7 Quick Takes: Prayers for a Friend, and some random thoughts

-1-

Tonight I'm asking for prayers for the nephew of a co-worker of mine, a game warden who was shot and killed in the line of duty. The news reports say he had pulled over a guy suspected of poaching, there was a shootout, and the officer was shot point blank. His name was David Grove, and he was only 31 years old. (For more details of this sad story, click here.)

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

-2-

My aunt emailed me this joke: A burgular broke into a house one night and began prowling around looking for things to steal. Suddenly he heard a voice: "Jesus knows you're here." He stopped in his tracks. When all he heard was silence, he continued on through the house. He heard the voice again: "Jesus knows you're here." Now he was starting to get freaked out, and he shined his flashlight around to see if he could find the source. There was a parrot in a cage. "Did you say something?" he asked. "Yes," said the parrot. "I wanted to warn you that Jesus knows you're here." The burgular began to laugh. "Tell me your name, if you think you're so smart," he said. "Moses," replied the parrot. At this the burgular laughed even more. "What kind of moron names his parrot Moses?" he asked. "The same one who names his rottweiler Jesus," said the parrot.

Ba-da boom.

-3-

Conversation that took place today between myself and my thirteen-year-old son:

Larry: "What are you doing?"

Me: "Looking out the window."

Larry: "What's to look at?"

Me: "Geese and ducks on the lake...pretty fall colors that won't be here much longer..."

Larry. "Wow. How exciting."

Someday he'll get it.

-4-

Okay, let's get serious for a minute: It's time to stop voting for Bristol. It's been fun watching her on Dancing With the Stars, she's working her butt off, she's a great gal, Mark is a nice guy, and it's cool that she has such a big fan base keeping her on the show week after week. But seriously, it's time for her to go--no offense to her or her mother, of course. She's not a bad dancer, but Jennifer and Kyle and Brandy are better, and THEY should be the ones in the finals. 'Kay? Thanks.

-5-

I suppose I should share the recipe for the corn muffins you saw in my last post. It's one I pulled off the Internet sometime or other:

1 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 eggs well beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Sift flour then measure; add baking powder, salt and sugar, then sift again. Add cornmeal and mix well.
Combine eggs, milk, and melted butter; add to the flour mixture, blending just until ingredients are moist. Bake in greased muffin cups at 425° for about 25 minutes. Makes about 12 corn muffins.

(Source)

I will tell you that I don't do all that sifting; I might sift the dry ingredients together once, but that's it. Everyone loves them, and it's a frequent request, which is fine with me because they are quick and easy. (Of course with Moe's food allergies, I have to use egg replacer and soy milk, but I cheat and still use real butter even though I'm not really supposed to.) They're delicious, except when I overcook them, in which case they're hard as rocks.

-6-

This weekend, in addition to doing some MAJOR housecleaning and errand running, I'm hoping to work on my next post for Cooking Nick's Books: A Sparks Fan's Food Blog. On Sunday night when returned from our weekend with my in-laws, I cooked an easy breakfast-for-dinner inspired by Nick's fourth novel, The Rescue. Here's a preview:

I'm already planning the next project, and depending on how authentic I want to be, it might cost me an arm and a leg. Then again we might just grill the salmon that Joe's brother caught on his recent fishing trip to Alaska. Which was free. (The salmon, not the trip. At least it was free for us.)

-7-

As of yesterday, I have 69 posts on this blog for 2010. (This one will be #70.) I had 69 posts for all of 2009. I'm not sure if the increase in blogging (that doesn't even include my new one) is a good or bad thing; I LOVE it, but there's always something else I need to be doing. Maybe I'll try to find some ways to generate some revenue here...Hmmm...any ideas?

For more Quick Takes, check out Jen's Conversion Diary blog. Have a blessed weekend!