Letting 'er Rip

During the summer while the Church Choir is on holidays, we often have guest singers on Sunday mornings to lead the psalm and sing an aria or two during communion and at the end of the service. I usually volunteer for one or two of these Sundays and this morning was my day.

One of the side effects of being the soloist on any given Sunday is that I sit up right next to the organ where WH is playing. And one of the nice things about being right next to the organ is that I can sing hymns absolutely as loud as I want to because nobody can hear me. Correspondingly, I cannot hear anybody BUT myself, so it's like my own solo hymn-sing with full pipe organ, complete with last verse re-harmonizations.

Hurray!

Trader Tuesdays: The Apple Blue Cheese Pizza

The apple blue cheese pizza is too good not to share. It's from the Blue Flame Kitchen Favorites Cookbook.

I use individuals pre-baked pizza crust, usually found in the deli department of your local grocery store. I had a hard time finding them the first time , so you may have to ask somebody. Brush with olive oil. Thinly slice an apple, and lay the slices on the crust. Sprinkle crumbled blue cheese on the apple. Top with grated Monterey Jack cheese and chopped walnuts. Bake according to the instructions provided with the pizza crust, usually something like a 400F oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese melted.

Could I bone a duck?

MU and I went to see Julie & Julia on Monday night.

Thoroughly wonderful. I have heard that the book by the same title was a trifle annoying -- perhaps along the same vein as this one -- but the movie is simply delightful. Meryl Streep is an absolute treasure.

And of course, the movie has got me wondering how I would fare doing a similar experiment. Could I cook through the entire Mastering the Art of French Cooking, both volumes?

Could I put a lobster out of its misery?

Would I burn the Boeuf Bourguignon?

Do I crowd my mushrooms?

Could I bone a duck?

Cat Scratch Fever

We bought some new furniture last week for our new living room, a beautiful buckskin couch and loveseat set from The Brick.

It took Mama Cat and Baby Cat about an hour to identify the new furniture as "scratchable material." We are determined... DETERMINED... to break them of this habit before they ruin these couches too.

To that end, we have purchased these.

They are, essentially, soft plastic shells that are adhered over top of the cats' claws. Apparently, they are safe, non-toxic and the cats won't notice them or care that they are there. We bought a red set for Mama Cat and a pink set for Baby Cat. They will look ridiculous, but they already look ridiculous, so this will be no big change. I will post pictures as soon as the Soft Claws arrive and as soon as we wrangle them on the unsuspecting kittehs.

We also bought them a scratching post.

So, we have employed both diversionary and preventative tactics today.

WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED.

Horse and Handel

WH and I took a whirlwind road trip to our neighbour province to the east this weekend, arriving home to a newly painted house last night. I have a couple of posts brewing about how much I love driving on the prairie highway, but first, a scene from our drive home for you.

For much of our trip home, we played Horse. If it's not a game you're familiar with, all it involves is calling out for every horse that you see on the trip. When you see a cemetery, you call out DEAD HORSE, and the other person loses all the horses they've accumulated to that point. The person who ends the trip with the most horses, wins.

With about two and a half hours left on the road yesterday, we decided that we'd let Messiah bring us home, so the car ride sounded something like this:

For unto us a child is bo-orn - HORSE - unto us, a son is - HORSEHORSE - given...

And the glory, the glory of the - HORSE - Lord. Shall be redee-ee-ee-HORSEHORSEHORSEHORSE-ee-ee-med...

Hallelujah, Hallel-HORSE-ujah, Hallelujah - HORSE - Hallel- HAHATHATWASACOW-ujah, Halle-e-lu-jah.

Worthy is the Lamb, that was - DEADHORSE - DAMMIT - slain...

Getting Started on the Week

This was the commuting music for this morning. A pretty wonderful way to get settled into the week!



What are you listening to today?