January 30, 2012 by martko1964

Oprah’s Words Of Wisdom To Roseanne (And Me)

I remember in 1998 when Roseanne announced on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that she was going to do a daily syndicated talk show to air during the daytime hours. Oprah looked at her with a wry little smile on her face and then told Roseanne that doing a talk show sounds easy in theory, but come January and February, she would see how hard it is to try to think up bright and exciting show topics to air in the dead of Winter. 14 years later, Oprah’s words of wisdom are speaking to me here at Acorns On Glen. You see, blogging is a great way to document your life and let people read about the interesting things you do in it, until you feel that you have become the saddest person in the world and there is not one thing that you do in the dead of Winter that would interest somebody. During Spring, Summer and Fall, there was almost never a week/weekend that went by where I didn’t do four or five things that I thought would make an interesting post. I was always cooking a new recipe, there was always news from my garden, nature was in full swing and doing things worthy of writing about and I was traveling to here and there and able to share my finds in the places that I had visited. All that comes to a crashing halt when the dead of Winter takes over. I mean, I have become the most boring person who has ever written a blog this last month and I don’t see much improvement going into February. I mean, take a look at the possible titles I could have written about for events happening with or to me over this past weekend. Would you want to read stories like these?

My Adventures With Bed Sores After A 12 Hour Sleep,
New Ways To Avoid Taking A Shower Until 6 PM,
What To Eat When You Have Absolutely No Food In The House,
Fun Things To Do While You Wait For The Quarterly Exterminator Visit,
How To Open Frozen Car Doors After You Take The Car To Be Washed,
How To Hire Young Teens To Pick Up Tree Limbs That Fall Into Your Yard After Strong Winds,
Shock After Realizing You Have Used The Brush On Your Clarisonic Toothbrush For Over Six Months,
Flushed With Excitement – “The Good Wife” Airs A New Episode,
Howard Hughes Has Nothing On These Toenails I’m Clipping Now,
Can a 3 1/2 Hour Sleep Really Be Termed A Nap?,
The DMV – New Ways To Meet Weird People!, or
The DMV – Their Technological Advances Since My Last Visit (NOT!)

I swear to God that each of these titles could have a story behind them in minutes, but I don’t think there would be too many hits. There is a direct correlation – the colder it gets, the sadder my life becomes. I’m thinking March will be my turning point. I will begin to go out into the world more and do interesting things once again. Until then, if you see Oprah, can you tell her to call me with some ideas she used for topics during January and February? I really need them.

January 20, 2012 by martko1964

Friday Dance Party – Fun. We Are Young Featuring Janelle Monáe.

It’s time for another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen. It’s the time where we give thanks for making it through another week and for being alive and present here on Earth. How do we celebrate another week of living? We dance. So, are you alive this Friday? Are you and your family safe and sound? Take a few seconds now to be in the moment and realize what a great life you truly have. Did you give thanks for that?

Good, now let’s dance.

January, 2012 has been typical of all the January’s I’ve experienced over the last ten to fifteen years. We go to a New Year’s Eve party where everyone complains the next day on how it could have been better even though I had a good time. Within a week or two into the new year, I decide that I am too heavy and I decide to go on a strict diet. Towards the end of the month, I always buy a self-help book and begin reading it and then decide that I don’t really want to work on being (pick one: more loving, more caring, more honest with my partner, better able to read my internal body signs, able to pick healthier foods, ten years younger in ten days). The list goes on and on. This year the self-help book I’m reading says that a common trick to looking and feeling younger is to act like you are young again. It says to pick a time in your young life when you were the happiest and act like that for a period of time and you will feel better and look younger. So I ask, does this make any sense to you and do any of us really want to go back and act like we did when we were young? I’m not sure I do! Granted, if I could go back and be 25 or 30 again, but with the knowledge I have now, then maybe I would do it. However, without my 47 years of wisdom, I’m not a fan of going back to those days. Even at my youngest and happiest, I still did some really stupid stuff:

Relationships – I remember during a break-up, I went and laid behind the back wheels of the person’s car so there was no way the person could leave without either dealing with me or running over me.
Work – I made people at work understand that I would most likely be hung over every Monday because there was a bar that I liked that had Sunday night beer blast when bottles of beer were only $1.
Finances – I took out cash advances on three credit cards and borrowed money from my parents to buy my first apartment. Savings at that time totaled $0.

I think you get where I’m coming from. Acting like this again just isn’t in me these days. How about I just stick with something I know and think I’m getting really good at – being 47 and proud of it. This week’s dance number comes from a group named Fun. with their song ‘We Are Young’ featuring Janelle Monae. So let’s dance this week and be proud of earning our stripes over the years. It’s another week down and we’ve made it through. After we’re done dancing, I’m off to find another $1 Beer Blast. I think this beer blast from the past should really come back in style, don’t you?

January 13, 2012 by martko1964

Friday Dance Party – Beyonce’s Countdown

So here’s another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen. It’s the time where we give thanks for making it through another week and for being alive and present here on Earth. How do we celebrate another week of living? We dance. So, are you alive this Friday? Are you and your family safe and sound? Take a few seconds now to be in the moment and realize what a great life you truly have. Did you give thanks for that?

