Cat-Trap Meme

So, you might have seen the meme floating around FB about the way to catch a cat.  Namely, you draw or create a circle on the floor--tape, rope, whatever--and the cat will sit in it, regardless of the fact that there is no actual object they're sitting in.  The explanation is that cats like small spaces, even suggested ones.

And so, I tried it.  With a stuffed snake.  And then a drawing on a posterboard.

Yes, I had a lot of time on my hands; I was home with a cold, drinking fluids, resting, and making chicken soup (I'm much better today.)

And the cats mocked me.

Until I caught one.

And the other cat mocked this one.

It's a Small World

Ever since I saw the NPR bit on Texas homecoming mums, I've been nostalgic for high school and college and my days in Chicago.  And, with the help of FB, I actually located some of the friends I've been most curious about.  They all said they'd been looking for me years ago but gave up with no luck.  Well, one friend connection led to another, and I found several of them:

• the boy who sat at my table in kindergarten and was in class with me through senior year;
• the boy who was good friends with the boy from kindergarten and whose mom threw great New Year's parties; I went with him to homecoming--and wore one of those big mums (though, they were smaller then);
• the girl who sat behind me in English seminar, who liked theater and football;
• my fraternity (APO, the service org) sister and college roommate in sophomore year;
• a fellow officer in said APO who was an education major;
• a few other APO members;
• my boss at the museum in Chicago;
• and five or six other Chicago museum colleagues.

It's been fun connecting with them all, catching up.  Many are married; many of them have kids, but not all.  Most look pretty much the same--more grey, less hair.  

And then Gommie called me from Austin.  Someone had called out to her at the farmer's market.  And it was that boy from kindergarten through high school, who recognized her, saying she hadn't changed at all.  

The very same week we became friends on FB after 25+ years.  

Recipes for the School Year

Okay, you've seen them all over FB, especially recently, people sharing recipes with the most luscious food porn photos (almost always linked to some diet or weight-loss page, regardless of the decadence of the recipe.)  I have given up "sharing these to save to your homepage!" in favor of cutting and pasting the text.  Besides, I find FB really hard to search for past posts.  So here are some of the recent ones that I might actually try!


Breakfast
Crock-Pot Apples
Place 2 sliced apples, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, pinch salt in the bottom of the crock pot.

Pour in 2 cups of oatmeal, 2 cups of milk and 2 cups water.
Do NOT stir.

Cook overnight for 8 - 9 hours on low.


Dinner

CROCKPOT BEEF AND BROCCOLI

Ingredients
1 pound boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
1 cup beef consumme
½ cup soy sauce
⅓ cup brown sugar or honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cooled sauce from the crock pot after being cooked

Fresh broccoli florets (as many as desired)
Hot cooked rice (brown rice, or riced cauliflower)

Directions
1. Place beef in a crock pot.
2. In a small bowl, combine consomme, soy sauce, brown sugar/honey, oil, and garlic. Pour over beef. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
3. In a cup, stir cornstarch and sauce form the crock pot until smooth. Add to crock pot. Stir well to combine. (If your sauce is not thickening, try bringing your sauce to a boil on the stovetop with the corn starch mixture. Boil until your desired consistency is reached).
4. Add broccoli to the crock pot. Stir to combine.
5. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes on high (the sauce has to boil for it to thicken).
6. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken

Ingredients

1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 24 ounces) or breasts
sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley

Directions

Combine the first five dry spices in a small bowl and spread over chicken on both sides. Set aside. Pour olive oil and garlic on the bottom of the crock pot. Place chicken on top. Pour balsamic vinegar over the chicken. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours. Sprinkle with fresh parsley on top to serve.

Nutrition Info

Servings: 8* Calories per serving: 133* Fat: 5g* Cholesterol: 70mg* Sodium: 222mg* Carbs: 4g* Fiber: 0g* Sugars: 3g* Protein: 17g* Points+: 6*

Desserts

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark
this is sooo easy to make!

2 sticks of butter
1 cup of light brown sugar
1 reg. bag of pretzels (you'll use about 3/4 of the bag)
12 ounce bag of chocolate chips
Sea salt - ( I use our coarse sea salt with our grinder)

Preheat the oven to 400.

Line a large bar pan with parchment paper, cover with pretzels
In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium-low heat. When it begins to bubble add the brown sugar. Stirring occasionally let the butter/sugar mixture meld together and brown. This should take about 3 minutes. Do NOT let it boil, you will have sticky goo that is no good. When you have a nice, brown caramel pour it over the pretzels, slowly and evenly. You can then use a spatula to spread it out, you have to work quickly and gently. It hardens fast so even pouring is the best method.

Bake the sheet for 5 minutes.

Remove the sheet from the oven and sprinkle the whole bag of chocolate chips evenly over the mixture.

Place back in the oven for about 45 seconds. If you let it sit there too long the chocolate will burn.

Remove from the oven and use a silicone spatula to evenly spread the chocolate over the top.

Sprinkle with sea salt and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour. 

ICE CREAM BREAD
Seriously? Only 2 ingredients!


Who out there has ever made ice cream bread? If you haven't, what are you waiting for? You use only two ingredients and two steps. All you have to do is mix self-rising flour with softened ice cream of choice and bake. Poof! You have bread!

You need ice cream that is not sugar free or low fat...just regular full fat ice cream. This one is made with just chocolate but just imagine how awesome a loaf of Ben and Jerry's Rocky Road or Cherry Garcia bread could be. I have made it with Chunky Monkey and it is delicious. I will include that recipe too so you can try it. Go with bold flavors of ice cream such as peanut butter or butter pecan. Don’t forget, you can also add extra ingredients into the mix to make it less plain and more flavorful. Experiment and have fun with it!


