obscure holidays of the upper middle-west

[mrissa]

Happy Mris Looks Like A Murderer Day!

My birthday eve, you see, is the occasion of the baking of the traditional double-chocolate cherry scones. (This year I put in hazelnuts because Grandma is here.) And that means halving and pitting a bunch of fresh cherries, and that means my fingers look like I have been cheerfully slaughtering people all morning. Well--I suppose you couldn't tell from the fingers whether it was cheerful or not.

Still, this is an important thing, the making of the scones. I didn't make them last year because of the vertigo, and it was particularly important not to have Mom make them, because part of the point is that she did all the work 31 years ago and I just showed up, so the least I can do is make her scones. This year I have been having some bad vertigo days compared to the weeks preceding, but I'm still okay enough to make scones for us for tomorrow morning. Hurrah for progress, however minimal.

Comments

[shana.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday eve!

Happy labor day to your mom. :-)

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Between the scones and the lussekatter, am I right in thinking your year is bounded by baking rites and there are probably a bunch of others?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Oh for sure yes. It's how you make the seasons turn.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, you would be a cheerful murderer. Happy scone-day!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, if you have to do a thing, there's no point to getting mopey about it.

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

A while back I watched the 60 minutes interview with the Obamas, and Barack said, "Washing dishes is contemplative, it's peaceful, I enjoy it," and Michelle cracked up and said, "You do NOT enjoy washing dishes," and he said serenely, "Well, if I have to wash the dishes, I try to make it pleasant."

With the dishwasher out of commission I say that to myself several times a day.

[pnkrokhockeymom.livejournal.com]

Oh lol.

[redbird]

Happy birthday! (Yes, it's early, but I think you should be happy today too.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think I should be happy today, too:

I have already finished 2/3 of the day's PT and done my workout.
I have already baked the scones.
There will be lunch with markgritter, timprov, the folks, Grandma, Aunt Ellen, and Uncle Phil.
There will be a tour of Grandma's new apartment.
There will be introducing of my grandma to our favorite close-by Vietnamese place.
And tomorrow is my birthday and filled with birthday goodness.

So yah, I think I have ample cause for happiness.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Hooray for progress, indeed! Hope the next birthday will be even better, but hope this is a very happy one.

[rosefox]

I looked much the same while making beet cake yesterday. Hooray for nitrile gloves. *) Happy almost-birthday!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how I would feel about beet cake, but perhaps someday I will find out. I am not fond of beet pickles in the general case, but I'm growing much fonder of roasted beets, and my last four borscht experiences have been positive ones.

[rosefox]

As far as I can tell, the one I made tastes pretty much like carrot cake. I'm told the chocolate beet cakes and red velvet cakes just taste like chocolate.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Is that what makes a red velvet cake a red velvet cake?

[rosefox]

The jury's out on that.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

That and strawberries ... IF you don't use the dreaded red food dye.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ah. The red velvet cake I had was Insufficiently Strawberry-y.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

The original Red Velvet cake was supposed to involve a colorful reaction between the cocoa powder and the buttermilk or (tiny bit of) vinegar you see in older recipes. Before there was Dutch-process cocoa powder this was supposed to be a redder red, or so saith Mr. James Beard, and I am not going to argue with him dead or alive. But of course, Too Much of a Good Thing is Better, and so people found ways to make Red Velvet cake Really Red. Of course, beets in the cake have the additional advantage of really weirding people out when they find out they're in there, and that can't be a bad thing at all, especially if they have been unpleasantly* anti-beet in the past.


It's a good year for cherries. You should eat lots of them. And then maybe more.


*As opposed to just anti-beet: "No, I just really don't much care for them, thanks." The ten-minute rant is not needed.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Gosh, the red velvet cake I've had has fallen substantially: if there was any cocoa in it at all, I certainly couldn't taste it.

Worry not, we are doing our part to keep the surplus cherry population from feeling neglected.

And yah, I have not run into the ten minute rant against beets, but I know the ten minute rant against physics classes and can substitute in the appropriate adjective changes.

[rmnilsson.livejournal.com]

I have a recipe for chocolate beet cake, and it tastes nothing like pickled beets. Mostly tastes like chocolate.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

I've made that too. Nobody knew the Sekrit Ingredient!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Grunka-lunka, dunka dee dedient....

[pnkrokhockeymom.livejournal.com]

I'm very pleased that you feel well enough to bake the scones this year. Happy Birthday Eve! Happy Birthday early!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Has the recipe for double-chocolate cherry scones been made public at any point? Because I would be delighted to celebrate your birthday eve and the progress of the Mris with suitable baking out here, too.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Why, yes. (http://www.marissalingen.com/choccherryscones.html)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

When I say "I would be delighted," of course what I mean is "I would be delighted to convince kniedzw to add your scones to his baking repertoire." Since he is the one who does such things around here. But I look forward to tasting the result.

[pameladean]

I am so glad you could make the scones. Happy birthday eve!

P.

[aedifica]

Happy birthday eve! That sounds like a tasty tradition.

Happy cherry blood day :)

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

We spilled some here in your honor.

(and happy birthday too!)