Good, now let’s dance.

It’s strange what makes the news nowadays. It seems we hear more and more celebrity drama reported right up there with the European debt crisis, the war in Afghanistan and the Republican primaries. On a recent newscast I watched, Mitt Romney’s win in New Hampshire was followed by an in-depth story on Katy Perry’s divorce and the reaction it has gotten from her very Christian parents. Was this newscast for real? Do people really care? I guess they do or this type of reporting wouldn’t exist. Is it that there is so much going on in the world to depress people that any chance to show someone fall down who seems to “have it all” makes the masses a little happier? Case in point, the birth this week of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s baby girl, Blue Ivy. Can you imagine how you would feel if you got your contractions down to a few minutes apart, you rush to the hospital, you deliver your child and at the same time you are creating an international scandal. Here are some headlines across New York City newspapers this week:

“See The Room Where Beyoncé Gave Birth”

“Beyoncé Gives Birth On Saturday”

“Beyoncé And Jay-Z Welcome Blue Ivy”

“Name Blue IVy Centers On Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Infatuation With The Number 4″

“What Kind Of Name Is Beyoncé’s Baby Blue Ivy”

(Picture courtesy of 50 Cent on Twitter)

“NYC Hospital Under Scrutiny After Beyoncé Birth”

“Hospital Investigating Beyoncé Birth Allegations”

“NYC Mayor Weighs In On Beyoncé Birth”

“New Mother – I Couldn’t Breast Feed My New Baby Because Of Beyoncé Security”

Enough already. Just let them enjoy the birth of their daughter. Yes, I know that people say they make a lot of money and sign up for this type of scrutiny, but really, does this mean intense scrutiny even in the most private of life events like the birth of a child. I just don’t agree with that theory. So here’s my headline:

“Beyoncé Gives Birth – Let’s Dance”

We made it through another week. Let’s celebrate with “Countdown” by Beyoncé. Go on, you deserve it. Get up and dance (just don’t let any paparazzi take your picture). Don’t even let me see you on the cover of the National Enquirer.

January 9, 2012 by martko1964

Good Food From Fellow Bloggers

It’s funny how my recipe hunting habits have changed since we started Acorns On Glen. I used to spend hours reading cookbooks to find that one recipe that was perfect for that night’s dinner or just the right dessert to end a certain meal on a high note. I love to cook, but have always cooked using recipes from cookbooks. I envy people like the Notorious B.I.G. (Brooklyn Italian Grandmother) that can cook a variety of dishes from memory, using just the right amount of this or that by feel versus measuring cups and spoons to get exactly the amount the recipe states. I think it is the accountant in me that is the reason why I always cook from cookbook recipes. I like to be able to read the step-by-step narrative and picture in my head what each step will look like and exactly when I will need to chop something or measure something out.

Cookbook reading can also turn into an expensive habit. I have at least two bookcases full of them ranging from the newest selection from one of the chef’s on the Food Network to cookbooks from chefs that cook at one of the many restaurants we go to when staying in New York City or when we go on vacation. So while I still spend a lot of time reading and looking for a recipe that will make that night’s perfect dish, I now do it through all the great cooks that blog here on WordPress. Almost every day, I go into the list of WordPress topics and click on “Recipes” or “Food”. That takes me into the best cookbook I have read in years. I’ve been calling it “The WordPress Cookbook”. There are so many cooks posting recipes for great dishes from all around the world and honestly, I’ve cooked a lot of them.

Which brings me to the sticky buns I made over the weekend from joshuafagans. His writing about how they are his family’s Christmas tradition was great, but it was the picture of the buns themselves that made my mouth water. I have to say that I don’t have great luck in making dough. For whatever reason, my dough never seems to rise very high or seems like a big strip of rubber. However, after seeing the picture from joshuafagans, I was ready for a little dough adventure. Please read the original post over at joshuafagans and see how to make it the sane way as well as the quick way, which is pretty funny. My version is below. I followed the recipe exactly as written using the “sane” way….read his post and you’ll understand. Thanks joshuafagans for such a great post and a delicious recipe!

1 cup scalded milk (scalded milk is just heated milk. You know you are there when bubbles come up on the sides of the pan, but the milk is not yet boiling)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 package yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 eggs
5 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup softened, unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup dark syrup (I used Lyle’s Golden Syrup purchased from Amazon.com, just like the post said)

Melt the butter in the scalded milk and allow to cool. Soften the yeast in the water. Mix milk mixture with the yeast, eggs, sugar, salt and flour. I did this in a standing mixer until a ball formed and then took the dough out and kneaded it until smooth and elastic. I let the dough rise for 3 hours inside of my oven with the “Proof” setting turned on.

Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a 10″ x 18″ rectangle. Spread the butter onto each half. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over each rectangle. Drizzle the syrup over both as well.

Roll the rectangles up in a jelly roll fashion and then slice each roll into 12 slices. Place into two 9 inch cake pans and let rise for another hour.