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I'm Starved for Attention and All I Have is Food for Thought

Posted by Tim at 22:40 on 2010/12/21

Dec 212010

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
The cookie recipe included here was posted in December 2005.

I provided a potato soup recipe for Jakk’s Magic Beans Life recently. Click over there and have a taste. [If you hurry, you can also get in on Julie's 12 Days of Christmas, Magic Beans-Style giveaway.]

If you have hungry eyes my e-chap of food-related flash fiction, Flash in the Pan, is still available for free.

I think it’s always a good idea to get the family together in the kitchen. Food is a primal need and sharing its preparation may be more important than sharing its consumption. Kids learn to respect the power of hot surfaces, the importance of followng instructions, concepts of measurement and time, and cooperation. And cooking has the built-in incentive of something to eat when you finish.

In my family we have always made spritz cookies around this time of year. We aren’t sure where we first got the recipe; we all have hand-written copies of it now. I’ve seen recipes that use almond extract in addition to or instead of the vanilla. And sometimes they add 1/4 teaspoon baking powder to the flour. The mixing is the most difficult part; the butter has to be slightly softened but if it gets too soft you’ll have a sticky mess. You need a cookies press and kids find that a lot of fun. (Okay. I think it’s fun too.)

Spritz Cookies

Ingredients:
(Makes 6 dozen cookies)

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-1/2 cups flour

food coloring (optional)

Instructions:

Set oven at 400°

Mix butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla

Mix in flour gradually

Add food coloring a few drops at a time

Press onto ungreased baking sheets

Bake for 7-10 minutes

Keep an eye on the cookies and remove them as soon as the edges start to brown. You may need to lower the oven temp to 375°. I like the cookies to stay soft so I tend to undercook them a little. Actually, one of my favorite things is to skip the baking altogether. Keep the raw dough in the refrigerator and eat a spoonful of that with a cup of hot tea or coffee. Mmmmmhhh. Yes. I know the danger of eating uncooked egg yolks. Some things are worth the risk.

My Favorite Florida Things – Wilderness

Posted by Tim at 20:10 on 2010/07/09

Jul 092010

Before I moved to Florida it meant only two things to me: beaches and theme parks. While we have both in abundance here they don’t make my list of things I will miss when I’m gone. To be fair, I have had some good times on beaches, but given a choice I’ll head to the mountains. I even have some pleasant memories from theme parks. [You haven't seen "It's a Small World" until you've seen it with a five-year-old.] By and large though they mean paying lots of money to be in big crowds — two things I detest.

After I moved to Florida I learned that there is a whole other world away from beaches and theme parks [and usually, but not always, away from crowds]. This other world includes natural springs, rivers, and hiking trails. For example, Wekiwa Springs State Park is just a few miles north of Orlando and has a gorgeous swimming area at the springs. There are miles of hiking trails and canoeing on the Wekiva River. Outside the park, the adjacent Rock Springs provides a wonderful canoeing experience too.

A little further north is Blue Spring State Park, best known as a Manatee refuge. The waterways are closed to swimmers and boaters from mid-November through March each year as the Manatees winter in the 73°F water.

There are something in the neighborhood of 150 state parks and historic sites that run the gamut from springs and rivers to beaches to coral reef. [John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park was the first undersea park in the U.S.] And we have a few national parks and preserves too. I’ve barely scratched the surface in exploring all these places and when I come back to visit these are what I’ll be looking for.

My Favorite Florida Things - Tai Chi

Posted by Tim at 20:51 on 2010/07/03

Jul 032010

As I prepare to uproot myself I am acutely aware that there are some things about central Florida that I will miss a lot. One of them is my Tai Chi class. I’ve been studying with Master Chang for eight years and my classmates are wonderful people. There was much sadness when I told them I will be leaving in a few weeks. They want to have some kind of celebration before I go. [As a naturally shy person, I was a little tempted to just slip away without saying anything....]

Anyway, I figure I’ll be able to find another group to study with whenever I get resettled. One of the first things Master Chang said to me though after I told him I am leaving is that he wants me to teach Tai Chi in my new home. [He has talked to me before about how he wants his traditions to continue here in central Florida and that would mean that I and some of the other students would be taking over the teaching.]

“Okay,” I said, “I’ll try teaching it.”

“No,” he told me, “you will teach.”

“I will teach Tai Chi,” I agreed.

