Music
Happy children
Friends
Cosmopolitans
Picking flowers
Sleeping late
Mushy kisses
Buffalo wing chicken cheese steaks
Long summer days
Water slides
Good books
Deadwood on DVD
Goofing around with my guys on Indo boards
And last but not least, the central AC that is in the middle of being installed in my house and the way it will banish this uunending humidity from life….
(I hope this is allowed)

It still gives me shivers just thinking about being there.
(that’s a picture of Mt. Moran, in Grand Teton Natl Park).
Hell, that’s so beautiful I don’t know what to say.
I could go there and die happy.
A few years ago I made it a mission of mine to snap as many pictures as possible, so that I could always go back and reflect on where I’d been and what I’d done.
Every once in a while, one turns out like this. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent staring at this one. I still think it looks more like a painting.
If you want to check out the full res / non-cropped version, it is here. It will probably be kinda slow though (thanks ComCa$t).
Dear god. That’s exquisite.
Finally, my candidate carries an election.
you people have good taste.
lol! Good one, warbly. π
It may come as a shock to everyone to know I didn’t vote chocolate chip…oh come on you all don’t really believe that do you?..well do ya?
My favorites or a few are my sister and my two grown nephews…whose kids call me Grama instead of Aunt..
Libraries and bookstores and movies oh my! Repeat that endlessly.
Memories of my Grandmother, Mom and Dad.
Van Gogh, Diego Rivera and artwork with doors in the picture or looking through a window.
Gloria Steinem, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra and Muhammad Ali.
Greek columns.
Moonlighting finally on DVD and anyone singing ‘Beyond the Sea’. Protest songs from the 60’s and 70’s.
That’s a start anyway.
I can relate to wonderful memories of my grandmother, father and other elderly relatives and friends. They had such wisdom and grace. I only hope that someday I’ll be granted the same atttibutes.
>good friends and family
>books of almost all kinds
>jazz and big band music-cause I’m a sucker for good lyrics
>good movies-all kinds but scary ones- I’m a big baby and get frightened easily (exception Hitchcock flixs)
> dogs and cats
> forget it any kind of cuddly animal
> nature documentaries
>PBS programing esp KQED
> seasonable weather- hot in summer cold in winter
> swimming and being in the water
> the mountains and the ocean
>good conversation
>friendly and informative blogs-thank you Booman for providing it to us
>art in almost all forms
>history channel
>home decorating and gardening channel
>food of almost all types-can’t eat bugs or reptiles though
>learning about other cultures
>speaking to American residents who aren’t from here (see above)
> thanks Catnip for a great diary have a good evening
include my nephews and niece. And all of my dear friends little children. What a joy to talk and play with them. I learn a lot from them.
Ginger snaps (the gingerier the better) and lemon snaps. And there was a cookie place on my way home from a former employer that made the best molasses cookies; I would hop off the bus and stop there for a molasses cookie and a large milk…heaven.
A few of my favorite (favourite) things:
but I’ve found a recipe or few for alternate-flour molasses cookies I really love.
One of my most favorite ordinary things is still being able to find something ridiculous to make Herself belly-laugh after these 24 years. We rarely talk as long as half an hour without laughing.
We rarely talk as long as half an hour without laughing.
Well…maybe if you’d stop farting so much…I’m just sayin’ π
yeah its gotta be the ice box cookies. sugar and butter and pecans, make it one day put it in the fridge in a log and let it chill
next day nine minutes at 350 degrees
to die for
Yum!
Can’t we toss some chocolate chips in there? Just for fun?
My recovery,
my wife and children,
peanut butter cookies w/chocolate chips,
being the best geek I can be today,
eating a freshly picked tomato,
fried green tomato’s using my recipe,
watching the criminals in this administration frog marched to the nearest federal prison.
These are just a few of my favorite things.
Today, my favorite thing is that I no longer have a fever of 102 and sweating out the sickness. (not my favorite is that we don’t have AC and it’s been a helluva hot week)
Second favorite thing is that my daughter and son did not fight as much and kept checking in on me.
This week my favorite foods:
Premium Saltine Crackers
Chicken Broth
Organic green, seedless grapes
My husband went out and bought a new shower/massage. Because before I got ill, I gave him one of his favorite things… a shower π
So sorry to hear you’re not feeling well. π
I’m addicted to saltines at the best of times, but they sure come in handy when you’re sick. I hope you’re feeling better soon!
Favorite thing this week; watching Scottie Boy Squirm and the “lobotomy corp” come alive.
Favorite cookies…homemade.
other everyday favorites:
spending time with my beautiful granddaughter
hanging out here with the Tribe
watching the sunset into the Pacific from my balcony
reading a good book
listening to all kinds of music from U2 Live(saw them in April what a concert) to Andre Boucelli to Eva Cassidy.
Wakeboarding at dawn on a lake of glass
Being me.
Catnip, This is wonderful, but oh, how could you???
I am drooling!
It’s 1:18am and I am SO hungry for cookies after reading this.
All we have in the house is the gingerbread I made for my husband (with good ol’ blackstrap molasses, and whatever kind of flour you can eat), plus he gets to smear on a little buttercream icing. Me, I don’t like ginger, so I’m not tempted to snarf them down, as I would be with
snickerdoodles (especially fresh out of the oven)
Russian teacakes (just rolled in powdered-sugar)
chocolate crinkles
chocolate pinwheels
oatmeal cookies with raisins and pecans
toll house cookies
but that lovely dark brown dough looked so much like chocolate. It was quite frustrating.
I’m so hungry I’m going to have to make cinnamon toast, or I’ll get depressed thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve been to the Rockies or the Appalachians or canoeing or on a horse or camping anywhere that it isn’t in the 90’s with similar humidity!
I love my cats, but holding a double-coated long-haired tabby right now isn’t my idea of a great time!
Sleep well, everyone. I plan to dream about these good things.
KS
Catnip, you did say no crankiness. I am very sorry. I won’t do it again. Maybe.
lol…that wasn’t cranky – not even borderline. π