OrthodoxWiki

I've been "knighted" as a sysop on OrthodoxWiki. It's what I've been addicted to pretty much all weekend, but I'm going to stick with Reader Andrew's leadership since he's familiar with both Orthodoxy and wiki-ing. Yes, I realize that's not a word.

I was going to write more, but I got distracted. I want to find out how to put one of those tab-icon things up, so OrthodoxWiki will have its icon there, too, like Google and Blogger and Wikipedia do. (Visible in Mozilla Firefox or other tabbed browsers.)

*sigh* I still need a keeper. How did it get to be after midnight so soon?

Har har; or, my punny husband.

"Hey, you don't need me anymore now."

"What?"

"You have two more hands!"

"What!?"

"You just put a watch in your pocket."

*glare*

Interview from Mr Hibbity Gibbity

Mr Hibbity Gibbity was kind enough to interview me.

1. When you said "please, with streusel on top" were you offering me streusel or were you hoping that I would some how provide you with streusel via this blog? Or perhaps you wanted all the questions to be about streusel, yes?

Yes, yes, and no. Streusel is simply a good topping.

2. What is your favorite type of streusel?

Homemade: five parts sugar, one part flour, and one part butter.

3. In a pinch, could streusel be used in the Holy Sacrament?

I'll play it safe and say that the Holy Sacrament is already sweet to both tongue and soul, therefore any additions, even streusel, would be unnecessary.

4. Would you consider yourself a streusel fiend? If so, how long have you suffered with this addiction? If not, how long have you suffered with being a fibber?

No, just a regular fiend. I've suffered an addiction to streusel-topped pastries since 1986, with the opening of the Brazos Blue Ribbon Bakery in College Station, Texas, which, alas, is no more. Oh, probably longer than that.

5. If you were a pastry, what kind of pastry would you be? Why? (I bet I know!)

KOLACHES!

Here's the recipe from the Brazos Blue Ribbon Bakery which they published in their newsletter and which my friend's mother clipped out for us to bake in her kitchen. Warning: it does take over four hours of time, but it's well worth the effort. Kolaches also freeze well. (This recipe is for the fruit- or cream-cheese-filled kind, not the sausage kind.)

5 tsp. yeast--dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup milk--scalded and cooled
3/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 whole eggs AND 3 yolks beaten
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. lemon extract or ground peel
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
6 level cups flour

Easy so far, nothing to it. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter, add eggs, salt, sugar, yeast solution and mix well using a wooden spoon (Leigh told me it has to be wooden). Add in flour and other ingredients as you mix and stir 100 strokes until dough has a glossy sheen. Cover dough with damp cloth and let rise for one hour until dough has doubled in size. Stir dough down and let rise for 30 minutes. Stir dough down AGAIN! Pull out 2 oz. pieces, shape into a ball and place on a greased cookie sheet (might as well go ahead and use butter) about three inches apart and let rise another 15 minutes. Using your fingers punch and spread out an indentation in each piece of dough to hold your favorite filling. After punching and filling, sprinkle the kolaches with a sugar, flour, and butter streusel and let rise for another 10-15 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Does a streusel fiend get to wear a cape?

***Official Rules for the Interview Game

1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions—each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
6. I will answer reasonable follow up questions if you leave a comment.

One-upmanship

Husband and wife look at the information for a previous acquaintance who is still at college.

"Ah. I see he lives off-campus."
"What? Rhode Island? That's his home address."
"No, he lives in [the dorm which is 15 minutes from the rest of campus]."
"Oh. [pause] But, dear, you forget: he's an engineer. He doesn't live off-campus. He lives in [the computer lab]."

Now back to your regularly scheduled graham crackers.

Winter Poem

The trees do not so much as whisper today—
Their arms are quiet under sleeves of snow;
As though waiting for the seamstress to finish pinning,
They stand patiently, enjoying the luxury of new clothes.

The ground, too, is dazzled at its new array,
Too proud and smug to offer complaint—
‘See how beautiful I am!’ it shines contentedly,
Admiring itself in the light of the mild winter sun.

--Copyright © 2005 by M. Andronache

S[c]ore

Three-inch binder: 1
Magda's palm: 0

Today I learned that office supplies do not need to be sharp in order to draw blood. Also, OWWW!

In other news, I am saddened by my lack of Snoopy band-aids. Unfortunately (not terribly unfortunately, though), I have copious plain, boring ones. I tried to match, but the one on my right hand is only on my finger, for a paper-cut. Did I mention that today was long?

Maturity

Part of maturity is discretion. I have learned not to press my husband as to what is amusing him when he responds, "I could make myself sleep on the couch for a week!"

Two Wrongs ...

... don't make a right, but one bad habit can cancel another: not-brushing-teeth-long-enough versus spending-too-much-time-reading-blogs yields spending more time brushing teeth.

After that and the new Listerine which tastes disturbingly like orange Fanta (yummy! wait, don't swallow! burning! but yummy!), my mouth is SPAHKLY!

In sports news, HCHC lost again in the YAL basketball league. Stupid 11 pm make-up games. But thanks to Soula and me, our team had water and clementine wedges. Next game on Tuesday.

Graham Cracker Commandment Tablets

Today was happy. Virgil set the alarm for after he went to Liturgy (6:30 a.m., but it's his altar group week, so his wake up was 5:40). I got to work early, and did a lot of nothing spaced out through the day. R took my deposit to the bank for me, so I didn't even have to do that. I got my office supplies in so I set up my desk how I want it. Most of the guys were out of the office, and E was out sick, so most of my answering the phone was sending people to voice mail. I managed to check on the status of all the lien waiver requests anyhow.

I left work early (4) to go get Virgil and drive up to St. V's for the girls' basketball game. I realized as we got there that he'd forgotten to bring/wear his coach's shirt which they gave him last week. Ah, well. There's still one more game in the season. Our team lost, but two of our top four players (1 and 4) weren't there, and the other team had three tall girls (which fact, in a league ranging from age eight to grade eight, makes a significant difference) to our one.

We came home to find corn meal in a bag hanging on our doorknob. We figured out who had left it (friends to whom we had mentioned that we couldn't find cornmeal for one of Virgil's recipes) with the help of our upstairs neighbor L. Then I was in her clutches. Starburst, milk and cookies. Then our husbands came and talked, too. A-G drew a baptismal font for one of the classes she'll be teaching tomorrow for the kids on campus. I helped make ten commandment tablets out of graham crackers for the other class, and got to lick some of the homemade icing which was to go between them.

As I said to L, now I have to go put my cornmeal to bed.

Seminary Life

As I've been noticing each morning I go to work, usually it's the women of the campus who go to work while their husbands stay at home.

Of course, it's traditional for the wife to support her husband through school, and the men aren't "staying at home," but it's an odd feeling, nonetheless.