Postcards from the RantFamily Christmas
Christmas Eve day: Bake something festive.
--Nibble on the funky leftovers.
--Bake something festive but not completely
nutritionally irresponsible for a finger
food no dishes will be washed after Christmas worship potluck. First celebrate
having the kind of oven that can handle a bundt cake pan, not something to be
taken for granted in modern apartments.
RantWoman had lots of frozen overripe bananas and
lots of yogurt. RantWoman thought to make a banana sour cream bundt cake. Off
RantWoman went on her phone to the search engine of RantWoman’s choice. No
option for just a clean recipe not gooped up by a lot of ads. RantWoman had to
poke around but found something that sounded promising except somehow the phone
screen was not working to find the ingredients list.
Chromie the Crhromebook to the rescue. Ingredients
list in large font. Add pen and paper because RantWoman gets to be grateful
that still works. RantWoman does NOT though want to be mucking around on her
devices with hands covered in cake ingredients. Did RantWoman mention she is a
pretty tactile cook? And no, please do not try to tell RantWoman to invite
Alexa or the Google Assistant to the
party. For one thing, RantWoman will be needing her fix of holiday public radio
as she cooks.
The recipe RantWoman started with: banana bundt cake
Has RantWoman mentioned that, thanks to decades of
kitchen chemistry experiments, she is a bit of a culinary cowboy. Recipes are
merely the figured bass for one’s kitchen compositions. The basic cake prep is
Prepare the pan and preheat the oven. Assemble dry ingredients. Assemble wet
ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Pour into pan and bake.
RantWoman looked at the recipe and decided it had
much to much butter and sugar for her taste, so RantWoman decided to go rogue,
to improvise. The ingredients RantWoman
assembled:
2 cups all-purpose flour and one cup whole wheat. (This
is what RantWoman had on hand. RantWoman likes the nuttiness and density of
whole wheat flour, but if she were planning ahead she might use whole wheat
cake flour.)
2 tsp soda
(RantWoman might think to add some grated nutmeg or
lemon zest but that did not happen this time.)
½ cup softened margarine
1 cup brown sugar.
2 eggs
1.5 cups of yogurt.
2 cups + mashed bananas.
Mix in ¾ cup of walnut pieces.
The bake time turned out to be a little over an hour
until RantWoman’s test wire came out clean. The result was dense but flavorful.
Several people liked that the cake was not overpoweringly sweet. RantWoman
concurs with RantMom that some lemon glaze might be nice but yeah positive
reviews without it.
Christmas Eve at Little Sister’s church:
--Kind of nice actually to see people out on the Ave
but very few places open
--RantWoman requires good doses of pipe organ
occasionally to clear her head. Little Sister’s church does GREAT about pipe
organ.
They also do really well about perfume which is less
to RantWoman’s taste.
Add candles, the thought that streaks in one’s
vision are probably not a good idea even though they tempt one to see what is
actually happening with the customary end of service Silent Night candle.
Candles? Anyone on Oxygen? Little sister was Out of
There the minute the service reached the candle-lighting horizon. RantMom, RantWoman, and Brother in Law though
got different mobility fun: people both streaming past us out the front door
and streaming back to the rear of the sanctuary. Just STAY PUT until the crowds
clear.
Now time to go home. Nothing falling out of the sky.
The RantWoman decided not even to try options to scurry over to RantMom’s
church. That left only the bus routing. RantMom would have happily stopped at
the first appropriate bus stop, but RantWoman persuaded her to walk to the next
stop where there were two bus options instead of one, including a routing that
would probably have taken less time than the one based on the bus that came
first.
But yeah uncrowded buses. The RantWomen both really
like bus more than most cars. It is nice to be able to stand up in a separate
step from getting out of a vehicle. It is nice to chat and hang together with
considerably less rolling anthropology project experience than sometimes. But
fear not. The second route leg made RantWoman glad she had opted just to hang
with RantMom instead of taking a different faster route home.
Christmas day:
--Little Sister provided a lovely easy to fulfill
list of household needs. RantWoman has written previously of Brother in Law’s
extreme standards of sock durability and always delights in hitting the right
blend of brand, fiber composition, and thickness.
--RantWoman realizes some probably consider it a
little crass to provide precise links as guides about mail order shopping.
Please trust RantWoman: that is a MUCH better
idea than making other people guess, er, choose! The only downside
compared to in-person shopping: if RantWoman is in astore and finds something
else that fits or she likes better the shopping list gets changed.
--Santa Clause still has not provided a gift
matching RantMom’s request. RantWoman rode downtown after worship and finger
food. Again, actually really lovely to see people out but very little open.
Nice to have good weather too. RantWoman was seeking a winter hat. An old
friend offered to see whether RantMom would be interested in two very different
hats she wanted to move along in the universe but did not necessarily want to
send to Good will. Um after trying them no actually, but friend got added to
the guest list for dinner.
On the menu for RantFamily holiday chatter:
#bikeshare bikes.
--RantMom with the walker she sometimes uses or with
her cane and Little Sister in her wheelchair both emphatically concur:
bikeshere bikes can be A PAIN. Particularly worthy of scorn: people who park
their bikeshare bikes next to the poles at traffic signals so people cannot
reach the buttons on the poles. Listen up South Lake Union. #SLU
Enter Irrepressible Nephew, now according to the
calendar official and adult though still getting used to the role.
Irrepressible Nephew has a great bike of his own and a helmet. But
Irrepressible Nephew and high school friend sometimes decide to use bikeshare
on the spur of the moment. What do do about a helmet?
RantWoman went all Sensible Auntie on the situation.
For best brain protection please, please carry your helmet with you at all
times.
Ahhhhh
Merry Christmas to all; may the celebrations
continue.
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