I miss watching Dallas. There I said it. It's been too long since I've watched J.R. and Sue Ellen trade insults. So, to tide myself over in the meantime, I watched a few brief clips from youtube - and because I don't want you to be left out of the fun dear readers, here are some links to those clips:
Here's the theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWtxqoaPD_o&feature=related
Doesn't that just make you want to watch an episode? Or maybe it's just me.
And here's a scene with J.R. and Ellen, so you can experience the magic as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FjgMfYIRE
The other thing I miss is reading more than one book at a time. My pre-blog reading habit was to read about 4 or 5 books at once, and I really miss that. I'm trying to adjust to only reading one book at a time, and to not having a book to read at night, but the adjustment is taking some time.
Today's book - I got this book from the library and there are smudges that are making it impossible for me to read the description on the back, which probably makes you wonder, "What kind of person would check out a book without knowing what it's about?" - unless of course you've already read my entry about the book Love is a Mix Tape, in which case you're probably not surprised and instead are thinking, "Will she ever learn her lesson?" I picked out today's book because the front said it was by the author who wrote the I Hate to Cook book - so I figured, hey why not, what's the worst that could happen. The book is basically a memoir where the author shares life stories that are all related to food. I promise dear readers, tomorrow's book will not be about food.
I enjoyed the book quite a bit, it was filled with gentle humor - and what I enjoyed the most were the titles to the chapters, which were so weird that it made me want to read the chapter that followed just so I could figure out what it was all about:
Ch. 2 - A Consideration of the Egg...or How They Broke up the Gangs at Public School # 1 in McKinleyville, Missouri
Ch. 8 - Of Copper Bowls and Kansas...and a Snapshot or Two from the Family Album
Ch. 11 - Mainly about My Aunt Liz Noah...or In One Ear and Half a Dozen of the Other
One of the anecdotes in the story makes reference to hard sauce, which is something I've always wondered about. What is hard sauce? Is it just how it sounds, a sauce that is hard? Or is it a sauce that contains hard liquor? I've always wondered (although not enough to actually look it up) - but for the sake of the blog I'm willing to go that extra step. I googled hard sauce and on the search page this popped up: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hard-sauce.htm - which was described on the search page as a "brief and straightforward guide to hard sauce." I don't know why, but the brief and straight forward comment amuses me. I'm clearly way too easily amused.
The author discusses an article she read once about how eggs were cooked by shepherds long ago. Here is the description, "The shepherds had a singular manner of cooking eggs without the aid of a fire: they placed them in a sling, which they turned so rapidly that the friction of the air heated them to the exact point required for use." She then attempts to test this theory out using a salad spinner. I'm tempted to scoff and think how ridiculous an idea that is, but after that ginger water incident from January 9th, I'm standing on shaky ground. Plus, let me be honest for a moment dear readers, the only thing standing between me and an attempt to try out this experiment is the fact that I don't actually own a salad spinner. The author is coy about the results of the experiment but does offer up this detail, "It was a learning experience and really not too hard to clean up." And now I really can't judge, because even after I've found out that it doesn't work, I still want to try it.
Random facts that may or may not be true:
- Eggs that are stored in the refrigerator, but kept in the door are jostled too frequently from the door being opened and closed so much, which causes them to prematurely age. I have no idea how to tell if an egg has prematurely aged, so I can't verify that information. But I'm willing to take the author's word for it.
- Scroddle is a ceramic term used to describe something that is mottled with different colors. I've looked that one up, and here is a picture of a ceramic item that has a scroddle design: http://www.gregkramerandco.com/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=32&osCsid=04c6accb0d9da6bdff3e828fb4ab7114
- Digesting a hard-boiled egg requires more calories than the egg itself contains - 92 calories to digest vs. only 80 calories in the egg. That piece of information sounds too good to be true, so I did a little investigative research. I can confirm for you dear readers that a large eggs does contain 80 calories. But I was unable to find out how many calories it takes to digest an egg. However, in the process of looking that up I discovered that the commonly held belief about celery taking more calories to chew than it actually contains is a myth - and the same can be said about grapefruit. Now I have to find a way to break the news gently to my father (who loves the celery myth) before he reads about it here on the blog. Wish me luck dear readers, because this conversation is going to be unpleasant.
