Speak of the Splendor

(Aha! A Post with a point!)

One of my all-time favorite fruit desserts….I LOVE Baked Pears. This recipe is so easy, it hardly merits a real ‘recipe.’ All you do is…

Crank the oven up. It depends on how long you have to play with. If you want the pears done sooner, turn the oven higher, if you have a longer period of time, lower it. The general temp. range would be 425 + these lovelies can take the heat.

Arrange however many pears your are going to bake in a oven safe dish that is lined with parchment paper, I used a glass pie pan.

Bake until a fork can easily be inserted in the side, last time I made these, I think it came out to about 45 minutes at 425.

To serve: (here comes the fun part)

Cut in half, core, and top with…

-A ‘dollop’ of ice cream, or whipped cream
-Honey
-Ginger
…and whatever sounds good to you.

Or maybe a sauce…

Ginger sounded good to me, and we had a opened can of pineapple sitting around, so I poured some pineapple (it was chopped) into the blender and blended it till it was smooth (not pureed). Then I poured the pineapple into a saucepan, put it on med., and stirred in sliced candied ginger, and a little honey.

Delicious.

(These store well in the refrigerator, and taste just as good cold.)

When a friend, who is also feeling sick, asked me what Garlic Tea was–my immediate thought was, “You don’t want to know.”

No, it’s not that bad. And it does wonders for throat…and vampires.

Ingredients

4 Cups Boiling water
4 garlic cloves (med size), crushed…or finely minced

Boil the water. While the water is boiling, crush the garlic into a 4 C canning jar. If you don’t have a big jar, some 4 cup vessel (preferably with a lid) that can take boiling water will work. When the water boils, pour it over the garlic and shut the lid.

Let steep until you can pick up the jar without burning your hands, and (to aid the drinking) add either…

Honey and lemon juice
or
Bullion cube

Enjoy! …yeah. *thumbs up*

My mother just told me…

“Get rid of your hiccups, I’ve killed for less than that [hiccuping].”

So, OK, I will take her advice!

After googling…I found this method, and it worked:

30 Second Cure for Hiccups

Step 1: Start by inhaling through your mouth until your lungs feel full (when it feels like you cannot inhale any more). For overall best results, try to do this as quickly as you can. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.

Step 2: Swallow. You are not really swallowing anything but it seems that without this act, it doesn’t work. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.

Step 3: Now inhale some more. You don’t need to inhale a lot, but do get some more air in. It will start to get difficult to do this as you go, but keep trying. You obviously can’t suck in as much air as you did initially, but just a little will do (think of it as taking a “sip” of air). DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.

Step 4: Swallow again. This too will start to get difficult as you go. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.

Step 5: Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you cannot swallow again. While it seems you can almost always suck in just a little more air, it is the swallowing that gets to be impossible. When you feel like you cannot swallow again, swallow again anyway. It will be hard to do, your face will probably turn red, and you may make squeaking sounds. But you CAN swallow one last time. By this time, your lungs should also be quite full and it should be difficult to get much more air in as well. While you should try not to let any air out, if you have really repeated steps 3 and 4 as many times as you can, you probably will end up letting a little out before you can take that last swallow. If you find that air keeps escaping out of your nose even early in the process, try squeezing it shut with your fingers.

(found here.)

My life is safe.

but I was taking a Wedding Quiz…uh, it was something about ‘finding your style’…anyways, one of the questions was:

Where is the ideal setting for your wedding?
A – A country club
B – The beach at sunset
C – A grand castle or villa
D – A loft or penthouse

Now, does anyone else catch what is wrong here?? Ah! Why, it must be that a highly important option is MISSING! What would that option be? It would be: In a church. And no, it doesn’t have to be a grand cathedral.

Oh, and this humble opinion of mine has been formed out of the blue and with nothing to do with the fact that it is a tradition that has been in place for hundreds and hundreds of years. *rolls eyes*

This struck me as quite wrong, along the lines of the anti-Christmas agenda verbalized by ‘Happy Holidays’…just eliminate the option (ie. getting married in a church) and no one will be offended hence there will be soft and squishy feelings all around.  Yippee!  (I don’t do ’soft and squishy’ feelings, but that is another highly annoying post.) Now, I certainly know that weddings can be just as beautiful and holy and binding if they are held on the beach, but these little things that I come across keep reminding me what a culture of death we live in…even if it is a passive death.

Also, since the option ‘In a church’ is not available–my quiz results will not be as correct! Pssh.

(please excuse the sarcasm, this was highly annoying to me.)
(yeah, yeah, yeah, I know…why was I taking the quiz…yadda yadda, I set myself up…oh well.)

—
Edited to Add:

Ooooh! Why did i click ‘Next Question’? Why, why why?! Ahhh, darn it…ok:

What are three words that best describe the feel of your wedding?
A – Dreamy, emotional, magical.
B – Well-educated, detailed, sophisticated
C – Eclectic, earthy, festive
D – Luxe, opulent, glitzy

AARRGH!!

What about, ‘Sacramental, ONCE (in a lifetime), holy.’ Huh, huh?

…*splutters* ‘Well-educated’?! … ‘Luxe’? … ‘Magical’? …

Oh my.

I just can’t do it, I WON’T do it, by gosh! I’m not going to finish the quiz, I can’t risk a obituary like this:

Devin McIntyre died at her computer on January the 19th, 2008 after repeatedly subjecting herself to nonsensical questions on a wedding styles quiz.

Oh but I am sorry, I can tell you so wanted to know what my Wedding Style was…

I agree with what the results are…and it comes as no suprise to me that I’m not meant to be a mathematician.