Ice Cream Bread

2 cups of your favorite ice cream, softened
1 and 1/2 cups of self rising flour

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8×4 inch loaf pan. Mix the ice cream and flour together in a bowl just until combined. Smooth it out so it looks even. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for a while and then serve.

Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Bread (2 loaves or 1 large loaf)

2 pints Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, softened or melted
3 cups self-rising flour
1 very ripe banana, chopped
1 chocolate bar, chopped
Handful of walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bread pan, or line with parchment paper. Mix melted ice cream and flour until well combined. Add chocolate, banana and nuts. Pour into prepared bread pan. Bake for 45 minutes per loaf or 60-90 minutes for a larger double loaf. If the top starts to brown too much, cover it with aluminum foil and continue to bake. The bread is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Almond Joy Brownie Bites

Ingredients:
1 box of family size Chocolate Fudge brownie mix
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (14 oz.) bag coconut
1/4 C milk
1 C chocolate chips, melted
1/4 C almonds (or nuts), crushed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line (regular size, not mini) cupcake pan with paper liners. (Don't skip the paper liners as they make stick).

Make brownies according to package directions and pour batter only half way up the liners.

Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes. While they are baking, mix the coconut, sweetened condensed milk and milk together.

Remove brownies from oven and spoon on some sweetened coconut.

Place bake in oven and continue to bake an additional 14-16 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before removing the paper liners. Drizzle on the chocolate then sprinkle on the almonds.

Experiment Conclusions

I've been on FB for one year, having started when Mama had her surgery last August so that I could be in touch more easily and quickly with more friends and family.  It's been an intriguing year.

Here are some things I've learned:

• FB is a lot like sitting at the popular kids' table in junior high.  If you aren't on FB, you are missing out on social information that circulates there--who's sick, who broke an arm, who is on vacation, who is selling a piano--information that you otherwise might not get.  Or you'd get it too late.  Because everyone assumes you saw it on FB.  You also are kept abreast of current cultural memes and jokes--"Hey Girl," Grumpy Cat, those e-cards, anything by George Takkei. I have found I like to be in the loop.
• People post a lot of personal information.  I have, too. I realize, though, that there is no expectation of privacy and anything I post becomes public knowledge. Though, I kid myself that using the kiddos' initials and never tagging them in photos will protect them down the line.
• In many ways, people show their compassion and humanity--supporting cancer survivors, helping to look for lost puppies, sharing Autism updates--but I wonder if that's all we do?  If we are lulled into a false sense of having done something through posting or liking on FB, we really haven't contributed much--and yes, I very much indict myself there.  FB doesn't let us off the civic responsibility or social justice hook.   Does it really matter if you "like" those things, especially when I have read how often those aren't real cancer survivors or "beautiful kids" just ad companies trolling for likes so they can sell them to other companies?  Didn't you wonder why the source of the child with Down Syndrome was "Watch My Weight" or "Ads for Less?"  But my FB newsfeed is a beautiful, calm, loving place full of supportive people who care about the issues I care about--but how are we creating that IRL? (That's "in real life.")   I worry about the disconnect.
• While there are a lot of political posts, there is almost no real dialogue or conversation on issues. Except of course with the people who pretty much agree with you.  Or really don't, at which point they drive you batty (and vice versa, I'm sure.) What can you expect from a "like" or sound-bite format?  It is reassuring, though, to engage with and see the pet issues of my liberal friends online and shocking to find out which of my friends are not (there are even some Bush lovers in the mix!  GASP.  There are things I've learned on FB that I didn't want to know.)
• I wanted more give and take.  I'm often without adult company for long stretches of time, especially not that Mama works late several days a week.  I'm not a phone talker much of the time and few of my friends are emailers.  I don't text, finding it worse than FB for meaningful exchanges--it's like a digital answering machine that demands constant attention.  Anyway, I do like to exchange ideas based on current events and essays I'd read.  So I started posting my links to FB, like I sometimes do here (which is funny, in a sad way, because my best correspondents are here on this blog and not on FB!!)--like op-eds on Trayvon Martin or Russian anti-LGBT policies and the Olympics including Stephen Fry's call for a boycott or something on Roman forts uncovered in Wales because of drought or discrimination against people with mental illness by medical doctors--and no one engages.  Sometimes they don't even "like" it, or they post an agreement; rarely has it gone beyond that.  Granted, I don't always post it with my own take, probably should, right from the get-go.  I think I was looking for intellectual engagement; that was naive.   But it compounded my isolation because I'd put these things out there and not hear back--I even posted that I was unplugging FB for awhile and no one commented.  The opposite of sitting at the popular table, more like being a wallflower at the dance. 
• I spent an incredible amount of time on FB, looking for said interaction, liking things and posting on people's status updates, even looking for neat things to include on my own status update.  The interaction--the approval!--was there, sometimes, and really who doesn't like a lot of comments?  But the time-reward ratio was skewed.  And I realized that's a little desperate and lonely, even for FB.

My conclusions:

• I'm going to stay on FB.  I like to be in the loop locally and culturally and this is the dominant and socially-acceptable way to do it in real time.  
• I no longer like cancer survivors or beautiful children unless the source of the page is clearly "real" and not an ad company. 
• I'll probably do even fewer posts with pictures of the kids.
• I've taken FB off my phone so I can't aimlessly check updates and post things.  I can check my account 2-3 times a day when I'm on a "real" computer.  That's more than enough to satisfy the above.
• I will look for other paths to intellectual engagement and personal interactions and not the superficial quick-fix of FB.  I will try yet other ways to connect with people to discuss issues and events regularly.  Maybe even in person!  People still do that, right?  (Of course, the irony of posting this on a blog doesn't escape me.  Especially because my blog readers are the ones who email or call me up for coffee!!  Maybe the answer is staring me in the face.)