“And some day you will bring your students here to visit.”

Won’t that be a hell of a field trip?!?

Master Chang

V is for...

Posted by Tim at 22:48 on 2010/07/01

Jul 012010

Here’s a photo from a recent family gathering.

Um, I think I may be in a gang….

Limpkins

Posted by Tim at 18:42 on 2010/06/07

Jun 072010

So there I was, right in the middle of one of our final exams. Another teacher gave me a chance to take a little break and when I returned I saw this family standing outside the door.

Limpkins at the door

I was SO glad I recently resumed carrying my camera around. For a moment they appeared to be looking in on my students, no doubt wondering what the heck they were up to. Or maybe they were just early to line up for lunch….

Limpkin kids

I had to look online to find out what they are. I have never seen limpkins on campus before — I’m not sure I’ve seen them anywhere before.

Color me grinning! Okay, chickies. Move along now. Nothing to see here….

Drinking Problem

Posted by Tim at 15:13 on 2009/11/05

Nov 052009

Most mornings I stop at a 7-11 and get a cup of coffee on my way to work. I take my own mug — refills are cheaper than buying coffee and a cup. Plus it’s more environmentally friendly [and I don't like drinking from Styrofoam, but that's another story]. I think they started that because they were selling insulated cups [which, of course, are more expensive than Styrofoam but cheaper in the long run if you reuse them]. They give you the refill price if you bring in any cup though, even if you’re reusing one of the Styrofoam cups.

I remember when fast food restaurants started moving their soda fountains out where customers could get their own drinks. Some people complained that service was already terrible and now we had to serve ourselves? I liked it though. I could put a shot of Sprite in my Coke. I didn’t have to ask to have a drink replaced because just ten seconds before the drone at the counter filled the cup with ice I told them I wanted mine with no ice. One place tried to charge a quarter for refills even after the drinks were self-serve. Yeah, right!

Anyway, a while back I was in one of these places and there were two older couples at a nearby table. I overheard one of the men say, “Drink refills are free, right? We should have gotten just one and shared it.” These people looked well-off financially so I don’t know whether he was the cheapest bastard you’d ever want to meet or if he was just making a joke. In either case, I don’t recall anyone laughing.

A few weeks ago a fast food place near my house posted this on their doors:

I didn’t ask, but apparently people were bringing in old cups, refilling them, and then leaving. [I suppose they could have been coming in for another meal and trying to reuse an old cup for free. But would stones that big fit through the door?] Hey, I know these are tough financial times but still… screwing a burger joint out of the price of a drink seems pretty drastic to me.

And then, just a few days ago when I was leaving the 7-11 I saw a man approaching the entrance. This store is in an old neighborhood and it’s not unusual for homeless people to be around there. This guy did not look well-off. When he got to the front door I saw him reach into the trashcan, remove a cup, discard the lid and remaining contents, and take it inside. And that put the refill in a completely different light for me.

Saturday in the Park

Posted by Tim at 00:01 on 2009/09/28

Sep 282009

Most Saturday mornings for about the last seven years I have started my day with a Tai Chi class in the local Central Park. One of my favorite things is to watch the light change as the sun rises. [Class is from 7:30 - 9:30] I often think that I need to take my camera with me to share some of the glory.

So here is the view across the park just before class started this weekend.

And here it is about 45 minutes later.

And then about an hour after that.

If you look closely you might see there are two fountains in the park. This one.

Here’s a closer look.

The other fountain isn’t as interesting.

At the other end of the park is a rose garden where I saw this

and this

All things considered, not a bad way to start the day.

Candid Camera

Posted by Tim at 00:01 on 2009/09/22

Sep 222009

I have discovered one of the great ~~annoyances~~ joys of travelling with friends is that they can take candid photos of those little moments you might otherwise forget.

Warning: Some of you* will be sorry if you CLICK HERE.

*including me

Vistas

Posted by Tim at 15:08 on 2009/08/10

Aug 102009

Montana is Big Sky country. Many of the views I encountered on my recent trip were just too vast for the widest angle lens I had. For example, as much as I like my shot of Hidden Lake it is a fraction of this:

And there just didn’t seem to be any place to stand where I could really show the cirque AND Iceberg Lake like this:

Neither of these is very good video and every photo/video I took pales in comparison to actually standing there [but that's sort of the point of going, isn't it?].